Saturday Fright Special's Fangtastic Features

DINOCROC vs. SUPERGATOR (2010) d. Jay Andrews (aka Jim Wynorski)

2011-07-11T17:48:00.001-07:00

Written by Mark Nelson

Another in SyFy Channel's long-running series of multi-syllabic huge-hyphenate monster melee flicks, produced by Roger Corman and directed by Jim Wynorski, the man who brought us hits of both the horror (CHOPPING MALL, THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING) and hooter (THE BARE WENCH PROJECT, CLEAVAGEFIELD) variety. Here we have the age-old tale of science-for-profit not-so-accidentally creating a pair of giant mutant lizards (the titular Dinocroc, sort of a cross between a raptor and a croc that walks on its hind legs, and the Supergator, a giant spiky-spined version of Captain Hook's nemesis) that break free and run riot in a tropical Hawaiian paradise. It's up to a dorky EPA investigator (Corey Landis, a nice everyman change of pace from the usual chiseled hero you find in these sort of things), a sexy (to be expected for a Wynorski film, just about every female role is filled out with babes) local conservation officer (Amy Rasimas), and "The Cajun", a legendary swamp hunter (Rib Hillis -- think a buff Crocodile Dundee without the accent). The head of the corporation that spawns the giant pair of swamp scrappers is played with a sense of fun by noneother than David Carradine, in what has to be the fifth or sixth film that's been released since his death in 2009 (for a dead guy, he's keeping pretty busy…). Director Wynorski (here working under his "Jay Andrews" alias) also makes an appearance as a farmer with a half-chewed head of cattle, and there are several subtle references to past Corman films throughout, including probably the only shout-out to SHE-GODS OF SHARK REEF that I've ever seen.

But what you want when you pop in a title like DINOCROC VS. SUPERGATOR is action, and this flick delivers. Unlike some other recent SyFy monsterfests, this baby doesn't make you wait until the last 10 minutes for your monster mayhem, giving you rampaging 'roided-up reptiles before the first minute is over. Monster appearances continue throughout, with plenty of "monster pops up and snatches victim in a flash" moments that I personally love. This really plays like an update of 50's giant mutated animal flicks, and the not-perfect but not-bad CGI can be viewed as the modern equivalent of passable stop-motion or model work of years gone by. The titanic tussle of the towering twin terrors doesn't happen until the last few minutes of the film (and is over rather quickly), but by that time there's been so much carnage and lumbering lizard action that you don't mind the brief encounter between the two. As this was originally a made-for-TV movie, the level of gore and gazongas is about what you'd expect from non-pay-cable, a little gooey here and there but nothing that would make it all that inappropriate for a monster-crazed kid to watch.

Hats off to Wynorski and Corman for delivering a modern-day equivalent of the kind of fun frivolous flicks that kept so many of us indoors as kids on sunny summer days, glued to local TV shows like CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE and reveling in the rampaging ruination of remorseless reptile rabble-rousers.

http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/abe.asp

FROZEN (2010) d. Adam Green

2010-12-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Simon Oakland

Adam Green can kiss my ass.

But seriously, the guy has some directing talent. I can't complain about the cinematography regarding either HATCHET or FROZEN. (Or even the acting.) It's his writing that sucks.

1) When the lights go out, you wouldn't seriously begin screaming at the top of your lungs?

2) Survival tip: the first thing I would do to keep warm is to pull my hat over my eyes and the collar of my shirt over my chin. But I guess we absolutely need to see these Hollywood starlets faces to relate to them, eh? By the same token, any normal person would have pulled their hand into their sleeve to keep it warm if they lost a glove.

3) When trying to crawl across a rope, don't just try to put all of your weight on your hands to shimmy across. Wrap your legs around as well.

4) When you're freezing to death, I don't care who you're with and I don't care who you are, your first natural survival instinct is to huddle together for warmth. After the first night the two principles are still a good two feet apart, nevermind not fucking themselves to death. Hell, the tv series TAXI had them beat on that front by about 32 years!!!

5) WOLVES???!!! Seriously, WTF? This is a tense enough situation as it is, and you STILL have to pull a species into the scenario that doesn't even exist in the environment you set the movie in? Now THAT is a sign of a shit scriptwriter!

Other than those 5 things, It's a pretty good movie. Three Stars.

http://www.frozen-film.com

IMPULSE (1984) d. Graham Baker

2010-08-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Laura Eno Kennell

IMPULSE is a film that I just happened upon. Literally! It was a cheap find at a flea market for a buck. This is what I'm reduced to because the economy is in the crapper. Small distributing companies are going under and the ones that are in business can't afford to give the Saturday Fright Special staff free movies. We've been so desparte we've actually started renting movies again. But I'm so cheap I go to the flea markets and yard sales. Just this past Sunday I picked up a great copy of the complete series of CHiPS on Beta for only 25 cents. What a buy! But I digress. I should be talking about IMPULSE.

IMPULSE stars Meg Tilly as a young dancer, Jennifer, living in in the city with her surgeon boyfriend, Stuart, played by Tim Matheson (of Animal House fame). Jennifer receives a phone call from her mother, who starts ranting and screaming at her and then a shot is heard. Jennifer and Stuart rush to Jennifer's hometown where a recent earthquake has happened. The minute they enter the town things seem strange. People are rude, discourteous and down right selfish. Petty crime, irritable dispositions and having intercourse with your brother-in-law at a seedy honky tonk seem to be a day-to-day occurance in this jerkwater town. Everyone Jennifer and Stuart come into contact with seem to be on the defense. Things start to climax as the days pass and Stuart and Jennifer want to find answers.

IMPULSE looks like it is a romantic thriller on the VHS cover, but nothing could be further from the truth. The 9 1/2 WEEKS look-a-like cover was probably some suit's bright idea to get people renting this film. It's so misleading. The cover should have my favorite scene in the film: an old man pissing on Stuart's tires. But I digress again. IMPULSE is very similar to Romero's THE CRAZIES. A town consumes something and it poisons their mind and all inhibitions are gone. I won't give away what the town consumes in IMPULSE, that's part of the mystery in the film. There are some pretty intense moments in IMPULSE, but over all it's one of the videos you'll only want to watch once. Apparently, this film is on DVD, but I've already spent the buck, so who cares. If you got some spare change and some time to waste watch IMPULSE. Or just rent THE CRAZIES, the original or remake. Same thing.

PREY (1978) d. Norman J. Warren

2010-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by
Laura Eno Kennell

I'm always up for a British Horror film. THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA, TWINS OF EVIL and COUNTESS DRACULA are a few of my favorites. There's lots of tension and usually very little gore. PREY was much different than the films mentioned. It's a mix of Science Fiction and horror and lesbian porn. Usually lesbians in British horror films are also vampires, but Jessica (Glory Annen) and Josephine (Sally Faulkner) are the good old fashion kind: human. Jessica and Josephine are cut off from society living in a large house in the country where they witness a huge flash of light one evening. Jessica suspects that it is a UFO landing nearby, but Josephine thinks she's being ridiculous. The next morning the ladies take a walk and come upon an unexpected guest: a man by the name Anders Anderson skulking around the ladies house and generally looking disoriented, but little do they know a cat faced alien has taken over his body. Funloving Jessica invites him in and their lives are about to take an interesting turn Anders presence adds tension to Jessica and Josephine's already rocky relationship. Josephine is a man-hater who controls Jessica's every move. We're given the impression that Josephine spends most of her time in jealous rage. Anders stays with the ladies, much to Josephine's chagrin, and a love triangle starts to form. All this happens despite Ander's odd behavior. He's awkward, quiet, and vomits every time he eats Jessica's cooking. This makes him the worst house guest ever to be put on film. The situation worsens during a little party Jessica throws where Josephine tries to seduce Anders. Jessica steps in the room just in time to make Josephine remember that, oh yeah, she's a man-hating lesbian. It's all downhill from this point on, especially when we learn Josphine has a dark secret she's been hiding. Jessica discovers her secret and decides to run away with Anders, but will she live to even see the inside of Anders' car?
PREY was pretty entertaining and very humorous, but whether it was supposed to be or not is debatable. Josephine's non-stop comments about men are enough to make anyone bust a gut. Jessica's naive and chipper ways make her the character that the viewer can really sympathize with the most (plus she takes her top off about five times in the film, so you fellas will enjoy her too). Barry Stokes as Anders is brilliant as the robot-like alien. He tells the ladies he's never played a game, can't eat and we later learn that he can't even swim. In a drawn out rescue scene complete with tinny synth music, we see Anders just can't do shit. Except keep calm while Jessican and Josephine have a knock-down, drag out, slap-fest of a cat fight.
The last few scenes are depicted on the back of the DVD case which could mislead any movie-goer that the film has blood and guts in every scene, but in actuality the film can be a bit slow for some people's taste. Me, I like a good build-up and background story. A new indie film called HOUSE OF THE DEVIL uses this technique well, but it's also been criticized for it, too. So there's your warning. Watch PREY if you'd like.

NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND (1972) d. Fred Burnley

2010-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by
Laura Eno Kennell

ENDLESS LOVE, ROMEO AND JULIET, and ZOMBIE are all stories of undying love. Love that transcends this life, wait a minute... ZOMBIE? NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND is a love story with a zombie spin on it. What better way to prove your undying love by not dying? Well, that can get pretty gamey when your body dies, but your soul just won't leave. This is what Anna (portrayed by Susan Hampshire) finds out in this film. So break out the Vicks Vapor Rub to block the smell and enjoy this DVD.

Anna is on holiday in Jersey UK when she meets Hugh (Michael Petrovitch) who is a dashing young lighthouse keeper. The two quickly fall in love and a passionate love affair blooms. They run away together to Scotland for a romantic getaway and then Hugh dies suddenly. (I won't give away what happens. I try not to spoil the movie surprises for you all). Anna is in shock and nearly has a nervous breakdown when a local doctor declares him dead. Anna is clearly devastated. She wants Hugh back with all of her heart and soul. Hugh does come back, but he's not himself. He has very little energy, is confused and cannot talk. As time passes Hugh decomposes and Anna must make a choice between the land of the living and the land of the dead.

NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND put a nice twist on the short story "The Monkey's Paw" that we all read in our 7th Grade English class. Wishes may come true with disasterous consequences. There's similar British film from Amicus in an anthology called TALES FROM THE CRYPT. It's much more gruesome than NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND, which surprisingly had very little gore. The director could have gone all out with body parts flopping off at inconvienent moments, but alas, he was too much of a gentleman to conceive of such crude things. There's was no zombie chomping scenes either. So if you're a gore fan you might want to just watch CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD instead. Hugh is actually the cleanest zombie I've ever seen. The film relies more on atmosphere and tension for it's scare factor than on gross out gut ripping scenes.

The atmospheric setting of the Jersey shore is dark and windy in the film. It's mentioned that it's off season for the tourist town that Hugh resides in. There's plenty of scenes of ocean waves crashing and it seems a great part of the film takes place by the ocean. It's a great date movie for Valentine's Day so pick this up along with a bottle of Champale. NEITHER THE SEA NOR THE SAND would make a great triple feature with ENDLESS LOVE and LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE. The latter is a little gorey, so maybe you should hold off if your date is one of those squeemish people. But on the other hand, your date might get so scared he/she might jump into your arms for comfort. Think of the possibilites.

REDEMPTION FILMS

SPRING OF LIFE (2000) d. Milan Cieslar

2010-01-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by
Laura Eno Kennell

Spring of Life is a surprisingly tasteful film released through Redemption. I'm using "tasteful" rather loosely and I usually do, because I have such low standards in cinema. I went into this film expecting very little, but I got a good return on this one. It's a film that I would definitely revisit again and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good story of forbidden love. Yes, a love story as a Redemption release, believe it or not.

Our story begins in the Sudetenland in 1939. As you students of history know, the Sudetenland is the much disputed area of Czechoslovakia that Hitler wanted so badly, because the inhabitatants were racially German. Hitler wanted a unified Germany and to unify the "Master Race". The main character, Gretka, is choosen by the Nazis, as a worthy example of the Aryan race. She is taken away from her family and sent to a spa. Or what she thinks is a spa and she later finds out the diabolical Nazi plan of Lebensborn, where racially pure chosen women will breed with racially pure SS soliders. This is all too much for a nice Catholic girl like Gretka and she later plans an escape. She also encounters the "spa's" resident hostage, Leo, who is Jewish.

Leo is punished when Gretka points him out as the reason she fell through the ice while on her way to the spa. She feels guilty and tries to stop the SS soilders from punishing him, but of course the ruthless Nazis have no mercy on him. Leo comes close to death after this treatment. Gretka nurses him back to health and in the process, she falls in love with him. Like Romeo and Juliet, it's a forbidden love that has a tragic ending.

I thought this would be a straight exploitation film, especially with the subject matter. I pictured sweaty blonde SS soilders heavy breathing all over Gretka. On the contrary, the characters, were all very polite considering the situation. There's even a scene, where one of the chosen women is chastized for having a dirty mind. When I viewed the included interview with author Michael Leapman, I found out why this was released under Redemption. It is an exploitation film in disguise. The Lebensborn Project was a little less aggressive than what is shown in the film. Leapman explains that the project was merely an encouragement of SS soilders to mate with racially pure women. Even if this meant out of wedlock or in an adulturous manner. The mothers then went to a hospital-like setting during their pregnancy and while the baby was waiting for adoption. There was none of the forced sex that Spring of Life would have the viewer think. But the truth is so boring!

Redemption has come along way with their presentation. In the past, the busty vampire mascot of Redemption would give the viewer some background on a film. Her information seemed pretty accurate, but her black contact lenses were a little distracting. By including the interview with Michael Leapman, this DVD went up a few notches on the class scale. It's very informative and worth watching after the feature.

I can't recommend this more. I really enjoy Czech films, like Jan Svankmajer's surrealist extravaganzas and a great film called Divided We Fall (2000). It would make a perfect double feature with Spring of Life. Coincidentally, both films were released in 2000. Pop open a pivo and enjoy. (Pivo is beer in Czech, in case you didn't know).

REDEMPTION FILMS

BLACK TORMENT (1964) d. Robert Hartford-Davis

2009-12-26T12:13:00.001-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

As time passes, what once was a staple interest of people becomes passé as fresh and more exotic pastimes replace the old standbys. As a child, I saw the final days of the joy of collecting and playing with marbles. I was transfixed by the seemingly endless assortment of agates, cats-eyes and other styles and by the myriad sizes that could be obtained. While I was a boy who tended to be more interested in “active” pursuits, playing with marbles was a pleasure in which I would occasionally indulge when the more contemplative side of my nature emerged, the same side that motivated me to build models and to illustrate science fiction scenes. I can no more imagine children today playing with marbles than I can envision them drinking Moxie. Just as that carbonated beverage of another era is an acquired taste, one of the most popular genres of film from bygone days has also become somewhat of an “offbeat delicacy” to modern masses, the Gothic Thriller. Once, that type of motion pictures thundered across the cinematic landscape like the buffalo, but now is just as rare and not nearly as fascinating to the young mind as the plains-darkening herds once were. Gothic novels and movies seem “quaint” and “old-fashioned” and perhaps they are. Sadly, an entire series of generations will likely miss out on this once proud genus, for this type of movie is just not being made anymore, and most would just pass by something like BLACK TORMENT. It is a shame, for while not an outstanding film, BLACK TORMENT is entertaining and even a little informative when it comes to old mores and fashions.

BLACK TORMENT is the story of Sir Richard Fordyke and his lovely new bride, the Lady Elizabeth. Sir Richard has just returned to his family estate after more than three months of sojourn in London. During his return and once he arrives, whispers and rumors begin to spread that it is Sir Richard who is to blame for the recent rape and murder of the daughter of one of his tenants. Before long, eerie incidents and ghastly goings-on cast even deeper suspicion over Sir Richard, a man whose first wife Anne died under mysterious circumstances and who now may be haunted by her spirit. Sir Richard’s sanity comes under assault as a doppelganger seems to be perpetrating new crimes, or is it Richard himself and he can no longer control his mind and body? Only the servants know the truth in this convoluted tale of 18th Century duplicity, murder and revenge.

BLACK TORMENT starts off a bit slowly and winds its way through a narrative that has more in common with Gothic soap operas like DARK SHADOWS than it does a horror movie. By the mid-point of the tale, the drama begins to escalate and the pace picks up, weaving in very delicate threads akin to ghost stories, mysteries and romantic suspense. While some may not make it to the pay offs late in the film, BLACK TORMENT does deliver some pleasant “shocks and surprises” that may seem obvious to the modern, cynical audience, but are still quite enjoyable and charming none-the-less. The plot is both predictable and yet gripping, and it is only in the last acts that some of the “knowing looks” of the villains tip off “who done it”. It is the wonderfully dramatic overacting coupled with the atmosphere of the film that helps to make BLACK TORMENT a very satisfying experience. Just as with an 1960s English, Regency Romance, the performances are meant to be a little “over the top” and when stitched together with the sumptuous costuming, attractive and even opulent interior sets and the emotively archaic score, there is a deeply authentic feel to BLACK TORMENT. While not the grandiose spectacle of the typical early 60s Hammer Films production, this British cousin still radiates a charm all of its own. The aristocratic men are dashing and suave, the peasants thoroughly rustic, the ladies bedecked and coiffed beautifully and just as impressively heaving out of their scoop necked décolletage. From the overly dark “day for night” scenes, to the cerulean-tinted hues of the evening interiors, to the wide-eyed portrayals of Enlightenment-era characters pushed to the brink of madness, BLACK TORMENT is a delightful admixture of daytime TV and London stage performance that is probably not for the “adrenaline junkies” of today, but I liked it for what it was.

From a technical standpoint, BLACK TORMENT is a mixed bag. The audio is crisp and clean, which is not always typical of early 60s Euro-cinema. While not as gaudily colored as it Hammer Films rivals, there is still a visually alluring element to this flick that probably has more to do with the very competent manner in which it was shot than anything else. Scenes are well-framed and well-composed and over the last one-third of the movie, there are some excellent and creative camera angles that help to intensify the shift in mood and tone. The transfer that Redemption Films had to work with may be the culprit when it comes to final quality. There is a slightly grainy and washed-out look to most of this dvd and the brightness and contrast come and go at times. All too likely, the people at Redemption had to work with either a variety of quality levels for film stock and/or negatives and the end result was uneven, but still impressive. That this none-too-well known film survives at all is notable and from a purely historical standpoint, that is cause for praise. Classic Dr. Who fans will certainly recognize Patrick Troughton as The Ostler in this film. For that cameo alone, BLACK TORMENT has its own fascination.

The bonus features of this disc are thin but better than most dvds that aren’t “special editions” or “big releases”. There are two small stills galleries. One is called “Artwork” and features promotional literature, while the other is a series of black & white photographic stills. There are five Redemption trailers of a wide variety. Strange to say, only one I had seen so far, so that was a bit of a treat. The jewel in the crown was the 13 ½ minute interview with director Robert Hartford-Davis, who died in 1977. The interview was done with “TV legend” Bernard Braden and is a compelling look back at this project and the era in which the interview takes place, which seems to be shortly after BLACK TORMENT was released. Much like the feature itself, from a purely historical standpoint, this is a rare treasure and should be regarded as such.

BLACK TORMENT is certainly not the finest Gothic Thriller I have ever seen nor the best British film has to offer, but it is still worth your time if you have a hankering for “old school” cinema, or looks and sounds of an era long gone, or a story that just doesn’t get told anymore. I doubt that many of today’s young people would find all that tempting, but then again who knows? My 10 and 11 year old students enjoy having J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels read to them and that is as Victorian as it gets. Possibly, we are seeing the pendulum swing back the other way and that more effete times are upon us once more.

www.salvation-films.com

FRIGHT KINGDOM

2009-11-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

12 Simon Street, Nashua NH
Reviewed by Rick Trottier

For two years now, it has been the distinct pleasure and privilege of Saturday Fright Special to have had the chance to film more than 70% of our Scarewolf host links at Fright Kingdom, a 50,000 square foot haunted house just off the Everett Turnpike in Nashua, NH. When we have filmed those two sets of footage in March of 2008 and 2009, Fright Kingdom has been in its typical and essential off-season state of “beauty rest” consisting of rebuilding, restructuring and improving, so that what we have seen has always been impressive, but has never been in “full swing” shall we say. On Saturday night, October 31, Mark, Cricket and I took a drive over to Nashua and were the guests of Mr. Tim Dunne, the proprietor of Fright Kingdom. We were given the chance to experience “The Haunt” as they so affectionately call it in all of its full power glory, with all the lights and sounds turned up, the entire spectacular lineup of actors decked out in their costumes and makeup and all of the sets and props in their appropriate places. It was a journey and a visit that was worth the wait and one that everyone who likes a good scare should take advantage of, lest they miss their chance as the grains of life’s sands slip through their fingers. Fright Kingdom is one of those “once in a lifetime” opportunities and we were all quite thrilled with how we spent our time this Halloween.

Fright Kingdom’s immense floor plan is divided up into three main sections; Bloodmare Manor, Psycho Circus and the newly constructed Vampire Castle. Bloodmare Manor is a quasi-Victorian haunted house that winds through a series of rooms that are a mix of old-style horror themes, modern gore fests and imagery straight from the annals of Edgar Allen Poe. It is a perfect way to start your trip into the Heart of Darkness, for while it is wonderfully creepy and unsettling, much of the iconography is very familiar and wonderfully evocative of old films and TV shows crammed to the gills with disturbing and scary scenery. Next up is the Psycho Circus, a garishly colored, 3-D maze made from the warped and demented dreams of sadistic clowns and other harlequins of madness. To each visitor, 3-D glasses are given and the resulting shift in perspective is enough to induce a profound sense of emotional vertigo once the depth of color, shape and form become so terrifyingly clear. However, it is the addition of lurking denizens of a carnival gone horribly wrong that make this next phase of Fright Kingdom a jewel of the troublingly gaudy hues and most disquieting shades. Last is the Vampire Castle, the final stage of the journey, and what a splendid addition to Fright Kingdom this is. Between the supremely impressive sets, the wonderfully garbed actors and the effective use of strobes and shadows, the atmospheric nature of the third section of “The Haunt” is so palpably impressive as to feel like you’ve somehow landed in one of the “Hammer Dracula” movies. It was a PERFECT way to end the travels of three scare-loving miscreants.

All of the twists, turns, corners and crevices benefit from superb attention to detail when it comes to set design, prop construction and utilization of mood lighting. The rich and disconcertingly beautiful illumination scheme looks as if it has been dreamed up by the master himself, Mario Bava. The cunningly hidden doors and trap windows allow for the actors to engage you on many levels. Sometimes it is a shocking entrée into the scenario, while at other times it is the sinister sneaking up on an unsuspecting victim that lends such an ominous and unshakably spooky sense of atmosphere. The actors themselves are clearly well-trained and while most are meant to be as menacing as possible, others have a delightful sense of humor. All are superbly clad in costume, and benefit from makeup artistry so beautiful that at times I forgot the horrific emotions I was suppose to be feeling and simply stared at the awesome loveliness of master craftsmanship on display.

In addition to their usually fearsome fare, Fright Kingdom also offers a toned-down version of their terrifying tour called “Hardly Haunted”, typically scheduled twice a month on Sunday afternoons during the matinee hour of 1-4PM. This set of spooky scenes and stories is far more appropriate for the much younger set whose tender sensibilities may not be up the force of Fright Kingdom unleashed. Fright Kingdom’s regular hours are 6:30-11PM Friday and Saturday nights from the last weekend in September until Halloween. Fright Kingdom is very easy to get to and simple directions can be found on their website.

Fright Kingdom may be closed for 2009 now that October is no more, but one of the most enjoyable qualities of any scare is the inexorable escalation of anticipation. Start prepping yourself for the visit you know you need to make. Get your costume together, read a few old stories by Ray Bradbury or H.P. Lovecraft, and for goodness sakes watch some classic horror films, preferably on Saturday Fright Special, where you can get an inkling as to what the environs of Fright Kingdom are like if you check out Seasons 3 and 4. After you’ve engaged in all that training, you might be ready for a visit to “The Haunt”, but I doubt it. Tim and his marvelous cronies have put even more time into getting ready for you and they won’t let you leave unless you’ve seen the darkest side of the macabre there is to offer. You won’t be disappointed. Get yourself to Fright Kingdom next year, or one of us will have to haunt you down!

www.frightkingdom.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981) d. J. Lee Thompson

2009-10-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Not all of the wonderfully pithy but frequently accurate wise maxims are totally sovereign for every situation. For example it could be said that, “the more things change, the more they often DON’T stay the same”. As we age, our tastes in music, food and film expand and alter. Our friendships and relationships grow, transform and end. Even our bodies go through stages of maturity and then decline. More often than not, very few things in life really remain constant and just as my eyesight and hearing have steadily varied through the years, my opinion of films does not always remain steadfast. There are motion pictures like THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY which I grow to like more each and every time I see it, while THE HOWLING is a flick that I still enjoy, but it does not deliver the shock to the system that it once did. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is that surprising example of a movie that has improved in my eyes as the years have passed and it is not entirely clear to me whether I expected too much back in 1981 or that I see with a deeper mind now almost 30 years later or a combination of the two.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is the story of Virginia “Ginny” Wainright, a young and promising student at Crawford Academy. Ginny joins an elite cadre of fun-loving co-eds known as “The Top Ten”, who come from privileged backgrounds and seem more interested in “sucking dry the marrow of life” than learning. For Ginny, the path to knowledge is a convoluted one, for as she uncovers the mysteries of academia, she also peels back the layers of a very complicated past. As each day passes and Ginny nears her 18th birthday, memories of her mother’s death and her own traumatic physical and psychological ordeal are dredged up, even as a killer begins to stalk and slash through the members of “The Top Ten”. As the body count rises, Ginny must confront painful realities and even more trying circumstances to uncover lost recollections and avoid the grasp of a maniacal killer stacking up college-bound corpses like cordwood.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is a perfect subject worth analyzing when it comes to mutating opinions over the corridor of years. Like many film lovers, when I saw this flick right around its original release, I enjoyed it for what it was worth, but was not enlightened nor was I transformed. It seemed to lack the unrelentingly somber and ominous feel of HALLOWEEN, neither did it have the esoteric bloodthirstiness of FRIDAY THE 13th. What I didn’t realize then but now can see with more experienced eyes is that HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME actually has more in common with films like Dario Argento’s DEEP RED or Mario Bava’s BLOOD AND BLACK LACE than it does classic 70s/80s slasher fare. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is not nearly as stylish as an Argento or Bava film, but it is far more diverse in tone and structure than it is given credit for. At first glance, it appears to be a generic slasher flick with some elements of the “slob comedy”. The bare bones of the plot are pure slasher ancestry and the adolescent hi-jinks and chicanery of the “student bodies” feels like a hybridization of an endless parade of 80s “school stories” that proliferated in that decade after the 1978 release of ANIMAL HOUSE. What sets HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME apart from the thundering herd of slasher clones in the years after HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13th is its Italianesque aura. While the tom-foolery keeps the pace moving, most of the kill scenes are shot and executed very patiently. There is an attempt to create real suspense, an authentic sense of mystery and palpable atmosphere. While the camera work in HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME is not terribly novel, it is very competent and it does its job admirably. Like a good Italian western, the photographic focus on the characters is totally upon their facial expressions, the emotions passing across their eyes, and for the victims and the shadowy killer, there is often a very impressive panoply of body language that conveys more to the astute viewer than the rapidly paced and edited action sequences that so thoroughly strip modern horror of any sense of mood. There is a thoughtful balance between the psychological components to HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, high-spirited foolishness, dramatic character interplay and restrained but still highly effective gore. The end result is a motion picture that appeals more to me now, after I have had nearly 30 years to watch scads of stylish and powerful Euro-horror flicks and almost as many American exploitation films that often create just as profound a response through different means. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME combines the best of both worlds, trading on its slasher/exploitation roots but mining some of what made Italian and European giallos and thrillers so very enticing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME heavily benefits from its full restoration, both visually and musically. Large segments of this film were quite dark and for those of us who saw it first on the Silver Screen, but then saw the murky VHS transfer, we wondered what we were watching the second time around. What emerges from this very strong re-issuing of the original film is a movie that is bright and colorful when it is meant to be so, and deeply dismal when the lights dim and the tone slides down into a pit of gloom. The original score has been restored as well, which for some may not mean much, but for those who saw HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME in its original form means a great deal. What made the score of HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME special was its almost small orchestral ensemble feel that blended the modern visuals with a much older audio element. The resulting feel of the film was and especially is far more intricate than one would imagine from what is considered to be a second tier slasher film.

The disappointment for those wishing for an even more penultimate re-release is the lack of bonus features. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME has the theatrical trailer on the dvd menu and a pair of auto-play Anchor Bay trailers that engage at the onset of the play function and that is all for dvd extras. Normally, I would rail until hoarse at the lost opportunity here, since the majority of the cast and crew is both still alive and has gone on to the occasional bigger and better project. I will still admit my dejection over a lack of interviews or mini-documentaries when such an undertaking would have been glorious, but this time around I am going to try to be content. That this film was re-issued at all, only five years after its first dvd release and during a time of economic downturn and significant retraction in the genre film dvd market, is rather astonishing. Getting a chance to experience this movie looking and sounding so very good once more will have to be reward enough. If another chance does present itself to re-issue HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME one more time and load up the supplemental features with all kinds of goodies, I hope it happens. I am not a deep devotee or an aficionado of HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME like I am THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL or THE OMEN, but it is often those little, less remembered tidbits of the past that give us the greatest joy in the present when we learn all about them anew and see them through fresh eyes.

Getting the chance to reappraise some experience like a band you thought you didn’t like or a restaurant that didn’t rock you back on your heels can sometimes be as enjoyable as discovering something wonderful for the first time. It is almost like realizing that we can get a second ride on the Merry-Go-Round or that we really can live a great day over again. I am glad that I saw HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME as a young man first and then once more as a much older adult because it has given me the opportunity to reconsider its place in film history as well as reassess its place in my own cinematic life. Watching HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME was not a re-awakening, nor did it rejuvenate me by washing all the years away between then and now. It did reconnect me briefly with a vanished time and reminded me that old opinions may not always be ones we should hold onto forever. Maybe I should go give PAINT YOUR WAGON another try? Maybe not.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com

PLAGUE TOWN (2008) d. David Gregory

2009-07-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

The miracle of birth is often romanticized as being a blessed and joyous event, but that is not always the case. There are often times when other emotions well up after the delivery of child: sorrow when it is stillborn, anger over abnormality, horror in the face of dreadful mutation. The perversion of children has long been a staple of shocking cinema, from cerebral classics like LORD OF THE FLIES to lesser known terror-fests like WHO CAN KILL A CHILD. When you combine a demented dream with miserable metamorphosis and sinister somberness, you get a motion picture that will be delightfully deranged, and that movie is PLAGUE TOWN.

PLAGUE TOWN is the story of a small “family” unit on holiday in the British Isles. Jerry and his bickering teenage daughters Molly and Jessica are lost in the fields and hedgerows of a quiet rural community accompanied by Jerry’s fiancé Annette and Jessica’s newly acquired boyfriend Robin. While the family squabbles about minutiae and squanders precious daylight trying to find the main road and the bus to safety, they wander deeper into territory that is not meant to be explored and as darkness falls stumble upon a town of nightmares. It is here that the five find monstrosities prowling in the shadows and must battle against a maniacal force of children left to their own devices by the adults who brought them into misshapen being. Before long it is evident why Robin, Jessica and Molly’s lives have been spared while the older adults have been dispatched ruthlessly. Try as they might, a horrific fate awaits the three remaining travelers.

PLAGUE TOWN is a wonderful throwback to a time before ridiculously gratuitous and poorly crafted violence, when movies weren’t replete with cheats and bad CGI, but were about being creepy, disquieting and deeply disturbing in a most psychological and visceral manner. Starting off with some daylight pastoral sequences that were attractive and well shot but without needless grandiosity, the initial onus of the story is on the dysfunction Molly and Jessica’s family and their specific relationship. Molly is dark, somber, troubled and haunted but Jessica is pretty, spoiled, selfish and chatty, and all the while their father is intelligent but ineffective and weak. Both the visual and narrative elements in this early segment of the rising action are an effective feint to distract the film fan from what is coming. The half-seen menace and carefully hidden morbidity are interspersed with some sickening sights that help to move along the patiently woven plot, but without haste or needless waste. As the darkness of night deepens so too does the tone become more ominous, and the imagery (while still thoughtfully constructed) becomes more brutal and twisted. All the while this is happening, the viewer becomes privy to where this saga is likely to end up, but it doesn’t matter. Each and every twist in the tale is luridly painted with the grisly colors of ghastliness that are not predictable and yet are also not overdone. What emerges is a chronicle of madness that creeps over the onlooker like any deadly pestilence, it is slow in the beginning but once the grip has been established, it cannot be thrown off. PLAGUE TOWN ends exactly as a lethal bacillus would, it is wonderfully overwhelming as it winds down into an irresistible gloom.

From a technical standpoint, there is a lot to like about PLAGUE TOWN too. Despite some moments of shakey-camera action and some rapidly edited close-ups, most of this film is well shot, effectively lit and thoroughly atmospheric. Whether it is menacing woods, misty paths and roads, dark-enshrouded houses or murky rooms, each and every stage of the movie is bursting with starkly scary but not stupidly sculpted sights. More often than not, the makers of PLAGUE TOWN obviously know that it is what cannot be seen and is lurking in the shadows is far more frightening than what jumps out at you with a bang and a flash. To further augment the aura of the macabre the music and sound effects of this film are perfectly suited to its look and could be some of the best I’ve come across in a long time. There are child-like musical strains that blur the line between youthful whimsy and the insane notes of a sinister song. Ordinary noises and everyday images blend in a sinuous fashion to become horrible and distasteful, further adding to the impact of PLAGUE TOWN. The actors are not well-known nor are they terribly experienced, but they do their jobs well and deliver steady, stable, convincing performances that are a credit to their craft as well as that of the director and the screenwriters. What was possibly the most effective element of PLAGUE TOWN was it reliance on old-school special effects, especially when it came to creating the look of the deformed children of the town. Instead of over-blown prostheses or foolishly unnecessary CGI, PLAGUE TOWN goes for the tried and true formula of taking something holy and making it profane using very delicate means to taint and distort. The end result is a populace of freaks that is not laughable like the “crazy town” in GYMKATA but possibly more malevolent than the cherubs of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. The monsters of PLAGUE TOWN are the ace in a hand full of face cards and when used so brilliantly in combination, it is absolutely unbeatable.

To go along with all these strengths is a bonus features menu that while not a flood of extras, is very impressive for its quality. First up is a superb 29 minute featurette called “A Visit to Plague Town” that is a mix of cast and crew interviews and a look behind the scenes at the genesis and the making of PLAGUE TOWN. Nicely balanced in this mini-documentary is the need for the addition of some film clips with all the fine anecdotes of the principles, as well as a peek at the production process. After that is an equally impressive 16 minute featurette called “The Sounds of Plague Town” that explores the musical and sound effects elements of the motion picture. There is a theatrical trailer and for those wise enough to take advantage of it, an outstanding audio commentary with director David Gregory and producer Derek Curl. As has been the case when I’ve had dealings with the films David Gregory has been involved with through Dark Sky and Severin, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences and am now looking forward our next meeting of the ways.

PLAGUE TOWN is the proof needed in this modern degenerate age that old-style creepshows can still be made, can still be chilling and can still delight a viewer. We don’t need to take the ill-advised road of torture porn or the unsatisfying plunge into the action/horror film. Imagery can still be subtle and yet sublimely scary. The cadence of the flick can be patient without being slow, the gore can be unsettling without being tedious and the premise of the narrative can be intelligent and yet still evocative. If you once loved the wonderfully morose and yet stylishly gaudy horror epics of Italy and Spain from the 1960s and 70s like HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB or THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE, then PLAGUE TOWN is your cup of tea. Understand that the brew will not be sweet, but acrid and bitter, but that is what real horror movies are all about. It shouldn’t be a pleasant ride through the Fun House, but a bloodcurdling swoop through the graveyard, twig fingers grasping at you and howls freezing your blood all the way.

www.darkskyfilms.com
www.plaguetown.com

NATURE’S GRAVE (2008) d. Jamie Blanks

2009-07-30T13:58:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Richard J. Trottier

The wilderness has long been a domain mankind has had a uneasy relationship with, and as such it has caused us to form a sense of attraction and revulsion. Most people today would say that wild places are a realm of beauty and serenity, but in our not too distant past, hardy souls like the Pilgrims thought differently. The early North American colonists viewed the Great Outdoors with emotions akin to enmity and deeply-seated mistrust, a haunt of darkness and a place of rough savagery desperately needing to be “subdued”. In today’s world of respect for “green” and political correctness, painting the wild lands in a light other than the most reverent of tones just isn’t done. Certainly “monster” movies dealing with forces of nature make the beasties out to be baddies, but to demonize the back country just isn’t proper anymore. NATURE’S GRAVE (aka LONG WEEKEND) is a film with some clear strengths and an equal number of glaring weaknesses, and possibly because it is of Australian origin it is a bit more daring than the average American flick, since it takes a tack that isn’t too common today by pitting man against both himself and Mother Nature in a desperate battle for survival and ending up the loser.

NATURE’S GRAVE is the story of Peter and Carla, a 30-something married couple struggling with intense relationship friction borne of grave past mistakes that have created cracks that reach to the core of their commitment. In an effort to rekindle their dying romance, Peter makes plans for a camping trip on “Moondog Beach” where the surf is up and the landscape is untamed. Despite Carla’s misgivings and a strong penchant for more “civilized” surroundings, they make the long trek to meet some friends and get some “R & R” over a long weekend. Small problems begin to bedevil them and darker hints at trouble to come arise, even as Peter and Carla’s efforts at marital renewal sputter and then die like a candle left in a sconce too long. As it becomes increasingly obvious they are unable to combat their personal demons, Peter and Carla also become aware that something sinister is happening at “Moondog Beach”. Before long, they are racing to escape the noose that is being drawn around them and escape the snare that seems intent to snuff out their lives even more effectively than they squelched their love.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, there is a lot to like about NATURE’S GRAVE. Except for the last act of the film where a small degree of shakey-cam is introduced (probably for the reason of intensifying the instability of the situation and the characters), most of this movie is well shot, even superbly filmed. There is a multitude of spectacular landscape scenes starting right from the opening credits and going all the way to the end of the action. Whether it is panoramic vistas of sky and surf or beach and brush, if it was the purpose of the film makers to tempt the viewer into visiting Australia and increasing tourist traffic there, they could have scarcely done more. NATURE’S GRAVE is absolutely breathtaking during much of its run and the impressive thing is it is done both on the big and small scale. The small-set camera work looks very compelling, just as the expansive scenic views were simply staggering. Someone who had been deeply inspired by the awesome scope of the Australian coastlands scouted locations with a fervor that is evident and then the film crew shot those exteriors with equal passion. In addition to stunning visual components, there is a subtle but engaging incidental music score and soundtrack that helps in developing the sense of tension and threat that slowly builds in this motion picture. Like any good play, NATURE’S GRAVE is totally focused on the two main characters, stays in one general place for the duration and requires the onlooker to experience their pain without distraction. As a result, a degree of emotion counter to the joyousness of the landscape photography is created by the plot and setting concentration and the contrast between the two is a strength that can’t be overlooked.

From a story and character’s point of view, NATURE’S GRAVE has its problems. For the average American horror fan raised on gruesome slasher fare or psychologically bruised by torture porn, NATURE’S GRAVE will feel sluggish, maybe even slow. It is a VERY patient film that takes its time getting where it wants to go in the end and if you are not willing to give it the time it needs, NATURE’S GRAVE will likely end up as a disappointment. The story works hard to strike an early balance between drama and thriller with little about it that would cause it to be considered a horror film. Towards the middle of the narrative, the drama element takes center stage and for those hoping for the action to intensify, this is where NATURE’S GRAVE might lose them. It is only towards the end when the “wheels have come off” that the thriller/horror aspect of the film reasserts itself and the payoff occurs. Most may be able to see what was coming in the conclusion, but it is a spectacularly gloomy and grisly downer ending, and for someone like me who is sick of “safe and happy” denouements like WHILE SHE WAS OUT, an audacious finish like NATURE’S GRAVE where bad things happen is a welcome change of pace. From a character perspective, NATURE’S GRAVE has more problems for there even tough there was a dark and unpleasant chemistry to Peter (James Caviezel) and Carla (Claudia Karvan), there are difficulties that tainted the ultimate outcome. Both actors are screen veterans and know how to portray their characters effectively, but the problem lies in the way they were scripted. In an effort to create the successful downer ending and play up the angle that “Mother Nature knows best”, Peter and Claudia are callous, uncaring people who start as slightly unsympathetic and steadily degenerate into deeply disagreeable characters. Their dysfunction and dislike for each other is poignant and very patiently developed, but the plot concept is that the viewer will come to take sides against them if they are detestable. This is always a mistake and it does not work once again. However, if we had come to root for them had they been sympathetic, then the climax would have been even more predictable, but possibly more heart-wrenching. In the end, I did not abhor Peter and Claudia as too often I do when screen roles are crafted to be somewhat loathsome, but I could not fully relate to them nor their ultimate fate, fascinating and wonderfully gruesome as it was.

NATURE’S GRAVE has an even greater weakness than pacing or character development and that is a total lack of dvd extras. There are two auto-play trailers at the head of the main menu and that is it. I realize that companies are cutting back in these tough economic times, but so are consumers. To charge more than $20 retail for a dvd and then not to include any extras is a colossal blunder. Film enthusiasts want to know more about a project. James Caviezel was Jesus in PASSION OF THE CHRIST and to not talk to him about NATURE’S GRAVE or to not include a commentary with director Jamie Blanks who was also the main editor and created the music is an enormous faux-pas analogous to going on a safari expecting to see kangaroos and getting wombats instead.

NATURE’S GRAVE is a film that is probably not marketed appropriately. The dvd box art and tag line are likely to attract classic horror or monster movie enthusiasts, but that is not what this film is about. It isn’t an overt action or thriller rocket ride, so people expecting an adrenaline rush will be disillusioned. It is clearly not going to attract viewers wanting to see a drama, but that element may be its strongest suit. If you want to see a very patient movie about people who put themselves into a terrible fix and then fall apart at the seams, all the while surrounded by some glorious scenery, NATURE’S GRAVE is right up your alley. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many people in that narrow demographic.

www.screenmediafilms.net

ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD (2009) d. Alex Horwitz

2009-07-14T08:19:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Richard J. Trottier

It is always nice to do something a little different. Since 2006, Saturday Fright Special’s Fangtastic Features has seen A LOT of feature motion pictures pass through our hands, many of which we have reviewed. The only problem is that feature films, like novels, can get a little formulaic, and it is nice to “step outside the box” every now and then. Just as reading short stories is a superb change of pace for the literature buff, short film formats are a very welcome diversion for the movie lover. ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD came to us from Strange Case Films, and it stars two veteran performers of note, Adrienne Barbeau of THE FOG and CREEPSHOW as well as John La Zar of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Teaming up two iconic actors in a short feature (21 minutes) dealing with a topic that is a hallmark concept of the horror genre feels like something right out of The Twilight Zone, and that is exactly the kind of impression that ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD leaves you with.

ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD is the story of Dr. Ben Jacobs and his wife Alice. Dr. Jacobs is the world famous creator of the Z-Virus serum, which saved the planet from the devastating effects of a contagion that ravaged the populace and the infrastructure of The Earth. Slowly struggling to rebuild society with the help of the temporary salvation of the serum, Dr. Jacobs’ attention is less focused on the renewal of the world’s life and more on his own personal goals. His wife Alice, thought to be long dead as a result of the Z-Virus, is living in seclusion in their home, still heavily infected by the insidious plague. Dr. Jacobs races against time to save Alice from total surrender to the bacillus, but in giving way to his undying love for his wife, Dr. Jacobs makes a series of ethically questionable choices leading to a sequence of terrible outcomes and then final disaster.

For anyone who ever has watched a George Romero movie or the film THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, there is nothing surprising about the story of ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD, but it doesn’t matter. ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD is a tale of all-consuming love and how terribly blinding that can be to a person who should be calculating the cause and effect nature of their actions. It is a story built around the juxtaposition of romance/beauty and revulsion/horror. The plot is spun patiently and moves in gentle waves towards a climax that you know is coming but cannot turn away from. Like a good Greek tragedy, the viewer hopes for salvation, knowing full well that catastrophe looms on the horizon. What is most interesting about the narrative of ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD is that its quiet beginnings and steady progression towards calamity are deeply reminiscent of older anthology television series like One Step Beyond, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery or even Dark Room. It is only a few curse words and the bloodiness of the climactic scene that separate ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD from its TV cousins and land it firmly in the genus of short film.

From a technical standpoint, there is also a lot to like about ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD. It is well shot and well lit, the sound is crisp and clean and the acting is clearly that of seasoned professionals. While ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD is a dark tale and the lighting scheme is clearly meant to be “ominous and moody”, I can clearly see what is going on without straining my eyes, as is too often the case when it comes to most modern camera work. There are no deleterious effects of “shakey-cam” either as well as no mumble-a-thon epics. Like a well-made TV episode of yore, ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD is competently done. Watching the narrative progress, I was struck by the fact that in a short amount of time I was no longer looking at actors I knew so very well, but at the characters they had become. The contrast of the coldly logical and barely animated but haunted Dr. Jacobs and the hardly contained, distinctly unglamorous and yet repellingly creepy Alice Jacobs was brilliantly done. Their heartbreaking love and even more horrific end was palpably powerful and that was as much a testament to the acting skills of Adrienne Barbeau and John La Zar as it was to a tried and true story that I had seen done many times, but still enjoy.

For those who enjoy a good short-story in film form and like their imagery subtle at the start and then savage at the close, ALICE JACOBS IS DEAD is worth your time. I felt like a kid again sitting down to something that would have fit right into a half hour block like The Twilight Zone. The only thing that was missing was the Alka-Seltzer and Ballantine Beer commercials.

www.strange-case.com

SEA BEAST (2008) d. Paul Ziller

2009-07-09T16:12:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Imitation is often referred to as one of the sincerest forms of flattery. That is certainly the case in the creative world where modern painters pay tribute to ancient masters by referencing their older efforts in new pieces. In the music world, sampling was all the rage a number of years ago, and while it may not have been all that sincere an effort at paying respect, there was a backhanded compliment there to be sure. Photographers often reuse old poses and concepts in their work, trying to update the brilliant ideas that have gone before. I don’t know how many times I have seen that image of Marilyn Monroe revisited where she is wearing a white angora sweater pulled down over her bare legs and set against a red backdrop. In the film world, it is VERY common to see old ideas rehashed or reworked in new films. The problem with such kind-hearted emulation is that if you have a good memory, and I do, and you’ve seen it done before, and I have, and it has been done better, than the end result may not be fully satisfying. Such is the case with SEA BEAST (aka TROGLODYTE), a film that borrows from several older sources, including very ONE famous wellspring in particular, and as a result it has its entertaining moments, but it doesn’t quite live up to some of the more innovative or at least wacky installments in The Maneater Series.

SEA BEAST is the story of the McKenna family, who are a part of a fishing community somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Will McKenna is a down-on-his-luck salmon boat captain whose fortune turns even sourer when a couple of crew members of his ship die under some very uncanny and unpleasant circumstances. Before long, Will becomes convinced that a “sea creature” is wreaking havoc, but no one believes him. This bloodthirsty monstrosity kills quickly and then vanishes, is not completely visible at all times and no one else has been an eyewitness to its ghastly killing methods. With the help of a plucky young marine biologist named Arden and his daughter Carly, Will goes on a hunt to bring down this menace before the rest of the village ends up as fish food.

SEA BEAST has a very good premise that is none the worse for wear, in which some denizen of the deep has come ashore, it can’t be seen and it even evidences predator tactics reminiscent of the angler fish or the “sea devil”. While none of this is terribly novel, it doesn’t have to be. The thought of a slimy, barnacle-encrusted fish-reptile that has the power to cloak itself and then kill in a variety of terrifying manners is perfect “monster movie” fare and can be entertaining for even those of us who have seen this kind of flick or TV episode before. The problems begin when the story begins taking on the elements of JAWS and JAWS 2, not that JAWS hasn’t been ripped off in an thousand ways over the past 35 years. When “sampling” from a famous predecessor, the best way to sincerely imitate is to do so in narrative but not conceptual fashion. For example, SNOW BEAST (1978) borrows from JAWS quite steadily, but since it is a story about an abominable snow-monster and is set in a ski-resort, the parallels are less obvious. In the case of SEA BEAST, the similarities strike the viewer in the face with the force of a cast-iron skillet. The settings are both sea-side villages. The main character in JAWS is a police chief; while in SEA BEAST the main character’s older brother is the police chief. The main character Will however, struggles with people not believing his stories about a monstrous killer, just as Chief Brodie dealt with doubters in JAWS. In SEA BEAST, there is a Quint-like character named Ben who is an old salt willing to sell his life for the kill. The main difference in SEA BEAST and JAWS, beyond the creature that is being hunted, is that a second story emerges in SEA BEAST taken right from the pages of JAWS 2. There are randy teenagers in trouble and threatened by the dangerous beasties, one of them being the main character’s daughter. If that weren’t enough, the demise of the villainous and venomous bottom-feeder in SEA BEAST bears a striking similarity to the death of the Great White in JAWS. I’ll say no more. To add to the pig-pile, if you like further references from the past, there is even a pair of scenes where the characters prepare to do battle with the creatures by creating weapons from handy-dandy objects lying around and fortifying their dwelling against all manner of fishy assault. To anyone familiar with 1980s television, this felt right out of The A-Team or McGyver. At no time during SEA BEAST did all of this imitation of older plot concepts and story ideas feel like thievery, rather it truly felt like sincere flattery by utilizing a proven formula. The difficulty here is that for veteran film lovers, instead of feeling fresh and creative, it will only feel worn-out and hackneyed.

On a technical level, SEA BEAST is a mixed bag. There is some lovely photography of the soaring ocean side cliffs and islands where this film was shot. Many of the shots were done at sunset or on bright, colorful days, or on misty, foggy mornings. As a result, a viewer is briefly treated to some thoughtful and well-executed camera work on occasion. Most of the shots of the characters are effectively done as well and the scenes are well lit. Unfortunately, that kind of quality is not consistently seen throughout the picture. The action scenes suffer from the modern plague of being shot too close, edited too rapidly and they evidence hand-held techniques or replications of those tactics that continue to induce nausea and frustration in the movie-lover. The visual effects are also of low quality at select times as well. While the creatures themselves are passable, the storm-tossed boat scenes to open the film are appallingly bad and looked no better than an old video game. The same can be said of the conflagration that ends SEA BEAST. I’ve seen more convincing flames drawn on my student’s depictions of the Battle of Fort Sumter. To add to the sense of mediocrity, the acting in SEA BEAST was not stellar despite the cast being a mix of seasoned adults and young people. Some of the cast has clearly had some experience in the acting world, but most of the performances were a little flat, not bad, just uninspired, as if the cast members realized they were walking over a well-traveled path and felt like their efforts were not going to be enough to enliven this somewhat weary old nag. Was it me or did the two female leads, Miriam McDonald and Camille Sullivan look suspiciously like Tory Spelling and Kate Winslet? More sincere flattery here in the form of imitation or was it my imagination?

As has been the case far too often with a Maneater Series disc, there are NO supplemental features. In the case of SEA BEAST, part of this may be somewhat forgivable since there aren’t many recognizable names, Corin Nemec (of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose fame) being the lone exception. Herein lies another problem. If you’ve got a film that may not have much zing, you’ve got to do something to jazz it up. Why not put in a screenplay writer’s commentary or a short director’s interview? With that addition, you inject immediate interest and the astute film-lover can find out answers to questions as to why SEA BEAST was so imitative and why the cast seemed to sleep-walk their way through this motion picture. Including only four auto-play trailers at the opening before the Main Menu engages continues to not be a Bonus Features section. I feel like a broken record saying the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, and……, sorry, I thought I was an RHI-TV dvd producer.

SEA BEAST is not a bad film and it could be very entertaining for someone not initiated in JAWS lore or other cinematic elements emulated throughout its entirety. In the end, I wasn’t bored or disgusted, as I too often am by what passes across my desk. Having said that, I felt like SEA BEAST was a missed opportunity. Any story about ocean oddities munching on people’s parts and snacking on their sinews has something going for it. Why not make the salt-water baddies Wall Street anarchists who hijack a jetliner to New York and start snapping at financiers and insider trading scum in an attempt to manipulate the commodities market? An insane idea I realize but it might have worked and it would certainly be new and out of left-field. Remember, I thought of it and expect a cut when WALL STREET WALLEYES becomes the next big cult classic.

www.geniusproducts.com
www.rhitv.com
www.maneaterseries.com

BACKWOODS (2008) d. Marty Weiss

2009-07-02T13:34:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

It has long been the province of “TV Movies” to follow trends and emulate the successful concepts of popular films. The problem with such behavior is that TV movies often do not have enough money nor do they have the freedom (due to censorship rules) to do all that they would wish. The special effects of a derivative TV Movie may not be as impressive and neither will the more “provocative” story elements. For nearly a decade, “torture porn” has become one of the more shockingly chic subgenres of the horror film universe despite its exceedingly distasteful qualities and for some reason such fare continues to make money at the box office and in DVD rentals. It was inevitable that TV movie versions of this loathsome offshoot of the purer horror strain would emerge. What do you get when you have a TV movie that was originally made for a theatrical release and has been reworked for television broadcast? You get BACKWOODS, which despite a weak start and some obvious difficulties, has some praiseworthy characteristics and may find its audience, a narrow one to be sure, but still a potential achievement.

BACKWOODS is the story of a group of corporate twenty-something gaming software engineers and managers who are sent on a “paintball retreat” in order to hone their business and leadership acumen so that their usefulness to the company will be increased. Once out in the wilderness of Jasper Park, CA, the group begins to amuse themselves with chicanery and drinking, but never losing their focus as to why they are there. All the while the execs are preparing for their “battle”, they are unknowingly being observed by eyes with the most malevolent of intentions. What no one knows is that this is the domain of a religious/para-military community/family who have annexed the land and is ready to fight and kill to maintain their bizarre way of life. Our “heroes” are captured and subjected to imprisonment, torture and outlandish rites, all aimed at the furtherance of a mystical/political doctrine that relies on breeding new members for the cult. The office types are forced to fight tooth and nail for survival or they face worse than death.

BACKWOODS did not look promising and it started with even less promise, but fortunately, that did not stay that way. The dvd box design was obviously created for the purpose of luring fans of SAW or HOSTEL into watching/buying this disc. The horrendously irritating openly credits with their herky-jerky and furry-blurry filming and editing style, mixed with “extreme” speed metal musical accompaniment, made me almost pull this dvd out of my player. That desire arose again when I was treated to the miserably unpleasant and asinine behavior of the main characters, which never really abated until the last one-third of the motion picture. For anyone who dislikes absolute blockheads as characters and abhors modern film-making techniques, you have to trust me that neither lasts the length of the movie. What actually gave me hope was that there were some early landscape scenes that were shot VERY well and added a sylvan charm and visual splendor to BACKWOODS. While not up to the level of THE FOREST or even GRIZZLY PARK, that immediate goodwill went a long way to restoring my faith in BACKWOODS. After that, I noticed that the indoor sequences were well lit and shot competently too. As a result, my confidence rose a little more. There were continued issues with the visual sequences throughout the run of BACKWOODS. Too many of the scene fades/dissolves or cuts were augmented with “cool” new effects that just stink and don’t add any sense of suspense, but rather make a movie feel more like a cheap kids’ cartoon. However, every time my exasperation level climbed, an outstanding exterior scene captured the grandeur of the excellent setting or a compelling and colorful interior sequence was utilized and I was drawn back into this flick.

The story followed a similar pattern, and since that means it got better, for those who are patient, they may be gently rewarded. Even with the obvious set up of the captured hikers and their creepy abductors, and even with some very well constructed “implied” torture porn sequences to further flesh out the set up, the first one-third of BACKWOODS is slow and struggles with focus. There are sequences like the “swimming hole” scene that felt like padding and that may have been the case considering this is a short feature at 84 minutes. It is after the main characters are captured and as we are exposed to the “Mother and her Family” and their reasons (religious, political and capitalistic) for being out in the wild that the narrative takes on some real profundity. Rather than going down the all-too-often used route of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, which has been aped too many times by movies like WRONG TURN or THE HILLS HAVE EYES as well as so many others BACKWOODS borrowed from films like BELIEVERS and made the bad guys less bestial and more bellicose. As a result, we leave behind a messy opening that has little or no menace and enter the meat of the film where bad things are happening, worse could be yet to come and some sincere suspense is created. While we know what the outcome is likely to be and it does turn out exactly that way, at least the path was a little less clearly marked and the minor surprises along the way made me want to watch a little more. The acting was inconsistent, but there was enough of a mix of screen veterans like Mark Rolston and Deborah Van Valkenburgh and promising youngsters like Ryan Merriman to overshadow some of the overacting. Haylie Duff’s performance is unremarkable but not bad and with some more experience and coaching, she may have a future in the business. Certainly she added some impressive eye candy to a flick that couldn’t deliver on all the goods that most people would want to see, but the young Miss Duff fills out her clothes nicely and writhes on a bed bound and helpless with the best of them, and I am sure plenty of teenage boys will enjoy both.

As is too often the case with RHI-TV movies, there are no extras on this disc. There were a series of auto-play trailers and that was all. While I have railed about this topic many times before, I must admit even greater disappointment this time around. BACKWOODS was meant to be a theatrical release supposedly and as such, most theatrical films are shot with supplemental features in mind for the DVD release. Those bonus goodies needed to be on this disc and since they are not, it does not increase the chance of BACKWOODS garnering an audience, it decreases it.

BACKWOODS may be a hard sell to audiences for another reason. Since the “torture porn” aspect of the film is downplayed, those who find pleasure in drek like CARVER will be disappointed by the lack of filthy content in BACKWOODS. All the terrible things except some of the gore are implied and you never really see rape or brutal savagery visited on anyone. In addition, those who want another HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES will not get it either as this is a simpler film without the budget or the balls to go that direction. However, for anyone who is not familiar with this subgenre or does not have the intestinal fortitude to sally forth into sicker, more depraved or at least some insanity-inducing motion picture mayhem, BACKWOODS may be exactly the ticket. It is violent without overdoing it. It strongly hints at grotesque goings-on without actually taking part. The story has some rather impressive gaps in logic, and the characters can be real pricks in the earlier sections, but both get somewhat better. This is not a great film, it isn’t really a good film, but it was watchable and that is high praise in these degenerate days. Enjoy the beach-girl appeal of Haylie Duff, bask in the glorious outdoor footage and then realize there really are disturbing groups like this out there in the wilds of Idaho and you might feel a little frisson up your back, which is more than I can say for SAW, which left me with a shudder in my bowels.

www.geniusproducts.com
www.rhitv.com

THE ESCAPEES (1981) d. Jean Rollin

2009-06-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Quirky character pairings made even more dynamic by the thespians that portray those roles have been a plot device and story vehicle as long as the Big and Small Screens have been around. Whether it was Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon or even Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, pairing two performers for comedic or dramatic effect can be a powerful strategy. When your duo are a pair of young women who are also unstable escapees from a mental institution, the nature of your story and its impact is going to be quite dissimilar from the average acting/performing tandem. Add to that the well-known directorial skills and idiosyncratic tastes of Jean Rollin and you know you’re likely to be viewing something not representative of your average flick. Such is the “lost” motion picture THE ESCAPEES, which is uneven and atypical of Monsieur Rollin, but still an addition to his canon that may delight the more avid of his fans.

THE ESCAPEES is the tale of Marie and Michelle, two very young women who seize a chance at flight from the insane asylum in which they are imprisoned. Marie is a deeply damaged and therefore only partially socially competent person, whose dreamy and fearful outlook on life makes her clingy and timid. Michelle is a spirited and combative tigress wrestling with her own demons, but very much interested in living life to the fullest. After their initial escape, the two ingénues, meet up with a traveling burlesque troupe run by Maurice and board with them briefly in an attempt to set off across France. Later, the girls make the acquaintance of Sophie and her lover Pierrot who promise to smuggle them aboard a freighter heading for exotic locales and a date with destiny. Before Marie and Michelle can stowaway on their ship of fortune, an act of impetuosity lands them in a circle of debauchery and their final lot is cast, leaving them at the end of their road in one of the bleakest endings possible.

THE ESCAPEES is a serious departure in style, content and tone for Jean Rollin, a director best known for his erotic horror films and supernatural skin flicks. THE ESCAPEES is considered to be “lost” for many good reasons, but despite some obvious weaknesses it has some very enjoyable characteristics so very typical of a Jean Rollin film. Like all of his previous movies, THE ESCAPEES is well shot and shows particular attention to careful composition, thoughtful camera angles, a mix of wide shots and close-ups, as well as some compelling examinations of the minutiae of transient life. What keeps M. Rollin’s work from being as strong as it normally can be is the inconsistent quality of the film print, transfer, which is a bit dark and grainy at times and marred with lines at very infrequent intervals. Worse were M. Rollin’s settings in most cases throughout the film. The vast majority of the exteriors were a mix of slate gray and other dull shades mirrored in dreary swatches of sea, sky and street. Most of the “street” scenes were equally lacking in visual vibrancy. The hallmark of most of Jean Rollin’s films was splashes of color, deeply fascinating architectural and landscape elements, but that is missing in THE ESCAPEES. Only the pastoral country exteriors of the opening segments of the film and the interiors of Madame Louise’s nightclub/domicile had any real dynamism to their visual elements. Without his customary aesthetics, one of the great pillars of his film-making prowess was weakened. The real visual strength of THE ESCAPEES can be found in the loving cinematography of the beauty of the three main female character’s faces. Between their long and shining hair, their profound and soulful eyes and their full and sensuous lips, Marie, Michelle and Sophie are a visual delight for anyone who enjoys the feminine glory of Gallic femmes. What is missing from M. Rollin’s usual paean to the exquisiteness of women is his penchant for nudity. It is only in the last acts of the movie that all of the principal and some of the secondary female characters are either partially or totally disrobed. For a Jean Rollin film, this is another immense diversion from the norm.

The great strength of THE ESCAPEES was its focus on characters, their personas and the interaction between them. The great trio of Marie, Michelle and Sophie are deeply engaging for their powerful inner natures and their painful frailties. Marie’s ethereal and haunted affect and her drifting, lost soul behavior make her both sympathetic and unapproachable. Michelle is filled with barely suppressed rage and bitterness making her initially unsympathetic but as the plot meanders forward, she becomes a deeper and more alluring character. Her strange mix of impulsive fury and youthful lack of self-confidence make Michelle a more complex if not as interesting a character as Marie. Then there is Sophie, a fresh-faced and exuberant pickpocket with dreams of freedom and joy as lofty as a philosopher. Her idealism is grounded by the street-wise nature of Michelle and the weighty emotional struggles of Marie, and yet the three seem to work as an amorphous unit that you can’t help but root for despite the knowledge that disaster can’t be far away. What keeps this rather interesting character study from being as gripping as it could be was a plot that wandered at best, crawled slowly through its runtime at worst and came perilously close to being miserably dull. It is only at the end that any violence and gore was to be seen, which is also highly atypical of a Jean Rollin film. Most of the rest of THE ESCAPEES is surprisingly PG-rated and if it weren’t for the deeply somber tone and earnestness of the look at people on the fringes of society, the first two-thirds of this movie would not be something that couldn’t be viewed on TV except for the burlesque routines. This was also another dramatic left-turn for Jean Rollin, for his earlier films always seemed to border on hedonistic, but THE ESCAPEES feels Spartan and solemn, sometimes bordering on dismal. Certainly the last act is a punishingly dark look at the wrong turns life can take. In the end, THE ESCAPEES is a contemplative movie, but one lacking in the necessary punctuation points that relieve the starkness of the poignant panorama that is depicted. Without that colorful dappling, the cinematic palette is not quite as exciting as it could have been.

The extras menu of THE ESCAPEES is a trifle small but still worthwhile. There is a Stills Gallery which evidences the same stylishness that the usual Redemption bonus features typically display. The ubiquitous set of Redemption Trailers can also be viewed, all of which I had seen before. The Great Gemstone of this set of supplements section is the 28 minute “Exclusive Jean Rollin Interview” from 2008, set partly in a Parisian cemetery. While somewhat inconsistently paced, this interview sheds a great deal of light on M. Rollin’s thoughts and recollections of THE ESCAPEES as well as some of his other films. For the Jean Rollin fan, this interview is a “must-have” and helps to spice up what is otherwise a slightly less zesty DVD.

THE ESCAPEES is not a bad film, but it is a cautionary tale of what happens to directors when they change their style as movie-going tastes, mores of a decade and social interests shift. Just as I can never just stop writing and suddenly become a ballet dancer, once a director has carved a path for themselves in the motion picture landscape, they can’t just abandon what made them successful and strike off in the direction of a trail that doesn’t really exist. THE ESCAPEES is praiseworthy for being a brave experiment on the part of a man who was unafraid to tackle some taboo topics, but it is also just as disappointing for not being as good as it should have been.

www.salvation-films.com

AN EROTIC WEREWOLF IN LONDON (2001, released in 2008) d.William Hellfire

2009-06-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Tim Hulsizer

Late review, me? Ya crazy!

Let's get right to the goods. Straight from the hallowed vaults of Seduction Cinema and Factory 2000 comes the semi-lost Misty Mundae feature AN EROTIC WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Clocking in at a lean, mean 67 minutes, this Beta SP/MiniDV movie also stars Anoushka, Darian Caine, Julian Wells, Zoe Moonshine, Ruby La Rocca, Linda Murray, Jeff Shields, and John Link. Astoundingly, they actually shot scenes and location shots in the UK and US, a feat not generally achieved in low-budget cinema of the erotic-horror/fetish/softcore genres. Writer/Director William Hellfire admirably oversees the proceedings and manages to ably navigate the convoluted plot, delivering a surprisingly ambitious feature that's packed with vitamins T&A just like grandma used to make. Ewww, scratch that last part...unless your grandma is Kitten Natividad, in which case I salute your bloodline.

The plot goes like this (brace yourself and expect spoilers): First we start with a lesbian scene in Misty's bar with her and Ruby. A strange foreign woman (Anoushka) arrives and wants to call a cab, and Misty takes the opportunity to get a little Euro-loving with the individual in question. Halfway through the deed, Anoushka werewolfizes and kills Misty, then leaves. The filmmakers decided to put Anoushka's wolf fangs on her bottom teeth instead of the top. Interesting choice. Then there's Ruby's dream in the bath of hitting it with Anoushka, and she is awakened by the scream of Misty.

We cut to London, where the offices of the Daily Limey are situated. A terrifying man with half his teeth missing (John Link) sends a brunette reporter with an unknown accent (Southern US meets British) to interview Anoushka about being a werewolf. When she arrives, Anoushka is wearing a tasteful ensemble consisting of shirt & panties that say "fuck" all over them. Cut to NYC: Misty's alive! Dr. Douchebag tells Nurse Jaded to watch her but not to put her finger in the pudding, if you catch my drift. Then it's back to the Anoushka interview, and I found myself wishing the disc had subtitles so I could understand Anoushka's broken English.

Back in NYC, Nurse Jaded needs some Misty Pudding after all. Next morning Nurse Blonde arrives to find Nurse Jaded missing. Misty promptly seduces Nurse Blonde. Speaking of blondes, back in London miss Anoushka has tracked one to her home and gets it on with her in the shower. No Teeth Man sends the reporter brunette to NYC to "finish the story." I don't think the NY Times has that kind of budget, much less a back alley rag like the Daily Limey. Ruby has a dream of doing Anoushka and is woken up by the reporter, who warns Ruby about Misty's lycanthropic transformation.

That night Ruby finds Misty in bed, horny as heck and fully healed from her original injuries. Misty gets chained to the bed for safety, but can mere chains hold her? I dare not ruin the shocking ending. See for yourself.

Also included on this enjoyable disc is the 12-minute feature "Reminiscing With Ruby," in which the comely lass talks about filmmaking and how she came to join Misty in the studio's stable of muff. The film itself boasts a very entertaining commentary with Billy H. himself as well as producer Michael Raso and Media Funhouse host Ed Grant. They provide information on how the studio got started, how they met the girls, how everyone acts on set, and more. They're smart, funny fellas and I enjoyed it more than a lot of big-budget Hollywood feature commentaries I've heard. While I can't say I'm a collector of this particular type of film, I dug the viewing experience and I think there's plenty here that will appeal to erotic-horror and Misty Mundae fans. The menus, packaging and extras are all put together very well, right down to the nifty painting on the cover.

The second disc is devoted to an entire bonus feature entitled NIGHT OF THE GROPING DEAD. On the EROTIC WEREWOLF commentary the guys talked about how they make private fetish films for paying clients, and I believe this client must be into dead people groping live ladies, because that's precisely what you get in this 48 minute flick. It seems like a pretty small group of folks who would be into something like this, even at a brisk 48 minutes, so it makes sense that they would include it as a bonus with another feature. And hey, what better to team it with than another erotic horror movie like AN EROTIC WEREWOLF IN LONDON.

NIGHT OF THE GROPING DEAD, shot sans tripod on low-grade video, stars Misty and Ruby again, and they're looking lovely as usual. Here we begin the story with a young lady doing laundry, diddling her skittle on a laundry table, then falling into a sleep so deep that she doesn't notice the zombie janitor who arrives and starts fondling her goodies. She finally awakens when he attempts a bit of the ol' mop handle rape, and she flees to her car which is clearly empty in the shots outside of it. Once inside the car, an undead dude from a 1970s prom materializes in the backseat somehow, causing her to flee into an alley and get caught by 3 undead gentlemen.

Milady finds herself trussed up in the unfurnished apartment of Marcus DeSade who commands an army of "S&M zombies" who strip, grope, and softcore rape her. They "tenderize" (read: spank) and "eat" (read: cunnilingate) her, making her a zombie in Marcus' army. He berates her and demands a zombie S&M BJ but she bites his member off and attacks his neck in an unconvincing manner (you can actually see the Tupperware container of fake blood behind them). She stands over his dead body and masturbates, then he somehow wakes up and screams his final scream.

Out on the street, Misty Mundae gets an amulet from a street corner dude in zebra pants. It turns out Zombie Queen Esmerelda wants the "Crack of Dawn" amulet for herself, so she sends undead folks out to get Misty. "Soon the whole world will be a zombie!" she cries. She gropes and chews on Misty, then we cut to sometime later. The Queen and Misty are now goth-zombie-lesbians making plans to get an army of zombies together. Misty observes, "You still have the power to make a dead woman cum. Not just anyone can do that." Indeed. They discuss their plans a bit more and the question is asked: "Don't you want to be queen?" The reply is given: "I just want to get fucked by her majesty." And so they make the bold decision to move to a trailer park instead.

"What about world domination?"

"Fuck it."

Erotic Werewolf info at Alternative Cinema

SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS (1982) d. Sergio Martino (aka Christian Plummer)

2009-05-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Tombs, cemeteries and burial grounds are some of the most fascinating strips of real estate the world has ever known. Despite their morbid nature, silent and forbidding affect and occasionally sinister decrepitude, they can also be places of charming serenity, stylish art and architecture as well as islands of sylvan loveliness leading to spiritual reflection. Depending on your personal bent, a tomb or a cemetery can be a wonderful or a frightening place, but it also depends on the condition of the cemetery. If gorgeous marble and fluted columns are the first thing that meets your eye, you may very well feel at ease, whereas moldered and scabrous headstones leaning drunkenly to one side in a burial ground filled with the rotting skeletons of old trees will not lend itself to a feeling of comfort. SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS (Assassinio il Cimitero Etrusco) is a lot like the tombs in which much of its story takes place. Despite the ominous nature of a tale of murder, the attractive and compelling nature of the statuary and pagan architecture makes it gripping enough on a visual level to keep you going even when the story, much like walking past endless gravestones, gets a little tiresome.

SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS is the story of beautiful Joan Barnard, an Etruscan language expert whose husband Arthur has just discovered an amazing new Etruscan tomb. Just before Arthur’s murder, Joan experiences the first in a series of bizarre dreams and waking visions where she sees people she knows sacrificed in the ancient Etruscan manner of having their necks broken. Arthur is the first in a succession of grisly murders, all seemingly tied to Etruscan rites and supernatural powers. It is as Joan probes deeper into the mystery that she is drawn into a drug trafficking plot and the machinations of grave robbers, both of which are schemes that could prove as deadly as the strange rituals of the Etruscans.

Originally conceived as an Italian television mini-series and then scaled down to be a feature film, SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS is a perfect example of a film that is mostly style with a very inconsistent level of substance. From the outset, there are many characteristics of this motion that are deeply reminiscent of 1970s Italian giallo masterpieces like DEEP RED or SUSPIRIA and that is not to be wondered at considering that director Sergio Martino (using the nom de plume Christian Plummer) was at the helm of ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK a decade before. Since that flick is one of the more iconic examples of a stylishly occult mystery/slasher with Gothic horror overtones, one could expect a similar vibe from SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS. It is an attractive film that would have benefited from either a better transfer or a better source print. There are moments when the imagery is grainy, out of focus or washed out, but most of the time the colors are sharp, the images are crisp and what we are seeing is clear and that is all to the good. The exterior shots of the Italian countryside were quite lovely and there are some striking moments of very old and modern architecture, both real and contrived, that are very impressive. The Etruscan tomb sets, genuine and imagined, are also quite stunning and lend a deeply ensconced sense of authenticity to a movie that trades heavily on being atmospheric, like so many of its predecessors. To add to the aura of being part of a long, cinematic ancestral line, the music of Fabio Frizzi sounds very evocative of something that Claudio Simonetti would have composed for a Golden Age Dario Argento film. The modern strains weave a strange magic with the primordial imagery and create a bizarre sense of occultism that is probably the greatest strength of SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS. To add to the otherworldly feel of this movie, there is the haunting, cold and almost statuesque beauty of actress Elvire Audray who plays Joan. Her rich brown eyes and river of golden locks is somehow at odds with her wintry and slightly emotionless countenance, and yet she is regularly seen screaming during SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS, so she obviously feels the emotion within her body. All of these cinematic traits make for a motion picture that is visually appealing and with its compelling imagery you are somehow pulled into the events irresistibly.

It isn’t the story, the acting or the dubbing that holds your attention in SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS though. While the pace does intensify as the plot advances, the narrative starts quite slowly, has a tendency to wind in gentle loops that don’t seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. As the pace picks up, the ties between the supernatural events, the drug smuggling crime thriller components and the grave robbing are ever so slightly stitched together, but it is a bit of a stretch. Fortunately, a steady stream of murders takes place that adds a palpable sense of hidden menace and malevolent mystery that keeps the slow story from grinding to a halt. What makes SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS a VERY strange addition to the film canon of Italian cinema is that while its aura may remind you of 70s giallos, there isn’t a lot other than that which should. One of the hallmarks of many 60s and 70s Italian giallo films was the propensity of blood and tasteful yet undeniable gore. While many a character is dispatched in SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS, there is very little blood. This is likely to be due to its television roots, but it stands out and possibly not as something that is a strength. On a similar note, by the early 1980s, Italian exploitation flicks of the killer, rapist, cannibal and crime thug type were thundering across the Mediterranean motion picture landscape. As a result, there were usually all kinds of perversity and salaciousness to be had if one wanted such content. Scandalous offerings are not to be found in SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS, which is quite surprising considering its “pagan sacrifice” central concept. Once again, starting its life as a TV mini-series probably has much to do with it, but the outcome is a film that looks like a lot of its late 70s and early 80s cousins, but feel and plays so much more like something from much earlier in the 1960s due to its PG nature. Add to that a cast that has a couple of Americans, John Saxon and Van Johnson, who were long past their heyday and a mix of Italians of varying acting talent and then a pair of language options (a bad English dub job or Italian without subtitles) that make viewing this film a little more challenging, and you’ve got a flick with loads of potential but that may miss its audience. Most people who enjoy slightly more modern Italian horror films are fans of Lucio Fulci and his ilk, but SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS has very little in common with a Fulci film except a small similarity when it comes to occult mind twistings. For those who prefer older Italian horror fare like that of Mario Bava, SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS will lack that classic feel and will not have the sense of pageantry.

As extras go, SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS has a few interesting tidbits. In addition to being able to choose your language option, there is a small and somewhat redundant poster gallery. What can be enjoyed are the existing excerpts from the original TV version, which are a collection of three deleted scenes and an alternate opening credits sequence, all of which are in Italian but thankfully have been subtitled in English. The TV mini-series excerpts were quite interesting and shed further light on the history of this ambitious project.

Whenever you’ve got a movie that can’t easily find its home among viewers, there is a potential problem. SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS wasn’t a bad film, it just didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be. It looked good on many levels and had a very good premise. Had it not been a TV mini-series to begin with and had a few more bloody and spicy bits, it may have been a better version of LAND OF THE MINOTAUR which had a bit more salaciousness but lacked palpable atmosphere. If you like a film that feels right and has got a much older sensibility to it, SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS is probably right up your alley.

http://www.rykodistribution.com/genericq.asp?module_map_id=1234&view=albumprofile&item_number=MYA%20201008%20DV%20%20

SAINT FRANCIS (2007) d. Ezra Allen Gould

2009-05-27T16:14:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Art, sex, religion and depravity can often coexist, just ask the Ruling Theocrats of the Medieval Catholic church. Few denizens of the world have more grotesquely welded these ideals into a mantra of twisted existence better than the Borgia Family. Authors have more easily and acceptably wound the themes of art, sex, religion and depravity into novels both sacred and profane. Painters and photographers have also tried to combine these seemingly disparate elements with a degree of success as well. Putting four such powerful concepts together in a film can be done, but it is a daunting task. The brevity of a motion picture’s runtime and the need for narrative cohesiveness often precludes the chance of really tackling all of these ideas and there is a good reason why. A film can become of tad too “avant-garde” or far too lascivious if any part of the delicate equation becomes unbalanced, tipping the overloaded tale towards disaster. SAINT FRANCIS is an ambitious and somewhat artistic effort to tell a grim tale that fails of its promise in the end despite some strong qualities, all because it can’t quite get the balance right.

SAINT FRANCIS is the story of the Bernard Family. The father, Dr. P. Bernard, is a sleazy televangelist who is more interested in acquiring cash than saving souls and is also the likely cause of his wife’s suicide that occurred when their three children were young. The children are Francis, Soul and Sid, all of which are caught in a maelstrom of debauchery swirling towards a vortex of ruin. Francis is a mentally disturbed drug addict, while Soul is an introspective and glamorous flesh peddler, and then there is Sid, the boyish-looking drug dealer. Their ineffective machinations and self-destructive personal habits intertwine in such a way as to create a despicable and depraved dance of debauchery spinning steadily out of control. By the end of their tale, all three of the Bernard children have been victims of each other’s violent ways and whose names are etched farther down on the tablet of doomed spirits, while their father ignores their helpless declines and preaches an empty message that no one seems to hear.

From a narrative standpoint, the general premise of SAINT FRANCIS is somewhat compelling. The juxtaposition of a Holy Man who is neither holy nor human with his terrifically degenerate trinity of damaged children has an excellent idea at its core of showing how truly barren either end of the spectrum can be. Neither the preacher nor his thrill-seeking offspring have found anything lasting that buoys the spirit or have done anything that leaves an enduring legacy. Interweaving their miserable chronicles has benefit as well, for what emerges is akin to a sickening kaleidoscope of personal and societal misery that bewilders the mind and is crushing to the soul. Yes, this is a depressing yarn, but looking into the mouth of madness is a good thing sometimes. What shatters the plot on the anvil of its own simplicity though is that there isn’t enough depth to the story, complexity to the characters or profundity to the themes twined about them. Too often we are treated to characters interfacing inanely on their cell phones, looping back over old ground about topics that we have already visited to our profound boredom and that were thin to begin with and/or somewhat meaningless, or worse the dialogue just existed to pad out the length of a fairly short film. What makes these narrative weaknesses even more distressing was that a really good story can sometimes cover for the lack of acting talent. In the case of SAINT FRANCIS, the sparsely spun tale highlighted the poor acting and it was only the propensity of sordid and steamy scenes swollen with salacious skin that helped to distract the viewer from the lack of strong performers just like any good sleight of hand trick, but not quite. At least in the case of Dita Von Teese (Soul), one can say that her spectacular loveliness, elegance and barely contained sensuality makes up to a small degree for her inexperience and underwhelming portrayal of her character, but in the case of Charles Koutris (Francis) and Casey Anderson (Sid), their performances were either overblown and irritating (Mr. Koutris) or downright wooden (Mr. Anderson). On a final acting note, Zalman King (Dr. Bernard) has never been anything but a third-rate actor and while he may add some name recognition to a cast of relative unknowns, was the cost of adding a “lead balloon” worth it?

On the visual side, SAINT FRANCIS was a bit harder to call. In general, I am not usually a fan of “nouveau” visual effects and camera techniques, but in this case they seemed to almost work. There were constantly shifting panoplies of color, shade, lighting schemes and a contrasting chiaroscuro of bright and dark that added imagery similar to a collage to the attendant narrative mosaic. In addition, there were fades and dissolves, out of the ordinary shot compositions and angles as well as expressionistic additions of graininess, soft and stilted focus, quasi-fish eye or POV perspectives that kept the viewer’s gaze moving and the psyche engaged. The otherworldly effect of this miasma of stylishness was not as impressive as the Ken Russell-directed vignette from ARIA called “Nessun Dorma” but it seemed to be going for that same general effect. What it did find a way to improve upon was the morass that was IRREVERSIBLE with its unwatchable methods and mean-spirited mindset. While gloomy and brutal there was thought behind the visual design of SAINT FRANCIS and it nearly achieved what most low-budget modern film efforts are never even remotely able to approach, a degree of artistic success. The problem lay in the repetitive nature of some of the film segments like the heart surgery of Francis which was repeated over and over again. That concept worked in ALL THAT JAZZ for there was a payoff waiting in the wings, but that never had the same punch here. The other problem was the delightful but still somewhat unsuccessfully integrated naughty bits in SAINT FRANCIS. Being that this a Salvation Films release, one knows they are in for some sin and skin. Adding plenty of those elements wasn’t a bad thing but they felt a bit forced at times and rather than intensifying the “debauchery” category, it just seemed to keep the “art” side of the film from reaching consummation while never really delivering on the promise that one expects when watching something that is really going to be spicy. At least that was the case until one reached the extras menu and a bit more of a bang was delivered for the buck.

The supplements section of SAINT FRANCIS was reasonably strong as Redemption releases go. There were three “extended erotic scenes” of roughly 6-8 minutes each, which were the full scenes in finalized form before they were edited into the film sequence. For anyone looking for loads of sexy skin and gorgeous babes, these extended scenes are worth your time. There is a short music video called “The Devil is Laughing” that I found dull and dreary. More interesting were the two different SAINT FRANCIS trailers which were fascinating in how differently they were constructed and edited. The contrast between the two gives the astute film lover the chance to see how very diverse the methods are of marketing movies to the masses. While a tad short, the Stills Gallery has a very eclectic mix of screen captures presented in an artsy-classy manner that adds a degree of savoir-fare to the bonus features. Finally, there were a series of Redemption Trailers, all of which I had seen before in one way, shape or form. While not the “Tomb of the Pharaohs” when it comes to extras, I was pleasantly surprised by my ambles through this supplemental menu.

I have had the chance to view quite a few Redemption discs over the past few years and while not the joy that the Jean Rollin films are or the surprise of SLASHERS, at least SAINT FRANCIS was not a disaster like THE WITCHING HOUR or some of the other modern film releases. I found SAINT FRANCIS to be more like NATURE MORT, a sincere effort at a creative project with some praiseworthy elements that didn’t quite work. Given more resources, experience and practice, Ezra Allen Gould may be capable of bringing forth a motion picture of surpassing artistry and compelling nature someday, or maybe not. It will be interesting to see what happens.

www.salvation-films.com
www.saintfrancismovie.com/

NIGHTMARE CASTLE (1965) d. Allen Grunewald aka Mario Caiano

2009-05-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

It has been almost 45 years since NIGHTMARE CASTLE (aka GLI AMANTI D’OLTETOMBA) arrived on the scene and since that time much about the world has changed, mostly for the worse. As film-loving goes, one of the saddest transformations has been the disappearance of the Gothic Ghost Story from the cinematic landscape. Once upon a time, the Gothic Ghost Story was one of the most common of genre films that could be found on the Silver Screen horizon, and its moodiness and delightfully formulaic but still wildly entertaining nature made it a fan favorite for decades. As tastes shifted in the latter half of the 1970s and as those market trends accelerated throughout the 1980s, the Gothic Ghost Story began to vanish into the mists in much the same fashion as did the apparitions haunting the lavishly ornamented halls of the aristocratic manors where so many of these films were set. Whether they were laughable or lugubrious, sinister or salacious, Gothic Ghost Stories often had a little something for everyone, whether it was lovely ladies for Dad, ravishing romance for Mom, ominous spirits for junior and equestrian elements for sister. NIGHTMARE CASTLE is back in public eye again, having been marvelously restored by Severin Films. For those of us who have enjoyed this flick in the past despite its less than perfect former presentations, it is a chance to revel in the lush tapestry of sights, sounds and seductive stories that we have enjoyed before but are getting harder and harder to come by today. For those who have never seen NIGHTMARE CASTLE, it is a chance to see why Gothic Ghost Stories were a profoundly fertile field of cinema’s lost youth.

NIGHTMARE CASTLE is the story of Dr. Stephen Arrowsmith, a brilliant but sadistic scientist tormented by the infidelity of his beautiful wife Muriel. Catching Muriel in the act of betrayal, Stephen visits terrible retribution upon both Lady Arrowsmith and her lover David. After Muriel’s dispatch, Stephen must find a way to insure that Lady Arrowsmith’s fortune remains his and those plans include marrying Jenny Hampton, Muriel’s step-sister and the heir to Hampton Manor and Muriel’s riches. Weaving ever more convoluted schemes with the help of his striking house servant Solange, Stephen attempts to nudge the mentally unstable Jenny over the edge into the abyss of madness, but little does he know that for every move he makes on the chessboard of duplicity, two ghosts are several moves ahead in an attempt to exact their vengeance.

Sourced from an original Italian film print, the DVD of NIGHTMARE CASTLE has an endless number of reasons why it is a jewel to be treasured. First, it is 104 minutes long, the original uncut version of the film instead of the considerably shorter 90 minute American cut. Seeing the entire film for the first time in my life after so many other “abbreviated” screenings was a real treat, for one of the lost strengths of NIGHTMARE CASTLE was its sense of softly modulated menace built patiently and yet inexorably throughout the move. Despite a small amount of film print damage that occurs VERY infrequently at the heads and tails of the reel changes, Severin Films’ restoration and remastering of NIGHTMARE CASTLE is outstanding. For the first time, I was able to see a clear difference between the parts of the motion picture that were suppose to look misty since they were dream sequences and the rest of the movie that was meant to be clear, and how VERY clear it turned out to be! This black and white film, lit so very simply and yet set in such a stunning manner within the confines of such an exquisite Italian villa has never looked so good. The black, grays and all the shades in between are starkly crisp, clean and wonderfully sharp. Every little shadow and nuance of the lighting is thrown out in clear relief so that a textural quality emerges and one can finally appreciate the richness of the fashions, the lavishness of the décor and the opulence of the interior and exterior locations. Whether it is the sumptuousness of the Victorian-age villa’s rooms or the stately elegance of its gardens, none of the grandeur of NIGHTMARE CASTLE’s visuals truly came across until now, and it isn’t just the inanimate elements that benefit. For the first time, I could really bask in the myriad of enigmatic expressions on the lovely face of Ms. Barbara Steele (Muriel/Jenny), delight in the heart-shattering eyes of Helga Line (Solange) and be equally repulsed by the soulless countenance of Paul Muller (Stephen). The superb transfer allows the Barbara Steele fan to finally feel like they can almost glimpse the fabulous curves of Ms. Steele’s matchless figure under the gauzy glamour of her filmy peignoirs. What also comes across with so much greater impact is the simple and yet effective makeup work applied to the ghosts in this story. Most of the terror of NIGHTMARE CASTLE comes from the psychological and occult trappings of the story, but the “gore” that is woven into this rich tapestry is made all the more effective by a crisp film transfer and a professional restoration effort.

Speaking of the story, what makes NIGHTMARE CASTLE a little surprising is its mix of plot characteristics that is a bit of a Mulligan’s Stew as Gothic fare goes, but it works. There is a heady blend of ghost story and Gothic horror, but liberally applied to that core is a thick veneer of Regency Romance starkly contrasted with some Euro-sadism. As a result, there are some shocks, but they are punctuation to the long and thoughtful statements that are the atmospheric foundation of this film. There are long holds on the emotive faces of the talented and capable cast. Those poignant interactions are even more powerful when coupled with the atypical and yet still masterful score of the legendary Ennio Morricone. The camera work of NIGHTMARE CASTLE is excellent and while not ground-breaking, it is much more impressive then I had originally thought due to my past viewing experiences. We are treated to scene after scene where the skills of the actors must carry the moment, but the cinematography helps to build a detailed and wonderfully complex mosaic of sights and sounds. Now that NIGHTMARE CASTLE has been restored to its former glory and looks probably as goods as it did when it first appeared on the Silver Screen in Rome in 1965, lovers of European Gothic Ghost stories can revel in a movie that is as good an example of the genre as you are likely to find with the exception of a few iconic classics like BLACK SUNDAY or CASTLE OF BLOOD.

As Bonus Features go, the offerings on NIGHTMARE CASTLE are about average when it comes to quantity but simply OUTSTANDING when it comes to quality. First up is the prize we have all been hungering for, a 30 minute interview feature called “Barbara Steele in Conversation”. This “exclusive new featurette with the Queen of Horror” is the grail that many of her devoted fans have been awaiting for many years. This interview looks at Ms. Steele’s career from its beginnings in the late 1950s, through her glory years in Italian cinema of the 1960s and then through her later work in grindhouse flicks of the 1970s, all the way to her work as a producer in the 1980s and 1990s. Throughout her thoroughly enjoyable recollections of her film days, Ms. Steele also recounts her life experiences, reminiscences on directors and co-stars and it is all related in her delightfully dramatic vocal style. Accompanying Ms. Steele’s many anecdotes is a dizzying array of old modeling and promotional photographs and clips from her many films. For someone like me who can never get enough of this elegant and glamorous icon, I was inundated by sounds and imagery that was so multitudinous as to almost quench my thirst for such fare. Almost, but at least I can say that this may be one of the top five most exhilarating bonus features viewing experiences I’ve ever had. All praise to director David Gregory for his work on this supplement. Next is a 14 minute interview segment with director Mario Caiano called “Black, White and Red”, which is a look at Mr. Caiano’s film experiences, but unlike that of Ms. Steele, his focus tends to be more upon NIGHTMARE CASTLE. It is another excellent offering on this disc, and the two featurettes complement each other perfectly and when added to the UK and US trailers, this set of supplements is a plethora of joy to be unearthed once you’ve reveled in the feature and then are ready to bask in the extras.

My only concern when it comes to Severin Films outstanding release of NIGHTMARE CASTLE is that the audience for this motion picture may not be as sizable as it once was. The older folk like me may not be as willing to stroll down memory lane as I am and the younger folk may not see the appeal. Too many of them are beguiled by glitz and other saccharine silliness and they may not be able to appreciate the subtlety of a flick like NIGHTMARE CASTLE. I hope that such is not the case for like so many other Severin Films gems, NIGHTMARE CASTLE is a precious stone of surpassing beauty and value. As has so often happened I am both deeply impressed and even more grateful for Severin’s healthy respect for the lesser known treasures of yesteryear. For those of us who still love the Gothic Ghost Story and still swoon over Barbara Steele, NIGHTMARE CASTLE is succor for the jaded spirit.

www.severin-films.com

WHILE SHE WAS OUT (2008) d. Susan Montford

2009-05-10T10:19:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

One of the saddest and most discouraging experiences is that of watching an actor/actress in the midst of career decline. Kim Basinger has been the centerpiece of many films that I have enjoyed over a long life of watching movies. She was so fresh, young and vulnerable in KATIE: PORTRAIT OF A CENTERFOLD (1978). In THE NATURAL(1984), she played a part that was both likable and horrifically repellant, while in 9 ½ WEEKS (1986) she sizzled in a way I wasn’t sure she be able to attain and yet after that flick, I was never able to look at her as the cute “girl next door” ever again. Even though her character wasn’t the strength of BATMAN (1989), I loved that film and still do, just as I have come to respect the film NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983) and her performance therein. Finally, there is Ms. Basinger’s opus LA CONFIDENTIAL (1997), which is likely to have been the critical peak of her career. Times have been somewhat tough for this enigmatic actress over the past decade with her much publicized tribulations with former husband Alec Baldwin, but even more trying has been her run of unimpressive cinematic efforts. Sadly, WHILE SHE WAS OUT has to be added to her growing list of disappointments. It is a movie with a few technical strengths and one moment of surprising but brief screenplay courage, but most of the rest of its runtime was horrendously substandard.

WHILE SHE WAS OUT is the story of an affluent, suburban housewife named Della who is chained to an overbearing and abusive husband in a loveless marriage. After receiving her usual salvo of nightly mistreatment, Della retreats to the mall for some last minute Christmas shopping, only to have a series of escalating and exasperating occurrences increase her aggravation. By the time she departs her consumer sanctuary, Della’s troubles have been magnified several fold as she incurs the ire of a gang of thugs bent on visiting all kinds of savagery upon her. Della is forced to call forth her own deeply seeded ferocity and emotional toughness to outlast and then dispatch her tormentors and finally make it home before Santa arrives.

I went into WHILE SHE WAS OUT deeply suspicious of its quality for a variety of reasons. I had seen the trailer on another Anchor Bay disc and found the content to be wanting. In addition, when I scanned the TV Spots and trailer in the extras before putting in the DVD as is my usual behavior, I suddenly realized that this film once had been in theaters due to its TV Spots and clearly did not receive much of a release when it came out in December of 2008. When a film comes and goes so silently without leaving so much as a ripple, that is not a good thing. Sadly, my premonitions were born out. To be fair, WHILE SHE WAS OUT does have a few praiseworthy qualities. It was competently shot and lit so that I was able to see all of the action and all of the set locations, as well as the actors. I can’t say that for many films today, whose directors have no idea how to shoot and light a film, DEATHRACE for instance, and that was a film where I WANTED to see what was going on. The acting was passable and while that is not a ringing endorsement, it should be viewed as such, for there is A LOT of bad acting out there today and it is a plague that can derail a film instantaneously. The sets and locations were simple but effective and were utilized efficiently to create a small budget look and feel that could have worked. When you look past these esoteric strengths though and delve into the core of what makes a movie, WHILE SHE WAS OUT is laced with troubles innumerable.

Many of the screenplay elements of WHILE SHE WAS OUT were often illogical, more commonly absurd and too often they were absolutely ludicrous. Let us start with the introductory segments of a film that focus on Kim Basinger’s character and her shopping needs. I found it tedious at best to watch Ms. Basinger stroll through the mall on a consuming spree, both a place and an avocation I HATE, during Christmas, a time I avoid shopping like walking over thin ice, and listlessly fingering her way through products that so many wasteful denizens of suburbia feel they “must have” to survive. As a result of this dreadful story writing mistake, I found it VERY difficult to muster any sympathy for Della, despite the reasonable logic of abuse being present as a plot device. It didn’t help that Della’s husband was not well developed and his monstrous nature seemed terribly forced. From there, things went downhill rapidly, due to the fact that the “thugs” Della faced were even more contrived. It was immediately apparent that a “Rainbow Coalition” of ethnicities had been cobbled together to give appropriate representation for each member of the gang. Next, the miscreants were a bunch of weepy, wimpy and whiny second-guessers who were ridiculously silly on occasion, miserably ineffective in polishing off Ms. Basinger in other instances and thoroughly unthreatening at all times. Lukas Haas plays the part of the ring-leader Chucky, and his bright, infectious smile and deep brown eyes make him look more like the kind-hearted outsider than a cruel psychopath. To make matters worse, the pacing of this film was unsuccessfully engineered. I will always applaud any movie that can modulate the action and plot/character development stretches so that a mostly gentle and yet occasionally sharp undulating cadence is created. In WHILE SHE WAS OUT, the plot pace peaks and valleys were so intense as to almost induce nausea. The action speeds up appropriately but then comes to a screeching halt for long and monotonous periods of time but without the payoff of learning more about the characters or seeing some dramatic interplay between cast members. The one and only exception to this occurred in the last one-fourth of the narrative when Della and Chucky seemed ready to put aside their antagonisms to form a dark-hearted alliance. At this point, my eyebrows arched, my pulse quickened and I prayed this film would take The Road Less Traveled and the two characters would end up like a warped version of “Bonnie & Clyde” or even a bizarre “Thelma & Louise” (or Louis in this case), but it was not to be. Despite my joy at the hard left turn WHILE SHE WAS OUT seemed ready to take, I was unsurprised by its lack of courage and slavish adherence to a predictable formula. Predictability was another one of the many sins this movie committed. Too often I could see what was coming miles away and that deepened my intense dislike for what WHILE SHE WAS OUT was trying NOT to achieve. Had WHILE SHE WAS OUT gone for broke in its last acts and really tried to be something other than “one sad woman’s act of defiance against male aggression” I would have possibly found reason to like it.

WHILE SHE WAS OUT has a small but reasonably enjoyable extras menu. In addition to the afore mentioned two TV Spots and theatrical trailer, there is an audio commentary with director/writer Susan Montford and producer Don Murphy and the thoughts expressed in the commentary are worth hearing. There is also a 26 minute “Making of WHILE SHE WAS OUT” that was a bit generic and too heavily slathered with film clips, but all the principle cast and crew members are a part of the interviews and their anecdotes, while unspectacular, do give one a look into the soul of this film. As is always the case, I tend to think a little better of any DVD that has bonus features of any type and after watching these supplements, my indignation towards WHILE SHE WAS OUT was diminished ever so slightly.

I grieve for the waning of Kim Basinger’s career, but sadly, such falls have happened before and will happen again. It can be hoped that sometime in the future, lightning will strike and her fortunes will be reversed. Such could not happen in the company of WHILE SHE WAS OUT, which is the antithesis of spontaneously energetic emission. WHILE SHE WAS OUT was a little more like The Void which devours all light and matter, but that may be overstating things a bit. In the end, WHILE SHE WAS OUT has almost nothing to distinguish it from so many other flicks that it is like and as a result, it will probably sink into obscurity where it belongs, but unhappily it will take a little piece of Ms. Basinger with it and for that I will mourn.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com
www.whileshewasout.com

THE SHE-BEAST (1966) d. Michael Reeves

2009-04-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Rediscovery can often be one of the most pleasurable experiences in life, especially for those of us whose days feel like they are overflowing with experiences we have already done before and don’t want to repeat. When a chance comes around to do something again and have it feel as fresh and wonderful as the first time, or maybe the moment is even better, it brings one that much closer to sartori. Dark Sky Films has brought out a totally restored transfer of THE SHE-BEAST (aka REVENGE OF THE BLOOD BEAST) that has allowed me the opportunity to fall in love all over again with a film that I have seen several times before but never in as wonderful a format as it is today.

THE SHE-BEAST is the story of a young English couple, Philip (Ian Ogilvy) and Veronica (Barbara Steele), who are traveling through Transylvania on their honeymoon when they encounter a very strange and terrifying phenomenon after a routine traffic accident. The young lovers’ car is forced off the road and lands in a small lake, but when Philip and Veronica are fished out Veronica is no longer herself but is Bardela, a satanic witch of ancient legend whose soul was confined to the depths of the lake after she was tortured to death for crimes unspeakable against the local villagers. Now distraught over the apparent loss of his wife, Philip reluctantly accepts the assistance of Count Von Helsing (Jonathan Karlsen), the modern version of his ancient, vampire-hunting ancestors. Von Helsing informs Philip that Veronica’s body and soul have been possessed by Bardela and that only through an exorcism can Philip’s beloved be returned to him. What ensues is a horrifying and terrifically madcap series of events as Count Von Helsing and Philip race against time to restore Veronica’s soul and body to its rightful place and return Bardela to the Blackness of The Void from whence she came.

Prior to this viewing, I had always enjoyed THE SHE-BEAST for its very eclectic mix of gruesome horror imagery, atmospheric storytelling about possession and witchcraft, brisk pace and thoughtfully constructed mix of exceedingly strange and wonderful doses of humor and silly hilarity and its pointed comedic commentary on communism and Eastern Bloc culture and politics. Beyond these clearly impressive points, THE SHE-BEAST drew me to it because Barbara Steele was the star and I still will see ANY motion picture that has he magnificent Ms. Steele, but there were other cast and crew reasons to like THE SHE-BEAST. A very young Ian Ogilvy began his movie career in this film, while Felini favorite Jonathan Karlsen and Corman colleague Mel Welles give exceptionally eccentric and thoroughly enjoyable performances in this flick. Young, talented and tragic director Michael Reeves made his directorial debut and his script for THE SHE-BEAST was improved upon by Charles B. Griffith, the wunderkind behind so many of Roger Corman’s numerous movies. When taken into account, all of these elements would seem to make THE SHE-BEAST have countless outstanding qualities, but the viewing copies that were available here in the United States on video and later DVD always looked as if they had been projected on a filthy burlap sack, as my friend and comrade Mark Nelson has repeatedly said. In any of its incarnations, THE SHE-BEAST was at all times miserably dark, horrendously smeary, totally lacking in color, absolutely sodden in appearance and totally unwatchable. In addition, there were always rumors and stories that the cut of THE SHE-BEAST was always incomplete and that footage had been removed for a variety of reasons. As a result, any presentation of THE SHE-BEAST was mediocre at best as the horror-wise spectator knew full-well that what they were getting wasn’t really up to snuff. All that has changed as of the re-release of this outstanding edition of THE SHE-BEAST from Dark Sky Films.

The original 35 mm film elements from which the transfer was created is pleasantly crisp, clear, colorful and glorious, making it feel like an entirely new viewing opportunity. In addition, for the first time, the actual widescreen aspect ratio has been restored as well so that we are treated to a spacious and breathtaking look at Michael Reeves film making skills which led me to a much greater respect for his directorial efforts on THE SHE-BEAST. With all the surviving footage replaced, those who have seen this film before get a chance to revel in THE SHE-BEAST really for the first time in an entirely different manner as well. The audio has been restored and is no longer muddy, and so what emerges for those of us who were too young to have seen THE SHE-BEAST when it got its theatrical release, is the best possible chance to recreate such an experience. While there are moments at the heads and tails of reel changes where a tiny amount of film damage can be noted and there are other instances of film imperfections here and there, the fact that a first-rate restoration of this lost “cult-classic” exists and has been brought to public attention must be given the highest commendations. If you have ever been a fan of Michael Reeves’ work, if you enjoy Barbara Steele’s performances, enigmatic glamour and undeniable sex appeal and want to see some surprisingly strong film making that we were never able to appreciate before, you need to pick up a copy of THE SHE-BEAST.

THE SHE-BEAST has a very small but still wonderfully rewarding set of bonus features. There is a stills gallery which is exactly what a stills gallery should be, a mix of lobby card and poster images, promotional and news photos as well as on-set photography. While not enormous, the stills gallery is still an excellent blend of color and black and white historical images. The Crown Jewel of this set of supplements is the audio commentary which features actress Barbara Steele and actor Ian Ogilvy, producer Paul Maslansky and is moderated by David Gregory. I have listened to a lot of commentaries over many years, and this will go down as one of my favorites, not the least of which is for the reason that we get to hear Ms. Steele’s reactions to seeing this film, in essence, for the first time. Not one to do interviews or commentaries much before, Ms. Steele comes into the commentary a few minutes after it begins and despite having no memory of making THE SHE-BEAST, her repartee with the voluble Mr. Ogilvy, the thoroughly reminiscent Mr. Maslansky and the diplomatic and erudite Mr. Gregory makes this a simply delightful listening experience. To FINALLY hear Barbara Steele remark about her film career and to hear it done in the context of two other men who remember well their days with Michael Reeves, Jonathan Karlsen and Mel Welles was utterly gratifying. I fully admit a deep and abiding prejudice when it comes to who talks on commentaries and to hear the utterances of veterans as opposed to younger cast and crew members is something I always prefer. For those horror fans who hunger to be immersed in anecdotes of the past delivered by some film icons of yore, this is another rationale to make certain you get your hands on THE SHE-BEAST.

I have recently rediscovered how much I love photography and am eagerly finding ways to get my eye up to a camera lens and take pictures of people and places for the first time in nearly twenty years. The indescribable joy that I feel when I create an image that I am proud of cannot be fully conveyed. Watching a motion picture that I have never really had the chance to enjoy in the manner that should have been the case may be a “one-shot” moment of pure pleasure, but in some ways it is just as fulfilling. Had Dark Sky Films never gone to the lengths that they did to restore this lost gem to us, I wouldn’t have had this occasion, and as we all know as each year passes, these chances slip beyond our grasp, never to be recalled. If you are a devotee of European horror films from the 1960s and want to immerse yourself in the mood and texture of cinema that has long since ceased to be made, this is another invaluable chance. Don’t let it pass you by.

www.darkskyfilms.com

THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS (1974) d. John Peyser

2009-04-21T00:09:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

The plight of women in motion pictures has long been a complex and very rocky ride. During the early years of the Silver Screen, actresses often played roles that reflected the socially stultifying climate of the times and helpless Scream Queens like Faye Wray dominated the cinematic landscape. As the middle part of the 20th Century dawned, the so-called New Women birthed in the generation after the Suffrage Movement tended to be somewhat pluckier and a little bit more uninhibited, but women still tended to play very idealized parts and were icons of male fantasy, reaching that height of excess in the 1950s. By the 1960s and 1970s, the portrayal of female characters by young actresses became truly complex. On one hand, mainstream film began depicting women in a somewhat more realistic and less chauvinistic manner as the Women’s Movement began to gain momentum. At the same time, exploitation cinema reached the apex of its gaudy pinnacle during that same era, putting young, attractive “actresses” and starlets into some of the most sexist roles ever penned by sleazy skin merchants and the pioneers of softcore entertainment. To be an actress in the late 1960s, throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s meant you were going to appear nude on screen, there would likely be at least one sex scene in addition to the obligatory “shower” scene or clip where disrobing was necessary. If you were appearing in a genre film, there was also a high probability that young actresses would be appearing unclad amidst scenes of violence, gore, depravity or some other cinematic instance of titillation designed to put men into movie theater seats. From 1965 to the dawn of the Video Age around 1980, scads of naked girls engaging all manner of wayward behavior could be seen in movie houses where exploitation fare was run. This incredibly bizarre dichotomy of mainstream film uplifting the station of women even as B-movies were objectifying women more aggressively than ever is one of the most fascinating components of the modern era of Motion Picture History, and THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is one of the best examples of seedy, skintastic, scurrilous and sensually scandalous movie-making from those long lost days.

THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is the three-part story of a small group of beautiful young women from all walks of life who have posed nude in a men’s magazine called Bachelor and are now receiving unwanted and frightening attention from a sexually frustrated and demented serial killer named Clement Dunne, played by Andrew Prine. Dark, dorky and driven, Mr. Dunne hunts down these lovely ladies in a series of vignettes stitched together by the killer’s overarching lust to “help” these young ladies out of their state of fallen grace and into everlasting peace through the use of a lethally sharp straight razor. Jackie (Jamie Lyn Bauer), Charly (Jennifer Ashley) and Vera (Tiffany Bolling) must evade Clement’s foul interest if they are to stay in one piece and not end up sliced to ribbons.

THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS was one of the guiltier pleasures of many exploitation film enthusiasts back in the days when all kinds of wicked flicks made their way to the corner video store and were readily available. The problem was that the joy was moderated by the knowledge of the cost at which it had been purchased, an exceedingly low quality visual experience due to poor film transfers onto muddy-looking video tape. While the story and the content of movies like THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS was enticing and those flicks delivered the goods, the multitudinous moments of cinematic confusion due to the dark and washed out appearance of the vast majority of sequences made many a viewing a mixed bag, and THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS was once no exception. That is no longer the case thanks to Dark Sky Films. While their restoration of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is not the near miracle of their other recent release, THE SHE-BEAST, the improvement of the video elements of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is a measurable step upwards and for that we should be thankful. The colors are clearly brighter and sharper and that is of great benefit when one considers how stylishly shot and set THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS was for being a low-budget effort. All of the images are crisper and lighter, allowing the knowledgeable viewer to bask in the salacious grandeur of this film. However, there are still problems with the visual aspects of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS. There is a graininess to the imagery and an aura that feels as if a soft-focus filter had been utilized throughout much of the first half of the picture. The opening credits and initial frames evidence some print damage and the hues are not as blazing as some restorations I have seen. Whether this is due to the restorers not being able to go back to the negative as a source, the source print having some damage or maybe THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS was shot using some inferior technology and materials, is not entirely clear. What is evident is that THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS looks better than it once did, it sounds good and is a strong step up from its former days of faded glory.

The improved condition of the visual elements of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS allows the exploitation connoisseur to revel in a seemingly incompatible split-personality in this motion picture. On the one hand, from the opening frames until almost the closing credits, THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is filled to the brim with beautiful, naked young actresses in all manner of disrobed splendor. Whether you are looking for trim and athletic, curvaceous and comely or angular and austere, the fabulous figures of the female cast are fleshed out in miles of coppery-toned swaths of skin. In the case of Jamie Lyn Bauer’s character Jackie, she spends a series of scenes pulling her clothes off and then putting them back on as if the director kept saying out loud, “thank you, that was an excellent take” and then the devil sitting on his shoulder whispered “make her do it again and keep that damn camera rolling every second you sackless weenie!” Back Miss Bauer went for another nude scene and it is the viewer who won that exchange hands down. At the same time that we are treated to scads of scantily-clad sex objects, there is a surprisingly impressive pair of visual strengths to THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS that one might not expect seeing that it is an American exploitation film. European sex-epochs like THE SISTER OF URSULA were well-known for their brazen mix of sin and style, but THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is nearly able to match the glorious beauty of some of its European cousins. Shot in and around the coast and islands of southern and central California, the exterior settings and the colors of earth, surf and sky are quite impressive and only matched by the modish and seductive beauty of the interior scenery that was so very typical of the free and easy lifestyle of 1970s coastal California. Using compelling camera angles and lighting techniques, the cinematography is competent and even occasionally impressive. There is even more. When added to the sexy, chic and creative fashions that dominated the costume choices for THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS, there is a lot to please the eye beyond the lascivious loveliness of the starlets of this film.

It is hard to imagine that THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS would also work on an intellectual or artistic level, but it does. The tripartite story line held together by Andrew Prine’s character and dark and dastardly performance is both novel in its conception and effective in its execution. By moving from the tale of one girl to the next and shifting setting ever so slightly, a brisk pace is maintained and what could have been a tedious and repetitive slasher film narrative structure was avoided. Liberally mixed with the general account of a sadistic murderer stalking delicious young lovelies are dollops of the “now generation” and their excesses of drinking, sex and the swinging lifestyle so very filled with paltry pleasure, obnoxious ostentation and cynical self-indulgence. What emerges is a startling abstract painting of why the early and mid-70s was, like cotton candy, a lot of fun to experience briefly but a fairly vacuous delight that brought no real benefit and some clearly deleterious after effects. Adding to the depth of this film is a cast of performers that are non-t00-well-known to most young people today, but for those of us who remember the skilled thespians of yesteryear, their presence is one of the many reasons to relish THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS’ dvd release. Andrew Prine steals the show with his somber garb, understated portrayal and yet horrifically threatening and disturbingly efficient dispatch of the sinful sluts he wishes he could despoil. Only a few ticks down on the deplorable meter is the character played by the venerable Aldo Ray, a sneering and ogling Neanderthal wrapped in an all-American father gauze that makes him even more miserably misogynistic. Francine York and Ray Danton give excellent supporting performances as the warring couple whose wealth and influence have lead them to heights of success and are in the path of a slayer who would just as soon send them to oblivion for their calculating and corrupt misuse of their positions. There aren’t a lot of exploitation films worth watching where you can say that an extensive and impressive cast of experienced actors were brought together to create a motion picture that is lurid as well as likable in a manner most people would never dare admit.

THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS has a moderately sized bonus features menu that has some unexpected splendors waiting to be unearthed. In lieu of an audio commentary, there is a 15 minute mini-documentary called “Making the Cut” which is a retrospective of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS. Including a very short clip with producer Arthur Marks and much more sizable interviews and anecdotes with Andrew Prine, Francine York and Jennifer Ashley, this featurette is thoroughly pleasant for its frank recollections, thoughtfully earnest reminiscences and eclectic blend of film clips, voice-overs and modern footage. It is the brightest jewel in the treasure chest, but the other precious stones are worthy of your attention. There is an exhaustive musical supplement called “Select Music Cues” that is a series of 18 film score tracks, forever documenting the often overlooked strength of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS, it hypnotic soundtrack, which is very diverse in style and substance. Finally, there are two trailers (red band and green band), two TV spots and a radio spot, all of which are startlingly different from each other, which was rarely typical when it came to 1970s promotional advertising. Overall, the extras section of THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS was like the makeup on a nude model, you don’t often realize how essential it really is since your eyes are drawn elsewhere, but you are very glad that it was included.

THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is not the finest release of a sordid classic of yore, nor is it the most impressive, but I am exceptionally glad that it exists. Just as when Dark Sky Films brought out SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES last year, this is a splendid little gem that looks back on a vanished time and THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS is a film that is just not being made anymore today. The mix of taboo sleaziness and sophisticated squalor is a guilty pleasure for those of us who watched the hordes of imbeciles who tried to dismember sincerity during the height of political correctness movement of the 1990s. There is nothing diplomatic about THE CENTERFOLD GIRLS, neither is it illuminating or uplifting. It is sheer naughtiness for naughtiness sake.

www.darkskyfilms.com

THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND (1990) d. Patrice Leconte

2009-04-20T05:12:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

We have many powerful memories of our youthful years, some of which revolve around family, the holidays, special occasions and occasionally frightening experiences. There are few people who aren’t willing to admit that love and passion are certainly some of the strongest of our distant recollections. The first time you fall in love absolutely, surrender yourself to all-consuming passion and realize that you have been changed irrevocably must rank as one of the most deeply-seeded impressions in both the mind and the heart. When the memory of childhood first love and attraction is also exceedingly similar to the adult incident of finding the “love of your life”, even if the two are not the same person, then the reminiscences must then be especially poignant. THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND (LE MARI DE LA COIFFEUSE) is a deeply atypical offering from the fine people at Severin Films that instead of focusing on wildly exotic sex and beautiful naked female forms, it puts erotic attraction in the most appropriate of contexts, that of the beauty of simple but overwhelming passionate love for a person with whom you are best suited to create happiness for as long as God provides the opportunity. A tale that mirrors so many of the quirks, charms, joys and sorrows of life, THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND is the kind of movie that should touch anyone who knows the all-consuming elation of falling in love, the incandescent flame of passion and the briefness of happiness and life here on this Mortal Plane of Existence.

THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND is the story of Antoine, a middle-aged man looking back on a life that has been shaped by a desire to get exactly what he most wants, love and ardent physical pleasure at the hands of a striking female hairdresser. At the tender age of 12, Antoine first experiences intense infatuation for a buxom and redheaded hairdresser, whom Antoine eventually becomes obsessed with and goes to for haircut after haircut, even when there is no need. The incredible delight and emotional satisfaction that Antoine experiences helps to crystallize in his soul the need to have just such a woman when he is a grown man. Many years later, a lovely young woman named Mathilde takes over Isidore’s barbershop and Antoine makes a dedicated but somewhat awkward effort to woo her. Despite his affectionate clumsiness, Antoine succeeds and what follows is ten years of wedded bliss as Mathilde and Antoine’s lives twine about the most beautiful of simplicities, the need of one person for another and the ability of each to fulfill the deepest of those needs, both spiritual and physical.

THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND is that best of French cinema that combines a light-hearted sense of fun, exceedingly simplistic and yet engaging story lines, appealing characters, some moments of serious reflection and societal criticism as well as fine performances and attractive to photography, to end up as an entertaining, thoughtful and surprisingly intricate short tale of romance, friendship and the inescapability of sadness and the ending of joy. What sets THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND apart to some degree from most French films I have seen is its relatively short runtime of 82 minutes, a pace that, while not brisk, is not the curvilinear path that most Gallic cinema takes and its absolutely marvelous mix of charisma, eccentric moments and portrayals mixed with some superbly melancholy punctuations to its overall statement. Much like another French favorite of mine, BETTY BLUE, THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND takes a couple, puts them into situations where we see the growth of their emotional and physical attraction and later commitment to each other, but then that is juxtaposed with the overmastering cruelties of life like aging, tragedy and change. What makes THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND that much better is the untroubled beauty of the love of Antoine and Mathilde for each other, the exquisiteness of their uncomplicated existence as they move through their daily routines and yet make each person the pinnacle of existence and the reason for their continued happiness. Both Antoine and Mathilde are portrayed in a down-to-earth and yet adorably sophisticated manner by Jean Rochefort and Anna Galiena. From their facial expressions to their gentle caresses to the gleam in each others’ eyes, THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND captures the very essence of what the most rewarding love should be like.

Throughout THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND, there is a mix of visual and auditory beauty that also leaves the viewer with the knowledge that they are watching something special. There is a softly modulated sense of color that feels like the entire film is seen through the filter of memory which adds an entire layer of emotional impact. All of the colors are bright and striking, but they do not blaze. It is as if we are seeing this film though a gentle midsummer’s haze that mimics the mistiness of the mind’s eye. In addition, THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND is attractive in many other fashions, like how marvelously wide and patiently photographed each seen is. We linger on images just long enough to allow them to sink into our psyche and be captured by our eyes forever. There is a fascinating dichotomy that I have experienced in European film many times over the years that is thickly strewn over the visual elements of THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND. The women in this film are lovingly shot in such a way as to pay lasting tribute to the glory of the female face and figure, but it is done without licentiousness or frivolity. Just as the Baroque and Rococo painters of long ago created paeans to the rich landscapes of the womanly form, director Patrice Leconte allows us to bask in the heady comeliness of the faces and figures of the actresses of THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND. When coupled with the deeply amorous “sex” scenes and the frank and boldly erotic voice-overs of Antoine as a man, the result is quite potent, especially when one considers there is no nudity in this movie. Typical of so many European films, THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND does not have to have a lot of skin to be incredibly sexy. It is all about playing on our emotions, tugging at the heart strings and making the brow just a bit damp with perspiration after your internal temperature has climbed. THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND takes you on a ride that is just as intense as the first time you rode a bike. Even though that first dash across the street was relatively short, all of the shapes and colors of that day became etched in your brain along with the exhilarating feelings of speed and freedom that have never been equaled since. Like BETTY BLUE, THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND starts one way, develops along some lines that suggest one direction for the film, it goes another way much to our satisfaction and then it ends at a place we really didn’t want to go, but that’s tough because that is life. Even though the romance of these two characters is idealized and straight out of fantasy, the pattern of their days is a mirror for what our existence often is and this is all presented in a visual form and with delightful musical accompaniment that feels like a daydream or a memory turned loose one lazy summer’s afternoon when you are tripping down the avenues of your mind and let one of those recollections free that has been deeply buried for a long time. Those moments don’t happen often, but like a fine film they are deeply intoxicating when they do.

THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND has a small but splendid set of Bonus Features. In addition, to the Theatrical Trailer, there is a 36 minute mini-feature called “Leconte on Leconte-Part 1” (Part 2 is to be found on the Severin dvd PERFUME OF YVONNE) which is a fabulous conversation with the director about his film making past and his remembrances of THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND. After that, there is a 17 minute featurette called “The Hairdresser’s Recollections” which sits down with Italian actress Anna Galiena and explores how she came to be connected with this project and her memories of THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND. Beyond doing a fabulous job bringing this film to us looking outstanding even though it isn’t “that old”, Severin Films did its usual yeoman work of creating compelling and contemplative supplements that a film-lover can just revel in and appreciate greatly. To hear a director and an actress express their deepest feeling about THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND, both of whom were emotionally attached to the making of this movie, is supremely enjoyable. Great praise must once again be given to Severin Films for their impressive efforts.

One of the few pleasant aspects of aging is the ability to look back over the years and truly understand what you have done right, what decisions were mistakes, how you should have shaped your course and what the impact of your actions has been on the days through which you pass at that moment. THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND is the kind of film that all kinds of movie-goers may enjoy if they are over the age of 18, but that you will truly appreciate if you are much older than that. It is a film that speaks to the timeless allure of romance, the power of desire and the ineffable sorrow of the ending of joy. While most people picking up Severin Films discs might be expecting a Jess Franco film or something along those lines, I am impressed with the people at Severin for distributing something a little out of their usual field of dreams. One can’t always watch horror and exploitation fare and branching out can bring rewards, just as this did for me.

www.severin-films.com

A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK (1981) d. Michele Massimo Tarantini

2009-04-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Male movie enthusiasts may enjoy watching action, war and/or horror films and delight to the exploits of masculine cinematic icons like John Wayne, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin, but almost every man will admit a profound appreciation for the mesmeric faces and even more enthralling figures of actresses spanning decades of motion picture history. As a boy, I was transfixed by the loveliness of Susan Hayward and Debra Paget and as I got older I grew to esteem the undeniable appeal of Luciana Paluzzi and Barbara Steele. While these women are still the pinnacle of glamour and beauty in my opinion, as all men should, we allow our tastes to evolve and sharpen as we age. One of the more uncommon and yet just as exciting beauties I have come to appreciate over the past fifteen years has been that of the French actress Edwige Fenech, best known for her seductive and ethereal roles in giallo films like ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH and FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON. Throughout her long and splendid career, Ms. Fenech made a name for herself by becoming a very capable actress able to project otherworldliness and vulnerability in her dramas, fun and frolic in her comedies and wildly engaging sensuality in her sexcapades, while all the while having one of the most beautiful faces and stunning figures in the record of the Silver Screen. A striking brunette with long and luxuriant locks who often affected auburn hair too, Ms. Fenech could wear just about any garment and with that set of dazzling measurements make herself look outrageously desirable. A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK (LA POLIZIOTTA a NEW YORK) was one of Edwige Fenech’s wacky comedies made toward the end of her greatest run of success before she took some time off from movie making in the mid-1980s. While not the wild ride of a Terence Hill and Bud Spencer flick or even as entertaining as her mid-1970s romp GIOVANNA LONG THIGH, A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK is still an Italian slapstick lover’s dream made all the more interesting by one of the world’s most enduring icons of allure.

A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK is the story of Italian detective Gianna and her partner Alvaro, who are recruited for a special mission. New York Mob Boss “Big John” has a girlfriend named “Pupa” and a thug named “Don’t Tread on Me” who look suspiciously like Gianna and Alvaro. The plan is to replace Pupa and her bodyguard with the police operatives in an attempt to infiltrate “Big John’s” house and find incontestable evidence that will incriminate him so that he can be locked up permanently. What ensues is a comedy of errors as warring crime lords and their henchmen stumble over police officers working with Gianna and Alvaro in the attempt to emerge ludicrously supreme. As Gianna and Alvaro snake their way through “Big John’s” daily routine, Gianna comes to learn how to blend her brassy and big-fisted style with hypnotic feminine wiles to get her man. By the end, a series of airplane antics and car chases are needed to bring the criminals to justice and Gianna ends up being the heroine.

Overall, there is a lot to like about A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK. The only true detracting issues that I found was that the dialogue is only accessible in either an English dubbed language track or Italian version WITHOUT English subtitles. While I always prefer to hear that original tongue of a film and read the subtitles, my Italian is rather poor and since I wanted to know what was happening in the story, I suffered through the dubbed language track. In addition, the film print and/or the transfer was generally pretty good, but I did detect a small amount of graininess at the very beginning and the end of the film. Most of the rest of the time, the only reason the picture was not as sharp and crisp as it could have been was the use of somewhat soft focus as a directorial strategy, which was not uncommon in the early 1980s or in dealing with any icon of female beauty throughout cinema’s glorious past. Other than these two problems, A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK was a joy to experience.

Loaded to the brim with silly expressions, dynamic overacting, rapid fire dialogue and piles of physical and sexual humor, A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK is truly a throwback to another time in film making. I saw more faces slapped and other punches or pugilistic comedy in A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK than I have in some time. The absolutely foolish facial contortions of many of the characters was deeply reminiscent of old Vaudeville acts and when blended with the “Big-Band” inspired title music, it made A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK feel older than it really was. That illusion was deepened by the good-natured and light-hearted elements of the sexual humor. As a policewoman undercover, Edwige Fenech’s character Gianna is constantly exposed to the randy and amorous attentions of the competing mob bosses who fall victim to her vibrant female charms and who she must consistently fend off to preserve her professional integrity and personal honor. The antics of the mob bosses themselves and their ridiculous clowning feels like a European version of The Three Stooges at times and when blended with the overblown foley effects, there is a delightfully cartoonish quality to A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK that is reminiscent of an old TerryToons cartoon short. The plot itself is not terribly creative but it doesn’t have to be. A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK is about hi-jinks and is also a vehicle for selling the most desirable commodity there has ever been, a spectacularly beautiful actress.

At the same time that the fantasy of Golden Age Film is being created, there is plenty of modern glamor and sex appeal layered onto this flick. The incidental music has a video game parlor feel to it and when combined with the gaudy, goofy and occasionally tacky early 1980s attire, there is a lot of sprightly silliness to A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK. What adds an entire level of adolescent appeal is that for the duration of the film, Edwige Fenech is paraded about in form fitting fashions that are wonderfully revealing, supremely saucy and are also the best eye candy that a self-respecting gentleman can find. Sprinkled like sesame seeds over rice balls, there are delectable leg shots, deep-breath inducing cleavage peeks and collar stretching derriere doings of the lovely Ms. Fenech that will simply captivate any of her devotees. Known for her legendary proclivity to take her clothes off in the vast majority of her movies, Ms. Fenech is a little more circumspect in A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK. There is only one topless scene where her curvaceous glory is displayed for all to enjoy. In A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK, the rest of the thrills are a little more “old school” and do not need the permission of your parents. Instead, this feels like an Italian version of a Benny Hill sketch and with Edwige Fenech’s vastly underrated acting skills, you actually get a slightly more impressive product. You may not have the consummate talents of Mr. Benny Hill, but you have the enigmatic charm and sex appeal of Ms. Edwige Fenech.

There is a small extras menu on the dvd of A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK, which was a bit of a surprise for this none-too-well-known Italian comedy. There is the original Italian trailer, and like the feature film it does not have subtitles. However, it is in its original condition, which allows the viewer to bask in the yeoman efforts of MYA Communications when it comes to restoring the main feature. There is also a pleasantly stocked image Gallery that contains a series of foreign film poster jpegs and a larger collection of German promotional images. For fans of Edwige Fenech, this small but enjoyable collection of supplements is a boon that was totally unexpected.

As we age, one of the most enduring joys is the ability to take pleasure in great beauty. Not only is A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK simply dripping in the loveliness of Edwige Fenech, it is also a wacky comedy that has its heart in the right place and should bring forth some smiles and laughs from most ages and stations in life. If you’ve been hungering for a comedy that has its roots the deeper past and that stars an actress who I would have bought every pinup poster I could have laid hands on had they available, then A POLICEWOMAN IN NEW YORK is what should go into your dvd player next time you have a chance. Make sure you’ve taken your heart medication and have a window open to cool off the room and get some much needed fresh air. Ms. Fenech will cause your internal temperature to rise a few points and simultaneously make you feel like a teenager all over again.

http://www.rykodistribution.com/genericq.asp?module_map_id=1234&view=albumprofile&item_number=MYA 201009 DV

STREET WARRIOR (2008) d. David Jackson

2009-04-14T03:53:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Something doesn’t have to be new or even look all that pretty in appearance to be pleasurable. Not too far from where I grew up was an old, somewhat rundown amusement park that had all kinds of aged, rather battered-looking rides, a lot of tired and used but still enjoyably kitschy games and contests and a venerable and rickety-looking, but still thrilling wooden roller coaster. While Whalom Park may not have been as large and diverse as Riverside or as glamorous as Canobie Lake, I still loved it, for the entertainment value of a day spent there was still high despite the fact that it appeared as if Whalom Park had seen better days, as indeed it had. While I have little but absolute contempt for the way many modern action films are shot and edited, they can still be a thrill ride even when the high-octane scenes don’t deliver on the visual appeal in the fashion that they should. STREET WARRIOR, starring Max Martini, Nick Chinlund and Valerie Cruz does not look like ENTER THE DRAGON, but it doesn’t have to when it provides the joy of a story, some eccentric performances and steady, high intensity pacing that feels like you’ve crossed Jackie Chan’s WHEELS ON MEALS with Hulk Hogan’s NO HOLDS BARRED.

STREET WARRIOR is the story of Jack Campbell (played by Max Martini), a tough and principled war hero whose high ideals landed him in military prison and disgrace. After his release, Jack returns home to find his younger brother in a coma after battling for his life in a squalid and brutal fight club called The Gauntlet. Jack begins a violent and bloody search for the people who maimed his brother, but on each step along his path, Jack is outmaneuvered by Mr. Pope (played by Nick Chinlund) and his lovely assistant, Ms. Lee (Jane Park Smith). Mr. Pope, the showman and manager of The Gauntlet, manipulates Jack into fighting in his gory sideshow using the safety of Jack’s abducted and pregnant sister-in-law Sarah as insurance. With the help of attractive convenience store owner Maggie Kuerner (played by Valerie Cruz) and the sleazy nightclub owner George Bautista (Max Perlich), Jack is able to muster enough strength and guts to take on Mr. Pope and his legion of fighters in an attempt to exact vengeance and get justice for all.

There is absolutely nothing original about STREET WARRIOR when it comes to the plot, the character sketches, the action scenes and all the other components of this film except for the modern methods of cinematography and editing, and in the end it is those original elements that are the one and only failure. STREET WARRIOR borrows ideas from just about every single “good man takes on the corrupt monsters” story that has ever been created and then grafts those narrative ideas to professional wrestling and REVENGE OF THE NINJA-inspired fighter caricatures to create a very cartoon-ish but still wildly entertaining yarn about an archetype of good battling for his life and those of the people he cares for against an archetype of evil who is as crooked and loathsome as he can possibly get. The story is almost perfectly paced for there are long stretches of high testosterone fight sequences in the arena, in bars, in offices and in mini-marts. While those moments of intense fisticuffs dominate the storyline, there are also well-crafted and skillfully sculpted dramatic moments that trade on some of the oldest takes on the “hero saga” that exist like “people being used by a powerful and abusive Money Man”, “the inner strength of the hero is sustained by helping others and the love of a good woman”, “the turns of conscience of The Controlled occur after hearing The Word of Our Hero” and SO MANY others. Throughout this already clichéd and yet still smile-inducing lineup are frequent doses of lovely, scantily clad and/or nude and incredibly sexy women as well as trite, witty and wonderful one-liners from each and every character. There are times that STREET FIGHTER feels so very much like all the Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Dudikoff and Jean-Claude Van Damme films I’ve ever seen that I felt like it almost could have been a retrospective, but that is where the acting and character development pieces come in.

The people who cast STREET WARRIOR should be given a medal, only to be surpassed by the screen writers who created the characters who deserve a Loving Cup. The principal actors, Max Martini, Nick Chinlund and Valerie Cruz were perfectly chosen for their roles, their portrayals of their characters who dead-on perfect and it doesn’t hurt to notice that these three are veteran performers with long resumes of TV episodes, small films and other TV Movies in their acting past that helped prepare them for roles that would need some skill to make them work. Mr. Martini plays the part of Jack exactly like every 80s tough guy that ever clenched a fist. Jack is whispery and gravel-voiced, stone faced and implacably tough as well as a man with a silver lining so spotless that he would do ANYTHING to do the right thing. He faces off against Nick Chinlund’s Mr. Pope who is played like an even more sinister Vince McMahon of the WWE, but with so much over over-the-top panache and all kinds of carnival barker glitz and snake oil salesman grotesqueness that he comes close to over doing it, but not quite. There is a fine line between over-acting and putting on a show that is just wonderfully silly and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Nick Chinlund gives us a man to hate, a sleaze-ball who you half-way cheer for since he is so very amusing. Then there is Valerie Cruz, whose character of Maggie is in some ways the most difficult to play because she can’t steal the thunder of either of the men, but she still has to radiate toughness, exude caring and concern and just ooze sweetness AND sex appeal but without overshadowing Jane Park Smith’s Ms. Lee or all the other luscious beauties paraded about STREET WARRIOR. Somehow, Ms. Cruz hits the gold in the bulls-eye without fail and she completes the triad of main characters brilliantly. When added to the Michael Vick-inspired betting and adrenaline machine of Omar, the skuzzy and yet lovable George and the nefarious tub of lard known as Sheriff Watkins, every character archetype imaginable is dredged up and used flawlessly in STREET WARRIOR. Then, there is the ace in the hole, the fighters themselves, like Roland Kickinger’s “The Showman”, Gary Kaspar’s maniacal neo-Nazi “Baldus”, Danny Arroyo’s high-flying Latino battler known as “Santo” (possibly the closest we’ll ever get to the live-action version of the DC dorky-villain Batroc the Leaper), and a colorful and ridiculous array of others replete with silly and serious fighting techniques, foolish faces and buffoon-ish battle cries, as well as kooky costumes. There is a lot to like about the way this film was scripted, structured and set down for our enjoyment. Even the music was mostly high-energy but not overwhelming, but often interspersed with emotive and soul-stirring strains, all of which were able to add layers of simple “stimulus-response” to this classic brand of cinematic beef stew.

The only problem with STREET WARRIOR was how it was shot during most of the fight sequences, how those fight scenes were edited and occasionally augmented with “effects” and how even here and there those baleful influences could be seen during dramatic stretches of the film, but fortunately not too often. Even then though, there were times when close-ups were too close and stitched together in awkward and ineffective ways. I am sure that the film makers would have said a great deal on a commentary (had there BEEN a commentary) about how “this is the way to do things for the movie lovers of today” and I am sure that they may be right or at least have a point. So many of the younger set have been raised on video games, music television and all kinds of other confusion-inducing visual chicanery that they are thoroughly fooled by these kinds of film-making techniques, but not me. I wanted to really be able to see the action and have it shot like the Hong Kong films of yore or the Thai films of today. Had STREET WARRIOR had maintained its comic-book charming story and looked like CHOCOLATE or ONG-BAK, this could have become an instant classic of the “big, dumb action” film genre and taken its idiotic place alongside COBRA or COMMANDO, even though they are different kinds of films. The spirit of STREET WARRIOR is still the same. Sadly, it was not to be and the poor choices of the director and his photography crew keep this movie from being as much fun as it should have been.

The other major deficiency of STREET WARRRIOR is just that, it is lacking something, BONUS FEATURES! I suppose I should be thankful that I got to see stereotypical fighters battling each other surrounded by a bevy of beauties, many of which were naked throughout their scenes, but I still feel like I have been robbed to a small degree. When you’ve got a director like David Jackson who has worked on TV Shows like “Swamp Thing”, “Lois & Clark”, “Nash Bridges” and “Smallville” as well as many other projects of the television and movie kind, he must have some things to say. There is a veteran cast of actors who would have also been worthwhile to interview or hit up for a commentary. There is a smorgasbord of unsettlingly attractive women who would have been perfect for some kind of wacky extra like “strip cinema-trivial pursuit” or something like that. Make something up folks! I recently watched a disc with a “faux-extra” that was a great way to end my viewing experience. Since my eyes were not fully satisfied with the action scenes in STREET WARRIOR, the best way to “bait and switch” is do something salaciously gratuitous in the supplements. Why RHI-TV still doesn’t get that is totally beyond me. All I got for “extras” on this DVD were three auto-play trailers I had already seen. Not smart guys!

If you can look past the way STREET WARRIOR was shot and you hunger for the action flicks of yesterday that had a “feel good” ending that you can see coming miles away as well as loads of caricatures and comics/cartoon-inspired goodies and baddies, you’ll probably like STREET WARRIOR a lot. I know that I went into this film expecting almost nothing and got a pleasant surprise. However, on reflection, I shouldn’t have been shocked or even startled. There is something about fighting that we can’t give up as a species no matter how hard we try civilizing ourselves. There is something about “the hero tale” that never gets old no matter how many times we’ve seen it. Just like Whalom Park, which changed very little over the nearly thirty years that I went back to it again and again, there is something about a comfortably entertaining option that may not be the most glamorous of thrills, but we’ll take it. If that is the kind of Saturday afternoon viewing experience you want to have, then STREET WARRIOR is probably your cup of tea.

www.geniusproducts.com
www.rhitv.com

LAID TO REST (2009) d. Robert Hall

2009-04-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

One winter, an unusually mild spell of weather warmed the ground and softened the earth causing our tulips to sprout early. I remember well the strange mix of elation and dread that I felt when I saw the tiny green shoots struggle skyward only to know that the suggestion of an early Spring was illusory and that not only were these tulips destined to meet an unfortunate demise but that their frosty death was not likely to be of benefit when they tried to grow in earnest during the real months of seasonal rebirth. My fears were well founded for when the shoots tried to come up again in April, they had been burned by the intense cold they had endured. Sometimes when something starts promisingly it doesn’t mean that it will end that way. LAID TO REST is just such an example. It comes out of the gate like a Brahma Bull and shows an equal amount of thunderous menace, but it does not maintain that kind of energy, much to my disappointment.

LAID TO REST is the story of a nameless girl, suffering from memory loss and frightening flashbacks, who escapes from a brutal serial killer intent upon documenting the ignominious deaths of his victims. With his trusty video camera, complex cell phone, impressive set of wheels and gleaming serrated knife, Chrome Skull stalks our heroine and slashes or chops through nearly every person who tries to get in his way and bring a halt to his swath of destruction. Despite the noble attempts of Tucker and Steven, Chrome Skull time and again catches up with “the girl” in an attempt to trap her in a coffin and complete his nefarious plans. Only “the girl” is able to stand up to Chrome Skull and to piece together the shards of her shattered personality in an attempt to get her life back.

LAID TO REST begins with a great deal of potential. The first one-third of the film is very briskly paced, somewhat atmospheric and certainly a gore and theatrical killing lover’s dream. The violence is intense, the death scenes are bloody and also somewhat inventive without being “over the top” in a humorous fashion. Not that humorous is a bad thing, for those who saw FINAL DESTINATION II and III will know what I am talking about, but in LAID TO REST that kind of “Rube Goldberg” complexity wouldn’t have fit. The visual effects in the murder scenes and the macabre moments are quite good so that the death sequences are both riveting and disturbing. There are even some very enjoyable bloody coffin scenes dappling some ghoulish imagery over this motion picture. One of the reasons for the pleasantly growing sense of doom in this early segment of the film was that we don’t see the villain clearly and the only moments where he is in shot are glancing blows, reflections in glass or shadowy images so that when combined with the opening blood bath sequences, there is a wonderful sense of peril and sinister moodiness that leaves the viewer hoping for more. In this initial stretch, the story is quite thin and the characters are rather one-dimensional, but it doesn’t matter. This is a blood-soaked thrill ride that combines some of the grisly characteristics of movies like HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CORPSES with classic slasher fare like FRIDAY THE 13th. Sadly, this avalanche of mutilated corpses and tsunami of blood does not continue.

Where LAID TO REST begins to fail is when the pace slackens after the introductory phase, during an effort to establish suspense and mystery in the plot. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with such an effort for a more intricate narrative rife with convolutions and intellect are always welcome additions, but there are reasons why this attempt falls flat. First, there are plot twists and story elements that are dependent on the technology of the video camera and the cell phone, which turn out to be irritating rather than novel. Watching people gazing at video playback is not inherently interesting nor is the sight of them interfacing with a cell phone menu screen. While the premise of a killer manipulating technology in an attempt to further his gruesome designs sounds original, it really isn’t that compelling. Another problem is that there aren’t really any profound and forceful stories involving the characters. One would think that a girl with a lost memory and shattered recollection of her past would be a slam dunk, but her tale is spun exceedingly thin and when we finally do find out more about “the girl”, the information isn’t that gripping. In addition, the characters of Tucker and Steven don’t develop much chemistry with each other, they aren’t terribly deep and we don’t really care about them. Tucker’s effort to protect “the girl” or Princess as he calls her are honorable and we should feel more attached to his travails, but for some inexplicable reason, audience compassion for his character is in short supply. One of the biggest failings of LAID TO REST is that the lead actress Bobbi Sue Luther, who gives a fairly sincere performance and works hard to sell her character’s fear and vulnerability, this lovely young lady doesn’t spend as much time out of her clothes as one would wish to see. There is a very short scene near the beginning when she is nude on the bathroom floor but it is shot to preserve Miss Luther’s modesty and it is a shame. In addition to having a pretty face and a mane of luxuriant hair, Miss Luther has a stunningly curvaceous figure that had it been liberally exposed would have propelled this film to much higher levels of exciting gratuitousness. Since LAID TO REST wasn’t trying to be “patrician” horror, it should have gone the route of all fine exploitation cinema and mined a more plebeian vein. The final weakness evident in LAID TO REST is its lack of adherence to the principles of physics. Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object in motion will continue moving in a straight line and at a constant speed until an outside force acts on it. The outside force is the writer’s decision to slow the story down and end the head of steam that had been created. When momentum is achieved, the best thing to do is keep it rolling. By starting fast and then putting on the brakes, instead of doing the opposite, the audience’s adrenaline is allowed to dissipate and once the juice is gone it’s tough to get back. In the end it is a real crying shame for this film had me at the beginning and I can’t help but cheer for a flick that has the intestinal fortitude to shear through a character’s face and kill another character with a full impalement through the temple with a sizable knife. That kind of “take no prisoners” gore and violence, done stylishly and with excellent visual effects isn’t too common. Sadly, LAID TO REST had the right idea but it just didn’t have the right kind of screenplay it needed to deliver the goods.

LAID TO REST does have a surprisingly hefty and rewarding Bonus Features section. In addition to a fairly interesting audio commentary with director/writer Robert Hall and actress/producer Bobbi Sue Luther, there is a very comprehensive mini-doc called “Postmortem: Making of Laid to Rest”. Over its 31 minutes, there is a very enjoyable blend of “behind the scenes” with cast/crew anecdotes and interview clips. A shorter but more focused featurette follows called “Torture Porn: The SFX of Laid to Rest” which is an 8 minute look at the visual effects created primarily by Erik Porn. Fear not, LAID TO REST is not a “torture porn” flick. The supplement is evidently humorously named. There is a 4 ½ minute “Deleted Scenes” segment and a 7 minute “Bloopers” reel which are worth a quick look. Finally, there is the film trailer. While not the Kashmir of Extras, this set did leave me with a slightly improved feeling towards LAID TO REST, as I was able to look into the minds of the creators and get a sense of what they were trying to achieve with their project. Once again, it is always a good idea to have some supplements on a disc, and these were worth digging through.

During one of the supplements, director Robert Hall is heard to say that “he loves the general idea of a killer in a mask chasing a girl around”. I couldn’t agree more that having such a concept for a scene or two, maybe three, is a good idea for a slasher film, but to base an entire movie on such a premise is possibly the reason why LAID TO REST disappoints. There needed to be a lot more depth and a great deal more meat to LAID TO REST. Without that kind of screenplay complexity, compelling motivations of the characters and even more fascinating underlying issues of the killer, LAID TO REST turns out to be too much like the frosting on a dry cake. The frosting looks great and tastes even better at the start, but if what is underneath the frosting isn’t that appetizing then the end result is a bite of confection that just doesn’t leave you satisfied.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com
www.laidtorestmovie.com/

REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE (1971) d. Jean Rollin

2009-04-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Sex and vampires are story threads that for many years have been delicately and exotically twined together to create an enthralling combination. The sight of long, curved fangs impaling a person’s neck is so very like the sensual act of kissing the hollow of a lover’s throat that it is easy to see how the two fit so seamlessly together. Take that basic story concept of sexuality and vampirism and add a great deal of lavish, lush and lovely imagery to the sensuous elements of the tale, and the resultant rush of sumptuous stimuli can be nearly overwhelming. That is usually the effect of watching any Jean Rollin film. The French director who brought the world films like THE NUDE VAMPIRE, LIPS OF BLOOD and SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES and crammed each and every one of his erotic horror films with loads of distinctive scenery did an equally impressive job of delighting the senses and challenging the subconscious in REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE, a motion picture that revels in visual hedonism and atmospheric orgiastic excess. What makes all of the Jean Rollin films special is that they are stylish, attractive, charmingly indulgent and splendidly decadent in all of the best ways.

REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is the story of two young women, Marie and Michelle, who are on the run from the diabolical pursuers and during a car chase their male driver is killed in an exchange of gunfire. Dressed as harlequins, the two young lovelies evade their tormentors and take cover in a cemetery, but their superstitious fear in the presence of bats haunting the graveyard forces them to flee. After finding what appears to be a deserted and ruined castle, the girls think they can quietly sate their attraction for each other within the cozy walls of the strangely opulent and gaudily adorned manor, but they are stalked and then captured by a devilish vampiress named Erica and her henchmen. Eventually, the girls are brought before Erica’s master, an ancient vampire of fabulous power. The girls are forced to bear witness to soul-smashing debauchery and after fruitless attempts to escape the chateau by paths that only circle back to its gate, the girls are compelled to do the vampires’ bidding. While one accepts her fate and embraces the bloodthirsty life of the undead, her companion rebels and tries desperately to resist, even enduring torture meant to break her spirit. Finally, it is self-sacrifice and love that brings this tragic tale of lust and desire to its end.

Like so many other Jean Rollin films, REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is more about what you can see and feel rather than what you are meant to understand and intellectually experience. The story is not terribly complex or intricately crafted, but there is a story and the pace moves patiently and inexorably in the direction of dealing with the resolution of the simple conflict. What is far more satisfying than the premise or construction of the narrative is the subtle but steady shifts in its tone. REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE starts out with a playfully mischievous and even violently unapologetic mood that gently changes into a feel of atmospheric spookiness and subtly “scary” splendor. The remaining balance of REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is surrealistically erotic and unabashed in its sexual frankness, but done with panache and artistic verve. One of the hallmarks of REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is its very sparse dialogue but in its place is a liberally used, diverse and quirky but often mod and emotive musical score. Much of the sensation of each and every scene is driven by the music, occasional lack thereof and the obvious lack of verbal character interaction, which connotes the feel that it is not words that matter but deeds and the actions of these characters are those that have their origins in passion.

The great strength of REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is its visual impact and stunning photography. The exterior scenes were shot amidst the verdant glory of the French countryside, blending timeless pastoral beauty with vibrantly desirable modern young women who ooze a sense of salacious sexuality that helps to create one of the many stark contrasts that fuel the symbolic intensity of Mr. Rollin’s movie. The camera work is often spectacular, utilizing provocative low, high or canted angles, focusing on compelling eyes and facial expressions in dramatic close-ups, engaging the viewer with panoramic images with characters carefully placed in geometric patterns blending with the natural lines of the outdoors. The interior segments are no less stunning in their use of crumbling castle fortifications, ancient stonework throughout the rooms, halls, and passageways, archaic and yet phenomenally intricate cemetery architecture with iron grillwork and bars as well as dark dungeons filled with rusty or gleaming chains that are juxtaposed against soft and satiny skin. No matter what the scenes, indoor or outdoor, color dominates the composition of this motion picture. There is the striking contrast of brilliantly lit day scenes replete with heartbreaking blues, greens and yellows set against the darkness of deep night and the eerie and moody use of accent lights that establish splashes of baleful green and violet, but often there are entire sequences shot monochromatically and the entirety is drenched in reds or blues. Add to this already rich palette the dappling of sharp hues found in the daily garb or the garish costumes of the characters, and there is little chance for the eye to become bored. Instead, the viewer’s gaze is manipulated in such a way that we are constantly trying to focus on what is happening yet alternately making every effort not to miss the magnificent visual repast set before us.

One of the most dominant characteristics of any Jean Rollin film and REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is no exception is the copious quantities of nude women and incredibly unselfconscious sexual imagery of this flick. Whether it is nudity for nudity sake, consensual sex, compelled sex, bondage and other sado-masochistic behaviors as well as acts that are playful or punishing, loathsome or libidinous, sexual content is stitched into REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE so as to be as much a part of the tapestry as the “story” or the general photography. There is a plethora of attractive young women of every body type and even when they are not unclothed, their choice of costume is meant to draw attention to their fresh, youthful figures and the celebration of their heady interest in being a part of their regular and rapacious ravishment. The only distracting visual component of REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is the male master of the vampires whose countenance does not convey a sense of aged power and profundity. Rather, he looks like a haggard and withered accountant whose days at his adding machine have been so arduous that his energy has been spent, never to be renewed. After watching REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE, I see why he might have been chosen for the very purpose of symbolizing decay and decline, but I like my vampires to have a commanding presence and a charisma that communicates menace and threat. The Master of the Undead in REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE looked like the only thing he could convey would be tax advice on property laws or entrepreneurial code.

REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE has a small but still rewarding bonus features menu. There are both the English and French language trailers. There is a small stills gallery which appears to be nothing more than screen captures put together in a superimposed and stylized composition meant to heighten the “artsy” feel of this dvd. There are three short “extra scenes” which really should be titled alternate scenes, for they are non-nude takes of erotically charged film sequences. There are two Redemption promos as well. The real gem of the supplement section is the 10 minute interview with Louise Dhour, who plays “Louise” in REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE, the piano playing succubus and follower of the Master Vampire and his assistant Erica. Subtitled in English, just as the feature film is, this interview is a very interesting set of reminiscences and responses that Ms. Dhour gives to her questioner that help to lay bare the heart of Jean Rollin, his craft and the sexy art flick that is REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE.

Beyond being delightfully naughty and deeply erotic in nearly every fiber of its cinematic being, REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE is more than just a licentious and skintastic vampire movie. It is also a look back at a time when sex and genre film-making were fast approaching the zenith of their excess and success. It is also a fabulous exploration of a culture that has long had a much more comfortable and mature attitude and approach to sex in the cinema and for a long time French films were right up there with their Italian neighbors for being the apex of creative and yet completely corrupt pursuit of decadent artistry. REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE has so many qualities about it that should satisfy the lover of stylish and sensual European fare of the 1960s and 1970s. It may not be terribly deep or thoughtfully convoluted, but it doesn’t have to be or want to be. It is like an orchid, dazzling in its subtle and yet striking colors and exhilarating in its intoxicating aroma, unnecessary and yet undeniably pleasurable.

www.salvation-films.com

MASK OF THE NINJA (2008) d. Bradford May

2009-04-05T02:15:00.001-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

When preparing a classic meal that you hope will go over well with your guests, one way to insure its success is to spice up the old favorite and add in some exotic flair. For example, macaroni & cheese may not seem so “hum-drum” if you add delectable meats like lamb or dapple the serving with a variety of colored and scrumptious peppers. What was once “run of the mill” is now a very unique and flavorful take on an old favorite. Films can be a lot like this example, especially crime dramas. By adding in some action elements, the tired old story of rival gangs can be made a little fresher and by making the gangs of the Asian variety, another brand of spice has been introduced. However, even this zesty combination has been used before so another dose of zing needs to be sprinkled over the surface and that pertains to what the adversaries are fighting for. At this point, one might worry that too many elements have been blended into the original recipe, but that is not the case. Like the time-honored mac & cheese, the bones of the bake are still the same, it is just the fringes and frills that have been altered. The problem lies in the final presentation. If you sprinkle green and blue food coloring over the top of your casserole to give it that much more jazz, it will probably look rather bizarre and be thoroughly unappealing even if it tastes terrific. Such is the case with MASK OF THE NINJA. It is has a completely unoriginal plot concept but enough interesting additions are grafted onto the general premise that it might have worked if it wasn’t for the fact that specific components look terrible.

MASK OF THE NINJA is the story of Jack Barrett (played by Caspar Van Dien), an LA detective who happens to stumble into an ancient feud between rival Japanese families. On a night of bloody vengeance, Jack arrives at the Takeo family’s mansion in time to save the daughter Miko (played by Kristy Wu) from a cadre of assassins, but is not able to save Miko’s father from being executed in the classic Ninja fashion of a blade thrust to the heart. As Jack digs deeper into the Takeo case, he incurs the ire of the Kokushibyu family, who is trying to locate a vital microchip that would provide for them the power and influence necessary to redress injuries done to them in the past. Jack must find a way to keep Miko alive, dodge the viper-fast blows of Ninjas rallying to the assault and take down The “Black Death” family before he becomes just another dead body.

On the surface, it would seem like MASK OF THE NINJA has a lot going for it, which is actually the case. Stories about warring Japanese families battling over some lengthy grievance rarely get old and to make this tale a little more fun, the issue is control over technology, not some mystical sword or the ashes of a sorcerous samurai ancestor. The narrative is well-paced and is a surprisingly heady blend of action, violence, sex and some reasonably good character melodrama. The story moves along briskly and we are treated to some very attractive female actresses, a little bit of nudity, some very bloody battle scenes, a mix of gunplay and sword work, as well as some gangland torture and execution. The roots of the plot are grounded in some wonderful human frailties of loyalties divided, betrayal, revenge and murder. While the acting isn’t always up to snuff, the cast is carefully selected to look the part. There is a nice mix of Asian and Caucasian actors, older and younger performers, handsome and less appealing countenances and they are thoughtfully costumed in trendy and fashionably elegant styles that fit the West Coast scene. In addition, the scenes are well lit, whether they are during the day or at night and there are some occasional splashes of color or dynamic backgrounds, especially when it comes to exterior sets. However there are even a few interior sets that catch the eye too. There is some striking architecture, a few panoramic California vistas and even a lovely Japanese garden. How can a motion picture have all of these positive qualities and still be lacking you might ask? Let us remember the eclectically colored macaroni and cheese and the answer is plain to see.

An action film has to have action sequences that look really good and just as importantly, the dramatic sequences need to look equally as impressive. MASK OF THE NINJA suffers from some very uneven camera work but even worse it is badly hampered by “creative” use of photographic effects and “inventive” editing. When it is an establishing shot of the background or supporting scenery, the imagery looks great. There are even some reasonably good character shots, although a few too many close-ups that are too close do occur. When it comes to the fight scenes the slippery slope is so steep as to be stupidly unsafe. Obnoxious hand-held camera techniques are employed causing a shakiness of the images that is irritating to say the least. Add to that some very rapid editing work and shots that are too tight and you’ve got a mess on your hands. It gets worse. All kinds of “special effects” are laid over the initial bad camera work like multiple images, superimposed images, shakiness sped up, blurring, overexposure and all manner of other misery so that I looked forward to the end of the actions scenes in hopes that we could get back to what seemed to be “calmer” dramatic moments. Even that was stolen from me. Any scene where “ingenuity” could be splashed into the visual sequences over the last two-thirds of the film experienced this blight in spades. There were times that MASK OF THE NINJA looked attractive but they became scarcer as the movie progressed and in the end, the camera-work ruined what was a potentially entertaining flick.

It also didn’t help to have Caspar Van Dien in the starring role. Mr. Van Dien is one of those true Hollywood paradoxes for it is evident why he is cast in the roles he gets. With that rugged chin and granite countenance, blazing eyes and the look of a handsome tough guy, he is a visually appealing commodity. Like a cigar store Indian that looks imposing and compelling but isn’t much in the way of company, Mr. Van Dien is a tad wooden and his performance is one-dimensional at best, not that the rest of the cast of MASK OF THE NINJA is much better. The performances are workman-like at best and most are flat and undeveloped as a rule. At least the writers and the rest of the directing crew had the foresight to make Caspar’s character a likable punching bag for the Ninjas. Instead of making Jack Barrett the all-knowing and unstoppable whitey, he gets his ass kicked consistently in MASK OF THE NINJA and while he gets a few licks in here and there, Jack Barrett is totally outmatched by trained fighters, has his gun kicked out of his hands repeatedly, gets stabbed and slashed fairly often and lands on his back out cold a couple of times. For that I am thankful. Such was the tragedy of MASK OF THE NINJA, it had a fairly believable story. If I could have seen what was going on and enjoyed the action sequences, I might have really praised this film highly.

When I watched KILLER MOVIE, one of the aspects of the Bonus Features I enjoyed the most was that the interview segment with the lovely and shapely Adriana Demeo was done with her sitting in a micro mini-skirt. MASK OF THE NINJA needed to have something like that in ANY kind of Extras Menu, but there was NOTHING. Hello RHI-TV! You’ve got a cast of very attractive Asian women and you can’t sit them down for a quick talk, preferably wearing some kind of revealing outfit that provides for the viewer the sense that they are getting their money’s worth. After an experience that leaves me with that bitter taste of disappointment, just a little tidbit in some kind of set of supplements would have been a good idea, but of course there was nothing. I don’t like feeling cheated and that is exactly how I felt after the feature film was over and there was nothing to cleanse the palette.

It was sad to see that MASK OF THE NINJA was not typical of the many RHI-TV movies I have viewed. Normally, their fare is a wonderful mix of old-style writing and filming techniques that hearken back to a vanished time. Certainly one can’t stand pat forever and while the writing efforts were a pleasant mix of old-school and new ideas, the camera work and special effects were that bane of modern cinema that I absolutely loathe. I hope that other viewers have the same reaction that I did for it is only by voicing our displeasure that such dreadful techniques will be abandoned and real film making and cinematography will return to its rightful place.

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TOKYO ZOMBIE (2005) d. Sakichi Sato

2009-03-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

The writers, directors and producers who came up with the idea that zombies could be more than just frightening fiends were geniuses. Whether it was the social commentaries of George Romero’s films like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD or DAWN OF THE DEAD, the absolute wackiness of Ray Dennis Steckler’s THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED UP ZOMBIES, the punk-rocker slapstick and salaciousness of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, the tongue-in-cheek hilarity of SHAUN OF THE DEAD or even the irritating foolishness of CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, zombies have and can come in many wonderfully entertaining forms and the diversity of their manifestations is what makes the zombie subgenre especially terrific. Sadly, some zombie films, like the living dead themselves, can shamble aimlessly, occasionally showing bursts of energy, only to sink back into a sedentary shuffle that turns out to be no more exciting than going to an Alzheimer’s Ward Jitterbug Contest. TOKYO ZOMBIE is a nearly perfect example of the prior statement. It is a film that has some very entertaining moments and reaches for an assortment of comedy styles, but in the end it is like a trip across the Great Plains, where there are moments when the starkly beautiful landscape can bore you to tears until all of a sudden something appears on the horizon to relieve the monotony for a spell, only to return to the weary trudge through sameness once again.

TOKYO ZOMBIE is the story of two peculiar laborers, Mitsuo (Micchan in the English subtitles) and Fujio, two men who are not terribly motivated unless it is something to do with Ju-Jitsu. After a brainless accident involving their boss requires them to ascend the slopes of the awesome Mountain of Rubbish and toxic waste Matterhorn known as “Black Fuji”, our heroes witness the genesis of an army of zombies. Stumbling down the sides of the trash peak and devouring all manner of citizens in their path, the zombies spread death and chaos through a city of people who seem equally as brain-dead as their attackers. Mitsuo and Fujio make awkward attempts to dodge these nightmarish locomotion-challenged flesh-eaters and try to subsist to the best of their limited abilities. After a number of accidents, personal setbacks and years pass, the zombies are triumphant and the surviving members of Tokyo’s human population are forced to live a life of even more mindless entertainment and boorish behavior. At the center of this bizarre travesty, our heroes are forced to come to terms with their meaningless existences in a ridiculous showdown reminiscent of something like a mentally-challenged hybrid version of HIGH NOON and LAND OF THE DEAD.

One of the most troubling aspects of TOKYO ZOMBIE is that there are many facets of this film that are praiseworthy, but in the end it is an exercise in endurance to reach the conclusion of this 104 minute partial snoozer. From a purely technical standpoint, TOKYO ZOMBIE looks and sounds quite good. It is shot well and the exterior and interior sets are effectively utilized, whether they are real or computer generated. The zombie make-up is creative, professional and looks authentic; there is just the right amount of gore, the living dead stagger about and snarl semi-menacingly in occasionally scary but usually comical fashion that reminds me of an interpretive dance troupe. When it is being used and that is not the case often enough, the soundtrack is quirky, jazzy and sets a fun and light tone. The characters are likable and their eccentricities do not grate and cause revulsion, rather the reverse. Despite the problems that beset TOKYO ZOMBIE, the main characters grow on you after some time and the primary actors, Tadanobu Asano (Fujio) and Sho Aikawa (Mitsuo) do a very good job in their portrayals of these asinine and yet somehow lovable buffoons. Even the story has its strengths. When the narrative is focused on being off-beat, unpredictable and totally twisted and the humor is a steady mix of well-timed, brisk physical wackiness with some thoughtful social commentary, TOKYO ZOMBIE succeeds brilliantly. There are heads being whacked off in some wonderfully irreverent ways and a “Calpis Commando” with an excrement Gatling gun. Sound moronic? It is, but in the best sense of the word. Why can’t I give a film with such obviously bright moments a hearty slap on the cinematic posterior and say I loved it? The reason is to be found deep in the inner reaches of Japanese movie psychology and film-making “nuts and bolts”.

TOKYO ZOMBIE suffers from a problem that often besets Japanese movies, they can be “leisurely” paced and wander aimlessly like a five year old set adrift in a carpeting warehouse. I have seen many Japanese live-action films of the horror, action, comedic and dramatic genres and far too often they feel like they should be ten to twenty minutes shorter at the very least. This is harsh criticism from a man who tends to like European motion pictures for the reason that they are more “patient” than there American brethren. I like Asian movies of all types, especially those from Japan, but the pacing of their flicks can be a deadly weakness and in the case of TOKYO ZOMBIE it is a fatal flaw. Every time the humor intensified or the action got going, jokes were held just a bit too long, sometimes far too long. In addition, the plot sharply veered off course, taking the story in unneeded and unwanted directions that slowed the tale down considerably. The unpredictability of TOKYO ZOMBIE was often its greatest strength, but when one minute the main characters are fighting zombies while trying to find their car keys and the next there is a lengthy and dull interlude in an abandoned night club that drags like ice melting on a pond, precious opportunities are being lost. Character exchanges and interplay were often far too involved over meaningless points. At times it felt like the theme of the citizens being no less dim and inane than the zombies was being carefully developed, but at other times the story just felt like it was an experiment in being odd and hopefully funny. Certainly odd was achieved but funny was less consistently attained and that was a shame because there were times when TOKYO ZOMBIE surprised me with how madcap it could be and how much I liked it for its goofiness. If TOKYO ZOMBIE had been tightened up a bit more in the editing process and had the pace of this film been just a bit more lively, it might have been a real pleasure to watch.

One of the great benefits of this disc is its rich collection of Bonus Features. There is a 53 minute long and very comprehensive “Making of the Dead” documentary filled to the brim with cast and crew anecdotes and recollections as well as “behind the scenes” footage. This is one of the more extensive “making of” featurettes I have seen in some time and I thoroughly enjoyed my journey into the back story of this project. There are two “Actor Interviews” segments, one that is 10 ½ minutes long set on a TV show right around the 2005 Tokyo premiere of the film and focusing on the two male leads. A 4 minute sit down interview follows it. Both are excellent and in-depth despite the difference in style and length. There is a 10 ½ minute “Cast and Crew Q & A Session” with five cast members at the 2005 Opening Day. Set on a stage, the repartee of this featurette is especially enjoyable. A 10 ½ minute “Actor In-Store Appearance” at a special event at HMV with the two male leads is very different in style from the usual interview segment. Finally there are three TOKYO ZOMBIE teasers and two full trailers, rounding out one of the most feature-centric extras caches I’ve had the delight to delve into for some time. Even though I couldn’t rave about TOKYO ZOMBIE as much as the film makers would have liked, my amblings through the supplements made my experience a little more enjoyable. For all those who don’t have the foresight to load up a disc with goodies, let this be their object lesson on why bonus features are ALWAYS a good idea and a “bare bones” disc is ALWAYS a mistake.

TOKYO ZOMBIE is not a bad film and there are likely to be many people who will like it. It is a little naughty at times, looks and sounds good and hits the mark on occasion with both slapstick and sarcastic comedic thrusts. It may be that I am just a jaded old man equally as bald and bitter as Mitsuo and a bit too worldly. I have been fighting off zombies in my own arena of mortal combat for too many years and possibly this film hit a nerve that wouldn’t have been the case with another reviewer. I think not though, for I can sense a slow mover early on and have learned to sniff out snoozers in all their forms. TOKYO ZOMBIE was not a total bore nor was it a narcolepsy triggering movie, but I was thankful I had gotten a good night’s sleep for I hate it when I doze and my head strikes the remote sharply. That old remote can’t take much more punishment.

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SWAMP DEVIL (2008) d. David Winning

2009-03-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Swamps are vitally important habitats that are absolutely essential to the health of regional and global environments. They are also places of mystery and sinister imagery. Whether it’s the moss-covered trees, laden with living and dead leaves or the gloomy and greasy pools of murky water, swamps are not usually high on most people’s lists as places they’d like to vacation. What makes a swamp even more darkly compelling are the secrets that lie just beneath the surface of its sullen waters. Below the muddy and viscous liquid that looks like grimy, glazed glass are layers of ooze and muck into which bodies of animals and people can sink, never to be seen again. SWAMP DEVIL, the 13th installment in the Maneater Series, trades on that fear of bogs and marshes, and while it has more to do with other movie elements than horror and marsh tales, it has a degree of success in weaving a yarn that will keep you glued like swamp slop to your seat.

SWAMP DEVIL is the story of young Melanie Blaime (played by Cindy Sampson) and her father Howard (portrayed by the venerable Bruce Dern). After a long estrangement from her father for reasons not entirely clear, Melanie returns to her childhood home of Gibbington, Vermont to confront the realization that her father is wanted for murder. As Melanie digs a little more deeply into the stories of the past, she uncovers a tale wound about the town like Spanish moss, that is composed of secrets and lies, murder and revenge. As Melanie is drawn deeper into the story of Gibbington, she becomes closer friends with the enigmatic Jimmy Fuller (played by Nicholas Wright), even as she discovers more about her father and his connection to Jimmy. In the end, it comes to a showdown between sides that each have a profoundly vested interest in vengeance with Melanie as the prize laid out between them.

SWAMP DEVIL is pure TV Movie and if you’ve seen any of the RHI-TV relatives of this flick, you know exactly what to expect, but it in the end it doesn’t matter that this flick is predictable, has a few plot holes and has some serious visual flaws. SWAMP DEVIL delivers on that most important of properties necessary to a cash-strapped TV Movie; character interplay and melodrama. The vast majority of the narrative is centered upon Melanie, her reluctant return to her roots, her emotional issues revolving around her relationship with her father and the mysterious death of her mother, her friendship with Jimmy and his idiosyncratic nature and her response to the vigilante mob of townsfolk who wish to bring her father to justice. Thrown in for good measure in the earlier stages of the plot are some moments of “monster mayhem” that help to firmly anchor this film in the horror canon and even more effectively used are lightly sprinkled scenes which assist a steady development of suspense and mood bordering on menace. SWAMP DEVIL is not Hitchcock or Argento, it is classic TV Movie fare that is just as much akin to a Soap Opera as it is the theatrically release horror or even “creature feature” films of yore. As the story progresses, the pace picks up and over the last one-third of the film, the action begins to step up. In some ways, this is where the movie declines ever so slightly for just as we are treated to longer scenes with Bruce Dern who was fairly absent in the beginning, he is asked to be just as much an action hero as he is an actor and that is too bad. The man is a gifted and experienced thespian and the more of his presence we could have enjoyed the better I would have liked SWAMP DEVIL. As the action intensified, we were also forced to endure the great fault of SWAMP DEVIL.

From a visual standpoint, there were alternating strengths and weaknesses to this film. The greatest failing was the CGI swamp monster and its fake tendrils. Computer Generated Imaging must be getting both easier and far cheaper to utilize for I see it more and more, especially in TV Movies like SWAMP DEVIL. At times it can be effectively used, like in VIPERS or HIVE, but at other times like EYE OF THE BEAST or YETI it can be a distraction and a failure. In SWAMP DEVIL, the exterior sets chosen to create a sense of Vermont, but that were actually in and around Montreal, were attractive, verdant and created a very persuasive aura of sylvan beauty and forested threat. Unfortunately, the swamp monster looked a lot more like a badly crafted piece of silly topiary. As a result, the action sequences with the beast were just not convincing. In the end it is too bad for SWAMP DEVIL was effectively and competently shot under the guiding hand of David Winning who was at the helm for SOMETHING BENEATH and BLACK SWARM. It was Mr. Winning’s effective camera work that led to one of the great strengths of SWAMP DEVIL, the focus on the faces and expressions of the characters. Franco Nero once said that Italian Westerns were great because the emotional impact of the films was carried in the cinematography of the actors’ countenances. It was the eyes and other facial elements that “have it” in SWAMP DEVIL, especially those of Cindy Sampson. Beyond the fact that Miss Sampson is incredibly lovely, with a torrent of glossy, dark hair and a trim, comely figure it is her soul-piercing eyes and the tough but vulnerable expressions on her face that carry a great deal of force. Add to that the insouciant looks of Nicholas Wright, the revenge-crazed gaze of Bruce Dern and the myriad of other emotions conveyed by the expressions of the cast and more of a palpable feeling of atmosphere was created by the performers than was by the garden ornament of a swamp monster. Kudos must be given to the camera team, the director and the actors for their efforts in propelling the narrative of SWAMP DEVIL. It was a fairly predictable story and the pacing was a little uneven at times, but the drama was effectively energized by the portrayals, interactions and responses we see on the screen, making SWAMP DEVIL a lot more like its low budget horror movie cousins of long ago like MONOLITH MONSTERS or DIE MONSTER DIE.

Like so many other Maneater or RHI-TV TV Movies brought to DVD, SWAMP DEVIL has no bonus features menu. There are two trailers that come up before the main menu, both of which are action film trailers and have nothing to do with the horror genre. While I applaud the people who authored this disc for not bathing us in more overused Maneater imagery and that is probably because there is a newly launched Maneater website, when you’ve got a horror movie in peoples’ hands, you probably want to put horror trailers on that disc. After the trailers, there are two film company ads for Dragon Dynasty and Dimension Extreme, both of which made me even more irritated, for I don’t want the sell-job when I watch a disc, I want to be inundated by a good story and even better visual components, and then I want to learn more about the project I just experienced. With a director like David Winning leading the pack, an actor of the caliber of Bruce Dern, an actor playing Sheriff Nelson who looks suspiciously like Ed Lauter but isn’t and a stunning beauty like Cindy Sampson, there is more than enough fodder for cast interviews, a “behind the scenes” featurette or some kind of tidbit. While I enjoyed SWAMP DEVIL to a greater rather than lesser degree, this lack of supplemental features left me more than typically indignant. I have had the pleasure of seeing some SUPERB extras on quite a few discs recently, most of which are connected to small releasing companies and even more obscure titles. For a company as large as RHI-TV to not put some kind of bonus features on this disc simply stinks. Probably RHI-TV or whatever entity made SWAMP DEVIL is and/or was profitable, but not having the chance to enjoy something more about this flick made me feel a little soiled, as if I had taken a tumble in the bog.

SWAMP DEVIL is the kind of film you watch when you really just want to get away from reality and get involved in a drama of simplistic but still appealing proportions. It isn’t what I’d call classic “turn off the lights late at night” fare, more of a late Saturday morning, low budget “creature feature” kind of movie. It had a capable cast who brought to life characters I liked and grew to care about. When I cheer for characters and don’t want them to get the chop, something is being done right. While it wasn’t as scary as it was just generally fun, I still felt entertained. Just as a grilled cheese sandwich isn’t the summit of culinary delights, it is still a meal that can satisfy, so I suppose one can say that SWAMP DEVIL is a little like sitting down to a tried and true favorite like grilled cheese. You know what you’re going to get and there won’t be any surprises, but you’ll like the outcome just fine. I’ll take that.

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THE SINFUL DWARF (1973) d. Vidal Raski

2009-03-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

One of the most endearing qualities of independent cinema is that there is no limit to what can be tainted, debauched or twisted to become absolutely loathsome. Just as we saw in great literature written by masters like Ray Bradbury, the simplest and most innocuous things can be made to be utterly terrifying, as Mr. Bradbury did in stories like The Long Rain and Boys! Grow Giant Mushrooms in your Cellar. While indie-film makers have been creating flicks that exploited or lampooned all manner of charming icons or heart-warming imagery since the earliest days of The Silver Screen, the pinnacle of excess was reached in the 1970s when the boundaries of censorship and decency were rolled back consistently during that epoch of permissiveness. The people who benefited were movie lovers, for the world was treated to tales of dope fiends, sex addicts, perverts and maniacs. THE SINFUL DWARF (aka DVAERGEN) must be recognized as one of the Pillars of the Depraved Exploitation Temple, for it mines just about every possible vein and just like a sadistic dentist, it finds as many sensitive nerves as it can and plucks at them viciously throughout its duration.

THE SINFUL DWARF is the story of drunken and dissolute Lila Lash and her diminutive and degenerate son Olaf. Lila owns a rooming house that was once the nightclub where she performed as a singer/dancer in her more successful youth. The house and Lila have fallen on hard times and now, with the help of Olaf, she must peddle the flesh of young women she keeps enslaved to heroine in her attic. When a young newlywed couple named Peter and Mary rent a room at Lila’s, they step into more than they bargained for. While Peter spends the day trying to get writing gigs, lovely Mary allows her active imagination to run wild and then gives into the powerful lure of curiosity in an attempt to find out why there are strange sounds coming from the attic. As has almost always been the case in such a situation, “curiosity kills the cat”, and Mary lands herself in a very harrowing predicament.

If you are a fan of wildly entertaining, low budget but still “thoughtfully” composed exploitation cinema from pioneers like Dave Friedman, THE SINFUL DWARF will probably delight, not that there aren’t problems with it. When I first saw the Harry Novak logo come up at the beginning of the film, I was nervous due to my many disappointing experiences with Mr. Novak’s “motion pictures”, but then my prior research asserted its contemplative self, commandeered my emotions and helped to calm my fears. Knowing that THE SINFUL DWARF was a Danish production, I assumed Mr. Novak’s influence would be less pronounced and to some degree I was right. The story of this flick is absolutely typical exploitation gold, for it is a mix of a very good plot concept, very lecherous and licentious moments of ‘skin-tastic” salaciousness and loads of slower narrative components, some added in to intensify the “creepiness” factor, others added in to develop a sense of atmosphere and many were just good old padding used to lengthen the runtime of the film. If you go into THE SINFUL DWARF expecting a rocket ride of nonstop sleaze from the opening titles to the closing scene, you will disappointed and should be slapped for your stupidity, for this is an early 70s softcore/exploitation flick and as such it is going to be a mixed bag. Certainly there is nudity aplenty and we are treated to the beautiful Anne Sparrow (Mary) in wonderfully form-fitting fashions and often times out of her garments as well. While all the girls in THE SINFUL DWARF are comely, most are a bit slender, but Ms. Sparrow steals the show with her striking face, intensely expressive eyes, luxuriant blond locks and outstanding figure. For those hoping for some naughtiness, there are numerous sex scenes shot with the usual Harry Novak energetic style that lacks panache and skill, but still delivers the goods, especially just as much “man-ass” as it does the female form. There are drugs, sex slaves and bondage, but what carries the weight of THE SINFUL DWARF are the facial expressions and guttural verbiage of Olaf (Torben Bille) and the utterly horrifying visage and singing/dancing of Lila (Clara Keller). Not since Arch Hall Jr. in THE SADIST has there been a face as disturbing as that of Olaf. Watching his creepy countenance for 90 minutes could give you nightmares if not thoroughly unseat your sanity, but he is completely entertaining none-the-less and I found myself wishing there was more of his presence. Ms. Clara Keller does the most outstanding job of creating a female equivalent to Klaus Kinski or Udo Kier that I have ever seen. If you have ever had the privilege of observing either of those actors in one of their more unsettling performances like CRAWL SPACE or MARK OF THE DEVIL, you will know exactly what I mean. Her liquor besotted and makeup besmirched appearance sporting “Roaring 20s” garb is truly distressing to say the least. These two combine to create the most unpleasant dastardly duo since Bonne and Clyde. While they may not be as active as the afore-mentioned bank robbers, they are undoubtedly more fun.

THE SINFUL DWARF benefits from Severin Films’ very sincere efforts to restore this motion picture. Found in a Danish Film School’s closet, the 35 mm master was probably in rough shape and was likely to be of poor film stock to begin with. Dark and grainy at times and with some relatively hollow audio, we are still treated to a colorful and strikingly attractive film despite the low budget efforts of the original film makers. The interior sets are such a bizarre mix of compelling images of baroque beauty that has “gone to seed” mixed with repellant scenes of gloomy hallways, filthy attics and scabrous bathroom fixtures. The marvelous contrasts of diametrically opposed visually imagery of both the sets and the cast members makes this motion picture work in a startlingly effective manner. When added to the consistently utilized motif of children’s wind up toys and teddy bear-like dolls, the resulting admixture of childhood icons and behavioral depravity is even more delightfully sickening. The toy shots used in the opening credits stuck with me throughout the film and whenever things took a “dark turn”, the mental juxtaposition was quite forceful. The performances of the principal actors are also competent and occasionally strong. In addition to Ms. Keller and Mr. Torben Bille, Anne Sparrow is not just a pretty face, she is able to act too and does a very good job in her role. It is a crying shame that THE SINFUL DWARF was her only film, for I would have done just about anything to see her continue as an icon of the exploitation genre. Tony Eades plays the part of Mary’s husband Peter and he gives a solid performance as well. Most of the time, exploitation actors and actresses were not always that good to look at and were even less winning as performers, but in THE SINFUL DWARF, we get the whole nine yards. Finally, one can’t even escape from the music of THE SINFUL DWARF. There is an eclectic and unsettling mix of playful incidental themes, innocently classical strains and deeply disconcerting modern soundtrack elements that strengthen all of the emotional reactions that are meant to be manipulated. Sadly, the score could have been used even more consistently, but when it was, the impact was like a fist to the solar plexus.

Since THE SINFUL DWARF has such a checkered past as a “lost exploitation classic” and an infamous title of loathsome lechery, I fully expected there to be little or no bonus features to be had, and got another surprise. In addition to two radio spots (30 seconds and 60 seconds) and the trailer, there is a 10 minute faux mini-documentary called “The Severin Controversy” which looks at the “lasting impact of watching THE SINFUL DWARF”. Set in a small video store and surrounded by titles of other sordid splendor like AMAZON JAIL, “The Severin Controversy” discusses with two of the store regulars what life has been like since first viewing THE SINFUL DWARF and the many cautionary comments each “Johnny lunch pail” has for potential “dwarf-a-maniac”. This featurette is a real “hoot” and was a perfect way to bring to a close my “dwarfsploitation” cinema experience.

Watching THE SINFUL DWARF will not warp you permanently for there are far more alarming viewing options to be had in the world both past and present. Go in expecting this to be a “long, strange trip” and that the Master of Ceremonies will be pint-sized in build but mighty in mischief and you will probably be entertained. Like SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES, this is not classic horror, but rather a mix of ideas blended in The Devil’s Kitchen Aid food processor and served cold, just as revenge should be, for this is The Beast’s pay back for being cast out of Paradise. If you watch THE SINFUL DWARF, you will descend just a few steps further on that ruinous path into The Void, but that’s okay. Do it for Olaf.

www.severin-films.com

SINS OF SISTER LUCIA (1978) d. Koyu Ohara

2009-03-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

I once saw a comic strip about a dorky teenage boy who experienced a whopping boner during his high school math class and was asked to come to the board to solve an equation. To keep from displaying his “lodgepole” in front of the pretty and popular cheerleaders in the room, the unfortunate youth tried to quiet his tumescent Doric column by thinking about screwing the teacher, who was a withered old nun named "Miss Acidcrotch". Whether this worked for our cartoon hero, I can’t quite recall, but I know many a man who used this technique during moments of physical stress to great success. Sadly, viewing SINS OF SISTER LUCIA will erase this procedure from your repertoire, for SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is easily one of the most erotic nunspolitation motion pictures ever made and should have you rearing like a stallion by the end of the film.

SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is the story of Rumiko, the manipulative and dissolute daughter of a wealthy businessman who is discovered by her father in the midst of appalling larcenous and sexual acts. The prim daughters of Japanese tycoons do not engage in such behavior, so to correct Rumiko, she is sent to a convent. The traditional methods of “sisterly” redirection do not seem to work on the rebellious and defiant girl, even after she is indoctrinated as “Sister Lucia”. Before long punishments of all types are visited against Sister Lucia, but during one spell of restraint and confinement, two escaped convicts stumble upon our helpless heroine, they ravish her and in a fit of patient diplomacy, she convinces them to help turn the tables on her oppressors, but not for long. Eventually another turnabout is orchestrated landing “Lucia” in an even more dreadful predicament. What started as an intensely seductive cinematic affair erupts into an orgy of licentious and salaciously lewd acts that would delight any devotee of Japanese debauchery.

SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is more than just an intense Asian softcore movie, it is also a very beautiful film and for those who are willing to risk the perils of its taboo subjects, the rewards are great. Typical of most Japanese cinema, it is shot very wide and with an eye to dynamic imagery. While there are few exterior sets, those that we see are quite striking. Even more impressive are the interior sets that are rich with strong architectural features, beautiful sacramental scenery and a mix of stark black and whites blended with blazing colors. From the crisp and clean look of the nuns’ habits, to the silky porcelain skin tones of the “sisters”, to the stunning visual beauty of altars and rooms inside what is suppose to be a sanctum of worship but is something else entirely, SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is exquisitely lovely and a joy to watch from a purely artistic standpoint. Added to the visual splendor is a musical soundtrack that, while used sparingly, does add to the sense of having stepped into a sanctuary during a High Holiday. Beyond these sublime sensual strengths, SINS OF SISTER LUCIA works on an entirely different level.

A close friend who had lived in Japan for a number of years and has regularly visited that nation since once referred to Japanese film as “utterly screwed up”. How could you not make such a statement about a land that has brought us tentacle-porn epics like the “Overfiend” series? Long before such animated horror-shows were birthed, films like SINS OF SISTER LUCIA were foisted upon the world by companies like Nikkatsu and they were violent and erotic, bizarre and beautiful. One of the reasons that SINS OF SISTER LUCIA has such a potent impact is that beyond the Japanese fascination with forbidden sex, lesbianism, rape and bondage/discipline there is commanding imagery created through the carefully orchestrated juxtaposition of religious iconography and sexual deviancy. While this is nothing new to historians and certainly goes back to the days of The Inquisition and beyond, there is something about the way the Japanese carry this off that has even more weight than the sleaziest European flicks of the late 70s and early 80s. Maybe it is the high pitched voices of the Japanese girls subtitled in English or possibly their delicate facial features framed by nuns’ habits. Maybe it is the cool and emotionless Catholicism of sisters walking down convent corridors and then engaging in all manner of copulation. For whatever the reason, SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is packed with scenery that with leave its mark on your mind and soul and of course, presented by our good friends at Mondo Macabro, this film transfer looks AMAZING. All the blacks and whites are crisp and clean, while the colors are vibrant and the audio is as clear as a bell. SINS OF SISTER LUCIA looks like it was filmed and then projected yesterday. When you’ve got a beautifully shot motion picture that evidences great care and thought when it comes to composition, camera angles and general creativity and it looks fabulous too, you’ve got yourself a real winner.

On the story side, SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is not terribly complex. It is the age-old tale of “bad girl needs to be taught a lesson so she’ll fall into line and not embarrass her family”. What starts off as a straight forward yarn about a hot-blooded and hard-headed young lady steadily devolves into one opportunity after another to go down an even more lurid path and engage in even more depravity. While there are “twists and turns” in the plot, they are far more manufactured than surprising and are just vehicles for piling on the pulchritude. SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is not about writing or acting, it is a powerful stimulant to the senses and must be openly admitted to be such. Once you confess your sins, it is much easier to enjoy them.

Typical of the many other Mondo Macabro DVDs I’ve seen, SINS OF SISTER LUCIA has an impressive bonus features menu. There is a two-part text segment to start called “About the Film” which looks first at Nikkatsu Films and then SINS OF SISTER LUCIA specifically. After that is an exceptional 24 minute documentary called “The Erotic Vampire” which is an expose and retrospective exploring Japanese erotic horror and exploitation films. This is one of the more compelling mini-features I have seen in some time and should deeply impress those who wish to know more about our Oriental exploitation brethren. After that is a 9 minute “Interview with Jasper Sharp”, which is a discussion with British film historian Jasper Sharp regarding SINS OF SISTER LUCIA, its director and its place in Japanese film lore. There is a segment called “Nikkatsu Film Trailers” of which there are six little known gems. Finally, there is the extensive “More from Mondo Macabro” promotional trailer montage. While I have seen many of their wildly entertaining films, I never tire of this ever expanding trailer loop and certainly want to own ALL of their wares.

SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is the very definition of a movie for hedonists. There is no deep religious message, neither is it philosophically profound, nor is it amply arcane. SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is no different than that first bottle of wine you swiped from your parents’ liquor cabinet or that first naughty magazine you found in the Big Boys’ Clubhouse when you snuck in late one evening. This is pure Forbidden Fruit and like The Apple, it is more than just a tasty treat. It looks wonderful, swinging from that tree, a mix of scarlet shades and gleaming skin over tart interior flesh. Just as a true Epicurean approaches a wine tasting by appreciating the hue and bouquet of a vintage before sampling it, let your eyes and ears bask in the splendor of SINS OF SISTER LUCIA and leave the more analytical centers of your brain to get the much needed rest they deserve.

www.mondomacabrodvd.com

WALLED IN (2007) d. Gilles Paquet-Brenner

2009-03-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Eerie abodes, creepy castles and dreadful dwellings have long been a deep and extremely rich well from which film makers have been able to draw when trying to create an atmospheric and disturbing set of images for a motion picture. Whether it is the cob-webby corridors, the blackened basements or the asphyxiating attics, a fright-filled structure can be the centerpiece upon which a great horror movie is built. Architecture in and of itself is a very interesting study and domiciles can tell us a lot about the history of a town and/or a family when you study the original plan for the structure and then explore any additions. While additions to the primary blueprints can sometimes improve the appearance and function of a house, too often there are excessive changes that are made and the fundamental plan is lost in a swell of attempts to “do better” than the first design, subverting the artistry and ruining the final outcome. Films can be a lot like that. What starts out as a promising tale winds in unforeseen directions and then the narrative ends up somewhere you’d rather not have gone. WALLED IN is a perfect example of a motion picture that started out with all kinds of strengths and seemed to be driving towards a degree of cinematic success, but like a crazed contractor slapping on all kinds of “improvements” to a house’s design, WALLED IN veered away from its blueprints and ended up being a bit disappointing.

WALLED IN is the story of Sam Walczak, a beautiful young woman who is given her first job as a structural engineer, the task being the demolition of a building with a very compelling past. The Malestrazza Building is an architectural marvel, but it is also the scene of terrifying events. Fifteen years earlier, a large number of people were entombed within the walls of the building, Mr. Malestrazza among them. Sam’s commission takes her inside the structure where she is suppose to determine the best way to bring it down safely, but against her better judgment Sam is drawn into the story of the building’s genius architect, his bizarre beliefs and how they affected his plans and the last few tenants living there. Sam’s curiosity leads her to a series of fascinating discoveries and even more frightening revelations, proving the old saw, “there is more than meets the eye”, especially when it comes to a building with the anomalies like the one that Sam almost becomes a part of.

WALLED IN starts off with some of the most eye-catching photography, set utilization and set construction I have had the opportunity to enjoy in some time. Whether it is the bleak but still attractive winter panoramas of the Canadian prairies and wetlands, the stark and forbidding exterior scenes of the “Malestrazza Building” (which is a model and a CGI construct, but a damn good-looking one) or the fabulously beautiful and atmospheric interior sets of the structure, WALLED IN is wonderfully shot. Particular attention is paid during the first half of the film to the internal architecture and décor and when moody lighting is exploited, mixing colors, shades, tints and tones, one is strongly reminded of a non-supernatural version of SUSPIRIA or INFERNO, for those fine Dario Argento films focused heavily on the power and profundity of architectural psychology. There are harsh and strident lines mixed with fanciful designs and accents, textured backgrounds and sleek characteristics, monochromatic scenes as well as hues that highlight visual elements and a chiaroscuro that is palpable and sometimes astonishingly opulent. Sadly, this level of artistry is not maintained throughout the movie and as the story shifts its focus, so too does the imagery and the painstaking beauty and power of WALLED IN sluices away like so much water running through a dam.

The director and many of the crew members of WALLED IN are French and for many people who like Euro-cinema, this could be considered a blessing. The French have a penchant and a reputation for leisurely paced cinema and for the first half of this film the patient nature of the plot is a positive. The story starts off as a mystery punctuated with some bizarre character interplay that stems from the quirky nature of each persona. The awkwardness of these interactions and the strange motivations for each character help to establish an overarching sense of suspense and occasional menace that keeps the story moving. During this stretch of the rising action, the striking and sinister imagery of the building and the patiently unfolding nature of its secrets make WALLED IN gripping and intriguing despite is unhurried cadence. As the story develops though, a whole new side to the narrative begins to open up, to the detriment of the final product. What started as a mystery with horror elements and some sleight of hand trying to trick the unwary viewer into thinking there might be some supernatural components becomes a tale about obsession/control mixed with revenge, and drama takes over the reigns of the plot. The onus is taken away from the house and all its secrets, all the strangeness of the characters wafts away and they are simply pawns in a psychological and physical torture/endurance saga. WALLED IN is certainly not “torture porn”, but it borrows from that misbegotten subgenre, taking away the wonderfully thoughtful color scheme and replacing it with sepia tones, removing the marvelous architecture and putting in sweaty and grimy or loathsome bodies, and slicing out any sense of mysterious apprehension and substituting grimness and grisly events. WALLED IN is restrained and we are not treated to brutal gore or miserable machinations, but what started so promisingly and had a feel so very like THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (the original and the remake), went more in the direction of SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY and other films about insane fixation and cruel compulsion.

The performances in WALLED IN were also nothing to write home about. Mischa Barton plays the character of Sam Walczak and there are certain qualities to her portrayal worth mentioning. Miss Barton has a wonderfully expressive face and her eyes are especially emotive, so that with the help of the fairly strong camera work, we are treated to the best part of her performance, her facial expressions and the intensity of her countenance. Whether it is the nature of her voice or issues of her talents, Miss Barton’s delivery of her lines often feels forced, not terribly engaging and while her eyes radiate emotion, there is a flatness to her speech that keeps her character from really being one we can relate to. There is a small degree of chemistry that develops between Sam and Jimmy (played by Cameron Bright) and the creepy motivations of Jimmy’s character are very suggestive of the film WHAT THE PEEPER SAW, but Cameron Bright’s performance is even more wooden that that of Mischa Barton and he is not able to sell his “mania” to viewers in the kind of convincing manner that was necessary. For fans of the pretty and willowy Mischa Barton, I am certain that the sizable number of scenes where she is “nude” will come across as a complete and total tease. While there is no question that what we can’t see is almost always more enticing than what we can see, in this case using “implied nudity” scenes was a mistake. To create a sense of vulnerability and defenselessness in the character of Sam as the screenwriters were trying to do and intensify the titillation factor, actual nudity would have carried far more impact. Either Miss Barton needed to bite the bullet and get naked, or the producers needed to find an attractive body-double for those scenes or another actress needed to be cast who was unafraid to shed her clothes. Teasing viewers works under the right set of circumstances, but this wasn’t that time. In the end though, it seemed to be part of the second half decline of WALLED IN. If the writers really wanted to go down the path of being a gritty “modern horror” flick, then they needed to grab the bull by the horns. If they’d rather have stuck with a more Gothic approach, then restraint would have been fine, but the original scheme of the film needed to be maintained, and that didn’t happen.

WALLED IN has a small but interesting set of supplements. In addition to the trailer, there is a 14 ½ minute “Making of Walled In” documentary that really feels like a scholarly mini-feature. There is a voice over that seems almost like an instructional video, as we are treated to “behind the scenes” footage of the production as well as cast and crew anecdotes and interviews. While this featurette is a little too clip heavy, at least the informational voice over helps to thin the impact of the heavy number of clips. The crew recollections and comments did a fine job of shedding light on the technical processes and left me with a slightly higher degree of respect for the efforts of those involved. While WALLED IN wasn’t the finest film I’ve ever seen, the bonus features did what all extras should do, soften my heart to a small degree so that the razor-sharpness of my word-processing pen was not unleashed with reckless abandon.

WALLED IN should stand as a gentle cautionary example to filmmakers to remember lines like “To thine own self be true” and the like. Had this movie stuck to its original guns and kept blazing away at the target it started with, it might have ended up as a complete and total joy about which I could sing its praises heartily. The praise will now be blended with criticism and the chorus of cheers will be muted. Just as mixing Federalist architecture and Greek Revival styles generally doesn’t work, mixing two tones of tales and two sides of different stories kept WALLED IN locked in a closet and did not allow it to burst forth into a lighted room with a big “BOO”, savoring the resultant reaction.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com
www.walledinthemovie.com

CROWLEY (2008) d. Julian Doyle

2009-03-04T00:27:00.001-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Applying generalizations to any form of scholarly critique may not always be the most precise or the fairest method of analysis, but it can be immeasurably helpful in creating broad comparisons. As a result, this introduction must start with a few sweeping generalizations. 1) Films about Satan and his manifestation on The Mortal Plane tend to be dark, atmospheric and gloomy in appearance and tone. 2) Movies that deal with scientific machinery and its awesome power and potential are often sterile looking and appeal only to science fiction fans. 3) Motion pictures that incorporate time paradoxes, parallel universes and other mid-bending concepts can be supercilious and self-important despite their compelling premises. What if a film combined most, if not all, of the best elements of these three generalizations? Would it be a messy morass or a wildly entertaining hybrid? CROWLEY (aka CHEMICAL WEDDING) is not a mess and it does combine a wide variety of story concepts, and although it might not appeal to everyone, imagine taking the essence of OMEN III, blending it with the graphic scenery of ICHI THE KILLER and then sprinkling in an over the top but commanding performance akin to Dennis Hopper’s portrayal of Frank Booth in BLUE VELVET, and you’ve got an idea what CROWLEY is a little bit like, but even that analogy doesn’t do it justice.

CROWLEY is the story of the reincarnated spirit of the infamous British occultist Aleister Crowley. Two young academics are at the corrupt and debauched old man’s death in 1947 and witness strange events that occur at his passing. Some 60 years later, an American scientist named Joshua Mathers arrives in London to combine his computer programs dealing with virtual reality with a powerful computer known as Zed93. Before he can properly begin his experiments, his English assistant Victor Nuberg permits a quirky Literature Professor named Oliver Haddo to perform his own experiment, allowing the disembodied spirit of Aleister Crowley to leave the Astral Plane where it had been lurking and inhabit the body of Professor Haddo. The returned Crowley begins preparations for the return of Satan on Earth and the establishment of a Kingdom of Damnation, Excess and Perversity. Mathers teams up with a university coed and journalist named Lia Robinson in an attempt to thwart Crowley’s machinations, little knowing that Crowley needs Lia for the penultimate rite known as The Chemical Wedding.

CROWLEY starts off with a story that is a little choppy and has some jarring transitions between scenes and storylines, but it keeps its head above water by invoking all kinds of occult imagery and demonic/spiritual ideals wrapped around the deeply eccentric performance of John Shrapnel who plays the Aleister Crowley of 1947. While the tendency to transition roughly at times never fades, when the plot shifts gears into the present and adds new layers to an already complex introduction, those threads twist into a tapestry that has many rich characteristics. First, the story component that deals with Satanic Resurrection invokes so many good ideas of the past, whether it is the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft, the OMEN movies, the many atmospheric hammer films like BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB just to name a few. CROWLEY is rich in colorful and moody sequences and sublime scenery made all the more effective by the English interior and exterior sets, all of which help to sell the feel that the struggle against Ultimate Evil is old and never-ending. As the narrative gains momentum, even more interesting components are stitched into this luxuriant fabric. The science fiction elements dealing with computers, alternate realities and time have a mix that evokes flicks like ALTERED STATES or novels like SCHRODINGER’S CAT, making it so that CROWLEY is more than just your ordinary movie dealing with the occult and The Devil. Even as the plot becomes steadily “intellectual” at its heart, a hefty helping of heat-inducing harlotry and other pervasive pinches of pulchritude are slathered onto the surface so that the luridly atmospheric aura begins to also be profane, salacious and occasionally obscene. Naked women, bloody violence, sinful sex acts, all manner of bodily fluids erupting forth and blasphemous behavior are dappled liberally throughout the plot, making CROWLEY appealing to those expecting their Devil-worship movies to be licentious as well as lugubrious.

What CROWLEY also has going for it is a cast that is a mix of seasoned, talented veterans and some talented newcomers too. In addition to recognizable British performers like John Shrapnel, there are seasoned thespians Terence Bayler (Professor Brent) and Paul McDowell (Symonds) who lend stateliness and stability to the cast. American Kal Weber (Joshua Mathers) and lovely Brit Lucy Cudden (Lia Robinson) both give very strong performances in their roles as well, and it doesn’t hurt that Miss Cudden has an attractive face, a trim and sinuous figure and a river of lustrous and fiery hair. Overshadowing all there these impressive and competent portrayals is the magisterial and malevolent acting effort of Simon Callow (Oliver Haddo/reincarnated Crowley). I have seen Mr. Callow in many films since the 1980s, AMADEUS, ROOM WITH A VIEW, MAURICE, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE to name just a few and I have always been impressed. Mr. Callow’s portrayal of Aleister Crowley returned and openly consorting with Powers Dark and Sinister is the most sadistically enjoyable and immorally delightful example of character acting I have seen in some time. It wasn’t long after I first saw BLUE VELVET that I began memorizing Frank Booth’s many memorable lines and finding ways to weave them into the warp and weft of daily life. Simon Callow’s absolutely marvelous mix of becoming the dissolute dabbler in the Dark Arts, depraved defiler of the dismally devoted and a death-wielding demon driven to direct despair and dismay, all the while playing an alternate role at the beginning and end of the film, is an pleasure to revel in and enjoy for his facial expressions, line delivery, body language and even the way he wears his costumes. There isn’t a time during CROWLEY where you aren’t looking forward to seeing him engage in his next act of wickedness, even when it is cringe-inducing. So, whether it is a somewhat convoluted but still engaging narrative that grabs the senses and the intellect, or it is a splendid mix of performers who do their jobs well, or even camera work that is consistently competent and helps to create imagery I can appreciate and take pleasure in, CROWLEY fires on all cylinders. It is not an instant classic, but it is not B-level cinema either. It is entertaining and I was surprised how quickly the hour and forty-five minute runtime passed.

CROWLEY has a surprisingly rich set of extras. There is an excellent audio commentary with director/writer Julian Doyle, writer Bruce Dickinson (of Iron Maiden fame) and producer Ben Timlett. There is a 21 minute “Making of Crowley” featurette that is one of the better mixes of “behind the scenes” footage and cast & crew anecdotes/interview clips. What distinguishes this featurette from its brethren is the deeply appreciated lack of film clips. Too many “making of” documentaries are so heavily loaded with clips from a movie I just watched that it becomes an exercise in time wasted. The jewel of the bonus features is the 29 minute “Deleted Scenes” reel which is accompanied by text comments and comedic quips of the director. This featurette was one of the best looks into the mental processes of a director I have viewed, for I was able to see the scenes/segments that were cut AND read the director’s rationale and/or reminiscences about the experience. More bonus features need to do this. Finally, there is the film trailer to round out the supplements. After watching a film that I mentally connected with, I felt that the extras section also had respect for my intelligence and I left CROWLEY feeling like I had experienced a smart horror film, which doesn’t happen too often today.

While I have had a chance to meet many actors and actresses to whom I have been able to offer my admiration for their efforts, there are so many others whom I have not had a chance to pay my respects. The list is longer now, for while I have always liked Simon Callow, I now have a reason to remember him to the end of my days. When I watch a motion picture like CROWLEY during one of my many battles with insomnia and nearly ALL of the film stays with me the next day after I’ve had a chance to sleep on my viewing that is a VERY good sign. In addition, when I am bombarded by the sights and sounds of a bizarre, bombastic but still beneficent performance and a smile follows me through the exhaustive stretches of a gray and dreary morning that is worth a positive shout too. Not everyone will enjoy CROWLEY and there are some who will probably be shocked by some of its imagery. For those who like their horror to be a strange admixture of smart and a little sick reminiscent of BLUE VELVET, then CROWLEY may be worth watching late one night when the winds are howling through the bare branches of the trees, there is no moon in the sky and the stars look wan. Imagine that the Forces of Darkness are prowling the Cold Hour before Dawn and then turn on CROWLEY. My hope is that you are left somewhat unsettled after the viewing, for that is what a horror film should do.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com
www.chemicalweddingmovie.co.uk/

CRIPPLED CREEK (2005) d. Hans Hartman

2009-03-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

When people begin an exercise program, they generally expect something to happen to their health and a change to take place in the shape of their bodies, given enough effort and time elapsed. After the days and weeks have crawled by with much sweat having dripped down their forehead and no change or improvement having occurred, the exertion is often seen as useless and it tends to be discarded for other activities. Movies are often a lot like a failed workout regimen. After the minutes have dragged by and nothing much has happened in regards to the story or the characters, a lot of folks will abandon their cinematic torture and move on to some other film or even a different form of entertainment. Watching CRIPPLED CREEK made me realize that no amount of arduous physical strain, even the three-a-day soccer boot camp I lived through in high school, was ever as unpleasant as this viewing experience. While there are almost always a few things worth praising in most films, and I can find a few here too, I have dropped weights on my feet or torn muscles during cardio routines and those injurious moments felt better than my CRIPPLED CREEK ordeal. Maybe this is what it feels like to be “crippled”, seeing as I felt like I couldn’t escape from what I was forced to endure since doing a proper review means sitting through a motion picture to the bitter end.

CRIPPLED CREEK is the “story” of Mady Hooper, her cousin Bambie and their friend Aubry Laput, all young women eager to spend some time together off in the woods drinking, smoking, cursing, gabbing aimlessly and hitting on any guy who can potentially provide them with sexual stimulation. On their drive out to the wild and while they are staying at Mady’s grandparent’s wilderness hovel, the girls are warned that there have been strange happenings in these woods, but the three ignore the admonitions and proceed to find ways to amuse themselves, although most other people would find their methods of passing time rather mundane. After an interminably long time, the feeling that they are being watched grows on the girls and finally a killer decides it is time to start picking off the campers and their “boy toys” in a very “woodcrafty” fashion. By the end, a series of “killings” have occurred, not the least of which is 92 minutes of life that has been bludgeoned to death by the hefty hammer of tedium that is CRIPPLED CREEK.

If CRIPPLED CREEK was a student film, I hope that it was given a failing grade. If it was made by former film students, let us hope that they failed out of school, are working as laborers somewhere and made this appallingly boring movie in their spare time. Where does CRIPPLED CREEK go wrong? Just about everywhere. First and foremost, the story and the accompanying dialogue do almost nothing to build tension, develop characters, establish menace or initiate any kind of momentum. All actions in any plot and dialogue in a screenplay should advance the narrative, but that is rarely the case in CRIPPLED CREEK. We are treated to trite lines bandied back and forth between the girls that focus on their sexual interests, their desire to meet “cute guys” and occasionally there are short anecdotes that are reminiscent of “ghost stories” but have little or nothing to do with this story. Most of the interaction between the girls and their guy friends, Tom and Gary, is just as inane and sitting through these senseless moments of verbal intercourse is tantamount to cinematic throat clearing. Just as incredibly tedious are the actions of the characters. We get to see them walk through the woods, sit around a campfire, pass bottles of alcohol and/or pot pipes back and forth, make some food and occasionally find ways to copulate. We are even treated to three moments of voiding their bladders/bowels and one vomiting scene. What seemed to be the case here was that the makers of CRIPPLED CREEK took themselves, this project and their efforts entirely too seriously and in an attempt to create a horror film with a cinema verite feel or even a BLAIR WITCH aura, they created a snoozer of epic proportions. Not even the fact that the female cast members were surprisingly attractive both in face and figure and that all three are seen disrobed in one form or another is enough to jolt the plot out of a terrifyingly uninteresting rut the depth and breadth of the Grand Canyon.

It gets even worse. From an audio and visual standpoint, CRIPPLED CREEK looks and sounds like it was filmed using Fisher Price movie-making tools and then edited and finally encoded/authored on a Radio Shack close-out sale computer. The fact that it was shot on video wasn’t a good thing to start with and most of the camera angles were uninspired and the editing was not terribly exciting, but in the encoding or transfer process a graininess and pixel-y quality arose that makes CRIPPLED CREEK look worse than most of the 1980s VHS tapes I watched on my single head Sharp VCR and ancient Toshiba television. CRIPPLED CREEK often looked like it was projected onto a burlap sack that had none of the corn dust beaten out of it. What should have been the penultimate scenes in CRIPPLED CREEK, the murder moments, were also a total let down. The ideas for the “kills” that transpired were right out off Joseph Conrad’s The Most Dangerous Game and the reason for killing the campers seemed to evoke memories of THE FOREST (1981), but like so many other components of this misery-fest, they were not shot well or shot to be “creative” and ended up just being a mess. On the audio side, whoever miced the cast and possibly the people who mixed the sound didn’t know how to do their jobs either for the dialogue was nearly impossible to hear unless the actors were screaming. At that point, I was actually thankful for the overacting and poor performances for at least I could hear what was transpiring. There were a few moments where somewhat atmospheric incidental music was utilized and had this been done more often, some kind of “mood” might have been fashioned. What was usually the case was that “music” produced by rock bands who were probably friends or associates of the crew was laid over the dialogue and “action” sequences, but it ended up sounding like someone had left a radio on during the filming and occasionally remembered to turn it up. What may have been the greatest shame of the poor camera work and poorer video and audio techniques was that CRIPPLED CREEK was entirely shot in Connecticut and had a very authentic “camping trip” look to it. The exterior sets could have looked very attractive had we been able to see them cleanly and while none of the actors seemed like gifted thespians, I have seen worse portrayals and if we could have heard them better, maybe their lines might have made more of an impact.

Even the bonus features of CRIPPLED CREEK were a fiasco. On the back of the DVD case, it says that in addition to the “theatrical trailer” (this played in theaters somewhere?) that there was a “cast biography” section and a “production photo gallery” segment. HA! There was a trailer and that was it. If there were other extras to be had, they were the best hidden “easter eggs” devised yet for I couldn’t locate them. If there was any disc that needed extras to sweeten my soured heart, this was it, but there was nothing beyond a trailer that wasn’t much more interesting than the feature film.

It isn’t often that I tear apart a film that has some qualities that should make me cheer heartily for it. CRIPPLED CREEK was a New England effort and has three very comely actresses who were obviously willing to get naked for their “art”. There was a killer loose in the forest and the girls were forced to “dodge” him wearing tight tank tops and short shorts. The beefy bo-hunks who provided the much needed “man-meat” for the girls get their just desserts, for there is nothing worse than a useless and well-muscled boy toy in a “slasher” film. In the end, CRIPPLED CREEK is an outstanding study in horrendous execution on nearly every level from pre-production all the way to post-production. Just as someone toiling away in the weight room will get nothing out of their efforts if they don’t understand how to do it right, the people who made CRIPPLED CREEK obviously needed a lot of schooling when it comes to writing and making a motion picture. This movie should be used in college classes on how NOT to craft a horror film.

www.smoreent.com/

STASH (2009) d. Jacob Ennis

2009-03-02T05:43:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Gritty crime dramas have long been a staple of the motion picture landscape. Even before the grisly days of the Black Dahlia case, stories about kidnapping, torture, drugs and larceny have been popular fodder for film makers and movie goers alike. Whether they are Big Time productions like THE CRYING GAME or small, independent efforts like THE CANDY SNATCHERS, spinning a yarn about depraved delinquents, sadistic sickos or villainous varmints has long struck a chord with writers, directors, actors and those who like to see them craft a flick that tackles these subjects. STASH is a modern twist on these age-old plot concepts and is able to mine a narrative that has been done many times before and blend some classic exploitation techniques, while sprinkling in a few updates to the well trodden tale to end up as a mildly entertaining film, not groundbreaking or terrifically impressive, but not a train-wreck either.

STASH is the story of Springhill College student Sarah Conrad, who is traveling the lonely roads of Eastern Kentucky on her way back home to see her parents and enjoy time at a family reunion. Just after a brief phone check in with her folks, Sarah experiences car trouble and finds herself stranded. Before long, two locals, C.J. and Stan, happen by and the seedy pair offer Sarah a ride to a service station. What starts as a kind gesture turns out to be a self-serving act of sinister brutality, as the two low-lifes hand Sarah over to Bud, a marijuana grower/pusher with a taste for kidnapping, torturing and raping young women. Sarah finds herself chained up in Bud’s basement enduring sickening torment deepening to a mindless nightmare. Even as Sarah sinks lower down the well of horror, her car is discovered by her worried father and the search for Sarah cranks up to high gear. Law enforcement races against time to save Sarah and the other girls C.J. and Stan have given as “tribute” to Bud before each wears out her usefulness or succumbs to the abuse the monster heaps on each captive.

STASH is not a great film and evidences many of the weaknesses of the exploitation genre of cinema, but there are also praiseworthy elements too. Like most exploitation movies, when you look at the box cover and see how lurid and licentious it appears to be, you may think you are in for a wild ride, and STASH is certainly a disturbing motion picture. What is surprising is how restrained most of the “violence” in this film is and how that sense of “implied violence” as opposed to grotesquely filmed “realistic violence” keeps STASH out of the “torture porn” category and rescues it from being another CARVER or SAW. What is also somewhat impressive is the sincere effort made at blending character melodrama (parental sequences) with suspense (police scenes) with menace and “action” (Bud’s torture scenes) and several other dramatic sequences involving character interplay and an actual story. What emerges is a movie that has its roots firmly in the rich soil of exploitation ancestry and feels like an updating of the Ginger movies of the 1970s. While those films (GINGER, THE ABDUCTORS and GIRLS ARE FOR LOVING) were about a female Mike Hammer and had a somewhat exotic cast and setting most of the time, STASH borrows the essence of what made the Ginger films enticing; cruelty, bondage, nudity, crime and long stretches where plot construction and character development were attempted. Typical of most exploitation fare, you think you’re going to get one thing, and you do to an extant, but there are other components built into the narrative that can work for or against the end product. In the case of STASH, while the plot wasn’t scintillating, it wasn’t boring either. STASH had a reasonably well-considered cast from a visual standpoint. Set in the hills of Kentucky, most of the characters looked and sounded like locals and were either average in appearance or downright unpleasant and displayed thick southern drawls, with the exception of C.J., whose irritating white-rapper affectation was one of the least pleasant aspects of STASH. The most attractive members of the cast were the female captives, as should be the case as they are the “bump & grind” vectors. It also didn’t hurt that as comely as Karen Boles (Sarah) was, she was also able to give a reasonably good performance, something that was most consistently absent in STASH. STASH was not filmed like Richard Donner’s SUPERMAN, but it was competently shot, had a good collection of simple but effective interior and exterior sets and most of the incidental music was thoughtfully utilized.

At this point, it must sound like STASH was a finely crafted independent movie and that you should rush out and buy. Hold your horses there Partner, you might want to hear the rest before you cause a dvd stampede. Much like exploitation cinema of the past, STASH has its share of weaknesses, most notably its penchant for poor acting. Whether it is overacting, woodenness, a lack of chemistry between the cast members or just foul-mouthed dialogue that was poorly delivered, STASH is not going to win any awards for its performances, but that is typical of the vast majority of its older cousins in this genre. If you go in knowing full well that these people are not gifted or experienced actors, you won’t be overly disappointed. STASH also suffers from a small degree of another exploitation cinema bane, padding. Fortunately there isn’t too much of this filler to make it feel like a Dick Randall movie, but it is apparent none-the-less and when Stan and his mother get into it or you’ve seen a few scenes with Sarah’s parents, you may want to hit the “fast forward” button, for the plot isn’t being advanced with any real momentum at these points. Despite having characters that weren’t terribly well-portrayed, most of the roles were either quietly likable, detestable (for the right reasons) or just neutral, but that wasn’t always the case. Whether it is my advancing age or some inner prejudice, the white-bread, frat boy, bad-goatee wearing turd named C. J. was nearly a deal-breaker for me and when coupled with miserably irritating rap music that accompanied his role, I really wondered if I would be able to make it through STASH in its introductory phase, the longest of which I have ever seen. Fortunately, the rap music dissipated, C. J. was not a regular occurrence and I was able to shrug off his baleful influence as one would hack up phlegm that needs expelling. Like most exploitation flicks, STASH has a fairly heady mix of engaging components and elements that just don’t measure up, but luckily, the good outweighs the bad in a very narrow competition and as such, I felt a degree of respect for what the film makers were able to achieve.

Typical of most EI Cinema releases, STASH has a sizable extras menu and while I can’t always recommend all the movies they foist on the world, one of the reasons I continue to feel good will toward them is their willingness to add tidbits and goodies to their discs. There are two audio commentary tracks, one with director/writer/producer Jacob Ennis and the other with executive producers Billy and Denise Blackwell. Both are worth your time. There is a 15 ½ minute “Making of Stash” that is a mix of cast/crew interviews, “behind the scenes” segments and film clips. It is pretty enjoyable, especially the interview clips. Next is an 8 ½ minute “Bloopers and Outtakes” reel which is fun but fairly standard fare. The 3 ½ minute makeup effects supplement “Creating Bud Jr.” is well worth a look and while not “cine-magic”, it is a thoughtful look at the effects process. For those looking for more iconic “scream queen” fodder, there is a 5 ½ minute interview called “Debbie Rochon on Stash” which should delight her fans and those viewers who like the connection to 80s/90s low budget times past. There is also Pownd’s music video “Still I Bleed” and then two trailer compilations, four trailers from Bloody Earth Films and nine trailers from Camp Motion Pictures. All in all, it may not by Paris, but it still feels like a pleasant little holiday to get extras of any type that lets you look into the minds of the people at the tiller. Kudos should definitely go out to the EI Cinema people for continuing to do things right in the vein of bonus features.

If you like the “gems” of exploitation heritage or don’t mind low budget attempts to tell a tale and be a little shameless at the same time, STASH could very well be for you. It is not nearly as naughty as it might want you to believe, but that was almost always the case once upon a time too. It isn’t a thrill a minute, but I wasn’t expecting it to be either. Like many folks who have watched far too many genre films, I knew what I was getting into and as a result, I was able to appreciate STASH for what it was, a flick designed to tell a very tried and true tale with a little bit of tension and titillation thrown in for good measure so that the people involved could make a paycheck and possibly collect a few royalties. Such was the case in the past and it is still true today. I don’t mind because I feel a lot better about giving my money to folk struggling to make a living like I am and who made a motion picture I kind of liked, rather than pouring cash down the crapper seeing a film where “suits” pulled all the strings, painted by numbers and created mud as a result. I know which one turns my stomach less. Do you?

www.bloodyearthfilms.com
www.campmotionpictures.com

THE MANIACS (1964) d. Lucio Fulci

2009-02-25T05:54:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

One of the reasons readers enjoy short story collections is that it’s a little like going to a wine tasting party, you get lots of small sips of fine vintages that give you a sense of the splendid flavors and the bouquet of each bottle. Short stories are a lot like that, for they provide the literature lover a brief glance at a concept or a fleeting surge of emotion. Most of the time, motion pictures do not cross into such territory for a wide variety of reasons, most commonly that film is expensive and telling a series of brief tales is not always a successful commercial choice for a movie. Horror anthologies proved that such a cinematic style can be financially successful, but even then the vast majority of anthology installments are lengthier in proportion to what a film-version of a short story would be. THE MANIACS (I MANIACI) is a notable exception in many ways. To begin with, since it was directed by Lucio Fulci, one would expect a series of horror vignettes, but that is not the case. Still very early in his career, Fulci was making just as many action flicks, westerns, secret agent movies and comedies as he was any other genres. The other surprise is that THE MANIACS is a series of very short features of the comedic category and if you are going into these expecting creeps, gore and scares, you’ll be disappointed. However, if you pass over THE MANIACS you’ll disappoint yourself even more, for this is just like a wine tasting party, there something for everyone and a myriad of flavors worth sampling.

THE MANIACS is composed of thirteen vignettes running the gamut of exceedingly short and extremely focused “concept stories” to somewhat lengthier narratives with a more conventional style, but no one segment is longer than fifteen minutes. Each chapter is titled as a short story would be, moving from the introduction called “The Elaboration”, to “Sport”, “Overtaking”, “The Hobby”, “The Advice”, “The Protest”, “The Antique”, “The Swear Word”, “The Strip-Tease”, “The Interviews”, “Hitchhiking”, “The Bill of Exchange” and the concluding tale, “The Weekend”. The vignettes are a wide mix of subjects dealing with tyrannical office bosses, “philandering” husbands and/or lonely men and their pastimes, shrewish and talkative wives, shifting political ideologies, wasteful spenders and shrewd wheeler-dealers, people from the opposite sides of the societal tracks, affluent social climbers, as well as randy and amorous adults. While most of the cast would not be recognizable to the average American, there are a few faces that seasoned viewers of Euro-cinema might recognize like Raimondo Vianello and Walter Chiari. Of course there is also the inestimable presence of Barbara Steele in two of the shorts, lending her glamor, talents and consummate beauty to this charming set of tales and being the primary reason why I was interested in viewing this disc. Beyond Ms. Steele’s presence, there is also a lot to like about THE MANIACS.

Stitched together by the common thread of “manias” or neurotic, possibly psychotic behaviors in everyday Italian society of the 1960s, THE MANIACS is a subtle mix of gentle madcap humor, sharp but delicate jabs of satire, ribald swipes at daily life and some very wacky slapstick in the conclusion. While not as razor-sharp in its dissection of the foibles of Italian mores, customs, religion and politics as was THE EROTICIST, THE MANIACS is still witty, charming and delightfully tongue-in-cheek. Each story has a very clear concept that rapidly rises to the forefront, giving the viewer the chance to revel in the thoughtfully constructed character interplay, the clever and pointed dialogue and before the tale gets too old, it shifts gears and develops its finalized theme, seamlessly transitioning to the next comedic target. Unlike so many modern films where inexpensive and/or unseasoned actors are utilized, THE MANIACS is replete with veteran performers who give highly stylized, quirky and thoroughly enjoyable portrayals of citizens spanning the entire class structure and social ladder. Whether they are well dressed and elegant, dirty and uneducated, pious yet unscrupulous or simply curvaceous and partly clothed, it seems as if the many writers of THE MANIACS spare no one. What may be one of the most interesting qualities of this film is its very fast pace moving from one tale to the next. In 1964, this pace must have seemed quite frenetic to movie-goers who were use to far more patient narratives. While the structure of THE MANIACS will seem absolutely novel to most viewers today, the cadence is right up the alley of the modern “computer game”, “cell phone” and “music video” generation. Before any attention deficit-inspired boredom can set in, we jump to the next cinematic account and lampoon another cultural construct or icon. I have been a devoted lover of short stories since my earliest days of reading and my passion for Italian cinema is legion, and I found the hybridization of these seemingly incompatible species wonderfully creative. I may not have guffawed and didn’t expect to, for 1960s European humor tended to be far more effete, but I thoroughly enjoyed the delicately satirical nature of this film.

When it comes to satisfying the senses, THE MANIACS has a number of positive characteristics too. The transfer of this black & white motion picture is outstanding. The images are wonderfully crisp and clean, making every scene look as if it had filmed yesterday. The interior and exterior sets in each vignette are a very diverse mix of day to day Italian life so that on one hand you see mundane streets, but the next images are of compelling cosmopolitan urban views or delightfully attractive parks or villas. There are stark offices, ornate and stylish rooms and there is artistic and cultural beauty so typical of Italy and its environs. As always, the cast is dressed in the chic fashions so very emblematic of what Americans imagine these insufferable and splendid trendsetters to be wearing. Even though THE MANIACS is a black & white movie, there is a lot to please the eye, but the ear is not deprived. Ennio Morricone and Carlo Rustichelli created a whimsical, jazzy and playful soundtrack that comes and goes throughout the film, but complements the ebb and flow of this motion picture brilliantly. On a final auditory note, one of the other benefits of THE MANIACS is that the audio track is in Italian and subtitled in English. While some people may not enjoy reading the rapid subtitles, I ALWAYS find this a superior presentation. To listen to such a beautiful language and to hear the nuances of emotion in synch with the facial expressions of the actors is invariably preferable to a bad dubbing job.

THE MANIACS is a fairly obscure film released by a “new” company (MYA Communications) through Ryko Distribution, so I went in expecting no bonus features and while that was the case to a degree, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the theatrical trailer was included. While it might have been nice to hear Ms. Barbara Steele’s reminiscences of this project and especially her collaboration with Lucio Fulci, it isn’t easy to arrange such opportunities and they don’t come cheap. Between the trailer and a pristine visual and audio transfer, I felt more than compensated for a lack of “extras”. Perhaps MYA Communications will unearth another “long lost” Barbara Steele gem and get her to discuss it, much as I have heard that we will hear Ms. Steele’s thoughts on NIGHTMARE CASTLE, soon to be released by Severin Films. Keep that in mind for the future folks!

I once read an introduction to a collection of novellas by Dan Simmons where he discussed how loath most publishers were to deal with shorter fiction as it “did not sell” as well as an ordinary novel. I imagine that films like THE MANIACS were a tough sell with producers, financiers and releasing companies of motion pictures. While I can’t say that I would want to see dozens of movies like this, I am very glad that THE MANIACS exists and that I have viewed it. Just as an educated literature lover delves into the lesser known works of a great author to find the extraordinary jewel, a cinema devotee tackles atypical presentations and styles of film making, for when they do, rewards are inevitably bestowed. THE MANIACS is the reward for patiently sipping your way through all the wines at a party, waiting for that one, rare and special vintage you’ve never had before.

www.rykodistribution.com/genericq.asp?module_map_id=1234&view=albumprofile&item_number=MYA%20201004MDV

CYCLOPS (2008) d. Declan O’Brien

2009-02-20T03:03:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Roger Corman has had a long and illustrious career, bringing to the movie-loving public a wide variety of film fare, from silly but marvelous Sci-Fi stupidi-thons like IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, lavish and lurid Poe adaptations like THE RAVEN, surprisingly sophisticated spoofs like A BUCKET OF BLOOD and mayhem-minded action assaults like DEATHRACE 2000. He has been a director, a producer, an actor and a showman of unparalleled productivity and achievement, displaying to the world a sense of entrepreneurial artistry that may never be equaled. While the amount of influence the 82 year-old modern-day PT Barnum wielded on the New Horizons TV movie CYCLOPS would be interesting to discover, one thing is certain, whoever pulled the strings certainly knew how to make an all-Corman flick. That doesn’t mean that CYCLOPS is any good, but it has a feel to it and a way of being entertaining that smacks of The Master, and for that I am willing to forgive CYCLOPS several of its faults, only some mind you.

CYCLOPS is a story of Ancient Rome during the days of Tiberius. A ravening beast is loose in the wilds around The City and its penchant for eating helpless citizens forces the Emperor to send soldiers to deal with it. The beast is captured and returned to Rome in chains, where it is slated to take its place as the central attraction in The Arena devouring unfortunate slaves and bashing hapless gladiators. Despite several Cyclopean attempts at escape where the monster wreaks havoc and runs amok, its menace cows much of Rome’s unrest, but a slave revolt occurs, threatening the safety of the Empire. The slaves find a leader in the disgraced military hero of Marcus, the man who captured the Cyclops and who now has forged an alliance with the creature. Their combined might and crafty intellect bring down the mighty Tiberius and set free the citizens of Rome and its Empire.

CYCLOPS is almost classic Corman with one surprising exception. It is a film that borrows heavily from a more successful predecessor, Russell Crowe’s GLADIATOR and then spices up the old story of jealousies, intrigues, duplicity and power-plays with goofy Cyclops-spawned bloody violence and a variety of fight scenes sprinkled somewhat liberally throughout the narrative to keep the natives happy. If you go into CYCLOPS expecting a movie that is 100% rampaging, smashing and thrashing, then you don’t know the Corman formula and will be disappointed. This is more a tale of the cruelty of Roman rule and a melodrama about plebeians and patricians caught up in the trials and tribulations of its impending Downfall as it is a Big Beastie motion picture. The Cyclops is used as a tool to spread stamping ruin and gory goodness throughout the on-screen extras and even a few minor characters whenever the “story” trends too far in the direction of being a historical drama. To add even more “bread and circuses” there are more than enough battle sequences of the military and gladiatorial nature to please those looking for spear and swordplay. If you’ve ever seen BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE (1961), the idea is the same. Tell a tale that will catch people’s attention due to its use of character interplay, conflict and romance, then intersperse the threat of something “out of this world” creating disaster and you’ve got a good sense of how the drill goes from there. Unlike BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE where the “creature” isn’t seen much until the very end, CYCLOPS treats us to the visual “splendor” of a CG atrocity that is pretty bad looking, but not any worse than the monster in CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. Corman was known far and wide for effects that were usually pretty dismal in his “B” pictures and usually induced more smirks than scares. Other than the ridiculous looking Cyclops, that is where this film is different from “typical” past efforts.

On a visual level, there is a lot to like about this picture. The exterior sets of sylvan woodlands do give a legitimate feel of Long Ago and when mixed with the CG models of Rome and smaller scale exterior building sets, there is a startlingly engaging feel to CYCLOPS. The interiors were also either nicely opulent rooms of the Rich & Powerful or dingy dungeons filled with dung and when coupled with the shockingly attractive and authentic-looking costumes, one scratches their head and asks “this is a Roger Corman film”, but then one must remember efforts like PIT AND THE PENDULUM and recall that many of his “bigger budget” films really did look great and were not all like THE WASP WOMAN. Being that this was a TV movie, the amount of blood and violence was rather surprising but what was in short supply, actually totally absent, was nudity. A few exceedingly scantily clad slave girls jiggling their enticing wares or lovely female villagers running naked across the market square chased by randy centurions might have helped to relieve some of the dramatic stretches where the story was a bit too earnest, for much like The Games of Rome, most people entering into an Entertainment Contract with CYCLOPS would hope for spectacle, and some skin would have been a nice addition. At least we are treated to Frida Farrell (Barbara) in gladiator gear at the very end which displays her comely figure a little better than her pretty but boring peasant gowns.

On an acting level, CYCLOPS is exactly what one might expect from a Corman film. There is a fair number of older, more experienced actors in various roles in this movie, and they are able to deliver their somewhat overblown lines like “There’s a Cyclops out there” with a degree of panache. Most of the younger folk are less experienced and as a result tend to resort to overacting and are not always able to portray their characters as being people of 2000 years ago, but there was no performing effrontery and the cast was able to do their jobs competently. CYCLOPS is fortunate enough to bask in the company of Eric Roberts, who plays the role of The Emperor Tiberius. While not the shudder-inducing presence of an actor like Peter Stormare, Mr. Roberts has a haughty indolence and a debauched, but laconic insouciance that is perfect for the part, leaving most of us just waiting for the inevitable payoff. Kevin Stapleton plays the ethical and caring Marcus with some unintentional humor, for his “friendship” scenes with the Cyclops are almost side-splitting in their silliness. Add to this mix of actors with limited skill, a musical score that feels like classic canned orchestral “Wonder Bread”, and the old “cheese factor” is alive and well and serving CYCLOPS fruitfully.

Unlike the vast majority of Anchor Bay DVDs I’ve dealt with, CYCLOPS is a bare-bones disc with no extras to be had. While I am never in favor of such a thing, especially during an economy where every dollar spent needs to feel like it was $1.50 spent well, in this situation the lack of extras seems to hurt even more. Roger Corman is generally not too camera shy and his ruminations on his involvement in this film, even if he stretches the truth would be a lot of fun. Then there is Eric Roberts and his thoughts on being the dissolute and dispassionate Tiberius. While he didn’t sleepwalk his way through the role, ala Basil Rathbone in HILLBILLIES IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, Mr. Roberts’s thoughts on being accosted by a CG Cyclops would also be humorous. Bonus Features are always a good idea on any DVD, even if it is of the TV variety. While such extras are a bit more rare on TV Movies, it is not like you never see them, and my suggestion is find something to spice up discs like this, even if it is a gallery of lovely Roman slave girls doing “the funky chicken”. Remember, “bread and circuses” keep the angry masses quiescent.

CYCLOPS was neither directed nor written by Roger Corman, but either Declan O’Brien and Frances Doel had a profound respect for The Man, or Mr. Corman controlled them with his legendary telekinetic powers, for this feels a lot like something he would have done during his Glory Years. CYCLOPS is not a good film, but it is entertaining after a fashion and was able to keep my attention better than a lot of “bad” films that are so common today. If you go in expecting a masterpiece or raucous exploitation fare, you will be disappointed. Go into CYCLOPS with the understanding that this is classic “sleight of hand” and that what the magician is doing is keeping you spellbound with one trick while you wait for the other. I use to like such displays at fairs, and if you did too, CYCLOPS is for you.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com

AMERICAN SCARY (2006) d. John E. Hudgens & Sandy Clark

2009-02-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

There are moments during our young lives where enjoyable events transform us permanently and leave us yearning for more. No one ever quite forgets the first time they went to an amusement park and took part in the excitement and exhilaration of sounds, sights and scary rides that left such a lasting emotional impact that for ever after, you tried to replicate that glorious day. The first time you rode a bike is probably right up there as another of the transfiguring experiences for its thrilling mix of danger, the heady draught of freedom and the whirling intoxication of being “a big kid” for the first time. Most people would probably not list watching a “horror host” television show as an event that left them forever changed, but it is likely that they are not really remembering the past as well as they should. Many folks probably stopped briefly on a channel that carried one of the old Creature Feature, Chiller or The Ghoul inspired shows and were either so terrified by the macabre imagery of the sets and costumes, so astounded by the sophomoric humor of the host or so repulsed by the low budget nature of the films that they vowed never to return. Certainly, that could be called a defining moment, though those folk will likely never own up to it. For those of us who were conquered by the mesmeric nature of the “horror host” show and succumb to its seductive siren call, we have spent our lives in search of other experiences just as holy and spiritual as that first time when we stared transfixed into the screen of an old Motorola black & white TV set and battled with the rabbit ears to see the grainy images just that much better. AMERICAN SCARY is a documentary that takes a look at the horror host phenomenon, past and present, and provides the viewer with one of the most loving and reverential tributes to this quintessentially American cultural icon that I have ever seen.

AMERICAN SCARY is a thoughtful historical look at horror hosts starting with their beginnings in the 1950s with Vampira and Zacherley, moving through the 1960s with Marvin, Chilly Billy and Ghoulardi, then moving through the 1970s and 1980s with Svengoolie, The Ghoul, Bob Wilkins, Son of Ghoul, John Stanley, Crematia, Stella and Elvira to name just a few and then ending in the present. While AMERICAN SCARY does not follow a purely chronological order and also does not have a rigid narrative structure, it does weave back and forth between exploring a particularly iconic celebrity and then analyzing some of the forces and changes at work in the horror host world such as concept generation, writing and scripts, the impact on viewers, the evolution of television and the internet and the nature of the films broadcast on the shows. AMERICAN SCARY is presented as a mix of old film/video clips of the masters at their work with many interview clips of the hosts themselves augmented by the anecdotes and analyses of authors, film historians, actors and pop culture mavens. What emerges is a panoply of images and sounds that is remarkably accurate in presenting the essence of the horror host movement during the last half of the 20th Century all the way up to today.

Anyone who enjoys watching our TV Show, Saturday Fright Special, or thrills to other horror host broadcasts like Shilling Shockers, or has deeply cherished memories of the horror hosts of old MUST get their hands on this DVD and watch it. There aren’t many chances to really go back to some of your happiest moments, but this is one of them. One reason AMERICAN SCARY is such a rousing experience is that the lineup of luminaries who ruminate on this sublime subject is simply staggering. There are dearly departed, glittering stars of the past like Maila Nurmi, Ernie Anderson, Bob Wilkins and Forrest J. Ackerman mixed with veteran stars of celestial gravity like John Zacherle, Billy Cardille, Tim Conway, Leonard Maltin, Tom Savini, Joe Bob Briggs and Jim “Commander USA” Hendricks. There are modern masters like Joel Hodgson, Kevin Scarpino, Michael Monahan and Richard “Count Gore de Vol” Dyszel just to drop a few names. The list of personalities and talents lined up for this horror host homage is nearly endless, impressively exhaustive and outrageously opulent. Many of the dignitaries can be seen in full costume and with makeup amply applied. Others are revealed in all their human normalcy, but the effect on the soul is still the same, INCREDIBLY PLEASING. Clips of the glory days are brilliantly blended with modern macabre mayhem so as to keep all ages happy and to acquaint those not fully aware of the diversity of this wide shadow realm with its splendor and majesty.

What can often happen with these kinds of “talking head” documentaries is that they can become snoozy talk-fests or messy and blathery mutual admiration society meetings, but a spectacular balance is attained in AMERICAN SCARY. There is a deferential seriousness to the historical inquiry that will satisfy even the most earnest of academicians. While there is no way to make a 93 minute documentary as comprehensive as true fanatics would like it to be without stretching the run time to 11 hours, AMERICAN SCARY hits nearly all of the bases. What also works wonderfully is the liberal dose of gentle and occasionally rollicking humor. There are subtle snickers and quiet chortles to be had right alongside full-scale belly laughs and a few pulled muscles from comedic hysterics. In addition, the incredibly various cast of characters makes AMERICAN SCARY like stepping into a joke shop run by a pack rat with a an eye for the garish and ghastly but equally gorgeous. Whether it is lavish sets, wacky wigs and gaudy garb, overdone accents and painstakingly applied piles of makeup, the eye is kept moving in ever-increasingly enjoyable circles. There are even a few scenes here and there where the loveliness of the female form is paid preferential worship. Women too have had a clear and powerful impact on this ghoulish phenomenon, and just because they also looked tantalizing while doing it speaks highly of their marketing savvy as well as their artistic creativity, showmanship and panache. One can’t help but be left with the feeling that you have watched pioneers and legends parade across your TV screen, people who brought to the world a form of entertainment that mines some of the wildest and most untamed corners of our collective psyches and for those who appreciated what they did, we were left immeasurably happier folk as a result.

AMERICAN SCARY is replete with a fascinating and deep extras menu. There is a very worthwhile audio commentary with the directors John E. Hudgens and Sandy Clark. Next is a segment called “Additional Interviews” which is a 15 minute block of five supplementary mini-features of much the same style as the documentary and providing even more pleasurable fodder for viewing. A 4 minute segment called “Nashville Horror Hosting” follows, which looks at this particular city that may be a smaller market than the Horror Host Mecca of Cleveland, but is second banana to none. There is a 6 minute “Horror Host wedding” which is exactly what the title suggests. At a horror convention, murderous mavens were united in matrimonial bliss. There is a 5 minute “original test reel” which is somewhat unique. Finally there are two trailers for the film. After watching the main feature, this excellent set of extras helped to prolong the joy and kept me feeling for a short period of time that my trip back to halcyon days may not come to an end by a return to reality.

AMERICAN SCARY is the real thing, a documentary for “fan-boys” of this specialty that we can truly revel in and be uplifted by. It looks at the evolution of horror-hosting from its dawn during the days of President Eisenhower, the Buick Roadmaster convertible and Willie Mays and flows seamlessly across nearly 60 years of American history, never crossing into the turbulent streams of the Vietnam War, Watergate, Middle East violence or economic upheaval, to leave us in that ever-comfortable womb of television inspired paradise. We are left cleansed by irreverent humor, cheap costumes and props and dubious quality motion pictures, but it is Holy Water cascading down from on high all the same. Some of us just like it bestowed by madcap folk known as Ghoulardi, Zacherley and Vampira, but it is nirvana nonetheless. Watch AMERICAN SCARY. You won’t be sorry.

www.cinemalibrestudio.com
www.americanscary.com

ALIEN RAIDERS (2008) d. Ben Rock

2009-02-13T02:21:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Richard J. Trottier

Perhaps it is the still unconquered fear of competing tribes of hominids from our pre-homo sapien history that leads us to still find “alien invasion” films frightening, compelling and entertaining. Maybe it is also the left over hysteria of the Communist Infiltration suspicions of the mid-2oth Century that heaps even more fuel on an already raging fire of fears. For whatever reason, since the advent of the motion picture, but especially after the original “invasion” films of the 1950s, monsters from outer space continue to terrify movie lovers, and the kind that can take over you from the inside and change the essence of your humanity are particularly effective and unsettling. ALIEN RAIDERS may be a brand new addition to this exceedingly robust and celebrated canon of the science fiction sub-genre, but it does just about everything correct that it needs to and comes out in the end to be a startlingly effective film that taps into horror, sci-fi and drama at all the right times and in all the right ways.

ALIEN RAIDERS is the story of a small group of Buck Lake, AZ residents who find themselves trapped inside the Hastings Market grocery store one night before Christmas. At first, their captors appear to be thieves and murderous thugs, but before long the identity of this well armed and even more impressively organized group is clearly just the tip of an iceberg of secrets and sinister goings-on. When the police arrive to handle hostage negotiations, they have no idea of the drama unfolding inside the market, as a search for a deadly infiltration of the very bodies of the Buck Lake unfortunates leads to the realization that terrible things have taken place and that even more horrible events are likely to occur unless Aaron Ritter and his team can root out dark monsters masquerading as civilians and stop their insidious plans.

When I looked at the box art, both front and back, I was immediately wary of what ALIEN RAIDERS had in store for me, but I also noted that Daniel Myrick was one of the producers. My respect for Mr. Myrick’s work gave me hope that he would not allow himself to be party to something moronic and my senses and trust turned out to be well-founded. While there is little about ALIEN RAIDERS that is innovative, for it mines all kinds of tried and true story arcs, it is still a great time for anyone who likes their science fiction liberally mixed with gory horror and intensely taut drama. We walk into the narrative with events already moving at a high rate of speed, but the plot wisely slows down, builds a carefully crafted and patient sense of menace and threat and does so in a variety of ways. Throughout the entire story, there is the ever-present danger of the concealed peril lurking within an unsuspecting resident, one of the great story elements that made John Carpenter’s THE THING such a classic, and it works beautifully here as well without any feel that there is cinematic larceny going on. Instead, the use of that plot point feels like a very deferential nod and it was a good choice. Another well-chosen sampling of a theatrical thread from an older yarn is the tension created by hostage negotiations done in good faith but without the knowledge of what is really happening or what the totality of the outcome could be, ala DIE HARD. This is a central narrative aspect early on and is maintained until we are almost on top of the climax. In addition, the use of a simple setting like a market with people who are embroiled in outrageously uncanny circumstances is right out of THE MIST, another wonderful sci-fi film that mines gems out of lost years. Putting characters into extraordinary situations where their emotional and spiritual mettle is tested time and again is always great way to blend motion picture and dramatic stage performances in a manner that tends to bring success more often than not. Finally, the monster roaming the shadows, picking off its victims inexorably, bloody kill after bloody kill is right out of ALIEN and it still works better to have the half-seen terror than clearly viewing the menace unmasked. It is what we cannot clearly perceive that is always more frightening than what is right in front of our faces.

All of these narrative elements are woven carefully, driven by vivid character interaction, and stitched together in such a way that no one constituent is overly dominant. Instead, a patient and tense tale emerges where the pace intensifies and then settles at intervals, the story structure is sprinkled with blood and guts, gunplay and brutality and under all is the thickly applied dread that no one will survive this nightmare. This is classic “alien creature-feature” going back to films like FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, INVISIBLE INVADERS and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and despite the lack of originality, ALIEN RAIDERS is still a heady cocktail of scares and screams as well as spew and spray. The director talked in the extras about having less time than he would have liked to create the effects that he wanted, but in the end that might have been a good thing. The effects of ALIEN RAIDERS supported the most important element necessary for a successful film, a suspenseful story that has no fat, is well acted and delivers what we all want from a motion picture like this, entertainment. Had Ben Rock been given more time to construct impressive and outlandish effects, they might have detracted from the final product and left us with something akin to JACK BROOKS MONSTER SLAYER, which was all effects and no story.

With the exception of the “video cam” segments which are done for an satisfactory reason and I was eventually able to accept despite how grainy and shaky they were, ALIEN RAIDERS is relatively well shot. It is not meant to be a beautiful film, but it does have moments where the tension is thoughtfully elevated by slow pans or patient holds on shadowy corners, dimly lit corridors, murky doorways and above all emotion-wracked faces. While there were some action sequences where some shots were a bit too tight and/or edited more rapidly than I might have liked, ALIEN RAIDERS was clearly created by a director who has a passion for older “B” sci-fi and horror and his respect for the past was evident. The characters were an intriguing lot, a mix of caricatures, archetypes and stereotypes, but not in every case. While most of the characters were not meant to be terribly deep to preserve the sense of mystery and ambiguity of where the story will eventually go, they are still portrayed very effectively by the performers, most notably Carlos Bernard’s depiction of Aaron Ritter, Courtney Ford’s portrayal of “Sterling” and Mathew St. Patrick’s presentation of Detective Seth Steadman. While all the performances were competent or even occasionally impressive, these three were able to form a degree of chemistry, show some dynamism and as a result viewers can relate to their circumstances. While ALIEN RAIDERS does not have a soundtrack that stood out or grabbed me, it really didn’t need one for the essence of this film’s success stems from its contemplative mixture of story ingredients and visual imagery of yore, and on those counts it was a blast.

ALIEN RAIDERS has a surprisingly deep extras menu which I thoroughly enjoyed due to what was said and who said it. Despite the fact that the 8 ½ minute featurette “Hidden Terror: The Making of Alien Raiders” was a little film clip heavy, the mix of cast and crew interviews was pretty broad and their thoughts aided me in attaining an even deeper appreciation for a flick I already liked. Next up was the 3 minute jewel “Blood, Sweat and Fears: Special Effects of Alien Raiders”, which was too short but really gave me a look inside the mind of director Ben Rock and his motivations in making this movie. The next three features are a little unique. There is “Tape 9: Sterling Explains Alien” which a 6 minute uncut excerpt from the “video diary” of Aaron Ritter, some of which was used in the feature film. The next segment, the 4 minute “Tape 12: Spookie’s Job” follows suit in a quirky and unsettling fashion and then there is the 9 minute “Whitney Cam”, which is a MySpace video blog of the character and who she really is. These last three are entertaining and well-conceived but should be viewed after seeing the main feature as they contain “spoilers” in both tone and content. Lastly, there is a Raw Feed Trailers vault containing six trailers, including the one for ALIEN RAIDERS.

It is good to see that the love for old sci-fi and horror is still alive and well in the world out there today. When I see disappointing experiments like QUARANTINE go sadly wrong, it buoys me up to see films like ALIEN RAIDERS get it right. If you remember the days of seeing EARTH vs. THE FLYING SAUCERS, WAR OF THE WORLDS or THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE, whether in the theater or on TV, ALIEN RAIDERS may be a movie that will bring back some fond memories. If you are a neophyte when it comes to sci-fi/horror and want to “blood yourself”, this would be a good place to start and then you can dig deeply into the earthy loam of the past afterwards with ALIEN RAIDERS’ predecessors. Whatever you do, don’t skip over this film thinking it is a piece of “straight to video” trash, for it isn’t the case. This should have gotten a theatrical release at the drive-in where something like ALIEN RAIDERS really deserves to take its place alongside its older cousins that braved the trail.

www.warnervideo.com
www.rawfeed.com

QUARANTINE (2008) d. John Erick Dowdle

2009-02-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

The rotting fingers of pestilence continue to be one of the most terrifying specters of death to confront mankind. It is possible that Edgar Allen Poe best captured the horrors of disease and its ruthless rampage in his short story Masque of the Red Death. Since then, film and television have done an admirable job at times of retelling the tale of the unstoppable microbe as it lays waste to civilization. Infection movies can have gripping plots that can conclude on somewhat positive notes like 28 DAYS LATER or they can be unrelentingly dark tales that end in an emotionally ravaged fashion like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Whatever the tone of the story and however well that story is scripted and paced, the viewer has to feel as vulnerable and as susceptible to the dangers of the plot as every character within the film’s narrative. In the case of QUARANTINE, a remake of the 2007 Spanish film REC, some key conceptual elements and methods of execution fail to create that connection between the “fantasy” of the story and the “reality” of the terror, leaving QUARANTINE feeling like a promising experiment that did not come to fruition.

QUARANTINE is the story of investigative news reporter Angela Vidal (played by Jennifer Carpenter) and her camera team, who are embedded within a city fire department, creating a story about the men and their mission. A routine call for medical service leads them to an old apartment house where a resident has phoned in a disturbance. Upon arrival, the firemen meet up with police officers on the scene there to assist in the emergency. During their investigation, one of the policemen is attacked by a resident who is drooling, covered with blood and acting feral. In an attempt to extract the fallen lawman, the building is sealed by armed government soldiers and officials, leaving the camera crew, police and fire and all the remaining residents trapped in a building where events soon spin out of control due to a spreading contagion. People struggle to get answers, dodge monstrosities and find an exit from their surroundings even as their physical and emotional conditions rapidly deteriorate. It is only at the very end of their rope that secrets are uncovered and final judgment is meted out.

For some reason, film makers still believe that they can “make a film about making a film” and have it work. Possibly it is that enthralling “marsh light” belief, much like the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola that if the film makers create as realistic a story premise as possible, it will lead to the most brutal and matter of fact presentation achievable. Much like “the New Coke” once was, this is an experiment that can be repeated again and again and it will continue to fail. Maybe there are some people who are drawn into this method of story-telling, but most of us react in the same fashion. The documentary-style approach to a fictional story takes you out of the fantasy because you are not being immersed in the characters and their circumstances; you are forced to react to entirely “constructed” stimuli, much of it totally implausible. What makes the situation worse is that most of the character interplay and dialogue exchanges are meant to pattern realistic conversation or emotional reactions, but in the end they don’t drive the story and so the conflict becomes even more dependent on what we see and how we see it. Therein lies the greatest weakness of QUARANTINE.

So very typical of most film makers today, the people who brought us QUARANTINE felt that filming the story using handheld camera techniques, steadily deteriorating lighting and equally increasingly shaky photography methods will intensify the "realism" of their motion picture. This means that we start with an introduction that looks reasonably good despite the slow, forced feel to the plot but then the downhill slide begins. As the drama starts to unfold and the pace picks up, we enter a visually dynamic interior setting that could be relatively gripping and we see potentially frightening feral humans that might end up being chilling, but it isn’t easy to truly “see” any of this, for the camera is moving constantly, shifting angles, altering focus and adopting different perspectives. As the film accelerates and the mood becomes darker and scarier, what could have and should have been a terrifying crescendo towards bloodier and more gut-wrenching imagery became an appalling slide down a muddy and miserable visual slope. What was interesting was that the decline in image quality was the mirror opposite of another movie that failed of its promise, IRREVERSIBLE. Over the last one-third of QUARANTINE, the camera motion became progressively more erratic, the light faded little by little until we are treated to “night vision” scenes or blackness or impossible angles, and between a “reality” that isn’t as absorbing as it should be and imagery that is nearly impossible to ascertain in a comprehensible fashion, we are left asking, “why am I watching this”?

The answer is simple; the underlying concept of QUARANTINE is an excellent one. Trap normal people in a dark building with an unstoppable disease laying waste to the minds of those infected, create a situation where the ultimate bad guys are the government functionaries who create lab rats out of the building residents and then build a growing feeling disaster that is inevitable and you’ve got a recipe for a potential home run. That is the tragedy of QUARANTINE, it should be a slam dunk and there are times when it does work. There is no musical score to this motion picture, which is a rare occurrence and shows some real courage, but to take its place there are legitimately frightening sound effects that are carefully modulated and accented to be that much more dreadful to the senses. There are a few scenes where genuinely unsettling and creepy mood lighting, makeup effects and surprisingly steady holds on the “monsters” produce some deeply disturbing sequences. At these moments when the onus is on developing a sense of story and narrative conflict, a degree of momentum and actual intensity develops, but this does not happen often enough. Too often, QUARANTINE depends on jump scares and very rapid shock techniques, all of which are mere cheats instead of using much more effective methods of forcing the viewer to internalize the scares. Over the last acts of the movie, the conflict is engineered around screams and shrieks, frantic dashes across rooms and up stare cases and fumbling gropes along darkened walls in even blacker rooms. While these kinds of scenes are certainly visceral, they do not tell a story, do not assist us in gaining any deeper awareness of the characters or the ability to relate to them. The characters become simple pawns in a cinematic chess game that has little or no drama and as a result, I simply endured the assault on my eyes and the affront to my intellect and waited patiently to see how the film would end. It ended on the grim note that I expected it to end on, a conclusion that was ham-handedly foreshadowed earlier in the narrative. In the end, I wasn’t angry and did not feel soiled, for QUARANTINE is not a train wreck. I felt deeply saddened by the lost opportunity that this film was. QUARANTINE could have and should have been a great set of scares like 28 DAYS LATER was, and it certainly didn’t have to go down the same path. It could have easily blended the better camera work of that effort with the simplistic dramatic elements of THE MIST and told a story about people put into an impossible situation and how they deal with defeat and eventual death. Unfortunately, the desire to subscribe to failed modern methods of film making and the need to follow that herd of lemmings over the theatrical cliff won out.

QUARANTINE has a medium-sized bonus features menu that may be of interest to those who found themselves positively impacted by this project. There is an audio commentary with director John Erick Dowdle and writer/producer Drew Dowdle. There is also a 10 minute featurette called “Locked In: The Making of Quarantine”, which is a fairly typical but still interesting mix of cast & crew interviews blended with “behind the scenes” footage of QUARANTINE. Between these two extras, I came to understand that my way of looking at what I consider to be a failed filming technique is truly a philosophical and artistic impasse with those who see that methodology as sincere and successful. I respect artistic differences just as I hope that those who create their own forms of artistic expression will respect my right to intellectually critique their efforts. The 7 ½ minute featurette “Dressing the Infected: Robert Hall’s Makeup Design” was the jewel of this set of bonus features. It was a thoroughly fascinating expose of the conceptual efforts of the effects design team and how they wished to portray an engrossing and yet slightly different take on the contagion and its impact on the people exposed to it. Lastly, there was the “Anatomy of a Stunt” featurette, which is exactly what it sounds like. Viewers are treated to a cinematic autopsy of how one of the more impressive set pieces in QUARANTINE was engineered. At the end of the extras menu is a rather extensive vault of Sony Pictures trailers, different from the auto-play trailers at the head of the Main Menu.

I once tried to make a pasta sauce without oregano and instead of just scrapping my efforts until I had procured this essential spice, I substituted double the amount of marjoram. The resulting trial was not successful and I learned a valuable lesson about what happens when an experiment fails. We should not emerge from such failures feeling down-hearted and negative, but take all such disappointments as a chance from which to grow. QUARANTINE was a film with a great deal of potential. The general premise and some of the imagery worked very well. Just as Ford Motor Company had to admit that the Edsel was not going to work, I want to see QUARANTINE’s film makers abandon hand held camera techniques, tell a story that subscribes to some of the more traditional narrative principles and then come back guns a blazin’ to do another motion picture that I can rave about. I bet it’s a possibility and I would dearly like to see it happen.

www.sonypictures.com
www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/quarantine/

CHOCOLATE (2008) d. Prachya Pinkaew

2009-02-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

When movie lovers think of “fighting” motion pictures, there are a number of powerful images that comes to mind. When people think of movies filled with combat, they often summon up scenes of John Wayne battling cattle rustlers and Indians alike on the western frontier, or of Lee Marvin fighting anyone who deserved a good “lickin’” whether it was in a war flick, a crime story or whatever. Lovers of fantastical films are quick to point to superhero movies like BATMAN, SUPERMAN or SPIDERMAN as having some of the more titanic clashes to be seen on the Big Screen. Slightly more cosmopolitan cine-maniacs might call forth memories of Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan pummeling the bad guys with both fists and feet and doing so in some of the most acrobatic of fashions. Asian martial arts films have often far exceeded their Western counterparts when it comes to the intensity of the fisticuffs, but when Americans think of such fare, they usually would point to Chinese or Japanese action films as the source for high octane, face pounding pugilism. Not too many years ago though, a new entrant into the world of martial arts excellence was born as Thai movies began to make their way to the shores of the United States. For those lucky enough to have seen some Thai cinema, it has all the raw energy and brutality of Hong Kong action flicks at their height. Much like Chinese film-making of yore, the Thai movie moguls will tackle just about any concept, and as a result, you never know what you’ll get or where it will take you. CHOCOLATE is just that kind of film, combining some strange bedfellows for story ideas and introducing one of the most unlikely of action heroines and bringing them all together into a flick that is a lot of fun and will make your pulse pound as well.

CHOCOLATE is the story of a mentally challenged young girl named Zen, suffering from a disability akin to autism, whose condition makes her social and emotional interaction with those around her a difficult prospect. Born to Zin, a caring mother connected to a set of Thai gangsters and criminals, Zen is witness to the brutal retribution exacted upon her mother when she tries to leave behind this disturbing life. Beset with serious health problems needing expensive medical treatment in the years after her “escape” from the mob, Zin’s efforts to raise her daughter are fraught with disastrous financial troubles. Zen begins a quest to call in the many favors and debts that people owe her mother, but it is not her sweet face that causes these many lowlifes to pay up. From her early days, Zen has readily displayed a surprising physical dexterity, which as she grew towards adolescence manifested itself in superior marital arts ability, augmented by her interest in studying the works of the masters on TV and those in her daily life. Zen relentlessly fights her way up a ladder of corruption that ends at the rung of the crime boss who brutalized her mother, which also reunites her with Zin’s long lost husband who is also her father, and sets up a stunning confrontation that turns out to be an epic battle of special needs proportions.

CHOCOLATE has a fascinating hybrid storyline. On one hand, there is a powerfully emotional and surprisingly earnest tale of a disabled child, her physically damaged mother and her ethnically and criminally estranged father. This triangle of woe provides much of the dramatic momentum of the narrative and is the primary foundation of the plot. However, very expertly grafted onto this main branch are the sinister elements of a classic crime story of mobs, violence, money, revenge and brutality, all more intensely fueled by issues involving race and then twisted tightly and intricately around this center stalk focusing on Zen’s special needs. Add to this already heady mixture the blazing intensity of martial arts action and special effects and you’ve got a movie whose story doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does so and quite brilliantly. There are quieter, more introspective moments in the first one-third of the film that allow the story to start at a leisurely but compelling pace punctuated by moments of extreme violence. As the family drama deepens and the mob story relaxes, the martial arts components assert themselves and then like fists flying furiously, the cadence of the movie begins to steadily accelerate. While not the morality play that is the Thai masterpiece TOM YUM GOONG (aka THE PROTECTOR in the US), the complexity of CHOCOLATE’S narrative and the brilliant construction of its pace makes CHOCOLATE just as compelling as other Thai martial arts epics like ONG-BAK and BORN TO FIGHT.

In addition to the fine writing, CHOCOLATE works on a lot of other levels. The performances of the primary actors are all either consistently strong or in some cases excellent. “Jija” Yanin Vismitananda (Zen) steals the show by creating a character that is at the same time lovable, implacable and unstable. Portraying a disabled person is not an easy task, especially for such a young actress. “Som” Amara Siripong (Zin) and Hiroshi Abe (Zen’s father Masashi) are also worthy of praise for their ability to create chemistry with “Zen” and with each other. These three are able to produce dramatic intensity without overplaying their roles and do it in such a way that their talents blend with the inspiring and passionate story. One a visual level, CHOCOLATE is well shot and there are compelling and exotic interior and exterior sets, many of them quite lovely. The costuming was also quirky and thoughtfully considered. The makeup and costumes of the mob were so over the top and bizarre at times that there is a note of humor that was injected into the narrative beyond Zen’s goofy male adolescent sidekick Mangmoom. What takes the prize in this movie though are the stunning fight sequences. What makes Thai action cinema so special is the phenomenal choreography combined with classic photographic techniques. Each battle looks spectacular and you can see everything. The director has the cameras pulled back so the entire fight scene can be comprehended and ENJOYED easily. There are no obnoxious close ups and ridiculous fast edits that heinously steal all the joy out of a set piece. In addition to the marvelous cinematography, the stunt work is so very evocative of Golden Age Jackie Chan, Yuen Baio, Jet Li and all the other great Hong Kong masters. People who do these unbelievable Thai fighting stunts are clearly putting their bodies in peril and do so for the art of the shot. They may be paying a terrible price physically, but their sacrifice is our gain for like other recent Thai epics, CHOCOLATE left me saying, “WOW”! On a final positive note, CHOCOLATE is presented in an English “dubbed” version or the original Thai language version with English subtitles. Do yourself a favor and watch the Thai version and skip the silly dubbing. So much more of the actor’s emotions are conveyed through their own voices and match their facial expressions and body language so much better.

CHOCOLATE has a thin but rewarding extras menu. Beyond the diverse language and audio options (thanks for that, not everyone does it the right way), there is a 9 minute “The Making of CHOCOLATE” that is slick, fast paced, subtitled in English and wonderfully informative. It looks at the background of the film and some of the on-set construction and outcomes of the set pieces. My only quarrel with this featurette is that it wasn’t long enough. I would have liked to have seen more. In addition, there is a small “Also from Magnolia Pictures” trailer vault that has the same three trailers which automatically come up before the Main Menu. While this isn’t the deepest Bonus Features cache I’ve ever seen, it does support an excellent film successfully.

The decline of American action films into unwatchable morasses of visual diarrhea, almost taking Hong Kong cinema with them, has had one beneficial upshot. It has left the market wide open for others to try and steal. There have been some French entrants that have been eye-catching, as well as some fine efforts from South Korea, but it is Thailand that is really producing the gems of the fighting mine today. Only by supporting efforts like CHOCOLATE and its Thai predecessors can we cast our vote to American film companies and say “Do things the right way you jerks!” CHOCOLATE is fun, fast and fabulous and if you miss this movie, you will miss out on seeing some first rate film-making that should send a shiver of excitement up your spine in a way that should remind you of ENTER THE DRAGON, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX or ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA. We don’t get that kind of thrill much anymore, so what are you waiting for?

www.magpictures.com/
www.magnetreleasing.com/

THE NUNS: NEW YORK VAMPIRES (2008)

2009-02-11T06:53:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Simon Oakland

Can anybody out there tell me what the hell this DVD is supposed to be about? Because I have almost zero frame of reference in which to judge it. There's a fairly lengthy introduction that apparently would explain all of the footage that follows to any newcomers... Unfortunately, it's utterly and inexplicably devoid of audio! So what we have here is a bunch of random footage with zero context filmed full frame with either Digital 8 or VHS Video cameras which is then framed like a portrait in the middle of a larger widescreen image. From what I can surmise, the "Nuns" are some sort of burlesque goth troupe that performs onstage whippings to some pretty generic techno/industrial music. On the surface it may sound like it could be interesting but from what I can see it's pretty tedious. S&M has never been so boring!

I assume this is meant for their fans, and clearly I am not within their target audience. Not that I am devoid of respect for goth culture (I've listened to my fair share of The Cure, Bauhaus, Skinny Puppy, and Joy Division in my day) but, come on, this is pretty ridiculous. If you're a fan of The Nuns, or a die hard fan of Goth culture in general and can stand to watch some lo-fi bootleg quality footage, then maybe you'll want to check it out. Otherwise, steer as far away from this as possible.

Redemption Films

HIS NAME WAS JASON (2009) d. Daniel Farrands

2009-02-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

There are times when a first name becomes iconic in and of itself. Mention the name of “Elvis” or “The Babe” and people know exactly who you are talking about. However impressive the accomplishments of Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth were, and their achievements were legendary, there is something even more intriguing, possibly even disturbing about a fictional character attaining such a degree of “cult” status and name recognition that they become a lasting figure in the imaginations of the public. If you say “Lucy” or “Bart”, people know who you are talking about. Within the genre of horror films, there aren’t too many names that have that kind of cachet except some of the old classics like “Frankenstein” or “Dracula”, but one of the modern monikers to ring continually in the ears of fans is that of “Jason” from the FRIDAY THE 13th series of films. Jason’s unforgettable mask, brute force, creative killing techniques and implacable evil have taken root in the psyche of horror fans everywhere and whether you like the film series, dislike the movies intensely or feel a deep sense of division over this uneven franchise, an immediate visual recognition is sparked when you hear the name of “Jason”. HIS NAME WAS JASON is a two-disc documentary edition that sets down, once and for all, as much information as can be assembled about these many motion pictures, including the 2009 remake.

HIS NAME WAS JASON starts on Disc 1 with a roughly 90 minute documentary feature hosted by Tom Savini. These host segments were filmed at Universal Studios “Camp Blood” haunted house sets. Between the well-shot sequences that are reverential nods mixed with tongue in cheek barbs, Mr. Savini’s dry sense of humor that borders on “horror host” methodology and the first rate screams of the “damsel in distress”, the host links add a distinctly comedic charm to the generally informational format of the film. Broken into eleven parts, the main feature charts the history of the film from the initial concept begun in the 1970s to the modern day, and is followed by an analysis of the character “Jason” and his mythos, the successful components of the “Friday the 13th” formula, the science and art of the kills and the effects used to create the look of the films, the screenwriting background and concepts, a look at the characters who survive meeting “Jason”, the trials and tribulations experienced during filming, fan reactions to continuity problems with stories, costumes and props, “Jason’s” impact on pop culture, merchandising and marketing, the 2009 remake of FRIDAY THE 13th and finally the legacy that the actors have become a part of. On Disc 1, there is one bonus feature segment after the main feature. On Disc 2 there are other eleven extras to be found and all told, there are roughly 320 minutes of “Friday the 13th” content to be pondered on this two disc set, more than enough “Jason”-lore to thrill even the most ardent fan.

From a content standpoint, this is a richly in-depth and satisfying feature film supported by a jaw-dropping list of extras. There is an astounding lineup of “talking heads” for this documentary, from actors and actresses who played victims and survivors representing each and every movie, to the men who played “Jason” in his many incarnations. Among the luminaries are Amy Steel, Adrienne King, Kane Hodder and Steve Dash. There are all of the directors from every film in the series, as well as screenwriters, film editors and effects wizards who put in their “2 cents” including Sean Cunningham, Tom Savini himself and Greg Nicotero, but listing these few names does not do justice to the exhaustive lineup that is arrayed before the viewer. In a form of the classic “pig pile”, there is even more to be had from on-line and print journalists and editors, authors, and even directors and actors from other horror genre films. While there are moments where the parade of celebrities, cast & crew and aficionados does become a bit bewildering, it is a “Friday the 13th” lover’s paradise to see this ensemble brought together in such a comprehensive manner. All of this is packaged in a form that is dominated by classic interview clips and short anecdotes bolstered by film clips, TV promo clips and stills, newsprint stills, promotional art and photography stills, video box art, storyboard concept art, film test footage and multi-media presentation effects. The end result is a cascade and cavalcade of “Jason” nostalgia and historical footage that establishes a surprisingly high bar o informational excellence that it is likely never to be easily equaled if anyone was even so foolish as to try and “redo” this kind of documentary.

From a style standpoint, HIS NAME WAS JASON suffers from being a bit too glamorous and creative for its own good. Arranging and presenting such a daunting assortment of persons for this documentary must have been an overwhelming task and some of that can be seen in one of the largest bonus features caches I have ever observed, much of it being material that couldn’t be fit into the confines of the feature film. To keep the pace of the documentary brisk, many of the anecdotes of the varied cast & crew are exceedingly short, producing an effect of jumping very hastily from one person’s face to the next. This frantic style may appeal to younger viewers who are fans of modern music videos and their “attention deficit”-inspired structure or people who like Paul Greengrass films where the camera feels like it was strapped to a lithe and acrobatic gibbon and then chased up and down jungle trees by competing simian forest dwellers, but to the older viewers, the pace seemed unnecessarily rapid and it kept me from sinking into this documentary in the same way that I like to ease back into a leather lounge chair, comfortably and with a chance to savor what I am experiencing. To make matters less appealing, most of the fades, cuts, breaks and other transitions between scenes were often affected through the use of glitzy special effects that had a “video game” feel or at the very least a juvenile and frenetic quality that didn’t always set well. By the end, I can say that I enjoyed HIS NAME WAS JASON but my experience was much like that of a diner patron who gets an outstanding slab of meatloaf, with a mighty pile of real mashed potatoes accompanied by a towering glass of homemade root beer, all of which is satisfying and tasty but is served by a waitress whose mannerisms and style are so brusque and grating that somehow the final experience is not as pleasing as it should have been.

The extras on HIS NAME WAS JASON are simply astonishing in their variety and quantity. After the feature on Disc 1, there is the 47 minute “Men Behind the Mask” which features eleven full interviews with the actors who played “Jason” from Ari Lehman to Derek Means. The shortest segment is the 1 minute Tom Morga interview all the way up to the 7 minute Derek Means clip, which beat out Kane Hodder for the longest set of comments. For a lover of the past, having the newcomer be the longest interview segment felt a little “sell-y”, as it were. Most of the interviews were between 3 and 4 minutes and augmented the short clips you saw in the main feature nicely. On Disc 2 is the bulk of the bonus features, starting with the lengthy but fascinating 68 minute “Final Cuts”, a set of nine interviews with the “Friday the 13th” directors. While the longest of the extras, it is likely most will consider this mini-feature the most rewarding. Next up is the 31 minute “From Script to Screen”, four interview segments with “Friday the 13th” screenwriters, followed by a 21 minute section called “Dragged from the Lake”, which is 13 short segments where cast and crew relate stories and thoughts about memorable scenes and moments, both good and bad, from the film series. A segment of four “Fan Films” is next, these shorts ranging in length from 1 minute to 14 minutes and ranging the entire spectrum of creativity and quality. “Closing the Book on THE FINAL CHAPTER” is a 12 minute extended scene that goes through the entire sequence of this 4th “Friday the 13th” film location pair of interviews. The 4 minute “Fox Comes Home” is much the same idea, where we see the full segment with this actress’s location interview from Film #3. “Friday the 13th in Four Minutes” is a quirky interview summary of the basic premise of the original film principle. “Jason takes Comicon” is a 4 ½ minute 2009 remake cast and crew set of interviews on location at Comicon. The most original and creative installment in the extras is the 4 ½ minute “Camp Crystal Lake Survival Guide” which is constructed and engineered to play like a black & white educational short, complete with scratches and graininess, as cast and crew from the films describe over campy music how to survive a “Jason” experience. “Inside Halloween Horror Nights” is a 7 minute quasi-featurette/promotional for the Universal Studios Camp Blood haunted house/spook show exhibit. Finally there is the 2 minute “Shelly Lives”, which is a fun but ridiculous fake commercial starring the unforgettable Shelly character from the series. All told, there are few bonus feature lineups with this kind of weight in the horror genre and fans of the “Friday the 13th” motion pictures will most likely revel in this treasure trove of goodies.

It is hard to believe that it has been nearly 30 years since FRIDAY THE 13th first hit the Big Screen and then spawned its long lineage of sequels, serious and silly. While not the progenitor of the slasher film, since that title may be reserved for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1961 cult classic DEMENTIA 13, or even the modern version of the slasher genre since HALLOWEEN and the mask-wearing Michael Meyers preceded FRIDAY THE 13th by two years, “Jason” may have attained a loftier and far more enduring place in the pop culture collective spirit of our nation. For a mongoloid, demented, deformed monstrosity, who is a mayhem-minded murderer wearing a tattered gas-monkey uniform and a hockey mask that is a pretty incredible achievement. If you are a admirer of the “Friday the 13th” film franchise, whether young or old, you will probably enjoy this two disc set in one fashion or another, especially if you want to see a procession of people who feel pretty lucky to be part of something that has arrived at a station of somewhat mythic proportions. If I were in their shoes, I would feel fortunate too.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com
www.myspace.com/hisnamewasjason

MY NAME IS BRUCE (2008) d. Bruce Campbell

2009-02-07T17:02:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Mark Nelson

MY NAME IS BRUCE stars Bruce Campbell as Bruce Campbell, a character not dissimilar to Bruce Campbell. If not THE Bruce Campbell, certainly A Bruce Campbell based on Bruce Campbell, or at least a Bruce Campbell that Bruce Campbell and fans of Bruce Campbell will recognize as resembling an exaggerated version of Bruce Campbell.

The story goes a little something like this: a Cambpell and horror film-obsessed teen in the sleepy Oregon town of Gold Lick knows that there's only one man to call when your town is menaced by an ancient Chinese protector of bean curd with a sharp weapon that's handy for beheading townsfolk -- none other that the star of CONGO, ALIEN APOCALYPSE and SERVING SARA (not to mention the EVIL DEAD films and BUBBA HO-TEP), Bruce Campbell. Trouble is, he's not quite the hero in reality that his films make him out to be. Actually, he's kind of a drunken, skirt-chasing, foul-mouthed lout, a cad and a masher, if you will. Campbell heeds the teen's call, believing it to be an elaborate prank played on him by his agent (Ted Raimi), only to find the threat all too real. Will the real Bruce Campbell stand up and be counted, or be counted on turning tail and running away?

While the premise of MY NAME IS BRUCE is essentially the same as THREE AMIGOS (film stars are called to a backwoods town by citizens who believe them to be the heroes they portray onscreen to save the town, the stars believe the danger to be a publicity stunt, find out its real, then summon up whatever courage they have to fight the foe and save the day) , Campbell fans should eat this up. He pushes his image as a smart-mouthed, washed-up B-movie star to the nth degree, with hilarious results. Sort of like Ash with a perpetual hang-over and case of priapism. I do wonder if those who aren't fans of Bruce Campbell would get as much out of it, as so much of the film's humor is based on a spoofing of his image and filmography. For those who dig he who was the Jack of All Trades, however, it's an absolute blast.

The film itself plays very much like the early Sam Raimi and Josh Becker's Super-8mm films, with a goofy Three Stooges-infused sense of "anything goes", mixed with the out and out gore of EVIL DEAD 2. The gore here, while graphic, comes off as cartoony and over-the-top, as it's generally surrounded by silliness. The cast is made up primarily of local Oregon stage actors who handle their roles as simple townsfolk well (Grace Thorsen as the mother of the superfan teen and target of Campbell's amorous intentions is a particular stand-out, balancing her role's levels of humor, heart and hubba with the greatest of ease), along with EVIL DEAD series alumni Ellen Sandweiss, Ted Raimi (playing three very diverse and silly roles), Dan Hicks and Tim Quill. Location filming took place in and around Campbell's Oregon property, and appropriately takes Bruce and company within the woods once again for a return to the type of setting that launched his career, only without any desolate cabins or evil books inked in blood.

As can be expected of most Campbell productions, the DVD of MY NAME IS BRUCE is loaded with supplements that bring fans more goofy Campbell charm, as well as plenty of nuts-and-bolts behind-the-scenes information. It's quite impressive to see how much production value was brought to the screen simply by utilizing the local Oregon resources at Campbell's disposal, and made me appreciate the film all the more. Extras include an audio commentary by Bruce Campbell and producer Mike Richardson, "Heart of Dorkness: The making of MY NAME IS BRUCE" hour-long documentary, five featurettes, Poster art gallery, props art gallery, photo gallery, CaveAlien 2 trailer, MY NAME IS BRUCE TRAILER, and 2-3 easter eggs on every menu page. Yowza!

Cinematic junk food of the highest order, MY NAME IS BRUCE is a great film to watch with a bunch of similarly Bruce-loving friends, plenty of pizza and orange soda. Appropriately presented by Dark Horse Comics, the film feels very much like a comic book (and indeed a min-comic adaptation of the film is included inside the DVD case), taking nothing too seriously as it rockets along its silly way.

www.image-entertainment.com
www.mynameisbruce.net

RED MIST (2008) d. Paddy Breathnach

2009-02-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Most artists will tell you that having a good idea and some vivid colors are not enough to make a painting great. In addition to generating an interesting concept and utilizing vibrant hues, your painting has to evidence strong composition, tell a compelling story, create a sense of mood and eventually engage a viewer’s emotions so that they are left with a visceral reaction to the imagery in front of them. Since film is a visual media too, a lot of the elements of greatness are much the same and if a motion picture can’t say that it does most of what a painting does to achieve outstanding success then it will ultimately fall into the categories of mediocre or that of a failure. RED MIST is not a failure and has some praiseworthy qualities, but like a simple painting, it just wasn’t profound or original enough to be a transcendent cinematic experience.

RED MIST is the story of two very different people, Catherine Thomas and Kenneth Chisholm, brought together by their involvement in Forthaven General Hospital. Catherine is a talented and caring medical student at Forthaven, while Kenneth is a mentally challenged custodian with a troubled past and even more disturbing present. Catherine’s young, hip and insufferably amoral friend group goes out for a night of kicks and after a fateful run in with Kenneth, cause an accident that leaves him in a vegetative state, bed-ridden and on life support at Forthaven. Overwhelmed by guilt, Catherine eschews her usually lofty ethical standards to take a chance at saving Kenneth using a risky experimental narcotic compound that produces incredibly bizarre and deadly consequences for Catherine’s friends who begin turning up dead under the most grisly and alarming circumstances. Catherine must struggle with forces beyond her control to convince people of the terror that stalks the night before she too becomes a victim.

On the surface, it sounds like RED MIST would be a home run as a movie, for it seems to have all the elements; a morality play, suspense, murder, gore and a supernatural element added in for good measure. In addition to this promising plot concept, RED MIST has a young and attractive cast and is shot in Northern Ireland, which would sound like a pretty interesting and exotic location to create an engaging film. Like a painting with a good idea and cute colors that turns out to be somewhat unexciting, RED MIST has its good thought behind the plot and some pretty people to add a layer of decoration but it is missing or misuses much of what it needs to work effectively.

One of greatest weaknesses of RED MIST is its predictable and overused plot twists and construction. We start with a group of hot, self-centered young people who are cruel and thoughtless to a disabled person, all of the melodrama dependent upon a feeling of emotional discomfort in the viewer rather than true suspense or menace for it is obvious what the outcome will be. This initial kernel for conflict germinates into a larger seedling of drama built around an equally tired storyline dealing with the one character with a conscience who struggles to make herself heard in a sea of friends without ideals and who apply enough peer pressure to get her to accede to their demands. Sprinkle in remorse and guilt and you’ve got a narrative that has been done a thousand times before, whether it is summer campers and the prank that went wrong, ravers who drive drunk and hit the old man crossing the street or scientists experimenting with energies beyond imagination who let lose powers unrelenting. Grafted to this already hackneyed yarn is a paranormal revenge/slasher component that is just as predictable, so that nearly every moment in this motion picture can be seen coming a mile away. Adding to the troubles of the screenplay was a series of implausible “escapes” from harm that Catherine engineers as we approach the climax and then we return to a predictable and clichéd set of ideas for the conclusion. In the end, it is too bad because some competent and even mildly impressive performances are badly wasted. Most of the cast give steady, workmanlike portrayals of their characters that help to create a degree of intensity in the first half of the film, which was more drama than horror movie. Arielle Kebbel, who plays Catherine, gives the best performance and does a very good job selling her character’s struggles with her conscience and the even greater trials she endures when she is forced to abandon her professional ethics. Had there been more compelling twists and turns and more absorbing moments in the story, the efforts of the cast may not have felt quite so futile.

What also didn’t help the story was that its generally patient pace, a potential benefit, was canceled by the total lack of a spellbinding atmosphere. Being that this was a European production, it is entirely unsurprising that the story took its time, which is one of the reasons that modern European horror is usually superior to American horror. If the narrative is predictable though, a slower cadence can hamstring a film and create a degree of apathy or even boredom in a viewer. A potential savior is spectacular imagery. One of the best examples of a motion picture that was partly rescued by its richly atmospheric aura and how good it looked was Dario Argento’s INFERNO. INFERNO struggled with most of the rest of what makes a film great but its visual impact was thunderous. RED MIST is competently shot and has only a few instances of rapid editing, obnoxious handheld techniques and trendy “scare effects”. Most of the time, it is shadowy, albeit a tad gloomy, but you can see what is happening and the character’s expressions are conveyed efficiently. There are even some moments where interesting camera angles and some photographic techniques were employed, but that didn’t happen nearly enough to create a novel feel to the cinematography. One of the most pressing problems is that there isn’t much for eye to be challenged by architecturally, stylistically, artistically or even metaphysically. We are treated to a typical hospital and its environs, a few bar and dorm interior sets and a few uninteresting exterior sets when we usually get to see Arielle Kebbel jogging in a fairly unimpressive manner. The most compelling visuals are Miss Kebbel’s fathomless eyes and her trim, attractive figure displayed during non-jogging sequences. The death scenes were bloody and grisly on occasion, but they lacked panache. Only the death of Harriet was visually engaging but it was one of the shortest of the macabre segments, and most of the rest of the gore used old-hat slasher techniques or a style that bordered on “torture porn”. Fortunately, that repugnant angle was not overdone and this film was not overly gratuitous. For RED MIST’s patient storyline to be its strength, there needed to be a riveting plot and loads of atmosphere, and both were in short supply.

Where RED MIST does achieve a degree of greater triumph is in the bonus features menu. The first segment is a 21 minute “Making of Red Mist” featurette that is a fairly thorough and engaging blend of “behind the scenes” footage and cast & crew interviews. For those of you who found Miss Arielle Kebbel as appealing as I did, both as an actress and for visual reasons, there is a 9 minute segment called “Extended interview with Arielle Kebbel”. The lone American cast member, Miss Kebbel comes across as more than a pretty face and her ruminations on the RED MIST experience are relatively thoughtful. Finally, there is the most enjoyable segment of the entire disc; a 4 minute mini-feature called “Red Mist cast in Northern Ireland” that is a mix of travelogue and cast anecdotes about their days spent in the Emerald Isle’s northeast corner. What was somewhat frustrating about this last section was its short length and excellent landscape photography. I certainly could have used a much longer look at this beautiful region of the United Kingdom and the film RED MIST would have benefited from the imagery we were treated to in this too short but delightful extra. While not an overloaded and bursting at the seams bonus features menu, there is a lot to like about what was included and it made my viewing experience a little better than if it had been a bare bones disc.

RED MIST leaves an impression rather like the paintings that people see at one of those “starving artist” shows at the local Expo Center. The reason those artists are starving is their lack the inner fire, deficiency in brilliant insight or shortage of artistic integrity to create awe-inspiring masterworks. Much like a Three Musketeers bar, those paintings are sweet but the pleasure isn’t lasting or transfiguring. RED MIST may very well appeal to those who like tried and true narrative formats and don’t mind being taken down an excessively familiar road or those too young and inexperienced to know that it has all been done before. Others may enjoy RED MIST because visual imagery isn’t all that important to them or they don’t really have the schooling to look for something stirring in the camera work, so that to them “a kill is a kill”. RED MIST isn’t a bad movie, it just didn’t do anything to differentiate itself from all those who came before and have done it with more style, or in a schlockier fashion or with so much offensiveness that the “yuck-factor” was unforgettable. The people who wrote and filmed RED MIST need to brave their own trails, take chances in hopes of doing something original and leave old and worn out ideas in the pasture, waiting for their time to be taken to the glue factory and put down, making room for the fresh young studs who will bring renewal.

www.anchorbayentertainment.com
www.redmist-themovie.com/

DEMONIACS d. Jean Rollin (1973)

2009-02-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Laura Eno Kennell

I recently viewed DEMONIACS for the about the 5th time, but his time I viewed sans Jagermeister and I found the film to hold up well even without that liquid demon with the cough syrup taste. Though the film is not for the squemish it does have beautiful cinematography and wonderfully surrealist imagery. The acting is somewhat overdone, but it fits the film. It's about obsession, hallucinations, black magic and good old fashion sadistic insanity, so the actors are bound to act a little kooky.

The film starts out with an introduction to "the wreckers": the Captain, Tina, Paul, and Bosco. The group pillages a ship they had lead to the rocky shore. (Thus wrecking the ship). Two teenage girls are found by the wreckers and are brutally raped and tortured by them. The ship's crew go to the local pub/whorehouse afterwards to celebrate the treasure they have acquired, then the Captain cannot get the girls out of his mind. After meeting up with a psychic madame the Captain goes insane with guilt. The madame rants on about the ship that has crashed to the rocks. The Captain smashes chairs, yells, smashes more things and then sweats profusely. As film moves on, he progressively falls futher into a pit of insanity. To make matters worse, a sailor storms into the pub and tells the tale of two female ghosts roaming the town. The crew set out to find the girls and kill them, knowing they're still alive. They do not want any witnesses. The girls escape to the much talked about cursed ruins and discover the dark secret there. The girls are then transformed and take their revenge on the wreakers.

This film is full of everything: lots of smashing up things, burning up things, boobs, creepy clowns, cat fights with hair pulling and slapping, boobs, barroom brawls, sweaty old men, and more boobs. It's truly not for the faint-of-heart. The wreckers (or "Demoniacs") are shown as true sadists. We see that the Captain and Tina are a match made in hell. Both encourage the other sailors to rape and murder. As the film progresses we see that Tina is the actual leader of the group. The Captain can't handle the outlaw life anymore and loses his mind. He's haunted by the girls and goes insane. The other sailors, Paul and Bosco start to fall apart as well. They fear the girls when they learn of legend of the ruins. They even go so far as to consult the resident psychic at the whorehouse they're staying at. Tina on the other hand has no guilt whatsoever. She wants the girls dead, she screams she wants them crushed.

I suppose I should be offended by this film and at some points it is a bit nauseating, but I do actually enjoy the other parts quite a bit. This film is full of raw emotion on the parts of Joelle Coeur as Tina and John Rico as the Captain. Tina's evil laugh still is ringing in my ears!

The Demoniacs are brutal, but it makes for a lot of cheering on the two girls when they take their revenge on them. The Demoniacs so deserve it. And with the help of the secret evil that's in the ruins they do so, but with a twist. I won't give away the ending!

I had seen the original release of THE DEMONIACS by Redemption which had better packaging, but the new release has extras galore. Lots of naughty deleted scenes that would have really added an extra "X" if they were not cut. Also included is a theatrical trailer, stills gallery, and other Redemption trailers. If you dare, check it out with or without Jagermeister.

SALVATION FILMS

KILLER MOVIE (2008) d. Jeff Fisher

2009-01-31T12:23:00.001-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Mocking pop culture and lampooning modern society is both easy to do and a very treacherous choice if you are doing so in your feature film. So much of our daily existence is so repugnant and moronic, providing exceedingly fertile ground and an abundant cinematic harvest when it comes to parody. The problem is that tackling any recent topic will badly date your film and in succeeding years, viewers may find your narrative tedious at best and at worst it will be absolutely irrelevant. However, turning down the chance to satirize something as inane and intellectually noxious as “Reality TV” is absolutely impossible to refuse and deserves all of our considerable support, for few blights on civilization have arisen in recent years that are more deadly to the mind than the reality television series, with the possible exception of a prefrontal lobotomy. When you ridicule something as idiotic as that and do so in the guise of a horror film, it is going to be a delicate balancing act as to whether your film will be campy, cruddy, childish or simply churlish. KILLER MOVIE somehow navigates some very choppy and challenging waters and ends up being a mildly entertaining film that will likely appeal to a surprisingly wide audience and for an even broader range of reasons.

KILLER MOVIE is the story of a young, down-on-his-luck director named Jake Tanner, who has been hired to film a reality series set far off in the wilds of White Plains, North Dakota. He must somehow find a way to work with a shrewish female producer and her sycophantic assistant, an exceedingly spoiled and loathsome diva of a celebrity/actress, a crew that is comprised of quirky goofballs, neophytes and self-absorbed technophiles, and somehow get the hayseed locals to accept this intrusion into their “small town lives”. It isn’t long before crew members start disappearing, putting a crimp in production, yet stocking the larder of a sadistic killer. Somehow, Jake and his cohorts have got to find a way to dodge the sharp implements of this maniac and salvage their troubled show all in the same fell swoop.

KILLER MOVIE started off showing very little promise. The mix of “Real Life” style video journal segments with a chronological plot narrative didn’t seem to mesh very well, producing a grating end product that felt like it was never going to be cohesive. Add to that a very sizable cast of characters that was being juggled somewhat haphazardly, and I had my doubts whether I would be able to finish this film without breaking a tooth or two during fits of anger. Before the one-third mark of the movie though, the plot settled down and some of the more interesting story and character components become to assert themselves, primarily those of a spoof. The satire of KILLER MOVIE is mostly a subtle mockery of the tenets of reality TV, television production in general and the foolishness of most celebrities. At times, more ham-handed derision is added into the mix to liven up the pace of the film, which after its uncertain start begins to build momentum and then move along steadily towards its crescendo. At the start of the flick, the horror elements seemed to be the most obnoxiously silly parts of the plot, but ever so slightly that began to change. As each dead body was added to the pile of kills, each murder became a little more stylish and gruesome, but all the while iconic methods of dispatching the victims were employed by a masked perpetrator who was clearly garbed in such a way so that no viewer could ever take these scenes totally seriously. The resulting blend of TV parody with a gently reverential nod to classic slasher films came off as astoundingly sophisticated for a mainstream send-up. What made this film work in the end is that it never took itself totally seriously as a horror flick but still tried to develop a small degree of suspense and drama, had nothing but contempt for pop culture in general and Reality TV specifically and it kept moving at a brisk but steady pace. Had there been a few less characters to manage and the story could have focused on developing some of the more compelling personalities, the humor could have been a little more intense. While I was impressed by the dry nature of the “comedy”, I smirked 98% of the time and never really laughed out loud. That is far and away a better result than most comedies where I downright scowl through their puerile attempts to be funny, but I would have liked this film to be somewhat more humorous.

From a visual standpoint, there are a lot of unexpected strengths to KILER MOVIE as well. It was competently shot and lit so that every scene was easy to see and comprehend. There were many well-scouted and then attractively photographed exterior scenes that successfully developed the rural feel of the setting. The interior sets were classic “school slasher” imagery akin and reminiscent of films like HORROR HIGH and MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH. When set outdoors, there were often bright sunshiny scenes and vibrant colors which contrasted well with the more somber and moodier interior segments. While never an atmospheric film, KILLER MOVIE looks good, I could figure out what was happening without having to rewind segments as is too often the case and I could appreciate some of the other visual benefits of this film. While many modern motion pictures suffer from the casting of loads of impossibly beautiful people who make the story seem totally implausible and render the characters equally unlikable (the APRIL FOOL’S DAY remake is a good example), the satirical nature of KILLER MOVIE lends itself to creating a predominantly “hot” cast and as a result, the eye candy in this film is rather impressive. Between the many pretty faces, long lustrous locks and trim, sexy figures, there is a lot to gaze at and wish they had been asked to disrobe repeatedly, that lack of nudity being the greatest weakness of this movie. Led by Kaley Cuoco who plays “Blanca Champion”, the list of babes continues through Leighton Meester, Gloria Votsis, Torrey DeVitto, Cyia Batten, Jennifer Murpshy, Maitland McConnell and my favorite Adriana Demeo. While none of these lovelies are household names yet, many should be because their decorative splendor in KILLER MOVIE helped to distract me from the occasionally inane dialogue, simplistic plot devices, obvious caricatures and archetypical character composites, none of which would derail a film, but they are caused to be less irksome by the “trim”. On the plus side, many of these young beauties and some of the young men in this film can actually act and the performances, while not inspiring on the whole, were competent or serviceable. Paul Wesley (Jake Tanner) does get the part of the artistically ethical and good natured director right and plays his role well. Kaley Cuoco is entirely convincing in her role as the insufferable and ultimately somewhat lovable Blanca. It would/will be interesting to see some of these cast members in some other, potentially more challenging roles, especially the lovely Miss Demeo (huge hint for producers and casting directors).

KILLER MOVIE has a small but pleasantly engaging extras menu. There is the theatrical trailer and a sizable photo gallery that is engineered in a “flash” style progression of images that actually works fairly well. The photos are a mix of promos, “behind the scenes” shots and screen caps. There is a 13 minute “Behind the Scenes of Killer Movie” which is a blend of cast and crew interviews shot on set, as well as production scenes and film clips. The film clips are a little too numerous but the sizable number of cast members interviewed for this featurette and their genuinely interesting anecdotes and comments are a benefit to the disc. True to its form, the interviewees do not always take themselves seriously and there is some charming tom-foolery that takes place to brighten this segment. In addition, we get to see Adriana Demeo in her shortest skirt yet, showing a fabulous pair of legs to the camera for those who wanted to see more of her during the feature. Lastly, there is a “digital copy” of this film for those who wish to watch it outside the confines of their home theater environment. This is probably the wave of the future and while it is nothing too exciting to an old codger like me, it may be a real draw to the younger, technologically savvy viewers out there.

KILLER MOVIE is likely to appeal to more movie-goers than one would expect. Those who like and revere the crassness of modern culture will probably not get the subtle digs and will revel in the cattiness and garrulous nature of some of the characters. Others like myself, will enjoy the delicate savaging that is administered to Reality TV and the even gentler nods to 80s slasher movies that are woven into the narrative and the aura of KILLER MOVIE. While most men would prefer to see the beauties of this film even more scantily clad, or unclad as it were, there is enough hotness to attract a wide range of ages from the male half of the demographic chart. In the end, I was surprised by how this film slowly and irrepressibly drew me into its silly folds. I wanted to dislike and then dismember this motion picture in a literary fashion, but by the conclusion, I was not able to do so. KILLER MOVIE is not high-brow, neither is it intricately crafted cinema, nor is it award-winning film making, but somehow it became entertaining after I gave it a chance to get rolling and those kind of revelations tend to make me smile more than I usually do nowadays.

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BLACK SWARM (2007) d. David Winning

2009-01-27T03:35:00.000-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

Cross pollination is one of the most important and beneficial adaptations in the plant community. Incredibly successful variations on original botanical species have arisen because a busy little bee stopped at one pear tree, crawled about on a blossom, got dusty with pollen and then flew to another pear tree and carelessly left that genetic material behind. The resulting permutations gave rise to a better generation of pear trees and fruit, and so it continues. In the world of writing and producing film scripts and screenplays, cross pollination can be a treacherous trail to trip along. Watering down your primary theme through a cross pollination of ideas can lead to a messy end product, but mating two concepts can also strengthen an initially weak story premise. BLACK SWARM is able to benefit from a degree of cinematic cross pollination, but so much swapping of screenplay chromosomes leads to a mongoloid that may not be as entertaining for everyone as the creators hoped.

BLACK SWARM is the story of young widow Jane Kozik, who returns to her childhood home of Black Stone, NY with her ten year old daughter Kelsey in tow. Once back in town, Jane takes on the mantle of her new job as deputy sheriff even as Kelsey tries to adjust to new faces and places. What is especially strange to the precocious youngster are the many shambling and vacant looking citizens of Black Stone, all of whom sport large stingwounds, an unhealthy pallor and emit a strange buzzing sound. Soon, Jane is reunited with an old flame/friend while Kelsey is making the acquaintance of people who are all part of a diabolic plot to lose upon the world a weapon of frightening deadliness, uncontrollable power and uncertain purpose that is no bigger than the common paper wasp.

Typical of most of the RHI-TV movies of the past few years that work very hard to mine the old formulas of the TV films of yore, BLACK SWARM is as much a drama as it is a horror movie. There is a rich tapestry of interpersonal connections and exchanges between the characters that is replete with feelings of lost love and sorrow, desire and guilt, confusion and caring, and when this already complex web of emotions is grafted onto a story of intrigue, science-gone-wrong and a classic “creature feature” plot line, you’ve got a Mulligan’s Stew that may be a bit too involved. Indeed, one of the “weaknesses” of BLACK SWARM is that the horror elements are only punctuation marks against the backdrop of the dramatic interplay that dominates the first two-thirds of the movie. Now I am all for a good dramatic story and far too many horror films overdose on the action, creating a thrill ride that is more like cotton candy than a heaping portion of cherry pie. BLACK SWARM starts patiently and develops a sense of threat and danger nicely, but just as the pace begins to really intensify and the viewer’s pulse quickens, the melodrama reasserts itself a little too forcefully. The constant back and forth never allows a clear conflict to emerge from a unified narrative, which eventually leads to an ending that is messy and anti-climactic. It is a shame that BLACK SWARM was not a more focused effort for there were many things to like about this hybrid of story ideas.

When you’ve got deadly wasps as the primary “monster” in a film like BLACK SWARM, just as in THE BEES or THE NAKED JUNGLE or THEM, direct contact with the baddies is what brings about the death and injury, and so it does this time, but the most frightening imagery that inspires dread and horror in BLACK SWARM are the “wasp zombies” created by the stings of those insidious flyers. There are several scenes of pallid, ungainly and horribly twisted humans under the control of their wasp masters that were far more effective in creating a feeling of menace than the clouds of angry buzzers. The “wasp zombie” makeup and the performances of the secondary characters acting like “drones” was arguably the best part of the film. Cross pollinating the ideas of killer wasps and zombie humans might seem on the surface to be a risky venture, but it works far better than the blend of emotional drama and creature feature. It also doesn’t hurt to have CGI effects of the wasps that were also surprisingly convincing and didn’t detract from overall aura of the movie. Had there been more “wasp zombie” moments and a little less of the romantic and nostalgic story devices, BLACK SWARM could have been a real zinger.

The performances were also a mixed bag as was the use of the characters in the story. Robert Englund gives an amazingly complex and quirky portrayal of Eli the Beekeeper lending an air of legitimacy to BLACK SWARM, his complicated character doing more to add to confusion of who is really the villain in the plot and keeping you on the edge of your seat. Sarah Allen (Jane Kozik) has a supremely appealing “apple pie and the girl next door” attractiveness and her trim yet womanly figure doesn’t hurt a film that needs a little kick every now and then. Ms. Allen is at her best when she is the take charge deputy sheriff, but has less impact on the film when she becomes entangled in the romantic melodrama. Rebecca Windheim plays little Kelsey and as a young actress she appears to have a degree of potential. When she is portraying a bright and pleasant youngster, she is surprisingly endearing and she has one hell of a good scream, but her early petulance and sourness almost derail any sympathy a viewer might engender for her. Certainly, her character is meant to be a bit sad and possibly bitter about an unwanted move, but it comes across as spoiled and moody. What was less welcome was how dependant the plot was on her character. In the early stages of the film, this left me a little less pleased, but after Kelsey’s connection to Eli is established, their chemistry is far more electric than the forced romance between Jane and Devin. Sebastien Roberts (Devin Hall) and Jayne Heitmeyer (Katherine Randell) give stable if unimpressive performances in their roles, but Devin’s relations with Sarah and Katherine are unconvincing and it is likely that the problem stems from a screenplay that was too elaborate and not from actors unable to do their jobs.

As with the last Genius Products “maneater” DVD I reviewed, YETI, there isn’t much to be had in the extras menu, but it isn’t entirely empty. There are three auto-play trailers that engage before the main menu and included on that main menu is the original film trailer for BLACK SWARM. While this does not really constitute a true extras menu, and after the immense vaults of goodies to be found on COLD PREY from Anchor Bay and DEAD OF NIGHT from Dark Sky Films the extras on BLACK SWARM felt thinner than the gossamer wings of a bee. I do remember the absolutely bare bones discs at the beginning of the “maneater” series and still hold out hope that future Genius and/or RHI-TV discs might have more for the fans than just a trailer. I do recall that DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE had a Dougray Scott interview that was pretty engaging and I cheered that foray into the bonus features wilderness mightily. I hope my praise didn’t fall on deaf ears.

BLACK SWARM is probably not for people expecting a thrill ride, but if you like your horror films heavily laced with character drama, this may be up your alley. If you are expecting loads of gore, you’ll be disappointed, but if you want to see a zombie priest and a zombie ice cream man because zombies give you the chills, there will be some scares in this for you. If you want to see a less lurid and licentious take on INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS, but with pretty Sarah Allen in tight jeans and a tighter t-shirt this might be your cup of tea. Don’t go expecting the best of the “maneater” series because this isn’t it, but if you are a fan of “insects take over the world” kind of flicks, then you will probably enjoy this film to a degree if you don’t expect too much of it.

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SUZIE HEARTLESS (2008) d. Tony Marsiglia

2009-01-27T03:33:00.001-08:00

Reviewed by Rick Trottier

It isn’t easy to make a film that is designed to be an artistic statement, depict a repugnant social construct and get people to watch it and say they “enjoyed” it. Tony Marsiglia, the director of CHANTAL which was another descent into the heart of cinematic darkness, weaves a tale of even more frightening imagery and creates a character whose experiences may examine one of the bleakest outlooks on life yet. His newest film, SUZIE HEARTLESS is certainly artistically ambitious and it stares unflinchingly at one of the oldest and most depraved segments of our culture, but SUZIE HEARTLESS is not a film that I can say I “enjoyed”, though I certainly was impacted by the sights and sounds I endured.

SUZIE HEARTLESS is the story of a teenage prostitute, whose daily existence we are privy too and follow through a series of gut-wrenching and disturbing vignettes. Told without any appreciable dialogue and in a semi-cohesive fashion that cannot really be called “linear”, we see through the eyes of the main character what she must deal with each day as she fights for survival, turns tricks and interfaces with equally distasteful denizens of her day-to-day mini-universe. Along the way, “Suzie’s” story is punctuated by flashbacks, symbolic reminiscences and traumatic/dramatic glances at her psyche, making this “narrative” very complex and difficult to follow, but for a good reason. Just as the life of a teenage prostitute would be a disastrous mess of emotional decay and physical decline, so too the plot of this film is meant to pattern “Suzie’s” wretched existence and even more desolate psychological state. In place of dialogue, there is a haunting, eerie and disturbing set of incidental musical strains and scores that match the disjointed lurches from one repulsive chapter in “Suzie’s” crawl through misery to the next. SUZIE HEARTLESS may not be an entertaining film, but it is sadistically gripping and there are creative elements that are worthy of analysis.

Throughout this difficult and demoralizing tale there are the constants of the actress Wendy McColm, who plays the title character, and the cinematic direction of Tony Marsiglia. Miss McColm gets the part of “Suzie” right and her portrayal is both accurate and highly unsettling. Her youthful face and trim figure decked out in a jean micro-miniskirt and a red crop-top and fitted with black boots is simultaneously cute, attractive and deeply repellant. What has even more weight are Wendy’s incredibly emotive facial expressions and her distressing eyes that speaks volumes about the torments she continues to endure. SUZIE HEARTLESS is at its best when it focuses on Wendy McColm’s reactions and responses to her environment and the monsters who control and abuse her every step. While there are many scenes that are far too long and explore far too much of the same fare, the general concept is a good one and efforts at execution are sincere, for centering on the eyes and the face of a shattered character is what often made older European exploitation films great, and Tony Marsiglia has the right idea here. He just doesn’t have enough story to stretch over the canvas of debauchery he is trying to paint, causing segments of this film to drag or feel repetitive, even when the subject matter has such an abysmal tone to it one would think you would never grow bored.

What is one of Mr. Marsiglia’s greatest strengths is his use of color in a wide variety of scenes and his constant juxtaposition of color sequences and those that are black & white. There are many scenes where bright hues like those of “Suzie’s” crystal and yet lifeless eyes or her skimpy vermillion top, a heart-breaking azure sky framed by austere buildings or verdant tress, or the bronzed skin and exotic makeup and tattoos of a hooker help propel the emotional content of the film forward where dialogue would normally be the standard vehicle. Camera angles change, the speed of scene edits is constantly in flux, the use of light and exposure are consistently altered and what emerges is something akin to a painter’s palette. There is a heady mix of shades, tints and other combinations, but there is an underlying method to the madness that seems so abstract and meandering. Whether he is focusing on the coltish and overly exposed legs of “Suzie”, the washed out textures of a simple playground or the syrupy slide of blood down a forehead, it is attention to the visual details that help to make this exploration of the cultural macabre work as well as it does.

SUZIE HEARTLESS is a two disc set. Disc 1 has the title feature, an audio commentary with the director, a slide show and a short deleted scene. The slideshow is quite interesting for it serves as almost a picture-format “making of” featurette set to the same kind of unsettling music as the feature film. The photos are of on-screen moments before, during and after production. The end-result is very similar in its emotional force to the movie itself. The deleted scene is also compelling for it is obvious why that segment was cut, for it is not in accord with the tone of the rest of the film and would have felt very out of place in the vast expanse of emotional barrenness that is SUZIE HEARTLESS. Disc 2 has a second feature, Tony Marsiglia’s first film PHOENIX (1995), also referred to as ASHES & FIRE. PHOENIX is an avant-garde film making effort of much the same style in some respects as SUZIE HEARTLESS. It is a black & white flick and it is somewhat more stylishly cast and extravagantly shot, but the artistic elements feel exceedingly forced and bizarrely contrived. The story is choppy and has a “student film” vibe to it. However, it does fit the overall aura of this two disc set. On disc 2 there is another audio commentary with Tony Marsiglia, a lengthy bonus feature with two interviews of cast members from the film as well as a set of audition reels. Finally, there is another thoughtfully constructed slide show. Both sets of extras are well worth your time and are a fascinating look into the background, backdrop and backstory of these motion pictures.

Teenage prostitution is an ugly abscess on the bright epidermis of America’s carefully sculpted image. Just as disease is never easy to look at, but must be observed if we are to fully comprehend its root and method of transmission, so too SUZIE HEARTLESS is not a film that one should go into expecting cheap thrills, reflective analysis or even a comforting documentary-style bio-pic. This is a “misery epic” in the best sense of the term. It is brutal and savage cinema verite and slides down the throat with all the light-heartedness of a sledgehammer to the abdomen. SUZIE HEARTLESS is certainly not the finest film I have ever seen, neither is it the most creative nor the most enlightening. It is an earnest attempt to tell an unrelentingly dark tale, and while doing it no prisoners are taken. For some, this may not be a journey worth taking. For those who like to look into the abyss to see if it stares back, SUZIE HEARTLESS may be just the painful medicine you need.

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