Urban Legend

 Year of Release:  1998

Director:  Jamie Blanks

Screenplay:  Silvio Horta

Starring:  Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Loretta Devine, Tara Reid, Michael Rosenbaum, Robert Englund, John Neville,

Running Time:  100 minutes

Genre:  Horror, slasher

The students at the prestigious Pendleton University in New Hampshire are targeted by a parka-wearing serial killer who murders people in ways based on famous urban legends.  The victims seem to be connected by one student in particular, Natalie (Witt) who teams up with journalism student Paul (Leto) to put an end to the bloodshed.

This is one of a glut of similar slasher films that were released in the late 1990s following the success of Scream (1996).  It has an engaging cast including up and coming young stars, TV stars and older cult movie actors such as Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films, a soundtrack full of Goth and nu-metal music, elaborate and grisly murders, a convoluted plots and some comedy, with a number of in-jokes (in one scene Joshua Jackson starts his car and the theme from Dawson's Creek (1998-2003), the show he starred in, starts playing and he hurriedly switches it off).  One of the film's problems is that the only likeable characters are Alicia Witt's Natalie and Loretta Devine as campus police officer Reese.  The other characters are so unpleasant it's really hard to care what happens to them.  The film is pretty ridiculous, full of implausible coincidences and red herrings, the ending is particularly ludicrous.  Having said that it is enjoyable enough.  It has a few good thrills and scares, and if you are in the right frame of mind for it, you can have some fun with it.  It was followed by two sequels, and a remake is being planned, for some reason.

A killer on the prowl in Urban Legend  

 

"The Member of the Wedding" by Carson McCullers

 Year of Publication:  1946

Length:  179 pages

Genre:  Coming-of-age

The novel takes place over a few days in August in a small town in the Southern United States during World War Two.  Twelve year old Frances Jasmine "Frankie" Addams is a lonely, bored, but highly imaginative girl.  Her closest companions are the family's African American maid, Berenice, and Frankie's six year old cousin, John Henry.  She becomes fascinated with her brother's upcoming wedding and determines to involve herself in the wedding, and run off with the happy couple on their honeymoon.

This is an economical, beautifully written tale about growing up.  While written in the third person the narrative never leaves Frankie's perception of the world around her, a world that is seemingly safe but full of darkness and sharp edges. Frankie is imaginative and very intelligent, but very impulsive and foolhardy.  Her cousin, John Henry, she regards as a nuisance and also a companion.  Her mother is dead, and her father lives in the house, but is a largely absent figure, who seems to have little to no understanding of Frankie and her needs.  Her main caregiver and probably closest friend is Berenice, who is the only one who seems to really understand Frankie, and certainly the only one who really seems to make an effort to understand her, she also presents a different and more complex world to Frankie and the reader.  Berenice is a cleverly and sensitively drawn character.  While race is not a key theme in the novel, it is definitely present.  One of the most disturbing elements in the book is Frankie's meeting with an unnamed soldier, and there is darkness throughout the book.  It has elements of gentle nostalgia, but there is cruelty at it's core.  It takes place during the Second World War, which is discussed throughout, contrasting the small seemingly unchanging town, with the chaos and tumult going on in the world outside.  The book's key incident, the wedding itself, barely features, brushed over in a few paragraphs, it exists in the world of hope and memory.  

Color Out of Space

 Year of Release:  2019

Director:  Richard Stanley

Screenplay:  Richard Stanley and Scarlett Amaris, based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight, Madeleine Arthur, Q'orianka Kilcher, Tommy Chong

Running Time:  111 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, horror

Nathan Gardner (Cage) and Theresa Gardner (Richardson) move with their three children:  Teenagers Lavinia (Arthur) and Benny (Brendan Meyer) and youngest son Jack (Julian Hilliard) to a remote farm in the middle of the New England woods.  One night a meteor crashes down near their home, releasing bizarre coloured lights and seeming to have a strange effect on anyone who comes near it.  Shortly afterwards the meteor seems to vanish.  Hydrologist Ward Phillips (Knight), who is surveying the area for a dam development discovers that something strange seems to have contaminated the water.  As strange events happen around the Gardner family, local animals and people begin to undergo nightmarish transformations.

American writer Howard Philips Lovecraft is one of the most influential and problematic horror and science-fiction authors of all time.  His work is challenging for filmmakers is difficult not only for the horrific racism, sexism and anti-semitism that blights his life and writing, but also Lovecraft's writings tended to be about dimensions and creatures so terrible that the very sight of them would drive a human insane, which is very difficult to realise on screen.  Lovecraft has been adapted to the screen before, perhaps most notably in Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986), but this is one of the best depictions of Lovecraftian horror that I have seen.  Cult film director Richard Stanley and co-writer Scarlett Amaris update the film enough to be acceptable to modern audiences, while still keeping the cosmic horror feel of the story.  Stanley creates beautifully artistic images, with special effects which range from the subtle to the completely psychedelic, alongside gruesome 1980s style pulp horror.  In the lead role Nicolas Cage goes from quiet and subdued, to his trademark full-on manic frenzy.  The film is overly long and it takes a while to get going, also Cage's over the top performance in the final third of the film becomes almost funny.  It is a good film, not without it's flaws, but is one of the most successful H.P. Lovecraft adaptations, and is full of striking, memorable imagery.

Nicolas Cage sees the Color Out of Space

Jojo Rabbit

Year of Release:  2019

Director:  Taika Waititi

Screenplay:  Taika Waititi, based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens

Starring:  Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Sam Rockwell, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant

Running Time:  108 minutes

Genre:  Comedy-drama, war

Nazi Germany:  Johannes "Jojo" Betzler (Davis) is an innocent ten year old boy who is nevertheless heavily indoctrinated with Nazi ideology, and is an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth.  His best friend is an imaginary Adolf Hitler (Waititi).  Jojo discovers that his mother, Rosie (Johansson), is hiding a young Jewish girl, Elsa (McKenzie).  Jojo is scared to turn her in, and he and Elsa begin a tentative friendship.  

In the wrong hands this film could be in hugely bad taste, however it is by turns hilariously funny and absolutely heartbreaking.  The film is anchored by young actors Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie  who move from mutual fear and loathing to a kind of genuine friendship.  To Jojo, fascism is basically adventure, friendship and acceptance.  He has swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker, but he remains at his core, an essentially good hearted little boy, who just believes what he's been told.  When he meets Elsa he begins to slowly realise that Jewish people are not the demonic, supernatural monsters that he has been told they are.  Thomasin McKenzie is intensely moving as Elsa, whose safety depends on trusting people who she has every reason  not to.  She is a survivor, in constant danger, but she is also a normal teenage girl.  The familiar faces in supporting roles are all very good, with writer-director Taika Waititi as an idiotic imaginary Hitler, who moves from childlike best friend, to an increasingly threatening presence, as Jojo becomes increasingly disillusioned with Nazism.  Scarlett Johansson is hugely impressive as Rosie, Jojo's mother, torn between her duty to fight the evil that she sees around her, and her duty to care for her child.  The film has a child's eye view of it's events, moving from childlike adventure and flights of imagination to fear and danger.  The use of German versions of anachronistic songs by The Beatles and David Bowie adds an additional fantasy element.  The subject matter of the film places it in very difficult territory, but it navigates it with barely a misstep.  It is among the best and most moving films of the past few years.

Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit
 

    

Pasolini

 Year of Release: 2014

Director:  Abel Ferrara

Screenplay:  Maurizio Braucci

Starring:  Willem Dafoe, Ninetto Davoli, Riccardo Scamarcio, Valerio Mastandrea, Adriana Asti, Giada Colagrande, Maria de Medeiros

Running Time:  84 minutes

Genre:  Drama, biography, 

Rome, 1975:  Internationally acclaimed film director, poet, screenwriter, author, essayist, critic, commentator and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini (Dafoe) his just completed his notorious film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom and has returned home to start work on two new projects: a novel, and another film.  However neither of the projects are completed, as Pasolini is brutally murdered.

The film moves between the events of Pasolini's final few hours and recreations of scenes from his planned film and unwritten novel.  It's less of a biography of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and more of a tribute to him.  The film assumes that it's audience are already familiar with Pasolini, and at least the basic facts of his life and work.  If you are not familiar with him, then you won't learn anything about the man or why he was so important.  Prolific director Abel Ferrara began his career with the notorious The Driller Killer (1979) before moving on to disturbing cult films such as Ms. 45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), The Addiction (1995) and The Funeral (1996).  This is more of a European art film but, while it lacks much of Ferrara's earlier carnage, this still has some explicit sex and the climatic murder is deeply disturbing.  Moving between fact and fantasy it's sometimes unclear as to what is actually happening, but Ferrara conjures some startling images.  Clad in black leather jacket, with dyed black hair and eyes permanently hidden behind dark glasses Willem Dafoe bears a remarkable physical resemblance to Pasolini, given to making gravely pronouncements in restaurants and during interviews, Pasolini remains a cipher, but in the scenes with his friends and families, Dafoe imbues him with genuine warmth.  the film also costars Pasolini regular Ninetto Davoli.  While this would be inaccessible for newcomers, Pasolini fans should enjoy it.

  Willem Dafoe as Pasolini

Creepshow 2

 Year of Release:  1987

Director:  Michael Gornick

Screenplay:  George A. Romero, based on stories by Stephen King

Starring:  Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, Dorothy Lamour, Tom Savini

Running Time:  92 minutes

Genre:  Horror

Young Billy (Domenick John) cannot wait to get his hands on the latest issue of his favourite comic book Creepshow.  The comic's mysterious host, The Creep (Savini, voiced by Joe Silver), introduces three stories:  The murderers of two beloved elderly people are pursued by a vengeful "cigar store Indian" statue; Four pot-smoking, partying teens swim out to a raft in the middle of a large lake for some fun but find themselves preyed upon by a carnivorous oil slick; A hit and run driver (Chiles) is pursued by the vengeful spirit of the hitchhiker she killed.

The original Creepshow (1982) was written by Stephen King and directed by George A. Romero.  Here Romero takes on scripting duties, with King providing the source material.  One of the stories, "The Raft", had previously been published, and can be found in King's 1985 Skeleton Crew collection, the other were original to the film.  As with the previous film this serves as a tribute to the EC horror comics of the 1950s such as Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror.  However this lacks the style of the first film.  The whole thing looks very low-budget and ropey, despite some good make up effects in the first segment.  The man-eating oil slick in the second segment basically looks like a plastic sheet with some gunk on top of it.  The best of the bunch is the third story, mainly thanks to a very strong performance from Lois Chiles.  The three tales are linked by an animated framing story, that really looks like a very cheap children's cartoon.  The film's director, Michael Gornick, worked as Director of Photography on the first film and gets some interesting visuals.  There are some problematic elements with it's depiction of native Americans.  In keeping with it's inspiration,  the film has a strongly old-fashioned morality, where if you don't follow the rules exactly very bad things will happen to you.  This is not as good as the original film, but it's brainless old-fashioned nonsense and is fun if your in the right mood for it.  Stephen King appears in a cameo as a truck driver.

The Creep (Tom Savini) makes a delivery in Creepshow 2

     

Time Bandits

 Year of Release:  1981

Director:  Terry Gilliam

Screenplay:  Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin

Starring:  John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan, David Warner, Craig Warnock, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds, Tiny Ross 

Running Time:  113 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy, comedy

Young Kevin (Warnock) lives in an average house in middle-class suburban England, with his normal parents.  One night Kevin is woken up by a knight in full armour on horseback bursting out of his wardrobe and running through his bedroom wall.  This heralds the start of a bizarre adventure when he encounters a gang of quarrelling dwarves who have stolen a map revealing the locations of holes in space and time, which they plan to use to commit a series of robberies throughout history.  They encounter Napoleon (Holm) who is obsessed with his own height, a frightfully posh Robin Hood (Cleese), the Ancient Greek warrior Agamemnon (Connery), take a trip aboard the RMS Titanic, and become unwittingly embroiled in the age-old battle between Good (Richardson) and Evil (Warner).

This is a delightfully dark comic fantasy which shows director Terry Gilliam at his very best.  Co-written with fellow Monty Python alumni Michael Palin, who also appears along with fellow Python John Cleese, this has a real Pythonesque feel to it, and feels like a low-budget British take on the American blockbuster.  There is a distinctly British feel to the film, despite Terry Gilliam being American, with the minutiae of everyday mundanity existing cheek-by-jowl with fantastic wonders, and characters being adrift in a chaotic and hostile universe.  Working on a limited budget the filmmakers work wonders with some impressive special effects and memorable images (for example a large old sailing ship turns out to be a giant's hat).  Almost every frame is packed with detail, and there is a real chaotic feel to the film and you do feel like anything could happen.  As Kevin, the film's anchor role, young Craig Warnock doesn't really have much to do except look wide-eyed, but the dwarves have well-defined personalities and their constant bickering with each other is very funny ("I can't stand people who are right!"  "That must be how you get on with yourself so well").  Otherwise you have famous faces appearing in small funny roles, with the late, great Sean Connery giving real gravitas to the part of Agamemnon, even if his Scottish accent doesn't sound quite right for an Ancient Greek hero, and Ian Holm as the mercurial Napoleon, give to drunken rants about the heights of famous historical people.  David Warner relishing every second as Evil, and Ralph Richardson as a querulous Supreme Being ("Dead, eh?  That's no excuse for slacking off work").  There is also a very early appearance by Jim Broadbent as a game show host.  The film has some still quite pointed satire, and a surprisingly bleak conclusion.  It was co-produced by former Beatle George Harrison who provides the closing theme song "Dream Away", some of the lyrics of which were apparently inspired by his notes to Gilliam during the film's production.  

David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds and Tiny Ross are Time Bandits 

The Fall of the House of Usher

 Year of Release:  1960

Director:  Roger Corman

Screenplay:  Richard Matheson, based on the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe

Starring:  Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe

Running Time:  79 minutes

Genre:  Horror

19th Century America:  Philip Winthrop (Damon) travels to the lonely decaying House of Usher, to visit his fiancée Madeline Usher (Fahey) who lives alone in the mansion with her brother Roderick (Price) and their servant Bristol (Ellerbe).  Madeline and particularly Roderick both suffer from hypersensitivity.  Roderick strongly disapproves of his sister's engagement, because he believes that the Usher bloodline is cursed, and is determined that the family end with him and his sister.

Director Roger Corman and distributor American-International Pictures were known at the time for churning out super low-budget, black-and-white "B" movies, for drive-ins, and grindhouse cinemas, as well as filling out the bottom half of double-bills and kid's matinees.  However the feeling was that the market for those movies was starting to decline, and Corman convinced AIP to put a bit more money behind this film and make it in colour, with some attempt at decent production values, and based on a respected literary source.  Acclaimed horror writer Richard Matheson (author of I Am Legend (1954), The Shrinking Man (1956) and numerous episodes of The Twilight Zone) adapted Edgar Allan Poe's short story into a literate and intelligent script.  Although it was expensive by Roger Corman and AIP standards, this was still a low-budget film, and takes place entirely within the confines of the mansion with only four speaking roles, and the meat of the drama is the struggle between Roderick and Philip for Madeline, whether she likes it or not.  Vincent Price is the standout, turning in a sensitive, quiet performance as the tormented Roderick, making what could be a straightforward villain, pitiable and sympathetic.  Also, he believes that he is doing the right thing, no matter how unpleasant it may be.  Myrna Fahey is effective as the unhappy Madeline.  However, Mark Damon is never really more than the typical square-jawed hero.  The film is directed with style, and Corman manages to get every bit of melodrama from the story.  The house itself becomes a character in the story, with it's constant creaking and crumbling, as it moves toward it's final dissolution.  It really needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible in high definition, to get all the impact from the beautifully designed sets, and such, vibrant colour photography.

Also released simply as House of Usher, it was quite a big hit in it's day, and became the first of eight movie based on Edgar Allan Poe stories that Roger Corman made with Vincent Price.

Mark Damon and Vincent Price in The Fall of the House of Usher

      

Full Moon in Paris

 Year of Release:  1984

Director:  Éric Rohmer

Screenplay:  Éric Rohmer

Starring:  Pascale Ogier, Tchéky Karyo, Fabrice Luchini

Running Time:  102 minutes

Genre:  Drama, comedy

Young interior designer Louise (Ogier) lives with her fiancé Rémi (Karyo) in the suburbs of Paris.  Feeling left out from the nightlife of the city centre and missing the freedom of her single life, Louise decides to buy a pied-à-terre as a second home.

This is the fourth of writer-director Éric Rohmer's "Comedies and Proverbs" cycle.  It's a well made film, with each shot elegantly composed and staged.  It consists of long conversations about the nature of love and freedom.  Louise and Rémi love each other, but they are very different.  Louise wants to enjoy her life and freedom but Rémi wants to stay home, and resents her from going out without him, although Louise also enjoys hanging out in her new apartment working and reading and relaxing on her own.  However, it soon turns out that freedom can have drastic consequences.  It's a slow-moving film, and the deliberate pace may alienate some viewers, however, for the patient viewer, it does have it's rewards.   The performances are appealing, particularly Pascale Ogier, who is fantastic in the lead role.

Fabrice Luchini and Pascale Ogier in Full Moon in Paris

   

The Lighthouse

Year of Release:  2019

Director:  Robert Eggers

Screenplay:  Robert Eggers and Max Eggers

Starring:  Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe

Running Time:  109 minutes

Genre:  Period drama, horror

In the late 19th century, two lighthouse keepers (or "wickies") head out to tend to a remote lighthouse off the coast of New England.  When they are stranded at the lighthouse during a terrible storm, their sanity begins to unravel due to the stress, the lack of supplies, the harsh conditions on the island, their isolation and their heavy drinking.

Director and co-writer Robert Eggers first came to prominence in 2016 with his feature debut The Witch, and has come out with one of the strangest films in recent years.  Filmed in crisp black-and-white, with dialogue influenced by the journals of lighthouse keepers of the period and the works of 19th Century American writer Sarah Orne Jewett, with elements from Herman Melville, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allan Poe, the film mixes bleak realism, surreal fantasy and elements of lowbrow comedy (there are a surprising amount of fart jokes).  The film is almost entirely a two hander between Robert Pattinson as the neurotic newcomer and Willem Dafoe, as the irritable, superstitious veteran, both turning in fantastic performances, alternating between tentative friendliness, almost homoerotic intimacy, odd-couple comedy and real menace and threat as the balance of powers shifts in some unexpected ways.  The film almost feels like a queasy nightmare, and a relic from a previous age.  It's full of references to art, literature and mythology, and cinematically feels like a folk horror film from Ingmar Bergman or Carl Theodor Dreyer, although it properly belongs to a world far older than cinema.  This is a film that may not exactly be enjoyable in a conventional sense, but people will be looking at it and analysing it for years to come.

 Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse

Host

Year of Release:  2020

Director:  Rob Savage

Screenplay:  Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage,  Jed Shepherd

Starring:  Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward, Teddy Lind, Seylan Baxter

Running Time:  57 minutes

Genre:  Horror

While in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, six bored friends decide to take part in an online seance over Zoom.  It all appears to be a fun distraction from being stuck in their own homes, until it becomes apparent that a supernatural entity has been summoned.

This found-footage British horror film takes place entirely over a Zoom call.  It was filmed under the quarantine restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic, Savage directed remotely, with each of the  actors handling their own lighting, camera, stunts and practical effects.  This is a film very much of it's time, and could be the first film of the COVID era.  However, in many ways this is quite a traditional found-footage film, with many of the scare tactics being familiar from films such as Paranormal Activity (2007), and Unfriended (2014), which also takes place over a group video chat.  The backdrop of the lockdown is effective for a horror film, since we can all relate to it, the claustrophobia, and boredom, and also, for some people, being stuck with someone who we may not want to be with.  This is one of the better found footage films, and certainly worth watching for horror fans.

Haley Bishop, Caroline Ward, Emma Louise Webb, Jemma Moore and Radina Drandova in Host