EDEN LAKE -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/7/09

 

There's a grand tradition of movies in which happy-go-lucky city folk venture into some rural setting and wind up being terrorized by psychotic locals. Most of these movies, unfortunately, aren't nearly as good as, say, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE or DELIVERANCE, and the formula more often than not results in just another inept, forgettable piece of cinematic flotsam with people running around in the woods screaming for an hour-and-a-half.

Not so, however, in the case of EDEN LAKE (2008), one of the most harrowing, painfully suspenseful, and relentlessly downbeat horror thrillers I've ever seen.

It's a pretty simple set-up: Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) drive to the country to camp out on the shore of a beautiful, secluded lake, where Steve plans to pick just the right moment to whip out an engagement ring and pop the question.

But their romantic sunbathing reverie is marred by a motley group of punk teens who blast their boom box, ogle the bikini-clad Jenny, and allow their scary-looking Rottweiler to menace her while Steve is taking a dip.

Well, Steve, of course, must do his "guy duty" and confront the surly bunch. Led by the older and considerably meaner Brett (Jack O'Connell), the kids steal Steve's land rover and go for a joyride. When Steve tries to wrestle the keys away from them, Brett's beloved dog is accidentally killed, which sparks Brett into a murderous rage.

Steve and Jenny are forced to flee for their lives, but fate conspires against them at every turn, and they both end up tortured and brutalized beyond anything they could have imagined.

When EDEN LAKE was over, I felt as though I'd just awoken from an extremely vivid and disturbing nightmare. Everything that could possibly go wrong for Steve and Jenny does go wrong as they descend quickly and inexorably into hell. Much of the film is hard to watch--not because it's especially gory, but because the situations are so intense and realistic.

When Steve is captured and bound with barbed wire and Brett bullies the others into taking turns slashing him with knives and box cutters, it's effective on a realistic level because the violence isn't being committed by monsters like Leatherface or over-the-top caricatures of inbred hillbillies. These are just ordinary kids--on bicycles no less--giving in to their darkest impulses in a way that happens far too often in real life, stripping the story of the usual comforting veneer of fantasy that has us laughing along with Rob Zombie's cartoonish maniacs or wondering what cool method of execution Jason will use on his next faceless victim.

Jenny fares no better as she finds herself lost in the woods with no way to call for help and little chance of escape. Naturally, a metal spike goes through her foot at one point and she spends a lot of time crawling through mud and slime, reduced to the level of a terrified animal.

One scene in which she locks herself in a shack with the injured Steve and tries desperately to tend to his grievous wounds, unable to stop the gouts of blood pouring from deep cuts, is difficult to endure simply because of the crushing sadness and despair that it evokes. And because the killers are still closing in and there's nothing she can do about it.

It gets worse. Eventually EDEN LAKE begins to resemble a twisted version of THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS with its nonstop series of horrors heaped one right after the other upon the hapless couple. Some instances, such as Jenny being forced to hide in a filthy dumpster and emerging with a coating of the most rancid slime imaginable, took me out of the movie for a bit as I thought, "Sheesh, what next?" But these moments actually help the film, serving to give us a breather from all the tension before sucking us right back in and ramping up the suspense again.

The cast does a good job of selling it all. Kelly Reilly (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) is outstanding and entirely believable as sweet-tempered preschool teacher Jenny, while Michael Fassbender (300, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) is likable as Steve even when he isn't leaving well enough alone. All of the teen castmembers are good, especially Jack O'Connell as the monstrous Brett.

First-time director James Watkins does a very surehanded job working from his own screenplay and the cinematography is way above average. David Julyan, who has scored films such as MEMENTO, THE DESCENT, and OUTLAW, avoids horror cliches and emphasizes the emotional devastation of the lead characters instead. This is especially true in the final minutes, when the last grimly-ironic pieces fall into place with a sickening thud and the music becomes heartbreakingly mournful.

It's in this last act that the hopelessness running through the rest of the story is finally driven home in the most downbeat manner possible. You won't often see a scene this powerful and bleak. The situation is so nightmarishly awful that violence and gore are no longer even necessary here--by this time, writer-director Watkins has so thoroughly woven a web of tragedy and despair that we're left stunned and haunted by it all, which is his intention.

In 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound, the DVD looks and sounds good. Extras consist of a brief "making of" featurette and a trailer.

A highly-effective and skillfully manipulative piece of filmmaking, EDEN LAKE effortlessly rises above most other films of its ilk. It's hardly the usual horror flick that relies on shock cuts to make you jump or clever gore effects to make you say "Cool!" Instead, it batters the viewer with nonstop dread and ultimately becomes a deeply depressing experience. I was relieved when it was over, as though I'd finally woken up from the nightmare, but I still can't get it out of my mind.

EDEN LAKE -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE WAX MASK -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/3/19

 

Talk about "Grand Guignol" to the max--the 1997 Gothic gorefest THE WAX MASK (Severin Films) mixes the antique ambience of early 1900s Italy with generous helpings of the extremely morbid and grotesque in this handsomely mounted shocker.

Conceived by Italian horror/giallo maestro Dario Argento (PHENOMENA, TENEBRE, SUSPIRIA) as a vehicle for the ailing Lucio Fulci (DOOR INTO SILENCE, ZOMBIE 3, THE DEVIL'S HONEY), it's a loose remake of the Vincent Price classic HOUSE OF WAX (along with MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM and numerous other wax museum horror flicks), although that's just a jumping off point for a tale of horror and gore that aims to outdo them all.

With the unfortunate passing of Fulci before filming began, directing chores were handed to first-timer Sergio Stivaletti (THE THREE FACES OF TERROR), previously known mainly for his work in the fields of SPFX and makeup.

Working from a screenplay by Argento, Fulci, and Daniele Stroppa, Stivaletti fashioned a gorgeous-looking film that leisurely unfolds its dark narrative with a keenly efficient style that's never quite as self-consciously arty as Argento's or off-the-hook unhinged as Fulci's yet has its own elegant, colorful appeal.

The story begins with the grisly aftermath of a double murder in a Paris hotel room that's witnessed by a little girl who grows up to be the beautiful Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello), still troubled by her past even as she gets a job in a wax museum in Rome which specializes in gruesome historical horrors.

The museum is run by the mysterious, creepily eccentric Boris Volkoff (Robert Hossein, RIFFIFI) and features incredibly lifelike wax figures in scenes of death designed to horrify. 

But even more horrific is the reason the figures are so lifelike--namely, each one contains the corpse of a murdered human being who has been processed in the museum's nightmarish basement laboratory and given a severe case of unsightly "wax buildup."

These scenes are the result of director Stivaletti's years of SPFX expertise and are absolutely mind-boggling as we watch one still-living victim, a hapless prostitute from a nearby house of ill-repute, strapped to a table and injected with some volatile serum while Kenneth Strickfaden-style electrical machines spark and crackle. 

But this densely-packed screenplay has a lot more to offer in the way of gory killings, dismemberments, and other carnage before the suspenseful finale in which Sonia's journalist boyfriend Andrea (Riccardo Serventi Longhi), her blind aunt Francesca (Gabriella Giorgelli), and a sympathetic police detective from her childhood (Gianni Franco) fight against time to prevent the hideously disfigured villain and his twisted henchmen from turning Sonia into one of the museum's unholy exhibits.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films features a 4k scan from the original negative supervised by Stivaletti himself. Severin outdoes themselves with this bonus menu loaded with interviews with production principles including Argento, Stivaletti, actress Gabriella Giorgelli, and others, along with vintage behind-the-scenes featurettes.

These bonus features include:

    Audio Commentary with Director/Special Effects Artist Sergio Stivaletti and Michelangelo Stivaletti
    Beyond Fulci: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng, Actress Gabriella Giorgelli and Filmmaker Claudio Fragasso
    The Chamber of Horrors: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli
    Living Dolls:  Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli
    The Mysteries of the Wax Museum:  Interview with SFX Artist Sergio Stivaletti
    The Waxworks Symphony:  Interview with Soundtrack Composer Maurizio Abeni
    The Grand Opening:  Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti and Producer Giuseppe Columbo
    Wax Unmasked: Interview with Film Writer Alan Jones
    Vintage Featurettes: Behind the Scenes, Special Effects, On Set with Dario Argento
    5.1 and 2.0 English and Italian Audio
    English with Closed Captioning, Italian with English Subtitles

Easily one of the best wax museum movies ever made, THE WAX MASK fully exploits the horrific potential of the original HOUSE OF WAX and its ilk like no previous version I've ever seen. Although lacking certain qualities of Argento or Fulci, it more than compensates with a richly-hued, stylized visual sense, lush production values, riveting scenes of carnage, and a fiery, face-melting finale.


Buy it from Severin Films

THE WAX MASK -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

BLOODY BIRTHDAY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/20/14

 

Having already released it on DVD a few years ago, Severin Films is now giving the cult classic BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981) the Blu-ray treatment with a new HD transfer "from the original vault elements."

Fans of the mind-blowing "killer kids" flick, such as myself, will be tickled pink to see it looking better than ever while still generating even more sheer, pulsating waves of "WTF?" than your usual generic stalker-killer thriller.

The Blu-ray edition is in 1080p full HD resolution, widescreen with Dolby Digital mono sound. No subtitles.

Same as with the earlier DVD, extras consist of a cheerful interview with Lori Lethin ("Don't Eat That Cake!"), a lengthy audio interview with director Ed Hunt which should be of interest to aspiring low-budget filmmakers, the entertaining featurette "A Brief History of Slasher Films", and trailers for this and other Severin Films releases.

As for the movie itself, here's my original review in all its breathless hyperbole:

In the hallowed annals of "bad seed" flicks, BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981) has to be one of the coolest. Not really a slasher, nor even a horror movie, it's basically a giddy kill-fest made novel by the fact that the three maniacs on a murder spree are just celebrating their tenth birthdays. It's kind of like GOODFELLAS with little kids, and they're more bloodthirsty than a boatload of Joe Pescis.

The movie starts out with one of those cool ideas that sets it apart from all the other similar cheapo horrors being ground out like sausage in the 80s. Three babies are born at the same time on the same day, during a solar eclipse. Somehow, a weird alignment of the planets causes each of them to be born without a conscience. Ten years later, the urge to kill hits these cute little tykes and they start racking up a body count that would make Jason proud.

Low-budget filmmaker Ed Hunt (STARSHIP INVASIONS) does a modest but efficient job of bringing his screenplay to the screen, serving up some pretty decent thrills during the film's leisurely pace. Lori Lethin (THE PREY) plays all-American girl Joyce, who's taking care of her little brother Timmy (K.C. Martel, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, E.T.) while the 'rents are away. Their house will be the scene of the film's frantic finale when our trio of homicidal cookie-grabbers descend upon them in a frenetic frenzy of rip-roarin' revenge.

Elizabeth Hoy (THE BLUES BROTHERS), who would've been perfect as the lead in THE BAD SEED, plays the role of cute little Debbie to the hilt. This angelic-looking imp has drilled a hole in the wall of her closet and sells 25-cent peeks at her big sister Beverly (MTV's Julie Brown) as she dances around naked in her bedroom. (Julie Brown fans will no doubt be willing to cough up a few quarters.) But this is nothing compared to the shocking scene in which she stages the murder of her own dad, the town sheriff (Bert Kramer), with the help of her cohorts Curtis and Steven.

Steven (Andy Freeman) is a nutty little bugger, but the bespectacled Curtis (Scott Jacoby's half brother Billy of ROAD KILL and THE BEASTMASTER) is a smirking, kill-crazy loon who fits comfortably within the ranks of the screen's most trigger-happy thrill killers.

When he isn't locking Timmy in an abandoned refrigerator in the junkyard, he's prowling around with the dead sheriff's hand cannon looking for people to blow away. This might include a playground enemy, a bossy school teacher, or the traditional teenage couple having highly gratuitous sex in the back of a van.

These kids are exhilaratingly evil without overplaying it and the murders are depicted in a matter-of-fact style that emphasizes their gleeful coldbloodedness. Debbie, whom one might refer to as "The Jump-Rope Killer", even keeps a nostalgic scrapbook of her kills and gets mad when big sis discovers it and reports it to Mom. (Big mistake!) The boys, meanwhile, are so industrious that they manage to hotwire an old car at the junkyard and attempt to run down Joyce as she searches for her missing brother.

The cast ranges all the way from the sublime to the--well, not quite sublime. Ed Hunt somehow managed not only to snag Susan Strasberg for the role of strict schoolteacher Miss Davis, but also screen veteran José Ferrer as the doctor who brings the three diabolical darlings into the world. A young Joe Penny ("Jake and the Fatman") shows up in one scene, as does Cyril O'Reilly (the anti-Semitic redneck from PORKY'S) as Joyce's boyfriend.

Familiar faces such as Ellen Geer, Michael Dudikoff, and Ward Costello can also be found here and there. The "Worst Actor" award would have to go to the guy who plays the deputy. I didn't catch his name, but you'll recognize him--he's the guy who can't act. Listening to him step all over Lori Lethin's lines is a real treat.

The kids themselves are a ball to watch throughout BLOODY BIRTHDAY, whether squeezing out crocodile tears at the funerals of friends and family members they've just offed or simply reveling in their own playful wickedness while putting on an innocent front.

The triple-header backyard birthday party of the title finds them greedily ripping open their presents as guests tuck into gooey birthday cake that may or may not be laced with ant poison. When Joyce walks in on Curtis in the kitchen with a frosting squeezer in one hand and the poison bottle in the other, it gives Lori Lethin the chance to race into the backyard knocking cake out of people's hands and screaming the film's most deathless line: "DON'T EAT THAT CAKE!"

BLOODY BIRTHDAY may be lumped in with all the other gory slice-and-dice flicks of the 80s, but don't expect a lot of blood and body parts, or an unkillable killer in a mask. Just settle back and enjoy the heartwarming antics of some cute little kids terrorizing their hometown and rapidly reducing its population.

BLOODY BIRTHDAY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE ABANDONED -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/19/10

 

I have to go to the bathroom real bad, damn it.  But the bathroom is at the end of a dark hallway which is behind a closed door, and it's late, and I'm by myself. 

Watching scary movies by myself at night isn't the same as it was when I was a kid; rarely do I see one that cuts right through my adult sensibilities and makes me afraid to go down a dark hallway because there might be something creeping up behind me or because when I turn on the bathroom light that same something will be standing in there ready to lunge at me.  THE ABANDONED (2006), however, is one of those movies.

The story begins as Marie (Anastasia Hille) arrives in Moscow to track down her origins, having been adopted as an infant after her Russian mother was found brutally murdered.  She discovers that she has inherited the old home place, a sprawling, dilapidated farmhouse in the middle of the deep, dark woods between nothing and nowhere, and hires a farmer to take her there in his truck.  Before they leave, an old Russian woman pleads with her not to go, while other bystanders regard her with fear and sorrow.  It's very similar to the scene at the beginning of DRACULA in which the villagers beseech Renfield not to travel to the evil Count's castle, and we all know what happened to him.

After what seems like hours of travel, the driver leaves Marie alone in the woods at night, within walking distance of the house.  Out of the corner of her eye, Marie thinks she sees a ghostly figure glide across the path up ahead.  She reaches the really, really spooky old house and goes inside, peering into the deep darkness with her flashlight and making her way slowly through shadowy, cobwebbed rooms and corridors.  She hears noises.  And maybe a voice or two.  I'm thinking, "Would I be in that house at that time?  No, I would not."  I'm also thinking that there's gonna be a "jump" shock any second now, and I'm right--there is.  But expecting it doesn't help.  In fact, it just makes it worse.


A lot of horror flicks these days depend on jump shocks, which can startle the crap out of you for a few seconds but are soon forgotten.  This film is filled with them, but they're often only the beginning of a long sequence of sustained fear that doesn't subside after you've been soundly goosed.  The interplay of the various cinematic elements is masterful in these scenes--direction, photography, special effects, and acting are all outstanding--creating the sort of sustained terror that usually comes along only in your worst nightmares.  This movie, in fact, is like one long nightmare that you don't even fully wake up from when the end credits start rolling.

But back to Marie.  After the first really scary stuff happens, she discovers that there's someone else in the house with her.  That is, another living, flesh-and-blood someone.  He turns out to be her twin brother, Nicolai (Karel Roden of BLADE II and HELLBOY), who has also been drawn to the house trying to find out what awful thing happened to their mother there, forty years ago.  After suffering through one hellishly terrifying ordeal after another, they finally find out.  I'm not going to tell you any more of what happens, but when Nicolai has a sudden realization and says ominously to Marie, "We're haunting ourselves...", you just might be thinking: "No sh*t!"  One thing's for sure--the old "blank white eyeballs" thing has rarely looked scarier.

The last haunted house movie that tried to scare me was THE MARSH.  But it tried to do this with a bunch of obvious CGI and noisy, flashy effects.  THE ABANDONED has some CGI, too, but it's the best kind--the kind that tries not to look like CGI.  Both of these films contain a similar scene in which a decrepit old room goes backward in time to its original state, but the difference is stunning.  One scene seems to say "Look at this cool CGI!", while the other is more interested in maintaining your level of involvement in the scene itself.


THE ABANDONED looks great, with beautiful photography and imaginative editing worthy of an art film, always establishing and maintaining the right mood without being merely for show.  The sound design and haunting score also contribute substantially to the ominous atmosphere, making even the scenes of Marie arriving in Moscow seem forboding and pulsing with bad tidings for what's to come.

The house itself is a marvel of production design, a labyrinth of dingy rooms, spooky corridors, and ominous passageways that constantly had me muttering "Don't go in there!"  And with it, the stage is set for Spanish director Nacho Cerdà to do his stuff.  To paraphrase a line from POLTERGEIST, he knows what scares you.  His handling of this type of material is masterful compared to the ham-fisted direction often seen in similar films.  And the two leads, Anastasia Hille and Karel Roden, are so good that they put the whole thing across with utter conviction.  It didn't even bother me that the last few minutes didn't really seem to make total sense, because the worst nightmares rarely do. 

I've seen a lot of horror films, especially of the haunted house variety, that tried their best to be scary but just didn't know how to do it, or how to sustain it all the way through to the end.  But THE ABANDONED knows how.  Boy, does it ever.  It left me feeling drained, stunned, entertained yet uncomfortably uneasy and disturbed; and most of all, really, really creeped out.  And I still have to go to the bathroom real bad, damn it.

THE ABANDONED -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE REEF -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/9/11

 

Since I still haven't seen OPEN WATER--the film that this type of "predicament" movie is most logically compared to--I was going to liken THE REEF (2010) to another white-knuckle cinematic ordeal of a few years back called BLACK WATER.  Then I found out that THE REEF and BLACK WATER were directed by the same person, Andrew Traucki, which pretty much makes sense, I guess.

Since this type of movie puts innocent people into some kind of survival situation from which the only escape is either death or suffering through a terrible ordeal, it's meant more to be endured than enjoyed.  If done right, the result is prolonged, almost unbearable suspense that makes you sick to your stomach.  With BLACK WATER, Traucki proved himself quite adept at this sort of film, and THE REEF is another successful installment in his quest to make us all feel bad.

As usual, the main characters are a bunch of fairly nice people that we don't really want anything bad to happen to.  Damian Walshe-Howling plays Luke, an amiable young seafarer hired to deliver a yacht.  Turning the job into a pleasure cruise, he invites his old friend Matt (Gyton Grantley) and Matt's girlfriend Suzie (Adrienne Pickering) along for the ride, in addition to Matt's sister Kate (Zoe Naylor).  Kate happens to be Luke's old girlfriend so there's some unfinished romantic business between the two.  Rounding out the group is Luke's deck hand Warren (Kieran Darcy-Smith).
 


The first third or so of the film consists of them having a wonderful time sailing and romping around on a secluded island while we get to know them and wait for their false sense of security to be shattered.  This happens several miles out to sea when the yacht suddenly bashes into a reef and capsizes, leaving them stranded.  They now have two choices--wait on top of the overturned boat, which is slowly sinking, or try to swim back to the island.  Warren knows what's out there and refuses to budge.  The rest inch nervously into the water and paddle away, keeping their eyes peeled for things like, you know, sharks and stuff.

We don't even see one until the movie's almost half over, yet the suspense generated by this simple premise is almost paralyzing at times.  As I said about BLACK WATER, this is one of those movies where you (a) don't want anything to happen, and (b) don't want to start liking the characters because you know some of them are about to die horribly.  Of course, I did start liking the characters, and things did start to happen, mostly involving lots of blood and screaming.  Traucki is positively sadistic in the way he draws out the suspense as Luke and the gang catch fleeting glimpses of moving shapes (such as shark fins) and helplessly await the arrival of those gnashing jaws from below. 

The first attack relieves all that pent-up tension that's been building since the movie began, but it doesn't take long for us to start biting our nails again.  (I actually did catch myself literally biting my nails once or twice.)  Actual footage of a big-ass shark filmed off the Australian coast is well integrated and even the occasional SPFX shots are pretty good, while the actors do a fine job of reacting to it all exactly the way I would--with gibbering, bug-eyed terror.



The final segment of the film really stretches our nerves back and forth like a rubber band as the survivors spot what may be their salvation in the distance, only to find it frustratingly out of reach as the shark renews its attack.  And yes, the characters have been developed just enough to make us care about them, damn it, so in addition to stomach-souring suspense there's also the sadness that goes along with seeing some nice people turned into shark crunchies.  This continues right up until the last possible moment, leaving me nauseated and bummed out at the fadeout.  Since that's exactly what this movie sets out to do, then mission accomplished.

The DVD from Image Entertainment is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Extras consist of a trailer and a making-of featurette, "Shooting with Sharks." 

Though the tagline "Who will survive--and what will be left of them?" is already taken, it would've been just right for THE REEF.  (And much better than the real one, "Pray that you drown first.")  While this low-budget production is technically well done, there's really not much more to it after the yacht wreck than four people paddling around out in the water amidst some shark footage and a few SPFX.  But what Andrew Traucki does with these simple ingredients adds up to an exhausting experience that's almost as much of an ordeal for the viewer as it is for the characters.  If that's your idea of fun, then dive right in.

THE REEF -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/31/16

 

With 1991's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Anthony Hopkins burst onto the horror film scene with a Hannibal Lecter whose rich theatricality and giddy delight in his own unfathomable evil captured the imaginations of filmgoers, including many in the mainstream, like few such characters before or since.

Approaching his dark, Gothic lair in the bowels of a castle-like hospital for the criminally insane where he lurks like some medieval gargoyle, we share the trepidation of the young FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who has been sent to consult with Lecter regarding another serial killer on the loose (known as "Buffalo Bill" due to his penchant for skinning his victims).

Hopkins plays Lecter to the hilt, relishing each perverse aspect of the character just as Lecter enjoyed feasting upon the organs of those he killed--sometimes with "fava beans and a nice Chianti...fthfthfthfth!"

His version of the silken-voiced psycho, unlike that of MANHUNTER's equally fine Brian Cox, is a creation that would fit comfortably in any rogue's gallery of horror film icons.

One of the pleasures of this film is watching him toy with the callow Starling (excellently portrayed by Foster) on a purely emotional and intellectual level in which she has no defense, then growing to admire her courage, convictions, and strength of will.

Also unlike the Lecter of MANHUNTER, we get to see this monster at his full power once he's broken free in a terrifying sequence that is beautifully-directed by Jonathan Demme. When Lecter's brilliant escape plan goes into motion, it's a thrill to watch Hopkins turn into one of the most cunning and terrifying killers the screen has ever known.

Compared to his mad-dog antics, the film's wrap-up of the Buffalo Bill story is almost anti-climactic, although Demme does stage a nailbiting finale with Starling taking on the killer by herself in his pitch-dark cellar of death.

Still, Bill delivers a line to one of his captives that has since become one of the most oft-heard quotes in recent film history: "It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again." And his naked dance will become seared in your memory whether you like it or not.

With a level of excellence that garnered it Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Director, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS remains one of the finest and most popular horror films ever made.


Read our review of MANHUNTER
Read our review of HANNIBAL

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS -- Movie Review by Porfle

SIMON SAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/19/09

 

I think it's about time America finally acknowledged the fact that Crispin Glover is a national treasure. He's one of our most unique actors, upon whom we can always rely to give the kind of performance that nobody else could approximate or even imagine attempting to. I don't know where he goes to draw his inspiration, but it must be a strange and scary place. Whether moonily telling Lea Thompson "You are my density", out-weirding Dennis Hopper in RIVER'S EDGE, out-weirding Brad Dourif in DROP DEAD SEXY, being absolutely the only good thing in a "Charlie's Angels" movie, or simply getting kicked off the David Letterman show for being too much of a freak, he's one of a kind.

Except that in SIMON SAYS, he plays twins! Or does he? Simon is the sweetly-retarded one that Mom likes best, while Stanley is the jealous and hostile one who finally goes on a killing spree while the family is enjoying a camping trip in the forest. We see him kill Mom and Dad, and it looks as though he bashes poor Simon's head in with a rock. But we're not sure, because the next time we see them, they're co-managing a dumpy garage years later in those same woods. Still, we never see them both together at the same time, so...

Onto the scene toodles a gaily-painted van with exactly the cast of stereotypes you'd expect. There's Zack the stoner, Ashley the straight-laced "good girl", Riff the oversexed jock, Kate the girlfriend, and Vicky the slut. They're supposedly on their way to the river to camp out and pan for gold, but the real reason they're here is to get stalked, terrorized, and massacred. And boy, do they ever!

The actors play their roles to perfection, and the writers place them into a textbook series of cliched situations as though going down a checklist. Except that they twist things around a little here and there, just enough to keep us off-guard. And besides being a full-blooded charnel house of a horror flick, SIMON SAYS is also one of the funniest spoofs of the genre I've ever seen.

The best part is that nobody except Crispin Glover's character knows that it's a comedy. The rest of the cast play their parts as though they really are the worst bunch of overacting idiots from the worst 80s slasher flick ever made. I got the impression that the actors couldn't wait to inhabit these stereotypical nimrods and enjoy a delightful romp through the dopey side of slasher flick territory.

Zack the stoner (Greg Cipes) doesn't just smoke a lot of weed--he puffs like a smokestack even when he's running for his life. The group has barely pitched their tent before a shirtless Riff (Artie Baxter) pitches a tent in his pants when slutty Vicky (Carrie Finklea) comes on to him and they start making out behind Kate's (Margo Harshman) back. And good-girl Ashley (Kelly Vitz) is such an insufferable, prudish square--"SMORES!" she yelps giddily at the first sight of a campfire--that you just know she's got "last girl standing" written all over her. Oh, wait...no, she doesn't.

When Simon decides it's time to have some fun with these unfortunate idiots, all hell breaks loose. He has a penchant for creating intricate launching devices out of scrap machine parts and then loading them with pickaxes. In a couple of scenes the air is literally filled with a hail of twirling, swooshing, razor-sharp pickaxes as Simon calmly fires off round after round at his fleeing victims. It's wonderfully ridiculous to the point of hilarity.

The mayhem gets up-close and personal as well, as Simon goes on a bloodthirsty rampage that includes surrounding campers who are having a paintball war. Meat cleavers, hangings, and lots of dismemberment ensue. One victim is taken apart and stuck back together to form a festive troll doll with a CD-player mouth. Another gets to partake in a game of human tether ball with moving vehicles. Finally, there's a warm family gathering with Simon and his long-dead mom and dad around a picnic table where the last person (currently) standing must make a desperate attempt to escape. That is, after being offered a "hand" sandwich.

Through it all, Crispin Glover is at his flat-out nutty best. He revels in playing Simon (or is it Stanley?) in the broadest strokes possible, emoting his lopsided head off and grinning like a loon. He's also got the worst backwoods hick accent you ever heard, which just adds to the character somehow. ("Yew fuh-GOT...tuh say...Simon SAY-uz!") The scene in which he has a terrified captive strapped into the passenger seat of his wrecker truck is reminiscent of DEATH PROOF, but neither Kurt Russell nor Quentin Tarantino can do crazy like our boy Crispin. And hey, Bruce Glover is perfect as his dad in the flashbacks--it never occurred to me before that the guy who played the demented Mr. Wint in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was Crispin's real-life dad, but somehow it all makes sense now.

For a movie of this type, SIMON SAYS looks great--writer-director William Dear has some gorgeous northern California locations to work with, and he shoots the whole thing with style. Once things get started, the pace never lets up. Even the sound design is noticeably better than average. I watched a screener so I can't comment on the DVD's bonus features, but they are listed as: director's commentary, storyboard comparisons, and stills gallery. The movie is widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound.

If you don't like Crispin Glover, then you should disregard a major portion of what I just said. If you don't like slasher movies, or even moreso, slasher movie spoofs, then you should disregard really big chunks of it. But if my description of SIMON SAYS sounds even remotely intriguing to you, then Simon says "check it out." (You knew that was coming, right?)

SIMON SAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

FEED THE LIGHT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/30/17

 

It's a real pleasure to see directors and cinematographers these days who not only work in black and white but seem to revel in the unique qualities and possibilities of the medium.

Swedish director Henrik Möller's nightmarishly dark FEED THE LIGHT, aka "Lokalvårdaren" (2015) has been described as "Lovecraftian", which it most definitely is, but visually it's also very "Lynchian" in its bleak and exquisitely evocative use of disturbingly surreal black and white imagery a la ERASERHEAD, with only a few splashes of color for emphasis. 

As Möller himself describes the plot, "In brief you can say that it's about a warehouse in the harbor where mysterious things happen to the cleaning personnel.  There is something wrong with the light."  (That's putting it mildly.)

 

To clarify that a bit, distraught mother Sara (Lina Sundén) has lost custody of her daughter Jenny to her abusive husband Jon (Patrik Karlson), and in order to try and steal her back, she seeks custodial employment in the same mysterious building where he works. 

Things seem "off" immediately.  The only managerial personnel consists of a stiff, cruel woman (Jenny Lampa) named Chefen but known in hushed tones as "The Boss."  The only other people roaming the dim, dreary hallways are a surly cleaning crew to which Sara is assigned, with the special instruction, "Always keep the silver dust swept up." 

It isn't long before Sara realizes that there's something strange and malevolent about the light inside the building--the silver dust, in fact, seems to fall from the light fixtures themselves.  Before the story's done, a bizarre source of light within the bowels of the lowest basement level will hold the horrible secret of the building's seemingly impenetrable mystery.

 

Until then, Sara engages in a furtive search for Jenny that keeps us in bewildered suspense from the very start, encountering both hostile coworkers and the increasingly intimidating Boss (who keeps in her office, seemingly as a pet, an unkempt naked man who seems to think he's a dog). 

Her only allies are an outwardly sympathetic crew foreman (Martin Jirhamn), who may or may not be on her side, and, surprisingly, her ex-husband Jon, whom she finds in decidedly decrepit condition after having spent some non-quality time in the lower level trying to get to the bottom of the mystery himself.

With their help and advice, and despite their warnings, Sara's quest to venture into the first basement (and eventually, of course, into the lowest, creepiest sub-basement) becomes a horrific journey into the paranormal in which nothing is as it seems.

Doors and entire hallways appear out of nowhere, while an unseen force seems to guide her along through the dark, mazelike corridors.  She encounters what appears to be Jenny, but is it?  Most disturbingly, there's a fleeting shadow creature reminiscent of those sleep-paralysis phantoms, only this one is more aggressively hostile.

It reminds me of the creature in the "Outer Limits" episode, "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", of which I still have shuddery childhood memories.  Other chilling images bring to mind the scarier episodes of "The X-Files" (mainly the ones about the black oil).  

Moreover, the use of extremely limited resources in an imaginatively cinematic way reminds me of HARD REVENGE MILLY, a futuristic action-revenge thriller that also takes place mainly in one empty building and works wonders with very little.

Mainly, though, it's a unique film experience that will nourish the morbid-leaning genre fan's hunger for both the Lovecraftian and the Lynchian, whose subtle twists of reality suddenly give way to jarring images of horror.

The Blu-ray from Intervision is in 1080p full HD resolution with 2.0 audio (Swedish with English subtitles).  Extras include a making-of featurette, a director interview entitled "The Lovecraft Influence", and the film's trailer.

Brilliantly told, with excellent performances, the mood and atmosphere of FEED THE LIGHT surround the viewer like a dense fog, as we feel our way uncertainly toward an ending that is both disorienting and truly haunting.


Buy it at Severin Films

FEED THE LIGHT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/8/14

 

Despite some seriously threadbare production values, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, aka "The Forgotten" (1973), is wonderfully weird and deliriously demented. Lensed in Texas on a shoestring budget and in a single location, this dark madhouse shocker starts out messed-up and just gets more messed-up as it goes along.

Set in a large, seedy old house that serves as an insane asylum, the story revolves around a tightly-knit group of crazies presided over by Dr. Stephens (Michael Harvey), whose methods of treatment are somewhat unconventional.

This includes handing one of the nuttiest residents an axe and encouraging him to chop away his hostilities on a handy log out in the yard, which is great until the guy gives Dr. Stephens a nice big chop in the neck when his back is turned. Exit Dr. Stephens before the titles have even moseyed into view.

Next in charge of the place is the matronly Dr. Masters (Anne MacAdams in a solid performance), who regards the inmates as family and doesn't want to disrupt their routine with anything as pesky as a murder investigation. So she sweeps the whole matter under the rug (so to speak) right before the new nurse that he hired earlier arrives unexpectedly, ready to start work.

Although initially gung-ho about nursing and eager to delve into her new job, it doesn't take long before pretty, perky Nurse Charlotte (1972 Playboy covergirl Rosie Holotik, HORROR HIGH) regrets ever laying eyes on the place as she contends with a hostile and domineering Dr. Masters and meets the downright unnerving nutcases wandering around loose at every turn.

There's the insecure nympho constantly ripping off her clothes and begging every man she meets to "love" her (including the guy who shows up to fix the phone), the former army sergeant who's still fighting some war, the drug-pilfering Goth chick, the frizzy-haired nerd who keeps popping up everywhere like a giddy poodle, and the childless young woman pitifully coddling a doll as though it were real, having already offed a nurse whom she mistakenly thought had tried to steal her "baby."

Bill McGhee (QUADROON, THE TRIAL OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD) is gentle giant Sam, a likeable lug who seems harmless enough since being lobotomized by Dr. Stephens. (Or is he?) Giving HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL's Mrs. Slydes a run for her money in the "creepy old lady" department is a cackling hag named Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams) whose cryptic warnings to Nurse Charlotte to get out of there as fast as she can will later be proven worth heeding.

Worst of all, perhaps, is the guy with the axe, Judge Oliver W. Cameron (Gene Ross, THE GOONIES, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK), who seems to have presided over one nerve-wracking trial too many and now shows up at the least opportune times (including standing over Nurse Charlotte's bed in the dead of night) wielding whatever sharp stabbing or hacking instrument he can get his mitts on. When the nympho sets her sex-crazed sights on this wretched piece of work, they make quite a pair.

The screenplay by Tim Pope (who would become a major music video director during the 80s) moves along nicely from one unsettling situation to the next, aided by a capable directing job from former Larry Buchanan collaborator S.F. Brownrigg and a cast of actors who, while mostly unpolished, really throw themselves into their roles--often with surprising intensity.

Imaginative writing helps the story avoid getting too cliched while supplying plenty of scintillating dialogue and unexpected plot twists, with a surprise ending that you won't see coming unless you're one of those "I saw it coming" types.

The film's leisurely pace is punctuated by a few startlingly grotesque scenes--one in particular in which a patient is found one morning with her tongue having been cut out during the night--while building to a nightmarish free-for-all finale that pretty much pulls out all the stops. It all boils down to who kills who, who gets away and who doesn't, and who really is or isn't who we think they are. Oh yeah, and somebody finally looks in that basement, too.

The DVD from Film Chest is in 4 x 3 full screen with original mono sound. No subtitles or extras.

With an eerie atmosphere and weirdness to burn, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT transcends its meager budget to deliver the gruesome goods for the horror fan who appreciates a good B-movie with some imagination behind it. It may not be terrifying, but don't be surprised if you feel it warping your mind just a bit.

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

WRONG TURN 4 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/6/11

 

Everybody likes a good origin story, and if you're a fan of Three Finger, Saw-Tooth, and One-Eye, then WRONG TURN 4 (2011)--subtitled "Bloody Beginnings"--could be the prequel of your dreams. 

The rousing pretitles sequence finds our three inbred hillbilly-cannibal brothers as rambuctious young 'uns who are already the most dangerous inmates in the asylum.  They don't stay locked in their cell for long, though, and once they've escaped and let all the other loonies out as well, the hapless asylum staff are in for a day of total bedlam climaxed by the drawing and quartering of poor Dr. Ryan. 

This jaw-dropping scene, as well as the rest of the film's gore, is done with state-of-the-art practical effects with a minimum of CGI, which should make old-school gorehounds giddy with delight.  With Dr. Ryan's screams still ringing in our ears, we then plunge directly into a sex scene involving two couples, one hetero, one lesbian.  Writer-director Declan O'Brien (WRONG TURN 3) clearly isn't wasting any time ringing the standard slasher-flick bells and whistles here, and once fully sated the two couples and their friends immediately set off for a snowmobiling weekend in the woods which we know isn't going to end well.

Taking a "wrong turn" on the way to their cabin, they end up having to seek shelter from the freezing cold in the old abandoned asylum, which naturally is the current home of our grown-up hillbilly cannibals.  Before you can say "no cell phone reception", they're in party-hearty mode amidst clouds of cannabis and pairing up for the night.  It doesn't take long for one of them to wander off on his own and come face-to-hideously-deformed-face with Saw-Tooth, whereupon we're treated to our first peek at what goes on in the asylum's kitchen these days. 

Once the entire gang of kill-fodder college chums is clued in that they're in big trouble, WRONG TURN 4 segues into the usual routine in which everybody runs around being terrified as they get picked off one by one.  This gives O'Brien and his crack effects team the chance to stage a series of bravura death scenes (one victim is hanged by barbed wire until her head pops off like a cork) culminating in what is known as the "F**ked-Up Fondue." 

Here, the extremely unfortunate victim is tied to a kitchen table and taken apart piece by piece as the hillbillies dip each morsel into sizzling oil before gobbling it up.  Actor Dean Armstrong displays an outstanding vocal range with some of the best screams ever recorded, and the SPFX artists are equally good as they pull of some queasily convincing effects that should please even the most demanding gorehounds.  Definitely one of the sickest sequences I've seen in a while, it's enough to have even Herschell Gordon Lewis wondering what the hell he hath wrought.

Meanwhile, the rest of our cast of idiots are voting whether or not to go help their friend even as his blood-curdling shrieks resound up and down the corridors.  These are not the brightest characters ever written, and if you're in the right mood you may enjoy watching them scurry around making one incredibly dumb move after another as director O'Brien manages to record their antics with some style.  Once they've exhausted their full range of indoor stupidity the action moves outside, with the survivors being harrassed by hillbilly cannibals on snowmobiles until the surprise (ehh) ending.

The good-guy cast do what they can with characters and dialogue that are--how should I put this--"lacking in depth", adequately depicting their assorted stereotypes.  Jennifer Pudavik is appealing as Kenia, who comes off as "final girl" material from the start, while Dean Armstrong gets my vote as "Scream King of the Month."  Extra points go to actor/stuntmen Sean Skene and Scott Johnson for their double acting duties--Skene plays both college boy Vincent and psycho Three Finger, and Johnson, in addition to being one of the orderlies eaten in the pretitles rampage, also assumes the role of the adult Saw-Tooth.

The DVD from 20th-Century Fox Home Entertainment is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.  Extras include a director-producer commentary, a making-of featurette, "Director's Die-ary", "Lifestyles of the Sick and Infamous", deleted scenes, and a music video.

So far, my favorite film in this series is the second one with its wantonly over-the-top gore and sick humor.  But while WRONG TURN 4 doesn't quite match up, it's still packed with enough action and carnage to make it a worthwhile turn for gore addicts to take.

WRONG TURN 4 -- DVD Review by Porfle

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END (Blu-Ray) -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

(Blu-Ray comments by Ian Friedman. Originally posted on 9/30/09.)

 

A raucous, tasteless, over-the-top, unapologetically schlocky gorefest--not quite what I'd call the first movie in this series, but that description fits the sequel, WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END (2007), like a bloody glove. Once I stopped worrying about how it compared to the previous film and realized that this is pure exploitation filmmaking of the sincerest kind, I allowed first-time director Joe Lynch and his enthusiastic cast to carry me away on a wave of pure giddy Monster Kid fun.

Kimberly Caldwell, who plays herself (she's supposed to be some kind of well-known TV personality, right?) dies real good in the film's stunning opening sequence, in which she takes--you guessed it-- a wrong turn while driving through rural West Virginia. First thing I noticed was one of those great shots where the camera circles all the way around a moving car and settles into a closeup of the driver. I love those! And when Kimberly is distracted while yakking to her agent on her cell phone and rams into a pedestrian, there's an impressive shot of him flying right over her head. So I already know that we have a capable director and DP at work here, and in just a minute it's clear that we've also got some really demented guys working on the makeup and practical effects as well.

This becomes apparent when the guy Kimberly just hit with her car turns out to be an inbred mutant freak who bites half her face off shortly before his equally monstrous Pa chops her right down the middle with one stroke of his axe. Guts splatter, and the two maniacs gleefully drag the neatly-bisected Kimberly away into the sunset. And that's just the beginning!

There's just enough story set-up to get a bunch of clueless city folk into the backwoods so that a whole family of cannibalistic mutants can terrorize, slaughter, and devour them. Henry Rollins does a great job chewing the leafy scenery as Dale Murphy, an intense former Marine hired to host a "Survivor"-like reality show that gets really real when the contestants and crew come face-to-face with "The Family"--Ma, Pa, Brother, Sister, and our old friend from the first film, Three Finger (played here by Jeff Scrutton).

But first, the contestants split up into teams of two and scamper off into the woods. The likable, down-to-earth Mara (Aleksa Palladino) and spooky Goth vegan Nina (Erica Leerhsen, who played "Pepper" in the TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE remake) find themselves hiding in a broken-down shack where they witness a horrendous birth as Ma squirts out another monster-baby on the kitchen table. Sister spots them peeking through the bedroom door and suddenly the two girls have the whole horrible family after them. This leads to another imaginative kill scene.

Meanwhile, the goofy slacker dude Jonesy (Steve Braun) and the gung-ho military chick Amber (Daniella Alonso) come across an unattended campfire where a big hunk of sizzling barbecue is cooking. The hungry campers share their ill-gotten feast with another contestant, frustrated football player Jake (Texas Battle), until one of them happens to spot Kimberly's tattoo on it. They've been eating her leg!

That's pretty gross, but even worse is when Brother and Sister murder yet another contestant and the act gets them all hot and bothered for some frenzied mutant incest. When our hapless campers stumble across the revoltin' scene, they find out that coitus interruptus is a killin' offense in that neck of the woods and the chase is on. One thing about the mutant makeup--it isn't quite as good as the Stan Winston creations in the first movie, but it's still very effective. These psychotic hillbillies make great monsters and the actors portraying them are totally convincing. The females make an especially interesting new addition to the clan and are just as bloodthirsty and feral as the males.

As the cast gets whittled down--literally--Murphy fights back with dynamite-laden arrows and blows up a few mutants real good. The survivors take on the remnants of The Family in a frenetic showdown within an old abandoned paper mill where a hilariously horrific grinding machine comes into play. Director Lynch, who can often be seen beaming with fanboy glee in the behind-the-scenes featurettes, throws in an obvious homage to the dinner scene from TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE as well as other references to the 70s and 80s horror classics that he grew up with.In fact, watching this film is like running barefoot through an old issue of "Fangoria."

This 20-Century Fox DVD has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1. It's a little softer and grainier than the WRONG TURN Blu-Ray, but I think thats because it was shot on digital as opposed to film. It's pretty good, but not as good as the first. I do think that is partially due to the reality show setting. Colors are a little muted compared to the first one, then again it could be intentional.

There's an interesting commentary by director Joe Lynch and actors Erica Leerhsen and Henry Rollins, and a less interesting one with writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien. Featurettes include "More Blood, More Guts: The Making of Wrong Turn 2", the fun and educational "Making Gore Look Good", and something called "On Location with P-Nut", which I was unable to even begin to care about.

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END succeeds in being what it sets out to be--a spectacularly gory and perverse splatterfest that's like a rollercoaster ride through a charnel house. As a horror fan who doesn't always require subtlety and good taste in my entertainment, sometimes that's more than enough.

 

 

WRONG TURN 2: DEAD END (Blu-Ray) -- DVD Review by Porfle

INFERNUM -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 8/14/19

 

After seeing so many big-budget horror flicks that depend on gore, flashy effects, and sudden loud noises to try and get scares, it's nice to see someone who can take a low budget and some real talent and make a movie that's genuinely old-school scary.

Which is what writer-director Dutch Marich (MISERABLE SINNERS, HUNTING, BLEED OUT) does with his new film, INFERNUM (Indican Pictures, 2019). Great locations, limited interiors, and pretty much no special effects combine with a capable cast and imaginative script (and yes, one or two well-earned jump scares) to fashion a tale that chills the blood in a way you don't see very often anymore.

In the opening, a little girl's parents leave their camping tent one night to investigate a roaring noise in the woods (later described as a "paranormal rift" through which one may hear the hellish sound of "wailing and gnashing of teeth") and disappear. 

Twenty-five years later, Camille (Suziey Block, DUDE BRO PARTY MASSACRE III, MEANING OF VIOLENCE) is still dealing with her terror and loss by interviewing people with similar experiences as part of an art-school graduation project.

When she misses an anniversary dinner with her boyfriend Hunter (Michael Barbuto, HUNTING, HAPPY CAMP, BLEED OUT), he loses it and goes off on how she embarrasses him with her "a loud noise ate my parents" obsession.

Hunter also chafes at how much time she spends with young James (Clinton Roper Elledge, RUSH), a gawky film student making a movie about Camille and helping with her project's audio-visuals.

This part of INFERNUM is fairly well-done, but it only becomes apparent later how director Marich is setting us up with this borderline-tiresome "lovers' spat" routine just so he can spring the scary on us later.

This comes when Camille and James hear of a mysterious loud noise in a forest in Nevada and drive there right away to investigate, although Camille insists on not getting too close. 

When the road to their destination is closed due to an avalanche, they must instead take an antique museum train that has been pressed into service to transport people to their homes. 

Hunter, it turns out, has followed them and ends up on the train, too.  The three of them are in the middle of an awkward situation in the caboose as we wait for the train to reach its destination so things can finally pick up. (Meanwhile, the night shots of the train traveling through the darkness are beautiful.)

INFERNUM goes from "okay" to "masterful" when they wake up from a brief nap to find that the train has stopped in the middle of a dark tunnel, with no one else aboard except for a woman named Rita (Sarah Schoofs, GUT, BLACK WAKE, THEATER OF TERROR) who has lost her husband.  The engineer, the conductor, and the other passengers are all gone. 

The acting gets better and more natural as the characters go from wandering hesitantly through this unknown situation into flailing about in sheer terror when all the lights go out and that familiar roaring noise starts rushing over the exterior of the train.

One really gets the feeling of being isolated and alone in a very dark, very spooky place, thanks to skillful staging and direction, with shots that are stark clashes of darkness and light conveying eerie, oppressive gloom. 

In fact, this film has more atmosphere and suspense than ten average horror flicks smashed together.  And as is so often the case, it's what we don't see but are forced to imagine that is the scariest.

Of course, not all filmmakers can pull off such a thing, but here our imaginations are working overtime to help conjure up whatever awful force is menacing the poor souls on that train as the fear factor continues to rise.

INFERNUM manages to evoke the immediacy of the best "found footage" films, with all the breathless suspense and creeping terror but without the awkward contrivances.  It would make a hell of an extended "Twilight Zone" episode.

INFERNUM -- Movie Review by Porfle

Most Terrifying Scene In "I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN" (1957)(video)

 

Dr. Frankenstein (Whit Bissell) conceals his cold, sadistic intentions...

...when offering to allow his fiancee Margaret (Phyllis Coates) to be his new assistant.

In reality, he's setting her up to be brutally murdered...

...by his crazed and horrifically hideous teenage monster.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

Most Terrifying Scene In "I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN" (1957)(video)

KILL LIST (2011) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

One of those bad-vibes flicks that stays in your gut after you watch it like a meal that doesn't agree with you, KILL LIST (2011) is a movie that may not agree with you, either.  But it's well worth staying with till the end if you have a strong stomach.

Director Ben Wheatley's mix of traditional and documentary style camerawork keeps us right in the story of an out-of-work hitman named Jay (Neil Maskell, ATONEMENT) whose relationship with fiesty wife Shel (MyAnna Buring, THE DEVIL'S CURSE, THE DESCENT) grows more volatile each day.  

During a disastrous dinner with old military buddy Gal (Michael Smiley, BURKE AND HARE) and his creepy girlfriend Fiona (Emma Fryer), Jay is offered a lucrative job in which he and Gal will eliminate a number of targets on a list given to them by a mysterious client.

 

 

After a long buildup showing Jay going through his everyday life with Shel and their beloved son Sam, the start of his murderous mission with Gal takes the movie down a dark path that gets more twisted and frightening with each new revelation.  The first victim is a priest, whom the two hitmen assume must be guilty of some sexual transgression and thus deserving of his fate.  

The second is a man who refers to himself as a "librarian" and possesses something so horrifying it prompts an irate Jay to dispatch him as brutally as possible.  This sequence, involving some very realistic gore effects, will either have you glued to the screen or scrambling for the door.

What first appears to be simply an ultra-violent thriller makes a sudden detour through the twilight zone before veering into full-out horror territory after Jay and Gal begin to realize just how sinister their unknown clients are.  

Thus follows a descent into paranoia that infects every aspect of their lives as it becomes clear that they're part of a larger and more terrifying agenda than they could've imagined.  

The final scenes, which take place in a dark forest in the dead of night, have an almost BLAIR WITCH vibe only much more visceral.

 

 

Lead performances are all fine, with Neil Maskell totally convincing as a violent man who's not inhuman--he loves his family--but frightening because he's a human capable of the most monstrous acts.  MyAnna Buring is a strong presence as Shel, making her love-hate relationship with Jay convincing and giving her character a no-nonsense resolve that will be amply displayed later on.  

As Gal, Michael Smiley has a less showy but equally pivotal role, while Emma Fryer's Fiona is just plain spooky.  Much of the dialogue is improvised to give it a natural quality.

To give away any more of the plot would be a disservice to potential viewers, so I'll just say that the rest of KILL LIST is a journey into some really dark, claustrophobic horror that's both pulse-poundingly tense, relentlessly downbeat, and, finally, downright grotesque. 

KILL LIST (2011) -- Movie Review by Porfle