Film Reviews by NP

We have two ‘iconic’ characters from the franchise now: Michael of course, and Laurie Strode, played by the mighty Jamie Lee Curtis: more mature now, but still very much in possession of ‘the body’ she was famed for back in the 1980s. Strode is now a self-confessed basket-case, which allows her grand-daughter plenty of opportunities to appeal to the teen-audience by dishing out life-advice for granny. “Get over it,” for example, in relation to her ongoing trauma caused by events in the original film. Another familiar face – and I realise this may be a minority thrill among this film’s fans – is that of Dr Sartain, who has been looking after Michael since Dr Loomis is now dead, like the actor who played him (we get a brief and very welcome voice-over from Donald Pleasance early on). Sartain is played by Haluk Bilginer, who was terrific – also in the 1980s – as roguish Mehmet in BBC soap EastEnders when it was at the height of its powers.

The associated teens here are as silly as you would expect. Quick witted, sexually arrogant and fashionably stoned. They don’t annoy too much, but the weightier material is reserved for two pod-casters who are eager to get inside the mind of Michael, Aaron Korey(Jefferson Hall) and Dana Haines (Rhian Rees). They don’t have much time to achieve this.

I’ve never been massively into this franchise. I found the first film enjoyable and Rob Zombie’s 2007 reboot breathed new life into a fairly standard central character. All other sequels, or reimaginings, I have found incredibly tedious. This version, after giving Michael such a build-up, chooses to begin his latest mild killing spree in curiously muted fashion. There is no sense of occasion. That Michael always happens to go on a rampage on Halloween, and that he is referred to as ‘boogie man’ has seemed to me a blatant merchandise ploy. That said, when John Carpenter’s theme music kicks in, there’s no denying its power.

I found this rather lacklustre to be honest. Once again for example, a major moment of drama occurs because one teen kisses another teen. It is difficult to care because firstly, the characters are inoffensive but vacuous, and secondly, Michael’s strolling round leisurely hacking people up (often off camera, surprisingly and disappointingly). A sadly diluted environment for this much lauded return.

I was first moved to watch this because it been described as a giallo in several articles, and stars the fearsome Klaus Kinski. I came away from it deciding it is definitely not a giallo, and that Kinski’s involvement was far too brief.

There’s no black gloved killer, no nudity, no gore and no rousing soundtrack. What was interesting to me that I spotted that heroine Alice’s short hairstyle was in fact a wig (the join was given away in a close-up early on), and her longer hair – a wig in the film – seems actually to be actress Florinda Bolkan’s real hair.

That moment of self-congratulation aside, I found this to be an intriguing, rather artily-shot thriller. Luckily the moon shots are brief in total, leaving us more time to enjoy the elegant architecture and beautifully shot (this was director Luigi Bazzoni’s last film) locations in Rome and Turkey. In her bid to reclaim her memory, Alice runs into a little girl with piercing eyes, who looked familiar to me. Turns out little Nicoletta Elmi had also starred in ‘A Bay of Blood’, ‘Who Saw her Die?’, ‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ and ‘Deep Red’ (among others) by this time – not a bad resume for an 11 year old.

As for everything else, the occasionally muggy story is undoubtedly lifted by the acting. Bolkan is extremely good, and she is good company. Peter McEnery as Henry is also very good, never quite letting us fully believe in him as either a hero or villain.

This Japanese ghost story, otherwise known as ‘A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove’ reminds me, in its early stages at least, of an Ingmar Bergman film. Everything is desolate and comfortless. There is minimalist music and settings, and an extraordinarily brutal opening scene is carried out without spectacle. When a group of Samurai soldiers rape and kill two women and then set fire to their home, it is carried out with the minimum of fuss, with the soldiers simply leaving to carry on with their day once the deed has been done.

The ghosts of the two women, Yone (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law Shige (Kiwako Taichi), cause problems for the governor, Minamoto no Raiko (Kei Sato) by seducing and the tearing out the throats of various soldiers, so he orders Gintoki (Kichiemon Nakamura) to find and destroy them. Inconveniently for all concerned, however, Gintoki finds that the two women are the spirits of his mother and wife, and they have made a pact to kill every Samurai they meet.

This engaging story is based on a supernatural folk-tale and is very nicely directed by Kaneto Shindo, who makes the most of the twin spectres’ sporadic appearances and utilizes subtle special effects to remind us they are not of this world. This is especially true when events take on yet darker and more fantastical tones, many of which involve cats.

Apart from being critically acclaimed (quite rightly), Nobuko Otowa won a Best Actress award, and Kiyomi Kuroda won an award for his cinematography.

A fairly annoying couple Paul (Josh Stewart) and Adrienne (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) are driving to a wedding. He doesn’t appear to be paying much attention to the road as he drives and she seems lazily determined to stimulate him into sex. They pull into the roadside ‘Roy’s Motel’ where they meet weird Frank (Chris Browing) and his even stranger wife Sandy (Angela Featherstone). They decide that things are not quite as they seem.

Throughout the film, we learn more about why the characters are the way they are. We also meet an unblinking fellow guest who claims to be The Son of God (Afemo Omilami). Only I’m not sure things are even quite *that* simple.

The pace is extremely slow, and there is a murkiness to the effectively isolated location and the characters who stay within it. I get the impression that writer/director Chad Feehan isn’t interesting in telling an ordinary, linear, or straightforward story and clearly feels the audience should share that viewpoint. There are no concessions to those who might want ‘Beneath the Dark’ to get on with whatever it is trying to say, and there are generally few standout moments – at least the cast are all very convincing and keep a certain interest. It takes far too long and too many unsavoury events for Paul to reason that he and Adrienne should leave, but again, that doesn’t seem something we are encouraged to be bothered about. Perceived failings within the film’s structure and pace seem to be a deliberate artistic decision.

On occasions, you cannot beat sitting back and watching a society of the living dead getting massacred in graphic and bloody ways. Based on a video game, this sequel to 2015’s ‘Dead Rising: Watchtower’, begins with a gaggle of earnestly perfect-looking females assuring hero, square-jawed Chase Carter (played by square-jawed Jesse Metcalfe) that whatever happened in the previous film, he’s still a great guy. They are the core of a group of journalists who have stumbled upon a government secret, with a briefly seen Billy Zane popping up as the evil scientist Rand.

After an impressive pre-credits sequence, the pace slackens considerably. The direction, by Pat Williams, is first rate for a modestly budgeted adventure such as this, and ensures that, even during the extended periods when nothing of interest is happening, at least it looks good. But where are the zombies, you might be asking?

It takes a good while for them to appear, but when they do, the cinematography does them proud, although for such a project as this, the various impressive action sequences are light on gore – although what there is looks great.

I think the jokeless, daytime-soap earnestness that permeates every scene is my main issue with this. The actors are fine, but their characters have no real spark about them, nothing for the audience to latch onto or care about. Apart from this issue, I enjoyed ‘Endgame’. It could perhaps be described as an espionage zombie story, with as much attention paid to political villainy as there is to skull-like living cadavers having their brains splashed across the concrete.

Jonah (Sharlto Copley) wakes up in a pit full of corpses. Stumbling into a nearby isolated house, he finds three testosterone-filled men and two women. There’s clearly some shared confusion here – the men determined to outstare each other, the women tense. And they all have piercing blue eyes – all except the oriental woman (played by Josie Ho), who is also mute.

The film seems to be attempting to be a mood-piece and succeeds to an extent. The cinematography, moments of gore and subtle use of incidental music do everything they can to convince us that something is very wrong. I think my initial problem with this is that the characters are all carved from the same wood – all intense, at the end of their tether. No-one is sure who they are or how they got here, and so form an uneasy alliance.

And yet I warmed to them due to the fact that events seem to be spiralling out of their control. Rather than clearing up the mystery of how they came to be here, and the reason for the scattering of stringed up corpses in the woodland around, things seem to be deteriorating, and the pressure seems to be having a psychological effect on them. Or is it something else …?

This begins with an intriguing premise and slowly builds upon it. The cast, especially Erin Richards as Sharon and Thomas Kretschmann as Lucas, are very good and convey the nerve-shredding frustration they share – as Jonah, Copley is excellent as (what could possibly be) the truth begins to dawn on him. And yet there is more than one truth they have to cope with. Filmed in Hungary and directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, ‘Open Grave’ is rewarding viewing, if you are prepared to stick with it.

An adaption of one of Stephen King’s lesser-known books, ‘Cell’ wastes no time in getting things moving. Within minutes, the normal, rational, aggravating general public quickly become slavering, rabid killers. John Cusack, all Botox and hair-dye, stars alongside un-augmented Samuel L. Jackson as Clay and Tom, two bland but well-played people thrown together by the conflagration.

I haven’t read the book on which this is based, but I notice King is the screenplay’s co-writer. The reason for the mass transformation into zombie-types (they revert into twitching human-looking killers rather than the more impressive, rotting cadaver variety – Cusack’s plastic surgery makes him look a good deal less natural than the aggressors) is something to do with their cell-phones: hence the title.

To me, this is what it is: a fairly ambiguous thing to say, I admit. It’s just another zombie film, really. It boasts a decent budget, some effective set-pieces, some unconvincing effects and creatures that rely far too much on hordes of actors gurning than any particularly frightening make-up. It also gets deathly dull very quickly, I’m sorry to say. Little in the way of humour, and despite the lengthy bouts of dialogue, there’s no real character development. It’s all a bit strange and far from satisfying, as if despite King’s involvement, no-one knew what kind of film they wanted to make.

I was tempted to give up on this a number of times, but persevered in order to see if there was any kind of pay-off at the end. There wasn’t.

Will Ash is excellent as Zakes Abbot, a young man whose evening turns out to be worse than anything he has ever known. His girlfriend Beth (Christine Bottomley) spends most of the time yelling at him, and everyone he meets is pretty unpleasant. The man who drives the truck that crosses his path this particular rainy night is the worst of all, and some of the contrivances Abbott resorts to in order to escape his clutches threaten to topple into farce.

The details and motives of the faceless villain are kept deliberately vague, but through Abbot, we see enough evidence to know it is all pretty appalling, and the pace is kept nice and tight and full of tension. There is a degree of repetition, though, with the efforts made to evade Abbot’s ever-present threat of capture, but it all moves quickly and dramatically enough for us not to have to dwell on that unduly.

Director Mark Tonderai maintains the solid pace throughout with the speed of events engaging enough for us not to dwell on the fact that this is basically 90 minutes of Abbot escaping one life-threatening situation, only to topple headlong into another.

There is no waiting around in this refreshing gothic horror offering, for moments of horror are on display very effectively as soon as the 93 minute running time begins. The visuals are also stunning from the offset – I am put in mind of the faux-European feel of Hammer films, but with a massively increased budget.

A priest is sent by the Vatican to investigate the suicide of a young Nun from a Romanian abbey, and uncovers a demonic power. The power has some connections with ‘The Conjuring (2013)’ and its burgeoning franchise. Luckily, however, you don’t have to be familiar with that series of films to understand much of what goes on here.

I would say that the film as a whole is solid rather than spectacular, interesting rather than essential. It does, however, contain some memorable set-pieces (including a very uncomfortable scene of someone being buried alive), some nicely shot moments and a good air of unholy evil courtesy of Director Corin Hardy.

Demián Bichir plays Father Burke, Taissa Farmiga is Sister Irene, Jonas Bloquet is Maurice "Frenchie" Theriault and Bonnie Aarons is The Nun – the acting is uniformly impressive and is never reduced to second place behind the myriad of horror effects.

This is the story of a nice girl who enters into a nasty town and a dark business: of course, her modelling career is superficially bright white and pink neon. But when Jesse (Ellie Fanning) wanders into a studio photo-shoot, all fairy-tale dress and golden locks, and the Neanderthal photographer Jack (Desmond Harrington) tells her to take off her clothes, the awkwardness is all consuming. She is 16 years old, has been told to tell anyone who asks that she is 19.

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn takes his time with the atmospherics and gives us plenty of reason to feel for naïve Jesse. Cliff Martinez’s music is very Eighties, very electronic. But where is all this going, I wonder as I watch?

Smiling turns to sneering as other models become increasingly jealous of Jesse’s natural beauty and un-cynical personality. This is a cut-throat, production-line, cattle market catwalk trade. With that leisurely established, events are free to become more and ever more disturbing, gory and surreal. Previously dependable characters reveal themselves to have strange depths and perversions that border on unreality.

This film ultimately could be many things: a comment on the fashion world, the vagaries and obsessions with beauty and perfection, or simply the superficial silliness of human beings. What started as a fairly coherent story slides sideways into weird set pieces rather than going forward in any traditional way. The lack of depth to the characters and plot could be said to mirror the superficial business about which events revolve, or it could be attributed to a project that is more style over substance. It is not easy to categorise, nor is it meant to be, I suspect, but I quite enjoyed it as a horror film along the lines of David Lynch or JG Ballard. It doesn’t need to take so long to tell its story, I think, but the acting is first rate. Keanu Reeves, never a huge favourite of mine, is great as the deeply unpleasant landlord Hank, and Fanning excels as the burgeoning central character.

Anthology films are few and far between recently. This project uses the structure as a way of showcasing nine often very short vignettes independently created by a different team and shown as a collection of unsavoury tales collected on a videotape. The tape falls into the hands, or rather is left at the door, of a young woman (Andrea Monia). The purpose of the videotape forms the enveloping story-line.

I won’t go into details about the instalments, because their originality is very satisfying and it would be a shame to spoil that. Sometimes, instead of any detailed story, they are simply moments, like in a dream, of surreal occurrences which are nevertheless detailed and grounded enough to satisfy on their own merits. There are moments that had me turning away due to the graphic special effects, but this is far from drenched in gore. Rather, each weird tale builds up an ambience that is deliberately uneven and unpredictable.

This is a sequel to the original ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ (2013), which was directed and produced by a different team. According to some reviews, the original was superior to this. This excites me, because I haven’t seen it, and for the most part, I found this refreshingly original and generally well made.

The idea of a malevolent scarecrow is such an appealing one, it’s a constant surprise to me that every film based on that premise I have seen is so mixed. This, sadly, is no exception. I have no problem with a low budget. Some of my favourite films are chronically under-funded. Stilted acting is not a huge issue for me. Sound problems synonymous with such projects is a minor irritant. Yet these things, alongside listless characters (with a strange collection of mangled accents), repetitive dialogue, a thin story-line with no originality, a running time that seems to last a lot longer than it actually does, ensure things become very dull very quickly.

Years ago, June’s parents were murdered by a scarecrow who rises every 20 years. This time, he’s seeking a bride, bless him. We get a quickly told backstory, involving curses and a murdered man having his eyes pecked out, and that’s about it. Claire-Maria Fox plays May, a faded radio host, who inherits a large Welsh farm house. With a motley group of friends, she sets about solving the mystery of the scarecrow. Before the opening credits have rolled, we have three attacks. Each victim reacts in exactly the same way: sensing ‘something’ behind them, they turn around ever-so-slowly to confront the hooded horror.

Director Louise Warren and writer Shannon Holiday mix some effective flourishes (especially towards the rather touching finale) to what is otherwise a drawn-out and unengaging story-line. There are some excruciating moments too, to be honest: in a séance scene for example, the camera pans round slowly across to the four characters taking part, which leads to a long pause between lines of dialogue as each actor waits for the camera to fall on them, leaving the others gesticulating wildly as they await a response. Possibly May’s boyfriend Darren (Manny Jai Montana) emerges as my favourite – it’s a good, unforced performance that manages to escape the dialogue issues infecting the others.

After what might be described as a rather uneven debut series for Jodie Whittaker's 13th incarnation of The Doctor, 2018's New Year special proves that the show is still more than capable of delivering the goods. Concentrating on what it does best, Doctor Who's showrunner and head writer Chris Chibnall reintroduces us to the series's most fearsome monster. After vowing only to bring new villains and aliens to his first series, he has still shown a certain restraint here. The singular returnee is, by its very nature, a nuts-and-bolts affair - but still capable of causing a great deal of trouble. Not only a reintroduction, but a reminder of the power and scariness of the returning baddie. You all know what it is, but I ain't saying!

The cast are terrific. Jodie's Doctor is a bundle of nervous energy, Ryan (Tosin Cole) has his own story to tell, Graham (Bradley Walsh) provides the bedrock to it all, with some funny one-liners. And Yaz (Mandip Gill) - dear old Yaz - who has yet to be given anything really interesting to do, continues to be my favourite, primarily because I really want to know more about this likeable, loyal young police woman. Hopefully future Doctor Who can give us - and her - a really interesting story in her own right.

For now though, Doctor Who has reinvented itself as a slightly more intimate, less spectacular series. For the most part, this works, especially when something earth shattering does threaten to happen - as in 'Resolution.'

I was surprised to find this film was made in 1957. The production style made me think ‘Voodoo Woman’ was made at least fifteen years earlier.

Smooth, deeply disinterested Tom Conway plays Dr. Roland Gerard, a Frankenstein wannabe determined to make a new life form out of a young woman using the magic of voodoo. Ultimately, he might even breed the resultant creature and … take over the world, probably. Maria English plays Marilyn Blanchard, a cold hearted manipulator and killer who would do anything to get what she wants. It takes most of the running time to get these two characters together, and she proves a perfect choice for his ideal woman on which to experiment. She’s not easily sympathised with though, and English gives her not a moment of warmth. Hers is my favourite performance in the film.

This is a very low budgeted Samuel Z. Arkoff/Alex Gordon production, and subtle lighting gives the impression of more money being spent than is the case. The resultant creature, however, is a hoot. Wisely, Director Edward L Cahn obscures our view of the dear old white-haired curio for the most part, because it really doesn’t look very fearsome at all.

Mike ‘Touch’ Connors – yes, ‘Touch’ is his nickname – plays rugged hero Ted Bronson, and blond Mary Ellen Kay is nice Susan, wife of evil Dr. Gerard, and original focus of his indecipherable experiments. The evil Doctor takes to wearing a hilarious straw hat pulled over the eyes to aid his experiments. He even says that ‘nothing will stop me now’ towards the end.

The whole thing is a determined, fairly wretched ‘B movie’, with every effort made to ensure it never rises much above adequate. It’s a fairly fun ride, charming even, but never threatens any kind of greatness.

Voodoo Woman.

I was surprised to find this film was made in 1957. The production style made me think ‘Voodoo Woman’ was made at least fifteen years earlier.

Smooth, deeply disinterested Tom Conway plays Dr. Roland Gerard, a Frankenstein wannabe determined to make a new life form out of a young woman using the magic of voodoo. Ultimately, he might even breed the resultant creature and … take over the world, probably. Maria English plays Marilyn Blanchard, a cold hearted manipulator and killer who would do anything to get what she wants. It takes most of the running time to get these two characters together, and she proves a perfect choice for his ideal woman on which to experiment. She’s not easily sympathised with though, and English gives her not a moment of warmth. Hers is my favourite performance in the film.

This is a very low budgeted Samuel Z. Arkoff/Alex Gordon production, and subtle lighting gives the impression of more money being spent than is the case. The resultant creature, however, is a hoot. Wisely, Director Edward L Cahn obscures our view of the dear old white-haired curio for the most part, because it really doesn’t look very fearsome at all.

Mike ‘Touch’ Connors – yes, ‘Touch’ is his nickname – plays rugged hero Ted Bronson, and blond Mary Ellen Kay is nice Susan, wife of evil Dr. Gerard, and original focus of his indecipherable experiments. The evil Doctor takes to wearing a hilarious straw hat pulled over the eyes to aid his experiments. He even says that ‘nothing will stop me now’ towards the end.

The whole thing is a determined, fairly wretched ‘B movie’, with every effort made to ensure it never rises much above adequate. It’s a fairly fun ride, charming even, but never threatens any kind of greatness.