THE RAVEN - People denounce Ulli Lommel as a purveyor of unwatchable trash - they're forgetting he directed the utterly harrowing 'Tenderness of Wolves' and the still great IMO 'The Boogeyman'. Detractors won't revise on the basis of this offering, which does at least manage to be head spinningly bizarre. I can't really sum up the plot of a movie which is more like a collage of 'arty' video sequences, but it has something to do with the singer of an all girl rock band trying to fathom her relationship to E A Poe whilst running from the clutches of the bald slasher who's offing her mates. The film certainly leaves many questions unanswered - for instance, who is the clawed figure who does nothing but drive around for the entire duration? Why does the bald slasher resemble a black nail varnished Irving Welsh lookalike in Rupert the Bear pants at points? Why all the nuns? Maybe just 'Why?' But I really liked it, I love the idea of Ulli cutting loose with a dodgy vid cam and basically doing a Jess Franco in indulging his warped fantasises (not that this is particularly Francoesque, but it has that combination of trash aesthetic and personal touch if you know what I mean).
 |