Retrospective: The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971)

08 Sunday Aug 2021

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Another Giallo horror film marks a milestone this year with Emilio Miraglia’s The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave celebrating 50 years since its initial release. 

At its heart the film is a tale that depicts how the wealthy are inescapable of punishment, free to carry out their wims. Where it gets slightly complex is through the unhinged mind of its central character Alan (Anthony Steffen) who is mentally scarred when he finds his wife making love to a man. It’s a bender that sends him into an institution, but upon release his unstable condition is all too apparent when he hires red-haired prostitutes that remind him of his wife, to enact tortuous and murderous acts upon them as a form of warped revenge.

The twist in the tale however, comes when Alan attends a séance where the medium makes contact with Evelyn sending Alan spiralling downwards. It is here that Alan’s cousin George moves into the mansion to take care of him, but does he have an ulterior motive?

To add more oddity to the fold, Alan then meets Gladys (Marina Malfatti) he instantly falls for her charms (maybe a little too easily) and it is not long that they are wed and Gladys too moves into the mansion. Then the sinister nature of the movie takes hold again as Gladys begins to experience some further goings on at the mansion when she meets Evelyn’s brother and his invalid Aunt, who instantly take a dislike to Alan’s new bride. Gladys is convinced that Evelyn may have faked her own death, and is still alive haunting the mansion and sending Alan further into repression.

There are further twists and turns throughout the narrative like most giallos’ of the era before a conclusion is reached. As it unravels, the madness of the piece is on show and its convoluted plot never really awakens in the mind of this writer and leaves me a little unsatisfied as a result. Not nearly as clever or complex as other films in the Giallo genre, and a little more gratuitous for the sake of it. The ending tries to be smart and shocking but instead, it just leaves you feeling cold.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Patrick (2013)

06 Friday Aug 2021

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While it’s clear that director Mark Hartley is a huge fan of the original 1978 feature of Patrick, and the Ozploitation scene, this is none more evident than in his fantastic documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! It seems an obvious choice for someone so immersed in the subgenre should take the helm and wield a reimagining of the classic Aussie feature, what is absent however, is the essence of the original feature that made it so iconic.

That’s not to say that it’s poorly constructed, the film is crafted well enough and Hartley does well to tap into the world of psychokinesis, and draw it out for a modern-age audience. It boasts a decent cast in Sharni Vinson (You’re Next), Rachel Griffiths and Charles Dance. All of whom manage to craft out some nice performances from dialogue that feels a little strained at times.

For those unfamiliar with the narrative, Patrick tells the tale of Kathy (Vinson), a nurse who starts work at a psychiatric clinic where she meets the titular character, Patrick, a comatose patient who has the ability to move objects with the power of his mind. 

Patrick is also being systematically abused by Dr Roget (Dance) and the Matron (Griffiths) through a series of Electroconvulsive therapy. This is like kicking the hornet’s nest and stirring a world of hatred in Patrick, who also becomes dangerously obsessed with Kathy and begins to manipulate things and people who come close to her, so that he can have her for himself.

The Diagnosis:

The film is slick enough, perhaps too slick, not harbouring the grit of its predecessor, but the cast are engaging and tied to the script despite its flaws and bring life to the fore. 

Stand out for me will always be Vinson, who deserves more praise than she currently receives and Dance happily chews up the scenery and gives across condescending like no other performer that I know. For that it’s worth the watch.

Currently this feature serves as a double feature blu-ray alongside the original in a current release by Umbrella Entertainment.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Patrick (1978)

05 Thursday Aug 2021

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Patrick, which was released back in 1978 sits firmly in the centre of the Ozploitation scene, a genre of Australian exploitation films that are filled with a mix of low-budget horror, comedy, sexploitation and action that wears its heart  on its sleeve.

Directed by Richard Franklin under the penmanship of Everett De Roche (Long Weekend), Patrick could easily be dismissed as farcical but it’s precisely the absurd nature of the storyline that is its appeal.

The film opens with the titular Patrick (Robert Thompson – an actor who should be applauded for his ability to keep his eyes open for an elongated period of time) kills his parents in an oedipal act, throwing an electric heater into a bathtub. 

Somehow Patrick ends up in a coma, something that is never fully explained, but is arguably irrelevant when it comes to the telling of the tale and to get said subject into the setting of choice, the Roget Clinic in Melbourne with all the hallmarks of the Bates house in Psycho. This is of no surprise as Franklin is a self-confessed fan of Hitchcock and would go onto direct Roadgames for his follow up feature, a film heavily inspired by the premise of Rear Window.

Surgeons of Horror podcast: Roadgames (1981)

Franklin would even go to direct the sequel to Psycho in 1983.

We follow the film through eyes of nurse Kathie Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon) who is appointed at the hospital to look after Patrick and soon encounters that there more to her patient than meets the eye and that in spite of being physically bound to his bed, has learnt to explore other sensory means through the power of psychokinesis. Her infatuation with this discovery fuels Patrick’s own lustful desires towards Kathie and thus throws those nearest to her into his wrathful rage.

There are some notable support performances on show here that warrant recognition, namely the larger than life Robert Helpmann who plays Dr. Roget and hams up his role, injecting some much-needed melodrama into the mix and moulding the tone of the film despite Franklin’s efforts to tone it down. Equally Julia Blake’s  Matron character is suitably insipid, casting a wonderfully dark light across the spectrum of the hospital; and Rod Mullinar who plays Kathie’s wayward husband in contrast to Bruce Barry’s egocentric and potential love interest Dr. Brian.

Perhaps one of the greatest things about this movie is Franklin’s depiction of male empowerment at the heart of the film. With Kathie seemingly trying to break down this impregnable barrier in her life, from her adulterous husband, the cocksure Dr. Brian, to the deranged Dr. Roget..Even Patrick himself who is incompacitated throughout the bulk of the film is trying to exert his will over Kathie, who must ultimately rise above this all.

Upon its release in Australia, Patrick did not receive the praise that it deserves but instead saw greater success abroad, but controversially was heavily dubbed Stateside, in spite of Franklin deliberately casting English actors to gain greater appeal abroad. The irony being that this very move is partly what isolated its homegrown audience.

Since then however it has reached a cult following and even gained a fan from acclaimed American director Quentin Tarantino.

For me, I went in expecting a certain kind of film, which it is, but was happily rewarded by the sheer enjoyment and direction. 

It would go on to inspire a sequel in Italy called Patrick Still Lives and then more recently in 2013 a remake would transpire, the latter of which would star Charles Dance and Sharni Vinson (You’re Next) and serves as a double feature alongside the original in a current release by Umbrella Entertainment.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Body Parts (1991)

02 Monday Aug 2021

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I found this a curious one as I have no recollection of its release despite it being thirty years old this year and in 1991, I was probably at the height of my cinema activity. It may in part be due to that it got a minimum release in the UK or that it simply didn’t hit my radar. Regardless it has Jeff Fahey as its lead, a year prior to his role as Jobe Smith in The Lawnmower Man.

In Body Parts, Fahey plays a criminal psychologist, Bill Crushank, who works closely with convicted killers in prison. On his way home from work he is suddenly involved in a horrific car accident and loses his arm. Thanks to modern science though, he is granted the chance for experimental transplant surgery and is given a new arm, thanks to Dr. Agatha Webb (Lindsay Duncan), a leader in her field.

All seems well, as Bill adjusts to his new appendage at home with his family, but there is something sinister afoot when he starts to have aggressive episodes that alter his mind and visions that affect him. 

When he learns that his arm used to belong to notorious serial killer, Charley Fletcher, he then discovers that more body parts were donated in this experiment. Another arm was donated to an artist, Remo (Brad Dourif), who finds his talent harnessed further since the operation but again, a level of darkness lay within.

The other person who gains from the transplant is Mark, (Peter Murnik) who receives both of Fletcher’s legs.

Slowly however, Bill realises that there is something foul at play, and despite trying to warn both Mark and Remy, they are soon picked off in a brutal way, their new body parts removed.

Body Parts struggles under the hammy delivery and at times feels more like a tv movie, during a time when this was a bad thing. It does tap into the whole mad doctor thing nicely though and this is largely due to Duncan’s performance. And even though it contains some shock moments, the reveal is a far-fetched resolution that falls heavily into cheeseville and little substance is on show.

It was good to see a strong cast in Fahey, Duncan and the always reliable Dourif, but it’s not enough to save it from a essentially a bland script. It would have been nice if the mania was heightened to elevate the prosperous nature of the narrative and be bold in its delivery.

What is probably more shocking however is that the film was released at the time that Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment was raided and numerous body parts were discovered. This had a significant impact on the movie’s distribution and several ads for the movie had to be pulled as a result.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Wolfen (1981)

24 Saturday Jul 2021

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1981 proved to be big hitters for wolf kind with three notable films leaning into the subject in their own unique way.
While most people will have heard of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London for its broad strokes of horror blended with comedy and creature fx, or Joe Dante’s The Howling for its pulpy investigative tale of lycanthropy, but the third feature among the group, Wolfen starring Albert Finney may not readily spring to mind.

Possibly this is because the nature of the film doesn’t play with the true mythology surrounding werewolves, but rather that of an American Indian legend based on wolf spirits.

The film also plays with the ‘whodunnit’ detective story, following Finney’s Detective Dewey Wilson, who is called back into the police force when a high profile murder warrants a guru to put a final stop to the murders that have been taking place throughout New York. The victims who have the common traits of supposed animal attacks at its core. 

Wilson is teamed up with criminal psychologist, Detective Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora) in a partnership that has all the hallmarks of an early Mulder and Scully vibe. Neff’s insights into the science and animalistic behaviour evidenced at the muder scene, helps to solidify their enquiry.

Early on in the piece, the pair are attacked by an unseen creature, barely surviving their ordeal at an abandoned church, which forms a tighter bond and highlights that their investigations have something more paranormal in origin.

The remainder of the film plays with the spiritual side of nature, suggesting that despite the hallmarks of a potential terrorist activity behind the murders, that there is a pack of God-like beings with wolf traits known as spirits or shapeshifters are the true cause. It is this angle that definitely sets it apart from AAWIL and The Howling, and possibly why it didn’t manage to make its mark in comparison. It’s a shame because the psychological component that is played with as a humanity versus nature, and our base animalistic behaviour that is drawn upon for survival is one that is deeply compelling and told in an engaging way, supported by the strong performances on show by Finney. Detective Dewey is a great character and one that Dustin Hoffman had his eyes on at one stage, which says a lot to his appeal and strength. As is the other cast members, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Hines, Tom Noonan, all of whom provide compelling characters to support the narrative.

It also boasted at the time a refreshing approach to the killer’s perspective using a thermography technique, now closely associated with films like Predator. 

Sure it doesn’t have the same fanfare as the other werewolf flicks that year, but it had a strong, mature approach to its storytelling that shouldn’t be neglected.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Old (2021)

23 Friday Jul 2021

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Of all the contemporary directors, M. Night Shyamalan has to be one of the most criticised. He’s credits have been a melting pot of hits and misses throughout his career that it’s hard to determine which one you’ll get with every feature that he helms. His highs and lows have been well documented, but there is always something that keeps drawing audiences to his movies, keen to get a taste of that little bit of magic when he strikes gold.

The rise, fall, and stumbling rise of M. Night Shyamalan

So, where does that leave Shyamalan’s latest venture?

If anything, it typefies a conglomeration of his canon of work, with a striking premise that tackles the eternal fear, ‘What happens when we grow old?’ And when the ebb of time shifts into fifth gear with any hope of slowing it down completely wrenched away.

When a family takes a holiday to an island retreat, that on the surface appears idyllic, but lurking beneath is something strange and sinister. In fact, that’s the overarching message that Shymalayan appears to be the tune that he is playing, as all the characters have something hidden, awaiting to unfold throughout its narrative, be it physical or mental.

As expected with Shyamalan’s works, the sting in the tail comes with its own set of curiosities when said family spend a few hours on a secluded beach, only to discover something is causing them to age at rapid rate and with no sense of how they can escape.

Another common theme at play here is the notion that there are powers that are behind the scenes with an ulterior motive, orchestrating the strange events that the family is subjected to.  This in itself may go against the director’s favour, who clearly has a deep interest in this subject, but some may consider this old territory and therefore not willing to go there with the storyteller.
Shyamalan also casts himself in the mix as a voyeur and one of the afore-mentioned people who are pulling the strings. This could easily become trite and fall into The Lady In The Water territory, but he manages to curb himself from plunging too deep into these depths. 

What is on display are some nicely etched out characters ably performed by a brilliant cast of actors, from the patriarchal Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), and the matriarchal Prisca (Vicky Crieps). There is also an array of actors who portray the children as they age through the years, skipping through pre-adolescence, adolescence, and into adulthood, of which Thomasin Mackenzie and Alex Wolff hold the lion’s share of the screen time.
Nods should also go to Rufus Sewell who plays the unhinged threat on the shores, and ably dances with a narcissistic personality. And also Nikki Amuka-Bird, who gets her time to shine as a spiritual woman, who also struggles with epilepsy.

It is possibly due to these performances that hide the sometimes dodgy dialogue being delivered, but there are also some choice visual techniques that are at hand which deliberately shift the audience’s gaze into uncomfortable terrain. This choice is a bold one, and I personally felt it added weight to the story, but some may find this off putting.

And when the final reveal comes together, the naysayers will continue to hold their ground refusing to sway from their opinion.

The Diagnosis:

There are those that will feel disappointed in the choices that Shyamalan makes here, and to a degree he falls easily into old territory which falls all too familiar.

The subject of choice though is one that brings the fear out of all of us, growing old and losing our wits, our beauty, and our senses.

Shyamalan may divide audiences, but I feel that he continues to be bold in the decisions he makes, never shying away from the heart of his material and without doubt, pushing them into an imaginative and creative world.
In doing so, he will continue to hit or miss.

With Old he somehow falls somewhere in between the two, as if stranding his ideas on the very beach that makes up the setting of this film. 

The question is can he continue to find new ways to weave his craft, testing his measure, and keep the intrigue of those that follow him.

  • Saul Muerte
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Retrospective: Konga (1961)

21 Wednesday Jul 2021

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Now I’m as much a fan of B-Movie horror films as the next guy and am not averse to the cheap budget and effects on show. If anything I welcome the discrepancies of these kinds of movies, not afraid to show its flaws which almost become a character in the film.

Konga was something of a passion project for American producer Herman Cohen, the man responsible for the successful 1957 feature I Was A Teenage Werewolf, and was keen to unite this idea with a colour version of King Kong, hence why the production was initially going to be called I Was A Teenage Gorilla. The chance would come when American International Pictures would collaborate with Anglo Amalgamated to work on an exploitation film together.

The problem I have with Konga is that it relies too heavily on the premise and both character and plot are neglected. There’s not a lot that British veteran Michael Gough can bring to the film to lift it out of this quagmire of a poorly written script. It is a little too familiar and formulaic to resonate in any way.

Gough would play Dr. Charles Decker, a man who has survived living in a remote part of Africa, believed to have died, and through his study of botany has come across an amazing discovery where he can grow animals and plants to an enormous size. Gough slips easily into the magnanimous scientist role and projects the God-like narcissist manner of a man, who believes he is greater than all he encounters.
This characteristic is heightened when he is able to use a serum that turns a chimpanzee into a ferocious gorilla, and when anyone crosses his path, has a perfect killing animal at his will.

Of course things inevitably go awry when love intervenes, and Decker persues one of his students, Sandra (Claire Gordon) which ignites jealousy from his colleague, Margaret (Margo Johns). Margaret then enacts revenge by injecting the chimpanzee with a huge dose of the serum, transforming the ape into Kong-like proportions and carnage ensues.

There is no hiding the flaws though, especially when you have a man dressed up as a giant-sized gorilla supposedly bringing the house down. 

Mark this down as a curious entry into the horror scene and one that doesn’t necessarily hit the right points and takes a big plunge off Big Ben into obscurity.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Suddenly At Midnight (1981)

17 Saturday Jul 2021

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Suddenly at Midnight marks an important film not just in South Korea but also for the horror genre but it wouldn’t be until 2017’s Blu-Ray release by Mondo Macabro that a worldwide audience would fully appreciate its strengths.

Filled with haunting imagery that would symbolise the Asian horror scene and influence the next wave of film makers, Director Ko Young-nam cleverly weaves together Yoon Sam-yook’s screenplay using themes of jealousy, anxiety, and mistrust at its core.

When a wealthy biology professor, Kang Yu-jin returns home with a young housemaid, Mi-ok, in his care, his wife Seon-hee begins to feel the green tinge of jealousy creep over her. Mi-ok is young and attractive, and Seon-hee feels that she is now too old to contain her husband’s affections. These affections also appear to dwindle from her perception, but is it merely a case that Kang Yu-jin is simply a workaholic, self-consumed with his studies, and that all of this is all the matter of the mind?

The screenplay manipulates our own interpretations, swaying between one train of thought to the other. It doesn’t help that Mi-ok is a little strange herself, at first meek and mild, but then playful and secretive. Also, she harbours a curious doll in her room that begins to haunt Seon-hee’s nightmares. Furthermore, there are question marks over Mi-ok’s character as we learn that she is the daughter of a shaman priestess, so is she in fact the one manipulating those in the household, using the dark arts to wield her true means?

All these questions oscillate before our eyes, hypnotising our thoughts and shifting our interpretations with every scene like a pendulum, drawing us to a conclusion from which we continue to query which side of the story we ultimately fall upon.

It’s great viewing, and its heightened sense of paranoia craftily plays with our minds through some strong performances and a delicately balanced pace to its narrative that keeps you ensnared.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: The Devils (1971)

16 Friday Jul 2021

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My first awareness of stepping into the visually spectacular world of Ken Russell was through his 1975 Rock Opera, Tommy, which projected the mind of British Rock outfit The Who’s Pete Townshend.
It was however his 1970 feature Women In Love alongside his 1971 triple whammy of films that would cement his place in celluloid history and destroy the notion that British films were always bound in kitchen sink dramas. Whilst both The Music Lovers and The Boy Friend equal praise, it was the third production that year that deserves your attention and is the subject of scrutiny for this retrospective.

The Devils was and still is a bold historical recount of a 17th Century priest Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), in a tale that is embedded with political, sexual, and religious commentary through power and persecution.

It has morphed through various storytelling platforms leading up to Russell’s vision from Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudon before John Whiting adapted it for the stage. It is through this feature that the sheer flamboyance catapulted the precarious balance of church and state with a political attack that would cut to its core. This very action not only makes The Devils a unique feature, but also kicks the censors’ nest into outrage and stupefaction to the point of immediate rejection. Most notably, was a scene now dubbed ‘The Rape of Christ’ which saw naked and fornciation nuns, frolicking with a statue of Christ, thus deemed too far for reviewers eyes and subjected to the cutting room floor. It was only through the perservertence of modern British film critic Mark Kermode’s lone campaign to search for the lost scene that it was inevitably uncovered and re-edited back into the feature that Russell’s true intention would be fully realised. 

On a personal note, there are a number of crucial things at play here that make The Devils one of the best and most misunderstood features to grace the screen. We’ve mentioned Russell’s stylised vision, which is a stunning sight to behold, and this is supported by the stark depiction through Derek Jarman’s set design synthesising the white tiles of the city with the black courtiers costumes. Strengthening the feature is the performances on show with the afore-mentioned Reed in arguably one his finest performances captured on screen. Russell himself would describe his muse, stating that the ‘camera was his slave’. And that’s not to mention Vanessa Redgrave who would subject her body through a haunting depiction of the hunchbacked Sister Jeanne, riddled with sclerosis and subjected to a life of sexual repression, embittered by the larger than life Grandier’s lavish attention that he bestows upon himself. Both characters are psychologically complex and ebb and flow through various modes as the hysteria heightens to a shockingly brutal conclusion.

The Devils is a film that could so easily be judged at face value, but if you dare to delve deep beneath the charade on show, Ken Russell a metaphorically dense narrative that casts similarities between past and present, through hard-hitting and controversial subject matter on the perversions of Catholicism and the effects that brainwashing and repression can have on the most steadfast and loyal citizens. It’s a glorious movie that stuck with me on my initial journey through the celluloid world and its portrayal is the reason that it stays with me today.
In Russell’s own words, it is ‘a film of imagination’, and for those with a wild and riveting imagination, it more than meets the mind, but subjects you to a wildly entertaining ride that warrants your attention.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: The Cat O’Nine Tails (1971)

15 Thursday Jul 2021

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The Cat O’Nine Tails (Il gatto a nove code) identified as a Giallo film from Italy, with its themes of mystery and heightened thrillers that became popular through the 70s and 80s boasts the great Italian director Dario Argento.
Despite having some visual traits and symbolism throughout that still tie this movie to the giallo scene, Argento has cited the film as one of his least favoured among his credits.

These may seem like modest words but under closer scrutiny the film does struggle a little under the weight of its exposition and in doing so, can be hard to navigate through its narrative.

The story needs to have some twists and turns along the way to allow the mystery to bear fruit but the telling of that journey can feel laborious at times.

The main context of the tale centres on a mysterious break in of the Terzi Medical Institute where it appears that nothing was taken, and yet one of the doctors, Calabresi believes he knows the culprit, and when he attempts to blackmail the individual is then murdered when pushed before a train.

This opens up the investigation for an unlikely duo, reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) and former hot shot reporter, the elderly, blind Franco “Cookie” Arno (Karl Malden) who still has a nose for a story. Between them, they identify nine possible leads that they could follow in order to identify the killer. The nine leads are the basis of the title Cat o’nine tails and along with it the mysterious journey to our conclusion begins and takes us through the local crypt and a thrilling conclusion on a rooftop. The tension of which is fueled by Franco’s blindness.

Despite the unfavourable comments of his own work, I found The Cat O’Nine Tails an entertaining one despite its complexity. I personally found the intricate narrative added to the mystery and allows the audience to traverse its murky case to a satisfying and thrilling conclusion. The hands of Argento manage to mould his visual style through the giallo lens and produce a worthy addition to the Italian celluloid movement that is well worth your time and satisfies on many levels.

  • Saul Muerte