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Nightmare Beach Umberto Lenzi considered his time directing
Nightmare Beach (aka
Welcome To Spring Break) as a holiday. He disliked the script, wanted to do something completely different, and it’s understandable. The killer’s standing in the community, and their motives had been done to death, not just in slasher movies, but also in proto-slashers, and gialli. Even the look of the killer, clad in biker gear, was dated, done previously in
Andrea Bianchi’s
Strip Nude For Your Killer and
Ken Hughes’
Night School. But
Lenzi’s ambivalence to the material results in a careless, throwaway, trashy experience, which mirrors spring break and the entire slasher framework. Filmed on location in Florida, the setting is a boon, the beach-front and bars creating the appropriate atmosphere. The electrifying kills are a joy, and the pacing is perfect, regardless of the lack of aspirations.
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Incident In A Ghostland Pascal Laugier’s
Incident In A Ghostland shares parallels with
Martyrs, both films feature a duo of female characters central to the narrative, both of which are put through an unrelenting, harrowing experience. There’s a mean spirited narrative that seeks to systematically erase all positives, frequently obscuring the truth for cheap a revelation. At it’s most grim it’s detestable, a test of endurance, but effectively constructed and executed with a breakneck pace. The house is an imposing presence, aptly dubbed ‘
Rob Zombie’s house’, the décor bears a striking resemblance to the one used in
House Of 1000 Corpses.
Incident In A Ghostland feels a more conventional sibling to Martyrs, attempting to conform, but struggling to free itself of the shadow cast. It’s more stylised in its trauma, but it’s a trauma we’ve become desensitised to.
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Night Of The Demon
Based on an
M.R. James short story ‘
Casting The Runes’
Jacques Tourneur’s seminal
Night Of The Demon is a meeting of faith and philosophy, as sinister occultist Julian Karswell and scientist Dr. John Holden clash. There’s a curious power to the film, as
Tourneur deftly melds quaint English sensibilities with a malevolent terror. Gorgeous black and white cinematography, and effective sound design aid in ramping up the dread at an alarming pace. Notoriously divisive in its decision to show the demon, there’s a spectral awe as it emerges from the fog to pursue its victims, though not as ominous as the footprints, emanating smoke, which stalk the protagonist as he flees the woods. It also features possibly the most delightful mother of a cult leader committed to screen.
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3 Dead Trick Or Treaters Torin Langen’s
3 Dead Trick Or Treaters is an anthology told entirely without dialogue, the narrative driven by notes and gestures from characters. It’s a curious choice for an anthology with a writer at the crux of the wraparound segment that knits the disparate pieces, but it’s a writer who has been silenced.
3 Dead Trick Or Treaters isn’t your typical anthology, most evident in ‘
Stash’, an unconventional tale of transients and their haul of candy, insidiously laced to maim, with trust at the core. The silent delivery leaves an air of interpretation; in ‘
Malleus Maleficarum’ a tender moment between a persecuted witch and their rescuer feels as if hinting of a more modern, sexual, persecution.
3 Dead Trick Or Treaters is initially uninviting, cold and desaturated, but as colour seeps in the film’s irregular nature entices and enthrals.
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Terrifier Damien Leone’s maniacal creation Art the clown is finally given his own feature length attraction after a stand-out segment in the anthology
All Hallows’ Eve, and prior short also titled
Terrifier. Art feels even more sinister here with a sunken, further accentuated, angular physiognomy. Effectively executed, adept at building dread, and utilising some great practical effects work,
Terrifier excels at its titular intention. Unfortunately Art appears to know only the one trick, as unrelenting and grim as that trick is, it doesn’t sustain for the expanded running time. Characters feel transported in on conveyor-belt to pad the mean-spirited depravity, with no attempt to contextualise and certainly granted no level of intelligence. At one point a character breaks free from the building they were locked in only to slip back into the adjoining complex.
Terrifier is incredibly proficient with its villain but lacks a worthy protagonist that displays the same level of resourcefulness.
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The Craft Andrew Fleming’s
The Craft was part of a wave of horror movies in the latter half of the nineties that infused a self-aware referential core into the typical teen movie framework, revitalising the fortunes of the genre, alongside the likes of
Wes Craven and
Kevin Williamson’s
Scream. Four corners of a coven beset by personal trauma, Bonnie with her physical scars, Rochelle suffering at the hands of a racist bully, Nancy enduring a lecherous stepfather, and Sarah who has been falsely slut shamed by one of the jocks. The Coven seeks the power of Manon for vengeance upon those who have wronged them, but their retribution comes with a price, a spiritual balance. It’s got some fantastically bitchy dialogue, which is still as quotable as ****, and the obligatory empowering walk through the school hallway.
Fairuza Balk is deliciously wicked as Nancy, her paranoia and greed tearing the coven asunder in one spectacular set piece after another. They’re weirdos, I’m a weirdo, we’re all weirdos.
Finally all done. Roll on next year! Already have a few films lined up.