Backstroke - 2017 - 6/10
Amber and Jake blow off some steam and head out to the woods.
They find a revolver in the Buick’s glove compartment
Into the woods, then into a lake. Trees flaring red, yellow and orange of autumn.
Perfect. Until the stranger appears. Ever so polite.
Aren’t they all? At first.
Collins, Max - Quarry’s Vote
Professional hitman Quarry is retired, comfortably off, living in seclusion.
He encounters a girl half his age and eventually marries, a turn I found contrived.
Turning down a lucrative contract leads to those nearest him being killed.
Another annoying coincidence, I suppose necessary to kick the revenge plot in gear.
Once underway, Quarry locates his adversaries, observes, ingratiates himself to innocent helpers.
Even though he is middle-aged and overweight, ladies stare and flirt.
Maybe that will subside when he hits 80. Or he’ll be chased by gals in wheelchairs and walkers.
Formula all the way, but if you appreciate this efficient killer, you should enjoy this.
In The Dust Of The Stars - 1976 - 6/10
AKA - Im Staub der Sterne
An exploratory mission from planet Cynro responds to a distress code from Tem 4.
Descending, their ship malfunctions mysteriously.
Tem rulers deny the distress signal, then invite the Cynro crew to a big party.
Where they are doped and brainwashed into thinking, problem, what problem?
Along with, let’s go back home as soon as possible!
SciFi from East Germany has lots of costumes, great sets, terrific villains, tons of extras.
Also, for me, a surprising amount of nudity (where were the Stasi censors?).
Plot seems Trekkish, although it is enlightening to see the majority of ship officers helmed by females.
If you have the right frame of mind, this is great, especially for all the wtf moments.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subscene/97365
The Door With Seven Locks - 1940 - 6/10
The dying lord is to be buried in the family vault – with his jewels.
A faithful friend is entrusted with the seven keys.
Ten years later, a distant relative is summoned, a retired detective takes an interest.
While the seven keys are, of course, gone!
Edgar Wallace chamber thriller dashes from the gate and rarely slows down.
Duplicitous servants, hidden panels, death pact, even a monkey.
Leslie Banks, ever flamboyant, with Lillie Palmer, as the distant heir.
Sugar Mill - 2025 - 6/10
AKA - Pabrik Gula
Many of the village youth ride the truck to the sugar mill in the countryside.
The factory bears a tainted history. Years before, there was a fire and workers perished.
At night, restless spirits haunt the area.
Yellow hour, seasonal workers must be near their residence. Red hour, they must be inside.
Try enforcing that with young, surging hormones.
Despite annoying, intermittent comic relief, this is rife with superstition and presences.
As Horror, this grows progressively more Indonesian throughout.
Disjointed narrative is both problematic and a big boost.
Kelso, Chris - Possession: Dreams Of Suffering And Sanity
Part of the Midnight Monograph series, this wades into Andrzej Żuławski’s layered Horror film.
Possession equates with being possessed, being possessive. The film is a marital breakdown writ large, and according to Mr Kelso, may also be symbolic of the sundering and later reunification of Germany.
The movie can be a harrowing experience, as the main couple, Anna and Mark, are caught in a violent, scream filled separation.
The book goes into Berlin of 1981, recollections from a few participants. Also a great deal of theories and guesses about writer / director Żuławski.
To be blunt, I found the second half of the book more enjoyable than the first.
The writer spends an inordinate amount of time inserting his own experiences into the text. He suffered a relationship breakdown, as well, which he shares with readers over and over and over.
He parallels his adolescent fallout with the Possession characters, as if his misery was unique.
I daresay most of us suffer youthful calamities; few of us escape dewy relationships unscathed.
Kelso’s whining about his poor-me period with X is a distraction for about 20% of the book.
The movie is not for the faint-hearted. The book may be better for collectors of the series.
Begotten - 1989 - 5/10
This opens with a grisly self-inflicted disembowelment.
After which an unsettling rebirth / transfiguration occurs.
Scene shift to a vast pit focusing on the ritualized torture of a sacrificial victim.
Hell, I thought. Or the purgatory of damnation.
Stylized, experimental, avant-garde film.
Until the credits rolled, sporting a different story.
Which was beyond pretentious. Docked a point.
Darby And Joan - 2022 - 6/10
After a calamitous off-road accident, Joan gives Darby a lift.
Which sorta grows into an extended road trip.
Ex-nurse Joan has arrived from England to find out why her husband died in Australia.
What was he even doing down under? After all, he told her he was in Spain.
Fortunately, Darby is an ex-copper.
Sundry adventures and mysteries each week, with new clues about Joan’s dead husband.
Who, apparently, kept a lot of secrets. Big ones.
Enjoyable series. Stars Greta Scacchi and Bryan Brown click.
Last episode introduced John Jarrett for a S02.
Metroland - 1997 - 6/10
Chris and Marion have a solid, if dull, marriage.
They live in suburbia, he is a 9 to 5 banker. A drudge.
Same ole, same ole. Until Chris’s buddy from back when appears.
Toni has been living the vagabond life both men aspired to during their wild Paris years.
Before Chris settled down with a mouselike English rose.
The story lost me during flashbacks of the ex-girlfriend, Annick.
“What! He dumped the exotic hottie and married safe and predictable?”
My bride, who is anything but predictable, just laughed.
Good film for mid-life crisis sorts who second-guess their choices.
The Silent - 2015 - 6/10
Young girl, perhaps 4 or 5, tries to make sense of an increasingly creepy world.
Wordless film has an elegiac tone, while the story quietly resolves.
Those who linger, those who “see”, what they see.
Worth a rewatch to catch all the clues.
O’Brien, Fitz-James - An Arabian Night-mare And Others
First volume of a three-book set of Fitz-James’ speculative fiction.
Early works while he was living in Ireland, sharpening his craft in London, before crossing to New York.
While Poe would be a major influence later, this is a lighter assortment.
“The Story Of A Child” is a parable of the joys of Nature and the woodlands, contrasted with the perils and hypocrisy of the city.
One minute he is home, stolid member of the community, next stomach discomfort. And instead of magnesium pills, his servant brings him magnetic pills. Thus begins “The Wonderful Adventures Of Mr. Papplewick”. A walking lodestone, he wanders further and farther to escape the lure of lampposts, fire irons, knives, heading ever northward. A funny story that grows more amusing with each turn of the page.
You go to sleep and live ten years worth of memories and experiences. Awakening, you are still a young teen – except you now feel a man. Such is the plight of “The Old Man”, one who is old before his time, seasoned despite his youth, trying to navigate among grown-up society.
“One Event” resembles Pygmalion as John brings home a waif of a girl during a howling storm. Over the years, he educates Annie, gives her grace, elevates her status, for he nurses a plan. John, however, is one of those men who know nothing about females, and how unpredictable they can be.
“The King Of Nodland And His Dwarf” is another parable of the kingdom where the populace slumber most of the day. How does anything get accomplished? Slavery. What funds projects? Taxation. Who stands behind and leads the king? The politician, excuse me, the dwarf. Satire on a Swift scale, quietly skewering taboos and bugbears.
Bubba Ho-Tep - 2002 - 6/10
Retirement home denizens, Elvis and JFK, grow wary of a new arrival.
Despite boots and the felt Stetson, it might could be an abandoned mummy.
And it is killin’ folks in the home dead.
They’re old, they’re weak, and nurses would just reckon they done died natural like.
Our two heroes, one in a wheelchair, the other with a walker, devise a plan and stand tall.
Ridiculous, absurd, hairbrained. Yeah, so what?
Cheap Horror comedy has a lot of heart and is boosted immensely by Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis.
Defence Of The Realm - 1986 - 7/10
British reporters get wind of a scandal involving a member of Parliament.
Is the MP having an affair? Is he a KGB operative?
Not that it matters, it’s too good a story and run it.
Only later, do they realize the man may have been framed – and they were manipulated.
Clandestine agencies, stonewalling, and mounting threats to cease investigating.
Tight thriller encompasses all, along with a message that is still relevant.
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy - 1982 - 6/10
Aged professor and young wife celebrate solstice in the country.
Also there is the professor‘s cousin and her nutty husband (Allen).
Add a lecherous physician and his free-spirit girlfriend.
Blame the summer heat, blame the moon. Everyone is soon in and out of each other’s pants.
Another Bergman inspired Woody Allen effort, mixing drama and comedy.
The comedy seems a throwback to his earlier, juvenile period, and doesn’t quite work.
Breaking The Waves - 1996 - 7/10
Bess misses oil rigger husband Jan, emotionally and sexually, and prays to God to return him.
And lo, God responds. Jan is injured, badly, and flown back. Paralyzed.
To save him, the devoutly religious Bess, begins offering herself to increasingly brutish men.
Widely acclaimed film, notable for Emily Watson’s fearless performance.
This is really an uncomfortable watch, however. Score above is for Watson, period.
The director, I felt, took delight in his mistreatment of Bess … and other women in subsequent films.
I am not a fan of Dogma 95, nor of this director.
Swede Caroline - 2024 - 6/10
“Those two are the main rivals in the Big Veg world. Like Cassius Clay versus Muhammad Ali, yeah.”
Welcome to the world of large vegetable competitions.
Where competitors will do any and everything to secure that plastic trophy.
Like threatening, stealing, kidnapping, even – gasp! – murder.
This mockumentary follows Caroline, or Caro, grower of the largest marrow.
Or is it? Surely the judges are not corrupt, as well?
Hit and miss spoof. Enjoyment depends on how well you take to characters.
Ward, C. E. - Ghostly Quarters
Four novellas, all bearing the lingering echoes of M. R. James to varying degree.
The family vacations at Stowby-by-Sea, a faded seaside town that had know better days, and would only know worse in its future. Idling a break, mother and son take turn about the town, then turn into the “Promenade Walk” arriving at an emporium of antiques, relics, treasure, junk. Only it is closed. No matter. The mother had been alarmed and left hurriedly.
Years pass, along with a few more outings, and the young man continues to be drawn to the shop. More so, it appears, even after he learns bits of the murky history of the proprietor and his family.
James unexpectedly inherits a country estate, manor and grounds. A series of deaths had filled “Some Episodes Of A Family History” causing the fortuitous bequest. The estate is too much for one person, and the solicitor assumes James will sell. The new owner, however, is curious, especially after he hears that the place has a “history”, and, as one character declares, “it isn’t very pleasant.”
The most Jamesian of the novellas is “Warlock’s End”. The manor had been renamed by a sinister new arrival to Prior’s Bromley. Domineering type, self-possessed and apparently able to hex any opposition, literally. For fans of Mr. Karswell, the stylish Lucian Starlight could pass for his brother.
Dead Calm - 1989 - 6/10
Rae and John sail the Great Barrier Reef, still grieving over the death of son.
They rescue the lone survivor of a sinking boat.
When John decides to investigate the damaged craft the survivor seizes control and leaves with his ship.
What follows is tense thriller between wife Rae and the rescuee, Hughie, immature and treacherous.
Sam Neill has a thankless role as John, chasing in an ever-sinking tub.
Nicole Kidman runs a gamut from desperate, calculating, formidable.
Third role, Billy Zane, unforgettable as the polite, apologetic, lying, lethal Hughie.
Forbidden - 1932 - 6/10
Small town librarian, Lulu, realizes life is passing her by.
She empties her savings account and boards a cruise to Havana.
Lulu enjoys a shipboard romance with a distinguished lawyer.
Which continues all the way back to New York.
Even though he is slightly married, the affair escalates.
Birth control? In the 1930’s? Oops.
Stanwyck and Menjou are great together, with Bellamy a conniving heel.
First third really moves, making for an enjoyable Pre-Code.
Sadly, for me, the plot slowly settles into Capra schmaltz.
Madame Sousatzka - 1988 - 6/10
Russian pianist, who never quite made the professional ranks, trains gifted pupils.
Her latest is from India, and his mother works slavishly to move his career.
Sousatzka is a fire-breather … with a heart of gold.
Sounds like a cliché? Well, not quite.
She finds the talent, grooms them, hones them, only to watch them vanish up the ladder.
To the wealthy agent, the famous instructor. Sousatzka is forever a minor league manager.
MacLaine excels in this, and I am not normally a fan of her work.
Predator (Prey) - Maniac
Filesize = 6.8 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p, Audio = 1536 kbps, 5.1 DTS.
This is pared down to 65 minutes, losing NOTHING that would be essential.
Picture wise, a very dark film; the blacks are gorgeous and solid.
Dialogue is English, rather than Comanche. No subs.
Naru is given pretty much the same time as the alien hunter.
The savage violence, straight up the food chain, abides, as do some of the lulls and pauses.
During one of the ceremonies, the noise and revelry has been replaced with ambiant music.
The narrative is coherent despite losing about a half hour.
As always, Maniac’s video editing is flawless, the sound mix outstanding.
AvP Redux (Alien Vs Predator Requiem) - truetypesounds
Filesize = 3 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p, Audio = 251 kbps, “5.1 AAC”.
I view this as a cautionary training film. Not for the faneditor, who has done an interesting job here, but for Predator recruits.
Trimmed to 35”, and viewed mostly from the predator’s point of view, this an exercise in how everything that can go wrong in a cleanup mission will go wrong.
Our protagonist is pretty soon over its head. Does it summon backup? No.
Are aliens multipling quicker than it can dispose of them? Ha.
I can picture Predator drill instructors ordering trainees to view this and learn.
At 35” AvP Redux is pretty fragmented, mostly mayhem. Brightness remains absurdly dark.
5.1 AAC was not accurate. Audacity indicated only 2-Channel stereo, other channels flatlined.
Friday the 13th Part V: Jason’s Legacy - LastSurvivor
Overview - Botched relaunch of the Friday 13th franchise, **New Beginning" was widely scorned by Jason fanboys. Root failure stems from atrocious writing, though inept, formulaic direction did not help, nor did primarily grade D acting which rarely rose above high school level. Last Survivor remedies those deficiencies by slight rearranging of the plot and extensive trimming.
Video - As would be expected of this editor, quality work here. Picture remains solid throughout. Blacks are stable, and this is a dark film. In rearranging, there is always the risk of shifts in light, especially outdoor lighting, yet there is none of that. One peculiar “error” occurs at 47.36 when the Paramount logo flashes. I take this is left in as a grindhouse joke but it is distracting.
Audio - Solid two channel audio, which is probably more than needed, when mono would have been fine. Dialogue always clear, as is every footstep, and every noisy mode of death.
Narrative - With wholesale editing, there is the risk of losing coherence. Logic does suffer slightly. It is hard to keep up with characters, who even in the original, were little more than the next meal. The whole edit has an outta control roller coaster ride feel to it, though I found that a good thing.
Enjoyment - Never my favorite Friday 13th episode, LS’s edit is a major improvement. His streamlined plot tries to vault plot nonsense with mostly good results (Though one might still wonder about the nonsensical camp for what? Horny teenage delinquents? Funded by our tax dollars?). Some will be disappointed by less kills, but Debisue Voorhees and her spectacular picnic spread remains. So say we all.
Into The Mud - 2016 - 6/10
She lies sprawled nude across a plastic sheet. Cut, bruised, but no bones seem broken.
What happened? How? Why? No idea. Then the man with the rifle arrives.
Effective hunter / hunted drama saves its jolt and surprise for the end.
Spanish short makes a good opener for your Horror marathon.
The Invisible Man - 1933 - 7/10
The upside of the experiment renders one invisible.
Slight downside, insanity.
Dr. Griffin, working on “bleaching” fails to realize the compound he uses has been banned.
His deterioration runs from jokes to foul deeds to megalomania.
Pre-Code shocker owes a lot of Claude Rains’ voice.
Witty, devil-may-care, homicidal.
The effects are still impressive. Another early Universal gem.
Note: Surprising how well this worked out, considering its troubled history.