Shadow

Shadow received its world premier screening at the 2009 Frightfest film festival and for me it became “the” movie of the whole festival. It stood out most of all because it was one of the movies that I was seriously debating not watching. From renowned Italian rock star Federico Zampaglione this gritty genre jumping horror is one that is seriously worth looking out for.

When soldier David (Jake Muxworthy) takes a well earned holiday, having just returned from a tour in Iraq; he follows a good friends advice and heads for an area known as The Shadow in Eastern Europe. A keen cyclist David has almost total freedom of the area. Stopping off at a small café he meets fellow traveller Angeline (Karina Testa) who is also visiting The Shadow on her bike.

After a fight with a couple of hunters, the two set off separately only to later be joined together when strong winds cause David to lose his tent. Now travelling together the couple get to truly enjoy there holiday, that is until they run into the hunters again. Just prior to them meeting up again Angeline tells David of a strange part of the valley where all the villagers were slaughtered in a fire, and now nobody dares enter that area. And sure enough, while being chased by the hunters the quartet crosses that boundary.

The prime reason why I love Shadow so much is because you never quite know where its going, part Deliverance, part Blair With Project, then moving sharply on to the likes of the Saw and Hostel movies; Shadow swings you round in so many different directions that you never quite get to catch up before the movies story seems to have morphed into something else.

Shadow has a real ambiance about it Zampaglione really knows how to frame and deliver a story to the audience. From its opening, a scene of real beauty to suck you in, to an airy feeling of vast space, before restricting you and making you feel almost claustrophobic the director takes you on a whirlwind adventure that few other directors would have the guts to take you on.

Shadow is not all perfect please don’t get me wrong, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but leads you in such a way that perhaps maybe it does not really matter.

What Shadow does most of all is put Italy back on the map when it comes to horror film making. For years the Italian horror industry has been in decline, with Dario Argento seemingly being the only quality force, but even he has past his prime, his movies being very similar. Zampaglione delivers a fantastic new bloodline to the Italian horror legacy, and hopefully will continue to deliver such high quality scares.

The special effects in the movie are just great, there is an amazing scene in which one of the characters has their eyelid removed and you are then forced to look at them eyelid free for the immediate future.

The movies best asset of all however is actor Nuot Arquint, who on first appearances (as the camera pans his hands and legs) you could easily believe to be a woman. This actor is just plain scary to look at, when he’s angry its scary, when he’s smiling its all the more horrific. I predict a bright but scary future for this as yet unknown actor.

The other performers do well Muxworthy a regular US TV actor delivers a convincing lead, while Testa best known from the movie Frontiers gives an edgy, your never quite sure performance as the love interest. While you sympathise with Hunter Buck played by Chris Coppola, you wish his colleague Fred (Ottaviano Blitch) only the worst as he is possibly one of the most unlikeable characters in a movie for some time.

The humour of the movie, while thin on the ground is well timed and appropriate, a walk through a corridor of portraits featuring war criminals gives a proper belly laugh as you reach the final, somewhat surprising "dictator". Nuot's drug addiction delivered in a somewhat unexpected fashion.

It would be very easy to dismiss Shadow as another Saw-alike, if you love Saw you'll love this, if you love horror and hate Saw you'll still love this. It's difficult to put Shadow into the same genre of horror from anything you have seen before. This is a proper "scary" movie, not one states it's scary, but when you see it fails to live up to expectations, from the edgy "disappearances" to the burning of of an animal which despite not happening onscreen creates an depiction of horror in your mind that makes you believe you have seen it.

If you are a fan of Argento movies, and more specifically the musical scores of Goblin, you are in for a roller-coaster of musical excellence, a big ear busting sound, that works terrifically in a cinema. When you are first introduced to the character played by Nuot, the score is like a far advanced version of Goblin's Suspiria soundtrack, who ever thought a movie could take that crown.

Shadow is a beautiful looking movie, it has a very 70’s inspired soundtrack that gives it a heightened edge, but the chief thing is it does what its meant to do, its horrific, enchanting and keeps you firmly pinned to the edge of your seat until the very end. This truly is one to watch when it receives a release in the UK from April 29th.

On a personal side, I not only really loved the movie, but received a wonderful accolade from the producers who used my taglines from a review to promote the movie across the world. From The Shadow website, to posters, trailers and DVD cases. A kind of buzz i'm sure you'll agree, money can't buy.

Catfish

When Yaniv Schulman “Nev” takes a photograph of dancers, it is published in a high profile newspaper. Three weeks after publication he receives a painting from an 8-year-old girl called Abby. Nev starts talking to Abby first through email, then via Facebook, as their friendship blossoms Abby converts more and more of Nev’s photographs into paintings, and sends him prints of the finished work. Nev is impressed with Abby’s talent and soon begins talking to Abby’s mother Angela. But this friendship does not end there; the friendship soon extends to the whole family, and with Abby’s older sister maybe something a little more. Despite the thousands of miles that separates them, Megan and Nev’s relationship really blooms, with consistent phone calls and emails, Megan even records songs and sends them too him. Everything is looking perfect, when one night Nev discovers something rather unpleasant online that takes the story down a much darker path.

Catfish has all the hallmarks of being an incredibly gripping movie thriller, of course the curveball here is that this is not a work of fiction, but of fact. This documentary picks up after the contact with Nev and Abby has begun, and watches as the events uncover.


There has been a lot of praise and criticism of Catfish, it seems its either loved or hated, with a strong arm of those least impressed claiming that the movie was staged. Personally I think if the movies events had been staged it would have been better edited together. Despite the fact that the two people following Nev’s adventures (one of whom is his brother) are “professional” film-makers it still seems very amateurish for large quantities, camerawork is very shaky, and at times the audio not that great.

In light of my negative issues in my last paragraph, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with Catfish, despite the fact I could accurately plot out the whole movie from start to finish, did not make it any less enjoyable. The story is very typical of a number of Internet “pairings” that you or someone you know will be familiar with. I wont obviously divulge events but Catfish accurately the dangers of interacting with people over the Internet, and chiefly through social networking websites, it’s a warning, but a warning that does not end too negatively. While the film clearly shows the dark side of the human soul, it also shows the charity, and kindness of those involved, and does leave you asking the question what would you have done if you had been in Nev’s shoes, how would you react, how would you feel?
Catfish is by far the most superior movie released documentary I have seen for some considerable time, the fact that you are reading this shows you are active on the Internet, this movie reminds you about taking what you see online, and applying crisp and clear common sense. And if your having thoughts of taking things to another level, then get yourself access to this movie quick sharp!

Sorcerer

Some years ago while looking at the work of Exorcist director William Friedkin I noticed a movie called Sorcerer, I tried without success to locate at the time a copy of the movie to watch, for many years I completely forgot about the film. I remember the title for some reason caught my attention, despite the fact that the movies story seemed less as promising. As luck had it I recently gained the opportunity to catch this rare gem, in the UK the movie has not been seen in any form for over 20 years.

The story of Sorcerer, based on the novel The Wages Of Fear by George Arnaud, follows the stories of four outcasts from different corners of the globe; forced into hiding they end up in a remote South American town where they end up working at an oil refinery. One day a terrible fire gets hold of the refinery and the manager’s turn on the four outcasts to participate in a deadly journey, if unsuccessful they will die, if successful they will earn tremendous wealth. The task to transport volatile explosives over 200 miles, one false move, and one wrong gear change is all that stands between the quartet and death.
Sorcerer is one of those movies that to be perfectly honest does little in respect of actual detail to woo you over, but the message, and the delivery of William Friedkin’s message is so strong and profound that the film literally rocks you to your very core.

The movie itself can be equally divided into three clear chapters, chapter one shows the build up, two the transportation, and finally the third section delivers the blows that make the movie such a strong influence. Friedkin’s film is such an impressive feature, that you literally are perched on the very end of your seat for the final forty minutes of the movie. You do often get to that situation, but how often do you get to do it for such a sustained period of time? The whole of that final portion of the movie is a feeling of complete menace from the start to the finish, and even when you think its over, its not and the finale image will undoubtedly haunt you for a considerable time to come.
Sorcerer is a movie dogged with incredible bad luck, Friedkin was fresh from two highly successful movies The Exorcist and The French Connection, it seemed that when it came to Sorcerer partners Universal and Paramount were more or less prepared to write him a blank cheque. Casting was an initial problem, with Friedkin wanting Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Gene Hackman for the leading role of Jackie Scanlon, this role later went to Roy Scheider who Friedkin went on the record as saying it was the worst casting decision he had ever made. For the record I think Scheider fairly successfully pulled off the role, despite Friedkin’s concerns. The next issue was creative differences, then the million dollar rope bridge built over a river that dried up no sooner had completion occurred, and when another million was spent moving the bridge to another location, the waters there too started to drive, as a result Friedkin had to make water just a few inches deep look like something considerably deeper. There were issues with filming locations too. But finally the ultimate kick was in the box office, Sorcerer came out shortly after the release of Star Wars that deeply impacted on the returns, and finally in an attempt to develop authenticity many viewers complained over the 20 minute opening sequences which was presented in foreign languages, even though the remainder of the movie was in English. Not necessarily bad luck, more a sign of the times I guess but considering the movie was made in the late 70’s more or less every person involved in the movie has since died, some even before the movie was completed.

The movie is incredibly well put together, yes it is a slow burner, it takes a while to get into it, and to be perfectly honest you do not get to really know the characters any better than you did at the start of the movie, yet as fates are met you feel the loss of the characters all the same. This is no comfortable Sunday afternoon viewing, its hard hitting, moving, and tearfully harsh, while all the time being incredibly real.
The movies score by Tangerine Dream has some high points and low points, as the movie draws to a close however it’s all high points.
Sorcerer started a trend, despite the movies title at the beginning of the film, all the credits are saved for the end of the movie, yes commonplace now, but back in 1977 this was a very unusual move, typically controversial of the director.
I’ve seen a lot of movies by William Friedkin, and he has turned out some very good work, but believe me nothing he has ever done before or since will have anywhere as much impact as Sorcerer, and as I write this article and the year is young, this is by far one of the best movies I have seen for a considerable time, and an experience I will never be able to forget.

Endangered Species

If you had not heard of the movie Endangered Species you are forgiven, this is one of those movie gems that for seemingly unknown reasons has been “hidden” from the public for many years. I (having never heard of it) stumbled upon the movie late one Friday night in the 1990’s on satellite network TNT, and having spent a short time on the channel, and numerous screenings it disappeared again. In the US the movie is available as part of Warner Brothers “archive collection” DVD’s, not released to the public as a whole, but available as a special order.

The film starts the late Robert Urich (Spenser For Hire) as a washed up cop, nursing a number of scars both physical and emotional, wanting time with his daughter in a new town. His character Ruben has a friend living in a small farming community and figures that this is an ideal place to start. Having been in the town only a short time it becomes apparent that something is not quite right, tension is among the town leading characters, and rumours of cattle mutilation are rife.  Ruben’s friend Joe Hiatt (Paul Dooley) suspects government conspiracy,  or possibly even aliens. As each day new cattle turn up mutilated, with no evidence of any tracks surrounding the corpses, Joe gets vocal about his views, when this leads to his sudden death its down to Ruben to solve a mystery and avenge the death of his friend.
Director Alan Rudolph has always been an interesting character; his movies however always seem very similar, particularly during the 1980’s. So this 1982 offering is a stark contrast from the glossy gangsters, and sleepy laid back nature of other movies of that era in his career. There is nothing glossy about Endangered Species its dark, gritty and incredibly unpleasant but at the same time addictive viewing. It’s a thriller movie, but with its heart firmly set in horror.
 
You do have to say that with leading lights of Urich and Jobeth Williams, you cannot help but expect something a little “TV” like, and no disrespect to the actors, but I firmly believe its this stereotype that prevented the movie from getting the audience it truly deserves. While Williams was in the Poltergeist movies, you cannot deny that although they were horror movies, they did have a somewhat Disney feel about them. So combine this duo with images of peoples intestines bursting out through their stomachs, and it is quite a surprise.


Endangered Species reeks of menace; there is the aroma of threat in almost every scene of the movie. And it’s this unpleasantness that for horror fans makes the movie all the more appealing. Further unpleasant vibes emanate when you realise that although the movies events are fictional, that its roots are coming from something that is very much fact. Cattle mutilation was indeed rife in America in the 60’s and 70’s and no real solutions were found, only the odd leaked document, and rumours that seem to form mass opinion now. Endangered Species gives one solution to these terrible mutilations, but in offering a solution it leaves further questions.

The movie is served well by its supporting roles; the rather interesting Peter Coyote turns up as a rather ruthless individual determined to meet his agenda. While Hoyt Axton, and Gailard Sartan offer roles as individuals who conspire.


Gary Wraight’s soundtrack is twenty years ahead of its time, its cutting edge, and very modern even 29 years after it was made. The majority of the movies fear factor is heavily indebted to Wraight’s score.
Endangered Species starts strong and runs most of the running time this way, but after 90 minutes of threat and adrenalin-rushing storylines the movies conclusion is very much a damp squib. You almost feel as if you are watching a movie recorded on Videotape, and the tape ran out before the movies conclusion, it’s only the end credit sequence that assures you the movie has ended.


If you like your movies dark, and you like to really feel the presence of true unpleasantness in a movie, they you’ll really love Endangered Species, and despite its rather sudden and unfinished ending, it remains one of my favourite movies of the last 30 years.