THE BEASTS aka SHAN KOU aka THE BEASTS AND BLOODY TERROR (1980)
D. DENNIS YU
Bootleg
This Asian made horror film is basically I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE meets THE HILLS HAVE EYES in the Chinese outback. The film is gritty, ugly and filled with unpleasant misogyny, but ultimately isn't all that good.
Within the first five minutes of the movie we have witnessed the real slaughter of a wild boar, a mouse and a snake. The movie is nothing if not really mean spirited. A brother and sister decide to go camping a few towns away. It doesn't take long for them to run afoul of the backwoods monsters who are terrorizing the small town. There are four normal guys and naturally one retarded cousin just like in every rape/revenge movie. These guys corner the sister in the woods and gang-rape her in a scene that, while sleazy, is for more restrained than you would expect. Her brother attempts to take on the thugs but they do him in, leaving him bleeding to death at the bottom of a trap/hole.
The sister ends up institutionalized from the trauma, leaving her muscle bound Father to hunt down and kill the criminal who violated his daughter and killed his son.
The problem with THE BEASTS is that the pacing is really all over the place. Nothing of interest happens in the first half hour except a lot of walking around to 80's pop music. Music that they in no way could have had permission to use such as AIR SUPPLY and THE POLICE.
THe last third with the Father taking his revenge has some splashy moments, but all the in between material is very questionable at best. The acting is atrocious and over the top, the cinematography is muddy and ugly, leaving not a lot to recommend. It is somewhat outrageous but ultimateely left me cold.
Review © Andy Copp
RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE aka LA VIOL DU VAMPIRE (1968)
D. JEAN ROLLIN
KINO - BLU RAY
1.78
Jean Rollin is one of my favorite horror filmmakers of all time. But even with that said there are a handful of his films that I have not seen. But these new BLU RAY releases from KINO look to help me resolve that issue.
RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE is Rollin's first feature length movie (His debut film THE NUDE VAMPIRE is not quite feature length). But all his themes are present in this early film. The nostalgic mood, the return to the same beach, Lady Vampires in very little clothing, even his trope of the Vampires are not hurt by the sun if they cannot see it, hence blind vampires can walk in the daylight, is here and accounted for. The film is actually two very loosely connected short films wrapped into one.
The first story deals with four vampire sisters (one of whom was raped decades before and therefor hates men) who live in a villa. Several psych major young people arrive and take it upon themselves to "cure" the sisters as it is believed their Vampirism is actually just a mental condition. It doesn't turn out well for anyone. The second story picks up on the beach where the first one ends and deals with the Queen of The Vampires and her attempts to create more living dead to do her bidding and the scientists she does in during the process.
Even for Rollin the movie makes little to no sense. It is really just a fever dream of eroticism. Incredible, lush photography presents amazing images of naked flesh and bloodlust. The whole thing is like a half remembered dream that makes you smile.
The Blu Ray is absolutely gorgeous, with such clarity you feel like you can reach into the screen and touch the actors. There is some fine extras including a rather long making of, an older intro by Rollin himself, trailers and some fantastic Liner Notes.
Review © Andrew Copp
NEW YEAR'S EVIL (1980)
D. Emmett Alston
Cannon Films
FULL FRAME - On Netflix Instant
This is yet another in the very long line of holiday themed slasher films that were released in the wake of HALLOWEEN. But this is not HALLOWEEN, it isn't even FRIDAY THE 13th. Hell this isn't even GRADUATION DAY!!!
The set up is interesting though. On New Years Eve while the standard end of the year TV show is being broadcast a psycho begins calling the host on the year threatening to kill someone she knows, every hour until the show goes off the air. He starts making good right at midnight killing a nurse in an insane asylum. Somehow the cops get it in their heads that he is killing someone at midnight in each time zone. But that doesn't actually seem to be the case as he works his way back to the hotel of the tired, past middle age sex symbol host.
The movie is too concerned with the melodrama of the Host's kid or her ex husband who we do not see for a large portion of the movie. If it isn't the melodrama then it is long padded scenes of really shitty pre new-wave bands playing during the show. There is actually very little horror on the film.
The movie reminded me a little of VISITING HOURS (1981) as it is clearly a larger budgeted production trying to mine the success of other indie horror films of the time. But where as VISITING HOURS is very aware of what kind of film it is, never afraid to do what it is needed to be both scary and attention grabbing, NEW YEAR'S EVIL tries to be too polite and fails because of it.
REVIEW @ Andrew Copp
HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980) - Ep #5 THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH
Synapse Films
Full Frame
Yet another episode in the 1980 British horror TV series. This one with the very scary sounding name THE HOUSE THAT BLED TO DEATH. Unfortunately it is no where near as frightening as the title suggests.
The episode starts with an elderly couple enjoying a cup of tea. The man shiftily poisons his wife. When she is paralyzed he takes a large middle eastern knife off the wall and proceeds to carve her up. Flash forward a couple of year and the house where this atrocity occurred is no being sold to a young couple with a little girl. The first day there the little girl sees blood pouring out of the wall and the wife is almost gassed when she can't shut off a valve. The husband of course sees none of this. The knives from the first scene reappearing after they throw them out. They become friendly with the couple across the street (who spy on them fucking in a scene that I am sure didn't make it to American TV). Soon the family cat shows up dead and mutilated and the friends from across the way are being tormented anytime they are over. The haunting is well underway and the ghosts of the previous owners are apparently none to happy about the new family.
The whole thing is way slower than it should be as things just seem to limp along, until a set piece happens. Though the kids birthday party that turns into a literal bloodbath is pretty awesome. I also give them credit for the double twist ending that in fact kind of makes it all worth while.
I had high hopes for this episode as the title is great. But it is only a middling effort for the series.
Review © Andrew Copp
I also watched the Season three Halloween episode of COMMUNITY- HORROR FICTION IN 7 EASY STEPS on Hulu. COMMUNITY is consistently the funniest show on TV (though now BOB'S BURGERS is giving it a run for its money) and I love their holiday episodes.
This one has Britta believing one of the gang is a psychopath because of the Jungian psych tests she forced them all to take. So each of the group proceeds to tell a ghost story while Britta tries to figure out who is crazy. Abed tells his own twisted, hyper logical take on the typical cabin in the woods tale, Troy has a great tale of him an Abed as "Awesome Fighter Pilots" being tormented by a psychotic mad scientist. Pierce tells an obscenely racist tale of punk black kids (Troy and Abed - in brown face) trying to break into his place and interrupting him sexing up the ladies of the group. Annie has the best as she tells a Twilight like tale of lusty vampires that ends with a werewolf twist. Naturally all of them are crazy, with the results not quite being what anyone thought because of Jeff.
The episode is a great homage to many different horror films from CANDYMAN to EVIL DEAD to FRIDAY THE 13th pt 2. Great stuff all around.
Review © Andrew Copp
THE VICTIM (2011)
D. MICHAEL BIEHN
ANCHOR BAY ENT.
1.85
Actor Michael Biehn apparently had a blast working on Robert Rodiguiz's Grindhouse parody PLANET TERROR. So much that he was inspired to make his own Grindhouse movie with his girlfriend Jennifer Blanc. So together they wrote and produced THE VICTIM with Biehn taking the directorial reigns for the first time. The result is a movie that is endearing in the earnestness that it exudes. But suffers from a lot of the first time director blues.
The story is pure pulp novel fodder. A couple of strippers (Jennifer Blanc and genre workhorse Danielle Harris) go out for an afternoon of naughtiness with a couple of cops (Ryan Honey and Denny Kirkwood) but when Harris dies during some rough sex play, it puts her friend on the run. She runs right to the cabin of Hermit Michael Biehn who doesn't take nicely to being disturbed and a fairly violent bit of cat and mouse ensues.
On the plus side the acting is fine all the way around. The entire cast clearly is in on the sense of play and gives it all they got. When the movie gets down to tacks, it gets really violent with a head crushing that could stand up next to DRIVE or IRREVERSIBLE. The script, by no means great, at least takes a fair amount of time setting up the female characters and their friendship. Through several flashbacks we get to know them, which adds a lot to the base of the movie. The twist in the final reel, though not shocking, is a nice turn of events.
On the down side the movie has some really clunky direction like having characters talk directly into the camera when they are talking to each other. Or some severe padding. We used to tease a friend of mine who made backyard movies that his driving scenes existed just to fill enough time for him to play a song he liked. Well here that is actually true as there is a driving across the mountains scene that goes on for several minutes so we can fill time and hear the entire music cue. There is also an embarrassing opening credit scene that apes SE7EN so much that it becomes really funny. Right down to the NINE INCH NAILS rip off music. Throw in some really eye-straining day for night photography as it all adds up to hurting the final film.
THE VICTIM does do one thing I have never seen before. The ends credits, the film actually shows you the entire crew as their name appears. You see this with actors all the time, but never production staff. The movie goes through person by person and tells you what they did and shows you who they are. It certainly made me hang out through the whole credits.
THE VICTIM is not a ground-breaker, but it is diverting enough for an hour and a half and I hope Michael Biehn makes some more films.
Review © Andrew Copp
HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980)
SYNAPSE FILMS
1.33
Two more episodes of the 1980 British TV show thanks to the five disc set from Synapse Films. I watched RUDE AWAKENING (episode #3) and GROWING PAINS (episode #4).
RUDE AWAKENING stars Denholm Elliot as a surveyor with a sleep problem. When we meet him he is feeling up his shapely but stupid secretary. A costumer comes in and asks him to come and look at his expensive house so it can be put on the market. He goes and checks it out and while there he sees his dead wife fall out of the dumbwaiter. But when the suits of armor start attacking him he wakes up. His nagging wife is still alive and he heads to work.
This basically turns into a horror version of GROUNDHOG DAY with our hero dreaming his day over and over again, but different each time. The players are the same, but the circumstances are different. It gets pretty extreme with some brain surgery and the leads trapped in a building being demolished but unfortunately it all adds up to a ending you see a mile off.
GROWING PAINS is much better. A ten year old boy is messing around in his Father's lab. The kid eats some concoction his dad had been testing on rabbits. Soon he is in the backyard hallucinating, then dies. His broken parents end up adopting another child. A kid that is so well behaved it is downright creepy. The mother seems to incessantly bitch at the poor kid and the Dad hides in his basement lab working. We start to get the idea of why the other kid was so disconnected. Soon the house starts showing signs of being haunted. A rabbit shows up dead. the family dog loses its shit and eats the whole lab and attacks the Dad. The kid is clearly back to stake his claim on the family.
Both episodes have good acting and nice production values. RUDE AWAKENING is not bad but GROWING PAINS is actually very good. I will check out more soon.
Review © Andrew Copp
THE TALL MAN (2012)
D. PASCAL LAUGIER
IMAGE ENT.
2.35
I had heard a lot of poor word of mouth about this movie, the sophomore effort from Pascal Laugier director of MARTYRS. Of course it isn't going to live up to that film because it is one of the best, most important horror films of the last decade. But I am pleased to say that THE TALL MAN is a vivid, brave and intelligent horror film that is for grown ups. It may not be as visceral as his previous film, but it makes up for it with great plot twists and fantastic acting.
Structurally it is very similar to MARTYRS in that it opens with one storyline and half way through switches gears dramatically to explore the story from a very different point of view. even the last couple of minutes have a slight shadow to his previous film. THE TALL MAN deals with a small mountain mining town in which the industry has basically vanished. Also vanishing is the children in the town and a legend has grown up to explain it. That a mysterious, probably supernatural force called THE TALL MAN has snatched the kids. Local Nurse Julia (Jessica Biel) is doing what she can to take care of the people in the region. But she is a single mom herself and very busy trying to keep her own home life together. Then one night the Tall Man comes calling for her son, leading to a harrowing chase in which he is snatched away. But when she returns to the town, battered, bloody and mentally shaken everyone in the town seems to be against her, and harboring some sort of grudge...
To say anymore would be to give too much away. The film goes to some very interesting places including some rather savage social commentary. The movie is very intense, growing more so as the film progresses and turns. The ending is surprisingly touching and effective.
Just see the movie. It is on Netflix instant so there is no reason to not give this one the time of day.
Review © Andrew Copp
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