WITHER (2012)

Directed by Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund, Starring: Patrik Almkvist, Lisa Henni, Patrick Saxe. Horror, Sweden, 2012, 92mins, Cert 18.

A Swedish homage to Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD, this low-budget Scandinavian effort pours on the gore in buckets but lacks the ferocious audacity of its inspiration.

Led by Albin (Patrik Almkvist), a group of good-looking youngsters head out into the woods to an isolated cabin for a weekend of frolicking. The deserted cabin is recommended by Albin’s father, and he assures Albin and his girlfriend Ida (Lisa Henni) that the place has been abandoned for at least five years; that he’ll make sure there’s electricity available; and that if they run into any problems they’re to contact him. It’s not made clear just how dad came to know about the cabin, nor how much investigation he did into the reason for its abandonment, but it turns out he really couldn’t have picked a worse location...

I missed its original showing on the Discovery Screen at last year’s FrightFest, so I was very much looking forward to checking this out. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to my expectations. The script creaks more than the rotting floorboards in the cabin. The one-dimensional characters are as equally wooden as the walls – and they stay that way even once they’ve been possessed by the soul-swallower in the cellar.

The female characters in particular suffer a disproportionately rough ride (even by generic horror standards) although I did feel sorry for the poor lass who initially (and quite inexplicably) decides to descend into the cellar with just a candle for company. Still, it’s not just any candle, it’s a magic candle as it appears to decrease and increase in length from shot to shot. At least no one suggests playing a mysterious tape recorder (there isn’t one – or else I’m sure they would’ve). The script is filled with idiotic moments – which would be perfectly acceptable if the two directors and three scriptwriters (!) offered some indication that this was all being played tongue-in-cheek or with a knowing wink to the audience. But instead we just get a joyless po-faced gore-fest. Admittedly some of the largely practical gore effects are exceptionally well executed, but they really deserved a better showcase than this leaden clomping effort for which my initial enthusiasm gradually waned the longer it went on until ultimately it withered away completely.

** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

(This review was originally published on the FrightFest website.)

SISTERS (1972)

Directed by Brian De Palma, Starring: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, William Finley, Charles Durning. Horror, thriller, USA, 1972, 93mins, Cert 15.

Brian De Palma’s 1973 SISTERS represents a significant change in direction for the eventual Hitchcockian auteur. Taking his inspiration from Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW, and adding a pinch or two of PSYCHO to the mix, De Palma concocts a deliciously delirious thriller that marks the first of his visual voyages into cinematic voyeurism.

Phillip Woode (Lisle Wilson), a 25 year old African American man, is faced with a moral dilemma when a blind woman enters a changing room and begins to undress in front of him. But nothing is what it seems. The woman is an actress/ model, Danielle Breton (Margot Kidder) and the scene is being filmed and shown to two contestants on a TV show who have to guess how Woode will react to the situation. Both Woode and Danielle are watching from the wings along with a studio audience which includes Danielle’s former husband Dr Emil Breton (William Finley). Pulling the visual rug from under the audience straight away, De Palma wastes no time at all in signalling his intent to present to the audience a deceptive and duplicitous tale. A tale ripe with red-herrings; audacious technical conceits and a tongue in cheek premise.

Everything in the film is connected with watching. Danielle’s neighbour, Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt), a local newspaper reporter, witnesses a murder from her apartment window, with the victim smearing the word ‘help’ with a bloodied hand on the window within Danielle Breton’s flat. De Palma employs the split screen device to supreme effect during both this and a subsequent sequence which gives the audience simultaneous insights into how the murder scene is being cleaned up (and the body hidden) on the left of the screen, whilst the right-side shows us the police officers and reporter Collier ascending up to the apartment. The split screen technique is often dismissed as being purely gimmicky, but De Palma’s employment of it here yields a playful heightened suspense.

De Palma’s films are not on the whole known for having strong female protagonists, but in SISTERS the male characters are largely playing second fiddle to the two outstanding female leads (and the only murder victims are men).  Margot Kidder excels in her dual roles as both sensuous playful French / Canadian actress/model Danielle and as her deadly sister Dominique. Jennifer Salt delivers an effective turn as the feisty reporter determined to uncover the truth despite the sceptical antipathy of the police. Even her real-life mother (Mary Davenport) pitches in as her onscreen mum and their comedic scenes together have an added air of authenticity about them as a result.

For the chaps, William Finley’s creepy and sinister Dr Breton looms alarmingly in De Palma’s fish-eye lens. (Finley, a regular for the director, would go on to play The Phantom in De Palma’s PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE). And the venerable Charles Durning, in an early role, plays a private detective roped into helping Jennifer Salt’s reporter with some amateur snooping. Having followed a sofa all the way from Staten Island across into Canada, he is last seen suspended from a telegraph pole watching through binoculars (presumably waiting in vain) for someone to come and collect it!

Proceedings are heightened immeasurably by a terrific Bernard Hermann score, complete with early use of Moog electronics! For me, the soundtrack perfectly sums up De Palma’s little gem of a film. It’s at once clearly recognisable as being in the tradition of a Hitchcock; yet it has its own unique identity; infused with impish creative embellishments; and it is this duality that elevates the film to more than the sum total of its MacGuffins and magic tricks. 

   

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was originally published on the FrightFest website.

ANTISOCIAL (2013)

Directed by Cody Calahan, Starring: Michelle Mylett, Cody Ray Thompson, Adam Christie.
Horror, Canada, 2013, 92mins, cert 18.
Released in the UK on DVD and Bluray by Monster Pictures on 14^th April 2014.

It’s New Year’s Eve. Forced to attend a university lecture as she didn’t do very well on her criminology finals, Sam’s day goes from bad to worse when her (cheating) boyfriend Dan breaks up with her via a Skype-like conversation conducted through The Social Redroom, a Facebook-like social media forum. Closing her laptop down, she takes out her mobile and deletes the Social Redroom app (not before catching an alert informing her that Dan’s status has already been changed from “taken” to “single” – ouch!) Given the reason she really wanted to talk to him, this was not what she was hoping for...But then there’s long-time best friend Mark’s New Year’s Eve party to go to, and even though she’s clearly not in the mood to party, and prone to bouts of nausea, she reluctantly shows up. And just when Sam thinks her 31^st December can’t get any worse; it appears there’s a highly contagious global infection breaking out which turns the affected victims into violent hallucinating zombies.
  
Given its European premiere at FrightFest 2013, Cody Calahan’s Facebook meets VIDEODROME via NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD premise isn’t outstandingly original, yet once you get past the generic teen tosh it manages to crank up a gear or two and the final third pulls off some pleasingly effective tongue-in-cheek moments of gore before the memorable final sequence concludes proceedings nicely.  

As with most films that feature social media-reliant scenarios, I always marvel at how quick and reliable the protagonist’s wireless signals are. Even whilst fleeing up a staircase in a block of flats, a character can conduct a near-perfect Skype video conversation (Why you’d want to do this at such a time of clear and present danger is another matter). Of course the whole premise is a not-so-subtle dig at how social media is controlling our lives, turning us into zombie-like addicts constantly seeking on-line validation and recognition and all the while losing our grip on reality and, paradoxically, our ability to really communicate with each other.

The story would have benefited from a less teen-angst-centred approach; I’m thinking perhaps a more coldly analytical Cronenberg-like scalpel to the material. However, director Calahan, along with his co-writer Chad Archibald certainly provide some nice hallucinatory moments of body-horror – not to mention quite literally a scalpel (and power-drill) for those hard to reach brain infections.

Of the cast, Michelle Mylett as Sam is the best of a fairly generic bunch, infusing her character with a plausible layer of sympathy and vulnerability before ratcheting up her self-sufficiency and survival instincts. Ana Alic’s blonde nymphet Kaitlin rises above the standard nubile-for-hire guise when trussed in Xmas tree lights and crawling feral-like on all fours in the film’s singularly most memorable sequence.
Ironically, I deactivated my Facebook account (temporarily) a week before watching this film. I felt I was actually becoming more and more (forgive the unintentional pun) antisocial with every posting. Putting this in context, Cody Calahan’s ANTISOCIAL is more than worthy of a few ‘likes’, even if the teen’s early postings induce initial buffering before connection is achieved.   

Extras: Audio commentary, behind the scenes feature, trailer.

*** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was originally published on the Frightfest website.

OUTPOST III: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ (2013)

Directed by Kieran Parker, Starring: Bryan Larkin, Iván Kamarás, Michael McKell, Velibor Topic, Alex Utgoff . Horror, UK, 2013, 84mins, cert 18.

Along the Eastern Front in March 1945, a small Russian Special Forces Unit (Spetsnaz) is lying in wait to ambush an approaching Nazi convoy. The resulting bloody battle doesn’t go entirely to plan however, and the Spetsnaz are captured and taken to a nearby underground facility. Once imprisoned in this subterranean test facility they discover the Nazi’s are conducting experiments in order to develop an invincible army of undead soldiers.
Stepping up from his previous producing duties, first-time director Kieran Parker delivers an ‘origin’ story for this third instalment in the OUTPOST franchise. Utilising the extensive bunker set originally constructed for OUTPOST: BLACK SUN, this outing for the Nazi Zombie storm troopers is, for the most part, subterranean which proves to be both an asset and a hindrance.

The most obvious comment to make is how colourless the film appears. It’s as if the image palette has deliberately been set one-notch above monochrome. Given that an extensive chunk of the film takes place in dimly lit underground corridors, there are whole segments which appear to be in black and white. Compared to some of the footage featured in the ‘making of’ featurette, it’s striking just how ‘washed out’ the final print appears. Perhaps the filmmakers felt this added a claustrophobic authenticity to the proceedings, but the film’s impact is considerably lessened as a result.
This is especially notable in the gory sequences - plentiful and gleefully vicious though they maybe - and in some of the zombies themselves. Neither gets the forthright presentation they deserve.

The script is understandably action-heavy but there are a few gems glistening in the darkness of the bunker. Michael McKell’s chillingly barmy Nazi Colonel Strasser mines some choice dialogue before suffering an outstandingly gruesome demise.
Glaswegian lead Bryan Larkin, beefed up for the role of lead Spetsnaz Sergeant Dolokhov, acquits himself admirably as he almost single-handedly slaughters the entire Third Reich in his attempts to blow the lid on his captures’ devilish plans. He may well occasionally loose his grip on the Russian accent, but his grip on his knife, pickaxe and machine-gun remains true throughout.        

Not having seen this film’s two predecessors I’m not qualified to judge where it sits in terms of quality within the franchise. However, whilst it lacks the insane invention of FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY and the crowd-pleasing humour of DEAD SNOW, it’s nevertheless an efficient (if largely colourless) addition to the increasingly crowded Nazi Zombie sub-genre.

(And it does feature this admirable pun in the end credits: “Filmed in (Goose) Stepps Glasgow”)

*** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was originally published on the FrightFest website.

IN FEAR (2013)

Directed by Jeremy Lovering, Starring: Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert, Allen Leach. Horror, UK, 2013, 82mins, cert 15.

Released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray by  on 10^th March 2014.

Tom (Iain De Caestecker), and his girlfriend Lucy (Alice Englert) are heading to a music festival in Ireland. To celebrate their ‘two-week anniversary” Tom takes a risk and books a night in a remote luxury hotel on route. Driving down the labyrinthian country roads, the signs to the hotel seem to be directing the couple into an increasingly dark and threatening wooded maze.

Writer / director Jeremy Lovering’s feature-film debut is a sharp, efficient suspenser which takes well-worn horror tropes and creates a genuine sense of increasing dread. Taking his cue from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, director Lovering deliberately withheld key elements of the script from his two leads. This decision pays off handsomely as both convey very real fear with their (often genuine reactions) as their initial exasperation at getting lost transforms as the daylight fades into apprehension and then to very real terror.

Filmed in locations on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, the ‘scope photography beautifully reflects the emotional journey of the characters as picturesque scenery is gradually replaced by barren open moors and then darkened foreboding woodland lanes. Equally effective is the music and sound design, again perfectly complementing this journey from optimism and light into the nightmare of primal fears. 

Both De Caestecker (currently in Marvel’s AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series) and Englert (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES) give sympathetic performances as the young couple, and their escalating unease is both credible and involving.

But eventually director Lovering has to show his hand and let both his actors and the audience in on the secret. Given the fact that the previous 45 minutes have so effectively crafted a fear of the unknown, it’s almost inevitable that once that unknown becomes known, the tension dissipates and the grip loosens. The film does still have one nasty surprise up its sleeve, but as the end-credits roll the overall feeling is ultimately one of slight disappointment. It’s a shame, because for the most part this proves to be an effective, clinical and claustrophobic study in fear.

Extras: Audio commentary, Behind the Scenes Documentary, Stills Gallery, Music from and inspired by In Fear by Roly Porter, Trailer.

*** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

 

PARANORMAL XPERIENCE 3D (2011)

Directed by Sergi Vizcaino, Starring: Amaia Salamanca, Maxi Iglesias, Luis Fernandez, Horror, Spain, 2011, 87mins, cert 18.

With the vague promise that their grades would be looked at again, five underachieving psychology students are persuaded by their professor to undertake a paranormal investigation in an old abandoned mining town. Needing suitable transport, Angela (Amaica Salamanca) invites her younger (van owning) bartending sister Diana along with the enticement: “Those things always interested you...”
The sister’s relationship seems strained, perhaps in some way related to a memory of their deceased father, but Diana (Alba Ribas) comes through with the van and off they all pop on their merry haunt.   

According to their somewhat unorthodox professor, the town of Susurro was once prey to an evil doctor (Dr. Matarga) who tortured and killed over 20 of the townsfolk after the war. When the mines were re-opened in 1963, workers reported feeling a presence before the gruesome discovery of the bodies of 5 dead miners. Is the paranormal presence of Dr. Matarga merely a collective figment of the imagination or is there something more tangible visceral and deadly lurking in the dusty abandoned town of Susurro?

Made back in 2011, this Spanish stereoscopic splatter flick is perhaps most notable for featuring a plethora of jawdroppingly unsubtle SONY product placements. In fact a more appropriate title would’ve been: ‘Product placement Experia’ after the smart phone so prominently featured in the first third of the film (and yet curiously completely forgotten about when help is required later on down at the old spooky mining town) Then there’s the SONY laptop which is carefully carried throughout to show us the logo at every opportune moment, and would you believe it, there’s also a video camera (guess what make?). At least the found-footage aspect is limited to a few short sequences (and to be fair one of these is key to the plot).

The attractive nubile young cast look like they’ve all just come straight from a telenovela (glamorous Spanish soap-opera), but the script doesn’t require them to stretch their thespian abilities beyond looking fit and trading uninspiring insults with each other. And when they’re not auditioning for Calvin Klein underwear commercials they’re being dispatched in (mostly) decently executed practical gore set-pieces. I say mostly, for there is one CGI effect which is so spectacularly shoddy it almost single-handedly undoes all the good make-up work that has gone before it.

The design of the not-so-good doctor is nicely executed, a sort of cross between the mask from THE HILLS RUN RED, with ‘Tony’ from TOTAL RECALL (1990). There’s an impressive piece of handiwork performed with a meat hook (which would surely impress even ‘Candyman’ himself), and pithy one-liners sound so much better in Spanish, e.g. “Bonito culo!” (nice ass).

Surprisingly, the majority of the film takes place during the bright sunny Spanish daylight, which somewhat dilutes the atmosphere. (Perhaps it was feared all those SONY labels wouldn’t be discernible in the gloom?). This is a shame as both the salt mines and the grimly decorated doctor’s house could have offered much more. Then again, perhaps the fact that it was actually filmed in 3D - rather than merely being a post-conversion - played a hand in this decision. Speaking of the 3D, it’s apparent, (even from watching the ‘flat’ 2D preview DVD) that there are sequences clearly designed to provide that ‘in your face’ effect. I’m a sucker for this type of gimmicky 3D (FRIDAY THE 13^TH PART 3 being my absolute favourite example) and it would’ve been fun to see how effective those moments proved to be. I must also note that the preview disc I viewed had the words: “Property of Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment” permanently burned across the upper middle of the screen, which, when combined with the subtitles occupying the lower half, proved to be somewhat distracting at times.

But even taking all this into account, I still found PARANORMAL XPERIENCE (2D) to be a reasonably entertaining commercial Catalonian creep fest. (Had I been able to view it in 3D I might even have added an extra star to my rating).

P.S. there’s a brief additional scene post end-credits – for completists – (like me).

** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was originally published on the FrightFest website.

NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR (2013)

Directed by Anthony Leonardi III, Starring: Clancy Brown, Anne Heche, James Tupper Jennifer Stone, Ethan Peck, Rebekah Brandes. Horror, USA, 2013, 96mins, cert 15.

Pastor Bramford (James Tupper) and his family move out of the city to the deceptively peaceful town of Stull. Taking over from the retiring Pastor Kingsman (Clancy Brown), the townsfolk welcome the newcomers with open arms (even taking over from the removal team to help furnish the Bramford’s new home). Why even kindly old Mrs Gordon (whose almost 95 you know) has made the family one of her famous cakes – so good in fact that they “melt your tongue right off” pronounces Pastor Kingsman. (Not quite...)

This is the first offering from Slasher Film productions (co-owned by none other than Slash of Guns N’ Roses), and it also marks the feature-film debut of former storyboard artist Anthony Leonardi III. Despite their best intentions however, I have to report that after viewing this debut, neither came claim to come out of it smelling of roses (sorry).

Quite why Tupper’s Pastor Bramford didn’t do his homework on the town of Stull before accepting the position is at best questionable. Surely a quick search on Google would have revealed all is not quite so rosy in this quiet little god-fearing community? And any congregation led by Clancy (‘Brother Justin’ in HBO’s CARNIVALE) Brown must have a dark secret at its heart. Clancy is (as is sadly so often the case) underused in the role of Pastor Kingsman, but then again so is Anne Heche as the wife of the good Pastor Bramford (real-life couple Heche and Tupper). For a film that clearly intends to be character driven, we’re not really given that much to work with for any of the characters. Older daughter Rebecca (Rebekah Brandes) is given several longueur scenes gazing longingly into the eyes of hunky farm-hand Noah (Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory), who rather worryingly appears a dab hand at slitting the throats of sheep.

Speaking of which, this film is not recommended for sufferers of ovinaphobia (fear of sheep) as Rebecca experiences a rather unpleasant nightmare of the woolly variety. Meanwhile, younger teen sister Mary (Jennifer Stone) initially has a run in with a rat (an encounter which the rodent will come to regret later on), and gets disproportionately punished for grabbing the first slice of Mrs Gordon’s cake.

The cake in question is just one example of numerous plot holes and unexplained threads which are liberally sprinkled throughout the half-baked storyline. Having been told not to touch the cake till the family are gathered for their evening meal (because mum makes such a big thing of such things), nothing is then said later despite the fact the cake has been chucked into the garbage bin by sheep-slitter Noah.

Once the town’s dark, black tendril secret is eventually revealed (in largely uninspiring CGI form) all character credibility is sunk beneath the black ooze. A prime example being a scene where big-sis Rebecca and Noah are driving hell-for-leather away from a pursuer only for Rebecca to insist Noah stops the car in order to get out and debate the ethics of running away - in the middle of the street- thereby allowing the threat to gradually catch up with them.

I must admit I did chuckle at the casual callousness of how big-sis leaves her young brother behind not once but twice in the path of deadly peril – clearly a case for welfare services methinks.

The dénouement is somewhat rushed and under explained, and the conclusion suggesting a cyclical pattern to the aforementioned events raises more questions than answers. There’s nothing wrong with a film which takes it time to build atmosphere and character before unleashing its bag of bad things, but a film that takes so long to deliver underdeveloped characters, story, and largely uninventive effects leaves the audience with nothing left to fear.

** (OUT OF 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was first published on the FrightFest website.