Noir-vember: Red Rock West (1993)

You know your small town is about to see some shit go down when Nic Cage comes rolling in, surely, and that is how Red Rock West starts, a fantastic neo-noir from John Dahl (contender for the director with the most overlooked filmography of the past few decades, everyone goes on about The Last Seduction and forgets he has done so many other greats).

Cage is Michael, a military veteran looking for work. He has a job lined up, but that doesn't go anywhere when he tells the prospective employer about his wounded leg. So he ends up in a bar, which is being tended by a barman (Wayne, played by J. T. Walsh) who is expecting an employee. Pretending to be the expected party, Michael ends up with a job. But that job involves killing Wayne's wife (Suzanne, played by Lara Flynn Boyle). Thinking that he can warn Suzanne, run off with some money, and alert the local Sheriff, Michael finds his situation getting a whole lot worse when he finds out that Wayne is also the head authority figure in the area. And the real killer is still due to arrive soon.

Coming out a year before the film that really made movie fans sit up and take not of him, Red Rock West is a perfect mix of real thrills, tension, and lighter entertainment. The script, written by Dahl and his brother, Rick, lines up the familiar noir tropes and absolutely embraces them, even as our hero watches events unfolding around him with a mixture of disbelief and bemusement, and even a hint of wry amusement when he's resigned to his fate at the hands of various individuals who have managed to keep hold of him amidst their immoral dealings.

Cage is excellent in the lead role here, perfectly portraying someone who doesn't seem too bright, or to have too many prospects, but has a history and an intelligence that belie his outward appearance. Walsh gives yet another one of his superb performances that saw him almost steal a number of movies throughout the '90s, a nasty piece of work who tends to try a smile and a modicum of charm first, right before revealing his true nature to those who get in his way. Boyle is also just the right casting for her role, the potential victim who may have her own cunning plan at work, and there's a lot of fun to be had once Dennis Hopper appears onscreen. Can you guess which character he plays?

It's interesting that the Dahl brothers have crafted an enjoyably small film with an backstory that could easily have opened up the scope of the tale. Obviously waved away for the sake of keeping the budget and focus of the film much easier to handle, viewers are instead dropped into this maelstrom of events alongside Cage, who is teased more and more information until all becomes crystal clear in a third act that then builds to a wonderfully atmospheric finale.

The more I think about Red Rock West, the less I can find fault with it. You have the tension, you have a good measure of black comedy, and you even have a couple of decent action moments. It's not quite perfect, and I understand that some people just can't bring themselves to watch Cage in anything nowadays (their loss), but it comes surprisingly close.

9/10

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Shudder Saturday: Strange Behavior (1981)

Filmed in New Zealand, but set in Illinois, and considered by many to be an Ozploitation flick, Strange Behavior is a very odd experience. And it's not a very satisfying one, which is a shame when you consider how well the premise could have worked.

A number of teens are turned into killers. A local police officer (John Brady, played by Michael Murphy) believes it may be the work of Dr. Le Sange (Arthur Dignam), who happens to be deceased. Perhaps his work is being continued by a loyal assistant, Gwen Parkinson (Fiona Lewis). Whatever is really going on, Brady needs to get to the bottom of it, even before he realises that his son (Pete, played by Dan Shor) has been dragged in to the plan.

Directed by Michael Laughlin, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Bill Condon, Strange Behavior is almost an entirely flat and unexciting time for the duration (and it runs at just over 100 minutes). Very few of the supporting characters are memorable, occasional set-pieces just appear and then end, without any feeling of being properly framed for maximum impact, and even the third act lacks any decent scares or tension. I suppose it is also structured in a way that is supposed to have viewers looking forward to the central mystery being solved. If anybody else watched this and cared about the resolution of the mystery then please let me know.

As well as lacking any decent thrills, Laughlin also wastes almost his entire cast. Okay, Murphy and Shor are okay as the older and younger Brady men, mainly because they get the most screentime, but Lewis doesn't have half as much fun in her role as she should have been allowed to have, Dignam is used to have a sly bit of fun that just doesn't work, and Louise Fletcher, perhaps worst of all, is just sidelined for much of the film. Louise Fletcher. If you get her to take a role in your movie then, dammit, you should make that role as good as she deserves it to be.

There may be some people reading this who think I missed the entire point of the film, which is a homage to certain films of the 1950s. Unfortunately, I don't think it works in that regard either. Those making the film had a choice to either make a straight horror, make a homage, or make something that landed somewhere between the two. This works as none of those things, and one sequence featuring a character wearing a Tor Johnson mask isn't enough to convince me otherwise.

I know there are some people out there who seem to enjoy this one. I just struggle to think of anything that would appeal to most film fans.

3/10

You can get a pack of discs here (R1).