Back in 2008 French director Pascal Laugier proved just how
miserable and degrading horror can be. His grimy psych-horror Martyrs gave a
lot of us nightmares and made us pretty happy with the upbringing we had. This
year he unleashes his next feature The Tall Man starring Jessica Biel.
Anticipation is high and early reviews rave about this chilling drama cum
horror…
In a slowly dying mining town, children are vanishing without a trace , allegedly abducted by a mysterious figure known as “The Tall Man.” Town nurse Julia Denning (Biel) seems skeptical until her young son David disappears in the middle of night. Frantic to rescue the boy, Julia lives every parent’s darkest nightmare in this twisting, shock-around-each-corner
thriller.
Port of Shadows (Le Quai Des Brumes) is a film directed by Marcel Carné is 1930 It stars well-known early French actor Jean Gabin, who was best for his collaborations with Jean Renoir and Carné. The film shares it's cinematic town Le Havere with the recent of the same name. It's also one of the many predecessors to film noir like The Petrified Forest, M, Pépé le Moko (who also starred Gabin). It is perhaps the most grey film eer made, I don't mean that just cause it's black and white but the whole colour palette is very high contrast grey with very little black. The
film tells the story of an army deserter Jean (Jean Gabin) who hitchhikes to
the port town of Le Have. He meets a drunk on his first night in town and takes
him to a dive bar on the edge of the shipyard. He meets a girl Nelly (Michèle
Morgan) and a dog. Her ex lover goes missing, Jean and Nelly hook up, they have
to deal with her creepy godfather oh and there are some gangsters as well.
It’s one of the
key films of the French poetic realism movement of the mid 30s to early 40s
along with other legendary filmmakers like Jean Vigo and the previously
mentioned Jean Renoir. It was very much the link between German Expressionism
and the Film Noir of the 1940s and 1950s but was equally influences on the
French New Wave and the earlier Italian Neorealism. I’m a much bigger fan of
poetic realism than the more common socio-realism, which is very prevalent in
British cinema. It’s all very much studio based and much more it’s
aesthetically concerned then a amazing story, they stories all rather simple.
They also tend to share a world-weary view of the world, which is clearly
influential on the characters in British film noir.
The film is filmed
in glorious high contrast grey film stock, which is so foggy but in a beautiful
way, it’s spellbinding.Jean
Gabin is totally wonderful in the film, as is Michèle Morgan. It also features
the best performance by a dog (Sorry The
Artist). Carné uses really effective metaphor of a ship in a bottle to
symbolize the characters sense of entrapment. It was actually criticized by
government officials as helping the Nazis beat France because of it’s
negativity towards the state and the morals of the French Character.
Overall, it’s a
wonderful influential piece of proto-noir, which should be seen and cherished. It
has been recently reissued by StudioCanal on blu-ray and dvd and is certainly
worth tracking down.
Gore goes
global as Horror Channel serves up three slices of sinful celluloid in its World
SINema Season – three premieres that highlight taboo, terror and blasphemy
Fridays at 22:55 from 7 Sept,
2012
The
season kicks off on Friday Sept 7, 22:55 with THE DEVIL’S
BACKBONE (2001) from Spanish Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo Del
Torro.Beautifully shot and
immensely creepy the film explores two different types of horror – the very real
horror of war and the exploration of horror experienced through a child’s eyes
(Carlos), one of ghost’s and the supernatural.
Guillermo
has stated this is his favourite work so far, and was a 16 year labour of love.
It was influenced by early memories of seeing his uncle come back as a
ghost
and the
creepy spectre that appears to Carlos was based on the pale faced ghosts in
Japanese horrors like The Ring.
Next up
on Friday Sept 14, 22:55 is THE ANTICHRIST (1974), which
delves dangerously deep into the blasphemous aspects of demonic
possession.
Ippolita,
a young woman wheelchair-bound and sexually frustrated, finds herself under the
spell of Satan himself when she becomes victim to an ancestral curse of
witchcraft and possession. She
starts seducing local men, only to kill them and an exorcism seems to be the
only solution to stop the madness
The
controversial Satanic orgy scene will certainly have a few tongues wagging with
its implication of bestiality
The last
in the season on Fri Sept 21, 22:55, is one of the most absurd,
gruesome French horrors ever made – BABY
BLOOD (1990)
Yanka, a
young circus performer, is pregnant but morning sickness and fat ankles are the
least of her problems when a new leopard from Africa is delivered to the circus
– a beautiful beast hiding a hideous creature within.
And as
the months progress, Yanka suffers from an overpowering appetite... for blood.
Or rather, her unborn baby is screaming for it. And she is forced to kill and
kill again…
The “found footage” flick. Possibly the most derided genre of horror, even more so than the slasher movie these days. With film after film seeing light of day via DVD you’d think found footage films are heading for burn out. But then along comes Sinister. Playing on the “found footage” conceit, the movie is however less a found footage film than a film about found footage.
If Paranormal Activity and Insidious captured the imaginations of cinema audiences everywhere then Sinister is surely set to do the same. With a similar “found footage meets haunted house” premise to the aforementioned films, the movie tells the story of true-crime writer Ellison who, desperate to repeat the success of his earlier work, moves his family into a home where a horrific quadruple homicide took place (footage of which opens the film in a stunning fashion). Of course Ellison doesn’t tell his wife and kids the truth about their new home, however it doesn’t take too long for them to find out… Discovering a box of ‘home movies’ in the attic, Ellison spins the Super 8 reels, sitting stunned as the gruesome murder footage plays out. As he comes to realise that the murder he is investigating goes a lot further than just his house, he also realises the toll his investigation may take on his family.
When it comes to horror movies everything has already been done, from slasher movies to found footage films there really is nothing new under the sun. So it takes a lot for any new movie to feel refreshing and new. Thankfully Sinister is one such film.
Directed by Scott Derrickson, who was responsible for the better than average The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister is a masterpiece film-making; not only playing on genre tropes but using them to spectacular effect. From the grindhouse style Super 8 footage of the grisly murders, to the creepy haunted house bangs and bumps, we’ve seen it all before but here it works – so much so that it made even this horror fan jump out of his seat a couple of times! Best of all the script, by director Derrickson and film critic C. Robert Cargill (aka Massawyrm from Ain’t It Cool News), doesn’t treat the audience like idiots. Characters spout lines that the audience are thinking and just when the events reach a terrifying crescendo Ellison moves his family out of the house! If you’ve ever seen a haunted house film you’ll know the feeling of shouting at the screen, almost begging the characters to movie out – here they do. It’s a very small thing but it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the nuances found in the films fantastic script.
Ethan Hawke gives an astonishingly strong performance as crime writer Ellison, a man whose behaviour is less than exemplary. He lies (and keeps lying) to his family about the house; he lies about why, as his family falls apart, he is really forcing them to stay; and he lies to himself about his real motivations – money and fame rather than trying to solve the crime. However despite all that Hawke manages to imbue Ellison with a likeability – after all deep down he’s a man who’s only trying to provide for his family the way he knows how. Hawke’s performance also goes a long way to convince the audience of the believability of the more supernatural aspects of Sinister.
Speaking of which, the films “villain” Mr. Boogie, is on the surface yet another stereotypical movie boogeyman but between the skillful way in which the character is revealed, and later his true ideology, the cliche of a “boogeyman” can quickly been forgiven. Especially given the movies stunning final twist…
Sinister really is one of the best, and scariest, American horror films I’ve seen in years. Someone give Derrickson and Cargill the greenlight to make another – I’ll be first in the queue.
This was a review by Phil at Blogomatic3000
Rating:15
UK Release Date: 28th August 2012 (Frightfest) 5th October 2012 (UK&Irish cinema release)
Directed by:Scott DerricksonCast:Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Clare Foley, Juliet Rylance,
The second film from the Manetti Brothers’ whose The Arrival of Wang
played Frightfest Glasgow and is scheduled as part of the Re-Discovery
Screen at London Frightfest 2012, Paura 3D (literally translated as Fear
3D) is billed as a 3D thrill ride into terror and whilst the film has
its moments (no matter how minor), it cannot compare to the sheer
brilliance of the Manetti’s sci-fi opus Wang.
Paura 3D tells the story of mechanic Ale, who after overhearing a
conversation between a wealthy customer and the garage owner, takes his
best friends, Simone and Marco on a trip to the wealthy owners Rome
villa intent on having a wild weekend in his luxury mansion. Bored after
raiding the fridge, swimming in the pool and playing video games one of
the trio decides to explore the house, never expecting what he finds in
the basement…
Lensed in 3D, but loosing nothing in 2D, Paura is a strange film.
Filled with a sleazy atmosphere, the film embraces all that is
exploitation – extreme examples of sex, violence and gore – only it does
so in a way that doesn’t allow the audience to connect with the film.
There’s no emotional investment in any of the characters, least of all
the three leads who are an unlikeable bunch and the script is less than
stellar. The films only saving grace IS the exploitation aspects, which
are nothing we haven’t seen before a hundred times and after a while
even those run out of steam, leaving a film that feels shallow and
uninteresting. The complete antithesis of The Arrival of Wang.
Personally it was hard to watch Paura 3D and not be a little
disappointed. After loving the Manetti Brothers’ sci-fi flick, seeing
them produce something so generic and so dated (this is the type of film
both Italy and the US were churning out during the slasher movie fad of
the 80s), is heartbreaking. Here’s hoping the brothers Manetti find
their mojo again for their next genre film…
The debut feature from screenwriter Eron Sheean, who was responsible for penning The Divide for Xavier Gens (which also starred Michael Eklund), Errors of the Human Bodyis a film that belies genre-specific categorisation. Part Michael Crichton medical thriller, part David Cronenberg body-horror, with a hint of the classic Frankenstein, it’s both a challenging and intriguing film – although it is not without its faults.
The film follows Canadian scientist Dr Geoff Burton (Eklund) who takes up a position at a scientific institute in Dresden, Germany, with the intention of continuing his research into random embryonic abnormalities – research borne out of a personal tragedy (the death of his infant son) that has haunted him for years. Hooking up with his former intern, Dr Rebekka Fiedler, now one of the top researchers at the institute, Burton becomes fascinated by her research into a regeneration gene, one that could have possibly saved his son. But it’s not only Dr. Burton who’s interested in her research as he finds out when he spies the mysterious and creepy Jarek (Lemarquis) using her formula on the mice in his basement ‘mouse house’. Racked by guilt over his son and fixated on Jarek, sure he’s plotting something nefarious, Burton steals one of the lab mice to run his own tests. However when his experimentation goes wrong and he’s bitten by the mouse, Dr. Burton becomes convinced he’s become infected, a human test subject for Jarek’s modified regeneration gene, and he might not be wrong…
Errors of the Human Body couldn’t be more timely. Playing on the fears of genetic modification and stem cell research, the film is a dark, often bleak, look behind the curtain of science, showing the true price of medical breakthroughs – doctors pushed to the brink, experimentation that many would say borders on the inhumane, and the possible future consequences of (medical) success. These themes, whilst central to the film, run parallel with the very human story of Dr. Burton, whose life and deeds have made him a broken man. Thankfully Eron Sheean cast the perfect actor for Dr. Burton in Michael Eklund. One of the best character actors working today (you’ll know the face even if you don’t know the name), it looks like Eklund really threw himself into the role of Burton and his commitment really gives the character a believability and an emotional resonance that grounds the film come it’s almost fantastical conclusion.
The film is not without its problems however. With an over-long running time, Errors of the Human Body suffers from too many endings and a third act that drags out the action to almost a snails pace. I understand that writer/director Sheean wants to show the gradual breakdown, both physical and mental, of Dr. Burton but that could have been achieved without a ridiculously long montage of him running through Dresden.
However despite the films issues, with Errors of the Human Body Sheean has managed to craft an interesting, intelligent thriller that never panders to the audience, never gets bogged down in medical mumbo-jumbo, and best of all never stoops to the usual “science gone bad” style story we typically see from these types of genre film. For that he must be applauded.
This Was a review from Phil at Blogomatic3000Rating:18
UK Release Date: 27th August 2012 (Frightfest)
Directed by: Eron SheeanCast: Michael Eklund, Karoline Herfurth, Tómas Lemarquis, Rik Mayall, Ulrich Meinecke
In more skilful hands Pablo Proenza’s Dark Mirror could have come off as an average haunted house story,
but loose direction and some seriously messy writing cement this feature as total
low-end nonsense. The story has potential on paper but the real problem comes
from an accumulation of bad features that quickly turn the viewer against the
film. The plot seems basic and hap-hazard, the story falls frequently into soap
opera, the acting isn’t too good, effects look cheap, and the story fails at
making us care one jot about anyone involved. Overall the film looks and runs
like your least favourite episode of Goosebumps.
The story starts as a Seattle family finally choose a house in South California to their liking,Debbie (Lisa Vidal) is drawn to the house due to its bizarre windows and the fact an artist lived there before them. Slowly, the house begins to reveal a
mysterious side as people connected to Lisa disappear and she notices a hooded
figure following her everywhere she goes.
The look of the film is a major issue. It frequently lets itself down through some cheesy camera movements that make it seem like the product of clumsy hands. Don't be fooled by the poster, the film never once achieves a dark tone as strong as that.
And unfortunately the duff vibe of the film seems to rub off on Vidal who dances between some pretty good moments and some God-awful ones. Admittedly any punchy scenes come in the last twenty minutes which are by far the most interesting of the piece.The finale seems almost a separate film, enjoying a good pace and some genuine thrills, still, bad editing and some plain silly nonsensical actions result in a mixed bag of an ending
A few interesting undeveloped ideas are skimmed past, but too few to rescue what, for
the most part, is a disjointed and joyless affair.
SCOTT CLARK
UK Rating:15
Release Date: 3rd September 2012
Directed by:Pablo Proenza
Tul-pa (from the Tibetan): meaning a magically produced illusion
or creation. The concept of a being or object which is created through
sheer discipline alone. It is a materialized thought that has taken
physical form.
Italian rock star turned director Federico Zampaglione made a splash in 2009 when his first film Shadow played to a packed audience at London’s Frightfest. Returning some three years
later and after teasing the film at Frightfest Glasgow earlier this
year, Zampaglione unleashed Tulpa on an eager and willing
audience. Word of mouth had built the film up to be one of the must-see
films of Saturday, and I for one wasn’t disappointed.
The film tells the story of businesswoman Lisa Boeri: she has a good
job, she’s well respected and at the top of her career but she keeps a
secret. By night she goes to a seedy club named Tulpa, owned by a guru
who teaches her his bizarre esoteric philosophy on finding spiritual and
psychological freedom by having anonymous sex with complete
strangers.However Lisa finds out her sex club partners are all being
murdered in horrible ways one-by-one by a black-gloved killer who seems
out to destroy her life. But Lisa can’t talk to the police for fear of
revealing her secret and ruining her career, so she has to unmask the
anonymous assassin herself…
Taking the tropes of 70s giallo and updating them for a modern audience, Tulpa is
an odd, yet fun, mix of the familiar and the new. Adding copious
amounts of sex (much more than many of the giallo of the Italian cinema heyday) and not holding back on the violence, Zampaglione throws in a
little supernatural edge in the form of Tibetan mysticism to create a
neo-giallo that would make even Dario Argento jealous.
Packed with some of the countries biggest stars, including Claudia Gerini in the lead role, Tulpa marks the return of the giallo to the forefront of the Italy’s cinematic
output. And from the gloved maniac’s first kill to the final reveal Tulpa is
both a nostalgic look back at a now much-maligned genre and a bold
statement on its future. All writ large on the screen by a director who
has an obvious love for the genre and the talent to see it through.
Found footage horror, V/H/S has completely revitalised a played-out, repetitive style of filmmaking with six chilling anthology tales. Ti West (House of The Devil), Glenn McQuaid ((I Sell The Dead) and Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way To Die) are just three of the directors to contribute to this chilling anthology.
V/H/S opens with a group of criminals assaulting young women and vandalising property. They are hired by an anonymous client to break into an abandoned house and obtain a mysterious video tape. The group begin to work their way through a series of terrifying tapes, each revealing a different short film.
V/H/S manages to fuse so many horror sub-genres together in an innovative and chilling manner, capturing all that fans love in the genre. However, this is not clear from the shaky onset, where teenagers victimise young women, whilst filmed on a handheld camera - it was a struggle to engage with this. As these young men break into the abandoned house and the horror starts, director, Adam Wingard completely pulls it together. This over-arching story is just as tense and disturbing as any of the segments that it flawlessly seems together.
The first segment from David Bruckner (The Signal) entitled Amateur Night follows three college freshmen with video recording spy glasses, hoping to pick up some easy girls and make a sex tape. However, one of the girls who has been brought back's behaviour is a little troubling. This chilling short film is thoroughly well developed, with some completely unexpected and unsettling gory twists.
This is followed by Ti West's Second Honeymoon, a tale of a loving couple staying at an isolated Texas motel whilst on vacation. However, when a creepy young woman starts banging on the door things take a shocking turn. West's short tackles the idea of home invasion, with the intruder filming the sleeping victims on their own handheld camera, showcasing a disturbing twist on handheld camera norms.
The third short, Glenn McQuaid's Tuesday The 17th follows four teens venturing into the woods, where gruesome murders previously took place. This may read like the traditional Friday The 13th teens in the wood style slasher, but McQuaid's killer is created with a completely innovative twist.
Joe Swanberg's The Strange Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger proves to well-crafted, suspenseful ride. Swanberg's tale follows the Skype conversations of a couple, terrorised by ghosts. As a viewer we are thrust into dark, grainy rooms left to scan for the source of terror.
My personal favourite segment, 10/31/98 by collaborative group called Radio Silence proves to be a spectacularly crafted and completely unsettling piece of filmmaking. It follows four men looking for a Halloween party - they end up at a creaky old house with some macabre practices going on in the attic. Radio Silence allow the house to completely come alive, with walls moving and doors disappearing - it is a true visual feast of terror, fusing elements of The Amityville Horror with Rosemary's Baby.
V/H/S is a sure fire treat for horror fans, bringing a much needed spark of energy to the handheld camera style of filmmaking. Each segment is flawlessly crafted and diverse enough to maintain your interest for the near two hour run time. I would go as far to say that it is the strongest horror film of 2012.
Director Jaume Balagueró flies solo with Sleep Tight, a film that – like his most famous effort – once again takes place in a apartment building, however this time his film has more in common with the classic cinema of Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski than the modern zombie horror of Balagueró’s [REC].
Sleep Tight follows Cesar (Tosar), the quiet, helpful and polite concierge of an apartment block in Barcelona. However his polite exterior hides something much more… sinister. Relishing in tormenting Veronica, an old lady who lives all alone in her apartment surrounded by her pets and at odds with one of the buildings younger tenants, Cesar spends most of his days plotting against Clara, a happy-go-lucky young woman with whom he has an unhealthy obsession. An obsession that, as the film progresses, gets crueler and deadlier.
It’s clear to see why many have already dubbed this the Spanish equivalent of a Hitchcock flick. Sleep Tight feels very much like the maestro of horror’s Psycho, with Spanish superstar Luis Tosar seemingly channeling Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates. The film also has shades of Polanski’s early work, in particular Repulsion and, of course, The Tenant. It’s a credit to director Jaume Balagueró that whilst it is set in yet another apartment block, Sleep Tight looks and feels light years away from [REC], yet imbues the same creepy atmosphere.
Like the aforementioned classics of the genre, Sleep Tight succeeds thanks to the performance of its central actor, in this case leading man Luis Tosar. A Spanish acting superstar, Tosar is best know outside of his home country for Miami Vice, the Michael Mann helmed remake of the 80s TV show. Here he gives nothing away in his role as Cesar, playing his emotions and his motivations close to his chest until the films story, and Cesar’s plans for Clara, spiral out of control. At first Balagueró would have us think that Cesar is taking out his frustrations at being lonely on the tenants in his building, but it isn’t until the films stunning, and I do mean stunning, conclusion, that Cesar’s motivations become clear… The pursuit of happiness.
Whilst many a thriller such as this would have a forgone conclusion (after all any movie psycho should get his comeuppance right?), Sleep Tight breaks with convention with a conclusion that offers an explanation for everything that has come before and brought a wry smile to my face. And whilst genre films typically have you rooting for the put-upon heroine, Balagueró reverses genre conventions leaving you happy that Cesar accomplishes his goal. It’s an odd feeling rooting for the films psycho come the films denouement but at the same time a refreshing one – both Balagueró and Tosar must be commended for such an achievement.
A complex, gripping, and in the end unpredictable, thriller that manages, in a genre almost defined by cliche, to shock and surprise, Sleep Tight is yet another sure-fire hit from Jaume Balagueró, proving that Hitchcock’s spirit is still alive and kicking in European cinema.
