Make Your Choice.

Last week, I ventured out into the cold to take in Rue Morgue’s first Cinemacabre of 2013. They were screening a movie called Would You Rather, which I had only just heard about a few weeks before.

In need of money to care for her sick brother, Iris (Britanny Snow) attends a dinner party thrown by wealthy philanthropist Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs). Unfortunately for her and the seven other guests, Lambrick has cooked up an evening they won’t soon forget – or perhaps even survive.

Would You Rather is not a bad little film. Taken from conception to release in less than two years, director David Guy Levy keeps things simple. Shot largely in one location, this dialogue driven piece of flamboyant nastiness is a good example of doing a lot with a little. It has a speedy setup, gets right into the meat quickly and is one of those movies that gets better as it goes along. This could’ve easily been a trite exercise in torture porn, but succeeds by not being excessive nor overly convoluted, things for which that subgenre have always been guilty.

Would You Rather features a ton of familiar faces, including Robb Wells, John Heard and Sasha Grey, but the movie shines, perhaps unsurprisingly, due to genre veteran Jeffrey Combs. He is fantastic in this, truly relishing the role as sadistic aristocrat Lambrick. I can’t recall him being this good since The Frighteners nearly twenty years ago. I also have to give Levy – as well as writer Steffen Schlachtenhaufen – props on the ending, as well. Following all the diabolical events that transpired, coming up with a fitting ending could’ve been tricky, but I felt there was something darkly poetic about its conclusion.

Jeffrey Combs as Mr. Lambrick in Would You Rather.

During the Q&A via Skype with Levy after the screening, someone brought up if the film was a comment on the – to use the now tired phrase – “one percenters” and their perceived sense of entitlement. Levy replied that he could see that, but his real intent was to combine his fascinations with the secret societies glimpsed in films like Eyes Wide Shut, and infamous human behaviour studies, such as the Stanford prison and Milgram experiments.

I took a gamble on this one, and came out pleasantly surprised. Armed with a juicy idea and the considerable talents of Jeffrey Combs, Levy just let human behaviour take its course.

Trailer Tuesdays: The Thing (1982)

I decided to go with a classic today, John Carpenter's The Thing.

Trailer courtesy of Buzzati.

Back in the eighties, VHS previews would sometimes follow the movie, and I still remember that trailer coming on after the credits rolled on whatever horror flick my father happened to rent that weekend. I recall it being a lot shorter, but the image of those letters crawling across the screen and that sound Bennings makes just before he gets torched stayed with me. This would've been circa '83, so my only knowledge of the movie then, was the iconic poster I saw at the Drive-In the summer before. I believe it was a few more years before I finally saw it, and boy, what an experience. The Thing still remains one of the few effects-heavy films that still holds up today. It also helps that it is fucking perfect in every way possible. But, you already know that, don't you?

Little Terrors 15

Last week, I attended the latest incarnation of Unstable Ground's monthly short film showcase, Little Terrors.

As always, it was a strong programme. Apart from the usual contigent of shorts previously screened at Toronto After Dark last October – including the Christine-inspired Vicki, Game from Nova Scotia, and my buddy Darryl Shaw's weird-ass effort, Garlic Bread Man vs Superbo Lasagna Man – there were several premieres, as well.

I liked the wonderfully simple and analogue nature of Richard Karpala's DeadBox, even if it was clear to me about halfway through where it was going to end up. Hey, better to do that in a short, rather than a ninety-minute feature, right?

The British short Death Scenes from Joel Morgan packed a lot into its seven-minute running time, with its cool little self contained mystery and solid payoff. Check it out below

EagleWalk was one of the few over twenty-minute that actually justifies its running time. When it was finished, I felt like I'd watched a full length creature feature, with all the extraneous stuff taken out. I was also quite refreshing to see someone tackle Bigfoot, as you don't really see that much these days. You can check out the entire short below.

My favourite short of the night was J Feeney's Killer Kart. Ever since I saw Intruder in my teens, I've always found supermarkets such interesting settings for horror flicks. I found the caliber of acting here above par, especially considering this was film was done while Feeney was in film school. He's definitely a talent I'll be keeping my eye on. From the trailer below, you can see where his influences lie.

DKTM 167

Hello boys & girls. I'm going to keep things brief this week, so here goes.

Shining. Addendum.

The Shining fan site The Overlook Hotel, recently posted something of extreme interest to fans of Kubrick's classic adaptation of the Stephen King novel. The ending we all know of Wendy & Danny leaving Jack to freeze in the hotel's hedge maze was not the way in which the film originally concluded. In its initial incarnation - which actually screened in New York and Los Angeles, before the prints could be recalled and altered - there was a hospital scene where hotel manager Ullman visits Wendy & Danny after their ordeal. Click the image below to check out the last few pages of the screenplay.

After Kubrick first watched the film with a London audience right before its release, he decided that the final scene was unnecessary and had it struck from all prints of the film. As with pretty much everything he ever did, he made the right call.

Music To Die To.

This week, about ten minutes of composer Roque Banos' score for the upcoming Evil Dead remake was released online. Perhaps most striking about this score is its thematic range. At points, it is soft and unassuming and others, it is unequivocally boombastic. Take a listen below.

Once Upon A Time...

A movie I'd been looking forward to for a while – especially since Paramount pushed back its release a full year – was Tommy Wirkola's Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

All grown up after their childhood encounter with an evil witch, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) & Gretel (Gemma Arterton) now hunt them for a living as bounty hunters.

I could tell from the trailers that this was likely going to be my bag, but I ended up enjoying Witch Hunters more than I was expecting. Wirkola (of Dead Snow fame) was clearly using Army of Darkness as a template, even so much as to make the opening baddie – the infamous gingerbread house witch – look decidedly Candarian in appearance. Though not as flamboyant as Raimi, many of the movie's action set pieces are seeded with his brand of splatstick.

Gemma Arterton & Jeremy Renner in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

This attitude is perfectly complimented by the two leads, Renner and Arterton. Since neither are strangers to big budget action, they looked completely at home in these highly physical roles. I was also taken with Renner's love interest Mina, played by Finnish actress Pihla Viitala, as she reminded me of a curvier Kate Mara. Yeah, let that image sink in. However, perhaps most perfectly cast is Famke Janssen as the big bad Muriel. When she first appears on screen, all I could think was, “man, this just feels right.”

I think the biggest strength of Witch Hunters were the creature designs. The creative term went above and beyond here, as there are all manner of witches crammed into the running time. The climax features several dozen distinct makeups, some of which are only glimpsed for a moment, but all tell a story. It was this attention to detail that finally won me over.

Famke Janssen as the Grand witch Muriel.

This movie was also considerably more gory than I thought it would be. While it is true that a lot of the blood staining the walls is digital, it was good to see that Wirkola hasn't toned down his love for dismemberment. Actually, you may be surprised by how much of the effects work was done practically, specifically the animatronic scenes with the troll character, Edward.

I won't say the movie doesn't have its faults though. There are some unnecessary plot points and the employment of modern language and technology in a medieval setting is something you'll have to choose to accept, but for me these were easy roadblocks to traverse.

At a brisk ninety minutes, Witch Hunters doesn't overstay its welcome and concludes in such a way that I would gladly watch another, if Wirkola and company were so inclined. As far as I'm concerned, this movie delivered on the promise of its trailer, which, these days, is a feat in itself.

Hour of the Wolf (#9)

The next title I checked out from the Time Out Best 100 List was Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 film Hour of the Wolf.

Alma (Liv Ullman) relates the story of the ill-fated island vacation with her artist husband Johan (Max Von Sydow).

I’m getting down to the final few titles now and judging by what I have remaining, this process may also act as an informal film school.

Before all the bells and whistles of today, Bergman and filmmakers of his era were of a different breed, using the tools of narrative and inference like master craftsmen. In Hour of the Wolf, Bergman employs an even keel of dread throughout, thus amplifying the effect when he throws something abstract into the mix. I was especially caught off guard at the film's rather abrupt conclusion. It was only on my second viewing, and again hearing some of those early conversations between Johan & Alma, that things became clear. This is one of the strengths of this film, as Bergman is not concerned about spelling out what is and isn't real. He merely tells the story via Ullman's character and leaves it up to you to interpret it however you like. I found the underlying theme of infectious psychosis really intriguing, and surprisingly unique.

Max Von Sydow (left) & Liv Ullman in Hour of the Wolf.

I also find Hour of the Wolf fascinating because it falls in a time period where I can see films from which Bergman drew inspiration, as well as ones that were later influenced by him. Even though my knowledge of pre-sixties horror films is limited, I can see that Bergman’s visual palette may have been drawn from European silent era pictures like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I also thought there might have been a whiff of Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls, but I know not whether Bergman would’ve ever seen that film prior to 1968.

On the flip side, it seems to me that Hour of the Wolf would have been the kind of thing that a young David Lynch would have eaten up. That strange and foreboding conversation between Alma and the old lady with the hat early on in the movie is exactly the kind of exchange we’ve been seeing in Lynch’s work for decades. And that's not even mentioning his penchant for protagonist insanity and symbolism.

See what I mean?

Moving on from that, I was impressed with the naturalistic performances. After growing up seeing Max Von Sydow in countless films - The Exorcist, Dreamscape, Strange Brew and Dune just to name a few – it was cool to see him in one of his earlier roles. Although, even here he still looked like an older gentleman, which makes me wonder if he was ever young. Ullman is also great and reminded me a little of Jessica Chastain, but that could very well have been due to me seeing three of her films that same week.

So, for excelling in simplistic storytelling alone, I can see why Hour of the Wolf is on the list. When you add in the great cast and the dreary look of the film, you have yourself something that really sticks to your bones.

Trailer Tuesdays: Innocent Blood

Here's another one from the early nineties called Innocent Blood.

Genre buddy cop pictures (and by buddy cop I mean one is human and the other's not) were nothing new by this point as it'd been done previously in such pictures as The Hidden, Dead Heat and Alien Nation, but what made Innocent Blood rise to the top was it had the John Landis touch. When it comes to mixing horror with comedy, there are none better.

Plus, this is one of those movies where you need a scorecard to keep track of all the cameos, as familiar faces like Sam Raimi, Dario Argento and Tom Savini, among others, all show up during the festivities.