This film doesn't have much dialogue, but instead is driven by the awesome soundtrack and sound design. All ambient dissonance, with background traffic noise, car horns, fractured conversations and sinister laughter. Although sometimes a bit dreary, once the music gets rolling it really does create a mesmerising menacing tone. This is filtered through a backdrop of a deliciously scuzzy cityscape, where everything is covered in a layer of grime and sleaze, accompanied by choppy visuals. This creates an atmosphere far exceeding its limited means and makes for an arty grindhouse affair. I'm sure there are plenty of haters who dismiss it as boring garbage, but I am a fan, and consider it a masterclass in how much sound can add to a film.
Reviews
6 Reviews
Slaughterhouse
(1987)
Buddy brings home the bacon
18 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Whilst I don't consider Slaughterhouse vintage slasher fare, it is a bright and breezy one that leans heavily on its comedic tone. The killers pig squeals are funny rather than frightening. The mixing of comedy and horror can be tricky to pull off, but it just about stayed black enough to work here. The opening shots of pigs being slaughtered were darkly humorous and I particularly liked the excessive ketchup on chips scene.
I liked all of the characters and even wanted to see more of their teenage tomfoolery. In critique it does all feel rather lightweight with not much content. Settings such as the dance aren't exploited as they could have been. In particular more could have been made of the deaths, especially those towards the end. Whilst some of them were surprisingly nasty, they were all fleeting and could have been extended to add to the black humour. There weren't really any scares to be had, despite some enjoyably atmospheric eerie music.
I would also have liked to have seen an added chase scene and a bit more thrust towards the climax. I did enjoy the freeze frame ending but it could have done with a bit more energy immediately before getting there, as it was slightly anticlimactic. Overall Slaughterhouse offers a slight, but fun time for 1980's slasher aficionados.
I liked all of the characters and even wanted to see more of their teenage tomfoolery. In critique it does all feel rather lightweight with not much content. Settings such as the dance aren't exploited as they could have been. In particular more could have been made of the deaths, especially those towards the end. Whilst some of them were surprisingly nasty, they were all fleeting and could have been extended to add to the black humour. There weren't really any scares to be had, despite some enjoyably atmospheric eerie music.
I would also have liked to have seen an added chase scene and a bit more thrust towards the climax. I did enjoy the freeze frame ending but it could have done with a bit more energy immediately before getting there, as it was slightly anticlimactic. Overall Slaughterhouse offers a slight, but fun time for 1980's slasher aficionados.
Don't Open Till Christmas
(1984)
A distinctly British slasher
18 August 2015
A very British entry into the 1980's slasher cannon. It feels as if the EastEnders writers thought that they'd give jumping on the slasher bandwagon a go, but lacking any real insight into the genre they get it a bit wrong at most turns!
Lacking the perkiness of most of its American cousins and the style of the Italian gialli, the film is nevertheless more aligned to the giallo in terms of structure and plot, police procedural action and a whodunit angle with numerous characters.
It gets pluses for the mask, a variety of amusing kills, the London Dungeon scene and the sheer curiosity factor given that UK slashers of this era are relatively rare. There is a bargain basement TV actors look and feel throughout, like a fairly straight BBC version of a slasher film. London looks suitably gross, seedy and grotty. A few off the wall moments keep it fairly enjoyable and worth a look for fans of sleazy, cult, obscure trash.
Lacking the perkiness of most of its American cousins and the style of the Italian gialli, the film is nevertheless more aligned to the giallo in terms of structure and plot, police procedural action and a whodunit angle with numerous characters.
It gets pluses for the mask, a variety of amusing kills, the London Dungeon scene and the sheer curiosity factor given that UK slashers of this era are relatively rare. There is a bargain basement TV actors look and feel throughout, like a fairly straight BBC version of a slasher film. London looks suitably gross, seedy and grotty. A few off the wall moments keep it fairly enjoyable and worth a look for fans of sleazy, cult, obscure trash.
Jason X
(2001)
Jason is lost in space
17 August 2015
The Jason Voorhees of the 1980's is well gone, as the Friday the 13th series is taken into a sci-fi realm. Looking like it was filmed in a tacky '90's laser quest arena; the film contains a myriad of my pet peeves from later day horrors including terrible CGI and a huge cast of indistinct characters devoid of personality who wisecrack on their deathbed.
It is lame on every level, with bad acting, and a dire script. I could overlook some of this if it was entertaining. However it is minute after minute of people walking down spaceship corridors, spouting sci-fi gobbledygook into headsets or talking into computer monitors about how to open doors or land the craft that no one on board appears to know how to operate.
Inexcusably Jason's not really very noticeable. He does have a Terminator style makeover which was briefly mildly amusing. Overall he is involved in the dullest set of deaths, non-scares and chases the series has seen. There was a glimmer of a good idea near the end where Jason was placed in a virtual reality Crystal Lake but that was quickly squandered. Potentially the set-up could have worked in more talented hands, but it remains a rancid turd which feels as if it was written by someone with no love for horror (or even sci-fi) films. Gross.
It is lame on every level, with bad acting, and a dire script. I could overlook some of this if it was entertaining. However it is minute after minute of people walking down spaceship corridors, spouting sci-fi gobbledygook into headsets or talking into computer monitors about how to open doors or land the craft that no one on board appears to know how to operate.
Inexcusably Jason's not really very noticeable. He does have a Terminator style makeover which was briefly mildly amusing. Overall he is involved in the dullest set of deaths, non-scares and chases the series has seen. There was a glimmer of a good idea near the end where Jason was placed in a virtual reality Crystal Lake but that was quickly squandered. Potentially the set-up could have worked in more talented hands, but it remains a rancid turd which feels as if it was written by someone with no love for horror (or even sci-fi) films. Gross.
On the Road
(2012)
A joyless adaption of an exhilarating book
28 October 2012
The On The Road novel has inspired numerous readers, myself included to take an American road trip. Will the film have the same effect? I sincerely doubt it. And herein lays the problem. Whilst the book takes the reader on an exuberant, spirited journey full of life, the film puzzlingly slows the pace right down and presents a muted, almost depressed version of the same story.
This is best illustrated by the presentation of the character of Dean Moriarty. He should be the driving force of the story, pushing the storyline on with his crazed excitement for the good and bad in life. On the printed page he can barely speak fast enough to get all his thoughts out. However in the film he huffs and puffs his way from one scene to the next, speaking in a laconic drawl, whilst lacking all the charm and charisma that is supposed to make him so alluring. He is the muse for the writer character of Sal, but anyone coming to the film fresh without having read the book, may well struggle to understand why.
The film lacks a rounded sense of the hedonistic side of the journey. The sex is arguably overplayed and whilst there is some drugs and jazz, there is little of the booze. Crucially the characters rarely seem to be having a good time. The film seems to focus on the melodramatic, miserable aspects of the characters lives at the destinations they travel to, but fails to contrast this with wild and exciting times spent on the road. The film does not convey a sense of travelling for the journeys sake; they always just seem to be in the car in order to get to another destination. The only time the film gets anywhere near the free spirited adventure of the book is when the characters reach Mexico in the later stages of the film, but this is too little too late.
I did wonder whether the muted atmosphere of the film was a deliberate ploy of the filmmakers, however the last ten minutes would indicate not. Here we see the character of Sal typing up the notes he has made during the road trips, seemingly franticly typing to capture all the wild, fun, crazy times had on the road. However this does not reflect what the viewer has just witnessed on screen for the past two hours.
Taken on its own terms the film does offer fine cinematography, costume and the look of the time, as well as some decent acting (hence my score of 5 out of 10). However as an adaption of a seminal piece of literature, it deserves to be judged against the source material and in not capturing the true spirit of the book, it is a big fail.
This is best illustrated by the presentation of the character of Dean Moriarty. He should be the driving force of the story, pushing the storyline on with his crazed excitement for the good and bad in life. On the printed page he can barely speak fast enough to get all his thoughts out. However in the film he huffs and puffs his way from one scene to the next, speaking in a laconic drawl, whilst lacking all the charm and charisma that is supposed to make him so alluring. He is the muse for the writer character of Sal, but anyone coming to the film fresh without having read the book, may well struggle to understand why.
The film lacks a rounded sense of the hedonistic side of the journey. The sex is arguably overplayed and whilst there is some drugs and jazz, there is little of the booze. Crucially the characters rarely seem to be having a good time. The film seems to focus on the melodramatic, miserable aspects of the characters lives at the destinations they travel to, but fails to contrast this with wild and exciting times spent on the road. The film does not convey a sense of travelling for the journeys sake; they always just seem to be in the car in order to get to another destination. The only time the film gets anywhere near the free spirited adventure of the book is when the characters reach Mexico in the later stages of the film, but this is too little too late.
I did wonder whether the muted atmosphere of the film was a deliberate ploy of the filmmakers, however the last ten minutes would indicate not. Here we see the character of Sal typing up the notes he has made during the road trips, seemingly franticly typing to capture all the wild, fun, crazy times had on the road. However this does not reflect what the viewer has just witnessed on screen for the past two hours.
Taken on its own terms the film does offer fine cinematography, costume and the look of the time, as well as some decent acting (hence my score of 5 out of 10). However as an adaption of a seminal piece of literature, it deserves to be judged against the source material and in not capturing the true spirit of the book, it is a big fail.
Devil's Playground
(2010)
Night of the Living zzzzzz
15 October 2010
Although I imagine this is a straight to DVD affair, I caught this film on the big screen, followed by a Q&A with the director, and other members of cast and crew, who seemed very proud of their work.
During the showing the film got a few unintentional laughs which led a member of the cast to comment afterwards "I didn't know we had made a comedy zombie film" - No you didn't, you made a film which for the most part was extremely dull, with a wafer thin story and unconvincing characters. The laughter in the audience was due to the poor delivery of meagre lines of script and cliché plot developments.
With so many zombie films out there, you need a new angle to stand out from the crowd, and it was the directors belief that this comes from the fact that the zombies are free runners. To be fair, although free running zombies is only one step forward from the speedy zombies of the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later, it's not a bad idea and I was fairly enthused with the idea of seeing this slight new twist. However I was soon to be extremely disappointed that although the film was being sold with this as its unique selling point, this wasn't exploited at all. Yes, the zombies (which mostly just looked like young people in hoodies) ran fast, jumped and vaulted over cars and other obstacles in their way a few times, but I was left thinking is that it, could they not jump and twist off a few buildings or do something well a bit more visually exciting?
The fact that this aspect of the film didn't live up to the hype was only compounded by the complete lack of interesting story. I never bought into any of the characters, especially the lead (played by Craig Fairbrass) who for me has no screen presence whatsoever. Within half an hour I couldn't care less whether any of the characters survived, and the zombies were so uninspiring that I couldn't even root for them.
On the plus side, I thought the film was well shot, with some cool images of London just about stopping me nodding off from boredom a couple of times. Plus there was a genuinely funny cameo from Sean Pertwee (the best part of the film). Shame that his character was never to be seen again, his story might have been more interesting!
During the showing the film got a few unintentional laughs which led a member of the cast to comment afterwards "I didn't know we had made a comedy zombie film" - No you didn't, you made a film which for the most part was extremely dull, with a wafer thin story and unconvincing characters. The laughter in the audience was due to the poor delivery of meagre lines of script and cliché plot developments.
With so many zombie films out there, you need a new angle to stand out from the crowd, and it was the directors belief that this comes from the fact that the zombies are free runners. To be fair, although free running zombies is only one step forward from the speedy zombies of the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later, it's not a bad idea and I was fairly enthused with the idea of seeing this slight new twist. However I was soon to be extremely disappointed that although the film was being sold with this as its unique selling point, this wasn't exploited at all. Yes, the zombies (which mostly just looked like young people in hoodies) ran fast, jumped and vaulted over cars and other obstacles in their way a few times, but I was left thinking is that it, could they not jump and twist off a few buildings or do something well a bit more visually exciting?
The fact that this aspect of the film didn't live up to the hype was only compounded by the complete lack of interesting story. I never bought into any of the characters, especially the lead (played by Craig Fairbrass) who for me has no screen presence whatsoever. Within half an hour I couldn't care less whether any of the characters survived, and the zombies were so uninspiring that I couldn't even root for them.
On the plus side, I thought the film was well shot, with some cool images of London just about stopping me nodding off from boredom a couple of times. Plus there was a genuinely funny cameo from Sean Pertwee (the best part of the film). Shame that his character was never to be seen again, his story might have been more interesting!
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