Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

REVIEW: MISCHIEF NIGHT / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: RICHARD SCHENKMAN / SCREENPLAY: RICHARD SCHENKMAN / STARRING: IAN BAMBERG, NOELL COET, ADAM C. EDWARDS / RELEASE DATE: JULY 28TH

‘Mischief Night’ apparently being a holiday in which children engage in petty vandalism and general naughtiness, annoying their neighbours by egging windows and throwing toilet paper at trees. And, in the case of Mischief Night, breaking into a blind girl’s home and harassing her with a hatchet, rain mac and mask. The mask is a little redundant though. Because, you know, she’s blind.

There are Daredevil jokes abounding as Emily (not convincingly) sidesteps broken glass, detects her boyfriend’s change in hair colour and fights off a crazed psychopath, all while looking oddly like iCarly. Not that I know what iCarly looks like. It’s not a bad concept for a horror film or thriller – think Blind Terror crossed with You’re Next – but Mischief Night regularly fails to live up to its promise.

Pedestrian in terms of atmosphere, direction and action, it’s too slow, not scary enough and lacking in tension. That’s a shame, since its villain looks effective, decked out in an ugly Halloween mask and bright yellow rain mac. We’d like to say that the yellow mac is another Daredevil reference, but that would probably be giving the filmmakers too much credit. Set almost entirely in Emily’s home, Mischief Night invites unfortunate comparisons to Halloween and – as the film plays in one scene – Night of the Living Dead, neither of which it could ever hope to hold a candle to.

Like kids egging your window or writing on your microwave door with tomato ketchup (a thing, apparently), Mischief Night is a minor irritant. Sure, it’s annoying and stupid, but it’s not really worth getting worked up about. Like this film, Mischief Night is just a poor man’s Halloween.

Extras: None

REVIEW: HAUNTER / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: VINCENZO NATALI / STARRING: ABIGAIL BRESLIN, STEPHEN MCHATTIE, PETER OUTERBRIDGE, MICHELLE NOLDEN, DAVID HEWLETT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

It’s probably a reasonable assumption to say that director Vincenzo Natali doesn’t suffer from claustrophobia. His impressive 1997 debut feature Cube was set primarily within a maze of deadly, identical rooms. Prior to that he directed the short film Elevated, which was set entirely in, well, an elevator.

For his fifth feature film, the director has returned to the single location format that made his name, albeit a somewhat larger one. This time the setting is a suburban family home, which the director has used as the location for an intricate, largely original ghost story.

Telling a story from the perspective of a ghost is nothing new. Both The Sixth Sense and The Others used this concept to become smash hits. Unlike those movies, though, Haunter has the lead character realise her supernatural status early on, and instead tells an entirely different story.

It starts off with every teenager’s worst nightmare. It’s 1985 and 15 year old Lisa Johnson (Breslin) is trapped in a perpetual, boring day. It’s the day before her 16th birthday and she’s stuck in the house due to the heavy fog outside. Her dad’s fixing the car, her brother’s playing Pac-Man, her mum’s making macaroni cheese and nagging her to help with the laundry. The highlight of the day will be watching Murder She Wrote. And the next day it’s still the day before her 16th birthday…

It’s a neat concept. What teenager hasn’t felt like time is standing still when they’re stuck with their family? Here it’s the literal truth. Every day is the same for Lisa. Soon however, her repetitive existence takes a turn when she begins to investigate ghostly goings on in the house. Little changes creep into the routine. Her dad starts acting in an unusual manner, the supernatural occurrences become more and more frequent, and then there’s a locked door in the basement which holds a strange fascination for her.

Rather than the movie overplaying its supernatural Groundhog Day concept, Lisa soon realises that both her and her family are dead. To make matters worse, a mysterious visitor (McHattie) shows up and warns her off investigating any further, advising that “there are some things worse than death.”

Naturally she ignores him and makes contact with the house’s present day occupant, her 21st century counterpart, Olivia. It soon becomes apparent that Olivia and her family are facing a similar fate to Lisa’s, and that the key to saving them is discovering what happened to her own family.

As with the director’s previous movie Splice, the intriguing concept doesn’t quite pay off. Not overdoing the Groundhog Day thing works ultimately as both a strength and a weakness. Veering away from this early on saves the film from getting repetitive. However, the murder mystery that replaces it is more conventional, and therefore, ultimately, less interesting.

That said, there’s much to enjoy here. Abigail Breslin, following impressive turns in Zombieland and her Oscar nominated performance in Little Miss Sunshine, gives another (no pun intended) spirited performance. With her underdeveloped family barely getting a look in, it’s down to her to carry the film in her largest role to date. McHattie also impresses, as a killer whose reach stretches out from beyond the grave. There are some good shocks and creepy moments aplenty, with some impressive ghosts, and probably the most sinister boiler room since Freddy Krueger hung up his razor gloves. Natali constructs an intricate labyrinth of a plot for his characters (the Pac-Man metaphor, with ghosts floating around a maze, is particularly apt). And there are some other beautiful little touches too, such as when Lisa enters Olivia’s time and we see her utterly baffled by the future. Olivia’s iPad is science fiction to a girl from the ’80s.

When Haunter works it’s an effective, creepy horror. Ultimately it doesn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts, but it’s an entertaining film from one of the genre’s more original filmmakers.  

REVIEW: THE LEGO MOVIE / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: PHIL LORD, CHRISTOPHER MILLER / SCREENPLAY: PHIL LORD, CHRISTOPHER MILLER, DAN HAGEMAN, KEVIN HAGEMAN / STARRING: CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETT, MORGAN FREEMAN, WILL FERRELL, LIAM NEESON, CHARLIE DAY, NICK OFFERMAN / RELEASE DATE: JULY 21ST

Everything is Awesome! This has been the battle cry of practically every single person who saw and enjoyed The LEGO Movie at the cinema earlier this year and has been pretty much the theme tune of 2014 so far. (Though parents with small children addicted to Disney’s Frozen may beg to differ.)

 

Now with its appearance on DVD, those of us who were not lucky to catch this feature in the theatre can be exposed to the relentless multi-media marketing empire that is LEGO. It is entirely understandable if you avoided this movie when it was in the cinema; movie tie-ins for children’s toys tend to be successful but are rarely satisfying and the more popular the toy, the less effort needed to make the thing sell. As LEGO can be easily described as the most popular toy invented, caution seems sensible.

 

Fortunately, you would be wrong. The LEGO brand has already established itself as a toy line that is more than a little bit cheeky and postmodern in its approach to storytelling, with the vast plethora of LEGO video games being filled with cunning sight gags and references to the practicalities of making things out of LEGO. The movie follows the same approach, but in this case every brick and movement has been lovingly rendered to make the entire thing look like it’s been made out of LEGO, right down to the mould lines. (It’s actually CGI, in case you’re wondering.)

 

The plot itself follows the story of Emmet, a humble construction worker who spends his days putting together giant structures in a LEGO city and following every single instruction to the letter. Not following the rules is severely punished thanks to the tyrannical rule of Lord Business, but the likes of Emmet are too busy singing “Everything is Awesome” and trying to fit in to notice how sinister things really are. His life changes when he encounters something that is definitely not LEGO approved. Following a spot of police brutality, he is rescued by a cult of anti-rules style renegades who recognise that he is the Chosen One, set to free all the LEGO people from the tyranny of Lord Business.

 

If that sounds convoluted, that’s because it is. The narrative feels like it has come straight out a child’s imagination and this is exactly the thing LEGO is trying to evoke. The movie does have a message, and it’s that commercial and practical interests should never be allowed to hamper creativity and fun. This philosophy has been applied to every single level of the movie itself, from the bullet-time style scenes where the characters can see the part numbers of each piece to clever plot twists that take this feature to the next level. Will Ferrell and Chris Pratt put in especially strong voice acting performances and they truly make the viewer care about these little plastic people.

 

From the clever references to the history of LEGO, with everything from an ’80s LEGO space man (with flaws and all) to the brief appearances of Fabuland toys, this movie encapsulates all things LEGO. It also features the LEGO versions of the Justice League, as well as one of the most definitive versions of Batman put on screen so far. There are enough cultural references, LEGO community shout-outs and pieces of social commentary in this movie to fill a book, and no doubt we’ll see many academic and commercial examinations of this movie for years to come. LEGO have produced a cultural phenomenon, which given how ubiquitous its toys are, makes perfect sense.

 

EXTRAS: “Everything Is Awesome” Sing-Along, Fan Made Films: Top-Secret Submissions

 

REVIEW: ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET SIX FILMS – 1963-1974 / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET / SCREENPLAY: ALAIN ROBBE-GRILLET / STARRING: JEAN-LOUIS TRINTIGNANT, CATHERINE JOURDAN, ANICEE ALVINA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

From imaginary women, storytelling on a train, lies and seduction, sex games in Club Eden to the interrogation of a murder suspect, the BFI present six films previously unavailable for decades by the auteur Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Life is filled with two kinds of films – those that are digested and those that are savoured. Alain Robbe-Grillet’s are the latter. Sensually seductive and lacking reverence for linear storytelling or cinematic convention, these are films that could only belong to the explosive decades of the 1960s and 1970s.

Collected here is over half of Robbe-Grillet’s directorial output, encompassing just over a decade of films that spanned 1963-1974. As American cinema in 1974 was hitting the highs of The Godfather Part 2 and Mean Streets, Robbe-Grillet was delivering an art house gem – Successive Slidings Into Pleasure – an abstract tale of an interrogation and suspicion of witchcraft.

If one were to abbreviate Robbe-Grillet’s cinema one might point to certain obsessions – women as sensual, sexual or erotic objects, truth versus fiction and storytelling within storytelling. Throughout the collection of films the characters are not only players in the stories but are the storytellers. Their interactions with one another and us create a feeling associated with the immediacy of the theatrical.

Imagine Robbe-Grillet’s cinema as a town, and despite these obsessions, he seemingly finds a different perspective from which to paint the view of the town with each new film; creating distinction through similarity.

His directorial debut, The Immortal One echoes Last Year at Marienbad’s imaginary woman as Robbe-Grillet sets off on a filmic trek that takes us from the beauty of monochrome to wondrous colour that ends with the painting of naked flesh. From ambiguous art house to sexually, erotic and provocative art house, each film is playful as Robbe-Grillet re-enacts childhood, running around the cinematic playground with little regard for convention. His films are instinctive and fearless, impossible for them to belong to today’s cinema. These are films of exploration, of filmic worlds in a state of self-exile, individual abstract works that are connected to cinema only by their identification as films.

With this release, the BFI show an appreciation that at the cinema you watch the film, whilst at home you go beyond the film. The critical perspective provided by Tim Lucas’ audio commentaries, the writer-director’s point of view through Frederic Taddei’s extensive interviews, along with the newly filmed introductions by Catherine Robbe-Grillet offer a diverse and thoughtful perspective on this collection. Outside of the darkened theatre the release allows one to savour these films in the best possible way; a collection with the propensity to enrich one’s filmic experience.

Extras: See above

 

REVIEW: CHRISTOPHER LEE – A LEGACY OF HORROR AND TERROR / CERT: UNRATED / DIRECTOR: A. SUSAN SVEHLA / SCREENPLAY: N/A / STARRING: CHRISTOPHER LEE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There can be no arguing that the legendary Christopher Lee is nothing less than a national treasure and is one of the coolest people to grace the planet with his presence. No better or more fitting a person then to have what is described on the front cover as a feature documentary in his honour to examine his awesome legacy of over 300 films – and counting.

Sadly, although the intention is noble, the execution isn’t quite up to the standard the box suggests. It’s not really a documentary as such, it’s a long interview with the actor, giving him the opportunity to tell a few of his stories with some film clips. He recalls anecdotes about his early days, a recent casting fiasco, his work with Peter Cushing, Hammer, Amicus, his days as Dracula, a near death experience while filming underwater in a 30 foot tank for Airport ’77 and his reasons for moving to America, among many others – so the content is a vein of fan-pleasing richness.

However, as I mentioned earlier, it’s the execution. The interview was filmed at a horror convention, on stage, with a single fixed camera seemingly locked in an extreme close up of Christopher Lee’s face. There are no other angles apart from an opening wide shot to show the two people, one on either side, who ask Lee the bulk of the questions.

As in most cases with a convention audience, the guest answers with a hand held microphone, so while he’s talking, we can’t see Lee’s mouth nor actually the lower part of his face, and there’s an echo in the sound quality that makes him sound like the caller in a bingo hall. Unfortunately, this makes hearing what he has to say often very difficult. At no point can we hear the questions asked by the audience. It’s also worth noting that while the DVD is a 2014 release, the feature interview was in 1999.

Overall, disappointing but not a write-off.

Extras: None

REVIEW: THE BEAST WITHIN / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: PHILIPPE MORA / SCREENPLAY: TOM HOLLAND / STARRING: RONNY COX, BIBI BESCH, PAUL CLEMENS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

An ’80s cult horror film which opens with a woman being raped in the woods by some sort of demented man-beast, The Beast Within follows the child of that rape (also not entirely human) as his inner monster begins to emerge, complete with spectacularly ghastly special effects. His mission: to fulfil his primal urges and, um, find someone else to rape in turn. Just another Arrow Video re-release, everybody.

Like An American Werewolf in London by way of Species, Teen Wolf and H.P. Lovecraft (not for nothing is one character named Dexter Ward), Philippe Mora’s creature feature distinguishes itself from the rest with a sense of ambition and its remarkably sweaty-looking visual effects. Unfortunately, that ambition doesn’t always translate into coherency, while its down-and-dirty looks often come across as unsavoury. A sequence in which a man is murdered while surrounded by his own burger meat (not a euphemism) almost had me turn vegetarian. Still, this is a film in which a lad’s head swells up like an overfilled water balloon, so there is some fun to be had. At times, its effects are as impressive as An American Werewolf. If only it had the same sense of humour and likeability.

An ideal candidate for the Arrow treatment, The Beast Within comes loaded with the usual host of special features and goodies. This includes interviews (with the likes of writer Tom Holland and actors Paul Clemens and Katherine Moffat), audio commentaries, a collector’s booklet and exclusive reversible sleeve. Released in 1080p High Definition and standard DVD, it’s never looked better – or worse, in the case of all that sweaty meat (still not a euphemism).

A well-acted, well-presented and impressively unpleasant curio, this (very) cult horror is yet another beast of a re-release from Arrow.

Extras: See above

REVIEW: LOST GIRL – SEASON 4 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: ANNA SILK, KRISTEN HOLDEN-RIED, KSENIA SOLO, RICHARD HOWLAND, ZOIE PALMER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Lost Girl’s broad appeal has always relied on its central character Bo, the beautiful bisexual succubus. Straddling the line between soft-core soap and urban fantasy, the production relied on the acting skills of the incredibly talented Anna Silk in order to sell what is essentially a low-budget and sub-par version of Supernatural with the monsters as the heroes.

It would be a mistake then, to sideline the lead character (after all, the show is named after her), but Season 4 sees this exact thing happen. Worse still, when she is on screen, the actress seems utterly disinterested in the role. Any sexual tension built up throughout the last three seasons has been dropped and the slack is not picked up by the supporting cast.

They do try, however. Ksenia Solo does her best to carry many of the episodes in her role of Kenzi, but the character has always been a sidekick. Even pairing her up with Trick (the show’s other sidekick) doesn’t make up for the mediocre appearances of the main lead. Multiple attempts are made to make the viewer care about Kenzi, but they’re pretty lacklustre and by the time we get to the last episode (which is probably the best of the lot) the viewer no longer cares about any of the cast, or indeed anything at all if they’ve made the mistake of watching this in one sitting.

Various soap-opera style subplots are run and resolved throughout the series but not a single one of them is truly engaging and the entire thing becomes boring, and when your show is all about sex and monsters, boring should be impossible. Sadly, even a cameo from George Takei as a camp yet evil snake monster fails to impress. What could have been the highlight of the series instead shows up the utter lack of a decent special effects budget.

Lost Girl lost its way with Season 4. Time will tell if it ever recovers, but given the changes this season has made so far, we doubt it.

Extras: None

REVIEW: AFTER THE DARK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JOHN HUDDLES / SCREENPLAY: JOHN HUDDLES / STARRING: JAMES D’ARCY, SOPHIE LOWE, DARYL SABARA, FREDDIE STROMA / RELEASE DATE: JULY 21ST

John Huddles’ After the Dark may sell itself like a sci-fi tinged survival thriller, but really, it’s nothing more than speculation and role-playing, like a drawn-out drama exercise. Like Hot Chocolate’s ubiquitous song, it starts with a kiss. In fact, the keen, stylish plot is bookended by a mawkish love story.

The hypothetical thought experiment, which is an end of term treat from megalomaniacal Mr Zimit (played by James D’Arcy) to his philosophy students, is set exclusively in a classroom and, in that regard, has more in common with Dead Poets Society than 2011’s The Divide.

The first iteration of the thought experiment is interesting enough, the second is pushing it, but the heavy-handed liberal third incarnation is simply masturbation. Repetition in movies is often hugely effective (look at this year’s Edge of Tomorrow) but having three goes at the same idea is better explored in the anarchic German flick Run Lola Run.

The apparently gifted students are only able to recite the most basic pop-philosophy which begs the question whether Huddles’ himself was a philosophy student. It’s doubtful, and his Google research shines through in his script.

The visual representation of philosophy conundrums is like taking a peek into Sherlock’s mind palace. Indeed, D’Arcy appears to have modeled his performance on Benedict Cumberbatch. Interestingly enough, D’Arcy has played Holmes in the lukewarm 2002 TV movie Sherlock.

Some of the performances leave a lot to be desired, Bonnie Wright, better known as Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise, doesn’t stretch herself especially far, though Daryl Sabara (all grown up after playing Juni in Spy Kids) is fun as Chips. But it’s D’Arcy who stands out, Cumberbatch aside.

The Jakarta setting is an especially nice touch, and the establishing shots are striking, but even after genre successes like District 9, South Africa remains largely, and sadly, ignored.

The film ultimately suffers from not being nearly as smart as it thinks it is and being too smart for its own good. It does raise one question that has been debated over many pints and coffees in student digs and on the tube; how would you survive if nuclear bombs fell?

Instead of presenting an interesting deconstruction of philosophy, getting to the heart of the subject, exploring class, intellect, gender, sexuality etc. it instead opts to be an underwhelming love story.

After the Dark is another interesting idea undermined by an overly sentimental ending. There is something there, a pervasive tenseness that begs a second viewing, but the film is little more than convoluted romance.

REVIEW: RETURN TO NUKE ‘EM HIGH VOLUME 1 / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: LLOYD KAUFMAN / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: ASTA PAREDES, CATHERINE CORCORAN, ZAC AMICO, VITO TRIGO, LEMMY, STAN LEE, KEVIN THE DUCK / RELEASE DATE: JULY 14TH

Troma has always produced its features with its tongue rammed firmly in its cheek and one hand rammed firmly down its pants. Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 does what it says on the tin; it’s a return to the deeply goofy movies that made Troma a household name in the more disreputable sort of home back in the ’80s and ’90s.

The plot involves an evil corporation called Tromorganic Foodstuffs Conglomerate who have begun to peddle it’s 100% not polluted organic glowing green guacamole-filled tacos to the local schools as they’ve been banned from selling their perfectly safe food anywhere else. Of course the main consumer of these foodstuffs is Tromaville High School, an educational establishment that proudly announces that its longest running record between high school shootings is three days. Things kick off when the high school genius has an allergic reaction to the food that causes his head to explode in a horrific and messy way. Matters get even worse when the school’s own glee club transform into post-apocalyptic punk rock mutants, because why not? They still sing, unfortunately, and their reign of terror begins in earnest.

To say that this is a dumb movie with dumb jokes is an understatement of epic proportions. This is a feature that does foreshadowing by having the shadow of the number four appear on the wall. You have to be very clever to be this dumb, and really dumb to think that this sort of thing is clever. That said, there is plenty of sharp (though unsubtle) social commentary hidden amongst all the boobs, bottoms and blood.

Plenty of light swipes at teenage movies and TV series are made through out, though it’s hard to call this a parody; it’s too daft to be that focused. It’s safe to say that most of the cast are out acted by the duck. The only performance that comes close is Lemmy from Motörhead’s cameo as the President of the United States.

Taken in the spirit that it’s intended, Return to Nuke ‘Em High Volume 1 is a deeply stupid piece of fun, filled with penis monsters, gore, off-colour humour and nudity and a firm addition to the Nuke ‘Em High franchise.

Extras: None

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REVIEW: HEMLOCK GROVE – THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: FAMKE JANSSEN, DOUGRAY SCOTT, BILL SKARSGARD, LANDON LIBOIRON, PNELOPE MITCHELL, LILI TAYLOR / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Netflix have been rightly applauded for leading the way in the new TV world of original drama commissions streamed and made available en bloc for viewers to devour in a binge session or to explore and discover at their own pace – all away from the headlights of traditional TV broadcast. Shows like House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black and the resurrected comedy Arrested Development stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best Network TV can offer. The jury, however, is surely still out in respect of its dog’s dinner horror series Hemlock Grove which, across its first thirteen-episode season, tries too hard to touch too many bases and appeal to too many diverse tastes to establish its own tone and its own style. It’s a wildly schizophrenic series, often unevenly written and with some performances best described as eccentric.

The core storyline of the show sees a Gypsy Mom and son family unit move to the remote, slightly eerie town of Hemlock Grove, a town down on its luck in more ways than one. Rundown and dreary, Hemlock Grove isn’t even a nice place to visit, let alone live in – especially as it seems to be populated by a random assortment of werewolves, vampires, ersatz Frankenstein’s monsters and an assortment of slightly askew oddballs with peculiar and largely unconvincing accents (hello, Famke). In many ways the ingredients for an interesting horror stew are all present and correct, yet somewhere along the line the recipe’s been lost because the show, which occasionally generates a flicker of interest here and there, never really comes to life, it never really finds its feet and sometimes even ends up being a little bit boring and something of a chore to sit through.

The problem seems to be that Hemlock Grove doesn’t really know what it wants to be. The killing of saucy teenager Brooke Bluebell at the end of episode one suggests that the show might be trying for a Twin Peaks vibe, the finger of suspicion pointing at moody gypsy newcomer Peter Rumancek (Liboiron) who, at the end of episode two, transforms vividly and grotesquely into a werewolf and thus sends the show spinning off into entirely new directions. At virtually a stroke Hemlock Grove decides to try to be all things to all genre fans; a little bit of extreme American Horror Story gore-porn here, a touch of True Blood monster shenanigans there, a bit of Vampire Diaries teen angst just around the corner. Inevitably the show becomes uneven and clumsy and by the halfway mark – if you still stick with it – it’s hard not to conclude that this is being made up completely on the hoof and that it won’t be long before the kitchen sink turns up just for the sake of completeness.

As a Netflix binge-watch show Hemlock Grove doesn’t really cut the mustard as, with audiences now spoilt for choice, it’s easy to tune out after an episode or two as it isn’t yet compelling enough to demand continued viewing and would probably, ironically, benefit from the established episode-a-week broadcast model. On DVD it’s a slightly better bet and those who are able to persevere and wade through the stodgy mire of the first few episodes might find their patience rewarded as they become familiar with the show’s cavalcade of freaks, curiosities and odd plot contrivances. In the end there isn’t enough tasty meat for thirteen episodes, hence the creak and sag of the narrative, and Netflix has wisely ordered a leaner ten-episode second season which might create a sharper and more focussed series. But there’s still the nagging feeling that the damage has been done and that the mistakes and misfires of the first series have scuppered this Eli Roth-produced project for good. Time will tell…

Extras: Behind the scenes / Making of featurette