Author Archives: Corin Savage

Prince of Darkness (1987)

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Prince of DarknessQuantum theory, sentient liquid, 80’s synth scores and Alice Cooper. Today I discuss Prince of Darkness which is quite possibly John Carpenter’s strangest film, and that’s saying a lot. By the way, some minor spoilers ahead.

When an old priest belonging to a secret sect tasked with protecting the world from an ancient evil dies, another priest (Donald Pleasence) has to unravel the mystery of what he had been guarding humanity from. He enlists the help of Quantum Physics professor Howard Birack (Victor Wong) and his group of PhD students to try and discover the true nature of the swirling green liquid that the old priest had been guarding before it destroys the world.

Now, the script that Martin Quatermass (aka John Carpenter) created is certainly unique, especially where the antagonist is concerned. The evil, self-aware liquid (that’s right, you heard me) soon forces itself from it’s container and into the mouth of one of the students where it is then transmitted via direct mouth-to-mouth-vomit (!) into the bodies of other students, possessing each of them along the way.

So, credit where credit is due, that is certainly an interesting concept and the film does do a good job in the first act of creating a sense of dread and the feeling of a powerful, otherworldly menace threatening our very existence. In addition to this there were some discussions about quantum theory and the nature of reality itself that I found really interesting. However, that sense of dread and intrigue dissipated as I began to have far too many questions that should have been addressed.

For instance “why doesn’t anyone call the cops when people are blatantly murdered outside in the open or turn into giant piles of living bugs?” I mean, other than the groups of possessed hobos wandering around with Alice Cooper, the “evil” doesn’t appear to affect anyone else outside the abandoned church where the students are conducting the research. Also “why would a group of scientists be so quick to wholeheartedly believe in a bat-shit crazy story about the liquid in the basement being a manifestation of pure evil and Jesus being an alien based on the translated text from one source?” Now, to be fair one of the students does remain highly skeptical but that’s not nearly enough to counter-balance the ridiculous behavior of the others.

I feel like Quatermass (as he sometimes like to be called) is operating under a very vague understanding of how scientific research works. That’s why the so-called scientists of this film can declare an object that could only have been made by modern era humans is seven million years old without having to clarify it with a statement like “but of course that’s impossible!” Or extrapolate a profoundly crazy theory that the liquid is conscious and able to move objects psychically based on nothing more than a fucking seismograph reading!

The situation is not helped by the mediocre performances from the cast complete with some terrible attempts at comic relief that only succeed in exacerbating the inherent lack of realism. I will say that Donald Pleasence certainly does the best job in portraying a convincing character but others (I’m looking at you Dennis Dun) are distractingly bad.

All in all, an interesting and original idea that was poorly executed and not really worth tracking down to watch. A few scenes offer some interesting scares (the man into bugs one was actually incredibly creepy) but there just isn’t enough here to make up for the frustration of the shoddy plot. Maybe that’s why John Carpenter chose to hide behind a pseudonym with an esoteric sci-fi reference in it rather than use his own, highly recognizable, name.

1.5 Stars Red

 

Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer (1992)

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Tetsuo 2When it comes to sequels, making one for Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s original cyberpunk masterpiece Tetsuo must rank up there as one of the most difficult to pull off. How to stay true to the unbridled insanity of the original while at the same time taking the story, such as it is, in new and interesting directions? I will say, there certainly were some big changes here. So how did it fair when stacked up against the classic first entry to this insane universe? Well, let’s discuss Tetsuo 2:Body Hammer.

First off I should mention that this isn’t actually a sequel but rather a reimagining of the original story. Tomorowo Taguchi is back, playing another “salaryman” who this time goes by the name Taniguchi Tomoo. The film actually abandons the gleeful insanity of the original to follow a more standard plot structure this time and, even more shockingly, is in color.

Taniguchi is simply a meek businessman who lives a normal life with his wife and son and, other than not having any memories from before he was adopted at the age of eight, has nothing particularly unusual about his life. His normal life is shattered (obviously, otherwise there’s no movie) when skin-head thugs kill his son and shoot Taniguchi with a strange metal gun. He is then taken to an industrial building where his mind is experimented on to provoke the release of the metal-morphing powers, that he now possesses, in a controlled environment. That is until things get out of control.

There is actually a lot going on with the plot in this film and rather than the balls-to-the-wall mania of the original the pacing this time goes through a series of lulls and sprints. Tsukamoto provides more explanation into the origin of the powers as well as the characters’ backstory . He also delves into the motivations and back-story of a secret society of skin-heads, a new addition in this outing, that wants to possess the metal-transforming powers for themselves. And indeed it makes sense to want to use it as a weapon as the transformation manifests as controllable protruding guns this time around rather than the metal-tumor chaos of the first one. So, the transformed are more Terminator, less metal-plagued monster.

There does seem to be an attempt to widen the audience as the plot more closely resembles that of a standard action film rather than an abstract art piece. There is even a (possibly unintentional) homage to the first Alien film. Ultimately, this shift in style is to the detriment of the film itself creating a very different experience from the kinetic madness of the first film.

That’s not to say there isn’t a lot to love about Tetsuo 2. The film is still far and away much more interesting than the vast majority of films out there and there are many scenes where Tsukamoto uses time lapse effects and stop-motion animation to remind you that you are still in fact watching a Tetsuo film. He also takes advantage of the fact that the film is in color to guide the emotional journey of the viewer from the muted, dark, metallic blue of the skin-head’s industrial lair to the brighter yellows of the calmer outdoor flashback scenes. And the story itself is complex and unsettling with interesting twists and without clearly defined heroes and villains or easy answers. It may follow more of an action plot structure than the first film but is far weirder and more interesting than anything Michael Bay will ever direct.

The largest challenge that Tetsuo 2 faces is it’s inevitable comparison to the original, superior film. That being said though, it’s certainly a trip worth taking, if you can find it. But track it down you should because Shin’ya Tsukamoto has once again taken us down the rabbit hole into a dark, fascinating world of metal-infused insanity.

3.5 Stars Red

The Sentinel (1977)

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The SentinelThe Sentinel is a lesser known film that was allegedly created as Universal’s response to The Exorcist which was made four years prior. And while it does in fact have some thematic elements that draw comparisons to that film, it actually seems to garner more inspiration from Rosemary’s Baby. So, the question naturally becomes “does it stand up those monumental horror classics but was unfairly relegated into near obscurity? Or is there a reason why it doesn’t often come up in the conversation when classic religious-based horror is discussed?”

The story follows model Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) who is devoted to her slick, lawyer boyfriend Michael (Chris Sarandon) but at the same time looking for her own apartment because she wants her own space. Despite the fact that her wealthy father soon dies, money seems to be tight so she opts for a spacious but somewhat creepy apartment where her top floor neighbor is an old blind priest who does nothing but “stare” out the window. As you can imagine, shit starts getting creepy when she’s there alone and her and Michael must figure out the truth about the building before it’s too late.

Now, I’m a big fan of slow-burn tension but forty minutes into this film I honestly had the thought “how is this even classified as a horror movie?” While The Sentinel tries to establish a world full of palpable tension where things are not as they seem, a la Rosemary’s Baby, the effort largely falls flat, resulting in large stretches of monotony. This is not to say that there aren’t scenes where the film earns it’s horror stripes. A surprisingly gruesome encounter with a ghost about halfway through and a climax that is both incredibly creepy and very inventive do help to redeem the film a great deal, even if it does come off as rather overt Christian propaganda.

Clearly, the studio had high hopes for this being an effective horror vehicle and a lot of thought did go into assembling the supporting cast, but with mixed results. Faded star Ava Gardner’s Transatlantic Accent comes off as stagy and out of place from the reset of the cast. In addition, fantastic character actors such as Christopher Walken and Jeff Goldblum show up as minor characters but are squandered on insignificant roles. On the other hand, Burgess Meredith actually does deliver an effective performance that deftly transitions from friendly old coot to one of genuine menace.

In conclusion, The Sentinel does have an original concept and some great scenes interspersed throughout (that one with the cat eating the bird certainly had a chilling weight to it) but the overall picture isn’t engaging enough to really make it worth it. If you are religion-themed horror completest, there will probably be enough here to keep you interested to the end but frankly you’d have a better time just putting in The Exorcist again.

2.5 Stars Red

Grotesque (2009)

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GrotesqueThe term “Torture Porn” was first coined back in 2006 by film critic David Edelstein describing the emerging trend of films like Hostel and Saw which featured very graphic scenes of torture and dismemberment. While scenes of graphic violence have been a staple of horror films for decades the new crop of early millennium extreme horror films brought the violence to the next level by dwelling on graphic and explicit carnage to an extent not previously seen in mainstream films. The structure of these types of films also typically mirrors the structure of a porn, hence the name, in that the primary focus of the film is a series of set-ups and titillating, explicit pay-offs. Now, I’ve seen a lot of Torture Porn films, probably all of them, but none in my experience better capture the essential nature of what a Torture Porn film is better than Koji Shiraishi’s exercise in extreme brutality, Grotesque.

The film opens with a young man and woman (Hiroaki Kawatsure and Kotoha Hiroyama) being attacked on their way back from their first date by a nameless sketchy loner in a van (Shigeo Osako). They wake up to find themselves tied up in a room at an unknown location as the nameless man begins to torture them. What follows is an hour long endurance test for the viewer as the man tests their wills to live, telling them he will free them if they can sufficiently excite him.

It would be easy to dismiss Grotesque simply as shock-value meant to titillate the most twisted and jaded of horror fans with it’s graphic and unflinching depictions of violence but that is far from the whole picture. What you really have here is an incredibly bold and fearless piece of independent filmmaking that gives the finger to every convention of watered-down Hollywood cinema that shoots for the middle and only cares about profits. This is what happens when a filmmaker doesn’t give a fuck what people think of his movie and makes the kind of film that he wants to make. It’s an incredibly punk-rock approach to filmmaking.

However, a film can have all the best intentions of being subversive and shocking but if it can’t properly execute the effects it will come off as nothing more than cheap and laughable. Rest assured though, Grotesque does NOT suffer from this problem and the gore effects are mind-blowingly realistic, making the violence all the more shocking. Eye-gouging, genital mutilation, disembowelment, to name just a few, are all pulled off with the kind of masterful realism that would make Tom Savini proud.

What I also find interesting about this film is how the audience’s emotional journey simultaneously mirrors both the villain and the victim’s. You cringe as they are brutalized and cling to hope for their survival at the same time indulging in the visceral thrill (you know you do) that the villain himself is going to such great lengths to experience. This is of course true of horror in general but it’s far more front and center in this film. It also raises an interesting point about how far some people will go to experience certain feelings, no matter what the cost. Drug addicts, gamblers, murderers, so many people in the real world take the pursuit of feeling a high to extreme and destructive lengths.

In summation, this is a harrowing and visceral experience that is not for the casual horror fan. The story itself is very stripped-down and simple and Shiraishi wisely opts for a tight 73 minute feature that keeps the tension up rather than drawing the plot out further just to reach the 90 minute mark. The story does take an unexpected sharp turn into surreal territory towards the end which is jarring at first but ultimately works to bring the story to a perfect conclusion.

4 Stars Red

Black Christmas (1974) vs Black X-Mas (2006)

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Black Xmas vs Black Xmas

Sometimes comparing an original to a remake is very simple. When the original is a masterpiece with a brilliant story that is simply watered down and cheapened by the remake then it’s a no-brainer. However, when neither film is exactly outstanding it actually makes the comparison trickier. Such is the case with Black Christmas but to it’s credit at least they waited a few decades before trotting this middling slasher out for a new coat of paint.

Both films center around a sorority house on Christmas that begins receiving disturbing phone calls from an unidentified creep. After that it’s not long before the residents of the house, in true slasher fashion, start getting gruesomely knocked off one by one by an unseen killer.

The set-up for each is basically the same but for some reason, perhaps to add more of a sense of menace, the writers of the remake decided to add an additional storyline involving the villain Billy escaping from a mental hospital for the criminally insane. This actually had the opposite effect pushing the film deeply into campy territory and taking all the power away from the scene where the first mysterious obscene phone call is made, which is a truly unsettling moment in the original film. This is also true of the copious amounts of flashback scenes, and the addition of the character of Billy’s sister, the remake included seeking to flesh out Billy’s backstory. In reality this only ends up slowing down the story and making the villain far less frightening than the mysterious killer from the original who lurked in the shadows and seemed to strike out of nowhere.

That being said though, the original does suffer from issues of it’s own. The film is punctuated by a few good kills and some effective scenes of tension, the creepy phone calls really are masterfully done, but it does spend most of the time between them with a story that severely drags. This is not helped by some comic relief scenes that further drag down the story (although that line about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a rare moment of comic brilliance).  However, I do want to acknowledge that in the context of Horror history the original does play a significant role as an early precursor to the Slasher subgenre.  It’s contribution to the genre in general has been an important one but many aspects of this film just have not aged well.

As underwhelming as the cast of the original is, they look like master thespians when compared with the utterly unbearable cast of pretty “actresses” they assembled for the remake. I swear I have never wanted a cast to die more badly in my life, so at least there was some satisfaction to be had when that began occurring in brutal ways (btw what’s with all the eyeball ripping in the remake? They’re obsessed!)

I will give credit where credit is due and say that the last half-hour or so of the remake does become more engaging as it builds towards the typical Final Girl climax. The fundamental problem with the remake though is the fact that the entire film itself has such a cheesy “campfire ghost story” kind of feeling to it. I’m surprised characters aren’t putting flashlights under their chins every time they talk about Billy’s unrealistically bad childhood. Every single shot is exaggerated, stylized and devoid of any substance or realism so you never forget you are watching a Hollywood movie.

So, despite some pacing and character development issues I am gonna give the win to the original in this case because at least I never felt like I wanted to stab my eyes out with an icicle rather than watch another minute of the witless banter between a group of actresses that prove the casting couch is alive and well.

Winner Black Christmas 1974

Dark Water (2002) vs Dark Water (2005)

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Dark Water

Often times a remake is used to update a classic film for a new generation but when the remake is a mere three years from the original it’s hard to see it as anything other than a Hollywood cash-grab.  Of course that’s not always the case as a higher budget re-imagining could actually become a sleeker, more refined version of the original that actually surpasses it.  So how does the Dark Water “update” fair against the original, made all those many, many months before?  Well, let’s discuss.

The plot in both films follows a single mother in a custody battle trying to find a place for her and her young daughter to live.  Low on money, she has to settle for an apartment in a creepy old building where she must not only contend with filthy water leaking from the ceiling but also eerie sightings of a mysterious little girl. Tension builds as the sightings become more frequent and sinister and soon she must unravel the mystery of what really happened in that building in order to try and save her family.

Right off the bat it’s clear that the remake has higher production values, although it better considering the budget is more than seven times that of the original.  That aside, the newer version took what had been a tense, subtle and heartbreaking meditation on death and strength of familial bonds and turned it into a cliched fucking ghost story. One of the most overt examples of this was in the way the character of the daughter was portrayed. In the original she simply comes across as a normal little kid and by extension the relationship with her mother presents as much more realistic and natural. In the remake they felt the need to not only make her annoyingly precocious but also invent a side story where she has an “imaginary” ghost friend which makes her character come off as creepy rather than sympathetic.

In typical remake fashion it also feels as though the director is holding your hand throughout and making sure that every aspect is explained, god forbid everyone in the audience not keep up. This can be seen in the way they replace the icy tension of the separated parents with melodramatic bickering, or the over-the-top lengths they go through to make sure you know that the landlord is sleazy and dishonest, eating a sandwich on the phone, answering his cell at the horse track, yeah I get it. Despite the fact that they try to pump up the remake with more drama, dream sequences, back story and unnecessary ancillary characters it simply comes off as boring without the solid, minimalist writing that makes you so invested in the characters and the plot of the original. Surprisingly though, the ending is essentially true to the original, albeit in the most over-dramatic, Hollywood way possible.

All in all, the only positive I can see about this remake is maybe it will bring attention to the lesser known original so that more savvy viewers can seek it out for a far better watching experience.

 

Winner Dark Water 2002

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

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e_coverMany films can be bizarre and abstract but few films truly capture the feeling of being in a living nightmare quite so well as Tetsuo: The Iron Man. However, what may seem to more casual viewers like a series of disturbing black and white images simply meant to take you on an insane visual journey, is in reality a film with a strong narrative thread connecting the central characters to a single traumatic event.

Opening on a desolate industrial landscape, reminiscent of David Lynch’s surreal masterpiece Eraserhead, the film begins with an unknown man gruesomely inserting a metal rod into his leg. Shortly after doing so however he freaks out and runs screaming into the street. The film then follows an ordinary businessman (Tomorowo Taguchi, whose character is bizarrely listed in the credits as ‘Salaryman’), as he unwillingly embarks on a hellish journey in which his body begins to turn from flesh to metal following a horrifying encounter in the subway.

With a running time of a mere 67 minutes, barely qualifying as a feature, writer/director Shin’ya Tsukamoto packs an amazing amount into this dark, disturbing and utterly amazing film. The metal itself is fascinating, presenting to the characters like rusty junk-metal tumors protruding from their skin rather than some kind of sleek cybernetic enhancement. The Salaryman also feels like an authentic tortured soul, a classic movie monster cursed by a physical transformation he can’t control that threatens to destroy everything in his life.

This is tied into what is perhaps the most central theme in the film itself which is the melding of sexuality and metal-related violence. This is a running theme throughout (giant drill-cock anyone?) but rather than being an exercise in gratuitous perversion it is deftly tied back to the central narrative event making it an integral part of the story. This is also a key example of how Tsukamoto interweaves flashbacks with the disintegrating reality of the present to give us a story that is fast-paced and frenetic while at the same time nuanced and complex.

While the film is certainly groundbreaking it just doesn’t quite reach the five star level for me of films that have deep, emotionally complex acting and a rich, polished visual style that reflects a high level of quality filmmaking regardless of the budget.  But make no mistake, the gritty visuals, high-contrast lighting, stop-motion animation and lightning quick edits make this a horrifying journey into a surreal nightmare that simply must be experienced to be believed.  Overall, highly recommended.

 

tetsuo-iron-man-shinya-tsukamoto

4.5 Stars Red

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014)

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Wyrmwood-630 Ah, the zombie film. Is there any horror subgenre more oversaturated these days? Much like the zombies themselves the films seem to be everywhere, shambling along with little change or innovation as the concept is resurrected time and again with similar, diminishing returns. As the zombie subgenre has become more and watered down with mainstream films like World War Z and Warm Bodies (zombie rom-com, seriously?) I’ve started to feel like we’ll never get back to the kind of brutal, badass action that made the zombie films great in the first place. That was until I saw Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead.


The film plays out in non-linear format following several survivors of a recent and sudden apocalyptic zombie outbreak in Australia. After losing his family in the outbreak, Barry (Jay Gallagher) eventually teams up with fellow survivors Benny (Leon Burchill) and Frank (Keith Agius) on a quest to find his sister Brooke (Bianca Brady).


Wyrmwood succeeds where so many others have failed because it knows exactly what a zombie film should be and gets right down to business. The story is fast-paced, gory and brutal but with enough innovative concepts, like zombies as a fuel source (!), to set it apart from the shambling masses of mediocrity. There’s just enough character development so that you understand and empathize with the survivors without taking away from or slowing down the plot. Added to this are the pitch-perfect performances from the indie cast and a strong visual style from director Kiah Roache-Turner which elevate the film well above it’s shockingly low budget of $160,000.


Does Wyrmwood have a mind-blowing storyline that will change the face of cinema as we know it? No, but it never claimed to and it achieves exactly what it set out to do which is create a fun, visceral ride that hits all the marks needed for a classic post-apocalyptic zombie thrill ride, homemade armor, tricked out battle car, exploding heads, etc. It also boasts fantastic cinematography that ranges from drab, washed out scenes to ones bursting with rich color which lend to the film’s unique style. All in all a superb film, seriously deserving cult classic status, that proves there is still some life left in the rotten heart of the zombie subgenre after all.

4 Stars Red