Alone in Berlin

 Year of Release:  2016

Director:  Vincent Pérez

Screenplay:  Vincent Pérez, Achim von Borries and Bettine von Borries, based on the novel Every Man Dies Alone (also known as Alone in Berlin) by Hans Fallada

Starring:  Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt

Running Time:  103 minutes

Genre:  Period drama, war

Berlin, 1940:  Otto (Gleeson) and Anna Quangel (Thompson) are an ordinary, working class couple.  When they receive news of the death of their only son in battle, the Quangels disillusionment with the Nazi regime increases, and they decide to take a stand.  The couple write postcards criticising the regime and distribute them all over Berlin.  Tenacious Gestapo detective Escherich (Brühl) is assigned to investigate and put a stop to the postcards.

Based on the acclaimed novel by Hans Fallada, this is loosely based on the true life case of Otto and Elise Hampel who wrote and circulated postcards criticising the Nazis throughout Berlin from 1940 until 1943, and the film is dedicated to them.  Given the subject matter you would expect this to be a dour, grim film, and it certainly is.  It is powerful though, and it's call to rebellion and protest, no matter how small it may seem, is still relevant today.  The film captures a grey, paranoid world where everyone lives under suspicion.  It features some great performances, and the story is an interesting one.  It's a small scale drama, that occasionally feels like a television film, and lacks the punch that the book had, however it is a strong and relevant piece of work.

Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson in Alone in Berliné

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

 Year of Release:  1982

Director:  Tommy Lee Wallace

Screenplay:  Tommy Lee Wallace 

Starring:  Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy

Running Time:  98 minutes

Genre:  Horror, science-fiction

When a man is murdered in hospital, Dr. Daniel Challis (Atkins) teams up with the dead man's daughter, Ellie Grimbridge (Nelkin), to investigate.  The trail leads to a secretive small town in California called Santa Mira, which is owned by mysterious toy manufacturer Conal Cochran (O'Herlihy), who runs the Silver Shamrock company.   The company specialise in Halloween masks, particularly their hugely popular range of three designs: A pumpkin, a witch and a skull.  They advertise their masks with an endless series of annoying TV adverts featuring an irritating countdown jingle ("Three more days til Halloween... Halloween... Halloween... Three more days til Halloween... Silver Shamrock!").  Dan and Ellie soon realise that Cochran is combining advanced technology with ancient sorcery to play a sadistic and lethal Halloween trick on the children of the United States.

The main problem with this film is, despite the title, it has nothing at all to do with the other films in the Halloween franchise.  Michael Myers, the unstoppable murderer of the previous films, does not appear at all here.  In fact it doesn't even seem to be set in the Halloween universe, evidenced by the fact that the original film is shown on television art a couple of points.  As originally conceived by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, who wrote the original film, the Michael Myers plotline would be abandoned and the franchise would continue as almost an anthology series with each subsequent film being a standalone horror film focussing on a different aspect of the Halloween series, however this idea was abandoned after the negative reception to Halloween III and Michael Myers returned for subsequent instalments.  

The thing is this film is not really that bad.  While the central premise is ludicrous, it is an enjoyable science-fiction conspiracy thriller, with supernatural horror elements.  The film was originally written by acclaimed British writer Nigel Kneale, creator of the groundbreaking Quatermass TV serials, but the studio was unhappy with the lack of horror and wanted Kneale to amp up the gore and violence, and so Kneale stepped away and had his name removed from the credits.  The film moves along at a slick pace, and the performances are strong.  The special effects are gruesome and effective.  The story really is pretty ridiculous, but it does have it's share of surprises, and a surprisingly bleak ending.  

Tom Atkins and Stacey Nelkin in Halloween III: Season of the Witch