NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984)

Directed by Thom Eberhardt, Starring: Robert Beltran, Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney. Sci-Fi / Horror, US, 1984, 95mins, Cert 15.

It’s 1984 in the Valley. A spectacular once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, namely a close encounter with a passing comet, has the population gearing up for a night of unprecedented star-gazing celebration. Unfortunately the aforementioned comet brings with it a rather nasty surprise in that everyone who gazes upon it or is exposed to it is either instantly disintegrated into red dust, or turns into a flesh-eating zombie. Cinema usherette Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) can thank her lucky stars then that instead of witnessing the celestial light-show first-hand she chose instead to spend the night with the projectionist – in the projection booth of the local fleapit – which just happens to be steel-encased...Her cheerleading sister Samantha (Kelli Maroney) also manages to miss the cataclysmic event having run away from home after a bust-up with bitchy step-mom.

This is a film so quintessentially 80’s it should almost have been sealed in a time-capsule the moment it was completed and deposited for safe keeping in a vault with instructions only to open at a set time in the distant future. The 80’s iconography literally drips off the screen and the incessant synth and sax pop soundtrack almost makes your ears bleed. 

This film escaped me upon its initial release, an oversight I blame almost entirely on the subdued uninspiring original poster art which really didn’t do it any favours. Not that it’s an easy film to sell mind you. It has a LAST MAN ON EARTH science-fiction premise and a couple of half-hearted zombie attacks (the best of which is a fleeting dream-sequence) but neither can be said to deliver any real substance on either front. It’s mainly a likeable cheesy B-movie with a refreshingly likable couple of leading ladies in big-haired Catherine Mary Stewart and gum-chewing Keli Maroney.

Upping the cheese factor to fondue levels we have Latindio Robert Beltran (best known as ‘Commander Chakotay’ from STAR TREK: VOYAGER) as ‘Hector’ who also manages to escape immediate dustification by spending the night in his truck engaged in a bout of horizontal salsa with a lonely hitch-hiker.

It’s a film I’d suggest you need to meet at least half-way (if not more) in order to fully appreciate it. There’s some nice gags sprinkled in with the comet dust such as the Jean Harlow Clark Gable RED DUST film poster (see what they did there?) on the door in the projection booth. The projectionist is waxing lyrically about a pristine print of IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in 3D to a buddy on the phone. (Ironically, given that celluloid as a cinematic medium is now virtually extinct in 2014; a similar discovery today would arguably elicit an even greater excitement than that imagined in 1984).

The scenes of deserted downtown L.A. (shot through a red filter which would once have sent videocassette players into colour-bleed meltdown) are nicely atmospheric; an impromptu fashion parade in a shopping mall encapsulates an unadulterated moment of escapism against the backdrop of (total bummer) near extinction. I also loved the exchange between Samantha and her stepmom Doris who trade face-slaps before gold ole’ Doris floors her step-daughter with a hook to the jaw.

***(out of 5*)

 

Paul Worts

SHE (2014)

Directed by Chelsey Burdon and Mark Vessey, Starring: Fiona Dourif, Phillip James.

Horror, Short, UK, 2014, 15mins.  

‘She’ (Fiona Dourif) is living with ‘He’ (Phillip James). Trapped in a sterile, loveless (and wordless) living hell of a relationship, ‘He’ perpetrates one final act of violation upon ‘She’ which will ultimately lead to her crafting and executing a bloody and brutal vengeance.

SHE’s world premiere took place in August this year at the prestigious FrightFest in London where it was officially selected as part of the short film showcase strand.

This is a deceptively simple short film which, upon initial viewing, you’d be forgiven for only taking away from it the final graphic imagery. But there is much more lurking beneath the surface than just its unflinching Grand Guignol climax. 

Fiona Dourif’s portrayal of ‘She’ is nothing short of mesmerising. Her face is a hypnotic canvas of subtly-shifting nuances conveying the inner turmoil of a woman battling feelings of fear and loathing followed ultimately by the transformation brought about by empowerment.

Phillip James reigns in the outward signs of hatred and brutality lurking within his character and this cold emotionless pays off as we find ourselves tip-toeing warily around him in parallel to Dourif.

SHE is a meticulously designed and executed piece of filmmaking. Symmetry is prevalent throughout: the anniversary dining table settings; the twin stork figurines on the sideboard and the reflection of Dourif’s face when it’s pressed against the shiny kitchen work surface, framed by a knife blade. The uncluttered clinical furnishings reflect the sterility of the couple’s relationship. Rather disconcertingly however there is an old-fashioned gramophone player deliberately juxtaposed against this modernity. It provides a background of crackly nostalgic old (romantic) songs which act as an aural counterpoint to the decidedly unromantic events unfolding at the dinner table. It also features in a striking camera sequence where the camera slowly zooms in on a piece of flesh before the screen dissolves to black and then as the darkness fades away the camera resurfaces  coming out of the gramophone’s horn. This sequence, enhanced superbly by the sound design reminded me of a sequence in David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET involving a dissolve into a severed ear.

Speaking of severed matters, one has to praise Paul While’s prosthetic work for providing a genuinely unforgettable and gleefully disturbing sequence which tops all other examples of this effect to date within the genre and which secures SHE a guaranteed place in the annals of extreme cinema.

Joint directors Chelsey Burdon and Mark Vessey pulled off an extraordinary coup in securing Fiona Dourif for their low-budget (£7k); Kickstarter-funded and shot in 2 days project. Clearly Fiona and the film’s Kickstarter supporters had faith in them, and having now delivered SHE, it should be clear to all who view it that this faith was entirely justified.

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS (1992)

Directed by Donald Farmer, Starring: Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer, Mary Woronov.

Documentary, US, 1992, 82mins, Cert Exempt.

Originally made back in 1991 and released on video, Donald Farmer, director (at the time) of such straight-to-video titles such as CANNIBAL HOOKERS and VAMPIRE COP, rounded up a bunch of actresses currently working in the horror/ exploitation B-movie market and interviewed each one about their experiences working in the genre.

This documentary is a time capsule. Upon opening it transports you back to when the home video market was booming, when distributors were constantly looking for product to fill the video rental store shelves and punters were eager to feed their voracious VCRs. Director Donald Farmer knew this from his experiences in securing distribution deals for his films and so he called upon some of the ‘scream queens’ he had personally worked with at the time - together with a few more he could secure to talk on camera without stretching his modest budget - and cobbled together this cheap looking hodgepodge compilation of uneven interviews.

Today the term ‘scream queen’ would apply to contemporary actresses such as the inimitable Danielle Harris, but in Donald Farmer’s time capsule we’re in 1991, and his limited frame of reference tends to largely feature the ladies working for schlock-meisters such as Fred Olen Ray (e.g. HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS, EVIL TOONS, THE TOMB) and David DeCoteau (e.g. CREEPOZOIDS, SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA, NIGHTMARE SISTERS). Regarding the actresses featured, Farmer himself states in his brief intro to this re-release: “...some of them are still working, some of them are not; some of them have disappeared off the face of the earth”.

First up is Michelle Bauer, who ‘graduated’ from making videos for the Playboy channel to making B-movies such as DeCoteau’s NIGHTMARE SISTERS, a film which, in Michelle’s own words, includes: “...the longest bathtub scene in the world...It runs about ten minutes, and it’s the three of us [Michelle, Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley], stark naked; with one bar of soap and lots of sound effects...”

The second of this hot-tub trinity, Brinke Stevens (who gained a masters degree in marine biology before hot-tubing) describes herself as having been a very weird kid: “I looked like a werewolf, dark features, little pointy teeth (which they later filed-off) and very thick eyebrows”.

Unfortunately the third bath-babe, Linnea Quigley, doesn’t appear in the documentary. The clues as to why this might be are provided by the only onscreen male interviewee, director David DeCoteau, who rather cryptically states that he doesn’t work with Linnea anymore for various reasons, and that: “I guess we’re both up scaling our careers...” Glancing through their respective IMDb credits they’ve certainly worked together again since and in fact David’s latest film: 3 SCREAM QUEENS (due for release on 31^st October 2014) stars none other than Linnea, alongside both Michelle and Brinke. Wonder how that career “up scaling” worked out for the both of them...?

And so a parade of lesser known, (and a few completely unknown, at least to this reviewer) B-movie actresses sit in front of Farmer’s static camera and talk about their experiences in direct-to-video fodder ranging from the obscure to the very obscure, with the occasional more well-known title (e.g. THE HILLS HAVE EYES 1977, FRIDAY THE 13^TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD) thrown into the mix.

But then suddenly, in the midst of all these straight-to-video 80’s ‘starlets’ – like a mirage in an oasis of dreck -we suddenly get the refreshing inclusion of the statuesque Bond and Hammer actress Martine Beswick regaling us with her on-set battle not to consent to full-frontal nudity during the filming of DR JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE. 

Mary Woronov’s onscreen time is largely devoted to her paintings, not quite what viewers of this DVD (or presumably renters of the original tape) are or were really interested in. She does however provide an interesting introduction into how she wound up in the sexploitation film LOVE ME MY WAY with a young Lynn Lowry (of whom I’d wished Farmer could’ve also included in the documentary seeing as she features in both a clip from LOVE ME and I DRINK YOUR BLOOD).

Original not so subtle VHS artwork

And of course it would be remiss of me not to mention the fact that the documentary itself had been sourced from a VHS master which provides copious amounts of (genuine) tracking snow, sound crackling and occasional picture black-out. The actual video film clips are as blurred and near non-discernible as I remember them from the 80’s. This does however provide an authenticity to the material, and a reminder of the context in which these films would have originally been viewed in the home.

INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS is clearly not an all embracing in-depth study of the ‘scream queen’ phenomenon. (The 2011 documentary SCREAMING IN HIGH HEELS: THE RISE & FALL OF THE SCREAM QUEEN ERA for example provides a retrospective angle on the horny-trinity of Bauer, Stevens and Quigley).  

It’s not even particularly well-made, for example there is neither an opening title sequence, nor any end credits, and some of the interviews are frankly bizarre both in terms of content and in execution. At times it feels as if you are watching a porn film audition rather than a B-movie documentary – such is the apparent emphasis on sex and nudity in the on-screen interviews. But, nevertheless, it does illustrate a specific time in B-Movie / exploitation / horror history, and for that alone it’s of mild nostalgic interest to those of us who grew up watching these dodgy videos, but who today can view our B-movies and stuff like it on HD remastered Blu-rays.

P.S. Despite the cover promising otherwise, there is absolutely no sign of Camille Keaton, nor any reference to I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE in the documentary.  

** (out of 5*

Paul Worts

RAISED BY WOLVES (2014)

Directed by Mitchell Altieri, Starring: Jenna Haze, Evan Crooks, Monty Geer. Horror, US, 2014, 79mins, Cert 15.

I’ll be honest, I was more than a little disappointed to find upon reading the film’s brief synopsis that it wasn’t about either wolves or lycanthropes. But this initial disappointment paled in comparison to the sinking feeling in my heart when it turned out to be not only wolf-less but a wolf-less found-footage shaky cam effort.

This however was not apparent from the opening sequence where we are filled in on the events which allegedly occurred in 1973 on a desert Indio Indian Reservation. A cult leader by the (unlikely) name of Ernest Plainsong gathered a group of troubled teen followers and after claiming he could identify demons disguised as humans living around the area sent his ‘children’ out to ‘cleanse’ the demons. Bad enough you’d think. But unfortunately some of his followers then began to claim that they too had this demon-spotting ability and a further massacre occurred within the cult itself.

Cut to the present day and a group of skateboarding obsessed teen males and their girlfriends drive out into the desert seeking the old abandoned cult leader’s compound. Why? Because it allegedly boasts a deep pool (presumably drained) which they want to skate in. Hmmm...

Cue lots of wobbly skateboarding footage, followed by lots of wobbly running footage; followed by lots more wobbly running and screaming as one by one the totally disposable and detestable group of friends are possessed by the demonic spirit residing in the abandoned commune.

Question: did they have microwave ovens in 1973...?

Porn star Jenna Haze makes only a brief appearance (in her briefs – see what I did there?) before removing her top and smashing an interrogating law man’s head repeatedly into the table. Frankly she does him a favour for this truly is a film in which the old tagline: ‘The lucky ones died first’ applies. I just wish the batteries on the shaky-camcorder had died a lot sooner.

* (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was first published on the FrightFest website.

AFTER THE DARK (2013)

Directed by John Huddles, Starring: James D’Arcy, Bonnie Wright, Sophie Lowe, Daryl Sabara. Science Fiction, US / Indonesia, 2013, 107mins, Cert 15.

On their last day before graduating, a class of high-achieving students are given one final challenge by their philosophy teacher. Imagine a nuclear apocalypse scenario whereby there is a fully-equipped bunker which can only sustain ten people for a year. Who do you decide to take with you into the safe haven of the bunker in order to help repopulate and rebuild the human race once the fallout has settled – and who do you leave outside to die in the radiation?

Going into this film with neither prior knowledge nor any pre-conceived notions, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a smartly written conceit bristling with ideas and told with ravishing visuals. Mind you, it’s not an easy film to classify, nor indeed to heartily recommend without reservation.  The premise is essentially a philosophical classroom discussion. All a bit cerebral – not necessarily a bad thing – just not a concept that’ll be universally welcomed you understand. Then again, the visual representation of the impending apocalyptical scenarios are realised with stunning Indonesian locations and judicious CGI. Although you never totally forget that what you are witnessing is essentially all just hypothetical, the script is sufficiently infused with moral curve balls which catch both the viewer and the students regularly off-guard.

It’s refreshing to watch a film about students in which you can actual believe they might just be capable of graduating and may genuinely have a grasp of the infinite monkey theorem. It helps that they are not just being served up on a smorgasbord for some slicing and dicing, but instead are there as mouthpieces for philosophical concepts and ideas. Amongst the student body you’ll recognise Bonnie Wright (Harry Potter’s sweetheart Ginny Weasley), at the front of the classroom, still in school, but at least she’s moved on from learning how to transfigure into a cat from Professor McGonagall. Another familiar face is Daryl (SPY KIDS) Sabara, now all grown-up and memorably manipulating one hypothetical scenario to engineer an (enviable) conclusion whereby he is the only male amongst a ‘harem’ of female students more than willing to copulate with him for the continuation of the human race despite the fact he is allegedly sterile! James D’Arcy’s teacher ‘Mr Zimit’ offers suave and sinister in equal measure and an alarming tendency to (hypothetically) reach for firearms in each hypothetical puzzle.

I will concede that I thought the conclusion was a tad disappointing. Not because it offers something so far-fetched and left-field that you feel cheated (it resolutely doesn’t) but rather that in playing it straight it all ends on a rather mundane note compared to the intellectual fireworks which have preceded it.

But with that reservation aside, I rather enjoyed my final lesson in Mr Zimit’s class, or rather in the philosophical minds of Mr Zimit’s graduating class. I didn’t learn a huge amount about the human condition, but I did take this thought away with me: in the event of a nuclear holocaust, when deciding if you’re ‘worthy’ of a place in the bunker, for god’s sake don’t say you’re a poet.

**** (out of 5*)

Paul Worts

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.)