BACKTRACK (2015)

Directed by Michael Petroni, Starring: Adrien Brody, Sam Neill, Robin McLeavy. Supernatural thriller. Aus, 2015, 87mins. Cert 15.

The SIXTH SENSE for trainspotters. Still coming to terms with the tragic loss of his daughter, psychiatrist Peter Bower (Brody) and his wife Carol move out of Sydney back to his old university town. Accepting referrals for assessment from his former mentor Duncan Stewart (Sam Neil), Peter is firstly disturbed by a young girl whose initials correspond with that of his deceased daughter, and then by the realisation that all his patients are ghosts. As he delves deeper into their past histories, he begins to realise that his own past is inextricably linked with theirs – and a suppressed memory must be confronted in order to achieve resolution and redemption. 

Trains figure heavily in writer/director Michael Petroni’s stylish yet satisfyingly old-fashioned spooky mystery. From Peter’s daily commute from the suburbs to the constant thunderous flashes of the railway line right by his office window (hardly conducive for psychiatric analysis you’d have thought). And while the ghostly plot branches off into some well-worn plot points and tropes (some of which are clearly signalled) the consummate storytelling ensures it never comes off the rails even as it rattles and (occasionally) clunks towards its final destination. 

The (quite literally) haunted psychiatrist is finely encapsulated by Adrien Brody’s assured performance – even pulling off a convincing Australian accent into the bargain! I know Brody has a best-actor Oscar to his credit, but I’m still traumatised by his work in the truly squirm-inducing awfulness that was Dario Argento’s GIALLO. At least I was until now: he’s terrific in this. Sly old fox Sam Neill provides smoothly reliable support as Brody’s mentor/confidant/conscience and it’s delightful to see Robin (THE LOVED ONES) McLeavy turning up in a small but pivotal role. And, as an added treat, director Petroni even throws in a decidedly creepy turn by MAD MAX 2’s ‘Gyro Captain’ himself; Bruce Spence (is he the Australian Dick Miller?)

Admittedly the plot hinges on a coincidental series of events of gargantuan proportion (even by genre standards), and an inevitable plot hole or two, but the pleasure here is of a tale well-told, complete with all the requisite incremental clues and reveals which aren’t all immediately obvious. The ghostly manifestations are largely generic J-Horror type fare with the occasional ominous throat gargling present and correct. But the supernatural is a means to an end – and the real horror is firmly rooted in the material world. 

BACKTRACK doesn’t break new ground. But it’s well-paced, well-crafted and well-performed. It employs jump scares judiciously which reference the story being told rather than merely a means by which to elicit a nervous multiplex titter or two. In short, I found this train-focused yarn was just my ticket.

****(out of 5*)         

Paul Worts
 This review was originally published on the FrighFest website.

AAAAAAAAH! (2015)

Directed by Steve Oram, Starring: Toyah Wilcox,  Steve Oram, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Tom Meeten, Julian Barratt, Lucy Honigman, Noel Fielding.  Comedy, Horror. UK, 2015, Cert 18

If John Waters re-made PLANET OF THE APES and set it in South London, the result might be something not too dissimilar from writer/director Steve Oram’s debut feature.

Oram (who also co-stars as alpha male ‘Smith’), instructed his brave cast to firstly learn their dialogue before throwing the script out of the window and asking the actors to perform as primates, translating their lines into guttural grunts and whoops, and transforming their character’s actions and gestures into simian behaviour. The result of which is a truly bizarre, often uncomfortably hilarious, avant-garde satire of the human condition. 

Filmed in a handheld 4:3 frame to give a documentary footage vibe, we firstly see alpha ‘Smith’and his beta ‘Keith’ (Tom Meeten) shuffling through the undergrowth of deepest darkest South London parkland. So far so slightly surreal (but safe) TV comedy sketch-show territory. Then Smith proceeds to piss on a framed photo of his ex-‘mate’ (wife in wedding dress) before his companion Keith gently dabs dry the end of his dripping penis and suddenly we’re not in Kansas anymore Toto...

The ‘plot’ as such involves a primate-like struggle for supremacy between outsider Smith who launches a primal bid to overthrow Julian Rhind-Tutt’s boorish alpha who presides over a household with alpha mother Barbara (Wilcox) and daughter Denise (Honigman) - having himself usurped the former patriarch (Julian Barratt). 

After the initial snigger inducing moments when you are still adjusting to the fact that the actors really are going to spend the entire film in ‘character’ as apes and that no instinctive primal urge is considered taboo, e.g. marking one’s territory (the fridge) with urine, taking a dump in the kitchen whilst preparing supper, using a tree for sexual gratification (and even a small rodent at one point), the experience of watching the film gradually takes on a surprisingly engrossing nature.

For this the entire cast must be given tremendous plaudits. What could have ended up as an embarrassing pile of puerile schlock is instead transformed into a blackly funny, often poignant, and genuinely disturbing commentary illustrating just how thin the veneer of our ‘civilised society’ really is. There’s a scene where daughter Denise surreptitiously hands a piece of Battenberg cake to her banished father that is played so beautifully by both Lucy Honigman and Julian Barratt that it evokes bona fide pathos. And then there are the physical indignities visited upon the cast – notably Toyah Wilcox’s alpha female Barbara – quite why she agreed to the role is a mystery, oh, it’s a mystery (sorry), but fair play to her and the entire ensemble for throwing themselves wholeheartedly into their roles.

For a first feature film, I think it’s fair to say that AAAAAAAAH! is not obvious ‘calling card’ material designed to make major studios sit up and take note (unless 20^th Century Fox wish to take their rebooted ‘Ape’ franchise in an entirely different direction). But what Steve Oram and his splendid troop of fellow Homo sapiens have delivered is an inspired dollop of jaw-dropping satire, jolting gross-outness, and a measure of guttural profundity.      

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was orginally published on the FrighFest website.

THE WOLFPACK (2015)

Directed by Crystal Moselle, Starring: Bhagavan, Mukunda, Narayana and Govinda Angulo, Glen Hughes and Eddie Vaughan Reisenbichler. Documentary, US, 2015, 90mins, Cert 15.

This multi-award winning documentary explores the true story of a family of six brothers who were effectively quarantined from the outside world in a high-rise apartment on the Lower East Side of New York throughout their formative years. Homeschooled by their mother, the boys, (together with a seventh sibling, a sister who is largely ignored in the film), were essentially kept under a kind of social/religious house arrest by their father. “Our dad was the only one that had the keys to the front door”.

So fearful was their father of the outside world - mum appears to have only been allowed out for essential medical appointments - the boys themselves rarely got to leave the confines of their cramped living quarters: “Sometimes we’d go out once a year...and one particular year we never got out at all.”

Their ‘escape’ from this imprisonment came in the form of films, VHS and DVD’s which they watched voraciously, and then staged elaborate enactments (à la BE KIND REWIND) in their apartment using handmade props from their domestic resources such as cereal boxes. They were so meticulous in their preparations that the scripts were hand typed on a traditional manual typewriter. We see footage from various stagings, notably their interpretation of RESERVOIR DOGS – played out line-perfect in black and white suits (but minus the blood). Their attention to detail with their cardboard guns and weapons on one occasion resulted in a SWAT team storming the home to search for what was reported to be genuine fire-arms. How’s that for a backhanded compliment for their efforts at authenticity! 

Some of the background details are sketchy, the timeline is never made clear for example, and often the ingrained timecodings on the snatches of degraded home VHS footage provide the only clues in amongst the miss-tracking and visual snow. There is a suggestion of domestic violence when one of the brothers (it’s never made clear who is who on camera) recalls that arguments between his parents often resulted in his mother being slapped behind a closed door. Oscar, the father, obviously reluctant to appear on camera, doesn’t show up on screen for over half the running time (at one point I wondered whether he’d actually left). The boy’s mother Susanne, whilst more forthcoming, is obviously wary of the father’s presence during the filming and appears (understandably) reticent about revealing too much about her own experiences.

It’s ironic therefore that considering the father’s pathological fear of the outside world’s influence on his off-spring he doesn’t appear to have censured in anyway their viewing habits and the films that they were watching so avidly. The trigger for rebellion appears to have been a viewing of THE DARK KNIGHT which seemed to jolt the oldest sibling into escaping from his own erm, bat cave (?) in January 2010 by putting on a cardboard ‘Michael Myers’ mask and going for a stroll down to the local stores. This eventually resulted in him being arrested and referred for counselling.

But despite this temporary setback, as adolescence loomed, the ‘wolfpack’ seemed to hear their own individual calls of the wild. Footage of the boys on the beach at Coney Island hesitantly dipping their toes in the seawater before taking the plunge reminded me of YouTube footage of caged animals being released from laboratory testing and seeing grass and sunshine for the first time. In fact this analogy is not that far from the truth.

The film is a testament both to the internal capacity for emotional resilience and also to the power of movie escapism. It’s an intriguing glimpse into a scenario that seems barely conceivable in this day and age, and one that could have had potentially tragic consequences had it not been for Batman.

     

***(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

THE GIFT (2015)

Directed by Joel Edgerton, Starring: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton. Mystery Thriller, US, 2015, 108mins, Cert 15.

“...it’s amazing how an idea can take a hold – and really bring a person down”.

Writer, producer and actor Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut is a stylish and unsettling rift on the traditional home invasion thriller.

High-flying corporate ladder climber Simon (Jason Bateman) and his designer wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) move to a new neighbourhood where a chance encounter with one of Simon’s old high school acquaintances ‘Gordo’ (Joel Edgerton) sets in motion a sinister chain of events.

It starts out like your average 80’s/90’s home invasion scenario. Well-to-do yuppie couple move into a modern house with wall-to-wall glass windows, you know, the kind ideal for a creepy peeping tom to peep in on you or to just pop up unexpectedly for a lazy jump-scare. But director Joel Edgerton’s Gordo’s initial visits to their home result in the delivery of gifts rather than threats – red wine, Koi carp (red herring?). His further attempts to ingratiate himself into their lives seem to unnerve Simon more than Robyn – who recalls they used to call ‘Gordo’ the ‘Weirdo’ at high school – and so it seems with increasingly good reason. 

But just when you think you can see where this film is going, it peels off its surface layer to reveal a far darker insidious core. It manages to sustain it’s measured tone of unease throughout its generous running time, thanks in no small way to Jason Bateman’s steely precise performance (boy has he come a long way since TEEN WOLF TOO). Rebecca Hall is equally effective in supplementing the mounting uncomfortableness and director Edgerton wisely underplays his character, holding back from showing us ‘Gordo’s’ full poker hand until the last 10 minutes.

An assured debut then, restrained without once resorting to the grandstanding Grand Guignol histrionics of say FATAL ATTRACTION for example. It’s less an out and out psycho thriller but rather more an exploration of the psychological trauma and long-term effects of bullying. It also reads as a cautionary tale which espouses the theory that karma will eventually catch up with you – and a warning that you should always be wary of ‘strangers’ bearing gifts.

***(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

THE GOONIES (1985)

Directed by Richard Donner, Starring: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman. Adventure/comedy, US, 1985, 114mins, Cert 12.

I have to confess I’d never seen THE GOONIES in its entirety prior to watching this 30^th Anniversary Blu-ray. Originally released in UK cinemas in November 1985, I would have been 17 years old, and you wouldn’t have caught me dead watching a ‘PG’ rated ‘kids’ film back then. Besides, I’d watched co-star Corey Feldman (‘Mouth’) 'defeat' Jason Voorhees in FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER the year before, not to mention Joe Dante’s GREMLINS, and just a month prior to THE GOONIES I’d seen him again in the opening sequence from FRIDAY THE 13^th: A NEW BEGINNING. So no, I didn’t see it then, and somehow I’d managed to avoid it until now. But better late than never – right?

This nearly all boys-own romp (with Martha Plimpton and Kerry Green) for buried treasure in booby trap laden caves boasted a ridiculous embarrassment of riches behind the camera as well as those aboard old One-Eye Willie’s pirate ship the ‘Inferno’.  Based on a story by Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus, who had penned GREMLINS prior to this sea shanty gig, delivered a jaunty screenplay for Richard (THE OMEN, SUPERMAN) Donner to try his best to marshal his precocious live-wire cast to. In addition to an extraordinary line-up of young talent, Donner also had on board veteran stalwart character actress Anne Ramsey as the Ma Baker-like ‘Mama Fratelli’ along with her bumbling sons played by opera singing gangster Robert Davi and toupeed Joe Pantoliano.

The story has a pleasantly old-fashioned feel to it (and I don’t just mean the 80’s nostalgia it inevitably invokes). Despite its liberal sprinkling of PG-rated swear words and references, it’s essentially a noisy throwback to the swashbuckling Errol Flynn pirate adventures of old, encrusted with in-jokes and references to keep an audience on its toes. It stands the test of time because when you watch it today, you just know that no major studio would commission such talent and invest such resources into making this kind of film anymore. Now it’s seemingly all comic-book super-heroes, that is until December, when the impending STAR WARS tsunami crashes upon the box-office and threatens to drown it for the foreseeable future.

But I can safely say none of those franchises will be able to boast anything as comparatively memorable as the ‘truffle-shuffle’, performed by Jeff Cohen’s jell-belly character ‘Chunk’. Nor for that matter, deformed wobbly-eared ‘Sloth’ (played under layers of latex and animatronics by the late John Matuszak) and his affectionately iconic cry: “Hey you guys!”

There’s an inevitable INDIANA JONES-like vibe in some of the underground sequences given not only the story’s originator, but also the presence of TEMPLE OF DOOM’s ‘Short Round’ Jonathan Ke Quan (this time playing a ‘James Bond’ gadget creator called ‘Data’). Interestingly, Columbus’ script later reveals Data’s father as also being an inventor, echoing the Randall Peltzer character from his previous GREMLINS screenplay. (There’s also a direct reference to GREMLINS when Chunk calls the police).

It’s a shame that the Burman Studios’ octopus creation sequence was cut from the film’s finale. Regardless of whether it would have worked on screen (you can judge for yourself as it’s one of the deleted scenes on the disc) there’s definitely something underwhelming and lacklustre about the ending – although it does admittedly boast a seriously impressive physical pirate ship set.

But overall director Donner manages to deliver an infectious frenetic tale of skulduggery and truffle-shuffling which can more than hold its own against today’s post-converted 3D cash-cows.

***(OUT OF 5*)

Paul Worts

SHARKNADO 3: OH HELL NO! (2015)

Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, Starring: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, David Hasselhoff. Horror Sci-Fi, US, 2015, 89mins, Cert 15.

‘OH HELL NO!’ Never has a movie title seemed more apt. Clearly meant as an up-front apology, the makers are obviously recognising the inevitable reaction to SHARKNADO 3 as they serve up yet another humourless meteorological smorgasbor(e)d of cartoonish CG shark splatter.

With ominous storm clouds once again gathering overhead, Finley Allen "Fin" Shepard (Ian Ziering) attends an awards ceremony at the Whitehouse in recognition of his previous heroics in Los Angeles and New York. But sure enough, no sooner has Fin accepted his ‘Order of the Golden Chainsaw’ award, then the heavens open up and sharks rain down on Washington DC. The president and Finn stand fighting shoulder to shoulder in a scene resembling the dynamics of the arcade game ‘House of the Dead’ (albeit with less convincing graphics here) as this latest sharknado turns the Capitol Building into a (Great) White House. Meanwhile, down in Florida, Fin’s heavily pregnant wife April (Tara Reid), their daughter Claudia and April’s mother (Bo Derek) are at Universal Studies Orlando, where the ‘Twister’ attraction is about to become a whole lot scarier. With multiple sharknados merging (sharkicane!) it’s a race against time to prevent a cataclysmic cyclone of carcharodon carcharias (and loads of other species of sharks that I don’t know the Latin names for).

How dispiriting it must be for SFX companies commissioned to work on a film like SHARKNADO 3. Hi guys, we need you to deliver a barrage of intentionally sub-par visual shots of random shark species flapping unconvincingly through stormy skies. Then we need lots of shots of sharks landing with repetitively telegraphed precision on victims turning them into human piñatas bursting with point and click CG blood? Gee thanks – we’ll get right on it – this’ll look great on our CVs!

The trouble with a franchise that strains so intentionally to be knowingly rubbish and self-aware is that having set the ambition bar so low to begin with – by the time it gets to SHARKNADO 3, the bar is practically scraping the floor (or barrel). So instead you end up spending most of the film’s running time counting up the number of celebrity cameos you can spot – and feeling slightly cheated if they don’t end up as shark-bait (e.g. Jedward).

To be fair, Ian (Beverley Hills, 90210) Ziering throws himself into his heroic Jonah-like role as Fin with more straight-up commitment than the film frankly deserves. Tara Reid on the other hand appears to ‘act’ in a near-comatose state of tranquilized disengagement. This is however understandable given the fact that the sole raison d'être for her character here is to deliver (both literally and metaphorically) a tired double-whammy punch line finale. David ‘The Hoff’ Hasselhoff - having already previously survived another toothsome fishy peril in PIRANHA 3DD - somehow manages against all odds to retain a modicum of dignity as Fin’s estranged father and former NASA colonel.

The MOONRAKER(ish) finale sets up the only reasonably successful tongue-in-cheek moments in the whole film. If you thought Alfonso Cuarón’s GRAVITY was scientifically dubious, SHARKNADO 3’s dénouement makes Sandra Bullock’s predicament look like an Open University documentary - and PIRANHA 3DD a discarded segment from BBC One’s ‘The Blue Planet’.   

Following its premiere on the Syfy Channel, a Twitter campaign was launched for fans of the series to vote on the fate of Tara Reid’s character for SHARKNADO 4 (confirmed). The options were either: #AprilLives or #AprilDies. Given the choice, I’d have typed: #SharknadoDies.

**(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

Originally published on the Frighfest website.

THE HALLOW (2015)

Directed by Colin Hardy, Starring: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton. Horror, Ireland, 2015, 97mins, Cert 15.

“This isn’t London. Things here go bump in the night”

Upping sticks (pun intended) from London, tree-surgeon (Joseph Mawle) relocates with his wife (Bojana Novakovic) and baby to a remote Irish mill house in order to carry out an assessment on the surrounding woods. Dismissing the warnings of the locals to stay away, he discovers a sinister fungus growing in the woodland, but he and his family are also about to discover there’s something else residing in the woods.

Music video director Colin Hardy’s feature debut is a love-letter to his childhood special effects heroes Stan Winston, Dick Smith, Ray Harryhausen: and to monsters. It’s a minimalist, familiar, and underwritten set-up: married couple, baby (and pet dog) move to an isolated location surrounded by spooky wood. But creature-feature fanboy Hardy’s heart lies with the “faeries, banshees, baby-stealers” that the forest belongs to, and it’s obvious that’s where his creative focus lies.

Tree scraper Adam Hitchens (Joseph Mawle, think David Thewlis-lite), isn’t an especially sympathetic character. The script frequently requires him to demonstrate exasperating obstinacy and complacency for his family’s safety. He refuses to talk to local farmer Colm (Michael McElhatton), who is unnerving wife Clare (Bojana Novakovic), and dismisses his well-intentioned warnings until it’s too late. He brings a highly contagious parasitic fungus into the family home; takes his eyes off the road to reach for a fallen toy when driving with his infant in the car; convinces no one but himself that he can defend his family in STRAW DOGS style from a supernatural home invasion; and is prepared to leave his child in a cupboard whilst the aforementioned fungus is spreading its viscous black spiky gloop throughout the house! 

But enough of the humans, what about the monsters? Director Hardy constructs a gradually incremental reveal – pulling off a brilliant early sequence using mainly sound to convey the threat as dad is locked in the car boot with his child strapped into the car seat vulnerable to the encroaching menace clawing away at the vehicle. Their first appearances are teasingly glimpsed by Adam’s camera flash briefly illuminating the source of the rustling in the bushes. Deploying a combination of largely practical FX - prosthetics, performers and animatronics – and adding some light touch post-production CG enhancement, the end results on screen have a pleasingly old-school feel to them. Think a sort of cross between the Berserkers from NIGHTBREED and 'Groot' from GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – but there are many films and creatures referenced. John Carpenter’s THE THING is clearly an inspiration – and whilst he’s not name-checked in the credits, given the prominent on-screen threat to eyes, I’d say Lucio Fulci must be in director Hardy’s DNA somewhere too. There’s also a terrific set-piece featuring wife Clare fighting to prevent a baby-stealing creature breaking through the loft trapdoor which conjures up a similar encounter with a one-armed hero named Ash and a fruit cellar...

The combining of olde worlde folklore with the science of a Cordyceps Parasitic Fungi aka ‘zombie fungus’ (which rather alarmingly is a real thing – I Googled it) is an interesting premise but it doesn’t gel together all that well. The same can be said for the body-horror element, which deflects the attention away from the creatures onto our tree-expert, who quite frankly isn’t remotely as interesting as what’s lurking in the woods. This shift away from the monsters threatens complete derailment – but luckily the focus gets back on track to bring things to a reasonably satisfying conclusion as sunlight bursts through the trees.

I would have liked a bit more back story concerning the mythology of the inhabitants featured in THE HALLOW (which was originally titled: THE WOODS). And all the characters, especially wife Clare, could have benefitted from some more depth than the minimalist sketches provided for them (she doesn’t like to leave draining the pasta for too long). But perhaps the absence of any detailed origins was all part of director Colin Hardy’s grand design to keep us wanting more? The way the seemingly innocuous tracking shot behind the end credits suddenly zooms in on a suggestion for the story’s expansion certainly sets up the possibility of a sequel. But Hardy himself may now have to pass on revisiting THE HALLOW as he’s currently flying high helming the reboot of THE CROW. If so, then at least he’s nurtured a decent creature-feature which has helped him to lay down future roots to branch out into whichever genre path he chooses (and that’s more than enough tree puns for now).

***(out of 5*)

Paul Worts