Holidays

Like everyone else, I off for the holidays. What this means for the blog is that there won’t be any updates until Sunday 4th January. Below are two reviews; one for ‘Mum & Dad’ which is showing simultaneously in cinemas and Sky Box Office on 26th December. It will also be available to download on the 26th, available through the official website. Of course you can also pick up the DVD on the same day. Also on review is one of the bigger films this Christmas, ‘Yes Man’ based on a book by Danny Wallace and starring Jim Carrey. Other than that, it’s going to be pretty quite around here, so I would now like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year!

Yes Man

Yes Man

Starring: Jim Carrey, Terrence Stamp, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, Rhys Darby

Directed by: Payton Reed

Review by: Conor Flynn







Yes Man is a film which arrives with some unintentional bemusement. The timing for the film sounds like a skit from ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’. Whereas the incumbent currently sitting in the White House has to leave to the thrashing of an Oliver Stone film, the next American president will be swept into the Oval office to the loud chant of “Yes we can” and a film that evokes this mantra. All in all, an unpredictable coup for Warner Bros. in the honeymoon season of the Democrats. The opening weekend for this film will no-doubt be a marriage of success. But what happens after the opening will be even more interesting, as the film has a main character, who is a banker, who throws out loans like confetti. Oh horrid irony of recession, what is going on here?!

Based loosely upon the memoir of Danny Wallace, who makes a blink and you’ll miss it cameo appearance at the latter stage of the film, it tells the story of Carl (Carrey), a self-absorbed banker who says no to everything. One of his friends decides to take him along to a seminar led by Terence Bundley (Stamp). He persuades Carl to form a covenant and say ‘yes’ to everything. This leads to a series of positive decisions which eventually sees Carl meet up with Allison (Deschanel), who he promptly falls in love with. Will Allison discover Carl’s covenant and how will it affect their relationship?

The film disregards most of the adventures of the book, for example, replying ‘yes’ to the emails from “Omar, son of the murderer Sultan, Sultan of the Sultanate of Oman” who is, of course, willing to wire $40 million directly into a willing correspondents bank account. Also, and rather fairly for an American financed film, the high concept set out in the book has been thoroughly Americanised, for example, whereas Wallace pretty much made up the idea of saying ‘yes’ to anything by himself, the film sets this up (rather lazily) as a quasi-twelve step program. Thankfully, the film drops all the juvenile smugness of the source material, which, unless you’re into student humour, eventually grated.

It’s the central premise which counts here, so Jim Carrey and director Payton Reed milk it for what its worth, though you still end up feeling the idea hasn’t been stretched to the nth degree. It has easy and banal targets compared to the quirky and edgy ones featured in the book which makes it feel less biting overall. The film is hamstrung by a romantic subplot which is as formulaic as they come. Thankfully the overall positivity of the film will have you grinning from ear to ear regardless of how light the comedy actually is.

Yes Man will probably disappoint fans of the book. For everyone else, it’s feel good but very lightweight film.

Mum & Dad

Mum & Dad

Starring: Perry Benson, Dido Miles, Olga Fedori, Ainsley Howard, Toby Alexander

Directed by: Steven Sheil

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







• Audio Commentary
• Interview with director Steven Sheil
• Frightfest Q&A Session with Cast & Crew
• Film London Interviews
• Through a Vultures Eye

Mum & Dad is a genuine wild card. This British helmed feature is the debut of Steven Sheil; a man who is headed on a direct warpath with conservatives by rearranging the meaning of family values just in time for Christmas! To say that this new film is quite objectionable and vicious is to actually give it quite a complement. Did I also mention that the film is also stealthily humorous? No. Then read on…

The grubby tone of the film is kicked off as we’re introduced to three airport cleaners, Lena (Fedori), Birdie (Howard) and her ‘brother’ Elbie (Alexander). Birdie offers Lena a bed for the night when she misses her lift home. Unfortunately Lena has to do more than just meet the ‘parents’…

This film is an incredibly tough sell. For one, it’s highly gruesome, so will only really appeal to hardened horror fanatics, and the story is extremely derivative; in particular, the similarities to ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ are undeniable. However, it disturbs in ways you don’t expect, for example, you may find yourself laughing uncontrollably at the inanity of the Christmas party scene towards the films last third, then suddenly question the morality of doing so soon after. This is a film which takes sickening real events such as the Fred and Rosemary West case as its inspiration and turns it into a hideous satire which maliciously attacks obsessions with serial killers, particularly though the caricature of Birdie (Howard). Her emulation of her ‘parents’ parallels the sensationalistic media coverage of individuals performing ‘copycat crimes’ during the nineties. Underneath the grimy veneer of ‘Mum & Dad’ lurks a tar black satire on government. This morally dubious choice at comedy can be seen as a parody of the ‘back to basics’ policy of the British Tory party during that decade. The caricature portrayals given by Perry Benson and particularly Ainsley Howard are excellent.

The DVD itself is excellent. The picture quality to the feature is great all round and the sound is extremely clear. Working backwards with the extras we start with an obligatory trailer followed by a behind the scenes video which shows that lots of fun was had on set. Up next is a three minute short ‘Through a Vultures Eye’ which starts off very interestingly though ends in a silly fashion. ‘Film London Interviews’ is a series of interview snippets with the cast and crew and is good as it lets other people have a say such as the cinematographer and editor. ‘Frightfest Q&A Session with Cast & Crew’ is brief but interesting due to the actor’s comments on horror. ‘Interview with director Steven Sheil’ is brief and reiterates quite a bit of information also made available in the interesting audio commentary, the latter of which focuses on the micro budget constraints of the film.

‘Mum & Dad’ is one sick puppy. But remember; a sick puppy is for life, not just Christmas, so find ‘Mum & Dad’ a good family home this holiday season!

Dublin Horrorthon 2008 Report Part 4

Dublin Horrorthon 2008 Report Part 4
Sunday Oct 26th

Thankfully I had a bit of a sleep-in today because the festival didn’t start until 1pm. Good thing too because I was pretty exhausted after the previous night, but then again I expect to be the same by the end of this night as well. Again the start of the day is a race to get ready. The opening film today is Demons 2, a follow-up to the spectacularly silly original which was screened at the festival two years ago. It’s a pity that the film has been scheduled to an early slot in the morning because this really is the type of movie more suited to a midnight screening i.e. when everyone has had a sizable amount of alcohol consumed! ‘Demons 2’ poses further questions I’m afraid to ask, questions that demand an answer...

Demons 2

Demons 2

Starring: David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Asia Argento

Directed by: Lamberto Bava

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







The original ‘Demons’ was brilliantly bonkers. The premise to that film was simple; various people receive tickets to a horror film screening, one girl in particular picks up a prop mask from said horror film and scraps her face with it. She turns into a Demon and begins to infect the other cinema goers. Eventually a brave few manage to escape the cinema only to learn that the infected have also escaped. It seems the world is doomed with a sequel to follow. Unfortunately ‘Demons 2’ disavows the events of the original. This is only the first in a series of disappointments with the sequel.

This time around a number of people are caught inside a high-rise apartment building. Inside one of the apartments a party is being held for Sally Day (Cataldi-Tassoni), a teenager celebrating her 16th birthday. She feels her party is spoiled the moment her ex-boyfriend arrives at the building, so she locks herself in her own bedroom. Things take a turn for the worse when she begins to watch a horror movie on the television…

‘Demons 2’ is mediocre stuff. The special effects were one of the best elements of the original, but the sequel is a letdown, nether as gory or particularly memorable. The acting is certainly on par, but it’s as if someone decided that because the original was a big success, that the sequel therefore needed some quality control. The dubbing is less ridiculous and over the top. The plot is also more hackneyed than the original, stealing wholesale from David Cronenberg’s ‘Videodrome’ and ‘Shivers’. All round it is inferior to the original, which was very entertaining, but awful.

The sequel is nowhere near as entertaining and ebbs closer to just plain awful. The only element which remains unblemished in this sequel is the chaotic storytelling. It doesn’t make a lick of sense and is still inane, for example, there is a moment when a child answers a telephone and tells a stranger on the other end that he is home alone. Exactly what the intentions of this stranger are remain completely unexplained, but to the cynical it speaks volumes. Other highlights include the priceless moment in which a monster, which looks like a ‘Ghoulies’ sequel reject suddenly, and too briefly makes an appearance or the moment towards the end in which the hero suddenly reminds his love interest about the ‘rescue courses’ they did last summer while abseiling form the roof of the building. Sure enough we don’t get a hint of this anywhere else during the film. But even before these unintentionally funny moments, the film drags and fails to maintain the laughs of the original film.

‘Demons 2’ conforms to the law of diminishing returns; you’d be better off watching the original film again instead.

Gimme trailers...lots of 'em

Up next is ‘grindhouse trailers’. It seems I’m more starving than I thought so I nip off to the shop again to grab a sandwich. Thankfully, having met Patrick Thompson at the ‘Demons 2’ screening, I ask if he can keep a seat for me at the back row. In return he asks me to get him some crisps. This seat keeping business got contentious later in the evening, but more about that to come…

Grindhouse Trailers

Grindhouse Trailers

Starring: Various

Directed by: Various

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







The mere notion of sitting in front of two hours worth of film trailers must seem like the height of madness to most viewers. When attending press-screenings or festivals such as the Horrorthon, there generally tends to be no trailers included. This makes for a less entertaining event overall. Personally I can’t get enough of a few forth-coming attractions (or so I initally think); there are plenty of trailers I could name which are far more exciting than the films they’re promoting. Rather bizarrely, the trailer has become the better part of certain features themselves, namely with ‘Tropic Thunder and ‘How to Lose Friends & Alienate People’, but most notably in the film that started it all ‘Grindhouse’. Now we have a sort of celebration of the art with this little feature…

Obviously there is no story here, just a series of trailers, mostly revolving cult and exploitation films. Expect to witness such unforgettable titles as ‘Jailbate Babysitter’, which, according to the less than reliable IMDB, features the debut of John Goodman. Ouch! If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, check out ‘Invasion of the Bee Girls’! Suffice to say the trailer lives up to its title. Though my personal favourite title has to be ‘The Black Gestapo’, the tasteless name says it all. But Grindhouse Trailers isn’t simply about tawdry title names, there are some hilarious trailers included here.

Another favourite has to be ‘Dolemite’, the trailer, which features a rhyming monolog by its star to sell the feature, is painfully funny through-out. Other highlights include ‘The Worm Eaters’, ‘The Undertaker and his Pals’ and ‘The Pink Angels’. Each looks extremely woeful as a feature, but in this very short format they are extremely funny. But it’s not all about laughably bad films. There are a few trailers for brilliant films here, namely ‘Raw Meat’ aka ‘Death Line’ and ‘Rabid’.

So why not award the film full marks? After about an hour of watching this junk, it all begins to ware itself out and you’ll notice the laugh quotient subsiding very quickly. Once the better films begin to appear you start to wish you saw the feature in reverse order. And that’s the main problem. Watching fifty five trailers over a ninety minute stretch becomes very tedious after a while. If the piece was edited to include the less humorous works first and leave the sillier stuff to the end it might work better.

‘Grinhouse Trailers’, available under the title ‘Grindhouse Trailer Classics 2’, is very enjoyable stuff, though it might be best viewed over a series of nights. Watching it in one sitting is eventually a bit of a struggle…

No more trailers!

That last ‘film’ certainly lived up to its name and wares you down. By the end of it I’m very happy that it’s all over. Another half hour of trailers would probably drive me mad. The next film up seems like it would have been better suited to last years program, but I don’t think one person will take a blind bit of notice. We are talking about the belated screening of ‘Bram Stokers Dracula’.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves

Directred by: Francis Ford Coppola

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







Jonathan Harker (Reeves) is requested to Transylvania by Count Dracula (Oldman), a lovelorn creature with an interest in property back in England. Harker soon discovers that this creature has an ulterior motive of seducing Mina (Rider), a girl whom Harker will soon wed. It turns out that Mina has a striking resemblance to Elizabeta, a former lover of the Count who committed suicide four hundred years ago and was the Counts only love. Eventually freeing himself from the Counts castle, Harker, with the aid of Van Helsing (Hopkins) must stop the Count entrancing Mina before it is too late…

I have to admit a certain love hate relationship with ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’. Visually it is gobsmacking, but for all its technical wonderment, which although looking ropey next to the computer generated special effects we have today, still has a certain lasting appeal to it. At every given moment the film tries to emulate old filming techniques of early cinema and is breathtakingly beautiful. Another excellent technical element is the soundtrack which is thunderous and beautiful in equal measure.

However certain bits have not aged well, for example, the moment when Elizabeta (Ryder) plunges to her death. There are also miniatures which wouldn’t look out of place in a cheap Hammer Horror production, especially the cheesy train effect early on in the film. For people of a certain matured age, these special effects will amount to nothing more than pillaging of older films, but it’s still hugely impressive stuff.

The acting draws contempt like moths to a flame. Richard E. Grant is hugely over the top, Anthony Hopkins equally hams it up ad-nauseam and Sadie Forester as Lucy acts as if she’s in a porno. All of this is pittance next to Keanu Reeves performance. His casting in the pivotal role of Johnathan Harker is laughable. Thankfully the film is saved by Winona Rider, Tom Waits and an excellent performance by Gary Oldman, the latter who remains one of the greatest overlooked actors for an academy award. This is one of his greatest roles. It’s a shame then that the script fails to serve anyone well. As a love story, it’s good, if ridiculous, but as a horror film…it sucks. It all feels like a very workmanlike interpretation of the novel, but you won’t feel a jolt of terror or any genuine sense of danger because Dracula is less threatening than he should be.

The film is visually spectacular, but malnourished in vital areas. It’s not a disaster, but you can’t help thinking that with better casting and more reliance on the blood lust of the novel, the film could have been a major horror masterpiece…

Night of the Creeps

Night of the Creeps

Starring: Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Tom Atkins

Directed by: Fred Dekker

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn








Fred Dekker is a director who is both admired and loathed by film fanatics. This is the same man who made many a horror-fan/childhood dream come true when he mixed a variation of ‘The Goonies’ (or ‘The little Rascals’) with the classic Universal Studio Monsters to come up with eventual cult favourite ‘The Monster Squad’. The film was panned by critics and was a box-office disaster. In other words…he blew it. Six years later, he was asked to direct ‘Robocop 3’. Again…he blew it. That film met with huge fan ridicule and ended his directing career. And it all started so brightly…sort of. His debut film was ‘Night of the Creeps’. Was it a box office success? No…he blew it. But what was the critical and audience reaction? Now that’s a different story entirely.

After a canister of brain parasites are hijacked from an alien vessel and shot directly towards our planet, an invasion during the 1950’s by these Creeps is momentarily put on hold when the police manage to contain the situation. Fast forward to the 1980’s and the creeps are set free by Chris (Lively) and J.C (Marshall), two sorority house wannabes. With the help of Detective Ray Cameron (Atkins), Chris and J.C. must stop the Creeps from infesting the sorority before their potential dates are infected...

On initial limited release, this film met with fine appraisal, but its status as a great cult classic has gathered momentum over the years from rotation on U.S. cable television. Dekker has gone on record to call this film ‘…crap, but it was self-aware crap.’ The film starts off in a bizarre fashion with two plot-points which are never resolved and the film chops back and forth through various time periods. It’s chaotic. So there are holes in the story and the pacing is all over the place, but that’s half the anarchic joy of the film. There are a slew of random and radical moments (certainly for horror movies during this time) which either use post-modern irony or break the fourth wall, all of this a good ten years before ‘Scream’. Elsewhere the film pulls off convincing make-up effects which, for the most part, still hold up today. The film is generally good but what turns it into a great film is Tom Atkins.

Atkins has played law enforcement roles through-out his career and yet again in this film. From the very moment his character awakes, answers a phone and speaks, you know you’re being introduced to the person who will invariably steal every scene he is in. ‘Thrill me’ he replies, as if to say he’s sick to death playing the same role once more. The biting cynicism continues through-out; the dialogue becomes increasingly abusive and acerbic, yet Atkins still remains straight-faced through-out, put simply, it’s a painfully funny career defining performance.

Definitely check this film out if you ever get the chance. It’s certainly up there with the best zombie splatstick films of the eighties.

Night of me needs sleeps

‘Night of the Creeps’ brings a great day (with the exception of ‘Martyrs’) to a very enjoyable close. It should be noted that the latter film is unavailable on DVD and an on-line petition (found by clicking here) to release the film is already underway. Yeah, I know these things generally don't do anything effective, but every little helps. Below you can find an

Child's Play

Child’s Play

Starring: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Dinah Manoff

Directed by: Tom Holland

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







This was director Tom Holland’s second venture into horror territory after misfiring with the supposedly commercial friendly ‘Fatal Beauty’. Before that latter formulaic vehicle for Whoopie Goldberg, Holland found favour with his brilliant debut feature ‘Fright Night’. That film was a huge hit which proved to be one of the biggest horror successes of 1985. However, Child’s Play would eventually become even bigger (and unforeseeably more controversial) than that film. This was the film that introduced the world to Chucky…

Serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Dourif) attempts to avoid capture from detective Mike Norris (Sarandon), but is shot in the arm during his escape. Lee Ray’s troubles mount when his friend drives off leaving him behind. Before dying he enters a toy store and uses some voodoo magic to transfer his soul into a ‘Good Guy’ doll. The building is struck by lightening and burns to the ground, however, a homeless peddler finds the doll and sells it to Karen Barclay (Hicks) for her son Andy’s birthday. Soon a series of murders begin to mount and the fingers all point to Andy…

Child’s Play is one of the least original horror films to come out of the eighties slasher cycle. The story was seen before in various guises down through the decades, through this effort throws in an interesting child as-possible-killer scenario. Unfortunately this is never capitalised on, leaving you with the feeling that there might have been a more suspenseful story lying underneath. The other problem with the film is that the acting from everyone involved is nominal with the exception of some excellent voice work from Dourif. Despite all this, the film is great fun; even beyond it’s wildly over the top show down in which the devil doll repeatedly comes back to life for one last kill.

The film spawned numerous sequels and a slew of similarly themed straight to video clangers, however, Child’s Play has managed to stand the test of time well, it remains both suspenseful and witty to boot. This mostly comes down to the crafty direction of Holland, but equal praise must be heaped on the special effects and the voice-work of Brad Dourif. Elsewhere the script by Don Mancini takes a tired format and recharges it with humorous one-liners and the various stabs at commercial advertising aimed at children show that the film is certainly has its tongue in cheek. This film is certainly much better than the two sequels that followed, though nowhere near as good as the superb fourth entry ‘The Bride of Chucky’.

Child’s Play is highly unoriginal, but take it for what it is, a daft film with plenty of fun suspense and cheesy one-liners along the way.

Commentary on Child's Play

Chucky receives good applause from the audience and it seems everyone has had a good time. An interesting note aside is that Tim Sullivan did an audio commentary with director Tom Holland for both ‘Fright Night’ and ‘Child’s Play’ over at Icons of Fright. Other than being very interesting and enjoyable commentaries, the best thing is that they are available free of change! Once again, hats off to Mr. Sullivan. It’s at about this point that I meet a fellow reviewer for the first time at the festival, Patrick Thompson of ‘NecroCarnival’. We talk about the various films to come, particularly the film which is about to follow, the highly controversial French film ‘Martyrs’. I’m really for something astonishing, challenging and deeply visceral. Maybe I’m a little too hyped up…

Martyrs

Martyrs

Starring: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne, Juliette Gosselin

Directed by: Pascal Laugier

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







The controversy surrounding Martyrs has managed to eclipse similarly violent films such as ‘Haute Tension’, ‘Frontiere’ and ‘A L'intérieur’. It’s the first genre film in French history to receive an 18+ rating, the equivalent of the commercially unviable NC-17 in America. The story has a basic set-up where we learn about the kidnapping and eventual escape of Lucie (Jampanoï), a girl who is quickly institutionalised due to her trauma. Here she befriends Anna (Alaoui) and after years of searching Lucie finds the supposed location of her former captives.

'Martyrs' is a deeply frustrating watch, but first we’ll get into the few positives the film has to offer. The set-up is an intriguing one and though typical of the revenge plots of the seventies, the first twenty minutes still manage to be brutally visceral and intense. The production values are excellent and highly convincing, particularly the set-piece in which Lucie storms into the home and dishes out her retribution. But the problems with the film soon arise after this intense highlight.

Once this act of violence is carried out, all rationale seems to be dispensed with and the film turns momentarily into a psychological horror in which Lucie is attacked by an id creature. The necessity for this ‘plot’ development in the overall context of the film amounts to filler; its removal would fail to alter the outcome of the story. After this set-piece Anna discovers a prisoner deep within the house. She performs some botched first aid on this captive but is interrupted by some narrative spouting cultists. What follows is a protracted sequence of torture which carries no narrative weight whatsoever. What’s worse is that this sequence carries on for well over ten minutes and is irritatingly repetitive.

The dénouement to the film is the bane logic and gives the raison d'être of this idiotic cult. The fact that this inane explanation is left to the very end speaks volumes about the films justification for elongated torture scenes. In layman’s terms it is stupid and simply thrown in there at the last minute. Had these antagonists bothered to rent out the film ‘Flatliners’ they’d discover two things; first, the answer to the same stupid “research”, and secondly, that the method of “research” in that film is substantially less painful and infinitely more interesting, but equally preposterous to watch.

Tedious and finally pretentious, the film is at least an interesting failure. There are a number of good ideas here, none of which are properly developed and ultimately the film is a dull exercise in extreme brutality.

Numb

A sigh of relief fills the cinema as 'Martyrs' finishes. It is met with scattered enthusiastic applause but the general consensus seems to be to rush to the exit. I have to admit to being angered by the film. Various people voice their opinions as we exit. Some feel the film is rather “pointless” overall, most seem too numbed to say a thing.

Next up is an all too rare print of ‘Night of the Creeps’. Having been a fan of ‘The Monster Squad’ for many years (having seen it over five times as the cinema when I was child) I’m pretty stoked to finally see Fred Dekker’s directorial debut…

The Disappeared

The Disappeared

Starring: Harry Treadaway, Greg Wise, Alex Jennings, Tom Felton, Ros Leeming

Directed by: Johnny Kevorkian

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







I have to admit knowing absolutely nothing about ‘The Disappeared’ before seeing it, but the synopsis on the Horrorthon brochure suggests a film along the lines of ‘The Sixth Sense’ and ‘The Orphanage’. I’ve yet to see ‘The Orphanage’, but ‘The Sixth Sense’ is an excellent film, therefore on paper that suggests that ‘The Disappeared’ is half an excellent film to me. By the time I finish watching ‘The Disappeared’, I’ve concluded that this initial assumption is accurate in summing up the final film itself…

For many years Mathew (Treadaway) has been disturbed by the disappearance of his younger brother Tom. His father Jake (Wise) blames Mathew, and also himself for losing Tom in the first place. Now Mathew has come home to live with his father in their flat. Still guilt-ridden by the events, Mathew tries to adjust to his surroundings with the help of his friend Simon (Felton) and next door neighbour Amy (Leeming). Soon Mathew begins to hear a ghostly voice which maybe his brothers…

The Disappeared is engaging. What the film delivers in spades is some tremendous acting, particularly from its lead Harry Treadaway. He stands out from the crowd and holds the film together; you genuinely empathise with his situation. His performance goes through a set of emotions (guilt, frustration, fright, emptiness), yet still remains wonderfully restrained. Elsewhere Greg Wise is good as Mathew’s father and Tom Felton is also memorable as Mathew’s friend. Everyone on screen puts in a good effort. The film maintains a fairly good sense of bleak atmosphere, both through the gritty locations and the impressive soundtrack, but ultimately it is let down by the script which is as derivative as they come.

Writer/Director Johnny Kevorkian serves the film better as a drama than as a horror. The film has touches of Ken Loach about it, but the supernatural elements of the story are very tiresome. There is a ghostly voice within the television, a ghostly hand which appears from underneath the bed, a ghostly reflection within a window and so on. The payoff towards the end is unsatisfactory and feels like a by the numbers plotline lifted straight from the lesser vaults of Hammer Horror. Ultimately this is a film which fails to fright and that is detrimental in what is meant to be a psychological horror film.

The Disappeared is reasonably atmospheric and terrifically held together by a superb lead, but is let down badly with a by the numbers script.

It's Child's Play

‘The Disappeared’ proves disappointing in the frights department. I end up hoping that ‘Martyrs’ will rectify this later in the evening. But first we have to watch an old favourite in the form of ‘Child’s Play’. Admittedly I’ve seen the film all too recently, but the allure of seeing it on the big screen is enticing enough to watch the film again.

Dead Bones

Dead Bones

Starring: Ken Foree, Arie Verveen, Frederic Landenberg, Ruggero Deodata

Directed by: Olivier Beguin

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn







Up until recently, the western seemed faded, but thanks to award winning films such as contemporised variations ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’, more traditional fair such as ‘The Assassination of Jassie James…’ and the remake to ‘301 to Yuma’, the genre seems to be back in fashion. All ready there are a number of up and coming films in the pipeline including ‘The Book of Eli’ and adaptations of splatter comic ‘Preacher’ and uber violent book ‘Blood Meridian’ to come. These two productions prove that short film ‘Dead Bones’ has arrived at exactly the right time…

‘Dead Bones’ follows a rudimentary story arc. Two men, one a criminal on the loose, the other a bounty hunter on his trail, arrive in the village of ‘Dead Bones’. Soon they discover that the town has a secret to hide, but before they can make the decision to escape, the locals decide to take matters into their own hands...

The short is almost twenty minutes long, but by no means feels like it. The story by Swiss director Olivier Beguin is slight and owes a lot to films such as Two Thousand Maniacs, Cannibal the Musical and (the hugely underrated) Ravenous. But thankfully where it fails to engage story-wise, it makes up for this through bravado. Essentially the story is a pretext for gory set-pieces. Stylistically it is influenced by the usual seminal spaghetti westerns Django, El Topo and of course the Leone 'Dollars' trilogy. One particular scene, which is vaguely reminiscent of the underground moments in ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre Part 2’ but done as a western, is deftly handled.

Gore-hounds will enjoy the buoyant tone of the piece and the pace never manages to slacken despite the simplistic storyline. The editing is top notch as is the production design which looks incredible for a short piece. With the added presence of splatter maestros Ken Foree, Ruggero Deodata and Cabin Fever’s Arie Verveen, it certainly suggests that this film didn’t come cheaply. In fact you have to wonder how much money was really spent on the film. Would it have been more economic to shoot a micro-budget feature with a great script instead? None of that will concern viewers during the piece, but it certainly adds a question of ‘what if’ to the proceedings.

As you can probably imagine, this short film is all about ‘cool’ splatter effects and little else, but ‘Dead Bones’ is well worth your twenty minutes and then some.

The Hunger

The Hunger

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, David Bowie, Cliff De Young

Directed by: Tony Scott

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn






It’s interesting to note that this is in fact the debut feature of director Tony Scott. This was his first, and in many ways, final foray into more artistic endeavours. We are, of course, talking about the same person who would quickly go into commercial friendly territory with ‘Top Gun’, ‘The Last Boy Scout’ and ‘True Romance’ amongst others. Few can shoot a film quite like Tony Scott, whether it is the sharp costumes, the use of hazy neo-noir lighting, the lavish set-designs or hyper kinetic editing, many have tried to emulate his style and failed. The Hunger in many ways lays the groundwork for these later films, though thematically it couldn’t be more different if it tried.

The film follows Miriam (Deneuve), an immortal, and her human lover John (Bowie), as they search for a cure to John’s advanced rapid aging. Both learn by chance that Dr. Sarah Roberts (Sarandon) may prove a possible cure. John visits the doctor, but she ignores his claims, that is, until she sees it for herself. Upon discovering that the lead is now false and with John suddenly crippled by aging, Miriam decides to seal John inside a coffin alongside all her former lovers. Startled by what she has seen, Sarah decides to investigate further…

That sounds like an interesting set-up, but as anyone who has seen this film will tell you, that plot description takes up nearly the first hour of this ninety minute feature. Suffice to say the story is wafer thin. Visually the film is striking from the word go, but struggles to impress half as much as its opening credit sequence, both the music and visuals suggest a different film than the one that follows and really the tone for the audience is lost right there. After that the film slows to a snails pace and never recovers. The narrative is also muddled and we never really get to know or care for any of the characters. Thankfully there are saving graces.

Surprisingly enough, the acting isn’t bad, though as soon Bowie leaves the scene, so too does your interest in the film. Essentially it becomes a dull excuse to show some lesbian seduction, all soft focus stuff of course, but there isn’t any real narrative there. Thankfully, the film is enlivened by its brilliantly off-kilter soundtrack which includes everything from Bauhaus and Iggy Pop to Shubert and Bach.

The Hunger is an atmospheric piece to watch and listen to, but the languid pacing, near non-existent and confused narrative make it a trawl to sit through.

Who loves Short Shorts?

The Hunger was greeted to minor applause by a subdued audience, though notably one particular moment, in which a small amount of wine slips precariously on to Susan Sarandon’s blouse, met with howls of laughter from the audience. After that brief foray into lethargy, I’m in the mood for something genuinely scary. The next feature ‘The Disappeared’ sounds very promising, but before that is the short film ‘Dead Bones’. The short’s director and some of the stars/crew are in attendance and certainly want to make as much noise as humanly possible to promote their short…