The Haunted House of Horror (1969)

I thought I knew all the British horror films of the 1960s and early 70s, definitely those produced by Hammer, Amicus and Tigon, but a 1969 just cropped up on Amazon Prime in HD, starring Frankie Avalon, Dennis Price, George Sewell, and Richard O'Sullivan, The Haunted House of Horror, which I have never even heard of, much less watched when it was originally released. It's an unusual film, more a crime thriller than a horror movie, though it does have its horrific moments (it's reminiscent in this of the Christopher Lee movie from that period, Theatre of Death), and was a lot more fun than I originally expected.

Set during the swinging sixties, it at least managed to get the look and feel of the times better than its contemporary, Hammer, usually did. Of course it helped that it was filmed then, but it's surprising how film makers so often failed even then to get it right. Some lovely colour photography too. And the street scenes are brilliant, especially of Carnoby Street. The "haunted house of horror" itself definitely looked the part.

Curious fact: The film was selected by Quentin Tarantino for the First Quentin Tarantino Film Fest in Austin, Texas, 1996.

Surprisingly, I have just read that "the film was drastically re-written, re-shot and re-cut by writer/director Gerry Levy (under the name Peter Marcus) at the insistence of one of the US producers. Original writer/director Michael Armstrong's commentary on at least one version of the DVD goes into this in detail. Relatively little of the material outside the house was originally in the film and much of what remains was used differently. None of the material featuring George Sewell was shot by Armstrong and only one scene with Dennis Price (in the nightclub) was his. The motivation of the killer was changed and the relationships between the young people were considerably softened."

Doctor Sleep

It's not often I see a trailer for a film which really catches my attention, but the one for Doctor Sleep looks promising. I haven't read the Stephen King novel it's based on, but after Kubrick's version of The Shining maybe that's not a bad thing. The book will always be there to dip into afterwards.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

One of the best films I have watched recently must be Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, courtesy of having a DVD of it loaned to me by Jim Pitts.
This really is an excellent film, a bizarre slice of life of three people following the rape and murder of Frances McDormand's daughter. Woody Harrelson plays the well-meaning local sheriff who is charged with investigating the crime, though he struggles against a lack of evidence that can be used to track down the killer - and who is also suffering from terminal cancer. The other main character is played by Sam Rockwell, one of Harrelson's deputies, whose character develops during the course of the film in a surprising direction.
This is a fascinating movie, unlike any other I can think of - which is like a breath of fresh air.
Heartily recommended.
And Frances McDormand certainly deserved her Oscar for her role in this - as should the others, especially Sam Rockwell.

How did The Shape of Water win so many Oscars?

It was a long time after most other people that I recently got round to watching The Shape of Water. And while it was beautifully filmed from a photographic angle, I cannot understand how such a dire mess of a story gained so much attention and respect.
Even (spoiler alert for anyone who has still not watched this film) the scars on Elisa (Sally Hawkins) Esposito's neck were an immediate giveaway about what would happen at the end. That they would turn out to be gills was the biggest non-surpise in the film! It was so obvious it was ridiculous - and unexplained. And if she was somehow kin to the "creature" how come she otherwise looks so human? And, apart from the gill slits, so unlike the "creature" in every way, apart from having two sets of limbs, a head with the usual placement of eyes and mouth, etc, like virtually every other creature on the planet?
Michael Shannon, an actor I don't particularly care for anyway, gives a phenominally one-dimensional, almost comic-strip portrayal of the jailer in charge of the "creature", pantomime-style in its grotesquery. I must admit that didn't surprise me. It's in line with virtually every other role I've seen him play.
Indeed, for me, this is one of the film's underlying and most common failings - all the portrayals are one-dimensional, almost pantomime in style - and unconvincing. As is the basic plot - which makes me look back with increasing fondness on the comparatively subtler stories and portrayals in the three "Creature from the Black Lagoon" movies of the 1950s! At least in them you could begin to feel empathy towards the "creature" and its plight, something I felt incapable of doing for this CGI version.
So, again, I am left wondering what it was about this film that gained it so many Oscars - and I'm baffled.

Horror Express - full film in HD

Thanks to Robert Essig I am watching the best copy I have ever yet seen of that classic 1970s horror movie, Horror Express. I have a couple of DVDs of this film but they're awful - worse than poor quality VHS tapes! This, though, is true HD.

Shades of Guy N. Smith - Queen Crab

A Gun For George Matthew Holness

I was recently passed a link to this short, very strange film, A Gun for George Matthew Holness. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Cargo - A brilliant short Australian zombie movie

I have often thought that the best medium for the zombie tale is in the short story form. I am now beginning to wonder whether it is also ideal for the short film format too, as shown in this brief but excellent Australian movie Cargo, which is both poignant and clever in its use of a mere seven minutes and no dialogue. Directed by Ben Howling & Yolanda Ramke, it was a Tropfest Australia 2013 finalist. It's so short that a review is superfluous except to say that it is well worth watching.

Need for Speed - review

Need for Speed - awful, idiotic nonsense

After thoroughly enjoying all five seasons of Breaking Bad, I was looking forward to seeing Aaron Paul in whatever movies he made as a result. Recently I saw and mildly enjoyed A Long Way Down, which was a light comedy about suicide (!). In this, though, starring parts were divided between Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul.

Need for Speed saw Paul starring in his own right.

The pity is that this is a terrible movie. Morally, it's downright awful. The idea that a group of people who may be superb drivers can drive high powered cars, not only at incredibly dangerous speeds on public highways in illegal races, but endanger other road users by driving the wrong way down roads, cross pavements, etc., is so morally reprehensible that I can't imagine how anyone should think producing a film that makes heroes out of people like this is right, especially when the only audience this film is likely to appeal to are impressionable wannabe boy racers. Worse still are the sheer stupidities in it, such as the idea that a car can hurtle through the air at high speed, land and still be in a fit condition to drive or that a car can be refueled while racing at high speed on a public highway. It's not only morally reprehensible but downright stupid, with a plot that is an insult in its cliche-ridden naivety to every intelligent (or semi-intelligent) viewer.

Please, Aaron Paul, think twice before taking on something as bad as this again - or whatever kudos you amassed in making Breaking Bad will be thrown away.

The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies Trailer

Having enjoyed the previous two films of the trilogy, I am looking forward to watching its conclusion with The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies later this year.

Here's a trailer for it.

Mad Max - Fury Road

After the disappointment of the last Mad Max movie many years ago, this looks like a return to the form of Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior, which was the best of the original three. I just hope the film lives up to the trailer!

H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" to Be Adapted into Animated Feature Film

Word is that instead of the epic originally planned by del Toro, we'll soon instead have an animated feature film based on H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.

"Stephen Sloan of Upon Animation Studios announced today that H.P. Lovecraft’s most revered novella, At the Mountains of Madness, is going to be made as an animated feature film, Mountains of Madness, produced entirely in Canada. The movie will be co-produced and directed by Sloan from a screenplay by award-winning playwright and screenwriter Peter Colley (http://www.petercolley.com)."

Amongst the actors being considered for voices in the movie are Christopher Plummer, Victor Garber, Elias Koteas, Nathan Fillion, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Donovan, Jay Baruchel, Justin Chatwin, Joshua Jackson and Hayden Christianson

For uptodate information there is a dedicated facebook page about the film: Mountains of Madness Movie. 

Some other lobby cards

Here are a few more lobby cards I collected in the dim, distant past.

The Evil of Frankenstein Lobby Cards

It's fun sometimes to rummage through old stuff you collected years ago. Back in the day I used to collect film memorabilia. Here are some lobby cards from The Evil of Frankenstein, which was still fairly new at the time.

Dredd

Just got round to watching the 2012 Dredd on DVD and really enjoyed it. Much better than the Stallone version years ago. Of course it does have the advantage of having Lena Headey as the main villain, who isn't only my favourite Sarah Connor (from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) but also Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Karl Urban as Dredd does an excellent job and, unlike Stallone, keeps his helmet on throughout the film - and looks suitably ruthless and hard. 

Unlike Stallone's version, too, there is a down at heel grittiness about Mega City which makes the scale of crime much more credible. The Judges are only just managing to keep the lid on things - and their grasp is slipping. And the story is a good one, very much reminiscent of The Raid in an oblique way - with more lethal gunfire than even most of today's action films. Olivia Thirlby as rookie Judge Anderson, who has psychic talents, is excellent too, giving her role a toughness yet possible vulnerability. 

The good news is that it looks likely, despite a lacklustre performance in the States, there will be a Dredd 2. I hope so.

Bedabbled!

I just received the latest issue of the British horror and cult cinema magazine Bedabbled!, edited by Martin Jones and limited to only 100 copies. Unfortunately, for anyone who might want to purchase a copy now, issue 4 is sold out. But it might be worth your while checking for the next issue, as this is a beautifully printed A4 size magazine, with 48 colour pages covering every aspect of the British horror and cult genres.

Some of the films covered in this issue are The Yes Girls (1971); Hammer's "A Bloody Triptych", which is The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil; Vampire (1964 - directed by Harrison Marks); then an in-depth look at Milton Subotsky and Amicus Films by Nigel Taylor: "The Mind of Mr Subotsky". "Brats of the Capital" is an article on Straight On Till Morning, "Kitchen-sink, Hammer Style" by Sarah Morgan, followed by an interview with the film's star Shane Briant. The magazine concludes with an article called "Jack Carter in Reverse", a look at sleazy 1970 crime thriller Sweet and Sexy, directed by Anthony Sloman.

The articles are thoroughly engrossing, with some fascinating insights. Apart from the few typos, it is a well produced, attractively laid out publication and very well written. Essential reading for anyone interested in some of Britain's more obscure movies as well as more well known ones from the likes of Hammer and Amicus.

For further information check out Bedabbled's blogsite. 

Ender's Game

CGI has been both a blessing and a curse for many SF films in recent years. It's been a blessing because it has enabled them to have special effects that could only have been dreamed about years ago. But it's been a curse because too many film makers have relied on it at the expense of good scripts and intelligent storylines. Thankfully, though obviously CGI figures hugely in this film of interstellar war on a grand scale, the characters and storylines have not suffered as a consequence and this is one of the most intelligent, gripping and well told SF films I have seen for a long time.

Based on the novel by controversial SF author Orson Scott Card, the film is set in the aftermath of an abortive invasion of the Earth by an insect-like race called the Formics, who were only narrowly defeated. All of Earth's resources have been focused on preparing us for another attack, especially in recruiting youngsters whose minds are deemed best able to handle the computer-based military hardware required to fight the Formics. We follow ten-year-old Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) as he advances through all the various stages of recruitment and training to enter the vast military machine that has been created. With a ruthlessness verging on the callous, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) thrusts Wiggin to the limits of his abilities, seeing in him one of the best hopes we have to defeat the Formics.

But this is no mere Starship Troopers. There are more complications in what is going on than meets the eye, building up to a satisfyingly stunning conclusion. With some top notch acting, especially amongst the younger cast members, and some amazing special effects, this is a thoroughly enjoyable science fiction film which never once undermines the seriousness of the tale it is telling.

Film - Who Can Kill a Child?

The Spanish film, Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), directed by Narciso Ibanez Serrador, starring Prunella Ransome, Miguel Narros, Antonio Iranzo, Lewis Fiander, and  Marisa Porcel, is a strange movie, starting with a series of documentaries about the outrages of war since the 1940s and the massive numbers of children who died in them. It is so grim, based on fact, from the death camps of wartime Germany to the monumental famine in Biafra, that the film which followed would have a massive task to justify the prelude. Suddenly, from the gritty black and white footage we have been regaled with thus far, we are suddenly thrust into an over-bright world of dazzling colour as our two protagonists arrive in Spain during a festival, with the loud blasts of firework displays and crowded streets around the resort's harbour. Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) is heavily pregnant and she and her husband, Tom (Lewis Fiander), are looking forward to leaving the chaotic resort to sail to the island of Almanzora, which Tom remembers fondly as quiet, unspoiled by tourism, where they can rest and relax. Everything seems perfectly normal. They even manage to hire a boat in which Tom can sail them across the stretch of sea to the island from the local postman who regularly takes mail there. The only disturbing occurrence are a couple of bodies washed ashore in the resort - bodies which show signs of having been savagely attacked.

The crossing to the island, though, is easy. On the quayside the only inhabitants in sight is a group of children, one of whom appears to be inexplicably hostile. The small town by the harbour is typical of the region with white plastered walls which reflect the sunlight with blinding brilliance. The town is oddly quiet as Tom and Evelyn make their way through it, looking for their lodgings. On their way they enter a shop. Unable to find anyone there to serve them, though, they leave money behind for a number of provisions they help themselves to from the shelves, then head further into the village. The only people they have still seen are children, including a young girl fascinated by Evelyn's pregnancy. The tension is built up with unnerving stealth. None of the children have so far said one word, even to answer direct questions by Tom, and we know there is something seriously wrong with the island. The absence of any adults is inexplicable, the more so because a rotisserie has been left unattended so long, cooking some chicken, that they have been burned black, and an icecream cart, abandoned in the sun, contains only melted icecream. It is not till some time later that Tom and Evelyn see their first adult, an old man walking down the narrow alley outside their lodgings, who is suddenly attacked by a girl, who tugs his walking stick out of his hands and beats him to death with it before running away, giggling. From now on the true horror of what has befallen the island becomes graphically clear. With scenes chillingly reminiscent of The Village of the Damned (The Midwich Cuckoos), it is not long before Tom and Evelyn are fighting for their lives.

Though an increasingly violent film, it never trivialises what it portrays or indulges in cheap shocks. With keen insights into the horrors it portrays, it is uncomfortable, cheerless and tense, all the more so for the sharp brilliance of the light in which most of it is shot. This is a horror film in which little is seen in shadow. It is out there, shockingly clear, with nothing hidden. The finale, when you think things may finally be cleared up, has one final twist which makes what we know will follow even more horrifying than we have seen so far. 

Martyrs

Martyrs is a French movie starring Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï & Catherine Bégin, directed by Pascal Laugier.

I do not like films that rely solely on scenes of torture, what have sometimes, perhaps sensationalistically, been termed torture porn. Films like Hostel and its sequel do nothing for me. And, when I first started to watch this film, I must admit I did have misgivings that this too may come under that category.

It doesn't, though it shares many of the characteristics. There is graphic violence, but for me what sets it apart is the quality of acting, the naturalism of the filming and the startling twists in a well thought out plot, all of which makes sense at the end of the film, which never fails to shock and surprise. Even the extremes of suffering which some of the protagonists are forced to undergo has a thoroughly understandable if bizarre explanation by the climax.

Well worth the effort of putting oneself through the harrowing scenes that fill so much of it. It's a film that never pulls its punches or sells itself out and leaves you thinking about it long after it's finished.

The Quiet Ones

Here's a trailer for the next hammer Film The Quiet Ones, due out in April.