Movie Review: The Innkeepers / Cert: 18 / Director: Ti West / Screenplay: Ti West / Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, / Release Date: June 8th

Director Ti West is claimed by many to be one of the new wave of horror filmmakers who have brought a sense of fun and invention back to the genre. The House of the Devil was a great throwback and felt exactly like a film made in the late seventies. It had pacing issues and eventually turned out to be merely a good film rather than the classic it threatened to be. The Innkeepers is West’s latest film and the good news is that it’s better than House of the Devil, however it suffers from an even bigger flaw than pacing and is a sign that perhaps West should work with another writer rather than himself.

The story takes place in The Yankee Pedlar Inn (an actual real place), a supposedly haunted hotel that is going out of business. During its last weekend we find slacker types Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) forced to man reception and care for the few guests left at the hotel. Claire and Luke have a side-line in amateur paranormal investigations and believe that the spirit of a woman who committed suicide haunts the corridors of the hotel. They capture on tape strange bumps in the night and electronic voice phenomenon. When an ex actress claiming to be a psychic (Kelly McGillis) checks in along with a creepy old man, things get worse.

Some have complained that The Innkeepers suffers from the same pacing issues that affect House of the Devil and I would have to disagree. The pace is definitely on the slow burn side but the characters portrayed by the oh-so-cute Paxton and the likeable Pat Healy and their interplay and dialogue offset any sluggish pace that may be present. It’s a genuine joy to be around these two and I could have watched a movie with just the two of them starting Luke’s low rent ghostbuster web site. Alas the plot must actually intrude and from the start West builds the atmosphere with a brilliant musical score from Jeff Grace. There are some really long, tense and painful to watch shots that go down hotel corridors reminiscent of the best parts of Kubrick’s The Shining. During one scene in particular set in a basement, West uses shadows and lighting so effectively that as an audience you are constantly looking into the dark corners, certain that there was something there. The film has a refreshing lack of computer generated pyrotechnics and still manages to actually get to you. This is an example many filmmaker’s could learn from, less really is more here. This film may be derivative of the aforementioned The Shining and something like Clerks or any number of 90s independent cinema but it’s also a testament to West’s directing skills which is why it’s such a shame that The Innkeepers is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

The film is split into three chapters and a prologue, so you would expect that the film would follow the traditional three act structure present in most things. The Innkeepers fatally lacks a final act that really delivers. It has a very definite ending, but it’s abrupt and sudden and comes at a point where you would traditionally expect the film to kick up another gear for a great pay off. It’s not that it’s a bad film; it’s just that what comes before is so strong that the weak ending is a real tragedy. All through the film I was convinced it was going to turn out to be my favourite of 2012 and then all that hope went out the window when the credits rolled.

The Innkeepers is 75% a great film and for that alone it’s worth watching. It’s still far superior to most of the other things that get a cinema release with the label ‘horror’ attached.

Expected Rating: 9 out of 10

Actual:

Movie Review: The Last Push / Cert: TBC / Director: Eric Hayden / Screenplay: Eric Hayden / Starring: Khary Payton, Lance Henriksen, Brian Baumgartner / Release Date: TBC

Space exploration goes wrong in this low budget first time feature from Director Eric Hayden. Billionaire, Walter Moffit (Lance Henrickson) funds a mission to explore Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. The two man crew wake up from stasis just as their chamber is exploding and only Michael Forrest (Khary Payton) survives.

Michael is restricted to a small living area, which is constructed extremely well and the logistics of exactly how an astronaut would survive in a habitation chamber have been thought through; including the use of what can only be described as a “poo paste” for nutritional needs. Contact with base is kept up via satellite video links – and the conversations between Michael and his colleague Bob Jones (Brian Baumgartner or Kevin from The Office: An American Workplace) feel believable as they play off each other well. Lance Henrickson is basically a talking head and his role could have been played by anyone, but it’s good to see he wants to support sci-fi filmmakers.

The success of the film relies on the strength of Khary Payton’s acting and he does a fine job, but his performance unfortunately does not carry the film. With its comparisons to Moon, where Sam Rockwell plays an astronaut confined to a solitary existence, it just doesn’t reach anywhere near the same level. Humour is lacking for the most part and the idea isn’t original enough to praise for creativity. Though the films are extremely different, when the focus is on one man for the majority of the film something special is needed to lift it above other films about being stranded in space.

There are some nice nods to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, with the reason for the mission based on the fact that whales have been located on Europa, and the idea of what home means to different people is investigated nicely. Director, Hayden, delivers some interesting moments and musings on human motivation, space exploration and one man’s psychological excursion but if you are a fan of this type of sci-fi you may have seen it all before.

Expected: 6 out of 10

Actual:

Movie Review: Trek Nation / Cert: TBC / Director: Scott Colthorpe / Screenplay: Jessica Brunetto / Starring: J. J. Abrams, Indira Addington, Sallie Baliunas, Grey Beyer, Chris Buice, Ernesto Cortes / Release Date: TBC

Gene Roddenberry, The Great Bird of the Galaxy, passed away just over ten years ago in 1991, and his ashes now float in space. It is easy for fans to forget that outside of Star Trek, Roddenberry was just a man with family, other interests and passions and that each of these fed into the series that we love.

His son, Eugene, does not love Star Trek. Indeed, he spent most of his life ignoring and avoiding it. After realising just how much of his father was in the show, Eugene decided to watch it, speak to the fans, the writers and creators of Star Trek in order to get to know his own father better, and this idea became the documentary Trek Nation. Originally made for television, it has been edited together into a feature film (although the titles for the advert breaks remain, which is truly annoying). This is a wonderful gem of an idea, and promises new insight into an old show.

Eugene speaks to quite an array of very interesting people. Notably, D.C. Fontana, who wrote for the original show, as well as the early shows of TNG, Rick Berman who inherited Roddenberry’s seat as the Captain of Star Trek for the following television shows, Jonathan Frakes, Seth McFarlane, Ronald Moore and J.J. Abrams, who is currently working on the newest film. Intriguingly, he also has the opportunity to speak to George Lucas, the king of Star Wars. Impressive. Most impressive.

The documentary is put together from clips of Star Trek, home videos of the Roddenberry family, interviews conducted with Eugene and some wonderful footage of early conventions and behind the scenes shots. The balance is about right. The problem is that Trek Nation is trying to do two things at once. It is trying to be a documentary about Star Trek and it is trying to be the touching story of a son learning about his father, and the outcome is that neither of these two aims is achieved in a satisfactory way.

The interviews are wasted, bouncing between the two subjects. Most frustrating, to my mind, are the squandered opportunities with Fontana and George Lucas, which could have brought some real depth into the core values and creation of Star Trek, and how it inspired Star Wars. None of the interviews provide new depth or insight. The most touching is a brief one with his mother – Majel Barrett, but Eugene declares his disappointment in this particular interview.

Trek Nation is not essential viewing, and holds little new information for fans of the show. It is entertaining enough, and would suit a Sunday afternoon perhaps, but be warned that, much like Spock’s Brain, it feels like most of the real substance is missing and it just isn’t Star Trek at its best.

Expected: 7 out of 10

Actual:

Movie Review: Iron Sky / Cert: 15 / Director: Timo Vuorensola / Screenplay: Johanna Sinisalo, Michael Kalesniko / Starring: Julia Dietze, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Tilo Prucker, Udo Kier / Release Date: Out Now 

What if the Nazis had never been defeated, but instead had escaped in 1945 and set up a colony on the dark side of the moon, spending the intervening years plotting their revenge and plan for total world domination. Well Iron Sky, the hilariously offensive new sci-fi adventure from Finnish director Timo Vurensola, uses this premise to create one of the most stylishly witty and totally off-the-radar films you’re likely to have seen since, well – ever!

Don’t be alarmed by Iron Sky being non-PC. It’s as though the producers thought of every dodgy subject they could – sexism, fetishism, racism, Nazis, – and said hell, lets just throw the lot in and see what happens, resulting in a jaw-achingly hilarious comedy.

Everything, no matter how preposterous, is done with the cast’s tongues so firmly in their cheeks, that it takes on an air of gravity which only adds to the film’s overall fun. From the wonderful spoof of the American president (so clearly based on Sarah Palin that they haven’t even tried disguising the fact) given a manic intensity by Stephanie Paul, to the goose-stepping Nazi storm troopers in jackboots and gas-masks (lending their sinister appearance a kinky edge) ready to take-over the world in the name of their new Führer, Klaus Adler, played with creepy intensity by prolific German actor Götz Otto, the 93 minute running time zips past in a blur of explosive offensiveness.

Neither is the film afraid to blatantly rip-off other sci-fi classics. The eagle-eyed will recognise nods towards Star Wars, Mars Attacks and 2001: A Space Odyssey, whilst the interior of the Nazi’s secret moon base looks like a cross between H.R. Giger’s Alien designs and the German expressionist sets of Metropolis (which is rather appropriate considering the subject matter). Where other films may have fallen flat with such a potpourri of references to the past, Iron Sky succeeds by continuing to throw caution to the wind and not caring who it winds-up in the process.

That the first city the Nazis decide to attack is New York may appear somewhat clichéd. But let’s face it, who else on Earth lay themselves open to ridicule better than the Americans. Their fight back with the Palin-esque president leading the charge provides a witty take on what could easily have been reality had their last election gone differently.

Iron Sky is like a motorway pile up – you can’t help stopping to look despite every moral fibre in your body telling you not to.

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10

Actual Rating: 

Review: Cycle / Cert: TBC / Director: Zoltan Sostai / Screenplay: Zoltan Sostai / Release Date: TBC

Pixelated madness, simulated worlds, portals, complex questions surrounding time and disorientation dominate this visually imaginative film from debut director Zoltan Sostai. Moments of the film have a 1960s inspired feel to them, with the influence of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey being clear. A suited up spaceman runs around a puzzling world trying to escape a mysterious fog. He is accompanied by a masked man who attempts to guide him, but it’s not clear if he is pointing him in the right direction. Much of the rest of the film takes on a more modern edge, with computer game graphics and CGI motion capture animation and in fact, at times, you get the feeling you are watching a game in motion.

The narrative, though non linear, is similar in form to that of a computer game as you are following a man running around a desolate world with the aim of escape and realisation. A repetitive series of events plays out, and at times, it gives off the effect that you have failed your level and are having to reboot and start from the beginning again. An interesting concept that just about works at the short running time of 77 minutes. If you are not a fan of computer games then this could prove to be a difficult watch.

Disorientation and atmosphere are achieved with the use of static interruption in both the visuals and the sound along with synth chords and psychedelic light beams. Codes and ticking clocks appear at intervals, left for the audience to decipher. The entire film revolves around a sense of panic, unanswered questions and ambiguity and it works on this level.

The strongest aspect of the film lies in some of the black and white footage that delivers some strange and confusing moments. Running with the concept of a computer game, the astronaut enters some extremely different worlds and rooms that are all starkly contrasted. A room filled with dancing spacemen and a conversation that sets up the idea that not everything is as it seems is particularly striking and in tone with that old school sci-fi film look. Spaceships and sparsely inhabited industrial settings with sermon like speeches make up a strange debut that shows potential. This is surreal sci-fi that has some stand out moments even if the whole may not satisfy.

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Men in Black III / Cert: PG / Director: Barry Sonnenfeld / Screenplay: Etan Cohen, David Koepp, Jeff Nathanson, Michael Soccio / Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve / Release Date: May 25th

The Men in Black franchise is one of the biggest wastes of potential in modern cinema. The first film built a wonderfully layered world which was well realised and full of possibilities. The second movie released in 2002 was just a retread of the plot of the first movie and failed to build on all of the good work of the first film. The third movie (ten years after the sequel) doesn’t exactly redress the balance but is definitely a step in the right direction.

Whenever you introduce time travel into a franchise you run into trouble. Introducing this element along with alternate timelines and convoluted plotlines can lead to nothing but confusion. This isn’t quite the case with Men in Black III but the time travel element to the plot feels like a contrivance so that they can mask the fact that, yet again, the core story is just a retread of the first two films. The travelling back to 1969 does at least give an excuse to introduce a young K played with a spot on Tommy Lee Jones impression by Josh Brolin and also throw in some gags about technology and Andy Warhol. The problem is the script meanders once it gets to the sixties, a lot of it feels unnecessary and hinders the plot. As much as people complain about the length of the first two movies, at least they were tightly scripted.

Boris the Animal never really feels like a truly terrifying villain and has some woefully unfunny scenes that waste Jermaine Clement’s natural gift for deadpan comedy. It never actually builds to anything resembling the giant monsters seen in the first two films and so instead ends with a whimper rather than a bang with an admittedly rather neat climb up the first rocket to the moon and a quite clever twist.

Despite the rather obvious problems with the screenplay, I had fun with Men in Black III. The chemistry between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith is still very much in evidence and is also prevalent in the scenes between Smith and Josh Brolin. If they do make a fourth movie it would be good to get Brolin involved somehow because here he feels like he could carry the franchise with Smith should Jones happen to not show up for it.

Men in Black III will no doubt make a lot of money this summer due to Will Smith’s presence. Sadly for the audience and for Smith, it’s another case of a sci-fi franchise failing to be all it can be despite some great moments.

Expected Rating: 4 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Manborg / Cert: TBC / Director: Steven Kostanski / Screenplay: Steven Kostanski / Starring: Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy, Ludwig Lee, Conor Sweeney, Meredith Sweeney / Release Date: TBC

At some point in the near future, the Gates To Hell are opened, unleashing an army of evil Nazi Vampires with whom there are several large wars. Led by Count Draculon, the army from Hell eventually prove victorious, and all humankind finds itself being ruled and tortured by these horrendous creatures.

Our hero begins as a soldier fighting in the ‘Third Hell War’. Following his brother’s death, he is the only soldier brave enough to attack Count Draculon. Of course, he loses, and is left for dead. He wakes up years later in a box, as Manborg. Part man, part cyborg. He has been designed to fight and defeat evil Count. His new armaments include a rocket launcher in his elbow, a laser beam and a powerful machine gun, as well as increased strength (which must come as standard in these situations). He is also much slower, and less co-ordinated than he had been previously.

Manborg hooks up with a team of heroes. Number One Man is an Asian martial arts expert, with a dubbed voice. Mina is the tough street-kid after revenge. Her brother, Justice, is the final member of the group. He can’t read, but is fond of one-liners and bizarre dance moves whilst fighting.

Manborg had no budget. To the film-maker’s credit, instead of simply having awful special effects, the rest of the film has been made ‘badly’ too. It is jumpy and oddly shot, which takes time to get used to, but does prove atmospheric and successfully frames the film in its own weird bubble of surrealism. It feels like a nightmare, and I enjoyed it. There is also use of stop-motion plasticine work for some of the villains, which is always welcome and fits with Manborg’s retro feeling. The film is a homage to some of the great (and not-so-great) cult movies of the 1980’s. It certainly feels as if Manborg is moving through a list of items, ticking them off. Training montage, check. Girl fight, check. Dubbed dialogue, check…

This is not a film to be taken seriously, and it is played for laughs. The evil Nazi Vampires, for example, chase our heroes on floating glowing energy surf boards. (Yes, evil surfing Nazi vampires…) The Baron is an evil hell creature in charge of the prison. He has a smoking habit, and a crush on Mina – bringing her flowers, and trying to figure out why she doesn’t fall for him. Also, the mask worn by the actor has a mouth that is constantly open in a toothy grimace, and doesn’t move as the character speaks.

At just over 60 mins, Manborg is the perfect length. Any longer and the fun would wear off, and the stylistic choices induce a headache. As it is, Manborg is a fun, insane romp through a blend of 1980’s science fiction and horror. Beer is a necessary accompaniment.

Expected: 6 out of 10

Actual:

Review: Hidden Face / Cert: TBC / Director: Andrés Baiz / Screenplay: Andrés Baiz, Stewart St. John / Starring: Quim Gutiérrez, Clara Lago, Martina García / Release Date: TBC

Though The Hidden Face, the new thriller from Andrés Baiz, the director behind 2007’s critically acclaimed crime thriller Satanás, is not strictly a horror film, it has all the qualities for a truly unsettling experience – atmosphere, suspense and a twisted climax which leaves you guessing until the final credits.

Adrián (Quim Gutiérrez) and his fiancé Belén (Clara Lago) move into an isolated mansion outside the Colombian city of Bogotá, after he takes up the position of conductor in residence with the city’s orchestra. As time passes Belén convinces herself that Adrián is having an affair with a member of the orchestra, which leads her to become increasingly paranoid and hostile towards him. Then suddenly one morning Belén disappears. Accepting that she has gone for good Adrián moves on and meets a young waitress called Fabiana (Martina García) with whom he falls in love and brings to live in the house. Everything is fine until Fabiana begins hearing sounds when alone in the house, becoming convinced that there is more to her strange new home than meets the eye…

In the age of the modern horror movie, film-makers appear to have forgotten that often what isn’t seen is much more unsettling than anything CGI wizardry can come up with. Productions from large Hollywood studios seem honour-bound to include as much visual mayhem as they can, meaning that audiences increasingly have to look beyond mainstream American cinema (in this case to Spain) for cutting edge frights.

The Hidden Face works because it has no such constraints. Eschewing gore for subtlety, the film builds tension by encouraging your affinity with the individual characters. However, despite Adrian’s distress at the apparent loss of Belén being brought to life with believable intensity by Gutiérrez, it is Lago and García’s performances as the suspicious Belén and bewildered Fabiana which stand out, leaving the viewer’s loyalties torn between the two with equal sympathy and contempt.

Setting and soundtrack are as important in the creation of the film’s suspense and atmosphere as the characters. Though the secluded country house which Adrián and Belén move into is your typical ‘haunted house’ with twisting corridors, wide open rooms and dodgy lighting which fails just when needed most, it creates an added air of menace through its beautiful yet austere decor. The strains of classical music which echo round the dimly lit mansion as Adrián pounds his grand piano late at night would be enough to send anyone over the edge, let alone the fragile Fabiana who increasingly believes that the house she has moved into is haunted.

Like the work of that master of the twisted tale Roald Dhal, The Hidden Face keeps the best shock to last. Its unexpected denouement would be worthy of the master of the macabre himself, thus completing an original and disturbing classic.

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Movie Review: The Harsh Light of Day / Cert: 18 / Director: Oliver S Milburn / Screenplay: Oliver S Milburn / Starring: Dan Richardson, Giles Anderson, Niki Felstead, Sophie Linfield / Release Date: June 8th

It’s fair to say that the last thing most of us really need right now is another low budget seen-this-before vampire shocker; the jury’s still out on whether vampires or zombies are currently the most overused monsters in horror cinema. But the romantic idea of the vampire – the restless undead spirit drifting through the centuries feeding from the living – seems endlessly irresistible so it’s hardly surprising that writers are still drawn back to the well and find themselves compelled to tell new blood-sucking stories. Post-Twilight, vampire movies remain a dime a dozen and pretty much interchangeable but occasionally something comes along which, if not exactly different, has enough originality in its vision to raise it above the pack and mark it down for wider investigation.

The Harsh Light of Day is the first feature (albeit running at about seventy-five minutes) by young British director Oliver S Milburn. Occult writer Daniel Shergold (Richardson) and his wife Maria (Felstead) are celebrating the publication of Daniel’s definitive book on the supernatural when their country home is invaded in the night by a gang of masked youths. Maria is bludgeoned to death and Daniel is left paralysed when he‘s thrown down a flight of stairs. Police attempts to track down the home invaders lead nowhere and Daniel falls into a spiral of depression and despair, trapped in his own home with its terrible memories, looking for solace at the bottom of a glass. A phone call from the supernatural expert who helped Daniel put together his book offers him the chance of revenge when he’s introduced to the mysterious, brooding and wonderfully-named Infurnari (Anderson). But revenge comes at a great price and ultimately Daniel has to decide if that price – his own humanity – is one he’s really willing to pay.

The Harsh Light of Day is a micro-budget British movie and, to be honest, it looks it. Its digital filming means it resembles some badly-transferred mid-Atlantic TV movie but in some ways this adds to its urgency, its immediacy and certainly its intimacy. Whilst its story of vampiric redemption is one we’re all too familiar with, Milburn’s script is tight and thoughtful, powered by an intense central performance from Dan Richardson as the tormented, tragic Daniel entering into a Faustian pact with Infurnari. Milburn has managed to turn his tiny budget to his advantage; violence and horror is often implied or shown in swift cuts and fleeting moments of brutality; the sequence where the invaders return to Daniel’s home to finish what they started, shown in a ‘found footage’ style, is inspired and off-putting because it’s not expected and suddenly jarringly-realistic. Admittedly the attackers themselves, filming their acts of violence for the visual gratification of others, appear to be have been recruited from Central Chav Casting via EastEnders but the film’s more concerned with Daniel’s choice and its consequences than attempting to humanise the baddies who, in the end, are just vampire fodder.

Your enjoyment of Harsh Light of Day will depend entirely on how tolerant you are of cheap, earnest, raw film-making. Milburn has, frankly, worked wonders here with almost no money but with a well-written script which has a real story to tell. Oliver Milburn is an enthusiastic and clearly-talented young director who, with a bit more money behind him, could be capable of some very powerful cinema in years to come. Harsh Light of Day is a very strong and promising start.

Movie Review: Top Cat: The Movie / Cert: U / Director: Alberto Mar / Screenplay: Kevin Seccia, Timothy McKeon / Starring: (Voices) Jason Harris, Bill Lobely, Chris Edgerly / Release Date: June 1st

Top Cat and the gang – Benny the Ball, Fancy Fancy, Choo Choo, Spook and Brains – are in hot water. Chief Strickland, New York’s new head of police, is a nasty piece of work and has the feline friends and their hapless nemesis Office Dibble in his sights.

Determined to rid ‘his city’ of these nuisances, Strickland has TC thrown in jail on trumped up charges and locks the others out of their alley. Will the cats be able to rescue TC and save the city from Strickland and his new robot police force?  With Dibble’s help that’s anyone’s guess!

Experience should tell you that if you’re looking forward to something the reality often fails to live up to expectations. Top Cat: The Movie (voiced by a band of actors you’re unlikely to have heard of) is a case in point, as this animated escapade is certainly no ‘Top Dog’. The main problem is that this is a film clearly selling itself on nostalgia. From the opening strains of the instantly recognisable theme tune to the familiar voices of Officer Dibble, TC and the gang, everything, including the retro-animation, smacks of the original ’60s television show. 

The resulting trip down memory lane may be fun for those who remember the show first time round, however it’s doubtful the current generation of sophisticated children (who are after all this kind of material’s prime audience) will ever have heard of the ‘Cool Cat’ and his fab five let alone find their brand of cliche ridden, mishap based humour amusing. The unfortunate truth is that those adults who fondly remember TC from their youth, will likely be sorely disappointed in what they see here – even with the aid of 3D glasses instead of rose tinted spectacles.

Though there are some amusing one-liners and the occasional ‘wink wink’ double entendre, these are few and far between. Any glimmer of interest (as with dastardly Stickland’s sinister robot police force which has a distinct air of Robocop about it), is soon dashed by a story thread which may have made for a mildly diverting half hour television show, but the transparency of which is clearly obvious when spread thinly over ninety minutes on the big screen.

The animation itself, though passable, is a little ropey in places, whilst the main characters of TC and Officer Dibble lack spark.  Any real fun is left to the sidekick cats (particularly Choo Choo camping it up wonderfully in a tight-fitting white polo-neck), who going on the evidence here deserve a film of their own.

Top Cat‘s accompanying press release says that this summer sees the return of TC ‘after more than a 50-year hiatus’. After watching it you’ll understand why he waited so long to make a come-back.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating: