THE KILLING (1956)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Starring: Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook Jr., Marie Windsor. Crime, Thriller, US, 1956, 85mins, Cert 12.

12 years before he would film apes discovering a monolith and 15 years before Malcolm McDowell’s droogs would indulge in bit of the old ultra-violence, Stanley Kubrick chose to adapt a crime novel entitled ‘Clean Break’ for his third feature film and in so doing produced one of the most highly regarded heist movies.

Employing hardboiled crime fiction writer Jim Thompson to write the ripe nourish dialogue, the film plays out like a game of chess, with the various protagonists all being pawns in the elaborate scheme of ring leader Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) to rob $2million from a racetrack on a big race day. With a radio commentator-like narration intoning, each of the film’s characters are introduced to us, along with the dates/times of the non-linear narrative (of which there’s no point in trying to keep up with) which jumps back and forth, often days at a time, before we finally arrive at the actual robbery. Assisting Hayden with his plan are a rich assortment of characters including a race-track cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr. - who I remember most from the original HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL), his gold-digging and cheating wife Sherry (Marie Windsor), a crooked cop, a bartender with a sick wife, and a marksmen tasked with shooting a racehorse. It’s a rich selection and they’re given some choice hardboiled dialogue to chew around with before we get down to the dramatic events at the racetrack.

The heist itself is giddily exhilarating and choreographed with a controlled precision that Kubrick would become renowned for. Little details such as a ‘lucky’ horse-shoe, an ill-fitting suitcase lock and a pampered lapdog take on seismic significance as the carefully plotted plan starts to unravel like a ball of string and the seemingly most innocuous character ultimately triggers a bloodbath.

THE KILLING is an early demonstration of how Kubrick could take genre-specific source material and fashion it with his own unique vision. It’s a gripping noir crime thriller in its own right, but it’s also a fascinating glimpse of what Kubrick would bring to cinema in the years following. 

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

(Originally published by FrightFest).

DRACULA UNTOLD (2014)

Directed by Gary Shore, Starring: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Charles Dance. Fantasy/Horror, UK, 2014, 92mins, Cert 15.

It is 1462, and former impaler Vlad (Luke Evans), having been enslaved by the Ottomans as a child and brought up to be a fearsome warrior, is now a peaceful loving ruler of his homeland Wallachia. Unfortunately, history is due to repeat itself as his former childhood friend Mehmed is now the evil Turkish sultan and he’s demanding 1,001 Wallachian boys to be drafted into his army (the thousandth and one being Vlad’s own son Ingeras). Desperate to protect his son and people he enters into a Faustian pact with the ‘Master Vampire’ (Charles Dance) whereby he will gain the strength of one hundred men, the speed of a falling star and the ability to hear a squirrel break wind several miles into the distance. The small print in all this is that he will develop an insatiable lust for human blood, and if he can’t resist this diabolical craving for three days he will become a vampire for all eternity and free the ‘Master’ vamp from his cave on Broken Tooth Mountain forever... 

  

This then is Universal Studios attempt to reboot their classic monsters by giving the world the ‘untold’ origins story of Dracula. Unfortunately, despite first-time director Gary Shore pulling off some visually impressive set-pieces, it never amounts to much more than a bland, cynical, studio penned attempt to match Marvel’s lucrative superhero factory line. 

So anxious are the makers to arrive at their modern-day envelope opening finale, that in their unseemly haste they don’t have the time (or inclination) to show us Vlad’s actual ‘origins’ as a child. Instead we have to make do with a throwaway montage glossing over his childhood indoctrination into the Ottoman army, his burgeoning into the feared impaler and his subsequent rejection of all this impaling and his desire to settle down and become a lover (not an impaler). Whilst brevity is often a quality to be admired, if you’re going to rip up one of the most well-known ‘origin’ novels of gothic fiction of all-time, doing so in such a rapid roughshod fashion is doomed to failure regardless of the merits of your conceit.

  

Luke Evans does what he can with an anaemic script, but his Vlad doesn’t stand a chance of entering into the pantheon of iconic onscreen Dracula’s no matter how impressive his command of the weather is or his new-found ability to transform into a colony of bats in the blink of a CG eye. Charles Dance’s ‘Master Vampire’ is a suitably creepy Nosferatu-like creature skulking in his skull-laden cave with his overlong tongue, but his encounter with Evans merely serves to remind one just how much enjoyable the tale would be if its tone was consistently darker than IMAX grey.

It strikes me as almost perverse that given the bloody origins of the story, DRACULA UNTOLD attempts to deliver its undernourished tale with only the merest hint or briefest coy smidgeon of the claret stuff. And it plays fast and loose with Vlad’s supernatural capabilities too, surely someone who has ‘the speed of a falling star’ could save a person from plummeting to their death down a Cliffside...?  

DRACULA UNTOLD is an unnecessary half-told tale created solely for the purpose of trying to inject some lifeblood into a character that really doesn’t need rebooting. And as for the overarching aim of teeing up an X-Men (X-Monsters?) monster-mash up franchise, well we’ve already had Fred Dekker’s wonderfully affectionate 1987 homage THE MONSTER SQUAD, so thanks, but no thanks.

**(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

(This review was orIginally published by FrightFest.

NINJAS VS MONSTERS (2012)

Directed by Justin Timpane, Starring: Daniel Ross, Cory Okouchi, Jay Saunders, Devon Brookshire. Martial Arts, Horror, Comedy. US, 2012, 96mins, Cert 15.

(To be read in dramatic trailer-voice). In 2008 he brought you NINJAs VS ZOMBIES; in 2010 he brought you NINJAs VS VAMPIRES; now he brings you the concluding part of the NINJA VS trilogy with: NINJA VS MONSTERS...

I confess I’m new to the NINJA VS... party, not having seen either of writer/director Justine Timpane’s two previous instalments. But it really doesn’t take much time to get up to speed with the characters, (there is a black and white back story montage which helps, sort of) but frankly it’s not essential as this isn’t a tightly plotted character-driven piece (it has “VS” in the title for crying out loud). So onto the plot. Dracula is turning in his coffin (not literally), fed up with how monsters and in particular vampires are now perceived thanks to the werewolf/vampire romance and sparkle of the TWILIGHT franchise. So he summons up his monster mates Frankenstein (creature/creator hybrid), The Mummy, Werewolf and a coven of witches to destroy our leading Ninjas (two of which have magic powers – just go with it).

I don’t know quite how modest the budget was for this ridiculously undemanding hyper-geek chop-socky monster mash – the seemingly obligatory Kickstarter campaign target was a humble $15,000 (total raised $17,319) – but I’m pretty sure the constant bombardment of effects shots and relentless action on screen represent a staggering value-for-money ratio.

Of course you have to make huge allowances for the production limitations in order to give it a fair viewing. I must admit after the opening 15 minutes I glanced at my watch thinking the remaining 75 minutes were going to be some of the longest of my entire life. But I was wrong. It’s fun, occasionally laugh out loud funny and played with a likeable geeky gusto by a cast who throw themselves (literally on occasions) head-first into the hokey mayhem.

On the technical side, Brian Anderson (who has since sadly passed away) as visual effects supervisor is owed a huge debt of gratitude (which is duly acknowledged by the onscreen dedication, the tribute on the ‘extras’ and the steady references to his work on the commentary tracks). 

On the acting front, head ‘ninja’ (the term needs to be used lightly) Daniel Ross as ‘Kyle’ leads the cast admirably, deftly breaking the fourth-wall along the way, and a special mention is warranted for Alexia Poe as ‘The Guide’ who threatens to steal the entire film as a kind of battle-axe wielding Xena Warrior Princess / dungeon-mistress cosplayer advising our heroes of the rules of combat when challenging their classic monster foes.

In the end, the constant stream of sheer unadulterated full-throttle geekiness batters you into submission. And whilst it belongs in a galaxy far far away from the mega budgets of the Marvel universe (now there’s a mixed-franchise analogy if ever I wrote one), it boasts a lot of genuine heart for its modest resources, and for that I award it three ninja stars. 

***(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

BEYOND (2014)

Directed by Joseph Baker and Tom Large, Starring: Richard J. Danum, Gillian MacGregor. Drama / Science Fiction, UK, 2014, 89mins, Cert 15.

Having survived an armed robbery in a mini-supermarket, Cole (Richard J. Danum) then ends up at a house party where his evening take a decided turn for the better when he gets talking to Maya (Gillian MacGregor). Now if only that giant asteroid possibly heading for a cataclysmic impact with earth could be diverted by US warheads then life would be tickety-boo. Actually, there is another possible scenario, that asteroid could instead turn out to be an alien armada heading to destroy humanity or enslave them or something suitably unsporting like that...

The trailer for BEYOND has (to date) been viewed over 2 million times on YouTube. Assuming nobody has watched it more than once, that’s over 2 million YouTubers who've (unknowingly) seen a complete misrepresentation of this low-budget, (very) low sci-fi, character-driven two-hander.

The cutting between pre and post-invasion scenes is initially jarringly effective, and the sparing glimpses of the (presumably) alien mothership are by in large passable given the budgetary constraints. But the emphasis is very much on the emotional strains placed on our lead couple by the uninvited extra-terrestrial harvestings and the internal struggles they are forced to come to terms with as a result of a moral dilemma.

In this, the performances of the two leads carry the film for far longer than it deserves, that is until the groan-inducing cliché twist ending which, given the way the film is being promoted, must surely constitute a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act.

Apparently world-premiered at the SciFi London Festival this year, its inclusion must surely have represented some kind of limbo-dance under the entry bar.

Then again, quite how this character drama masquerading as an alien invasion sci-fi thriller got the green light in the first place is frankly beyond me (pun intended).

**(out of 5*) 

Paul Worts  

THE BUBBLE (1966) aka FANTASTIC INVASION OF PLANET EARTH - 3D BLU-RAY REVIEW

Directed by Arch Oboler. Starring: Michael Cole, Deborah Walley, Johnny Desmond. Science Fiction, US, 1966, 91mins, cert Unrated.

Released in the US on 3D Blu-ray on 18^th November 2014 by Kino Classics.

Before I give a critical appraisal of Arch Oboler’s 1966 3-D sci-fi flick THE BUBBLE, I feel I must firstly declare my undying love for ‘early’ 3-D films. And just so we are all clear, by ‘early’ I’m referring to that period from the 1950’s up until the mid-1980’s. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the current 3-D IMAX presentations and will invariably seek out a 3D showing rather than a ‘flat’ screening wherever possible (yes, even ‘post-conversions’ – sacrilege I know). But my true affection is for a time when 3D was still a relatively fresh gimmick, and a gimmick invariably attached to non-mainstream films with somewhat less wholesome fare in general then THE SMURFS. 

So onto THE BUBBLE. A light-aircraft carrying a heavily pregnant woman, Catherine (Deborah Walley) and her husband Mark (Michael Cole) flies through a storm and is forced to make an emergency landing in a remote town. The town’s inhabitants appear trapped in their own individual mini time-warps, repeating actions and phrases like wind-up toys. The plane’s pilot, Tony (Johnny Desmond) sets off to explore and ends up in a western-like saloon replete with a high-kicking gartered showgirl, a barman on a time-loop and a tray of drinks that levitates off the counter and floats around the bar as if it’s been carried by an invisible waitress!

It turns out the town is encased in a dome like bubble which has trapped the town’s citizens like butterflies in a jar (the question is who or what is observing them and whether the jar is ultimately a killing jar..?

This is a lightweight flimsy film which plays out like an overlong episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Its pace is as leaden as most of the residents of the bubbled town it portrays. (The original version apparently ran to 112 minutes before it was re-cut down to the current length – perhaps, in this instance at least, a small mercy?).

But despite the film’s obvious shortcomings it does boast some outstanding 3D photography and a host of wonderful ‘in-your-face’ moments for stereoscopic devotees (such as myself) to go all cross-eyed over. Director Arch Oboler is no stranger to purveyors of the third dimension thanks originally to the fact that in 1952 he gave the world the first 3-D film in colour (BWANA DEVIL formerly known as THE LIONS OF GULU). With THE BUBBLE he served up the first stereoscopic feature to be filmed in ‘4-D Space-Vision’, a new lens and projection system that required only a single-strip of 35mm film and provided glorious widescreen polarised 3D.

THE BUBBLE boasts a number of memorable 3D sequences, most notably the aforementioned floating drink tray; which elevate (no pun intended) the frankly mundane plot and provide frequently cheesy excuses to ‘reach-out’ to the viewer. Despite the crankiness of the story and the half-baked conclusion (it rains, implying the bubble is opening) it’s still more fun (in 3D) then Stephen King’s current big-budget TV series, UNDER THE DOME which it inevitably invites comparison with.

Retitled in 1976 by Monarch Releasing Corp.

I first saw THE BUBBLE at a rare screening at the British Film Institute’s National Film Theatre on London’s Southbank during a season of 3D films. From the opening shot where the aircraft’s wing seemingly stretched out unapologetically right over the audience’s heads into the back row of the auditorium I was sold. Like so many 3D films, watching them ‘flat’ in 2D robs them of their primary raison d'être, and this would be undoubtedly true in the case of THE BUBBLE.

Thankfully, Kino Classics have undertaken a painstaking restoration and the fruits of their (considerable) dedication are now available to view in a remarkable 3D Blu-ray presentation. Of course the print still bears some signs of ageing and the lack of love previously afforded to its storage, but these are more than forgivable and in my opinion add authenticity to the overall viewing experience. The 3D imagery is crisp, with only occasional ‘ghosting’ evident and the ‘in-your-face’ moments are all present and correct.

THE BUBBLE is an important milestone in the history of stereoscopic cinema, and I am profoundly grateful to everyone involved in this labour of love for proving the opportunity to re-experience THE BUBBLE in all its ‘4-D Space-Vision’ glory from the comfort of my sofa. Now if only Paramount would do the same for FRIDAY THE 13^TH PART 3 then I would be in seventh 3D-heaven...)

  

Extras:  Essay by Bob Furmanek, Screenplay excerpts of deleted scenes, Trailers, Stills Gallery, Alternate Opening (3-D and 2-D), Restoration Demonstration 3-D and 2-D). 

 

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

Check out the excellent: 3-D Film Archive site here.

DEVIL'S TOWER (2014)

Directed by Owen Tooth, Starring: Roxanne Pallett, Jason Mewes, Frances Ruffelle,

Jessica-Jane Stafford. Horror, UK, 2014, 82mins, Cert 18

Having been (literally) thrown out onto the street by her abusive alcoholic mother, Sarah is forced to take up residence in Albion Court, a tower block seemingly filled with wall to wall drug dealers, generic low-life characters and a murky past. “What, you’re moving into the murder flat?”(exclaims one of the residents). “He’s just winding you up, they didn’t die IN the flat”, reassures another. But Sarah will soon find out that it’s what is residing in flat 254 on the top floor that she really needs to worry about...

Not entirely sure where to begin in trying to review this film. I guess I’ll start with the lead, Roxanne Pallett (formerly of TV ‘Emmerdale’ fame), making her ‘scream queen’ debut playing Sarah a character who is either 21 or 18 years of age. Let me explain. Her most treasured possession, a silver cigarette lighter, is inscribed ‘21^st Happy Birthday’ from her mum and dad (dad’s dead: not explained). But - and here’s the rub – when mum (Frances Ruffelle) subsequently totters up unannounced and unwelcome at her flat she tells Sarah that motherhood is a life sentence which started: “...18 years ago when you were born”. Perhaps the booze has clouded her timeframe – then again, her confusion could be down to the fact that her onscreen daughter is being played by an actress who is in reality 31 years of age!

This low-budget British supernatural zombie rom-bonk is crammed full of awful cringe-inducing characters uttering cringe-inducing dialogue which even the script editor for ‘Eastenders’ would baulk at. Remember the film David and his dead friend Jack watch in the porno cinema on Piccadilly Circus in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (‘See You Next Wednesday’ of course), well the acting in that for the most part surpasses most of the performances here.

In fact, its sheer preposterousness is actually the film's only saving grace; such is the level of seemingly unashamed amateurism on screen you feel somewhat obliged to see it through to its bitter end just to see quite how much further down it will sink.

And then there’s Jason (CLERKS, JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKES BACK) Mewes, whose career has faded so far he can’t even claim top-billing, turning up surreally as ‘Sid’ the squatter. “Sid, no offence, but you’re a bit of a lunatic” pronounces Sarah’s best friend Lucy in a rare moment of perceptive insight. But then everyone is a loony in this loony tune of a horror film which is described as a ‘zombie home invasion horror’ but which doesn’t deliver on this promise (and which is laughably half-hearted even then) until there’s only 20 minutes left of the running time. Presumably the make-up budget ran out by this point as the zombies appear to be munching down without a hint of viscera or steaming innards in sight. And speaking of ‘home invasion’, everyone seems to blithely leave their front doors unlocked. There are countless occurrences where characters just barge into their neighbours flats – surely this shockingly lax sense of home security belongs back in the ‘Ena Sharples’ era of Coronation Street rather than a contemporary graffiti littered hell-hole like Albion Court?

DEVIL’S TOWER is frankly a car-crash of a film which you can’t help but stare at in astonishment. Why Roxanne Pallett thought a film where she gets to deliver dialogue such as: “He tried to rape me [“What?”] No, it’s alright I tried to rape him too” would act as the propellant to launch her ‘scream queen’ career is unfathomable. (On the evidence of this I don’t think Danielle Harris needs to worry about any competition). Perhaps she should have taken more heed of the caretaker’s advice: “This building isn’t kind: now bugger off!” Then again, as the film staggers limply towards its daft climax, a possessed participant utters this particular gem: “Don’t ask me to explain, his mind is otherwise engaged”.  This sums up DEVIL’S TOWER in a nutshell.

**(out of 5*)

 

Paul Worts

ANNABELLE (2014)

Directed by John R. Leonetti, Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard. Horror, US, 2014, 99mins, Cert 15.

Expectant mother-to-be Mia collects antique dolls, and her doctor-in-training husband John has found her the perfect gift: a rare vintage child-sized doll in a pure white wedding dress. Initially saving it for when their child was born, he instead decides to make peace after a bit of a tiff by unveiling his present to her early. A piercing scream from their neighbour’s house awakens the couple in the middle of the night and upon investigating, John finds their neighbours have been brutally attacked. Hurrying back to her house Mia is about to find out that the perpetrators, a man and a woman belonging to a satanic cult, are now in her home and the woman is more than taken with Mia’s new doll...

So here we have the origin story of the creepy doll known as ‘Annabelle’ which featured briefly in James Wan’s far superior THE CONJURING. Admittedly this prequel had a tough act to follow; so it’s no real surprise to find it’s not nearly as successful in eliciting the sustained supernatural threat and constant frissons to consistently make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It does still have its moments though.

Wan this time hands the directing responsibilities over to his go to cinematographer John R. Leonetti (who lensed both INSIDIOUS instalments for Wan as well as THE CONJURING). Leonetti, whose last directorial gig was THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT 2 back in 2006, delivers the occasional effectively choreographed set-piece, but fails to consistently nail the ‘BOO!’ money-shot scares. To be fair, he isn’t helped by Gary Dauberman’s uneven script which can’t seem to make up its mind whether it’s a made-for-TV homage to ROSEMARY’S BABY or a mainstream compendium of the 20 greatest modern supernatural clichés presented in a James Wan stylee. Leonetti is further hampered by his bland leads, Annabelle (spooky coincidence!) Wallis, as ‘Mia’ (insert ‘Farrow’ here), and Ward Horton as ‘John’. (Thought: if even the writer isn’t interested enough in these characters to invest them with last names what chance do you think the audience will?) You feel the director has been somewhat sold short when THE CONJURING had the calibre of Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Lilli Taylor shoring up the script and bringing genuine believability to the characters.

Alfre Woodard (last seen on the big-screen in 12 YEARS A SLAVE and probably best known to genre fans on the small screen in TRUE BLOOD) does her best with what little she’s given to play with as ‘Evelyn’, a local bookshop owner who stocks a handy range of satanist cult literature and who has seen ‘one or two things’ herself. She also has a nasty scar on her wrist and a tragic backstory which is glossed over too briefly which then comes back to haunt the film (no pun intended) later on when her actions strain plausibility.  The church is represented by F. Murray Abraham-look-alike Tony Amendola as ‘Father Perez’ who has a slightly suspect habit of taking photos of all the newborn members of his flock. Priests generally don’t fare too well in supernatural films, so compared to say poor ‘Father Karras’ in THE EXORCIST, ‘Father Perez’ gets let off relatively lightly on this occasion. 

As with THE CONJURING, the period detail (late 1960’s here) is impressively rendered. In addition, the backdrop of the Manson murders and references to ‘Helter Skelter’ lend the film a chilling real life context in which to place the cult elements of the plot. Ironically, for a film firmly pitched as a supernatural thriller, the most effective sequence (and coincidentally the only time the film actually made me ‘jump’) was the non-supernatural and visceral attack on the neighbours and the subsequent home violation.

Another key sequence which I felt should've registered higher on the shock ohmmeter, involves Mia’s nightmarish trip to her apartment block’s basement whereby she finds herself trapped in a lift that won’t budge whilst fleeing from something demonic lurking in the shadows. Perhaps it was fact that there was also an ugly scary pram wheeled into view which let it down for me. Upon seeing the pram, all I could think about was NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD and I suddenly found myself half-expecting Freddy Krueger to jump into the light proudly proclaiming: “It’s a Boyyyyy!”

There’s at least two other ‘jump’ moments which didn’t work for me due to poor staging; and then we must consider the ‘star’ of the film: ‘Annabelle’ herself. As the aforementioned doll is only a conduit for evil demon thingies she doesn’t actually do anything except look pig ugly. No head-twisting; not even a cheeky wink or a flash of sharp teeth. And yet despite this fact the camera pulls up close and personal on her visage on several occasions. Each time you brace yourself for ‘the moment’ but each time you’re left slightly deflated with no payoff. Perhaps we've been spoilt by ‘Chucky's antics? And as for her design, why would any sane person want to: a. collect something that looks like a shrunken version of Bette Davis in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?; and b. place it in prime view on a shelf glaring down at her newborn child? If that isn’t a recipe for childhood trauma then I’ll just go and write a letter to daddy... (See what I did there?)

ANNABELLE is a film that will mostly scare people who scare easily. It does generate the odd moment of genuine jumpiness; but these are then more often than not dragged down by leaden scenes where nothing much happens to paper-thin characters and a demonic doll that looks ghastly but doesn’t actually do anything.  

 **½ (out of 5*)

    

 Paul Worts