Raindance 2012 : Familiar Ground Review

Stephane Lafleur’s meandering, minimalist slice of Canadian life, Familiar Grounds, revels in the mundane, while simultaneously peppering its story with splashes of the remarkable.

Brother and Sister, Benoit and Maryse are living lives of utter monotony (and I do mean monotony) through a bleak Quebec winter. Living with his elderly father, Benoit despairs that everything he touches “turns to shit”. His budding romance with a single mother is scuppered by her son, his relationship with his father fractured, his inability to competently work the family Skid-doo a constant bone of contention. Following an accident at her work, Maryse begins to evaluate her life of domesticity, married to a tedious cycling enthusiast. The snow-blown boredom for these two is broken by the arrival of a used-car dealer claiming to be from the future. His words of warning to Benoit point to an impending disaster for his sister, should she go ahead with a planned roadtrip.

Lafleur’s story of disaffected siblings moves at an absolute snail’s pace, allowing the director to revel in the crushing bleakness of the unforgiving Canadian winter. The daily routine is broken only by the odd moment of sudden randomness, categorised as a serious of “accidents”. The rare moments of drama, as and when they do appear, throw into stark contrast the dullness of the daily grind. Family dinners become ruined monuments to the dead, trips to the garage grim portents of looming tragedy.

The end result is a movie which, with its excruciating study of the unremarkable, has a sort of dead-eyed charm. Glimpses of affection can be gleaned through the cold exteriors of the characters, the positively ice-age backdrop may seem half a world away, but the people are recognisably human.

The only trouble with all this is, a film which takes so much effort to revel in so much overwhelming tedium, can get a little, well tedious.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

★★★☆☆

Rating: NA
Directed By: Stéphane Lafleur
Cast: Francis La Haye, Fanny Mallette, Michel Daigle, Sylvain Marcel

Sinister Review

★★★★☆

Of all the horror films to make it to the big screen this autumn, Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke and directed by Scott Dickinson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), has probably had the most attention. Take one look at any respectable horror web site and the stills, TV spots, trailers etc are proudly flaunted as if with some secret knowledge that this will be something to remember. Though the film isn’t exactly a deal-breaker, it’s definitely one of the more skilfully executed horrors we’ve seen thus far 2012.

The story follows Ellison (a top-form Ethan Hawke), a true crime writer who, for his new project, moves him and his family to a new home. Soon after arriving, Ellison finds a box of old films that show the brutal murders of numerous families by an unknown assailant. As he gets closer and closer to unravelling the mystery of the tapes his family are pulled with him into grave danger.

Sounds like a fairly standard horror tale, but it’s not. The thing that puts this film above most is its finely tuned understanding of its subject; the use of old celluloid pulls out a hundred references to voyeuristic horror, Peeping Tom and Psycho jump to mind, and then there’s the family under duress aspect which brings in just about any “haunted house” film you’ve seen. But under all this is the relentless beating heart of a genuine horror story. Take any sequence where Ellison watches the films and you’ll find some of the tautest in ages. From the second we lay eyes on the conspicuous black box of home movies, with their unassuming yet ominous titles, there’s a feeling of dread lording over all. All of a sudden, we want the family to get away from the house, but at the same time we really want to see those movies. Even after the first we want to know what the rest of those canisters hold. That’s where the voyeuristic guilt comes into play and we, the audience, are all of a sudden participants to something ghastly. Unfortunately it’s the film’s own ingenuity that really highlights how lazy it can be, particularly its jump-scares which leap-frog the suspense and capture a significantly cheaper thrill.

Derrickson’s tight direction and frantic style keep the film on track also lending a chaotic feel to some of the more brutal moments. Ellison’s slow-slipping sanity comes with the rapid cutting-in of super 8, an effect that in other hands might have been wasted but here gives a Shining-esque sense of schizophrenia. The speed of the film is important to its narrative: just as the characters very quickly become confused and assailed, the narrative flickers through “haunted house” past “serial killer”, and eventually spirals into a web of macabre beyond the isolated affairs of Ellison’s new home.

The film’s primary issue is one not unusual in modern horror: it shows too much. A lack of reserve in relation to some of the more terrifying concepts allows those concepts to become almost laughable through over-exposure. A scene which sees Ellison wake in the night to wander his creaky old house suddenly becomes an abstract ballet with ghostly children. Mr Boogie, a genuinely unsettling omnipresence, eventually becomes too familiar which is a shame considering he’s the reason you spend half the film wincing in terror and trying to burrow into your seat.

Special note has to be reserved for Christopher Young’s soundtrack, which doesn’t bother to come up with a specific melody; instead it focuses on blurring the lines between film and reality, which in turn leaks Ellison’s world into ours. The insect flickering of the finished celluloid film pops up throughout the film amidst abstract chanting and a host of other deeply unsettling sounds to illustrate Ellison’s mind state and keep us wondering whether he’s bothered to wake up (or fall asleep) once the films have stopped rolling. It truly is a masterful score to be put up there with Young’s work on Hellraiser.

Sinister may not be a film to induct into the canon, but it’s certainly a well-executed piece of nerve-shredding that will haunt you for some time, and it definitely has the potential to seriously disturb your kids. Don’t see it alone.

Scott Clark

Rating: 15
Release Date: 5th October 2012 (UK)
Directed by: Scott Derrickson  
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance , James Ransone , Clare Foley, Vincent D'Onofrio

Raindance 2012: Sunset Strip:The Movie Review

★★ 1/2☆☆

With Sunset Strip, one suspects that director Hans Fjellestad hopes he has drafted the definitive autobiography of that most insalubrious of American landmarks, Hollywood Boulevard. The reality is that this 93 minute love letter to sex, drugs and rock n’ roll feels more like an extended anecdote than anything else.

Fjellestad has wrung his contacts book to its very limits to populate his movie with anyone and everyone with even the tiniest connection to the world famous mile-and-a-half stretch of tarmac. Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Paris Hilton, Dan Aykroyd (plugging his own vodka), and Kenneth Anger, amongst others, all pop up to wax lyrical about the world famous street, and let us know just what it is that makes the place so special.

The interviews are woven together in such a way as to concentrate either on a particular period in Los Angeles history, or a single bar, hotel or street corner to give us a sense of time and of space; to inject a sense of character into the lifeless brickwork. Not surprisingly, the interviews tend to concentrate on the seedier aspects of life on the strip; the drugs, the drink, the illicit trysts; at the expense of imparting any real practical or historical information.

What’s driven home here is that everyone involved has been profoundly affected in some way by Hollywood Boulevard, by its history, its character, and its “je ne sais quoi”. Mickey Rourke explains: “Your dreams can start out there, and your dreams will end there…”

All those little stories of celebrities having such a jolly good time: Kelly Osbourne’s lost virginity, Billy Corgan’s realisation that “he’d arrived”, or Tommy Lee’s public fellatio, make for entertaining, if irrelevant viewing. For all Fjellestad’s attempts to paint The Strip’s cultural history, there’s a distinct lack of actual history; a refusal to look beyond the scandal to view the filthy heart of Hollywood Boulevard and actually see what’s going on, or why.

It’s the prevailing sense of sense-congratulation amongst so many of those interviewed that leaves you feeling as if the secret to Sunset Strip is little more than a self perpetuating myth. Famous people flock there because famous people flock there. Either that or it just has a… I don’t know what.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

Rating: 15
Screening Dates: Thursday 27 September ,Monday 1 October (20:45)
Directed by: Hans Fjellestad
Cast: Cisco Adler, Lou Adler, Ahmed Ahmed, Dan Aykroyd,

Raindance 2012:Vinyl Review

★★★☆☆

Washed-up punk-rocker Johnny Jones (Phil Daniels) begs a record company head-honcho to re-sign his band Weapons of Happiness after decades on the scrap-heap, only to be refused on the grounds that listening to anyone over the age of 30 sing is like “watching your parents having sex”. Faced with rejection, and staring at an anonymous middle-age spent in various caravan parks, Johnny hatches a plan to re-launch his music career. Assemble a group of TV-friendly kids as a front for his band; the kids can mime and wave, while Johnny and his pals roll back the years and kick out the jams backstage.

Johnny and his bandmates’ auditions for likely teenyboppers unearth the talents of troubled youngster Drainpipe (Jamie Blackley), a kid with a reckless streak, a passion at odds with the plastic, wipe-clean façade of the pop group he should be a poster boy for, and showmanship similar to that of Johnny himself. The band is launched, and their first single becomes an unlikely success.

Sara Sugarman’s warm-hearted tale of men behaving badly, and musically maladroit youths is based on the real-life story of Welsh band The Alarm who pulled of a similar hoax of their own in 2004. Vinyl extolls the virtues of six strings, pub gigs and cramped tour buses, over the auto-tuned, pre-packaged pop of X-Factor and the like. But while it invokes the spirit of the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle, Vinyl lacks the element of unpredictability so integral to the punk music it worships. It feels safer, less anarchic even than School Of Rock, a film with which it shares a certain DNA.

That’s not to say it lacks heart or humour. Daniels makes a decent fist of injecting sympathy into the selfish, pig-headed, oldest swinger in town, Johnny Jones. As the bad-boy of the Welsh seaside, Blackley radiates the impulsiveness and sex-appeal so obvious in the best and most dangerous of rock stars. Weapons of Happiness guitarist turned nursing home impresario, Perry Benson reminds us just what a fine comic actor he is also.

It probably won’t have you dusting off the leathers, but it will make you chuckle as it gives Simon Cowell a gentle kick up the backside.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

Rating: 15
Screening Dates: Thursday 27 September ,Monday 1 October (15:00), 1st March 2013 (UK)
Directed by: Sara Sugarman Cast: Keith Allen, Phil Daniels , Jamie Blackley 

Frightfest Announce The Line Up Of There Annual Halloween All Nighter

The FrightFest Halloween All-nighter returns to the Vue in London’s Leicester Square on Saturday October 27 for another helping of choice shock around the clock horror. And this year horror fans around the country can join in the fearful fun as, on Saturday November 3, the event travels to the Picturehouse Cambridge, the Empires in Sunderland and Newcastle and The Watershed Bristol. 

London line-up:

6.30pm    EXCISION  (UK Premiere)

 

Alienated and mentally unhinged teen Pauline struggles with the pressures of high school, pleasing her demanding mother and loosing her virginity. With a grotesque curiosity for the darker side of life, Pauline retreats into her fantasy world of becoming a great surgeon. Be prepared for a central performance by Annalynne McCord that will move, challenge and ultimately creep you out.

81 mins   Director: Richard Bates   USA  2012   Cast: Annalynne McCord – Pauline,

Traci Lords – Phyllis, Roger Bart – Bob, John Waters – William, Marlee Matlin – Amber, Malcolm McDowell – Mr. Cooper

9.00pm    SURPRISE FILM (UK Premiere)

11.45pm  THE TALL MAN  (UK Premiere)

 

Director Pascal Laugier’s follow-up to his classic MARTYRS is another sensational thriller of astonishing depth. In the depressed Canadian town of Cold Rock, children are disappearing, Witnesses say they have seen a Tall Man at the scenes of the crimes, When this ‘tall man’ kidnaps the son of Julia Denning (Jessica Biel), the town nurse, Julia finds herself at the centre of an unravelling legend.

99 mins   Director: Pascal Laugier   USA 2012  Cast: Jessica Biel – Julia Denning, Jodelle Ferland – Jenny, Stephen McHattie – Lt. Dodd, Eve Harlow – Christine, Jakob Davies – David

2.15am   BAIT 3D  (UK Premiere)

 

From CUT director Kimble Rendall comes a new dimension in deep sea terror as shoppers at an Australian underground Oceania supermarket are under attack by a crazed bandit. Suddenly, the unimaginable happens.  A monster freak tsunami swallows up the town Now trapped, with rushing waves threatening to entomb them in a watery grave, the survivors discover they are not alone…

90 mins  Director: Kimble Rendall   Australia 2012  Cast: Xavier Samuel – Josh, Julian McMahon – Doyle, Phoebe Tomkin – Jaimie, Sharni Vinson – Tina, Cariba Heine – Heather

 

4.00am   ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS  - Retrospective Spotlight

To celebrate the launch of the restored version by Arrow Films (the DVD features a commentary by FrightFest’s Alan Jones), the Italian godfather of gore Lucio Fulci’s classic as you’ve never seen it before. It’s all here: the underwater shark vs. zombie face off, the splinter-in-the-eye sequence, the cannibalistic disembowelling  and completely superfluous nudity. What more could anyone want?

89 mins   Director Lucio Fulci  Italy 1979   Cast: Richard Johnson – Dr. David Menard, Ian McCulloch – Peter West, Tisa Farrow – Anne Bowles, Al Cliver – Brian Hull, Olga Karlatos – Paola Menard

 

5.45am  THE HELPERS  (UK Premiere)

 

Seven friends on a road trip to Las Vegas break down in the desert. They find help at a nearby Motel and it seems like they’ve lucked out with a group of good Samaritans. Yet when they wake in their rooms the next day, they are bound up, tied down and posed in several different weird scenarios. Each ending only one way – painful, gruesome death. Who is responsible for such fiendishly clever bloody terror?

82 mins   Director: Christopher B. Stokes   USA 2012   Cast: Kristen Quintrall – Claire, Christopher Jones – Ryan, JoJo Wright – Phil, Black Thomas – Jordan, Rachel Sterling – Anna

Tickets for the London event cost £50 and go on sale on Monday Ist October. To book call 08712 240 240 or go online  http://www.myvue.com/latest-movies/info/film/frightfest-all-nighter  Tickets can also be bought at the cinema

For details of regional screenings please visit www.frightfest.co.uk

Note that the regional venues will not be playing all of the titles screening at the London event so please check local listings

Raindance 2012:Orania Review

★★☆☆☆

    For those used to documentaries coming with narrators, music and handy voice-overs to point you in the way of a feeling, it might take some adjustment to get used to watching Orania. This German documentary focussing on the titled area of South Africa is something of a flashback to the slower pace of old television documentaries, a study of a topic where shots are held, there is no voiceover or friendly voiced interviewer probing the locals and no running monologue theorising what we’ve just seen on screen. The area in question lies in the Northern Cape of South Africa, a vast area surrounded by, well, nothing really. A community in the centre of this region  are isolated and cut-off from the rest of their nation, not imposed on them but rather by their own choice in an attempt to maintain the core values they hold dear. This is Orania and Orania is strictly whites-only South Africa. Decades after the ending of Apartheid, this small rural spot has been chosen to house numbers of Afrikaans, oppose to joining in the multiculturalism of the world outside in favour of building a nesting place for similarly minded Boers around the country. It’s a community headed by a group of elders, keen to install their values in the next generation of Afrikaans, an idea that was born by what they see as necessary to preserve their culture.

    It’s a culture that holds work and religion as the key pillars of their community, something that’s drilled into you upon arrival where the street signs are a flashback to 50’s style American small-town billboards, reading like a town manifesto ‘Self working, self reliant’, ‘winners never get discouraged, discouragers never win’ and ‘our ideal binds us together’. Ah yes, the ideal. What exactly is the ideal of Oranians? Racism is keenly discarded as part of it by all on camera, although there are clear signs that if it isn’t at least overt or violent it is definitely discrimatory and impassive. A local swimming pool owner jumps at the chance to prove his chumminess with his black delivery man but the stilted exchange and acknowledgment by both that he must not go within 25m of the towns borders only go to heighten the underlying prejudices. There’s also the intimidating billboard that reads “I speak and think in Afrikaans”. It’s more guarded within the older, establishing members of the community believing their country’s rainbow nation as a “recipe for disaster” a notion dating back centuries. They see their role as keepers of their European ancestors’ way of life, one threatened by the black locals who, centuries ago, were initially the employees of these ancestors. This refusal to accept any kind of multiculturalism is an intriguing line to follow, one frustratingly ignored or brushed over at times by director Tobias Lindner who perhaps sees that as a different sort of documentary which is feasible enough - Louis Theroux has already lived amongst a similar Boer community for television and you sense Lindner wants to bring us a more rounded view of life within the walls (metaphorical, they haven’t bricked themselves in. Yet).

    We arrive in Orania with new a family including Mum, teenage son and minibus driver Dad. The father comes with aspirations of a fruitful business ferrying the locals around and out of town “transport is the bond between Orainia and the new South Africa.”, until he realises the locals’ pesky lack of interest in the new South Africa gets in the way. He also takes to the airwaves to reel in new clients where he is warned to address the issue of ‘foreigners’ on the bus – his Afrikaans speaking only admission is still deemed too liberal for some. The radio station itself is seen as the voice of Orania, becoming a mainstay in the film coming across a  perfectly pitched parody of a hospital radio station from the fifties and often delivering the funniest moments: two old ladies read a ‘recipe of the day’ about Quince and there’s a no-panic approach when the internet goes down (again) meaning the already-on-air weather report is unknown, “Oh well, let’s speculate” continues the presenter as he proceeds to look out the window and report what it looks like.

    This dated looking life continues in the distinctly 80’s school video looking introductory video that the teenage son has to watch, one that explains what is expected of him – a lot of work on farms – and ending with the sign off “Orania is not for sissies”. His friendship with his charismatic housemate – a former Johannesburg resident with a few records to his name - is the easiest to enjoy in the film and his subsequent ban from Orania serves to ruin it for us as well as him. You can sense that Lindner was just as upset knowing his best character was no longer in town but has his fingers in enough other story pies to go back to.

Unfortunately none can quite hold our attention as easily and heightens the sense of a lack of focus in the film. Orania the place is a potentially fascinating area of interest sadly Orania the film seldom peeks this interest.

Matthew Walsh

Rating:12
Release Date: Friday 28 September (18:30- World Première) Tuesday 2 October (12:45)
Directed by: Tobias Lindner
Cast: n/a

Raindance 2012: Percival's Big Night Out Review

★★★☆☆

Claustrophobics beware; Percival’s Big Night may not be the film for you. An exercise in lo-fi film making, William C. Sullivan’s feature is shot in one take on one camera in one room of a small New York apartment. The plot is similarly taught; Sal, a weed dealer (or self-coined ‘herbal entrepreneur’) and his aspiring actor housemate Percival wait for Chloe, the formers client and the latter’s hopeful love interest, to come over and pick up drugs thus giving Percival the opportunity to have his big night with her.

    There is little room for much other than dialogue in such a tight set-up and that is what we get. The first 20 minutes are the two housemates, introducing the key characteristics of each one within seconds of their introduction. Sal is a weed dealer – you know by now what this entails and is predictably a mix between Seth Rogan style stoner and artsy style stoner, while Percival bar tends waiting for his acting break. He is also the romantic of the pair believing a 5 minute conversation he had with Chloe to be enough to convince him she’s the one. The conversation between the two housemates is that almost familiar style of talking where there’s an element of forced improvisation with each involved trying to get the last, droll humourous put down in before topics change. Insults are traded in the form of what some would call ‘banter’ before steaks are raised, truths are told and fights ensue. All this in 15 minutes leaves you wondering how a pair of stoners can pick up such energy for all of it but their bromantic bickering can only hold our attention for so long and thankfully the arrival of Chloe and friend Riku flesh out what was starting to look like an internet comedy.

    The four soon share an impromptu double date centred around a bong and a lot of ease-dropping. There’s more than a sniff of mumblecore about the talky roots of PBN but it doesn’t quite match the oft-mimicked genre’s subtlety. Conversations grow from the minute to the life-changing in a matter of seconds as each character is treated to their own part of the mid-20’s ‘I’m lost’ realisation at the first hint of provocation. The self-analysis on show by Chloe and Percival in particular reach levels that make the ‘real time’ effect somewhat hard to believe. Characters go from being introduced to trading their darkest secrets and most vulnerable emotions without the presence of any form of catalyst.

    Perhaps this is a bit harsh for what is an incredibly effective and cost-efficient production. Sullivan manages to keep our attention for the duration of the film with the largely improvised script holding a tight enough structure to ensure nothing feels flabby or overworked. However, the US indie scene is quickly becoming a repetitive and predictable one, one where a film like this only adds to the countless others within or closely nestled outside the Duplass mumblecore world and while there’s an admirable quality to the self-imposed limits of Percival’s Big Night there’s little that adds anything new to the scene.

Matthew Walsh

Rating:15
Screening Dates: Sunday 30 September (18:30) Wednesday 3 October(16:00)
Directed By: William Sullivan
Cast: Tommy Nelms, Jarret F. Kerr , Sarah Wharton

Cinehouse of Horrors #3

News

For those of our community who enjoy biopics and have an undying love for all things Hitchcock, you’ve probably heard all about the upcoming film centred on the infamous suspense director’s life at the time of filming Psycho. Directed by Sacha Gervasi and starring the fantastic Anthony Hopkins as the man himself, Hitchcock is going to be a must for anyone interested in one of the greatest directors of all time. At last, we have a poster for the film and know it will have limited release November 23rd and fully released early 2013.

On the subject of Hitchcock, the new A&E prequel TV series to Psycho; Bates Motel, is pulling together quickly with the announcement that Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) will be starring as Norman Bates. Highmore definitely has the element of surprise over an audience used to his less erratic portrayals and playing everyone’s favourite mummy’s boy could be an incredible turning point in his career. No matter what, this is something to keep an eye out for.

Guillermo Del Toro’s Mama now flaunts a full trailer and we’re pretty excited about that. Directed by Andres Muschietti, and based on one of his short films of the same name, it is the story of two children under the care of their aunt and uncle after living in the forest alone for five years, only how alone they really were comes into question. The maestro of haunting and beautiful tales is in the executive producer’s chair helping give the film a budge in the right direction with his seal of approval so we can only imagine that it’s going to be something special.

A couple of weeks ago we showed you the gruesome poster for Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton’s The Collection, the sequel to their 2009 trap horror The Collector. Well, now there’s a trailer and the film looks awesome. As long as it keeps a distance from the Saw franchise, The Collection could very well be a terrific and inventive piece of horror. See the trailer here.

It’s a pleasure to announce that Rob Zombie’s latest cinematic effort The Lords of Salem has been picked up by Anchor Bay amidst some wonderful early reviews. Word that this is the rocker’s most inventive and stylish flick yet have got us pretty excited considering the original and riveting style he has crafted through his Halloween Re-imagining, and the subsequent sequel, along with his serial killer epic The Devil’s Rejects.

The immensely successful zombie epic The Walking Dead has had a busy couple of weeks, with numerous stills, a new poster, and trailer for the third season appearing online. Also this week AMC has announced that a fourth season is green lit so there’s plenty more of the show to keep ravenous fans content. Adapted from the graphic novels of the same name and instigated by Frank Darabont, the show has run since 2010 and changed the way most consider horror serials. The show primarily follows police officer Rick Grimes as he ventures across a decimated country to reunite with his family and then how his small band of survivors continues to exist in a dangerous new world. Think Neighbours against a backdrop of zombie apocalypse, but better. See the trailer below.





 Special Announcement
Fans of the Granddaddy of zombie films, George A. Romero, may be interested to hear about the re-release of Document of the Dead; Roy Frumkes’ intimate documentary on Romero’s creative process and the filming of Dawn of the Dead, now almost unarguably the greatest dead-epic ever filmed. Romero’s very particular brand of politically charged cynicism has helped cement his original trilogy (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead) in the horror canon and Frumkes’ award-winning peek at the legend behind those films is no doubt going to be even better in its reissued DVD/Blu-Ray format. The Definitive Document of the Dead is limited and available only through the Synapse website from November 13.


Trailers

Mama

Directed by: Andres Muschietti.
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier
Synopsis: Annabel and Lucas are faced with the challenge of raising his young nieces that were left alone in the forest for 5 years.... but how alone were they?


The Walking Dead Series 3

Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus
Synopsis: With the world growing increasingly more dangerous and Lori's pregnancy advancing, Rick discovers a potentially safe haven. But first he must secure the premises, pushing his group to its limit.







Upcoming Releases

The Victim - 24th of September
Genre veteran and cult favourite, Michael Biehn makes his directorial feature debut with the grindhouse inspired, The Victim. Biehn shows a clear competence behind the camera and this is a highly watchable, gritty little debut from the Planet Terror star. It also features fanboy favourite, Danielle Harris in a smaller role.Read our review / Win film on blu-ray

The Pact - 1st of October
Based on director's Nicholas McCarthy's short film of the same name, The Pact proved successful enough to be made into a full length feature. Starring Caity Loitz and Casper van Dien, The Pact sees a grieving woman haunted by a mysterious ghostly presence. This subtle, creepy horror boasts a chilling, well-crafted atmosphere, rather than a reliance on gore filled antics.

Twixt - 1st of October
Francis Ford Coppola makes a truly welcome return to the horror genre with his upcoming feature, Twixt. Val Kilmer stars as a struggling novelist who gets caught up in the middle of a murder mystery in a small American town, whilst on a book tour. Response to Twixt may have been patchy, but surely a new Francis Ford Coppola horror film is something for genre fans to take notice of.

Faces In The Crowd - 1st of October
Everyone loves Milla Jovovich and her latest horror, Faces In The Crowd looks set to be an interesting one. Already a box office success in South Korea, the Resident Evil star's feature is coming straight to DVD in the UK. Faces In The Crowd follows a woman who develops prosopagnosia (the inability to recognise faces) after being attacked and repeatedly stalked by a twisted serial killer.

Prometheus - 8th of October
It may have split opinion amongst fans, but one cannot deny Ridley Scott's "kinda Alien prequel" was a distinct, beautifully crafted piece of science fiction horror.

Halloween 1-5 Collection - 15th October
The first five Halloween features are being rereleased in a handy little collection just in time for the big day. Included are Carpenter's stellar original and the equally brilliant sequel which introduce the legendary Michael Myers and his long-struggling foe, Dr. Loomis. The collection is also a chance to get hold of the rare, Halloween III: Season of the Witch which takes us out of Myers territory for a refreshing and equally enjoyable horror tale. Halloween IV & V may dip in quality when compared to their predecessors but are still a cut above most horror sequels.

Andrew McArthur & Scott Clark

Casa De Lava DVD Review

★★1/2☆☆

Casa de Lava (called Down to Earth on it’s US relase) is a film made by noted Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa. It was his 2nd film and a very loose remake of Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur’s I walked with a Zombie. It stars Isaah de Bankolé best known to western audiences with his many collaborations with Jim Jarmusch with films such as The Limits of Control and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

The plot is basically an immigrant worker Leaõ in Portugal falls into a coma. A young depressed nurse Mariana has to get Leaõ back to his home in the volcanic Cape Verde islands. Nobody is willing to claim Leaõ and so this stuck on the island. She starts interacting (partly in hope of finding a relative) with the strange locals and is drawn into mysterious community of the volcanic island. She starts a relationship that never goes anywhere with a local, she seems to be more and more connected to Leaõ. Leaõ also eventually wakes up but is just a stranger in his own land. Many of the inhabitant’s wishes to make the journey to Portugal out of financial need because of Portugal’s colonisation of the island.

My biggest problem with the film is I just wish it were a total zombie film and not try be a zombie film without zombies. The Zombie film was always political and yes the people are of the island are kinda zombies and dead in a way. It however would have been more enjoyable if they were actual zombies. There are numerous shots of the volcanoes that are beautiful but they linger and linger and just bored the hell out of me eventually.

It has an interesting film about the colonisation of islands in Africa by the Portuguese in it for about 20 minutes. It however left be cold and I didn’t care at all about the characters, it left me unengaged with the characters. It was all done very realistically and I would have preferred a supernatural twist (instead of the metaphorical zombie), which Costa originally planned to do, as evident on the bonus interview on the Second Run DVD.

Ian Schultz

Rating:15
DVD Re-release Date: 24th September 2012(UK)
Directed by: Pedro Costa
Cast: Inês de Medeiros, Isaach De Bankolé, Edith Scob, Pedro Hestnes
Buy Casa De Lava: DVD[1994]

Creepy Clips & Motion Poster For The Pact

It may have been loved by the mainstream critics however The Pact has been a hit with the Horror critics, fans and this Monday 1st October the film will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray. To get you into that spooktastic feeling for the release we have a couple clips which hopefully give you a few shivers. First clip entitled 'Psychic Terror' shows psychic Stevie (Haley Hudson) under the influence of supernatural forces as she investigates the mysterious goings-on in Annie's (Caity Lotz) late mother's house. The second clip is called ' Hotel Terror' showcases one of The Pact's more grisly moments. It's not exactly NSFW but it's certainly creepy! It follows Annie  as she very sensibly decides to leave her haunted house and stay the night in a motel. But will the haunted house leave her quite so easily…?

The Pact also stars Casper Van Dien, Agnes Bruckner and Kathleen Rose Perkins . The Pact will be arriving in UK&Ireland on DVD, Blu-ray courtesy of eOne Entertainment on October 1st.
'who's that behind you?' add the scares to the film we have a new motion poster, check out below, all I'll say is I don't want to be at the bus stop when this one plays!

The Brilliant Searching For Sugar Man Coming To DVD/BluRay This November

Malik Bendjelloul’s revelatory and compelling Searching for Sugar Man (USA/UK/Sweden) is a documentary about the Mexican-American singer-songwriter Rodriguez, who was momentarily hailed in 1970 as the finest recording artist of his generation, and then disappeared into oblivion – only to rise again from the ashes in a completely different context, a continent away. Searching for Sugar Man is a film about hope, inspiration and the resonating power of music.

In the late ‘60s, a musician was discovered in a Detroit bar by two celebrated producers who were struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They recorded an album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of the greatest recording artists of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, it became a phenomenon. Two South African fans then set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation led them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez.

It’s a film about hope, inspiration and the resonating power of music, and that music can be heard on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, available now through Sony Legacy Recordings and Light In The Attic Records. Comprising tracks from Cold Fact and its 1971 follow-up Coming From Reality (reissued to critical acclaim in 2008 and 2009, respectively), the soundtrack begins with the otherworldly Sugar Man and acts as a primer to this long-overlooked musician’s fusion of gritty funk, political poetry and blissful psych-folk.

Rodriguez’s recently rediscovered back catalogue is packed with social commentary, brilliant tunes and, in the case of his 1970 album Cold Fact - a genuine psychedelic classic. To see these songs performed by the man himself, catch a rare performance this winter as part of the Rodriguez full UK Tour Winter 2012.

Rodriguez UK tour dates:

Fri 16 Nov - The Roundhouse, London

Sat 17 Nov - The Royal Festival Hall
Sun 18 Nov - The Roundhouse
Thu 22 Nov - The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool             
Sat 24 Nov - The Sage Gateshead
Sun 25 Nov - The Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Tue 27 Nov - The Button Factory, Dublin
Wed 28 Nov - The Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Fri 30 Nov - The Dome, Brighton
Sat 1 Dec - The Colston Hall, Bristol
Sun 2 Dec - The Academy, Manchester

For a full list of tour dates and tickets go to http://sugarman.org/tourdates.html 

Extras:

Making of

Commentary with Rodriguez and Malik Bendjelloul

DVD Tech specs: Cert: 12 / Feature Running Time: 83 min approx / Region 2 / Feature Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1/ Colour PAL / Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 / English Language/ HOH Subtitles/ Cat No: OPTD2480 / RRP: £ 17.99

BLURAY Tech specs: Cert: 12 / Feature Running Time: 86 min approx / Region B/ HD standard 1080p / Feature Aspect Ratio:  1.77:1/ Colour / 5.1 DTS Master Audio / English Language/ HOH Subtitles/ Cat No: OPTBD2480 / RRP: £ 22.99

Pre-Order / Buy Searching For The Sugar Man on:DVD / Blu-ray     Read our cinema review here

Horror Channel Stalks The Airwaves With Slasher Season

Horror Channel will be slicing its way through our TV schedules every Friday night throughout October as it celebrates slasher films, both classic and contemporary, From Oct 5 there will be four double-bills, headed up by four UK TV premieres. Seen as the most controversial of horror film sub-genres, the slasher film has delighted fans for over 30 years with its iconic psychopaths, trend-setting special effects, horny teenagers and outrageous plotlines. From ‘Psycho to the hilarious Scream franchise, these endearing films forever changed the face and fortunes of horror cinema.

Fri Oct 5 @ 22:55

The season kicks off with the premiere of  GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM (2006) a documentary which features a host of genre legends including Wes Craven, Rob Zombie & John Carpenter, who take us on a journey to the darkest recesses of cinematic shock. This is followed at 00:40 by BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974). Bob Clark’s Sorority House

horror classic, which stars Olivia Hussy, influenced such spine-chilling greats as Halloween and Scream. 
Fri Oct 12 @ 22.55

Next up is the premiere of the bone-crunching WRECKAGE (2010) directed by John Mallory Asher in which four friends head to a scrap yard to look for spare parts – but soon realise the only spare parts they’ll be getting their hands on are their own!. This is followed at 00:40 by high-school slasher favourite PROM NIGHT (1980), starring the original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielson. There is also an actress in the film called Liz Stalker-Mason.

Fri Oct 19 @ 22.55

Martin Kemp, the famed actor/musician has turned his hand to horror, bringing us his impressive directorial debut STALKER (2010).  Its not often that a woman stalks another woman in this genre and here Jane March, who found fame in ‘The Lover’, plays the part of a psychotic female to chilling perfection. This is double-billed at 00:25 with HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981) starring Melissa Sue Anderson as a high school senior whose birthday party guests are being killed off one by one…

Fri Oct 26 @ 22:55

The last double-bill of the season features the TV premiere of THE TORTURED (2010), directed by Robert Lieberman, in which a desperate mother and father (played by Jesse Metcalfe & Elise Landry)decide to take the law into their own hands after the kidnapper and killer of their son receives a light sentence. .  Concluding the series at 00:30 is cult classic MANIAC COP (1988) written by Larry Cohen and starring Bruce Campbell as the suspected cop who goes in search of the real killer.
TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138

 www.horrorchannel.co.uk | twitter.com/horror_channel

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Masters Of Cinema) Blu-Ray Review

★★★★1/2

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was Fritz Lang’s last film in his native Germany. Soon after his completion of the film he fled Germany because of his Jewish ancestry and the fact the Nazi head of propaganda banned his film and also because he went Lang to make films for them. It is a sequel to his previous film in the Dr. Mabuse series but having not seen the earlier film will not diminish the effect of the sequel.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse opens with disgraced Detective Hofmeister who escapes from his criminal attackers. He phones his former superior inspector Karl Lohmann and frantically tells him he has discovered a huge criminal conspiracy. Before he can discloses the identity of the responsible criminal, shots and fired and he goes mad and institutionalized at Prof. Baum’s mental institute.

Baum introduces the case of Dr. Mabuse who went bad and crazy 10 year previously. Mabuse writes detailed plans for crimes and is the head of the crime syndicate. A colleague of Baum’s is shot and killed by Mabuse’s execution squad. There is clue scratched on a window. Lohmann suspects Mabuse but it’s revealed Mabuse died that morning. The rest of the film is Lohmann’s investigate in the crime syndicate.

The film is a complex endlessly fascination crime sage with a strange supernatural twist to it. Fritz Lang later regretted the supernatural element but it’s ads this wonderful off kilter aspect to the crime film. The film is one of the last grasps of German expressionism but is shot in a much realistic style than most German expressionism. It’s not quite up to the beauty of Lang’s Metropolis or M. It’s a near masterpiece with some slight pacing issues but saying that the previous Mabuse film was over 4 hours long (I haven’t seen it yet).

The Nazis banned the film because according to Joseph Goebbels “showed that a extremely dedicated group of people are perfectly capable of overthrowing any state with violence”. It is a very cynical look at the government/officials who are rather useless in the film and can’t do anything about the syndicate.

The film is wonderfully photographed and has enough twist and turns to keep you guessing. It’s not as good as some of Lang’s previous masterpiece but what are? Not many films. It’s a wonderfully offbeat mix of cop drama, mystery and horror and it’s a wonderful piece of proto-noir. It has been lovingly restored by Eureka for Masters of Cinema on blu-ray.

Ian Schultz

Rating:12
UK DVD Release Date: 24th September 2012
Directed By:Fritz Lang
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Otto Wernicke , Gustav Diessl  
Buy Testament Of Dr. Mabuse: Blu-ray [1933]

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel Review

★★★★★

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011) is like Marmite - you’ll either love it or hate it. Those who fall into the latter category will, in all likelihood, not understand what all the fuss is about and find the woman at the centre of this documentary sharp, obnoxious and hard to swallow - much like the aforementioned savory spread. Those on the other hand who revere Mrs Vreeland as one of the supreme ‘Queens of Fashion’ - up there along side Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Harper’s Bazaar’s late Liz Tilberis - will let every morsel of this tangy documentary cocktail linger tantilisingly on their palate.

Watching this 86 minute film, directed and written by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Brent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Frédéric Tcheng, feels like a fast flick through one of the glossy magazines Vreeland became famous for editing. Spliced with archive interview footage of the woman herself discoursing on her colourful life and career - from her early Parisian childhood at the opening of the 20th century to her life in New York and career first at Bazaar and then its arch rival Vogue, before her rebirth as the doyenne of fashion historians at The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute - this film is a fascinating insight into one of the true legends of fashion.

However it is also a mesmerising photo-album of many of the defining moments and images which shaped culture in the 20th century and beyond. As the stars who contribute memories to the film - from Ali McGraw, Angelica Huston and Penelope Tree to David Bailey and Richard Avedon - testify, Vreeland may have been a nightmare to work for but she had an uncanny ability to capture the essence of the moment and put her finger on the pulse of style. In the recent documentary The September Issue (2009) that other fashion legend Grace Coddington grudgingly admits that her boss at Vogue, Anna Wintour, was right when she started the trend of putting celebrities on the cover of the magazine. However after watching Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011) you will see that it was Vreeland who went one better by discovering (and creating) the celebrities, such as Lauren Bacall, in the first place.

Like many famous people, particularly those who become defined by their jobs, their families often take second place and suffer as a result. Though she clearly adored her husband Thomas Reed Vreeland, her sons Tim and Frecky, who contribute to the film, appear to have had a distant relationship with their mother - most likely due to the fact that she virtually lived for her job. Nonetheless those, including her sons, who are interviewed, all remember Vreeland with the affection and respect one would have for an eccentric yet beloved old aunt.

Some years ago I studied fashion journalism in London, and though my writing career took a different path, films like Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011) and its vibrant and colourful subject, remind me why I, like many, will always have a hankering after the world of glossy fashion magazines and the exotic lifestyles of those who create them.

Cleaver Patterson

Rating:PG
UK Release Date: 21st September 2012
Directed By:Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Cast:Diana Vreeland (archive footage only)

The Raid DVD Review

Win Michael Biehn's The Victim On Blu-Ray

Having emerged from the most pivotal Sci-Fi films ever to grace our screen, Michael Biehn takes to the Director’s chair to gain ownership of the grindhouse genre having already channelled his onscreen vivacity in Robert Rodriguez's “Planet Terror” and having learnt the modus operandi from a directing mastermind in James Cameron.

To celebrate the release of Anchor Bay's ‘The Victim’ on DVD and Blu-ray on 24th September, we have some amazing posters and Blu-rays to give away!

During a social outing deep in the quiet woodland with close friend Mary, Annie’s life is put in jeopardy when she is witness to a violent act at the hands of two Sheriff’s Deputies. Fleeing from the attackers she stumbles across Kyle, a shady recluse living in a cabin the middle of the woods. The rugged loner stays far from civilisation, which is until a knock on the door throws his solitary life into chaos. Having been affected by Mary’s desperate bid for her life, Kyle bravely decides to take Sheriff’s law into his own hands. Two worlds collide in this psychological thriller that will make you question your trust in mankind. Who is The Victim?

To win this prize please answer the following question:

Q. What recent British film festival did The Victim make it's UK premier at?

Send your Answer, Name, Address, Postcode and answer to 25+25-5= email it to winatcinehouseuk@gmail.com, Deadline: Sunday 14th October 2012 (2359hrs).Aged 18 or over to enter

Terms and conditions

• This prize is non transferable.
• No cash alternatives apply.
• UK & Irish entries only
  The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse and Anchor Bay UK have the right to alter, delay or cancel this competition without any notice
• The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse,Anchor Bay UK employees
• This competition is promoted on behalf of Anchor Bay UK
  
• If this prize becomes unavailable we have the right to offer an alternative prize instead.
• The Prize is to win the The Victim Blu-Ray&Posters
• To enter this competition you must send in your answer, name, address only, Deadline October 14th, 2012 (2359hrs)
• Will only accept entries sent to the correct email (winatcinehouseuk@gmail.com), any other entry via any other email will be void.
• automated entries are not allowed and will be disqualified, which could result you been banned
• The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes
• Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control.
• The competition is opened to Aged 18  and over 
• Unless Stated Please  Do Not Include Telephone Numbers, we don’t need them and if you include your telephone number Cinehouse and The People’s Movies are not responsible for the security of the number.
• The winning entries will be picked at random and contacted by email
• This competition is bound by the rules of Scotland,England & Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland.
• By sending your entry for this competition you are confirming you have read and agreed to these Terms & Conditions.

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Blu-Ray Review: Michael Biehn's The Victim

★★★☆☆

Michael Biehn continues to surprise viewers thirty-five years into his career:  after rising to fame in the likes of The Terminator and Aliens, Biehn still remains a relevant and much-loved face in the movie world - continuing to impress in cult hits Planet Terror and The Divide. Now the veteran star writes, directs and stars in his debut feature film, The Victim, alongside Jennifer Blanc and horror favourite, Danielle Harris.

The Victim, a horror-infused thriller, follows the unlikely pairing of a shady recluse, Kyle (Biehn), and a young woman (Blanc) who find themselves on a cat and mouse chase from two corrupt cops.

Biehn's debut is a challenging one - it seems to have been labelled as a grindhouse film (one just needs to look at the DVD cover featuring Biehn holding an axe behind a blood-soaked V sign), however, this is not the case. The Victim is far more of a straight-forward thriller with the odd moment of sex or violence thrown in to generate some excitement. Whilst Biehn does deliver a completely competent debut, it proves to be little else than competent, despite some glimpses of potential. 

The Victim will prove to be an entertaining way to spend eighty minutes for audiences with an open mind or Biehn fans - with the actor's debut boasting solid performances and tense, unsettling direction. Biehn excels as a man thrust into a deadly chase between corrupt cops and a victimised young woman, Annie. The growing relationship between Kyle and Annie proves to be of some interest, despite the lack of build up it receives - the recluse and the victim sleep together within ten minutes of meeting which seems to come out of the blue. Although, credit is due to Jennifer Blanc, who manages to make a morally questionable character completely likeable. Danielle Harris also makes a welcome appearance in the film's opening as Annie's carefree, floozy friend who is accidentally killed by one of the corrupt officers (leading to Annie escaping and the ensuing chase).

The Victim is filled with moments that could have been far more impressive if carried out with slightly more precision. One such moments sees Annie running through the woods - we are shown the character running but not what is chasing her - with a couple of simple shots of the cops tailing Annie, Biehn could have made the scene far more gripping. This could all come down to Biehn's lack of experience behind the camera or simply due to the shortage of time available on the shoot.

Another issue with The Victim is the film's uneven tone. It lacks the fun, gritty charm that a B-Movie/grindhouse film should have but at the same time does not feel realistic enough to be a serious thriller.  Had Biehn's script had a little more fun or moments of grindhouse violence or exploitation then it would have been a far more memorable, vibrant film.

The Victim is a respectable debut for Michael Biehn, who does a solid job as director and star. It proves to be a reasonably enjoyable way to spend eighty minutes, although would have fared far better had it taken itself less seriously and embraced the fun of the grindhouse genre.

Andrew McArthur

Stars: Michael Biehn, Danielle Harris , Jennifer Blanc
Director: Michael Biehn
Release: 24th September 2012
Certificate: 15 (UK)

Own A Piece Of Cinematic History With Masters Of Cinema Release Of Passion Of Joan Of Arc

One of the most acclaimed films by Danish legend Carl Theodor Dreyer,  The Passion Of Joan Of Arc [LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC / JEANNE D'ARC'S LIDELSE OG DØD] is to be released in the UK on Blu-ray, DVD & Limited Edition Dual Format (DVD & Blu-ray) SteelBook as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series on 19 November 2012

One of the most emotional film experiences of any era, Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc is a miracle of the cinema, an enigmatic and profoundly moving work that merges the worlds of the viewer and of saintly Joan herself into one shared experience of hushed delirium.

Dreyer's film charts the final days of Joan of Arc as she undergoes the degradation that accompanies her trial for charges of heresy – through her imprisonment and execution at the stake.

The portrayal of Joan by Renée Maria Falconetti is frequently heralded as the all-time finest performance in the history of film, and Dreyer's unusual and virtuosic method, in seeming to render the very soul of his actress, vaulted the director decisively into the ranks of the art form's supreme geniuses.

Recently voted one of the Top 10 Greatest Films of All-Time by Sight & Sound magazine, the Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present The Passion of Joan of Arc in its worldwide Blu-ray première, in an exclusive new restoration, presented in both 20fps and 24fps playback speeds, and featuring Dreyer's own original Danish-language intertitles, available in THREE formats—Blu-ray, DVD, and Ltd Edition Dual Format (DVD & Blu-ray) SteelBook editions, released in the UK on 19 November 2012.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Exclusively restored high-definition master presented in the film's original aspect ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray
• Presented in both 20fps and 24fps playback speeds
• Optional audio tracks: a piano score performed by Japanese silent film composer Mie Yanashita (for the 20fps option), and a radical accompaniment by esteemed American avant-garde musician Loren Connors (for the 24fps option)
• Newly translated optional English subtitles for Dreyer's original Danish intertitles
• The complete "Lo Duca" version of the film – the version (featuring an alternate edit and soundtrack) that circulated in France and around the world for decades before the rediscovery of Dreyer's "director's cut"
• Extended illustrated booklet featuring the words of Dreyer, rare archival imagery, and more
• Further details to be announced nearer the release date!

Pre-Order/Buy:PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, THE [LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC] Blu-ray [1928]/ DVD / Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD) - Steelbook