Review Category: VOD

VOD REVIEW: THE SINGING BIRD WILL COME / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: IAIN ROSS-MCNAMEE / SCREENPLAY: IAIN ROSS-MCNAMEE / STARRING: GILLIAN HARKER, CHARLES O’NEILL, LAURA WILSON, AARON JEFFCOATE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Moving back home to the north from London when she loses her job, her mother dies, and her relationship fails; Lauren (Harker) has a lot to contend with. A father who has resorted to the bottle to cope with his loss, a wayward and angry brother, bitchy friends and a job that’s beneath her as a night cleaner in local restaurant. It’s while working she begins to see a presence and feel a mournful spirit. She discovers a waitress went missing almost twenty years ago, and is convinced it’s her manifestation that is making itself known to the susceptible but inquisitive Lauren.

With an incredibly small budget, writer/director Ross-McNamee has managed to craft a film which embodies the essence of the classic British ghost story. Aside from a few moments that could be inspired by the Japanese/Korean horror films of the late nineties, it has a brooding atmosphere of the classic tales of M. R. James and the like. With the heavy prominence of loss as a theme, it strikes more than a few chords, without becoming too clichéd. Despite being a first-time director, he manages to create some fantastic scenes of terror and dripping with anxiety. Without resorting to too many cheap jump shocks (and those that are present are well executed), and with the help of a complementary and impressive score and sound design, the film draws the viewer in, building the tension to tangible levels.

The final product belies the budget, coming across as much more lavish production, despite the (occasional obvious) inexperienced cast members. Gillian Harker is in practically every scene and is brilliant as the lead; thoroughly convincing and completely captivating. She and director Ross-McNamee, whose confidence behind the camera is quite remarkable, are names to watch out for in the future.

If only all low budget films could be like this…
You can rent or buy The Singing Bird Will Come online now.

VOD REVIEW: CHOP / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: TRENT HAAGA / SCREENPLAY: ADAM MINAROVICH / STARRING: WILL KEENAN, TIMOTHY MUSKATELL, CHAD FERRIN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW VIA THEHORRORSHOW.TV

Kidnapped by a mysterious loon, the seemingly innocent Lance (Will Keenan) is tormented by a man who claims to know him, demanding vengeance for sins past. After taking his anger out on Lance’s brother and wife, the stranger begins systematically removing body parts – starting with fingers, escalating to bigger, less easily replaced bits. What follows is like a much less good I Saw the Devil crossed with a much less funny episode of My Name is Earl.

What sets Chop apart from other low-budget horror films is the ambition of its storytelling and its willingness to go weirder and further than we might be used to when watching this sort of thing. Whether it’s Diff’rent Strokes jokes, shenanigans with a bionic eye or accidental prostitute murder, there’s more to Chop than the grim torture schlock you might have expected from the synopsis. That, however, does not always prove to be a good thing.

Graced with the most irritating antagonist this side of a Jigsaw protégé, Chop wastes its potentially good actors by letting them chew the scenery throughout. For Keenan, this isn’t so bad – the man has a brilliantly expressive face, like a more serious Jim Carrey, and is well served by a story which lets him be mean, sympathetic and shambolic in equal measures – but Timothy Muskatell’s stranger is a snivelling, gurning pain of a man. If Keenan is Carrey, that makes Muskatell the Tommy Lee Jones of this Batman Forever; a fine performer, overacting himself into embarrassment. Dialling it back a little would have done wonders for the film; after all, unless you’re a Bond villain or the Joker, grandstanding villain monologues should be avoided at all times.

Feeling too long in spite of its reasonable runtime, we could easily do without the first half an hour or so (insert ‘chop’ joke here) – there’s no need for the comedy cops routine, the cheating wife or most of what precedes Lance being strapped to a table ready for his de-limb-ening – especially given that most of his character is revealed after this point anyway. Still, it is fitfully amusing and admirably zany, most notably during its first major chop sequence, and director Trent Haaga (co-writer of the wonderful Cheap Thrills) imbues the film with a great sense of energy, even when it’s busy getting bogged down in the unnecessary and tiresome. Chop certainly isn’t for everyone but, well, you know what they say about different strokes.

VOD REVIEW: HATE CRIME / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK / SCREENPLAY: JARRET COHEN, JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK / STARRING: JODY BARTON, NICHOLAS ADAM CLARK, GREG DEPETRO, MAGGIE WAGNER, DEBBIE DIESEL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (via musicandmovienetwork.com)

Mixing two recently-popular tropes – found footage and home invasion – Bressack’s second film manages to be both a kick in the gut and a sobering look at extremist mentalities.

Celebrating the birthday of their youngest son (Sloane Morgan Siegel), father (Depetro) is filming everything on his camcorder, while mother (Wagner) keeps their other children (Diesel and Clark) in check.

Their peace and enjoyment is shattered when a group of three masked Neo-Nazis barge in, and proceed to cause mayhem; killing, torturing and raping as much as they can. The reason? The family is Jewish, obviously they have moved into the wrong neighbourhood as far as this gang of crystal-meth-crazed lunatics are concerned.

Hate Crime is brutal. It’s nasty. It’s very uncomfortable to watch. And it’s meant to be. There’s no denying that there are horrible-minded people out there. It doesn’t matter what religion, race, or anything these people are, they exist. For someone to take his or her ‘beliefs’ to the extreme of harming or even just inconveniencing another human being is deplorable. Those are the facts. With Bressack’s film, we have an alarming group who seem to be under many people’s radar: those who still support the Nazi ideals.

It wastes no time getting going, the gang are in the house and brutalising within the first five minutes. They are high on meth, and clearly not in control of their thoughts; quite often, their actions even come across as buffoonish. However, there is nothing remotely funny about them, nor should they be. The terrible and disturbing acts they both commit and force their captives to commit are sickening.

However, it’s not violence for the sake of it. Once the invaders take control of the camera and begin filming their actions, we are drawn into their world, powerless to stop it, almost becoming complicit.

While it can be argued that the thugs’ treatment of the women of the house – which is barbaric and deeply upsetting – isn’t as realistic as it should be (it’s hard to imagine they’d stop at stripping them to their underwear), it’s powerful and horrific enough to make its point. Anything further may have strayed too far into exploitation and taken the focus away from the serious issues the film raises.

It’s certainly not a fun film, but it’s an impressive use of the format, and worth catching if you have the stomach for it.

You can watch this film now FOR FREE, thanks to the Movie & Music Network via www.movieandmusicnetwork.com

 

VOD REVIEW: BEYOND THE GRAVE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: DAVI DE OLIVEIRA PINHEIRO / SCREENPLAY: DAVI DE OLIVEIRA PINHEIRO / STARRING: RAFAEL TOMBINI, ÁLVARO ROSA COSTA, RICARDO SEFFNER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (NETFLIX US)

Budgets don’t get much lower than with this Brazilian horror film – a dark, supernatural zombie-based affair about a man on a very personal mission. A brooding police officer (Tombini) seeks an entity known as the ‘Dark Rider’, accompanied by a pair of teenagers in a dangerous post-apocalyptic environment. It could have been Mad Max meets Fallen but, sadly, falls quite short of such lofty heights.

There’s an assumption that comes with being a horror fan, that if it’s subtitled, it’s automatically good. Think instant classics like , Haute Tension, Oldboy and Audition, to name but a few. Beyond the Grave proves, however, that every culture has its own mediocrities. Beyond the Grave will fit right in with the hundreds of other British and American straight to DVD zombie horror films currently out there, being very much a middle of the road entry into the subgenre. Its poster and opening moments even show that very same middle of the road: front, and centre.

That’s not to say it doesn’t try. The ‘Dark Rider’ element is interesting, as is the concept of a moody cop hunting him/it. As our hero speeds about the post-apocalypse landscape in his slick black muscle car (complete with police siren on the roof), there’s some very interesting imagery at play. The zombies look pretty good too, with more effort being put into their appearance than you might expect to find elsewhere. The Brazilian backdrop helps. No matter how cheap the rest of the cinematography looks (and there’s no hiding the whiff of pinched pennies) it’s hard not to love the lush looking hills and lakes in the background.

Beyond the Grave might not be classic zombie horror, but it’s still an interesting oddity, making up for its low budget, bad acting and general lack of sheen with an admirable helping of guts and ambition.

VOD REVIEW: MOTIVATIONAL GROWTH / CERT : TBC  / DIRECTOR: DON THACKER / SCREENPLAY: DON THACKER / STARRING: JEFFREY COMBS, ADRIAN DIGIOVANNI, DANIELLE DOETSCH / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 30TH (VOD)

Don Thacker’s debut feature is early Darren Aronofsky by way of Kevin Smith directing an aborted script by David Cronenberg. Motivational Growth being the idiosyncratic microcosm of Ian Foliver (DiGiovanni), a bearded deadbeat, 16 months into a self-imposed isolation. His primary contact is with his old TV – a family heirloom he’s bizarrely named Kent.

Making it through the first ten minutes is a tall order, but when Ian starts talking to the camera, it’s an altogether more watchable movie. Despite his filthy vest and y-fronts, he’s strangely charismatic, spouting philosophical ramblings and existential thoughts on shitting. It’s an unsettling film, most definitely, but it’s not without humour.

When Kent breaks down, Ian decides to kill himself. While the suicide is inventive but ultimately unsuccessful, Ian discovers a sentient mould living in his bathroom that makes it his duty to make Ian better. Jeffrey Combs is deliciously devilish as the fatalistic Mould, giving his best Elvis inspired drawl, and the practical effects are show stealing. Under The Mould’s evangelist guidance, Ian cleans up his apartment and personal hygiene, and obsesses over the girl who passes by his door every day.

The film doesn’t follow a traditional structure, instead playing out as a fever dream, filled with deranged characters, seeming to be neither living nor dead. It’s a world where The Mould has Ian eat a trippy mushroom and drink from a demonic looking breast growing out of the wall.

For those weaned on the NES, the score is going to be a delight, though it does get tedious quickly. There’s also the odd bit of animation thrown into the mix, which looks like it’s playing on a Gameboy Colour. Make no mistake, this is very much a gamers’ movie; the strange narrative and Ian’s seemingly endless lives give you the impression that you’re watching someone give a strange indie game a go.

Motivational Growth would have worked better as a series of weekly shorts released online, but as a whole film, it doesn’t quite work. The unconventional narrative, however, is worth applauding, experiments are worth the gamble, and Thacker is surely one to keep an eye on.

VOD 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 / AVAILABLE FROM THE HORRORSHOW.TV

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 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 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. The 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 The 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 bigger budget, could be capable of some very powerful cinema in years to come. The Harsh Light of Day is a very strong and promising start.

REVIEW: THE UPPER FOOTAGE (UPPER) / CERT: NR / DIRECTOR: JUSTIN COLE / SCREENPLAY: JUSTIN COLE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW VIA VIMEO ON DEMAND

When The Blair Witch Project opened the floodgates on the found footage sub-genre, plenty of imitators tried their luck, but with The Upper Footage, director Cole has managed to both cleverly recreate that original online buzz and replicate the effect the 1999 film had on the audience.

The film opens with a recap of the story as it transpired, beginning with a young girl, Jackie, who went missing in 2009 after being seen leaving a nightclub with a group of New York socialites. Almost a year later, footage showing her overdosing on a bathroom floor after snorted copious amounts of cocaine appeared on YouTube with the intent to blackmail the others in the clip. When more clips appeared in 2011, reports spread that Quentin Tarantino had acquired the raw files and intended to make them into a feature film, which he subsequently abandoned.

What follows is, allegedly, all that was salvaged from the original recording made that fateful night. It shows a group of rich friends, Blake Pennington, his girlfriend, Taylor Greene, Devon Petrovsky and Will Erixon (who has decided to film the night out on his camcorder) taking a limo ride to cruise the streets and clubs. On the way, Devon picks up a girl, Jackie Spearo, who tags along, and they head back to Blake’s penthouse to party. Cue lots of cocaine and alcohol. Things take a dark turn when Jackie dies in the bathroom, and the four of them, panicking, decide to bury the body in the woods.

Like the majority of found footage films, the camera-work is deliberately shaky, but here we also a large percentage of out-of-focus shots and long stretches in which the camera is pointing at something irrelevant. Now, this does heighten the feeling of watching genuine footage, but the negative side of that is it’s fairly nauseating for the viewer. Other than the obnoxiousness of the characters, it’s the film’s only downfall.

On a broader scale, The Upper Footage points a light on the deep-routed trend for self-serving among the privileged and well off, the dangers of drug use and of course, the audience’s curiosity to view horrific and traumatic events; if this footage is real, what does it say about us for watching, or the media for getting so excited about it? Like many so-called ‘real footage’ films of the past, the truth is far from it, but the setup is so well handled (right down to no credited cast or crew) it’s difficult to remember that once you begin watching. The victim’s face is pixelated throughout, and a whole scene is removed ‘out of respect for the family’ (in fact, the family of the actor playing Jackie threatened all sorts to get it suppressed) which do add to the realism. Like it or loathe it, the film is certainly going to provoke some emotion from viewing, even if it’s just a pathological hatred of the type of person depicted.

REVIEW: NEVER SLEEP AGAIN: THE ELM STREET LEGACY / CERT: NR / DIRECTORS: DANIEL FARRANDS, ANDREW KASCH / WRITER: THOMMY HUTSON / STARRING: HEATHER LANGENKAMP, WES CRAVEN, ROBERT ENGLUND, JOHN SAXON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW FROM THEHORRORSHOW.TV

The subtitle for this 2010 documentary could well have been ‘everything you wanted to know about A Nightmare on Elm Street but were afraid to ask’. At almost four hours long, it’s an exhaustive trip down Elm Street, with contributions from many of the key players from in front and behind the camera.

From the origins of the original dream demon himself, Freddy Krueger, to his showdown with Jason from Friday the 13th, the film covers all the bases. Well, apart from that awful reboot, of course. Let us never speak of it again.

There’s plenty to learn, such as David Warner being set to play the crispy child-killer until ‘scheduling’ problems arose (more like cold feet). Robert Englund is his usual chatty self, and keen to discuss the role. It’s especially nice to see Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon and original director Wes Craven speaking so candidly about the experience and production.

However, it’s the producer, and then head of New Line Pictures Robert Shaye who is the most revealing. Acknowledging the famous spat between Craven and himself, he is enlightening and surprisingly frank. His little sister, actor Lin Shaye also appears, as do many of the ‘kids’ from the franchise. It’s surprising how little some of them have changed, and they all remember the time on set fondly, despite occasional mishaps or some of the films getting a poor reception. When exploring the much-maligned second film for the alleged homoerotic subtext, the cast really get into the spirit! Naturally, the behind-the-scenes special effect footage, although of VHS quality, is brilliant and eye opening.

Each film has around forty minutes dedicated to it, going through the series chronologically, treating each with respect but without fawning sycophancy.

It was also good to see the forgotten metal band Dokken take the spotlight due to their theme for the third film, Dream Warriors. Alice Cooper also has a say about his role as Freddy’s dad and Renny Harlin (The Long Kiss Goodnight) explains how he practically begged to direct the fourth instalment and the frankly rubbish TV series is even given space.

The only face conspicuous by his absence is Johnny Depp, but with so many talking heads and fantastic anecdotes, he’s not really missed.

For a four-hour film, it sure does fly by, and you certainly won’t be snoozing during it.

REVIEW: ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTORS: LUCKY MCKEE, CHRIS SIVERTSON / SCREENPLAY: LUCKY MCKEE, CHRIS SIVERTSON / STARRING: CAITLIN STASEY, SIANOA SMIT-MCPHEE, BROOKE BUTLER, AMANDA GRACE COOPER, TOM WILLIAMSON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (VOD, US), SEPT 15TH (UK)

Back in 2001, writer/director Lucky McKee (The Woman, May) and Chris Sivertson (The Lost) made their debut by shooting an ultra-cheap feature on video. Now, the pair have remade and overhauled their obscure indie flick with this much slicker update.

When a position becomes available on the school’s cheerleading squad, Maddy (Stasey) decides she will try out in order to infiltrate and bring down the arrogant captain of the football team (Williamson), and the vacuous, bitchy cheerleaders. This horrifies her ex, Leena (Smit-McPhee), who just so happens to be a practicing Wiccan. After a disastrous night leaves the cheerleaders dead, Leena uses her powers to revive them, but they develop a taste for blood.

After a superb opening prologue where Maddy films a candid documentary about the cheerleading squad (which ends with such a fantastic shock it would be cruel to reveal it) aside from the occasional flourish, it’s all downhill. Despite having all the hallmarks of what should make a great horror: the high school setting, lots of gore, bloodthirsty, nubile young women and a fantastic director onboard, All Cheerleaders Die sadly fails to live up to expectations. It’s very well made (some dodgy effects aside) but feels too much like a selection of random sequences made to segue. Films such as Heathers and Jennifer’s Body succeeded in representing the cutthroat nature of American high school life, thanks to a clear, focused set of characters to process the madness through. Despite the cast doing a great job, none of the antagonists or protagonists here are remotely likable, dead or undead. Therefore, we really don’t care about their predicament. The girls are mostly head-wobbling pseudo-gangster-talking bitches (which is pretty much what they call themselves) and the ‘jocks’ are lamebrain prejudiced morons. Even the wannabe-witch – who is the nearest we have to a hero figure – is a clingy, stalker type with few redeemable qualities.

That said, as a no-brain teen horror film, it does the trick, but we really expected more from it, particularly with the anticipation and McKee’s pedigree, although it’s still much better than the original.