As 1957 drew to a close, so did Universal’s stories around monsters, giant creatures, and supernatural events in the science fiction realm.
It wasn’t that the production company was short on ideas, and Monolith Monsters is a testament to this, pushing the envelope away from the known and into the unknown. When a meteorite crashes and its material then grows to epic proportions once exposed to water and turns anyone that crosses its path to ash.
Grant Williams who had already starred in the successful The Incredible Shrinking Man would star as the everyman turned hero, Dave Miller. Dave happens to be the head of San Antonio’s geological office, so he’s a man with smarts and just might have the answer to saving humanity from these monumental blocks of stone.
Joining Millar is his girlfriend and teacher Cathy played by American singer Lola Albright who supported Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds in The Tender Trap and was only a few years away from acting opposite Elvis Presley in Kid Galahad. For Monolith Monsters though the lead characters Dave and Cathy would use their combined knowledge along with college professor Arthur Flanders (Trevor Bardette) to find a solution to stop the threat expanding into their town.
A particular highlight is the cameo performance from William Schallert as a benign meteorologist, happily carrying out his day without the slightest notion of the impending danger that is facing humankind. Also keen viewers will note a young Troy Donahue in one of his earlier roles playing a dynamite expert.
Whilst noted for its production design and special effects plus some noteworthy performances Monolith Monsters suffers with execution. It presents a unique story but fails to manifest or produce anything out of this grain of salt idea. As such the sands of time have been unkind over the years, left as a forgotten relic from a decade of dwindling success.
– Saul Muerte
Monolith Monsters is currently available as part of a double feature blu-ray with The Deadly Mantis at Umbrella Entertainment.
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.
And there’s plenty to like about this French horror thriller from director Patrick Ridremont.
Eugenie Derouand stars as Eva, a paraplegic who receives a mysterious box in the guise of the titular advent calendar from her friend Sophie (Honorine Magnier). As expected with ominous gifts with offers of treats that stretch from confectionary to real life rewards, there will be repercussions. The question though is whether the benefits outweigh these hindrances? How much is one willing to salvage for a better chance at life? For Eva, this temptation proves too great, but how far is she willing to go?
There are three rules to follow.
Eat all the chocolate… Or die.
Do every task given… Or die.
And don’t dump the advent calendar… Or…you guessed it. You die.
The premise is pretty straight up and the performances are solid across the board, allowing the viewer to step into the narrative easily. We’re even presented with a nicely stylised creature who lurks from within the box and comes out when rules are broken or when sacrifices need to be made. This helps ramp up the tension suitably, hooking you further into the drama. And sure enough when things go sour, it does so that stays firmly in believability. A tough thing to do when you’re playing in the realms of fantasy.
The prognosis:
A solid feature with some nice moments that entertains despite some predictable moments.
It helps that the performances from the leads are strong to fuel the the loss of control as the drama unfolds.
Saul Muerte
The Advent Calendar is currently streaming on ShudderANZ
It’s been with much anticipation that I’ve been waiting for a return trip to Cabrini-Green and one that doesn’t sour the original feature directed by Bernard Rose based on the Novella by Clive Barker was released back in 1992. Where Freddy Krueger haunted my dreams and ignited my love of horror, Candyman pushed me deeper into the genre and I’ve been… (ahem) hooked on it ever since.
Just check out our thoughts on the original movie below:
From the creative mindset of Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us), Win Rosenfeld (The Twilight Zone), and Director Nia DaCosta (Crossing The Line) we are presented with a ‘spiritual’ sequel. It’s clear from the get-go that this film won’t exactly walk the same route as its predecessor with the inverted shots of skyscrapers shot from beneath, looking up to a foggy skyline, in juxtaposition to Bernard Rose’s helicopter shots over an expansive cityscape. While this latest offering trips over a little in bringing our central characters into the mythology surrounding Daniel Robataille, which may disappoint devotees, but those that are familiar with Peele’s work (myself included among them) will soon succumb to this interpretation. In effect, the key component that really makes the 2021 version a must-see movie, is that it takes the Barker/Rose vision one step further and gives ownership to the titular character to Black America and its history. Where the story behind Robitaille, Helen Lyle, and Cabrini-Green is the stuff of legend, it is one of many that has embedded itself in America’s racial divide. With each passing generation, the scars have been etched over the years and with every Daniel Robataille, there’s a Sherman Fields. The physical and mental weight has taken its toll and is ripe for the Candyman to return and leave a path of bloody retribution.
Where DaCosta casts the narrative this time around we follow struggling artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Us, Aquaman), a name that may be familiar to some. In order to reawaken his artistic expression, McCoy discovers the true story behind Candyman and in doing so, rekindles the horrors that lurk just beneath the surface. Just as it seeps out of the woodwork of Cabrini-Green and out of the mirror, Candyman breathes new life and old fears into the neighbourhood whilst affecting the souls of those closest to his awakening.
The Diagnosis:
All the cast deserve high praise, standing alongside Abdul-Mateen II is Teyonah Parris as his partner, Brianna; Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as her brother, Troy; Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead) as the keeper of the legend, William Burke; and Vanessa Williams reprising her role of Anne-Marie.
It is the myth that really shines through here though and the artistic expression from a bold and creative team to take it in a direction that is not only a powerful commentary on the state of our times, but an important one. It’s not perfect, but it’s as near as and earmarks a new chapter in the Candyman legend; one that may herald more stories to come. Heaven knows the dark chapter of American history has a lot to explore and a perfect avenue for Candyman to continue to spread fear and devastation, if you dare to say his name and expose the truth.
There was a lot of promise behind this film from the producers of Get Out and Us, but unfortunately it lacks the vision of those films’ creator Jordan Peele.
Instead we’re offered some admittedly stunning and shocking images of America’s slavery past and how it coincides with the current state of affairs from the supposed land of opportunity.
Both of these world’s alone resonate deeply the physical pains of the past and how the mental scars are still very much in the present. The problem in the narratives depiction comes with the marrying of these two worlds through the eyes of the film’s protagonist played by an incredible Janelle Monae. One can not fault her performance as she clearly pushes her every ounce of emotion and deserves praise for this alone. It’s just a shame that this is overshadowed by the clunkiness of the film’s exposition.
The premise presented to the audience is that Monae plays a modern African American woman, Veronica, trapped in a 19th century slave plantation run by the Confederate States Army. Straight away the audience has to endure the stark brutality and the tight reins that are forced upon the slaves who must not speak unless spoken to and any signs of “misbehaviour” could lead to a fatal outcome of the slaves do not tow the line.
As the story unfolds, the audience soon starts to question how the premise fits into the overall story arc. Is Veronica trapped in a time warp or God forbid, are we about to embark on M. Night Shyamalan The Village venture?
Unfortunately the story centres strangely towards the latter and by the time the reveal occurs, we no longer care and a little rushed to a conclusion that all too neatly into this declaration, which is probably the most horrific thing about the movie. By coming out with such strong imagery, the storyteller is left with not much left to shock its audience and we’re left playing the guessing game and neglecting the core message at hand.
Hats off to the support performance of Gabourey Sidibe who steals every scene she is in. I wish more could be said for Jack Huston and Jena Malone, who are equally proficient actors but grossly underused in this instance.
The Prognosis:
A mismatch of style and substance combined with a weak fusion of the obvious similarities between past and present allows the key message to feel too heavily handled and lost in the complexities of what should have been a very straight forward premise.
Based on Monae’s acting alone though, she should have no qualms about her future and promises to continue to deliver some more powerhouse performances.
Who do they call upon when other ‘Surgeons’ fear to tread? but yours truly, “Howling Mad Moon” Maguire. The assignment presented to me has been described as “the most shocking, brutal and extreme horror film in recent times”, and with a title like Trauma you can only expect some kind of residual scarring after witnessing the events that unfold through its narrative.
This film sure ain’t for the faint-hearted and sets the tone straight away by ramming it straight down your throat in such a confronting way that its not surprising that it has been likened to A Serbian Film in its nature and depiction of humanity at its worst. There’s rape, torture, and incest all within the first scene that leaves you feeling sick to the stomach and grimacing at the prospect of where Chilean director Lucio A Rojas will take his audience next.
Where he does take you almost teases the audience into a false-sense of security to juxtapose the intro, as we see an incredibly intimate scene between two women, breaking the cardinal rule of any horror film, so our hopes of their survival are in doubt, if Rojas were to play by those rules.
But what is survival? It’s as if the meaning of that word is irrelevant in this world in upheaval through the turmoil of General Pinochet’s rule in Chile.
The question should be more about ‘What does it takes to exist?’ as Rojas shines a spotlight on the plight of the country of his birth at a time when the world just turned its head. (This echoed by one of the police officials in the storyline) Rojas does everything he can to deny you this right, by forcing you to watch.
The pain is highlighted further as we journey alongside four female characters in search of a weekend getaway and slowly getting to know each of them through some wonderful character development, only to be crushed by the realisation that their world is about to clash with the dark and twisted underbelly that resides in their haven.
The Diagnosis:
You have to have a strong stomach for this one and the opening scene may turn viewers away. That’s not to mention the harrowing ordeal that takes place throughout the films narrative. If you can brace yourself, prepare to be educated in a time that the world wanted to ignore and forget by a director who has a firm grasp on what that reality means to him and those of his country.
The most shocking thing is that this is just a whisper of time that we bear witness to. There are other stories are left untold are the ones that leave you haunted and scarred by the unknown. Trauma lives up to its name and then some.
Ever felt like your life was fading into oblivion without a single blip on the radar screen?
What if, one night some one broke into your house and kidnaped you, only to tell you that they are from the future and you only have 4 days left to live?
What’s more, they could offer you the chance of an alternate; one of happiness, on one condition…
By the end of the 4 days you must kill someone.
What would you do?
How would you cope?
How would you spent the last few days of your life?
And when it comes to the crunch, would you be able to take someone’s life?
This is the dilemma that Doug Erickson, Tea Barista faces as he oscillates between ending it all or continuing on the strange journey that now lies before him.
Guiding him along the way is the shambles wreck of a time traveller played by (Phreddy Wischusen) who comes across as a warped version of Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life, accompanied some mysterious henchmen in white masks.
It was refreshing to see Conor Sweeney (The Editor) on the screen again as Kyle, the local drug dealer, and the presence he brings as a guy who actually cares about Doug and tries to lure him back into the real world.
The Diagnosis:
Whilst the acting can be a bit hit and miss, It’s a tough topic that directors Rob Cousineau, and Chris Rosie present the audience with and they should be commended for approaching it in a bold, new way.
Fans of Indie cinema may be pleasantly surprised with the final result and the journey that Doug undertakes to come to his ultimate decision.
Amber Gooerty
Catch the screening of Future at the MidWest WierdFest.
You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway. (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!
Here’s the interesting thing about horror as a genre.
If you are a fan of romantic comedies and suddenly find yourself in the middle of a real life meet-cute, you’re likely gonna continue to be a fan of romantic comedies.
Get whisked away by aliens and fly in a space ship? Your love of sci-fi will probably deepen. (Provided the experience is more ET and less The Thing – ie: orifices remain probe free).
Like westerns? Drop that person on a horse. Love porn? Give him a threesome.
But take a horror fanatic and chase them with a chainsaw wielding clown, or strap them to a slab and cut parts off their body? Probably not gonna be an enthusiast any more.
For only in horror could it be argued that the majority of those who love it, do so in the hope of never touching it. Much like the greyhound who catches the rabbit, it’ll ruin them.
And so, we come to the meta-meta film Fake Blood.
It is a “documentary” made by real life film-makers Rob Grant (no Red Dwarf fans, not that Rob Grant) and Mike Kovac.
In reality they have made two low budget independent horror films – Yesterday (2009) and Mon Ami (2012). You can imdb them.
Despite the no-small-achievement of making 2 feature films, both still have day-to-day lives (one as a jobbing actor, the other as a freelance editor) and off the bat you get a sense that this is a sore point for Rob (the film’s narrator) who is very much hungry for wider recognition.
That’s when they get emailed a fan video where said fans walk through a hardware store re-enacting a scene from Mon Ami.
The scene itself is fairly innocuous, but the fans’ take on it is disturbing. So much so it starts Rob and Mike on a quest to explore violence in films and their responsibility (as film makers) to it.
It begins as an almost fun investigation as they use real people to help them shoot actual guns and fight trained martial artists; all in a quest to discover first hand their “differences” to their movie counterparts.
Then the opportunity presents itself to interview someone who seems to have first hand knowledge in killing people…
The film then unfolds at a decent clip as the two men get drawn into a criminal underworld where people disappear. BADLY. Which gives everything a level of gritty realism very much outside their previous forays into zombie horror and black comedy violence.
As a film – despite their best P.R. attempts to neither “confirm or deny” the events in it – Fake Blood is clearly a mockumentary. Ie: Blair Witch without the witch, found footage where the coverage becomes conventional where it needs to be.
And despite the fact it tries to pass off certain elements of the film as “real” (which almost NEVER works, as real life is never “cinema clean” – especially when you’re presenting your work as a true verite experience. The biggest giveaway tends to be in the performance. Another is HOW things are captured by the camera – but this is all stuff for another review) the really interesting aspect to Fake Blood is its constant jumping out of itself.
It portrays the 2 film-makers interviewing “real” people who have lived through “true” horror, then cuts to re-enactments of those horrific moments, then cuts to the men SHOOTING those re-enactments, and then have them interview the people in the re-enactments!
Both Rob and Mike eventually come into conflict (the heart of all good drama) as Rob’s ambition to make an attention-grabbing film starts to betray its original idea. Something that’s all super meta because despite being dressed as a documentary, the film is clearly a written drama from the outset.
And on top of all THAT, you do want to see how it ends. So from that point of view they have both made a good film that, at the very least, will make you think. And that’s as real as any film-maker could hope for.
Prognosis:
As dramas go, it’s a solid fake. As documentaries go, it’s a poor imitation of the real thing.
– Antony Yee
Catch the screening of Fake Blood at the MidWest WierdFest.
You can already purchase discounted day or full festival passes to the 2018 festival here, through the festival’s ticketing partner site FilmFreeway. (Tickets to individual films will be available closer to the festival, directly via the website of the Micon Budget Downtown Cinema). Go on. Get weird!
The Blackcoat’s Daughter churns away at the soul and the psyche with a slow and effective grind that resonates deeply.
Osgood Perkins directorial debut which he also penned may not be for everyone with a pace that is so slow you’d be forgiven for that thinking that you were positively stationary.
What lifts this above most standard fare is the performances of Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) who continues to show a level of maturity that belies her age and Emma Roberts (Nerve), who is also carving a strong career path with her film choices.
Told in two separate timelines that isn’t revealed until the climax, we initially follow Shipka’s Kat, a freshman who is waiting for her parents to pick her up from a prestigious boarding school for the holidays.
Surrounded by snow in a wintry climate that is reminiscent of Let The Right One In, Kat becomes increasingly more aloof and her behaviour more peculiar as a result.
Her sense of isolation is further exasperated as she fails to connect with the nuns at the school and the only other student on the premises, Rose (Lucy Boynton) who is herself too consumed with her own pregnancy that she fails to see Kat’s shrinking from the world and inner turmoil.
Meanwhile, Roberts’ Joan is making her own journey towards said boarding school where she is offered a lift by two parents grieving for the loss of their daughter.
The father seems sympathetic to Joan’s plight as if he recognises hisown daughter within her. The irony being that she is far from it and actually the perpetrator of his daughters death.
The struggle of human connectivity or lack thereof is front and centre of this film as the characters are minimal on number and those that we do see are so trapped in their own world that it’s no wonder that Kat is drawn to the darkness that surrounds us all and bows to the whims of a being that lurks beyond our own existence.
Perkins first attempt in the directors chair certainly impresses and it will be interesting to see what he does next as his vision feels like a strong one and for that he’s made a fan from this writer.
Xx is released on Blu-ray and DVD today, so I thought I’d write this review and share my thoughts.
Warning: contains spoilers for those who’ve not seen it yet.
I soooo wanted to like this movie.
So long now, women have been forced into the shadows unable to have a voice (with a few exceptions) so when I heard that four female directors would team up to deliver a collection of short horror stories for a feature, I was beyond excited about shifting that ‘male gaze’ with a much-needed feminine skew.
I have to say though, I was let down, although only marginally.
Features that contain short stories rarely work in my opinion.
Some come out stronger than others and the overall feel of the feature as a whole is a little unbalanced as a result.
Unfortunately, the weaker of these stories occur at the beginning of the movie.
So, let’s scrutinise this further by examining the shorts in question.
First up we’re presented with…
The Box
…which was also written by Jack Ketchum, who has 4 Bram Stoker awards to his name, so he is no stranger to the dark world, but with all due respect to him, I was kind of hoping that these collections would be 100% female orientated.
Not just with the writing but with the writing too and his addition mars this ever-so-slightly.
The Box presents a mysterious story centred around a mysterious red box that a guy is holding on a train.
A boy, Danny asks what’s inside and when he peers in an eerie transformation occurs, where he won’t eat anything anymore.
One by one the other family members succumb to this strange ‘virus’, all except the mother played by Natalie Brown (Channel Zero: Candle Cove).
The family end up starving to death, and the mother is left wandering the tubes in search of the man with the box and an answer to the mystery to no avail.
The Box has a cold heart at its core, and whilst it’s interesting enough leaves the viewer feeling a little empty and therefore struggles to pick up any energy moving forward, which it does attempt to do with the more light-hearted….
The Birthday Party
Which stars the wonderful Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures) and it’s refreshing to see her on screen again.
Here she plays Mary, a housewife struggling in a troubled relationship
With her husband, David.
When she finds her husband dead on his home office, she struggles to hide this from her daughter, who just coincidentally is having her birthday party that day.
A sort of warped version of Weekend at Bernie’s, The Birthday unfolds with a comic lilt and is great insight into the vapid world of the social elite told from a mother struggling to keep up with the Joneses and all appearances to be pristine.
Written and directed by Annie Clark from St Vincent, this short feature would be best served as a single entity rather than absorbed in this group.
It’s certainly not a horror film despite it shedding light on a much heightened side of society, but by sitting alongside its fellow shorts here, it feels and makes the complete picture incredibly disjointed.
Next up…
Don’t Fall
Written and directed by Roxanne Benjamin, the third instalment feels like a nod to old school horror, and is quirky enough to stand out here, but rather than push the feature on in a stronger direction, it limps towards the finish line.
Set in remote desert, four campers encounter a creature that kills them one by one.
It has its funny moments of banter in the dialogue, but the care factor for the characters are low and because of this lack of engagement it’s hard for the viewer to empathise with their plight.
With more room to breathe and a possible feature in her hands, director Benjamin could still be someone to look out for as it does feel that she has more to say, and there’s enough in her writing that makes me willing to listen.
Onto the final instalment…
Her Only Living Son
Thank God for Karyn Kusama.
Just when it feels like XX is dying out with a whimper the director of the brilliant The Invitation comes along with the final offering and you can certainly see that she owns her craft and her skillet is a lot higher than her female counterparts.
Her Only Living Son is a glorious tale of a mother who soon discovers that her suspicions about her son being the spawn of Satan are true.
I have to commend the performance from Christina Kirk as the matriarch caught between the love of her son and knowing that she must prevent the evil from seeping into the world before it’s too late.
It feels like Rosemary’s Baby told from the view of the baby reaching adulthood and that despair of being caught between doing the right thing as painful as that decision may be.
Thankfully Kusama’s story elevates Xx back up to a semi-decent level.
It’s not the best of features and it certainly struggles in places, but it does have its strong points too and by the very nature of its existence, it will have an important place in horror film history.
Surgeons of Horror 