Haven't really been watching / writing all that much lately. Here are a few thoughts from over the last couple of weeks:
PHENOMENA: Maybe not Dario's finest moment, but certainly one of his wackiest. For this reason alone, probably my favourite Argento. I'm sure I don't need to remind people about the the insect ESP, mutant kid, chimp with razors and Iron Maiden soundtrack. Stylistically cooler after the excesses of the seventies, but still has a dreamy eighties pop video vibe.
BORDELLO DEATH TALES: Brit Indie horror triptypche. I didn't like it that much, but the first two tales had enough eccentricity about them to hold my attention. The second one in particular is an interesting cod expressionistic remix of 'Bride of Frankenstein' and features an actress with a stunning face.
BRAINSCAN: Wasn't expecting much, but I really enjoyed this neat little B-movie with E Furlong as a kid mixed up in virtual reality. Has that late eighties /early ninties smoothness, but isn't as bland as I thought it might be, and boasts some nice stylistic flourishes like a giallo style killing. Apparently has quite a sizeable cult following, but I'd never heard of it before picking it up the other day. Good.
PAN'S LABYRINTH: Finally relented and watched this after being pestered by colleagues. Have to admit, it really worked for me on pretty much every level. Visually great, some excellent fantasy sequences, surprisingly grotesque bits. The narrative is sculpted and poised, never seeming disjointed despite its various threads. It's moving, but also pretty harsh.
VIDEODROME: Thirty years old and as relevant today as ever - the technology has changed, but the 'Videodrome's' concerns haven't dated. Interesting to compare it to the recent 'Berberian Sound Studio', an ostensibly very different film which does share some common ground. 'Videodrome' is not about a man losing his grip on reality, however - it suggests that there's no such thing as 'a grip' on 'reality' in the first place. Brilliant, but almost everyone here knows that anyway.
TOXIC AVENGER: I usually dislike broad comedy horror, but 'Toxic Avenger' is so deliriously twisted it will always have a special place in my heart. Some bits of it make me cringe, but the ridiculously hate-fuelled first half, set in the living nightmare of an eighties gym, always draws me right in. Totally synthetic and eighties, but somehow raw and crude.
I STAND ALONE: A trip through the headspace of a nihilistic French butcher, this is a primal scream of a film. Either that, or it's the work of a clever controversialist. It doesn't matter which is 'true', 'I Stand Alone' is about as vivid, traumatic and bleak as cinema gets. This is like Celine on celluloid, except there was probably more compassion and human warmth in his world than in the one shown here. There's no requirement for any graphic depiction in this case, and it's interesting that several recent well known 'transgressive' flicks don't come close to conjuring the level of sadness, sordidness and desperation which haunt 'I Stand Alone's every frame. The final twenty minutes or so, when the butcher takes his autistic daughter to a hotel room, are truly painful to bear, with Gaspar Noe playing with our heads at every turn. Brilliant but difficult.
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