Author: fenrisfil

Blood and Black Lace (1964)

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No October Horror Challenge would be complete without at least one stop over to the world of Giallo, Italian horror. For tonight’s movie I’m watching a movie from one of the legends of the golden age of Italian Horror Mario Bava. I’ve only seen one of his movies before (Black Sunday), which is probably my loss. That movie was in black and white, so this is my first colour Mario Bava horror. This has been on my list for a long time, so I’m looking forward to it. Ubaldo Terzano is the movies cinematographer. Carlo Rustichelli provides the score. The movie stars Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Claude Dantes and Dante Di Paolo.

Set at a classy fashion house, Blood and Black Lace tells the story of a murder mystery that evolves into a killing spree. The catalyst is the murder of model “Isabella” (Francesca Ungaro) by someone in a white, featureless mask, a black fedora and a trenchcoat. It’s not so much the murder itself, but rather that the next day someone publicly discovers Isabella’s secret diary. It’s clear the diary could lead to the killer, but it seems everyone has their eye on it and their own concerns. It seems this won’t stop at a single murder. Police investigator “Silvestri” (Thomas Reiner) is on the case and everyone appears to be a suspect.

Every Frame A Painting

The most important thing to note about this movie is it looks fantastic. The use of both colour and contrast make this a piece of art in it’s own right. Ubaldo Terzano’s cinematography is fantastic, with a lot of truly original touches that felt fresh even though I was watching a 60 year old movie. The use of colour was a feast for the eyes. This movie along with “Peeping Tom” showed that those more aggressive tones of 60’s cinema actually could be used incredibly effectively for a horror film. That also means they do still come off as quite original since the approach to colour has changed so much since that period. Modern colour is realistic, but this was like a painting.

Italian Horror always had a tradition of style over substance and this is no exception in its priorities. However both are of a higher standard than the average Giallo film. The plot here is a murder mystery and it’s a slightly above average one. It is though definitely the weakest aspect of the movie. With less graphic kill scenes this wouldn’t even really be a horror. Those scenes are in the movie though and they are brutal for the period. It even had the Italian tradition of an eye poking, but done in a way that the gore was merely implied. Given the limitation of 1964 effects that is for the best (And a relief to me, I’m not a big fan of eyeball gore). Brutality aside, the murder scenes are the most artistically filmed of the lot. They are each a work of art in their own right.

Sound And Vision

Acting wise, the only stand out for me was Eva Bartok as Countess Cristiana Cuomo. The rest were fine, but forgettable. The soundtrack by Carlo Rustichelli is also quite notable. It reminded me a lot of Henry Mancini’s 1962 work on Experiment In Terror. Like a lot of Italian horror soundtracks, it is perhaps not the most fitting the mood. Instead, it is something you could listen to by itself. In this instance it does enhance the sensory feast this movie provides, but does little to help the plot or characters.

The script and acting are pretty average here. This isn’t a film that wins you over with the story or personalities. Instead it’s the audio/visual spectacle. The cinematography and use of contrast and colour especially raise this up. The murder scenes are exceptional and still feel original many years later. This is worthy of a 7.5/10 and a strong recommendation and a must see for Giallo horror fans.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The Initiation (1984)

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Initiations to a sorority crop up relatively frequently in horror, especially in the 80’s. This one goes straight for the obvious with the title “The Initiation”. The movie is mostly directed by Larry Stewart. The original director, Peter Crane was fired a few days into filming but some of his footage remains. Charles Pratt Jr. provides the script. The movie stars a young Daphne Zuniga as “Kelly Fairchild” one of the aspiring pledges for a sorority. Daphne would most famously appear in “Spaceballs”: The Movie” (1987)” as “Princess Vespa”.As is usually the case for this kind of horror, the head of the sorority has a grudge against our lead and so wants to make their initiation especially unpleasant.

Kelly has plenty of her own issues however since she is plagued by a recurring nightmare. In the nightmare she stabs her father with a knife and then a man is set on fire in front of her. She decides to investigate this with the help of an older student, “Peter” (James Read) that is working on his PhD and is specializing in the study of dreams. The answer to the puzzle seems to be related to a series of murders that has started to happen around town, apparently at the hands of a partially burned man. All threads will link up as the pledges attempt their initiation in the department store.

Sorority Slaughter Shenanigans

Despite the title, the story doesn’t really revolve around the initiation until the final act. It’s a bit like “Jason Takes Manhattan” in that regard. It’s also worth noting the initiation plot is virtually the same as in “One Dark Night”, only intimidating for the girls. Here the setting is a department store and the pranksters trying to scare them are totally ineffective. Not that it matters when there is a psycho hanging out there as well and that’s where the two stories diverge. It’s similar setup but very different movies. The focus is really more on Kelly and her dark past, along with building to a big twist. The twist here while somewhat predictable isn’t embarrassingly so. So it does work.

One thing this has over One Dark Night is that these characters are a little more varied and relatable. That’s not to say they are particularly deep. Instead they are very much college kid stereotypes, but there is enough there to actually care when they die. The acting quality however varies a lot across the board. Daphne Zuniga is the stand out and it’s no surprise she found her way on to Mel Brooks radar for Spaceballs. Her performance is great as the lead and also (spoilers) in her second role. Most of the main cast are passable too, but as you reach the smaller roles the quality drops off. Notably Peter’s colleague in the dream clinic Heidi has a few lines that really dropped me out of the movie.

Conclusion

Overall, I found this a pretty reasonable horror. It is generally fun, with a touch of that college kid comedy humour in places (Porky’s, American Pie, etc). The kills are relatively creative, the characters aren’t horrible and there is a proper story to it. There’s nothing exception here though, so it doesn’t warrant a high score. The movie lands a 5.5/10, held back from a six by those spots of bad acting. Still worth checking out though, especially if you like seeing frat boys/girls killed in slashers films.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

The Limehouse Golem (2016)

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The Limehouse Golem is based on the novel “Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem” by Peter Akroyd. The movie is directed by Juan Carlos Medina and scripted by Jane Goldman. Bill Nighy stars as inspector “John Kildare”, who is tasked with solving the case of the serial killer known as “The Limehouse Golem”. His investigation leads him to a handful of suspects, including Dan Leno, a famous music hall performer, and the recently deceased John Cree. His wife, Lizzie Kree (Olivia Cooke), a former performer, is on trial for his murder. As Kildare uncovers clues, he becomes increasingly obsessed with proving Lizzie’s innocence.

Period Drama

This plays out like a murder mystery and not a horror film. As such doesn’t really offer a sense of terror and foreboding. Most of the murders are re-imagined re-enactment’s of past killings with the various suspects filling in for the killer while a narrator (Usually the suspect) reads journal entries. The mystery itself is rather silly. Given most of the suspects are real life historical characters and this is a fictional murder there wasn’t really any possibility of those characters being the Golem. Clearly these people are only suspects so that they can be in the story. This is Especially true of Karl Marx, who is dismissed as a suspect so quickly his inclusion served no purpose except to excite Marxist viewers. The final swerve to a non-suspect is all too predictable. The whole investigation is dry and lacking in any real suspense.

This in theory could be countered by the character drama but the truth is very few of the characters are actually that interesting. Really just Dan Leno who is portrayed rather well by Douglas Booth. The rest of the cast though do little to raise their characters. Bill Nighy is a decent actor but he’s not the British top tier (Michael Caine/Anthony Hopkins level), he’s not an actor that can raise an average script to greatness. He does fine, but given this is basically a whodunnit, the lead detective needs to be more than just “Fine”. The other actors land around the average mark. All that leaves is the period drama aspect and in this regard it does pretty well, but I need a bit more than this to like a movie.

The Final Curtain

The whole experience feels somewhat shallow. Many decisions in the set up just get in the way of the telling of the story. The story utilizes famous historical characters to try and give the story more gravitas than the plot itself generates. Yet this decision makes the investigation largely pointless. Even the decision to make Kildare gay works against the movie. He spends most of the film desperately trying to protect and being manipulated by a woman. The relationship didn’t really need a sexual attraction. However it would have made a lot of sense and added to the characters journey. Instead his sexuality is thrown around in dialogue but ultimately impacts nothing. The final moments of the story where Kildare must decide Lizzie’s fate would have conveyed very different emotions with that simple change. Instead it is a moment of a man realising his own incompetence. But that’s okay, he gets a promotion anyway.

The icing on the cake is that we are told this is the big killer that came before Jack the Ripper and this too never factors into the story. That is nothing but a marketing line to convince the viewer the killer and by extension the movie is terrifying. It needs this trick because neither is actually true. But the actual result is that the story always falls into the shadow of the Ripper and is found wanting. This is a simple and predictable whodunnit masquerading as a horror story. It is more focused on its themes than characters or plot and is by and large a waste of time unless you are really into period dramas. For a better Victorian horror, dig up “From Hell” (2001) and watch that again instead. 4/10

Rating: 4 out of 10.

Black Roses (1988)

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Heavy Metal Horror, “Black Roses” is directed by John Fasano. At this point in his career he was a relative unknown. Later he would gain some solid writing credits and become a popular Hollywood script doctor. Back in 1988 he had only one directing credit to his name. That was for another Heavy Metal themed horror called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare” (1987). Writing credits for this one went to Cindy Cirile (John’s now ex-wife). John was obviously a metal head and by the late 80’s that’s no surprise. This was the era where metal was mainstream. So heavy metal themed horror was inevitable and there are many examples of it throughout the 80’s.

Heavy Metal was also highly controversial in the 80’s. It was linked with the Satanic Panic and Court cases had been brought against the likes of Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne for allegedly encouraging suicides. In our story the band “The Black Roses” want to open their first US tour with an appearance in the small town of Mill Basin. Despite local opposition the band play a series of gigs, but they have a secret. The band actually are demons here to corrupt the youth. The only person that can stand in their way is local school teacher Matthew Moorhouse (Played by John Martin).

Ready To Rock

This is a movie I would describe as “Fun trash”. The budget for the movie was reportedly one million dollars. The directors previous heavy metal horror cost a mere $52,000 and ended up a big success. It’s notable that what made it work though was it’s trashier aspects. Many critics said it was unintentionally funny. So upgrading the budget for a similar film could have been a recipe for disaster. It’s hard to say if the film was financially successful. While it was originally due a theatrical release, it ended up going direct to video. In the 80’s however that market was booming. That inflated budget mostly went towards creature effects, which is one of the films strengths. These effects look dated by today’s standards, but they aren’t terrible.

Not all the budget was spent on effects though. A great deal was put towards providing the songs for the soundtrack. The band “The Black Roses” was made up mostly of members of King Kobra. This was former Ozzy Osbourne Drummer Carmine Appice’s band. While most of the songs on the soundtrack are by this group, there are also tracks from Lizzie Borden, Bang Tango and a few others. The movie makes sure to give you the time to enjoy each song, which makes it all the more unfortunate the tracks aren’t particularly good. Still, they do the job and the band are the villains anyway, so maybe the music didn’t need to be great!

Dirty Demons Done Dirt Cheap

When it comes to plot, this movie keeps it as straight forward as possible. It doesn’t waste much time or hold much back from the viewer. In the very first scene we see the band in full demon form (Notably different looking to when they transform later) and see the kids at the concert similarly transformed. We do get time to get to know some of the characters and while it’s very bare bones it does what it needs to. Things fully kick off fairly early (Compared to a lot of 80’s films) and they really do showcase a great variety of hellspawn. None of it really seems to have much purpose though and the truth is the kids are far more effective threats before they transform.

That is the big dilemma for this film. The creature effects are its strength but the lack of mobility for those beings really makes them seem almost comical and not a threat at all. This isn’t helped by the way Matthew manages to defeat all The Black Roses demons entirely by himself in a room full of monstrously transformed teenagers. So this is why we are back at “Fun trash”. You really have to shut your brain down a bit and just enjoy the ridiculous visuals. A few beers should make that pretty easy. I’m going to be generous here and give this one a 5.5/10. What can I say, I’m a sucker for movies that mix horror and metal!

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

The Watchers (2024)

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The Watchers (Known as “The Watched” in UK/Ireland) is a mystery horror written and directed by Ishana Shyamalan, the daughter of M.Night Shyamalan. This is her feature debut. The movie stars Dakota Fanning as “Mina” who is stranded in a strange Forrest when her car breaks down on an unfamiliar road. She follows a woman named “Madeline”(Olwen Fouéré) who hurries her into a nearby bunker like building she calls “The Coop”. Inside she meets two other strangers Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). Madeline explains that it is impossible to escape the forest and that every night they must return to the coop where they are observed by mysterious and menacing beings. Mina is determined to find a way out and to find out who or what is observing them.

Chip Off The Old Block

The Watchers is another film with an interesting premise that falls short on delivery. It’s interesting to see how much Ishana Shyamalan takes after her father. Like most of his films, the movie throws out a mystery right at the start. Then it gives you the expectation for twists, challenging you to figure them out. Like many of M.Night’s films, those reveals underwhelm and/or are predictable. That’s not to say the Shyamalan formula can’t work, but the success rate is low. Like her father, Ishana seems technically competent and has a good eye for visuals. The problem for this story is that the main twist is particularly predictable and the characters are especially stupid. On the positive side it lands a similar running time to most of M.Night’s work at around an hour and forty and keeps a relatively quick pace.

It’s interesting to note that there is one notable change between the movie and it’s source novel. I can’t reveal that without hitting spoilers but effectively the big reveal of who the watchers are is totally different. The strange thing is from what I can tell (I’ve only read reviews/synopsis of the novel) very little else is changed. But then I recall M.Night did something similar with Old. I don’t think the change improved the story but to be honest neither twist seems especially good. As far as the smaller twists go though, that is far too predictable. The movie runs into a lot of the pitfalls of the science fiction trope strangers trapped in a location. Why does it take the protagonist turning up for anyone to figure anything out? Why do people blindly trust the person that was there the longest?

Conclusion

I had to laugh early when after running around trying to escape for half the day, the protagonist is show the “Point of no return” markers. These are the furthest you can go and have time to return before dark. But heading there part way through the day and then having a conversation at the location make it pretty clear you could definitely go beyond that and still make it back. Especially if you ran instead of casually walked. It made no sense, but no one questioned the bad logic. That sort of sums up the film really. It does have something going for it though as far as the atmosphere is concerned and the fast pace means it isn’t boring. I am going to write this one down as a reasonable start for a first time director, but ultimately not a recommendation. 5/10

Rating: 5 out of 10.

Peeping Tom (1960)

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1960 was an important year in history of the horror movie. Most importantly it was the year that “Psycho” came out, but it also featured “Eyes Without A Face”, “Village of the Damned”, “The House of Usher” and the less well known “Peeping Tom”. Despite the lower profile, this is a film that heavily influenced Martin Scorsese and many others of his generation. Indeed it’s largely thanks to Scorsese that the film is known at all these days as he helped fund a wider re-release for the movie in the 1978 after it had fallen into obscurity. When the movie was released the critics were disgusted by it and savaged it suggesting it be thrown into a sewer and other colourful language. As a result it was withdrawn from theatres fairly early and effectively ended the career of it’s director Michael Powell.

Decades later, critics revised their opinion. Now they called it one of the greatest horror films of all time. The revision was too late to save Powell’s career. Some people are ahead of their time, but if you are too far ahead the response can be savage. One of the main reasons for the backlash was that some sections of the film involve old movies of the main character and his father. These scenes reveal how the character was abused as a child by his father. The problem here was that Michael Powell chose to perform these scenes with his real life son. There was no actual abuse involved, but it seemed this made critics uncomfortable. Anyway, let’s look at the film itself shall we?

Don’t Let Me See You Are Afraid

The movie opens up with “Mark Lewis” (Played by Karlheinz Böhm), picking up a prostitute. Lewis is secretly filming her with a hidden camera. We see from the point of view of the camera viewfinder as he follows her into the flat and murders her. Later, we see him watching the recording in his dark room. Following this opening we are introduced to the other side of Lewis. A focus puller for a film crew who aspires to become a filmaker. His job doesn’t pay enough to cover his costs though and so he supplements that as a soft porn photographer for a local corner shop. His photos are sold under the counter to select customers.

Lewis is a shy but relatively pleasant person during the day. However he has been secretly working on his own film, a documentary about fear. Mark lives in his childhood home, though most of it is now rented out to other residents. One of which “Helen Stephens” (Anna Massey) has taken a liking to the young man. Mark likes Helen too but doesn’t want her to become one of his victims. He shows her the few films he dares to share with anyone, those of his childhood where his psychologist father abused him to investigate the nature of fear. She is shocked, but supportive. Their relationship becomes tricky because Mark is reaching the end of his documentary and soon he will be unable to keep the two halves of his life separate.

The Eye Of The Beholder

This is a very good movie. There is no denying that. The story has many layers, but the visuals are masterfully put together too. Let’s start with those visuals. This is 1960. Shooting from the first person perspective isn’t completely unknown at this point (Indeed there has been whole movies of it), but showing murders from the killers perspective is pretty new. Psycho of course made use of this two, but here it provides a double function. We’re not simply seeing from the killers eyes, but we’re seeing through his camera. We are seeing effectively a section of his documentary on fear. The movie has made us a voyeur of murder.

This isn’t the only thing interesting visually. Powell uses a technique called colour Chiaroscuro, where he uses a saturated palette with dramatic shadows. The colours are quite aggressive, almost feeling seedy. This is contrasted by the “Old” black and white camera footage of the young Mark taken by his father. This is another interesting one for horror at the time, it is almost a found footage situation. The scenes skillfully portray the abuse that Mark suffered but because of the nature of the home movies these scenes didn’t require much in the way of acting skills, so not a huge surprise he filmed them at home with his own son.

The Price of Obsession

In the film Mark has two obsessions and they are almost indistinguishable from each other. One is his obsession with fear. It is seeing fear that drives him to kill. More importantly though it drives him to capture that fear on camera. That is the real obsession here, Mark is a filmmaker and he is making his masterpiece. Most of the time Mark is a nice enough person, shy even especially around women. But his entire demeanor changes when he is preparing to film a kill. His most ambitious murder is recorded at the studio he works on the set on the very movie he has been working on for his day job. As his victim dances (Warming up for what she is an audition tape), he dashes around adjusting props and cameras. He is focused like a razorblade, his victim is no longer a human but just another prop to get in position.

Mark is driven by obsession. Obsession with his camera, which he takes with him everywhere he goes (Until Helen asks him to leave it behind on a date). There is also Marks original obsession with voyeurism, where the movie takes it’s title. But it is his obsession to finish his documentary and record the faces of fear that drive him beyond all reason. Martin Scorsese felt this obsession reflected the drive of many a filmmaker and the dangerous line they walk in their pursuit of perfect. Considering that, it frames Powell’s direct involvement and the damage it did to his career with the themes of the movie itself. The masterpiece reflects the reality (But fortunately it was only a career killed in real life).

Conclusion

This is an exceptional film and I can see why Scorsese was so heavily influenced by it. Karlheinz Böhm is not an actor I know, but he is exceptional here. The film really is clever and definitely was ahead of its time. As always though I review from the modern day, not in context of how ground breaking something was. This movie has aged remarkably well though. Nothing here really has dated, except perhaps for the color palette but that palette works so well for the movie even this isn’t a problem. This scores a well deserving 8/10

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Dead of Winter (1987)

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Dead of Winter is a thriller/horror from “Bonnie and Clyde” director Arthur Penn. It is written by Marc Shmuger and Mark Malone and is a loose remake of the film noir movie “My Name Is Julia Ross“. The movie stars Mary Steenburgen in three roles. Primarily as aspiring actress “Katie McGovern”. Katie has been hired by a “Mr. Murray” (Roddy McDowell) as a last minute replacement for actress Julie Rose, who she is told had a nervous breakdown. Desperate for the work she agrees to go out on location for a screen test.

The pair drive upstate into the midst of a snowstorm and arrive at the secluded home of “Dr. Joseph Lewis” (Jan Rubes). During her stay it starts to become apparent there is more going on than a simple screen test. What manifests is a sinister plot to have Katie replace Julie Rose in more than just a screenplay and with potentially fatal consequences.

Woman In Peril

This is a well contained small cast gothic horror. It is more a psychological thriller really, though there is a little bit of blood. Despite being presented as horror, the film is heavily influenced by “My Name is Julia Ross” (1945) and as a result has a very film noir feel. Those lady-in-peril noirs always had a leaning towards psychological horror. They always had a small cast and focused heavily on the ladies fear. This is old school and that’s not a bad thing. Of course a small cast means the performances matter much more and Mary Steenburgen actually has to play three roles here. Fortunately the twin sisters are small parts, but it makes her job harder and the weight of the film was already on her back. Happily, she does a great job.

I’m less convinced by the rest of the cast though. Roddy McDowall does reasonably enough but it’s not his best performance and often feels on the comedic side, which may be deliberate but I don’t think helps the tone of the film. Jan Rubes as the primary antagonist did nothing for me and was certainly the weak link. The rest of the cast are somewhat average. The plot is actually pretty interesting, though it feels more complex than necessary. Those complexities would be fine if they got explored properly, but they are all just a means to an end. The film does however provide some good visual ideas and moments. The chaotic final act satisfies somewhat but feels a little anti-climactic after the journey to get there.

Conclusion

A reasonable horror thriller that has it’s moments but never really excels. Steenburgen does a great job and the plot has some good ideas, but rarely makes the most of them. The film provides some spectacle and is reasonably paced. Overall the movie just about scrapes out a 6/10. If you are a fan of gothic horror or lady-in-peril film noirs this is a recommend. As a horror though, its probably not worth going out of your way for.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

A Dark Song (2016)

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“A Dark Song” is an Irish independent horror from writer/director Liam Gavin. This was Gavin’s feature debut having only worked on shorts previously and is his only movie credit. Mike Flanagan (Netflix’ horror series guru) was obviously impressed enough with his work to bring him on board as a director for his second series “The Haunting of Bly Manor”. The movie stars Catherine Walker and Steve Oram. Walker has clearly caught the attention of Ridley Scott recently as she appears in both “House of Gucci” and “Napoleon”. Oram meanwhile is a prolific bit part time actor with over 100 credits to his name. For an indie movie horror these solid names and the film will need them to be solid since the majority of the movie is just them.

Walker plays “Sophia Howard”, a bereaved mother who has rented an isolated house in rural wales and hired occultist “Joseph Solomon” (Oram) to perform grueling month long ritual. The goal of which is to cause Sophia’s Guardian Angel to manifest itself and allow both of them to ask it for a boon. The ritual requires total isolation for the pair, once started they cannot leave the salt circle that is around this isolated house for any reason until the ritual is complete. It will also push them to both their physical and psychological limits. We follow the pair as they embark on this very personal journey all the way to the end… Whatever that will be.

A Journey Into Darkness

A Dark Song has the feel of a 1960’s horror movie. It reminds me of various films of the era including “The Haunting”, “The Devil Rides Out” and “Carnival of Souls. It also reminded me a little of “Don’t Look Now” (1973) which was itself a bit of a holdover from the 60’s. This makes the style quite refreshing. Obviously when special effects are called for they are modern (Though relatively low budget), but don’t expect to see much for the vast majority of the film. Like those 60’s movies, it is a slow burn but with a thick and tense atmosphere. The small cast and the fairly contained location give the film a claustrophobic feel and no doubt kept the budget under control. When things do kick off, it is brief but satisfying.

Obviously with what is effectively a two person cast their characters, relationships and acting quality is what makes or breaks the movie. The acting was mostly good, with a couple of moments that felt a little off. It’s worth noting two people losing their minds in a claustrophobic setting is a big ask for a pair of actors to pull off. It is in that regard very similar to what Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe achieved with “The Lighthouse”. This pair are not as good as Dafoe and Pattinson, but to even be in the conversation with those is an achievement. Those couple of moments where it didn’t quite work passed by quickly and on the whole they were excellent. The characters themselves were very interesting and did provide a good dynamic between the pair.

A Path To Redemption

One of the impressive elements of this movie is the details of the ritual. These are legitimate rituals as practiced by Aleister Crowley and the Golden Dawn and that authenticity really assist with setting the dark atmosphere. It pushes the unreal to a place where it feels like it could be real. There were obvious challenges to how to represent this kind of realistic occult activity in a horror film and I feel they tackled this well. When the movie switches from subtilty to pure chaos it is at a point beyond what poor Sophia can handle. She is broken. So you are left with the question of how much of what the pair suffer is hallucination from a fevered mind and how much is real. Ultimately it doesn’t matter because it works as a great horror story either way.

The atmosphere is milked to perfection with touches of music that underscore the scenes but don’t overwhelm them (The opposite of something like “The First Omen” where the music IS the atmosphere). The vast majority of the film is deliberately subtle and there are nice little touches that not everyone will pick up on. For example in a later scene there are some ghostly headlights on the road, implying that a car is travelling on the deserted road but Sophia is no longer in that reality. The best thing about the movie though is you really feel the character journey Sophia goes on. The ending is somewhat of a twist I suppose, but it feels absolutely natural.

Judgement

If you are into more subtle horror, especially the character and atmosphere based horrors of the 1960’s then this is definitely one for you. On the other hand if you want a fast pace and brutal murders, you need to look elsewhere as this has neither. It is a clever and emotional horror. It’s not the most visually stunning, though the visuals work fine. The same goes for the soundtrack. Everything is subtle and understated. That’s not for everyone, it’s certainly not a Friday night drive in movie. But if you like claustrophobic character stories with a minimal cast and creepy atmosphere, you will love it. For me this is an easy 7/10. I hope Liam Gavin gets a chance to helm and write another horror some time.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

One Dark Night (1982)

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“One Dark Night” was the directorial debut of Tom McLoughlin. The director is perhaps most famous for providing one of the best Jason Voorheese movies, “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives” (1986). The screenplay was put together by McLoughlin and Michael Hawes. The pair had been trying to sell the script for about four years before they found a group of investors will to put up one million dollars for the film providing they start filming within three weeks.

The movie stars Meg Tilly as “Julie” a young girl determined to prove herself above a group of college mean girls by passing their initiation into their club called “The Sisters”. The club is led by “Carol” (Robin Evans) who holds a grudge against Julie since she is now going out with Carol’s ex boyfriend Steve (David Mason Daniels). Carol tasks Julie with spending a night in a mausoleum, but intends to make be make it as uncomfortable as possible for her. Unfortunately for the girls the mausoleum currently houses occultist Karl Raymarseivich Raymar, rumoured to be a psychic vampire with the powers of telekinesis. The only person aware of the danger they are in is Raymar’s daughter Olivia (Melissa Newman), but can she save them?

Pranks and Perils

As with a lot of horrors of the early 80’s, this is actually fairly slow to start. Things don’t actually kick off until the last 30 minutes and the rest of the film is pure set up. This is an approach that can work very well and can certainly cover for a lower effects budget, but it does ask more from the actors and script to make it work. If you are killing teenagers in the first ten minutes you have your entertainment factor. If you aren’t getting dirty until the final act you need to keep the audience entertained via other means. One Dark Night takes a two pronged approach to this. We have a story with college teenagers playing cruel pranks and walking blindly into the hands of the movies antagonist. But we also have Olivia, the antagonists estranged daughter learning via audiotape just what her father was capable of.

First thing I have to say here is I quite like exposition via audio tape in a horror. It works and doesn’t feel as awkward as having a character turn up mid way through to do a big exposition dump. Indeed, because it’s one sided and not a conversation it cuts the time needed for exposition right down. Of course you can’t do that in every film, but it works here. This exposition is spread out a bit as we see the events develop with the rest of the cast. The plot design here is pretty solid, the only downside is none of these characters are interesting. The antagonist, Raymar, is silent and sort of dead. The generic final girl is basically useless, her boyfriend is brave but also useless and her bullies are generic bullies. Well outside of one girls weird thing with her comfort toothbrush.

The Final Act

When it comes to events kicking off in the final act we have a lot of zombie like creatures, but because they are animated via telekinesis instead of being actual zombies they just sort of float into people instead of attacking them. Raymar is mostly motionless but occasionally fires out bolts of electricity at people. Ultimately it’s kind of goofy. But it is a pretty original idea. I’m not sure I’ve seen zombies created through telekinesis before. Maybe skeletons, but not flesh covered zombies. It occurs to me that saving these zombies until the final act was probably a good idea. The long build up and relatively brief time they are around for means they just about get away with it. Only narrowly though.

Ultimately this a pretty average 80’s horror with some interesting ideas that don’t quite work out in practice. The zombies look pretty good even if they move in a goofy way. Adam West feels wasted. The characters are generic, but the plot itself is fairly solid. A mixed bad that averages out to a 5.5/10. If you are a fan of 80’s horror it’s worth checking out, if not skip it!

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Posted on by fenrisfil

If you’ve followed my past October Challenges you know I always give a few days over October to checking out some golden age horrors. This year is no exception and I’ve decided to finally check out the American independent film that predated and influenced “Godzilla” (1954). That is “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms”. Directed by Eugène Lourié and is very loosely based on the Ray Bradbury short story “The Fog Horn” (Ultimately just one scene). Paul Hubschmid stars as “Prof. Tom Nesbitt”. Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway and Kenneth Tobey provide support.

Far north of the arctic circle, a covert nuclear weapons test awakens an ancient beast from it’s frozen slumber. The loan survivor the monsters rampage, professor Nesbitt finds himself in the position of having to prove an ancient Rhedosaurus dinosaur is roaming the earth and poses a very real threat to America. He finds allies in paleontologist “Thurgood Elson” (Kellaway) and his young assistant “Lee Hunter” (Raymond). Eventually they convince “Col. Jack Evans” (Tobey) to investigate. They find the creature, but now the question remains: How to stop it.

The Beast Awakens

Much like Godzilla, this beast is awoken by nuclear testing. However, unlike the famous Kaiju, the Rhedosaurus doesn’t have a direct connection with the radiation. Indeed, it is definitely not immune to it like Godzilla is. However, it does spend half of it’s time in the ocean just like Zilla. Another similarity is unknown virus spread from the creatures blood. In Godzilla, survivors of his attacks tend to suffer radiation sickness, presenting largely the same way. There are enough similarities that it seems unlikely this film didn’t influence the more successful piece. There is debate on the subject though and maybe this is just another one of those coincidences. Personally, I doubt it. However, Godzilla is the better movie.

That’s not to say “Beast” is bad. It is a little straight forward, but it was the first of it’s kind. It’s safe to say they were more concerned about how to put a believable giant dinosaur on the big screen than coming up with a layered plot. The effects are really worthy of praise too. Yes they have of course dated (After 70 years, that is a given) but they haven’t dated as much as you may think. The animation is jerky at times and the transition from model to set is occasionally jarring. Overall though, I was impressed. In it’s day, this must have been stunning. It (Along with a re-release of King Kong) did spur a spate of giant monster films in the US. That’s not a bad legacy.

Conclusion

There’s not a huge amount more to say about the movie. It was an effects and spectacle movie and it provided that. Impressive for its age and for the fact it was independently created. The rest of the movie is average. The plot is divided between proving the monster exists and then trying to destroy it. The first half is solid, but not what anyone watches this movie for. The second half is very basic, but provides most of the spectacle. There’s not really anything I consider bad here, it’s just I know you can do a lot more with a giant monster. I’m going to settle on a 6/10. Your enjoyment may depend on how well you handle 70 year old effects, but if you like Kaiju’s, you owe this film a viewing.

Rating: 6 out of 10.