Review #506: 'Two Evil Eyes' (1990)

Originally conceived as a quartet of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, by George A. Romero, Dario Argento, John Carpenter and Wes Craven, the previous due were to be the only contributors to the double bill film Two Evil Eyes. Modernising (and in Argento's case merging a variety of Poe's themes) two stories, 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar' and 'The Black Cat', Romero and Argento tackle similar themes about guilt and morality. In the first story, Romero's, Jessica (Adrienne Barbeau) is the wife of an older, rich, dying man, as she attempts to gain all of his wealth before his demise. Using her doctor/lover, Dr Hoffman (Ramy Zada), they hypnotise him, so they are able to embezzle the cash. However, when Valdemar dies, and they put him into a freezer, his disembodied voice can still be heard, a spirit trapped between two worlds.

In Argento's piece, Harvey Keitel plays a crime scene photographer, Rod Usher, who has also published a book of questionable ethics, involving (along with photos of mutilations of women from real-life crime scenes) some apparent shots of a black cat being tortured, a cat owned by his live-in girlfriend, Annabel (Madeleine Potter). After an argument, he kills her and conceals her body behind a dry wall fronted with a bookshelf. In dreams and in life, Rod is tortured by the presence of the black cat, who may possess spiritual powers. Fundamental to both of these narratives is that element of overwhelming guilt. Both characters are tormented, whether psychologically or supernaturally. This is a theme that permeates a lot of Poe's horror writing, for example in one of his most famous short stories, 'The Tell-tale Heart', the protagonist receives a visit from the police, and the trap door where a dead body is concealed, pulsates as the narrator's anguish and paranoia envelops him.

'The Black Cat' is the better of the two short films. Romero's feels at times like a macabre daytime soap opera. The Dallas iconography of dazzlingly bright-coloured decor, and immense shoulder pads, the garish face paint of the ruling classes. That said, as with many of Romero's films, he infuses the film with social commentary, coming out of the 1980's processing of our consumerist indulgence: The ethic of greed. Argento makes a more stylish attempt, which has heightened paranoia, one which is elevated largely due to a series of suspicious characters. Tom Savini's by now obligatory horror effects are also superior in the latter tale of terror. But, as with all horror films of the early 1990's, this (and they) loses something as they are consumed by television aesthetics, perhaps a project that would have benefited from being made ten years previously. The overall film experience is dampened by these production values, and the atmosphere is stilted, with little, or no sense of terror or impending horror. The definitive film adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe are still those beautiful Roger Corman productions of the early 1960's, and Two Evil Eyes is best suited to Poe/Romero/Argento purists.


Directed by: Dario Argento, George A. Romero
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, E.G. Marshall, Harvey Keitel, Madeleine Potter
Country: Italy/USA

Rating: **

Marc Ivamy

Review #306: 'Swamp Thing' (1982)

Sat somewhere between Wes Craven's disturbing yet interesting The Last House on the Left (1972), and his uber-popular, icon making A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), is this low budget adaptation of a semi-popular DC comics character, Swamp Thing. During this shift from gritty, cinema verite style of Last House, to the more fantastical, "polished" Nightmare, Craven seems to have been trapped within the confines of a television aesthetic. This films action sequences often feel like (and look like) an episode of The A-Team (1983 - 1987). Craven did work on a few TV shows during this period also, so I'm guessing that this film probably had technicians (and particularly), a similar budget to a TV movie.

Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) arrives in the swamps where secret science experiments are taking place. Doctor Holland (Ray Wise) heads the team researching a chemical that has an effect on organic life. Unfortunately, a group of "villains" want the formula for evil purposes (one of the hoods, Ferret, is played by star of Last House, David Hess). After an explosion, Dr Holland disappears, only to turn up as human/plant hybrid monster of the films title.

This is a pretty lacklustre film. As I mentioned, it has that oh-so distinctive TV aesthetic. It is not altogether bad. It has some fun, and funny moments, and the make-up/costume for the Swamp Thing is not too bad for the time. It makes good use of its source, in the sense that it uses it's comic-book devices such as dramatic editing, and sequences where the screen is masked with action shapes. However, this technique was used to greater effect in the same year in George A. Romero's and Stephen King's underrated Creepshow (1982 - a film that also starred Barbeau - who was married to John Carpenter at the time) that used EC horror comics as it's source (I will be reviewing Creepshow at a later date on The Wrath of Blog).


Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring: Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, Ray Wise, David Hess
Country: USA

Rating: **

Marc Ivamy

Review #268: 'The Fog' (1980)

One the eve of its centennial, the small town of Antonio Bay experiences some strange events. Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) is sat in his study when a stone falls out of the wall behind him to reveal an old journal. It belongs to Father Malone's grandfather, and tells how he and the other five founding members of the town caused a ship called Elizabeth Dane to crash, and then plundered it. They planned to open a leper colony, but all of the crew on board were killed. And now a strange fog has begins to creep upon the town, carrying with it a ghostly ship. Three fishermen are killed by sword-wielding spirits, and it soon becomes clear that the crew of the Elizabeth Dane are back to claim six lives for themselves.

As mentioned by Marc in his review of John Carpenter's most recent film, The Ward (2010), Carpenter's career is a very mixed bag. Made during his early heyday, The Fog was produced on a low-budget, and contains the same kind of style and atmosphere that we saw in the excellent Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and Halloween (1978). It's not his best film by any means, but The Fog has become an almost classic in the horror genre. To my surprise, (as other reviews I had read told me otherwise) The Fog is very good, and although isn't ground-breaking like Halloween, or as damn cool as Escape from New York (1981), or even as inspired as The Thing (1982), but it is certainly eerie, and has that 1980's feel to it that the likes of Carpenter and David Cronenberg made their own.

The premise of it is certainly silly. It's the time of thing you would read in an old collection of horror stories, and see in a 1950's B-movie. But this is essentially a B-movie, but made straight-faced by Carpenter with his golden touch that rules out any possibility that the film might come across as silly. This is pure popcorn horror, made by an old master. Especially memorable is the scene where we first glimpse the ship's crew, huddled in a church with the fog swirling around them. Their leader slowly draws his sword; his red eyes glowing, while Carpenter's self-penned atmospheric synth-score plays over. Again, silly-sounding. But it's not, it's actually beautiful and extremely cool. A very pleasant surprise, and another reminder of just how good Carpenter was before his decline. You'll have to hold a knife to my throat to watch the sequel though.


Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie