Don’t go in the House
First pick from Thrower’s Nightmare USA, and it was a bloody good-un! While you could easily dismiss it as a
Psycho knock-off (some shameless pillaging here!), it’s a very well executed knock-off, and a solid thriller in its own right. Holding it all together is Dan Grimaldi’s memorable central performance. Again, there is more than a touch of Norman Bates going on, but Grimaldi manages to put his own stamp on the introverted psycho killer. I particularly liked the sequence where Donny is easily manipulated by a shop assistant into buying an expensive new outfit for a night out. It’s both funny and heartbreaking, Grimaldi nailing the social ineptitude and awkwardness around ‘normal’ people. I also liked how none of his victims were reduced to the screaming bimbo type, all of them given some degree of characterisation and likability before their inevitable demise. And what a demise! The first fiery murder has a real gut wrenching kick, and is genuinely disturbing. Also impressively creepy are Donny’s hallucinations, his charred victims and rotting mother glimpsed moving around the old dark house. Shame about a completely unnecessary final scene, apart from that a great find.
Wake in Fright
Think this was a title I came across around these parts – another great recommendation! Went in knowing nothing about it, and expecting a straight Ozploitation horror of some sort. Loved the slow burn, class-divide tension, knowing something is going to go wrong but not knowing how it will manifest. The early scenes had an engaging oddball creepiness, with echoes of
The Wicker Man and
Straw Dogs. In the event it’s the protagonist who is the cause of his own predicament, spiralling into a feverish nightmare of booze binges and kangaroo killing! Great stuff, very well directed by Ted Kotcheff – I was thrilled to see some screenshots on dvdbeaver of the restored edition Blu Ray, which is vastly superior to the version I saw. Unfortunately, I can’t find it for any less than £30!
