Film Reviews by NP

The brilliant John Hurt, who seems incapable of ever delivering a bad performance, wrestles with some very American dialogue in cult Director Roger Corman’s adaption of the Brian Aldiss novel. In a sleek, silver, self-driving car, Hurt – as Doctor Joseph Buchanan - is transported from Los Angeles 2031, to Switzerland 1817. He travels through a time rift he himself has created as a side-effect of a pioneering ‘ultimate weapon’ he has determined would eventually bring to an end all wars.

As a whole, this is a flawed but very interesting project that just manages to evade greatness. Yet, as an original take on the Frankenstein legend, it remains of great interest.

This is an erotic and stylish vampire story in the mould of ‘Daughters of Darkness’ and ‘The Hunger’. It looks lavish and sounds exotic (at least to my UK ears – the soft European accents of the actors occasionally make their performances seem a little flat, but there’s no denying it helps give the characters a sense of grace).

With such beautiful production values, it’s tempting to think the plot would be more profound than it is. However, the simplicity of the telling allows us to drink in the haunting landscapes, architecture and incidental score without much interruption. My only slight problem is how quickly Djuna and Paolo settle into cosy domesticity in order to underline, and contrast with Mimi’s debauchery.

This is an elegant and ‘Grand Guignol’ reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella. It is gruesome, graphic, stylish, perverse and disturbing, features an excellent cast and is painstakingly directed by Walerian Borowczyk to make the most of its richly gothic atmosphere.

‘Theatre of Fear’ is an intriguing, curious little gem. It is low budget, and some performances aren’t as strong as they might be, and there are some sound problems – but the overriding sense of weirdness and carnival perversion makes up for all of this. Many scenes are shot in uncomfortable close-up, often in sickly, artificial colours inviting us into a sulphur-lit intimacy with the ‘freaks.’

And yes, this is head and shoulders more enjoyable than Rob Zombie’s film in my view.

This Czechoslovak film is described as ‘surrealist, fantasy horror’ by Wikipedia. Directed by Jaromil Jireš, it uses the coming of age of young Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová) to display the adult world as being full of vampires, lechers and monsters.

An acquired taste certainly, but beautiful and charming as well as uncomfortable and disturbing, this is a memorable adult fairy tale whose connotations are often left in the mind of the audience. My score is 9 out of 10.

This is a terrific, wintery horror film not dissimilar to a Pete Walker production with, I suspect, a slightly more available budget.

As you might imagine, the narrative is laced with sporadic scenes of Satanic cults, ensuring we are aware – as if we weren’t already – that evil forces are behind everything. There are harder and softer-core versions of this; I don’t know which version I saw – somewhere between the two, possibly - but there are a few gloriously bright moments of gore to punctuate the autumnal gloom. There is nudity too, and no dilution of some of the unsavoury relationships between certain characters. An obscure gem, my score is 8 out of 10.

A lost-footage film written and directed by an American comedian is bound to have comedic elements within, but happily, Bobcat Goldthwait’s Bigfoot story also contains many moments that work very well as a horror film.

[Plot spoiler] The ending has led to some confusion. It appears that, from a brief glimpse, there was a woman – or women – that tends to the Bigfoot creatures and leads them to their victims. They would appear to be former missing children now grown, feral and either under some kind of spell or unable to escape their captors. This isn’t made hugely clear but certainly provides an effective shock as events draw to their grim conclusion.

Based on true events is always a tagline that makes me suspicious. In this case, it makes me nauseous, because I couldn't sleep after watching this, and I've been enjoying horror films for many years.

The most horrific aspect of this story is that there are no monsters (in the traditional sense), no special effects and there is hardly any gore. The miscreant here is a mentally unhinged Aunt called Ruth, and the gang of 'normal' children who are either related to her or simply call round for a beer and the spectacle of degrading, humiliating and relentlessly torturing Ruth's two young nieces. The nieces, 16-year-old Meg and 10-year-old Susan (who is suffering from polio) suffer unspeakable, ritualistic psychological and physical abuse.

The one glimmer of hope comes in the form of neighbour David, who befriended Ruth when she first came to stay.

Halfway through this film, I questioned what the hell I was watching, but I felt I had to continue in the hope of a happy ending. The eventual despatch of the unstable Aunt wasn't satisfying. Her exit was nothing compared to the horrors she inflicted on others. What is particularly repellent is that the regime of torture was presented as some kind of game for the local kids, who came to see Meg as a vessel for their own violent and emerging sexual outlets, and even David doesn't manage to summon up the courage to act until it is far, far too late.

This is a stunningly acted film, well directed and with a minimalist score that enhances the degradation and horror inflicted upon the two young girls. I could appreciate that. I could also appreciate the braveness of a film that actually moves and affects the viewer, especially at a time when horror has become so formulaic. But did I enjoy watching it? In all honesty, I hope nobody could.

This is a low-budget film. Let's get that out of the way. Taking its storyline from HP Lovecraft's Cool Air, it concerns a scientist's means of extending life which becomes more and more grisly as the film progresses.

It is not brimming with spectacular special effects and extravagant production values (there is a climatic explosion that doesn't convince). And yet it is mainly well acted, and the storyline is compelling, unravelling slowly so as not to reveal too many answers until toward the end. It is eccentric, grisly stuff and I really enjoyed it.

The characters we meet in 'Dead Mine' are invariably hard-bitten types, employed by inherited rich boy Warren Price to explore deserted Japanese bunkers from the war. The bravado exhibited by this collection of mercenaries is soon put to the test as the group is attacked by pirates as they near their intended location. Shortly, the group are forced to take refuge in the nearby caves, which is presumably exactly what the pirates want … for inside the caves, things take on a much more macabre turn.

This Indonesian film makes excellent use of its subject matter and presents the crumbling underground labyrinth as a truly claustrophobic, doom-laden myriad of secret corridors, death camps and impressive rooms, very moodily lit in a sickly green/yellow that compounds the unnatural atmosphere. When the Samurai types emerge - and there are loads of them - they appear unstoppable. Technically augmented, undying killers who know ‘no surrender.’ A terrifying presence!

I really enjoyed this. Two families, both laced with their own secrets, meet up at a house viewing, where they are astonished to find no one from the estate agency to greet them. Instead, there is a recorded message on a seemingly endless loop inviting them to explore each room. Bemused that both families should turn up to view the stark, isolated property at the same time, they look around briefly and decide to leave. But they can’t. All roads impossibly lead back to the house.

As with other low-budget films, the location is very important, and this is filmed in a hugely open area with a Blair Witch-type woodland nearby, all bathed in biting, crisp sunlight, creating a very evocative visual. Also, the real villains are the ‘normal’ people, often the heads of the two families. The supernatural elements just encourage the small-time villainies to break out and cause dangerous paranoia amongst the characters.

Some of Hammer’s most interesting films were made during their perceived decline and ‘Vampire Circus’ is one of the defining examples of this. It’s also probably the company’s bloodiest feature.

The cast is faultless (only the dubbing threatens to spoil things), with the evil circus people emerging as more interesting than our heroes. Emil is played brilliantly by Anthony Higgins/Corlan – smiling and stroking the face of Albert (Laurence Payne) as they throttle each other; Lalla Ward and Robin Sachs as the two dancers, are twins both seductive and deadly (dare I suggest Rollin-esque?) and fresh-faced, young and sweet Lynne Frederick makes the most of innocent Dora; Robert Tayman is Count Mitterhaus and does very well considering he is definitely dubbed by a different actor and has to wrestle with some very outsized fangs. James Whittaker’s rich, layered score is among the most haunting Hammer ever featured. Sumptuous and atmospheric, this confident film belies the company’s fortunes at the time of release.

The film has been heralded for inciting the ‘torture porn’ style of projects like ‘Saw (2004)’ and ‘Hostel (2005)’, and yet remains more effective than any of them for not giving any clue or indication as the depths of the depravity unleashed toward the close. Truly shocking, hauntingly beautiful and not easily forgotten.

This is an odd one. There’s some good acting and beautifully haunting locations on display. There’s a creepy apparition type (Shane West), and a nice, slow-burning story being told, featuring some appealing characters. Yet for some reason director Tom Provost doesn’t seem to want to make the most of the more dramatic moments.

An accident involving a rock fall is adequately staged, and yet contains no threat whatsoever. The music (provided by Jay Duerr among others) is determined to undermine such scenes. Often the incidentals are curiously jaunty when they should contain some menace.

Most characters remain unnamed; West provides a very solid ‘ghost’ – clean cut, hair gelled, looks like he might work out. Only a grey pallor indicates any other-worldliness. For a while, the most alarming things are the woman’s (Mira Sorvino) mood swings.

I applaud Provost’s desire to do something different but wish that more could have been made of the creepier moments. My score is 6 out of 10.

Fabio Testi certainly played some unorthodox ‘heroes’ in these Giallo films. Here he’s a police inspector who is quite happily having an implied affair with a habitual shoplifter. No wonder little Fauta Avelli says, “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

‘Red Rings of Fear’ is actually the final film in a ‘schoolgirls in peril’ trilogy, which also included the superior ‘What Have they Done to Solange?’ and completed with the mediocre ‘What Have They Done to our Daughters?’, and with an umbrella title like that, you know the level of sleaze you’re wading into.

A group of teenage girls known as The Inseparables seem to know more than they’re letting on regarding a recent murder, and so – purely in the line of duty, Inspector Gianni Di Salvo (Testi) turns his (professional) attention onto them.

Giallis are often accompanied by a memorable score, often by Ennio Morricone, Stelvio Cipriani, Bruno Nicolai or as here, Riz Ortolani, who fills his soundtrack with ambient thumps and crashes rather than infectious melodies.

The ending is both a surprise and a shock and proves to be the highlight of an entertaining, but middling, Giallo film. My score is 6 out of 10.