The Language Of Horror

In his new film Pontypool, Bruce McDonald, one of Canada’s most prized filmmakers, tackles the zombie flick.

Grizzled talk radio show host Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) thinks it’s just going to be another broadcast day in the sleepy Ontario town of Pontypool. However, as the show wears on and the frenzied calls start pouring in about a growing epidemic, Grant and his crew realize their station may be the last safe place in town.

I have no point of reference because I have not read the Tony Burgess (yes, there are two apparently) book that it is based on, but I have heard that it does not share the single locale of the film. This is a brave choice on McDonald’s part, but I think it worked for the most part. The intimacy of the setting, coupled with the vastness of the subject matter, makes for a great dichotomy.

Director Bruce McDonald

Writer Tony Burgess

Pontypool is probably one of the most cerebral examples of this genre you are ever likely to see, possessing an intellect that is almost completely absent from this type of movie today. It is definitely a thinker and that is where it will succeed or fail with the viewer. Once McDonald and company lay the cards out on the table halfway in; you have to be willing to go where they want to take you. The film biggest strength is that it is extremely creative, going in a route that I would have never even conceived. There is something to be said for anyone who can find a completely new angle on a sub genre that has been done a certain way for so long.

Stars Stephen McHattie, Georgina Reilly & Lisa Houle.

For me, it had and lost me at equal intervals. That innate Canadian quirkiness that always seems to come through no matter the subject matter was there in spades, but I certainly got the feeling that the rest of the audience was having a much better time than I was. I know Kurt from rowthree.com clearly got a lot more out of it than I did.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed Pontypool, but wasn’t wowed by it. I was totally fascinated with the issues raised by the film, but as far as entertainment value goes, I wasn’t a hundred percent in. I have a major amount of respect for Tony Burgess and Bruce McDonald for attempting something new and groundbreaking in a sub genre that hasn’t moved forward in quite sometime.

From Down Under and Beneath.

On the heels of Sunday’s Not Quite Hollywood, is the film Acolytes, directed by Australian Jon Hewitt.

When high schooler Mark (Sebastian Gregory) discovers a serial killer in his midst, he, along with his friend James (Joshua Payne) and James’ girlfriend Chasely (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence), decide to blackmail him into taking out a recently paroled bully from their past.

I think the most distracting thing about Acolytes is that I often had a problem buying the three characters as friends. James is constantly berating the other two and as a group they treat each other in a way I found maddening. I know my high school days are far behind me, but I like to think that – even in today’s world of social circles and peer pressure – kids are smart enough to know when to cut someone loose. I realize that there was an unspoken bond keeping these three teens together, but it was not enough for me. This feeling had nothing to do with the performances either because all three were solid. They were much better than the trio in the previously screened Deadgirl. Much of this is due to the fact that Hewitt actually cast actors of high school age. Hanna Mangan-Lawrence is quite stunning as Chasely, exuding a sultriness far beyond her years. If I hung out with a chick like that when I was in school, she probably would have driven me insane with her I’m-interested-I’m-not-interested attitude.

The middle third of the movie is the strongest, when it actually gets into the meat of its excellent premise. Hewitt’s enthusiasm for the genre is clearly evident with several references to classic films, including a finale reminiscent of Dario Argento’s Suspiria. However, towards the end, it goes off on a few weird tangents and also suffers from having perhaps one twist too many.

Director Jon Hewitt

Acolytes is also mired by overused horror tropes. I hope we all are in agreement that this whole ‘flash cutting’ thing has run its course and should be done away with. Every time I see this in a movie now, it immediately strikes me as amateurish. There were also about twenty jump scares, of which only about two or three were actually creative. This is a shame because it all takes away from a great looking movie. The suburban locale surrounded by expansive wilderness made for an interesting visual contrast.

Acolytes is a devilishly clever idea that I don’t think meets its full potential. Overall, it is a decent movie, but left me a little wanting.


I also caught J.T. Petty's new horror western The Burrowers. Ever since I saw his previous film S&MAN (which knocked me on my ass with its overt creepiness when it screened here in 2006), I’ve been waiting to see where he was going to go next.

When Coffey (Karl Geary) travels to his girlfriend’s ranch to propose, he finds that she and her family have been kidnapped. Assuming the local Indian tribe has abducted them, Coffey sets out with a military escort in pursuit. Once out in the wilderness though, they realize the threat is not out there, but underneath!

The Burrowers is a good cross-genre effort. It looks great (as most westerns do I suppose) and the performances are strong all around. I’m always glad to see Clancy Brown and Doug Hutchison in any genre piece. I really appreciate films that try to create new nightmares and construct fresh mythologies to go with them. It makes movies – like 2001’s Jeepers Creepers for example – so much more interesting when you have a new threat to absorb. The creature design of The Burrowers is very cool, helped by the fact that they don’t look like anything we’ve seen before. Petty is very smart to utilize the slow reveal (much like the killer croc movie Rogue I saw earlier this year), delaying the CG fest that the movie regrettably becomes at its climax. Initially, I was a little put off by the ending, but after realizing what it was trying to convey, I’m okay with it.

Director J.T. Petty, with stars Clancy Brown and Karl Geary.

Alas, The Burrowers never reaches that next level. It would be a solid find if you were to come across it at the video store though. It joins the ranks of quality under seen Midnight films like Dead Birds, Isolation and The Abandoned. Even though J.T. Petty’s last two films are comparatively apples and oranges, I still prefer S&MAN over The Burrowers.

There is no doubt that J.T. Petty is a talented filmmaker. His track record is very good (even his 2003 flick Mimic: Sentinel is above average from what I hear), so he will always be on my list of filmmakers to watch.

Just a little footnote on S&MAN: It has been in distribution limbo for a few years now. When I got the chance to talk with J.T. Petty earlier, I had to ask him when S&MAN was coming out on DVD. “Soon.” He said. There is a lot of legal bullshit surrounding it apparently. Keep your eyes peeled for it.

Not Quite Hollywood

Sorry guys, I’m way behind here. Sunday night I checked out the kick ass documentary Not Quite Hollywood. Director Mark Hartley said beforehand "This movie is not PC. And it is PB. Pre-Brazillian. So you’ve been warned.” That’s okay. I’m a child of the eighties. Onward!

Not Quite Hollywood is a documentary about the low budget Australian movie boom in the late seventies to mid-eighties. The doc is split in three parts, sex comedies, horror & exploitation flicks and the kung fu & road films, which were just balls-out guerrilla with safety thrown right out the window.

Not Quite Hollywood really pops, with a lot of cool graphics and animated transitions. There are so many great horror titles referenced in this movie. There’s Thirst, Razorback, The Long Weekend, Next Of Kin, and Nightmares. And Snapshot, Patrick, Road Games, Dead End Drive-In and this cool looking giant croc film called Dark Age. There’s also this Aussie Straw Dogs one that I can’t remember the fucking name of for the life of me. I’ve got to track some of these flicks down.

The doc is full of people, including Aussie genre pillars George Miller, Brian Trenchard-Smith and Richard Franklin. For a new blood perspective Greg McLean (Wolf Creek), James Wan & Leigh Whannell (Saw) are also on hand. Representing the fanboys is Quentin Tarantino, sporting his usual encyclopedic exuberance. Also appearing is film critic Bob Ellis. This fucking guy has nothing good to say throughout the whole piece. The director said later that he sifted through ninety minutes of interview footage for one positive comment for the end credits – and couldn’t find one! What a bitter old man.

Turkey Shoot takes a beating from those in the doc. Am I the only one who sees the awesomeness of this movie? I was also shocked to learn during the Q&A afterwards that I was apparently the only one in the crowd that had seen Rogue. So much for the Aussie comeback.

NQH Director Mark Hartley, Turkey Shoot director Brian Trenchard-Smith and producer Tony Ginnane.

Not Quite Hollywood is a fun and extremely informative documentary. It is imperative viewing for anyone who grew up during the early home video era and ate this shit up. You will definitely want to have a pen and paper handy because no matter how much of a scholar you think you are, there is a good chance you will be humbled by the vast amount of obscurity within.

Oh, and lastly. I totally forgot about BMX Bandits. Best Opening EVAR!

Deadgirl

Deadgirl is a movie that came out of nowhere. When I first saw it on the Midnight Madness sched, no one seemed to know anything about it. I also had to keep reminding myself that it was American. This is the kind of thing I would expect from the Japanese, or maybe one of Europe’s more unhinged filmmakers, but the United States?!

Ricky (Shiloh Fernandez) and JT (Noah Segan) are two slackers, who one day while skipping class, decide to hang out in a local abandoned insane asylum. While investigating the basement, they come across the body of a naked girl, chained down to a table. On further inspection, they realize she is alive! Ricky immediately says they should call the cops, but JT has other ideas.

I was going to originally give this movie a miss, but someone hooked me up with a free ticket, so I figured what the hell? Well, my first extinct was right. Deadgirl was not all that good.

The script wasn’t very strong, but then again, this isn’t generally the type of movie where that is paramount. This may have made a better short, as there is a big chunk in the middle where nothing really happens. I’ve heard comparisons to Stand By Me and River’s Edge and that’s fair on the surface, but the character motivations were never as believable and fluent as they were in those two movies. I understand that Deadgirl is rooted more in the realm of the fantastical, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. Stephen King puts ordinary people in extraordinary situations and you accept it because the characters ARE flesh and blood. Deadgirl never attains this at any point.

It’s tough to put my fingers on why I consider it a miss, but I think that may be the root of my problem with it. I didn’t find it particularly funny, past a few chuckles. I didn’t find it particularly shocking, past the obvious inappropriateness of the subject matter. I didn’t find it scary, apart from the easy jump moments. I also had an idea towards the end about how things were going to play out and that is never a good thing. So, what does it succeed in doing? The answer is not much.

Deadgirl definitely gets points for originality, but it takes more than just a fresh idea to make a good film. I didn’t have any problems with the acting, the leads got the most out of their underwritten characters. In fact, Noah Segan is quite entertaining for the first portion of the film, as he channels Christian Slater from Heathers. I will say that Jenny Spain, who plays the feral title character, is a real standout. She was a trooper, considering how difficult the shoot must have been, not only with the nakedness, but also three to six hours of make-up a day.

Jenny Spain, in between Candace Accola (JoAnn) & Noah Segan (JT)

I didn’t hate Deadgirl, but it just didn’t do anything for me. This is probably one of the first duds I’ve encountered in the Midnight Madness program in quite sometime. Even last year’s The Devil’s Chair and 2004’s Kontroll (two that are often shit on by MM goers), offered enough for me to give them positive endorsements. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are people out there who will get a kick out of Deadgirl, I’m just not one of them.

TIFF '08 Is A Go!

The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing now, so here are a few comments about two genre-tinged offerings I have seen so far. First, was AJ Annila's film Sauna.

It is 1595. An expedition of Swedes and Russians are mapping out the territory along their border. In the middle of an uncharted swamp, they come across a small village beside which, stands an old stone sauna. Ancient legend tells of such a place that can wash away a person’s sins - but at what cost?

Sauna is a great looking film, with excellent production design and solid performances, but I thought that it lacked that intangible 'pop' overall. This is one of those instances where the individual parts are greater than the assembled whole, a movie of moments that doesn’t overstay its welcome at just over eighty minutes. It is a period piece, in a time and place in history that I knew absolutely nothing about - the aftermath of a long and bloody conflict between Sweden and Russia - which is something I found really interesting.

The conclusion, though open to interpretation, is probably the most striking sequence of an already darkly beautiful movie. This is a relief because movies of this ilk (atmospheric character pieces set in the middle of nowhere) often shit the bed in the last act (i.e. The Last Winter). The film uses a lot of the standard horror tropes, but the quality of the production makes them seem almost fresh.

Sauna is a decent cross-genre offering that I’m sure will find an audience.

Second, Fabrice Du Welz returned to Toronto (his first feature Calvaire screened here in 2004) with his new film, Vinyan.

A couple (played by Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart), crushed by the loss of their son in the 2004 Tsunami disaster, travel deep into Burma after the mother thinks she spots him on a video filmed inside one of the villages.

These types of films – set in locales where I would not be caught dead in – are always very tense experiences for me. The setup, which happens right away, I found totally believable. A grieving mother is convinced that her son is still alive. What can the husband do if he can’t disuade her? He has to accompany her to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.

Vinyan is absolutely gorgeous. Brilliantly capturing the rain-soaked jungle landscapes is cinematographer Benoît Debie, who not only lensed Calvaire, but also the infamous Irreversible. This is immediately evident in an early sequence that mirrors that discombobulating gay nightclub scene of the latter. Further to his credit is a fantastic continuous crane shot that Du Welz says was inspired by Kalatozov’s 1964 film I Am Cuba. Complimenting the visuals is composer François-Eudes Chanfrault, providing a score reminiscent of his work on last year's extreme French horror flick Inside.

The two leads are extremely strong, emitting grief, desperation and borderline insanity with great skill. It took me forever to figure out the supporting actress playing Kim was Julie Dreyfus (Sofie Fatale from Kill Bill). I’m either getting slow or too reliant on Imdb in my old age.

In retrospect, I probably should have seen the ending coming, but I didn’t. You will either embrace it or you won’t.

When talking about the project after, Du Welz said he had originally wanted to remake the 1976 Spanish film Who Can Kill A Child? However, after failing to attain the rights, he conceived a similar story and set it in post-Tsunami Phuket. Even though Du Welz’s previous film Calvaire is more firmly rooted in my home genre, I much preferred Vinyan. In addition to it being a much more competent piece, there was no disconnection that I inexplicably felt while watching Calvaire. Also, Vinyan had a refreshing absence of piano-fuelled dance numbers and goat fucking.

Like Sauna, this is another film heavy on atmosphere, although Vinyan has a lot more going for it. It is a wet, dark and gritty encounter about two people trying to reclaim what they have lost at all costs.

Horror Down Under

With there being two Aussie entries in the upcoming Midnight Madness programme (Not Quite Hollywood & Acolytes), I thought I'd highlight some vintage titles from their fellow countrymen for this week's Coverbox Wednesday.

We didn't actually have that last one at my store, but I sure WISH we did. I would love to see this film, it being based on a story by James Herbert, one of my favourite authors.

Fortress wasn't really horror I know, but it's Stu Gordon... Close enough!

And just so the Kiwis don't feel left out...



Okay, you caught me. Those two are the same movie, but we still had both in our store. As with Shivers/They Came From Within, when I brought this to the manager's attention, she shrugged and said "What does it matter? No one rents that shit anyway." Not the point!!!

So, that's it for another round. Midnight Madness starts tomorrow, along with my crazy docket of a film schedule. I'll try to keep this blog as updated as possible about my adventures, but please bear with me. Talk to ya soon!

Ozploitation Primer

One of the films I’m most looking forward to at the year’s Midnight Madness (who am I kidding, I’m chomping at the bit to see most of them) is the Australian documentary Not Quite Hollywood. It is a movie that chronicles all the low budget exploitation and horror flicks produced in Australia in the seventies and eighties. There are some fine movies here. In addition to Razorback (which we had at ye olde video store and was way better than you’d expect) and Road Games (a lesser known title on Jamie Lee Curtis’ Scream Queen resume), there are also some of the more obscure examples of Aussie goodness showcased in this doc, as well. In the interest of preparedness, dirtyrobot and I bunkered in at his place in the ghetto with newly acquired DVD’s of Patrick and Turkey Shoot (aka Escape 2000). Screw Baz Luhrmann! That night we were going to see what the land down under REALLY had to offer (I kid, Moulin Rouge FTW!)

I had actually seen Patrick fairly recently, having tracked it down after seeing Road Games and was impressed enough to want to see more Richard Franklin’s work. This was, of course, before I realized that Franklin helmed Cloak & Dagger and Psycho II, two heavily watched movies of my childhood.

After killing his parents, Patrick (Robert Thompson) becomes comatose and is placed into a hospital. Nurse Kathy (Susan Penhaligan) is assigned to him and soon realizes Patrick is not as harmless as he looks.

Patrick is a little long in the tooth and the low-tech effects can be a little distracting at times, but its heart is in the right place. I certainly had no qualms about watching it again. Franklin knows what to do with the camera, engineering some really good setups to keep you interested.

The dialogue, namely the stuff that comes out of the mouths of Kathy’s two suitors (her ex and current beau), is just laugh out loud ludicrous. I mean have lines like "so much for women’s rape fantasies" ever worked on a lady EVER?! Like I said, Patrick shows its age a bit, but it is still a fun watch. I favour Road Games over this any day. It’s a much better homage to the Hitchcock films I think Franklin was trying to emulate with both films. Lastly, dirtyrobot was quick to point out there is actually a completely unrelated Italian sequel called Patrick Still Lives! Must watch!

Now, it was time for the main event. Turkey Shoot baby! This was a movie that I almost wasn’t able to track down until I noticed it was also known on this side of the pond as Escape 2000 – which is odd considering the movie is actually set in 1995. A search on Zip for said title struck gold and within a week, it was in my mailbox.

So, did Escape 2000 live up to the hype? Hell yeah!

In the future, dissidents are rounded up and sent to re-education camps. To battle overpopulation, Thatcher, the Camp 47 warden, organizes regular death sports involving the prison population. Members of the upper class then pay for the opportunity to hunt down human prey in the surrounding wilderness. Let the contest begin!

There are so many things about this movie that make it so entertaining. I wish I had seen Escape 2000 when I was young. It falls right in with all those crazy action-heavy eighties movies I ate up as a kid. Escape 2000 is a bit like Avenging Force, but on a grander scale and there’s the whole prison exploitation element to it, as well.

As you can see, this movie is trailer fodder. It must have been a joy to cut that together.

The two leads, Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter, Lifeforce) and Olivia Hussey (Black Christmas) are easily recognizable. At first, Hussey looks out of place – the first act plays out like a women in prison film more suited to Laura Gemser than the former Shakespeare nymphet – but she’s just too darn cute for me not to root for. By the end of it though, she’s kicking ass and taking names. Seeing her go all Rambo 4 with the rear-mounted .50 Cal has etched a special place in my heart.

My favourite bits are just the random shit that gets thrown out there. This one hunter (who looks a bit like Ming The Merciless’ younger brother) hangs out with this Wolf man, who he says, “he found in a circus”. Also thrown in is perhaps the most blatant masochistic misogynist lesbian character in the history of cinema. What is the weapon of choice for this huntress, played by Carmen Duncan? A crossbow, naturally. The climax involving a huge gun battle, which looks way too expensive than you would think a production like this could afford, is fantastic and many amateur (and by amateur, I mean, "hey, you there, you're going to be the guy that falls off the roof") stunt people go flying.

As a sidebar, the behind the scenes interviews almost as hilarious as the movie itself. Everyone involved, from director Brian Trenchard-Smith down to the actors thought the movie was a complete atrocity and something to be forgotten. Lynda Stoner, who played Rita, made it sound like shooting it was the worst experience of her life. Way to sell it, sister! I don’t think we were watching the same film. Escape 2000 is Aussie gold, man! Gold dipped in cheese and sleaze, but gold nonetheless.

If this sounds awesome to you, well you are in agreement with us. I don’t think dirtyrobot’s girlfriend enjoyed it as much as we did, but what can you do? Escape 2000 is one of those great delights that you can put on with a group of friends, drink some beers and just laugh the night away. I love cinema.

So, now I’ve seen at least four of the titles that will be referenced in Not Quite Hollywood. I think I’m ready now. Bring it.