THE BRINK [FANTASIA 2018 REVIEW]

BRINK

Getting a screening at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Jonathan Li’s Martial Arts actioner The Brink comes on the heels of an Autumn 2017 release in the Far East.

Li’s pedigree before his debut as director here makes him an ideal choice. Not only has he been a long-established Assistant Director on a number of Hong Kong action classics, he is also backed up by a veteran of the business in the form of  Nicky Li, who worked on a number of Jackie Chan’s blockbuster hits and who has been nominated for a Best Action Choreography award for this.

Illicit gold smuggling amidst a fishing ban in local waters is the backdrop for this thriller, which tells of a rebellious police inspector’s desire to take down a local gangster, Jiang, with his eyes on the water-bound prize. Jiang makes his presence felt early having been betrayed by a greedy boss, by gutting his son and leaving his quarry on the edge of death.

The cop isn’t having the best of times in the world, having been wrongly incarcerated and released without charge, but is determined to make amends (and is also the guardian to the daughter of a man he killed) by going after Jiang. Inevitably, his superiors are none-too-pleased with his methods, and a retiring partner is roped into the mix for one last case.

Before long, though, his actions are creating all manner of complications, but the cop is convinced that his instincts will prevail, and justice will be served to right the wrongs…

While the plot-line and premise is pretty standard for the genre, and you can sense how and when people are going to do their worst, the film is elevated thanks to some well-choreographed action fights and sequences which progress towards a climax that wouldn’t look out of place in The Perfect Storm.

Fans who haven’t really got into Far East cinema yet may get something out of this too, particularly fans of James Bond films such as Licence to Kill and Thunderball, as there is a suspenseful mid-point underwater fight that exudes energy and purpose in a way that the latter movie was often criticised for back in 1965 and beyond.

There are moments where the pace drags, particularly when the cop is wanting to show his more emotional side. This can be the death knell for these types of thrillers, as audiences genuinely want to concentrate on the action, which admittedly this has in abundance from the early minutes.

We’re hoping that Fantasia will help raise The Brink‘s profile and secure it a wide release internationally soon.

THE BRINK / DIRECTOR: JONATHAN LI / SCREENPLAY: PACO WONG / STARRING: KA TUNG LAM, JANICE MAN, CECILLIA SO, TAI-BO / RELEASE DATE: TBC

THE OUTLAWS [FANTASIA 2018 REVIEW]

Outlaws

There is something about the evident brutality of Far Eastern Cinema when you compare it to Western classics like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard that grounds it in a more art-house context, rather than have this ability to shock the local audiences. That isn’t to say that any form of violence is acceptable in a real level and that filmmakers would rather stage violence as a form of primal release to tap into the emotional frustrations of the times the audience is living.

One such example of this which is being screened at the 2018 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal is Kang Yun-Sung’s The Outlaws, which was selected in 2017 in the Dubai and Macao International Film Festivals. It has won a couple of domestic awards and is certainly going to provide some intrigue and interest.

Based on a real-life incident that took place in 2007, The Outlaws focuses on the exploits of the Serious Crime Squad in Seoul, South Korea. Online reports tell of a total of thirty-two people being investigated for the vicious crimes, so it does seem to have quite a place in Korea police history, who formed the backbone of a Chinese crime syndicate and one individual who was smuggled into South Korea.

Led by a worldly and wise veteran officer Ma (Don Lee), the police are seemingly on the brink with resources stretched, thanks to the arrival of the Chinese Black Dragon Gang amidst the Korea locality. The film doesn’t waste any time demonstrating the true brutality of what the gangs are capable of, thinking nothing of using an axe to reach the body parts they need to and stabbing any number of victims to show their strength.

Compounding the Squad’s efforts comes in the form of senior officers, who have determined that Ma and his team only have another ten days to solve the case, and ensure they can restore order and decency to the district they watch over…

The Outlaws is a taut and tight piece of police drama, as bloody, brutal, profane and violent as anything to have emerged in the last ten years. Fans of Infernal Affairs and the work of John Woo will certainly get a lot from this production and those who might want to research the real-life incident it is based on may find a lot more brutal and shocking evidence, which is often different to when it comes to dramatising what we see on screen, as filmmakers sometimes have to tone down the violence to make it acceptable for viewing by the masses.

There are some well-staged fights and action – notably one sequence when a gang member lets off a fire extinguisher during a birthday celebration – and there are a few well-chosen moments of dark humour here and there, as is the norm for the type of film you can expect from the Far East film community.

Fantasia 2018 is clearly a solid foundation for The Outlaws to build an international fan-base on, and American audiences and beyond will embrace it like they will a Jackie Chan or John Woo film.

THE OUTLAWS / DIRECTOR: YOON-SEONG KANG / SCREENPLAY: YOON-SEONG KANG / STARRING: JIN-AH BAE, GWI-HWA CHOI, HYUNG-JOON IM / UK RELEASE DATE: TBC

A WRINKLE IN TIME

Wrinkle

Man, Disney must really have it bad for Madeleine L’Engle, don’t they? There are two points in this film where a character would say that they are underwhelmed, and they couldn’t have offered a more accurate description of what sitting through A Wrinkle in Time feels like. The latest adaptation of L’Engle’s novel by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay, this movie tries to aim high but falls very short of greatness, and what we have is a disappointing trainwreck of poorly executed setpieces, some lacklustre acting, hokey dialogue and a laughably bad Oprah. There are certain scenes and scenarios where it feels as though its heart is in the right place and the emotional points land, but for the most part, this film is borderline gobbledegook and the visual palette is so bizarre and trippy, one wonders if someone took too many drops of LSD when designing it.

The first hour or so feels like one of those original TV movies you’d normally find on the Disney Channel, but given a much bigger budget and more A-list talent, yet has all the same corny, pretentious nonsense that you’d normally associated with those type of movies. The original source material dealt with a lot of dark yet relevant themes and topics whilst also having strong religious overtones to it, and all of that rich meaty material is stripped away to the bare bones of it, just like the similarly ill-fated 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass. This also has many of the same ambitions and trappings of the film adaptations of Bridge to Terabithia and The Lovely Bones in that those movies had good intentions with great performances and talented filmmakers behind them yet failed to capture why their respective novels were so important and resonated with their core audiences.

Also, it suffers from recycling the bog-standard cliches that have been done to death so many times, including main characters that are the destined chosen ones, the power of love vanquishing all, and the happily ever after. Plus, there are even generic bullies that are so shallow that it’s hard to believe that DuVarney allowed this considering that her last film, Selma, offered a very realistic portrait of how bullies work. Admittedly, there are some impressive visuals to be found and there is at least one impressively handled emotional moment between the main character and her father played by Chris Pine that will probably leave some feeling misty-eyed. In fact, any emotional moment involving the main character is pretty solid and that’s all down to rising star Storm Reid who gives a very grounded and nuanced performance. There’s no denying that Reid is the only one that emerges with her head held high, and if she manages to survive this film’s lukewarm reception, then she is guaranteed to be a major star to watch out for in the near future.

The others don’t fare as well as Reid does however; Chris Pine is fine enough for what he’s given while the incredibly talented Gugu Mbatha-Raw is given nothing to do except worry and give moral advice. Both Zach Galifianakis and Michael Peña are wasted in glorified cameos, Levi Miller comes off like a schmuck and it’s unclear Deric McCabe’s performance as Charles Wallace is so bad it’s hilarious or so bad it’s bad. As for the three “fairy godmothers” in this film, Mindy Kaling is perfectly fine and is the only one that closely resembles what the book was capturing, but Reese Witherspoon is insufferably annoying and actually quite scary with her wide-eyed expressions and manic tics she displays. However, both of them pale in comparison to the glorious disaster that is Oprah Winfrey, who is completely impossible to take seriously given her extreme fashion sense, which makes her look like the wacky relative of Tina Turner’s Aunty Entity from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Madeleine L’Engle once said that the key to great storytelling for children was that they could afford to “be childlike and not childish”, and with this adaptation of her book, it’s pretty clear that they went with the childish route. It fails to capture the importance and meaning of the original book while also feeling incredibly shallow and frankly lazy in its execution, which is shocking considering that Ava DuVernay in the past has been anything but lazy considering her extraordinary past filmography. Yes, there are perhaps one of two emotional moments that worked well, Storm Reid is phenomenal, and there can be wondrous sights to be seen, but A Wrinkle in Time reeks of a movie that had the meat and guts ripped out of it, leaving an empty carcass that will likely leave audiences feeling underwhelmed. Then again, this film did have a giant Oprah in an aluminium chicken suit with Goku hair and Jem glitter makeup, so that’s got to count for something, right?

A WRINKLE IN TIME / DIRECTOR: AVA DUVERNAY / SCREENPLAY: JENNIFER LEE, JEFF STOCKWELL / STARRING: STORM REID, OPRAH WINFREY, REESE WITHERSPOON, MINDY KALING, LEVI MILLER, DERIC MCCABE, CHRIS PINE, GUGU MBATHA-RAW, ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, MICHAEL PENA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

LOVE, CHUNIBYO AND OTHER DELUSIONS! THE MOVIE: RIKKA VERSION

love chunibyo

This is a story about a couple of Japanese high school students, one of whom experiences ‘ 8th grade syndrome’ (the belief that they are a supernatural being), while the other used to and is trying to get away from it.

It is a retelling of the first season of Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! ostensibly repeated through the eyes of Rika. This turns out to have little (if any) impact on the plot. There aren’t more segments set in the characters’ imagination, and the movie doesn’t give much insight into what she thinks about what is going on around her or at least no more than the show would have done. Despite the title, the focus character is Yuta.

The other chief failing is that it doesn’t really work as a movie. Scenes jump from one to the next with little reasoning. Sometimes the transitions work on a narrative level, but most of the time, the movie is a jumble from one half told scene to the next. It would be more accurate to describe this as a highlight reel; a way for people who like the show to watch its best moments in a condensed amount of time. In that regard, it might have served as a quick introduction to the show for people unfamiliar with it, but too much of it is either rushed through or skipped entirely for it to be a complete story in its own right.

This film version just doesn’t work without the series it is based on, and that begs the question of what it brings to the table by existing.

There are the usual special features that can be expected from such a release, though. The most noteworthy addition to this release is one of the episodes of Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! Lite. It gives a glimpse at what Yuta was like before he tried to distance himself from his ‘8th grade syndrome’. It has a short run time, but it does its job of fleshing out the character with some backstory.

As a movie, we can only truly recommend this to the diehard fans of the series who want to see everything that comes along. It doesn’t work as an introduction, and apart from some new animation, it doesn’t bring anything to the table that an older fan won’t have seen by watching the original show. You might want to watch it to relive the anime’s highlights, but there is little to no reason to go out and buy it.

Extras: Clean Opening Animation/ Clean Closing Animation/ Japanese Previews/ Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! Lite: My Brother 2/ Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! Lite Clean Closing Animation/ Also Available from Sentai Filmworks

LOVE, CHUNIBYO AND OTHER DELUSIONS! THE MOVIE: RIKKA VERSION/ CERT: 12/ DIRECTOR: TATSUYA ISHIHARA / SCREENPLAY: JUKKI HANADA / STARRING: DAVID WALD, MARGARET MACDONALD, BRITTNEY KARBOWSKI, MAGGIE FLECKNOE, EMILY NEEVES / RELEASE DATE: JULY 30TH

OF GODS AND WARRIORS

warriors

Ever seen someone use a caged severed head as a weapon? It’s surprisingly effective. Towards the end of David L.G. Hughes’ second feature film, should-be-Queen Helle (Anna Demetriou) finds out how effective when she faces off against Bard (Timo Nieminen) as Of Gods and Warriors reaches its ending. Helle is the daughter of the last king, who was tricked by his brother Bard into swapping the new born princess into his care. Bard raised her, and now plans to use her to acquire the throne for himself, guided by the mischievous hand of Loki. It risks backfiring though when Helle, herself guided by Odin, discovers the truth.

There is no shortage of pseudo-historical Viking movies out there, and this one punches above its weight in comparison to many. Also known as Viking Destiny, Of Gods and Warriors impressively manages to throw in the odd surprise within its tried and tested format. The storyline has got plenty of meaty sub-plots on its bones but never feels weighed down. Hughes gets the pacing spot on to ensure that his movie never drags nor feels cut short, with his own creativity shining through for good measure. The only real frustration is the kraken; you only ever hear it, never seeing so much as a hint. It’s cruel to tease your audience with a kraken and not deliver.

Demetriou is solid in the leading role. Helle risks being a bit of a carboard cut-out, but the up-and-coming actress giving a committed and convincing performance to stop that from happening. The same goes for Nieminen as Bard, who as the film progresses seems increasingly cruel and desperate. Terence Stamp is ever watchable as Odin, while his counterpart Loki (Murray McArthur) risks being over-the-top but just about keeps it as believable as a mythical deity can be.

The female empowerment message carried by Helle can feel occasionally forced, rather than allowing to always carry naturally throughout the story. That being said, perhaps it is unfair to bemoan a bloody Viking fantasy as lacking subtlety. Hughes’ film is at its strongest when it’s the most brutal, be it another wince-inducing death or a simple battle brawl.

The introduction of the forest travellers also feels a bit unnecessary and the movie would feel a lot simpler without the distraction they pose, although it’s far from a chronic flaw. Of Gods and Monsters is unlikely to trigger rapturous applause from whoever is watching, but is more than satisfying and sees a strong cast work their magic.

VIKING DESTINY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAVID L.G. HUGHES / SCREENPLAY: DAVID L.G. HUGHES / STARRING: ANNA DEMETRIOU, TIMO NIEMINEN, TERENCE STAMP, MURRAY MCARTHUR, IAN BEATTIE / RELEASE DATE: JULY 26TH

ALLURE

Allure

When does lust get out of control? Well, that’s what first-time directors Carlos and Jason Sanchez answer in this unsettling and uneasy story about obsession and manipulation. Allure sees a troubled woman with a history of abuse and failed intimate relationships becoming entangled in an obsessive relationship with a young girl who is dealing with her own issues with her imposing mother. All of this leads towards a downward spiral of manipulation, desire and co-dependency.

This film is really the story of an abusive relationship (or technically two); despite the fact that we see Evan Rachel Wood’s Laura manipulating, gaslighting and to a large degree emotionally-blackmailing the young, confused and sexually-inexperienced Eva, it’s evident that Laura is replaying the traumatic loss of serenity and innocence that she experienced a long time ago. In all her conflicted loneliness and isolation, she’s desperate to become the “sugar mamma” to Eva, just like Laura’s father was to her who is allowing her both employment and accommodation to amend his own guilt and in order to keep her close to him.

Cleverly shot by cinematographer Sara Mishara who utilises long shots and a subdued colour palette to great effect, the film settles for a somewhat clinical atmosphere and distance for each character. The toxic damage of someone’s isolation and desperation consumes them, which results in eschewed moral judgement and each character has some sort of sympathy to them. Even though this film adopts a realistic and grounded approach, the occasional shot of someone falling and sinking into a dark sea of water symbolises the characters’ being swallowed, consumed and suffocated by their own emotional darkness.

It should be no surprise for anyone that Evan Rachel Wood is amazing as ever, bringing a real raw and emotional weight to a character who makes questionable actions that are morally wrong, yet we can still understand the isolated plight she’s going through. However, the real standout and surprise of the film has to be Julia Sarah Stone, who gives a vulnerable, compassionate, sincere yet fearless and brave performance as the innocent young girl caught in a web of obsession and desire. Her clever use of silent facial expressions brilliantly conveys many different emotions at once, and there’s no doubt that Stone is a real talent to watch out for in the near future.

Allure is definitely not your standard, run-of-the-mill erotic thriller that descends into bunny-boiler thrills, deciding to focus more on character and atmosphere. Sure, it’s subject matter will no doubt unsettle audiences, some may find it too slow in places, and it certainly won’t be for everyone’s tastes, but if you want to experience a slow-burn thriller that delves into uncomfortable subject matters with sensational performances, then this may be worth a watch.

REVIEW: ALLURE / DIRECTOR: CARLOS SANCHEZ, JASON SANCHEZ / SCREENPLAY: CARLOS SANCHEZ, JASON SANCHEZ / STARRING: EVAN RACHEL WOOD, JONATHAN SHATZKY, MAXIM ROY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING

Pacific Rim: Uprising

If we’re being honest, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim was a movie that promised so, so much, yet to many it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. Some saw that 2013 film as a loving homage to monster movies of yesteryear, whilst others saw it as a soulless, formulaic picture that was a case of style over substance. Fast forward five years, and here we have the long-gestating follow-up to that opinion-splitting film – but the question is, is Pacific Rim: Uprising actually any good?

Going back to del Toro’s original Pacific Rim, there we saw Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost as the hero of the hour as mankind piloted Jaegers in a battle against some big ol’ Kaiju beasties from the depths of the ocean. Here, John Boyega plays Stacker’s son, Jake; a black-market tech scavenger who is hesitant to follow in his old man’s footsteps. Of course, before you can say “reluctant hero”, Jake is back in the Jaeger game and training up new recruits led by Cailee Spaeny’s rebellious orphan, Amara Namani, and he finds himself working alongside his former Jaeger co-pilot, Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood). And what good timing it is, considering that Jing Tian’s Shao Liwen is driving forward with a new rival drone project, whilst a rogue Jaeger turns up in Australia as the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan. Can Jake truly pick up where his pops left off? Does he really want to pick up where his pops left off? And just how many times is it acceptable to see huge hulking drones causing chaos and carnage in one movie?

Pacific Rim: Uprising will likely ultimately be looked back upon in a similar way to its predecessor; with it again one that will split opinion. To be frank, though, it’s quite simply a bit of fist-pumping, no-nonsense, popcorn-munching fun. It’s a popcorn picture in every imaginable way, and it’s something that you can easily turn on without having to really engage your brain all that much. And sometimes, that’s what movies are about. Uprising is abrasive, indulgent, and has all systems amped up to 11, and when it comes down to it, it again is a film about giant robots battling giant monsters.

John Boyega is the clear star of the show here, putting in a leading man performance that manages to capture the charm, energy, and magnetic presence of classic Harrison Ford or even, as a more modern-day reference point, Dwayne Johnson. While Boyega’s role in the Star Wars franchise has seen him largely positioned as comic relief by this point, here he shows that he can be more than just that guy you rely on to lighten the mood or quip wise. That’s not to say that he doesn’t indeed lighten the mood or quip wise here, of course, but there’s just a whole lot more to his turn as Jake. Unfortunately for Boyega, though, he’s let down by a tale that is, much like del Toro’s 2013 feature, so often all about the crash ‘n’ wallop, lazily relying far too much on its elaborate, skyline-decimating, overly-drawn-out action sequences. But then, that’s kind of par for the course for a movie like Pacific Rim: Uprising, right? And to be fair, when your action sequences are so impressive, we can almost excuse Uprising for overindulging on this front.

Will Pacific Rim: Uprising revolutionize the sci-fi action game? Not a chance. What it will do, however, is provide a fine way to pass a few hours on a Saturday night as you work your way through a big bag of Butterkist. Likewise, this is a film that isn’t going to win over those who weren’t all that keen on the first Pacific Rim. In fact, if anything, it takes the key elements of that first movie and doubles down on them. A decent, if not uninspiring actioner that will likely tick plenty of boxes for genre fans with a penchant for over-the-top bash ‘em, smash’ em carnage. Nothing more, nothing less.

Special Features: Audio commentary with Steven S. DeKnight / Ten featurettes / Deleted scenes

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: STEVEN S. DEKNIGHT / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: JOHN BOYEGA, SCOTT EASTWOOD, CAILEE SPAENY, TIAN JING, BURN GORMAN, CHARLIE DAY, RINKO KIKUCHI / RELEASE DATE: JULY 30TH

FLESH AND BLOOD: THE HAMMER HERITAGE OF HORROR

flesh blood

Originally a two-part TV documentary screened by the BBC in 1994, Flesh and Blood has been reformatted and expanded by its director Ted Newsom to a mammoth two-and-half-hour running time and is still as captivating as ever.

Narrated by Hammer veterans Peter Cushing (the recording was mere months before his passing) and Christopher Lee, it tells you everything you need to know about the history of the famous British film studio. There’s plenty of interview footage from those who made the films – from both in front and behind the scenes – and this newly extended version contains more film clips. The original version ran about one-hour-forty-minutes and movie footage was made up of mainly public domain trailer clips, so the quality was poor, to say the least. That’s been remedied here, but those who remember the first version will be pleased to hear that the rarer footage – filmed on-set of Frankenstein Created Woman and Dracula Prince of Darkness is all present and correct.

Key players in the Hammer story are all present and correct: head honchos Michael Carreras and Anthony Hinds (whose father was the original ‘Hammer’), scriptwriter/director Jimmy Sangster, directing legend Val Guest and cinematographer Freddie Francis are amongst the heavy hitters. Actors such as Hazel Court, Caroline Munro, Veronica Carlson, and David Prowse reminisce with rose-tinted glasses, while Carreras (who had also died by the time the original version aired) and Hinds are brutally frank about the struggles to keep everything going.

Cushing’s narration is occasionally heartbreaking as we can hear how frail he had become (he’d been suffering from prostate cancer), but he still manages to bring his very special spark to the clinical but informative script.

Another change in this version of the doc is its presentation in 16:9 widescreen rather than the 4:3 TV standard it was filmed in. We were concerned by this, as we’ve seen too many ‘stretched’ and ugly-looking botch jobs over the years. We’re happy to report that it’s been handled very well here, with nothing important lost in the cropped sections. The quality of the interview footage, however, does betray the source material. With many of the clips coming from now vintage videotape, it’s a real mixed bag. An effort has been made to clean up the image and sound and make it a more even affair, but considering that many of the interviewees are no longer with us, it’s fantastic that the extracts exist at all. Notably missing, however, are actors Michael Ripper (who appeared in more of the studio’s films than anyone) and Barbara Shelley, but we can only assume this oversight was due to lack of available coverage.

Added (and feeling rather tacked on) is mention of the modern incarnation of the company (including soundbites from one of the current owners), but modern history is of little consequence when one has such a legacy to look back on.

Whether you know the Hammer story inside and out or not, this is a wonderfully entertaining run through the ups and downs of one of the UK’s biggest film exports.

FLESH AND BLOOD: THE HAMMER HERITAGE OF HORROR / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: TED NEWSOM / STARRING: PETER CUSHING, CHRISTOPHER LEE, ROY WARD BAKER, VAL GUEST, ANTHONY HINDS, MICHAEL CARRERAS / RELEASE DATE: JULY 30TH

THE DEAD HOUSE

dead

A trio of maniacal and heartless criminals make the ultimate mistake when they target the wrong family to hold hostage and unintentionally let loose a dangerous experiment from the depths of The Dead House.

Directed by Italian Filmmaker Amerigo Brini in his debut (and shot in his native land), The Dead House (formerly known as Beautiful People at the point of its original 2013 release) finally makes its way to the UK and is a home invasion horror feature that incorporates multiple subgenres into one piece of film. Using the invasion angle at its core, Brini blends it quite uniquely with mutated creatures and practical effects that look far superior than they should in a film with this type of budget.

Scientist John Pontecorvo (David White) and his wife Elena (played exceptionally well by British indie star Kate Davies-Speak) live a comfortable life with their two sons Paul and Mikey until one fateful night, criminals Testamento, Nibbio and his younger brother Brett, cause havoc in the most sinister way possible. The leader of the trio, Nibbio, is played tremendously well by Bournemouth born actor Danny Cutler (The Antwerp Dolls) and always manages to keep the tension at a legitimately high level. His menacing figure and stature coupled with brilliant close up shots of his performance pull the audience into the Pontecorvo’s horrifying predicament. Brini’s use of very little to no background music apart from natural ambient sounds layers on the horror and creates a very realistic scenario before thrusting you into an interesting and fast-paced second act.

After the trio unwittingly let loose an army of zombified creatures on the world, the family must make their escape as they battle with more than one evil force. Valeria Petrignano did a wonderful job at creating the practical effects make-up for the creatures and they were undeniably some of the best I’ve seen in independent films. Sunken eyes and rotting flesh gave the monsters a human feel whilst also being incredibly chilling.

After a stunningly tense and brutal first act and a striking change in pace during the second, the film unfortunately suffers with a bewildering sudden ending during its final scenes. The Dead House has a remarkably short runtime at just 75 minutes and could have easily gone for at least another 15 in order to wrap up the story in a much tidier manner than it actually goes for.

The Dead House manages to merge together multiple genres in honourable effect with each member of the cast playing their part in moving the story along. For fans of gore, great effects and terrifyingly good performances, this certainly ticks the box.

REVIEW: THE DEAD HOUSE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: BRINI AMERIGO / SCREENPLAY: BRINI AMERIGO / STARRING: DANNY CUTLER, ALEX LUCCHESI, ALEX SOUTHERN, KATE DAVIES-SPEAK / RELEASE DATE: UK (TBC), US (OUT NOW)

IT LIVES

Lives

What would happen if, instead of Bowman and Poole aboard the Discovery One, NASA had instead sent Jack Torrance to Jupiter, all by himself? That’s the question Richard Mundy essentially poses in his debut feature, which arrived two years ago at UK film festivals and is now being rolled out across home media – as It Lives in the UK and the more ostentatiously Orwellian Twenty Twenty-Four on the other side of the Atlantic.

There’s no mention of Stanley Kubrick in any of the promotion, although the comparisons are not just unavoidable but absolutely glaring.

Less than a decade into the future, the threat of nuclear apocalypse is now so imminent that twelve massive bunkers have been built to house those most likely to be capable of rebuilding the world after the inevitable has happened, and so we join Roy as caretaker of the Plethura, readying the complex for the arrival of its expected inhabitants, and helped by his only companion, the computer ‘Arthur’. Do you really need us to tell you what happens next…?

If you hadn’t guessed, the world above suddenly goes silent, leading Roy and Arthur to guess that the anticipated residents of Plethura aren’t going to turn up. What does turn up is an unexpected door, and an even more unexpected possible presence, and suddenly Roy’s giving it his best Jack Nicholson while the silent Arthur (who speaks only in on-screen messages) does his best as a kind of mute Douglas Rain.

This is psychological thriller in the guise of cheap horror, and if there isn’t an idea, a visual, or a music cue that you haven’t seen or heard before in either 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Shining, then at least you’ll have some fun spotting which film Mundy is referencing at any given point. And to be fair, he does throw in some Blair Witch towards the end, just to keep us on our toes.

What we do have is feature novice Andrew Kinsler as Roy, faced with the task of keeping the entire film standing and not doing the worst job he might have. In fact, he totally looks the part as the kind of loner scientist who wouldn’t have minded months of isolation in an underground bunker; he’s the approximate midway point between Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, and his Nicholson face isn’t too bad either. Unfortunately he’s a bit less of a natural during the repeated sequences where he’s called upon to converse with a silent computer monitor, but to be fair most inexperienced actors would have struggled with that.

Despite a meagre budget, the self-taught Mundy manages to invoke both the look and sound (and some of the feel) of Kubrick’s best work, and simply because he’s aiming for the stars, that he falls short doesn’t make It Lives any less worthy of investigation. If Mundy can overcome his reverence for the master, he’ll have a much more interesting future ahead of him than he depicts here.

REVIEW: IT LIVES (aka TWENTY TWENTY-FOUR) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: RICHARD MUNDY / SCREENPLAY: RICHARD MUNDY / STARRING: ANDREW KINSLER / RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 6TH