The Owners (2020)

It’s a premise we have seen before, in various ways, but The Owners has a lot of grim fun with the premise of some crime-minded people breaking into a house that has some dark, potentially deadly, secret hidden within.

Sylvester McCoy and Rita Tushingham play the elderly couple who have their home invaded by some youths who intend to empty their safe. Ian Kenny is Nathan, who has also brought along his girlfriend, Mary (Maisie Williams). Andrew Ellis is Terry, a slightly timid lad who seems to have a crush on Mary. And then you have the tough leader, Gaz (Jake Curran). Once the group starts to meet some resistance from their elderly victims, Gaz is the one willing to go further than anyone else to scare, or hurt, people who are between him and his potential payday. Why wouldn’t anyone just have over their money? What do they have to hide?

Based on a graphic novel, Une Nuir De Pleine Lune (by Hermann and Yves H), director Julius Berg makes an impressive feature debut with something that manages to take viewers through familiar territory while saving one or two decent plot turns to try and make the third act a pleasant surprise. And it works, thanks to the performances, and the script, co-written by Berg and Mathieu Gompel, with some help from Geoff Cox.

Although Williams may be the main draw here, to those that know her so well after years spent watching Game Of Thrones, there isn’t really a bad performance from the main players, and both McCoy and Tushingham are a treat in every scene. Starting off completely sweet and innocent, and vulnerable, the two then get to have a lot of fun once things start coming undone. Both are on top form, but Tushingham is particularly good in the way she seems to ebb in and out of clarity, making you wonder if she has dementia or is sometimes playing up that notion.

Some may roll their eyes during the first half, worried that it is all a bit too silly and cliched. Stick with it, I would say it is worth your time, at least until you get to see the older characters become more active. Then you can enjoy a few moments of viciousness, some fun cat and mouse action, and an impressively twisted final act.

7/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Straight On Till Morning (1972)

This rather strange, and highly flawed, Hammer movie is all about a young woman, Brenda (Rita Tushingham), who heads to London in search of a man to give her a baby (??) and who ends up meeting beautiful Peter (Shane Briant). Their strange relationship looks like it may work out well for both of them but it also may just be a matter of time before things are revealed that Brenda will not be able to digest.

Directed by Peter Collinson and written by John Peacock, Straight On Till Morning has some interesting material hidden away amongst some terrible performances and amateurish presentation. Briant is actually quite good as the attractive, aloof Peter but Tushingham creeps into self-parody territory with her whining, fragile performance. Annie Ross fares a little better, playing a colleague/friend of Brenda, but ruins any goodwill earned by her godawful rendition of a godawful title song that pops up during the film.

The editing choices here are atrocious, and not for anyone who dislikes any movie that's cut to ribbons. This plays out like a student film, with images intercut that have little to no relevance to each other. Someone obviously thought this would be a better way to make an impact with the material and that it would impress cinema audiences enough to help them through the lame first half. It doesn't. It's the kind of pretentious nonsense easily spoofed and mocked by anyone wishing to urinate from a great height onto anything that can be classed, for better or worse, as "arty".

It's worth seeing if you like curios, and it has some interesting and bizarre little analogous stories contained within it (obviously, there are the Peter Pan references but there are also fairy tales concocted by the characters to explain facets of their own lives), but it could have been much better if put in more capable hands. As it is, fans of the bizarre will still find plenty to enjoy and fans of Hammer will want to view it as one of their more interesting releases.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ultimate-Hammer-Collection-Disc/dp/B000HN31KQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370170749&sr=8-1&keywords=hammer+box+set