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Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense: In Possession (1984)
Starts off well but sadly loses its momentum
"In Possession" is part of a series of made for TV movies entitled "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense". I watched these many years ago and thanks to the wonderful Talking Pictures TV (UK) I am now re-watching them. This episode is alright but it is also certainly not one of the better ones. Frank (Christopher Cazenove) and Sylvia (Carol Lynley) are an English/American couple living in the UK. Frank has a successful career and has accepted a well paid job in Africa. The story starts off 3 years earlier, the couple are staying at a hotel, they go to their room only to find an old woman and her daughter inside. They go and see the manager but when he accompanies them back the strangers have vanished. Later Frank sees them in a park. At their flat/apartment they are clearing out for their move to Africa but Frank and Sylvia start seeing strange things, including the old lady dead in a cupboard, then in the bath. Frank looks into a lounge mirror and the reflection is completely different (this was brilliantly done in the 1945 classic "Dead of Night"). When these paranormal events first start they are very creepy and effective, however as the film progresses it becomes overkill, repetitive too.
Magic (1978)
Magical
"Did you knock them dead Corky?" Directed by Richard Attenborough "Magic" stars Anthony Hopkins as a struggling stage magician called Corky. Also a ventriloquist Corky introduces a dummy called Fats to his show, this proves to be a huge success and his cigar chomping promoter Ben Greene (played by the excellent Burgess Meredith) gets him plenty of bookings. However, uneasy with fame, Corky escapes New York and goes back home to the Catskill Mountains. Here he stays at a lakeside lodge that is run by old school friend and crush Peggy (Ann-Margrett). Despite Peggy being married they soon start an affair and plan to run off together - however Fats has other plans! I first watched Magic many years ago and recall finding it boring and disappointing, I probably expected a lot more in the way of horror. Now, having just watched it again, I can appreciate it for the brilliant movie that it is. Hopkins is superb, both as Corky and as the voice of Fats. Corky's American accent is quite weak but this may be due to his parents being British (?). Fats on the other hand is a crude and rude (though witty) New Yorker. When Ben tracks Corky down he can see that Fats is taking over, "Corky, you ain't in control!" he tells him. And he's right. Corky cuts a very tragic figure, losing his mind, he can't go two minutes without speaking as Fats. Being a horror movie his mental problems can only mean bad news for other characters. There are only three deaths in the film, two kills and one suicide, but they are all quite graphic. All of the performances are good, the camera work is excellent and the Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack is superb. A young me found this film too long at 107 minutes but a mature me sees it for the classic and haunting slow burn that it is.
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense: The Corvini Inheritance (1984)
"Whatever happened to privacy?"
In the mid 1980's Hammer studios produced a number of made for TV movies, each clocking in at around 75 minutes long, and they called this series the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. David McCallum stars as lonely security guard Frank Lane. He is obsessed with surveillance, both at work and at home. He is also obsessed with his neighbour Eva (Jan Francis). She is being stalked by an unknown man wearing a ski mask, these scenes provide some genuine suspense. Frank offers to use his expertise to help her, at first he comes across as quite genuine but his infatuation with Eva steadily grows and he turns out to be a creep. McCallum gives a great performance. Nice to see Terence Alexandra in the cast too, he was a very familiar face to British TV audiences for his part in the long running BBC drama "Bergerac". I did enjoy seeing the 1980's technology, looks very dated now but I'm old enough to remember it. The plot also concerns the sale of some very rare jewellery at the auctioneers where Frank works. There is a suggestion of something supernatural at play but this did nothing to help the main plot in my opinion, other than to pad out the running time. I enjoyed this episode, good performances and at times it is quite suspenseful, sadly the stalker's identity when revealed at the end was very predictable though it was well shot.
Alien: Romulus (2024)
I went in feeling tired and came out with a headache
Another Alien movie, this one is set between Alien, the first (and still the best) and Aliens. The quite basic plot has a group of young space colonists fly a space craft up to the wreckage of a far larger and supposedly abandoned craft in order to steal canisters of some fuel (or something). However said craft houses those infamous face hugging aliens, lots of them! In terms of action and horror it feels like an eternity until something happens but once it does then it is full on. The special effects are great, both CGI and physical. There are a few fairly good jump scares too. The mainly young cast is split between British and American actors, I do wonder if non Brits may struggle to understand what some of the English characters say at times though. Best acting goes to Brit David Jonsson who plays a friendly android. His initial character sounds American but then switches to English when reprogrammed. I am not a huge Alien fan but there are some nice nods and connections with the previous entries. If you are a big Alien fan then I guess you will gain more from it than I, on the other hand if you are looking for a decent horror/science fiction with plenty of action then - after a slow start - you won't be disappointed. Don't think I was in the right frame of mind when I went to see it last night at the cinema, I felt tired and the slow first half didn't help, then when it went into overdrive with the humans versus Aliens I found it too much for my brain and ended up with a headache. Will definitely watch it again in the future but in the comfort of my home.
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
The green witch cult. Fantastic cast
Antique dealer Robert Manning (Mark Eden) goes looking for his missing brother. His search leads him to a large English mansion, owned by a gent called Morley (Christopher Lee), where Swinging Sixties parties and secret occult rituals are taking place. I can remember when I first started visiting my then local video store way back in the 1980's seeing the UK Vampix VHS release of "Curse of the Crimson Altar" on the shelf, a green skinned witch (Barbara Steele) on its sleeve. Having been interested in the occult I really wanted to see this British horror movie. And I seem to recall being a tad disappointed with it. Move on several decades and I have just watched it on Blu-ray, a far more rewarding format. The film starts off with a rather kinky black magic ceremony which culminates in a human sacrifice. Promising indeed! More ceremonies are to come but the only deity that I recall being named was the Greek god Pan. We are treated to an excellent cast, horror royalty in the form of Lee, Steele and the wonderful Boris Karloff, the latter's appearance being my favourite thing about the entire movie. Horror regular Michael Gough is also in the cast as is the beautiful Virginia Wetherell, an actress with several horror credits. Most of the film takes place at the house, an impressive Victorian mansion (Grim's Dyke, once home to English composer W. S. Gilbert, who actually drowned in the lake there). When Manning arrives at the house he jokingly asks "So Boris Karloff is going to pop up at any moment?" Karloff himself plays an expert in witchcraft and a lover of fine Brandy, despite his age and health problems he looked like he was enjoying himself. Chris Lee on the other hand delivers his usual polished performance but apparently he did not enjoy the experience. I would sum Crimson up by saying that although the occult story is not particularly strong the film has a great cast and visually it is quite splendid.
Adam Chaplin (2011)
Very gory but not much else.
Adam Chaplin was recommended to me by a former associate some time ago. I bought the DVD and pretty much forgot about it. Ten years later I finally watched it. Was it worth the wait? No. Not really. To my surprise it's an Italian film. I had no idea, I had to go back to the DVD menu and activate English subtitles. The basic plot has a big strong guy (Adam Chaplin) revenge the horrible death of his wife. He is accompanied by a small and bizarre demon that Adam has called Derek! Non stop violence and gore but on the whole the special effects and makeup look very fake and cheap, especially the CGI. Plot is very thin, had pretty much given up following it come the disappointing end, just watched it for the gore and violence. May give it another go in 10 years time, ha ha!
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
Thankfully it's better than the first film
Marvel's Eddie/Venom is back and he has a new nemesis in the shape of an escaped serial killer called Cletus who becomes Carnage. To be honest I didn't enjoy Venom (2018) much but this sequel is an improvement. I liked the serial killer element, Woody Harrelson does a great job of playing Cletus/Carnage, he is always well suited at playing these eccentric characters. Tom Hardy is back as Eddie/Venom. He is good as Eddie but my problem with these movies is that I just don't like Venom, I find him to be too silly and over the top, don't like his voice either. There is non stop action and thankfully it has a shorter running time than Venom so it never drags. I am not a big fan of CGI special effects but they are done very well here. Andy Serkis, a great actor, I was surprised to see him credited as Director for this film, learnt something new there! NB - there is a mid end credits scene.
Longlegs (2024)
Long movie - or at least it felt like one
Having only seen the trailer and avoiding all reviews I went to see "Longlegs" at my local cinema last night. The venue's film guide promised "The best serial killer horror film since Silence of the Lambs." Both movies have a female FBI agent working on the case of a serial killer but let me tell you that Longlegs is no where near as good as Lambs. Nicholas Cage plays the title character, a creepy old guy who has long straggly hair and wears lipstick, apparently he is a Satanist and is obsessed with rock star Marc Bolan. As well as being a killer. I do like the actor but I found his character silly looking and laughable, he has no real back story to explain why he is this way. He doesn't get a great deal of screen time either. At least Maika Monroe, who plays FBI Agent Lee Harker, puts in a great performance. The run time is 101 minutes, hardly long but it is a slow burn and I was getting a bit restless at times. Had I been watching it at home I would probably have paused it half way through for a short break. The story that ties Harker with Longlegs, which goes back to her childhood, was stretching credibility. There are one or two powerful moments - including a character committing suicide by smashing his head repeatedly on a table, very graphic - but sadly any feeling of horror is outdone by feelings of boredom and frustration. Over rated, I suspect that its current IMDb score of 6.9/10 will gradually fall over time.
Haunted (1995)
Pretty good British ghost movie, could have been better
"Psychic phenomena - does it exist?" It is 1905, a young boy called David is playing outdoors with his twin sister, she falls into open water and drowns. David moves to the USA where he becomes a professor working in the field of parapsychology. Complete with American accent he returns to England in 1928. He exposes a fake medium, one Mrs Bronski. It is good fun until she turns the tables by speaking back to him with the voice of his dead sister. He didn't see that coming! Next he is invited to investigate paranormal activity at a remote estate (filmed at the marvellous Elizabethan mansion Parham). A frightened old lady lives there along with a beautiful young woman called Christina (the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale) and her two brothers. David and Christina soon forge a romantic relationship but he has serious competition from her brothers, there is more than a hint of incest going on! The cast is very good, the movie well shot and I really liked the period setting. Acting royalty Sir John Gielgud has a small role as a doctor, he was looking very old at this point of his very distinguished career. The story is a combination of horror, drama and romance, it is never really scary and at 108 minutes I found it to be too long. David and Christina do have a fairly strong sex scene but it is ruined because obvious body doubles were used. The ending was a bit disappointing too. There are far better haunted house movies but if you like that particular genre then Haunted is certainly worth a watch.
La chiesa (1989)
"The World is The Devil's"
This Church is an Italian horror movie, directed by Micelle Soavi and produced by Dario Argento (the latter's name unfairly gets prominence in the majority of movie posters, video sleeves, etc). It is set in Germany but filmed mainly in Hungary though German and Italian locations were also used. It starts off with Medieval knights wiping out a village who's population practised witchcraft. A magnificent Gothic cathedral is later built on the mass grave of the villagers, an evil power is unleashed and it kills those people unlucky enough to find themselves trapped inside. In part it plays out like a by the numbers slasher movie but with the church as the killer instead of some maniac. There are several inventive kills, a new bride is very graphically stabbed in the neck, another woman has her face smashed in (very unrealistic). One of my favourite scenes has an old lady using her dead (obviously) husband's decapitated head to ring one of the cathedral's bells! There is some topless and rear female nudity but it is all quite brief. The cast and acting are all adequate but none of the characters are especially strong. Argento's daughter Asia, who was 14 or 15 at the time, plays the most interesting part as a modern young girl who appears to be linked with the Medieval slaughter centuries previously. The music score courtesy of Keith Emerson, Philip Glass and Goblin help move the movie along but is a far cry from Italian soundtracks to the likes of Suspiria or Deep Red. This movie features an eventual collapsing cathedral, this mirrored the state of the Italian horror film industry, they were still making these movies but the glory days were over. Some reviews complain about the dubbing (which I found fine) but whether you watch it in English or Italian characters are dubbed because the cast features some English speaking actors! As a fan of Italian/Euro horror this is a reasonably good one, I much prefer Soavi's "Stagefright" though.
Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974)
The Confessions series gets off to a good start
Timothy Lea (Robin Askwith) is a randy young trainee window cleaner. He lives in his London home with his parents, his pregnant sister and his brother-in-law Stan, who is also his boss. The plot is very thin and the movie is basically a string of sketches in which each house that Tim turns up to sees him putting his ladder and bucket down and jumping into bed with an attractive woman. It is a sex comedy, pure and simple. And a good one too. Askwith is always a joy to watch, whether he is in a sex film or a horror. The cast features many familiar faces to those of us who grew up watching British film and TV from decades ago - Tony Booth, Bill Maynard, John Le Mesurier, Judy Matheson, the lovely Linda Hayden, and so on. There is plenty of sex and nudity but it is all very soft and usually brief. Much of the language may now sound dated (for example referring to attractive women as "birds" or "crumpet") and there are double entendre galore (e.g the boys' logo on their window cleaning van reads "We rub it better for you") but it was a product of its time and so should be treated as such. Think "Carry On.." movies but with far more sex and nudity. I recently bought a Blu-ray box set that has all four Confessions movies, I am going to watch them chronologically and Window Cleaner is in my opinion a good and enjoyable start. Will they manage to keep this up? (ho,ho, there's a double entendre) I look forward to finding out.
Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
I'll just stick with the Lugosi and Lee Draculas
In 15th Century Romania Prince Vlad (who would earn the names Vlad the Impaler and Dracula) must battle the Turks in order to save his kingdom. Regardless of whether you are a horror fan or not I think that it is common knowledge that the real Vlad inspired Victorian writer Bram Stoker to write his classic vampire novel "Dracula". How historically accurate this movie is I honestly cannot say but it is more Robin Hood than Stoker's bloodsucking Count. For the vast majority of its running time the movie plays as an historical drama, the horror element only comes later on. Having said that there is plenty of gore with people people getting hacked up and impaled on the infamous stakes, though the effects are quite cheap looking. The movie was made for TV and it looked it. I watched a screening on the excellent Talking Pictures TV (UK), the picture quality and sound was poor, it looked older than 2000. There was also some very irritating shaky cam. I didn't go a great deal on the acting. Peter "Robocop" Weller and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey were the only two actors that I recognised but neither put in memorable performances. Overall I found it disappointing, at least it was shot in Romania and this gave it some authenticity.
The Shed (2019)
Shed of the Dead
Seventeen year old orphan Stan/Stanley is a bit of an outcast and lives with his drunken army veteran grandpa on the edge of a small town. A vampire is living in their shed, first it kills their dog, then Gramps gets it in the neck. But rather than report the death to the police Stan bizarrely just tries to carry on with his already messed up life. I wrongly expected this to be a horror comedy and indeed there is some humour but on the whole the film is played as a straight horror. And as modern horror movies go this one may not be a classic but it is certainly better than the insipid majority and is worth a look. I didn't catch any specific year but I am assuming that it is set either in the late 1980's or more likely the 1990's, there are no cellular 'phones and Stan listens to music on cassette. That's quite cool. There are a few decent jump scares, however there are three separate dream sequences, including that old chestnut of a dream within a dream, a bit too many for my liking. I found the acting to be alright though the actors looked older than the parts that they were playing (main teen bully Marbles was played by a 28 year old). Bullying is a major part of the story line, good to see this horrible subject being tackled. Stan is also in love so there is also a touch of romance. Not a bad effort at all.
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense: Child's Play (1984)
Claustrophobic TV movie and nothing to do with Chucky!
"I see a trademark." Stretched out to around 90 minutes with adverts "Child's Play" is an episode from the 1984 TV series "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense". And a good one it is too! A married couple and their young daughter wake up at 04:10 am to find themselves trapped inside their modern home, all of the doors and windows have been sealed with a hard mysterious substance that they cannot penetrate. Furthermore the temperature inside is rising, the couple are losing their memories, a strange symbol is appearing everywhere (including as a tattoo on the man's arm), a green slime is oozing down the chimney and time has stood still. In lesser hands this episode may have felt stretched out at 75 minutes in length but director Val Guest maintains the claustrophobia, tension and mystery throughout. Small cast but well acted. There is a clue in the title but never in a million years did I see the twist at the end coming. And there's not a Good Guy doll in sight!
Marrowbone (2017)
Superb performances
The Secret of Marrowbone. Set in the late 1960's a troubled English family - a mother and her four children - find a new home in rural Maine, USA. Sadly Mother is very ill and soon dies, it is down to 20 year old Jack, the eldest son, to become head of the family. Their large house appears to have a dark secret. Do not go into this expecting a full blown horror movie, my TV guide incorrectly classed this as a psycho/supernatural horror. A slow but rewarding burn for the most part it plays as a gripping family drama. There is the odd good scare but it is not until the final part that the horror aspect really takes hold. Pay attention to the plot, a second viewing or a read of the synopsis may help make thing clearer (though I am not saying that it is by any means confusing). Nicely shot in Spain, I liked the rural setting. The cast is excellent and they all give superb performances, good enough reason alone to see this. Mia Goth plays the lone sister, needless to say she has since become a Scream Queen and rightfully so.
I tre volti della paura (1963)
A.I.P version
"Do you believe in ghosts?" Black Sabbath is an Italian anthology movie directed by the great Mario Bava. There are two release, the original European one and the American International Pictures version. I opted for the latter, it is in English and I wanted to hear the natural voice of the wonderful Boris Karloff. Not only does he introduce each of the three tales he also gets a juicy part in the final segment. "The Drop of Water" - a nurse steals a large precious ring off the corpse of an old lady but when she returns home it seems like the old lady wants her ring back! In my opinion this is the best story, it boasts exquisite Gothic sets, superb colour and it is genuinely scary. "The Telephone" - a beautiful young woman called Rosy is terrorised in her apartment by threatening and disturbing telephone calls from a man who claims that he can see her. This has a touch of Giallo about it but the AIP version adds in a supernatural element which frankly does not work. It's back to Gothic Horror for "The Wurdalak", Boris has a leading part in this tale of vampires in Eastern Europe. It is a good story but ends with what I can only describe as comedy music, and this just makes a mockery of the horror that went before. Where dubbing exits it is done quite well, however next time I will opt to watch the original Italian version. There are a number of differences between the two versions, such as the order in which the stories are shown, but I am not going to elaborate. This was not quite the Mario Bava masterpiece that I had hoped for but it is still a very good horror anthology. Furthermore one of the greatest rock bands on the planet took their name from this movie, something which all lovers of heavy metal should be eternally grateful for!
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense: Last Video and Testament (1984)
Decent revenge thriller
"Victor, you are dead. Now leave me alone!" I can remember the Hammer House of Horror TV series very well but their Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense series somehow passed by back when they where first aired. I did watch a number of them on Sky in the 1990's but not this episode. A wealthy businessman about to undergo heart surgery has planned a nasty surprise for his much younger wife and her lover. This features what was cutting edge technology back in the mid 1980's - VCRs, cordless telephones, remote control household appliances etc, a nice glimpse back in time though these items look very clunky compared to today's gadgets. Acting is good and the dark story is engaging and reasonably suspenseful. These episodes at around 75 minutes were too long to be described as a TV programme but padded out with adverts made them feature length.
Freaky (2020)
I rather enjoyed it
"Time to present your doghouse." Anybody reading this that hasn't watched Freaky will probably be wondering what that means, it is just one of the many funny lines to be found in this fun supernatural gender bending slasher horror comedy. High school student Melanie (Kathryn Newton) gets stabbed by local maniac and Jason Vorhees inspired mass killer the Blissfield Butcher. She survives but he injured her with a magical Aztec dagger, they swap bodies ("Standing and peeing is kind of rad", "Balls! I got balls!", etc) but Mel only has until midnight to get her female body back otherwise she's stuck in the killer's body (and he in hers). May sound a bit silly but trust me they really pull it off. When I saw that this was a Blumhouse production at the very beginning I did not get very excited as their movies can be very hit or miss but this one is certainly a hit. Horror comedy is not an easy genre to nail but when Freaky is funny it can be very funny, when it is being horrific it can be genuinely dark. The characters are engaging and the acting is very good. There are some great kills too including a guy having a wine bottle forced into is mouth and out of his throat, a girl having her head bashed in with a toilet seat and a teacher cut in two on a bandsaw. Highly recommended.
Antlers (2021)
My search for a good Wendigo movie continues..
"Daddy is very sick." Teacher Julia (Kerri Russell) tries to help a scrawny and troubled young boy called Lucas (Jeremy T Thomas). Why is he picking up roadkill and taking it home? A Wendigo is a mythical carnivorous shape shifting creature in some Native American tribes and Lucas's father is turning into one. Pops is locked in part of their squalid house, along with Lucas's young brother. Mum is dead so poor Lucas has a lot to do, not to mention fending off the nasty ginger haired school bully. Set in Oregon USA but like so many American movies it was shot in Canada. The small town mountain scenery is impressive though also very bleak (it was shot in Autumn, would've been nice had they put some Halloween into it). There are two story-lines going on here, in addition to the horror in the form of the creature Julia and her brother Paul (who is also the Sheriff) discuss the child abuse that they suffered at the hands of their late father. The two stories do not gel very well, I didn't think much of the acting of Jesse Plemons (Paul) either. There are a few reasonably good scares but the gore in the form of mutilated corpses was not bloody enough and I found the CGI effects of the Wendigo unconvincing. A slow burn I think this is one of those dark movies that you have to be in the right frame of mind for. The ending was a bit lazy too. I have yet to see a really good horror film featuring a Wendigo, the search continues!
Cool It, Carol! (1970)
Cool movie
"London? At your age!?" Teenagers Joe (Robin Askwith) and Carol (Janet Lynn) leave their rather boring lives in rural Norwich and go to swinging London to make their fortune. Things do not go to plan and when they run out of money Carol turns to prostitution. She doesn't seem too bothered about selling herself to dirty old men but Joe is obviously jealous - that is until big money starts rolling in. However riches don't always bring happiness and I think that there is a moral in this tale (allegedly based on a true story). Director Pete Walker made a series of very British horror movies but before that he was making sexploitation films, this being the second one that I have so far watched. And I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a delightful snapshot of England, both rural and urban, in 1970. I loved seeing the fashions, the old vehicles, the music and listening to what would now be considered dated language. Apparently the film courted much controversy in the UK at the time but viewed now the sex side of it is pretty tame. Carol and Joe do have sex a few times, including on the train to London, but very little is seen. Janet Lynn was a very attractive young actress, she is seen topless quite a few times plus one brief full frontal shot. Askwith, who went on to star in the British sex comedy "Confessions of.." movies, is seen naked from the rear. Fair amount of sex talk, ranging from the f word to the very British "have it off". I noticed one goof, the couple agree to be filmed having sex for money, the reflection of the real crew cameraman can be seen in a mirror next to the character cameraman with his 8mm handheld camera. Cool It, Carol isn't exactly red hot as a sex movie but I found it to be an enjoyable and charming romp that has as much humour as it does sex.
Hospital Massacre (1981)
Die-hard slasher fans should make an appointment for X-Ray
X-Ray starts off on Valentine's Day 1961, with three young children who look very much circa 1980. That's not very promising! One boy is killed by another boy. Move on to Valentine's Day 1980, Susan is now grown up and is dropped off at a hospital by her boyfriend to quickly pick up some test results. However someone has tampered with them and she finds herself with a hospital appointment from Hell. This hospital is one strange place; patients are smoking and drinking booze, the staff are incredibly rude, they even manhandle patients, some of the patients look like they belong in a mental institution and as a result of fumigation one of the floors has a thick fog that lingers throughout the film (it does give it something of a Gothic horror look, which is good). There are plenty of suspicious looking male characters that could be the killer but there is an obvious giveaway in the first scene. Though not terribly gory there are plenty of kills to satisfy most slasher fans, my favourite was an axe in the head. The musical score sounds like a cross of Psycho and The Omen, too overdone in my opinion. Set in the USA but shot in Israel the location used was indeed an old hospital. The rudeness of some of the staff could be down to some bad acting and poor script, I did laugh out loud a few times. Susan is played by former Playboy girl Barbi Benton, the most memorable scene has her strip down to her panties whilst a male doctor gives her what is a very inappropriate examination. I must say that she does give a good performance. Though hardly a slasher classic the movie is quite enjoyable and it looks good on Blu-ray. In one of the extras director Boaz Davidson explains that it was low budget and that much of it is illogical and is more of a parody. If you want to see a very good hospital horror movie then watch Halloween 2 or Visiting Hours (both 1981) but if you just want to have some bonkers fun then X-Ray delivers.
In the Earth (2021)
British Folk Horror/slasher with a poor ending
Young scientist Martin (Joel Fry) and ranger Alma (Ellora Torchia) go on a two day hike in a British forest looking for another scientist, Olivia (Hayley Squires). They are attacked by a mysterious assailant when they are camped up for the night, the next day they encounter a strange hermit called Zach (Reece Shearsmith). Zach initially appears friendly but when he drugs the pair their lives are in mortal danger. The plot is set during a global panic and indeed was made during a real one, Covid-19, this gives it quite a grim reality that still feels fresh in my memory. Zach is obsessed with a local woodland spirit, Parnag Fegg, hence its Folk Horror angle. He is also an axe wielding maniac, having already murdered several other people and intent on killing more. What I liked about the movie is the cast, very well acted. Been a fan of Reece Shearsmith for some 20 odd years now, hugely talented and he is brilliant as Zach. Gorefans may be disappointed with the movie as a whole as it veers towards arthouse but there are some very gory moments. These include a deep wound to Martin's foot, Zach cutting off two of his toes with an axe and a stabbing in an eye. I have seen a great deal of movie gore but these scenes had me wincing. Now for the things that I didn't like. Set in an English forest they are apparently 30 miles away from civilisation but I can't think of any such place. Towards the end the plot goes from being quite easy to follow to just plain weird. There is a great deal of intense flashing lights, not nice to watch. Then there is the confusing end itself, the film runs 107 minutes and I could not fathom out what happened. This was a shame because up until that point (flashing lights aside) I was enjoying it.
Without Warning (1980)
With a Warning - don't get your hopes up!
"No chance, no hope, no escape." Four teenagers go camping in the wilderness but when they stop to use the toilet a local warns them not to go to the lake. Naturally they ignore his advice, much to their cost. The plot follows the usual slasher in the woods formula, including having a Final Girl at the end, however the killer is not some madman but an alien. The film's alternative title of "It Came Without Warning" is very reminiscent of the various "It Came..." sci-fi movies of the 1950's and 60's, the cheap looking alien itself, with its large grey head looks like it could have came from one. It kills its victims by throwing flat leech type creatures at them, they attach themselves before draining them. These critters are not only only weird in appearance but they also squeak, look carefully and you can see the wires making them "fly"! It transpires that the alien is here for a spot of hunting humans, it is not well done at all (unlike Predator in 1987) and the plot is quite frankly very silly. The "teens" were played by actors that were nearer 30, though I don't think that their ages are actually given so perhaps calling them kids would be better. This movie was shot on a low budget, half of which was spent on paying Jack Palance and Martin Landau to star in it. They, along with the plentiful gooey special effects, are by far the best thing here. Indeed they play off one another really well. Cameron Mitchell is another Hollywood name amongst the cast but he is killed off in the first five minutes. I had never seen this film before, it appears to be quite obscure. I enjoyed seeing Palance, Landaus, Mitchell and the special effects but everything else was pure grade Z.
MaXXXine (2024)
Doesn't deserve a Maxxx score
I loved "X" and "Pearl" so when I went to see the third part of Ti West's trilogy I had high hopes. I thought that the trailer looked fantastic and it promised so much - Mia Goth reprising her Maxine role, Hollywood in 1985, Kevin Bacon and the serial killer the Night Stalker. So what did I think of the movie? My entire teen years existed in the 1980's so the music, fashions, the cars, a video rental store and so on were pure nostalgia for me. I liked the fact that the picture was quite grainy too, giving it that older look. Mia Goth is a fantastic actress and again she nails the part, however I'm sure that her natural English accent did slip out more than once. Her character is strong and feisty, as you would expect, but I felt that she could have been stronger. No spoilers but she is not the main villain (the actor who plays him really hams it up to the point of disbelief). Kevin Bacon has a smallish role as a private detective, one scene sees him chasing Maxine across the Universal Movie studio lots, including the Bates Motel. This is a lot of fun but does fun belong in a movie like this? I'm not sure on that one. There is some sex and nudity but not a great deal. Plenty of violence, gore highlights include an exploding head and a man having his genitals smashed - ouch! As for the Night Stalker slant there is no Richard Ramirez here and I found this part of the plot unconvincing and unnecessary. Overall I enjoyed the movie but it fell slightly short of my expectations. I certainly intend watching all three movies again in the future and it's possible that a repeat viewing of MaXXXine may prove positive. As for it being the end of the trilogy I somehow doubt it.
The Haunting (1963)
Classic haunted house movie
"The dead are not quiet in Hill House!" Arguably the best and most famous haunted house movie, this creepy classic directed by Robert Wise is a real gem. Shot in England but set in Massachusetts, USA, the excellent cast is a mixture of British and American actors. Hill House is a wonderful looking and imposing Gothic Victorian mansion from the outside, inside the interiors are exquisite. You could say that the house itself is a major character. And it is all brilliantly shot. If colour and a scare every 15 minutes is your thing then this slow burn black and white movie may not be for you. But trust me you will be missing out on a genuinely scary and superbly made supernatural classic. I first watched this on late night TV when I was a kid and it frightened the life out of me. Forty years later it didn't terrify me but what a terrific experience re-watching it.