13 MINUTES

Thora Birch - 13 Minutes

Disaster movies, even low-budget independent ones, tend to rely on a common, dependable template. The everyday lives of an ensemble of characters is sketched out for the audience. Most of them are revealed to be struggling with difficult relationships or personal frailties of some kind. Their individual and collective mettle is soon tested when calamity engulfs them all. Those that survive the carnage that follows emerge remade and repaired by the catharsis of disaster. Those that perish in the process either suffer a coward’s death or nobly sacrifice themselves so that others might live. In the meantime, the audience enjoys the vicarious pleasure of witnessing the catastrophe unfold, ideally at scale and with a breathless sense of spectacle.

Writer-director Lindsay Gossling approaches the drama of 13 Minutes keen to step away from this derivative approach. The title refers to the amount of time someone in tornado alley has to find secure shelter once the warning alarm sounds. For the first hour of the film, all attention is focused on the travails of a collection of families in small-town America, all wrestling with their secrets and problems, and all blissfully unaware of the deadly tornado hurtling towards the place they call home. Sadly, the attempt to pivot the drama on this crisscrossing network of human relationships disappoints.

That’s because this set of characters are essentially stereotypes: the alpha-male farmer facing foreclosure, his secretly gay son agonising about the idea of ‘coming out’, a young woman confronting an unexpected pregnancy – and many other very familiar archetypes. In what’s a solid cast, Thora Birch stands out as a working mum with a big heart, along with Paz Vega as the brave and resourceful hotel worker Ana. Gossling tries to set these pressing personal issues in a wider context of religious conservatism, and within a social culture in which immigrant workers face discrimination and exploitation. That would work better if the film provided any cues about the time in which it’s set: but it’s not clear if the film unfolds in the USA of Jimmy Carter or of Donald Trump, so there’s nothing to anchor these tensions to a fixed point in the timeline of modern America.

When the tornado finally hits, the film turns up the melodrama and makes great play of the kind of implausible coincidences that are the stock-in-trade of the mainstream disaster flick. A few moments of CGI aside, the budget is spent showing the aftermath of the cataclysm: a wasteland of flattened buildings and wrecked highways. That provides some visual impact, but it’s not going to be enough to impress the disaster movie aficionado.

What’s odd about the film’s finale is the lack of interest that it has in the themes of redemption or renewal. Most of the character drama is left unresolved, in whole or in part: almost no one emerges as a ‘better person’ as a result of their experiences. Perhaps that’s ultimately the film’s message: that in the face of the limitless power of nature, the petty affairs of human beings count for very little.

13 MINUTES (aka THIRTEEN MINUTES) is available from video-on-demand services. A DVD will be released on January 17th.

THE OUT OF TOWNERS (1970)

out of towners

Films rarely get as stressful as in Arthur Hiller’s adaptation of Neil Simon’s The Out of Towners. This comedy is enough to raise anyone’s anxiety levels, despite the pompousness of the lead character.

Jack Lemmon is George Kellerman, who has an important work interview at 10am in New York. In order to have a chance of promotion, he must travel from Ohio to the Big Apple. Since it’s such a momentous moment, he brings along his wife, Gwen (Sandy Dennis). What follows is not so much a case of what can go wrong will go wrong, but how outrageously wrong could it go. From a delayed plane journey that drops them off in Boston to lost luggage, cancelled hotel rooms and muggings, there are plenty of disasters awaiting the Kellermans.

In his first film as sole writer, Neil Simon excels at painting a picture of the perfect middle-class couple thrown into a world they are not equipped to deal with. Lemmon is perfect as the immensely annoying Kellerman. Taking every setback as a personal slight – and keeping a list of names he’s going to complain strongly about – he’s the type of guy we’ve all met at some point. Sandy Dennis is equally brilliant as the put-upon wife. Her continual exclamation of “Ohhhh, my god!” and tendency to be right about situations that she’s not allowed an opinion on is spot-on.

There have been plenty of movies that have followed similar exhaustingly traumatic beats. Martin Scorsese’s superb and underappreciated After Hours (1985) and, of course, 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Steve Martin would later star in a remake of this film, but the less said about that the better) spring to mind, but The Out of Towners did it first and a little more believably.

Australian label Imprint’s Blu-ray (the first time the film has been released on the format) is light on bonus features, which is strange since they usually do a fantastic job of supplementing the movie. A commentary by film historian Lee Gambin and the trailer is all we get, but The Out of Towners is good enough to stand on its own.

The Out of Towners is available on Blu-ray from Imprint. 

KITTEN WITH A WHIP (1964)

Lurid, teenage delinquent dramas were hugely popular in the fifties and sixties, with many exploitation films filling drive-ins and theatres. The big studios got in the act with the likes of Kitten with a Whip.

Promising senatorial candidate David (John Forsythe) arrives home to find a strange woman, Jody (Ann-Margaret) sleeping in his daughter’s bed. Thinking she has been sent by his opponents to discredit him, he attempts to throw her out. However, she spins him a tale of running away from an abusive family and he relents, even buying her new clothes and paying for a ticket to stay with her ‘aunt’. His good nature is repaid with violence when Jody not only returns but invites her equally lawless friends along.

Kitten with a Whip is a prime example of a major studio doing exploitation as well as the indies. It’s as lurid as you’d hope and features some fabulous set pieces, not least when the action relocates to Mexico. Forsythe is the perfect, respectable straight guy, whose kindness and willingness to help are used against him. He’s a moral man who, despite having marriage troubles (his wife and child are ‘away’, no doubt planning to leave him) is never tempted by the saucy minx who is manipulating him. Ann-Margaret, although early in her career is superb, forever teetering on the edge of psychopathy.

Presented in stark black and white, it would make an interesting double bill with Russ Meyer’s Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), and although Ann-Margaret’s Jody may not be as physical as Tura Suntana’s Varla but would certainly hold her own in that particular gang.

Australian label Imprint has released the film with a host of great extras that put the film in the context of the Hollywood system at the time. A video essay by Kat Ellinger covers delinquent cinema in general and is informative and entertaining. It’s a welcome release for a film that is all but forgotten outside of fans of cult movies.

SESSION 9 (2001)

SESSION 9

From its original release back in 2001, Brad Anderson’s Session 9 has developed something of a cult following. Often overlooked, Anderson’s stylish, creeping thriller has garnered a loyal following through word of mouth and now Second Sight has given it a polish, added some new interviews and released this fancy Blu-ray boxset. Perhaps twenty years on Session 9 will finally find the audience it deserves.

With the story kept to a minimum – an asbestos disposal firm striving to complete the contract on a former asylum – Anderson focuses on atmosphere, and it pays off. From the beginning, Session 9 unsettles you, allowing barely a moment of respite as the simple, subtle plot threads emerge and intertwine. Peter Mullan’s Gordon displays the stress and anxiety of a man with social and personal troubles, while his team including David Caruso and co-writer Stephen Gevedon each have their own, often conflicting agendas.

What really sets Session 9 apart is the uneasy tension that pervades throughout. Unspoken, often misinterpreted thoughts and intentions cause both confusion and mistrust. And Anderson directs with almost voyeuristic glee, conveying the bleakly stunning, terrifying location through a bleached palette, with little set dressing required to bring this haunting building to life. The opening rotating shot itself is an indicator of the discomfort to come.

Instead of the often rather dull extras accompanying many re-releases the second disc provides real insight into the genesis and production of Session 9. Interviews with Anderson himself, Gevedon and Production Designer Sophie Carlhian among others are as entertaining as they are informative, with enough to satisfy fans new and old.

In short, this is a fantastic new version of a beautifully crafted and unsettling film and one that rewards repeat viewing.

Session 9 is out now on Blu-ray.

SÉANCE

SEANCE

There is something slightly unsettling, rather unnerving about watching Séance. Rather than being caused by a creepy atmosphere or some inventively scary moments, it’s because this is the type of film you didn’t think they were making anymore.

At the exclusive Edelvine boarding school for girls, a gang of ‘cool’ seniors call on the resident ghost as a spooky trick to play on the nerdy Kerrie, who then promptly falls out of a window. Which opens the door for Camille (Suki Waterhouse) to join, who is less of a pushover than her predecessor. For varyingly dull reasons all the girls end up in detention where, of course, they decide to hold a séance.

When students then start disappearing could it be the summoned ghost? Or is there a more physical explanation for the mysterious events?

Any one of a number of ’80s slasher films did this so much better. And you feel the filmmakers have seen those movies, as they’ve borrowed many of the genre tropes: actresses too old for their parts in skimpy clothing, ropey effects and a Giallo-esque soundtrack that bursts out unexpectedly from time to time being just a selection.

But the real problem is, does anybody involved really care?

The script has an awkward, generic feel made worse by performances that are either unenthusiastic (if we’re being charitable) or just plain bad (if we’re not). And there were obviously budgetary concerns as no one has bothered to turn any of the lights on. Or is that supposed to be atmosphere?

By the time writer/director Simon Barrett (he did the much better You’re Next a few years ago so frankly should know better) gets around to the long-overdue reveal you probably won’t care either.

Séance is on Blu-ray and DVD from January 17th.

PUBERTY BLUES (1981)

puberty blues

During the days when video shop shelves were filled with all manner of cinema from throughout the world, there was a trend for teen sex comedies. They would be the likes of Porky’s or the Israeli Lemon Popsicle series. Among them was this Australian film Puberty Blues. It’s unlike any of the other movies in the genre as it’s presented from the viewpoint of the girls and is of a much higher standard.

Set in a seaside suburb of Sydney, the story follows Debbie (Nell Schofield) and her friend Sue (Jad Capelja) as they try to fit in with the ‘in crowd’ at school and, more importantly, on the beach. All the lads are surfers and the girls are only there for mainly one thing – rooting. As they go through the usual teenage heartache and humiliation, Debbie realises she wants more than this gang can provide.

Forgoing the crassness of the other movies mentioned above, Puberty Blues is a well-crafted, honest, and entertaining film. Directed by Aussie legend Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) and featuring a cast of mostly non-actors, it gives the viewer a raw insight into the lives of these beach-dwelling teens. It’s based on a book of the same name that caused quite a stir Down Under (and inspired a TV series more recently) and despite the initial content, is very much a feminist story.

There are nods to the Beach Party films of the sixties, particularly in the raucous fight scene, but it’s in the social commentary that Puberty Blues hits the most. The girls are there to be seen, to fetch food, and copulate on demand. However, Debbie wants more than this, despite being desperate to fit in and going along with numerous awkward moments.

Umbrella Entertainment’s Blu-ray showers the film with some outstanding special features, including a reuniting of several of the main cast, and new interviews with the director and star Nell Schofield. It’s easy to see why the movie has become a cult film, and it deserves to be rediscovered in the wider world.

Puberty Blues is available on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment. 

JAKOB’S WIFE

Jakob's Wife

Anne, who is married to small-town minister Jakob, resentfully wonders what has become of her life after thirty years of marriage. It seems that her identity is simply that of Jakob’s wife. Anne attends services, but she may as well be a piece of furniture for all the notice she is given. She cooks and cleans and is the Norman Rockwell portrayal of a dutiful wife, but it is a life of dreary drudgery. That is until Anne encounters ‘The Master’ and she is transformed into a vibrant, vivacious, powerful woman with a newfound lust for life, or should that be un-life?

For decades the standard vampire was a malevolent, savage, capricious monster. Then the bite was taken out of them when they became glittery, angst-ridden, tortured souls in countless teen romances. Thankfully, the monstrous vampire seems to be rising from its coffin once more as evidenced in Jakob’s Wife. That’s not to say that Anne (played to perfection by the incomparable Queen of Screams Barbara Crampton) is a soulless killing machine. Far from it. Anne’s transformation isn’t just vampiric, it unleashes the woman she longs to be. She finally finds her voice and dares to become a person in her own right. She expresses her opinion, takes control and steps out of her husband’s shadow. Naturally, her religious background and moral compass make the taking of another’s life abhorrent to her. The fact that she’s a minister’s wife is also problematic.

Larry Fessenden plays Jakob with warmth and humility when it would be so easy to play him as an overbearing, tyrannical husband. He’s content with caring for the spiritual well-being of his congregation. The fact is really that Jakob himself is in a rut although he seems comfortably oblivious to the fact and completely unaware that he takes his wife for granted.

Jakob’s Wife is more than just a comedic horror film. It’s as much a study of marriage and how familiarity can breed contempt. Anne and Jakob clearly love each other, but it’s a familiar love lacking spontaneity and attentiveness that Anne desperately craves.

Travis Stevens directs with the same finesse and assurance as he did with Girl On The Third Floor. He allows room for Crampton and Fessenden to explore their characters to the fullest whilst ensuring that the film doesn’t stray from its path of being a horror film. Comedy in horror films can sometimes feel forced and contrived., The comedy in Jakob’s Wife is natural, coming out of the situations that the characters find themselves in.

The extras are minimal. There’s a handful of deleted scenes that are interesting but wouldn’t have added a great deal to the finished film. There’s also The Making of Jakob’s Wife, which is the usual sort of making of… There are interesting nuggets such as Barbara Crampton, who also produced the film, adding the vampiric elements to the original screenplay.

Jakob’s Wife is a fun, smart horror film that, after all this time, has finally given the vampire back its bite.

Jakob’s Wife is available on Blu-ray and DVD on January 10th.

THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY (1972)

joel delaney

A strange mashup of upper-class social drama and possession exploitation, this often disturbing film from the early ‘70s doesn’t quite earn its horror stripes but makes up for it with a particularly nasty final act.

Norah (Shirley MacLaine) is a typical divorced New Yorker who dotes on her younger brother, Joel (Perry King), almost as much as her children. When he’s sectioned following an unprovoked attack on his apartment superintendent in Spanish Harlem, Joel begins to act strangely. The locals believe he’s been possessed by the spirit of a deceased resident who was thought to be a sadistic serial killer.

Directed by Waris Hussein, best known for his TV dramas and helming the first-ever episode of Doctor Who way back in 1963, The Possession of Joel Delaney has a lot to recommend. MacLaine is fantastic as the sister desperate to keep her brother safe at any cost and King is suitably sinister as the possessed Joel. There are a pair of sequences that stand out, however. A Puerto Rican exorcism provides a flavour of fevered mysticism and the aforementioned climax is powerful stuff indeed. Now fully possessed by the killer’s spirit, Joel terrorises his sister, nephew, and niece in a home invasion situation that’s rather hard to watch as it’s both very nasty and incredibly cruel.

Imprint’s Blu-ray has a wealth of bonus material, including an informative commentary and a pair of video essays (including one focusing on the fashions of the film). The standout feature is a lengthy interview with Perry King, who’s brutally honest about his work on the film (and his lack of experience) as well as giving a fascinating insight into how he sees the business. A documentary from 1994 about Shirley MacLaine rounds off the extras making this a worthwhile purchase.

FOR THE SAKE OF VICIOUS

sake vicious

The home invasion genre of contemporary horror is enjoying something of a renaissance amongst indie filmmakers. Like its sibling, the haunted house mystery, it’s a type of cinematic storytelling reliant on a series of familiar beats: turning points in the unravelling of domestic normality. For the Sake of Vicious makes no pretence that it’s reinventing a proven formula. Instead, the filmmakers’ efforts focus on crafting a heart-pounding and stomach-turning thriller. It’s a movie that recognises the importance of earning its bloody and explosive payoffs through the nerve-jangling tension that precedes them.

Returning home from a tough day shift at the hospital, nurse Romina is preparing for an evening of Halloween fun with her young son. She’s horrified to discover two men holed up inside her house, one holding the other at gunpoint as a hostage. Shaken into survival mode, Romina is soon locked into a fight for her life with these inexplicable intruders. Amidst the high-jinx of trick-or-treat night, the crashes, bangs and shrieks of brutal hand-to-hand fighting attract no one’s attention. And Romina soon discovers that her Halloween horrors have barely begun.

It’s difficult to reveal any more of the plot without diluting the film’s impact. For the Sake of Vicious is best enjoyed with no knowledge of what happens after the first five minutes. Suffice to say that the motives of the various uninvited house guests come under increasing scrutiny as the situation in the house worsens.

After the opening hospital scene, the film moves to the increasingly claustrophobic setting of a small suburban house. Aside from key flashbacks, the film unfolds in a linear fashion and in something close to real-time, which reinforces the feeling of genuine jeopardy.

The film’s intensity comes from the visceral quality of the close combat violence. But Reese Eveneshen’s muscular script recognises that blood-spatter and punctured flesh is not sufficient: the drama needs well-drawn characters if the audience is to care about the outcome of the bloody conflicts. Amongst the small cast, Lora Burke is continually impressive as the young medic pulled into a situation far beyond her control and in which the stakes are impossibly high. Hers is a spirited and gutsy performance, and she’s a protagonist who’s impossible not to hope survives the chaos of the night.

The frenzied hands-on violence of For the Sake of Vicious makes for a difficult watch at times, as everyday domestic objects are turned into improvised weapons. When STARBURST first reviewed the film, we noted how refreshing it was to “see ‘normal’ people react in natural ways”. This is a script that recognises that ordinary folk don’t ‘suddenly become superheroes’ just because they’re under threat. The heightened on-screen brutality may not always come across as entirely realistic, but the assault-and-battery never strays into the gratuitous and there’s no attempt to glamorize the trauma.

Backed by an edgy, driving score, and in-combat sound effects guaranteed to make you wince, For the Sake of Vicious is not going to win any awards for originality. However, with its welcome focus on resilient female agency (rather than female victimhood), this is an unpredictable thrill ride and an exemplar of small-scale domestic horror filmmaking.

For the Sake of Vicious is available on digital in the UK.

THE GIFT (2000)

gift

Sam Raimi’s often overlooked thriller gets the Blu-ray treatment from the Australian label Imprint and time has been kind to it.

Annie (Cate Blanchett) is a widowed mother-of-three who uses her ‘gift’ of ESP to guide the locals of her small southern town. Some are not impressed, particularly Donnie (Keanu Reeves), who takes exception that his beaten wife Valerie (Hilary Swank) has been seeing her. When her son gets in trouble at school, she meets the head, Wayne (Greg Kinnear), who has a lovely fiancé Jessica (Katie Holmes). When Jessica goes missing, Wayne comes to Annie to help find her.

Raimi crafts a steamy Southern Gothic melodrama with some added supernatural elements from a script by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson. There’s a very human drama at the heart of the film, and every performance is outstanding. Particular kudos must go to Keanu Reeves, who plays the bad bastard perfectly. Modern effects aside, The Gift could have come from the fifties as it hits all the right beats of the films of that time. The twists may be easy to spot, but that’s not detrimental when the ride is so enjoyable.

Imprint’s Blu-ray presents the film well, certainly an upgrade from the DVD. A number of new extras have been added: a commentary, which is interesting but non-essential, and an interview with the composer Christopher Young. The other special features are all contemporary archive EPK-type pieces. Informative but fluff. It’s a great film to rediscover though.