Film Reviews by NP

Isabelle (Rita Calderoni) has been burned to death, and accused of witchery. A group of vampires keep her body, greyed and damaged, and sacrifice virgins in a bid to bring her back to life. Into the protracted maelstrom comes Laureen and her fiancé Richard Brenton and bless me! She’s the living embodiment of the long-dead Isabelle. Much wailing and screaming ensues – you needn’t worry too much about the storyline (there are many flashbacks outlining what is going on, but even then it is not made clear that they *are* flashbacks, which helps the dizzying incomprehensibility nicely). I found myself just enjoying the crazy exploitation style of it all and basking in the long-gone European atmosphere. The very effective musical score from Romolo Forlai and Gianfranco Reverberi only serves the enhance this.

I quite enjoyed this for what it is. It’s loud and it’s relentless and some of the set-pieces are eerily effective – but after the brief end credits rolled, I was ready for something else.

This was made in 1971 but released two years later, and then again in 1981 as a zombie film with additional sequences directed by Jean Rollin. Of its many titles (Une Vierge chez les Morts Vivant · Christina, Princess of Eroticism · The Erotic Dreams of Christine · A Young Girl Among the Living Dead . Una Vergine tra gli Zombi), ‘A Virgin Among the Living Dead’ is among the least advisable as it gives away a major spoiler. There’s little use in carefully building up the suspicion that the relatives Christina visits aren’t quite ‘normal’, when the truth behind their behaviour is revealed in the title!

The constant zooms in and out of locations and items often seem haphazard and unnecessary, but there are times (when Christina goes for a night-time wander prior to finding a hanged man) when the approach effectively communicates a trance-like state. The ending, too, is extremely effective – by far the best sequence in the film. Although Christina’s fate is tragic, it is handled beautifully, with the rest of the ‘family’ standing by, seemingly in a somnambulist state with a haunting incidental score.

This is a zombie-lite zombie film. Director and co-writer Bill Thomas has put together a commendably restrained take on the genre and placed it within the time of the Napoleonic War. This very interesting variation of the zombie idea is executed well within the limits of the budget, with many long, conversation set-pieces.

We spend much time listening to recollections of characters; luckily the actors are suitably interesting to listen to. Much of what happens is told rather than shown, but we are given several sequences that feature a small array of convincingly undead creatures, often in flashback. At one point, duplicitous John Cross (Matthew Neal) yells at another character, “Don’t you ever shut up?” Whilst not an unreasonable question, it should be pointed out that Cross also has much to say for himself.

As do they all. Such relentless chit-chat, no matter how well conveyed, becomes tedious, and you know that the occasional action sequences are just an interruption of that. A little more zombie gore and action would unlikely have blown the budget, and made things more interesting. My score is 6 out of 10.

In this DVD’s accompanying interviews, main actress Jemima West (Elizabeth) describes this film’s strong female characters as ‘empowering’. And it’s true to say that apart from young Tommy (Harlym McMilan-Hunt, who puts in a terrific performance alongside West), males are given secondary status; co-lead Christopher Dane (as Ethan) is suitably wet and distant (in a scene when their daughter needs to be resuscitated, for example, he stands back weeping whilst Elizabeth goes about the business of saving her life). If you’re a fan of female empowerment, you’ll like that.

As a horror film, it begins quite well but gets more confusing and bogged down with its own story, so that by the time the Cormack family move to Hawaii, you might be wondering if it’s worth the struggle trying to keep on top of events.

Director and co-writer Henk Pretorius does a credible job of building up the nature of the threat, but as his film rolls on, it becomes overwhelmed by the various ways to defeat it, and the increasing ways it defies those intentions. Even by the very end, the audience is given yet another jolt that adds to the jumble rather than providing yet another shock. My score is 5 out of 10.

Directed by Ti West, who was behind the very interesting ‘The Innkeepers (2011)’ and ‘The Sacrament (2013)’, this also stars Mia Goth, one of the most interesting performers around.

The results form a slow-burning slasher film built on an interesting premise: set in 1979, the main cast are staying on an isolated farm to make ‘The Farmer’s Daughters’, a film set in the burgeoning pornography industry. Apart from the in-fighting among the cast and crew, there’s also the business of the disapproving owners of the farm, octogenarians Howard (Stephen Ure) and his wife Pearl.

There’s some interesting bi-play between them all, but then things begin to get a little ridiculous, although events are based on real killings carried out by Ray & Faye Copeland in the mid-'80s.

Performances are good across the board, and the New Zealand location is put to effective use – beautiful, but remote. Strange though, even with the advancements made in effects and prosthetics, the ‘old age make-up’, as used here, is never very convincing.

Goth is good as always in both her roles – she has long since deserved the chance to play a part that gives her something interesting to do – although the reason she is playing two roles is only superficially interesting. Or, put another way, seems to be a bit of a gimmick. My score is 6 out of 10.

Not that the two main female characters are billed as representative of anything, but I think the message this film carries is that all men are imbeciles. Selfish, full of their own importance, dishonest and boring. Two victimised women join forces to rid the world of such sharply dressed gits. It’s filmed very much like a documentary, the acts of violence conveyed in an unspectacular way (although there’s a nice one towards the end).

As a result, things are deathly dull viewing a lot of the time. Language and lifestyle choices may seem quite shocking to begin with, but with nowhere to escalate to, lose their impact and appeal the more we see them. There is a constant backdrop of topical news reports running throughout. There’s probably a message there about the corruption of the world, but it’s not clear.

A nice twist at the end doesn’t really make the previous 108 minutes less tedious. My score is 4 out of 10.

This is a frustrating film to watch. The atmospheric cinematography, creepy sound design and good use of locations is undone by much of the acting, or lack of it. Rachel Daigh as Annabelle is fine, but most of the other actors simply look bored. Antonio Lujak brings some impressive eyebrows to Doctor Loris but very little else. Strangely, the supporting cast delivers much better performances than the main, although some have been very awkwardly dubbed.

There’s often a problem with juvenile actors taking major roles. Annabelle is often reduced to dramatically shouting for her daughter whilst in her underwear; that the little girl is unable to produce any kind of emotion makes her sullen and precocious rather than troubled and needing to be ‘understood.’

There’s a sense of ‘better done elsewhere’ with many of the scare effects – if this is the first horror film you’ve ever seen, it might score a few chills. Otherwise, there’s a good chance you’ve seen most of the set pieces before. Blurred images stand behind characters; when they turn around, they’re gone. You get the idea. Also, the pacing is leaden and never really picks up.

This Italian production is mildly effective on occasion but is unlikely to give anyone nightmares. My score is 4 out of 10.

2013 brought forth at least two found-footage films based on the Bigfoot legend. As you might imagine, ‘The Woods’ shares similarities with the enjoyable ‘Willow Creek’ – a young couple investigate the legendry Bigfoot mystery, get scared, argue a bit, and record it all for prosperity. Here, Mark & Rebecca (Mark Bacci and Rebecca Davies) intend to record a hoax video, because they don’t believe Bigfoot is real. What do you suppose happens?

This is a straightforward found-footage horror; *very* Blair Witch. It does everything you would expect of such a production, and does it well – the locations are convincingly creepy and the acting conveys the increasing sense of fear well. If you like this kind of film – and I do – you’ll probably like this. However, it won’t convert anyone who feels that this style of film-making is spent.

If I have any problem with this, it’s the false starts. By that, I mean that events reach a kind of crescendo, and then the next morning, we begin another new day with no real explanation of how the previous night’s confrontations played out. Other than that – an enjoyable feature with some creepy moments. 7 out of 10.

In a climate where vampires are popularly portrayed as stylish teens in black leather jackets with a taste for blood, Irina could not be further removed. By night, she walks the streets finding victims and drinks from them, leaving the landlord of the rundown seaside hotel where she 'lives', to destroy the bodies afterwards. Quite what power she has over him isn't clear, and quite what power she then passes onto Pink, a rejected prostitute, isn't clear either, but it seems Irina has passed her curse over to her.

Ultimately, this film has become the first part of a trilogy. 'Queen of Blood (2014)' and 'Blood Dynasty (2017)' are also an acquired taste, but highly recommended.

The titular character was originally meant for Boris Karloff, and the shady Yogami character was earmarked for Bela Lugosi. Whilst these two horror legends would have undoubtedly been tremendous in their respective roles, I find it hard to imagine how the two characters we ended up with could be bettered.

Instead, we are treated to Henry Hull who plays the titular Wilfred Glendon. He is joined by Charlie Chan actor Warner Oland as Yogami. The results are terrific, but underrated - not every film from this period can star Karloff and Lugosi!

Spearheading the idea of the lycanthrope being a tragic, Jekyll-like figure rather than a man of evil has been retained for all Universal Wolf-Man films – the impressive make-up is provided by monster guru Jack Pierce.

When settling down to watch a Jean Rollin film, the viewer is fairly sure it will contain either nude/semi-nude vampires, a beach scene, two young girls as main characters and/or a much surrealist atmosphere. Such things are the staple of the prolific French director.

It’s something of a surprise then, to find none of these elements here. At first, two girls appear to be the film’s main double act, but one of them is killed a couple of scenes later in one of many shocking twists this tale has to offer.

This is Rollin’s most straightforward horror film. My favourite scene involves a decaying man who chases Elisabeth back into her parked car, which naturally fails to start. As she locks the doors, he head-butts the glass to the front door, leaving much of his dissolving forehead on the glass as he recoils to butt it again. Truly stomach churning.

I’ve seen this project labelled as ‘pretentious’ by more than one reviewer. I’m not sure that’s fair. And yet it is difficult to find a label for this film at all. It succeeds in being like nothing I’ve ever seen. Is it even horror? Well, judging by the incredible acting from Reece Shearsmith in one scene alone, I’d say yes.

During one scene, the bullying O’Neill character (Michael Smiley) shows the submissive Whitehead (Shearsmith) a vision of death/hell inside a tent, which the audience does not witness. Instead, we get Whitehead’s subsequent reaction – his mind is damaged by the vision, and yet instead of running from the scene, he emerges from the tent with a death-head smile of disturbing serenity on his face. Shown in slow-motion, it is worth seeing ‘A Field in England’ for this startling scene alone – although it is much more effective in the context of this strange and wonderful project.

Doctor Hersch spearheads research into the capture and subsequent ‘understanding’ of ‘the vampire’ he has named Vlad (although his real name is revealed to be Simon Molinar), but he is killed during the creature’s capture and the project is assigned to his subordinate, Doctor Bassett. Bassett then enlists the help of the idealist Doctor Joe McKay who is entirely new to the project and becomes hazardously sympathetic to the prisoner.

So are Molinar’s monologues while imprisoned truthful, or is he just stalling for time so that he can make his escape? Such conclusions are left open in this highly enjoyable film.

Doctor Hersch spearheads research into the capture and subsequent ‘understanding’ of ‘the vampire’ he has named Vlad (although his real name is revealed to be Simon Molinar), but he is killed during the creature’s capture and the project is assigned to his subordinate, Doctor Bassett. Bassett then enlists the help of the idealist Doctor Joe McKay who is entirely new to the project and becomes hazardously sympathetic to the prisoner.

So are Molinar’s monologues while imprisoned truthful, or is he just stalling for time so that he can make his escape? Such conclusions are left open in this highly enjoyable film.

How to go about talking about Vampyr? This is a film that was made in 1932, but could almost be ten years older – it is mainly silent, with sparse moments of dialogue. Sometimes events seem deliberately obfuscated. There are also intertitles that relay moments and goings-on that might otherwise not be clear.

It isn’t always easy to stay glued to this because not only does it not really follow a pattern, but the style of weirdness gives no assurance that events are ever going to become any clearer. And yet the imagery rewards – the one-legged policeman, the inexplicable deformed old man, the scythe-wielding peasant (Death?) on a ramshackle boat, and Gray and Giselle scampering through the sepia summertime. It is horribly haunting and not easily forgotten.