Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Low budget Australian sci-fi thriller Occupation follows a group of survivors from a small town who band together and put their differences aside in order to hold back an onslaught from alien invaders. Directed by Luke Sparke, this is a fun sci-fi indie romp that, although it’s slightly too long, provides buckets of entertainment.

The concept is nothing original, but what really stands out is the location where the film is set. In today’s sci-fi world, we are so used to seeing the alien target the bright lights and big cities of America that it’s refreshing to see people in a different corner of the globe get to test their weapons and skills against some extraterrestrial antagonists.

This band of survivors share some great chemistry, again better than what we’ve previously seen in a lot of other global alien invasion flicks. Sparke set out to create a fun, fresh and balls to the wall entertaining film, and he most certainly achieved that. As for our antagonists, led by Australian cult hero Bruce Spence (Mad Max), their design is honourable, with practical effects being chosen over CGI. This allows for various intense close up action scenes to feel raw and real, keeping the audience in the moment. Our villains also have a truly menacing feel to them due to the decision to keep things real.

As mentioned, one particular drawback with Occupation is that it feels painfully elongated in its storytelling. At two hours long, twenty minutes or so could have easily been removed in order to keep the film flowing at a much more manageable pace without overstaying its welcome.

Unfortunately there are no special features on the disc release of Occupation which is a mighty shame as one would’ve loved to have seen some behind the scenes footage. Nevertheless, Occupation is a great addition to the ever growing catalogue of alien invasion movies, and delivers a memorable alien species. Every single cast member looks like they are having a great time, which allows the audience to connect with them during the chaos that is ensuing on screen. We’re certainly excited see what Luke Sparke does next within the sci-fi genre.

OCCUPATION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: LUKE SPARKE / STARRING: DAN EWING, TEMUERA MORRISON, STEPHANY JACOBSEN / RELEASE DATE: 21ST JANUARY

When a group of girls appear to unwittingly conjure up the Slender Man for shits and giggles, they each succumb to the tentacled monster one by one. Some go missing, some are driven mad, but all will wish they’d never seen his face. Well, his faceless face. You get the idea.

The prospect of converting what was essentially an internet meme into a fully fleshed-out feature film was never going to be an easy one. That said, the background surrounding the ‘history’ of Slender Man certainly provided a shed-load of material for the writers to borrow from. In the years following Slender Man’s arrival on the internet, he was effectively the new Freddy Krueger, living in the minds of kids around the world thanks to some ingenious Photoshopped images and well-produced fan videos. He was spoken about in whispers in playgrounds, the cause of many nightmares, and potentially the best ‘bogeyman’ we’ve seen in recent years. Why then does the resulting film feel so utterly disappointing?

There are scares, and there’s some of the history and use of the internet as a way of populating the myth (although it doesn’t go full meta), but where Slender Man falls painfully short is in the portrayal of the titular character. Every successful bogeyman needs to have a personality of sorts – even the silent ones (such as Myers and Voorhees) exhibit characteristics that define them and make them creepy. Here, however, Slender Man’s slate is as blank as his face. You can elaborate on his place in history via montage as much as you want, but by the time the credits roll we still have no idea who he is or what he wants. As a result, he’s as bland as movie monsters go and that is not a good thing.

As average as the film is, the Blu-ray is let down further by the Special Features (in as much as there really aren’t any). Here is a subject that has potentially hours worth of back story. Slender Man is a phenomena that has stretched out over almost a decade and (avoiding the obvious real horror surrounding ‘that’ event in the US) there is plenty to say about it. Instead, all we get is a standard featurette – Summoning Slender Man: Meet the Cast – that blathers on about how well the female cast all got on like best buds.

SLENDER MAN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SYLVAIN WHITE / SCREENPLAY: DAVID BIRKE / STARRING: JAVIER BOTET, JOEY KING, JULIA GOLDANI TELLES, JAZ SINCLAIR / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

For forty years, spinster Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) has lived in seclusion after the brutal murder of her married lover. The hapless lothario was hacked to pieces after Charlotte’s father forced him to finish his affair with her. The county want to tear down her decaying southern mansion to build a highway and she fears her lovers dismembered body will be discovered. Charlotte seeks her cousin Miriam’s (Olivia De Havilland) help. She is accompanied by the family doctor Drew Bayliss (Joseph Cotten) as Charlotte is plagued by horrific visions of homicide/suicide. As she spirals deeper into madness the truth of the tragedy begins to unfurl.

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte was director Robert Aldrich’s follow-up to his phenomenally successful What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, and based on the short story What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte? by Baby Jane author Henry Farrell. The title of the film was changed so audiences wouldn’t think Hush… was a sequel, which although similar in tone it definitely isn’t.

The picture quality of Eureka’s Blu-ray is exceptional. Joseph F. Biroc’s black and white Oscar-nominated cinematography is showcased to perfection. The whites are clean and vibrant, the blacks deep and luxurious with a slight grain that add to the grand guignol atmosphere.

There are two audio commentaries. One from a previous 2005 release by film historian Glenn Erickson, the other is by critic Kat Ellinger and is new and exclusive to Eureka’s release. Erickson’s commentary is as dry as the Gobi desert and sounds like he is delivering the Budget. Anyone who has read Shaun Considine’s Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud, or has watched the TV adaptation Feud, will know of the bitter animosity between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford that plagued the production of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? This carried over into Hush… which resulted in Crawford being replaced by Olivia De Havilland during the shoot. This is merely glossed over by Erickson in a very staid manner. Fortunately Ellinger’s commentary is a far more rewarding listen with insightful warts-and-all history of the production as well as meaningful psychological evaluations of key scenes.

Hush…Hush, Sweet Joan: The Making of Charlotte is a fascinating featurette which includes behind-the-scenes footage and stills. It also reveals Davis’ concern regarding the gore quota. Bruce Dern Remembers has the legendary actor waxing lyrical about his time making the film as well as his experiences working with Alfred Hitchcock. Wizard Work is an archival behind-the-scenes look at the film, narrated by Joseph Cotton. Finally there’s the obligatory Trailer & TV spots plus a collectors’ booklet featuring a new essay about the film’s tumultuous production, written by Lee Gambin and illustrated with rare archival imagery.

HUSH… HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ROBERT ALDRICH / SCREENPLAY: HENRY FARRELL / STARRING: BETTE DAVIS, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, JOSEPH COTTEN / RELEASE DATE: 21ST JANUARY

Kevin Costner’s infamous dystopian action-adventure was, at the time of its release in 1995, the most expensive film ever made, largely due to an extremely troubled production that saw its hugely elaborate seawater sets destroyed by an ocean hurricane during production. The intended $100m production budget nearly doubled, reaching 175 million. Even now, 24 years on, the film remains the 11th most expensive production of all time when adjusted for inflation.

As a result, Waterworld was put in a position where it was almost impossible for it to actually turn a profit at the box office, and it remains the go-to example of a flop to this day. All of this toxic buzz overshadowed the film itself, ensuring that conversation largely focused on it as a financial failure, tainting the discussion with unwarranted negativity. Now, more than 20 years later, the film has started to earn something of a cult following from those judging it based purely on its actual merits, and you know what? Waterworld is actually pretty cool.

The film is set in the distant future where Earth’s polar ice caps have all melted, leaving the planet seemingly entirely flooded with water. Complaining that the polar ice caps don’t contain nearly enough water to submerge the planet is to miss the point entirely. This is a setup for Mad Max at sea, and what could have been little more than an excuse for action setpieces is buoyed by truly wonderful art direction, practical effects and stunt work, not to mention some delightful scenery chewing from the cast – most notably, Dennis Hopper as the villainous Deacon.

It’s rare to watch a film that transports you to a world genuinely nothing like our own as effectively as Waterworld,and it’s even rarer that a film achieves it with minimal use of CGI. In many ways, the film represents the peak of blockbuster filmmaking of the ‘90s (for all its strengths and weaknesses). Yes, the runtime is bloated, the plot is simplistic, and you have to be willing to go with some fairly preposterous ideas from time to time, but the film also offers a true extravaganza of epic proportions, populating its world with colourful characters and genuinely thrilling spectacle in equal measure.

This 3-disc Blu-ray release features a gorgeous transfer that really allows you to appreciate the film’s technical achievements in all their glory. As well as the original theatrical cut of the film (which already runs at 135 minutes), there is also the TV cut and the “Ulysses” cut (featuring the extra footage from the TV cut, but restoring the censored shots and dialogue), both of which run at about 178 minutes. Interesting as these extra cuts are, the original film was overlong to begin with so it’s unlikely that these newly available versions will offer more than a one-time curiosity viewing for most. There’s also Maelstrom: The Odyssey of Waterworld, a feature-length making-of documentary digging into what proved to be a very interesting production.

WATERWORLD / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: KEVIN REYNOLDS / SCREENPLAY: PETER RADER, DAVID TWOHY / STARRING: KEVIN COSTNER, JEANNE TRIPPLEHORN, DENNIS HOPPER / RELEASE DATE: 21ST JANUARY

If there is any word which isn’t synonymous with the horror genre, it’s “subtlety”, and after years of extreme gore with the likes of Haute Tension and Hostel, where the level of blood equated with the amount of shock, it is clear that the horror genre is going to downplay some of that intense gore and go back to the more gradual style of narrative-driven works.

Justin P. Lange’s The Dark is certainly one example that is going to resonate with fans who are looking for something different and, on the back of the hugely successful A Quiet Place and Get Out, the genre is starting to promise other films that place more focus on character development fused with the essence of what horror as a genre has to offer to audiences and fans.

Josef Hofer (Karl Markovics) is a man with a hostage on the run who kills a shopkeeper en route to the mystical woodland area known as “Devil’s Den”. He finds a seemingly abandoned house in the area, but soon finds he is not alone when he is attacked and killed by a scarred figure with an axe. The attacker, Mina (Nadia Alexander) – who seems to be a zombie who inhabits the woods – and hostage Alex (Toby Nichols) develop a bond, but he is unaware of her physical scars and she is also nurturing dark thoughts of her past which come back to haunt her. However, he is well aware of the backstory of Devil’s Den, and is intrigued by Mina’s presence…

The Dark is reminiscent of Warm Bodies in some ways, with a lead character not totally at ease with what is happening to her and, thanks to Nadia Alexander’s performance, has considerable depth. It’s an atmospheric film at times and has some interest, but fans expecting a few more shocks throughout will feel short-changed. The make-up team’s efforts are commendable and the cinematography (by Klemens Hufnagl) are worth seeking out.

Overall, it is well worth a look and is in sync with other cult indies like The Woman amongst others. Will certainly play well with the horror crowd.

THE DARK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JUSTIN P. LANGE / SCREENPLAY: JUSTIN P. LANGE / STARRING: NADIA ALEXANDER, TOBY NICHOLS, KARL MARKOVICS / RELEASE DATE: 15TH JANUARY

In this hi-tech digital world where every move we make and every selfie we take is seemingly accompanied by its own digital footprint, is it truly possible to vanish without a trace? How far can we trust the identities of the people we meet online? And when a father tries to find out what’s happened to his missing daughter, will the secrets contained in her laptop reveal he didn’t really know his daughter at all?

That’s the nightmare faced by widower David Kim (John Cho) when his teenage daughter Margot disappears and the only clues to her fate may lie in her social media and email accounts… along with the growing awareness that Margot may not be the confident, popular young woman her father thought she was. Even when the sympathetic Detective Vick (a brilliantly cast Debra Messing) is assigned to the case and more and more of the cyber barriers are broken, the truth of Margot’s hidden life just ties Kim up in even tighter knots. The daughter who was dedicated to her studies and her weekly piano lesson, who he tried so hard to protect from the death of her mother, is suddenly a stranger to him. And it seems like the mystery of Margot will never be solved because, as the hours pass and all of Kim’s and Detective Vick’s investigations lead to a dead end, the odds that she will eventually be found alive dwindle away even further.

The brilliance of Searching is that it takes everything a parent fears the most and then, as the thread of the mystery slowly unravels, it escalates the tension by making the central character question everything he thought he knew about the one person in his life he should know the best. It’s a terrific example of ‘less is more’ filmmaking, relating everything via laptop POVs, Facetime messaging, Skype calls and TV newsbytes, and focusing down on a small ensemble cast to tell a story which – in the hands of a more seasoned director with access to a blockbuster budget – could have just turned out to be another run-of-the-mill missing person thriller.

In fact, it’s this in your face low-rent approach that really makes Searching special, because writer-director Aneesh Chaganty and writer-producer Sev Ohanian avoid turning internet technology into yet another horror movie bogeyman, and instead use it as both an emotional device and a reliable/unreliable narrator. Searching is a film that concentrates solely on the performances and the storytelling and is all the more effective and memorable because of it.

Sony’s new Blu-ray is no slouch either. The video and audio are great and the bonus features are well worth diving into – but not until after you’ve seen the film. Very highly recommended.

Special Features: Changing The Language Of Cinema, Update Username: Cast and Characters, Searching For Easter Eggs, Audio Commentary with Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian

SEARCHING / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: ANEESH CHAGANTY / SCREENPLAY: ANEESH CHAGANTY, SEV OHANIAN / STARRING: JOHN CHO, DEBRA MESSING, JOSEPH LEE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Guillermo Del Toro is an expert craftsman when it comes to fantasy cinema, creating unique, surreal worlds that are unlike anything that been seen before within its genre, and has continuously amazed us every time with different yet outstanding films like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and his two Hellboy films. Crimson Peak sees Del Toro return to the old-school horror chillers in the vein of Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone, although this time it’s a horrific, violent and twisted gothic romance with elements of a ghost story sprinkled throughout. It’s clear that Del Toro set out to make something that hasn’t been done this way for a long time, and while there are moments of grisly horror and ghostly chills, they aren’t the kind of scares that make you jump out of your seat (as is the common cliché of most horror movies nowadays), but instead are intended to send a chill right up your spine.

However, between the moments of blood and horror are the interpersonal relationships between the characters, and we have a romance that almost has a Romeo and Juliet vibe about it with the seemingly doomed romance that will befall Mia Wasikowska’s protagonist and Tom Hiddleston’s mysterious baronet. It also has certain shades of the vampire about it, as we have the tall, dark, mysterious man seducing a young innocent woman, reminiscent both visually and thematically of Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Dracula, but as the film progresses, that confident demeanour starts to fade and the more emotionally vulnerable he becomes. The rotting mansion sitting upon the crimson red clay with its blue-green walls and forbidden basements is a gothic triumph in design work, evoking Edgar Allan Poe’s House of Usher while also hearkening back to Robert Stevenson’s Jane Eyre adaptation or David Lean’s version of Great Expectations.

There are shades and echoes of classic gothic horror and romance tales of old, yet Del Toro adds a unique spin that makes this film his own and, much like The Shape of Water which was almost a love letter to Creature From The Black Lagoon, this feels almost like a missive to the stories that inspired and influenced Del Toro. As well as being a masterclass in gothic design, courtesy of production designer Thomas E Sanders, Crystal Peak is sumptuously photographed by cinematographer Dan Lausten, while also adding to the gothic atmosphere is Fernando Velázquez’s spine-chilling score. Mia Wasikowska gives a superb performance that is brilliantly nuanced and delicate in her emotions and voice, while Tom Hiddleston gives a strong portrayal of a man that is trapped in his own world but finds love and happiness again through this one woman he meets. However, the most surprising is Jessica Chastain, whose performance is both unhinged yet subtle and icy, almost as if Chastain is channelling her inner Eva Green.

If there are any downsides, it’s that some story beats are repeated a little bit too often within the story, and Charlie Hunnam’s character is rather pointless and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, making you wonder why he was even included in the first place (other than to be the man pining for Wasikowska’s affections).

Crimson Peak has proven to be Del Toro’s most divisive movie to date, with some being very fond of it while others are frustrated and tired of it. For us, this is not the best film Del Toro has done since it doesn’t quite have the polish or the precision of his best works like, but despite this, Crimson Peak is still a sorely underrated gem. It delivers on its promise of being a gothic romance that hearkens back to the best of its genre while also doing unique tricks of its own, as well as boasting terrific production design and stellar performances from its lead cast. If you are a Del Toro fan, this is one that should be checked out.

Limited Edition special features: Audio commentary by co-writer and director Guillermo Del Toro, The House is Alive: Constructing Crimson Peak feature-length documentary, 10 featurettes, interviews, deleted scenes, poster, postcards, 80-page hardback book

CRIMSON PEAK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: GUILLERMO DEL TORO / SCREENPLAY: GUILLERMO DEL TORO, MATTHEW ROBBINS / STARRING: MIA WASIKOWSKA, JESSICA CHASTAIN, TOM HIDDLESTON / RELEASE DATE: 14TH JANUARY

Are you a fan of the Coen brothers, but sometimes don’t think their comedy is dark enough? Maybe you think David Lynch could go further to expose the grim underbelly of suburbia? Icelandic satire Under the Tree is the film for you.

From director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, whose previous credits include Either Way (the inspiration for David Gordon Green’s Prince Avalanche), Under the Tree starts as Alti (Steinþórsson) is kicked out by his wife Agnes (Jónsdóttir) after she catches him watching an unfortunate choice of video, a scene depicted with cringe-inducingly perfect comedic timing.

Alti’s domestic life may be in tatters, but when he goes to stay with his parents, he only stumbles into more chaos, as they’re involved in a dispute with the couple next door over a garden tree in need of a trim. This trivial complaint results in what seems to be a series of petty crimes committed by each household against the other – car tyres are slashed, gardens are sabotaged, a cat goes missing, and on it escalates…

Sigurðsson has created a brilliant set of characters – not people you’d like to meet, but people who are wickedly fun to watch, particularly when pitted against each other. They’re intelligently portrayed, with serious issues in both families’ pasts spurring them on psychologically towards the increasingly bad decisions they all make. The sparring neighbours, and the separating couple, are opposing forces incapable of reconciliation, with extra satire added by the indifference of the world around them – one comic highlight is a flat block meeting where Agnes tries to earn sympathy over Alti’s behaviour only for everyone else to be more concerned with drainage.

Despite such everyday concerns leaking into the script, it’s by no means a slow film, and the tightly structured plot intensifies to an inevitably grisly climax. Like something from Fargo, you’ll laugh, feel bad for laughing, and then laugh again, with the crisp but stylish cinematography and direction also bringing to mind the same Coen classic. It’s a tough movie to be named alongside, but Under the Tree lives up to the comparison.

The movie received a very brief release in a small number of UK cinemas last summer, but is deserving of more attention. Thankfully we now have this combined Blu-ray and DVD release from Eureka Entertainment. The extras are slim – a 23-minute ‘Making Of’ and a trailer – but for world cinema fans who enjoy their comedy with an edge of nastiness, it’s worth adding to the collection. Just don’t play it too loudly at night if your neighbours are the irritable kind.

UNDER THE TREE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: HAFSTEINN GUNNAR SIGURÐSSON / CAST: STEINÞÓR HRÓAR STEINÞÓRSSON, EDDA BJÖRGVINSDÓTTIR, SIGURÐUR SIGURJÓNSSON, LÁRA JÓHANNA JÓNSDÓTTIR / RELEASE DATE: 14TH JANUARY