Review #827: 'Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI' (1986)

Following the backlash from fans at the previous instalment's omission of Jason Voorhees as the killer and the general awfulness of the film as a whole, the series took a new direction thanks to the efforts of director and writer Tom McLoughlin. Jason Lives is the first time Jason has been recognised as a supernatural force (which would explain his refusal to die after being disposed of in a manner of gruesome ways previously) and one of the earliest examples (perhaps the first example?) of a horror movie being so humorously self-reflexive, long before the post-modern horror boom in the 1990's following the success of Scream (1996).

A year after A New Beginning (1985), Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews) and a friend drive to Jason's grave in the hope of burning the body to rid Tommy of his recurring nightmares. When Jason's rotting corpse is uncovered, Tommy loses it and repeatedly stabs and kicks the lifeless monster. Inexplicably, a lightning bolt hits Jason, reanimating him into an unstoppable killing machine. After his friend is killed, Tommy flees to Forest Green, re-named from Crystal Lake to try and rid the town of the stigma of Jason's previous killing spree's. Believing Tommy to be a psychopathic loon after he breaks into the sheriff's office making wild claims, Sheriff Garris (David Kagen) imprisons him. But his daughter Megan (Jennifer Cooke), believes him and decides to take matters into her own hands.

Despite treading very familiar ground to the movies that came before - the film is again little more than an endless series of disposable characters being cut to bloody pieces - Jason Lives is the best in the series thanks to McLoughlin's obvious talent for comedy. Even going as far as breaking the fourth wall, the characters talk as if they're aware they're in a horror film before being massacred, the best of which is three bickering corporate types on a paintball bonding activity having their heads lopped off in one swing. For once, we have a memorable hero thanks to Mathews' performance, repeating his loveable lug-head shtick from The Return of the Living Dead (1985). It's far from perfect, but it's the first time I've truly enjoyed a Friday the 13th movie.


Directed by: Tom McLoughlin
Starring: Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, Renée Jones
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #826: 'Fast & Furious' (2009)

After the massive disappointment of the two sequels to 2001's dumb but entertaining The Fast and The Furious, the franchise got itself back on track by grounding itself (I use that term loosely) and bringing back the original quarter of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Tokyo Drift (2006) was mind-dumbingly dull, but the action scenes were more impressive than what came before and it teased fans of the series by bringing back Diesel for a last-minute cameo. Director Justin Lin is at the helm once again, and this fourth instalment is the best yet (at this point in the series).

Five years after fleeing Los Angeles, Dominic Toretto (Diesel) is up to his old tricks in the Dominican Republic with girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez) and Tokyo Drift's Han (Sung Kang). Sensing his presence in his new gang will only bring the law down upon them, Toretto flees to Panama, leaving Letty behind. A few months later, Toretto is brought back to America by an incident I cannot reveal with being spoilerific. He starts his own investigation, which leads him to a man named David Park (Ron Yuan). Meanwhile, F.B.I. agent Brian O'Conner (Walker) is also investigating Park, and all trails seem to lead to a mysterious drug lord named Arturo Braga.

Though the movie begins with a rather ridiculous action scene that brought flashbacks of the terrible xXx (2002), things settle down as an actual plot - the first of the series? - develops. It's simple but effective, and everything from the cinematography to the script feels cleaner and more mature. More focus is granted for the characters, and although they're relatively stoic and wafer-thin, it's nice to see them exchange words in a room rather than shouting at each other over the noise of an engine. Fans of the franchise need not to worry though, as Fast & Furious, which is in danger of being the most unimaginative title to a sequel ever, offers plenty of motor-porn, scantily-clad women and a pumping soundtrack.

Which is where the movie ultimately suffers. Although Justin Lin dims the sheen of street racing and shoots the obligatory gyrating lady parts with a less perverted and exploitative eye, the main crux of the plot still surrounds drug smuggling, a lazy McGuffin and a recycled excuse to get Brian and Toretto behind the wheel again. The action on the whole is exciting, especially the high-speed rush through an underground tunnel that crosses the Mexican-American border, and Lin manages to avoid getting lost in the mayhem. It will never be a work of high art, but there's enough here to reignite my passing interest in this glossy but fun series.


Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz
Country: USA/Japan

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #825: 'Sisters' (1973)

After over a decade of shorts and forgotten comedies, director Brian De Palma finally embraced his Alfred Hitchcock fixation and made Sisters, kick-starting a second decade of movies that any director would be proud of. Inspired by an article on Siamese twins in the Soviet Union, Sisters begins with a weird game show where the audience and contestants guess on the outcome of prank situation involving a slowly undressing blind woman and a potential peeping tom. The blind woman turns out to be an actress, Danielle (Margot Kidder), who isn't really blind, and she offers a nightcap to the peeper (who turned out not to peep after all), Phillip (Lisle Wilson).

They spend the night together and in the morning, discovering it's Danielle's (and her twin sister Dominique's) birthday, he heads out to a bakery to buy her a cake. On his return, he finds Danielle in a strange state, and she stabs him repeatedly with a knife. In the adjacent window, Grace (Jennifer Salt), witnesses the murder and immediately calls the police. But as she's a reporter who has recently disgruntled the police with a damaging news story, they procrastinate with questions, allowing Danielle and her ex-husband Emil (Phantom of the Paradise's (1974) William Finley) time to hide the body and clean up the murder scene. Grace, frustrated, is joined by private investigator Joseph Larch (Charles Durning), who starts the search for the elusive corpse as Grace probes into Danielle's alarming past.

Although heavy on the Hitchcockian touches - the references to Rear Window (1954) and Psycho (1960) are obvious - Sisters has a life of his own. The macabre climax especially, as distorted, implanted memories play out like an absurdist silent horror directed by the Maysles brothers, is visually stunning. Although exploitation tactics are used during the bloodier scenes, the film is heavily psychological. For most of the duration of the film, it's unclear as to what it's really about, but this uncertainty only makes the film more intriguing. It's capped off with a fine performance from Kidder (playing both twins) and a reliably creepy turn from Finley, who is possibly the strangest looking man I've ever seen.


Directed by: Brian De Palma
Starring: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, William Finley, Charles Durning
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #824: 'The Rover' (2014)

Australian director David Michod's follow-up to 2010's thrilling and operatic Animal Kingdom is set, as the opening titles inform us, 'ten years after the collapse'. Just what the 'collapse' is is unclear, whether it be social, economic or moral. But what the film does show us is an Australia sparse of population (though the Chinese seem to be doing well), and where the only currency of any real value is the American dollar. It's a hard land, not too dissimilar to Oz's current outback, and when we meet our (anti)hero, Eric (Guy Pearce), he is certainly distressed about something.

He wanders into a shack for a drink and supplies. The film then cuts to a speeding car where a bunch of criminals led by Henry (Scoot McNairy - quickly becoming cinema's most reliable supporting actor) are arguing over something gone awry. Tensions soon turn to violence and the squabble leads to the car crashing just outside the bar where Eric is. With their car damaged, they quickly steal Eric's. It soon becomes apparent that this was their biggest mistake, as Eric quickly pursues them demanding his car back. After he is forced away at gunpoint, Eric comes across the injured Rey (Robert Pattinson), who just so happens to be Henry's mentally retarded brother.

With the global economy locked in a seemingly endless yo-yo, and the unknown, lurking threats from the Middle East and North Korea always in the headlines, the global apocalypse seems a fitting setting for modern film-makers to comment on the current state of humanity. Cormac McCarthy's novel and John Hillcoat's subsequent 2009 film adaptation The Road comes immediately to mind, where the cold, eternally dark world is scoured by merciless cannibals. In The Rover, it's every man for himself. Even our supposed hero Eric thinks nothing of shooting a police officer in the back of the head when he threatens to get in the way of Eric recovering his car. Humanity no longer has any value.

But there's a whiff of seen-it-all-before with The Rover. As well as the aforementioned The Road, other films come to mind such as the Australian western The Proposition (2005), which told a story of man's primitive natural instinct for violence against a bleak and blood-stained backdrop in a far more gripping way. Pearce is as reliable as ever, but Pattinson - admirable in his desire to break free of his Twilight image - doesn't seem to trust his ability and over-acts. In his quieter, subtler moments, he proves to be a fine actor, but he needs to take Kirk Lazarus's advice from Tropic Thunder (2008) and never go full retard. At it's best, The Rover is hypnotic. At it's worst, it's plodding. Yet it remains unsettling throughout.

Directed by: David Michôd

Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy

Country: Australia/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #823: 'The Babadook' (2014)

Ever watched Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999) and found yourself wanting to slap little Jake Lloyd, rather than the much-despised Jar Jar Binks? Can't stand Jonathan Lipnicki's sentiment-cloying turn in Jerry Maguire (1996)? Ever wished Jonathan Ke Quan's Short Round had met his doom in the eponymous Temple of Doom (1984)? Well, prepare yourself for Noah Wiseman in The Babadook, the most eye-gougingly annoying little shit ever to step in front of a camera. Only, he's meant to be, and Wiseman is astonishingly good as young Samuel, every parent's worst nightmare who sees a monster no-one else does.

His mother Amelia (Essie Davis), an orderly living with the memory of her lover's death on the day of Samuel's birth, is at her wit's end. Samuel's teachers have given up on him, her sister doesn't want her child anywhere near him, he fashions weapons meant for serious harm, and his behaviour is only getting more unpredictable. She pulls him out of school and takes some time off work to help deal with the problem. One day, Samuel gives his mother a pop-up he finds on his shelf - a terrifying, black and white tale of a monster named The Babadook, who enters your home and eventually your body, manipulating you and driving you mad.

Soon enough, strange things start to happen around the house, as the outside world becomes increasingly distant in Amelia's troubled mind. She finds glass in her food, doors open and close on their own, and social services are coming round looking suspicious. Samuel promises to protect his mother with his various traps and devices, but his erratic behaviour subsides, and Amelia starts to see the monster for herself. The Babadook is a manipulative, jet-black creature, crawling along walls and ceilings. But is the monster real or is it a result of Amelia's deteriorating mental state and increasing frustration with her child?

For a debut full feature, The Babadook is very impressive. Director Jennifer Kent directs with a natural flair and a definite knowledge of horror tropes. The film often resembles Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), with the house becoming a metaphor for Amelia's psychological prison, and there are plenty of scares that don't rely on a loud noise to make the audience jump out of their seat (or skin). However, it does outstay it's welcome, taking a steady course from psychological study to full-blown horror, even though the whole thing is much more interesting in the build-up. The CGI monster is also an ill-fitting distraction from the realism of the drama. But, Davis is very good and Wiseman is probably better, and there is still plenty here to suggest that this is a director to keep an eye on.


Directed by: Jennifer Kent
Starring: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall
Country: Australia

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #822: 'Rabid Dogs' (1974)

Although his best-known work lies within the horror and giallo genre (leading to the nickname 'maestro of the macabre'), one of Mario Bava's finest works, Rabid Dogs, rests firmly in the poliziotteschi, or Eurocrime, sub-genre. Shelved for decades after the death of the film's main investor, it resurfaced in 1998 and was eventually re-edited and re-scored by Bava's son Lamberto (director of the sub-standard Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986)), and re-titled as the vastly inferior version Kidnapped. Bava's original vision remains the best, and it's a shame he didn't get to dabble more in the genre before his retirement, as Rabid Dogs is a thrilling exercise in tension.

Starting with a robbery of an armoured truck that leads to the fatal stabbing of one innocent, three criminals escape by car after one of their own is shot dead by police. They arrive at an underground car park, where they stab a woman to death and take her friend Maria (Lea Lander) as hostage. On foot, they hijack a car stopped at a red light driven by the middle-aged Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), and urge him to get them out of the city as fast and possible. The problem is that the police have set up road blocks and have every available officer searching for the gang. Riccardo also has his ailing infant son with him and the gang caught him on his way to take the child to the hospital.

Some of Bava's familiar touches are here, such as the black gloves and the stylistic flair, but Rabid Dogs has more in common with Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (1971) that any of his own work. Throughout it's 90-plus minute running time, the film is relentlessly tense, exploding occasionally with acts of graphic violence and sexual threats. The most level-headed of the gang, Dottore (Maurice Poli), tries to keep his men in line, but Bisturi (Don Backy) and Thirty-Two (the enormous cult favourite George Eastman) have rape and violence on their mind, making Maria's life in the back seat a living hell. Backy and Eastman are both excellent in their roles. Although the climactic twist seems a little contrived, I didn't see it coming, and Rabid Dogs is certainly one of Bava's best, and most under-appreciated, works. Just don't see Kidnapped first.


Directed by: Mario Bava
Starring: Riccardo Cucciolla, Maurice Poli, Lea Lander, George Eastman, Don Backy
Country: Italy

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #821: 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' (2006)

The Fast and Furious franchise somewhat stalled with this third entry, which re-locates to the neon eye-candy of Japan in a desperate bid to avoid the tedium of the rest of the movie. The first sequel at least managed to keep hold of Paul Walker, who while wasn't the most gifted of actors in his tragically short career, he still had that Keanu Reeves-esque, beach-bum charm. Tokyo Drift stars Lucas Black, that rough-looking kid who was extremely impressive in Sling Blade (1996). His thick Southern drawl - rarely heard outside of an episode of The Simpsons - and goofy demeanour may make him a refreshingly different character to the meat-heads normally seen in this series, but he's just too damn convincing as a complete knuckle-head.

After he lands himself in trouble totalling a car and demolishing a housing development in the process, Sean (Black) relocates to Tokyo to avoid a prison sentence, joining up with his military father. With the help of new high school friend Twinkie (Shad Moss, formerly known as Bow Wow), he finds the city's underground racing scene and quickly creates an enemy in yakuza D.K. (Brian Tee). D.K. challenges Sean to a race that involves 'drifting' - driving sideways at high speed around difficult corners. Sean is beaten, but fellow yakuza Han (Sung Kang) says he has character (thank God he told us) and invites him to join his gang to become a drift racer.

It becomes a running (and unintentional) joke throughout the movie just how bad Sean is at everything he does. Han somehow sees a good driver in there, but all he seems to do is write off cars and wreak havoc. The complete charisma-void that is the film's hero is not helped by the film's awful script, and who knew there was so many Japanese men that speak English in an American accent? Nevertheless, it's a step up from 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and director Justin Lin infuses the action scenes with a bigger sense of reality, dragging the franchise back from the video game it was becoming. No one really gets hurt, but at least the cars get wrecked. Still, this is extremely dull stuff.


Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Lucas Black, Sung Kang, Shad Moss, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Tee
Country: USA/Germany

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #820: 'Rabid' (1977)

After a near-fatal motorbike accident, Rose (Marilyn Chambers) undergoes experimental skin-graft surgery to help her recover from the horrific wounds she had inflicted. Luckily for her, and surprising to most of her doctors, her body takes to the transplants and starts an immediate recovery. However, the surgery has left her with a strange orifice under her armpit which contains a stringer. She is soon seducing men and infecting them, leaving her victims in a shocked state and unable to remember anything. An outbreak is soon on the cards as the infected go on a biting rampage, spreading a strange disease which causing the host to turn rabid and zombie-like.

Only his fourth feature, and only his second horror after Shivers (1975), this is not Canadian director David Cronenberg's finest achievement. But thankfully, a bulk Cronenberg's filmography is outstanding and Rabid is still an extremely effective little horror film. The infected are a mixture of zombies and vampires, although they aren't really either by definition, but Cronenberg uses them as well as anyone could hope for. The film is little more than a series of set-pieces, but one in particular, involving a woman on a packed trained slowly coming to the realisation that one of the infected is on board, is as good a scene depicting sheer terror and panic as I've ever seen.

Of course, this being Cronenberg, undertones of psychosexuality run throughout. It's no coincidence that the orifice underneath Rose's armpit looks like a vagina, and no surprise that it attacks with a phallic stinger. Rose's sexuality is her real weapon, as it lures her victims close enough for the attack. Whether it be a fear of women or a warning about progressive plastic surgery that her character is trying to articulate, ex-porn star Marilyn Chambers handles her role extremely well. Though she is naked for the most part, she convinces as a seemingly nice girl turned sexual predator. Cronenberg would translate similar themes into better films and he would go on to develop body horror into a true art-form, but Rabid is an accomplished early effort.


Directed by: David Cronenberg
Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver, Howard Ryshpan
Country: Canada

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #819: 'Day of Anger' (1967)

Lee Van Cleef has always been an unsung hero. Although an instantly recognisable face with those cat-like eyes and chiselled cheekbones, there will be few casual film-goers who will be able to name many films of his outside of For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). In Day of Anger, he may not take the lead role, but his Frank Talby, the dangerous yet charismatic gunfighter who wanders into town one day, steals the screen and your attention thanks to Van Cleef's formidable presence, proving that he was one of cinema's greatest character actors.

In the small town of Clifton, bastard-born street sweeper Scott Mary (Euro-western legend Giuliano Gemma) is ridiculed and bullied due to his social status. When Frank Talby strolls into Clifton on the back of his horse, he sides with Scott, and ends up shooting a man in his defence. When Frank leaves, Scott follows in the hope of being taught how to be a great gunfighter. Frank agrees, but has some brutal lessons to teach him. But they find themselves returning to Clifton in the search of money owed to Frank by Wild Jack (Once Upon a Time in the West's (1968) Al Mulock), where Frank hopes to deal some swift justice and make a mark of his own.

A protege of Sergio Leone, this was director Tonino Valerri's second movie in the chair, and he certainly knows how to shoot a western. It doesn't share the extreme close-up's of Leone's work, but builds it's fair share of tension, climaxing in an inevitable yet thrilling climax between teacher and student. The film is superbly filmed, backed by a ridiculously catchy score by Riz Ortolani from which the title song was used in Django Unchained (2012). But the film's biggest boast is in the performances of Van Cleef and Gemma, the former proving he can play as good an anti-hero as any of his peers, and the latter convincing throughout his massive character shift. Highly recommended.


Directed by: Tonino Valerii
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Giuliano Gemma, Walter Rilla, Al Mulock
Country: Italy/West Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #818: 'Frank' (2014)

To try and create a film based on or around the life of musician Chris Sievey, frontman of 70's/80's group The Freshies, or his alter-ego Frank Sidebottom, a papier-mache-head donning presenter with a thick Mancunian accent, would be absolute folly. Rather than attempting to create such a redundant biopic, director Lenny Abrahamson, and writers Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan, have used Sidebottom's legacy and traits as a template to toast eccentric (and possibly mad) artists everywhere and condemn the new social media platform which does little to celebrate them.

Young, aspiring and likely talentless keyboard player Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) cannot believe his luck when Don (Scoot McNairy), member of avant-garde group the Soronprfbs, invites Jon to play with them following the mental decline of their own keyboardist. He packs and eagerly joins them, only to arrive in a countryside hut in Ireland where the band are to stay indefinitely to complete their next album. Theremin player Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal) responds to Jon's inclusion with aggression, but Jon is taken by the group's charismatic singer, Frank (Michael Fassbender), a man who refuses to take off his giant, papier-mache mask or conform to the traditional song-writing process.

As the album gets closer to completion (with Jon growing a huge beard in the process), the band become popular due to Jon's frequent Twitter and Facebook video postings revealing their unconventional recording techniques, frequent outbursts and erratic behaviour. It is from this that the film succeeds in it's satire of an increasingly connected world. The followers start to pile up, and it looks as if their first gig will be well attended. But is it the music the fans are in it for? Or do they simply wish to witness first-hand the collapse of a band so riddled with idiosyncrasies that they have become the subject of blood-thirsty ridicule? Jon, finding himself completely seduced by the attention and becoming increasingly dislikeable, lusts for fame at the expense of art and originality.

At the centre of it all, is Frank himself, wonderfully played by Fassbender (although you wouldn't guess it was him under that mask). His innocence, and clear mental instability, is reminiscent of Daniel Johnston, the schizophrenic singer-songwriter from California, who creates beautiful work in his own unique way, despite the odds against him. Frank, with no trace of irony, asks Jon "why cover anything up?". Frank the character and Frank the movie are, in equal measures, funny, moving, thrilling, and best of all, really fucking weird. A third a celebration of pure, unfiltered art, another a sad portrayal of our sadistic thirst for freak-shows, but most of all, this is a superb story wonderfully told.


Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy
Country: UK/Ireland/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #817: 'The Tomb of Ligeia' (1964)

The films that immediately come to mind when considering Roger Corman's considerable cycle of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations are undoubtedly titles such as The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) and The Pit and The Pendulum (1961), both starring Vincent Price as a man psychologically torn by a past event or his looming fate, and both featuring the gothic, set-based atmosphere that is now so celebrated by movie fans. The Tomb of Ligeia may be one of Martin Scorsese's all-time favourite horror movies, but it has been strangely, and unfairly, overlooked in the horror cannon.

Price once again plays a man, Verden Fell, haunted by the death of his wife. While out fox-hunting one day, the young and boisterous Lady Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd) comes across Verden in a graveyard, apparently looming over the grave of his wife, the mysterious Ligeia, and forced to wear protective glasses due to his failing eye sight. Rowena takes pity on him, and witnesses his psychological torment first hand, which is mainly due to the presence of a threatening cat and the idea that his dead wife is haunting him from the grave. The two eventually marry, but Rowena finds herself the subject of increasingly strange goings-on.

Ligeia is noticeably different to the other entries into the Corman-Poe cycle, mainly due to it's use of exterior filming. While this causes it to lose the claustrophobic, and beautiful, sets of the likes of Usher and Pendulum, it makes for a spookier atmosphere. Price is excellent as always, as is Shepherd, but the blooming romance between their two characters suffers from a distinct lack of chemistry and the niggling problem of the glaring age-gap. However, Ligeia was written by Chinatown (1974) scribe and all-round Hollywood titan Robert Towne, so the absorbing dialogue more than makes up for the awkwardness between the two leads. Certainly a different experience, but Ligeia is up there with the very best of Corman's output.


Directed by: Roger Corman
Starring: Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook, Derek Francis
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie