STRAWBERRY MANSION

STRAWBERRY MANSION

It’s not often that a totally bizarre, surreal film turns out to be so heart-warmingly beautiful, but Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s film manages to do just that.

Set in 2035, James Preble (Audley) is an auditor for the government. Nothing strange there, except that he audits dreams, which are taxed and recorded by the regime. He’s tasked with checking on Bella (Penny Fuller), an older lady who is breaking the law by storing her dreams on video cassettes rather than the mandated air stick. While going through her dreams, Preble meets Bella as a young woman (Grace Glowicki) and discovers something deeply sinister: the government is bombarding its people with advertisements as they dream.

The future depicted in Audley and Birney’s movie isn’t too farfetched; after all, algorithms that work out what products to thrust at us through our screens are already commonplace. But Strawberry Mansion handles the satire beautifully, with the characters’ dreams being suitably oddball and irreverent. Preble’s liaison with the younger Bella is delightful, evoking Old Hollywood romances. Still, their relationship comes under threat once he finds out about the ad placement, as he’s chased through his dreams by Buddy (Linas Phillips). The latter keeps showing up and imposing on Preble’s dreams, wielding a bucket of fried chicken or some other ‘useful’ commercial item.

The film powerfully reminds us not to accept what’s forced on us blindly. The dream design is spectacular yet simple, as we enter worlds where anything can happen – be it frog-headed waiters (played by co-director and co-writer Birney) or rodent sailors setting sail for new adventures. It’s an impressive testament to what even a small budget can achieve. Strawberry Mansion deserves to find its audience. Unmissable.

Strawberry Mansion is in select cinemas and digital on September 16th. 

SALOUM

SALOUM

Saloum unsettles you from the outset. Instantly, we are plunged into a world of violence and confusion, a beautifully barbaric scene of devastation wherein three masked men – the Bangui Hyenas, ostensibly guns for hire – stalk the carnage seeking their quarry: a Columbian drug dealer and his gold who they must extricate to ‘safer’ lands. The pulsing African beats and frenetic camera work set the tone for a film that never allows you to gain a firm footing, the story constantly evolving beyond expectations.

Set during the 2003 coup d’état in Guinea-Bissau Jean Luc Herbulot’s gritty film defies standard classification, expertly blending elements from the gangster and supernatural genres while maintaining an unsettling undercurrent that nods toward something horrific beneath the surface. The Hyenas themselves reflect a world in flux, products of the time and moralistic to a point – they choose not to kill civilians though won’t put themselves out to protect them – yet they reflect an older world, possessing a spirituality that hints toward witchcraft; a theme that becomes increasingly prominent as their nominal leader Chaka (a superb performance from Yann Gael) hides a secret which has tormented him for years.

In many respects, Saloum rewards careful, almost studious observation. Subtleties in the narrative are easily missed with much left to interpretation, the prevalence of sign language being an interesting and relevant aspect. Billed as a ‘southern’ in the opening credits Herbulot’s film adheres to certain Western tropes yet is its own thing; a potent, stylishly thrilling concoction that expertly combines its many parts into something truly impressive. To really appreciate go in with as little knowledge as possible.

 

Saloum is streaming on Shudder now.

BEAST

In the SyFy age of Piranhaconda and Croczilla and all that jazz, it is easy to overlook the nature attacks genre. When treated with respect, it is far more than a bad-CG-a-plenty-splurge of fading stars sleepwalking through a script that reads as though it was concocted by two pissed-up mates at a Wetherspoons. Instead, this genre of horror can harness a point, a spirit and a memorable chomp, alongside action presenting the gripping power of nature and some intense sustained suspense. This grand tradition began with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and, of course, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, and we are happy to see cinema again opening its doors to such killer animal fare in Baltasar Kormákur’s thrilling Beast.

Starring Idris Elba as the recently widowed Dr. Nate Samuels, who takes his teenage daughters on a trip to Mopani Reserve in South Africa to visit “uncle” Martin (Sharlto Copley), a conservationist, biologist and Mopani manager. Samuels’ relationship with his daughters may be on rocky ground, but when poachers kill a lion’s pride, this rogue lion goes on a bloodthirsty rampage, leaving a father who is likewise out to protect his family.  

Beast is a ferocious and often nail-biting nature attacks horror/thriller, which at points recalls Cujo in its taut, confined, survivalist atmosphere. It is so gratifying to see this genre back on the big screen (if memory serves the last time, was Alexandre Aja’s exceptional Crawl) and treated with the utmost dignity. The top-tier special effects work (so refreshing to be able to praise this element) and an environmentally conscious story, unite to create a story that boasts excellent characters, as well as an important point.

Beast’s rogue lion “monster” is very much a character, not just a horror creature, and one made from mankind’s greed and evil. This big cat gone feral, has been made by humanity’s thirst for killing and profiteering. Yes, the film could lean further into its messages of anti-poaching and how man provokes nature into unnatural violence, which slip a tad as the action intensifies, and we could have hoped for a more untypical ending, but you must admire Baltasar Kormákur for making a film that is not only in awe of the natural world but which has a real sympathy for it, while also creating a quartet of lead characters in whom we actually hope for survival, despite the film’s -and our – clear sympathy for its animal antagonist. 

Elba is excellent as a human parallel to the tragic animal he faces, as he too is protecting his pride. While young stars Iyana Halley and Leah Sava Jeffries, as Nate’s two daughters, are equally impressive. While Copley, as the animal-protecting Martin is a show-stealing presence to the film, and in many ways its beating heart.

Beast is well acted, tautly delivered, beautifully shot by cinematographer Philippe Rousselot (recalling Flavio Martínez Labiano’s work on The Shallows, only on dry land rather than raging sea), and scored with a constant culturally-respectful atmosphere by Steven Price. 

Beast brings animal attacks films back to the cinema schedule with gruesome efficiency and thematic bite. You might call it Jaws with paws… and plenty of claws! Brilliant.

BEAST is in UK cinemas now; coming soon to rent/buy digitally; and will hit Blu-ray December 31st

BECKY

becky

The King of Queens himself breaks bad for this, his Big, Serious Role as an escaped prison convict and Nazi clan leader. Kevin James, best known as the doofy guy in Hitch, or Adam Sandler’s friend, stretches his dramatic muscles, breaking into a family’s home and menacing the milquetoast inhabitants within. The only member of the family not intimidated by murderous Dominick and his gang of heavies is thirteen-year-old Becky (Lulu Wilson); rebellious, bad-tempered, and struggling with serious anger management issues. When Dominick’s home invasion escalates beyond what was supposed to be a simple in-and-out MacGuffin grab, Becky channels her inner John Rambo/McClane to give Dominick and his crew a taste of their own medicine. You know, kind of like Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

While directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion do lean into the absurdism of pitting a thirteen-year-old girl against a gang of prison convicts, the story is played straight, especially where its characterisation of young Becky is concerned. This rumination on contagious violence goes all in on Becky’s wrath; anger and hatred let off the leash, and some truly shocking (but satisfying) gore to boot (take that, Nazis!). None of which would work without Wilson as Becky, who steals the whole show and puts her adult co-stars to shame. Sorry, Kevin James. Given the story, it’s ironic that the limelight should be stolen from its big-name star, who is aggressively fine as Dominick. Kevin James glowers and stomps, but doesn’t have much to do, aside from a pivotal scene of gross-out ultraviolence in the middle, and the showdown at the end. He’s overshadowed in the acting stakes by Wilson and, physically, by Robert Mailet, who plays lead thug Apex. Even the perpetually artificial Joel McHale makes a better show of it, as Becky’s well-meaning but useless dad. 

In taking its fight so seriously, Becky frequently stretches the limits of plausibility and relies on too much contrivance for comfort. But it’s exceptionally well-made and a lot of fun, with a great (if underutilised) cast. It’s Home Alone meets You’re Next for the ‘Becky’ generation. 

 

Becky screens on Legend on September 12th.

 

 

TOXIC ALIEN ZOMBIE BABES FROM OUTER SPACE

toxic alien zombie

Right off the bat, you know from the title that this isn’t going to be a serious, hard sci-fi masterpiece to rival the output of the Holy Nolan and the like. Coming from Down Under, this antipodean schlock picture was filmed during the lockdown and is a patchwork of various sources.

The world is suffering under the COVID-19 outbreak, but worse is to come – for the men at least – as Venus has unleashed their toxic zombie babes to blast the balls of the male earthlings. As conspiracy theories run rife, the invasion continues.

Directed by Gerardo Chierchia and written by David Black, who has previous for this type of Troma-esque no-budget B-movie homage, such as Badass Bunyip. Black also plays a recurring social media character who amusingly has to use different platforms as he keeps getting kicked off them. As a pastiche of low-budget sci-fi of yesteryear, it’s a fun watch and the deliberately cheesy CGI effects add to the giggle factor. It might not go as far as Lloyd Kaufman’s films in the sleaze and titillation, but there are still enough near-the-knuckle moments to please fans of Troma movies. Make no mistake, this is anarchic, don’t-give-a-fudge filmmaking, and you’ll either get it or you won’t.

The story plays out over separately chaptered days, which is handy as it’ll likely be more palatable in smaller chunks rather than going through the two-hour running time.

Toxic Alien Zombie Babes from Outer Space is available to watch on YouTube.

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

crimes of the future

Writer/director David Cronenberg is back playing in the body horror wheelhouse that his fans love him for. Don’t expect a re-run of his early film of the same name, however, as this grimly stylish and disturbing film relishes in the transformation of the human condition.

The movie is set in a future in which humans have begun to evolve – or mutate, whichever your opinion – and performance artist Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) is gifted with an ability to grow new internal organs. Rather than wait to see if they have any purpose, he has his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux) tattoo them in situ before removing them in an avant-garde act to their appreciative audience, who record every moment with archaic devices like a modern crowd holding their mobile phone aloft at a concert. Tenser utilises modern, organic-looking equipment to aid his pain (which is now all but eradicated in this new world, making Tenser stand out even more), sleep, and consumption of food. The units are provided and serviced by a pair of workers from LifeFormWare, who take their job very seriously and are impressed that Tenser has a vintage model of a machine that was used for autopsies. Caprice remotely controls this during their performance with a blob that could have been left over from eXistenz (1999). With pain no issue, body modification has gone to the extreme, a rival performer wows the chin-strokers with a dance while displaying his body covered in extra ears, while a model has her face mutilated to look like gills. Elsewhere, there is a New Vice department (headed by Welket Bungué) and a governmental registry for new organs, based in a grotty building – since the risk of infections and pain is no longer a worry, hygiene appears to have lapsed – where Tenser meets Wippet (Don McKeller) and the rather odd Timlin (Kristen Stewart). They both break their own code when they become fascinated with the artists’ world, attending their shows. When a stranger, Lang (Scott Speedman), presents them with the opportunity to perform an autopsy on the corpse of his son and introduces them to a new breed of human that can consume and digest plastic, things get even more complicated for the duo.

Cronenberg’s world here is one of hedonistic flesh worship, where internal beauty contests reign. Here, surgery is the new sex (as Stewart’s character creepily interjects), although there are a few moments of ‘old style’ physicality. There are themes that regularly crop up in the director’s genre work – elements of Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983), Crash (1999), and the aforementioned eXistenZ are all here, in both the visuals and the concept, almost to the point of being included as fan service or a grotesque in-joke. But there’s an optimism, too, with the hope that we could perhaps evolve to overcome the environmental problem of non-biodegradable plastic (although those who do this are an underground, criminalised class).

The performance art echoes the work of Bob Flanagan, with Mortensen achingly superb as the constantly hacking, tortured artist. Seydoux also shines as his co-creator, who he insists takes equal credit for their act, even though he’s the one doing all the physical work. Despite the visceral elements, Crimes of the Future is relatively bloodless when it comes to the surgical aspects (although the opening scene is particularly shocking), but that doesn’t soften the impact of the procedures.

Cronenberg fans will no doubt get a lot out of this excursion back into his body horror days, while the art lovers will perhaps recognise themselves in the passive onlookers, recording every moment on their 35mm point-and-shoot and 8mm cine cameras. Mainstream audiences are advised to steer clear, however.

 

Crimes of the Future is in cinemas now. 

CONTROL

Chained to a chair in a futuristic prison cell, a woman (Sara Mitch) is forced into a high-stakes game of Taskmaster. With a disembodied voice (not Little Alex Horne) snapping instructions at her, Eileen must compete or risk the death of her daughter, held hostage by the same mysterious entity who keeps demanding that she move pens and pop little plastic balls into buckets. Can she harness her latent telekinetic abilities to save her daughter’s life, and free herself? Well, she only has so many shoes left to throw. Come on, Eileen!

Making the best of its single room setting (reminiscent of cult classic Cube), James Mark’s sci-fi thriller achieves a lot with a little – snappy visuals, a simple concept, and a compelling lead performance. The film loses some of its charm when the husband (a wooden George Tchortov) enters the scene, although it’s in Eileen and Roger’s brittle dynamic that the story’s mysteries truly lie. Is he all that he seems to be? And what revelations are hiding behind Eileen’s amnesia?

Mark and co-writer Matthew Nayman keep things simple until, suddenly, they aren’t. As the curtain is drawn back, a startling endgame is revealed, with the Captivity-meets-Black-Mirror vibes giving way to bits of early Stephen King and ‘80s era Cronenberg. If there are shades of a recent Marvel movie to Eileen’s barefoot mom routine, then Mitch and Mark manage to put even the MCU to shame with the film’s minimalism and gnarly visual effects. A deceptively straightforward concept, done with precision and confidence.

CLERKS III

clerks III

Kevin Smith circles back to the start of his career with this next chapter in the lives of Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), 16 years after the pair bought the Quick Stop store. They might still have a slacker attitude, but some things have changed: Dante has loved and lost, while Randal has become even bitterer – so much so that he suffers a near-fatal heart attack, an event that mirrors Smith’s own health scare several years ago. The film’s meta aspects are only rendered more evident when Randal decides to make a film of his life which, of course, would essentially be Clerks.

Meanwhile, Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith) have ‘gone legit’, running what used to be the video store as a legalised pot shop, while Elias (Trevor Fehrman) has gotten into cryptocurrency. The setup leads to more of the same from Smith, except there’s a surprising amount of heart here (and not just the coronary kind). Clerks III is more about friendship and coming to terms with ageing – but not necessarily growing up – than it is about dick and weed jokes (not that there’s any lack of those). It’s half a mature film wrapped in the guise of a familiar comedy.

There’s also the usual array of guest appearances, including characters we’ve met over the years and some surprising cameos (the audition montage is a standout).

If lazy repetition made you check out of the View Askewniverse a while back, Clerks III might seem like your worst kind of hell. However, we predict that, like us, you’ll be surprised by the emotions this trip back to the well will stir up. Well played, clerks.

 

Clerks III is in cinemas from September 16th.

THE MOVIE

Michael Mandell movie

A delivery man, Walter (Jarrod Pistilli) brings a large, unexpected package to actor Janet (Bonnie Root), and after a little discourse about accepting the parcel, he asks to take a selfie. As things get even more awkward, Walter produces a script from his pocket. He wants to cast Janet and insists on filming every horrendous moment of his dire screenplay right there.

Films set around two characters can be hard to pull off, and writer/director Michael Mandell almost succeeds with The Movie. The big problem is that rather than going on a humorous trajectory, it descends into a rather nasty, uncomfortable direction. Both actors do well playing off each other but a protracted rape scene – despite not being explicit – is upsetting, as is its aftermath, which changes the mood of the picture considerably.

It’s a well-made two-hander, which makes the distasteful moments jar even more. Where sure Mandell is capable of delivering a much better film; however, the sour taste left by The Movie doesn’t make us desperate to see it.

The Movie is out now on digital in the US

HOUSE OF DARKNESS

HOUSE OF DARKNESS

Exploring the complicated dynamics of modern dating and incorporating a Gothic horror twist, Neil LaBute’s new movie House of Darkness is a pleasantly disconcerting reimagining of the traditional vampire hunter-prey format.

And the result, while predictable, is a largely effective and entertaining fable about truth and lies, right up until the point where the story begins to run out of momentum. At its core, this is a simple tale: Hap (Justin Long) is brought home by the beautiful and ethereal Mina (Kate Bosworth) for a nightcap. ‘Home’ happens to be a sprawling, unavoidably sinister Stoker-esque mansion with alarm bells ringing from every shadowy corner, but the intentionally unlikeable Hap thinks he’s onto a winner and so ignores the warning signs. As the viewer, you know exactly where things are going but it is the uncomfortable interaction between the two leads that keeps you watching. Long plays the fumbling self-confident Hap with smarmy ease while Bosworth is wickedly provocative, Mina analysing and questioning every word her son-to-be victim utters. Their chemistry may be natural due to their off-screen relationship, but it is essential in adding credence to a slight plot that is stretched almost to breaking point over the 88-minute runtime.

Framed over a two-act structure House of Darkness has all the attributes of a play; character driven and with a minimal number of simple locations. The dialogue is constructed with precision and the varying tone ensures you remain as unsettled as the hapless Hap. But LeBute’s film struggles to maintain its early promise and despite the welcome goriness of the finale, the story plays out with very few surprises.

 

House of Darkness is released in US cinemas on September 9th and US digital on September 13th.