December 14th.
Die Monster Die (1965)
How the hell i've never seen or owned this gothic classic before is beyond me.
Produced in England by AIP as a vehicle for the great Boris Karloff. Very loosely based on Lovecraft's story The Colour Out of Space. Set typically in Arkham County, the story involves an American (Nick Adams) searching for his bride to be who is holed up in Karloff's gothic mansion. Adams soon discovers something from outer space is mutating the locals and fear runs deep in the village.
A full review will appear in the Gothic Thread in the new year.
December 15th
After. Life (2010)
A young couple Paul (Justin Long) and Anna (Christina Ricci) are toying with the prospect of marriage when they have a chance encounter with Eliot (Liam Neeson), a mysterious undertaker who claims he can speak with the dead. When Anna who is involved in a car accident is declared dead, she becomes caught in the otherworldly realm between life and death, she risks being buried alive. Will Eliot help her, or is he being driven by darker motivations?, can he really talk to the recently deceased or is it all in his mind?
Performances are excellent in After. Life. Liam Neeson plays sinister so well, Justin Long who's not someone i have great affection for was also very good. Christina Ricci however is the undoubted star of the show, she gives a performance of strength through doubt and denial and turns in a performance that will have all lovers of the dead salivating, she spends a good performance of the film topless and is a dream come true for necrophiliacs and Marilyn Manson fans alike.
The premise of this thriller was intriguing, yet also undercooked. The final denounment was frustratingly left open. I would have loved a happy Hollywood ending, but even the director says she left it open ended for the viewer to make up their own mind. Generally i always see this as a good thing but not in this case. Some sort of conclusion would have helped resolve what was an interesting, yet for this reason flawed movie. Recommended.
December 16th
Humongous (1982)
Bog standard slasher thriller about a boat load of young people who find themselves stranded on an island, then at the mercy of someone or something who would like them all dead. After a suitably sleazy opening involning a fairly graphic rape and a gory dog attack, we are then introduced to our victims, sorry, protagonists, and all is going well. Unfortunately the bulk of the film is very hum drum, set in near darkness, and i'm pretty sure we never get a good look at the killer. The film blatantly steals the girl wearing the mothers jumper in order to pass herself off as the killers son from Friday The 13th Part 2 a year earlier.
December 17th
Bare Behind Bars (1980)
The governess of a female prison in South America sells her captives off as slaves to wealthy buyers.
A puzzle this one. With so much female flesh and sex on display this film couldn't go wrong. Somehow director Oswaldo de Oliveira has contrived to make his Brazillian exploitation classic extremely dull. The film has minimal plot and all the sleaze just blends into one great orgy of limbs. Not one of the characters bar the nurse and prison governess are memorable, even this is probably due to the fact they wear different clothes to the rest of the cast. Many think this film is decidedly grubby but to me i became unaware of it all as my mind wandered after half an hour. I did wake from my slumber for a few minutes as i howled with laughter at the excruciatingly funny gloryhole lesbian sex through a prison cell door. The faces the guard pulls are priceless. There are a few hardcore scenes scattered throughout the movie, mainly at the end, but they add nothing to it. Three escaped prisoners licking a captured boy certainly wasn't in the best taste but by then i was really beyond caring. Had i known i would have got the UK cut version as it would have, mercifully, a shorter running time.
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