SPRING (2014)

spring

FORMAT: BLU-RAY / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 30TH

Aaron Moorehouse and Justin Benson are quite the filmmaking team and, if you’re not yet familiar with them,

Spring is an impressive way to introduce yourself to their work. Between the pair, they seem to be able to do pretty much everything on a film – write, direct, photograph, edit, even act.

In Spring, their follow up to their time bending debut feature, Resolution, a young American man escaping the death of his mother and a violent act travels to Europe, settling in Italy where he takes a job on a farm and develops a relationship with a beautiful woman. Evan and Louise spend time getting to know each other against the backdrop of this sleepy, out of season coastal town, although Louise keeps Evan a distance. For good reason, as Louise is not all that she seems.

Beautifully mixing drama, romance, and horror, Spring is a captivating exploration of loss, love, and how far we’ll go to find a meaningful connection with someone. The cast are fantastic, it’s beautifully shot and scripted and most of the gooey effects work well within the limitations of the clearly low budget. It goes from a charming meander to the grip of a slimy tentacle…

Extras on they Blu-ray release include the original 2014 commentary plus a brand new one, the perspective of time offering some tasty insights. There are a few bloopers and deleted scenes, and a brief look at the main six set piece, but mainly, the extras consist of short comic films showing how much fun the team obviously had making the film.

Moorehouse and Benson are a very talented pair, as they went on to show in their next film, the brilliant Endless. Now, they’ve hit the big bucks, a major film with Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan starring in Synchronic. This Blu-ray gives a real insight into where the filmmakers’ talents sprung from.

LA HAINE (25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

La Haine

CERT: 15 | PLATFORM: BLU-RAY| RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

Writer/director Mathieu Kassovitz’s second feature La Haine gripped audiences and critics alike when first released in 1995. 25 years on, it’s more impactful and relevant than ever. The perfect time, then, for another look at it, as the BFI’s new restoration reaches Blu-ray.

After the police shooting of young immigrant Abdel leads to riots erupting across Paris, three of Adbel’s friends wait to find out whether he will emerge from his coma. The film follows them across 20 hours as they kill time, full of anger but powerless to do anything.

La Haine has a real edge, a sense of growing anxiety, set on the fringes of society and on the fringes of major events. It’s perhaps remembered as a brutal, grim film, but it’s not all monotone depression; there’s a sense of humour undercutting everything, and we enjoy spending time with these characters.

Which, of course, makes the anxiety and the brutality, when it comes, all the more hard-hitting. As summed up in its memorable quote, La Haine is “about a society that’s falling – so far so good, so far so good.” This persistent sense that everything could fall apart at any moment feels very 2020, as does, in light of Black Lives Matter, the film’s anger at police violence towards ethnic minorities.

The restoration work is impressive; if you didn’t catch the 4K screenings in cinemas, this Blu-ray version is the next best option. Plus, the 2-disc box is packed with extras. Highlights include an in-depth introduction from Riz Ahmed and a new interview with Kassowitz. There’s also an 80-page book of essays and interviews.

BURST CITY (1982)

burst city

Japanese punk-rock action musicals are a hell of a niche market, but Arrow Video have thrown caution to the wind and released the 1982 Sogo Ishii classic Burst City for the first time. The film has been long-lauded as one of the first statements in modern Japanese filmmaking, and has attained a cult status among those in search of a frenetic, dystopian take on corporate greed and the power of community, however that may look.

The story, as such, is told through musical set-pieces, and though there are those who view the movie more as a cultural document of its time, a depiction of a changing Japan and the ensuing class struggle that needed to be recorded, it holds up to remote viewing from almost forty-years’ distance. Ishii’s early films, and especially Burst City, were pivotal in the creation of the Japanese cyberpunk movement, which later birthed Akira and Ghost in the Shell, and although he found more fame in the West than at home, this release stands as a welcome reappraisal of his position in history.

The Arrow Blu-ray comes with several interesting extras, including a new audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, a documentary on the making of the film, and an hour-long interview with the director, titled The Punk Spirit of ’82. Throw in a reversible cover with art by Chris Malborn, and this is a worthy acquisition to your Japanese, punk, or 1980s Blu-ray libraries.

Burst City is one of those films that isn’t for everybody but should be, an explosion of kinetic energy in cinematic form, and is two hours well-spent in an era when our time is so very precious. Japanese punk-rock action musicals? The best kind, mate.

LATE PHASES (2014)

late phases

Within hours of reluctantly moving into an apparently peaceful retirement community blind veteran Ambrose McKinley (Damici) is attacked by a werewolf. Even though new neighbour Delores is gruesomely killed no-one including the police seem concerned; it’s just an animal attack, apparently… happens all the time. So, Ambrose decides to deal with the problem himself, and has a month until the next full moon to prepare.

Late Phases has some pedigree. Nick Damici is a skilful genre actor; Larry Fessenden has over 80 film credits to his name as an actor, producer, and director, and as a co-founder of effects company KNB EFX Group Robert Kurtzman worked on films for Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino. Individual strength, but strangely Late Phases doesn’t quite come together.

The greatest issue is with the tone. Eric Stolze is credited as the writer, but the resulting film feels like the work of many. There is humour, but many of the one-liners stonily delivered by Damici are misjudged. There is gore – lots of gore – though many scenes carry a campness that drifts toward horror-comedy territory. And further confusion comes through overtly stylised characterisations that risk being grating rather than comedic.

There are good things; there is genuine heart in the father-son dynamic and, as you would expect, the effects – thankfully all done in camera – are impressive, although the finished beasts look distinctly bat-like.

Ultimately, Late Phases is a decent, occasionally interesting film, but in a crowded subgenre it sadly won’t live long in the memory.

THE NIGHT PORTER (1974)

night porter

FORMAT: BLU-RAY, DIGITAL / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 30TH

The ‘70s brought a wave of films involving Nazi officers or based during the Second World War and from the German viewpoint. Many are in the outrageous Nazisploitation subgenre, but some – like Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Bob Fosse’s Cabaret – take a serious look at relationships at the start of and during the war, but The Night Porter takes place thirteen years after the war ended, and involves a complicated and disturbing affair between a former prisoner of war and her captor.

Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) is in Vienna with her conductor husband but when checking into their hotel recognises the night porter as one of her tormentors while she was incarcerated as a prisoner of war by the Nazis. Max (Dirk Bogarde) is the titular hotel worker and former Nazi who took a shine to Lucia in the concentration camp. He just wants to live a quiet life now and is quiet and timid, fully aware that the authorities are close to seeking him out to make him pay for his war crimes. When it comes to Max confronting Lucia about whether she is going to expose him, the pair embark on a disturbingly violent but passionate affair.

With the concentration camp scenes shown in vivid and distressing flashback, we see how Lucia develops a type of Stockholm syndrome with Max, whether out of self-preservation or genuine love. The sadomasochistic side is a little hard to stomach, particularly during these flashbacks but the outburst of violence when Max finally faces Lucia again is genuinely hard to watch (apparently Bogarde actually struck Rampling several times).

Director Liliana Cavani lets the story unfold as though it was a mystery, each piece that’s revealed bringing us closer to the inevitable conclusion. There’s a juxtaposition of Max’s position in flashback scenes with almost slavish occupation in the hotel. He gets the dirty jobs of finding young men for the aging ‘Countess’ who resides there and gets drugs for a male ballet dancer in exchange for watching him dance. His arrogance gone until he is faced with Lucia again. While the relationship between the pair is more Last Tango than Fifty Shades, Cavani doesn’t go deep enough into how Lucia may have dealt with her sexual abuse at the hands of Max during the war. Was she complicit to stay alive or, as we’re led to believe, did she genuinely fall in love with a monster? It’s a troubling proposition, but Cavani brings the relationship full circle in the final act as the pair are imprisoned by their love.

The new release, from a 4K scan, looks great (although there’s still a visible hair during the most dramatic scene, which is distracting, but apparently it was Cavani’s choice to leave it in) and there’s a real sense of depression in the ‘50s Vienna hotel. A couple of new special features make this an essential purchase for fans, though. There are two lengthy interviews with the director and Charlotte Rampling. Both are very enlightening. Liliana Cavani, particularly, reveals a lot of great nuggets about the shoot and the people that made it happen, as well as the context and themes the movie represents.

The Night Porter is a difficult film to ‘enjoy’ but is certainly an important piece of cinema. Even in the grimmest scenes, it’s beautifully shot and is a tour de force of acting from Bogarde and Rampling.

DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968)

danger diabolik

Mario Bava’s celebrated adaptation of the hit Italian comic book created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani has a new, feature-packed Blu-ray thanks to Australian boutique label Imprint, and it’s never looked as good.

Masked super criminal Diabolik (John Phillip Law) is running rings around the police; whatever measures they take to fool him when transporting cash, for example, are foiled. He’s also rubbing the gangland boss Valmont (Adolfo Celi) up the wrong way too as he’s getting most of the action. Hidden away in his swish subterranean hideout, he and his girl, Eva (Marisa Mell) plan their heists while the authorities and the underworld try to catch up with him.

Bava’s film – produced by Dino De Laurentiis, who was also behind the other ‘60s comic book adaptation Barbarella – is a feast for both the eyes and ears. It’s more successful in execution than the campier Jane Fonda film, utilising real locations and matt paintings rather than studio-based action. Bava’s movies are renowned for their use of colour and this is no exception as it has a sumptuous, vivid palette. It also doesn’t follow the campiness of Roger Vadim’s film or the Batman TV series that appeared a few years before. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, though, noticeably with the inclusion of Terry-Thomas as a government minister and some outrageous stunts. The film is even audacious enough to literally wink at the audience in the end, but it is generally played as straight as it can be. The only drawback is the bad dubbing, which is off-putting at first, but once the action starts, it’s soon forgotten. If the on-screen action isn’t enough to make you swoon with delight, the score by the Maestro Ennio Morricone will. The dreamy theme song Deep Down (featuring vocals from Maria Cristina Brancucci) will be in your head for days.

Extras-wise, the disc excels. As well as features ported over from previous releases, there’s a new fact-filled commentary by Bava biographer Tim Lucas and an interesting video essay from Kat Ellinger. In short, everything you’d need to accompany this glorious movie.

THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1975)

day locust

It may sound like a hokey fifties giant bug movie, but it’s actually an astute and often troubling look behind the scenes of Hollywood during the 1930s. Directed by John Schlesinger, reunited with his Midnight Cowboy screenwriter Waldo Salt (adapted from Nathanael West’s novella), it touches the glamour of filmmaking by viewing it from the gutter of the ignored backroom boys and aspiring starlets.

The story follows Tod (William Atherton), an artist looking, like so many others, to make it in Hollywood. He finds a place cheap enough to live at the San Bernardino Arms, a community of wannabes and has-beens. Among the residents are a precocious brat (played by a young, androgynous Jackie Earle Haley) being pushed by an overbearing mother, an angry dwarf (Billy Barty), and Faye (Karen Black) and her father Harry (Burgess Meredith), a showbiz family on their uppers. Patriarch Harry is a former vaudeville star now reduced to hawking cleaning products door-to-door while still trying to wow with his ‘pizzazz’. Faye is desperate to be on the silver screen, at almost any cost. Tod is besotted with Faye, but she sets up a one-sided relationship with Donald Sutherland’s Homer Simpson. Yep, that’s right. This Homer, however, is devoutly religious, sexually repressed, and socially awkward. It’s his buried emotions that lead to the most shocking of conclusions.

It’s clear this was meant to be an epic, multi-layered film in the vein of Robert Altman’s Nashville. It almost succeeds, but it doesn’t miss the mark so much that it can be written off. The locusts of the title are the little people so desperate to feed at the stardom Hollywood provides, hungry for a life promised following the Depression. A life that will soon turn to war. In the context of the film, it’s a war they get in the disturbing riot of the climax, which is something worthy of a horror film. There’s plenty to enjoy, though, as we mingle with the rich tapestry of grotesque characters, tales filled with humour and melancholy. It’s arguably one of the best movies about Tinsel Town we’ve seen, and could probably pair well with Tarantino’s alt-reality of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the legendary William Castle playing the director during the soundstage sequence. The cast are superb, Sutherland, in particular, shines as a man being pushed to the limits; every motion and action displays his deteriorating mental state.

Australian label Imprint has released the film in a beautiful edition, with some interesting features. Actor William Atherton (who you’ll know as being ‘dickless’ from Ghostbusters) is refreshingly frank about the film, and Kim Newman offers his insight into the book as well as the movie. There’s also an interesting commentary from Kat Ellinger. Despite being a forgotten big studio flop from the ‘70s, it’s given fabulous treatment. Like many failures, it’s worthy of rediscovery. You’ll never want to hear the song Jeepers Creepers again, though.

TALES FROM THE HOOD 1 AND 2

tales hood

While there’s a rich history of horror anthology movies out there, they tend to either fall into the category of hammy, British ghost stories or painfully low-budget affairs designed to showcase the work of various up-and-coming directors. Tales from the Hood is a unique entry in the subgenre, focusing in on issues and themes related specifically to the African American experience, with segments featuring sadly more-relevant-than-ever topics like police brutality and racists assuming political office. Tales from the Hood isn’t just unique in its subject matter, but also in that it’s an auteur-led horror anthology with something to say.

The same is also true of its sequel. As a straight-to-on-demand follow-up to a film from 23 years ago – not to mention one that had to re-cast its lead character – Tales from the Hood 2 is so, so much better than it has any right to be. While the hit-and-miss nature of the film is the same as the first, but with the misses missing harder and without any ‘90s charm to carry them, the film hands the role of Mr Simms over to Keith David who is, as ever, a joy to watch in a wraparound sequence that arguably tops anything in the first film.

It’s really nice to have both films presented together like this. If there’s one complaint, it’s simply that watching both of them left us eager to check out Tales from the Hood 3, which is still yet to receive any confirmation of a UK release following a US on-demand release in October. Still, this set is the perfect way to tide ourselves over.

THE BOB HOPE COLLECTION – THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939) & THE GHOST BREAKERS (1940)

hope canary

This two-disc set of Hope’s comedy-horror films is a welcome excuse to rediscover the fantastically creepy movies he made alongside Paulette Goddard, especially since their TV screenings have appeared to have dried up.

In The Cat and the Canary, Hope is one of the descendants of a millionaire who meet ten years after his death in his mansion on the bayou for the reading of the will. Jealousy and greed abounds as Goddard’s character – the heir – is put in physical and mental danger while the group attempt to survive the night. An escaped lunatic known as the Cat is also on the prowl.

This is without doubt the stronger of the two films, with Hope’s wisecracking entertainer adds some chuckles alongside some genuinely creepy moments. The legendary George Zucco would become known for horror films following his role as the lawyer and Gale Sondergaard (The Spider Woman) puts in a Danvers-esque performance as the ice cold housekeeper.

The Ghost Breakers, released a year later, capitalises on the chemistry between Hope and Goddard and once again puts them into a haunted house. Unfortunately, it takes almost an hour to get to the Cuban mansion inhabited by spirits and zombies. There’s still plenty to enjoy before we get there, though. Hope is accompanied by his ‘man servant’ (for want of a better expression), played by the brilliant Willie Best. While this creates a troubling situation looking through a modern perspective, it’s interesting to note that despite the occasional bit of casual racism, the character is given a large part to play. Best easily holds his own in the comedy stakes and bounces off Hope excellently – he even saves his life a number of times. That ‘of its time’ element aside, The Ghost Breakers manages to straddle a few genres – comedy, horror, and gangster – and works well within all of them. The Cuban mansion scenes are particularly eerie.

The presentation of both films is excellent – although The Cat and the Canary looks much better. Aside from a fun radio adaptation on The Ghost Breakers, the only extras of note are the commentary on each film. Authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman guide us through the films’ histories, and are amiable and entertaining chat tracks. The box in which the discs are contained is impressive, too, being a hard card case that is opened via a lid. Australian boutique label Imprint certainly does things right. Even with the sparseness of special features, this set is highly recommended for fans of yesteryear.

DEATH OF ME

death me

FORMAT: DVD / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

Death of Me, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (taking a break from grisly Saw duties), takes an intriguing and slightly disturbing initial premise and then proceeds to do nothing of interest with it. Holidaying on a remote Thai island Neil (Luke Hemsworth) and Christine (Maggie Q) wake up after a night of wild partying. There’s blood everywhere, their passports are missing and they have no idea what happened the night before. With a typhoon heading their way they decide to get off the island but with no tickets or passports they are turned away and forced to try and work out what’s going on. Neil checks his phone for photographic clues only to find a shocking video where he appears to kill Christine and bury her in a shallow grave. Then a tribal talisman keeps appearing around Christine’s neck and the phone’s footage shows mysterious bar worker Madee (Kat Ingkarat) serving them a strange hallucinogenic Buddhist concoction. The perplexed pair soon discover that reality appears to be twisted upside down and inside out and no-one – least of all the audience – has any idea what’s real and what’s a drug-induced fantasy.

Death of Me ties itself up in knots so quickly you’re more likely to be exasperated by its obscurity than engrossed in its mystery. As logic and narrative fly out of the window, the film piles on any macabre cliché it can think of – voodoo rites, repeated hallucinatory horrors, even a touch of Wicker Man ritualising – in its desperation to make us think it’s cleverer than it is. We’re not fooled. The location footage is attractive and Maggie Q does a damned good puzzled face but Death of Me is pretty much dead on arrival.