Archive: Author:

Dead Night (2017)

Posted on by

When a new horror movie lands with a painfully generic title and reports of a troubled journey to the final cut, this tends to leave you with pretty low expectations going in. Dead Night premiered at 2017’s Fantastic Fest, then known as Applecart; a title I’m glad they ditched, as a) it could easily be mistaken for Dustin Mills’ 2015 film of the same name, and b) it’s a pretty oblique title with no obvious relation to the content of the film itself. Reportedly this first screening didn’t go down so well, and the film has been significantly reworked for release, although as I didn’t see that initial cut I couldn’t say how extensive these revisions have been. However, I can comfortably declare that the end result is a very entertaining 85 minutes or so which should be warmly appreciated by old school horror fans. None of that ‘elevated genre’ crap here: this is classic, unmistakable, unabashed horror, just the way we’ve always liked it, and contrary to what certain critics might think, this doesn’t mean it sacrifices intellectual content for splattered brains.

For evidence of how old school Dead Night is, look at the bare bones of the premise: it centres on some characters who – gasp! – go to stay at a cabin in the woods. However, far from the typical band of mismatched horny college kids on a bender in the middle of summer, this is a family in the bleak midwinter, and there’s a particular bleakness to their situation as husband and father James (AJ Bowen) has terminal cancer. Wife Casey (Brea Grant) has picked out this specific place for a family getaway as, according to a new-agey friend of hers, the cabin sits atop a natural rock deposit with medicinal qualities, which along with the power of belief might be enough to cure James. Of course, neither the wife, the husband nor their teenage son Jason (Joshua Hoffman), daughter Jessica (Sophie Dallah) and her accompanying friend Becky (Elise Luthman) really expect it to work, but if nothing else they’re hoping it will make for a nice family vacation, even if it’s their last. Of course, things prove to be more final than expected, when they stumble across an unconscious woman in the snow, who reveals herself to be Leslie Bison (Barbara Crampton); unbeknownst to them, an candidate for local governor. Taking her into the cabin to nurse her back to health, the family are soon perturbed by Leslie’s strange, somewhat sinister behaviour, and are quickly even more anxious to get rid of her than they were to save her life. But, as is wont to happen under such circumstances, things soon take a turn for the worse, not to mention the weirder.

It’s hardly the most ground-breaking premise, but Dead Night does find an interesting way of conveying the story by sporadically cutting between the central narrative and flash-forwards to a corny true crime TV show relaying the ‘official’ story of what happened that night, painting the protagonists and the circumstances in a somewhat different light. This is an intriguing and largely successful device, confirming certain hunches about where things are headed whilst also leaving just enough mystery for there still to be a few surprises in store as things develop. And, yes, things do get a whole lot more bizarre the further on we get, as what initially seems to be a relatively standard psycho killer flick with obvious echoes of The Shining packs in demonic/witchcraft elements. Questions can doubtless be raised as just how much sense any of it really makes, but I’d argue that’s hardly the point. Debutante director Bradford Baruh and company seem to be aiming for a mind-bending nightmare atmosphere, and they’re largely successful. It’s worth bearing in mind that Baruh and fellow producers Andy Meyers and David Wiese all worked with executive producer Don Coscarelli on John Dies At The End (whose lead actor Chase Williamson gets a cameo here). While Dead Night plays things rather more straight-faced, it’s every bit as fast and loose with the laws of reality.

Things are also helped by a strong cast. The presence of Barbara Crampton alone should obviously make this a must-see for most gorehounds, and her performance here is among the most sinister she’s ever given; whilst she’s long been an inarguable horror icon, I’m not sure that she’s ever played a role so outright villainous as Leslie Bison before. AJ Bowen has also proven himself one of the most dependable actors in the genre this past decade, from the likes of House of the Devil, You’re Next and The Sacrament, and he’s every bit as on form here. However, Dead Night really belongs to Brea Grant as Casey, whose descent into maybe-madness is pretty much the anchor of the whole movie.

Dead Night is released theatrically and to VOD in the US on 27th July, from Dark Sky Films, and has its European premiere at London’s Arrow Video FrightFest 2018 on 24th August.

The Butterfly Tree (2017)

Posted on by

There’s a lot to be said for films that wear their heart on their sleeve; plenty of the most affecting and memorable titles in cinema are the work of filmmakers with an intensely personal vision. Writer-director Priscilla Cameron (making her feature debut here) certainly seems to be coming straight from the heart with The Butterfly Tree. Dedicated to the memory of a recently deceased friend, it’s a lovingly crafted blend of coming of age drama and paean to loss, with fantastical overtones, and something of a retro aesthetic. Alas, when it all comes totally from the heart at the expense of the head, this can obviously result in something imbalanced which winds up unsatisfactory on both levels; and so it is that, while The Butterfly Tree is frequently lovely to look at and often tugs on the heartstrings, scratch the surface and there’s a whole lot about it that feels off.

Al (Ewen Leslie) and Fin (Ed Oxenbould, who may be familiar to horror fans for The Visit and Better Watch Out) are father and son, living alone in a quiet, largely rural Australian town. Some time earlier Fin’s mother died, and while it’s not something they talk about, it’s clear that the loss has had a serious impact on both of them. While Al numbs the pain by having an illicit affair with one of his community college students, Shelley (Sophie Lowe), the teenage Fin has various childlike rituals, maintaining a shrine to his mother’s memory beneath a tree, and collecting butterflies. Of course, Fin’s not quite the child he once was, and finds a variety of feelings – both maternal yearning, and unfamiliar sexual longing – when he meets Evelyn (Melissa George), the free-spirited new owner of a nearby flower shop. Despite the obvious age gap, a close friendship quickly develops between the two, but Fin finds this threatened once he realises that his father has also become acquainted with Evelyn. The ensuing conflict that builds between father and son, further complicated by Al’s rule-breaking relationship with Shelley, soon brings to a head tensions that have been hidden since their loss. However, Evelyn has some secret troubles of her own which come to significantly impact proceedings.

As stated, The Butterfly Tree is very striking visually, often utilising surreal and dreamlike imagery. This alone will doubtless win the film plenty of admirers, particularly amongst those with a taste for 50s/60s vintage chic. One key aspect of the film, though it’s never really delved into in the narrative, is Evelyn’s past life as a burlesque performer, evidence of which we see from her posters, costumes, and to an extent in her day-to-day retro dress sense. It’s perhaps curious that director Cameron presents this aesthetic – typically approached as self-consciously camp/kitsch – in an almost totally straight-faced and serious manner. Given that burlesque’s sense of humour is key to its appeal, I can’t help feeling this treatment of it perhaps misses the point a bit.

Things feel even more off when it comes to plot and character. Melissa George has done some good work over the years, primarily in her many horror/genre roles, and she is of course a very beautiful woman, but I’m honestly not sure if she has quite the charisma and gravitas the role of Evelyn requires. The character, and indeed much of the film overall, feels reminiscent of Monica Bellucci’s Malèna; much of the film’s dreamlike sequences are dedicated to exploring the fantasies she inspires in a lovestruck boy, and it seems it is her cross to bear that she becomes the fixation of every man she encounters. However, unlike Malèna, Evelyn seems to directly encourage these feelings in Fin, playing with the affections of a clearly underage child in a manner that any adult should be well aware is inappropriate. Even so, she’s also massively judgemental when she learns of Al’s relationship with Shelley; who, although her age is never specified, certainly appears to be adult. Indeed, the fact that Al is screwing his student between classes begs the question of just what Fin is doing, considering he’s blatantly high school age, but never seems to go to school… okay, it’s possible I’m nitpicking now, but lapses in logic like this do tend to undermine any story. And this is to say nothing of a final act revelation which, in order to avoid spoilers, I won’t get into; but its reveal does beg some questions about much of what passed beforehand.

As first features go, The Butterfly Tree certainly goes some way to announcing Priscilla Cameron as a filmmaker of vision, and I certainly hope the writer-director goes on to bigger and better things. It may well be that, if approached first and foremost from an emotional mindset, the film may well have the desired effect on much of the audience. However, I strongly suspect it’s liable to polarise those who see it, and while I’m not blind to its strengths and its beauty, to my mind there’s just too much about it that doesn’t work.

The Butterfly Tree is in limited cinemas in UK and Ireland now, from Eureka Entertainment.

King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen (2017)

Posted on by

The annals of cult film history are littered with instantly recognisable names whose many illustrious works could be named at the drop of a hat by anyone with a reasonable knowledge of the material. However, there are plenty of other names who don’t have quite the same level of recognition, nor are any of their works quite so well known, but when you take a closer look at their CV it’s surprising to see just how enduring, prolific and influential they really were. Such is the case with Larry Cohen, a name that I for one have long been familiar with, yet without ever really having too great an awareness of his body of work. Like many horror fans, I knew of him primarily for It’s Alive, Q: The Winged Serpent and The Stuff, but as this documentary from director Steve Mitchell explores, there’s a whole lot more to Cohen’s career than those three horror hits.

King Cohen’s story begins in a very different climate than the 70s exploitation arena on which Cohen’s legend was largely built. His first work was in television, where he worked solidly as a writer all through the 60s: on top of contributing scripts to a great many established shows, he also created a few, including The Invaders, Coronet Blue and Branded (which, as the doc notes, was immortalised for modern viewers by its references in The Big Lebowski). However, the film paints Cohen as something of a maverick, often at odds with the powers that be, and unwilling to stay bound to a single show for more than a few episodes for fear of getting bored. So it was that, following his directorial debut Bone (AKA Dial Rat) in 1972, Cohen carved his own niche in cinema as writer, director and producer of a slew of movies. His 1973 features Black Caesar and Hell Up In Harlem were among the first major blaxploitation titles which helped cement their star Fred Williamson as an icon of that genre; then 1974 saw him move into horror with It’s Alive, which remains a cult favourite. In the process, the film presents a compelling case for his having pioneered the ‘guerrilla filmmaking’ approach that future indie auteurs would follow: shooting from the hip in major locations without permits, staging often violent and dangerous scenes in full view of oblivious passers-by, and rushing from one project to the next. One particularly striking story tells how Cohen found himself fired from a movie in New York City, then proceeded to commence work on a new one mere days later, production on which caused panic after machine guns were fired around the Chrysler Building. The film in question was the aforementioned Q: The Winged Serpent, which wound up one of his best loved works; hence it’s the primary subject of King Cohen’s official poster, as you can see below.

Naturally any documentary of this nature is going to go some way to romanticise its subject, with gushing praise for such illustrious peers as Martin Scorcese, John Landis and Joe Dante. There may be points where we feel Cohen’s significance to modern cinema is being overstated just a little, not least by Cohen himself, who proves the most entertaining interview subject of all. Still, the film doesn’t necessarily let him off scot-free on all counts when it comes to self-aggrandising; witness Cohen claiming to have made a deal with Fred Williamson, that any time he asked the actor to perform a stunt, he would first do the same stunt himself, which Williamson declares an outright lie. But hey, whether it’s true or not, it’s a fun story to hear, and it’s very hard not to feel some affection for the colourful raconteur recounting it.

It’s possible some fans might feel a little short-changed given that the focus of the documentary is primarily Cohen’s directorial work, when he’s always been far more prolific as a writer: for instance, there’s barely a passing mention of the beloved Maniac Cop, which he wrote but didn’t direct. Even so, the focus on his directorial work does bring up some interesting details which might have slipped your attention beforehand, such as the fact that he was the writer-director on the final film of Bette Davis, Wicked Stepmother, but was forced to heavily rework the project on the fly when the terminally ill actress abruptly quit midway through production.

Cult film-based documentaries have had quite the boom in recent years, perhaps most notably with Mark Hartley’s Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed and Electric Boogaloo. Steven Mitchell (who, it should be noted, has some major cult credentials of his own, having many moons ago written Chopping Mall) has delivered a respectable addition to that arena of documentaries liable to leave viewers with a list of new must-see movies as long as your arm. Those who are already well-versed in Larry Cohen’s filmography are sure to have a ball, and everyone else is likely to become an instant fan.

King Cohen begins its US theatrical run in Los Angeles on July 20th, with other cities to follow. 

The Night Eats The World (2018)

Posted on by

Zombies, as anyone who’s been following the trends of horror cinema so far this century will be aware, came dangerously close to over-saturation in the past decade. (I’d say ‘done to death,’ only… y’know.) However, the mid-2000s living dead frenzy in the wake of Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead, World War Z etc. has eased off significantly in recent years, so perhaps the time is right for a new movie that revisits the concept with fresh eyes. One new film that sets out to do just that is The Night Eats The World, an adaptation of Pit Agarmen’s novel La Nuit a Dévoré Le Monde from director Dominic Rocher. As might be apparent from the title of the novel and the names of those involved, this is a French film, and intruigingly this particular production went to the trouble of assembling two distinct cuts in both French and English (I saw the latter). On first hearing such a thing, it’s easy to wonder why they would bother going to so much trouble, but once things are in motion it becomes apparent that it might not have been too great a stretch, as there really isn’t a great deal of dialogue in this film. This is because, in the tradition of the novel which might easily be declared the birthplace of the modern zombie genre, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend*, The Night Eats The World is told entirely from the viewpoint of a single man who, as far as he knows, might be the only human left alive in the wake of a living dead apocalypse.

That man is Sam (Anders Danielsen Lie), who we meet as he arrives at what unbeknownst to all present is an end of the world party at his ex-girlfriend’s new apartment in Paris. He’s come simply to pick up some of his old stuff, not knowing that anyone else would be there; uncomfortable among the crowds, he winds up locking himself in the office, where he winds up nodding off. The next morning he awakes to an alarming sight: the apartment is empty of people, but covered in blood and detritus. Soon, Sam comes face to face with the shocking truth that zombies have overrun the city, maybe even the world. However, rather than losing his shit, Sam buckles down and sets about ensuring his own survival. He cleans and secures the apartment, arms himself, then sets about exploring the other apartments and salvaging whatever he can find, most importantly canned food. Curiously, Sam soon gets quite comfortable with this simple, solitary lifestyle – but how long can anyone stay alone in a single apartment, with no sign of human life anywhere, before it starts to take its toll?

Again, if you’ve read I Am Legend or seen any of its film adaptations (including Vincent Price’s The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston’s The Omega Man, as well as the comparatively recent Will Smith movie), that’s the most obvious immediate frame of reference here, as the focus is primarily on one man facing the very real possibility that he’s the last of his kind. However, where Matheson cast his lead as a scientist determined to find some kind of cure to the living dead problem, The Night Eats The World centres on a totally average man with no discernible profession and no illusions of being able to fix anything, who – for the early half of the action, at least – seems surprisingly okay with that. We might be left wondering why he doesn’t seem to make any attempts whatsoever to reach the outside world, or look for updates on the TV even though he still seems to have power (this is a niggling problem that doesn’t really go away; witness Sam taking a hot shower, yet gathering rainwater on the roof in buckets).  However, Sam’s apparent acceptance of the situation is what makes The Night Eats The World stand apart. We’re so used to zombie flicks that immediately plunge their protagonists into abject despair, or trigger a major fight-or-flight impulse, that it’s kind of a refreshing change to see a zombie movie survivor who doesn’t seem too freaked out by it all. It does, in a curious way, give pause for thought as to whether, on some misanthropic level, we might appreciate being free from the rest of humanity. But of course, Sam doesn’t stay this way forever, and by the latter half of the film the solitude and anxiety starts eating away at him.

One thing that’s particularly bold about Rocher’s film (although, having not read Agermen’s novel, I couldn’t say whether it’s the same there) is that we learn very little about Sam throughout. Usually any film or story that centres so entirely on a single protagonist feels the need to give us plenty of backstory, but that doesn’t happen here. We gather that Sam’s keen on music – a big part of his routine is creating complex percussion arrangements with household objects, as well as hammering the skins on a borrowed drum kit – but otherwise we’re given very little detail on who he was before, or even his relationship with the ex we briefly meet at the start. To an extent this works, but I suspect spending 90-odd minutes in the company of someone who’s such a blank page may prove trying for some viewers, who might struggle to find a reason to connect with this guy. Still, Sam does manage some minor social interactions, most notably with a zombie trapped in an elevator who effectively becomes his Wilson (i.e. the basketball from Cast Away)… and there’s more on that front, but I won’t get into that to avoid spoilers.

All in all, The Night Eats The World is hardly a major reinvention of the zombie genre, and I rather doubt it’ll find much of an audience beyond devotees of the subgenre. Even so, it’s confidently directed with a good balance of suspense and emotional realism, and has a strong lead performance from Anders Danielsen Lie, so it’s well worth giving a look.  

The Night Eats The World is released to limited US cinemas and VOD on Friday the 13th of July, via Blue Fox Entertainment. UK audiences can catch it at London’s Arrow Video FrightFest on August Bank Holiday weekend, before Signature Entertainment release it to DVD on 27th August.

*Although I Am Legend’s antagonists are generally classed as vampires, George A Romero admitted that he was borrowing liberally from Matheson’s book on Night of the Living Dead.

The First Purge (2018)

Posted on by

Any way you look at it, The Purge is one of the most distinctive cinematic franchises of the past decade. For one, in amongst the slew of films that are quite clearly horror yet inspire umpteen pseudo-high brow think pieces declaring they’re not horror really, The Purge is one property of which we might genuinely debate its genre status: it’s largely grounded, and might easily be classed as much in the action thriller category. It’s also unique among today’s low-budget, mainstream friendly shockers in that it has always been explicitly political, satirising the social climate in the US in extremely broad strokes. After the third entry, The Purge: Election Year (which, full disclosure, I haven’t seen at the time of writing) was carefully timed to coincide with the contentious 2016 US presidential election, this fourth instalment – the first not to be directed by series creator James DeMonaco, although he remains the writer – takes the prequel route, showing how the annual Purge, one night per year of 100% lawlessness, originally came to be.

It’s not surprising DeMonaco chose this instalment to step back from the director’s chair, and not just because he might be a bit tired after directing three of these films over 4 years. The First Purge (originally set to be entitled The Purge: The Island) centres on the New York borough of Staten Island, which plays host to the very first Purge ‘experiment,’ initially a localised event carried out under the decree of the President and the ruling party the New Founding Fathers of America. One thing we can’t fail to note about this community as presented in the film is that it’s predominantly black, and this seems likely to be the key reason the white DeMonaco stood aside in favour of black director Gerard McMurray, who made his feature debut in 2017 with Burning Sands (another one I’ve yet to see).

Of course, producer Jason Blum understands the power of black directors telling black-centred horror stories aimed at a general audience: this, after all, was the key formula behind the commercial and critical success of Get Out, ultimately resulting in Jordan Peele landing a perhaps surprising Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Now, when the think pieces projected the effects of Get Out, I suspect most of us were expecting more stuff along the lines of A Quiet Place and Hereditary; understated, intellectual horror movies designed as much (or possibly more so) for the approval of high brow critics as the masses. However, whilst The First Purge is very much part of Get Out’s legacy, no way is it designed to please the awards voters and the critical establishment. This is old school exploitation satire of the sort Brian Trenchard-Smith once specialised in; there isn’t as much gore and gratuitous nudity, but the sociopolitical commentary is every bit as in your face. Unsurprisingly, it’s about as subtle as a brick, but then these aren’t exactly subtle times we’re living in right now. I daresay populist entertainment which tackles contemporary fears head on this bluntly might be exactly what we need in 2018.

Continuing the series tradition of bringing in an entirely different cast every time (Frank Grillo’s recurring character in the second and third films notwithstanding), The First Purge introduces us to a whole new ensemble, a Staten Island community which is as close-knit as it is fractured. The action kicks off a few hours before the ‘experiment’ is due to begin, overseen by the White House Chief of Staff (Patch Darragh) and the scientist who conceived of the Purge (a curiously uncredited Marisa Tomei). Lex Scott Davis and Jovian Wade are Nya and Isaiah, working class siblings from a run-down apartment complex who look likely to be among those most at risk; but while Nya protests the experiment, Isaiah is on the corner selling drugs on behalf of local kingpin Dmitri (Y’lan Noel), who just so happens to have some history with Nya. The residents may fear for their lives, but not only do many of them lack the means to get away, they’ve also been given an incentive to stay, as the government promises $5,000 to anyone who signs on to ‘participate’ in the experiment, with further bonuses promised to those who chose to further their ‘participation.’ There are of course some among them, notably an extremely unhinged crackhead known as Skeletor (Rotimi Paul), who are thrilled at the prospect of being allowed to kill without consequence. But as the night progresses, loyalties shift and differences are overcome as those trying to stay alive band together – much to the consternation of a government who were banking on different results.

From the brief glimpse of ‘Black Lives Matter’ banners in an early montage, to a very on-the-nose reference to the current US president, to mobs of killers in Ku Klux Klan and Nazi uniforms, The First Purge never plays its hand close to its chest. Naturally this is going to leave a bad taste in the mouth of the easily offended, and rattle the cages of those people we’re supposed to call ‘alt-right’ now; and this was, of course, clearly the point. Also very much to the point is that the film ultimately sees the people of Staten Island put aside their differences and fight together for the greater good, with figures who might initially seem villainous proving their worth. From a sociopolitical perspective, this is a valuable message to all audiences irrespective of class or colour; from a film fan perspective, it’s evocative of cult classics ranging from Assault on Precinct 13 to Attack the Block. That said, it may be the diehard exploitation aficionados who feel the most short-changed by The First Purge, as in common with most of the films in the series to date (again bearing in mind I’ve missed one), the violence never gets quite so graphic or extreme as you might anticipate. Even so, the message is so heavy-handed that audiences are bound to feel bombarded enough as it is; and I suspect a large portion of the white audience may be pushed out of their comfort zone by how heavily the N-word is used.

So does this all this mean The First Purge is the edgiest, most shocking and confrontational film you’re likely to see this year? Does it Hell. In common with its predecessors, this is a film that’s first and foremost designed to please a mass audience, and as much as it strives to get a message across, above all else it strives to be entertaining, and it absolutely succeeds in this. McMurray’s direction is confident, and while he may be a little over-reliant on the dreaded shakeycam at times, he successfully builds things up to a searing final act. Along the way, McMurray gets great work out of an endearing and, it must be said, very good looking cast (I’d be surprised if any film this year has a prettier leading man-leading lady combo than Y’lan Noel and Lex Scott Davis; this is a Michael Bay production after all, sexy people are always part of the package). In addition, Rotimi Paul’s Skeletor is one of the most memorable (though sadly underutilised) antagonists of the series. My interest in the Purge movies had been waning, but The First Purge has gone some way to making the franchise great again… and if you’re bothered by how unsubtle that pun was, you might want to give the movie a miss. Otherwise, enjoy.

The First Purge is in cinemas now, from Universal.

I Kill Giants (2017)

Posted on by

When you know the film you’re sitting down to is from the producers behind the Harry Potter films and is adapted from a comic book by the creators of cartoon series Ben 10, you might not anticipate something grounded, intimate and introspective. However, this is just what we get from I Kill Giants, feature debut from director Anders Walter, which stars Madison Wolfe as a middle school outsider in a sleepy coastal town who has dedicated her life to battling the hidden threat of giants – or so she seems to believe. It’s a sensitively handled blend of kitchen sink drama, coming of age angst and high fantasy, and about two years ago it might have seemed genuinely new and different. However, in the years since the original comic was published, we’ve had JA Bayona’s big screen adaptation of Patrick Ness’s novel A Monster Calls, which tackles similar subject matter to similar effect. While this doesn’t render I Kill Giants completely superfluous, it’s hard to deny that it might rob the film of some of its power.

Wolfe is Barbara, a young teen who lives with her elder sister Karen (Imogen Poots of Green Room) and brother Dave (Art Parkinson, the artist formerly known as Rickon Stark). While the absence of parents is never directly remarked upon, it’s clear that the family is going through a rough time, but as far as Barbara’s concerned no one but her knows the half of it. Convinced that her town is besieged by terrible giants whose existence the masses are ignorant of, Barbara considers herself humanity’s last line of defence through the skills and knowledge she has somehow amassed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this single-minded dedication to her quest has alienated Barbara from a school that dismisses her as a weirdo, but soon she has two new people in life reaching out to help: Sophia (Sydney Wade), an English girl who’s just started at the school, and Mrs. Mollé (Zoe Saldana of Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek and Avatar), the new school psychologist who has taken a special interest in Barbara.

Anyone who’s seen A Monster Calls will notice the obvious parallels. It centres on a female protagonist, and is set in the US rather than the UK (although it was shot in Ireland and Belgium, with a largely local cast putting on mostly convincing American accents), but otherwise it’s much the same story: a young teen, caught in between the wonder of childhood and the harsh reality of adulthood, slips into a fantastic nether-dimension where massive, otherworldly monsters are real. In both instances, the reality of these magical creatures is kept ambiguous at first, but – while I Kill Giants plays things close to its chest until the final act – the ultimate reason behind these ‘visions’ is also similarly motivated. As if this wasn’t enough, the films strike a very similar chord stylistically, with a cold, gritty realism to the cinematography throughout, until the monsters take things headfirst into Guillermo del Toro territory.

Of course, if you haven’t seen A Monster Calls (in which case, I do recommend it; aside from Sigourney Weaver’s British accent, it barely puts a foot wrong), then you may find I Kill Giants considerably more effective. And in any case, the youngsters who are its principle target audience will, I assume, not be too concerned either way by the similarities to the earlier film, and will instead be enthralled by Wolfe’s thoroughly endearing protagonist. Singularly strong-willed, fearless in the face of school bullies and hard-nosed teachers alike, yet nursing a heavily wounded soul, Barbara is a great character that kids and adults alike are bound to love. Perhaps inevitably the supporting characters are a little under-developed by comparison, but Poots, Wade and Saldana all give nice performances, and we also have a great school bully in Rory Jackson.

As a teen drama, then, I Kill Giants is effective – and it’s one of those films that really fits the frequently over-used 12/12A certificate, as it’s very much one for older kids, bound to be both too scary and too close to the bone emotionally for the very young. Whether it’s entirely effective as a fantasy is another matter; the danger with films such as these which use magic and monsters in an allegorical fashion is that they have a tendency to leave half the audience (i.e. those who want the monsters to be real) feeling short changed. Just know going in that this isn’t another Monster Squad or The Gate; the issues and the emotions are far more the focus than the creatures. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, maybe steer clear. Otherwise, there’s much to appreciate here.

I Kill Giants is available on DVD in the UK now, from Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment.

Big Legend (2018)

Posted on by

While I’m not sure we have enough Sasquatch movies for us to necessarily declare it a subgenre in its own right, it does seem that we’ve had a good few in recent years, from the excess-all-areas grindhouse of Dear God No! to the more grounded found footage of Willow Creek. Now, writer-director Justin Lee has taken on Bigfoot in Big Legend, a low-key yet high-ambition backwoods survivalist drama with a hearty side order of creature feature carnage. As with so much low-budget indie horror, it’s a film that could have used a fair bit more money to really do the material justice, but happily Big Legend has got enough of what really counts to work, even if it might not be the most striking or memorable film of its sort you’re ever likely to see.

Kevin Makely is Tyler, a former army ranger taking his girlfriend Natalie (Summer Spiro) out on a backpacking and fishing trip in a remote stretch of woods in the Pacific Northwest. The warning signs are there the second we see he’s brought an engagement ring along; and sure enough, after an idyllic start which really hammers home how much these two mean to one another, their joy is torn asunder when an unseen predator attacks their camp that night, stealing Natalie away. Skip ahead to one year later, and Tyler is being discharged from a mental institution (via a cameo from A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Amanda Wyss), having seemingly overcome his delusion that some sort of monster took Natalie. After being brought home by his mother (another fan-pleasing cameo, this time from Adrienne Barbeau), Tyler resolves to return to those same woods in the hopes of finding some answers, or failing that some sort of closure. There, he crosses paths with another hunter (Todd A Robinson) who has some stories of his own regarding the mysterious beast that walks those woods – and it won’t be long before the two men will come to rely on one another if they have any hope of getting back out of there alive.

Big Legend is Justin Lee’s first feature (though his IMDb shows he’s been regularly directing TV episodes and shorts since 2012), and it certainly suggests he’s an ambitious filmmaker with a good eye. He would also seem to have a good way with actors, and has a great leading man in Makely, who convinces as both grief-stricken widower (or whatever the equivalent of that is for fiancé) and a skilled outdoorsman. Intriguingly, the press release notes the film is based at least in part on a real life experience of Makely’s, although I don’t know the details there; certainly one would hope things didn’t quite so life-and-death for the actor in reality, even if there was a Sasquatch involved.

It may come as a surprise just how grounded an approach Big Legend takes for the most part. As well as boasting largely grounded, naturalistic performances, it also plays its hand close to its chest for a while, as the slow burn first act mostly follows Makely going quietly about his business in the woods alone, with long stretches devoid of dialogue. Once he does cross paths with Robinson, one might expect things to get a bit more hectic, but the conversations for the most part remain somewhat muted and introspective, with some of the philosophical overtones that we often find in survivalist films of this nature (notable recent examples being The Grey and The Revenant). Come the final scenes, however, and we’re pretty much in full-on Predator territory as our hero sets out to battle the beast to the death – although, again, it’s clear the film doesn’t have quite the budget to pull off the level of action and creature FX we might like.

All in all, then, Big Legend is a modest but commendable survivalist horror which works best when it plays things intimate – which makes the very last scene, whose contents I won’t spoil, feel a bit at odds with the rest of the movie. Even so, if you like the woods and Bigfoot, you’re likely to find plenty to enjoy regardless.

Big Legend is available now on DVD & VOD in the US, via Vega Baby & Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Line-up Announced For Arrow Video FrightFest 2018

Posted on by

We’re no longer the 100% horror site we used to be back when we still went by Brutal As Hell (sigh, remember those days? Anyone…?) However, the genre is still very close to our blackened hearts, and as such we’re as excited as any bloodthirsty Brit for the upcoming horror festival season. While the bulk of them come in the autumn (among them Abertoir, Celluloid Screams, Mayhem, Grimmfest), the party really gets started by London’s FrightFest on August Bank Holiday weekend, and in the eyes of many it’s the best horror fest of them all.

Having been sponsored by Film4 and the Horror Channel in years gone by, 2018 sees FrightFest take on a new principal sponsor in one of our long-time favourite media labels, Arrow Video; and the team have just announced the film line-up for the event.

Scroll on down for details (which, full disclosure, have been cut & pasted from their email). Arrow Video FrightFest weekend passes go on sale this Saturday, 30th June, and will be available exclusively online at this link.

Remaining in the heart of London’s West End for its 19th edition, the world renowned horror and fantasy film festival turbo-charges into the Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema from Aug 23 – Aug 27 2018. Hosting a record-breaking seventy films, embracing eighteen countries and spanning six continents, this year’s line-up is a true celebration of the genre’s global popularity. The five-day fear-a-thon includes 20 World, 17 European and 22 UK Premieres.

The opening night attraction is the UK premiere of THE RANGER (pictured). Jenn Wexler’s impressive directorial debut feature is an explosive, post-modern slasher, with a kick-ass punk soundtrack and a knock-out lead performance from Chloe Levin (The Transfiguration). Wexler, the first female director to open FrightFest, will be attending.

She said today: “We are honored and thrilled to be selected as this year’s opening night film. I made THE RANGER because I love punk rock and ‘80s horror. We can’t wait to share it with fans in the city where punk has its roots, at one of the world’s best genre festivals.”

Bringing the festival to a fitting conclusion is the UK premiere of Gaspar Noé’s CLIMAX, courtesy of our headline sponsors Arrow Video, which finds the incorrigible Irreversible wild child at the peak of his confrontational and hypnotically mesmerising powers. Based on true events, this throbbing whirling dervish is Noé’s Disco Inferno via Dante’s.

Over the years FrightFest has discovered and nurtured a host of talented directors and many are returning this year including Martyrs maestro Pascal Laugier with the UK premiere of his latest in the French Extreme annals INCIDENT IN A GHOST LAND, Paul Hyett with the World premiere of his medieval harrower HERETIKS, Colin Minihan with the UK premiere of romantic shocker WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE. Padraig Reynolds with the World premiere of his neo-slasher OPEN 24 HOURS and the fully-charged Turbo Kid trio François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell bring us the European premiere of serial killer thriller SUMMER OF 84. Then there are World premieres for the Paz brothers scorching new take on the fable THE GOLEM, Tom Paton’s cosmic horror BLACK SITE, and Jon Knautz’s THE CLEANING LADY, starring his Goddess of Love muse Alexis Kendra.

Plus, the line-up sees Saw maven Darren Lynn Bousman return with the European premiere of nunsploitation ST AGATHA, Insidious creator Leigh Whannell gifts us with a special preview of his super sci-fi thriller UPGRADE, Johnny Kervorkian appears with the European premiere of his Cronenbergian chiller AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, Rock video genius Joseph Kahn in back in the spotlight with the UK premiere of his extraordinary battle rap BODIED, director-turned-producer Lucky McKee with director Robert D. Krzykowski’s presents the European premiere of the superb THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT (pictured), with Hollywood veteran Sam Elliott giving an award-winning performance.

This year there are a record number of films, embracing zombie horror comedies, redemption thrillers, supernatural twisters, musicals, creature features, biographical dramas, reinvented slashers, gross animation and paranormal freakery. FrightFest has aimed to reflect that rich diversity with films such as Jerome Pikwane’s supernatural horror TOLKOLOSHE, the first festival entry from South Africa, which receives its World Premiere, John McPhail’s exuberant zombie musical ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE, the UK premiere of Mike Mort’s gory animated shocker CHUCK STEEL: NIGHT OF THE TRAMPIRES. Caye Casas and Albert Pintó’s end of the world eye-opener KILLING GOD, Paul Raschid’s post-Brexit thriller WHITE CHAMBER, starring Shauna Macdonald and. Takeshi Sone’s LGBTQ stunner GHOST MASK: SCAR.

Then there is Matthew Holness’ much anticipated POSSUM, Jérémie Guez’s blazing A BLUEBIRD IN MY HEART, Andy Mitton’s unusual THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW, Linus de Paoli’s gut-wrenching A YOUNG MAN WITH HIGH POTENTIAL, Chris Sun’s Oz creature feature BOAR, Justin P. Lange’s intensely moving THE DARK, Evan Cecil’s splatterific LASSO, Owen Egerton’s bloody cheeky BLOOD FEST, Anthony Scott Burn’s sinister OUR HOUSE, Dominique Rocher’s galvanizing THE NIGHT EATS THE WORLD, Adam Marcus’ slay ride SECRET SANTA, Dean Devlin’s grueling BAD SAMARITAN, starring David Tennant, Trevor Stevens’ slyly futuristic ROCK STEADY ROW, Justin McConnell’s remarkable shape-shifting LIFECHANGER, Owen Long’s dark fantasy SEEDS, Nicolas Pesce’s Italian soundtack-tastic PIERCING and Franck Ribière’s stylish Grand Guignol recreation THE MOST ASSASSINATED WOMAN IN THE WORLD.

The cabinet of fear holds more…be prepared for Orson Oblowitz’s splatter revenge saga HELL IS WHERE THE HOME IS, starring Faruza Balk, Quinn, Lasher’s nightmarish HE’S OUT THERE, starring The Handmaid’s Tale’s Yvonne Strahovski, Tim van Dammen’s dimensionally hilarious MEGA TIME SQUAD, David Barker’s De Palma-esque PIMPED, Shin’ichirô Ueda’s one-take wonder ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (pictured), Giordano Giulivi’s black-and-white marvel THE LAPLACE’S DEMON, Abiel Bruhn and John Rocco’s three mothers saga THE NIGHT SITTER, Matt Mercer and Mike Testin’s unstable DEMENTIA PART II, Stewart Sparke’s action-packed BOOK OF MONSTERS, Sam Ashurst’s experimental 200-anniversary celebration FRANKENSTEIN’S CREATURE, Kristian A. Söderström’s tribute to VHS collectors everywhere VIDEOMAN, Marcus Hearn’s beautifully informative documentary HAMMER HORROR: THE WARNER BROS YEARS, Andre Gower’s look at The Monster Squad cult phenomenon, WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS (reviewed here). Ante Novakovic’s Halloween-set crowd-pleaser actually titled FRIGHT FEST and there’s murder on the dance floor in Bernhard Pucher’s nightclubbed RAVERS, starring Georgia Hirst from Vikings.

The popular raw talent strand ‘First Blood’ returns with four stellar titles: Kevin Chicken’s outstanding body modification shocker PERFECT SKIN, Aislinn Clark’s THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY, a terrifying depiction of devil possession, Harry Lindley’s computer virus techno thriller CTRL and Ben Kent’s F.U.B.A.R, which sees a stag party descend on a Zombie Apocalypse paintball weekend. What could go wrong? Here’s where you’ll find tomorrow’s names today, so good talent-spotting.

Another of FrightFest’s popular discovery strands is our spotlight on South American fantasy and this year highlights the scream of the crop. The one title that is currently scaring up a storm is Demian Rugna’s TERRIFIED, (you will be!). Then there’s the European premiere of Ezequiel Endelman and Leandro Montejano’s homage to Dario Argento, CRYSTAL EYES, the UK premiere of Gonzalo Calzada’s Argentine hit LUCIFERINA and the UK premiere of Gustavo Leonel Mendoza’s CULT OF TERROR, an engaging documentary look at all the Latin American and Spanish-speaking fantasy festivals.

In 2008 FrightFest world-premiered Kerry Anne Mullaney’s The Dead Outside and since then have consistently championed female directors. This year is no exception. Apart from Jenn Wexler’s THE RANGER and Anouk Whissell’s involvement with SUMMER OF 84, we also showcase the European premiere of Mitzi Peirone’s visually dazzling BRAID, the European premiere of Aislinn Clark’s THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY (one of our ‘First Blood’ entries) and, by popular demand, a second screening of Issa López’s stunning Mexican fairytale TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID. Nor must we forget Veronika Franz, Katrin Gebbe and Agnieszka Smoczynska’s wonderful contributions to the Euro-fable anthology THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL (pictured), which receives its UK premiere.

No FrightFest would be complete without a couple of shockers starring our First Lady of Fright, the incomparable Barbara Crampton. This year, everyone’s favourite genre icon is represented by the European premiere of Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund’s fabulous reboot PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH and the UK premiere of Brad Baruh’s weird, wild and blood-soaked DEAD NIGHT.

Casting a truth-searing spotlight on FrightFest itself is Chris Collier’s documentary FRIGHTFEST: BENEATH THE DARK HEART OF CINEMA, which will receive its World premiere. Assembling a vast range of footage from every single past event and putting together dozens of interviews, the result is a warts-and-all look at the people behind FrightFest and what makes the UK’s best genre festival tick.

For many seasoned movie-lovers the much-missed Scala Cinema in London’s King’s Cross area was the repertory Mecca for the weirdest double-bills and electric audience atmospheres. It was also where Shock Around The Clock began, the origins of FrightFest Now fans can relive those golden days with a double-bill of classic exploitation chosen by the veteran programmer of the establishment herself, Jane Giles. Her book on the venue will be published in September by FAB Press and to celebrate FrightFest and Jane Giles will present Jeff Lieberman’s pulp science fiction BLUE SUNSHINE and Julien Temple’s Sex Pistols documdrama THE GREAT ROCK’N’ROLL SWINDLE, both to be shown in 35mm.

For your ears only! In a first for FrightFest, director Roxanne Benjamin (XX, Southbound) presents an exclusive screening of FINAL STOP, a must-hear horror short produced by Sennheiser and starring Phoebe Tonkin (The Originals). Shot entirely on smartphone, and recorded in full binaural audio using the AMBEO Smart Headset, the film is designed to be watched with headphones (which will be supplied), so audiences can immerse themselves in the story and its terrifying 3D soundscape.

There will also be a special screening of GHOST STORIES where co-writers/co-directors Jeremy Dyson and star Andy Nyman will host a live commentary and The Duke Mitchell Film Club is back with a hosted presentation of Sam Jones’ documentary LIFE AFTER FLASH. This is followed by the now notoriously popular DUKE MITCHELL PARTY, where the audience and invited special guests can expect all manner of madness guaranteed to kick off your Saturday late night in style.

Cinepocalypse 2018 Review: Seven Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh (2018)

Posted on by

If a filmmaker wants their work to have an air of eccentricity about it, a sixteen word title isn’t a bad start. After all, it worked with The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain (shit, that’s a whole seventeen words if we count those ‘a’s), so who’s to say it can’t work again, right? Happily, there’s a lot more to Seven Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh than a mouthful of a name. For one, it scores some pretty substantial fan interest points thanks to the presence of two of the most revered figures of the moment: Taika Waititi, fresh from his career-changing work as director of Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, and Dan Harmon, co-creator and star of the animated cult sensation Rick and Morty. However, while both Waititi and Harmon have significant roles to play in Seven Stages (as it will hitherto be referred – come on, you know you don’t want to read all that any more than I want to type all that every single time), it should be stressed that they are both very much supporting figures in a quirky, genre-bending black comedy centred on a young couple who inadvertently find themselves caught up in a bizarre religious cult.

Claire (Kate Micucci) and Paul (Sam Huntingdon) are new arrivals in LA, moving out to the big city from Ohio for Claire’s new job in marketing. Just as they’re wondering how they got the apartment so cheap, they’re startled by a late night break-in from a seemingly deranged person who lashes out and babbles incoherently before committing suicide in their bathtub. Naturally they’re shell-shocked, and this only gets worse when LAPD Detective Cartwright (Harmon) nonchalantly surveys the scene, and tells the couple that they’d better get used to this sort of thing. Turns out their bathroom is the very place where cult leader Reginald E Storsh (Waititi) killed himself some years earlier, and ever since then his disciples have been regularly flocking to that very same place to follow in his footsteps. (Side note: at one point the film was set to use the more succinct title Corpse Tub.) You’d assume that any normal couple would naturally take their as-yet unpacked boxes and find another place, but Claire and Paul have other ideas, choosing to stay and accept the inevitable intrusions. Along the way, they both find themselves gradually becoming more receptive to the teachings of Storsh, and it’s not too long before his philosophies have entered their day-to-day life in a big way.

Seven Stages is the feature debut of Vivieno Caldinelli (a seasoned TV comedy director and short filmmaker probably best known for the crowd-funded Portal To Hell starring the late Roddy Piper), as well as being the first produced feature-length script from writers Christopher Hewitson, Clayton Hewitson and Justin Jones. I don’t think it would be unfair to say that it bears some of the hallmarks of a first feature, given that there does seem to be a bit of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach going on here. For the most part it’s a pretty broad comedy, taking satirical swipes at the new age/mind, body and spirit/self-help culture which still permeates our culture; especially in LA, it seems. At the same time, though, the film does give some serious consideration as to the circumstances that might drive one to embrace the teachings of a cult, or indeed any religion: take individuals already struggling to achieve success (whatever that really means), present a message of transcendent hope which resonates with them, and soon enough they find themselves believing things they ordinarily wouldn’t. Seven Stages digs into this by presenting personal anxieties that are easy to relate to: Claire is insecure in her new job, whilst Paul is caught up in domestic lethargy, lacking the motivation or the confidence to seek gainful employment. Even Detective Cartwright is dealing with similar frustrations, anxious to leave his unfulfilling police career behind and break into the movie business.

To a large extent, then, Seven Stages is the Heathers of religious cult movies, a sharp-tongued, sardonic stab at manufactured spiritual pathways. Furthering the Heathers connection is the suicide angle, with our initially-happy couple coming to play a more active role in the loss of life as things progress. Even so, while the film can certainly be taken as an outright assault on religious belief, it also acknowledges the reality of a deep-set longing for spiritual fulfilment, and to an extent seems open-minded on whether or not being a spiritual seeker is necessarily a bad thing.

Where I feel Seven Stages sells itself short just a little is in its insistence on maintaining a light, goofy tone throughout. There’s clearly potential for the multiple murder-suicide/semi-accidental death scenes to be played a lot darker, and some developments in the final act might have proved genuinely disturbing, yet Caldinelli seems to be making a point of keeping it all tongue-in-cheek and comparatively gentle (case in point: the overly elaborate, highly cartoonish explanation behind Paul’s workplace insecurity). This isn’t necessarily a problem, but I certainly feel there was a chance here to make something a bit more nuanced and impactful. Still, this is not to dismiss the great work done by the cast: Micucci and Huntingdon make for compelling and endearing leads, Harmon supports them well, and while Waititi’s scenes are limited, he has a knack for making them count, and his presence is felt throughout. All in all, it adds up to a film I’m confident people will soon be talking about a lot, and not just because it takes a long time to say the title.

Seven Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh just screened at Chicago’s Cinepocalypse 2018; our thanks to the festival for granting us this preview.

Cinepocalypse 2018 Review: Gags (2018)

Posted on by

If I’ve learned one thing from all my years following contemporary horror cinema (listen to me, making it sound like a tour of duty), it’s that you should never write off any one subgenre or motif. Every time you’re certain that something’s been done to death, along comes a new movie which, against all odds, manages to make it work again. Such is the case with Gags, the feature debut of writer-director Adam Krause (who previously shot the story as a short in 2016). One glance at  the film’s key promotional image – a creepy clown holding balloons – and you’d be forgiven for assuming Gags is nothing more than a lazy It rip-off. Learning that it’s also a found footage movie probably won’t inspire much more confidence there. However, if you can put such old bugbears to rest, Gags proves to be a far better, more intriguing and compelling film than you might anticipate.

The action takes place on what proves to be a fairly eventful Saturday night in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The city is in the grip of a minor panic over repeated sightings of a sinister clown, who has been dubbed Gags. So far he isn’t known to have hurt anyone; he just appears, leaving some scared shitless whilst others are loving every second of the attention in the news and online. On this fateful night, four disparate parties are, in their own ways, on the trail of Gags: local TV news reporter Heather DuPrey (Lauren Ashley Carter), who has been assigned to ‘Gags Watch’ much to her annoyance; beat cops Chrissy Renard (Tracy Perez) and Jake Gruber (Evan Gamble), whose night shift sees them repeatedly called out to clown-related calls; college-age kids Tyler (Michael Gideon Sherry), Chris (Squall Charlson) and Sara (Halley Sharp), who are getting their kicks staging copycat clown scare stunts around town; and Charles Wright (Aaron Christensen), outspoken podcast host whose anger over the Gags case compels him to take his show out into the streets in the hope of hunting down and taking out the clown menace.

The one principle reason I found Gags so fascinating – and it’s a reason viewers in years to come might fail to appreciate – is how closely it evokes events in recent memory. Readers will hopefully recall the creepy clown hysteria of 2016, when sightings were reported all over the world and Youtube was awash with phone-shot videos of such incidents; this hit home for me when such a sighting was reported in my own neighbourhood, bringing in local news and winding up with a report not too dissimilar to those we see in Gags, right down to the inclusion of professional clowns heartbroken to see the good name of their profession sullied in this way.

As it offers reflections and commentary on how such hysteria spreads in the modern age, it’s really only fitting that Gags be realised as a found footage movie; and believe me, that’s not something I would anticipate declaring, given my general aversion to the format. Krause makes it work by putting it all together in a style akin to one of the most unjustly overlooked entries in the subgenre, Barry Levinson’s The Bay: the action cuts between TV news cameras, phones, CCTV, police body cams and more besides, to present a more fully rounded, three-dimensional story world than we might otherwise get from the more usual single hand-held camcorder approach. The overriding message – that we are all in some way culpable for the way online hysteria spreads, whether we directly participate or merely click the link – isn’t necessarily anything we haven’t been told before, but it’s still conveyed effectively.

Another key part of what makes Gags so effective is that which so very, very often lets found footage films down: the casting. I think it’s safe to say that Lauren Ashley Carter may well be the very best actress of her generation working in indie horror: from The Woman to Jug Face to this (and I hear good things about Darling and Imitation Girl, though I haven’t seen them yet), she brings something genuinely different to the table every time. Here she really elevates what might have otherwise been a fairly cliched reporter role, and also proves to be very adept at extravagant trash talk. Particular note is also due to Aaron Christensen: while the gun-loving, freedom-espousing Wright comes close to being a bit of a two-dimensional critique on the current, ugly face of far right populism, both the script and the actor manage to find some nuance in there, making him a little more sympathetic than we might at first expect. Some of the smaller roles aren’t necessarily so well cast (early house party scenes may inspire a few grimaces), but we get past these soon enough.

As for the titular antagonist him(it?)self: well, creepy clowns may well be a cliche these days, but there’s no denying that Gags is indeed pretty darned creepy. As events progress we get into increasingly abstract, nightmarish territory which defies clear-cut explanation, and – without spoiling anything – it’s fair to say the very last scenes leave things a bit open to interpretation. But the film does give us some of the most effective scare sequences I’ve seen from found footage in a long time, which manage to just about skirt that fine line between leaving things open to the imagination, but also ensuring gorehounds don’t feel short-changed.

Gags just screened at Chicago’s Cinepocalypse 2018; our thanks to the festival for granting us this preview.

Cinepocalypse 2018 Review: Wolfman’s Got Nards (2018)

Posted on by

The Monster Squad holds a distinctive and relatively unique position in horror fandom. Released in 1987 back when it was still pretty early days for the PG-13 certificate, it was a box office bomb, and neither its director nor the bulk of its cast went on to do much of note. However, as with a great many films that initially failed to find an audience theatrically, its reputation grew with time thanks to home video and cable television, and in the late 1980s/early 1990s it became a major gateway movie for a generation of viewers just discovering horror. And yet, by the mid-2000s The Monster Squad seemed to have been forgotten, until an impromptu screening in Austin and an ensuing wave of fan interest online saw it granted a DVD release, just in time for the 20th anniversary. Eleven years on from that, The Monster Squad seems to be widely embraced as a bona fide 1980s classic – although for whatever reason, it’s still failed to get a DVD or Blu-ray release in the UK (come on distributors, surely one of you can sort this out).

In Monster Squad Forever, the retrospective documentary that was produced for the 2007 DVD, writer-director Fred Dekker – who had made only one film beforehand in 1986’s Night of the Creeps, and one film thereafter in 1993’s RoboCop 3 – wistfully ponders whether it might ultimately be better to have made one or two films that mean a lot to a select group of people, rather than a whole bunch of films that loads of people have seen but no one really cares about. This is the big thing that comes up time and again with The Monster Squad: those who really love the film tend to have an intensely personal, emotional connection to it.

I hasten to add that I myself am most definitely one of those people. I’ve written at length about this before (and not just the once) so I’ll keep it brief here, suffice to say that I credit The Monster Squad with establishing my love of horror, and to this day it remains my all-time favourite movie. Even so, I was as taken aback as anyone to discover in the late 2000s that others felt this way, although this revelation clearly had a greater impact on Dekker and his now fully grown cast of middle school monster hunters, who have spent much of the past 11 years bouncing between conventions and fan screenings all over the shop. Inspired by this widespread interest, and perhaps following the lead of fellow former child actor Michael Stephenson (star of Troll 2, and later director of acclaimed documentary Best Worst Movie), The Monster Squad’s lead actor Andre Gower has stepped behind the camera for Wolfman’s Got Nards, a full length exploration of the film, its production, its commercial failure, and its subsequent fandom.

Of course, anyone who’s seen Monster Squad Forever (a very in-depth talking heads affair whose running time exceeds that of the film itself) may question the need for another documentary on the subject. However, Gower not only has an extra decade of fandom to draw on, he also manages to sit down with a number of key figures the earlier doc missed, the most notable being co-writer Shane Black, who of course wound up the biggest success story to come out of The Monster Squad, having also written the considerably more successful 1987 movie Lethal Weapon. The arrival of this documentary is in some ways quite timely, as this summer sees Black and Dekker (ha ha, that never gets old) reunite on The Predator, this time with the roles reversed: Black directing, Dekker writing. It’s nice to finally see Black reflect on his earliest experience of screenwriting, particularly as, like just about everyone involved, he looks back on it with considerable affection.

When I say just about everyone… for anyone who loves The Monster Squad as much as I do, there may well be a particularly bittersweet tang to Fred Dekker’s contributions to Wolfman’s Got Nards. The director is rather less guarded here than he was in Monster Squad Forever; where before he had gently hinted at problems with executive producer Peter Hyams, here he declares outright that Hyams came close to getting him fired in the first week of production. However, things get rather closer to the bone when Dekker contemplates his own feelings about the film all these years later, for while he seems sincere in declaring it his best film and appreciating the fandom it enjoys, he also makes it clear that it’s not all happy memories for him. After all, the film’s commercial failure killed his career overnight, and his one subsequent film RoboCop 3 only served to hammer the last nails in (although he also helmed a pretty good Tales From The Crypt episode in the interim). I know I’m not alone in lamenting the fact that Dekker was never able to enjoy the high profile directing career he was clearly capable of, and as such one can hardly blame him for his mixed feelings.

Of course, one rather significant question about Wolfman’s Got Nards is whether viewers who are not Monster Squad fans themselves are going to care either way, and this is one aspect of Gower’s film that I’m left uncertain about. It does seem to be geared primarily towards those who already know and love The Monster Squad: there are in-jokey nods to the film’s ‘rivalry’ with The Goonies, and the significance of its title is pretty much left unexplained. Still, hopefully the film presents an accessible enough vision of fandom and the passion it inspires that those on the outside can still relate.

In any case, existing Monster Squad devotees are sure to appreciate the personal reflections of the cast and crew, as well as those of a number of prominent fans including Seth Green (who, it’s mentioned, had his first ever movie audition for a role in the film), Joe Lynch, Adam Green and various others. There are also likely to be a few tears shed for the section devoted to Horace actor Brent Chalem, who died in 1997.

Wolfman’s Got Nards screened on 24th June at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, as part of Cinepocalypse 2018. Warped Perspective thanks the festival for allowing us an advanced preview.