The Mean Season (1985)

Kurt Russell plays Michael Anderson, a reporter who works for a Miami Newspaper. He's feeling burned out, sick of reporting the doom and gloom. His editor (Richard Masur) wants to keep him on, he's a great reporter, and reminds him that they don't create the doom and gloom, they just write about it. Just as he's about to call it quits, Michael gets a phone call from a killer that changes everything. He's not just going to be writing about the story any more, he IS the story as the killer uses him to publicise his work.

Directed by Phillip Borsos, The Mean Season isn't a bad film, by any means, but it's not a particularly exciting thriller. The fact that it's partially a thriller and partially a look at journalists and the morality of their working methods doesn't make up for the fact that the movie feels slightly lethargic in places. The sunshine of Florida doesn't really help either, especially when there's no emphasis on the muggy heat that would be driving people to distraction during "the mean season" (the title refers to the common weather pattern that occurs during the late summer months in Florida).

The script by Leon Piedmont, adapting the novel by John Katzenbach, has few moments that sizzle, but does have plenty of interesting observations and comments to make. It's just a shame, once again, that the more thought-provoking elements couldn't have been blended with one or two more interesting story strands.

Thankfully, the cast help keep the whole thing just above average. Kurt Russell is great as the tired journalist who gets a shot in the arm from the most unexpected source and Mariel Hemingway doesn't do a bad job as his girlfriend, supportive of him to an extent, but worried about the effect that the big story will have on him. Richard Masur is enjoyable as the editor trying to keep the momentum going at all times, Andy Garcia and Richard Bradford are two very different cops on the case and Joe Pantoliano, well, he doesn't get to do too much, but it's always good to have him on-screen anyway. Then, there's Richard Jordan, who is excellent for every minute of his screen-time.

I am often remiss when it comes to mentioning scores and soundtracks (sorry to all the music lovers out there) so the fact that I enjoyed the music from Lalo Schifrin enough to note it down here should tell you that there were some aural pleasures throughout the movie.

The Mean Season is a decent little movie, one you can easily pass away time with if it appears on TV, but despite being a potential mix of Body Heat, All The President's Men and Seven it ends up falling a fair bit short of their levels of greatness. Worth a watch? Yes. Worth repeat viewings? I don't think so.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mean-Season-DVD/dp/B0002ADWVC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357789376&sr=8-1

Amityville II: The Possession (1982)

Those damn Amityville movies. When I saw the first film I didn't realise that it was much more fiction than fact. Then, just a few years later, when I saw the second movie I didn't realise that it was highly derivative of both The Evil Dead and The Exorcist with a little bit of Poltergeist thrown into the mix.. But the first film being a bit of a fraud never stopped me from enjoying it even after I found out the truth and this sequel remains every bit as unnerving and impressive as it was back in the early 1980s when I first saw it. In fact, considering how much the first movie now almost resembles some sanitised Hallmark take on the famous haunting, it's impressive to see just how dark and nasty this sequel gets. It tramples some taboo material and remains fairly daring from start to finish.

The plot isn't all that different from the first movie, initially. A family move into the house in Amityville and shit gets real. This time around the family is already strained from the very start. There's a domineering and rather cruel father (played by Burt Young), there's a mother trying to keep everyone happy and harmonious (Rutanya Alda), there are two younger children who try to run about and have fun when they can and there are two older children who get on much better than most brothers and sisters (Sonny is played by Jack Magner and Patricia is played by the absolutely gorgeous Diane Franklin - look, I had a crush on her and it's never gone away so let's just drop it and move on). After a couple of unnerving incidents and a failed attempt to bless the house by the local priest (James Olson) it's on to the actual possession part of the movie title and Sonny is the figure that the evil in the house wants to take over.

Directed by Damiano Damiani, and written by Tommy Lee Wallace, there's no denying that the star of the show is once again THAT house. The cast all do pretty good work, especially Magner and Franklin, but the movie creates an intense and almost cloying atmosphere because of the house, helped yet again by a fantastic and creepy score from Lalo Schifrin. There are also some impressive and icky practical effects that hold up well to this day. It's strange to watch the movie 30 years after it was initially released and to see it holding up so well. Oh, most classic films can be watched decades after their release and still enjoyed and appreciated but that doesn't happen so often with horror sequels made to grab a slice from popular cash cows of the time. This is a very rare thing indeed.

Maybe, just maybe, I can't watch the movie without removing all trace of my first reaction to it. The terror I felt every time the musical cues would do their job, the extra beating of my heart when I first saw Diane Franklin, the anger at the father figure too quick to reach for his belt and dole out punishment. Maybe all of those things influence my thoughts on the movie to this day. But, if that's the case, doesn't that just mean that the movie was as effective as it set out to be?

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amityville-II-Possession-Collectors-Edition/dp/B0001M1JOS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344159810&sr=8-3

The Amityville Horror (1979)

You may sneer and laugh at me for saying so but The Amityville Horror remains one of my favourite haunted house movies and I put it up alongside such classics as The Haunting and The Legend Of Hell House. It left an indelible impression upon me when I saw it in my youth and even though I am now older and wiser (and armed with the knowledge that a lot of the story is alleged to be completely fictional) I still can't watch the movie without being affected by the ominous presence of the house at the centre of the supernatural events. That haunting score by Lalo Schifrin doesn't help matters (I rank it alongside The Omen as one of the best horror movie scores of all time).

The story, for those of you somehow unaware of the most famous haunted house since Borley Rectory, is all about George (James Brolin) and Kathy Lutz (Margot Kidder), a married couple with three kids (two boys and one girl) and not too much in the way of disposable income. They move into the house in Amityville, aware of the history it has but dismissing the fact that the house itself is a bad place, and it's not long before things start going bump in the night, bump in the day and bump all over the place.

The Amityville Horror is, despite the fact that none of it actually happened, a fine movie. It takes a number of preposterous ideas and somehow makes them all believable, thanks to a mix of solid direction from Stuart Rosenberg and a great cast including Brolin in one of his best roles, Kidder being a bit less annoying than usual, Rod Steiger, Murray Hamilton and Don Stroud. Steiger is landed with the worst of the roles, a priest trying to help the Lutz family, but he has fun in the role and is always entertaining. The film also proves once again that what you don't see is always a lot scarier than any special effects that could have been thrown around onscreen (the one major visual fright is actually one of the lamest moments in the whole movie).

The book was written by Jay Anson, from the tale that he was told by George Lutz and his wife, and the screenplay by Sandor Stern takes the enjoyable and melodramatic raw material and keeps everything nicely paced en route to an unashamedly bombastic finale.

Yet, in many ways, The Amityville Horror isn't all that affected by the direction, the script or the acting. That music plays and the camera shows the "face" of the house and that's all it takes for the goosebumps to rise and the atmosphere to start taking hold. You might try to say that the house is actually an icon of horror. Or maybe I'd be alone with that opinion.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Amityville-Horror-DVD/dp/B000795L9E/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1342087283&sr=8-6