Blu-ray Review - Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Genre:
Drama, Film Noir
Distributor:
Arrow Academy
Rating: PG
BD Release Date:
30th March 2015 (UK)
Aspect Ratio:
16:9 - 1.66:1
Run Time:
96 minutes
Director:
Alexander Mackendrick
Cast:
Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Susan Harrison
Buy:Sweet Smell of Success [Blu-ray]

“Don't do anything I wouldn't do! That gives you a lot of leeway...” sums up the world in which you are in in The Sweet Smell of Success. It’s a world of pure amorality to the extreme; very few characters ever on screen are as crooked as Burt Lancaster’s J.J Hunsecker and Tony Curtis’ Sidney Falco. The film remains, nearly 60 years after it’s release, one of the most cynical of all noirs and shows the dark underbelly and dog- eat- dog nature of America.

Sidney is a press agent and hasn’t been able to get Hunsecker to write about any of his clients because of his failure to break-up the relationship between Hunsucker’s sister and her jazz musician boyfriend. Sidney becomes increasingly desperate to pay the favour for his chance of fortune, going to depraved lengths. As with most noirs, and especially noirs at the tail end of the classic era, it all ends horribly wrong for everyone involved.

The film comes alive when you have the two powerhouse performances from Lancaster and Curtis on screen. I’ve never been a big fan of Tony Curtis; Some like it Hot is a fun farce albeit an overrated one (Billy Wilder did much better films) and I have always liked Spartacus. He has a nervous energy in The Sweet Smell of Success that works and adds charm to this character that is full of neurosis. Burt Lancaster just destroys every second he is on screen in very possibly his most impressive performance in a career of many. He speaks with such venom and is just so physically imposing it just leaps out of the screen. It’s no wonder that Lancaster came out of the circus.

The legendary cinematographer, John Wong Howe is responsible for the on-location cinematography that is some of the first I know of that really shows the speed and energy of New York City. The director, Alexander Mackendrick, was full of anxieties during the shoot, with the busy streets of New York just adding to it, which is reflected in the finished product. Mackendrick said on the subject, "We started shooting in Times Square at rush hour, and we had high-powered actors and a camera crane and police help and all the rest of it, but we didn’t have any script. We knew where we were going vaguely, but that’s all".

The Sweet Smell of Success remains one of the visceral films to come out of the golden era of film noir. It perfectly captures the depravity that big-city journalism will stoop down to if need be, and the two leads are still exciting to watch over 50 years since it’s release. The film also became a musical at one point, which is just bizarre. Despite being an initial flop it is now rightfully considered as one of the true classics of post-war American Cinema. Arrow’s release includes a documentary on Alexander Mackendrick along with an appreciation and commentary by Philip Kemp who wrote a book on Mackendrick.

★★★★★
Ian Schultz

Frightfest 2012: V/H/S Review

★★★★1/2

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.

Andrew McArthur

Stars: Calvin Reeder, Joe Swanberg ,Jas Sams  
Directors: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg , Radio Silence Release: 25th August 2012 (Frightfest)

The Seasoning House DVD Review

Rating: 18
DVD Release Date (UK):
12th August 2013
Director:
Paul Hyett
Cast:
Sean Pertwee, Rosie Day, Kevin Howarth
Buy:[DVD]/ [Blu-ray]
Set in the War-torn Balkans in the mid 90’s The Seasoning House follows deaf mute Angel played by Rosie Day as she is torn from her home and family to work in a brothel where she must prepare the girls for customers and then clean them up after. She spends the rest of her time moving between the walls and the crawlspaces of the house observing her kidnappers. After the brutal rape and murder of her only confident she tries to escape and must fight off the brothel owner and the soldiers who butchered her family.

The first thing I have to say about this film is this. Sean Pertwee cannot do a Balkan accent. This is a sad fact and it by no means makes him a bad actor in fact I consider him one of Britain’s great actors. But his lack of ability to move away from his own gravelly English accent is evident in The Seasoning House where he stands out a little from all the other characters whose Balkan accents are much better than his. Another thing is that it seems to take forever for anything to happen in the story. We spend almost 40 minutes covering the main character, Angel’s, early life and how she came into her predicament where it could have easily be done in almost half the time. The beginning does little to develop her character and is really only there to go into great detail about the way the brothel is run.

These are pretty much the only complaints I have about Paul Hyett’s The Seasoning House. It is a rape revenge thriller that manages to be original in genre that has been rather formulaic for many years.

Let’s look at the actors. First off Sean Pertwee who, as I have already said, cannot maintain an accent that is not his own but is a terrifying villain in the role of Goran. He seems to be on the cusp of insanity at all times and worse still has a troop of killers and psychopaths at his command. His single minded pursuit of Angel in the second half of the film makes him a terrifying antagonist. Viktor is played by Kevin Howarth who portrays the dual role of ruthless pimp and obsessive lover of Angel and how these parts of his life come into conflict when Angel becomes the target of Goran’s soldiers. We see him torn as he tries to protect Angel and his own business from Goran’s insanity. Finally Rosie Day as Angel. Playing a deaf mute cannot be easy especially in a physically demanding role such as this. Angel is chased through walls, woods and factories getting beaten, shot at, stabbed and at one point strangled with a belt. But Day manages to deliver a fantastic performance despite all of this.

And that leads me to the violence. It is brutal and does not shy away from it but nor does it glorify it. The fight scenes are natural and do not look choreographed which gives a sense of panic and terror when they take place. Angel does not become a gun totting karate expert and instead fights in a frenzied fashion flaying about with knives, bricks and in one case an ornamental pig (don’t ask just watch it). Hyett’s reliance upon practical effects over rather than excessive use of CGI makes the violence more gut wrenching especially in some of the more brutal scenes.

Overall the film is fantastic and is suitable for anyone who is a fan of the rape revenge genre or anyone who likes original action films.

★★★★☆

Adam Cook

THE OUTSIDER. (2018) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

South Korea's Answer to Woody Allen Coming To UK: Hong Sang-Soo coming to UK for his Retrospective

He's Known to many in the movie world as South Korea's Answer to Woody Allen Hong Sang Soo in September is heading to UK to present his own rertospective.
On September 3rd at BFI Southbank London the Korean director will kick off a series of his movies( which offically start September 1st) which will include a onstage interview  with the man himself. His movies also will go on a tour around the UK with visits to Watershed Bristol, Showroom Sheffield, Cornerhouse Manchester, Broadway Nottingham, Glasgow Film Theatre, Queen’s Film Theatre Belfast and Quad Derby, with the tour lasting into December.
He maybe unknown outside of Asia but this year's Cannes Film Festival the director won his first major award with his latest movie Oki's Movie will be closing this year's Venice Film festival, these are two signs of how well respected the director is within the world film industry. This retrospective is a fantastic way to learn and experience movies from another country or as one experienced movie goer said to me "diverse your pallette", basically he meant think out the comfort box of Hollywood a little and embrace the wonderful movies world cinema has on offer and what better way you guys can start by taking in the retrospective of Hong Sang-Soo
Read the full press release of the director's retrospective plus info on on the movies on tour and i've included some trailers(all youtube links) as well, everything is after the break...

SECOND SIGHT FILMS PRESENTS: HEIMAT: A CHRONICLE OF GERMANY. (1984) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Aftershock DVD Review

Stars: Eli Roth, Ariel Levy,Andrea Osvart, Natasha Yarovenko
Director: Nicolas Lopez
DVD/BR Release: 19th August 2013
Certificate: 18 (UK)
Buy:[DVD] or [Blu-ray]
After his spine-tingling nasty debut Cabin Fever, Eli Roth has fast become one of the most prominent figures in modern horror. However, 2013 has certainly not been a vintage year after producing the incredibly disappointing The Last Exorcism Part II. His second feature this year, Aftershock, a collaboration with Chilean filmmaker Nicolas Lopez does have certain redeeming features but is a far cry from his previous projects.

Aftershock follows an American backpacker (Roth) in Chile, who alongside a group of friends is caught in a gruesome earthquake whilst clubbing. This results in a collapse in the local prison leaving ruthless criminals to terrorise the broken streets.

Aftershock sticks to a similar format to many 'backpackers in peril' horror flicks, opening capturing the idyllic and charming Chilean setting - which is ultimately seen in a darker light post-earthquake. Here you can expect the traditional culture-clash elements between Eli Roth's Gringo and his South American pals - and whilst sticking to a rigid format there is a convincing rapport between the performers.

The earthquake sequence is the strongest element of Aftershock . Lopez directs the scene with a frantic energy as club-goers run from crumbling architecture, falling lights and smashing bottles - all set against a pulsating neon glow. What follows are a series of gore-soaked sequences and injuries which may impress the Hostel-crowd but are unlikely to have much of an impact on the average viewer or even the hardened horror fan.

After this well-shot and somewhat original setting and sequence it's sad to see that Aftershock goes down the route of generic survival horror. The narrative ultimately follows the surviving tourists attempting to avoid the recently-escaped prisoners who seem intent on causing as much carnage as possible. This leads to a variety of attempts to shock the viewer from rape sequences to people being set aflame - none of which have any effect but to make the viewer feel a bit nasty.

This narrative also contains a plot twist that viewers are likely to see coming from a mile-off which is unveiled in the film's church set conclusion. Whilst Aftershock may feel formulaic and predictable for the most part, Lopez's film ends on an amusingly dark shot which is likely to impress regular viewers of horror films.

Aftershock sticks to a rather rigid and predictable formula despite getting off to a strong start with its Chilean setting, standout Earthquake scene and spirited cast. The film's expected attempts to shock and predictable carnage are unlikely to move audiences and largely fall flat.

★★½☆☆

Andrew McArthur

Film Review - The Dance Of Reality (2014)

DVD Review - Lesson of Evil (2012)

Feature: The Essential Gregg Araki

PARIS BLUES. (1961) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Nosferatu (1922) Masters Of Cinema Review

Rating:
PG
Release Date:
25th October 2013 (UK Cinema)
Distributor:
Eureka! Video, BFI
Director:
F.W. Murnau
Cast:
Max Schreck, Greta Schröder, Ruth Landshoff

It's easy to call yourself a film fan or even a cinephile but when you dig a little deeper to find out why they call themselves fans its then you truly find out how much of a fan you really are. Film is one of the most culturally diverse art forms ever created, true cinephiles will appreciate it in all it's forms including Silent Film. With Halloween creeping up on us what better time to (re-)release of the most iconic horror  films in cinematic history getting a rare appearance on the big screen, F.W Murnau's Nosferatu (1922).

Whilst Bela Lugosi then Hammer Films romanticized that many of us perceive Dracula to be, the reclusive black cloaked fanged count  who has women falling at his feet ,under his hypnotic spell, Murnau's masterpiece is film's earliest adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel seen on the big screen.

Set in post world war one Germany, Nosferatu sees Knock (Alexander Grauach) a estate agent and his assistant Hutter (Gustav Von Nagenheim) go on assignment deep into the mysterious Carpathian Hills in heart of Transylvania. They arrive at Count Orlock's castle (Max Schreck)to broker the sale of Orlock home back in Germany but as the days fly past Hutter starts to notice unusual things start to happen he reverts back to the book he is reading Orlock might actually be a vampire. As the horror of realization sinks into Hutter he discover Orlock has escaped his castle back to Germany amongst a shipment of coffins leaving a trail of death in his wake forcing Hutter to Hunt the parasitic killer before a veil of death destroys his hometown.

To be screened part of BFI's Gothic The Dark Heart Of Film,Nosferatu deserves its rightful place next to modern horror, frankly because of its superior quality. The film might be 9 years short of been 100 years old some may call it outdated, cliched but in reality this film's craftmanship, technical ability are second to none. This film is essential viewing for any wanna be horror filmmaker though scare factor maybe non-existent but the visual power and atmosphere stands up against any modern horror film making one of the best with the genre (possibly best within Vampire sub genre). The shadowy silhouettes, male leads exact doubles of each other, broody Gothic horror in its prime but most of all make up the symbolic German Expressionism.

If there's any case for the importance of music within a feature film, the silent film era will act as your best case to support your argument. Nowdays it seem many bands fight to get a hip points however like when you talk about football matches the crowd been the '12th Man' the score is that '12th Man' providing the heartbeat of the audience delivering an extra dimension of fear, tension. Even with a modern score Nosferatu never loses it's power still delivers the platform for Max Schreck to deliver the ultimate legendary performance as Count Orlock.

Schreck's portrayal of Orlock was delivered with such conviction, terrifying passion by an actor who actually believed he was a  vampire. There is no comparisons from any other  actor coming close to matching Schreck,but the closest comparsions could possibly be seen in two  more recent films, the highly underrated Shadow Of The Vampire (2000) and Werner Herzog's Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979) with Klaus Kinski.

So why has Stoker's legendary creature of the night always been romantized rather been a predatory monester, one a argument comes from film historians with the possibe connections with Nazism. Whilst the film was created well before the rise of the Nazis Nosferatu is believed by some to be an account based around the Weimar Republic. A state within Post World War One Germany born out off corruption, anti antisemitism delivering the National Socialist Party  but it's the visual attributes of Orlock that could be seen as the most terrifying. The Nazis looked to have hijacked Murnau's vision for how they symbolized the Jewish people as rat like creatures for their propaganda films. If anything the main argument could all be down to Bram Stoer's widow taking the German auteur to court for breach of copyright despite the change to the novel

Whatever your think about Nosferatu, it may not feel part of modern romantic vision of the vampire but it has it's rightful place in horror folklore. When you look back at the story of how Murnau's masterpiece was created it makes you wonder did  he know something we didn't know when he kept that single copy despite the court order to destroy all copies. Though sometimes if he had a time machine he may have thought twice about destroying the remaining if he knew that Twilight Saga lay ahead?! Whatever you think or how many versions of the film you may have on DVD or Blu-Ray  F.W Murnau's Nosferatu was made for one thing, that's the big screen, don't miss a piece of cinematic gold getting a rare run on the big screen.

★★★★★

Paul Devine

DVD Review - The ABCs of Death 2 (2014)

Genre:
Horror, Anthology
Distributor:
Monster Pictures
DVD Release Date:
30th March 2015 (UK)
Rating: 18
Directors:
Julian Gilbey, Erik Matti, E.L. Katz, Jen Soska,
+26 more
Cast:
Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, Martina García, Béatrice Dalle, Ian Virgo
Buy:The Abcs Of Death 2 [Blu-ray]
The ABC’s of Death 2 is a far more accomplished and enjoyable anthology horror than its predecessor. My hopes had perhaps been too high for the first instalment, expecting the epic project (26 directors, 26 short films all instigated by a letter of the alphabet) to showcase the future of horror whilst simultaneously saving it. Well, The ABCs of Death 2 literally streaks past the first to deliver a whooping containment of disgraceful goodies courtesy of the most exciting people in the business.
                The nice thing about the ABCs is that it doesn’t seem to favour one director more than the other. The first instalment had problems with consistency mainly because some of the films were crazy longer than others, but here it seems everyone’s been given a max run-time. It just helps to keep the film moving and- more to the point- the less interesting ones won’t be on for long. But what an eclectic array of phantasmagorical delight and nightmarish titillation! The entries are a spectrum of horror if ever there was one. They go from grungy to sleek, gory to squeaky clean, it’s all impressive as an argument for horror’s flexibility. Sci-fi dystopia, folk tales, thrillers, slashers, creature features, character pieces, there’s a wealth of great material.

A is for Amateur (E.L. Katz- Cheap Thrills) and S is for Split (Juan Martinez Moreno-Lobos de Arga) go down the thriller route, tackling synth beat pulp and split-screen home invasion respectively. The Japanese entries are 2 of the best this time around with innovation overriding bamboozlement in both Hajimi Ohata’s O is for Ochlocracy and Soichi Umezawa’s Y is for Youth. Y is particularly impressive, the stunning stop-motion manifestations of a young girl’s rage prove a grotesque but entirely unique presentation for Umezawa’s debut.

Other animation ventures strike gold by pushing the boat out and having fun with the ideas of horror. If you haven’t checked out Robert Morgan’s animations then I urge you to do so; never before has the landscape of nightmares been so aptly manifested. His particular style is a haunting ode to Kafka and Cronenberg, a foul Wallace and Gromit that crawled up out of your subconscious, and in D is for Deloused he’s on tip-top nasty form. On the other hand, Bill Plimton’s H is for Head Games is effortlessly funny and just plain pleasing in its simplicity.

Rodney Ascher’s Q is for Questionnaire is strangely obvious considering the filmmaker’s exquisite deconstruction of The Shining and clear understanding of subtext. Even then it’s still entertaining to watch. The only really bad shorts are Todd Rohal’s P-P-P-P Scary! and Alejandro Bruques’(Juan of the Dead) E is for Equilibrium, though even E doesn’t infuriate as much as Rohal’s excruciating waste of a letter, which fails to get laughs from a hoakey exploitation of stuttering and Lynch.

The most impressive films are K is for Knell (Bruno Samper), a stark and haunting sci-fi tale with a plethora of terrific imagery, Robert Boocheck’s M for Masticate for shameless hilarious drugsploitation and Marvin Kren’s black and white treat R is for Roulette. Steven Kostanski (Manborg) delivers more dark retro fun in W for Wish and proves yet again that he is a particular and talented filmmaker. In the end, The ABCs of Death 2 leaves us on a higher note than the first, climaxing with Chris Nash’s Z is for Zygote and stealing the show as the most ideologically horrific, practically disgusting, film of the anthology.

                I could write a few hundred words on each film, but that would be pointless and to be honest I just wouldn’t want to ruin it for you. Even if you hated the first, give the second a go, it’s a consummate expression of horror in all its forms and a showcase of the most vibrant and enjoyable kind.