Archive: Author:

Dead By Dawn 2011 Review: Harold’s Going Stiff

Posted on by

Harold’s Going Stiff (2010)
Directed by: Keith Wright
Starring: Stan Rowe, Sarah Spencer, Andy Pandini, Lee Thompson
Review by: Keri O’Shea

Zombies have been used as a metaphor for a range of things over the years: they’ve represented mindless labour, consumerism, contagion, but never, to my knowledge, has zombieism been used as a metaphor for ageing. In the charming, understated British indie movie Harold’s Going Stiff, that’s just what we get.

The film is framed as a ‘mockumentary’, with the filmmakers examining the emergence of a perplexing new condition affecting British men and, in particular, how this condition affects an elderly man called Harold Gimble. And why? Well, it all started with Harold. A few months ago, he started getting pain and stiffness in his joints that went above and beyond the effects of old age: as he explains, he couldn’t dig his garden anymore, and cutting a piece of cake to go with his nice pot of tea was sheer agony. After many unpleasant medical tests and much deliberation, doctors proclaimed that Harold was suffering from a totally new disease. They named it Onset Rigors Disease – or O.R.D for short – and before long it seemed to be affecting others too. When it affects other men however, they degenerate rapidly until they don’t know their own families and even become violent. These guys seem like, well, zombies, and some concerned members of the community are now meeting this violence with (ham-fisted) vigilantism. Meanwhile Harold is trying to get on with his life, but as he lives alone, things are tough, and although his condition seems stable, it’s not getting any better.

To try and give him back some of his lost mobility, the local health service sends Howard a nurse, Penny (Sarah Spencer). She’s trained in massage techniques which it is hoped will help get Howard moving again.  Penny is a warm, considerate woman who forms a close bond with her patient: she’s also very lonely herself, and Howard becomes as important to her as she does to him. As more sufferers of O.R.D keep appearing, the medical team who diagnosed Howard’s condition have to ask him if he’ll help them with more tests as they search for a cure, and Penny insists on being there to support him.

What unfolds is a humorous, often affecting tale. It’s worth establishing this, though: if you’re hoping for another Shaun of the Dead then this is not it. It has a similar self-deprecating British humour and it’s definitely funny, but otherwise completely different in tone. This isn’t a gory zom-com but a character-driven story which easily manages to flip from moments of laugh-out-loud physical comedy to real pathos, and when I say pathos, I mean that many audience members at the Dead by Dawn festival where I saw the film (including myself, if I’m honest) were moved to tears. Director/writer Keith Wright knows when to change tack, though, and to give the audience something lighter. The group of vigilantes who have made it their mission to attack any aggressive O.R.D sufferers they see give us a real comedy of errors during their earliest scenes, and there’s plenty of humour to be found in the rest of the film too.

The only potential problem I foresee for this film is that it doesn’t sit comfortably in any one genre. It draws on elements of horror, but it’s in no way a straightforward horror. It’s often comedic, but probably sits outside the comedy genre as well. This genre-straddling means that it might struggle to find its audience and that would be a real shame. Also, the beautiful South Yorkshire setting comes with some broad South Yorkshire accents which many people will struggle with!  I’ve lived in Yorkshire for years and I had to pause for thought, so our friends on the other side of the pond may well have problems.

Ultimately, Harold’s Going Stiff plays out the anxiety surrounding ageing in a bittersweet, engaging story, as embodied by professional actors and non-actors who really make you care about their characters. It’s no small thing to craft a film which tugs on the heartstrings as successfully as this one does, and it’s proof that you don’t need a huge budget to make a good indie.

Editor’s note: find out more at http://www.stiffmovie.com/

BIFFF Review: Stake Land

Posted on by

Stake Land (2010)
Directed by: Jim Mickle
Starring: Danielle Harris, Kelly McGillis, Connor Paolo, Nick Damici
Review by: Nia Edwards-Behi

The world has been ravaged by a disease that transforms people into vicious bloodsuckers. A teenager watches his family slaughtered and is rescued by the mysterious Mister, a tough vampire hunter who takes the boy under his wing. They hear word of New Eden, a haven where no vampires reside. They pick up more members to their rag-tag party as they travel across a broken country to reach New Eden. In doing so, they make enemies of a group of religious extremists, discovering that humans can be monsters too.

Frankly, this should have been a funny film. It’s still darkly comic, in parts, but Stake Land’s potential is not reached due to its tongue not being anywhere near its cheek. As such, the film takes itself far too seriously and severely suffers for it. There are only so many slow-motion shots of people turning and looking meaningfully into the middle-distance that I can handle in a film. The rag-tag-band-of-survivors-search-for-a-haven plot has been done and done again, and Stake Land offers little newness to the formula. The vampires aren’t vampires, but zombies with sharper teeth, which is significantly disappointing. Having said that, there are some enjoyably inventive moments with the zombie-vamps on offer, particularly in a nifty scene which sees the creatures dropped like bombs onto a vamp-free community.

Stake Land isn’t a particularly bad film, by any means. It looks beautiful. The characters aren’t unlikeable, but they’re tired types typical of such an apocalyptic road movie: the distant badass who nonetheless takes in the rookie orphan, and the nice but damaged girl that joins them. The only interesting addition to this cocktail is a nun, which is indicative of the film’s central concern of religious nut-jobbery causing all sorts of the trouble for those who are trying to survive the vampiric apocalypse. Unfortunately, the heavy-handed use of religious imagery gets boring very quickly, so by the fifth shot of a statue of the Virgin Mary, it’s hard not to laugh.

For me, Stake Land is a missed opportunity. It’s too unoriginal to get away with being quite so earnest about everything, a healthy dose of knowing humour is desperately required to make the film as effective as it seems to think it is.

Editor’s note – Nia saw quite a few more films at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, so keep an eye out for more reviews in the near future.

DVD Review: Fantastic Factory Presents ‘Arachnid’

Posted on by

Arachnid (2001)
Distributor: Arrow
DVD Release Date (Fantastic Factory Boxset): 18th April 2011
DVD Release Date (Individual): 6th June 2011
Directed by: Jack Sholder
Starring: Chris Potter, Alex Reid, José Sancho, Neus Asensi
Review by: Ben Bussey

Yes, that thing you see in the picture above, and on the DVD cover art to the left, is a giant spider. Having said that, no further synopsis of Arachnid is really required, but what the hell: when a man escapes his village on a remote jungle island riddled with gaping wounds and an aggressive poison in his bloodstream which shortly results in a horrible death, some local medical types (Jose Sancho and Neus Asensi) naturally think “Hey, we should go check this place out!” And so, hiring protection from ex-marine Valentine (Chris Potter) and his motley band of grunts, and transportation from hotshot pilot Mercer (Alex Reid), they head out to explore and discover. Unsurprisingly they find themselves up shit creek without a paddle in no time, as some unknown interference messes up the plane, forcing a crash landing on the beach. With tensions rife among the members of the expedition, they head out into the jungle, unaware of the horror that awaits them… in the form of a great big fuck-off spider from another world, no less.

Yes, I know, to a 2011 audience this reads like the synopsis of a SyFy movie of the week. But think back if you will; there was a time when films of this nature actually did offer sufficient bang for buck, with plot and character development and humour that actually hit the mark, and shot on such a scale that they actually pulled off convincing and compelling creature effects. Think Tremors, Anaconda, Deep Blue Sea. Now, Arachnid isn’t quite so slick and expensive a B-movie as any of those, but it’s certainly a cut above the likes of Sharktopus. And, as part of Arrow’s boxset celebrating Brian Yuzna’s Fantastic Factory, it’s a good indicator of the diversity of the production house’s output.

The key question that kept running through my head during the movie was: this Chris Potter guy is okay and everything, but how the hell did Bruce Campbell let this part get by him?! For crying out loud, it’s an ex-marine named Valentine who leads an expedition through a jungle island to do battle with a giant spider; in other words, it’s got Bruce written all the way through it like a stick of rock. Ah, c’est la vie. Meanwhile, British actress Alex Reid – subsequent star of The Descent who has unfortunately seen her career put back several years due to her having the same name as one of the numerous himbo husbands of tabloid gargoyle Katie Price – looks as though she’s screen-testing for Lara Croft with her pony tail, short-shorts and agreeably low cut vest. All that’s missing are the guns, the shades and the plummy English accent, though her American twang is perfectly passable. As tends to be the case with Fantastic Factory films, the leads (plus Rocqueford Allen as the aptly named Bear) are the only non-Spanish actors in the cast, and all the supporting players (particularly Neus Asensi, who is also considerate enough to sport a low-cut vest) deliver all that is required of them, which naturally isn’t much; this is a creature feature, after all.

And the creature itself? Well, considering this isn’t an especially big budget film, it’s pretty damn good. That low-rent CGI which has marred so many similar films from the mid-90s to the present day (including the aforementioned Anaconda, and moments in Deep Blue Sea) is happily absent, with all the creature FX realised via good old-fashioned practical animatronics. That there is a certain creakiness to these FX in places is all part of the charm, sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone opposed to Hollywood’s infatuation with doing everything digitally (and we can safely count the film’s subsequently retired FX guru Steve Johnson among those numbers, if the impassioned, possibly drunk interview he gives in the extras is anything to go by).

There’s very little to single this out as a Jack Sholder film; any thematic or stylistic links to the likes of Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and The Hidden must have escaped my attention. Indeed, there’s little to single this out as a Yuzna production; it’s nowhere near as lurid, grotesque or deliberately offensive as the bulk of his work. It’s just a simple monster movie, and for what it is you could do a hell of a lot worse.

Arachnid is part of the Fantastic Factory Presents boxset from Arrow, which will be released on the 18th of April along with Beyond Re-Animator (reviewed here), Faust: Love of the Damned (reviewed here), and Romasanta the Werewolf Hunt (to be reviewed soon). It will also be released individually just in time for Damien’s birthday. If your significant other is arachnophobic and you want to make them squirm, track it down. Not that I am in any way frightened of spiders, of course… OHFUCKMEBACKWARDSWHATJUSTWALKEDACROSSTHEWALL?!!!

DVD Review: Fantastic Factory Presents ‘Beyond Re-Animator’

Posted on by

Beyond Re-Animator (2003)
Distributor: Arrow
DVD Release Date (Fantastic Factory boxset): 18th April 2011
DVD Release Date (Individual): 25th April 2011
Directed by: Brian Yuzna
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Jason Barry, Elsa Pataky, Simón Andreu
Review by: Ben Bussey

The saying goes that third time’s a charm, but part three has tended to be a precarious one for most of the great horror franchises of the last three decades. It’s usually the installment wherein the movie veers off on a narrative and/or stylistic tangent which either irrevocably alters the course of the series from then on, as with Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser; or it results in a hasty about-face, as with Halloween; or it stops the series dead in its tracks (film-wise at least) as with Army of Darkness and this, the third and to date final Re-Animator movie. Not unlike the third outings of Freddy, Pinhead and Ash, efforts are made here to take Dr Herbert West into marginally more mainstream territory, with a glossier approach than in the first two Re-Animators. But in this instance, the gap between parts 2 and 3 was considerably larger; 13 years, and about 5,000 miles, in fact. For whilst Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator were shot in the good ol’ US of A, this third installment was made in Spain through Brian Yuzna’s Fantastic Factory, with Jeffrey Combs, FX guy Screaming Mad George and Yuzna himself as the only key players to make their way overseas. While the result is in many respects a far cry from its predecessors, it’s still an above-average contemporary take on the splatter classics of yesteryear.

This time around, the law has finally caught up with West. He’s spent the thirteen years since we last saw him behind bars, which naturally has somewhat impeded his research into the reversal of death. That changes with the arrival of the new young prison doctor, Howard Philips (groan), played by Jason Barry. The newly qualified Howie hasn’t just wandered into this position; he specifically sought out the prison that houses West, with the covert intention of collaborating with the good doctor. You see, all those years ago, Howie saw his big sister killed by one of West’s re-animated corpses, which naturally left him with significant emotional problems, and nurtured in him an obsession with conquering death. It also appears to have left him with a somewhat incestuous fixation on women that look like his sister, such as the ambitious journalist Laura (Elsa Pataky). Whilst she is visiting the prison to interview Brando (Simón Andreu), the clearly corrupt and sadistic prison warden – really, is there any other kind in the movies? – she and Howie meet, and the mattress mambo soon follows, but it’s apparent that she’s less concerned with him than she is her story. Of course, it’s one of those “careful what you wish for” moments, as soon enough she is indeed onto a big story, and has a sizeable role to play in it herself.

So we’ve got a young, charismatic, well-meaning doctor being lead astray, a power-mad authority figure about to attain a whole different kind of power, and a hot blonde with an aversion to clothes wandering into the lion’s den… yes, it’s fair to say these are all pretty much carbon copies of Bruce Abbot’s Dan, David Gale’s Dr Hill and Barbara Crampton’s Megan from Stuart Gordon’s still unsurpassed original. Yuzna remarks both in the commentary and the solo interview (one of the few extras, making this an uncharacteristically sparse release from Arrow) that he consciously left Bruce Abbot out of the mix for fear of making a film “about two middle-aged doctors” and thus alienating a younger audience, but of course this is probably the chief reason existing Re-Animator fans have to be dissatisfied with this sequel. Though he puts the work in and is given some interesting, challenging material to work with (whilst Dan was commited but pretty straight-cut, Howie might be even more messed up than West), Jason Barry just doesn’t make for an especially compelling romantic lead. Simón Andreu’s warden provides more entertainment value, the extent of his sadism growing more ridiculous as the film goes on, and he’s backed up by an equally colourful supporting cast of Spanish character actors playing a wide variety of cartoonish convicts. But the real revelation is Elsa Pataky; starting out as a rather generic love interest, once the shit hits the fan she turns into something altogether different. Based on this and Return of the Living Dead 3, it’s fair to assume Yuzna has a real thing for aggressive foxy dead chicks.

As for Jeffrey Combs; well, he just is Herbert West, always has been, always will be, and West was never a character with an especially lengthy arc. As constant as the tide, he cares about nothing but his research, and other people are of no significance to him unless they are keeping him from working. The fact that he’s aged a bit is no problem at all, for West was never defined by his youth. As ever, he just stands there unfazed in the midst of the chaos. We might accuse Combs of simply sleepwalking through the film, but we might just as easily kick back and enjoy spending some more quality time with one of the great characters of the 80s.

The cleaner, shinier visual aesthetic (hard to know whether we can attribute that to Spanish production values or simply 21st century production values in general) means that the film lacks the more down’n’dirty charm of its forerunners, even though there’s no shortage of on-screen depravity: amongst other things we have a walking severed torso, exploding stomachs, nipple eating, and a battle between a rat and a penis. But nothing among these is quite so startling nor so indicative of the film’s European origins as Move Your Dead Bones, the song over the end credits whose promo video is sadly absent from the DVD but can be seen below.

All in all Beyond Re-Animator is no classic, but it’s pretty good fun nonetheless, and as good a reason as any to pick up Arrow’s Fantastic Factory boxset, which also includes Faust: Love of the Damned (reviewed here), plus Arachnid and Rosamanta the Werewolf Hunt (to be reviewed soon). Now, if you’ve never seen or heard Move Your Dead Bones before, you might want to pull up a chair…

DVD Review: Blood Cabin (AKA Murder Loves Killers Too)

Posted on by

Blood Cabin (Murder Loves Killers Too) (2008)
Distributor (UK): 4Digital Media
DVD Release Date (UK): 4th April 2011
Directed by: Drew Barnhardt
Starring: Allen Andrews, Christine Haeberman, Scott Christian, Mary LeGault
Review by: Ben Bussey

Isn’t it always the way; a low budget horror film does shitty business under one title so they release it overseas with a completely different one, usually the most generic title they can come up with. It’s a time honoured trick of unscrupulous distributors, and as such a convention of exploitation, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. So here, a movie that is known to the Region 1 market as Murder Loves Killers Too (which incidentally was pretty well recieved by Marc on release) is launched on Region 2 as Blood Cabin. Hmm. So we go from a fairly enigmatic title from which we might expect a low budget slasher film with uncharacteristic wit and psychological depth, to a title which suggests just about the most run-of-the-mill formulaic slasher you’ve ever heard of.

So what is this film? Is it an insightful look into the mindset of a slasher villian, exploring the fetishes that drive him to commit murder? Or is it just a film set in a cabin where blood gets spilt? Well, as Grampa Simpson once said: a little from column A, a little from column B.

The premise is, indeed, about as textbook as it gets. Five college kids – three girls, two boys (why, it’s Evil Dead even down to the gender balance) – drive out to a woodland cabin, loaded up with booze and hormones. Among their number we have the obligatory at-it-like-rabbits couple; the ludicrously over-excited girl screaming obsessively about how she wants to PARTY!!!; the too-cool-for-school single guy, naturally hoping to hook up; and the more aloof, introverted girl in tomboyish-yet-still-figure-enchancing skinny vest and jeans (coughFINALGIRLahem). They hit the cabin, crack open the liquor, and show a bit of skin (much obliged Ms LeGault), all the while blissfully unaware of that which we, the audience, have known was coming since before we even pressed play: there’s a homicidal maniac on the premises.

Here’s where things start to break from the norm a tad. The killer here is Big Stevie, played by Allen Andrews, and he’s just about the most ordinary-looking fortysomething you’ve ever laid eyes on. Male-pattern baldness, middle-aged spread, the usual. I guess the intent is to give us a model of slasher that’s a little more grounded in reality; I must confess, I often wonder what people have against good ol’ fashioned silent pyschos in masks these days. But this is the first in a number of less conventional turns taken in the course of a film which is small in scale and, at less than 80 minutes, short in duration.

Any horror film with kids in a cabin invariably invites comparison to The Evil Dead, but it’s particularly apt a reference point here, not because of the gore (which is mild by comparison) but because of the energetic and inventive technique. Drew Barnhardt’s script may hardly break new ground, but he crafts a great many striking sequences, from the bombardment of the early car-based montage to the long take introduction to the cabin. The music is also notably superior to most microbudget horrors, boasting a slew of original compositions ranging from funk to thrash, and a score that goes from Carpenter to Goblin.

In trying to defy expectation, the film may well bite off a little more than it can chew at times, piling on Lynchian weirdness that feels a tad forced. But the simple fact that it is making an effort sets it apart from the vast majority of its DV-shot peers. It’s no great breakthrough piece, but it certainly demonstrates that Drew Barnhardt knows what he’s doing, earning him a spot in the ‘one-to-watch’ files. Oh, and it definitely deserves a considerably more distinctive title than Blood Cabin.

DVD Review: Wes Craven’s ‘My Soul To Take’

Posted on by

My Soul to Take (2010)
Distributor: Momentum
DVD Release Date (UK): 4th April 2011
Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring: Max Thieriot, John Magaro, Emily Meade
Review by: Stephanie Scaife

I’ve never been entirely convinced by Wes Craven’s reputation as one of the “Masters of Horror”, being that by my calculations; only approximately 5% of his output is actually worth the film reels it’s printed on. Yes, he may be responsible for Last House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street, but also let’s not forget The Hills Have Eyes 2 (both of them, seeing as how he has a writing credit for the dreadful remake too), Shocker, Vampire in Brooklyn and Cursed. Although I will admit to a soft spot for The People Under the Stairs, mostly due to the pairing of Everett McGill and Wendy Robie as the sadistic parents. You may also be surprised to learn that I am also not particularly keen on Scream. Sure, it was doing something different at the time and it brought about a resurgence in the genre, but I’d give that all up if it had meant I wouldn’t have had to be subjected to the subsequent self-referential horror trend that followed (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend etc.) and anyway, the whole Scream thing probably owes more to Kevin Williamson than Craven.

Back to My Soul to Take, which is the first film both written and directed by Craven since Wes Craven’s New Nightmare in 1994. Due to this there was a fair amount of hype surrounding the release, and also a fair amount of disappointment following. I was expecting it to be rubbish, but was shocked by just how rubbish it is.

 The set up starts off with an introduction to our killer, The Ripper, who in 1994 killed six people in the town of Riverton using his special knife that inexplicably has “vengeance” engraved on it. We soon learn that Abel, a local good guy father/husband type actually has a multiple personality disorder and after arguing with his multiple personalities and finding the knife in question in his own house he realises that he is The Ripper himself. After killing his pregnant wife and being shot multiple times by the police he still manages to escape from a firey explosion.

Fast forward 16 years and we are introduced to a group of teenagers who call themselves the “Riverton Seven” due to the fact that they were all born on the night that the Ripper disappeared. Every year they each take turns to make a stand against the soul of The Ripper to protect themselves and the town from his return. This year it is Bug’s (Max Thieriot) turn but he panics and the police end up breaking up the party, then because they weren’t able to go through with the ritual The Ripper returns to knock the kids off one by one in true slasher style. There’s also some weird stuff about a condor that I didn’t really understand or see the point of.

This film has almost no discernable redeeming features; it is convoluted and nonsensical yet still almost entirely predictable. The writing is bad, the acting is bad, it isn’t scary and the death scenes are all lame. Also, your initial hunch about the identity of the killer is probably correct so there’s no real mystery either. This is a lazy, dull slasher film and I’m just glad that I didn’t have to sit through it in 3D.

Should you be some kind of horror movie masochist or a crazy Craven completist, then the DVD is out in the UK from Monday 4th April.

DVD Review: Fantastic Factory Presents ‘Faust: Love of the Damned’

Posted on by

Faust: Love of the Damned (2000)
Distributor: Arrow Video
DVD Release Date (Fantastic Factory boxset): 18th April 2011
DVD Release Date (Individual): 9th May 2011
Directed by: Brian Yuzna
Starring: Mark Frost, Jennifer Rope, Jeffrey Combs, Andrew Divoff
Review by: Keri O’Shea

This is one of the harder reviews I’ve had to write in a while because, even after taking a day to think it over, I feel so sorry that I disliked this movie. I really wanted to like Faust: Love of the Damned much more than I did (Brian Yuzna! Jeffrey Combs! Sleazy rituals!) However, every time I started to have fun viewing it, something would come along to detract from that. The most unequivocal thing I can say about Faust is that it’s a flawed experiment, and an unusual choice for Arrow Video to re-release considering their thus-far sterling selection of classic horror.

Based on the controversial comic book of the same name, we see the fate of one John Jaspers (Mark Frost), a guy who sold his soul to a mysterious individual called M (otherwise known as Mephistopheles) so that he could avenge himself on the people who killed his girlfriend. Thing is, M didn’t tell him that he would be literally taken over by his new-found killer instinct: in fact,  M explains, until something comes along to replace his nihilistic bent, Jaspers must go on killing on M’s behalf. We encounter Jaspers shortly after he’s dispatched a banquet hall full of diplomats, thus bringing himself to the attention of Lieutenant Margolies (Combs) and Dr Jade de Camp (Isabel Brook) who both want to get to the bottom of this case, and the now-catatonic guy responsible for so many murders. Dr de Camp uses music to unlock wounded psyches and she gets lucky with a familiar metal CD: soon Jaspers is talking. He recounts how, despite all his unwitting crimes, he successfully exercised free will during his last murderous spree, in so doing thwarting M’s plans for him. He’s now in danger. M doesn’t want him to get in the way of a very important Walpurgisnacht ritual he’s got lined up, either: guys who transform into savage, flying devils have a habit of scuppering the best-laid plans. Dr de Camp becomes the love interest, Mephistopheles must be stopped, and so on.

You know what this film reminded me of? The Mask. This is a horror version of The Mask: there’s the transformation, the same gurning, the same one-liners, only here we have some occult material thrown in – or “mystic bullcrap”, as the sadly-underused Combs puts it – and some sex scenes.  The film is energetic, it seems to be self-aware, but it deals with its clumsily-explored themes and clunky dialogue by simply whirling the viewer along at an uneven pace, throwing up various bits and pieces of plot devices and then dashing along to the next. I know it’s a comic book adaptation – I wasn’t expecting a treatise on free will here – but the film would not have suffered for having a better handle on its many plot elements. After all, if you’re going to use child rape as a way of moving the action along, it pays to consider what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. You should also remember that when you use plot devices such as these, it makes it problematic for the audience to just kick back and treat the movie as a romp.

Admittedly, it’s not all bad – I’m not a fan of the original comic, but you can definitely see that this is a comic book adaptation. With its grisly set pieces, caricatured characters and sinister cityscapes, it’s easy to imagine this in four colours, and femme fatale Claire (Mònica Van Campen) is good fun, providing the film with most of its female flesh. I’m a sucker for Satanic ritual in horror cinema, too, so I was definitely diverted by these scenes. Sadly, the decent moments are lost in a fug of piecemeal music video stylings and achingly trite catchphrases. Faust: Love of the Damned is too messy to be as much fun as it should be, and that’s a shame, considering what we know Yuzna can do.

Editor’s Note: as well as being released individually on May 9th, Arrow are releasing Faust: Love of the Damned as part of the Fantastic Factory Presents, a boxset highlighting the work of Brian Yuzna’s Spain-based production house The Fantastic Factory. Other titles in the set are Yuzna’s Beyond Re-Animator, Jack Sholder’s Arachnid, and Paco Plaza’s Rosamanta: The Werewolf Hunt. Look out for our reviews of all of these in the near future.

Review: Takashi Miike’s ’13 Assassins’

Posted on by

13 Assassins (2010)
Distributor (UK): Artificial Eye
Theatrical Release Date (UK): 6th May 2011
Directed by: Takashi Miike
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Goro Inagaki
Review by: Ben Bussey

Japan, the mid-1800s: it is a time of peace. The samurai are a dying breed, no longer needed, or so it would seem. But there is trouble in paradise, in the form of Lord Naritsugu (Inagaki). As brother of the Shogun he is protected from on high, not subject to the law; fortunate for him, but unfortunate for anyone who crosses his path, as he’s a ruthless sadistic maniac who thinks nothing of venting his frustrations on whomsoever he lays eyes on. After hacking, slashing and raping his way through much of the land, driving a respected man to hara-kiri, Shogun official Sir Doi (Mikijiro Hira) decides enough is enough. Unable to do away with the Shogun’s brother by official means, he tracks down ageing samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Yakusho) with the offer of an urgent, top secret mission: Naritsugu must die. Shinzaemon accepts, and sets about assembling a group of the finest samurai he can find; no mean feat with so few of them left.

Call it The Dirty Dozen meets Shogun Assassin; call it Inglorious Basterds in feudal Japan; call it Miike’s most accessible work to date. All these labels are applicable, and not one is a negative. 13 Assassins is an exhilarating, rip-roaring historical epic, an absolute triumph of cinematic spectacle. And it’s probably the last thing most viewers would antcipate from the man who gave us Audition and Ichi The Killer.

In a way it might be helpful to not think of this as a Takashi Miike film at all. If you go in looking for his trademark excess and insanity, you might come out a bit underwhelmed. I suppose the key thing with Miike is – at the risk of being trite – to expect the unexpected. His most celebrated films (in the west at least) would seem to be the work of a director placing little or no boundaries on himself. By contrast, 13 Assassins shows definite restraint. Oh, there’s some bizarre stuff here without a doubt – a limbless woman writing with a pen in her mouth, a most novel use of cattle, and echoes of Ichi’s Kakihara in the emotionless cruelty of Naritsugu – but by and large the action plays out in a fairly straight fashion; quite violent and bloody, but no more so than most Hollywood historical epics – Last of the Mohicans, Gladiator et al – and as such unlikely to alienate audiences reared on such mainstream fare.

Indeed, you can hardly get more conventional than the core premise of an old war hero being called out of retirement for one last mission. Shinzaemon is even fishing when we first meet him. Unassuming in nature and appearance, but absolute in his commitment and, of course, hard as nails, it’s a tremendous tough guy role and Koji Yakusho fits it like a glove. Forget The Expendables – this is one old guy you really wouldn’t want to mess around with. Nor do the other twelve assassins disappoint, particular standouts being Takayuki Yamada as Shinzaemon’s nephew Shinrokuro, and Yusuke Iseya as a thief enlisted as a guide: while initially seeming to be just the comic relief, he proves to be every bit as key to the final battle.

Did I just mention a final battle? Oh yes. And oh, sweet lord Buddha, what a battle it is. The final forty five minutes – yes, FORTY FIVE MINUTES – of the movie sees the titular thirteen ambush Naritsugu and his armed guards, who of course outnumber them many times over. 300? Lord of the Rings? Pah. 13 Assassins puts them to shame, with a grandoise and relentessly visceral showdown notable for its lack of slo-mo, wire fu or obvious digital trickery. It’s wonderfully shot, wonderfully edited, and wonderfully performed by all concerned.

In doing away with the dark, perverse elements which have pigeonholed Miike as a ‘torture porn’ director in the eyes of western audiences, 13 Assassins stands up plainly and simply as the work of a master craftsman. Let’s face it, you can’t make as many films as Miike has (70+ and counting) without learning a bit about the craft of filmmaking. Scratch the surface and the man’s signature themes are there, most notably in Naritsagu’s use of violence in a bid to fill some kind of existential void; another excellent performance in Goro Inagaki, his final scenes being particularly engaging. But it’s just as rewarding to kick back and enjoy this as the excellent men-on-a-mission movie it is. It’s gruff, macho, brutal, beautiful, and highly recommended.

DVD Review: Killer Scarecrows in ‘Husk’

Posted on by

Husk (2011)
Distributor: After Dark Originals
DVD Release Date: 21st March 2011 (UK), 29 March 2011 (USA)
Directed by: Brett Simmons
Starring: Devon Graye, Wes Chatham, C J Thomason, Tammin Sursok
Review by: Ben Bussey

Scarecrows; surely one of the most powerful, yet astonishingly underused boogie men in horror film history. In many respects they’re not too different from mummies, but scarecrows don’t lie in sarcophagi deep inside pyramids thousands of miles away, or tucked away in dusty old museums; they’re out there in the fields for all to see, considerably more tangible, considerably closer to home. They’re lifesize and seemingly lifeless, but who knows what lies behind those expressionless sack faces? It really is remarkable that more filmmakers haven’t taken advantage of the inherent iconic power that scarecrows have. Happily, Brett Simmons recognised the gap in the market and moved in with this tale of cornfield carnage. Less happily, he didn’t approach it in the most interesting or creative fashion possible.

It’s not too surprising to learn that Husk is a feature length remake of a short film Simmons made back in 2005, as the core premise, while good, feels very thinly spread. It all kicks off somewhere between Children of the Corn and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, as a carload of college kids – on their way to the hedonistic vacation they’ve been planning all year, of course – are making their way down an empty, seemingly endless road with seemingly endless fields of corn on either side. Taken unawares by the local wildlife, they swerve and crash; and when they come to, one of their number is missing. The standard debates ensue: maybe he went to get help, maybe they should wait or him to come back; maybe he’s hurt, maybe they should go look for him. But soon enough circumstance leads them all into the corn, within which they soon locate a ramshackle house and,yes,some rather lifelike scarecrows. But surely the house is deserted, and surely the scarecrows are just scarecrows… right?

As you might have gathered, it’s hardly the most groundbreaking setup. It doesn’t help matters that it’s also really bog-standard aesthetically. Husk very much follows the cosmetic conventions of the more mainstream end of contemporary horror; the glossy cinematography and shock-horror score could have been lifted directly from any Platinum Dunes film. Subsequently, the film has such a feeling of “been-there, done-that” that all efforts to do something new and unique seem doomed to fail.

This is a real shame, as it’s not as if such efforts have not been made. It is apparent that writer/director and cast have put a great deal more work into giving their characters depth than tends to be the case. Whilst the group could certainly be broken down into archetypes – jock, nerd, cool guy etc. – the film is not content to leave them as such (unlike, say, the recent disappointment Altitude). This is a far more likeable ensemble than we usually see in movies of this ilk, whose actions and dialogue do not make you wish immediate horrible death upon all of them (once more, unlike Altitude). And while there is of course no question that most if not all of them will indeed meet a horrible end, the order in which they meet that end does defy expectation to an extent.

Even so, whilst killer scarecrows are a sad rarity and three-dimensional protagonists even more so, most if not all of that goodwill is killed by the stale, obvious stylistic approach taken by Simmons as director. Husk had the potential to be something really special, and that only makes it hurt more to see it fall short. Yes, we need more scarecrow movies, but better ones than this would be appreciated.

 

UK DVD Review: Altitude

Posted on by

Altitude (2010)
Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment
DVD Release Date (UK): 14th March 2010
Directed by: Kaare Andrews
Starring: Jessica Lowndes, Juilianna Guill, Ryan Donowho, Landon Liboiron, Jake Weary
Review by: Ben Bussey

This is not the film that the above image, or the DVD cover art below, would suggest it is.

That is the image that sold this film, the premise which got fan pulses racing: a five-seater aeroplane versus Cthulhu. It’s a staggeringly cool idea, one which suggested the possibility of breaking new ground in midrange-budget horror. In the wake of Cloverfield and Monsters, the doors seem to have blown wide open on relatively inexpensive giant creature features, so the time seems just right for something Lovecraftian to be brought to the big screen.

Damn, it’s tough writing this in the wake of At The Mountains of Madness getting shit-canned.

Unfortunately, Altitude is not an especially Lovecraftian horror movie. Disregarding the supernatural element entirely for the time being, Altitude actually has more in common with the likes of Frozen, Buried and 127 Hours; young people trapped in a seemingly inescapable situation in a confined space, where death seems certain. As an ensemble piece, Altitude naturally shares the most ground with Frozen, down to its unusual blend of claustrophobia and vertigo. However, still disregarding the supernatural element for now, there are a couple of key things that Frozen did which Altitude doesn’t. Firstly, it was shot in as practical a fashion as possible, with the actors really sitting on a chair lift in the dead of night freezing their extraneous appendages off. Now, obviously I can’t badmouth Altitude for not shooting in a real plane in real storm conditions thousands of feet in the air; that would be unthinkable. But then there’s that other key thing Frozen did that Altitude didn’t: it went to the trouble of crafting layered, lifelike, relatable characters who the audience could grow invested in, and whose fate they would give a damn about. And that’s where Altitude crashes and burns, literally before it’s even taken off.

Youth-oriented horror films have a long and illustrious history in putting together thoroughly unlikeable ensembles who you can’t wait to see killed horribly; not necessarily a problem in your bog standard slasher, wherein you can rest assured that at least one will be dispatched every ten to fifteen minutes, before which you might have at least seen them naked. Altitude, however, fancies itself a serious horror movie, and to be fair there is much about it that does work; as previously stated it’s a great premise, and aesthetically it’s pretty good too, with nice cinematography, a decent score and very good SFX considering it’s not a big budget film. But at heart, Altitude is about five people trapped together, and the drama that unfolds within, owing to both internal and external factors. The external factors are fine; sudden storm, mechanical failures in the plane, mysterious monster in the sky; that’s all good. But the internal; the personal dilemmas and personality clashes? Good God…

I realise that in order to make characters relatable there is no prerequisite that they should be likeable, but seriously, these kids; I wanted them all dead, immediately. Not only that, but I found it almost impossible to believe they would all get on the damn plane to begin with. Landon Liboiron’s Bruce is terrified of flying almost to the point of hysteria, and with good reason (I won’t spoil it here, but believe me you’ll figure it out); when being up in the air naturally gets to him, it’s hard to feel any sympathy. Julianna Guill (AKA the only cast member of the Friday the 13th remake that you can remember) mentions in the extras that she never gets offered the kind of ‘arty’ girl role she plays here, and watching this you will understand why. Jessica Lowndes fares marginally better as the amateur pilot who gets them all into this fine mess, as does Ryan Donowho as an emo rock star wannabe; while both still have major arsehole-ish tendencies, neither is entirely unsympathetic.

But then there’s Jake Weary as the jock boyfriend of Julianna Guill. I don’t know whether to congratulate Mr Weary on his work here or not, for if the intent was to create the most thoroughly detestable prick ever committed to celluloid who you are anxious to see die a horrible death from the first moment he opens his mouth, then mission accomplished. Yes, every horror ensemble has its heels, but this guy takes it to another level. It’s borderline inconcievable that any of the other characters would willingly stand within two hundred yards of the insufferable twat, let alone share a six foot plane with him for upwards of an hour. He never shuts up, never shows any redeeming qualities, and never stretches beyond two dimensions.

Indeed, despite the cosmic horror elements and big Shyamalanesque finale, when all is said and done Altitude is a thoroughly two-dimensional excercise. It certainly demonstrates that Kaare Andrews has some chops as a visual stylist, and with a fully baked script I’ve no doubt he could have given us something really special. But it’s clear that all the energy has gone into making the film look good, rather than forging a real emotional connection with the viewer. The end result, as I should think I’ve made clear, is a thoroughly frustrating and unsatisfying experience.

The Fiend (1972)

Posted on by

Distributor: Odeon Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 7th March 2011
Directed by: Robert Hartford-Davis
Starring: Patrick Magee, Tony Beckley, Ann Todd, Suzanna Leigh
Review by: Ben Bussey

A small congregation sits in a crumbling suburban church. All clad in garments drab and dirty enough to have stepped directly out of a Charles Dickens novel, they are hysterical in their repentance, obsessed with finding salvation, and quite clearly functioning on a low level of mental health. Their domineering minister preaches the usual; sin, hellfire, eternal damnation and the like, and his subjects willingly cower under his thumb. It’s a sorry sight to say the least; but when they burst into song, it’s a remarkable sound. The hymn is akin to a gospel-flavoured power ballad, and the congregation hit their notes and harmonise as well as any Motown band. And intercut with this, we see a terrified young woman running for her life through the dark back streets of swinging London, before an unseen assailant grabs her, drowns her in the Thames, strips her corpse and leaves her floating in the water in a notably cruciform pose.

So begins one of the most fascinating, unconventional British horror films of the early 70s which, until watching it for this review, I had never even heard of.

I’m not entirely sure why Odeon Entertainment opted to go with the title The Fiend for this DVD; Beware My Brethren is the title used in the film itself and the accompanying trailer (the only extra, along with an Odeon Entertainment trailer reel). Beware My Brethren would also seem the more appropriate title, given its obvious allusions to the film’s religious themes. Unsurprisingly, however, it was that very religious element that got the film in a spot of hot water on release, resulting in cuts which have been restored here for the first time. As such, the sleeve notes say, most of the people involved in this film would rather forget it, regarding it a rather shameful entry on their CV. It’s too bad that actors and filmmakers sometimes feel that way about films which genuinely challenge the audience and push the boundaries. For that is just what this film does, and it really holds up today.

In stark contrast to the supernaturalism of Hammer and Amicus which, in the UK at least, still dominated the genre in the early 70s, The Fiend plays out in a more kitchen sink reality. Tony Beckley is Kenny, presumably the Fiend to whom the title refers; a grown man who still lives with his mother (Ann Todd), not only living according to the rules of their little church but literally living in the church itself. It is immediately apparent that this arrangement is less than healthy, and is clearly contributing to Kenny’s fragile state of mind. Having spent his life being force-fed puritan ethics by a domineering matriach, Kenny is now compelled to bring down the wrath of God on the sinful; or, more specifically, pretty young women of loose morals. Yes, this guy beat Jason Voorhees to the punch bowl by a good nine years. Indeed, along with the notorious Peeping Tom and the lesser-known Hammer film Hands of the Ripper (plus that certain black and white flick with Janet Leigh, which was of course directed by a Brit), this film could lend some weight to an argument that Britain invented the slasher genre.

But is it necessarily Kenny who is the Fiend – might it not be the Minister played by Patrick Magee? A really nice bit of understated menace, Magee plays it totally straight, helping to anchor this arch melodrama in some sembelance of social realism. While the brethren portrayed here is clearly a caricature, there can be no question that such fanatical and desperate congregations do exist, and so too do such megalomaniacal figures as this Minister.

Less effective are the supporting characters. Suzanna Leigh (who I primarily know as the foxy school teacher in Lust For A Vampire) is an investigative journalist whose ditrict nurse sister, played by Madeleine Hinde, happens to care for Kenny’s mother. At her sister’s insistence, she plots to infiltrate the brethren and publish an expose on their dangerous ways. Clearly designed as hip and groovy chicks for the young audience of the day to relate to (they’ve even got the word ‘Gear’ plastered on the wall of their swinger’s pad), they’re almost as laughably anachronistic as Stephanie Beacham and co. in Dracula AD 1972. Predictably most of Kenny’s victims don’t fare much better, all coming across as deficient in common sense and overly eager to take their clothes off.

Still, The Fiend is a film of considerable power and atmosphere that is clearly atypical of its era. The mission statement of Odeon Entertainment’s Best of British line is “to release some of the forgotten classics from the Golden Age of British Cinema.” Whilst it may be debatable as to whether for Britain the early 70s really was all that golden an age, I’d say forgotten classic is a very applicable label to The Fiend. Here’s hoping this DVD release goes some way to changing that.