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Surreal, brooding, psychological horror.
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A very well conceived and executed vampire movie. The most interesting I have seen.
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Finally, a substantial role for the generic, but pleasant Anne Archer. Another interesting surrealist piece.
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Stay
(2005, R)
Nicely produced, thought-provoking surrealism.
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Asylum
(1972, Unrated)
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This serves as a delightfully disturbing prequel to Boxing Helena.
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I am convinced this vision of supreme corporate evil in an overpopulated, poisoned future is one of the several most likely predictions of where we are headed. it is coming true now.
This was based on Harry Harrison's 'Make Room, Make Room. If one also views KING CORN, HOME, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, THE FUTURE OF FOOD and reads Schlesser's Fast Food Nation, it seems intuitive that we are barreling toward the reality depicted in this film.
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The book had a lot more to say about issues of class. The movie plot is a minor aspect of the novel. Still, Segal really captures the main character, and this is the most unique of the S. Pacific POW Concentration camp movies.
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SUBJECT TWO (2006)
WRITTEN BY: Philip Chidel and Philip Chidel
DIRECTED BY: Philip Chidel
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Rich Confalone
FEATURING: Christian Oliver, Dean Stapleton, Courtney Mace, Jürgen Jones, Thomas Buesch, and Philip Chidel
GENRES: HORROR, SCI-FI
TAGS: GRIM, HEAVY, DISTURBING, TWISTED
PLOT: A medical student gets more than he bargained for when upon accepting an experimental internship, he discovers that immortality comes with a steep price. Subject Two is a fresh twist on the Frankenstein plot. It envisions being reanimated from the undead's perspective. It is deeply disturbing and every bit as repellent and hellish as one could hope.
COMMENTS: A misanthropic medical student named Adam who flunked his ethics exam receives a cryptic email from a Dr. Fanklin Vick. It offers him an opportunity to assist in unusual medical research and to subsequently share in revolutionary scientific advances in medicine.
He bites on the lure, but to accept the position, he must wait on an icy mountain road in the middle of nowhere to be offered a ride by a stranger. The alluring and mysterious chauffeur obviously knows more about what is going on than he does. His journey to meet the elusive Doctor Vick is itself a snowy odyssey into the isolated, surreal drifts and folds of the Colorado Rockies.
When Adam and his driver reach a landmark beyond which the driver is no longer allowed, Adam must hike up a snow covered mountain to the doctor's laboratory. Now he is stranded, beyond the point of no return. The research facility turns out to be a converted chalet. Something about it is reminiscent of Nikola Tesla's Colorado Springs retreat in The Prestige.
He meets Vick who tells him that the research is very unusual and important and that Adam is uniquely qualified. Vick avoids going into much specific detail. Adam accepts. What Adam doesn't understand is that what uniquely qualifies him is that he is now a captive audience. Nobody knows where he is, he has no means of departure, and his particular background makes him an entity who nobody will ever miss if he disappears.
On this isolated, snowbound mountain peak, Dr. Vick is indeed performing very unique research. He is experimenting with life, death, and reanimation. In combination with makeshift cryogenics, he is using a bizarre recombinant DNA serum that alters and restarts the process of cellular respiration. The problem is, because the serum, timing and method of administration are as yet unperfected and misunderstood, the process has some very unpleasant side effects. Guess who gets to be the new test subject?
VIck murders Adam, and not very nicely. Instead of shooting him up with an overdose of Seconal, he sneaks up behind him a violently strangles him. Then he reanimates him.
He ruthlessly butchers and reanimates Adam repeatedly, trying to get the serum component balance, dosage, cryogenic, and temporal factors just right. There isn't an objective control group. Adam is both subject and control group, which is to say that as Vick and Adam perfect the research, they proceed via trial and error. As Subject Two, Adam is captive to a continuum of horrible and invigorating side effects, continuously oscillating between two extremes of mortal perception.
Subject Two experiences his new reality as a twisted psychedelic nightmare. It is simultaneously clarifying and hellish. While continuing to inhabit the world of the living, he is now intellectually in the bizarre plane of the beyond.
Unsettling developments alter Adam's experience when he discovers the frozen, bloody remains of who is apparently Subject One buried in the snow. In a state of suspended animation, Subject One's head is riddled with an octopus of gruesome serum tubes. Subject One does not look pleased about it, but he is going nowhere for the time being. Then matters become complicated when a trespassing poacher stumbles onto the proceedings and Adam "corrects" him.
The film has been criticized on two counts. Adam's character is allegedly not well enough developed so that we care about him, and the film was shot in digital video. I emphatically contest these assertions.
Regarding character development, there isn't time in a standard movie to address every potential nuance. Subject Two is about a dreadful, inescapable cycle of perpetual violent death and reanimation. The film is a horrifying psychological thriller about the human condition in states of animation and morbid destruction. It grimly depicts what it means to be alive. It explores the existential nature and paradoxes of undeath. Subject Two is about the curse of immortality.
With cerebral horror paradigms like this to contemplate, I couldn't give a dead lab rat's ass about Adam's hopes and dreams, his life and loves. He is an unethical, bright, curious, but naive foul-up. I want to see how he handles the situation and what becomes of him, nothing more.
While the cinematography has been accused of giving the piece the cheap feel of a soap opera, I dispute this as well. The cinematography is as sharp and precise as the frozen alpine air. It enhances the rarefied, ionic ether of the crystalline subzero setting. One can almost feel the thin, icy atmosphere paralyzing the lungs, the sting of snowy crystals against bare skin. Direct to digital bypasses the gloomy dreary look of televised productions once shot on video tape.
True, direct digital tracks movement the way video tape does, and lacks the lustrous detachment achieved by film stock. However it is perfectly suited to the white, snowbound, blue-skied clarity of the locale in Subject Two. The precision of digital is blissfully married to the stark, cold reality of this severe story.
Subject Two is mostly a mental and physical dialectic between two actors. There is a cold calculation about their dispositions, rather than the emotionally wrought yelling and screaming that is standard to other horror scenarios of its type. There is no dramatically shrieked, "Give my creature life!" Subject Two is pure science fiction and squeamish dread. The appalling nature of the irreversible psychic and physiological mutilation inflicted on Adam combines with Vick's amoral descent beyond unorthodoxy into pure evil. This profane combination provides all of the excitement and turmoil that one can endure.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: "Set against the bright, breathtaking world of the snow-peaked Rocky Mountains . . . Subject Two is as much a clever inversion of the resurrection horror genre as it is a profound and ethical examination of the value of life and immortality." - Sundance Film Festival
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French, B&W, English subtitles.
One of the best movies in its genre ever made. Don't read the DVD jacket, let it unfold for you as it does for the protagonist. Absolutely superb film making and use of resource/ production value ratio. Filming, editing, casting, acting, all totally smashing.
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Klepto
(2003, Unrated)
   Klepto (2003) Written by Ethan Gross and Thomas Trail. Directed by Thomas Trail. Production Design: Shelby Wood With Meredith Bishop, Jsu Garcia, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Michael Nouri. A mentally unstable kleptomaniac is blackmailed into a get rich quick scheme by an unscrupulous department store security specialist in this arty thriller. Magnolia Pictures is a production company which finances, produces and distributes unusual independent films. Magnolia appears to have taken the clever strategy of marketing home theater equipment which provided the company with a substantial enough capital base to fund their cinematic projects. Now that their home entertainment products are in place in consumers' homes, they provide the entertainment to play on them, usually in the form of direct to DVD releases. Nearly all of their offerings are noteworthy in some way and Klepto is no exception. In Klepto, Meredith Bishop plays Emily, an attractive but troubled, medication-addicted young woman. She fills the void left by the unexplained disappearance of her father by shoplifting a variety of items. Her favorites are Swiss timepieces which remind her of her father's. Leigh-Taylor Young ( I Love You Alice B. Toklas!, Soylent Green) plays her shallow, compulsively shopping, absentee mother. Emily is observed by a security specialist named Nick (Garcia) in the act of shoplifting. Nick is in dire financial straits and ensnares her into a desperate scheme to achieve financial independence. Unfortunately, Nick, while resourceful, is a chronic foul-up and his machinations become increasingly convoluted as each stage of his plan meets with devastating failure. Emily meanwhile, is struggling with multiple medication addictions, pathological kleptomania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and surprise, complicating visits from her naive mother. She is motivated to assist Nick in order to avoid being exposed as a thief, but also as part of an offer Nick makes to help her locate her father. Nick, unaware of the severity of Emily's condition, drags her into his disintegrating life further complicating hers with disastrous results. The timing of the movie is precisely executed as its well paced, original plot cascades toward certain but indeterminate calamity. A strong visual emphasis is presented of the coveting of expensive luxury commodities, a plethora of multicolored medications and a lot of surreal, CCTV imagery. The cinematography is artfully executed. It is crisp and concise. The shots are very creative. There is an impressive, lengthy, continuous Steadiicam shot of Emily strolling through a parking lot, into a department store, up an escalator and through store aisles near the climax of the film. Despite drastic changes in lighting intensity and many obstacles, the exposure of this shot is perfect and the camera work is impeccably smooth. The shot faces Emily, as if the observer is walking ahead of her facing backwards. This causes one to experience her stressful endeavor from her point of view. However, because one cannot see where she is going, only where she has been, the camera technique in this pivotal scene magnifies her tension and the suspense of the moment. This is a well acted, tight, concise little gem of a film that will appeal to anyone with a desire for a movie with a different feel from more conventional and commercial entires in the crime thriller genre. "A nifty little character study-cum-caper flick ... Performances are strong down the line ... a well thought out visual aesthetic." Dennis Harvey, Daily Variety.  Klepto - CLICK to play Trailer
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After Hours, 1985. Directed by Martin Scorsese. With Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, and Terry Garr.
Paul Hackett, (Griffin Dunne) an innocuous computer specialist goes on a quick blind date out of a sense of obligation one night after work. Along the way he encounters a lengthy parade of NYC extreme oddballs who all take some hand in misdirecting his evening. Everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. Heading toward Greenwich Village in a runaway taxi he loses all of his money. Every aspect of his trip is disturbing, every character is compelling, eccentric, and menacing. Every action he takes goes wrong or is poorly received.
His attempts to resolve each emerging crisis simply lead him deeper into a convoluted maze of dilemmas. Each misadventure escalates and is more serious than the last until finally he is pursued through the streets of Soho ("South of Houston Street") by an angry mob who thinks he is a serial burglar. The weather is foul, he has no money and he can't get home, which is a good 10 miles uptown. Desperate and out of options, he encounters one final misanthropic oddball. Does she hold the key to his deliverance or to his doom? All Hackett has to say by this point is a plaintive, "I just want to get HOME!"
A cast of well-established comedians effortlessly carry this dark, twisted satire of urban personalities and Murphy's Law
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 Written by Harold Pinter (The Quiller Memorandum) based on Ian McEwan;'s novel. Directed by Paul Schrader with Christopher Walken, Rupert Everett, Natasha Richardson, and Helen Miren. Colin and Mary are two naive tourists trying to escape the present in Venice. Disillusioned with their trip, and a little disoriented, they are befriended by a seemingly magnanimous couple played by Walken and Miren who seem to come along at just the right time. Walken and Miren first welcome them as guests, and Colin and Mary are grateful to spend time in a strange city with two fellow English speakers. However the hospitality of their hosts takes a dark turn as they begin engaging in increasingly eccentric behavior, making odd demands, and finally becoming abusive. When Mary catches Miren's character voyeuristically watching Mary and Colin sleep nude, Miren informs her with cryptic delight, "This is the other side of the mirror." All attempts to leave seem to be somehow frustrated. Have Collin and Mary simply met up with a couple of lonely oddballs, or does something more twisted and sinister beckon? Walken plays one his more unusual roles and Venetian location photography highlights the arty visual feel of this slickly produced, unconventional multiple character. study.
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1983, aka "Corrupt." - With Harvey Keitel, John Lydon, and character actress Sylvia Sidney. Directed by Roberto Faenza.
Cop killer is a very unusual psychological suspense piece about lies, subterfuge, guilt transference and obsession. Harvey Keitel plays a corrupt NYC narcotics cop who with his partner, has invested in a palatial but unfurnished secret apartment that the men use as a retreat while conducting double lives. Meanwhile, someone is busy assassinating NYC undercover narcotics cops.
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) is no Lawrence Olivier, but he is quite adept at his role in this film. He plays a rich-boy heir who has a cop fetish and a peculiar history of making false confessions to high profile crimes. He stalks Keitel for six months and finally shows up at the secret apartment, confronts Keitel and tells him that he (Lydon) is the cop killer.
Keitel, shocked at being found out, takes Lydon prisoner in the apartment indefinitely and interrogates him. Oddly, Lydon won't cooperate, When Keitel mortally injures another officer in an attempt to prevent being exposed, Keitel puts Lydon to the test and orders him to kill the cop -under threat of death.
At this point, matters go even more awry After a life and death struggle, Lydon takes control and begins to torment, psychologically manipulate and dominate Keitel. While they each try to gain the upper hand, their relationship becomes increasingly perverse, as Lydon attempts to drive Keitel to madness and murder. Keitel struggles to keep his sanity and the viewer attempts to puzzle out whether Lydon or Keitel is guilty, whether the cop Keitel wounded and Lydon finished off was dead or alive during the coup de gras, and where the truth lies.
This is another film that presents the story in a way that is conducive to furthering the plot in an artful and efficient manner, unencumbered by the need to follow established, contrived formulas. As such it has an unconventional feel. It is an Italian film, is English language, with some recognizable American actors and NYC shooting locations. The interiors are Italian, which further makes this movie feel unconventional. While the interior shots don't look specifically Italian, or out of context, they vary enough from what one has learned to expect in NYC film cliches to grab and hold one's attention. For some reason this has the effect of giving the viewer the sense that he has an unusual angle on the reality portrayed by this particular police-suspense film. Copkiller is not a profound piece of art, but it is solid and atypical. The movie is efficiently written, and professionally shot and edited. It may be one of Keitel's most interesting roles.
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 Peter Fonda and Richard Lynch
Here's an arcane Peter Fonda, William Holden and Richard Lynch movie that I was lucky enough to find online after searching for years.
This is a tense, gritty, raw low budget, but well shot suspense film about a group of ex-date-raping jocks, who miss the adrenaline rushes of Vietnam. Not ones to miss out on excitement, they create their own by abducting, abusing and then hunting the unwary at their wilderness hunting lodge. A wrench is thrown in the works when it turns out there may be somebody else in the woods with the same idea.
The filmmaking is typical of independent or small budget productions from the 1970's; it has its own unique, arty style unencumbered by formulae, A few minor aspects are a bit over emphasized such as long death closeups, but the movie still manages to maintain credibility. It's an unusual film that represents a somewhat original take on The Most Dangerous Game and Deliverance type plots.
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Playboy Wade can't get new lust interest Lindsey to, well to fulfill her feminine duties as -someone of whom he just asked "What's your sign?" five minutes ago. It turns out Lindsey gets her jollies circling newspaper obituaries for good prospects, and then sneaking into the respective chapels and making out with the deceased for a quick thrill. Not being able to consummate the act is frustrating, and unsatisfied Wade will try anything to get her into action -even joining a death cult of Satanic necrophiliacs.
The group is run by a local mortician, and in the end, Wade, Lindsey, and the mortician all get more than they bargained for. A bizarre premise for a surprisingly entertaining and reasonably well made horror movie.
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Warren Beatty plays a womanizing Beverly Hills hairdresser who is rogering his imminent financial backer's wife, mistress and daughter - among others. Matters become more complicated when George (Beatty) finds out that his patron is sleeping with George's ex girlfriend. The vehicle provides for plenty of humorous social commentary on human nature with regard to sex, relationships, taboos and social attitudes in general in 1968. (The eve of the '68 Presidential election is the backdrop. A political dinner provides additional avenues for sociological humor, when George and all interested parties convene for some interesting interaction at the event. The film was written and released just after Watergate.)
When George cynically shies away from commitment, he learns that his free and loose lifestyle may present its own price as he gets in over his head. There are some very funny tension and jealousy scenes when George is caught or almost caught in the act, at the wrong times, by the wrong parties, as he tries to simultaneously juggle multiple demanding females. However in addition to the story being presented from his point of view, George is a likable and sympathetic character.
The screenplay was written by Robert Towne, (Chinatown) and embellished and/or altered by Beatty. I'd love to see the original, but either way, Beatty's version works well, and he seems to have a very good instinct for expressing what he sets out to satyrize...uh, that's satirize in this film. But then perhaps for Beatty, whose bachelor party lasted 30 years or so, this isn't THAT much of a stretch.
While indicting, the film has a certain sincerity and sympathy about itself, overall and at its ending, that is ubiquitously touching and tempting to identify with. The ending caps and fits the story well, but is, well I hate to use the cliche -downright poignant. It is the inevitable conclusion, but I was still caught with my jaw hanging open when the credits rolled. In fact I hate to admit it, but I got so suckered into this one that the ending made me emotional. That's rare for me as the movie contained no flesh eating ghouls or exploding airborne intestines.
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Happy Here and Now 2002.
Written and directed by Michael Almereyda
With Clarence Williams III, David Arquette (who co-produced), Ally Sheedy, former super model Shalom Harlow, model Gloria Reuben, Karl Geary and rhythm and blues star Ernie K-Doe.
Happy Here and Now is a surrealistic satire in which a young woman tries to find her missing sister by investigating eccentric New Orleans characters who are entangled in a web of cyber-intrigue.
This movie is unusual in its story telling structure. It guides us through a netherworld of oddball people, their weird behavior and strange gadgets via a series of vignettes that are ultimately connected.
In this quirky odyssey, Canadian actress Liane Balaban plays Amelia. She has come to New Orleans to locate a missing sister who has erased every trace of herself. Clarence Williams III plays a limping ex CIA agent with an unexplained leg wound that just won't heal.
Williams forensically dissects the sister's laptop hard drive. He finds traces of cryptic conversations held online with a poetic but sinister misfit (Karl Geary). The stranger uses a special technology to change his real-time appearance and country of origin on webcam-conference.
Amelia attempts to determine the presence of a connection between the late night Internet chats and her sister's disappearance. She does so with Thomas' assistance by contacting Greary's puzzling character and conducting a fresh set of webcam conversations. What are his motives, what is he truly capable of? Why does he change his appearance and answer questions with questions?
Did this enigmatic stranger lure Amelia's sister to her fate in a snuff film? Amelia must figure out how to trace and outwit him by playing a game of deception online.
Throughout her quest for answers, Amelia encounters a cascade of artistic dilettantes. One of several exceptions is the real-life Ernie K-Doe, famous for his 1961 number one hit, "Mother-in -Law," who appears as himself in his actual New Orleans club.
Nearly all of the characters are in some way unknowingly interconnected via a subplot orchestrated by David Arquette's character, Eddie Mars. Mars is a creatively misguided, self-employed exterminator who entwines the protagonists via a film project. It is a soft-porn, direct-to-digital Internet film about a time traveling Nicola Tesla. (And there might be some termites and a spherical fire breaking out in a space station, he hasn't decided yet.))
is a dream-like atmosphere piece which artfully combines unusual visual and acoustic elements. It highlights a smattering of New Orleans lore and culture. Thomas' character weaves a narrative of local lore as the camera pans by local cemeteries, barbecue joints, The Napoleon House, and a few other unconventional landmarks. We get a nice sample of New Orleans homes and interiors, blues clubs, fauna, and steamy avenues by streetlight. Odd characters such as man wearing Napoleonic clothing wander the streets.
The conclusion, while not a blockbuster of revelation, amusingly ties all of the characters and vignettes together.
The film is open-ended as to its message. Enthusiasts of movies that conclude with a concrete sense of finality should look to Happy Here and Now as being a piece that is intended to inspire the imagination.
The film features musician, performance artist and electronics whiz "Quintron" (Robert Rolston's stage name) as himself. Quintron has distinguished himself in arcane circles for among other things, inventing clever but peculiar electronic musical instruments. One of his Tesla coils is featured in the film.
"Strange by even its director's ultra-eccentric standards, Happy Here and Now takes Michael Almereyda's usual reality-blurring, video-mediated experimentation to what the f*** new levels..." -David Ng, The Village Voice, December 6, 2005
MGM DVD.
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Les Blessures assassines (2000)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Denis
Written by Jean-Pierre Denis based on the novel by Paulette Houdyer.
Production Designer: Bernard Vézat.
With Julie-Marie Parmentier, Isabelle Renauld, Dominique Labourier, François Levantal, Jean-Gabriel Nordmann, Tessa Szczeciniarz, and Charlotte Guille.
Jean-Marc Fabre's cinematography adds an element of artistry to this absorbing, racy story about isolation, deprivation, lust and murder.
This is the French film version of the 1930's Papin case in which class differences, mental imbalance, and the repression of an incestuous lesbian relationship led to predictable but bizarre results. Two teenage girls, with a mother from hell and an absentee father who may have had an incestuous relationship with the eldest, endure a harsh upbringing in a convent and in the service industry.
Tension develops as the sisters' relationship with their scheming, uncaring, amoral mother deteriorates. To make matters more stressful, the insecure pair deal with repeated separations. They end up working together finally, after being employed by successively snobbish, callous, and impossibly unreasonable employers.
Class differences are highlighted, as is lesbian tension between the latest employer's daughter and the youngest of the two sisters, resulting in an unstable and emotional triangle. Other factors, such as the general mental imbalance of most of the central characters, and the unjust application of the social status quo, cause potentially serious conflicts to mount and mount like a coiling spring as the film ascends to it's inevitable climax.
The other most recent film adaptation, Sister My Sister (1994), was an all woman production directed by Nancy Meckler, and was written by Wendy Kesselman, based on her play. Sister My Sister fictionalized the account a little bit to attempt enhanced audience accessibility. The film included less historical detail, and was not as lurid. However, it just as effectively caught the gist of the case and was no less compelling a story. I would recommend both to any fan of films such as Heavenly Creatures. There are some saliently sensational similarities between the Papin case and the Hulme/Parker case which occurred in New Zealand approximately twenty years later.
Beware -there are two versions of Les Blessures assassines. (Both with the Englush title, Murderous Maids) : a family friendlier version, and the appropriately more graphic and contextually detailed one. If this sort of thing isn't your kind of cup of tea, skip them all. If it is, do yourself a favor and see the unabridged version. The controversial scenes are tame by today's standards, and are non-gratuitously central to the plot. Both films, Sister My Sister and Les Blessures assassines are well crafted, pensive, captivating dramas.
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The Cremator (Czechoslovakian 1969)
Written by Ladislav Fuks based on his novel.
Directed by Juraj Herz.
Production Designer: Zbynek Hloch
Cinematography by Stanislav Milota.
Original Music by Zdenek Liska.
With Rudolf Hrusínský, Ilja Prachar, Milos Vognic, and Zora Bozinová
In this mesmerizing, Gothic horror film, a funerary specialist becomes obsessed with what he believes to be the nobility of his calling with terrifyingly tragic and bizarre results.
In late 1930?s Prague, Kopfrking (Hrusínský) is a misguided, enigmatic crematorium operator. He is an impeccably groomed, eerie, enigmatic and meticulous figure and always talks in a hypnotic, soft spoken, poetic manner. He is overly preoccupied with mortality, morbidity, the human soul, and deeply devoted to the funerary arts.
Kopfrking feels a physical affection for the instrumentality of his trade, lovingly caressing the equipment of the crematory process. He speaks constantly, literally and metaphorically of death and the liberation of the soul through the process of cremation.
As the story progresses, he becomes increasingly obsessed with his work, finding it glorifying and cathartic. He sees visions of the ghost of his living wife in her youth, along with his future incarnation as he begins a spiraling descent into fantasy and madness. He is on a mission to free the souls of the deceased (and in time the not so deceased) through the pyrolization of human flesh, be it living or dead -just as long as that flesh is consumed and vaporized by fire.
The influence of the pre-WWII German political machine is enveloping Eastern Europe, polarizing aspiring Nazis and oppositionists. Drawn toward the philosophy of the Third Reich, Kopfrking becomes morbidly obsessed with racial purity and the percentage of German blood flowing within his own veins -literally to the point of having his vessels opened and the contents examined. While The Cremator is not a raving anti-Nazi film, it uses the political ideology as an allegory for exploring the phenomenon of sweeping, consuming mass delusion and insanity.
The gathering of Nazi forces on the border offers Kopfrking an opportunity to realize his misguided aspirations on a grand scale, one much larger than he could have ever hoped for, one seemingly without limit. Before he can apply his fervor and passion to the task, he hatches a plan to betray and destroy his own acquaintances, colleagues and family.
While there are elements of black satire in the The Cremator, the movie is so compelling as to nearly overshadow it. The film insidiously and steadily flows to its inevitable and horrifying conclusion like a hot rivulet of liquefied fat.
The production design is crisp and symmetrical. Stanislav Milota?s stunning black and white cinematography is haunting and beautiful. It features successions of extreme closeups that emphasize slightly grotesque and disturbing features of the biological condition. Milota?s use of black and white film stock?s enhanced tonal range is artfully employed to focus attention on rich textures and multitudes of shades. This gives The Cremator a uniquely unsettling dreamlike quality. The musical score by Zdenek Liska is alluring, phantasmic, and aesthetically intriguing. Viewing The Cremator is akin to experiencing a nightmare that one is reluctant to wake from.
As a side note, Rudolf Hrusínský's grandson is now in the film industry in is also an actor in the Czech Republic.. Writer Ladislav Fuks allegedly fled the country to escape Communism. His publications have apparently been banned there for many years. The Cremator was a Czech nominee for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.
"Released in 1969 as a smart arthouse spine-tingler, The Cremator is being pitched today as a sui generic horror show." -Gary Dretzka, Movie City News
The Cremator was released on Dark Sky DVD, March 31, 2009.
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 Pretty Poison (1968) Written by Stephen Geller (novel), Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenplay) Directed by Noel Black Art Direction: Harold Michelson and Jack Martin Smith With Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld. A parolee initiates a bizarre episode of "intrigue" in a quiet New England town. What is more dangerous, a schizophrenic accused of murder, or a high-functioning psychopath? Recently released from jail for a suspicious murder, the supposedly rehabilitated Dennis Pitt (Perkins) becomes enamored with local high school majorette Sue Ann Stepanek (Weld) in a conservative, sleepy Massachusetts town. Pitt turns out to be an apparent schizophrenic in that he cannot seem to separate fantasy from reality. He is surprisingly able to attract the straight-laced, straight 'A' Stepanek who oddly returns his interest, Strangely, she does not seem to detect Pitt's possible mental illness. To the contrary, she returns his interest after he brags to her that he is a secret agent. In her apparently gross naiveté in believing and trusting Pitt, she places herself in a seemingly precarious position, embarking with him as his confederate on his amateurish, staged, cloak and dagger misadventures about town. But why is she so willing to associate herself with such an obvious oddball? As Perkins labors in a sinister mill inspecting vials of a mysterious red toxin distilled within, he hatches a bizarre and seemingly mysterious scheme to impress Stepanek, who quickly demonstrates her own talent for the clandestine and macabre. A question is raised as to who is manipulating who, and which one of the pair is really more diabolical. Is Pitt endangering an unworldly, innocent schoolgirl or has he underestimated her? A succession of strange events spirals out of control as the pair initiate a a crime spree that leads to unpredictable, unsavory, and violently open-ended consequences. Now on DVD.
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Feed
(2005, Unrated)
Feed, (2004).
WRITTEN BY: Kieran Galvin and Alex O'Loughlin.
DIRECTED BY: Brett Leonard
FEATURING: Alex O'Loughlin, Patrick Thompson, Gabby Millgate, and Jack Thompson
PLOT: A psychopathic opportunist known as a "Feeder" enables bedridden morbidly obese women to grow even more grossly overweight to the point of becoming completely immobile. As their caretaker, he keeps them alive, but gradually feeds them to death. All the while, he films them for a pornographic website and runs a deadpool based on their life expectancy. An Australian detective hacks the website and tracks the webhost to Ohio where he then pursues him.
I found Feed to be one of the most captivating and entertaining thriller/horror movies I have ever seen. Most people I know found it too disturbing and repulsive to watch, so I suspect it is indeed weird. Forgive if my perspective is off. I am a very sick girl in need of psychiatric help. (But that's OK -I have plenty of medicine.)
COMMENTS: Feed is a mystery/suspense crime thriller about a detective trying to unravel the enigma of a disturbingly perverse Internet fetish network. In Feed, an Australian police investigator named Patrick Thompson (Jackson) travels to Ohio to find the source of what appears to be a clandestine Internet site for enthusiasts with a fetish for morbidly obese women, referred to as "gainers." The women seem to be held captive and are so fat that they are bedridden weighing 500 pounds plus. They are fed a steady high caloric diet by the site administrator, Michael Carter (O'Loughlin) known in the industry as a "feeder."
The investigator tracks down and confronts the feeder at his residence, but cannot find his clandestine Internet set where the victims are confined. He does discover in the course of his investigation that the women featured on the site end up becoming missing persons.
The detective is able to discern that Carter is literally feeding the women to death and feels compelled to locate the transmission site at any cost, regardless of US law. The grotesque nature of the case, as well as the effect of Carter forcing the detective to analyze his own psycho-sexual dysfunctions causes Thompson to begin losing his sanity. In pursuing the feeder, he begins breaking the law himself with no regard for the potential legal consequences of his actions.
Carter is a sexually tormented psychopath who is always a step ahead of his nemesis. He taunts the investigator while carrying out a far more devious and twisted scheme than the Aussie cop could ever expect, including fattening up his own sister for presentation on the site. As Thompson becomes entangled in this world of perversion, both he and Carter begin to display inconsistent character traits. As their personalities disintegrate, they clash violently as a no-holds barred, high stakes cat and mouse pursuit ensues between them.
Feed is a graphic, fictitious film inspired by actual contemporary fetishes and ends as perversely as it does unpredictably. It delves into such dark unpleasantries as homosexuality, cannibalism, mother-son incest, and brother-sister incest, with graphic depictions of sex and nude, extreme morbid obesity.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: "The film is genuinely perverse throughout, packed with nudity and deviant sex, most of it in the form of scenes of masturbation and intercourse featuring horribly obese women . . . There are a few brief splatters of gore and violence towards the end, though most of the film?s nastiness comes through its frequent scenes of flying fat and vomit, a good deal of which is truly nauseating. As such, the whole affair has the queasy air of a freak show, though to be fair, Leonard clearly employs the material as a direct challenge to the viewer?s own prejudices and as a tool for exploring notions of societal acceptance and hypocrisy, and of the fine line between abuse and consent." -James Mudge, Beyond Hollywood
Click Here For Trailer
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Housekeeping (1987)
DIRECTED BY: Bill Forsyth.
WRITTEN BY: Bill Forsyth based on the novel by Marilynne Robinson.
FEATURING: Christine Lahti,Sara Walker and Andrea Burchill.
PLOT: Two orphaned girls are joined by their transient aunt who becomes their unconventional guardian in this dreamy, pensive study of nonconformity and the breaking of social mores in a restrictive 1950's environment.
Housekeeping is a surreal atmosphere piece that questions right and wrong, debates the meaning of normality and examines the consequences of non-conformity. The story follows the erratic behavior of two teenage girls and their seemingly irresponsible caretaker.
In the 1950?s Pacific Northwest, a series of bizarre events unfold leading to the abandonment of two adolescent girls. In a dramatic early scene, the girls? misfit mother amiably asks some young boys for help in getting her car out of a muddy rut. When they do, she casually commits suicide in front of them by driving over a cliff. Her daughters, long abandoned by their father, become the wards of their grandmother and aunt, who see them into their early teens. When the deceased mother?s sister shows up, the grandmother and great aunt disappear into the night, leaving them in the care of the newly arrived ?Aunt Sylvie? (Lahtie).
Sylvie, as it turns out, is an avowed nonconformist with an unconventional lifestyle and unique view of the world. Her permissive parenting evolves into the enabling of an alternative existence for her nieces. This new freedom includes skipping school, stealing boats, riding the rails, and other risky, unstructured behavior?acts which are particularly outré when performed by young women in the conservative 1950s.
The film is an odyssey of self discovery as Ruth, from whose point of view the story is presented, begins to question social convention and accepted folkways. As Ruth comfortably gravitates toward Sylvie?s atypical values, her sister Lucille is upset by the lack of structure and begins to embrace social norms.
This evolution of the girls? characters and personalities is presented through a series of ethereal misadventures and explorations. This transition is further influenced by the recounting of early childhood impressions, and their observations of the unique geography of their home which is located on a surreal lake surrounded by wooded mountains. Different story segments are connected by symbolism of ice and snow, the depth of the huge lake they live on, and of railroads and trains, particularly a spectacular train derailment disaster that occurred many years in the past. The lake itself, a massive body of deep cold water holding the wreckage and bodies from the doomed train, embodies concepts of obstacles, boundaries, mystery and the transcendence of space and time.
Ultimately and inevitably, outside authoritarian interference descends upon the trio; the tale alludes to fear of witches by the unsophisticated locals. Nonconformity is equated with a dread of the unknown. At this point, the slowly building tension between the girls? independence and the mainstream establishment comes to a rolling boil. The three must choose between two extremes, either one of which will create dramatic and permanent consequences.
Some credit Housekeeping with exploring themes concerning transience, self reliance, dependency, female marginalization, and freedom. This may be true, but the literary eye rollers ?that crowd who seek to distinguish themselves intellectually via the effete discovery of a plethora of symbolism, real or imaginary, in any work?are likely to perceive Housekeeping as being an exploration of feminist issues. This would not be the best interpretation of the story. Housekeeping is not a women?s movie. It is a beautifully photographed, thought-provoking atmospheric fantasy about unconventionality and its consequences. The events are experienced from the point of view of a youngster who happens to be a girl. The choice of gender serves more to facilitate this study of social taboos than to make any sort of statement. Those who wish to interpret Housekeeping as being a feminist vehicle will miss the nebula for the stars.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:
??one of the strangest and best films of the year? not a realistic movie, not one of those disease-of-the-week docudramas with a tidy solution. It is funnier, more offbeat, and too enchanting to ever qualify on those terms.??Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (contemporaneous)
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THE FINAL CUT (2004)
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Omar Naim.
FEATURING: Robin Williams, Brendan Fletcher, and Stephanie Romanov.
PLOT: Robin Williams plays a funeral director with access to highly intimate personal information. When he becomes compromised, so does the information, raising questions about the consequences of a total surveillance society.
The Final Cut is a slick, believable, striking science fiction film which has been mischaracterized and very poorly represented in its trailers and marketing. Without a social agenda it forces the viewer to contemplate the frightful ramifications of the permanent recording of individual experiences and the loss of the most intimate personal privacy. The Final Cut does so in a manner that is not a play to morality but which is riveting and awe-inspiring without being preachy. It brings the old school marm's threats about one's "permanent record" to a devastating new level.
COMMENTS: We live in a near total surveillance society. The average person is allegedly photographed 200-300 times by government and proprietary cameras when they venture into the streets. Additionally, many people now posses, and surreptitiously use such devices as unobtrusive cell phone cameras, tiny digital cameras, and concealed "Nannie cams."
Imagine a world in which one in twenty people would possess a biologically built-in surveillance system that records everything they see and hear from cradle to grave, irrespective of their memory of the events. Any interaction one has with them becomes permanently preserved.
When the carrier dies, the surveillance device is retrieved. Everything is seen by a third party, and the information is edited into a flattering epitaph to be shown at their funeral. It may even be displayed in a movie on their grave site. Consider what might become of the rest of the information.
The technology is far fetched, but the idea is not when one takes into account behavior such as all of the self reporting that people engage in. It ranges from voluntarily reporting their income, itemizing their possessions and other personal or family information on product warranty cards, to recording and internationally broadcasting their every move on services such as Twitter.
Think about the fact that under The Patriot Act, every book you read can be discovered by the government, every move you make on the internet is now recorded by the FBI, and every phone call you participate in can be monitored without a warrant. Most people seem to be oblivious to, or complacent regarding such monitoring. They have an attitude that "if one has nothing to hide, one has nothing to worry about." (Answer them by asking them to look through their wallet or purse. It is enlightening that they universally decline.) Because of this acceptance it is not a stretch to foresee the institutionalization of even more invasive monitoring when technology makes it feasible.
Now imagine that your parents, perhaps without you ever knowing it, had a surveillance implant embedded in your brain, invitro. You will never be able to take advantage of using it to retrieve lost memories, but everything you do, every second that you experience of every minute of every day will be accessible to others after your death. Think about that. Have you ever done something, or ever had a private moment that you don't want to share? Is there any moment in your life that you would not want to see broadcast on MTV's "The Real World?"
Do you masturbate? Wish not to be observed having sex? Do anything kinky? Want others to see you on the toilet? Have you ever broken rules? Embarrassed yourself? Ever used illegal drugs? Cheated on a test? Blown off your duties at work? Swindled a client? Gone where you shouldn't have? Cheated on your spouse? Committed an embarrassing, or taboo act? Have you ever committed a serious crime? Have you ever done something that was legally justified but that could be misconstrued out of context as a crime? Might you one day?
The ramifications of a stranger being able to watch these private moments is what The Final Cut is about. In the not so distant future, a Zoe (pronounced "Zoey") implant makes total life event recording possible. Robin Williams plays a "Cutter," a funerary professional with supreme confidentiality obligations, who sorts out the unbecoming and damning details of implanted people's lives and edits them into a flattering, family-friendly movie. This enables the friends and loved ones of the deceased to view the production at the implantee's funeral in the way that they want to remember the person.
Suppose the cutter became compromised, or the information fell into the wrong hands. Suppose that somebody you know, with whom you had interactions of a type that you never want discovered, had such an implant and the postmortem information was misappropriated?
The trailers and reviews for The Final Cut simply do not do the film justice. They lead the potential viewer to conclude that the film is a reprise of Robin Williams' One Hour Photo role. Worse yet, they make The Cutter look like a movie with a message, or like a morality play. One description reads, "While cutting a 'rememory' for a high-powered colleague, Alan discovers an image from his childhood that has haunted him his entire life. This discovery leads him on a high intensity search for truth and redemption." True, this is an element of the film, but a corny "one man's 'search for truth and redemption,'" is not what Final Cut is about. If it were, I would have gagged and converted the DVD into a Girl Scout signal mirror after the first five minutes.
Williams plays a cutter who gets into trouble while dealing with a very naughty and controversial client's memories. This incident is a vehicle used to further the "what if?" factor off the surveillance concept described above. The Final Cut examines a simple scenario involving a mind boggling idea, one that would surely be instituted now if feasible. This is a movie that makes one's mind race with ideas and questions. It compels one to contemplate the double edged sword of the surveillance society we live in today, yet it is not a film with an agenda. The film is inspired by an already existing phenomenon, but does not seek to deliberately comment on it.
The Final Cut is also a gripping, compelling movie because of the way its imaginative imagery portrays the access and use of other people's life memories from birth to death. The production design is stunning. While not lavish, it is very well thought-out and credibly suited to the topic, as well as pleasing to the eye.
In , what seems to be far fetched technology is treated with remarkable realism. While it is science fiction, it is very believable. The Final Cut is in my opinion, an example of the best sort of science fiction, No change in the current status quo is required to facilitate the plot, other than the introduction of new technology.
The world in Final Cut is no different from today's except for the ramifications created by this one technological twist. This makes it a very heavy film that will leave a lasting impression long after viewing it. Perhaps you will remember it all of your life. Maybe a third party will one day view that memory.
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Here is an appropriate film for Halloween:
The Other (1972)
Written by Tom Tyromn based on his novel.
Directed by Robert Mulligan.
With Chris and Martin Udvarnoky, Uta Haen and John Ritter.
Production Designer: Albert Brenner
Cinematography by Robert Surtees
Some horror cinema doesn't have to rely on the supernatural to be horrifying. Set in the 1930's, The Other is a grim shocker about two cute, apparently wholesome twin boys who would seem to lead an idyllic existence on a picturesque family farm. There's just one problem -everyone around them begins to have gruesome accidents.
The boys are drawn into a convoluted good-versus-evil struggle that churns within themselves, and they struggle with each other to both exercise and exorcise it. As this conflict manifests itself, the bizarre circumstances surrounding the misfortune of family and neighbors begin to weave an increasingly twisted and captivating mystery.
The story includes many odd and unsettling elements, such as the fact that the twins' mother is inexplicably a terrified psychological invalid. Their Russian nanny seems to be able to teach the boys how to fly via astral projection. There is a very odd, cursed family crest ring complete with the severed finger of the corpse from which it was stolen. People and things connected to the twins seem to end up broken, on fire, paralyzed or dead.
The ring and finger are coveted and revered by the boys. They carry it with them constantly in their treasure box, and this morbid memento is somehow the key to all of the strange tragedy that unfolds. Surrealism is created by the uncertainty of who is who, and what is what. The Other is a thoughtfully presented nightmare of indulgence, madness and grotesque murder. The production is enhanced by Robert Surtees' striking and graceful cinematography, with a memorably haunting score by Jerry Goldsmith.
Horror and occult fans should take particular delight in viewing The Other for the following reasons. It has an original story that has not been perpetually copied since it was filmed. This work was shot in 1972 when there were fewer creative constraints on writer-director collaboration. The Other is conventionally well constructed, but neither formulaic, nor forced to be "accessible" to the public. There are none of the standard cliches. It withstands the test of time and is not dated. Set during the Great Depression, it looks like it could have been produced yesterday. The treatment of the subject matter, however, is refreshingly unconventional. Those looking for something fresh and unlike anything they have seen before should be especially pleased -that is, if one can locate a copy.
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Shatter Dead (1994)
Written and Directed by Scooter McCrae.
With Stark Raven, Flora Fauna, Robert Wells and John Weiner.
In the near future, people can inexplicably no longer cease to exist. Death means rebirth into a dead body and the undead walk among us. A young woman tries to survive as the increasing numbers of dead do their best to convince her to die willingly so that she may join them.
Shatter Dead contains some strange allegory. It opens with a lesbian Angel of Death impregnating a mortal woman which somehow begins the undead phenomenon. The dead are not flesh eating monsters. They merely want to reestablish society -and they want the living to voluntarily take part.
Shatter Dead is a low budget zombie movie. It also happens to be one of the most imaginative and interesting zombie movies ever made. It is certainly the most unconventional, while remaining basically serious. There are some attempts at surreal symbolism, but they are not gimmicky efforts to deliberately make the film look arty. The entire piece flows like a compelling dream which while twisted, is so interesting that we are reluctant to awaken from it.
In this offbeat yarn, the zombies are "regular" people who happen to be dead, and yet are still thinking and functioning. The dilemma in this version of morbid reality is that one lives on as a corpse forever, permanently trapped in the physical condition in which one found oneself at the time of death. Post mortem injuries are permanent. Many have committed suicide in order not to spend eternity old and feeble. Post mortem injuries, regrettably, are permanent. If a zombie breaks an arm for example, it is the same as if you or I sustained a broken arm that won't heal for eternity. This phenomenon figures prominently into the plot.
The alluring and mesmerizing Stark Raven (yes, it's a stage name, and no, she's not a porno "actress") plays Susan, a young woman who is one of the few living holdouts -and she would prefer to stay that way. Well armed, pragmatic, sensible, and highly self sufficient, Susan must contend with the mischievous antics and criminal sabotage of some highly eccentric zombies. In short, the unliving present a tremendous pain in the ass.
The dead take to pranks such as siphoning mortals' gasoline so that their cars run out of fuel. When they do, hordes of zombies descend upon the stranded motorist -and requisition the car in the name of the nonliving masses. ("Power to the former people!") Susan's vehicle is seized in this manner. Next she has to cope with a cascade of misadventures as she runs a gauntlet of bizarre obstacles while trying to find her way home to a lost boyfriend.
A zombie pick-up artist wants to seduce her, and an undead neighborhood watch captain lures her into a safehouse that turns out to be a zombie refuge masquerading as a haven for the still-alive. Once there, a gorgeous lesbian zombie comes onto her in the shower. Next, physically handicapped zombies raid the facility in a blaze of gunfire in order to maliciously disable the resident "healthy" and fit zombies. To make matters worse, Susan must continually dodge a sinister religious zealot zombie in her quest for sanctuary.
As she heads home to her waiting mate, a few more surprises and ordeals await her. Wrought with ironies, Shatter Dead is part surreal nightmare, and part symbolic allegory, never taking itself too seriously, but always remaining above the comedic and absurd within the context of its premise. It is a pensive odyssey that explores some rather pragmatic speculation of what reality would be like if true death no longer existed. The film does not attempt to be overly arty, but it does not limit itself to any sense of conventionality either.
I prefer grim zombie movies over comedic ones. Within this context, the only zombie films that impact me are Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, 1968 and 1978 respectively -until I saw I saw this film and became entranced with it. Deliberate or accidental grade "B" or "camp" does not hold my interest for some reason, but Shatter Dead is not in that category. Shatter Dead is a "B" movie, but only by necessity, not by design or incompetence. The director was underfunded, and not thoroughly trained in slick, formulaic Hollywood filmmaking techniques. Shatter Dead is shot on video and the acting is a bit unpolished in places. However as a horror movie and a work of engrossing pop art, it is solid, entertaining, thought-provoking and effective.
While the piece has a few humorous and even mildly absurd elements, they are neither overriding themes nor digressions. The film is remarkably well shot and edited for having such a modest budget. It does not restrict itself and yet it manages to avoid having a cheap or incomplete feel. Shatter Dead is highly unusual, but consistent -which is to say, while flawed, it still works.
I was very wary of this one at first. As a horror fan I was captivated and amazed upon seeing it. How refreshing it is NOT to see well worn thespians whom I recognize. For instance, if I have to swallow the convention of mediocre, big name actors like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt pretending to be vampires one more time, I shall soil myself. I was pleasantly able to suspend disbelief while viewing Shatter Dead because it did not follow a hokey formula or sport a recognizable cast. At he same time, it remained within its context. The rough-shod acting gave the work a realistic feel. Better still, Shatter Dead was not the sort of amateurish, schmaltzy attempt at gritty realism that the cheap, annoying and juvenile Blair Witch Project turned out to be. We are able to see the action and understand the antagonists.
Bravo to independent film makers like McCrae who are full of creativity and manage to execute a reasonably sound job of scripting, directing, framing and editing their fresh ideas. This is a movie that I will remember and think about for a long time. Shatter Dead has become a new barometer by which I shall gauge the quality of other inexpensive, independently produced works of fantasy..
And yes, there is some impression-making gore and violence, but not the gratuitous splatterfest found in most zombie stories. There is some rather frank, but unsensationalized nudity, enough to be titillating without detracting from the plot. There are several bizarre scenes, but somehow they don't seem so out of place given the avant garde nature of the film. The striking Stark Raven carries herself with in distinctive manner. She projects a screen presence that memorably characterizes Shatter Dead's unique look and attitude.
One caveat. The above clip is making the rounds on YouTube due to it's popularity with fans of camp, who are striving to discover such elements in the movie, This scene makes the film appear to be a Weird Al Yankovich project, but it is the only blatantly satirical segment in the story. This section of the story is actually much more grim when viewed in context with the entirety of the movie. While it appears to be a slapstick vignette, it is anything but. It does provide comic relief of a sort, but its purpose is to explore the depths to which amoral, eccentric human nature would likely influence behavior in a scenario such as the one depicted in the film.
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