I See You is something of a rare gem of a movie that warrants your time and attention.
A bold statement but one I stand by. For its strength lies in its narrative, from a screenplay by Devon Graye Fleming, who as a little bit of trivia played a young Dexter from the Dexter series. Fleming manages to craft a delightful tale that twists and turns, inverting and reverting subgenres along the way.
One moment it’s supernatural, then family drama, full-on suspense drama, before shifting again into an out and out horror thriller. With each turn of the storyline cog, there also comes a collection of characters who are so dimensional that you continuously guess their motives and just when you think you have them sussed out, Fleming drops another background reveal, that makes you question your judgement all over again.
We open with a typical suburban town where we follow a hapless young kid, Justin Whitter, out on a bike ride through the woods, when a mysterious force suddenly ejects him from his seat out of nowhere.
So far, so supernatural.
We’re then introduced to Greg Harper (Jon Tenney) the lead detective in the search for Justin Whitter and through the investigation a green pocket knife is discovered, an MO from a series of crimes years earlier, promoting the question, did they police get the wrong man or is this a copycat killer?
The story then follows Harper and his home life with his wife, Jackie played by Helen Hunt, who I can’t recall when I last saw her in a movie. Here she again proves her worth displaying the strength and vulnerability of Jackie, a woman who it turns out has had an affair, which she claims has ended and is now scrambling around to not just save her marriage but repair the relationship she has with her son, Conor (Judah Lewis), who can’t forgive her for her actions. We’re witnessing a family on the rocks, but that’s not the most unsettling thing at hand here, as there is something that doesn’t sit right and all the while you get the sense the family is being watched by some kind of spiritual energy.
What happens next is another shift in tone that if I were to disclose here, would be a massive spoiler and as such I will refrain from going any further with the plotline, only to say that it’s the first change in direction that at first is bit of a jolt that you think is a big misfire, but as the next chapter unfolds, it soon settles in and then you’re in for the ride.
The film is filled with a great cast of characters that add weight to the drama including Gregory Alan Williams and Libe Barer, but the standout is Owen Teague, (Parick Hockstetter – It and It: Chapter Two) who is suitably unhinged and the most questionable character in the mix before all the pieces start falling into place.
The Prognosis:
I See You may not measure up for some, especially those who prefer to have a less fractured narrative presented to them, at least tonally speaking.
But this film hits all the notes perfectly in my opinion, and the shifts and changes that occur throughout the film are bold and on point, that it doesn’t hide from its direction, striding from one tonal switch to the next.
Released as a double feature alongside Man-Made Monster, Horror Island would be billed as a mystery horror film but after viewing this 1940s film, it bears similarity to The Dark House, a decade its senior.
The storyline loosely follows brash and down on his luck Bill (Dick Foran) who is always looking for his next scheme, in a role all too familiar to his portrayal of Steve Banning in The Mummy’s Hand. Like that film, Dick has an offsider to bounce off in the form of Fuzzy Knight playing the role of “Stuff”. Unfortunately Fuzzy doesn’t quite carry the same charisma as Wallace Ford. Instead, the banter comes more from Leo Carillo as the peg-legged sailor Tobias Clump. It’s a shame then that Clump becomes more secondary to the scene as the story develops into a whodunnit.
Clump serves as the instigator to Bill’s quest when he turns up with a treasure map leading to a small island, which Bill owns. When he is informed that the map isn’t genuine, Bill turns this into another plot to get money, by tauting a trip to his island to find the treasure, but claiming that it is haunted, so only the hardiest of people should go. From here a range of misfits are pitted together in search of a thrill or merely to be entertained, among them is love interest, Wendy (Peggy Moran – The Mummy’s Hand).
Once they arrive on the island however, things take a sinister turn as the guests start to be popped off one by one, ala Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None with the prime suspect being a mysterious figure known as The Phantom lurking around behind the scenes.
Considering its 60 minute time, Horror Island tries to cram a lot in, but in doing so continuously feels like it misses the mark by trying too much. So as such, the movie is neither scary, mysterious, nor comical. Instead it is mediocre, especially compared to some of the other films released around the same time.
Yakov, is a young male Hassid, who has lost his faith and become isolated from his sect. When we first meet him, Yakov (Dave Davis) is socially awkward, out of his depth, and the last person you would expect to triumph over evil, should it raise its demonic head his way. The fragility of Yakov is partly what lures you into his world, and as a viewer we become intrigued by the journey he is about to undertake. The weight of his character is captured through Keith Thomas’ direction as he produces a slow-burn descent into Yakov’s personal hell, where he must confront his trauma head-on if he has any hope to survive through the night. Thomas’ care and dedication to creating atmosphere is The Vigil’s masterstroke and is truly captivating, but hey… I’m a sucker for the slow burn. Plus, it has a wealth of talent behind the films creation, from cinematographer Zach Kuperstein (The Eyes of My Mother), editor Brett W. Bachman (Mandy), and a score by Michael Yezerski (The Devil’s Candy) who combine to create a beautifully crafted film. So, what is this ordeal that Yakov must face?
Enticed by his Rabbi, Yakov agrees to become a shomer, a Jewish practice that involves watching over a recently deceased member of the community (seriously, who would do that? Feels far to eerie to me). Yakov takes up this charge with the promise of payment to protect the soul of the deceased by spending the night in his house, and receives a none-too-friendly welcome from the elderly widow. What we take as a frosty reception is actually, one of warning, but Yakov doesn’t take heed, and as such gets more than he bargained for.
The Prognosis:
The ambience generates a sense of creepiness and isolation that trauma survivors must endure to overcome their ordeal. This is a testament to the writing and direction of Keith Thomas which belies his status as a debut feature in the directors chair, and his smart enough to combine with some of the greatest artists in their field. While the scares maybe few and far between, the atmosphere and acting sure as hell make up for it, forging an incredibly unsettling movie about survival and once again Blumhouse have backed an impressive movie as part of their production canon.
Historically speaking, Man-Made Monster marks a significant point in horror film history as it marked the Prince of Pain, Lon Chaney Jr’s first lead role in the genre.
Here Chaney Jr plays the happy-go-lucky Dan McCormick, a man with a curious immunity to an overdose of electricity that propels him to life on the road with a travelling circus. The story picks up however when McCormick is the sole survivor of a tragic bus accident that collides into a power-line. Think David Dunn from the Unbreakable series, but less dramatic and moody.
His survival comes to the attention of Dr. John Lawrence (Samuel S. Hinds – It’s A Wonderful Life), who just so happens to be studying the effects of electricity.
The horror element comes in when Lawrence’s assistant, Dr. Paul Rigas (Lionel Atwill – Doctor X) takes the experiment into his own hands to manipulate an unwitting McCormick to undergo a series of tests with massive side effects. McCormick soon shows signs of fatigue and irritability as a result of the tests and the transformation turns him into a super-charged monster (a walking atomic light bulb) with the ability to kill with a single touch. This is exactly what occurs when Dr Lawrence finds out and attempts to shed light on Rigas’ illegal scientific experiments. That won’t hold water and Rigas ensures that McCormick (who is now under the mad scientists’ rule) stops Lawrence at all costs.
Despite a fairly low box office return and that it bared all too similarity to the Lugosi/Karloff feature, The Invisible Ray (a reason that the film had been shelved for a few years), it is a fairly stable movie and boasts great performances from both Atwill and Chaney Jr. For Chaney Jr. it would propel him into stardom and into a career that he could never shake, especially with The Wolf Man just around the corner, but there’s good reason as he’s definitely a captivating presence on screen.
A U.S. movie that came out with a trailer JBC (Just Before Covid) that looked “kinda interesting”, “might be cool” in a “popcorn/shut-off-the-brain & enjoy-the-carnage” sort of way. You know – like Ready or Not! (which is a good ‘un…).
But THIS film gets banned, and you hear it’s for reasons around politics (or some such) and you automatically assume it might have something to do with… umm… guns? I mean, it’s clearly a violent film, and let’s face it, if there’s one country that is insanely messed up around the issue of firearms, it’s blah blah blah.
So we all move on without giving it further thought, as there are plenty of other things to devote our daily quota of brain-focus towards. For example, for Aussie audiences at the time, it was all about trying to not catch on fire… (remember around Xmas when THAT was a thing?)
But we are in the now-now time, and in terms of entertainment stocks, pretty much any content today (see the date this review was/is posted) has a chance of finding an audience via a streaming service; whether it be old (Community), new (Tiger King) or banned…
If The Hunt was hoping to slot into that 3rd category, it severely misread the room. Because when you live in an age where a global pandemic can be politicised, releasing a film that pisses off the American President (and therefore a hoard of his followers) for INCORRECT reasons (he hadn’t seen it) and Snowflake Liberals (for fairly legit reasons) then you’re just being annoying.
And not in a cool “look at us – we’re so out there! We’re-provoking! We don’t care if-you’re-offended! You’ve-reacted-so-our-point-is-made! We’re-forcing-you-to-look-at-the-issue!” sort of way. (For a start, if any of those were true, you would’ve made a better film…).
So premise – and for this review we will be entering spoiler territory, so beware – we have a Predators-esque/Hunger Games style set-up where a bunch of random “everyday” Americans wake up in the countryside, bound, groggy and with no idea how they got there.
A cache of weapons is found, and as soon as they arm themselves the hunt is on.
They are shot/blown up and generally hounded in what these people called “Manorgate”. An extreme right-wing conspiracy sorta along the lines of Pizzagate (wiki that one!) that in this instance, claims rich Liberal elites kidnap people and hunt them for sport on the grounds of one of their mansions.
And considering every one of the hunties are right wing fanatics in some form or another (bloggers/vloggers/YouTube & Facebook Commentators etc.) this is both Xmas and Reverse Xmas at once.
The former because for all their nutjob ramblings, they have been proven right. And the latter because… well…hunted…
And the divide between the victims (The Right) and the bad guys (The Left) are underlined even more when it is revealed that some of the hunters are the sort of people who equate soft drink to poison (‘cause you know, sugar ‘n shit) and one of them admits to being (in effect) a Crisis Actor; one of THE MOST abhorrent things in the world to ever admit being real, let alone being one.
What’s more, these snowflakes are so useless (a term The Right love to label The Left with) they need to be taught how to kill by a military consultant who is not that qualified – again kneeling to the notion The Left don’t do their research or “check their facts”. Fakes news anyone?
So you get the idea. The victims are portrayed as mostly ineffectual and somewhat simple folk – apart from when they go on an Alex Jones-esque rant. But their horribleness (as determined by the Evil Liberals who selected them) is never fully explored because the majority of them get killed in the first few minutes.
But the Liberals haven’t even played their worst mistake card yet. Because here is another thing they didn’t fact check – the real identity of one of The Deplorables, Crystal Creasey (played by Glow’sBetty Gilpin. AKA Ghost Town’s ghost-nurse Betty Gilpin).
Crystal has the same name as one of the selected victims, but is in truth not her (‘cause, as established, Lefties get things wrong) so she’s worse than a Deplorable. She’s an innocent.
But not a helpless innocent. Oh no, she is ex-military – sour, quiet, smart, tough and resourceful. She scowls like a female Clint Eastwood, and kicks ass methodically and intuitively. She is not only cool, but she wins. She takes charge. And she doesn’t give a shit what anybody else does, or whether they need her help or not. Just so long as they don’t get in her way. (Remind you of any kind of person?)
So this Libertarian poster child kills her way to the Boss Fight, featuring the Mastermind behind it all, Athena – played by Academy Award winner Hilary Swank. Where it is revealed this whole murderball spree has come about because of a scourge act of the 21st century. Mob outrage over an inappropriate internet comment. In this case a private messenger conversation between the Liberal Elites about Deplorables that gets leaked, that – jokingly or not – sees them lose their careers because political correctness is clearly out of hand yada-yada-yada.
So as an act of revenge they create Manorgate for realsies…
Anyway, back to the final confrontation – where we also discover that not only has Athena made a mistake with Crystal, but she somewhat condescendingly is shocked to realise her would-be victim knows Animal Farm; an in-joke revolving around their codename for Crystal (it’s Snowball) which plays into yet another notion about The Left. They assume everyone outside their bubble is uneducated.
So where does this leave us – the audience?
Well – seeing as one of the writers is a man not immune to internet outrage – Damon Lindelof – you can expect to be annoyed (and you will be. Although to his credit he’s achieved this outside his normal modes. Ie: There are no spirals of logic leading to nowhere with this one).
In fact, it’s all pretty straight forward plot wise. Just the why & the what of it really hits you.
The set-up is unoriginal, which in itself is not a sin. But it’s outcome? All Crystal had to do was show that she was politically above or below all this in some way, and suddenly you have a palpable indicator of what this film is trying to say.
“BUT WAIT! Why does it have to say anything at all? Why does she have to take a political stance!?” To which the booming answer is – the filmmakers started it! But yeah, the film certainly didn’t HAVE to. A really great example how this type of movie can be a fun popcorn ride with no political lacing is the afore mentioned Ready or Not, where the only people it seems to slag off are rich ones who worship Satan. Which, as targets go, seems easy, but still pretty legit….
So Lindelof and co-writer Nick Cuse start a project that definitely wants to say something about the party divide in America. But the only 2 immediately obvious outcomes you can hope for is that they are against both, or they are on the side of the victims. Which is the right. And if Crystal – their avatar – does indeed sit somewhere on the elephant/donkey spectrum, it’s never revealed, as she’s a fairly shallow character whose only virtue is she can take an unrealistic knife wound to the gut and live.
So that leaves us with the “Aww – don’t be so wound up, it’s only a bit of fun” brigade.
And in a different time, that could be a fair enough point to let through the gate. But in a PC age (Post Covid, not the other one) idiocy is a virus more virulent than the one that’s currently killing a whole lot of people. And if there’s one thing today’s idiots don’t need, its misguided fuel in any way, shape or form. Even if it is silly entertainment.
Yes. This review is THAT condescending.
Because – and this is a reverse spin kick to contemplate – what if this movie actually says “Yeah! The Right ARE victims! This film shines a spotlight on how harshly and unfairly they are treated by The Left and their Big Government Ideas, fake media and social justice bullshit”. In which case I say to you…
STAY RIGHT THERE. Resistance is futile. We will find you. We will get you. We will make it painless. Probably. Just as soon as we finish implementing universal health care so we can inject you all with autism causing brain tracking lifesaving vaccines…
Prognosis
If you hate this film you are an uptight lefty elitist wanker. If you like it you are deplorable. Either way watch Ready or Not. It’s much better.
Back in 2016 director Nicolas Pesce made a hefty entrance into the genre scene with a shocking and disturbing view on trauma and the impact on the psyche with stunningly brutal and hauntingly evocative scenes.
Where The Eyes of My Mother left a significant impression, his more recent venture that looked to resurrect The Grudge franchise fell remarkably short of its desired outcome.
Sandwiched between the two films stands Piercing, a film equally as disturbing as its predecessor but willing to add a touch of light in the darkness with a dash of humour thown into the mix along the way.
Based on the novel by author Ryū Murakami, who also penned Audition, we centre on Reed (Christopher Abbott) a new father struggling to fight the horrific compulsion to stab his infant daughter with an ice pick. Not only is this fucked up but an indicator of just how dark Pesce is willing to push the boundaries of taste.
To prevent himself from carrying out the unthinkable, he hatches a plan to hire a prostitute to enact his dark desires.
Part of the beauty of this film is projected through the way Reed methodologically acts out how he imagines the night to go with some nicely supported sound effects. It also establishes how unhinged and removed from reality he has become that verges on the fantastical.
It’s not long however before the pendulum swings as Reed’s murderous scheme begins to unravel along with the arrival of Jackie (Mia Wasikowska), a prostitute who also harbours a dark fantasy embroiled in twisted behaviour. This shift in direction tips Reed off kilter and we’re treated to a glorious encounter that constantly sees the balance of power switch between these star-crossed sadists.
The Prognosis:
Pesce manages to deliver another depraved dive into a wretched psychological world that puts two disturbed individuals together.
The delicate balance between salvation, sacrifice, and satisfaction is always at play, which keeps the audience guessing.
It’s a visually stunning piece that sheds light once more on the impact that trauma has on the individual and the actions that they undertake to find reprieve.
Rounding out the quartet of Universal’s Invisible Man movies throughout the 1940s, The Invisible Man’s Revenge was a return to ‘form’-ula…in a good way. Also returning to the series was Jon Hall, but he would not be reprising the role of Frank Griffin Jr. Instead he would be playing Frank’s twin brother Robert Griffin, a man who escapes from a mental institution that he was incarcerated in after killing two orderlies. Talk about polar opposites and proof of the flexibility to Hall’s work as an actor, although oddly Robert has no knowledge of the invisibility formula of his brother or grandfather for that matter.
Once he is free, Robert seeks vengeance on the Herrick family who found their fortune from diamond fields that he helped to discover. The Herrick family propose a share in the estate as a means to appease Robert, but he pushes things further, demanding to marry their daughter, Julie. Their response? Drug him and get him out of their way. This only angers Robert further and he plots his revenge. In steps Dr. Peter Drury (John Carradine) who happens to be working on the formula for invisibility and with it, Robert’s key to claiming what he believes is owed to him.
The plotline is a little more convoluted than previous instalments and while it does some time before the cloak and dagger of invisibility lays the scene, the direction and delivery are more impactful due to the care and dedication devoted to character development. Robert Griffin’s descent into madness and retribution is amplified by the back story delivered and Jon Hall’s depiction. Likewise the supporting cast are on point, notably from Carradine and Gale Sondergaard as a cold-hearted Lady Irene Herrick. Furthermore, the despair of Griffin’s fear of Brutus the dog, places a nice conclusion to the tale. We are what we fear and if we place emphasis on those fears it will ultimately be our ruin.
The Invisible Man’s Revenge would mark the final time that the tale would be told with a dark edge with the next appearance coming in the Abbott and Costello movies. It would be nearly 75 years before Universal would look into the black heart of the Griffin family with The Invisible Man starring Elizabeth Moss.
Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund has been slowly carving up a career looking at suitably unhinged characters and the psyche of the human mind throughout the few feature films he has heralded so far. These in turn were built on the shoulders of numerous music videos, working with talents such as Prodigy, Metallica, Madonna, and Rammstein, so it was of little surprise that in 2018 he would turn his attention to some music roots closer to home albeit with his neighbouring country, Norway and the birth of the black metal scene that surfaced in the early 90s. Metal has always been synonymous with horror films, so it seems fitting to have a film that circulates these two themes as the cornerstone of its narrative.
From the get go Åkerlund throws in the caveat that the story is about truth and lies, allowing him as the creative to have free license around the events that unfolded between Euronymous, Varg and the Black Circle. As he weaves in the real-life characters who strive for infamy whether that is through music or political empowerment, inner turmoil surmounts to a place that can only result in destruction. The question remains for those not familiar with the history, is whose destruction will it ultimately be and at what cost?
Watching Rory Culkin’s performance as the narrator and mastermind behind Mayhem, Euronymous, I’m once again reminded of the strength of his performance as an actor as he sways from likeable, annoying, disturbing, and back to likeable again with chameleon-like ability on-screen. In many ways, Culkin is the centrepin of the film, resting on the need for the audience to engage with his actions, whether it is with disgust or delight as he attempts to carve out a trajectory that will transport him into fame and beyond.
The true horror of the piece lies within the extent to which all the characters will go to in order to not only outperform but shock each other for the cause. The further they descend into hell, the murkier the original cause becomes and no matter how much Euronymous tries to salvage the situation and maintain control, anarchy has already been unleashed and too many fractured actions will inevitably splinter the group. The focus primarily being between newcomer Varg and his ambitions to direct Norway away from christianity and toward Odinism.
The delivery of the film is also nicely off cantor, so that feeling of unpolished actions resonate strongly, especially as the characters are always on the brink of implosion, which invariably brings about panic or stupidity and Åkerlund never shies away from exposing those moments of mindlessness.
The Prognosis
There are moments of pure joy, anarchy and Mayhem throughout the film that highlights the plight and peril of a deliberately disorganised association’s attempt to resurrect a new medium into the world, only to stare at the horror and destruction that unfolds around them in the process. The damned will be doomed.
There is no salvation.
Just the remnants of what once stood before them.
Burn the walls down and cut away at life’s obstacles and you fear exposing the frailty of humanity beneath it all.
Director Jonas Åkerlund manages to do this while providing an engaging storyline, supported by some great performances, grounded in the reality of the environment and all the more harrowing that it is based in truth… and lies of course.
Saul Muerte
Lords of Chaos is available to view via Video On Demand or buy from Umbrella Entertainment.
Positioned as a wartime propaganda film in order to build up the morale of US Citizens, Hollywood took another look at HG Wells’ Invisible Man, this time instead of mobs hunting down Griffin’s invisible formula, it would be the S.S.
The story picks up with the formula back in family hands, that of grandson, Frank Griffin Jr. played by John Hall in what would be his first outing as the cloaked man. Hall had previously impressed Universal for his support role in Eagle Squadron and was more than fitting to take the lead role embedded in the world of espionage.
Interestingly, the formula doesn’t have the negative impact on the psychosis as per the previous films, which is more than likely to keep a more upbeat, positive outcome with ample heroics for Griffin Jr to outwit and outsmart the S.S.
Sworn to make allegiance with the US government following the attack on Pearl Harbour, Griffin Jr discloses his secret to invisibility and from here on he is sent on a mission to where he parachutes behind enemy lines. He is soon aided by Maria Sorenson played by Ilona Massey, who receives equal billing and rightfully so as the femme fatale figure seemingly playing with the hearts of both Griffen Jr and GS Karl Heiser.
Cue mishaps and mayhem as they weave their way in and out of situations to evade capture in the manner that the 1940s movies excelled at. None more so here thanks to script writer Curtis Siodmak. Equally the leads are ably supported by stable actors, Cedric Hardwicke and Peter Lorre as the villains of the piece. Lorre’s performance is by today’s standards highly controversial and an example of the whitewashing in Hollywood as he plays Baron Ikito, a Japanese officer. He delivers his usual sound Peter Lorre performance, but you can’t escape how uncomfortable it is that he is portraying a character who is not of his own race.
Despite this, Invisible Agent is a great addition to the Invisible Man series and although it is different in tone, it has great substance in its style and has powerful performances providing a great yarn to boot.
It’s somehow fitting that my #moviesimissed choice of the week comes from a work inspired by the late great author Jack Ketchum, a tour de force in the genre, shaking up the boundaries that have shaped horror. Ketchum’s mentor as he was finding his voice was Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, (the subject of our latest podcast at the time of writing) and would enter the scene with his controversial novel, Off Season, a tale that would take form based on the legend of Sawney Bean, the clan leader of a band of cannibals living in Scotland during the 16th Century. This in turn would spawn two sequels, (Offspring, released in 2009, and The Woman 2011, directed by Lucky McKee and starring Pollyanna McIntosh) and follow the lives of these cannibals.
The Woman would centre on one member of the tribe, captured by a family on the brink of humanity, guided by their oppressive and domineering father, Chris. Chris tries to domesticate the woman by caging her up and raping her, vilyfying her very nature. The tale was a harsh but vital look at women who are subjected to violent suppression from the hands of a volatile male figure. It rightfully stands as a dark look at the lengths and breadths that humanity can turn to when steered by the misguided.
Where Darlin’ picks up, the woman and her teenage daughter (Lauryn Canny) are still living on the edge of society when the daughter, known as Darlin’ in the film, is taken into hospital and another form of rehabilitation begins. In this case though, it comes under the guise of religion, when she is harboured by a Catholic boarding school, and again is domesticated or bred as a public image for the school. The grooming process is exactly as it sounds, where The Bishop (Bryan Batt) preys on the girls who board there.
The rest of the story focuses on Darlin’s rehabilitation into society and wrestling with her inner nature and the ways of catholicism. As much as she conforms to the religious ways, the kernel of her makeup lies dormant throughout the story waiting to unleash at any given time.
It was great to see Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent) on screen as the troubled Sister Jennifer who is equally dealing with an internal conflict about her upbringing and the impact that the school had on her as a child, conflicting with her beliefs.
The Prognosis:
McIntosh was clearly inspired by her previous role as The Woman and the writings of Jack Ketchum to have further developed the story on screen again and proves more than accomplished in her (as yet) only turn in the director’s chair. While Darlin’ walks a predictable storyline and is not as brutal as its predecessor, the threat is still present with ‘The Woman’ on the outskirts threatening to strike at any given moment, which hides or glosses over any flaws contained within the narrative.
Surgeons of Horror 