Shudder Saturday: Let The Wrong One In (2021)

Note: Shudder is occasionally glitchy, offering me films that then appear to be there by accident (clicking on the title for info brings up the "this movie is not available in your region" message), but I pressed play and the film played . . . so I hope it's there for most of you to enjoy. 

A lot of people seemed to really enjoy Let The Wrong One In, including people I normally tend to agree with, and I was in the mood for something light this week. Something clearly infused with horror tropes, but without the need to put viewers through the wringer. If that is something you might be interested in then I can recommend Let The Wrong One In.

Sadly, I cannot recommend it if you're after a very good horror comedy. It's okay, but nothing more than that.

Karl Rice plays Matt, a young man who ends up with a big problem on his hands when he lets his older brother, Deco (Eoin Duffy), back into the family home while their Ma (Hilda Fay) is out. Deco has been bitten and turned into a vampire, despite trying to explain away his lack of any reflection by claiming that a mirror must be broken, and Matt wants to figure out how to help him. The first thing to do is call the doctor, which prompts the arrival of Henry (Anthony Head). Henry seems to know a lot about the situation, and it turns out that he has turned himself into a vampire hunter ever since his fiancé (Sheila, played by Mary Murray) was turned while out on her Hen party.

Written and directed by Conor McMahon (no stranger to the horror comedy, having delivered the very enjoyable Stitches about a decade ago), this is a film that I kept willing to get better. I wanted more jokes, more excessive jets of blood, and more ridiculousness. It just never settles into a proper groove, as it were, and what you end up with is something that is intermittently amusing, but nowhere near as much fun as it should be. McMahon is the one to blame, because the biggest problems lie with the script and the pacing (the runtime is 100 minutes, this should have had at least 10 minutes cut from that, easily).

Rice and Duffy are decent leads, with the latter particularly good fun in his portrayal of a vampiric lad who doesn't seem too far removed from his usual self (aka a dodgy guy always looking tired, mindless, and/or after his next hit). Despite not knowing what accent he was aiming for, Head is fine in his role, although it's an obvious piece of stunt casting that seems to work against the film. If you're looking to easily cut anything from this then you'd probably start with the character played by Head. David Pearse is a lot of fun as a neighbour who ends up in danger when he realises that his pet rabbit has gone AWOL, both Murray and Fay do just fine, and Lisa Haskins makes a good impression with what I believe is her feature film debut (even if it's hard to believe that her character, Natalie, would actually be in a relationship with Deco).

The highlights here include some decent lines peppered throughout the script and a running gag about the possibility of vampires being able to transform into bats and fly, and you get a couple of extra moments during the end credits that should leave you with a smile on your face, but there's a lot more that doesn't work, whether it is the variable FX work throughout, the strangely flexible approach to vampire lore, or the clumsy attempts to layer the laughs with a message about family and supporting one another. I really wanted to like this one, but I didn't. It feels like McMahon came up with a great title and then tried to make a film to live up to it. He didn't succeed.

4/10

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Stitches (2012)

Scary clowns are nothing new to the horror genre. In fact, many clowns are scary just by being clowns. Many people are terrified of them, it's a very common thing. Grumpy clowns are nothing new either, with the juxtaposition of cheery exterior and dark, depressed interior often making for some great comedy. Stitches takes these things, throws in a load of practical gags and gore effects, and gives audiences a new killer clown who is both scary and grumpy.

Ross Noble is the titular character, a clown who is as unenthusiastic about his work as he is incompetent. If you hired him to entertain your kids then you'd be demanding your money back after five minutes. As he consistently fails to keep some children amused, Stitches is set up to be the victim of a prank. In true horror movie fashion, that prank goes horribly wrong. Fast forward to a number of years later. The kids who were at the last show Stitches ever performed are all ready to have a very different kind of party. They're now teenagers, interested in alcohol and sex (not necessarily in that order). But Stitches is about to put in an unexpected appearance, and he has a new twist on many of his old tricks.

Directed by Conor McMahon, who also co-wrote the movie with David O'Brien, Stitches is a comedy horror that derives most of its laughs from a mix of absurdity and excessive gore. It falters during the first 15 minutes or so, but soon gets the balance right and defies the odds to become an amusing mix of laughs and bloodletting. And it has the best use of the Cutting Crew song (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight that I can think of.

Noble is a lot of fun as the killer clown, dealing with teenagers in a deadpan manner that makes it all the more amusing for viewers. Tommy Knight is the main young man who ends up trying to stay alive while the clown piles up the corpses, Shane Murray Corcoran is another potential victim, and Gemma-Leah Devereux is Kate, the third member of the main characters to really care about. These three do well enough, as does the entire supporting cast (with Lorna Dempsey particularly helping to brighten up proceedings, for me anyway), and whoever managed to get the kids in the opening scenes to really match the teenagers they then become deserves a pat on the back.

Stitches is one that many will find easy to dislike. It doesn't attempt to be subtle, clever or original. But it does aim to entertain, and it completely succeeds in that department.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stitches-Blu-Ray-Ross-Noble/dp/B009UWKGU8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389612464&sr=8-2&keywords=stitches

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The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

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As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

Dead Meat (2004)

Written and directed by Conor McMahon, Dead Meat is a low-budget zombie movie with a distinctly Irish flavour.

It all starts off with mad cow disease, a farmer being attacked and then suddenly Ireland is being overrun with pale-faced folk hungry for the flesh of the living. Sadly, nobody told Martin (David Ryan) or Helena (Marian Araujo) about this and the two quickly find themselves in the middle of a bizarre situation. One with lots of zombies milling around them.

Dead Meat isn't a bad little film and it's one that deserves to be seen and supported by fans. Like most low-budget splatter comedies (which it is) there are some varied practical effects but the ones that work are worth the wait for gorehounds.

The movie suffers from the obvious low budget and, as is also often the case with these kinds of films, issues of pacing and a sense that most of the events onscreen lack any purpose. The protagonists end up trying to go from A to B, which is supposedly a place of safety, but you can't help wondering why they just don't divert to anywhere closer that could make for an equally adequate "safe house".

The acting isn't too bad though. David Ryan is okay, Marian Araujo makes for an appealing potential heroine, David Muyllaert is just fine and Eoin Whelan compensates for moments of his indecipherable, strong accent with such a hilarious turn that he steals the entire film. Amy Redmond is also amusing as a woman initially mistaken for someone already zombiefied.

It's a shame that McMahon couldn't do a bit more to cover over the weaknesses. Either a lot of the same areas were re-used or the sets were far too similiar and you have to consider that just changing camera angles and adding some dressing here and there would have made the situation a lot less noticeable. There's also the low lighting levels in many scenes, helping to hide any rough special effects but not helping with the onscreen tension or ability to see just who is fighting who and how the situation is developing.

Despite the flaws, this is definitely still worth a watch for fans of zombie movies and also contains an ironic punchline of an ending that makes for a particular statement you could imagine Romero having a chuckle at. Which edges the whole thing above average.

6/10.

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