“Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT”: In Praise of 1971’s DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS

Shock Till You Drop

“Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT”: In Praise of 1971’s DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS

In this ongoing SHOCK column, editor Chris Alexander muses on classic and contemporary films and music worthy of a deeper discussion.

Ever since Gloria Holden first made ghoulish goo-goo eyes at her girl victims in 1936’s DRACULA’S DAUGHTER, horror films have been fascinated by the lesbian vampire. Blame J. Sheridan LeFanu, the Irish writer whose risqué short story Carmilla broke the boundaries of homo-erotic bloodsucking and whose taboo allure helped eventually launch this evolving spate of increasingly explicit dark fantasy pictures, many of which reared their horny heads in the considerably more liberal 1970’s. UK horror studio Hammer were the first ones to really make their muff munching mark with Roy Ward Baker’s LeFanu adaptation THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and other films, like Jose Laraz’s almost hardcore 1974 epic VAMPYRES and Vincente Aranda’s THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE continued to push the envelope, mixing fangwork with female nudity to grand (and grandly exploitative) effect.

But there’s one incredible film that always gets lumped in with those lower brow sex-soaked exploitation pictures. A movie that, while ostensibly playing by the rules of the erotic Sapphic vampire picture, is actually something far more elegant, kinky, exotic, sinister and sophisticated. I speak of course about Belgian director Harry Kumel’s grinning, impossibly Gothic and hypnotically sensual 1971 melodrama/morality tale DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, a wicked and quintessentially European exercise in intelligent, witty and stylish filmmaking and one of the most cynical cinematic musings on male/female relations the horror genre has ever offered us.

The film opens, appropriately, on a speeding train, as Francois de Roubaix brilliantly throbbing, trippy jazz/post-mod rock score saturates a scene of carnal coupling between newlyweds Stefan (DARK SHADOWS star John Karlen) and Valerie (French Canadian erotic starlet Danielle Ouimet). After this intense sequence, we learn that these two lovers have met and married after a recent whirlwind courtship and don’t really know each other very well at all. Before DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS’s lurid narrative runs its course, they’ll have rectified that social problem for the worse.
The couple wind up the sole guests in a looming, off season hotel in picturesque Ostend where they make love, eat, talk and where Stefan nervously avoids Valerie’s urgings to call his “mother” and tell her about their nuptials. At this point, though we can’t quite put our finger on it, Kumel manages to create a genuine sense of menace and unease: why is Stefan afraid of making a phone call to his mother? What is he hiding from the sweet and naïve Valerie? Read on…

 

Suddenly a car pulls up to the hotel and out steps an elegant woman and her traveling companion. She’s the Countess Elizabeth Bathory (the ravishing French film icon Delphine Seyrig), an elegant, smooth, smiling and charming aristocrat who is also checking in to the remote hotel. Upon seeing the young, fresh faced (and lithe bodied) Stefan and Valerie, Bathory immediately befriends them, slowly seducing and manipulating their affections in what appears to be an attempt to pry the beautiful Valerie away from her increasingly brutish man.

As the serpentine narrative weaves along, we learn that Bathory is in fact the legendary Hungarian ‘Blood Countess’, a real historical figure who bled thousands of virgins to death in order to maintain a glowing, youthful appearance. Only now, Bathory’s become a kind of love starved, sexually charged, immortal vagabond vampire, in town looking for a replacement for her increasingly melancholy mate Ilona (the better than perfect German model and soft porn star Andrea Rau). And, as both Stefan and we the audience quickly learn, this is a woman who always gets what she wants.
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS is a pitch perfect exercise in mood, tone and tension and, if you’re willing to let it work you over, it casts a slick, strange and chilly spell that sticks long after the screen has faded to red. It also has a wicked sense of black humor. In one of the picture’s most disturbing and uncomfortably hilarious sequences, Stefan, for all his brutish, Stanley Kowalski gone Eurotrash macho bravado, is revealed to be a closet (and apparently “kept”) homosexual. When he finally makes his reluctant call to “mother”, the domineering matriarch turns out to be a decadent, older, lipstick wearing queen (brilliantly played by the actor/director Fons Rademaker), one who dryly scolds the younger man for doing something as “unrealistic” as marrying a woman. This bizarrely funny episode is followed shortly thereafter by a darker scene in which Stefan obsessively snakes himself through a crowd in Bruges to see the body of a viciously murdered woman and, when Valerie attempts to pull her apparently necrophiliac husband away, he hits her, knocking her to the ground. What horrors await this unsuspecting girl in her marriage into Stefan’s “family” the audience can only guess…

The driving theme behind DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS initially appears to be a feminist one, with the soft spoken lesbian vampire Bathory “liberating” Valerie from the oppression of her potentially dangerous husband. But really, Valerie is just being manipulated by another, far more lethal and selfish predator. And that’s the real force behind the film, a shadowy, cruel amorality that is as icy and reptilian as it is both appealing and amusing.

Visually, Kumel’s picture is breathtaking, with its gorgeous cast, authentic European locales, fluid camera work and elegant use of the color red (the film’s original title was actually LES LEVRES ROUGES, or THE RED LIPS). And though it does unofficially belong to that aforementioned cannon of 70’s lesbovamp pictures, it’s not only an infinitely more evolved piece of cinema than say, Jess Franco’s groovy and voyeuristic VAMPYROS LESBOS, it also keeps the vampire shtick to a minimum. Nary a fang is revealed and blood is consumed only once, in the balletic last reel sequence that smacks of a quasi-crucifixion metaphor. And if we are to read it that way, suddenly, the film is even further removed from any sort of feminist-leaning than we thought…

This is one of my favorite movies of all time and though some may see it as a dash pretentious, I’ll be damned if I can find anything wrong with it on any level. It’s seductive and addictive. It’s pure cinema as a gauzy, sensual dream. Perhaps I’m blinded by this love, but any movie that features a central menace as effortlessly sexual as Delphine Seyrig (it’s been noted that her portrayal of Bathory somewhat channels the chilly purr of Marlene Dietrich) locks itself into my heart for life.

Check out the previous SHOCK TREATMENT column HERE.

The post “Chris Alexander’s SHOCK TREATMENT”: In Praise of 1971’s DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

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Interview: Filmmaker Axelle Carolyn Talks TALES OF HALLOWEEN

Shock Till You Drop

Interview: Filmmaker Axelle Carolyn Talks TALES OF HALLOWEEN

Writer, director and producer Axelle Carolyn talks to SHOCK about the anthology chiller TALES OF HALLOWEEN, opening today in select theatres.

By now you’ve likely heard a bit of the buzz gathering around TALES OF HALLOWEEN, a new October-themed anthology that’s funny, gory, and so reverential to the candy-coated iconography of the season that it could rot the molars right out of your skull. Behind all of the vile and violent fun on screen is a spirit of peers collaborating in celebration of both of the Halloween holiday and the horror genre itself. One of the film’s creepy coterie of creators, the radiant Axelle (SOULMATE) Carolyn, took the time to speak with SHOCK on the eve of TALES’ release, to spill the pumpkin-guts on the global appeal of October thirty-first, her anthology’s awesome assemblage of horror heavyweights, and her newfound thirst to see you jump…

SHOCK: Despite originating in Europe, I understand the festival of Halloween is celebrated much differently there, if even at all. What was your relationship to Halloween growing up in the U.K.?

CAROLYN: I actually grew up in Belgium, so Halloween was an even smaller thing over there than in the U.K. I lived in the U.K. for ten years, but that was when I was a little bit older. When I was a kid, I lived in Brussels, and I remember seeing the movie HALLOWEEN—or at least seeing parts of it on T.V. I remember seeing all those posters that had the Jack-o-lantern on them. I knew it was associated with something, but trick-or-treating I was completely unaware of. And I was into spooky things since I was little, since I saw the ‘Silly Symphony’ from Disney with the Skeleton Dance. So it seemed to me, like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a holiday that celebrates that stuff? Something about ghosts and skeletons? That’s amazing!’ I have a picture from when I was nine or ten, where I roped in my parents and my little brother. We were all dressed up and celebrating Halloween. I didn’t have my first trick-or-treating until I was in L.A… maybe six years ago? This twenty-eight or twenty-nine year old woman, knocking on doors, saying, ‘Give me candy!’(laughs)

SHOCK: TALES OF HALLOWEEN is an anthology movie, which can often be a risky proposition for filmmakers in terms of tone and consistency. What made you decide to tackle the anthology format?

CAROLYN: It was actually not about trying to make an anthology movie… The first step was when I moved to L.A., I was quickly embraced by this whole community of horror filmmakers and writers, and everybody totally got the genre. I thought it was such a weird and special thing; we’d meet up and discuss each others’ films and support each other, and it always felt like it would be so great to work together. And you know, you always bitch about how hard it is to get your film off of the ground, and how hard it is to get the money in. So for a financier, it might be exciting to get the next Lucky McKee movie, but it’s even more exciting when for the same amount of money you can get the next Lucky McKee movie, the next Mike Mendez, the next Neil Marshall, the next Paul Solet. And combined, they make something bigger—bigger than the sum of its parts. So it was very much something where we could all go in and have final cut, and do what we want. Because we’re all friends, we can work on it together and make it part of this shared universe. The team work clicks in, and so the anthology format just seemed the most appropriate (for the project). It was more of a means to an end.

SHOCK: As you mentioned, you’ve recruited quite the all-star roster of horror filmmakers. Did everyone come on board organically through personal connections, or were there agents and managers pitching their clients?

CAROLYN: No managers… It was basically everyone we hang out with. It really is. We didn’t get everyone (we wanted) involved, some people were not available, and we thought ten (directors) would be good—we had to cut it off at some point. I would hang out with people like Mike Mendez and his partner—hardly a day goes by when I don’t talk to them. So once I had the idea and felt like it was a cool concept, I mentioned it to Neil. Then I mentioned it to Mike on the week of Monsterpalooza, when we went to that convention, and he thought it could work. Then there was a party the night after that, and I saw Adam Gierasch and Andrew Kasch and a couple of others, and I mentioned it again. They were super-excited, and it kind of grew from that. I called up a couple more people, and we all kind of live in the same area too: we’re all five minutes away from each other, so that made things easy. The only one that was a little more complicated was Lucky McKee, because he lives out of town. So it was just before pre-production that Lucky joined.

SHOCK: Was there any framework or rules to which the filmmakers were told to adhere in their segments, or were they given free reign?

CAROLYN: Well, the only thing that the producers said was that they didn’t want ‘found footage’, and that was extremely acceptable to everybody (laughs). The guidelines that we ourselves came up with were kind of self-imposed. I came up with a set of guidelines just to keep everything cohesive, but we were doing (TALES) for fun—to do something special, to do something amusing, and to do a monster film, so we didn’t want to have too many constraints that came from somebody else. We wanted one of the filmmakers to be in charge of wrangling the others, and that ended up being me, so my job was to worry about the meetings, keep track of the things we were discussing all together, and pitch stories to each other. The guidelines that I gave were that (the segments) have to be about Halloween; it can’t just be a series of events that happen to take place on Halloween. Is has to be about some aspect of Halloween, because that’s much more fun. So they were about candy, or trick-or-treating, urban legends, pumpkins… and they had to take place on the same night, in the same town. So once we had all the scripts and they were all developed and we were all happy with them, I kind of looked at the story and the through-lines, and logically at the order in which the events would take place, Even NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (a film which is shown in progress on various T.V. sets throughout the course of TALES), I had to say that in this episode, (NIGHT) needs to be in its beginning, and here, by now, it needs to be near the end. So that was kind of the idea in terms of the world the episodes were taking place in.

SHOCK: TALES is loaded to the brim with cameo appearances, with many beloved faces from the world of horror popping up on-screen. Was it another case of enlisting friends, or did you have a wishlist you pursued?

CAROLYN: It was a bit of both. Again, there are a lot of people that we know and admire and really wanted to work with. Like Lin (INSIDIOUS) Shaye; she’s a really good friend of mine, and I had wanted to work with her for a long time, so I wrote the part thinking, ‘Oh, this would be good for (Lin)’. So it was partly that, and partly everybody putting together a list of who they could contact or get in touch with. Then when we were writing, we’d look it over and go, ‘We still have to find a role for this person,’ or, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a cameo by that person?’ Then there were people who were really good friends but had a project going, and just wanted to hang out. Felissa Rose was fantastic; her kid is in one of the episodes, so she would just show up on set and we’d throw her in front of the camera, in a crowd scene or something… I think it hits all those levels of, like, ‘How much of a horror fan are you? Who can you spot?’ There some people who can spot John Landis or Joe Dante, of course, but they may not spot someone like James Wan, who has a quick cameo.

SHOCK: TALES is out in wide release on October 16th, but it has already accumulated many kind words from reviewers—us included. How does it feel to release a film with such positive word around it already?

CAROLYN: Well, I don’t know if all the reviews are going to be great, to be honest! (laughs) But it’s been pretty great so far. I’m really, really happy. Really lucky. (TALES) just started out as something that was fun among friends, and then evolved into something much bigger than what we envisioned at first. I think that’s totally a testament to how talented all of those guys are; they just pulled out all the stops. There was no competition in the sense of anybody wanting to be the best at the expense of somebody else, you know? If you’re up against your friends, and the reviews will say, ‘This one is good, but this one is not good,’ you don’t want to be that one, and we’re all reading the same reviews. So everybody put one hundred percent into it. And it’s very, very cool that people have embraced (TALES) so far. Also, I’m curious to see how it plays when people watch it at home—which episodes are going to benefit from that and which ones are not. On the big screen, watching mine is a lot of fun because a lot of people get caught up in the jump scares… But, yeah, I’m very curious to see how it builds from now on.

SHOCK: So my last question may be a little premature, but what would you like to do next? More collaborations, or another solo project like your previous film SOULMATE?

CAROLYN: I have a couple of scripts in development right now, but I don’t know which of them might go first. I’m developing one that’s also holiday-related, but it’s a completely different story and it’s not an anthology—it’s a Day of the Dead story that I wrote, the Mexican Day of the Dead. It’s got skeletons, all kinds of crazy monsters. Then I have another script that’s more contained, more of a scary story. It has witches, but it’s a little more complicated than that. I really enjoyed watching people react to my (TALES) episode here, watching people get scared, and so I’m kind of addicted to that now! (laughs).

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16 Gory Death Scenes (and One Honorable Mention)

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16 Gory Death Scenes (and One Honorable Mention)

I always get nostalgic around Halloween time and think about all the fantastic, gory genre films I’ve seen over the course of my 40 years.  Well this year is no different except that I started thinking about the GREATEST death scenes I’ve seen.  My mind was flooded with thousands of grotesque and disturbing images (I should really see someone about that).  So after I sorted through what I consider the best of the best, I compiled my list.  Whenever possible I posted a video of said death scene, but for some I had to settle for pictures.  In some cases (like the MASKHEAD entry below) you’ll see that I couldn’t find either the video or the pic of the scene.  Why?  Because it’s so fucked up and disturbing that no one dares put it up on the internet!!

Enjoy the list (these are in no particular order), and I wanna hear what you favorite horror death scenes are.

Stay Bloody!!!

1.  Intestinal Vomit Scene (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD)

You’re guaranteed one thing in every Fulci horror flick:  There’s at least 3-4 extremely violent death scenes.  After thinking about all his great offerings I settled on this one.  From the 1st time I saw this scene it was burned in my mind forever.  Viva l’ Fulci!!

2.  Lawn Mower Scene (DEAD ALIVE)

Again; tons of great death scenes in this flick.  But when Lionel Cosgrove picks up the running lawn mower and hacks his way through the crowd of zombies, well I didn’t know whether to be horrified or laugh my ass off.  So I did both.

3.  Bed Puree Scene (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, 1984)

Not just one of my favorite death scenes, but the best death scene in any ELM STREET flick.  When ole Johnny Depp closes his eyes I bet he never knew what awaited him!!

4.  Silver Sphere Chops Up Priest (PHANTASM 2)

Another great flick that has a high solid body count, great story, and great gore.  I’m surprised we haven’t seen some version of the silver sphere on late night TV that can do everything from crush ice to make salsa (sorry for the watermark right in the middle of the following video).

5.  Helicopter Haircut (DAWN OF THE DEAD, 1978)

Lots of great gore in the original DAWN, but the zombie standing on the boxes getting the top of his head sliced off is just a classic.

6.  Captain Rhodes Torn Apart (DAY OF THE DEAD, 1985)

Let’s face it; Captain Rhodes is not a nice man.  Ok, ok; he’s a fucking prick asshole and we all know what happens to the “prick asshole” in zombie films … they die horribly.  Well Rhodes is no exception.  But even in death this douche bag needs to get the final words in (“Choke on ‘em”).  He died as he lived … a total asshole.

7.  Death by 2×4 Strap-On Dildo (MASKHEAD)

If you don’t understand what this scene is about, then break down the above title.  A woman dies by getting railed with a strap-on made out of a 2×4 wooden board.  As you’ll notice I couldn’t find a video or picture of the death scene.  That’s probably a good thing.  No one needs to see that (except me of course).

You’re better off not seeing the actual picture here; trust me!!

8.  Sissors Scene (INSIDE)

Possibly the most intense, brutal, never-lets-up horror film in that last 2 decades!!  The blood starts flowing almost from the 1st frame and doesn’t let up until Le Femme gets what she wants …. by using a pair of scissors.  And I’m sure you all know what she’s after.  Again I couldn’t find a picture or video showing this event.  Go buy this very important and amazing horror flick if you haven’t already.

Le Femme is 1 crazy bitch who gets what she wants!!

9.  Opening Beach and Hospital Scene (DEAD & BURIED)

Not only does this have a great twist at the end that works; not only does this have Robert Englund in it; not only does this have a ton of graphic death scenes in it … but it have a particularly nasty opening scene where a visitor comes to Plotter’s Bluff.  He meets a sexy lil vixen on the beach and then gets the stuffing beat out of him and beat with crowbars and shovels.  THEN he’s tied up, dosed in gasoline, and then lit on fire.  But the poor bastard lives only to have burns on like 98% of his body.  And guess who his nurse is in the hospital?  Yup; the vixen from the beach.  Here’s looking at you kid.

10.  Human Beef Jerky Scene (TRAILER PARK OF TERROR)

This was a really fun horror flick with great makeup and special f/x, a great story, and a great overall feel.  Then suddenly we get to this scene where one of the locals demonstrates how he makes beef jerky … using another human being.  The scene was way more brutal and nasty and disturbing than anything else in the flick, and that’s why it’s stuck in my head and made this list.  Sorry no video, but see this flick; it’s worth your time.

11.  Wire Tether (Ghost Ship)

I know, I know.  What the fuck is this flick doing on my list?  Now come on; we all know the movie as a whole really fucking blows … I mean it sucks out loud.  Its so shitty that I’m surprised Janeane Garofalo wasn’t in it!!  But let’s face it; the scene with the wire cutting through a crowded dance floor was worth sitting through this steaming pile (and let’s not forget about the implied forced pedophilia).  It’s a shame the rest of the movie didn’t keep up the energy from this scene.

12.  Splinter in the Eye (ZOMBI)

I don’t think this scene needs any explanation.  This is Fulci’s 2nd showing on this list and we all know why!!

13.  Blood Pressure Test Scene (DAWN OF THE DEAD, 1978)

Perhaps the dumbest death scene on this list but I absolutely love it.  In the midst of a horde of flesh eating, hungry zombies attacking, Pedro decides to sit down and check his blood pressure.  It’s so random and ridiculous that this scene has always stuck in my mind.  If you wanna fast forward, the “blood pressure test” starts at the 2:47 mark on this clip.

14.  Head Exploding Scene (SCANNERS)

Again; I’m sure this one needs no introduction.  Enjoy.

15.  Open Wide Scene (HATCHET)

When I first saw this scene (hell, the entire movie) my jaw dropped and I knew immediately that I had found a modern day classic and a huge genre talent in Adam Green.  Aahhh Victor Crowley … may your blood lust never die down.

16.  Cheeky Face-Off Scene (LAID TO REST)

This is another modern day classic film that spawned another huge genre talent (Robert Hall).  Lots of great gory death scenes, but this one is my favorite from this flick, and one of my all time favs PERIOD.

SPECIAL MENTION:  Skinned Alive Scene (MARTYRS)

This, as you all know, is my favorite horror film from the past 20 years.  Easily.  The scene where Anna is strapped into the contraption and flipped over is just a brutal scene.  We’re still not sure what’s gonna happen.  Then the guy sticks the knife into her and we see her gasp in pain.  We watch as he slices up her back.  The look on Anna’s face is one of both pure pain and shock from that pain.  Mercifully the scene fades.

I get chills just looking at this picture!!

This gets a “special mention” because Anna, even after being skinned alive, DOESN’T FUCKING DIE.  That’s right; she lives after BEING SKINNED ALIVE.  Oh my fucking god.  And because this list is about the greatest DEATH scenes, Anna doesn’t technically qualify.  Below is a montage of gore scenes from MARTYRS.  If you wanna skip to the “skinned alive” scene, go to the 6:48 mark.

Extra Bonus:  DAY OF THE DEAD Outtake:

I don’t remember this scene happening exactly like this!!

Filed under: Blog Special, films, gory horror films, Horror Lists, horror movies, Horror Short Films, movies, New Posting

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Fantasia Fest Hit ANGUISH Locks Distribution

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Fantasia Fest Hit ANGUISH Locks Distribution

Spooky festival favorite ANGUISH locks distribution deal.

Hot off its Fantasia Festival 2015 premier this past summer,  LA-based distributor Gravitas Ventures has secured North American rights to ANGUISH (not the Bigas Lunas classic ANGUISH, though that one is brilliant!), writer/director Sonny Mallhi’s eerie thriller about a girl (Ryan Simpkins) who has to reconcile herself to the fact that she shares her body with the ghost of a dead teen. Read our review HERE.

“I am looking forward to working with Gravitas,” stated Writer/Director Sonny Mallhi. “This is an accomplished distribution group with a proven track record in horror – it’s exciting to be partnered with them.”
 
ANGUISH will open theatrically on December 18th in limited markets and will also release on VOD the same day. DVD and Blu-ray plans to follow shortly. Stay tuned to SHOCK for more info as we get it.

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Early Review: ASH VS. EVIL DEAD (Episode 1-2)

Shock Till You Drop

Early Review: ASH VS. EVIL DEAD (Episode 1-2)

SHOCK spits out an early (relatively spoiler-free) review of ASH VS. EVIL DEAD, episodes 1 and 2.

Though the press notes that accompanied the screener sent to SHOCK forbade us (the great unwashed horror media) from revealing plot points from the first two episodes of the hotly anticipated STARZ series ASH VS. EVIL DEAD, we’re going to attempt an early, (almost) spoler-free review, based exclusively on our impressions thus far.

Suffice to say, we are more than a bit enthusiastic about the program. In fact, for horror fans, this may be the most important television event since the premiere of AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD. And we’re ecstatic to reveal that, based on the pair of opening, 30 minute episodes screened, ASH VS. EVIL DEAD is bloody (and we mean bloody) brilliant entertainment, with nary a misspent minute. That’s right, EVIL DEAD fans…this is the one you’ve been waiting for.

It goes without saying that Bruce Campbell returns as the absurdly-abused, single-handed, demon-killing wiseacre Ash, who we find in the opening episode in a sort of professional and personal limbo. Like an old boxer whose best fights are behind him, Ash is still holding on to memories of his adventures (the film follows the events of ARMY OF DARKNESS, sort of, but could easily serve as a stand-alone narrative), still wasting his days working at S-Mart and filling his nights with cheap booze, cheaper women and other forms of slow-death, self destruction. That is, until one night, after a binge of sex, drugs and hazy bravado, Ash, in the throes of coitus, foolishly opens ye olde Book of the Dead, babbles some passages and wakes up with the mother-lode of morning after (mourning after?) regret.

Pretty soon, those nasty Kandarian Deadites are popping up everywhere and Ash, joined by a pair of younger accomplices, rolls up his sleeve, sticks a chainsaw on his stump, and gets down to the nitty gritty of monster mashing.

Like Sam Raimi’s original EVIL DEAD trilogy, the joys of ASH VS. EVIL DEAD aren’t in the revolutionary twists of plot, but in the manic style that Raimi, Rob Tapert and Campbell (along with their wealth of FX co-conspirators) bring to the party; this is the most manic-thing-masquerading-as-a television-series I’ve ever seen. It most certainly is EVIL DEAD 4, presented in a sliced and diced, long-form fashion but – and again, this is early in the game – it might be the best offering in the franchise thus far. It’s certainly better than the silly ARMY OF DARKNESS (don’t hate me but I’m not really a fan) and it has nothing to do with the grim remake. What we have here is the ultimate hybrid of the terrifying original and the THREE STOOGES-steeped style orgy of EVIL DEAD 2 but with an added dose of a contemporary noir bubbling and evolving in the peripheral. Literally, an evolution of substance and form and that goes for returning composer Joseph LoDuca’s fine work.

The central joy of the show is, of course, Campbell, and the seemingly endless ways in which Raimi and pals beat the living shit out of him (watch out for a killer Deadite dolly bit for a worthy companion to EVIL DEAD 2’s punishing bad-hand-battle). The actor aint no spring chicken either, but Campbell is so committed to the role and obviously so overjoyed to be back in the blue shirt, coated in blood and snarling bon mots, that he pushes through, delivering a physical performance that actors half his age would cringe at (and they do as Bruce out-badasses virtually every person in the show).

The lads know that the fans want this, that they NEED this and there’s a feeling that no matter any of their successes elsewhere, all that matters is this, here, now. All that matters is ASH VS. EVIL DEAD.

It’s like the hometown band leaving town, conquering the world and then coming back for another gig at the local dive, playing faster, better, stronger and with more urgency than ever before.

Welcome back, boys…

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John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

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John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Time to revisit another classic John Carpenter film, this one from the early 1990s. If you look at Carpenter’s work in the 80s, you’l understand why the man is considered one of the masters of horror. Starting in 1980 with the fantastic film, THE FOG–just completely forget about the cinematic abortion of a remake–Carpenter then went on to make ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981), THE THING (1982), CHRISTINE (1983), STARMAN (1984), BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986), PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987), and THEY LIVE (1988). All great films that I’ve seen at least a dozen times each. Carpenter’s record in the 1990s wasn’t quite as strong, but it is nothing to scoff at either. He gave us the wildly fun VAMPIRES in 1998, and the VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED remake in 1995, but perhaps his best film from that decade is IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, an HP Lovecraft-inspired film that even takes the title from one of the master’s most famous books, At the Mountains of Madness. I don’t think this is as overlooked quite as much as Carpenter’s PRINCE OF DARKNESS, but IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is a classic Carpenter film that deserves another look.

Welcome home, Trent!!

The film is about John Trent (Sam Neill), an insurance fraud investigator who is tasked by his boss to investigate the disappearance of Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow), a Stephen King-like horror writer who has mysteriously disappeared without a trace. The first person Trent talks to is Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston), the owner of publishing house that exclusively publishes Cane’s books. Cane is a billion dollar industry and he owes the publishing house his new book, but is nowhere to be found. Harglow asks Linda (Julie Carmen), Cane’s editor who knows the man pretty well, to aid in the investigation. 

Do you read Sutter Cane??

Like most of Carpenter’s films, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS grabs you right from the beginning when we see Trent being placed in a mental hospital. Trent has clearly lost his mind, and little by little we come to understand that the madness Trent is experiencing is spreading like an epidemic across the globe. Dr. Wrenn (David Warner) is brought in to evaluate Trent and this is how we learn about the events that lead up to Trent’s madness. 

Trent believes that Cane’s “disappearance” is a publicity stunt to sell more of his books, but Linda tells him that over the last year, Cane’s books had became more bizarre and strange and that Cane started believing that his writings were real and no longer fiction. Trent buys Cane’s books and after reading them, immediately starts having hallucinations and nightmares of people killing each other and trying to kill him. Trent pieces together some clues he believes he found in Cane’s writings, and this sends Trent and Linda on a road trip to a location up in New England where Trent believes they will find Cane.

The man of the hour, Stephen King … er, Sutter Cane.

We get a lot of discussion about the nature of reality and what kind of impact, if any, the written word could have on reality. Linda tells Trent that Cane came to believe that his writings were no longer fiction, and that he believed he tapped into a kind of horrific reality that was trying to break into our reality. All the horrors and horrible things Cane used to write about are now writing through Cane in order to enter our world. Cane has become like a god, and whatever he writes in his books is now reality. Once Trent and Linda hit the road to find Cane, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS veers off into some truly weird areas. After driving all night, the two find themselves in Hobb’s End, which is also the title of one of Cane’s novels. Trent, now more than ever, believes that this is a publicity stunt and that the publisher created this town and all the people living in it were paid to act like certain characters from the novel.

But Trent is wrong.

This woman has …. issues.

It seems Trent and Linda entered into some kind of alternate reality and are actually in Hobb’s End. Linda is an expert on Cane’s novels–she did after all edit them–and knows what is going to happen at certain times. At first, Trent plays along, but he soon comes to realize that all the strange and scary things happening in Hobb’s End are happening for real. There are indescribable, tentacled things trapped behind a door which seem to be using Cane to enter into our reality; there are children possessed by an ancient, unseen evil; old ladies are killing their husbands in grotesque ways; and a general sense of madness has infected all the people of Hobb’s End.

Once the characters reach Hobb’s End, Carpenter takes us deep into Lovecraftian territory. There are unseen horrors and unnamable evils that are threatening to break into our reality, and it seems like Sutter Cane is the only one standing between us and them. The problem is, he wants to let them into our reality. Cane is essentially writing his new novel from inside of it. Whatever he writes happens, and Trent, it turns out, plays a large role in Cane’s plans. Once Trent returns to the city, Cane’s new novel is already released and is a huge hit. It seems that the more popular it becomes, the more cases of the unexplained madness are being reported. Even non-readers aren’t safe from Cane’s new novel because it was turned into a movie and has opened world-wide.

A little collage of Trent’s madness!!

Yup, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS is an apocalyptic movie that Lovecraft himself would give his seal of approval on. The acting is strong all around, and Neill, as always, gives a great performance as a man unknowingly thrown into the driver’s seat and who helps to usher in the end of the world. Neill always has a knack for playing characters who teeter on the edge of insanity and who sometimes pull back and other times fall right in (check out Sam Neill in EVENT HORIZON).

A little Lovecraft goodness from John Carpenter.

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS was written by Michael De Luca, who also wrote 1991s FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE, and he takes what could’ve been a convoluted mess and keeps it sharp and focused. There may be a few places where you scratch your head, but if you stick with it, you’ll be greatly rewarded. A friend of mine who also watched this film recently thought it didn’t hold up well over all these years. I disagree with him. It is not a perfect film, but the story has the same impact in 2015 as it did in 1994. Solid acting, fun special effects, a terrific atmosphere, and some genuine scares makes IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS one of those films I revisit every so many years and enjoy re-watching. If you haven’t seen this film yet, by all means check it out. I think you’re going to like the energy and the Lovecraftian story. If you haven’t seen this film in a while, it is time to check it out again and remind yourself why John Carpenter is one of Horror’s Masters!!

My Summary:

Director: John Carpenter

Plot: 4 out of 5 stars

Gore: 5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem: 0 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Stay Bloody!!!

 

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Review: Bruno Mattei’s THE JAIL: THE WOMEN’S HELL on DVD

Shock Till You Drop

Review: Bruno Mattei’s THE JAIL: THE WOMEN’S HELL on DVD

Italian sleaze master Bruno Mattei’s nasty exploitation cheapie THE JAIL: THE WOMEN’S HELL on DVD.

I vividly recall the first time I saw Bruno Mattei’s 1980 cannibal zombie chunk-blower HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (aka ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH).

It was a rental, during one of my early teenage movie parties, wherein my fellow fright fans and I would borrow a stack of shockers for the night, eat a bucket of bad food and hope to heaven that we’d get the shite scared out of us. And while my more conventional compadres would mostly select mainstream American films, usually of the Freddy/Jason/The Shape variety, I would always poison the well with my selections, which were almost always some sort of Eurotrash extravaganza, usually one I’d read about in GOREZONE magazine via the pens of Tim Lucas or Chas. Balun.

One night I pushed to pick up NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES, which I knew was Italian and had seen reviewed in Mick Martin and Marsha Porter’s Video and Movie Guide, slapped with the dreaded “turkey” rating and condemned as “just one big, long cannibal fest”.

Sounded fine to me!

Unfortunately for my friends, NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES was just too much for their delicate sensibilities. Even I was heavy of jaw after absorbing this one. The fact that it played out like a skid-row version of DAWN OF THE DEAD (complete with the Goblin score, which, along with cues from CONTAMINATION and BUIO OMEGA, were licensed by the producers) was one thing, but the movie astonished primarily because, between the gross-outs, half of it was comprised of grainy stock footage left over from a National Geographic expedition. Slow-motion birds, hopping marsupials and grease-painted ghouls make for strange bedfellows. My pals were aghast at what they deemed the worst movie they’d ever seen and my rental-pick power was suspended for some time.

But like all of us who groove on this stuff, I kind of fell in love with the film. There was a tacky energy to it; something inept, yet honest and wonderfully low-rent. The film was credited to director Vincent Dawn, which is, of course, Mattei’s anglo pseudonym and I soon looked for more Mattei fool’s gold, hidden under whatever name he opted to use. Stuff like the gritty RATS (which has the most absurd and oddly disturbing ending ever), the histrionic THE OTHER HELL (evil nuns and more recycled Goblin music!) and the earthy THE TRUE STORY OF THE NUN OF MONZA (which is like a crack-house baby made by Borowczyk and Pasolini). And these titles are just the ones I could find. Indeed, Mattei’s catalog runs deep. And dirty.

And though he passed away in 2007, Mattei recently found a new lease on life via Severin’s grubby kid sister imprint InterVision, which recently released the sleaze kingpin’s double-dose of Philippines lensed, shot on video junkfests ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD and ZOMBIES: THE BEGINNING, both co-written by Antonio Tentori (DRACULA 3D) and both released in the last year of his life. Those gory, macho, donut-budgeted cheapies proved that, despite nearly four decades in the business, Mattei had learned little about quality (and about seamlessly blending stock footage; there are chunks of CRIMSON TIDE jarringly jammed into the latter title!) and God bless him for that.

InterVision goes another round with 11th hour Bruno with his 2006 greaseball gem THE JAIL: THE WOMEN’S HELL a truly astonishing, similarly shot on video in the Philippines, Italian throwback exploitation film (credited to Vincent Dawn) that has to be seen to be believed. Even then, you may not believe it. Channeling the crass, misogynistic Nazisploitation and Women-in-Prison gems of his early years, THE JAIL sees Mattei throwing every vulgarity at the fluid-stained wall and praying some of it sticks. So relentless is the depravity in the film however, that none of it truly offends; rather it’s kind of, dare we say, charming?

The film once more stars Mattei’s Filipino go-to-girl, the delectable Yvette Yzon, as one of a gaggle of gals who end up in dunghill women’s prison hellhole called The House of Lost Souls (HG Wells just did jumping jacks in his tomb) and are promptly abused, beaten, humiliated, raped, shot (then raped!), molested by snakes and raped again by lesbians. It just never stops. And then, just when you think Mattei and Tentori can’t bash our brains in any further, the entire enterprise somehow morphs into yet another riff on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME.

THE JAIL sports some of the most outrageous, ham-acting I’ve ever seen in an Italian exploitation flick and that’s saying something. Outside of the operatically malevolent guards, cackling away in the thralls of depravity, whoever oversaw their English dub must have gotten the cast loaded and had a party. It’s just insane. There are no words. All I can say is that by the end of THE JAIL, I felt like I had been shot into another dimension. It makes Mattei’s notoriously sick Nazi/WIP opus WOMEN’S CAMP 119 (which featured footage of real concentration camps) seem restrained.

But again, it must be stressed that no matter how revolting Mattei’s work gets, none of it is ultimately offensive. Maybe that’s because Bruno was, by the accounts of people I know who knew him very well, a sweet guy. A smart guy. A decent guy who made a living making indecent films. THE JAIL: THE WOMEN’S PRISON is a perfect final act capper to one of the liveliest and faux-filthy careers in all of Eurotrashville. Recommended…but not to everyone, obviously.

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