HERETIC - Horror wears many masks, these days more than ever, but I never thought I'd see what's basically a slasher flick done up as a long metaphysical conversation about the existence of god. Another surprise is cackling Hugh Grant, a malignant atheist clearly having a great time repudiating religion in front of Mormons Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East. The drawn-out talky chamber piece bit focusing on what lies on the other side is the film's strongest hand, with 'horror' mainly driven by the conversational tone and the atmosphere of Hugh's shadowy manse; when it takes an inevitable turn for the generic, it remains strong. Excellent performances and a weird premise... this film's talent for the unexpected shows there's life in the old dog yet.
PHANTOMS - I like films that just get into it. There's a minimum of fuss about the set-up here - small town, largely depopulated, and now there are these... things. And here's Ben Afleck looking like it's still the mid-nineties (cos it is), leading the troops into the sub-Lovecraftian darkness. 'Phantoms' is based on a Dean Koontz book I haven't read, and I imagine any untrimmed doorstop-compatible flab comes in the form of a bollocks-spouting Peter O'Toole, who blethers on about sentient petroleum with a fragile ago. It's lightweight action-horror of a Carpenterian hue that throws up nice visuals whilst rattling along at a breathless pace, although it's too straightforward to carry the brooding atmosphere of obvious influence 'The Thing'.
OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN - Peter Weller has a rat problem. It's not James Herbert-sized - there's only one - but it's trashing his posh New York townhouse. This is the early eighties, when big businesses were all glass, boardrooms and bad behaviour, and Weller is something of a hotshot with room in his mind only for the corporate ladder. That ladder's being chewed to shit by his new friend. 'Of Unknown Origin' is a smart film that always strikes me as a bit unusual. What is it going for? It's not quite black comedy, full-on horror, or the kind of Yuppie satire that was popular by nineteen eighty three, the year it came out. More than anything it's a study in ruinous obsession - at one point there's a Poe reference, and you can just about catch a wisp of 'The Black Cat' and its narrator's unravelling. It's not perfect. Its momentum plateaus and it starts to run in circles, like a rat in a cage, with Weller tearing through his house Tom and Jerry style, always outdone by vermin. The same gag repeats endlessly. But its sharp tone, presence of Weller, and the fact that they blow up the absurd non-horror of an intrinsically unthreatening solo rat by using close-ups to bring out something menacing and a bit gross, make for a fascinating watch.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES - Another of those remakes from the noughts, and again I feel moved to point out how they were, surprisingly, by and large pretty good considering they were really having a go at the canon. No-one's as territorial as a horror fan around their fave flick, not even a mutant cannibal whose only lot in life is a foul stretch of radioactive scrubland. Alexandre Aja's THHE holds its own. It's deliberately paced and takes time to get going, but the last hour is highly adrenalised, brutal stuff. Does it add anything? Cover new ground? I'm not convinced, though it's certainly slicker and probably nastier. Only slight disappointment was, even though it's been ages since I last saw it, it all came back to me very clearly when I put it on the other day. Y'know, my memory's shite, I like to feel I'm 'rediscovering' stuff if it's been a while. Anyway. Very good.
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