CLOWN

DVD REVIEW: CLOWN / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JON WATTS / SCREENPLAY: JON WATTS, CHRISTOPHER D. FORD / STARRING: ANDY POWERS, ELI ROTH, PETER STORMARE, LAURA ALLEN, CHRISTIAN DISTEFANO / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 2ND

Writer Christopher D. Ford and director Jon Watts put together a fake Grindhouse-style trailer, claiming it a work from ‘master of horror’ Eli Roth. Where this might have rubbed a more egomaniacal filmmaker up the wrong way, it left Eli impressed enough to produce a feature length. The end result attempts to answer once and for all just why people are scared of clowns. Using some wonky Nordic mythology, the film proposes that the clown was originally a bogeyman-like demon that lived in the mountains and gobbled up children.

Ford has penned a simple set-up which sees doting father and real estate agent Kent (Powers) try and improvise a clown suit after the entertainer planned for his son’s birthday party gets double booked. Coincidentally, he discovers an ominous chest in the property he’s currently representing, and inside a grubby clown suit. But after the party’s over, he isn’t able to get the suit off, and so begins a gradual transformation into a demonic, child-hungry monster. Peter Stormare plays a Van Helsing-like character who’s inhabited the clown suit before, and only he knows how to help Kent.

Like a nightmarish take on Fellini’s The Clowns, the film touches on the clown as a cultural icon, but goes one step further in exploring its prevalence as a horror trope. While this was only a fleeting dissection, it’s perhaps the finest clown horror this side of It, and while that’s not much of an accolade, it manages to take one of the most worn-out phobias and make it interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.

Watts shoots the film wonderfully straight-faced, but it’s not without a twisted sense of humour, which is a tall order given the on-screen decapitation of four kids. Nevertheless, there’s an almost Marx brothers physicality to Powers’ performance, which never loses sight of the fact that clowns are ultimately funny. Once in full demon mode, Eli Roth himself takes over as Frowny the Clown (he just can’t help himself), a creation somewhere between Psychoville’s Mr Jelly and Pumpkinhead.

Clown may be formulaic and filled up to the guts with familiar tropes, but it is tremendous fun and an effective body horror. It owes a tremendous debt to Cronenberg’s The Fly, no least with the plotting and pace, but with great make-up and gore effects, a strong central performance and quality direction from Watts, Clown is definitely one worth watching.

Special Features: None
 

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ANNABELLE

BLU-RAY/DVD REVIEW: ANNABELLE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JOHN R. LEONETTI / SCREENPLAY: GARY DAUBERMAN / STARRING: ANNABELLE WALLIS, WARD HORTON, ALFRE WOODARD, TONY AMENDOLA / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 23RD

After the monumental success of James Wan’s The Conjuring, it was clear that a new horror phenomenon was on the cards, let alone one with such rich true-life source material – the infamous paranormal investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren – to draw from. So before next year’s The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist arrives, we first look at the backstory of the carved cowbag that is Annabelle the doll. After making a nerve jangling impact in the opening moments of Wan’s film, a spin-off centred on the possessed doll was a plausible notion. However, as the lukewarm reviews have shown, Annabelle is a film that has struggled to hit the same target as its predecessor. Yet, despite the issues with this prequel, there are actually a few factors to enjoy about this surprisingly efficient demon doll story.

Annabelle looks at John (Horton) and Mia (Wallis) Form, expectant parents who are ready for their future family life together. However, when John surprises his wife with the gift of a doll, darkness soon follows as one night of terror leaves a lasting impression on the couple and also leaves something behind, dwelling within their now damned doll Annabelle. Annabelle is a film that hardly rewrites the rulebook, and suffers via direct comparison with its better predecessor and it’s many classic influences, but it is still a rather atmospheric slice of Friday night goosebumpery. The story efficiently ties things up and, while there are some predictable beats along the way, it helps that the film relies more on suspense than in-your-face bloodletting.

The film clearly takes inspiration from Child’s Play and (most prominently) Rosemary’s Baby, and while it’s nowhere near as chilling as the latter especially, at least the story being told offers some genuinely effective scares. Indeed Annabelle has a few fantastically handled frights, including an Insidious-esque haunting scene and an effective elevator sequence – although the trailer does give away some things so be warned. Annabelle herself remains a truly skin-crawling presence, even though common logic dictates that we all would have had the little bugger for firewood before she ever had chance to start raising hell! Still, Hollywood has often exaggerated things for effect (if you Google the real Annabelle doll, she’s actually something you’d have in a kid’s bedroom, as opposed to this thing!) and it adds to the proficient aura of the film.

Annabelle is by no means a Babadook but it is a good prequel that is well delivered by the cast, who actually give the characters a sympathetic edge, which is not something modern horror movies always get right. Dauberman’s script is nothing fresh by any means, but still a fun enough nod to occult, demonic and evil cinema, and Conjuring cinematographer Leonetti handles directorial duties well enough. Although, once again, the film owes a massive debt to Joseph Bishara (who makes a cameo appearance in the film itself) and his fantastic score, which adds another layer to the proceedings and constructs much of the atmosphere throughout.

There is no doubt that veteran horror fans will be ticking off where they have seen some of this before, meanwhile others may be put off by the slower moments of pacing. However, for newcomers to the genre Annabelle is a fine place to start, and for those who can appreciate an old school story that feels torn from the pages of a copy of Spinechiller Magazine (remember that folks?), this should do nicely. Plus, if you look at the extras, the brief Curse of Annabelle featurette (the sole extra on the DVD version, Blu-ray owners get the better package) will raise a few hairs for the more superstitious viewers among you. Sleep tight, folks.

Special Features: The Curse of Annabelle (DVD/Blu-ray) / Bloody Tears of Possession (Blu-ray) / Dolls of the Demon (Blu-ray) / A Demonic Process (Blu-ray) / Deleted Scenes (Blu-ray)

 

FIFTY SHADES OF EROTICA


DVD REVIEW: FIFTY SHADES OF EROTICA / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: VARIOUS / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 12TH


With the box office success of the recently released Fifty Shades of Grey adaptation, it’s only understandable that some companies will look to jump on the bandwagon. Which is what Nucleus Films (who brought us the amazing Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide DVDs, but under their ‘Naughty Films’ strand here) have done here. But rather than repackage some forgotten or worthless 9½ Weeks knock-off, what we have is collection of sleazy and saucy trailers, some of which are more well-known than others.


Many of these are for films made by directors well within the STARBURST sandbox; indeed, a lot of the movies themselves are very much cult – some even passing as horror. Filmmakers such as Jess Franco, Joe D’Amato, Ken Russell, Tinto Brass, Walerian Borowczyk, Radley Metzger and stars like Christopher Lee, Udo Kier, Klaus Kinski, and many more make appearances throughout the varied if lurid assembly of erotic and titillating teasers


With the array of films on offer such as Succubus, Venus in Furs, Baba Yaga, The Night Porter, as well as the obvious fare like The Story of O and Emmanuelle, there’s something for every perversion persuasion. Of course, if you want amusing sights, there’s always the chance to see Rutger Hauer’s mangina without having to sit through Turkish Delight (which is actually quite good, to be honest).


As well as being a rather exhaustive trip through the saucier side of cinema, it actually serves as an interesting historical document on how film trailers have changed. Compare any of the previews featured here with the overblown Fifty Shades promo. Not only were these not afraid to show you flesh – and lots of it – but there’s often narration to ease you into the action. Even Crimes of Passion – the brilliant Ken Russell film – is played down with a sensual and understated ad whereas if it was done these days it would be focusing on the action, violence and bondage – not to mention Anthony Perkins’ psychotic priest.


There’s much more to this collection than an array of boobs, bums and bush (hey, it was the ‘70s – things were simpler and better), it’s actually a wonderful introduction to a much-maligned subgenre which touched on so many other themes than just S and M. It’s also interesting to note the absolutely fantastic music these films often had – soundtracks that stand up on their own, even today, as brilliant works, albeit if the films were generally of a lower quality.  


You may not want to run out and track down every single one of the films on display here, but some will certainly raise some interest (if nothing else). Just remember there’s nothing new about BDSM in films – and not all of them are as terrible as the ‘popular’ choice. Beware, though there’s plenty of misogyny, flagellation, Marquis De Sade adaptations and – at one point – John Holmes’ member.


As well as being able to watch the two-hour trailer-fest as-is, you also have the option to watch in the order they were released, which brings up some surprises when you see the quality of the later promos! There’s also a nifty fifty poster gallery, proving the artwork for the films was often as seedy as the adverts. All in all, a fun reminder of a time when every town had a ‘dirty old man’s’ cinema, but with an open mind, one will find that these flicks offer more than a cheap thrill.


13/13/13

DVD REVIEW: 13/13/13 / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK / SCREENPLAY: JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK / STARRING: TRAE IRELAND, ERIN COKER, JODY BARTON / RELEASE DATE: VOD OUT NOW

Whether through careful design or by sheer luck James Cullen Bressack has established himself as a one-man film industry. Attached to no fewer than 15 upcoming projects on the Internet Movie Database this 22-year-old is garnering awards and notoriety with astonishing pace. Beheld by some as “horror’s new hope” Bressack’s films seem to satisfy a demand for lowest common denominator cinema, but are they actually any good?

Spreading his filmography over many sub-genres, 13/13/13 is Bressack’s attempt at an apocalypse horror film, with the end of the world brought about because humanity ignored the ancient Mayan calendar and added an extra day every 4 years. Now, after millennia of ignorance, time has caught up with us and we have arrived in 13th month of the 13th year. At 13:00hrs, all hell is about to break loose.

First things first, 13/13/13 is a bad film. It is a poorly conceived, ill-judged piece of filmmaking that relies entirely on disappointingly tiresome shock tactics to draw any cohesive response from its audience. Beneath the unnecessarily gratuitous and excessive on-screen violence (because that’s what apparently happens when we can’t tell time properly) is a nasty, unpleasant undertone where subjects such as paedophilia and abuse are treated with flippant disregard. If there was a glimmer of irony, a slight, desperate understanding of black humour then these moments could, could have been understandable and interesting sub-plots but are handled with such blunt disrespect as to be nauseously unpalatable. 13/13/13 gives the strong impression of a film thrown together by a few drunken friends who were constantly trying to outdo each other with their grossness. The direction is haphazard and repetitive, and not one performance rises above the mediocre.

Secondly, and more disappointingly, Bressack clearly has talent. To Jennifer was an inventive, if not entirely successful take on a found footage film and most recent release Pernicious has both style and substance. His gorily gritty past and present output point towards an abundance of ideas and energy but these traits need to be focussed with more restraint in order to allow Bressack’s clear ability to develop.

There is little of note or quality in 13/13/13 and as a measure of Bressack’s work, it’s a poor example. Whatever the future does hold for this formidably fearless filmmaker though there will undoubtedly be plenty more films on the production line but hopefully with a greater emphasis on quality over quantity. Perhaps less really is more.

THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963)

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963) / DIRECTOR: JACQUES TOURNEUR / SCREENPLAY: RICHARD MATHESON / STARRING: VINCENT PRICE, PETER LORRE, BASIL RATHBONE, BORIS KARLOFF, JOE E. BROWN, JOYCE JAMESON, BEVERLY POWERS (HILLS), ORANGEY THE CAT (CREDITED AS RHUBARB) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

We always approach horror-comedies with a great deal of trepidation; they so often fail to be either funny or frightening and when you miss both your benchmarks, that’s pretty much a bad movie. With the title like The Comedy of Terrors, this one certainly nailed its colours to the mast so it’d have be pretty special to avoid the all too frequent fate of these not-rare-enough cinematic beasts. Ooh, Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay? Why didn’t you say so? Oh alright then, we’ll give it a go…

We’re in 19th century America and Trumbull and Gillie (Price and Lorre) are the local undertakers who only actually have one coffin (so they have to chuck the corpse in the hole when everyone has left the funeral). To be fair, that’s a pretty decent gag, but we hope there’s more. They’re short of money and the landlord (Rathbone) is hassling them for rent so they decide to “hurry along” a few inevitable deaths to drum up business. So that’s your plot, but does it work? Well apart from the aforementioned Matheson on writing duties, we have no less than Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone and even Boris Karloff as Trumbull’s mad old father-in-law to deliver the laughs and scares. Apart from being horror royalty (two of that lot were in Son of Frankenstein and three were in that “historical” classic – Tower of London!) they were actually top-notch comedy actors. They had the timing, the delivery and the straight faces; you couldn’t go wrong with that lot. What’s more, they all deliver the goods with cracking performances. Throw in Joe E. Brown (you know him as Jack Lemmon’s “love interest” in Some Like It Hot – “Well, nobody’s perfect”) and this should be brilliant.

Unfortunately, it isn’t. The first inevitable problem is that it doesn’t function in any way as “horror”. So the best we can hope for is a decent black comedy. But it’s one of those ‘60s comedies that thinks it’s far cleverer than it really is (there were rather a lot of those). There are actually a couple of brilliant lines delivered expertly but there just aren’t enough to fill a half-hour comedy, let alone a feature film. Despite the cast’s sterling efforts to save the movie it just comes across as self-indulgent. A complete disaster? Well when you consider the talent on display, pretty much! This could have been the horror-comedy’s ‘60s moment to shine. As it was, we had to wait until Carry on Screaming’s Hammer send up. Nothing saves the day like Carry On and Hammer.

Not scary and not funny enough so you can probably live without this disc, but we will point out that the lush ‘60s sets look great on Blu-ray. If you want something undemanding with a Sunday afternoon hangover, it might serve your purposes.

Extras: Trailer, commentary, three documentaries and booklet
 

STARRY EYES

DVD REVIEW: STARRY EYES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: KEVIN KOLSCH, DENNIS WIDMYER / SCREENPLAY: KEVIN KOLSCH, DENNIS WIDMYER / STARRING: ALEX ESSOE, AMANDA FULLER, NOAH SEGAN, FABIANNE THERESE / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16TH

Sarah (Essoe) is an aspiring young actor desperate for stardom. Living in LA, neurotically poking and prodding her too-thin body every morning, waiting tables at a diner while simultaneously checking her phone for the latest casting call, she is no different to thousands of other unknowns who would sell their soul for a chance at fame. And when Sarah auditions for a role in a new film called ‘The Silver Scream’ she gets that chance, not realising until it’s too late that the producers she’s working for are Satanists and that selling her soul will involve a sickeningly visceral and brutally violent transformation. There will be slaughter before Sarah can be reborn.

Starry Eyes was a massive hit at last year’s Frightfest (and in similar festivals across the world) and from the opening moments it is easy to see why. This isn’t a ho-hum devil worshipping potboiler, it’s a scalpel-sharp character study of a woman who is already mentally unwell – she pulls her hair out in frustration after a bad audition and, after flunking her first audition for ‘The Silver Scream’, has a full-blown fit in the bathroom. A fit that impresses the film’s Casting Director so much she asks Sarah to come back into the audition room and repeat the fit in front of her. So, from the very first scene, even before she finds out about ‘The Silver Scream’, Sarah is a character in extremis, who is already primed to take us on a very bad journey.

The film is also a brilliant dissection of low-level Hollywood and the vapid shallowness of Sarah’s friends, all wannabe actors, directors and writers who pretend to support her when she’s down but actually consider her to be something of a joke until Sarah’s job on ‘The Silver Scream’ starts to look serious; the production-line cruelty of the film business, the producers concealed by darkness while the fragile auditionees are pinned by the spotlight, contorting themselves through every spiteful command, eager to be manipulated and humiliated if it brings their dream just a hairsbreadth closer to reality. ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ Starry Eyes seems to say, ‘Because if you get it, it will turn you into a monster’. In Sarah’s case, quite literally.

Starry Eyes is exceptionally smart horror filmmaking, Sunset Boulevard meets Rosemary’s Baby via the ickiest of David Cronenberg’s body horrors. Co-writer/directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer have created something very special here – a movie that is not only a dead-on satire about the film industry and the hunger and moral sacrifice required to succeed, it also makes something new and fresh out of a well-worn horror staple. With the exception of a few ‘70s classics, films about Satanism and the Devil have generally been B-movie fodder, but Kolsch and Widmyer, together with a fabulous cast (Alex Essoe as Sarah and Maria Olsen as the Casting Director are particularly outstanding) and Jonathan Snipes’ playfully fairy tale musical score, have elevated the Satanic horror to A-movie status.

Miss this at your peril.

DARK PLANET

DVD REVIEW: DARK PLANET / DIRECTOR: FEDOR BONDARCHUK / SCREENPLAY: EDUARD VOLODARSKIY, MARINA DYACHENKO, SERGEY DYACHENKO / STARRING: VASILIY STEPANOV, YULIYA SNIGIR, PYOTR FYODOROV / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Based on the writings of the Arkadiy and Boris Strugatskiy, two renowned Russian authors, Dark Planet (aka The Inhabited Island or Obitaemyy ostrov) is boundlessly action-packed. A science fiction film overcast with the murky dealings of war as repressed citizens fight against a tyrannical power. It may not sound so original for space fiction, but writer Eduard Volodarskiy has adapted a unique world with monsters of all forms.

“There’s an uprising in deep space”. It’s the year 2157, our young hero Maksim (Stepanov) hails from an ideal earth, free from war and poverty. The best part of it all is that they have managed to gain powers of super human strength and healing. In order to seek adventure, he takes his ship for a ride in the depths of space but he crashes on an unfamiliar planet. Met with hostility and taken to a city which although has futuristic sciences, is run by a medieval mind set. After breaking free from his imprisonment, he meets a young woman, Rada (Snignir) and her brother, he decides that the only way to truly survive is to cause a revolution against this oppressive government which uses a form of mind control to regulate its citizens.

Although slightly caricature, Dark Planet is filled with interesting and spirited characters, the actors’ performances are extremely energetic with added humour. Villainous leaders, cave-ridden mutants and shabby rebels, Russian director Fedor Bondarchuk has ticked all the boxes for a worthy space odyssey. He has created timeless characters and, with plenty of experience in directing explosive action scenes, he has made it apparent with this film by adding dynamic imagery with vast and beautiful scenery. The set designs are wonderfully elaborate; there are also great make-up effects and costume designs delivering colourful aesthetics. Some of the special effects are not the best, but are certainly watchable and put to their best effectiveness by some great cinematography. A very entertaining watch and an essential for the hardcore sci-fi movie buff.
 

RABID

BLU-RAY REVIEW: RABID / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: DAVID CRONENBERG / SCREENPLAY: DAVID CRONENBERG / STARRING: MARILYN CHAMBERS, FRANK MOORE, JOE SILVER, SUSAN ROMAN / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 16TH

Being the spiritual successor to 1975’s Shivers, you’d expect plenty of the same themes and imagery at play, but the follow-up to David Cronenberg’s debut was a much more expansive, action orientated effort. It took the body horror out of an apartment complex and dragged it kicking and screaming into the streets of Montreal.

Rabid is a startlingly refreshing take on the vampire myth, which sees Rose and her boyfriend Hart involved in a motorcycle accident which leaves Rose fatally injured. She’s rushed to a nearby plastic surgery resort where, due to the lack of medical hardware, Dr. Dan Keloid uses a radical experimental surgery (proto stem cell treatment). Although completely curing her, Rose grows a phallic stinger under her armpit which she uses to rape victims and consume their blood. Those affected are left with memory loss before turning into zombies, driven to consume flesh and blood and spread the sexually transmitted infection throughout a frenzied Montreal.

Joe Silver has tremendous screen presence, even playing a character similar to his turn in Shivers, and Frank Moore is charming as Hart, but it’s Marilyn Chambers who dominates the screen. Best known for her adult films, Rabid was Chambers’ first, and sadly only, ‘straight’ dramatic role. Despite the controversy surrounding the casting decision, Chambers holds the film together and supports the weaker performances, playing Rose with a genuine intensity, plenty of sympathy and an abstract otherness.

Even on Arrow Film’s re-mastered Blu-ray release the film looks scuzzy, giving extra credence to the cold, oddly removed documentary style shoot. But to think Cronenberg’s intricate personality was absent gives the wrong impression, though it does lack the warmer, more personal touch of later efforts like The Fly. Fans of the filmmaker’s later works are probably going to be at odds with the picture quality, and unsure sure of the endearing oddness.

The soundtrack is overly syrupy, but there are scenes where droning industrial noises come into play, perfectly accompanying the nihilistic story unfolding onscreen. A re-score from Trent Reznor or Clint Mansell would give the film that extra edge. The prosthetic and FX hold up surprisingly well, due in no small part to how sparse and subtly they’re used. The zombies, given the lack of heavy make-up, have a tangible quality, and you really get a sense of the illness.

Included on the Blu-ray are two great documentaries, the first a Director’s Special from 1999, which offers a 60-minute retrospective of Cronenberg’s work, with interviews from Holly Hunter, Jennifer Jason Leigh and William Dafoe, among others. While it only fleetingly covers Rabid, there’s still interesting titbits for even the most knowing fans. The second is a fascinating 15-minute look at exploitation distributor Cinepix, who were behind the Ilsa franchise and My Bloody Valentine.

David Cronenberg is infamous for his metaphysical, intellectual and playful films and Rabid is one of the finest, if understated, in that canon. Proving how much of a punk filmmaker he was, Rabid isn’t to be missed this time around.

Special Features: Two audio commentaries / Two documentaries / Interviews/ Trailer / Production gallery / Collector’s booklet
 

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THE HOUSE OF HIM

DVD REVIEW: THE HOUSE OF HIM / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: ROBERT FLORENCE / SCREENPLAY: ROBERT FLORENCE / STARRING: RICHARD RANKIN, LOUISE STEWART, KIRSTY STRAIN, AMY E. WATSON / RELEASE DATE: VOD OUT NOW

Robert Florence gives a fresh take on the slasher film with dark twists breaking the recycled tropes of today. The House of Him gets credit for an original screenplay with an otherworldly notion. There is nothing quite like payback, especially when it concerns a misogynistic serial killer.

Two young women, Sophie and Anna, are lured into a male photographer’s home. Instead of getting the camera, he dons a mask and murderous intentions ensue. Anna is left in turmoil when discovering her friend has been killed, but before the killer gets a chance to off his last victim something more paranormal seems to be taking over. Caught off guard, he decides not to kill Anna straightaway and instead torments her as he attempts to work out what is happening. The tables soon turn as it appears to be his previous victims waking from the dead and taking the opportunity to get the last laugh.

Richard Rankin gives a good performance on the psyche of a female-hating murderer, though when he starts chatting away, drinking tea from a china set, the fearsome allure is diminished. Amusing but definitely unthreatening, even for a shaken Anna, played by Louise Stewart, who is supposed to be panic-stricken.

The simplicity of the location and lack of cast members suggest a little too non-budget a film. Where it lacks in production value, it thrives in imagination with a sound concept that is executed clearly. There definitely seems to be some influences from John Carpenter’s Halloween in style and tone. Traditional horror conventions are used justly, and Florence makes the most of the little lighting and space he has to shoot with. Unfortunately, it feels a little stretched out in the middle, losing its rhythm; this is where some of the fear and suspense is lost, but somehow it comes together at the end with a chilling resolution.

Special Features: TBC
 

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THROWBACK

DVD REVIEW: THROWBACK / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: TRAVIS BAIN / SCREENPLAY: TRAVIS BAIN / STARRING: SHAWN BRACK, ANTHONY RING, MELANIE SERAFIN, VERNON WELLS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Set in the luscious tropical forests of Queensland, Australia, Throwback follows two treasure hunters in their search for gold abandoned by a legendary outlaw from the 1800s. Unknown to what caused his disappearance and too busy planning their ascent to riches, the adventurers soon find themselves hunted by Australia’s answer to Big Foot; the terrifying Yowie.

As you’d hope from a low budget horror about a mythological ape, Throwback wears silliness on its hairy sleeves. The dialogue is cheese-ridden, characters possess a dramatic head-turn affliction, and while the Yowie is smartly filmed to amp the mystery, you’re always aware someone has landed a brilliant gig running amok in Australian woodland dressed as a gorilla. Vernon Wells of Mad Max 2 and Commando fame even briefly turns up as the exquisite Detective McNab.

But that isn’t to put down Throwback. Director Travis Bain certainly has an eye for cinematography; with certain opening shots over and under the tropics echoing a budgeted Jurassic Park. It’s the beautifully captured setting which hints at great talent here, with actor Anthony Ring also rising above the script with a memorable performance as the dastardly, wealth-hungry Kent.

While always entertaining, the horror dial could have been cranked up. Throwback is suitably tagged as an ‘adventure horror’ but falls short of delivering extreme thrills in either camp, leaving its lasting impression to unfortunately suffer. However, while it lasts, it’s the kind of filmmaking that’ll keep a smile on your face throughout – even during a bout of blunt rock dismemberment.

So if you’re looking for a lovingly created slice of B-movie fun, Throwback will satisfy that grizzly itch. It might be a short-lived tickle, but there’s enough potential brewing under the hood to warrant attention and belief in the definitely-not-a-costume Yowie.

Special Features: Alternative ending / Behind the scenes / Famous Monsters Film Festival Q&A and video blogs / Travis Bain short films / Vernon Wells reads as except from Henry Lawson’s The Hairy Man / Radio interviews / Deleted scenes / Trailers
 

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