John of the Dead(1978)'s Horror Flick Reviews

Director – Armand Weston

Cast – Robin Groves, Christopher Loomis, Michael David Lally, John Carradine, Bill Rowley, David Tabor

Release Year – 1981

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Once again I fall victim to a cool-looking poster, except this time I knew better after reading some poor reviews for this piece but still went into the experience anyway, leaving with the expected results. I did manage to find some joy in this flick, and the direction is fairly good, but the storyline is a huge boring mess that along with some stupid ideas made for a poor film to give a watch to.

After recently suffering from a case of agoraphobia, a mystery writer rents a mansion in the country to “get away”, however she soon finds herself facing real fear when the ghosts of past residents return to seek revenge for their deaths.

Well, you know me, and you know that I love films where the protagonist moves into a new home and takes on the unintended horror stemming from past events that occurred there, so naturally I gave this one a watch despite being pretty well that it was going to suck. The majority of the film lags in horror, with simple shots of a young woman serving as the “horror” throughout the first two acts of the movie, and to make matters worse she looked like an average women very much alive, not like a ghost at all. If she appeared decayed, which yes is “cliche” but works, then I may have been more forgiving, but she was never the least bit scary and that hurt the film given she was really the only form of horror for most of it. Eventually the writer learns that some of the townsfolk are behind what occurred at the home and look to keep that secret a secret as long as they can, therefore they aim to killer her off, which is the other source of “horror” provided in this story. Of course, this lame mess would not be right without being topped off with a stupid climax that I somewhat saw coming, but was taken aback due to how downright silly it was. Simply put, I expected bad, and what I was given was worse.

Surprisingly enough, despite all of this story nonsense we are given some fairly good direction by Armand Weston. The atmosphere is great and the sets and locations used complimented it very well, and despite the cheesy and stupid nature of the scares his execution of them was pretty good. Had the look of the ghost woman been better the scares would have been highly enjoyable and possibly turned this film into a worthwhile one, but obviously that was not in the mindset of the writer for some reason.

Overall, The Nesting is a film that could have been something if not for numerous story issues, and in the end is a flick I suggest you stay away from unless you find yourself curious like I was – even then, don’t do it.

Rating: 4/10

Director – Nicolás Goldbart

Cast – Daniel Hendler, Jazmín Stuart, Yayo Guridi, Federico Luppi

Release Year – 2011

Reviewed by John of the Dead

Phase 7 is a film I was pretty stoked to see after reading its plot summary, as I have a love for such films that place our protagonist in a nowhere-to-run scenario where he/she is forced to fend off attackers. It seems nowadays that we are seeing more and more of these “epidemic survival” horror films, and I welcome them thanks to the majority of these films being worthwhile and relatable in this day and age. I must say now though that Phase 7 is not so much the horror film that I expected it to be, nor was it a great watch, but in the end it provided for a decent experience despite the low horror.

When a flu epidemic strikes Argentina and leaves his apartment complex under quarantine, Coco must join forces with a heavily armed neighbor to protect his pregnant wife from their neighbors.

Well, I guess this being a “flu epidemic” movie you should know not to expect too much horror right? I mean, this is not an “infected” movie of any sort, but I still expected horror in the form of social breakdown where regardless of what epidemic it is we are given horror in the form of people killing people, and that was somewhat the case here. After finding themselves quarantined and with very little information regarding the justification of the matter, the apartment tenants soon begin losing their minds and because of that they fall victim to an old vigilante who himself has lost his mind. Eventually this threat reaches Coco and his wife, and that is when the carnage breaks loose and he teams up with his radical neighbor to quell the violence…with violence. For the most part this story was OK, but it really left a lot to be desired as it moved very slow and dragged often, ultimately leaving us with very little horror even during the violent scenes. The character play is cool and we are provided with several colorful characters to marvel at, but overall this is a screenplay that could have been much better in regards to the horror/thriller genre that it appeals to.

Nicolas Goldbart serves as both writer and director, and his direction was fairly good despite his decent screenplay. The sets used are simple yet provided enough atmosphere to sell the film to the viewer, and he managed to provide fairly good tension at times despite the lack of overall horror – a sign of good direction. The acting performances were positive and we are given a stellar performance by Federico Luppi as Zanutto, the old vigilante, and much to my surprise we are given a slight amount of gore as well, although it was cheap CGI. For a low-budget film I can be forgiving towards Goldbart for certain directing issues, like the CGI gore, and overall I saw him as a man who seems to have what it takes for direction to make it in the genre, he just needs to step up his game if he wants to make it in this one.

Overall, Phase 7 is a film that does not meet expectations for the horror genre, but overall makes for a decent watch with a tiny bit of horror in the end. If you are looking for a horrific tale than I suggest you look elsewhere, but if you want a quirky flick to appease your boredom this might do you some good, maybe.

Rating: 6/10

Director – Fred Walton

Cast – Jay Baker, Pat Barlow, Lloyd Berry, Deborah Foreman, Deborah Goodrich, Tom Heaton, Mike Nomad, Ken Olandt, Griffin O’Neal, Leah Pinsent

Release Year – 1986

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I’d been passing this 80s slasher over for the last few months in favor of other films that caught my interest more, but my desire for a holiday-themed horror film lead me to finally giving a watch to April Fool’s Day and leaving the experience with borderline-positive enjoyment.  Coming from director Fred Walton, who gave us the original When A Stranger Calls, I expected a bit more than I was given in this piece, but in the end April Fool’s Day is a crafty slasher that should have been better but nonetheless provides enough of the goods to warrant its ever-growing fan-base.

Nine college friends spending the April Fool’s Day weekend at a remote island house find themselves being killed off by an unseen killer.

I’ve always had a strong love for holiday-themed horror films, but I had never come across one that played on the April Fool’s holiday, making this a fairly original effort for the slasher sub-genre despite the rest of its storyline following the usual slasher template.  Setting the film at an isolated island home was a great move that provided a nowhere-to-run scenario for the viewer, with an enjoyable element of “fun” provided by the partying coeds on a weekend full of pranks and gimmicks.  It does not take long before the kills begin hitting the screen, however “hitting the screen” is a phrase I wish literally happened.  My only balk at the the film, which is the reason it did not receive a higher rating, is that the kill sequences were sub-par and consisted primarily of kills occurring off-screen – only leaving us a peek of the aftereffect.  I do not mind when a few of the kills in a horror film are executed in such a way, and sometimes find them enjoyable, but when every kill comes off in that format then I am left unsatisfied regarding the kills – and ever-important element of horror.  I did enjoy the heavy mystery element resulting from the hidden identity of our killer, which sent our protagonists into frustration and slight social breakdown.  (Possible pseudo-spoiler) The final sequence is one that I will not soon forget thanks to the awesome twist ending that I never saw coming, however it is one that I should have expected.  You’ll see.

Director Fred Walton did a fair job with this piece, giving us good atmosphere and positive sets provided by great use of locations.  The acting performances were better than expected for this type of film, and his execution of the kill scenes was passable despite the lack of seeing the actual kill.  What I really enjoyed was a fantastic musical score that played very well into the atmosphere, showing that despite a lack of written kills it will take more than that to keep Fred Walton from delivering on his part.

Overall, April Fool’s Day is a mostly-enjoyable slasher that suffers due to mediocre kill sequences that should have been much better given Walton’s great direction, but the storyline held this one back greatly.

Rating: 6/10

Director – Ed Hunt

Cast – Lori Lethin, Elizabeth Hoy, Billy Jayne, Andy Freeman, K.C. Martel, Julie Brown, Melinda Cordell, Bert Kramer, Joe Penny

Release Year – 1981

Reviewed by John of the Dead

very time I come across a slasher-esque film from the 1980s it is hard to pass up the opportunity, and Bloody Birthday got the best of me because of that. Films about killer children are not new for the genre, even for an early 80s effort like this one, but nonetheless they carry a fine mystique due to the taboo idea of a child serving as a killer, and that is where Bloody Birthday derives its horror. The kills are plentiful and the antagonists are ruthless, making for a pretty memorable killer child horror film that suffers a few faults but still manages to deliver the goods.

When three young kids turn their birthday weekend into a slaughterfest it is up to one of their classmates and his older sister to uncover their madness and prove to the town that three children are responsible for the heinous crimes shocking their community.

Well the poster art is cool and the title rules, so of course the story must be good right?  Writers Ed Hunt and Barry Pearson did an OK job with this screenplay, coming with a storyline that I have yet to see used in the killer-kid/slasher sub-genres that the film mostly falls into.  Most of the time we are given children that have been “bad” since birth, but in the case of this film (and that of 2008′s The Children) the children were once good and immediately turn evil as a result of something extraordinary.  In the case of these three young kids it is the result of them being born on a rare occurrence where the planets align to form an eclipse every 10 years, and the time has come for these children to suffer the effects.  They become calloused and hardened, lacking any emotion and going so far as to not only kill strangers but their own parents and siblings as well, and thankfully in pretty comical fashion.  We see arrows through the head, people bludgeoned with baseball bats, lovers shot to death, etc., all of which are thrown together in cheesy sequences that should never be taken seriously.  The dialogue is as expected, cheesy and cliche, and our three little monsters were used the same way, which I did not like at times thanks to how annoying I found the little girl, but I knew to expect it.

Ed Hunt also serves as the film’s director, and despite this not being his debut effort he does bring an amateurish feel that I found mostly enjoyable.  His execution of the horror was fun and it seems he did what he could with a low budget to bring out the kill sequences, although we get little as far as gore goes.  Nonetheless he managed to provide a fair amount of shock-value with his execution of the kills, some of them brutal in nature, and in the end it left me pleased with what I saw.  With a bunch of children as our lead actors you should expect their performances to be cliche for this sub-genre, but just as I mentioned with the dialogue, such things should just be expected in these films.

Overall, Bloody Birthday is a flawed but ultimately watchable killer child slasher film that gives us a fairly unique premise to the chaos and comes with plenty of fun kill sequences to keep the viewer engaged, just be prepared to forgive a little.

Rating: 6/10

Director – Joe Chappelle

Cast – Ben Affleck, Joanna Going, Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber, Peter O’Toole, Nicky Katt, Clifton Powell

Release Year – 1998

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I came across Phantoms a while back while searching for creature horror films and immediately added it to my queue, hoping that despite its A-list cast it would provide good horror. Based on the novel of the same name by famed thriller novelist Dean Koontz, this marks (to my knowledge) the first film adaptation of one of his novels that I have seen, and despite the inevitable Hollywood cheese I found this to be an enjoyable one. The horror strikes early on and comes in a fairly original form, and with good direction from Joe Chappelle I found Phantoms to be an enjoyable ride with a few forgivable faults.

When sisters Jennifer(Joanna Going) and Lisa(Rose McGowan) travel to a small Colorado town for a skiing trip they arrive to what seems to be a ghost town…then they find the bodies. Thankfully the sisters are not alone and join local sheriff Bryce Hammond(Ben Affleck) and his deputy Stuart ‘Stu” Wargle(Liev Schrieber) in uncovering what left 150 dead and 300 missing in this small town, and soon learn the culprit is not from this earth.

I love a story that takes off right away, and within minutes of the opening credits we are thrown into the horror Jennifer and Lisa face when they arrive at their Colorado estate only to find the town deserted and their housekeeper dead on the floor, grimaced face and all. Soon enough they run into the sheriff and a few deputies, and from then on out they come face to face with a seemingly unseen force that just eradicated the town and has them in its sights. What is the force? Well, at first we are left to wonder that for the majority of the film, but it does show as a few different awesome creatures, eventually proving to be a substance very similar to crude oil. Now I know that sound silly, but think of The Blob and you know that the idea can be used very well, and that was mostly the case with this film. I have a personal affection for films that pit their protagonists in a nowhere-to-run scenario, and we are given that in this story that left our protagonists always on the run yet with nowhere to run outside of the town. While I would have enjoyed the film if it consisted merely of our main characters bunkering themselves and fighting off the invaders I was glad to see that a military force was called in to fight the menace, adding to the already enjoyable action we were given. Character-wise the story was worthwhile, giving us some likable and unlikable characters to endure, and gladly the ones that I expected to like were the likable ones. While the protagonists mentioned in the plot summary were used fairly well, I really enjoyed the character of Dr. Timothy Flyte, portrayed by Peter O’Toole, a man who was called upon to aid the armed forces in eradicating the invaders after his name was found scribbled in a restroom within the Colorado town. Flyte is the usual intellectual with much knowledge on unknown powers the world fails to see, and what he sees is a form of Armageddon.  Plenty of action is written into the film, awesomely blending horror and action into a well-paced experience that kept me engaged throughout.

Director Joe Chappelle did well with this piece, showing favorable execution much better than that of his previous horror film, Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. From the get-go we are thrown into a pretty horrific experience early on thanks to direction that gave us some very up-close scares and continued to do so throughout the rest of the film. I marveled at the SFX used during the creature attack scenes, scenes that had our protagonists thrown across rooms and without horrible CGI despite this being a 90s film. Chappelle’s usage of the creatures was great and I was surprised at the intensity they provided despite not really being “solid’ creatures, but as I’ve said before, “good direction saves all”. Of course, Chappelle’s direction is not without its faults, and most of them lie in the cheese provided by the actors. The performances could have been better and the actors were used in very cliché fashion, especially (a personal favorite actor of mine) Liev Schreiber as the eventual antagonist. Nonetheless their performances did not detriment from the film or ruin the experience for me, but I knew to expect such things from a 90s flick with A-list celebs.

Overall, Phantoms is a cool horror flick based on the Dean Koontz story that gives us unique creature action in a sub-genre often convoluted with the same old cliches. Chappelle’s direction is good and makes for most of the enjoyment provided in this piece, a film that forgiving creature film lovers should enjoy.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Dario Argento

Cast – James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank, Rada Rassimov, Aldo Reggiani, Carlo Alighiero

Release Year – 1971

Reviewed by John of the Dead

After giving us his amazing debut effort, The Bird With The Crystal Plummage, famed Italian director Dario Argento gave us another standout entry in the giallo sub-genre with The Cat O’Nine Tails. Often overlooked due to how amazing his other films surrounding this piece were, this watch once again gives us the classic Argento greatness associated with his giallo efforts, making for an under-appreciated experience sure to please fans of such flicks.

When mysterious killings rock a pharmaceutical company associated with top secret research, a reporter and retired blind journalist try to solve the killings and unearth the company’s relation to them, ultimately making them targets of the killer as well.

If you are familiar with giallo films then you know of the template often employed by the screenwriters, where a reporter/journalist of some sort gets involved with a grisly killer and bypasses the authorities to catch the killer himself, and I cannot ever tire of these stories. Argento’s screenplay brings with it some unique elements that I have yet to see in these storylines, such as a blind protagonist and the use of a medical research facility. The blind man, Franco Arno, is a kind old man who for the last 15 years has suffered blindness due to an accident, but has yet to lose his investigative knack and quickly jumps on the case despite his disability. Our other protagonist, Carlo Giordani, is the usual handsome bachelor fella who does what it takes to get to the bottom of the mystery, and these two teamed together made for some enjoyable character play. We are given several other characters thrown into the mix, all in supportive roles that managed to play into the mystery fairly well when clues surface that anyone can be a suspect. The mystery element was awesome and as mentioned earlier brought with it a cool idea in it involving a medical research lab doing secretive experiments. We watch as a conspiracy unfolds where a scientist is killed following a break it at the laboratory, and then all of those with knowledge of the crime are slowly killed off as Franco and Carlo try and identify the killer. For an Argento film I found this one to be fairly simple and without “frills” as the kills were quite tame and consisted mostly of our killer choking his victims with a small rope, but these simple kill sequences did little to deter my enjoyment as I was glued to the screen regardless thanks to the interesting storyline. As expected, the film goes down to the very wire regarding who the killer is, and while I was not as enamored by the revealing of the killer as I usually am with Argento films it was not a sorrow climax by any means, marking the end to a great story.

Argento’s direction aided in selling this enjoyable story to the viewer, with his expert execution and cinematography that takes full advantage of the amazing sets provided by Rome, Italy. Argento has stated that despite the film’s initial success this is his least favorite film, and in a sense I can see why. The horror did not hit as hard as I wanted it to, and that was with Argento still executed the horror to positive levels, and I was left wanting just a little bit more when the end credits began to roll. I mentioned that the climax was not as great as I expected it to be, and while the storyline could have improved it I felt that Argento kept it a bit tame in his direction and failed to make it as creepy as his killer revelation scenes usually are. Aside from this I did enjoy his direction and he managed to keep me entertained, which came as a result of great kill execution and awesome performances from our protagonists. I was very impressed with Karl Malden’s performance as the blind Franco, a man who displayed joy in his life despite suffering a hindering disability thanks to a lovely young niece he cares for. Malden was great in bringing this character to life despite him not providing the action that Carlo did, making for a great directing/acting duo in Malden and Argento.

Overall, The Cat O’ Nine Tails is an enjoyable Argento piece that while possibly serving as one of his “lesser” films still manages to deliver what we want to see from such an experience.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Antoine Blossier

Cast – Grégoire Colin, François Levantal, Fred Ulysse, Joseph Malerba, Isabelle Renauld, Berenice Bejo

Release Year – 2010

Reviewed by John of the Dead

I happened upon Prey while looking for my much needed French horror fix, and despite it seeming to come with a storyline I’ve seen numerous times I was very much intrigued to see how the French would execute this one, especially because I love killer animal films. I knew nothing of the writer/director and was not interested in looking him up before the film, which played into my bewilderment over how much I enjoyed this simple piece when I learned this came from a first-time filmmaker. Sure there are several faults present that kept the film from greatness, but in the end Prey wound up an enjoyable piece for those who share a love for such films and are willing to forgive a little.

While visiting his girlfriend Claire’s family for the weekend, a weekend he expects to be stormy given the pending announcement of his girlfriend’s pregnancy, Nathan comes across horrors that no one saw coming. When Claire’s father is attacked by a heavily traumatized deer, her brothers and Nathan set out to catch the perpetrator of such a heinous crime, but soon find themselves not the hunters but the prey.

I do not think there will ever come a day when I fall out of love with these simple films about animals attacking humans, and I found it a “breathe of fresh air” to find such a film from another country – in this case France.  I really did not know what to expect going into this piece, not even knowing what kind of animal would be doing the killing, but I was glad to see that despite its simplicity this story managed to bring forth more than just an animal chewing up stupid people.  This story is heavy on character play, especially conflict, and early on we are thrown into this conflict as Nathan is bombarded with problems stemming from his girlfriend’s pregnancy and her family’s heavy reliance on her in running their pesticide business – something that will take precedence over her pregnancy and the life of his future child.  Nathans problems worsen when he, at the behest of his wife who is obviously hiding something, goes on a hunting expedition with her male family members as they try and track a nemesis potentially threatening the land they use to run their family business.  They are not sure what to expect other than assuming they are hunting a wild boar, and while wild boars are what they find these boars have suffered genetic mutation due to a conspiracy associated with their land.  I will not go into further detail on that so that I can avoid any more spoilers, but let me just say that the conspiracy element made this not one of the run-of-the-mill killer animal films but one that brings more to the table, regardless of whether some find the conspiracy element silly or not.  Writers Antoine Blossier and Erich Vogel did a good job keeping the tension high once the hunting expedition gets going, with some very emotional kill-sequences taking place and plenty of action provided by the insane wild boars attacking the men.  I personally wish that we would have been given a few more scenes actually showing the boars, but I was happy enough with the scenes that we were given which consisted mostly of the boars hiding in the high grass and flanking the hunters one by one.  I was glad to see that aside from the obvious tension resulting from being chased by wild boars our lead protagonists also fell victim to infighting between one another during their ill-fated hunting trek.  This added wonderfully to the already ongoing conflict and made for many revelations behind the conspiracy plaguing the land and obviously the wildlife, and I guess the hunters too when you think about it.

Writer Antoine Blossier also serves as the film’s director, and he left me very surprised at just how well-shot this effort was despite his limited experience.  The locations and sets used are great and provided for much vegetative cover for the wild boars to use as they stalked the men, and Blossier used it to his advantage to keep my interest and provide some good horror.  We are given a fair amount of gore in this piece, which thankfully came via live-action FX as did the scenes with the killer boars, and it may be due to the filmmaker’s decision to go for live-action FX versus CGI FX that kept the boars from receiving more screen time.  Personally, I found no real fault in that thanks to the positive usage of FX.  As mentioned earlier, the kill sequences came with much emotion thanks to the storyline, and Blossier executed them very well in making the viewer’s heart wrench a bit over them.  The acting performances were positive as well, with our main protagonists expertly selling their anger and then fear as they come across a nemesis they never expected to fight back the way it did in this good effort from a novice filmmaker.

Overall, Prey is a positive French killer animal piece that gives us enjoyable horror in a fairly creative package thanks to a few unique elements written into the story.  The direction is good and results in the enjoyable horror mentioned in this under-the-radar flick sure to please fans of such killer animal films.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Henry Raine

Cast – Kyle Davis, Devin McGinn, Edward Flores, Ethan Wilde, Gregg Lawrence, Edmund Lupinski

Release Year – 2009

Reviewed by John of the Dead

One of the best feelings I get from the horror genre is finding an enjoyable film that went under the radar years prior, and that is the feeling I got from The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu.  Shot on a very low “shoestring” budget, this independent B-movie managed to provide a fun watch heavy in Cthulhu lore and with plenty of comical elements to compliment the story.  With good laughs and a prestine production value in regards to the type of film this is, The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu is an indie horror film done right in a day where similar Lovecraft flicks have failed miserably.

When one half of an ancient relic is found by the Cult of Cthulhu, they awaken the sleeping beast’s lead general, Starspawn, to lead them in finding the other half so that they can revive their master after spending centuries buried at the bottom of the sea.  When “The Council”, a secretive group whose purpose is to ensure Cthulhu is never again awoken, learns of the Cult’s discovery, they give the other half of the relic to the last known descendant of H.P. Lovecraft, a bumbling passive virgin named Jeff.  Jeff has never been a believer in such things, but when he finds himself face to face with the “Old Ones” as they seek the ancient relic now in  his possession, he joins with his best friend Charlie in a quest to save the world from another world before their time.

As you can tell by now, this is definitely a film for Lovecraft fans.  The homages are everywhere in this story, penned by Tom Konkle and Devin McGinn, with numerous references to Lovecraft’s history and his many works.  I found the storyline to be a fun one, especially because our lead protagonist is a pathetic loser with a dead-end job and no finesse with the opposite sex, but it is up to him to save the damn world.  Sure we’ve seen this tactic before, but when a film wants to be more “fun” than serious it is good to have a bumbling protagonist instead of a brute, unless you’re watching Hellboy which manages to give you both in the same package.  The character play between our two main protagonists, Jeff and Charlie, was fun and quite representative of how best friends tend to interact with one another, however things become even more interesting (character-wise) as the film winds on and introduces even more enjoyable ones like Sheldon, a Cthulhu freak who the two friends used to pick on but must now rely on for his knowledge of anything Cthulhu-related.  Watching these three bumbling morons travel along the countryside to protect the ancient relic was fun and made for some good comedy (which was abundant in this story), which was blessed with a very fun “comic” feel sure to leave horror comic fans drooling.  We are also given enjoyable antagonists who come with cheesy but effective dialogue, and these minions of Cthulhu were thankfully not mere humans but heinous creatures from the depths of the sea.

Director Henry Saine did well for this being his only full-length film, giving us a pretty high production value for such a low budget.  The sets were positive and good enough to keep me engaged, but most importantly was the good performances provided by the actors, something you do not normally see in low-budget indie horror films.  While our protagonists sold the film I did enjoy watching the antagonists as well thanks to Saine employing mostly live-action FX that left the creatures looking a bit silly but pretty good for what the film is.  The horror was enjoyable and gave us a few decent kills, but most of the tension resulted from our lead characters running from the “Old Ones” and not so much the “Old Ones” devouring the race they plan to soon take over.  Mr. Saine is equally responsible for the awesome “comic book” feel the piece brings with it, with him actually giving us animated scenes shown in comic book fashion on a few very enjoyable occasions.

Overall, The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu is a fun and kind of silly watch that is sure to please fans of Lovecraft’s work also looking for a comical experience regarding the infamous writer of long ago.  You need not be familiar with Lovecraft to enjoy this piece, however without prior knowledge of his work you may find the tone and subject matter to not fit your tastes.

Rating: 7/10

Director – James Watkins

Cast – Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Misha Handley, Lucy May Barker, Shaun Dooley, Mary Stockley, Tim McMullan

Release Year – 2012

Reviewed by John of the Dead

While not initially stoked when I first learned of this remake/adaptation of the 1989 TV film and Susan Hill’s 1983 novel of the same name, I was eventually brought on board the bandwagon when I saw the first trailer for this one. The trailer looked dark, gothic, and like the Hammer films of decades ago that so brilliantly employed atmosphere to sell their work, and I must say that this work of the rejuvenated Hammer Films stayed true to form. This effort also stayed mostly true to the original story, giving us good levels of creepy fun as scares were chosen over gore, and with good direction from Eden Lake director James Watkins and positive usage of Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-Harry Potter role we are given one of the better horror remakes of recent time.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer tagged with the responsibility of traveling to a small village to sort through an old widow’s paperwork at her island-esque estate. After arriving at the remote seaside village he learns that there is much more to the estate than paperwork when he comes face to face with the ghost of a scorned woman terrorizing the locals.

This is one story that I just love. The original novel terrorizes the reader, and based on that novel we have now been given two adaptations that both provided their own usage of the original story to provide good horror. Naturally there are some differences, like name changes, certain details left, and additional ideas thrown in that were not in the original story (changes in the way characters die). Aside from those differences the two films give the same overall storyline, and both result in a good horror experience. In regards to this newest version of the story, adapted by Stardust/Kick-Ass/X-Men: First Class writer Jane Goldman, we are given all of the most important of the original storyline and in well-told fashion. The story paces very well, taking its time but managing to deliver enjoyable scares early on. It does not take long before Arthur Kipps arrives at the small village and begins to suffer the haunting trauma that the townsfolk have suffered for years, and from then on our the scares and jolts never subside for longer than required to move the story. I applaud Jane Goldman, in her first horror writing credit, for giving us mostly well-written scares that were simple yet effective so long as the director does his/her job (more on that later) and not settling for too many cheap gimmicky scares, although there were a few of them. I was not surprised to see a few cheap scares given this is still a PG-13 Hollywood effort, and thankfully did they little to ruin the horror. The usage of the woman in black was positive and reminiscent of the TV movie that preceded it, and we were given more usage of the supernatural than merely the woman in black. The dialogue was great and it made for good character play between all of the characters involved, most of whom were used pretty well and not so much just to take up space. We witness Arthur suffer much hostility from the townsfolk as his very presence brings forth death to their quiet and subtle community, making for good conflict and additional obstacles to stand in his way as he aims to complete his work in a weekend’s time. In addition to the conflict associated with being harassed by a vengeful spirit and the townsfolk we also witnessed Arthur experiencing personal conflict regarding his family. His young son lost his mother during his birth, and Arthur’s job has kept him away from his son during a developmental age where parenting is very important. Of course, there is also the possibility of harm done to his son due to his interactions with the woman in black.

Director James Watkins did a pretty good job executing this piece, with much of his success resulting from his excellent use of dark and gloomy atmosphere. The sets are fantastic, bringing forth a big sense of eeriness throughout the small village that was made even more remarkable during the scenes at the old woman’s estate, an estate surrounded by muddy marshlands that make the place an island when the tide rides in. This atmosphere was essential to providing good horror as it made for many dark shadowy corners for the woman and other ghosts to hide in, and when they made their presence known it usually resulted in something good. The jump scares were so-so, with one of them giving me a nice jolt, but the rest of the scares were simpler yet very effective thanks to Watkins’ execution. Most of the ghosts are CGI, especially the scenes with the woman in black, but surprisingly enough the CGI did not detriment from the film and I suppose made possible some scares that would have been hard to achieve via live-action FX. So, how was Daniel Radcliffe, one of the film’s highest selling points? He did a pretty good job in this piece, as did all of the other actors involved.   Long gone was the young boy who grew into a young man while dressing funny and carrying around a magical stick for almost a decade– instead we are given a young solicitor(lawyer) with a lot to lose if he fails to finish the job, and he takes on the woman in black headstrong. I admit it was kind of fascinating to watch him portray such a mature character after playing the same one for a decade, but he managed to sell each emotion in his performance as a veteran actor should – although only a few emotions apply in this case.

Overall, The Woman Black (2012) is a positive adaptation of the esteemed classic novel that much like its TV movie predecessor brings forth a great experience of spooky supernatural horror by focusing on simple but effective scares and a darn good story that will keep you engaged throughout.

Rating: 7/10

Director – Aldo Lado

Cast – Jean Sorel, Ingrid Thulin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bach, Fabijan Sovagovic, José Quaglio, Relja Basic, Piero Vida

Release Year – 1971

Reviewed by John of the Dead

After watching Who Saw Her Die? I decided to catch up on giallo director Aldo Lado’s other works, which lead me to Short Night of Glass Dolls. Once again providing us with the usual giallo format, we are given a strong mystery thriller that provides for some unique ideas I had never seen used in the giallo sub-genre. However, despite these cool writing ideas the lack of kills and excitement left this one a borderline enjoyable flick at best that left me disappointed with the end result.

When Gregory Moore, an American journalist in Prague, awakens to learn of the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend Jessica he embarks on a mission to find her at all costs – only to awaken in a morgue unable to speak or move. With time running out before an autopsy is performed on him, guaranteeing his death, Gregory was piece together the mystery in his head and rely on a local friend, Mira, to save him from his doomed state.

Remember that shitty movie from 2007 that starred that one guy who replaced Sebastian Shaw as Annakin Skywalker during the closing sequence of George Lucas’ “remastering” of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? The movie was called Awake, and it sucked. Anywho, much like in Awake this storyline focuses on Gregory Moore after he is found “dead” and transported to the local morgue. When the doctors realize that there is something odd going on given he has yet to succumb to rigor mortis and has a much higher body temperature than that of a dead person, they begin running tests to determine if he may in fact be alive, providing him with borrowed time to get to the bottom of what happened to him and Jessica. The rest of the film is told in both the past and present, with the past consisting of Gregory investigating Jessica’s disappearance and the present consisting of his current dire situation, a situation that results from his earlier investigation. I enjoyed being thrown back and forth between the two connected storylines, with the earlier investigation obviously being the more interesting of the two as we follow Gregory deal with scared witnesses and hostile policemen who seem to be covering up for a strange sex club Gregory suspects has something to do with Jessica’s disappearance. While the mystery element was there I feel that the storyline was too slow for a film of its runtime (92 minutes) and left me bored on numerous occasions. There is only one real kill sequence in the film, which for a giallo effort means that the storyline must be dead on and brilliantly written in order to come off enjoyable, and that was not the case here despite one of the more horrific climaxes I have seen in the giallo sub-genre.

Director Aldo Lado did a decent job with this one, giving us good atmosphere and the usually enjoyable sets we find in giallo films. The acting performances were worthwhile and the overdubbing in my version did nothing to detriment from the film. His execution of the horror was decent I guess, only because there was very little horror for me to marvel at. The few scenes of horrific elements that we do get are great, especially the closing sequence that I feel will leave an impact on the viewer, but only until they see another film with more horror.

Overall, Short Night of Glass Dolls is another giallo films that despite a cool storyline ultimately suffers due to the story not providing enough “goods” to make for a positive watch. The direction is good and so is the horror when it is present, but indicating this film has “horror” is an overstatement in this effort that I can only recommend if you need a giallo fix at all costs.

Rating: 6/10