COLD IN JULY (2014)

Directed by Jim Mickle, Starring: Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson, Sam Shepard, Vinessa Shaw. Thriller, US, 2014, 109mins, Cert 15.

Based on Joe R. Lansdale’s multi-layered novel, director Jim Mickle follows up the highly regarded STAKELANDS and WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (2013) with a gripping 80’s Southern film noir.

Having accidentally shot and killed an intruder in his home, family man Richard Dane (DEXTER’S Michael C. Hall) is reassured by the local sheriff that he acted in self-defence and that the intruder was a wanted felon. Still racked with guilt (the intruder was unarmed), he drives out to the graveyard just as the funeral is concluding. There is only one other mourner – the deceased’s father (Sam Shepard)...

This is a film which delivers three plots for the price of one. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on where the narrative is heading it shifts into an altogether darker territory. The opening chapter offers echoes of CAPE FEAR, with two relatively straight-played suspense set-pieces. But then the rug is gently but assuredly pulled from under both the viewer and our protagonist Dane, and the landscape twists into shades of BLOOD SIMPLE and beyond.

As the film continues to peel back layer upon layer, Michael C. Hall’s ordinary family man is pulled deeper and deeper into the film’s heart of darkness, until his initial desire to protect his wife and son leads him into having to make judgement calls upon which lives hang in the balance.

Shaking off his finely honed forensic psycho persona as DEXTER, Hall’s performance is engrossing and gives the film its emotional core. In addition, Sam Shepard delivers a perfectly pitched performance encompassing both understated menace and pathos. And then along comes Don Johnson’s almost film-stealing cowboy private investigating pig-farmer ‘Jim Bob’ who waltzes into town and acts as the ringmaster in the film’s final third ring circus.

Eschewing the first-person narration from the source material, Mickle and his long-time collaborator Nick Damici have fashioned a lean and taut screenplay which hones in on the story’s essence and strips away any fat from the bone. Mickle’s trusted composer Jeff Grace delivers a stunning synth soundtrack channelling Carpenter which throbs majestically in harmony to the ebb and flow of the story. The 80’s setting isn’t rammed down the throat (with the exception of Don Johnson’s intentionally hilarious gigantic ‘car-phone’), but is used more to isolate and pair-down the options available to the characters rather than to inject cheap knowing winks of nostalgia.

Jeff Mickle’s film is a confident, assured piece of genre filmmaking which cements his highly regarded reputation as a director and which proves unquestionably that revenge is a dish best served COLD IN JULY. 

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was originally published on the FrightFest website.

CAMP DREAD (2014)

Directed by Harrison Smith, Starring: Eric Roberts, Danielle Harris, Felissa Rose. Horror, USA, 2014, 90mins, cert 18.

Back in the 1980’s, horror film director Julian Barrett (Eric Roberts) helmed three successful instalments of the ‘Summer Camp’ slasher franchise. In an attempt to reboot his now flailing career, Barrett lures a bunch of young adult offenders to take part in a new reality TV show (Dead TV) with the chance to avoid prison and rehab, and a $1 million prize for the last contestant to be ‘eliminated’. Returning to the original location of the ‘Summer Camp’ franchise, and inviting his former scream queen (now newly trained counsellor) Rachel Steele (Felissa Rose), Barrett has installed video cameras throughout the camp grounds. Having wired each contestant with a micro-camera, he informs them that whilst they carry out their (scripted) daily tasks of preparing the camp for summer reopening, they will be ‘killed-off’ one-by-one by an unseen assailant. Once they have encountered the killer they are effectively out of the contest (sort of like a paintball fight if you will) and will have to depart the camp. However, the scripted reality starts to go decidedly off-course as the contestants start to be bumped off for real, and the stakes are raised to life or death.

This is a heavily signposted love letter to SLEEPAWAY CAMP (which itself featured a memorable performance by Felissa Rose and a jaw-dropping ending), and early 80’s summer camp slashers such as FRIDAY THE 13^TH and THE BURNING. And whilst it isn’t a patch on any of them, it’s nevertheless reasonably entertaining - doesn’t scrimp on the gore (including one genuinely original death) - and boasts a real surprise ending all of its very own.

The script assembles the standard archetypes which have populated every decent slasher, and whilst they all come across as thoroughly unlikeable individuals at first, it does become easier to identify with (some of) them as the grisly proceedings begin to unfurl. Eric Roberts’ is excellent as the puppermaster director, monitoring his ‘contestants’ through his bank of video screens. Felissa Rose provides top-notch support as the faded scream queen. Danielle Harris plays the local sheriff in a welcome variation from her own scream-queen persona, unfortunately her screen time is limited to two scenes (pivotal though they maybe) which bookend the beginning and end of the film. She does however get to deliver some tongue in cheek dialogue such as: “I don’t watch horror movies...because I think that they suck.”

The practical make-up effects are over the top and range in quality, but it’s nice to see Crazy Ralph’s death scene from FRIDAY THE 13^TH PART 2 restaged without MPAA-enforced restraint, and a set-piece murder inspired by the ‘Angry Birds’ game.

Having grown up in London in the 80’s, my only knowledge of summer camp came from watching those body count horror flicks that CAMP DREAD obviously pays homage to. As a result of which, I’d consider any teenager completely insane for even contemplating entering those grounds previously stalked by the likes of ‘Cropsy’, ‘Jason’ or ‘Angela’. However, there’s clearly a commonly held nostalgia for the summer camp slaughter feature, and whilst CAMP DREAD doesn’t tick every box (it’s largely devoid of suspense for one), I still enjoyed my stay in its cabins. 

*** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

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

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