The Tingler

"The Tingler" (1959, William Castle, Columbia Pictures, William Castle Productions).

Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) discovers that the phenomenon where the spine tingles in fear is actually due to the presence of a fear feasting, parasitic creature which he names The Tingler. The creature can kill its host, but is weakened by a human scream.

Desperate to prove his discovery, he performs an autopsy on a deaf, non-verbal woman who had died of fright, removing the creature! But can he keep such a specimen under control?

One of the Castle films which benefited from his love of gimmicks including the Percepto vibrating cinema seat; a precursor to gimmicks still in use today.

The film is a fabulous schlock classic and the plot moves along well even today under the committed and masterful performance of Vincent Price and some fun effects. The scene where Mrs Higgins (Judith Evelyn) dies of fright is excellent and Castle used striking targeted colour in an otherwise black and white film to bring out the red of the blood.

The Tingler creature itself remains an entertaining effect. The story isn't the most absurd in our wonderful genre by far, but is admittedly weird. Despite that, however, The Tingler is an excellent piece of cinema and definitely a must-see for any classic horror fan.

[Image: Columbia Pictures]

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IT: Chapter Two

"IT: Chapter Two" (2019, Andy Muschietti, New Line Cinema, Double Dream, Vertigo Entertainment, Rideback, Warner Bros. Pictures) is the sequel to 2017's "IT" based on Stephen King's classic, "IT".


It's 2016 and we return to Derry, Maine to witness the violent and upsetting end of a man called Adrian in front of his boyfriend, Don. Adrian's death, however, does piqué the interest of our friend, and long time Derry man, Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) who has been diligently (read 'obsessively') scanning the newspapers and airwaves for any sign that Pennywise has returned to feast on the people of the town once more.


Mike contacts the members of the Loser's Club one by one and finds that they have all but forgotten him due to the creature's defences. Reluctantly, they mostly agree to return to the town, but they're a little fuzzy on why...


Losers Club leader, Bill (James McAvoy), has become a successful writer and is working on a film based on one of his books. Richie (Bill Hader) is a successful comedian. Beverly (Jessica Chastain) has swapped her relationship with her abusive father for an abusive, but wealthy, husband. Eddie (James Ransone) has put his hypochondria to good use and become a successful risk assessor. Stanley (Andy Bean) is happily married and working as an accountant. And Ben (Jay Ryan) has buffed up and become a successful architect.


The gang head back to Derry, minus one, and as, their memories start to return, so do their fears. The creature begins almost instantly to launch an attack on the, now adult, Losers Club as well as getting their old childhood bully, Henry Bowers (Teach Grant) back in town to further hamper the Club's attempts to put a stop to It once and for all.


I enjoyed the first instalment, but feel that the second chapter flowed better as a film and had slightly better pacing than its predecessor. The younger casting had been so strong that I had been apprehensive as to how the adult casting would compare, but I felt that they were extremely well matched and I had no issues believing them to be the adult versions of the younger actors. Bill Hader particularly, steals the show somewhat with an emotional portrayal of motor-mouth Richie. The Losers are all broken as adults, and we feel for them all.


Bill Skarsgård gives just as excellent performance as Pennywise the Dancing Clown as he did in the first film. Although the film relies perhaps a little too heavily on CGI to achieve all the effects, which makes sense when you have a shapeshifting, human eating monster on the loose, the most effective part of the monster is Skarsgård's disturbing and engaging performance. There is a scene with the clown make up mostly removed which further solidifies how effective his performance is.


The film is punctuated with humour, much like its predecessor, and then plummets to some serious lows (I won't deny feeling a little tearful near the end) but overall sticks to the Losers conquering evil themes of the novel. We also enjoy one of Stephen King's cameos as a pawnshop owner who sells Bill back his old bike.


Although three hours is a long run time, if you enjoyed the first film, you are unlikely to be disappointed by the follow up. But equally, if you disliked the previous instalment it's unlikely that this film will swing you in another direction.

[Image: Warner Bros. Pictures, et al]

Hani

IT (2017)

"IT" aka "IT: Chapter One" (2017, Andy Muschietti, New Line Cinema, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures, KatzSmith Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures) is based on Stephen King's amazing novel of the same name.

On a stormy day, Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) gives his little brother, Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott), a sailboat made of paper to play with outside. But, when innocent little Georgie's sailboat floats down a storm drain, he makes the acquaintance of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård) and meets a gruesome end. For Bill and his band of misfit friends, however, it is just the beginning as he tries to find out what happened to his baby brother, and they are all taunted by IT...

What a thrilling experience it was to see a horror film in a cinema and actually get a few scares! I had been apprehensive as Tim Curry's rendition of Pennywise is so iconic that I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role, but Skarsgård has really made this version of the clown creature his own. Not only is he bitter-sweet, off-balanced and straight up freaky, but he's also so well designed. The clown is just different enough to mark this character as a whole new imagining.

The film stays pretty close to King's masterpiece, and although obviously not every plot point could be squeezed into the run time, I didn't feel that it was rushed or lost any of the pacing. Of course, we still have the next part of the book to cover, and, having now seen the first instalment, I have high hopes for the second battle.

The 80s vibe and styling is excellently achieved. From the clothing to the background advertising, it feels very authentic. I'm really enjoying the 80s love at the moment.

The Losers Club are perfect. All the actors give such a great, realistic performance and bring the roles to life. I can only hope their adult counterparts in the next movie can continue with such style. The characters in this story have such horrid background stories and face some traumatic situations and the movie does well to lighten the tone with some humour now and again. This also just makes the darker scenes all the more cutting.

Aside from leading man, Bill, who gives a fantastic performance and holds the club together, we are joined by Bev (Sophia Lillis); lone girl of the group who, as well as being bullied relentlessly at school also has a traumatic and horrifying home life. Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor); love sick, overweight romantic who is also the new kid at school. Richie (Finn Wolfhard); a motormouth who masks his own personal demons with humour and crassness. He's also a face you'll recognise from "Stranger Things" (and he really proves his mettle with a quite radically different and equally iconic character). Stan (Wyatt Olef); a quiet, smart Jewish kid who manages to get a good few quips in when Richie takes a breath. His father is the local Rabbi and he feels under pressure to make him proud. Mike (Chosen Jacobs); a home-schooled kid raised by his grandfather after his parents met a grissly end. He doesn't want to be an outsider, but equally he isn't sure if he wants to join the others when he knows what he's let himself in for. And, Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer); a hypochondriac fuelled by his mother's blatant Munchhausen's by-proxy.

Keeping the Losers Club terrified even before Pennywise awakens, we have the local gang of bullies, led by Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton), son of a local cop who constantly belittles him, Henry feels like he has to terrorise others to make himself feel more like a man.

While Skarsgård's Pennywise does a fair bit more chatting that Tim Curry's did, the film benefits from taking more from the book and enjoys some truly disturbing images. The scares are frequent, quick paced and effective and the plot moves along smoothly.

All in all, it was my most satisfying cinema trip in some time!

[Image: Warner Bros. Pictures, et al]

Hani

Lights Out

"Lights Out" (2016, David F. Sandberg, New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Grey Matter Productions, RatPac Entertainment, Warner Bros.) is the feature length adaptation of the fabulously jumpy 2013 horror short of the same name also by Sandberg.

Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) becomes concerned when her mother, Sophie (Maria Bello), begins to suffer from depression again and starts talking to an 'imaginary friend'. She is also worried for her little brother, Martin (Gabriel Bateman), who is beginning to suffer from insomnia and behaving strangely. She soon learns why this is happening, however, when she sees for herself the creepy apparition which moves in the dark around them...

The short had a great premise and truly gave me the wiggins. The creature is only able to be seen in the dark and by flicking on and off the light, you can see it slowly (and yet somehow also quickly) approach you. It's menacing and effective.

As a feature length film, however, this effect loses some of its impact and the film began to feel somewhat gimmicky. However, as a whole the film is quite enjoyable in a simple, jump-scare-by-numbers-horror way. The characters are good, but they're not given enough time to develop effectively and there's perhaps too much going on in the back story to be cohesive.

The thing that worked so well for the short was its simplicity and this felt a little lost in the feature length film. In an attempt to create a personal origin story for the shadowy creature, the story lost some of its simple, effective mystery around the creature. I feel that sometimes horror monsters don't need to have their motives explained; they just need to be scary. A sympathetic backstory can be effective, but this explanation in "Lights Out" felt forced into the story.

My advice is by all means see this film, then go re-watch the short to remind yourself how good the premise really was.

[Image: New Line Cinema, et al]

Hani

Fear Clinic

"Fear Clinic" (2014, Robert Green Hall, Bearing Entertainment, Dry County Films, Fear Chamber Productions, Anchor Bay Entertainment) is based on a web series of the same name. I haven't seen the web series, but it didn't hinder my understanding of the premise of the film.

Dr.Andover (Robert Englund) is a psychiatric doctor who has invented a machine (which is reminiscent of an Iron Lung) which he uses to help his patients confront their greatest fears and phobias, curing them of such.

A group of people who all experienced a traumatic incident together, but who previously were unacquainted, have all been patients of Dr. Andover after the terrible events left them with crippling phobias.

They had thought themselves cured, but a year after their treatments, they all begin to be plagued once again. They independantly return to the clinic, to discover that it is all but shut down and that Dr. Andover is having serious doubts after one patient dies during the treatment and some very real manifestations begin to torture both him and his remaining patients.

So, what to say....

It's a good premise. It's got some really talented genre actors in it and it also has Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour in it (and a shedload of not-so-subtle Slipknot and Stone Sour references laced through it). The characters are fine; some interesting even. Maybe not all developed particularly...

The hallucinations are fun and a little gross with some nice, good old fashioned physical effects. And the setting is as to be expected (creepy, old, run down hospital).

So, why am I not raving its praises? Because it's just not worthy. I was confused due to disjointed scripting and thus bored. And not scared.

Robert Englund's character is haunted and withdrawn. He's meant to be that way; it's part of the story. But it just took away some of his iconic charisma.

But that's not my problem. Essentially my problem was the lack of rules. It felt like they had a concept story and a 'verse planned out and then forgot to cement the rules. By the end it was just all the characters going loopy, which didn't fit with the tense, slow build up throughout the rest of the film. And a mishmash of information given to us at the start was left unused, but not in a clever red-herringy way.

It has a lot of potential but just doesn't deliver what I was expecting. A bit of a disappointment really.

Oh, and as much as I love Robert Englund, I've never ever needed to see so much of his bare backside!

Image: as marked

 

Hani

IT

"IT" (1990, Lorimar Productions, DawnField Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Tommy Lee Wallace) is one of the classic Stephen King adaptations. It's one of the few King books turned films that have actually been done well! If not completely accurately, but when has that ever happened? This is the made for TV version, which is the superior version in my book.

The fabulous Tim Curry (Dr. Frank-N-Furter himself!) stars as the child-eating-fear-demon (well really, he's more of an interdimensional-being, but whatever!), who often takes the form of Pennywise the 'dancing' (read 'insane') clown. Pennywise plays with his victims, either luring them to their death like a Kelpie, or by simply scaring them to death by transforming into their worst fear. We see him lure a small girl to her death at the start of the film.

When Mike (Tim Reid, who is the dad from 'Sister, Sister') is at the scene of the crime, he spots an old photo lying on the grass. The photo is of a small boy, who he recognises as the deceased younger brother of one of his old school friends, Bill. Bill's baby brother, Georgie (Tony Dakota) was one of Pennywise's victims in the 60s, when Mike and his pals were all children. It was Georgie's death which started the group's adventurous involvement with crazy clown man.

Mike calls up all his old friends, who have since moved away from the small Maine town of Derry, and have forgotten most of their childhoods and all about Pennywise, thanks to the creature's magical defences. The gang make their way back to Derry at the pleading of Mike, and slowly begin to remember what had happened there.

The film is really following one storyline, the group vanquishing 'IT'. But the film shows two stories, the group battling IT as children, and then again as adults when the creature rises again.

As children, the group were: African-American Mike (Marlon Taylor) who is facing the still very racist bullies at school, talented writer Bill (Jonathan Brandis) who blames himself for the death of his young brother at the hands of the demented Clown, lone girl in the group Beverly (Emily Perkins) who has an abusive father, funny guy Richie (a young, but remarkably completely recognisable Seth Green), hypochondriac asthmatic Eddie (Adam Faraizl), competent and intelligent Ben (Brandon Crane) who is bullied for being fat, but by today's standards, he's pretty normal and Stan (Ben Heller), who is introduced as a Jewish boyscout and a birdwatcher.

As adults, the group are: still-in-Derry, Mike (Tim Reid), horror writer (who's totally based on Stephen King himself) Bill (Richard Thomas), fashion designer in an abusive relationship, Beverly (Annette O'Toole), TV comedian Richie (Harry Anderson), virgin limo business owner Eddie (Dennis Christopher), famous, and no longer fat, architect Ben (John Ritter) and real estate broker Stan (Richard Masur).

The film is quite long at 195minutes, and the DVD is one of those ones where you have to flip it over half way through to see the rest of the film. This is because the film was shown as a two parter on TV.

Despite the length, the film isn't boring and the special effects are excellent. There's a lot of blood, but it's not gory, usually coming from sinks, balloons and other odd places. The film and characters are very 80s. Since it came out in 1990, this isn't a criticism. Most of the characters, except the main characters, are unlikable and cruel. But this is on purpose, to build up group dynamic and emphasize the group's status as losers.

Pennywise is the epitome of creepy and really a complete and utter nightmare monster. A real modern classic in that respect. Tim Curry is one of the masters at creating demented characters, and really brings the fear guzzling creature to life, probably fuelling quite a few people's fear of clowns over the years, too!

The dialogue isn't always the smartest, but that isn't the most important part of the film. And the end left me a little non-plussed. The undertheme, as common to King books, is about being the oddball, beating the odds and bullying (whether it be by greaser teens, or by monsters).

A classic and an excellent film all round, I recommend "IT" as a must see!

[Picture: Lorimar Productions, DawnField Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television]

Hani