Frightmare

Few movies stick in mind, especially when it comes to horror. I was given a somewhat liberal upbringing in which from a very early age I was allowed to see horror movies. As a result by the time I reached my mid-teens I was immune to the effects of visual movie horror. But in the early 1990’s I remember classic TV station showing the world premiere of a movie by unusual director Pete Walker called Frightmare, although made nearly 22 years earlier it was the first time that the movie had been allowed to be seen in the UK since its release, the governing body (the BBFC) deciding it was too much for innocent eyes and ears to be subjected too.

 

Frightmare begins as it means to go on with the death of onetime Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, killed after a visit to a funfair to see a clairvoyant. This opening scene was a shot in colour but later turned to black and white because the vision of gore you see was just too much for that moment in time.  This event sees the condemning to prison of an unknown party, and at this point the movie moves forward from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. Frightmare is all about extreme family secrets and a thirst for something that you really are not meant to have, cannibalism.

 

Of all the Pete Walker movies of this time, Frightmare offers the most striking vision with some of the worst acting. The memories of Frightmare really stayed with me for years after seeing it, and were given a stark reminder when I made my most recent return to this horror movie as part of a self imposed Pete Walker season.

 

The story of Frightmare is incredibly slow moving, but this is not a criticism; because this slow delivery makes the terror at the end all the more striking. But don’t be fooled into thinking the movie is about build up, all the way through there is an unhealthy amount of deaths to contend with, and some really quite extreme gore.

 

It is rumoured that director Abel Ferrara took a liking to this movie when conjuring up the story to his long banned movie Driller Killer, and as the movies killer moves through a choice of weaponry onto the electric drill you can see some real similarities, hard to believe that a small budget movie not really seen in America would be responsible for such a thing.

 

Pete Walker’s regular cast favourite Sheila Keith plays Dorothy Yates the movies cannibal and drill obsessive, I have ruined nothing in this reveal, it’s made blatantly obvious from the movies offset just who the villain of the piece is. But in Dorothy you feel a touch of sadness because the character is a victim of mental illness, and it’s this slow development and understanding of mental illness that give Frightmare its extreme but winning formula. Upon first sight this aging woman seems charming, but as the “headaches” occur you can see the delivery of messages into Dorothy’s head. Sheila Keith was the sort of actress that could be both charming and menacing, an aspect that director was more than aware of casting her more often than not in his movies as the villain.

 

Where you get this tug of love situation with the movie is in her husband Edmund Yates played by Rupert Davies, you discover that despite the fact that he never committed murder, that he shared the same sentence in prison as Dorothy for being fully in the knowledge of her actions. As the movie progresses your heart does go out to Edmund as you can see the years of recovery that he believes Dorothy has had falling around his feet. You see him wrestling with his emotions as he tries to prevent the inevitable all the time just thinking it’s on the horizon, unaware this time that Dorothy is actually killing.

 

But this is not a two way relationship Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) and Debbie (Kim Butcher) are the grown up children of the couple, and it seems that Debbie the younger of the two sisters has the same sort of diabolical thirst for blood and raw meat that her mother has.

 

Frightmare is 34 years on (at the time of writing) pretty extreme, in fact it’s not an uneven offering to partner off with movies like Saw and Hostel, if you have seen either they you might be just starting to get a feel of exactly how hardcore this movie was for the time.

 

While I cannot say that Frightmare scared me, I can easily see it scaring some, yes the acting is terrible, but the gore is extreme and although I was not frightened by the movie it is one that I will never forget for as long as I live.

Die Screaming, Marianne

I recently started looking at the work of British rough trade director Pete Walker, an individual who during the 1970’s tried to adapt the British horror/thriller genre to be more modern, picking up current issues and giving them a funky twist. Die Screaming, Marianne released back in 1971 was the movie that really put the director on the map, with its twisted tale of bizarre practices, betrayal, incest, deception, and mental illness.

 

Opening with Go Go dancer Marianne (Susan George) begins the movie in a bedroom having seduced a sailor the night before in a small Algarve town. Rudely awoken though by the arrival of a shady looking Portuguese man, Marianne sneaks out through an open window to escape, the reason for this escape is shrouded in secrecy. Walking down the road she encounters Sebastian (Christopher Sandford), who whisks her away back to England so she can set up a new life. On the day of her marriage to Sebastian Marianne suspects something is wrong, and falls into the arms of Eli Frome (the late Barry Evans). But as her sinister past in Portugal catches up with her, Marianne, Eli and Sebastian are all forced to go to Portugal to face the sinister Judge, and his daughter Hildegard, who just so transpire to be Marianne’s father and sister.

 

Die Screaming, Marianne is much criticised movie that has its heart in the right place, but it’s soul buried elsewhere thanks for its appalling acting skills, and Walker’s then harsh direction. But with this taken into account I really enjoyed the movie, I found it a touch refreshing although at times a little predictable.

 

The movie despite being a British offering has something incredibly European about it, almost as a reflection of the increased interest in the European horror and thriller movies of Italy. What is good though is unlike so many of these Brit movies that look like Brits abroad, Walker direction allows for a genuinely European look. The movie is split 50/50 between time in Portugal and in England.

 

For fans of 70’s cinema this is almost like the ultimate resource, you get a very precise view of life in England, specifically Brighton and London during the 1970’s. It’s fascinating to look at the way the streets look, the movies at the cinemas, posters, and newspaper stand signs. While all around are the tell tale signs of a rapidly changing society, drugs and free love both hinted at but never properly addressed.

 

Back onto the movie in general and despite my earlier comment about the poor acting I should add that both Susan George and Barry Evans both put their heart and soul into the movie; George shows the sort of feistiness she returned to later in the same year with Sam Peckinpah’s Cornish Western Straw Dogs, to be fair she is where she is this movie simply due to her smouldering sexuality, and this is played up more than her acting skill. While Evan’s is essentially used as a tool for the movie, but his performances is straight up, this was actually the last serious movie Evans starred in. The acting comedy comes from a quartet of clowns; Leo Genn a familiar horror actor delivers an abysmally creepy performance as the Judge. Christopher Sandford a DJ from the likes of Radio Caroline is just diabolical, that’s if you can get beyond the humour of his hair. Judy Huxtable here nearing the end of her acting career is just completely vacant; she cannot have the decency to even be attacked in a decent manner, as Marianne’s murderously obsessed sister she actually comes across as more of a drag queen than a woman, a very bizarre casting indeed. Finally Kenneth Hendal plays the dodgy butler Rodriguez, here tanned up so that he looks Portuguese but is so obviously British.

 

The story goes well beyond the boundaries of typical British fare of the era; it’s an incredibly sexual piece that once having broken the boundaries of sexual inhibition pushes the envelope a bit further by having a vicious stab at incest. It’s hard to believe that the same country that delivered stodgy looking Hammer horror movies around the same time was capable of delivering this sort of very new terror, although personally it gave me no fears.

 

Despite the flaws I really enjoyed Die Screaming, Marianne; it was a really heavily layered movie with an awful lot of depth to it, it to some degree seemed like two movies jammed into one. The story is well developed, with well rounded corners all the way, although there are a few moments where you almost enter cartoon filmmaking because it seems that script writer Murray Smith literally though on his feet as the script continued. The one thing that let the movie down are those abysmal performances, and even though I did start to warm to Leo Genn his appearances on screen were suddenly cut short just as his performance improved, only allowing you to remember the negatives.

 

 

Private Lessons

At the dawn of the video age movies that we had never seen or heard of before started appearing on videotape for enjoyment in the home. A lot of these movies were either not of the quality to make it in the cinema, or had arrived in cinemas as a B-feature back in the days where going to see a movie meant a whole night out with two movies running together as a package. At this time aseries of risqué movies appeared the most famous being the odd Israeli teen titillation movie series known as Lemon Popsicle, Porky's and Private Lessons. All three were smash hits on video, but as a child I remember one of the most popular was Private Lessons, with school boys passing pirated copies from one to another and talking like it was the most hardcore movie ever made. The reason why Private Lessons was so popular? Well it was because it was about every teenage boys dream...

Phillip Filmore or Philly (Eric Brown) to his friends is a very different teenager, while all his school mates have developed in both maturity and appearance; he is still looking very much like an eleven year old even though he is fifteen. It's hard for Philly to move on or get into a relationship due to the fact that he is so much smaller or childlike than anyone else, in order for him to date someone appropriately looking for his height and looks he really would need to be dating a thirteen year old, but Philly does not want that. Philly fantasises about the older woman, especially seventeen year olds and that two year gap in Philly's world is massive. Knowing that he will never achieve the status of dating an older woman he instead opts to becoming a sort of peeping tom, watching these "older" girls through their windows.

It's when Philly's dad goes away on a "business trip" that Philly's world turns round; left in the care of Lester (Howard Hesseman) the chauffer and houseman, and Miss Mallow (Sylvia Kristel) the house woman Philly prepares for three weeks of fun. But what Philly never expected was romance with an older woman, and to his shock Miss Mallow suddenly starts making suggestions to Philly. As a fifteen year old boy to find yourself a product of desire from a twenty eight year old woman, surely he would be stupid to turn this down?

After it's rather bizarre and completely unrelated to anything opening, designed presumably to arouse the story of Private Lessons kind of stumbles about for a twenty minute period. It's during this time that you really understand the change of times since 1981, and if you're like me and remember 1981 clearly, watching this movie is a terrible wake up call to how life has changed. That first twenty minutes are almost nauseatingly bad as the story tries to develop but looks rather like it's been thrown together in a hurry. The camerawork is rushed, the sound is at times inaudible, and vision is somewhat blurry. Suddenly however things improve, just when you needed it most; at the point that 70's sex siren and Emmanuelle star Sylvia Kristel starts making her moves on Philly.

There are many issues about the movie that work and many that don't; the plot development is unbelievable, while the effects of the development do somehow smack or realism. It's blatantly obvious that despite the high age ratings the movie was given in the UK, US, and Australia that Private Lessons was not meant for people over a certain age, this was designed to be watched by people not clearly old enough to see it. This fact is reflected in the storyline that comes off rather reminiscent of the Red Hand Gang or The Famous Five as the movie turns from teen titillation to teen crime thriller. The humour throughout the film is very childlike, and really not the sort of thing to make anyone above a certain age even develop the beginning of a smile. But even with the movies obvious immaturity it does have a certain charm about it, having not seen it since the 1990's (more on that in a minute) I was a little bit pleased to be watching this once so taboo movie, the stories I heard about what teenagers in my school year were doing whilst watching this movie is a book in itself, and a remember as a fourteen year old boy charming the woman in the video shop enough with my immature charisma to allow me to rent the movie. Back then having to wait for both my mum and sister to go out before watching it, because it was "So Extreme". Back then it did not seem anywhere so silly, as it did on my recent viewing or even in the 90's; but I still did have a certain fondness for it.

The acting was appalling even from the usually basic Howard Hesseman and Ed Begley Jr. amusingly enough the best actor of the piece was the one player you would not expect top award such an honour, and that was Sylvia Kristel. Back then teenage boys had no idea who Kristel was, in the UK all of her films were banned, so you never really knew quite who you were contending with. And to be honest, having watched the movie again I find it somehow hard to believe that this is the same Sylvia Kristel that shot to notoriety back in the 70's with the Emmanuelle movies.

What is surprising about the movie is its soundtrack, an unexpected collection of hits pieced together from artists at the time completely unpopular but now songs you're pretty much familiar with hearing frequently. The best success story from the movie comes in the form of the Randy VanWarmer hit Just When I Needed You Most, prior to Private Lessons none of his songs had even managed to chart, suddenly this frequently used track from the movie went freefall to the top of the charts worldwide.

In the UK Private Lessons has a somewhat unneeded shadowy past, in 1984 as proper certification came into play Private Lessons disappeared from shelves in video libraries across the globe, it was never banned as such but the BBFC failed to award it certificate, and the then owners for the video release never had the money to allow it to be seen by the board. Because even if it had been certified they could never have landed the cash to re-release it, because while Private Lessons was a much requested movies, many of their others were not. In 1990 the movie finally met with the BBFC who passed the movie but in a censored form. The launch of TV station Channel Five allowed for a screening of the once popular movie, with heads of the channel thinking the movie would be a sure-fire ratings winner, and initially it was, however 20 minutes in and it became apparent that this was not the movie we all remembered, as even with advert breaks the movie was fifteen minutes shorter than expected running time. And with the UK DVD release several years ago, we still in the UK are unable to see this in an uncensored form, which to be honest is a terrible shame because there is little in it to offend by today's standards. Even though the censoring here keeps the running time as it should be, but hazes out the bits you're not supposed to see. Ironically movies that were banned prior to this, are all available uncensored in stores across the UK including the aforementioned Emmanuelle.

Age has not been kind to Private Lessons, and despite its niche market releases both in the UK, US, and Australia a real without preservation, as a result the imagery is a little green, and the sound a little blurry. But cast these things aside, if you were too young to see this in the 1980's or not even born, this is a charming and wonderful piece of nostalgia, that shows the strange way that time has changed our conceptions of what is decent, and while it titillated and caused all sorts of arousal issues twenty odd years ago it's hard now to see what this could possibly have been so controversial about the movie.

One thing to take with you, which had never really occurred to me at the first few viewings; is that I wonder if this sort of movie would be allowed to be made nowadays, after all an older woman seducing a minor? Since 1981 we have devised brand new words to define such and act.

Private Lessons is available across the world on a variety of labels, but none of the DVD's has any special features.

August

August is a movie that sneaks out under a layer of deceit, its advertising talks about a business undergoing serious financial demise in the run up to the terrorist attack of September 11^th. And while August does have a story to tell, and not a particularly bad one I think this is a terrible deceit and scam to play on the public who in general give their whole hearted support to anything revolving around that fateful day.

 

Telling the tale of Land Shark (a business that to be honest I lack the intellect to really understand what their trade actually is, and August as a movie fails to elaborate upon) a business success story that over a short period of time has grown to become a giant. But suddenly just a few weeks Land Shark spirals out of control, end of the world websites predict the demise of the company which includes a second by second countdown. While trying to save the company he half owns Tom (Josh Hartnett) must wrestle with demons from the past in the form of his parents, and an old flame; problems from the present in the forms of dissention in the ranks, and a feud with his brother; and future fears as a giant company led by the sinister Ogilvie (David Bowie) who plan to gobble up the company in a similar shark like deal.

 

No stranger to deception August is the product of First Look Pictures (although developed by a smaller group); First Look have developed their whole branding strategy on acquiring big stars who are not quite so big in an effort to push otherwise doomed movies, with one success in the form of Bill (or Meet Bill) staring Aaron Eckhardt, First Look are a movie company that are amazingly surrounded in failure but continue to produce pictures. Examples of First Look’s movie making include post natal shocker First Born starring Elizabeth Shue, The King Of California lead by Michael Douglas, and Day Of The Dead starring American Pie actress Mena Suvari. August is no better in quality than any of the three movies I just mentioned; it has great promise but is essentially as empty about as empty as a cardboard box. What riles me more than anything else is the shameless way in which August backs itself on a terrible disaster, but worse still though you as a viewer having had the fact thrust down your throat by the marketing, are blatantly aware of this fact, however had you not seen the publicity the movie itself gives you not one solitary mention of the tragedy.

 

Josh Hartnett just about performs, as a self impressed individual with an ego the size of Everest, you can almost smell the self love of both the character and the actor as it drips off the screen. Even when Tom is being dealt a death blow in the boardroom by the elusive Ogilvy (reasons for the term elusive in a jiffy) he still stinks of his own self importance. What I did admire was the writing in that if you are trying to preserve a lifestyle, you could literally be forced by addiction to surrender anything in order to save it, in this case Tom’s weirdo brother and parents, one of whom played rather well by Rip Torn.

 

You have to ask why the presence of Ogilvy (Bowie) leers over everything, especially when the character appears only once in the movie, and this is right at the end for a period of about 3 minutes. I always feel these sort of cameos are best served when delivered as a surprise, had you not known of his appearance in the movie you might well have had that “Oh my God It’s David Bowie!” type moment of elation. What you get instead is a shadow of something, and a promise that you sit patiently awaiting from the movies opening, at one point I even had to ask if I had misunderstood the name, maybe there was another David Bowie or perhaps it actually said David Bone. This is the same sort of deception that the movie has already pulled off by associating itself with 9/11.

 

The whole movie is as I said earlier straight forward, but the business side of thing is never properly explained, as a result I sat from start to finish completely unaware of exactly what Land Shark was other than sort of phenomenal start up company. So the movie drove on and I felt like I was missing the plot a bit, and when I was aware of what was happening there were these almost soap opera style skits involving Tom and his incredibly boring and staring brother Joshua played by Adam Scott. The once utterly delightful to look at Robin Tunney plays the hard-nosed business associate, but I was more obsessed with her face (that seems to have been in a botox fuelled car crash) than her ferocity.

 

The story of August is not bad, it’s just been packaged incredibly badly; it’s one of those movies that you fall asleep in front of and wake up a portion of time later but have really missed nothing. I expected Wall Street, I expected Risky Business, what I got was a car crash in which Coronation Street somehow collided with Bonanza.

 

August rather appropriately opens in August, though I think you find this on television pretty soon.

Wanted

Joining the large amount of movies making the transition from comic book to the screen comes the highly anticipated Wanted. This is one comic book adventure however that is strictly for adults only, from the trailers that were used to promote the movie I really had no idea exactly how adult the movie would turn out to be.

 

Ex British TV star James McAvoy takes on the leading role as Wesley Gibson a loser who is seemingly on the wrong side of depression at all times, bullied by his employer, betrayed by his girlfriend and best friend; things really are at their lowest for Gibson. When Gibson heads to the pharmacy for anti-depressants he is approached by the stunning Fox (Angelina Jolie) who tells him the father he never really knew he had died the day before, and that the killer is in the very building. Gibson is immediately thrust into the bizarre world of the Fraternity a sort of underground agency that assassinates people who could affect the way the country operates.

 

What really threw me off about Wanted was the considerable violence that the movie contained, McAvoy spends much of his time upon entering the Fraternity in a bloodied state, nothing to do with enemies, and this state is enforced by the people who are on his side. For a big budget Hollywood movie that covers a genre without really becoming a “genre” movie, Wanted is very out of sorts with other movies of its type. This being said I cannot say I have seen the Wanted comics, but it seems that the transition from comic to movie has resulted in the movie being a heavily toned down version.

 

There were aspects of the movie I loved and aspects I hated, Gibson’s revenge on his boss, and best friend turned love cheat is something that I found most pleasing, there is nothing like seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance in seemingly normal circumstances, giving someone in a similar situation the opportunity to live in hope of one day getting their own upper hand, although I would not recommend the methods that Gibson uses.

 

What for me was the problem with the movie, is that after Gibson gets his training in pain management from The Exterminator (a weird sort of pest control guy), The Repairman (who does the reverse) played by award winning Hustle star Marc Warren, and meat and chopper freak The Buther; the story just sort of peters off into a load of old nothing. I’d go as far as to say that the movie becomes completely hollow, with no real rhyme or reason to the events and their outcome.

 

Angelina Jolie’s “Fox” rests just the wrong side of bland, her character is completely one dimensional, not only do you really not get to know much of Fox during the movie, neither do you care. There is almost this hidden sub-plot of potential romance between Fox and Gibson, but in order for this to work effectively you need to feel love for both the characters, and apart from the storyline involving Fox and her origins, you get to know little more about the character than when she first appears on screen.

 

Morgan Freeman’s character of Sloane has potential, but this is ruined by the considerably rushed movie finale. While the character of Cross is just a sort of hazy blur, a revelation about the character develops about 20 minutes before the movies climax, but again rather like Fox you really don’t care, there is not enough development to make this a suitably poignant moment. Then there is Terrance Stamps character Pekwarsky the only character other than Gibson who has any real potential, but his role is limited to the best part of five minutes, coming and going like a silent breaking of wind.

 

I really didn’t get Wanted, and that needs a little explaining; I got the story I just did not understand it’s purpose; a movie so incredibly adult, but built with a child’s mind. Having gone over the top with the violence, and wowed us with the phenomenal and very different special effects; the third part is the story which to be honest might not have enough legitimacy to entertain a five year old. Why was everything so horridly rushed? Why did none of the secondary characters get any chance of development? And why with the exception of effects and cast did the movie look so terribly low key, rather like it’s star James McAvoy had not actually progressed from what is a pretty standard low budget British movie, how on earth can a movie look so good quality and so low beat at the same time?

 

I guess after this you’ll not be surprised to hear that I don’t recommend seeing this movie. When it turns up somewhere that seeing the movie costs you nothing, like a television screening or a free DVD rental then maybe, just maybe it might be worth your attention, but don’t expect to be as impressed with the movie as you possibly were with the trailer.

The Love Guru

Although he has been incredibly popular over the past five years other than voice overs Mike Myers has been away from physical acting since the Cat In The Hat. His much anticipated movie The Love Guru is just around the corner, while in the US the movie was slated quite drastically, will it fare any better when it arrives on UK shores?

 

Although he was born in America, Pika as a child was left with Guru’s to learn about life. As an adult he has become somewhat an Icon, known as the Guru of Love, Guru Pitka (Myers) has fans across the world who will travel from any distance to spend some time with the wisest man on the earth. One such woman is Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) a woman who has travelled from the US with intentions to get a couple back together in order to save a legendary hockey players career (Romany Malco) Darren Ranoake.

 

Personally I believe that the Love Guru will fare better in the UK, its a much more honed sense of humour that the British tend to love while the US audiences just regard as silly. Think about the humour of The Young Ones, Red Dwarf, Peepshow and the IT Crowd and you just might start to get a mental vision of the sort of humour of the movie, a bit silly and incredibly rude; but the rudeness is rather clever for the most part because its very much tongue in cheek , “nudge nudge, you know what I mean? Wink Wink” style of humour; the sort that made the Carry On Movies so successful. This will help to keep the certification of the movie low once it arrives here, and allow those younger viewers the feeling that they are in on a very big joke, one that possibly a lot of their friends might not.

 

I found the movie at times a little bit too silly, sometimes slipping out of the subtle humour and into the all out stupid, one particular line that sticks in my mind “you might be able to get Jack off the elephant, but would you jack off an elephant?” Myers Pitju asks as he laughs behind his hand. There is an awful lot of the sort of humour we last saw in Waynes World, but much more up front and brash.

 

Ben Kingsley enjoys his transition in acting to who knows where, I last saw Kingsley fighting with dolls in a rubbish truck in the movie War Inc. and now here he plays Guru Tugginmypudha (Get it?) a boss eyed Guru who excels in the wonders of life, but with a mouth like a sewer and the social habits of a wild dog; in one scene he stains tea by pouring it up his nostril so it pours out the other side.

 

Thrust into the mix is Justin Timberlake, who is almost unrecognisable as the ladies man Jaques Grande. Obviously having some humour with his “Trouser snake” real life nickname Timberlakes character is a well endowed man of extremely undesirable proportions. Spending much of the first half of the movie in a pair of skimpy underpants Timberlake half charms/half grosses out both the people he tries to impress and the audience. It’s the arrival of Jaques on the scene that has Roanoke’s career in tatters having stolen his girlfriend.

 

Even though the humour is very much a more English style of gross out, this is still one of those movies that will dramatically divide the audience, while some will admire Myers quick humour and even quicker tongue, others will find this appalling. While there is that other group that will enjoy the movie, but not have the courage to confess.

 

I’m sitting on the fence on this one, the reason to be honest is because while at times I found it incredibly funny, the story was practically nonexistent; skimming over subject matter in favour of laughs. Old jokes about chastity belts, knocks to Austin Powers’ Mini Me (Verne Troyer) height and lack of sexual activity kind of get a bit stale after 30 minutes. There is a lot of new humour though, so it’s not like the movie is just a rehash of Waynes World. Yes I laughed, and at times quite a lot, but I was not so taken with the movie that I’d consider it one of the funniest movies of the year, and the overlying feeling I experienced throughout viewing was that I really did not know for the most part what really was going on, it was often like a lot of knitted together scenes in the sake of humour.

 

The Love Guru is in UK cinemas from the 1^st of August

Mansion Of The Doomed 1976

Richard Basehart was possibly best known as the hero from the long running 60’s TV series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, and was last heard as the voice of the narrator on 80’s show Knight Rider. But in 1976 Richard Basehart appeared in a movie so out of character, and even now so disturbing; that for many people his hero reputations was left in tatters.

 

Nancy Chaney it seems has everything going for her; she is young, beautiful and has a loving boyfriend. Her one real love is swimming, and thinks nothing more of swimming in the pool on her family estate. Tragically for Nancy the pool on one particular day had been over chlorinated and opening her eyes under the water results in her becoming unexpectedly blind. Hoping that her eyesight will return is a vein hope, and it falls upon her father eminent eye surgeon Dr. Leonard Chaney to look at revolutionary methods to restore his beloved daughter’s eyes.

 

When eye transplants fail from the bodies of the dead, Chaney decides that a live victim is needed to ensure the restored vision of Nancy, setting his sights on his daughter’s boyfriend Dr. Dan Bryon (Lance Henrikson) he steals Bryon’s eyes and enslaves him in a cell beneath the families’ mansion. But when this transplant fails it’s down to Chaney and his wife Katherine (Gloria Graham) to find more unwilling donors.

 

Initially known in the UK as Massacre Mansion, Mansion Of The Doomed is one of those commonly available movies that nobody seems to have seen. When VIPCO revived sales in the early 1990’s one of the first releases was Massacre Mansion which had the delightful image of a hand clutching eyes on the front cover.  This release by low budget movie company Digital Entertainment Ltd, is a sad effort, featuring absolutely no preservation or special features. The imagery has sadly deteriorated over time and has a nasty green tinge to it, and at times is incredibly difficult to watch. Even with these big issues to contend with Mansion Of The Doomed is a pretty good horror offering with credible performances from both Basehart and Graham in leading roles.

 

Made on a shoestring budget, a fact that is fairly evident from the first few minutes of viewing; I guess this could also be the reason why the movies quality has deteriorated so badly. While nothing wobbles or is taped together there are a limited number of filming locations featured in the movie, a fact I guess you might overlook if you were not as eagle eyed as myself. The one occasion that the movie heads off “on location” so to speak, you see Basehart walking through a market area which is strangely deserted.

 

For an American movie offering for its day its pretty disturbing stuff, covering the most bizarre of areas. In one particular scene Basehart’s crazed doctor tricks a very young girl into a trip to Disneyland in order to get his hands on her eyes, and even though you realise this is his intention you have to ask yourself if this is really happening.

 

You do get to a stage in the movie where regardless of the harsh subject matter you begin to see great humour, as more and more eye transplants fail, more and more prisoners become stored in the underground cell with Chaney telling them, that not only is he sorry but that one day he will return their eyesight, while slightly fierce Katherine suggests a better resolution for how to deal with events “Kill them!” she states, in a slightly insane manner.

 

The harsh side of the movie is that you do get to spend a considerable amount of time with his victims, and in one scene the harsh reality of waking from anaesthetic to discover that someone has taken your eyes. The result of increasing pile up of unwilling donors of course results in misery, further discontent, and craziness. Into this darker aspect of the story of course comes the inevitable unintentional humour as each and every person that Chaney encounters becomes a potential donor in the quest to return Nancy’s eyes.

 

Released on DVD in the UK back in 2005 the movie is becoming somewhat of a rarity with the likes of Amazon and Play demanding a higher price for the DVD that is really fair, however if you like a bit of a chill to go with your laughter then this is a great movie to add to a DVD rental list.

Hancock

Let me be very clear, as an actor I dislike Will Smith with a passion, I really just don’t think he is very good; but in that statement lies an issue I loved The Pursuit Of Happyness, enjoyed I Am Legend, and now find myself having watched Hancock awarding the movie the highest accolade I can by stating that of the movies so far, Hancock is the best movie of 2008. I avoided everything I possibly could to do with Hancock because to be honest the trailer failed to impress me. To my surprise I laughed, enjoyed the action, and was almost caused to shed a tear watching this very different superhero movie.

 

In the past superhero movies characters are for the most part positive, occasionally seen as a danger; but for the most part exactly what they are categorised as being “Super Heroes”. Hancock’s superhero John Hancock (Will Smith) is not the traditional form of hero, he is an alcoholic, is verbally abusive, and has an appetite for destruction. While he wants to do good, nothing is ever quite thought through enough, while he might stop a group of armed thieves he may very well destroy half the city doing so. And this creates Hancock with a problem, he is not a superhero in the eyes of the public, he is a menace.

 

Enter branding executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), he’s had a very bad day; his latest plan to gain a big weight giant to become involved in a charity he supports has gone tragically wrong, and now on his way home he finds himself stuck in a car about to become the victim of an incoming freight train. Spared by Hancock, who in turn destroys the train, its carriages, its cargo, and also scares the life out of a woman; Ray proud to have been saved by Hancock immediately begins planning his next campaign, to turn Hancock from public enemy to public hero.

 

Hancock is a massive movie so big and well plotted out that it’s like the movie and its sequel all rolled into one, but in being so massive it has a surprisingly short running time 90 minutes from opening to closing credits. The beauty of Hancock is that other than being well pieced together it’s filmed in a very artistic manner, avoiding all the usual trappings of Hollywood superhero movies. I’m not clearing it entirely out of the equation of falling into a Hollywood movie, because it does have some traditional Hollywood style traits especially towards the end. What Hancock does offer is that very different eye; the camerawork is so intentionally not Hollywood, small Australian art-house movie maybe, but Hollywood no, no way. Combine this unique vision from one time Last Seduction star Peter Berg now a highly acclaimed director in his own right, with composers John Powell’s understated musical score and you have all the makings of something really special.

 

My movie choices are often out of whack with others, often what I love everybody else hates, but as I sat there in a packed cinema auditorium I could hear the voices of the others from the front of the cinema to the back, they all loved it; I heard laughter, I heard crying. And as I slowly waited to take my turn to leave the screening I heard the conversations of the other viewers, this movie really rocked there world.

 

What for me worked so well about Hancock other than the fact that it was nothing that I expected to see, was the fact that it never fails to surprise. A potential love interest for Hancock takes a surprising turn of events, and this is the very point that the movie fragments into two very different movies. From being a piece on misunderstanding, and abuse of sorts; the movie transforms its whole personality, everything that took place up  to the 50 minute point is suddenly abandoned and a brand new movie emerges from the wreckage of what was already a most magnificent movie, I must confess after the initial shock the second portion was not as good for me, but still it was an amazing movie.

 

Charlize Theron simmers as the wife of Ray, Mary. Again looking completely different from her other recent acting roles, she has put the sex back into sex appeal and it’s hard to believe that this is the same actress that we recently saw in The Valley Of Elah, or even more notably Monster. Mary is one of the most wonderfully understated characters in the movie, well for a portion of it; she is kind of there and you know she’s there but seldom is seen.

 

But the star of the movie has to be the wonderful Jason Bateman, he really is an instantly likeable character not just in reality, but here as Ray. Ray is a trusting loving soul that really wants to change the world. I love the friendship between him and Hancock, it makes for one of the best buddy movie offerings I have seen for a long time, a mutual love that is purely non sexual. On his resurgence of popularity Bateman remains in interviews eternally modest “Who knows how long this wave I ride will last, who knows how long it will be before I muck it up!” It’s this sort of blunt, and very human honesty that shines through to the screen and makes him such a great and incredibly modest actor.

 

Hancock really is (granted in my opinion) a most wonderful movie, something that you can watch again and again and never tire of; with great special effects, the nastiest of villains, and a simmering series of love stories that will tickle the hearts of any romantic.

 

Hancock is at cinemas now.

The House Of The Long Shadows

When it comes to British horror movies the two houses that will come to mind would ultimately be Hammer, and the slightly smaller Amicus; but there was one other force frantically trying to put British horror back on the map during the 1970’s. Pete Walker a man who has a love of both horror and the soft porn genre’s tried to create a hybrid of the two and through the 70’s turned out a heavy volume of strange horror offerings in a bid to compete with the far superior American and Italian influence flooding the market. With movies like The Comeback, Die Screaming Marianne, Schizo, Frightmare, and House Of The Whipcord; his movies were valued by fans but hated by the BBFC (British Board Of Film Classification), with every single one being subject to the harshest of censorship.

 

In 1983 Pete Walker sick of having his films butchered, made his final movie as a director The House Of The Long Shadows, a star studded traditional horror movie aimed not at the minority audience, but the whole family; in an unusual move the BBFC stamped it with a PG certificate in the UK passing it without cuts. Sadly however Cannon Pictures UK ran into financial trouble and the in the UK the movie hard one of the shorted cinema runs for a movie in that time period. Lost in the ether the movie returned to haunt late night movie fans, and its video release in 1988 was the first movie to be released to the general public to buy in a clear video case, making it a success for VCI (Video Collection International) five years after it was released.

 

Moving on to the movie itself and it’s a proper traditional horror, successful author Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz) makes a bet with his publisher that he can write a bestselling novel in just 24 hours, heading for the British countryside to get the right inspiration for a Wuthering Heights style novel. Arriving in a remote Welsh manor after a series of bizarre events, he is surprised to find the supposedly abandoned house still occupied by servants Victoria (Sheila Keith) and Lord Grisbane (John Carradine). After the initial upset having realised he is not alone, Magee becomes more and more distressed as well as more distracted from his work as the bad weather brings a flood of surprise visitors to the manor including Mary Norton (Julie Peasgood), Lionel (Vincent Price), Corrigan (Christopher Lee), and Sebastian (Peter Cushing) ; with such horror legends all present it would be rude to not have a killer too.

 

The House Of The Long Shadows really is nothing like Walkers traditional output, it is very much the sort of classic horror we are familiar seeing with the likes of Cushing, Lee, and Price; lots of loud banging music to create effect, thunderstorms, and horrific weather, and nowhere a nipple to be seen. Essentially despite its horror elements, House Of the Long Shadows is actually a very nice movie, no real horror, no real scares, just three of horrors best acting legends hamming it up in an almost homage to the Great British horror era where England ruled the world when it came to horror (1950’s-1960’s) .

 

There is a considerable amount of humour in the movie, an early victim of the killer Victoria spends the first portion of the movie offering every guest hot punch, getting most annoyed at the colourful language (anyone who has seen Frightmare will find humour in this fact alone), and singing like a banshee; when she falls foul of the killer Sebastian simply states “Poor Victoria, he must have heard her singing!” a statement that made me laugh 20 years ago when I first saw the movie, and yesterday when I saw it again (again for the first time in 20 years). When not having a knock at Sheila Keith, there are some highly amusing disguises that raise a little giggle, and some incredibly over the top acting from Ex-Hollyoaks star Peasgood, who has now thankfully given up acting in favour of being a sex therapist, hopefully she is better at that career choice.

 

Arnaz is an unusual casting for movie, the actor literally lived his life getting work off the back of his successful father; Arnaz’s only claim to fame (if you call it fame) is that he was a star in the ill fated 1983 TV show Automan. His lack of popularity is abundantly clear here, as he stumbles around his lines often illegibly, and leaves you with a pretty bad taste in your mouth; thankfully the weight and experience of the cast veterans, and I should not forget Carradine that keep the movie going at a bustling speed.

 

Having taken its time telling the story 50 minutes in the first death occurs and from this point you have 35 minutes and a pretty high body count to take you to the movies end. And the end for someone will be an unexpected and enjoyable twist, having already weaved you in a number of directions with a highly contorting story.

 

25 years after the movie was made to be perfectly honest the cheese element stands out a mile, however it’s still lovely to see. The charm of the movie is that it really was the last of the traditional British style of horror, and like its title it casts a long shadow across the movie industry. House Of The Shadows is an enjoyable movie, and a clear indication that despite its death the British horror industry still had something slightly unique to offer, the uniqueness being in its final twist.

 

House Of The Long Shadows is a movie that is now “In The Public Domain” with nobody seemingly wanting to assume rights over the movie. This means you can either buy an old VHS release, or a Public Domain DVD (probably with VHS quality) from the likes of Ebay, or even download the movie without fear of persecution. 

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Killer Nun

"If you ever watched La Dolce Vita wishing that Swedish sex siren Anita Ekberg would get out of the Trevi fountain, turn junkie, torture some pensioners and stalk young innocent nuns for kinky sex in a convent then Killer Nun is the film for you!"

Killer Nun tells the tale of Sister Gertrude(Enita Ekberg) a faithful daughter of God, but just prior to the movies beginning Sister Gertrude has been unwell, she had to undergo major brain surgery in order to aid a tumour. Now back at work Gertrude is not quite the same person, whereas before she was calm and serene now she flips out at the least thing; smashing false teeth and giving the elderly patients in her care heart attacks. Suddenly however her outbursts get worse, and the patients begin dying, can Sister Gertrude be controlled?

Killer Nun was one of the original video nasties, banned in the UK in 1984 when scum newspaper The Daily Mail decided to be the voice of the people and force government to impose radical censorship on over 70 movies (this was just the start). In the 1990's the ban on the movie was lifted, but the movie was released in an edited form. Now however and for the first time ever the movie is released fully uncut in the UK.

Surprisingly enough, and something quite unusual in any horror movie or exploitation piece of this type the movie is based on true events surrounding a German Nun who killed patients, and stole their worldly possessions, selling them so she could lead a less than conventional life, again all caused after an operation on the brain, this time though due to a metal plate being installed. Many of the incidents portrayed on screen did actually occur.

Killer Nun is also a surprisingly good film; I would go as far as to say a damn near excellent piece of Italian cinema. The story has great motion to it, none of the ridiculous sidetracking that occurs during a lot of Italian horror movies. Also having now watched it in its uncut I can honestly say i'm not sure what all the fuss was about, why did this movie get banned and for so long? I guess all I can put it down to is the references to the church, maybe the Daily Mail's vigilance started at the church with this movie.

Anita Ekberg is exceptional in the role, obviously a little older than in La Dolce Vita, all the movie you feel sorrier for her character than you do any animosity. Deeply troubled by her warped world, and her often skewered views Ekberg plays the role of the mad woman incredibly well. Other supporting cast include Warhole favourite Joe Dellasandrio, sex siren Poala Morra, Cassandra Crossing star Lou Castel and horror veteran Alida Valli.

The movie has a nice clean print, the downfall of its editing however that is has mixed language; as was the case with all Italian movies of this time period (the 70's) Killer Nun has been dubbed into English, however when the movie was restored it was impossible to gather the same vocal artists again so rather than dubbing the movie slips into Italian with English subtitles.

I saw Killer Nun back in the 90'swhen the ban was lifted and to be fair I was not overly impressed, however watching it this time round I found it a far more enjoyable experience, so much so that I have to say it is one of the more enjoyable Italian offerings I have seen for a considerable amount of time. The fact that the story is more thriller than horror, and there is no over the top sexual reference as is often the case with these nunsploitation films. Killer Nun is an enjoyable movie, with a rather clever final twist worthy of any blockbuster movie.

The movies soundtrack is a real winner by guitarist and vocalist Alessandro Alessandroni, not a name I was overly familiar with but one I'll be looking into now. The main theme is highly addictive, in fact so much so I find it difficult to get out of my head, despite its nun like simplicity.

The movie was directed by Giulio Berruti and sadly at least according to the internet movie database this seems to be the last work of the director's career, while his work was more varied than some there were few highlights other than assisting Mario Bava on the movie Baba Yaga.

The Keep

The Keep is an unusually striking masterpiece (in my opinion), and even if I'm the only person in the world who believes so there is one thing that nobody can disagree The Keep is a lost classic. I say lost because The Keep is one of the most difficult movies to track down from a major production company. Last seen on terrestrial television 15 years ago as part of BBC2's lost week-end and accidentally screened by Sky Movies in 2005; The Keep has been unavailable to buy in any format since 1984. What's unusual is that the movie was produced by Paramount Pictures was directed by the now critically acclaimed Michael Mann (the man behind Miami Vice, Heat, Collateral, Manhunter & The Last Of The Mohicans) and stars Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Scott Glenn, Jurgen Prochnow and 24's Alberta Watson. It's a massive scale movie that almost switches fromhorror to music video style rock opera mid section, so what is the mystery behind The Keep?

Set during the Second World War Captain Klaus Woermann (Jurgen Prochnow)and his Nazi invasion force arrive in a small Romanian village, the central point of the village being a giant Keep; shrouded in mystery it is both worshipped and revered by the villages inhabitants. During the day it's shrouded by mist, and at night it's the coldest place on the earth. The keep is filled with nickel crosses that adorn its walls, 108 crosses to be precise. The soldiers decide that not only is the village a suitable location to set up camp, but the keep is the ideal location to set up camp; despite the pleads ofd the keeps caretaker for them to stay outside.




Greed gets the better of two soldiers having discovered that a glowing cross is in fact silver and not nickel; and hoping that more silver remains behind them the soldiers open a block in the wall. Behind the block is a passage that leads into a giant and mysterious cavern with a strange sacrificial alter at its heart. In opening the cavern the two not only release a terrible creature from long incarceration, but have a swift and horrific death off the back of their greed.

As the soldiers one by one meet with violent and unexpected deaths as the days go on, in a small Greek island Glaeken Trismegegestus (Scott Glen) awakens in the full knowledge of what has occurred, and sets sail for Romania hoping the seal the keep once and for all. But the creature has been more cunning than its past escapes and has secured an ally in the form of Jewish Doctor Theodore Cuza (Ian McKellen), whose daughter was saved by the creature. As the Nazi army grows with the arrival of Major Kaempffer (Gabriel Byrne) and his SS Extermination Squad the biggest war the Germans face is not on the front line but in a small backwater that nobody has ever heard of.

The Keep is impressive from the movies offset, not filmed in Romania as the stories setting its in fact filmed a little closer to home Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales to be exact. Its a very imposing backdrop which sets the stage for this equally imposing and at times deeply disturbing movie. While the Dracula legend is never mentioned, you cannot help but feel there is a strong connection being highlighted; and to some degree the creature's story marries up with the story of Dracula, a tale of imprisonment but where Dracula was imprisoned by the Daylight, the creature here is held captive by The Keep.

An interesting aspect of the story is the contrasting and head butting stories that move like incidental cogs around the main story. Cuza and his daughter are bought to the Keep to save the Nazi's with Cuza's knowledge, but the truth is that the villagers are hatching an elaborate plan to free him. The two factions of Nazi soldiers fight amongst themselves in a kind of battle for authority in a form of one up-manship. Every aspect of the story has a double meaning, making the terror of the creature almost a secondary horror of the movie. And as Cuza's daughter is violently raped you realise that the greatest evil is in fact within us. Cuza is more aware of the mind games that everyone is playing and on each occasion pushes the envelope to ensure that he is in fact the one controlling the strings. Not only does he overpower the minds of those on the same level as he, but Cuza also manages to cast his influence over the creature, his intention to bring the Nazi regime to an quick and sudden end.

In amongst this game playing and evilness there is some humanity Woermann is a Nazi officer undoubtedly challenged between his beliefs and his orders. He to some degree id the human as well as humane individual that you encounter during the film, a man going on a deep spiritual journey.

The Keep is not a film that can fit easily into one category to cast the movie as a horror tale is not only wrong but totally unjust, a crime in fact. The Keep is as much war movie as it is horror, its as much thriller as it is war movie, and as much fantasy as it is thriller. The story of The Keep is more spiritual and Art House than anything else, it's a movie that feels very European. One place that The Keep would never fall under the category of comedy; there is never anything about this movie to laugh about. It's not a movie you can embrace with a weakened state of mind either; this is a movie that demands total concentration.

The final moments of the movie are truly epic as the truly good fight against the truly evil, lines are drawn and lives are thrown asunder. It echoes in some ways the battles from the Star Wars movies, but unbelievably on a more epic and certainly more powerful level. It's most definitely another turning point of the movie that actually sends a shiver down your spine, this is not fear but an emotional deliverance that movies seldom deliver, and if the movie deserves praise for nothing else then this is a unique achievement worth 1000 lesser movies.

Music is a fundamental part of The Keep; in fact it's what makes the movie above all other aspects. Tangerine Dream delivers an instantly recognizable and epic score, a score mixed with the sounds of horror and hope. It's the soundtrack of The Keep that makes it seem so incredibly big, because despite its impressive setting this is a very low budget movie. I think if ever a movie has been served well by its musical compositions then The Keep would be the ultimate example; a score so impressive that it's as powerful if not more so than the action on the screen.

The movies performances are varied Ian McKellen goes from crippled dying man to all powerful force due to his kinship with the creature, he pulls off this transformation admirably and it would be hard to visualise anyone else achieving this. Scott Glen is an unusual choice of casting, not just in a movie but as the movies hero; emotionally his performance is free from any personality, although his presence is felt through the movies duration. Gabriel Byrne delivers his most hostile performance I have ever seen, and even when he plays the bad guy in movies there is always something likeable about him, here you just want him dead. But the Romanians led by Robert Prosky give me the most annoyance as most speak withAmerican accents as does Alberta Watson who plays Eva, Cuza's daughter.

The Keep was initially shot as per Michael Mann's vision with a running time of just over 2 hours. However Paramount pictures spurned it saying it was just too long, they immediately set about hacking away 30 minutes of the films content. The result was a slightly disjointed story (though still equally good) appalled at the cannibalism of the movie Mann turned his back on the project. The result of Paramount's cuts was felt in both its critical rejection, and by its audiences who felt that its initially impressive story had spiralled out of control. After its 1984 video release Paramount washed their hands of the movie, hence why no further release has been forthcoming. However like 1973's The Wicker Man years after it was released it slowly developed a fan base, and its now one of the most requested DVD titles of unavailable movies. With no sign of The Keep even being entertained for release its a film that might cause some heartache trying to see, but the quest is one that truly pays off, and for my money its one of my most prized possessions.

Picnic At Hanging Rock

On Valentines Day 1900 a group of students from the Appleyard College left for a day trip to Hanging Rock, in Australia’s Mount Macedon area. Enjoying the beauty of the rock several of the party are slightly bemused by the sudden failure of their watches, all of which stopped at exactly 12 o’clock, although Miss McCraw puts this down to a magnetic force from the once volcanic rock. Having enjoyed a day of wonder in the sunshine at the base of Hanging Rock, four of the students decide to embark on a hike to the top of the rock formation, led by Miranda (Anne Lambert) the schools most admired pupil. After a lengthy climb the girls lay out just minutes from the top to embrace in the warmth of the sun, and take chance to rest.
One of the girls known as Edith awakens to see her three classmates venturing further up the rock without her, and although attempts to catch up with them cannot. Edith returns to the base in a state of shock, unable to speak of what has happened other than her three classmates have disappeared, what she can recall however is a bright red cloud, and passing Miss McCraw as she made her way up the hill, in a strange trance and without a skirt, McCraw too disappears.

Picnic At Hanging Rock is one of the greatest mysteries of all time, but bigger a mystery is the fact that so many believe the story to be true.

Thinking back I first saw Picnic At Hanging Rock about 25 years ago, and I must confess I was less than impressed, however rather like a might fine wine the movie has grown in wonder to me as I have grown older. In the last six or seven years it has become one of my favourite movies, and despite it’s UK imposed PG certificate its possibly one of the most disturbing movies currently available on DVD.

While Weir’s direction is mesmerising, showing us a variety of beautifully framed shots; the heart of the movie is in its chilling soundtrack by Bruce Smeaton, a little used composer. Using the traditional pan pies so native to Australia, a variety of classical numbers played by orchestras, and electronica. The effect of the music, gives the movie a real feeling of menace, almost to the extent that you feel like you have stumbled upon something you should have not have. To the other extreme, your given musical moments of extreme beauty so sublime you forget the horrors of earlier scenes.

The wonder of Joan Lindsay’s story, Cliff Green’s screenplay, and Peter Weir’s direction is that every single scene is pivotal to the story, those airy fairy moments that seem throwaway in their nature are all incredibly important to the story; casual references in conversation such as issue of time are so terribly important, and this is what sets the movie apart from so many other movies, nothing is irrelevant.

The horror of the events on Hanging Rock, are nothing compared to the horror that takes place at the Appleyard School, strangely this somehow overshadows the other issues of the film, not in a bad way, but it gives it a whole new dimension. The curious Mrs. Appleyard rules the school strongly, but no more than any other school of the day, what is however different is the subtle bullying of Sara a girl with a less fortunate home life than any of the other girls. This brings about a real tragedy bigger than anything else in the movie.

It’s an interesting view that the movie gives us, turning the clock back 108 years, how much has changed. This is best delivered to the viewer in one particular scene where the girls are told as soon as they are miles away from the college that they may have permission to remove their gloves, if they so wished.

The cast is a gathering of beautiful people both female and male, and I believe this is deliberate because it makes the loss so much more tragic, even Miss McCraw an older lady has a certain older beauty about her. McCraw of interest was played by actress Vivean Grey who is best known as Mrs. Mangle from TV show Neighbours, Grey’s career was cut short by a series of tragedies, firstly her character in TV show the Prisoner was virtually cut out completely due to a law suit bought about by a party that claimed her performance was far to similar to a real life character, and her experiences as Mrs. Mangle were so extreme due to the popularity of Neighbours that people in public found it difficult to tell the difference between the character and the actress, in 1988 Grey retired in acting distraught by events.

Of the other cast member you have Rachel Roberts one time wife Rex Harrison, here as Mrs. Appleyard her performance is forthright and exacting. Apparently so harsh was her performance that the young actresses literally hated her, so much so that often she would ask that the girls were removed from set, because should could not bear to be hated by them. There is even a train of thought that the performance was not in fact acting, rather like Appleyard she liked both men and a good drink. Roberts committed suicide five years later, the horrors she endured her co-workers with seemingly the start of the end.

Meanwhile the young and inexperienced cast literally performed as they would in real life, sought out due to the fact that they came from backwaters where culture had not quite got hold, while City actresses were into pop music, the cast were selected mainly of Adelaide actresses whose biggest interests were the crafts scene, no interest in music or boys. Leading these was Anne- Louise Lambert, an actress as stunning now 33 years on as she was back then. Long after the movie has ended you remember the beauty of Lambert.

The wonder of Picnic At Hanging Rock is that it is a story without end, when novelist Joan Lindsay sent the book to publishers back in 1967, ingenious minds decided to remove the final chapter leaving the story open ended. It’s this careful editing that made the story so famous, and ultimately if you like one of the biggest hoaxes of all time, with people convinced to this very day that the events in the book and the movie are true. The story begins with a cleverly written prologue, and a final epilogue, this is carried forward from the book to the movie. In 1975 when the movie was made, only the clever editors at the publishing house and Joan Lindsay knew the truth, this truth was not revealed until 12 years after the movie was made and can be found in the book The Secret Of Hanging Rock, those purchasing the book Picnic At Hanging Rock will find no conclusion.
I should add that this lack of ending does not weaken either the book or the movie (both equally as good) in fact it’s the real essence of the magic, had that final chapter have been included this would not be something we would talk about now. It should be pointed out that Picnic At Hanging Rock was the very first blockbuster Australian movie, with sales across the world being massive. This being said the movie failed to please audiences in the US, who desperately wanted an ending.

It’s not very often that when a directors cut of the movie is released that the original is somewhat lost altogether, but this is exactly what happened, the original print disappeared completely for over ten years. Then after being considered lost the original print returned, sadly though preservation of this print was impossible due to the source material the print was found on.


It’s important to point out before I finish that Hanging Rock and Ayres Rock (also known as Uluru) are very different locations, though I note that people reviewing this over the years often have this fact confused.

The Ruins

Sliding along in the wake of Turistas AKA Paradise Lost, The Ruins teaches us the dangers of travelling in unknown locations, and most importantly treating ancient temples and customs with respect.

 

While on holiday in Mexico five friends enjoy some downtime by their hotel swimming pool where they encounter the kindly Mathias (Joe Anderson). He tells the five travellers about his intentions to travel to an ancient temple the following day to meet with his brother. After some debate the five Americans decide to follow Mathias on his adventure being as it is their final days of their holiday, and figure that this would be an ideal way to finish off their holiday.

 

No sooner have our travellers arrived at the ancient temple than they are surrounded by an angry looking mob. Trying to cool the situation down due to the misunderstandings of no knowledge of each other’s language Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) the groups self appointed leader steps forward to make amends. His five travellers look on as he is cruelly murdered by the mob, causing them to head for the temple. Surrounded at the base of the ancient ruins by a fifty strong army the travellers, the group try to debate their escape, but what lies in and on the temple is far worse than the terror below.

 

The trailer for the Ruins gives a viewer little inspiration to begin watching this movie, looking rather bland and similar to a lot of other movies, however it fails to illustrate the complexities of the plot and what appeared to be familiar horror fare turned out to deliver well beyond believable expectation, and for a movie that comes from Hollywoods Dreamworks studio, it’s surprisingly dark.

 

The Ruins wastes no time getting straight to the heart of the action, having introduced the characters and their foibles, you are then rushed to the ancient ruins; where rather like fireworks you are given a quick succession of shocks. Considering the limited amount of space the cast have to manoeuvre around and the limited cast, there is an awful lot to The Ruins, more than you could ever expect in fact. Initially climbing the ruins filled with hope, the travellers are presented with a series of horrors that cause their hopes to slowly become diminished.

 

The big horror of the movie is the terrible vines that cover the ruins, and nothing is being ruined by this disclosure. Seemingly having a life of their own the vines can move, communicate, and most importantly devour our cast in a matter of seconds. You could call this horror a very tongue in cheek one, let’s face it vines that can communicate and kill? It sounds suspiciously like the plot for a nasty 60’s movie or TV series. But this is nothing to be laughed at, the vines are incredibly dangerous, and sinister; completely relentless in their actions and methods of seducing their prey these are the stuff of nightmares.

 

The special effects are great, and for a horror movie fan this will not fail to entertain with both reasonable scares and gross out horror this is the sort of thing a horror movie fan loves to see. The Ruins does echo back to the very dark horror movie output of the 1970’s where literally anything goes, there is lots of mutilation and limb removal that will have you turning away but desperately wanting to watch.

 

The cast perform well, Black Donnellys star Jonathan Tucker heads up the cast as medical student Jeff, while Jena Malone, and Shawn Ashmore add great support. The heart of the movie goes out to Laura Ramsey as Stacy a character who you are feeling for from the movies offset, she undergoes the greatest transformation of the movie, and some of her scenes will have you on the edge of your seat.

 

What works so well about The Ruins is the unchartered feel of the movie, yes we have seen similar offerings but this really is something genuinely different. Rather like Paradise Lost, Hostel, The Mist and Saw this movie opens up some new doors for horror and focuses as much on the psychological aspects of horror as it does the physical and graphic. It movies along at a rate of knots, one minute calm the next minute intense, while keeping the character development and emotion sharp. It’s movies like this that can give lethargic horror movie fans a little more hope for the future, this is hardly what you would consider normal or run of the mill.

The Ruins is in UK cinemas now.

 

Collateral

There are a lot of critics of the Cruise (Tom Cruise), generally from the quarter of the viewing population that don’t know their arse from their elbow. Fact of the batter is that for 27 years Tom Cruise has been a consistently performing actor, an arse in reality maybe but as a star he puts that little bit more into his roles. It’s this sort of commitment and hard work that means that Cruise’s movies are known products that dominate the box office. Personally I think the guy is a fantastic talent, adaptable, prepared to take a gamble, and in his career I can only see a couple of movies that fall under the category of being turkeys.

 

Collateral is not one of those movies that I would consider to be a turkey, I don’t think it’s a magnificent work of art but then to be honest I find all of director Michael Mann’s movies god but not the sort of thing that you can continuously watch.  One thing you can say about Mann is that all his movies are beautifully shot and Collateral is no exception, I’d go as to say that with the exception of his 1983 movie The Keep, Collateral is the most visually stunning of the directors output.

 

Max (Jamie Foxx) is a taxi driver, living a normal life; not a rich man but not a poor one either. He enjoys his job, and is a fairly likeable individual. For Max his shift starts normally a nattering old fool, followed by a beautiful lawyer called Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) who seemingly makes an instant connection. Max’s next fare is the enigmatic Vincent (Tom Cruise) , the two have an enticing conversation not dissimilar to that of a late night chat show, but before the fare comes to an end Vincent fires a question at Max, the question being if Max will work for him during the entire night.  Max agrees after a little considered thought and thinks he is in for a fairly calm and controlled night; unbeknown to Max however Vincent is a vicious and ruthless hitman, and the first Max knows of this is the arrival of a body on his taxi cab roof.

 

Collateral is the thinking person’s action movie, scenes of extreme action followed up by minutes of dialogue that set the movies taste and feel as Vincent slowly lets the un-accepting Max experience the darker aspects of his very varied life. The dialogue is quick, well thought out, but deathly to the point.

 

The game the movie plays is very much a cat and mouse tale where at various junctures of the movie Max and Vincent fight to achieve the upper hand, the one that holds all the cards. While Max believes much of the time during his upper hand moments it’s through sharp thinking, for the first portion of the movie your unaware if this is actually Vincent allowing this aspect to occur, to add a little fuel to what might otherwise be a very easy game.

 

What is most obvious about the movie is that this is not just a master and slave type scenario, to a major level the characters both have a certain degree of admiration for each other, you could even say they like each other. It’s certainly the case for Vincent, and at times there are key pointers that let you believe that Max might just feel the same. Max likes Vincent’s power, while Vincent enjoys the freedom of life that Max enjoys.

 

There is something in the back of my mind that ties Collateral to Mann’s earlier movie Heat, it’s almost as if Collateral is an earlier aspect of De Niro’s character Neil. If you look at Cruise and De Niro in both movies, they look the same both bearded with greying hair (here making Cruise look like almost a different actor); they both have the same levels of compassion, kindness, and ruthless aggression.

 

I’m sure Cruise had a lot of fun with this movie, not a stranger to action Cruise rarely gets to play the bad guy, and to play such an efficient cold blooded killer I suspect would be a highlight in anyone’s career, let alone that of an actor usually associated with being the hero. Even though Vincent is the bad guy, you find yourself rooting for him over Foxx’s weaker Max. This is one killer you want to succeed, and that’s why the movie is heavily balanced on the darker side than the good as most movies generally are.

 

Every one of the movies performers deliver from Cruise as the lead, to Peter Berg and Mark Ruffalo as cops in chase of the deadly Vincent. Eagle eyed viewers will notice an early performance from recent Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men).

 

Collaterals musical score is delivered by composer James Newton Howard who has contributed considerably to recent cinema, as well as what would now be regarded as Modern Cinema. From traditional use of brass and string instruments, to a sort of hyped up techno offering the movies power is delivered chiefly by the score that is unusually present in varying forms through the entire movie, moments of silence are literally only for seconds almost as if his orchestra have been given a matter of seconds to gain a breath.

 

On this my third viewing of the movie I find myself in new ground, having watched the movie as a large projected image. This is a movie that benefits greatly from a big screen, so much so it almost seems like a different movie altogether. Collateral is an enticing rollercoaster ride of a movie that will keep you captivated until the movies final breath.