[Deadite]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

DERANGED – Morbid grindhouse relic is still unsurpassed for sickly atmosphere. This is the tale of lonely necrophile Roberts Blossom and his habit of messing around with his mother’s corpse. It’s set in fifties rural Midwest America - what else was there to do back then? Despite being outdone in the notoriety stakes by ‘TCM’ and ‘Psycho’, both also inspired by the exploits of Ed Gein, ‘Deranged’ is creepier than either - something about those shots of old women's corpses lolling about in their front room always stays with me. Blossom's performance is a real tightrope act between simplicity and psychopathy, and is great. I always forget, it's kind of a black comedy until the end.

SQUIRM – An electrical storm makes a bunch of worms go crazy in small-town America in yet another morbid grindhouse relic. ‘Squirm’ is quite a lot of fun, although its problem is that it saves the good stuff till last. The final half hour, made somehow gothic by the heavy use of candlelight, is pretty mental, with huge masses of flesh eating worms pouring through windows and out of doorways whilst some murderous dude runs around with a face full of ‘em. Prior to then, it’s all build-up that does manage to sustain a degree of intrigue and mounting tension, but you’re thinking “where are the worms?” Or, I was. Not Jeff Leiberman’s best flick, but pretty cool and a perennial re-watch round chez Teardrop.

MOTHER! – To some extent dissed on its release, ‘Mother!’ comes across like a mash-up of Bunuellian home invasion and Polanskian sinister pregnancy before blowing its wad on a free-form apocalypse under a single roof and becoming a metaphor for the world situation. Or something. I really liked it – when is mainstream cinema this daring? Not very often. Arguably, the first hour is stronger, with Ed Harris and Michelle Pfieffer bringing simmering dynamics and bad vibes into J Lawrence’s fragile household, although the mad idea of having a societal melt-down take place in someone’s kitchen takes some beating, as do some surprisingly brutal scenes involving the fate of Lawrence’s young one. Definitely a recommend.

DOGS – Enjoyable seventies nonsense with David McCallum as some kind of scientist who’s worried that dogs might be getting together to bite the hand that feeds them (i.e humanity itself!) It’s all got something to do with that nuclear reactor they’re running tests on, apparently. ‘Dogs’ doesn’t really work as an effective ‘nature runs riot’ flick, but it does have its good points. The pace is there, so it doesn’t flag or get boring. There are some stand out scenes, like the doggy shower attack. McCallum looks and sounds like someone who should be nicked for peddling soft drugs down the boozer in an episode of ‘The Sweeney’. There’s also the fact that any movie that tries to convince its audience that roughly ten domesticated animals of unthreatening demeanour can ravage the entire population of a small town has to be a bit crazy. In fact, ‘Dogs’ doesn’t even try that hard, which lends an air of unintentional surrealism to the proceedings. Entertaining.

Great as ever, mate. Going to graduate to 2 word film titles next time?