OFFICE. (2015) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

LOVE AND PEACE. (2015) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Film Review - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Dead by Dawn 2015 Review - When Animals Dream(2014)

Genre:
Drama, Horror
Distributor:
Altitude Film Distribution
Rating:18
DVD Release Date:
1st June 2015 (UK)
Screened:
Dead By Dawn 2015
Director:
Jonas Alexander Arnby
Cast:
Lars Mikkelsen, Sonia Suhl, Sonja Richter
One of the most interesting aspects of being a horror fan is getting to see the continual resurrection of classic monsters. It feels like an offense to call Jonas Alexander Arnby’s When Animals Dream a monster film, but it’s essentially an abstract version of a classic story; fresh and clean, with a great sense of subtle iconography.

Small town ignorance, conservative values, puberty, death, and sins of the mother prove a potent but studied group of interests for the odd stoicism of Arnby’s vision. Sonja Suhl is terrific, channelling the innocence and charm of a beautiful outsider, only to prove she has no qualms getting Carrie-nasty for “quiet girl” vengeance. Importantly, Arnby makes the film more about the promise of violence from the community than the inevitable transformation in Marie. From the start Marie seems to be undergoing some kind of social gauntlet, dealing with the stigma of her mother’s mysterious illness whilst surviving the copious male aggression in her small sea-side town. As with many puberty-related horror films, the dangers of her condition are consistently outmatched and amplified by the world around her. It’s an interesting parallel to Paul Wright’s For Those in Peril, an equally pessimistic film about sea-side communities and destructive superstition.

Visually the film is consistently haunting and serene. The harsh light of day spells danger for Marie and her family, where safety only arrives with total darkness. Fantastic shots of artificial light in the early hours always spell doom for someone, extending Arby’s cynicism towards attempts to control nature.

Though the film often rests on Suhl’s quiet performance, Lars Mikkelsen is an equally huge and important component of the piece, playing a torn and fraught figure locked between the demise of his wife and the slow submission of his daughter to the same terrible curse. Arnby is wise to tell us as little as possible start to finish, letting us enjoy the quiet but charged politics of an introverted community, whilst putting us in the same bamboozled position as Marie.

A slow but mysterious venture: When Animals Dream is a haunted film; tired at the fact it’s still dealing with an aggressive patriarchy but triumphant in its remoulding of genre mythos.

★★★★
Scott Clark

DVD Review - The Atticus Institute (2015)

Genre:
Horror
Distributor:
Universal Pictures UK
Rating: 15
Release Date:
27th February 2015 (Glasgow Film Festival)
23rd March 2015 (UK DVD)
Director:
Chris Sparling
Cast:
William Mapother, Julian Acosta, Anne Betancourt,Sharon Maughan
Buy:The Atticus Institute [DVD] [2014]
In 1976 the Atticus institute of Pennsylvania bore witness to the only apparent case of possession certified by the US government and for the past 40 years no definitive account of what happened has been released. It sounds as average as it is. Chris Sparling’s horror mockumentary The Atticus Institute is indeed commendable for editing and performance, yet disappointing for its cheap scares, tired story, and non-existent characters.

The whole ‘found footage’ thing has garnered a pretty dubious reputation after, what can only be referred to as, a commercial shake-down. Everyone’s been using it for a good few years now and unlike most horror sub-genres, found footage appears one of the trickiest to sell in conjunction with an original idea. Most of the most memorable handheld moments of late come in the form of cameo techniques in standard features. So technically Atticus is, for all intents and purposes, a very grave film but also a very dull one.

The fact it is spooky is testament to the actors involved. William Mapother and John Rubinstein lead a collection of terrific character actors who help lend some much needed gravitas to proceedings. Atticus reminds us how unnerving it is to be told a story by another person, to feel the fear through their reactions, but it also reminds us of everything that’s uninspired or boring about the format, and genre, at whole unfortunately. Thundering sound and jump scares are the easiest way to evoke reaction and it’s a shame they are so overused because Sparling has actually crafted a well-shot docu-horror you can really buy into.

With no interest in characterisation, Atticus swings from moment to moment, feeling like a ramshackle collection of turns as opposed to any kind of journey. Not bothering to reveal the source of the terror or give adequate back-story, the film doesn’t really throw up another option for us to invest in, except its original promise that something will happen.

★★
Scott Clark

GFF 2015 Review - 88 (2014)

Genre:
Thriller
Screened:
2015 Glasgow Film Festival
Film 4 Frightfest Glasgow
Rating: 18
Director:
April Mullen
Cast:
Katharine Isabelle, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Doiron, Michael Ironside
A young woman (Katharine Isabelle) wakes up in a diner with no idea who or where she is and after finding a gun in her backpack, she staggers from hint to hint in order to track down and kill the man who killed her lover. It’s a great idea and it looks fresh too, but April Mullen’s 88 is a complicated feature.

Unlike Stuart Simpson’s garage femsploitation trip Monstro!, 88 doesn’t give itself fully to silly ideas and pulpy lineage. Mullen appears wary of what outright camp can do to audience involvement in a solid story, but isn’t sure how far to push it. The story starts off pretty perfectly, nuanced and intriguing, Isabelle props the film up on her startlingly honest performance before switching to badass and hooking us in for a good time. Only, as the film starts to bend over backwards to accommodate its convoluted path, it becomes increasingly confusing.

88 isn’t interested in telling us its story in a linear way, but it’s also not that bothered about keeping us involved in the intricacies of its plot. Instead we’re emotionally hijacked by a superficial relationship and quietly asked to care for a typically handsome and dull love. Think of 88 as Romeo and Juliet meets Momento on the highway of bad taste. The fetishisation of milk, Isabelle’s often insane dialogue, and that red dress aren’t problems until the film starts taking itself too seriously. There’s fun to be had but some of the really heart-breaking scenes with Isabelle are boisterously undermined by how blasé and ridiculous the script demands her to be. Mullen herself pops up as an eccentric arms dealer, but it comes across as far too try-hard. When the film wastes time on dumb details, but can’t put together a convincing shoot-out, there needs to be a readdress of focus.

Isabelle grabs our attention and wrestles it into a firm headlock, her slinky femme fatale pissing a path through supermarkets, shooting her way through bowling alleys, and generally giving us more bang for our buck than we could ever have asked for. Christopher Lloyd seems somewhat out of place as possessive pimp Cyrus, never going for hammy, instead meeting Isabelle halfway for oddly touching character drama. 88 scribe Tim Doiron pops up as sidekick Ty but his zany dialogue and irritating performance are a surplus woe, adding unrequired childishness to an already silly film. Michael Ironside appears up for a fantastic wee turn as a sympathetic cop and one can’t help but feel his storyline, and potential further involvement, could have been more interesting than the chosen path.

88 has frankly mad use of flashback that won’t be for everyone, but at its heart there’s a fun tale of revenge and memory loss fronted by an impressive scream queen. There’s something being held back in the punch, something that could have made things a little more solid, but Mullen’s road movie is still a blast.

★★★
Scott Clark

GFF 2015 Review - Wyrmwood (2015)

Genre:
Horror, Comedy
Distributor:
StudioCanal UK
Screened:
2015 Glasgow Film Festival,
Film4 Frightfest Glasgow
BD Release Date:
11th May 2015 (UK)
Director:
Kiah Roache-Turner
Cast:
Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill Yure Covich, Luke McKenzie,Berynn Schwerdt
Buy:Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead [Blu-ray] [2015]
Wyrmwood, the stunning debut feature from Kiah Roache-Turner is an impressive foray into the world of schlocky hand-made horror by a group of filmmakers dedicated to the ideals of Indy cinema. And it totally works.

Barry (Jay Gallagher) is a loving husband and father, thrown into hell after a meteor shower brings the dead back to life. After his sister (Bianca Bradley) is kidnapped by gas-mask wearing soldiers, Barry heads out on a rescue mission with a group of apocalypse survivors.

The story itself isn’t anything new, it’s the tried and tested formula applied to most zombie films, and it works fine. Wyrmwood’s real flair lies in its execution; the comedy of the writing, the intimate nature of the project (the film took 4 years to film; the crew could only convene at weekends), and the skill with which the story is filmed.

Wyrmwood doesn’t look like trash and it doesn’t want to. A great sense of motion, intuitive camera work, and a demented kind of energy definitely don’t get in the way of this handmade extravaganza. Sure its low-low budget horror, but this is a film with a flawless sense of exactly what it is and how to make it happen without looking like shit. Too often a film with a low budget looks like a film with a low budget, but Roache-Turner injects such energy and insanity into his script that the film could never be accused of being lazy, inept, or dull.

Dialogue is surprisingly sparky and the acting is solid, which isn’t exactly something to write home about, but it’s vaguely impressive considering the calibre of most films released in the wake of the zombie exploitation craze. Gallagher makes a great and oddly iconic looking hero; barely skipping a beat between the quiet domestic and apocalyptic punk landscapes of Barry’s life. But that’s not to say the drama is missing, there’s plenty of gruelling and heartfelt zombie concepts at work here. Special mention goes to the trauma of driving miles with your zombified daughter screaming in the back of the car.

Practical gore is probably the fastest way to my heart, so Wyrmwood gets bonus points for appeasing the gods of hard work, manual labour, and disgraceful DIY. Saying that, the film’s most zany trick comes hand in hand with some ill-fitting digital effects. Wyrmwood’s zombies exhale an odd flammable gas that our heroes hijack to power their truck. It’s daft, but in a film where government scientists dance to KC and the Sunshine band in zombie autopsy rooms, you can’t let daftness get in the way of viewing this hilarious totally impressive horror adventure.

Director Kiah Roache-Turner is an innovative talent to look out for if his debut feature is anything to go by, Wyrmwood is fantastic and genre fans will adore its lack of sanity and band of zany characters. <

★★★★
Scott Clark

DVD review - [Rec] 4 Apocalypse(2014)

Genre:
Horror, Thriller
Distributor:
Entertainment One
Screened:
2015 Glasgow Film Festival
DVD Release Date:
2nd March 2015 (UK)
Director:
Jaume Balagueró
Cast:
Manuela Velasco, Ismael Fritschi, Paco Manzanedo, Héctor Colomé,
Buy:Rec: Apocalypse [DVD]
Considering how impressive the [Rec] franchise has been so far, [Rec] 4: Apocalypse comes as an unfortunate disappointment. Ditching the found footage origins of the franchise (for the second time), Apocalypse finds it difficult to create an experience as terrifying as the first two, or as peculiar as the third.

Picking up exactly where [Rec] 2 left off, Angela Vidal (the superb Manuela Velascoe) is rescued from the doomed apartment where it all began. Waking on board a tanker ship in the middle of the ocean, Vidal comes to terms with just how dangerous the unknown virus is.

The ship is a great set, but proves less iconic than the infamous stairwell of the apartment. The tight claustrophobic corridors of the tanker’s insides should be ample ground for a few good scares but they all seem to be relegated to the tiny monitor of a surveillance cam or, worse, off-screen. Velascoe kicks into gear as action horror heroin, but it comes too little too late. A shame because her performance has been a key component in the success of the franchise. Special mention goes to the late great Hector Colome for a charismatic turn as Dr. Ricarte, easily one of the most enjoyable parts of the “final” [Rec] film.

Choosing to ditch Angela’s turn to the dark side at the climax of [Rec 2], Apocalypse seems unsure of where to go next. Paco Plaza’s Army of Darkness style adventure Genesis was the perfect solution to the heavy horror of the first two, but proves a hard act to follow for Jaume’s return. But maybe that’s the essence of the horror franchise: fourth instalments are rarely great, and usually mark the point where money and fan desire over-ride solid storytelling.

[Rec]’s bizarre mythology has been drip-fed to us thus far, each film playing around with the tone and scope of the infection, yet Apocalypse feels like a step backwards. The scares are bafflingly lacking, when a return to more intimate surrounds should have been a sure-fire way to ramp up the terror. Jaume’s return marks the apparent end of the franchise, though its silly final scenes hint at the kind of ludicrous behaviour I would have sooner lauded than this relatively safe affair.

[Rec] 4: Apocalypse is pretty dull, all things considered. An action element proves poor substitute for the genuine chills and thrills presented thus far in the franchise.

★★1/2
Scott Clark

GFF 2015 Review - Clown (2014)

Genre:
Horror, Comedy
Distributor:
StudioCanal UK
Screened:
Glasgow Film Festival
DVD Release Date:
2nd March 2015 (UK)
Director:
Jon Watts
Cast:
Eli Roth, Peter Stormare, Laura Allen , Andy Powers,Christian Distefano
Buy:Clown [DVD]

Jon Watts’ Clown is an exceptional example of how much fun can still be had in the darkest corners of the horror genre without sacrificing a good story. Playing it straight in the realm of clown horror proves a bit of a tone twister, but actually works pretty perfectly in this Eli Roth produced monster movie.

When the clown for his son’s birthday party doesn’t show up, loving father and real estate agent Kent (Andy Powers) is forced to don a mysterious clown suit he finds at one of his houses. But the suit doesn’t come off, instead altering Kent’s body and behaviour, giving him a taste for child-flesh.

Like Sinister, Clown plays on the old “found object” terror, but by its half way mark, it’s taken on more of a Rare Exports vibe, unearthing the horrific truth behind an everyday icon and letting chaos spark at every turn. Watts is astute not to lose his head amidst the terror and confusion. Keeping the ideals of yester-year’s monsters and camp creature-features alive through kitschy gore details and fabulous practical effects is a wise move. It lends further startling substance to a film that already has so many great ideas, the least of which is to structure itself like a slasher for kids, complete with its own set of rules.

Scribe Christopher D. Ford obviously had a total hoot crafting this sadistic little screenplay, and you can’t blame him. This is the perfect update of the clown horror film, a well-considered venture into social anxiety via a garish and gory display of child mutilation, body horror, bright colours, and total madness. Screw IT, Clown wipes the floor with contemporaries and its entire repertoire of inspirations alike, but still has a great time doing it. Its not just on Watts and Ford though, Powers is integral to the meat of the story, because, after all, there’s still a man inside that foul suit. Peter Stormare shows up as the expert/previous owner fo the suit and seems to be having a ball spouting bonkers sentiments whilst terrifying all the films’ sane characters..

There’s a strong element of cheesy fun at work here, but not quite to the point of outright comedy. Kent’s struggle to remove the haunting outfit is funny, but the resultant body horror genuinely gets under your skin. Once the suit takes hold the film sets on a path of ridiculously confrontational horror and insanity: child abduction, murder, graphic suicide, Stormare’s daft turn, great use of found footage, finger nibbling, kiddy-crunching its all here. A genius sequence of mass-terror at a soft play is arguably the crowning achievement of the feature, delivering every single nightmare you could want from a film about a killer-clown. Watts’ has constructed a perfect mash-up of genre ideals without losing his humour, and he’s done it beautifully.

A funny, but mostly horrifying, monster-flick flaunting terrific scares and a great story. Show your kids, show your wee brothers and sisters. This is the film that fucks children up for life.

★★★★
Scott Clark

GFF2015 Review - Tales Of The Grim Sleeper (2015)

Genre:
Documentary
Distributor:
Shear Entertainment
Rating: 15
Screened:
Glasgow Film Festival
Director:
Nick Bromfield
Cast:
Pam Brooks

In 2010 Lonnie Franklin Jr was arrested for the crimes of the so-called ‘Grim Sleeper’, a serial killer active in downtown LA since the early 80’s. His capture came after 25 years of botched investigations and public outcry, his moniker awarded due to the Sleeper’s apparent habit of killing only once every few years. The moniker, like the investigation, is a fallacy and Franklin Jr is now thought to be responsible for well over a hundred disappearances. Nick Broomfield reveals the truth behind the case in his latest documentary Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Broomfield continues to be one of the legends of contemporary documentary filmmaking because he is continually content to throw himself into subject matter that most would find uncomfortable. But he seems so at ease yet never laid back, so sharp in his questioning but never confrontational. His monotonous tones slide their way around fields of venture alien to the vast majority. His work with serial killer Aileen Wuornos picks out the blatant sexism of American justice, but also the total disregard shown for sex workers. Its in Tales of the Grim Sleeper that Broomfield has perhaps provided the best canvas for issues of sexism, race, and class. His is, more than ever, a supporting voice in the plight of those shoehorned into the fringes of society.

At the very least, there is an attempt to highlight sex work as a site of gross cultural apathy, for Broomfield finds himself at the heart of a story as-of-yet shockingly untold. The police have, for years, danced around the concrete facts of the case (A, that there was a serial killer, and B that the public needed to know) so Tales of the Grim Sleeper appears to be the first full account of what has happened. Frankly it’s disturbing, but not surprising, that the white-run LAPD have never given as varied, in-depth, and honest an account as this. Broomfield minimises issues around his own role, as white alien, by minimising the white voices in the film and letting the story play out courtesy of those who have lived it. An unflinching respect for the black community of LA paired with an unspoken disregard for the bureaucracy that permitted a 25 year reign of terror make this an acidic and astute piece of filmmaking.

Between the blatant racism of American police and the homogenized sexism of one of LA’s poorest areas, Broomfield’s latest looks at the perfect storm which enabled the Grim Sleeper to kill unchallenged for a quarter century. Terrifying arresting viewing.

★★★★
Scott Clark