The Hands of Orlac

"The Hands of Orlac" aka "Orlacs Hände" (1924, Robert Wiene, Pan-Film, Berolina-Film, Aywon Film Corporation) is a silent Expressionist film.

My husband and I enjoyed an opportunity to watch this restored silent film with a live orchestra last night.

Famous concert pianist, Paul Orlac (Conrad Veidt), is the victim of a terrible train wreck and loses his hands. His wife, Yvonne (Alexandra Sorina), implores a surgeon to save her husband's hands. When he can't, he decides to perform a risky transplant, using the hands of a recently executed murderer named Vasseur. Orlac mourns the loss of his skilled hands but becomes convinced that the murderous replacements are still possessed with a drive to kill...

A fun plot that has been remade and reworked several times over the years. Being an Expressionist piece, modern audiences may find the styling quite overt and jarring, but the film is very charming. Veidt sells the torment of Orlac with gusto and Sorina's desperation is often palpable.

The film has a run time just shy of 2 hours, and its ponderous pacing does sometimes make for difficult viewing. The film pales in comparison to Wiene's superior "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", however, it's certainly still a classic piece of Expressionist film and a piece of history.

[Image: Pan-Film, et al]

Hani

A Better Life

"A Better Life" is a horror novel by Kyle M. Scott (2018).

A group of desperate people kidnap a child in an attempt to get hold of enough money to end their problems. But, they've gotten much more than they bargained for...

We follow Jess and her husband, Curt, who, together with Curt's kind and matronly sister, Lisa, and the dangerous ruffian, Pete, have kidnapped a quiet young girl called Emily from her senator father. They take Emily to an abandoned and secluded house in the middle of the Mojave desert.

Jess feels extremely conflicted about what they've done. On one hand, she feels horrible for taking the young girl from her home, but on the other hand she knows that she and Curt are in a desperate situation with very few remaining options. She takes a shine to the strange child who is beautiful but stoic beyond her years in a disconcerting manner. Jess feels both protective of her and scared of her.

The story is told from the characters' perspectives with a tendency to focus on our main protagonist, Jess. Through the eyes of each character we learn more about them and their motives. And we find that they have shades of grey.... Some much greyer than others.

Tensions begin to rise when Curt and Pete find that Emily's parents may not be interested in getting her back, and Pete's violent side rises to the surface. Meanwhile, Jess begins to get close to Emily and sees an unnerving peak behind the pretty little girl's eyes... For Emily, we find, is more than just a lonely little rich girl who likes comic books. She has a chilling talent.

The subject matter is pretty terrifying. Having the kind of power that Emily wields is scary enough, but the fact that Emily chooses to use her powers based on her own childlike grasp of right and wrong (where shades of grey are not acceptable) is the truly scary thought. Emily may seem calm and unperturbed by her situation, but she knows that her tantrums can be deadly. Equally, however, she is a child and naturally wins some of the readers' sympathy.

Kyle M. Scott paints a terrifying portrait of this little girl and also of the kidnappers themselves. They all have dark secrets and taking Emily has sealed their fates. Scott describes with fantastic gusto the gory and violent scenes the characters face, creating a clear disturbing image in the reader's mind and some scenes that didn't leave my thoughts for a few days.

A truly chilling ending leaves the reader with a sense of dread and a thirst to know more about the fate of this strange and powerful child.

Available now on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions

Halloween (2018)

"Halloween" (2018, David Gordon Green, Miramax, Blumhouse Productions, Trancas International Films, Rough House Pictures, Universal Pictures) is a direct sequel to John Carpenter's original 1978 classic slasher, "Halloween". The film is set in present day and ignores all other sequels existing in the series.

We catch back up with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who has lived a life of seclusion and paranoia with PTSD after the events of Halloween night 40 years previously in Haddonfield. She is estranged from her daughter, Karen (Judy Greer) and her family, but her granddaughter, Allyson (Andi Matichak) is keen to reconnect with her.

Concurrently, we learn of the fate of Michael Myers (Nick Castle and James Jude Courtney) through the investigations of Aaron (Jefferson Hall) and Dana (Rhian Rees) who are researching him for their true-crime podcast. He has spent the last 4 decades in a high security sanitarium. When being transferred to a high security prison, however, Michael manages to escape and heads for home to celebrate Halloween in the only way he knows how: by murdering a bunch of innocent bystanders...

Seeing the film on opening night was definitely a good experience. The crowd were good fun, but not rowdy enough to ruin the tense scenes in the film. The film plays out a little more like an action movie than a horror, but pays good homage to the original in so many ways without feeling like it's treading old ground. Where the original is a study in tense pacing, this film packs in a lot of action and some very effective gore. There are also bursts of humour that I felt added to the plot (I particularly loved the scenes with sassy kid, Julian (Jibrail Nantambu), who seemed to be the most sensible person in the movie).

Jamie Lee Curtis gives us an emotionally charged, but feisty return performance as Laurie; a woman who has been through a lot and not been able to move on. And both Karen's and Allyson's actions and feelings are understandable. The women are all strong characters but are not infallible. Their humanity is in great contrast to the Shape's lack of it.

A strange turn of events reminiscent to Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers does present itself, but does not derail the overall plot. All in all, I really enjoyed this sequel and, while it's certainly not perfect, I felt that it both slotted in as a continuation and updated the franchise effectively; bringing back Michael Myers once again to his ominous glory.

[Image: Blumhouse Productions, et al]

Hani

The Black Room

"The Black Room" (2017, Rolfe Kanefsky, Cleopatra Entertainment) is about demonic possession.

We're introduced to Miss Black (Lin Shaye) and her niece, Stacy (Dominique Swain) who meet their demise in their home thanks to some pervy invisible demons. Later, the house is purchased by a couple, Paul (Luka Hassel) and Jennifer (Natasha Henstridge), who seem happy despite learning about the house having a 'dark past'. Their marriage is put through the wringer, however, when they discover that all their repairmen and Jennifer's gothy sister Karen (Augie Duke) are being picked off and that Paul has become possessed (you can tell by the guyliner and a change in accent) by the horny demonic entity dwelling in their basement.

Sounding more fun than it is, the film misses the mark for me by being overly trashy past the point of funny and essentially culminating the worst of the B-movie catalogue into a 'shock' fest of nudity that loses its shock factor after the first scene.

We are treated to some excellent scoring by Savant that is reminiscent of Charles Bernstein's classic theme for "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and some cheap but psychedelic opening credits, but overall the film felt less like a nod to the trashtastic horrors of the past and more like a bad joke at the audience's expense.

Lin Shaye's character's job seems to be limited to speaking sternly to demons while being overall ineffectual and our other main characters are generally unlikeable.

While some of the kill scenes are entertaining, the film's odd atmosphere was distracting and it felt kind of shallow. Better B-movies, and probably pornos,  have done this stuff before already, and with more success.

With nipple twisting, wandering giant red hands, killer demonic penises, body fluids galore and a flashback scene that felt like something found on the cutting room floor of The Mighty Boosh, this trashy film felt a bit lacklustre and left me feeling more grimy than entertained.

It did leave me wondering, however, if it would still be classed as cheating if you both think you're having relations with your other half but it's actually a pervy invisible demon?

[Image: Cleopatra Entertainment]

Hani 

Ghost House

"Ghost House" (2017, Rich Ragsdale, Vertical Entertainment) is about a white American couple getting exploited by some white British people while visiting Thailand; getting themselves haunted in the process.


The film offers some visuals of both the beautiful and less beautiful parts of Bangkok as the newly engaged couple, Julie (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Jim (James Landry Hebert), explore.


Upon meeting some overly friendly British guys, they decide to blindly join them on a night of raucous partying and find themselves abandoned in the countryside outside of the city. Julie disturbs a shrine (or Ghost House) and inadvertently becomes the main target of a vengeful spirit (Wen-Chu Yang). It's up to Jim to try and save his fiancée from the angry ghost before it's too late... And maybe find those British assholes again...


A typical vengeance ghost flick that's only innovation is to move the story from Japan to Thailand. The protagonists and antagonists are equally unlikeable (except for the ghost) and the local people and legend play little to no part in the plot. The plot itself is a little wandering and takes a few twists that made me lose some character sympathy where it might have been better to make me feel more sorry for them.


The ghost enjoys a few effective jump scares, but is ultimately victim to a lot of repetition which takes away from her overall scariness. The effects are pretty good, however, and it's worth adding that, if the plot had been stronger, the film would have been more engaging. As it is, it felt a little more like bargain-bin "The Grudge".

[Image: Vertical Entertainment]

Hani