The Lighthouse

"The Lighthouse" (Robert Eggers, A24, Regency Enterprises, Universal Pictures) is a black and white psychological film inspired by the avant-garde/experimental style.


Set in the late 19th Century, two lighthouse keepers are sent to the lonely and secluded island for their four week shift. The two do not get on and, trapped on the island in a storm, it seems that they both begin to lose their sanity with deadly results...


Personally, this film was not for me. Technically speaking, however, it's an interesting film. Well shot and bleakly atmospheric, it delivers a disturbing piece. Filmed on 35mm and in an old fashioned ratio adds to the cinematic experience. From what I've read, the set up and filming process were both extremely labour intensive and complicated, so the film is certainly a feat in this regard.


Both Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe give intriguing performances as the younger, less experienced keeper and the abrasive older keeper. Their relationship is taught, uncomfortable and ultimately deadly. There's also the added element that both characters are extremely unreliable narrators (given their own secrets, alcohol abuse and apparent cabin fever), so that we are never truly sure what events are happening, and what are figments of the men's imaginations.


Overall, I found the purposefully disjointed style and delivery to be rather boring and I definitely felt the full 109 minute runtime. Whilst I can appreciate the style and aesthetic of the piece, I didn't find it to be particularly entertaining and, unlike Eggers' "The Witch" (2016) or Ari Aster's "Hereditary" (2018) , I wasn't even left with the same grim emptiness or shell-shocked feeling that lingered after the credits rolled. While I think it's sure to become an important film in the future for aesthetic and style reasons, I wasn't overly impressed with it as a film and wouldn't hold it in the same esteem as I do David Lynch's surreal and uncomfortable "Eraserhead" (1977) (which no doubt played some part in inspiration). For me it played out a little too much like a project piece rather than a finished article.


So, although I can and do appreciate the film's technical and aesthetic merits, it's unlikely to be one I'd choose to revisit. However, for the intrigued, it's certainly worth catching for the experience.

[Image: A24, et al]

Hani

Shock Waves

"Shock Waves" aka "Almost Human" aka "Death Corps" (1977, Ken Wiederhorn, Zopix Company) is a shipwreck-cum-Nazi-zombie-survival movie.


Captain Ben Morris (John Carradine), his crew and his passengers are involved in an accident when travelling across sea. They are forced to abandon their wrecked boat and the survivors find their way onto an nearby island.


They are shocked to learn that the island is not completely uninhabited when they meet a reclusive SS Commander (Peter Cushing) who warns them to leave the island as it is dangerous.


Unable to heed his warning, due mostly to the fact that they lack any means of escape, the survivors find that they are being hunted by a swarm of undead Nazi super-soldiers created during WWII. The Commander had purposefully sunk his ship containing them, trapping himself on the island in the process. But, being zombies, the creatures have been lying dormant in wait of fresh victims...


A slow moving film that lacks the strong plot necessary to keep up momentum, but managing to be entertaining in its sheer silliness and feature a very cool setting. The zombies seem to be mostly aquatic and we are treated to many scenes of them slowly rising from the shallows to trap their victims, walking underwater and jumping into unused swimming pools. They are also decked out in Nazi uniforms and wearing dark goggles which protect them from the dangers of daylight.


I would have enjoyed a little more of both John Carradine and Peter Cushing in this film, but despite their relatively short screentime the film is still engaging thanks to our cast of hapless, squabbling tourists and final girl, Rose (Brooke Adams).


A slow film that does not deliver much in the way of gore or scares; most of the action is off-screen. However, the film is well made, enjoys some good underwater scenes and is nonetheless a good yarn worth checking out. Even if it's mostly just for the begoggled zombies.

[Image: Zopix Co.]

Hani

Dolls

"Dolls" (1987, Stuart Gordon, Empire Pictures) is a killer doll movie.


Little Judy Bower (Carrie Lorraine) is an unlucky tyke. Her parents are divorced and she's stuck on holiday with her selfish father, David (Ian Patrick Williams), and his new wife, Rosemary (Carolyn Purdy Gordon) - the epitome of wicked stepmother and lover of hair wraps.


After their trip is cut short due to a thunderstorm, the family seek shelter in a nearby house; that of elderly puppet-maker, Gabriel Hartwicke (Guy Rolfe) and his rather dotty wife, Hilary (Hilary Mason). They are later joined by some other stranded strangers; punk girls and thieves, Isabel (Bunty Bailey) and Enid (Cassie Stuart), and the child-at-heart schmo the girls have marked as their next robbery victim, Ralph (Steven Lee). The old couple are very accommodating, giving everyone a room each for the night and offering them supper and wine. Gabriel also gifts the young Judy a Mr Punch doll upon finding out that Rosemary threw her favourite teddy bear into the woods!


But as the night wears on the dolls and puppets placed around the large house seem to move, strange voices can be heard coming from behind locked doors, people appear to go missing and suspicious bloodstains begin to appear. Are the friendly Hartwicke's up to something devious? Will Judy escape from her awful father and stepmother? What's the deal with Mr Punch? All is revealed in this fun, cheesy caper.


Despite falling into the low-budget category, "Dolls" enjoys some effects that still look good today. The doll face effects can vary in quality between props, but are pretty good overall. There's also a variety of different little doll-monsters to enjoy and the scenes with them in are fun in a way similar to the "Puppet Master" series. There's also the added layer of watching the dolls' creation which was pretty fun.


Rolfe and Mason provide some likeable villains with an effective creep-factor, both Williams and Gordon also bring some unlikeable fodder to the tale and Bailey and Stuart provide further villains with more annoying accents. Carrie Lorraine does great work as the little leading lady and pushes the plot on with her childish curiosity and bravery.


There's a lesson in there about being a nice person, being a good parent and also about watching out for vengeful dolls. The film delivers this in a gleefully schlocky b-movie way before sending us on our way as yet another family of unhappy individuals lands themselves on the doorstep of Hartwicke's dollhouse....

[Image: Empire Pictures]

Hani

Ghost Story

"Ghost Story" (1981, John Irvin, Universal Pictures) is a ghostly tale about shared secrets... It's based on a Peter Straub novel



Four well-off elderly men, Ricky Hawthorne (Fred Astaire), Dr. John Jaffrey (Melvyn Douglas), Mayor Edward Charles Wanderley (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and Sears James (John Houseman) are members of the Chowder Society. They meet to share chilling tales and enjoy a tipple together. But when one of Edward's sons dies in a mysterious accident, it becomes apparent that the Chowder society share a dark secret, and that secret is clawing its way back to them.



A fairly traditional horror with spooky scenes, old creaky houses and a grim little twist in the plot. We are treated to some interesting death scenes including a rather explicit, nude window fall (helicoptering did not seem to help) and quite a sad and melancholy plummet from a bridge.


Our protagonist, Don Wanderley (Craig Wasson), attempts to work out what plagues his fathers' group and family, while also battling his father's contempt for his lifestyle, status and choices. But it is the secretive and elegant society marred with darkness that holds the most interest in the film.


Beautiful scenery and a good cast keep this relatively simple plot going. The film delivers a surprising amount of action, despite the collective age of the main cast. I found it to be old fashioned but entertaining. The film suffers overall from a slightly anticlimactic final act, but a nicely realised final reveal that brings everything to a tidy and complete end.

[Image: Universal Pictures]

Hani

Fade to Black

"Fade to Black" (1980, Vernon Zimmerman, Leisure Investment Company, Movie Ventures) is about a movie buff assuming the personalities of his favourite antagonists from the screen to exact bloody revenge on those who have done him wrong.

Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) is a lonely and awkward young man living with a woman he believes to be his aunt (Eve Brent) in LA. She is confined to a wheelchair and constantly shouts at and belittles him, blaming him for her current state of affairs. Eric works at a movie distribution company and is constantly heckled by workplace bullies (including Mickey Rourke) and lives only to watch movies. That is until he sees the beautiful Marilyn O-Connor (Linda Kerridge) an Australian Marilyn Monroe lookalike and aspiring actress, and becomes completely obsessed with her.

When the heckling becomes too much for him, and Marilyn seemingly stands him up on a date something snaps in Eric and he begins to disguise himself as the villains from his favourite movies and murdering those responsible for his misery in ways inspired by the movies...

A pretty dark premise and a very engaging film that starts as an intrigue and underdog story, and ends with a tragedy about mental health, loneliness and obsession. But there's humour to be found in there, too.

The film takes care to set up the kill scenes with lighting and effects reminiscent of the films Eric is mimicking. It's all in the killer's mind, of course, but it lets the viewer experience the way he's seeing the world from his perspective. Eric is the hero of his own movie, and what he's doing is completely justified. But the fact he selects, with exception of Hop-along Cassidy, mostly villains; the mummy, Dracula, Tommy Udo... hint towards Eric's recognition that deep down he knows he's not really the hero.

The makeup and costumes are good fun and, although the kill scenes have a fair bit of silliness to them, there's an excellent scene with the Dracula makeup that seems to hint at some of Eric's personality still behind the obsession. But he completes the look and loses his senses once again.

Dennis Christopher creates a creepy and distasteful character, but also manages to inspire our sympathies despite his murderous and grim antics and annoying air of superiority when talking about his obsession; cinema. His descent into madness is caricaturish, but the climatic scenes at the Chinese Theatre in LA are intense and tragic.

Managing to be a film about the dangers of movie obsession leading too far, and also oddly not fully condemning cinephiles as a whole (at the end of the day, the target audience), "Fade to Black" remains an effective film today and is definitely worth checking out.

[Image: Movie Ventures, et al]

Hani

Snatchers

"Snatchers" (2019, Stephen Cedars, Benji Kleiman, Warner Bros.) is a horror comedy about teen pregnancy.

Sara (Mary Nepi) is enjoying her senior year as a popular girl in school. But upon having sex for the first time ever with self-centred school hunk Skyler (Austin Fryberger) she wakes up the next day to find that she's suddenly nine months pregnant with an alien child... With the help of her ex-BFF, Hayley (Gabrielle Elyse), she attempts to deal with the situation with as small a massacre as possible (spoiler: it's not small) and without ruining her reputation amongst her new cool pals or revealing her shame to her mother.

With high energy, puppets, tonnes of blood, a great sense of humour and some strong acting from everyone involved, this fun little romp through the dangers of unprotected sex and why you shouldn't touch fragile displays in museums is an entertaining comedy horror which manages to pack a punch.

With shades of Critters, some splashes of Alien and a lot of Mean Girls/Heathers influence, "Snatchers" manages to deliver a cautionary tale without losing the sheer silliness and entertainment factor that the audience comes for.

[Image: Warner Bros.]

Hani

Freaks (2019)

"Freaks" (2019, Adam Stein, Zack Lipovsky, Amazing Incorporated, Wise Daughter Films, My Way Productions, Storyboard Capital Group) is a science fiction thriller.

Chloe (Lexy Kolker) is a seven year old girl living with her father, Henry (Emile Hirsch), in an abandoned house. Henry appears quite disturbed and will not allow Chloe outside of the house or to even look out of the windows. However, Mr. Snowcone (Bruce Dern), the local ice cream man, is on a mission to get Chloe out into the world for his own reasons...

At first I thought I'd found my way onto yet another slow burning dud, but after the initial confusing build up, the film starts to really pick up and takes us in several new directions I hadn't been expecting.

Lexy Kolker is a fantastic little lead actress and manages to conquer some pretty tough looking scenes with an effortless ease and reality. We're completely with her the whole way through, even when we occasionally don't know what's going on. Chloe is faced with some dark situations, and some scenes cover some quite violent or morally questionable themes. It's dark, scary and quite fascinating.

Emile Hirsch is also great in the part as the slightly unhinged father. From first introduction until the final reveal we're never quite sure what his deal is and how much of it is fabricated.

I like Bruce Dern in general, but he's excellent in this part treading the line between friendly and scary with deft ease and a hint of relish. As the audience learn more about what's really going on we find ourselves understanding his character more, even if we don't like his methods.

Overall, I found the film enjoyable. I appreciate that the build up was kept consciously vague to allow the reveal to be more effective, and in I'm glad I didn't give up on it when I wasn't sure if it was going anywhere. Some of the scenes are really engaging, especially in Chloe's cupboard, but there are a few parts of the film that felt a little 'syfy TV special' and didn't quite gel as well into the overall body. On the whole, however, I would definitely watch this film again.

[Amazing Incorporated, et al]

Hani