Director: David DeCoteau
Written by: Helen Robinson
Starring: Thomas Bern, Ashlyn Gere, Sylvia Summers, Lauren Peterson, Bob Pelham, Cynthia Crass, Brad Laughlin

Tagline: “You Don’t Have To Live On Elm Street To Have A Nightmare”

SYNOPSIS

An insecure heavy metal fan reluctantly agrees to let his girlfriend hold a sorority party for one of her friends at his house. Unknown to them, he’s also been playing with black magic, which has summoned a succubus who want to kill them all off.

OPINION

On the face of it, Dreamaniac should be a film that makes for a fun, cheesy time. Shot for the video market for Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, with a title suggesting a timely spin on the Elm Street dream killer concept that was so popular at the time – combined with some extra spice afforded by the succubus concept. So, why the hell is this so damn boring?

The problems are evident straight away. After an over-long credit sequence (and ending with a similarly extended end credit roll suggesting filler to get to feature length), we get a short dream sequence where a naked man walks to the bathroom. He finds a woman covered in blood in the bath, who he proceeds to make out with. Flash from this to the guy waking up, which leads to… an interminable hour in which basically nothing happens!

Oh, things do ostensibly happen, but the script is so totally muddled you can’t really tell what the motivations are and is so incidental you don’t care. We see the heavy metal fan (whose love of the music seems to extend to a Def Leppard shirt and a bunch of posters on his wall) talk to his girlfriend who seems to have already agreed to a party whether he likes it or not, even though it’s apparently his house. We see him incant some random spells which appear to be summoning the succubus, although this seems to be far from the first time he’s done it. There’s a bare explanation toward the back of the movie, but nobody cares by then.

From there, we’re introduced to the partygoers, who are universally annoying. One of whom is the girl from the opening and succubus dreams, so we know who’s going to be doing the killing. Despite the copious amounts of drugs, sex and alcohol on display, this also seems to be one of the dullest parties ever committed to celluloid. People start dying off in random ways at the hands of the succubus, but people don’t seem to notice or care for the most part.

Things start to pick up somewhat during the climax, where we not only get some real action, but actual gore as well. After some nice bits with a power drill, we then shunt into a double ending that’s about as sudden and dumb as you can ask for!

Overall, the movie is a real waste of time, and not in that good “time waster” kind of way. This was DeCoteau’s first of his regular ongoing collaborations with Charles Band, but that’s not really a recommendation. He’s quickly directed two VHS favourites from that era (Creepozoids and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama), but this one is far less memorable. The cast is pretty bad, only future porn star Ashlyn Gere went on to anything notable afterwards (although she did carve out a small career in similar films before moving to porn). The star didn’t go on to act in anything else.

Ironically, this early effort echoes some of the complaints I’ve heard about his later movies. In recent years, the now openly gay DeCoteau has filmed a number of films at his beach home, most notably the 1313 series. I’ve not seen any of them myself, but the reports tend to be that they similarly consist of people wandering around a house with little happening, only this time with half-dressed young men rather than slutty women.

The film is sadly pretty dull, wasting its premise and delivering none of the Elm Street fun that even similar low budget movies like Bad Dreams, Dreamscape and Dream Demon managed to deliver. It’s really just a slasher movie with a few supernatural trappings, very much confined to a dull single location. Watch it if you dare, but there’s definitely better out the both from the Empire/Band labels and from DeCoteau himself.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Director: Lee Harry
Written by: Lee Harry, Joseph H. Earle, Dennis Patterson
Starring: Eric Freeman, James L. Newman, Elizabeth Cayton, Jean Miller

Taglines: “The nightmare is about to begin… again!”

“Prayers Won’t Save You In The Silent Part Of This Night…”

SYNOPSIS

Ricky, the brother of Billy, the killer from the original film, recounts the events of the lives of his brother and himself, including his brother’s murderous rampage, to a psychiatrist in a mental institution.

REVIEW

It’s hardly rare for a sequel to be a blatant cash-in, and perhaps even less rare for that sequel to take obvious cost-cutting measures in order to get the product on screen as quickly as possible. However, this sequel – released just one year after the original had been re-released to US cinemas (after being withdrawn following the outcry over the 1984 release) is something to behold!

The film essentially takes the form of two sections, both narrated by Ricky. In the first, he recounts the incidents in his brother’s life up to his killing spree (only a couple of which he was actually present for), which consists largely of footage from the first film. We’re talking at least 30 minutes of footage in the first 40 mins or so, not including a later scene where Ricky goes to see the film film at the cinema (!). Once we see Billy’s death scene, his tale switches to his own tale after leaving the orphanage, somewhere between a retread of the original and a rather mundane tale of teenage angst punctuated by the occasional murder. Inevitably, the end of this tale has his escape from the asylum and move on to a final revenge.

While the original was hardly a bonafide classic outside of its controversial reputation, the sequel really takes the proverbial cake. Badly acted, badly directed, and as blatant a cheapo cash-in this side of The Asylum, there’s little point behind this movie’s existence apart from the need to get more money. That the new footage is of a wildly lower quality than the flashback footage only accentuates the problems. Even the basic cod psychology of the original (kid sees various immoral and horrible things happen involving Santa, eventually snaps when forced to wear his suit) is replaced by something far more nebulous and unsatisfying. The film also seems rather short, as the extended flashback footage required credits from both films to be included, so there’s only 30 mins of original footage, if that. They also manage to do all this without including anything from my favourite scene of the original (the visit to grandpa).

….and yet… the film manages to be entertaining! Special mention has to be made of Eric Freeman in the role of Ricky. He overacts at every turn, apparently under the impression that wiggling his eyebrows when he talks is a good way of inferring menace. The rest of the cast is pretty bad, but Freeman’s performance elevates it into another realm, one of the truly so-bad-it’s-good performances of the 1980s. His gurning makes the film not only bearable, but enjoyable on another level altogether.

In short, do NOT watch this film if you want to see a scary movie, a good movie, or even a competent production line sequel. However, if you love truly bad cinema, and can happily laugh with a few friends and/or beers at a movie, you can do far worse.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

CENSORSHIP

Almost inevitably, the film was refused a certificate for its 1987 UK release, probably due to the flashback footage featuring elements they objected to in the first film (such as Linnea Quigley’s death on the antlers). While the original has had a re-release by Arrow Film a few years back, there’s no sign of a release of this film in the UK. It’s available in the US as part of a double pack with the original.

TRAILER

AMERICAN MARY

Mary is a struggling medical student with problems on all sides. She has no money, has fallen behind on loan payments and is also struggling to avoid issues with her antagonistic surgery professor, whose class she needs to pass. After promising a loan payment she can’t pay, she answers an ad for a strip club, whose owner pays her enough money to fix her problems after her medical skills are unexpectedly needed. She’s then approached by Beatress, a dancer at the club who has had extensive plastic surgery to make her look and sound like Betty Boop, to perform dangerous and illegal surgery on her sister. Soon after, things happen to make Mary not only fall deeper into this alternative world but to take revenge on those who will soon wrong her.

As I told the Soska sisters (perhaps inadvisedly) during the booze filled after party that night, I really didn’t care for their début film Dead Hooker in a Trunk. While it’s definitely opened doors for them, I found it to be a rather mediocre indie horror film that had all the downfalls of the genre when made on a low budget between friends – dislikeable characters, variable acting & scripting, silly but pointless gore, etc. There was definitely something there, but it lacked the entertainment factor for me.

Not so with American Mary. Made after Eli Roth asked them for further scripts they might have (which they apparently didn’t have at the time of asking!), this is a far better film made with a great deal of style and wit as well as some excellent turns from a varied cast. Katharine Isabelle is excellent as the central character who’s initially disgusted by the things she’s being asked to do, but finds good reason to do them. The supporting cast are also largely excellent, with just the right level of quirkiness, likeability and sliminess to make them both convincing in the world presented and to justify Mary’s decisions along the way. There’s a few gloriously uncomfortable scenes, mainly those involving the harsher vengeance that Mary inflicts upon one particularly odious attacker, while even the silly cameo by the directors doesn’t manage to derail the film.

Ultimately, it’s a great movie and the Soskas are definitely talented film-makers to watch, even if I didn’t care so much for their debut. My loss, I suppose, and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever they come up with next!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

AFTER

Two strangers meet on a bus travelling toward the small town where they both live, and discover they live on the same street. While the guy struggles to make the girl interested in a conversation, the bus crashes. Back home they wake up to discover that the town is deserted and covered by a mysterious black fog that is slowly creeping toward the centre of town. Within the fog, there is a strange-looking door surrounded by keys, and guarded by a weird vicious creature that wants to kill them…

After is a film that both impressed and disappointed. It’s a nicely directed and mostly well-written piece that manages to carve a decent level of atmosphere. The leads are likeable, while the CGI is at a decent level and there’s a couple of neat touches that keeps the film rolling along at a decent pace for much of its running time.

The problem is that it’s just so damn predictable and that it remains ultimately unsatisfying. Anyone who’s ever seen a horror movie before can tell immediately where this is probably going, and the film hits most of the more obvious beats. The central concept is sound, but everything is wrapped up in two big reveals. One of them is nicely poignant, the other cloyingly and ridiculously sentimental and stupid. It’s a shame as it’s pretty well shot, the creature design is nice and the performances fairly solid. Worth checking out, but ultimately a mediocre movie with some occasional flashes of talent.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

CHAINED

A young boy and his mother are kidnapped by a taxi driver and taken to his rural home. The mother is killed, but the boy is kept alive to do menial work for the man, including helping dispose of the bodies of the women he brings home to rape and murder. After he tried to escape one day, he is chained to a wall in the house with a chain that allows him to continue his work but never escape.

I’ve not kept track of Jennifer Lynch’s career, assuming most of the reviews of her recent work to be accurate. She, of course, first came to prominence with the movie Boxing Helena – a film overshadowed not only by her father’s reputation but the infamous lawsuit against Kim Basinger after she dropped out in breach of contract and which I found rather mediocre. Since then, I haven’t watched any of her movies so I can’t really comment. Up until now, I just assumed she was riding on her father’s reputation.

However, Chained is a very good film for the most part. Much of the film takes place in a single house, and both of the actors chosen to play the kidnapped boy (once as a young child, the other a teenager) manage to give very good performances. Vincent D’Onofrio is equally good as the kidnapper, whose motivations are never exactly clear until a later twist, but still manages to be both intimidating and terrifying without ever going over the top. It’s a nice character piece mostly consisting of interactions between the two leads, and although the jump from childhood to mid adolescence is a little jarring, it flows quite well for the most part.

The film loses something when a late subplot is introduced and the boy eventually takes action to get out of the house, but otherwise it’s a pretty decent thriller.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

THE POSSESSION

A basketball coach is suffering a strained relationship with his ex-wife and his two daughters. After buying some things for his new home from a yard sale, the youngest daughter start to behave strangely, and seems particularly obsessed with a carved wooden box containing some strange artefacts.

It’s tempting to write this film off completely and mock it as “The Jewish Exorcist”, and in many ways that assessment isn’t really too far off the mark. From the slow progression of changes in the young girl to a final showdown, it’s closely linked to that model, though with everything turned up to 11 – not as hysterical as Renny Harlin’s Exorcist – The Beginning but definitely lacking the subtlety of Friedkin’s film.

Having said that, this is a pretty entertaining movie with some nice touches. The central performances are fine, there’s a few neat sequences when the supernatural events really start happening. There’s a few nice touches, such as one character who literally runs out of the movie as opposed to being pointlessly killed off, and some of the wilder moment are quite original from my experience anyway.

The film’s biggest problem is in its structure and general feel. It starts a little too slowly before rising up to a crescendo that quickly becomes comical. Reactions of some of the characters is very strange, and by the time the climax came, I was giggling at the silliness of it all, despite the tone being deadly serious. There’s a few genuinely creepy moments, but overall the film seems rather bland and ridiculous in its earnestness.

Not a bad film to watch, but hardcore horror fans will find this alternately laughable and boring, although a more mainstream audience may find it reasonable.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

TOWER BLOCK

A London tower block is scheduled for demolition, but is remaining open due to the stubbornness of the last few residents who remain on the top floor. One year after a man was brutally murdered without any help from the residents, they wake up to gunshots coming through the opposite building. A sniper has set up there and is picking them off one by one through the windows. The stairs and roof are both blocked up, and anyone who tries to reach help is immediately shot…

As with last year’s A Lonely Place to Die, the closing film is really more of a thriller than a horror movie, but it’s nice to have the final slot belong to a solid British movie again. Written by James Moran (who also wrote opening night’s Cockneys Vs Zombies), the film is largely solid with a decent cast and pacing.

The film opens with a brutal attack on a man by a couple of local criminals. Nobody helps except for Becky (Sheridan Smith), who is beaten for her efforts, and the man dies from his injuries. Given this opening, it’s fairly obvious that it’s this attack, rather than the developers’ efforts to evict the residents, that’s the reason behind the sniper attacks. Despite this, the film still manages to ratchet up some tension. A couple of the attacks are genuinely brutal, while there are some surprising deaths. The opening salvo of shooting is particularly well done. From here, we get the usual bickering between the residents – a combination of low lives and people who genuinely either can’t afford to move or have emotional ties to the property. As the numbers dwindle, there’s a real desperation in their attempts to escape, and a decent enough climax.

It’s not all great, as there are a number of plot holes and questionable decisions from the characters to move the plot forward. Overall, however it’s a solid thriller that left the festival with a decent closer. The best piece of news about the film was that Moran apparently came up with the idea while watching another film at Frightfest a few years ago (he failed to mention which one)!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

SLEEP TIGHT

César is a lowly security guard at a Barcelona apartment building, working the day shift and living in a small apartment downstairs. However, he’s developed an obsession with one of the tenants and is taking his infatuation rather too far…

Directed by the other half of the directing team that made the first two REC films, Jaume Balaguero, this rather taut thriller was a welcome minor gem. Cell 211‘s Luis Tosar is excellent as the main character, initially a sympathetic character but less so as you find out what he’s been doing in his spare time. He cut both a friendly, inoffensive appearance in front of the other tenants and a threatening, unsettling demeanour when cornered. The rest of the cast is also very good, and the film moves at a brisk pace despite its primary interest being the relationship between the leads.

I don’t want to give too much away about the film, other than to say that it manages to be very compelling and makes the most of its small cast, tight script and confined location.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO

Gilderoy, a British sound engineer is hired by an Italian producer to provide the sounds for his latest film, The Equestrian Vortex. Due to his background in nature documentaries, Gilderoy is shocked to find that the film in not about horses but is in fact an explicit giallo, a tale of witches, sex and serial murder. Struggling with both the subject matter and the surroundings he finds himself working, with only letters from his mother to distract him, he becomes increasingly affected by the work he’s called upon to do.

A very mixed bag, I was honestly shocked at the almost universal accolades this film has received upon its release in the UK the week after the festival. In many ways, the film depends on what you bring to the table, and even then it depends of how to view the material. In many ways, it’s a deconstruction of the giallo, a genre for which I have great fondness. Other than the opening credit sequence (a masterful homage), we never see any of The Equestrian Vortex ourselves, only the foley artists, voice actors and producers as they put sounds to the images in front of them. There’s a lot of interesting touches, from the attempt to faithfully recreate a 70s analogue sound studio environment, to the interplay between the characters as they struggle to get one more decent scream out of the actresses, or Gilderoy’s constant struggle to get paid expenses for his trip.

Where the film really falls down is its story. There’s really not that much happening here other than a general sense of unease and the idea that Gilderoy may be having some mental issues. this is not somewhere you come to for a driving narrative, and in fact toward the end when the film feels like it’s finally going somewhere, it takes a deliberate turn into the surreal – first switching into footage from Gilderoy’s previous documentary work then switching back to everybody speaking Italian, even the non-speaker Gilderoy himself!

On first viewing, I can only rate the film as a mediocre but interesting homage to a genre and industry that’s long since passed. However, I really do have to give it a fair shake later down the line. The Lynchian elements and almost complete lack of a real narrative took me by surprise so I may re-evaluate it on a second viewing. For now though, only really recommended for hardcore giallo buffs and fans of the excellent Toby Jones. I’d still recommend the excellent Amer as the ultimate modern giallo tribute.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

SINISTER

A novelist has carved a career out of investigating and writing about long-dormant crimes, a career which has made him many enemies in local police departments. For his latest case, he has moved his family into the former home of a missing girl whose entire family were found hung in the backyard (without informing them of this fact, of course!). Finding a box of film in the attic of the house – depicting not only the deaths of the former owners but other families slaughtered around the country – he starts an investigation that may have deadly consequences for his own family.

One of the more mainstream entries in this year’s festival, Sinister had some good buzz coming in but I deliberately kept myself cold on any details. I’m glad I did, as this turned out to be one of the better movies of the festival for me, and definitely the best aimed at a mainstream market. It’s actually surprisingly gruesome in spots, with a great sense of dread and some nice twists that both go away from the standard Hollywood formula and raise some interesting questions toward the end about certain characters’ motivations and actions. Ethan hawke is great as the tormented author, while the supporting cast do exactly what’s required to make this a nicely creep little film.

One of the few films that actually stayed with me after leaving the festival, this is definitely worth checking out when it’s released in a few weeks to cinemas.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I skipped Outpost 2 in favour of some shopping as I wasn’t too keen on the first film and this sequel was due for DVD release a couple of days later anyway. By the sound of the reaction, I made the right choice, although I will update this with a review when I see it (UPDATE: I’ve now seen the film and inserted my short review below). Between the movies, we got a couple of extras – 3D trailers for Dredd (followed by a quick Alex Garland on-stage interview) and Bait 3D preceding Paura 3D and a clip from Silent Night (Under The Bed director Steven C. Miller’s remake of Silent Night Deadly Night). All looked OK, though the latter seems very much like a standard slasher primed for name and seasonal cash-ins rather than a good movie per se.

EUROCRIME! THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILMS THAT RULED THE ’70S

Director Mike Malloy partially funded this documentary through Kickstarter, aiming to do for the lesser-known Eurocrime genre what Not Quite Hollywood and similar documentaries have done for other genres. Split into a number of different segments chronicling first the background of Italian cinema at the time, then aspects of the genre and its films on to the eventual fall from favour. We have interviews with famous fans and stars of the genre, ranging from John Saxon to Eli Roth, and a huge number of clips from many films in the genre.

Coming on the heels of numerous other similar documentaries, Eurocrime is a slightly overlong but breezy and entertaining look at a genre that’s largely overlooked outside of its home country. I’m not too familiar with the genre myself, but this is definitely an incentive to look at the films I’ve missed. I’ll have to watch it again, armed with pen and paper and catch up with a list of lost classics! Most of the films looked pretty entertaining with some wild stunts and crazy shooting tactics required to get something great on screen. The film as a whole has a nice style, though it is a little overproduced and could have been a little shorter with less transition and repeating of certain concepts along the way.

I’m not sure what else to say, other than to check it out and have some fun watching it. If you have any interest in Italian cinema at all, this should be a decent watch.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

OUTPOST II: BLACK SUN

Following the events of the first film, it’s now the modern day and a young woman is finishing her quest to take care of the remaining Nazi soldiers responsible for her family’s suffering. However, she soon stumbles into a story far bigger than she imagined and a fight that could spell doom for the world as the Nazis attempt to raise a Fourth Reich with the help of zombie-like forces.

I caught this on DVD a few weeks after Frightfest, and frankly it’s what I expected. I wasn’t a big fan of the first Outpost, a film that I found alternately dull and poorly choreographed during the action scenes. it wasn’t bad, but not particularly memorable. This sequel is essentially more of the same, although it does get to the zombie Nazi action rather more quickly and has a couple of nice threads running through it. I might have enjoyed it more with a crowd, but otherwise it’s reasonable direct-to-DVD fodder with another sequel already on its way…

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

PAURA 3D

A group of friends think they’ve scored a coup when they find keys to a villa in the rich customer’s car one of them takes out for a ride. The man is going to be away for several days, so why not go to the villa and have some fun? Unfortunately, not only do they find the dark secret he is keeping in the cellar, the man is coming back much sooner than expected..

While waiting for the extensive effects work for their début genre film The Arrival Of Wang, the Manetti brothers made this giallo-tinged thriller in order to try and help push Italian genre cinema into the limelight again with 3D and other recent trends. Sadly, the film is not really up to the job despite Alan Jones’ declaration that this and Tulpa heralded the return of the giallo.

Unlike Tulpa, this wasn’t unintentionally hilarious at any point, but the problems of other 3D and Italian movies are both very much in evidence. We follow a group of mostly reasonable characters who get themselves into a situation due to their own greed and stupidity. We see a lot of things that don’t make a lot of logical sense, some questionable character decisions and one scene where a girl’s pubes are shaved in full glorious close-up. There’s a little tension in the build-up, but when we get to see the set-up in the basement it gets rather confused. The ending isn’t particularly clear, it’s never explained exactly what’s going on and why people are there and a final twist really doesn’t make a lot of sense. The 3D helps to some degree, and the cinematography is fine, especially under the house with its long corridors.

Overall, it’s a reasonable attempt at returning to the past glory days of Italian cinema, but a long way from an actual return. Worth a look, though I’ve definitely recommend the directors’ previous film first.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

UNDER THE BED

After staying at his aunt’s house for a couple of years following a fire which killed his mother (and he is suspected of starting), Neal Hausman is sent back to live with his father, his younger brother Paulie and his new stepmother. Family relations are immediately strained, but Neal has a worse problem – there is a creature under the bed that comes out at night and tries to kill him. The fire didn’t stop it, and now it’s targeting Paulie…

Under The Bed is a strange little film in a number of ways. The film starts as a slow burning exercise in character study, as Neal struggles to fit in with the friends and enemies he had left behind, hostility from his father, animosity toward his new stepmother and the protection of his younger brother. There’s a lot of hints as to what went before, with the usual blame and issues left behind from what seems to be a tragic, if avoidable, accident to most onlookers.

However, the film then takes a few strange shifts. After a character-building first half, there’s a rather sudden lurch into Monster Squad territory, with the two brothers teaming up against the creature armed with home-made devices. Not bad on its own, but a rather sudden change of mood. Toward the climax, the film takes another lurch, and what had been up until now a rather tame and gore-free film suddenly develops a taste for splatter and a full-on homage to the first climax of Poltergeist!

Generally speaking, the film is real mess and not one to wholeheartedly recommend. Having said that, it is entertaining in parts and the direction rather solid on what was clearly a restricted budget. A shame that it’s not consistent in tone at least, but worth checking out if you get the chance (though you might have to wait a bit – I couldn’t even source a poster when writing this review, let alone find a release date!).

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

TULPA

A high flying executive has a habit of spending her nights having random sexual encounters with both men and women, mostly at a private club that deals in Eastern mysticism. Suffering from infighting at work with rivals trying to oust her, she also discovers that people she’s had sex with over the last few days are being killed in horrific ways.

Italian musician Federico Zampaglione made something of a splash at Frightfest a couple of years ago with his directorial début Shadow, although I felt that was more hype and wishful thinking from co-organiser Alan Jones than anything specifically within the movie. It was well made and atmospheric, but rather disjointed and depended on a plot twist clearly lifted from an older film. Here, the signs were similar – Jones was again raving about the movie, as he had done at Glasgow in February where I was treated to the opening sequence from the then-still unfinished movie.

I think I need to re-watch it to make sense of a few points, but the resulting film seemed very disjointed, illogical, silly and with a lot of rough edges. Now, all of these are criticisms that could easily be applied to most classic gialli, but sadly Zampaglione’s attempt lacks the style and artistic flair that categorised even the most illogical of the classic series.

The problems are best embodied by the opening sequences. We start with a scene that shows a man get horribly killed while a woman is tied up on a motel bed, unable to see what’s happening. From there, we get a rather stilted sequence of a business meeting (or some idea of one anyway), where the Italian members of the meeting gasp a sigh of relief when they’re able to switch back to speaking Italian. Both of these sequences should have been promising, and a sign of someone who knows the genre – a gory death sequence followed by a knowing nod at some of the problems with the 70s classics it’s aping.

Unfortunately, both of these backfire and give the impression of someone who’s not as clued up as you might think. While decent on its own, the murder sequence makes no sense within the confines of the rest of the film. The motel murder doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the Tulpa club (whose members have been warned never to contact each other outside the club) and so undermines a central theme. The woman seems shocked by news of the man’s death later in the film – surprising, since we know for a fact that she saw his penis cut off and placed in front of her face! The meeting sequence is also disappointing, as it doesn’t herald a return to Italian for the rest of the film. In fact, the Frightfest audience rippled with laughter whenever one badly dubbed character struggled with her atrocious accent!

While not quite plumbing the same depths as the previous film to get an inappropriately hilarious reaction from the Frightfest crowd (Dario Argento’s Giallo), Tulpa is a messy work that needs tightening up before a proper release – a possibility given that the film had apparently only been completed a few days before the festival. Zampaglione’s still a potential talent to watch, as both films have shown some directorial promise and he does come across as a genuine fan of Italian genre cinema. I would love to see a return to giallo, but I think it’s not yet happening despite the wishful thinking of some people (with the possible exception of Amer)!

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

MANIAC

Frank is a lonely man, working in solitude to restore mannequins in the store that used to be owned by his mother before she died. He’s also a psychotic serial killer, murdering any woman he feels attracted to and placing their scalps on mannequins around his apartment. Attempting a normal life, he strikes up a relationship with an artist fascinated by his mannequin work, but it’s not long before his murderous impulses come to the surface…

Remakes are generally derided in the horror community, and often rightfully so. Most recent remakes seem to be made by marketers cashing in on name recognition who don’t seem to have even seen the originals. Often, they either don’t have an understanding of what made the originals work (PG-13 slasher remakes?) or stay so close to the original that they don’t have any point in existing. However, not every remake is bad. Classics such as The Fly, The Thing and Dawn of The Dead prove that a remake can equal or surpass the original if done correctly. The best ones seem to be made for artistic reasons rather than marketing, and so it was with this in mind that I approached Maniac with some trepidation. Maniac doesn’t exactly have mainstream recognition, and there was news that director Franck Khalfoun would be bringing something new to the table.

That he did.

The resulting film is a truly breathtaking stylistic exercise where virtually all of the movie is shot from a first person perspective. Not found footage style, by the way, but the real viewpoint of Frank’s character. We see not only him carrying out the stalking and murders, but also some hallucinations from his point of view. He imagines everybody in a restaurant staring at him, for example, imagines the girl in front of him losing her scalp, or imagines the mannequins becoming the women whose scalps they wear, taunting and mocking him for his failures. It’s a truly immersive way of filming, which makes the viewer’s complicity with Frank’s actions all the more disturbing.

Beyond that choice, the film also works in many other ways. While Elijah Wood is an interesting casting choice to replace the original’s legendary Joe Spinell performance, he is perfect for the role. Spinell was excellent in his version, a slimy, despicable character who effortlessly stalked the streets of grindhouse-era New York among the prostitutes, low lives and drug addicts who occupied the streets. Wood, on the other hand, is a modern psychopath, able to blend in among normal people, for short amounts of time at least. He’s almost sympathetic at points, although never more than a few moments away from committing awful acts. The streets of modern Chicago lend a different air – these are streets where an ordinary person might be fooled into being relatively safe. Indeed, one victim is murdered in her own home after offending Frank in the wrong way.

The film is clearly made by people who respect the original. We see numerous nods to the original that never become intrusive for new viewers, while the more questionable aspects of the original are cleared up. It was never clear why the gorgeous Catherine Munro would ever be interested in Spinell’s physically unattractive, socially inept Frank and their relationship was so thingly drawn we never had that relationship as more than a distraction. In the remake, the relationship is much better drawn, making it clear to everybody (except for Frank of course) that she sees their relationship as a friendship with someone who can help her achieve her artistic goals. Similarly, it switches some of Frank’s motivations away from random women toward something little more personal.

Overall, an excellent remake which, while not quite a grimy and disturbing as the original, still manages to pack a real punch. It’s a real attempt at taking the original story and doing something original, while staying true to the source material. Well worth watching, although I’m not sure how much of the uncut version I watched will actually make it to mainstream outlets, if ever. Wood’s mere presence is almost asking for tabloid trouble!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The second full day of Frightfest turned out to be a mixed bag but with somewhat predictable results at the end of the day. I liked the films I thought I’d like. The two I had no expectations of were OK, but I wasn’t blown away by anything although I did have a good time. Dario Argento was there in person for the Total Film interview, which I thought went quite well and was somewhat insightful, but interviewer Jamie Graham was variable as ever. The whole thing went quite well, especially considering Dario was taking some questions from the audience and his grasp of English is not 100%, although it was disappointing that the tentative screening of one of his movies didn’t happen. Rumour has it that they were hoping for Dracula 3D, but either couldn’t get the rights or were scared to agree to show it considering the reaction for Giallo a couple of years back! There was also a signing/photo opportunity but it was crowded and the only thing he would be signing would be the new biography by Alan Jones, which was hugely overpriced, so I didn’t bother!

There were a few extras surprises on this day. Prior to V/H/S, there were a couple of short animations (something involving a guy DJing with his huge dick and a cat version of The Raid: Redemption [Blu-ray]) as well as trailers for Sinister, The House At The End Of The Street and Brandon (son of David) Cronenberg’s Antiviral. All looked good, although Sinister was of course playing later in the festival. The other notable trailer, Byzantium, played before [REC] 3 – an interesting looking British vampire film directed by Neil Jordan. I’ll check all those out when I can, I think.

Oh well, on to the reviews after the jump…

NIGHTBREED: THE CABAL CUT

In the late 1980s, Clive Barker was a rising star in the world of horror. His Books of Blood had been highly successful and led to some great novels (if not films), while his directorial debut Hellraiser was also a huge success. It should have been a no-brainer – Barker moves from low budget UK production to bigger Hollywood production, adapting his own novel Cabal and creating a new hit. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. For whatever reason, Hollywood didn’t like Barker’s take on his own work and insisted on reshoots, re-edits and a move away from the central focus of the movie on the monsters of Midian to a blander mainstream structure. The film suffered creatively as a result, and the film was a flop.

It’s long been the dream of Barker fans to see the original cut of the film as it existed before studio interference, but the footage was considered lost. Thankfully, it’s now mostly been recovered and work is in progress on a cut of the film that restores the film to as close to Barker’s original vision as possible. The “Cabal Cut” is a version that stays as close to Barker’s original script as possible, including some extra dubbing work so that some characters have their own voices (Doug Bradley, for example, was dubbed by another actor but voices his own character in this cut).

It’s still a work in progress, with most of the additional footage being taken from VHS masters and so greatly differs from the original footage. there were noticeable jumps in quality between scenes, and I even noticed that some scenes that were already in the original cut differed, which signalled that new footage would be coming up shortly. Because of this, it’s hard to review the film as an overall experience, given that I spent much of my time looking out for these jumps and wondering what was new than actually enjoying the film. There’s some great extra effects and makeup work, the story does allow some of the side characters a bit more breathing space and the film does flow quite well. There are still a few pacing issues, as well as one scene that really should have stayed lost (a weird nightclub scene that suggests that with Barker never went to a nightclub or there were some strange dancing choices in the ones he did!), but overall it was well worth the effort.

The film is still being worked on as I write this, with feedback being taken from those who have seen it at festivals across the world. The reaction has enabled funding to be approved for an actual release, and it seems that a new package is being planned with both the original and Cabal cuts of the film, with the latter being remastered as much as possible to avoid the issues I described above. There’s also some other footage that’s known about but has not yet been located, so this will be incorporated if at all possible. Well worth the effort seeking it out once it’s released.

Further information about the film can be found at Occupy Midian.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

HIDDEN IN THE WOODS

Two sisters suffer an abusive childhood living with their father in rural Chile. One of them is repeatedly raped by their father, giving birth to a deformed and mentally handicapped son who is literally treated like an animal. After visiting police investigators are killed by the father, the three hide out in a small town where one sister is forced into prostitution. Meanwhile, the local drug baron whose supplies were guarded by the father wants to get his property back.

As you can probably tell from the above synopsis, Hidden In The Woods is not exactly light entertainment, and continued the unfortunate perception of misogyny at this years festival instigated by opener The Seasoning House and not particularly swayed by the likes of Maniac and Paura 3D later on. The film is rather disjointed, and we’ve a fair way into the film before any kind of narrative thrust really comes to the fore. In the opening half hour or so of this film, we simply see scenes from the lives of the two girls from children to young women.

From there, the film lurches into action but the overall effect is one of a disjointed thriller that never really focusses on one part of the characters’ situation. In fact, when we get into the parts revolving around prostitution and cannibalism, there’s the definite hint that the characters involved actually enjoy it, so that makes them hard to sympathise with!

I’m not too familiar with Chilean cinema, so I’m not sure if some of the issues I had were due to cultural differences rather than the film itself. It’s not a completely terrible film, but it is something with some major issues that hopefully director Patricio Valladares can resolve either in future projects or in the remake that’s rather bizarrely in production with Michael Biehn starring.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

V/H/S

A group of young criminals are asked to go to a house to rescue a mysterious VHS cassette. They get to the house and view the tapes, each containing bizarre footage of people dying in mysterious circumstances.

As with most anthology movies, V/H/S is really a mixed bag of stories, some good and some bad. Outside of the wraparound story, we get 5 stories that veer somewhat from the central conceit. We get a tale of a lads night out gone wrong, a couple enjoying a road trip, a slasher in the woods, a conversation between a girl and her boyfriend as she is apparently stalked by ghosts, and a Halloween night out with a twist.

The film is decent overall, but suffers from both hype and a concept that’s both only vaguely followed and adhered to far too closely in various segments. The wraparound is immediately problematic. We spend several minutes with some really dislikeable characters playing various pranks and petty crimes before they end up on their mission. Not only it it far too long, but it’s shot on VHS, which while appropriate for the title did not look very good on the big screen. From here, we segue into our first segment, which suffers as well from being far too long with some dislikeable characters, although here at least we see some real payback. The central conceit of this segment is both silly (the lead is wearing glasses which look like normal glasses but actually transmit everything he’s seeing) and impossibly realised (why do the glasses go blurry when he’s drunk?). Entertaining by the final twist, but very flawed. The second segment is interesting, but flawed with far too little build up to the final twist, although there are creepy moments.

From here, the stories pick up. The 3rd tale shows a Blair Witch Project-ish trip into the woods, but with some neat camera and effects tricks to keep things interesting as well as a nice twist. The fourth is told in a completely different style, as if someone’s recording a Skype conversation with both participants visible. This again leads to some nice tricks and a very interesting final twist that makes me want to rewatch it soon. The final story is, IMHO, the best one and amps up the tension before an all-out finale that’s a great end for the film.

I enjoyed V/H/S for the most part, but it’s a very, very flawed anthology. The directors were each given a rough brief – found footage that could be used in an anthology – and the titles came after. This leads to a somewhat disjointed feel. Of the tales, the second is clearly shot in HD, which the fourth is neither VHS nor the first person perspective you’d expect from found footage. All expect the fourth are really just variations on extremely well-worn themes, and most of them just run far too long to retain the required tension.

Definitely worth checking out, but I was expecting more…

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

REC 3: GENESIS

Koldo and Clara are a blissfully happy couple on their wedding day, which is being documented by both professional and amateur cameramen. Unfortunately, one of the guests is becoming increasingly ill from the bite he received at his veterinary surgery earlier that day, and soon the place is littered with possessed zombies with a hunger for human blood.

REC 3 is both and interesting prequel and a complete departure from the previous 2 REC films. Anyone wanting a continuation of the cliffhanger ending to the second film in the series will have to wait for the fourth instalment, as this film is very much a tale of the first infection. This allows a number of things to change from the tone and style of the previous 2 films. While the film opens as a found footage movie, starting as if it’s a wedding DVD, this conceit is soon rejected after the outbreak proper begins in favour of a standard movie technique. This allows both a number of things not possible with the found footage technique, as well as not having to come up with excuses as to why people keep filming.

Most of all, however, it means that director Paco Plaza can let rip with the comedic elements of the story. This may be somewhat jarring to some viewers, especially as the previous REC films were notable for their extreme horrific intensity with very little comedy inherent anywhere. Whether or not you enjoy this film really depends on whether or not you appreciate this shift into more comedic, less intense territory. I enjoyed it personally, and for those of us waiting for a proper conclusion, REC 4: Apocalypse is geared to carrying on the darker path following directly on from REC 2.

For now, REC 3 is a perfectly fine gory, comedic film with lots of blood and chainsaws as well as a nice line in humour, albeit a little bit a diversion from the main thread of the previous movies.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

STITCHES

Interrupted from sex with a clown groupie, Stitches the clown rushes to a kids’ birthday party. The disastrous session ends with a bizarre accident which kills Stitches with a knife in the face. Years later, the children at the party have turned into highly dysfunctional teenagers, with the birthday boy in particular fear of future gatherings. An impromptu party is arranged by his friends when his parents leave for the weekend, which unfortunately attracts Stitches back from the dead for revenge.

Stitches is pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be from the above description and the presence of comedian Ross Noble in the title role. I was expecting terrible sub-par direct-to-DVD fodder, but the film mostly delivered on its promise. The opening is quite funny, with Noble struggling to entertain a bunch of bratty kids before their constant pranks end in a fatal accident. From here, we get the inevitable re-introduction to the protagonists and their flawed personalities and the events leading to the party.

What saves the film from pure mediocrity – apart from Noble, of course – are two unusual touches. One is the over-the-top gore, which for once is neither annoying (most British horror comedies such as Evil Aliens and Inbred) nor out-of-place. There’s some real invention with the kills, which helps provide a reason to watch the mostly annoying characters get killed off. The second little touch is a bizarre clown cult back story, where each clown has to provide an egg marked with his face, and it’s this that’s used both to resurrect and ultimately defeat Stitches. These touches help stave off boredom, though I’d guess this would be little more than a late night Horror Channel curiosity were it not for the Frightfest screening.

Well worth a watch if you like Noble, but not fantastic either – just far less odious than I’d feared.

[rating]2.5]

Going into the event, there were a few familiar faces – I spotted Emily Booth, Jake West and Neil Marshall. The event opened with a great little piece of standup from Ross Noble who introduced the organisers. This year also has a funny run of short ads telling people to turn their mobiles off during screenings, which at least saved Ian Rattray from complaining every time he got on stage! There were no other surprises in terms on content on this first day, but we could already see that the guest list was bigger than ever before as the stage filled up with cast & crew from opened The Seasoning House. Reviews of all the day’s films after the jump:

THE SEASONING HOUSE

A teenage girl, deaf and dumb since birth, is part of a group kidnapped by soldiers in 1990s Slovakia. The others are drugged and forced to be sex slaves in a specially set up house, but the leader of the group in charge of the house decides to use her in different ways, cleaning, drugging and feeding the other girls. Using hidden passageways within the house connected by air vents, she has an advantage on the men in control when a friendship and violence endangers her life.

An assuredly directed debut from special effects veteran Paul Hyett, this is an interesting but ultimately unsatsfying film. The film starts with the young girl (rechristened Angel) going about her routine in the house, which consists of not only doing household duties, but also shooting the other girls up with drugs to stop them from fighting back against the soldiers who come into the house to rape them. From here, we have a few flashbacks to her former life showing how she was taken from her village and witnessed her mother being shot dead, as well as how the girls were initiated to begin with. Most of the film, however, follows Angel as she goes through her routine, striking up a tentative friendship with one of the other girls (who knows sign language), until the inevitable violent conclusion when one of the men goes too far.

If that sounds rather grim, it most assuredly is for most of its running time. All of the girls are heavily – often violently – abused, while even Angel herself gets caught up with the man running the house, who has taken a great liking for her and is the only protection she has from being forced into prostitution herself. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Rosie Day as Angel, in her first film role. Day is not only an excellent actress, but she also looks several years younger than her current 18 years, making the on-screen events all the more harrowing.

However, the film really struggles with structure and pacing. While the film is very well shot, the script is all over the place and never instills any sense of urgency or the idea that it’s actually going somewhere. It’s a shame, as this is otherwise a rather decent début film from a promising director.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES

Faced with the imminent closure of their grandfather’s retirment home, Two brothers decide to organise a robbery with a motley crew of acquaintances. The robbery turns bad, but soon that doesn’t matter as London’s East End is swarming with zombies. They fight to survive and make it back to save the home. Meanwhile, the grandfather is organising a survival plan of his own.

I must admit I wasn’t particularly thrilled by the prospect of this film when it came up. The title just screams that it would be another half-assed London gangster film with creatures thrown in for the hell of it (as with the atrocious Dead Cert from a couple of years back), another in the tiresome production line of British gangster thrillers spiced up with the equally overplayed zombie meme. While not a total classic, I must that the film really delivered despite my low expectations.

The setup is simple, and from the beginning the film is played for laughs, which helps no end to draw you in. The characters, while very broad, are most likeable and well cast, with a few nice roles for older actors such as Honor Blackman and Richard Briars. The standout performance is Alan Ford (Brick Top from Snatch), who gives a typical hard man performance.

Once the zombies turn up, there’s nice interplay between the leads, and the more obvious moments (the character with a metal plate in his head proves difficult to kill as a zombie) are nicely counterbalanced with more original sequences (a hilarious chase between a zombie and a man on a zimmer frame). The gore’s quite nice as well with a few gags I’ve not seen before, while the film manages to get an overall feel of its own that deflects the inevitable Shaun of the Dead comparisons.

Overall, it’s decent popcorn fare, fairly forgettable in the long term but worth a watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

GRABBERS

A strange sea creature is found off the coast of a small Irish island, just as a newly arrived female police officer is finding her feet with her alcoholic partner. As people start to disappear it becomes clear that they need to defeat the increasing numbers of the creatures with their only weakness – alcohol!

Grabbers was a welcome end to the first night of the festival, and it was great to see another decent horror comedy, this time from Ireland. Best described as Father Ted meets Tremors, the latter film is a clear comparison for many reasons. the structure is actually more of a romantic comedy, with the creature not making a full appearance until a way into the film, allowing for lots of character interplay over dead whales and the like, as in Jaws 2 with extra sex appeal. Once they do turn up however, the film gets increasingly hilarious with the Irish locals largely unaware of the danger outside while the leads organise a massive piss-up for them.

There’s not much subtext here, just a hugely entertaining horror comedy with a great central conceit. Well worth watching.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The makers of that movie are working on a sequel, and have turned to fans on Kickstarter to get the movie produced. They need $450,000, and at the time of writing have passed $70,000 with 20 days to go. As with all Kickstarter projects, there’s a number of different rewards depending on the amount of money you donate, ranging from copies of the DVD to props and even acting roles! If you like this idea, please visit the Kickstarter page here. I’ve already donated!

UPDATE: Sadly, this project didn’t reach its target and so wasn’t funded. It will be interesting to see how they manage to go forward, I’ll post again here if there’s any way for everyone to get involved!

Director: Joseph Zito

Screenplay by: Barney Cohen
Story by: Bruce Hidemi Sakow

Starring: Kimberly Beck, Erich Anderson, Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover, Barbara Howard, Peter Barton, Lawrence Monoson, Joan Freeman, Clyde Hayes

Music by: Harry Manfredini

Special Makeup Effects by: Tom Savini

Taglines: “Three Times Before You Have Felt The Terror, Known The Madness, Lived The Horror. But This Is The One You’ve Been Screaming For.”

“Jason’s Back, and this is the one you’ve been screaming for.”

“This is the one you’ll be dying for…”

“Friday April 13th is Jason’s Unlucky Day”

STORY

Jason is once again not quite dead, and determined to kill anything that moves. After escaping from the morgue, he turns his attention to some nearby houses. In one, a family of three prepare for their evening, while in the house across the street, a group of college kids start to party.

OPINION

It seems a little silly from this vantage point where there are at least 10 Friday the 13th movies (12 if you count Freddy vs. Jason and the remake), but this really was intended to be the final movie in the series at one point. The reasons were pretty clear – there was a glut of interchangeable slasher movies on the market, with very little difference in quality between the minor independent entries and those from major studios. The press in the US was starting to create a backlash against what they saw as reprehensible trash, while the “video nasties” controversy brewed fiercely in the UK. On top of that, the series was starting to become a little embarrassing – how many times can Jason come back from the “dead” and continue killing, and why do people stay around the Crystal Lake area?

So, this was to be a stellar send-off. The poster just showed a bloody, damaged hockey mask (already iconic even though it only appeared in the last half of the 3rd movie) and was clear in its message – Jason is going to die for real. To help realise this, the studio hired Joseph Zito, who had made one of the better slasher movies a couple of years before – The Prowler (a.k.a. Rosemary’s Killer). The cast was also pretty decent, staying away from the staple cast of teenagers with appearances from a mother, a young child and even adult authority. Finally, as a piece de resistance, we had the return of Tom Savini. In the years after the original Friday, Savini had made a name for himself as the master of gore, and it was his involvement in movies like Maniac and The Prowler that really got them noticed.

However, two things happened. First of all, the movie became the most successful in the series by quite a long margin. This inevitably led to Paramount making 4 movies before they finally had a flop with 1989′s 8th movie (after which, they sold the rights to New Line, who made 3 more until their own demise). The second is that the movie, quite simply, isn’t very good. While the direction and acting are fine, and the gore is excellent, the script is frankly awful. It has its fans, but I find the film by turns dry, boring and silly.

We start the movie proper with Jason’s body being carried to the morgue, ready to be autopsied and buried. Unfortunately, since this is a slasher movie, not only is the killer not actually dead, but he’s taken to a nearly deserted hospital with a couple of horny interns, one of whom is trying to get it on within spitting distance of the gurney with his body on it. Needless to say, they both end up dying gory deaths.

We flash from there to a house where a group of teenagers are preparing for a house party. At a nearby house, young Tommy Jarvis and his sister and mother are going through their usual routines… at least until Jason turns up to continue his killing spree.

Despite what I said above, the film does manage to be interesting and does attempt to revamp the formula slightly – both by introducing actual child characters for the first time (strange for movies about summer camps!) and by following multiple storylines. The result leaves me a little cold, but it’s still a worthwhile watch. Savini’s effects are excellent as always, even the animatronic dummy representing Jason’s demise is impressive despite being clearly what it is.

Personally, I’m glad that the film didn’t represent the end of the series. It marks the end of a particular cycle, with the next 4 films in the series having a noticeably different look and feel to the first 4. The next few films are variable, but my personal favourite (part 6) is a real standout in my opinion, mainly because it avoids the pretence of plot and goes mainly for the body count!

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

CENSORSHIP

By this point in the slasher cycle, the MPAA were routinely cutting films in the series in order to achieve an R rating. Similarly, Paramount were becoming increasing embarrassed by the series, and didn’t really fight the MPAA’s demands. So much so, that most of the films remain in their cut forms, even in the DVD era that would allow uncut unrated movies to be sold quite easily.

The main cuts were to gore – director Joseph Zito is on record as saying that virtually every Savini effect was cut, sometimes at multiple points. Inevitably, a few further cuts to Jason’s impressive demise were also demanded by the BBFC for the VHS release, although both the original cinema release and the current UK DVD release are the same as the US R rated version. Full details can be seen here. Here’s hoping that Paramount finally see sense and release the uncut footage…

TRAILER

Directed by: Juan Piquer Simón
Written by: Dick Randall & John W. Shadow
Starring: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor

Taglines: “You Don’t Have To Go To Texas For A Chainsaw Massacre!”

“Pieces… It’s exactly what you think it is!”

STORY

In 1942 Boston, a young boy is caught playing with a jigsaw puzzle featuring a naked woman. His puritanical mother is disgusted and orders him to get a bag so she can burn any objectionable material she finds, but he returns with an axe and dismembers her instead.

40 years later, a series of strange murders begins on a college campus, with a piece of each victim missing, the killer apparently putting together a new jigsaw puzzle…

OPINION

Pieces is a movie that I’d come across in vague ways over the years, but it never made much of an impression. Perhaps some of it has to do with the relatively obscure nature of the film in the UK, as it didn’t appear on the “video nasties” list due to a heavily cut pre-cert release that spared it (but presumably disappointed anyone who watched it enough for it to disappear into obscurity). Perhaps, it’s just because the film has a reputation of being utterly atrocious. Perhaps because the director went on to make the utterly disappointing adaptation of British gore maven Shaun Hutson’s debut novel Slugs, a book I enjoyed a lot at the time.

Either way, there’s 2 reasons why I finally got around to seeing the film. First, some of the podcasts I listen to mention the film on occasion, usually with a tongue-in-cheek, “it’s so bad it’s good!” mentality. The other reason, and the main reason I now own a copy, is because Arrow Video have released a copy on DVD. Arrow are a company I’m currently a little obsessed with collecting releases from, and for them to give their sterling treatment to such a minor entry in the slasher genre piqued my interest. The result – well, it’s definitely an experience!

The fun starts straight away, as the “Boston” locales are actually shot in Madrid and the opening prologue, set in the 1940s, contains a hilarious number of anachronisms. The scene is overacted with shrill zeal, the character interactions are illogical and the whole thing renders the supposedly shocking scene (a woman being dismembered with an axe by her young son) absolutely hilarious. I can only imagine what the reaction of early audiences were to this, but for anyone interested in bad cinema, it’s a good start.

Cut to the modern-day, and we get one of the more infamous sequences, where a girl roller skating is distracted and ends up riding straight into a large mirror being carried across the street in front of her. Supposedly, this sequence was meant to set up the killer’s return to killing as this triggers memories of his mother and the girl ends up being his first victim, but the scene explaining this was left on the cutting room floor. Even so, we still see the girl’s death by chainsaw while she’s sunbathing, but she looks so different it’s not until you look at the cast that you realise she’s meant to be the same character.

This level of coherence and competence continue throughout. The major plot includes a detective working on the case who sends a colleague into the school to pose as tennis instructor, although she clearly can’t really play the game. Pretty much anyone who wants to get involved in the case seems to without difficulty, including one of the students and a professor, even though both are considered suspects. We get some of the most hilariously obvious red herrings ever, including a gardener who constantly uses a chainsaw. There’s a hilarious scene where the professor is asked whether the gore-soaked chainsaw could have been used to dismember the body in front of it, a scene where a girl doesn’t notice the guy coming into the lift with a chainsaw behind his back (!), and the hilarious “bastard!” scene. We also get one of the most gloriously random scenes ever, where a Chinese professor suddenly appears and attacks the policewoman, only to stop after being hit and apologise, blaming the attack on “bad chop suey”.

Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, the film is highly entertaining. There’s enough gore to keep any fan happy, while the twisty plot never lets you get too bored. The identity of the killer is fairly obvious (there’s only a handful of characters even close to being old enough), but the red herrings can be fairly entertaining even if they’re pretty obvious. The cast do their best, although they’re clearly battling against a poor script and direction that can’t even keep them looking and acting like rational human beings, let alone rounded character. It’s all topped of with a hilariously out-of-the-blue and ridiculous coda that would make any sane human being shake their head in confusion.

I’m glad I finally got to watch this little gem, although its reputation does precede it somewhat. Like Zombie Lake and Burial Ground, it’s the kind of movie you can derive a lot of pleasure from if you’re in the right mood, preferably with a few beers and like-minded friends. You’ll be disappointed if you go into this expecting wall-to-wall gore or anything remotely tense or scary, but on the right level it’s well worth seeking out.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

CENSORSHIP & CONTROVERSY

Pieces is a funny film to comment on in a number of ways. Not only does its ineptness and unintentional comedy value deflect any real attempt at criticism, it seems to be quite difficult to pin down on exact details. For example, I have it on good authority that it was heavily cut on its initial UK release, but I can’t seem to find any concrete confirmation on what was cut.

Similarly, the documentary on the Arrow DVD suggests that the film was quite controversial in some areas on its first release. With its lurid advertising and its themes, it apparently incited protests from people who were tired of the ebbing slasher craze (who had predictably not opted to see the film in question first), and this in turn gave a little bit of a bump to the film’s box office. However, I can’t seem to find anything concrete online to support exact what happened.

Both major DVD releases currently available (the US Grindhouse release and Arrow’s region 0 UK release) are uncut, with the former having supposedly better features but the latter (IMHO) having the better cover art.

TRAILER