It is clear from the offset that this psychological thriller is a heartfelt commentary about the post-apatheid impact on South Africa. Director Jenna Cato Bass, who grew up in the troubled country, weaves together her insights into her homeland with a mystical feel that could very well be drawn from her study of magic.
The story unfolds through the eyes of Tsidi (Chumisa Cosa), who is forced to move in with her estranged mother, a woman who has lived a life of servitude, tied to the domestic lifestyle, enslaved to white empowerment. The madam in question is virtually catatonic for most of the movie, and is symbolic of how in spite of how tides have changed in South Africa, the presence and long lasting effect that this gruelling oppression has on Black Africans and widening the race divide.
This trauma is not one that can easily be vanquished and will be passed on from generation to generation, scarred from what transpired and stuck with this demon that resides in the consciousness, tearing apart your mental wellbeing.
The more entrenched that Tsidi becomes in her mother’s lifestyle again, the more embroiled she becomes to the torment and enslaved to suffering. Cosa portrays this anguish with great pose and dignity, fuelling our own heartache as she fights tooth and nail to resist or overcome what is inevitable. Resolution can only be found in unity, but can Tsidi find kinship with her mother and brother, or is the weight of history too overbearing?
The Prognosis:
Good Madam is a slow burn psychological commentary on trauma and oppression. It weaves a delicate balance of torment and hope, slowly dialling up the tension to a dramatic conclusion.
The pace may turn people away but for those who like to be emotionally churned up with a steady transgression, they will be gifted with a well crafted tale.
Saul Muerte
Good Madam will be streaming on Shudder ANZ from Thu Jul 14th.
Lieutenant Jangles is one of those movies that you seriously have to take with a grain of salt. Like an infection boil, it may be tempting to squeeze out the pus and rid the unsightly presence, but its best to let it grow on you and succumb to the natural cause of events.
The writing, directing partnership of Nic Champeaux and Daniel Cordery may on face value feel like a bastardisation of good taste, but between them they have created a lovesong to 1980s Ozploitation action movies. They even set the film during this archaic time, where crime was at an all time high and rules were firmly out of the window.
It’s great to see Brisbane get a bit of lovin’ too on screen, and setting it in the heart of Queensland allows the warm sunshine glows to juxtapose the dirt, ridden and gritty streets that provides the tale of the film.
Our rogue-ish, protagonist and titular character is not the easiest to warm to, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever other than to get the job done, no matter what the cost.
When we’re first introduced to Jangles, he is in the throes of having an actual pissing contest with his partner. Only for the jokes and macho bravado to come to a painful end when his comrade is fatally killed in a gangland shootout.
From here on, we see the rise, fall and redemption of Jangles vengeful pursuit to bring down those responsible. Along the way, we witness crass toilet humour jokes, comedy that could be viewed as incredibly non PC, but to see it through this lens would miss the point of this venture
Lieutenant Jangles wears its heart on its sleeve, and doesn’t shy away from its vision. It gives you all the usual ropes; the hot-headed chief; the buddy cops; the unusual camp, European villain; and the love interest. All these elements play off one another with heightened virosity, amping up each of them to the extreme.
The Prognosis:
It may not suit everyone’s tastes but Lieutenant Jangles does not excuse its position, thrusting the audience headlong into a world where action, law, and order has no rules. All of this is abandoned for balls to the wall entertainment.
You’re either gonna dig it or not, but if you stick with it and embrace it, you cant help but be enamoured by the charm of LJ.
Since its release back in 1958, the infamous scene of cinema-goers running from fear of their lives in The Blob has cemented The Colonial Theatre in film history and brought patrons to its doors to reenact the scene. This has now been embraced on an annual basis where the theatre resides in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania as part of their Blobfest celebrations.
What is this appeal from this gelatinous glob? What causes people to still live out this moment from the celluloid archives over sixty years on. Looks like its time for another retrospective…
The Blob (1958)
Directed by Irvin Yeaworth, The Blob would feature Steve McQueen for the first time in a leading role for a feature film; and let’s face it brings the cool factor in what is essentially a B-Movie science fiction horror film about an alien life form that crash lands on Earth to decimate small town America.
The rift in this case would see a reversal in image of the delinquent American teens. No longer are they outcasts with a grudge against the system, but these representatives of the outskirts of society, are actually the solution and bastions of hope in a world surrounded by Soviet oppression and the impact that the Cold War would bring about. The threat of this entity that would ooze its way around town and consume people, altering them with infectious zeal, and growing larger with every passing day.
McQueen’s teen, Steve is introduced while on a date with his girlfriend Jane (Aneta Corsaut) at lover’s lane when they witness a meteor crash, and they go in pursuit to find where it has landed.
The first to be consumed by the red entity is Barney, and one of the elder citizens of the town, who makes the foolish mistake of poking the meteor with a stick, and having the gloop envelop his hand. Steve and Jane take Barney to the local doctor, little knowing that he will be the next victim.
Time to call in the authorities who are sceptical of Steve’s warnings, putting it down to another wayward prank.
Before long the blob engulfs The Colonial Theatre leading to the afore-mentioned scene of patrons running enmasse, and then turns to another young American icon, in the diner where Steve and Jane are trapped. The solution and salvation comes in the form of carbon dioxide extinguishers, freezing out the creature.
These few flashes of what should have been a forgotten flick with its low grade science fiction storyline would resonate deeply and send ripples across the the drive-in movie scene, one that would be notably replicated 20 years later when screened during Sandy and Danny’s date in Grease.
As the film draws to a close, we’re left with the blob being dumped into the Arctic and the words The End? This open-ended conclusion will lead to the possibility of return, which of course it would do 14 years later with…
Beware The Blob aka Son of Blob (1972)
Unfortunately the sequel would prove to be a train wreck of epic proportions and would be the one and only time that Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing, his Dallas alter-ego) would direct a feature. The issue is that it does too much to replicate the original without making a mark of its own. In doing so, it becomes insignificant and paltry in contrast. Where it tries to add humour, it misfires in a big way, and the trio of drifters consisting of Hagman, Meredith Burgess, and Del Close who are taking over by the blob smacks of wasted talent.
Hagman also seems to miss the point of its origin, by having the entity encroach on the hippie movement as though it is a plague on America’s wellbeing. This seems counterintuitive to the idea that youth are the answer to overcoming evil in its wake. Instead the solution is more of an attack on our media consumption with the Sheriff standing in a pool of blobooze; a symbol of the current state of America, wallowing in the stagnant quagmire that forms the building blocks of its forefathers.
And the least said about the skating rink sequence, the better.
What is interesting though and probably its greatest claim is through Dean Cundey who worked as one of the team in charge of The Blob’s special effects. Cundey would go on to work on The Thing, and Halloween.
It would take a further 16 years before new life would be born out of the blob that would not only find its mark but resonate with a new audience.
The Blob (1988)
Thanks to director Chuck Russell, The Blob would rise again at the height of the 80s home entertainment scene. It also capitalised on the body horror movement with creature effects that was a signature of its time. On its release, it was overshadowed by other features which is a crying shame, as looking back at the film now, it has its own appeal and the humour lifts it above the crowd, marking it as one of the better horror features in the latter end of the decade.
It goes bigger, but perhaps not better than its predecessor. It does boast Shawnee Smith (Saw) screaming her ass off and Kevin Dillon, mullet included, as our troublesome protagonist. He is our rebel against the cause in a world that is now born out of distrust against the regime, filled with conspiracies. Our blob is also manufactured by mankind as a biological weapon, fueling the fire of scepticism, and shifting the film’s threat from outer space to one that is our own undoing.
If this film passed you by, or was missed amongst the crowded horror scene that branched its way into the home movie rentals market, then it is well worth a look.
For this writer, casting my eyes across the three instalments of the franchise with its beats and mis-beats, and the fact that it’s been nearly forty years since the last entry made a wave, is the time ripe for another awakening.
How the blob will manifest if it does resurrect once more is one that intrigues, for its guise and current state of climate, given all that has transgressed since the 80s, would seem to be the perfect fodder for humankind’s demise.
Daniel de la Vega’s latest feature, On the 3rd Day finds its place on Shudder’s Exclusive and Original platform. While it does serve up some fairly predictable choices, there is certainly some appeal in the manner that de la Vega chooses to weave his tale.
The centrepoint of catharsis stems from the moment when Cecilia and her son Martin are involved in a car accident. Cecilia was in the throes of escaping her abusive husband when the catalyst occurred. The story picks ups three days later with Cecilia trying to piece the puzzle along with now trying to find her son; absent since the car crash.
Who was responsible?
Who is this mysterious elderly religious man, hellbent on his own quest and the other party in the collison. Is this coincidence or divine reckoning that has brought these two together only to counter against one another towards the film’s climactic reveal?
The further Ceclia digs into her lost days, the more of the past she uncovers with brutal truths exposed.
The air of intrigue that hangs in the air of Cecilia’s character is the main draw card here and Mariana Anghileri’s portrayal of our protagonist is a big draw card as she delicately dapples with strength and vulnerability. It is this balance of emotional range that allows the audience to play along with the poetry of the piece and despite its obvious movements, is captivating all the same.
The Prognosis:
On the 3rd Day treads a foreseeable trail but in this case it’s not the destination that is its selling point but the journey it takes us on. Celia’s plight and dedication to find out the truth of the mystery carries our own intrigue with careful deliberation to hook us in and deliver a satisfying tale.
Surgeons of Horror 