Dead By Dawn 2018: Downrange (2017)

Director Ryûhei Kitamura has been entertaining horror movie fans for a good few years now, and that's not going to change any time soon, if Downrange is anything to go by. It's an enjoyable, implausible, thriller with some top-notch gore moments that will impress gorehounds and fans of drawn-out tension.

Here's the premise - a group of young adults blow out a tyre during their car journey. They get out to check over the car, find out that the accident wasn't an accident, and then someone gets shot through the face. The bullets keep flying as the stranded travellers quickly realise that they are being picked off by a sniper. 

I can't really say, hand on heart, that Downrange gets everything right. Not by a long shot (no pun intended, but you know I grinned when I thought about typing that out). The script, by Joey O'Bryan and Kitamura, is very slight, in terms of both plotting and characterisation, and that subsequently leaves the cast hanging out to dry.

And the cast all do decidedly okay with the little they're given to work with. I'll namecheck them here; Kelly Connaire (what a wonderful world we live in when people are named after Nicolas Cage movies), Stephanie Pearson, Rod Hernandez, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames, and Jason Tobias. Unfortunately, nobody is given enough material to make them stand out. I didn't dislike any of the individual characters onscreen, but I couldn't tell you right now who was who. 

The upside of such weak characterisation is that Downrange is harder to predict, at times, than it otherwise might have been. Anyone can take a bullet at any time, there aren't even any clues about the motivation or any perceived order of the kills. It's a shame that this level of unpredictability can't last all the way through to the finale.

There are other mis-steps throughout, such as a moment with some local wildlife that doesn't feel like anything more than an extra contrivance shoehorned into a film already based on quite a contrived scenario, but Kitamura manages to keep you distracted for most of the 90-minute runtime. There are just enough potential victims, the pacing is perfect, and that predictable finale still manages to be a lot of fun.

7/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Aj Zombies! (2017)

We've seen it before, and I won't do this film a disservice by naming the most obvious modern horror comedy it seems to resemble, but Aj Zombies! is still a lot of fun, making up for a lack of originality with a core group of fun characters and some solid laughs.

Emilram Cossio stars as Felipe, not one of life's winners. His mother works for the family of Claudia (Anahi de Cardenas), a lovely young woman who barely notices him, and it's when he goes to visit her at her place of work that Felipe and Claudia both realise that there's been an outbreak of zombiefication. They stick together in an attempt to stay alive, soon joined by an oblivious drunk (Miguel Iza) and a security guard (Cesar Ritter).

Adapted from a web series of the same name, although I am unfamiliar with it, director Daniel Martin Rodriguez does very good work with the script by Pablo Carrillo, Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco and Bruno Rosina, a script that touches on some fun ideas without ever hammering you over the head with them. The opening scenes alone show the size of the class/economic divide in Peru, the isolation of individuals who spend their times on their mobile phones, and how the zombie epidemic can easily start to grow before people even realise what is happening.

The pacing is almost perfect, with a few smaller set-pieces intersperesed throughout the character moments and interplay, but gorehounds may be a bit disappointed by the lack of any serious amounts of grue (although there are a couple of decent moments).

It's the leads that help make this more memorable, however, and Iza should be singled out for his constantly hilarious drunkard, either making sure that he has his alcohol to hand or sometimes breaking out into a random musical moment. Ritter provides some big laughs too, and Cossio and De Cardenas both become more rounded and sweet characters in comparison to their new companions, making the journey more satisfying, and tense.

There are now, I believe, approximately 1,053 zombie comedies out there for you to choose from. This is one of the better ones, thanks to the characters, the Peruvian setting, and a finale that feels appropriate while also maintaining the balance of comedy and zombie threat.

7/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Mon Mon Mon Monsters (2017)

Written and directed by Giddens Ko, Mon Mon Mon Monsters is, on the one hand, an enjoyable yarn about some schoolkids who catch themselves a monster. Then again, on the other hand, it's a look at bullying and the cycle that often plays out when someone who is bullied finds a weaker individual to bully in turn. Unfortunately, on the . . . third hand, it's also a film that moves so abruptly between tones and unearned moments which viewers are supposed to care about that it ends up a rather unsatisfying viewing experience.

Deng Yu-kai stars as Lin Shu-wei, a schoolboy who has been bullied and also set up to look as if he stole money that was intended for use by the whole class. He is then given a mild version of "community service" - feeding the elderly - and is made to endure this alongside the group of bullies who have been making his life hell. As they all start to make fun of the elderly, Shu-wei feels as if he may be accepted, and no longer a victim. But it is only a temporary reprieve. Maybe things can become more permanent when the teenagers grab a monster, keeping it tied to a pillar while they come up with various ways to torture and investigate it. But the monster is just a child, and not alone.

There are various aspects of Mon Mon Mon Monsters that I enjoyed. The acting from the largely young cast is all very good (as well as Yu-kai, Bonnie Liang is very good as the one female member of the group of bullies, Carolyn Chen is excellent as an unhelpful teacher, and Kent Tsai is very good as the leader of his little gang, JUST smart and cool and menacing enough to push others into behaving in ways they otherwise might not). The performers bringing the creatures to life are also very good (especially Eugenie Liu as the adult monster). And there are a number of good ideas throughout the script, some mined more effectively than others. I can't even really complain about the direction from Ko. It's generally good, and one or two key sequences tower over the rest of the film, both of them involving the main female characters.

What I have most trouble with, and what drags the film so far down for me, is the rhythm of the film itself and the lack of any main character to truly root for. One small scene, showing a character being absolutely horrible to a disabled shop worker, turned the whole film so mean-spirited, with no obvious redemption coming along quickly enough, that I was then put off for the rest of the runtime. There was also a finale that had no real stakes, because I'd given up caring for any of the characters by that point, and a punchline that felt as fun as it was completely pointless.

It's a shame that Mon Mon Mon Monsters makes such big mis-steps. There's a great idea at the heart of the whole thing, and one or two minor tweaks would have been enough to turn this into something much more enjoyable. Then again, a lot of people have already enjoyed this more than I did so maybe I am just plain wrong. Again.

5/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Trench 11 (2017)

We know that war is hell, of course, which makes it surprising that we don't have even more horror movies set during wartime. There are some, ranging from the flawed brilliance of The Keep to the entertaining lunacy of Frankenstein's Army, and you can include films as varied as Twilight Zone: The Movie, Jacob's Ladder, and Iron Sky, but they remain a very small percentage of the horror genre (not counting the multitude of SS/war torture exploitation flicks), and the truly effective war horrors are even rarer.

I am saying all this because Trench 11 is a horror movie set during wartime, and it happens to be a very good one.

The plot revolves around a plan to explore and destroy the titular trench. It will take a small team, and they will all be relying on the expertise of a tunneler named Berton (Rossif Sutherland), but nobody is prepared for what they find underground; the dangerous results of experiments into biological weaponry by the Germans.

Directed by Leo Scherman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Booi, this is a very enjoyable mix of subterranean claustrophobia, classic evil German villains (not Nazis, but close enough), and squirmy, squishy, body horror. It manages to be different from all of the films already mentioned above, while also managing to hit one or two familiar beats for this subgenre.

The cast all do a good job, and they ARE given enough moments to show some personality before everything starts to go to hell in a hand grenade, but it always feels like Sutherland's movie, allowing him the biggest share of the screentime as his nervous hero remains determined to get the job done as quickly as possible and then get the hell out of the trench. Matching our lead hero is Robert Stadlober as the main villain. His character, Reiser, is someone who views the chais and pain and death around him as a success. It shows that the biological weapon works even better than they could have dreamed.

Another big plus for the film is that is refreshingly unpretentious. This is not a film that wants to pile multiple layers on and ask us to delve into the dark psyche of shellshocked soldiers. It throws us into a very terrifying environment with the characters, it adds more and more horror around every dark corner or metal door, and it ultimately provides superior entertainment for genre fans.

7/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Knuckleball (2018)

If I start this review of Knuckleball by immediately telling you what I liked most about it then you may be waiting for a "but" coming. But there is no "but" coming. There is more than one "but" coming. All for the sake of me trying to not be predictable, and failing spectacularly.

So let me tell you what I liked about this simple, streamlined thriller from director Michael Peterson (who also co-wrote the script with Kevin Cockle and Jordan Scott). The central concept, and the central cast. A young boy (played by Luca Villacis) is dropped off by his parents to spend some time with his grandfather (Michael Ironside). His grandfather views this as an opportunity to both spend time with the boy and also get some work done on his property, which is as removed from most other houses as you might expect it to be. Certain things happen, the young lad has to keep himself safe from a major threat to his life, and it doesn't look as if anyone is going to be coming along soon to check on the situation.

I have never yet seen a film starring Michael Ironside that left me wishing someone else had been cast instead, so Knuckleball definitely has that going for it. There's also a fantastic performance from young Villacis, surely a name to keep your eyes peeled for in the future, and Munro Chambers has a lot of fun with his role. There aren't many others in the cast, but they all do well enough with their screentime.

The direction is solid, showing a level of confidence and cine-literacy that add to a rewarding viewing experience, but it's the cracks in the script that start to weaken the overall structure, failings that some might view as minor but that developed into big enough faults to spoil my enjoyment of the movie.

First of all, this is a potentially tense thriller that never feels as tense as it should. That's all down to the writing of the young lead (who is shown to be very smart for his age, which makes a pleasant change but also makes it almost impossible to think he'll ever be truly outmaneuvered) and the writing of the main baddie (who is far too dumb).

Second, there are a couple of reveals that seem to have been set up in a way that should surprise viewers. They don't. They just happen, many viewers will shrug as they see something extra about details that already made them suspicious, and the film then moves forward.

These two criticisms may not seem like any big deal, and I am sure there are others who will enjoy Knuckleball more than I did, but they're enough to drag down what could have been a tight and vicious little thriller. Which leaves us with a limp, tame, sketch of what could have been. It's still a decent watch BUT it could have been so much better.

6/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Rabbit (2017)

Writer-director Luke Shanahan makes his feature debut with this enjoyably strange film that at times feels reminiscent of the work of David Cronenberg, at times reminiscent of Nicolas Roeg, and yet still remains an impressively unique vision. I was initially rather unimpressed, sitting there quietly as the end credits rolled, but the more thought I gave it, the more I liked what I had just seen.

Adelaide Clemens plays a young woman named Maude. Maude is a twin to a missing sister, and she returns home after a particularly vivid dream leaves her convinced that she knows the whereabouts of her sibling. She doesn't waste much time in beginning her search, accompanied by her sister's fiance (Alex Russell) and a local cop (Jonny Pasvolsky) who believes that the fiance had a hand in things. They all end up encountering a couple (Nerida, played by Veerle Baetens, and husband Keith, played by Charles Mayer) who may have been among the last people to see Maude's sister alive.

More of a mood piece than anything else, Rabbit is an intriguing film that shows Shanahan to be a dab hand at the slow burn. Things seem to build in intensity without much changing at all, thanks to the scenes showing how everything is wearing Maude's mind down, perhaps to a breaking point.

Clemens is great in her role. Well, she's great in both roles, but one has a lot less screentime than the other. Her performance never edges towards hysterical, but she obviously becomes more and more disturbed and flustered as the situation unfolds around her. Russell and Pasvolsky both do well enough in their roles, supporting Clemens while also providing the required potential suspect/red herring strand, and Baetens and Mayer are quietly unsettling, far too neat and polite to not be hiding something.

While the performances and mood work well throughout, Shanahan falters when it comes to injecting elements to provide viewers with a satisfying third act. There are many decent individual moments, but nothing as powerful or affecting as I was hoping for. It's okay to sit and watch a film that doesn't provide you with all of the answers, and I do, but quite another to sit and watch a film that seems to almost gleefully swerve away from them at the last minute (as it feels here).

Overall, this is well worth your time. Shanahan is a name I will be keeping an eye on for the next few years, especially if he continues to make such canny casting choices and retains his impressive instincts when it comes to marrying up visuals with excellent score choices (the music here is by Michael Darren, who also deserves a mention, and there it is). You may love this film, you may end up hating it, but it's almost impossible to simply dismiss it.

7/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Siembamba AKA The Lullaby (2017)

On the one hand, Siembamba is a solid horror movie that takes the fears of new motherhood and compounds them with nightmarish visions that may or may not have a spectral foot in the real world. On the other hand, inspired by some rather unpleasant moments from South African history, and a lullaby with the most disturbing lyrics you will ever hear, it's a good film that could easily have been turned into something great.

Reine Swart stars as Chloe, the new parent who ends up having to share a house again with her mother, Ruby (played by Thandi Puren). It's obvious that the two have a strained relationship, but both hope to make progress, with their time together and separate consultations with Dr. Timothy Reed (Brandon Auret). Sadly, Chloe is feeling more strain than most new parents, having visions that frighten her and may well lead to her causing harm to her own baby.

Swart and Puren both do great work in their lead roles, and Auret interestingly wavers between professional and creepy with his performance. The only other main character is a young man played by Deànré Reiners, someone who once had a relationship with Swart's character and seems to still have feelings for her now that he sees her back at home.

Director Darrell Roodt has quite the eclectic filmography to browse through, and the past few years have seen him enjoying pairing up with writer Tarryn-Tanille Prinsloo (who was also responsible for the script here), but the end result here is very much the end result of a talented director being held back by a script that lacks confidence and focus. There are a number of scares that are very well executed, and things build nicely towards a finale, but the third act never rises up to become as good as it could be. We instead get an entirely predictable reveal and a number of very unsatisfying character developments.

A decent watch for horror fans who can handle their genre films feeling a bit fractured and incomplete, Siembamba shows how important the script can be to a talented group of cast and crew members. All of the blame lies with Prinsloo, so maybe she can give herself some more time on future projects to tweak and hone her work.

6/10

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Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017)

I was, like a lot of people, hesitant (to say the least) when I heard the announcement of a belated sequel to Jumanji. The first film may not be a perfect classic, but it feels that way to many. And updating it to turn it into a videogame? Would it move too far away from the core fun of the first film?

Thankfully, what we have here is a sequel that is easily the equal of the first film, AND it actually follows on in a way that feels surprisingly natural.

The main plot sees four kids ending up in detention together. They find an old videogame called Jumanji, decided to give it a go, and are immediately sucked into the game world. The scared nerd is transformed into a muscular hero (Dwayne Johnson), the "jock" is reduced to a rather weak backpack valet (Kevin Hart), the smart girl becomes a strong and sexy woman who can impressively dance fight (Karen Gillan), and the selfie-obsessed vain girl becomes a chubby male professor/cartographer (Jack Black). There's someone else already stuck in the game (Nick Jonas) and a villain who wants to ensure that Jumanji stays the way it is forever, because he likes it that way (Bobby Cannavale).

Directed by Jake Kasdan, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle shows how best to update a concept without dismissing everything that came beforehand (in movie terms anyway, I never did see any of the animated TV show). It feels organic as we move from the setting of the first movie through to the modern day, and the script, developing an idea from Chris McKenna, packs in a great mix of action, comedy, and the obligatory personal growth (although, admittedly, some of those growth moments feel a bit rushed). There are a number of nods to the first film, some more obvious than others, and everything feels as if real care was taken to create something less lazy and cynical than some other belated sequels/remakes/reboots I could mention.

The cast are all superb. Johnson and Hart are two for two now as a winning central pairing, Gillan shows she can still do the comedy along with the kickass action, and Black is enjoyably over the top as a young girl stuck in the body of a middle-aged man. The lone Jonas brother of the cast does just fine, and Cannavale is an enjoyable villain, pitched perfectly to be a proper menace and scary enough for the kids to be thrilled. Although I won't name them here, the younger cast also do well, bookending the film with their real life moments that give us all of the information we need for the journey they go on through Jumanji.

Some viewers may be a bit disappointed that this stays within the game world, as opposed to the game elements crashing into our world, but the many little details and fresh elements make it a wise decision, rather than just completely rehashing the original.

8/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Nosferatu (1922)

There are two types of movies that I find very difficult to write reviews for. The first type is the movie that everyone has seen. There are a million reviews out there already, and sometimes even full books about why they have impacted us over the years. The second type is the classic film that I want to write about, but fear my own opinion should be complemented by a full selection of facts, figures, academia, and historical context. Nosferatu falls into the second category.

The basic story is all about . . . well, why bother pretending, it's an interpretation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Instead of that Count being the main figure, however, we have a more rat-like Count Orlok (Max Schrek). Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) is the estate agent sent out to close a deal with the Count, and he ends up trapped when Orlock becomes determined to sail overseas and obsess over Hutter's lovely lady, Ellen (Greta Schoder). The rest of the film shows Orlock trying to get his own way, Hutter trying to get home, and Ellen mulling over a plan that might just save everyone in town.

Directed by F. W. Murnau, Nosferatu is a classic, silent, horror film that we are lucky to still have with us today, not least because a lawsuit brought by Bram Stoker's widow ended with a judgement for all known prints and negatives to be destroyed. The script by Henrik Galeen recreates many of the highlights of the Stoker novel and adds one or two impressive new touches (such as the way in which a vampire may be destroyed).

It's always hard to judge certain factors in silent films, with the acting being especially difficult to compare. Suffice to say that Von Wangenheim and Schoder both do fine in their roles, Alexander Granach is a lot of fun in the role of Knock (Hutter's boss who comes under the spell of Orlock and becomes quite the Renfield figure), and Schreck is iconic and unforgettable as the Count himself, helped by the wonderful make-up.

The effects hold up pretty well, there are moments that you've already seen a dozen times even if you've yet to see the whole film (Orlock's shadow creeping up the staircase, for example), and it's safe to say that this remains an influential and entertaining touchstone for the horror genre in cinema.

If you haven't seen it yet then do so ASAP. If you have seen it then remind others that they should check it out.

Note - Nosferatu was screened with accompanying live piano from Forrester Pyke, and I highly recommend seeing it in this way if ever possible. A wonderful experience, and kudos to Mr. Pyke for his talented tinkling of the ivories.

9/10

Here's a nice version of the film on disc.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Innocent Blood (1992)

A horror comedy about a vampire from the director of An American Werewolf In London? It's fair to say that I had some pretty high expectations when I first watched Innocent Blood. Those expectations weren't met, and I didn't ever revisit the film over the next couple of decades. I'm not sure whether that is a good or bad thing, because this long overdue rewatch has made me realise that there's a lot here to enjoy.

Anne Parillaud plays a vampire named Marie who heads out into the night to feed. She feels like Italian, leading to her feeding on one of the many mobsters who populate the city. Once done with her meal, Marie usually takes care of the body to stop anyone returning as a vampire, but she is interrupted when she starts to feed on a boss man named Sallie (Robert Loggia). That leads to Sal rising up again, hungry and out of sorts, which leads to bewilderment from his crew and problems for an undercover cop named Joe (Anthony LaPaglia).

Written by Michael Wolk, Innocent Blood is a fun vampire movie that uses the supermatural powers associated with the beasts to play around with the buddy cop film template and provide some fun set-pieces. There's a decent amount of bloody moments, and the script has a lot of fun lines as the vampire threat and mobster activity builds.

John Landis directs competently enough, working within his means to deliver a vision that requres some enjoyable practical effects and stunt work to fully show the deveoping situation. There are some surprisingly solid action beats, some playing around with vampire tropes, the usual selection of cameos,and one main sequence in which Frank Oz plays a coroner bemused by the liveliness of the corpse wheeled in for him is a highlight.

Cast-wise, Parillaud is decent enough in the main role. She doesn't always convince when in full vamp-predator mode, but does much better in the scenes that have her fooling people with her attempts to look innocent. LaPaglia is also decent, stuck with the more straightfoward role - the cop on the case who is seeing things that nobody else will believe. But it's the cast of criminals that make the film more fun than it otherwise would be. Loggia is a blast as the powerful criminal who starts to realise just how much more power he has gained, Don Rickles is wonderful as his legal counsel, Chazz Palminteri has a small role (but is always good to see), and Tony Sirico, Kim Coates, and some other familiar faces are a lot of fun as they watch Loggia evolving. Angela Bassett and Luis Guzman also appear in small roles, both on the side of the police.

Despite some issues, such as a few dated effects and the pacing issues, Innocent Blood is a fun time. The biggest thing working against it when it was released back in 1992 was that it wasn't another An American Werewolf In London. But what is?

7/10

This LOOKS like a decent disc for those wanting the film, but maybe another release could be on the horizon?

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Here we go with another Marvel blockbuster and another superhero ensemble, this time the much-anticipated feature that finally pits our familiar heroes against the mighty Thanos (Josh Brolin, in motion captured form). Things look bleak from the start, with Thanos having control of two of the infinity stones, placed in his gauntlet, within the first ten minutes. And viewers are under no illusion that everything will get worse before it gets better. Earth is a target, other planets have already been decimated, and nobody has anything approaching a proper plan to stop Thanos in his tracks.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the men who did such great work with the second and third Captain America movies, Avengers: Infinity War is a LOT of fun. It's all about great power, great battles, and the ultimate stakes. And all of it is elevated by the cast, including, but not limited to, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, and Peter Dinklage. They are all perfect in their roles, as anyone who has seen any of the previous Marvel movies will already know.

Which is why it's a shame that the script, by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, doesn't always treat them as well as they deserve. The writers deserve credit for the plotting, for trying to make something that will please fans and also allow relative newcomers to enjoy everything, and for somehow making sure that every single character has at least one great line, despite the crowded cast. They also deserve credit for a couple of the choices made, but let's not rush to highlight anything here as particularly unpredictable or brave. Considering the elements in place, the grand finale didn't resonate with me as it seems to have resonated with some others. But I started this paragraph about to criticise the writers for their treatment of the characters and I should really finish that thought. One or two examples aside, mainly from the Guardians Of The Galaxy, most of these characters feel either a bit too removed from what they used to be, or just a bit too convenient in their geography and timing. I do understand that they've all been through a lot in recent years, which would change anyone, but these don't feel like natural developments. They feel like the writers forgot the essence of the characters at times, sometimes within the runtime of this very film. And don't even start me on how the opening scenes of this film spoil the end of a certain other superhero movie (not going to name it, watch and you'll see what I mean).

That isn't the only problem that the film has. First of all, things are now TOO big. The threat, the scope, the runtime, this is a film that may will certainly be held up as a prime example by anyone who wants to show how superhero movie fatigue is a rot that has been developing in multiplexes over the past decade or so. I am not one of those people, but even I was starting to feel a bit weary by just the end of the first act.

It's also a shame that the Russo brothers don't keep the action as smooth and satisfying as it was in their previous two movies. I assume that has to do with the increase in size, leading to more stunts and effects and a need for more editing in most of the main action sequences. The most satisfying set-piece for me was one set in the streets of Edinburgh, but that is just because I live here (rather than the quality of the action itself). When even the fluidity and grace of Black Panther is turned into something looking clumsy and erratic you have to think that something is a bit off with the way the fights were filmed.

Despite my criticisms here, the good far outweighs the bad, and I don't want the above thoughts to make anyone think that I disliked it. I definitely liked it. I REALLY liked it. Mainly because of the cast being so effortlessly brillant, but there are also plenty of fun lines of dialogue, some great exchanges, a very real sense of danger throughout, and satisfying callbacks to previous adventures and connections. The special effects are fantastic, with Thanos looking a lot better here than he did in the trailers for the movie, and the lengthy 149-minute runtime goes by quickly enough (although it could have certainly been trimmed in at least one or two places). Oh, and there's the inevitable post-credits sequence. Just the one, but worth sticking around for.

8/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Dave Made A Maze (2017)

Dave Made A Maze is exactly what it says it is. It's a film that revolves around Dave (Nick Thune) having made a maze. He has made his maze out of cardboard. A lot of cardboard. And is now lost somewhere in the middle of it. Well, that is what he tells his disbelieving girlfriend, Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani), who then calls in his friend, Gordon (Adam Busch), who calls in a motley selection of people. Despite protests from Dave, everyone heads inside the maze, and they find themselves in an elaborate cardboard world that includes booby traps, living cardboard creatures, and a certain maze-dwelling mythological character.

What this film lacks in budget and star power, although there is at least one familiar face in the cast, it more than makes up for with creativity, wonderful production design and plenty of wit. Director Bill Watterson, who co-wrote the screenplay with story originator Steven Sears, shows no signs of insecurity or indecision in his debut feature. Instead, he effortlessly draws viewers into the surreal world created onscreen and blends common movie moments with a delightfully childish selection of interpretations.

And it's not just the consistently inventive visual style that entertains. The script is full of wonderful gags that range from the sublime to the ridiculous, whether it's people finding themselves suddenly trying to discuss their problems in rhyming couplets or a running gag with people delivering a particular line from Raging Bull.

The cast also help to sell the silliness and make you care about something that could have easily been risible and too daffy to bother with. Thune and Kumbhani have the two hardest roles, because Dave has brought this upon himself and Annie could easily either come across as too weak for not standing up to him. Their performances are, however, helped by a script that places them where they need to be without dragging them to any annoying extremes, and it's easy to sense that the couple have problems, but also that they really do love one another and want to move forward when they next get the chance. Busch has an easier role, and he's arguably the highlight of the film with his mix of admiration for the maze and concern for his friend. James Urbaniak, Frank Caeti, and Scott Narver are also very entertaining as the small (amateur) film crew documenting the journey into the maze, and both Stephanie Allynne and Kirsten Vangsness at least get a couple of great moments.

Although horror fans will appreciate the absurd and elaborate moments that lead to enjoyably ungory deaths, Dave Made A Maze is definitely not one that should be sold as a horror film. It's a fantastical adventure with some time set aside for relationship counselling. And lots and lots of cardboard.

7/10

You can buy the film here, although I don't know about the shipping options.

Dead By Dawn 2018: The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue (1974)

AKA Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.

A favourite among many zombie movie fans, The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue is as bizarre a blend of rotting cadavers, dubbing, and odd Britishness as you should probably expect from the title.

I should also say right now that it's not really as good as I remember, and it's hard to understand quite why it has maintained such an enduring reputation over the years. There are many good moments throughout, undeniabley, but the pacing is slower than a snail's pace, and the main characters are nearly impossible to like and root for.

Ray Lovelock is George Meaning, a young man (or damn hippy, depending on your viewpoint) heading out for a trip on his motorbike. Cristina Galbo is Edna Simmonds, a young woman who reverses into George's motorbike. That puts the two of them together for the rest of the movie, as they travel through the British countryside and discover a number of lively corpses that end up killing people. The police (led by an Inspector, played by Arthur Kennedy) obviously don't believe the truth. Because who would?

Directed by Jorge Grau, and written by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia, this is a film that places atmosphere and one or two set-pieces above everything else. Which is fine, especially when you get to the set-pieces, and especially when you have the scenes that have the atmosphere laid on as thick as it can be (soil-covered, shambling zombies look great, tension is created, and there's also some good sound design to help). It's just not so fine for the other 50-odd minutes of the runtime.

It's hard to rate the performances of Lovelock, Galbo, and Kennedy, although the latter gets to spit out some wonderfully derisory soundbites, because the script is so bad in sketching out their characters. Lovelock comes across as a bit of a douchebag, at best, while Galbo is just too simpering and passive throughout. Kennedy is a horrible authority figure, but he's at least consistently amusing with it (not necessarily intentionally).

I can't say that this is a BAD film. The explanation for the reanimation of the corpses is a pretty good one, the plotting is silly but also a bit more focused than many other zombie movies, the undead all look . . . very peaky, and the punchline is a bit of a corker. It's just a shame that the script and performances drag things down quite a bit, although many other horror fans seem to be able to overlook those things while they bask in its redeeming qualities.

6/10

This zombie film can be bought here.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)

From my Flickfeast.co.uk review. Which may already be familiar to some.

AKA Cemetary Man.

Dellamorte Dellamore is a zombie movie, but it’s one unlike any other I can think of. It is, in fact, a perfect zombie movie to show someone who thinks that all zombie movies are basically the same shambling gorefest, from one film to the next.

Based on the novel by Tiziano Sclavi, director Michele Soavi crafts a masterpiece of existentialist horror, helped by writer Gianni Romoli and a pitch-perfect lead performance from Rupert Everett. The fact that the lovely Anna Falchi is also here, bewitching the male gaze with her consumate loveliness, is also a big plus.

Everett plays Francesco Dellamorte, aka the cemetery man. He looks after the dead. More importantly, he takes care of the dead when they rise up again, on the seventh night after their death. His existence is a lonely one, with most of his time spent in the cemetery in the company of his assistant, Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro). Gnaghi can’t really speak more than one word, and his placid, childlike nature makes him an ideal person to help Francesco and share in the secret duty carried out in the cemetery. Things start to become complicated when Francesco falls in love with a beautiful woman (Falchi), leading to events that will have him questioning his life and his role as a dealer of death.

Sarcastic, exhausted, unhinged, and desperate are the words that I would use to describe Francesco, and all of these traits are expressed perfectly in the performance from Everett (one I would be tempted to call a career-best). Hadji-Lazaro does well in his supporting role, especially in the moments that hint at his character not being half as dumb as he appears to be, and Falchi is so gorgeous that it doesn’t matter when she’s given the most bizarre character developments.

As good as they all are, however, the cast are really just pawns moved in place by Romoli and Soavi. The director provides a succession of gorgeous imagery, with the main cemetery design an absolute triumph, and the design of every shot is atypically artistic for this sort of fare. The dialogue isn’t always as smooth as it could be, but that’s not a problem when you start to get your head around the ideas being toyed with. Francesco can’t decide what is worse, the dead coming to life or the living who are just dying over time anyway, and he starts to create a moral quagmire for himself when he stops seeing much difference between the two. But don’t worry, all of this thoughtful existentialism comes without any loss to the actual zombie action and bloodshed.

I hope this review is enough of a push for anyone who has yet to see the movie, and I didn’t even mention the relationship that involves one main character and a decapitated head, the zombie biker sequence that echoes Psychomania, or the ending that is as brilliant as it is bizarre.

9/10 

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Dead By Dawn 2018: An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Reposted from my Flickfeast.co.uk review.

Two young Americans, David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), are trudging across the moors of Northern England when they are attacked by a large, deadly creature. Jack is killed instantly and David survives, only to be informed (by Jack, who is now cursed to wander the Earth as a member of the undead) that he will sprout fur and fangs at the time of the next full moon, hence the title. Despite this worry, David still manages to impress the beautiful nurse looking after him (Jenny Agutter) and gets his wicked way with our very own English Rose in a scene that fuelled many the fantasy of a young lad in the mid-80s. But will his happiness last? Is he going mad? Or will he, indeed, start howling at the next full moon?

If you haven’t seen this perfectly crafted horror-comedy (though director John Landis prefers to call it a horror movie that lets you laugh)  then stop reading this review and do so immediately. Now! It is a favourite for many, many people (certainly one of mine) and remains one of the best blending of those two genres ever made. I also think that this movie, alongside Scanners, helped to expand the newly introduced home entertainment market (thanks to the major rewind moments – Scanners had that exploding head scene and this movie has not only a naked Jenny Agutter but also THE finest werewolf transformation ever committed to film, for which I am eternally in awe of the magnificent Rick Baker . . . and we shouldn’t forget his sterling work in making Jack a very real, very decomposing member of the undead). Just watch it. Seriously. Now.

For those of you who have seen it or have just watched it for the first time, how many highlights can you think of right now? It’s a long and impressive list and, in a random stream of consciousness, I would have to plump for the following: the soundtrack filled with songs that have “moon” in the title, the adult movie titled “See You Next Wednesday” (a Landis trademark in-joke for some time), a young Rik Mayall on screen for seconds, “The Slaughtered Lamb”, the amusing comic relief from the staid policemen, Frank Oz in both muppet and non-muppet form, David Naughton checking his teeth in the mirror and THAT transformation sequence. Throw in an amazing finale set in Piccadilly Circus, genuinely good acting from all three of thhe main leads, a witty script full of love for the lycanthrope myths and great direction PLUS a hell of a lot more and you have the greatest werewolf movie ever made, for my money anyway.

10/10

Buy the disc here.
Americanos can get it here.

The one, the only . . . ME. With that there John Landis.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Spookers (2017)

On the surface, Spookers is a documentary that looks at a New Zealand scare park now situated in an abandoned psychiatric facility. Viewers get to meet the owners, the many staff, and also see some of the paying customers who often react strongly to the terror being unleashed upon them (I think you can guess what reaction leads to someone being asked to clear up a "code brown" over a radio). And that in itself is fun.

I couldn't tell you the names of the main people speaking here, even the owners, but I can tell you that there's a great mix of winning personalities. The people delivering the scares are some of the loveliest people you can imagine, despite often being hidden under impressively terrifying make-up.

On another level, however, Spookers looks at the catharsis that scares provide. By throwing you in with the guests, it reminds you of how much fun you can have being terrorised and terrified in a safe environment. And it shows you how that also works for the people delivering the scares, as they focus on their characters and performances alongside colleagues that have become almost like family members.

And, on yet another level, Spookers looks at the balance between using horror tropes in performance art and being respectful to the memories of those who may be affected by certain ongoing social stigmas. It's one thing to laugh off the idea of clowns complaining about more and more people being scared of them in recent years (as was reported in some news articles) but not so easy to dismiss the conerns of those who view portrayals of deadly psychiatric institution residents as disrespectful to those who used to reside in the very building in which the scares are taking place. Some people are speaking from personal experience, either as a staff member or former resident, and the documentary does well in letting them have their say without making them out to be grouchy party poopers.

Ultimately more intriguing than I expected it to be, Spookers prompts viewers to ask themselves one or two questions that it never sets out to answer, probably because there are no answers. What scares people can vary wildly from individual to individual, as is the case with what (if anything) offends them. Although it gives you a bit more to think about, this doesn't quite match up to the enjoyable The American Scream documentary from a few years ago, but it's much more enjoyable and entertaining than the risible attempt to turn this kind of thing into a proper horror movie that gave us The Houses Of Halloween AKA The Houses October Built.

6/10

Spookers is available to buy just now in New Zealand, UK film fans can currently see it on Shudder.
And here is the Dead By Dawn website/schedule.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

Some people put Bride Of Frankenstein above the original film. I am not one of those people. It loses a point for one important element - the performance from Una O'Connor. Never mind that now though, we'll come back to it later.

Most of the main players come back for this sequel, a story given a prologue in which Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays the famous bride) tells her guests that there is more to the tale of Frankenstein than just her original story. She then proceeds to pick up from the end of the first film. Frankenstein has survived, his creature has also survived, and we get Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) added to the mix, an unscrupulous man who hopes to use Frankenstein's work to better his own.

William Hurlbut is the main credited writer this time around, although there are numerous other names who had a hand in crafting the screenplay, and James Whale is back in the director's chair, and it's clear that this is a film even more concerned with showing that the perceived monster isn't really the monster. In fact, he behaves better than almost all of the human characters that we see onscreen.

Thesiger is a lot of fun in his role, callous and calculating even as he seems to delude himself into thinking that he has good intentions, and both Clive and Karloff remain fantastic as the main creator and creation. Dwight Frye also returns, playing a different character not a million miles away from the one he played in the previous entry. Valerie Hobson takes over the role of Elizabeth, doing just fine in the role, and O. P. Heggie makes the most of his role, a blind hermit who befriends the monster and offers him some hospitality (a sequence among many brilliantly parodied in Young Frankenstein). Then we have Una O'Connor, mentioned in the first paragraph. I don't blame her for her performance, it was obviously asked of her, but I do find her to be one of the most irritating characters I have had to tolerate in any of the classic Universal horrors. Shrill and twitchy, I am constantly bemused when I hear from other viewers who enjoy her comic relief.

That performance from O'Connor IS enough for me to drop a point from my rating, but it's not enough for me to dissuade anyone from viewing, and loving, this horror classic. It's arguably the best of the sequels to the iconic horrors of this age and it often feels natural to stick it on for a watch as soon as the first film has finished.

9/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Frankenstein (1931)

I'll be reviewing most, not all, of the films shown at Dead By Dawn this year. The reviews won't be in order. Because my schedule doesn't allow for that. Deal with it. Anyway . . .

Although it was not the first of the classic Universal monster movies, and not even the first to be released in 1931 (Dracula beat it by a few months), Frankenstein, or his monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff, certainly deserves to stand as one of carved faces on any Mount Rushmore of the horror genre.

Based on the book by Mary Shelley, there seems little point in going over the plot, or any of the factors that make the film so memorable. But I will anyway, because this would be a very short review otherwise. Colin Clive plays Henry Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with the idea of creating human life from dead flesh. He has the body all stitched together, he just needs to procure a brain, a task which he entrusts to his hunchback assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye). It’s unfortunate that Fritz ends up dropping the healthy brain he was asked to acquire and so instead heads back to his boss with an abnormal brain. One atmospheric, lightning-filled, night later and the creature is alive, although not of the sound mind that Henry had hoped he would be. Things go from bad to worse, so Henry entrusts a friend (Dr Waldman, played by Edward Van Sloan) to take care of the creature and he heads home to busy himself with preparations for his wedding to the lovely Elizabeth (Mae Clarke). But his troubles are far from over.

A script written (by Garrett Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh) from an adaptation of a play (by Peggy Webling) from the source novel, Frankenstein is a masterpiece that stands tall today thanks to a perfect storm - no pun intended - of performances, direction, and writing (not just from those mentioned here, but also other credited and uncredited contributors). With certain moments and passages that still hold a magical power today, it's almost impossible to fathom how audiences would have felt when faced with this maelstrom of horror, blasphemy, and murky morality back in 1931.

Clive remains on of the best Frankensteins we've ever had onscreen, a man so driven by his obsession that he takes himself to a state of physical exhaustion. Frye is fun as Fritz, Van Sloan does just fine with his role, and Clarke is suitably lovely and poised to be a damsel in distress. But it is, of course, Karloff who owns the film, helped in no small part by the superb make-up work from Jack Pierce. There's a saying nowadays that goes something like this; intelligence is knowing that Frankenstein is not the monster, wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster. That idea may have been muddled by sequels and reworkings of the material, but it's clear as day here, largely because of the sweet and lumbering performance from Karloff.

Some might say that director James Whale does a great job here and then betters himself in the sequel. I am not sure about that. I think both films stand alongside one another as fantastic pieces of work, brought to the screen by a team determined to thrill and entertain, and yes even shock, audiences of the time. Deftly working within, and right to the edge, of what was allowed at the time (even going over the line, certain dialogue was excised from the film for many years when it was re-released, due to the blasphemous nature of it), everyone involved managed to craft part of Hollywood horror history. Some modern viewers may scoff at the melodrama and the tame nature of the content. That's their loss. I know many horror film fans who love this one as much as I do, and rightly so.

10/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.

Patchwork (2015)

Patchwork is a strange film, one that lives up to the title in more ways than one. Being more than slightly influenced by the great Frank Henenlotter, this is a horror comedy that just doesn’t really know how to get the ratio right when it comes to the different ingredients. Some of the comedy is amusing enough, but it’s never as funny as it could be, some of the gore gags are good, although surprisingly restrained, and the enjoyably wild premise is treated in a way that feels far too sensible for what should be an outrageous tale.

Directed and co-written by Tyler Macintyre (Chris Lee Hill is the other writer), Patchwork is all about a young woman who wakes up one morning to find out that she has been stitched together into one body that also includes two other women. This is shown with some decent practical make up and scenes that show the three female personalities presented as individual, whole females (played by Tory Stolper, Tracey Fairaway, and Maria Blasucci). The women want to find out what happened to them, and set off to retrace their tracks while viewers are shown various flashbacks that tease out the full story.

With decent performances from all three leads (particularly Stolper), and solid work from everyone else involved, and a fun structure that allows for some enjoyable reveals as things unfold, Patchwork is certainly a cut above many other low-budget films you could pick from the past few years. Everything is put together well enough, and it all feels cared for and polished.

Unfortunately, that care and polish may be a contributing factor to it never working as well as it should. This is a film that, for me, should feel a bit grimy and rough around the edges. It should have scenes practically overwhelmed by bloodshed and wallow in the potential tastelessness of the premise. There's certainly one scene that comes close to doing that, and it's a funny one, but nothing else comes close, which is a shame.

Macintyre and Hill show great potential, developing the feature from their short of the previous year (which also featured Stolper), and they managed to take a small step up with their next feature (Tragedy Girls), but this is a case of unfulfilled potential, which isn't something I expected to say about a horror comedy featuring three women stitched together into the one body. Maybe they'll do better when they come up with Patchwork 2: Battle Of The Sexes, because surely the next step is to merge a man and a woman and let gory hilarity ensue.

6/10

Buy things here.

Americans, buy things here. Both options get me coin.

 

Sweet Sixteen (1983)

I used to assume that if there was a slasher movie that I had yet to see then it must be one of the lesser entries in this overcrowded subgenre. Now I know that is not the case. It just so happens that a) I have still to see half of the films that I really should, as a big horror fan, and b) there are SO many "lower-tier" slasher movies that are still hugely entertaining. Which brings me to Sweet Sixteen, a film I decided to take a gamble on, having not heard of it before, and one I am now glad to have seen.

The basic plot revolves around a young girl named Melissa (Aleisa Shirley, making her film debut). Melissa is new in town and she's a couple of weeks away from her sixteenth birthday. She also gets the attention of one or two boys. So it's not too long until young boys start turning up dead. The murders perplex Sheriff Dan Burke (Bo Hopkins) and his teenage children (Dana Kimmell and Steve Antin), and they also give some of the locals an extra reason to be suspicious of, and abusive towards, some Native Americans who live nearby.

Although very tame by the standards of many other slasher movies from this time, Sweet Sixteen still manages to tick a lot of boxes for fans of the subgenre. It has the whodunnit element, it has a historic trauma that feeds into the motivation of the killer, and it spends one or two moments lingering for an uncomrfotably long time on the physical form of Melissa (Shirley may have been about 19 or so when this was made, but let's not forget that the character she is playing is supposed to be just about to turn 16).

It also has a decent cast of core characters, played well enough by the performers. Hopkins is a likable authority figure, Kimmell and Antin manage to avoid being too annoying as the kids who don't listen to their father when they really should, Don Stroud is an entertaining asshole, Don Shanks does just fine as Jason Longshadow (a Native American who becomes a main suspect), and Patrick Macnee and Susan Strasberg are fun as the parents of Melissa. Shirley isn't that great in her main role, but she's not terrible either.

The script by Erwin Goldman does well when it comes to the characters and their interactions, although it might disappoint people wanting a higher bodycount. Director Jim Sotos does a perfectly acceptable job, keeping everything restrained until we get to the inevitably busy grand finale (like so many other slasher movies, a reveal that wouldn't feel too out of place in any Scooby Doo cartoon).

I doubt this will be on any list of favourite or best slasher movies, and I am not sure why I ended up enjoying it as much as I did. But I did really enjoy it. And I'll recommend it to other horror movie fans. Even if they come back to me and tell me they were disappointed.

7/10

You can buy the blu here.