Review Category: Movie

AN ENGLISH HAUNTING

DIRECTOR: CHARLIE STEEDS / SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE STEEDS / STARRING: DAVID LENIK, TESSA WOOD, BARRINGTON DE LA ROCHE, EMMA SPURGIN HUSSEY, RORY WILTON / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 10TH (US), APRIL 27TH (UK)

A young man and his mother move into his grandfather’s mansion to care for him after the nurse leaves under mysterious circumstances in Charlie Steeds’ terrific haunted house tale, An English Haunting.

As far as ghostly haunted house movies go, the set up is simple – character moves into the house to care for relative or has been left said house by a deceased relative, strange things begin to occur before the true evil of the house is revealed. However, what sets this particular film apart from its peers is a stunningly eerie and beautiful location which is used to the fullest potential and some expert direction by Steeds allowing the viewers to truly grasp the scope of the world within the confines of the walls and grounds.

The score is equally as chilling as the phenomenal presentation. From violin led pieces to suitably unearthly ambience, everything involved makes it incredibly effective – ever single frame oozes atmosphere and British flair.

At the centrepiece of this affair is David Lenik’s brilliant performance as Blake Cunningham, who is the lead character thrust into the haunted house by his scheming mother who has more than caring for her father on her mind.

Lenik’s shy at first yet ultimately fiery portrayal of Blake shows off his character’s relationship strain with his mother throughout the film to devastatingly power effect that allows him and the rest of the film to pace along nicely. This all adds to the fact that it manages to successfully paper over the cracks of re-treading other ghost stories and creates an incredibly well made, British based film that shows that independent filmmaking is one of the most important things in the crazy world of filmmaking.

From a gorgeous setting that exudes character to a brilliant central performance, all accompanied by a sensational score, An English Haunting is another stellar addition to Charlie Steeds’ catalogue of films and once again proves that real talent doesn’t always come from Hollywood.

RAVERS

DIRECTOR: BERNHARD PUCHER / SCREENPLAY: BERNHARD PUCHER, LUKE FOSTER / STARRING: GEORGIA HIRST, DANNY KIRRANE, EVE CONNOLLY, MANPREET BAMBRA, DAVE JOHNS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

An aspiring journalist who also happens to be an introvert and suffers from germaphobia must battle crazed, mutant ravers for the hot scoop in Bernhard Pucher’s quirky horror-comedy Ravers.

The story follows Becky (played superbly by Vikings star Georgia Hirst), a budding journalist who, after being told by her editor to “get her hands dirty” to get the story, ventures into the world of underground raving courtesy of her cousin Ozzy (Kirrane). However, when she gets to the party that is taking place in an abandoned energy drink facility, the mixture of the drink and hardcore drugs causes the patrons to go berserk and begin mutating into a whole new beast.

These particular films are nothing new but what sets Ravers apart from the rest of the crowd is the focus on not only some killer practical effects that add a massive deal to the zaniness of the concept but also the brilliant growth of its lead character Becky and that, largely, comes down to the winning combination of writing and performance.

Hirst took this character and fully invested her time to develop a respectable take on those of us who suffer from OCD and anxiety and it paid dividends on allowing the audience to emotionally connect with her as the lead. From the subtle hints of her using wipes when drinking from beer bottles to eventually coming to terms with her issues in order to survive – her journey as a character is something we don’t always get to see in this genre. Another stand-out aspect that directly relates to Becky is the fact that her sexuality is addressed in a respectful and appropriate manner – something that a lot of films, not just independent films, should take note of.

As previously mentioned the special effects for the mutants, from the basic exaggerated veins on their bodies to literal eyes hanging out of skulls, Pucher has crafted a wacky, balls-to-the-wall blood-soaked comedy that, once it gets going, doesn’t stop and although a lot of the premise or delivery isn’t new and some of the dialogue fails to land, he and his team ran with the concept to make it highly enjoyable and, with a stellar central performance and superb effects, covers overs the cracks in the script and is absolutely worth a watch.

RAVERS is out now on VOD

THE HUNT

THE HUNT / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: CRAIG ZOBEL / SCREENPLAY: NICK CUSE, DAMON LINDELOF / STARRING: BETTY GILPIN, HILARY SWANK, EMMA ROBERTS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Hunt, produced by the increasingly influential Blumhouse Productions, sets out its stall from the get-go, we are introduced to a group of liberal snobs on a private jet, while a young gentleman is complaining that caviar is the only snack available on the aircraft, a deliriously heavy-set man comes bounding out from the next compartment, an older man who says he is a doctor, attempts to calm him down, by shoving a pen in his neck, blood spurting everywhere. Then to confound his suffering a stiletto is then driven into his eye, ripping it clean out! Welcome to The Hunt, a fun, bloody and not so subtle satire on American politics.

We discover that the plane is carrying the victims of the eponymous hunt, with a group of 12 people waking up in the woods, complete with fetishised mouth gags, it turns out there is no real reason for this addition, then to be a bit kinky, as all the keys to unlock them are found immediately. Unlike other films that feature – ‘victims waking up in a strange environment’, such as the cerebral micro-budgeted Cube (1997), we have already peaked behind the curtain and know who is hunting these people, but we don’t know why. The victims find a box full of weapons and a pig, yes you read that right, and then we are away. The film delights in subverting our expectations, not letting the audience settle into a groove, or the main character, no-one is safe from a hail of bullets or quiver of arrows. Eventually, we end on Crystal (Glow’s Betty Gilpin), a no-nonsense ex-soldier who works at a car rental company. In a blink and you miss her introduction, she is using her hair as a makeshift compass, foreshadowing her skills. A film like The Hunt needs a strong protagonist, somebody to root for, and Crystal is just that, she is brash, slightly disturbed but smart, a great strong female character (who would have thought Blumhouse had It in them!).

The Hunt is co-written by Damon Lindelof, and his fingerprints are all over this, from the strange unfolding mystery to the heavy-handed social commentary, the battlegrounds in America are set here for all to see, with liberal elites, looking down on conspiracy loving conservatives, mainly from the southern states, concerned with gun laws and the myth of global warming. Fake news also turns out to be the underlying cause of this whole sordid affair, take that society! Endings in such short and sharp films can be tricky and even though it’s satisfactory, it isn’t handled particularly well, after some Animal Farm references (remember the pig), which fall flat, we are offered a big reveal to the woman behind the insanity, yes they managed to get an Oscar-winning actor. Still, one you likely will not have seen or thought about for a long time, and we are told she has trained for eight months for a final showdown but seems ill-prepared and happy for a level of chance to help her win, perhaps overconfidence got the better of her. You can’t blame Lindelof for trying to inject some flavour into effectively what is a hack and slash affair, just a very skillfully crafted and entertaining one.

VFW [FrightFest Glasgow 2020]

VFW / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JOE BEGOS / SCREENPLAY: MAX BRALLIER, MATTHEW MCARDLE / STARRING: STEPHEN LANG, WILLIAM SADLER, FRED WILLIAMSON, SIERRA MCCORMICK, TOM WILLIAMSON, TRAVIS HAMMER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

In a crime-riddled urban hellscape of the near future, a junkie steals the valuable drug stash of the crime lord who murdered her sister, and seeks sanctuary in a bar for combat veterans, who then defend their bastion from an endless assault of mindless psychopaths sent to kill them all.

Joe Begos has an eclectic body of work, from the Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Xtro stylings of Almost Human, the pseudo-Scanners body horror of The Mind’s Eye and the vampiric hedonism of Bliss. VFW, featuring a relentless onslaught of faceless maniacs determined to breach a building in which is holed up a small band of defenders, has an obvious comparison in Assault on Precinct 13, or that film’s less frequently referenced progenitor Rio Bravo. However, its combination riffing on past efforts results in a creation very much its own thing.

The straightforward premise allows everything you need to know to get set up swiftly and efficiently – the deteriorating city of the setting, the camaraderie of the old soldiers, the sadism of the villain – leaving the rest of the running time for barrelling through its ceaseless carnage. The film’s brutal violence is augmented by the practical effects that add to its ‘80s aesthetic, exploding heads and blasted torsos splattering gore across the claustrophobic set by improvised weaponry.

Setting the film apart from other efforts of reconstructed grindhouse sleaze is the efficiently and skilfully drawn interpersonal dynamics of its ensemble of aging badasses. The most notable of them are Stephen Lang, who seems to have spent that last decade cornering the market for non-Expendables grizzled old fighters, William Sadler, who gets the bulk of the best lines in an already tightly-written script, and Fred Williamson, who has played variations on such characters for decades. The camaraderie between the group is clear, even without tales of the wartime survival they endured together, and as you get to know them as people they become increasingly real.

In the moments the film allows you to come up for air it affords you just enough insight into everyone involved to recognisable them as a distinct individual rather than just making up the numbers of a generic ensemble. The personal affinity you begin to feel for them makes you concerned for their safety and hoping for the ultimate survival, even though knowing that in films such as this a steady body count among the featured cast is practically mandatory to maintain the tension.

VFW is fast, relentless and nasty, barely letting up from its opening burst to its final moments. It’s a gloriously retro throwback and heavily stylised mix of vicious carnage and fast-paced character beats, all lit in neon fire, cascading moonlight and blazing flame.

M.O.M. MOTHER OF MONSTERS

M.O.M. MOTHER OF MONSTERS / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: TUCIA LYMAN / STARRING: EDWARD ASNER, MELINDA PAGE HAMILTON, JUILAN DE LA CELLE, BAILEY EDWARDS / RELEASE DATE: VOD OUT NOW

There’s a refreshingly individual aesthetic to Tucia Lyman’s home-footage style directorial debut. The embattled double-act of troubled single mom Abi (Page Hamilton, best known for Netflix’s Messiah, How to Get Away with Murder) and her potentially psychopathic sixteen-year-old son Jacob (Edwards) carry the story in the form of Abi’s video diaries, an attempt to claw back control of her life and sanity as her son’s behaviour escalates. But which of them, if either, has survived to be selecting the clips we clicking open on the computer desktop?

Bailey Edwards gives a central performance to remember: powerful, sinister and as believably young and vulnerable as he is aggressive and unpredictable. There are moments of captivating chemistry where we just about envisage mother and son pulling themselves back from this toxic balance of power, before Jacob’s controlling behaviour or Abi’s refusal to confront her own past pull them back from each chance for a better future.

Overinvestment in the power and intimacy of Abi’s not-so-secret camera confessionals means the tension doesn’t quite cut it in terms of pace or run-time. In spite of how well cast Hamilton and Edwards clearly are, there’s greater reliance on pauses than the dialogue is strong enough to carry and the third act drags where it should get the biggest sparks.

Abi’s reasons for wanting to prove her son a potential murderer leak out with the past she’s not prepared to go into, happily and self-deludedly confiding in the cameras but never in the professionals whose help she wants. This speaks volumes about our era but at the cost of our sympathy so lowers the stakes, falling short of what a story based on the testimonies and journals of real school shooters and their parents deserves. Important questions are touched on without ever quite being asked: musical underscoring includes lyrics about Trump, guns and schools with greater clarity on M.O.M.’s apparent message than the action of its actual script. M.O.M.’s not offering any answers, but that is not the problem: with an issue this big, the questions it asks need to be a whole lot clearer.

SACRILEGE

SACRILEGE / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: DAVID CREED / STARRING: TAMARYN PAYNE, EMILY WYATT, SIAN ABRAHAMS, NAOMI WILLOW / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

No matter how big or small you are in life, everyone has a fear of something and new film, coming all the way from the city of Bristol, should have warned us one of our fears was seeing Sacrilege. Okay; that may have been a bit harsh towards the film at first glance as Sacrilege had both positives and negatives making it an interesting concept.

The film is directed by award-winning David Creed, who is known for his past work in TV advertising involving known brands such as Orange, Renault, L’Oreal and so on. Creed has been working alongside Bad Blood Films’ Mark Kenna who is the co-founder, CEO and producer; he’s a name known in the film industry for over 20 years.

Sacrilege starts off with a group of four friends – Kayla, Trish, Blake, and Stacey – who are heading to a lodge for the weekend as their accommodation is placed in the middle of nowhere, which sounds just about right for a horror title. As you’d expect all four plan to have some fun thanks to gin and a cheeky bit of weed while having some girly time together. Already the acting between the four was hardly inspiring and hard to watch at times.

The four girls then bump into a local lad who insists that they join him at a ritual event in a dark forest. The visit to the ritual camp becomes a regrettable decision as all four encounter their own personal fears later on in the film. You have to bare in mind when watching this movie that it had a very low budget, and you have to admire the people behind it who are trying at the best of their ability. That thought comes into it when you find out the fears some of these characters have including the fear for dogs. We mean dogs… really?

The low budget talent didn’t fail when it came to the special effects team, who display some fine FX including a couple of scenes of what Stacey suffers from post-ritual. All of this builds up to the girls having to stick together to fight their fears, which creates an interesting and surprising ending.

Sacrilege is not a film that will get you on the edge of your seat, but you have to remind yourself that a first film from a movie company based in Bristol has not done too a bad job.

1917

1917 / COMPOSER: THOMAS NEWMAN / LABEL: MUSIC ON VINYL / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 13TH

In the liner notes for Thomas Newman’s score for his film 1917, director Sam Mendes writes, “This score for 1917 is wonderful. The fruits, I suppose, of 21 years of collaboration.” It’s a simple statement, but an apt one, considering that beginning with 1999’s American Beauty, composer Newman has worked with director Mendes on seven films. It’s been a fruitful collaboration, with Newman receiving numerous Oscar nominations – although no wins, as of yet – along with BAFTA and Grammy victories for these compositions.

The score to1917 was itself nominated for an Oscar, although it lost to Hildur Guðnadóttir’s work on Joker. It’s a shame that Newman hasn’t yet been rewarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and also that 2019 was such a strong year for his competitors because 1917 is a glorious, fantastic score because the film requires the composer to walk a fine line between meditative contemplation and energetic action.

The score isn’t quite presented in chronological order, instead ordered as a collection which more readily complements the flow of an album. This means that the score’s absolute highlight, “The Night Window” – which scores the scene in which Schofield finds himself gazing across a devastated town as fires and explosions light everything in the stark outlines of a Man Ray photograph, crossed with the horror of discovering Albrecht Dürer – comes at the beginning of the second side of the first LP, even before the likes of “Tripwire,” which happens far earlier in the film. There’s nothing wrong with that piece coming so soon, however, as it’s beautifully dreamy, in stark contrast to the horror the solider experiences.

That statement, actually, can be said to be the whole of Newman’s score for 1917. The entirety of this music focuses on the beauty of what’s going on. With the rare exceptions of the opening pieces “1917” and “Up the Down Trench,” as well as “Sixteen Hundred Men” – all of which soundtrack the film’s more emphatically action-oriented scenes – the music never attempts to Mickey Mouse Mendes’ film. 1917’s score tries to find the hidden truth of every scene, rather than simply relaying back to the viewer what’s onscreen.

The At the Movies / Music on Vinyl double vinyl LP release is absolutely fantastic. Pressed on translucent green vinyl, in a limited edition of 2000 copies, it looks and sounds quite vibrant, reproducing the low and high notes perfectly, while also finding a middle balance which doesn’t feel muddled. The gatefold sleeve features the scene wherein Schofield comes across another soldier in a stand of trees, singing “Wayfaring Stranger” in a haunting voice, and there are more images from the film in the liner notes, as well. It’s really quite gorgeous.

Sadly, the score doesn’t feature that song, as performed by actor and singer Jos Slovick, although the singer did manage to release it as a three-song single on Spotify a couple of weeks ago. Its inclusion would have really tied the album together, but one can understand that it might’ve distracted from Newman’s score.

BENEATH US

DIRECTOR: MAX PACHMAN / SCREENPLAY: MAX PACHMAN, MARK MAVROTHALASITIS / STARRING: LYNN COLLINS, RIGO SANCHEZ, JOSUE AGUIRRE, JAMES TUPPER, ROBERTO SANCHEZ, THOMAS CHAVIRA / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 6TH (US), TBC (UK)

After being picked up for cheap labour outside a DIY store by a wealthy American wife, four undocumented workers must fight for survival against the cruellest of fates in Max Pachman’s thrilling and poignant film, Beneath Us.

Political Horror has seen a rise over recent years with Jordan Peele’s films Get Out and Us taking centre stage with interesting and unique ways of conveying an important message – and Beneath Us is no different. Director Max Pachman has created a stand out independent feature that is equally thought-provoking, engaging and utterly thrilling from start to finish.

The story follows four undocumented Mexican workers (including two brothers Alejandro (Rigo Sanchez) and Memo (Aguirre)) who are desperate to reach the dizzying heights of the “American Dream”. In wanting to achieve this goal, they take on a job for Liz and Ben Rhodes (Collins and Tupper respectively), a wealthy couple who live in a grand, white and clean mansion behind a giant locked gate and fences. Soon into the job, the workers realise that this is not what they expected.

From the beginning, the narrative is riveting – as the audience, you instantly buy into the protagonists’ struggle and plight trying to live in this dog-eat-dog world, and as soon as things turn dark and dangerous, you are with them all the way. The stand out performer is most certainly Lynn Collins as Liz – her demeanour towards the workers starts off positive before taking a monstrous turn and her attention to creating a psychotic antagonist is terrific.

The cinematography is arguably the other main stand out feature of Beneath Us. Pachman certainly had an eye for detail and wanted to tell the story not just through dialogue or performances but the framing as well. Many shots throughout the runtime evoke an emotional reaction to either the class divide (which is at the core of the movie) and even classic films of the past such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Beneath Us is a great example that an over-reliance on stereotypical political set-pieces is not needed to craft a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that will make you think long after the credits are done rolling.

Beneath Us is in select US cinemas from Friday 6th March. A UK release date is currently unknown.

CYRANO DE BERGERAC

CERT: U / DIRECTOR: JEAN-PAUL RAPPENEAU / SCREENPLAY: JEAN-PAUL RAPPENEAU, JEAN-CLAUDE CARRIERE / STARRING: GERARD DEPARDIEU, ANNE BROCHET, VINCENT PEREZ, JACQUES WEBER, ROLAND BERTIN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (REVIEWED – BLU-RAY, BFI 2020)

Cyrano de Bergerac is a poet, a soldier, a legendary swordsman, and a hopeless romantic. But although he is fearless on the battlefield, and not afraid to take on 100 men in a duel of honour, he is terrified of one thing; declaring his love to the beautiful Roxane, because he fears his famously oversized proboscis would cause her to reject his advances. So, when Roxane tells Cyrano she is in love with one of the soldiers in his regiment, a dashing but verbally challenged young man called Christian, Cyrano sees a way to express his love for Roxane in poetry, by writing romantic letters to her on Christian’s behalf. But will Roxane ever realise it’s Cyrano’s words that are making her heart melt, and that Christian’s surface handsomeness is nothing compared to the passion concealed beneath Cyrano’s external ugliness? And what will they do when a vengeful Count sends Christian and Cyrano off to war, and Cyrano’s enemies plot his devious and deadly downfall?

It’s been 30 years since moviegoers first fell in love with Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s delightful cinematic adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, and the BFI’s new blu-ray release proves the film has lost none of its quixotic, starry-eyed magic. Gerard Depardieu’s performance as the swaggering conk-challenged scribe remains the highlight of his illustrious career, although he’s well-matched by Jacques Weber as the foppish Count and Anne Brochet as Roxane, the rather impetuous object of everybody’s affections. Vincent Perez, who is probably best known for playing the titular undead hero in The Crow: City of Angels, does his best as the mannequin-like Christian, but if there’s one failing to this film it’s that it’s hard to feel any empathy for a character who’s little more than good-looking cardboard. That’s not really an obstacle for the majority of the story (in fact, it works to the narrative’s advantage) but, in the final Act, it severely undercuts a moment that should have had much more emotional resonance. Having said that, Anthony Burgess’s acclaimed but rather show-offy English translation (thankfully only available as subtitles) doesn’t help.

As Steve Martin’s Roxanne had already proved three years earlier, Edmond Rostand’s source play contains plenty of opportunities to be out-and-out funny and (as audiences would discover a year later, in Green Card), Depardieu is also a very fine comedian. Unfortunately, Burgess’s translation isn’t as fun as it should be and that’s a problem. Having said that, though, Cyrano de Bergerac is still a masterpiece.

The special features include a scholarly feature-length commentary, individual interviews with Depardieu and Rappeneau, and a pre-Cyrano conversation with Anthony Burgess that’s occasionally fascinating. All-in-all, a very nice little package.

ONWARD

ONWARD / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: DAN SCANLON / SCREENPLAY: DAN SCANLON, JASON HEADLEY, KEITH BUNIN / STARRING: TOM HOLLAND, CHRIS PRATT, JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 6TH

Pixar has a reputation for quirky yet heart-warming ideas, and their latest offering, Onward does not break this mould. It’s a pretty straight forward premise (at least for a Pixar movie): take a fantasy setting and push the technology forward so it resembles the modern day. It’s an idea that seems familiar, but rather just dropping elves and pixies into the modern world, Onward takes a fantasy world and just asks ‘what if they stopped using magic, because magic is hard?’.

The result is a fun and coherent fantasy setting, and the background to an adventure romp that is in part a love letter to fantasy tropes, specifically fantasy roleplaying games. It’s also a meditation on both grief and the impact that an absent father can have on a family. The tale opens on the birthday of Ian Lightfoot (Holland). He’s a shy young elf who has difficulty making friends and likes making lists. His brother Barley (Pratt) is a large, loud, and confidant chap who loves playing games and is fascinated with the past. He’s also prone to getting into trouble, as his nostalgia for bygone times keeps rubbing up against modern standards. A birthday gift from their long dead father, kept secret from them until they both came of age, sends the two brothers on a quest of magical discovery.

Obviously, as this is a Pixar movie so it turns out that magic and emotional honesty are tied to each other. This is a tale of two brothers (and their mom) discovering more about themselves than the actual quest. It’s also incredibly geeky and proud to be so. The movie goes out of its way to reference the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, and also goes that extra mile to confirm that the inspiration behind this story is less about Tolkien and more about people.

This makes a lot of sense in context of the story; fantasy gaming is about coming together as a group to solve problems that seem impossible after all. Pacing wise, this is solid family fare and though they are plenty of emotional moments throughout, there’s nothing here that’s particularly challenging or unique. It fails to pull the same sort of surprises as Inside Out or even Toy Story, but none the less, it’s delightful. The world-building is solid though a little bit simplistic; for a movie inspired by fantasy tropes, it’s a little light on detail, and it feels that depth has been sacrificed for the sake of accessibility. Holland and Pratt are, of course, superb, with Pratt especially tapping into his Parks and Recreation comedy chops to deliver an earnest yet endearing performance. Though not a classic, it’s a fun feature with something for everyone.