Monthly Archives: October 2021

Movie review: Willy’s Wonderland (2021)

04 Monday Oct 2021

Posted by in Movie review

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Halfway through watching Willy’s Wonderland I started to feel like I’d walk this walk before with The Banana Splits Movie, which although it didn’t have the pull factor of Nicolas Cage did manage to capture the mayhem and obscurity of evil animatronics hunting down and killing victims in ruthless and bloody fashion.

On paper, Willy’s Wonderland sounds fantastic and in some cases appears to have resonated with some of its audience. The idea of Cage playing a socially silent recluse in the form of a janitor, who is wired to exact rage on these mechanical beings would be a filmmakers dream , but the inner turmoil that spills over into exaggerated mania and anarchy that we have borne witness to in previous outings such as Mandy or Color Out of Space are strangely absent here with Cage and Director Kevin Lewis choosing to play out a far more reserved figure in ‘The Janitor’ and as such, I personally found that I wasn’t able to connect with this character. It’s simply missing that humanitarianism, as if this detached persona is just as soulless as the eight animatronic characters that he goes head to head with in the abandoned entertainment center.

Before any of this unfolds however, we are first introduced to Cage’s janitor when his car breaks down in a rural town. With no cash to pay for it to be fixed, we’re presented with the old trope of paying off his dues through physical labour. In this case, to help clean up the afore-mentioned and titular entertainment diner. Unbeknownst to the Janitor however, Willy’s Wonderland is run by psychotic animatronics that are possessed by evil, satanic killers and the towns figureheads, Sheriff Lund (Beth Grant), Tex (Ric Reitz), and mechanic Jed (Chris Warner) have made a pact with to lure in town drifters as a sacrifice to curb the excessive killing sprees around town.

Joining Cage in attempting to put a final end to these macabre deeds is wayward teen Liv (Emily Tosta) and her friends, the latter of which serve as fodder for Willy and his serial killer robots to dispatch.

The Diagnosis:

There are too many tropes in the mix here from breaking down in a small town and possessed dolls/animatronics that there doesn’t feel like anything fresh or new on offer.

We could easily have had Cage as a Bruce Lee style of action flick in the vein of The Big Boss pitting him against a series of evil robotic killers, each with specialised skill of wielding death, and have him slowly work his way up to the ultimate killing machine in Willy. And with each level, have Cage slowly dial up the mania.
Instead though, we have a muddled and half-hearted attempt at having Cage flit from one scene to another with admittedly a sense of coolness but with nothing to emote from or to, ends up feeling listless.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Hands of the Ripper (1971)

03 Sunday Oct 2021

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

While Twins of Evil ignited a certain visual style and direction as spearheaded by Hammer Horror film producer Michael Carreras, (who was also the son of the British production company’s founder, James) Hands of the Ripper, which was released as part of a double feature struggles a little under the weight of its premise.

It’s actually a pretty cool idea, presenting Angharad Rees as Anna, the daughter of the notorious Whitechapel murderer Jack The Ripper. As an infant, Anna witnesses her father’s brutal attack on her mother. Years later, we’re introduced to her again aiding a medium trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the paying customers. Unfortunately, it is also discovered that her trauma can be awakened by a flickering light followed by a kiss on her cheek, igniting a menacing steak that lies deep within and turning Anna inot a psychotic killer.

Hammer were fortunate to cast acting veteran Eric Porter in the role of John Pritchard, a doctor and psychiatrist who believes that he can cure her of her ailment, unaware of just how deep her psychological scars go. He also doesn’t anticipate how enraptured he would become with Anna, falling for her charms and in doing so, makes ill-judgement to cover up her misdeeds in the hope that he can steer her back on the path of sanity.

By the time the film’s climax comes around at the famous London landmark St. Paul’s Cathedral, we are destined for tragedy. Pritchard, already mortally wounded, rushes alongside his son Michael to rescue his son’s fiance, Laura (Jane Morrow) from the hands of evil.

It acts as a slow burn much like Director Peter Sasdy’s earlier feature Countess Dracula starring the brilliant Ingrid Pitt. Both films prove hard to connect with due to its pace, but are equally well composed and directed making them strong films as far as production is concerned, but ultimately prove hard to connect with and may turn some people off.

Of all the original features that Hammer produced though, Hands of the Ripper could easily be remade with a different lens today, if it were to immerse itself into the gothic time, place and setting. 

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Twins of Evil

03 Sunday Oct 2021

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

This movie will always have a strong place in my heart, and quite possibly in my loins if you’ll forgive me for being so crude. 

It would have been late night on BBC 2 or Channel 4 when I first began to discover Hammer Horror films in my adolescent years and my earliest memories were of Mary and Madeleine Collinson decked in the yellow dresses or their negligee that would reveal so much to this impressionable mind.

The Collinson’s would go on to become the first twin playmates to stir the sense of male youth and this was the perfect recipe for young horror fans that Hammer Film productions were hoping to lure into their cinematic fold. It clearly worked on this writer and I became enraptured and was intrigued by the whole virtuosity vs temptress component that these twins of evil were to portray.

It helped that this film would also feature Peter Cushing, who for those who know me well understand that I had developed some kind of man-crush on the dignified English Gent, Cushing alongside Christopher Lee would become synonymous with Hammer films and even though Lee would be absent in this feature, Cushing more than holds his own as the Matthew Hopkins inspired witchfinder, Gustav Weil. This tyrant of a figure, Weil is hellbent on steering everyone to his purtiancial ways and ridding the world of sinners and those who practice in the dark arts. Struck by his passionate beliefs, Weil with his Brotherhood will drive out the women fallen to sin and burn them at the stake. His main prize though is towards Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas), a man who is drawn to the dark arts and enticed by one of his ancestors, Mircalla (Katya Wyeth).

Twins of Evil also rounds out the Karnstein Trilogy (The Vampire Lovers, Lust of a Vampire) that Hammer had focused on through Mircalla and finding inspiration from the Camilla story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.
What I particularly liked about this feature beneath the thinly-veiled sexual exploitation, is a story that paints its characters in grey rather than black and white. As puritanical as Weil is in his mission, he is conflicted by his own dedication to his cause and that of the notion that his nieces could have fallen prey to evil temptation. It is his blinded view of the world that leads him to his own ruin.
The twins would be the symbolic pendulum between what is deemed good and evil, each representing the yin and yang in this equation. Count Karnstein is deeply entrenched in sin but also shows signs of uncertainty when tempted by Mircalla before ultimately being consumed by darkness. And the local school teacher, Anton (David Warbeck) would also display signs of weakness, who despite his pure values is tempted by Frieda’s wilder streak before realising that it is Maria’s innocence that needs protecting.

There is a nice conclusion to the piece too which sets up mistaken identity, before pitting the two actual twins of evil in The Count and Weil against one another. Twins of Evil, directed by John Hough would mark an important step in Michael Carreras trying to reinvent Hammer Horror for a new generation and arguably succeeds in this instance. It would set up the tone for the 70s and the last great hurrah for the British film company that brought Dracula and Frankenstein onto the screens again in the 50s. 

There are certainly some misses more than hits during this time, but I at least enjoy succumbing to the visuals and narrative that is embedded throughout this feature and it is one that I find that I am drawn to time and time again.

  • Saul Muerte