70's Hammer Horror Part Two

HANDS OF THE RIPPER
(1971)
Dir - Peter Sasdy
Overall: MEH

Major pacing issues plague Hammer's Hands of the Ripper, one of the many period pieces from the studio and also one of a multitude of horror films that utilize vague attributes from the Jack the Ripper case.  The standard fare is present; doctors talking about doctor stuff, a seance, blood, and brutal death scenes, but in addition to bringing nothing additionally exciting to the table, the script is quite lousy.  Eric Porter's Dr. Pritchard's entire motivation to house and repeatedly leave alone a known murder who tediously keeps killing people all becomes a laborious waiting game with some "For the good of mankind", Freudian nonsense thrown in for no good measure.   It is a further issue that the film's main baddy, (played by Angharad Rees), delivers a pretty undercooked performance, doing virtually nothing but stare off into space the entire movie.  Everyone else is mostly unrecognizable to horror buffs and Hammer mainstay Peter Sasdy works very little magic behind the lens.  There is also a completely out of context kiss that is unintentionally ridiculous.  The gore is substantial and the basic premise would otherwise be somewhat interesting, but that is about it.

FEAR IN THE NIGHT
(1972)
Dir - Jimmy Sangster
Overall: MEH

Jimmy Sangster was a frequent screenwriter for Hammer as well as other studios and also directed the mediocre sequels The Horror of Frankenstein and Lust for a Vampire.  1972's Fear In the Night is likewise subpar.  It is remarkably similar to any number of female hysteria thrillers yet duller than most.  The uninspired twist happens so casually that you would think the filmmakers made an error in the editing room and forgot an entire other scene previously.  As is almost always the case with these sort of things, the film works so much better before we get our answers and when the mystery is still hanging over us.  The enigmatic, prosthetic hand killer/bully is a creepy enough bad guy yes, but when Peter Cushing's mild mannered headmaster Michael Carmichael seems to be the guy, it tips us off straight away that there has to be more to it to that.  There is, but barely so.  A few memorable moments are sprinkled in such as Joan Collins shooting a rabbit and Ralph Bates calling her a "bitch" early on, but all the "this woman had a breakdown in the past so everything she says must be imagined now" nonsense grows grating rather quickly.

TO THE DEVIL...A DAUGHTER
(1976)

Dir - Peter Sykes

Overall:  GOOD

One of the very last entries in Hammer's initial run was the adaptation of Denis Wheatley’s 1953 book To the Devil...A Daughter, the second of the author's novels to provide source material for the studio, (1968's outstanding The Devil Rides Out being the other).  Suffering from a condemning review from Wheatley himself as well as much controversy centered around Natasha Kinski’s underage nude scene, the film still manages to pull of a lot of over-the-top, occult-fueled fun.  Christopher Lee's villainous Father Michael Rayner is one of the many such characters the actor could effectively deliver in his sleep and the Satanic birth and orgy scenes are plenty sinister, in a grandiose way.  These are balanced by a few silly moments like Richard Widmark’s burst of rage in a church, plus the ending does not land, but the film is anything but boring.  Director Peter Sykes, (who also helmed Hammer's Demons of the Mind four years prior), balances the film's chaotic attributes with enough enthusiasm to elevate it above mere "guilty pleasure" status.  Out of the boatloads of pre-Satanic panic movies from the decade that relished in such macabre subject matter, there are a handful better yet also many handfuls worse than this.

60's Hammer Horror Part Three

THESE ARE THE DAMNED
(1963)
Dir - Joseph Losey
Overall: MEH

This postwar, biker gang/sci-fi-esque outing from Hammer seems a bit out of place after the studio had already begun churning out successful monster redos at this point and other dark, black and white, science fiction productions had already hit their peak.  These Are the Damned is based off the H.L. Lawrence novel The Children of the Light and is predominantly dull in its execution here.  Right from the very first scene, the ridiculous theme song for Oliver Reed's teddy boy gang is quite annoying and the quarrel between Reed's King and a random American over the former's sister is rather silly.  He trails her because she is pretty, she knowingly leads him to Reed's gang who then beats him up, then this American idiot invites her onto his boat and insists she ditch said gang, then they romantically go hide, and he of course proposes to her shortly thereafter.  After what seems like eons of this, the actual sci-fi part of the story finally happens.  Even with Reed being his usual, ridiculously enjoyable unhinged self, yawn.

THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES
(1966)
Dir - John Gilling
Overall:  GREAT

Still two years before George Romero took the voodoo out of the film zombie and forever changed the rules, Hammer’s sole walking corpse opus The Plague of the Zombies is a deservedly well respected outing from the British film company.  True that there is no Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee, but even without Hammer’s two golden boys, this is still solid stuff.  Our first glimpse of one of the zombie slaves could be one of the best moments in all of classic horror and the main show-stopper in the cemetery is a prime example of why cemeteries are the horror film’s favorite set pieces in general.  Voodoo zombies have not aged particularly well, being on the sidelines since Romero entered the scene, (Wes Craven’s Serpent and the Rainbow notwithstanding), but there is more than enough exceptionally macabre, somewhat Gothic atmosphere here to stand toe-to-toe with any other genre film from the period.  It crosses off yet another go-to, cinematic monster type for Hammer and arguably results in one of the studio's most unique and excellent productions overall. 

RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK
(1966)
Dir - Don Sharp
Overall: GOOD

Grigori Rasputin is pretty much a no-brainer character to make movies out of.  In fact you barely need to fictionalize anything, though the ridiculously conflicting accounts of the man's life do not necessarily help get one's "facts" straight.  More of a "pick your version of Rasputin and go with it" suffices.  Enter Hammer's Rasputin the Mad Monk which pretty much paints the Russian, mystic healer as an ambitiously evil monster.  With real super powers of course, making this fit easily in the studio's horror camp.  Even by the varying accounts of the real Rasputin's exploits, the plot here is virtually 100% fabricated so do not come looking for anything remotely historically accurate.  This is hardly attempted though as the film is instead just a lot of wicked fun.  Christopher Lee is rather perfect as the title-villain as he gets to go wild drinking, hypnotizing, killing, dancing, and sinning all the way to infamy.  There are sly references to the man's legend thrown in, (his healing abilities, influence over women, striking eyes, sinning nature), as well as references to his demise, (poisoning of the chocolates and wine, difficulty in killing, the conspiracy to assassinate him).  It is all done on a much smaller, melodramatic scale with zero of the political elements or any mentions of Rasputin's family though.  Yet as a tale of a dubious sorcerer gone wild and corrupt, it certainly delivers.

50's Hammer Horror

THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN
(1957)
Dir - Val Guest
Overall: MEH

Director Val Guest, (hot off the success of the first two Quartermass films), does another play adaptation with Nigel Kneale, this time on The Creature, re-titled in movie form to the more exciting The Abominable Snowman.  This was Peter Cushing's second work with Hammer as it was released just after The Curse of Frankenstein, though it did far less business box office wise.  It is also far less good.  Kneale's script is ambitious enough; to showcase the Yeti as intelligent, benevolent creatures while homo-sapiens natural curiosity seals their doom.  The admirable concept is not enough as it takes near fifty minutes before any Yeti of any kind make an appearance, for one thing.  Literally the most exciting occurance before that is Peter Cushing slipping on a mountain ledge.  Also, the "don't interfere with nature" theme is rather heavy and elementary, as are the characters.  Cushing is the good guy who sees logic and the error of his ways exactly when he should, the two hunters are brutes, the one guy who is crazy about the Yeti of course goes crazy, Mrs. Cushing just has a feeling everything is going to go horrible because a woman's intuition, the Lama is all cryptic and calm, the local trackers are all jumpy and superstitions, etc.  With so many lazy tropes left in place, the less is more approach seems particularly ill-fitting for the material.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
(1959)
Dir - Terence Fisher
Overall: GOOD

One of if not the very highest regarded of all Sherlock Holmes films, The Hound of the Baskervilles is oddly perhaps the sole one produced by Hammer.  Both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would later be involved in other Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adaptations elsewhere, (as would director Terence Fisher), but for whatever reason, Hammer never franchised this property as they had their famous monsters.  In any event, it is notable for its more Gothic horror style which Holmes movies would rarely if at all ever adhere to. Naturally, the unbeatable trio Cushing, Lee, and Fisher has much to do with such leanings, but the story itself is rather appropriate for such a presentation.  Holmes of course is three steps ahead of everyone, several characters of course are alluded to being suspects, there is of course no real supernatural tomfoolery afoot, and also of course, everything is wrapped up in a nice little package at the end.  Some of the twists are a little silly, but the semi-spooky atmosphere, the arrogant charm of Cushing's Holmes, and dashes of blood make it quite a worthy endeavor.

THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH
(1959)
Dir - Terence Fisher
Overall: GOOD

Terence Fisher was on a roll in the late fifties.  This year alone saw The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Mummy under his helm in addition to the comparatively lesser known The Man Who Could Cheat Death.  A re-make of sorts of 1945's The Man in Half Moon Street, this one has character actor Anton Diffring in the title role as a last minute fill-in for Peter Cushing.  The latter casting would have obviously been preferable since Christopher Lee is also present and the pair of them two could scarcely do wrong on screen together.  Diffring does quite excellent work of his own here though.  Hazel Court's topless scene was actually shown in the European cut of the film whereas it was removed elsewhere.  This can be seen as a negative for those adamant on seeing scream queen nudity, but elsewhere, there is very little to complain about.  The plot is rather predictable as we know Dr. Bonnet is doomed by the finale from his first gruesome transformation scene and Lee's Dr. Gerard and Inspector LeGris, (genre regular Francis de Wolff), put the mysterious pieces together rather easily, yet this is still a swell, "scientist playing god" type outing with a wicked enough villain whose misfortune is enjoyable to endure.

60's and 70's Jekyll & Hyde Adaptations

THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

(1960)
Dir - Terence Fisher
Overall: GOOD

The first but not last adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's seminal novel for Hammer Film Productions was The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Ideal director Terence Fisher was once again on board, kicking up the sexuality and shock value for the times to fit into the bloody, colorful new era.  Having Christopher Lee cast against type as the gambling scoundrel Paul Allen instead of in the lead is a surprising yet rewarding choice as Lee can play such deplorable characters quite effortlessly.  Both him and Jekyll's unfaithful wife Kitty, (Dawn Addams), are just as shady and flawed as Hyde, which makes everyone less cut-and-dry good or evil, in fitting with the material.  Speaking of Hyde, he is the handsome and dashing one here, Jekyll looking almost ridiculous with a patched on beard and eyebrows, clearly obsessed to the point of being pathetic from the very first scene we meet him in.  Paul Massie's performance goes too far much of the time as it seems amazing that he does not have a heart attack from stress alone the first time he shoots himself up.  It is also a bit silly that no one recognizes him as he is clearly just a shaved Jekyll, as well as the elephant in the room that the two are never seen together but go on and on about being the closest of friends.  Melodramatic plot holes aside, it is still a classy, well-executed production.

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE
(1971)
Dir - Roy Ward Baker
Overall: GOOD

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde was Hammer's third and last film adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, coming after nearly two-dozen movie versions since the silent days proceeding it.  Fitting then that producer/writer Brian Clemens concocted it on the gimmick to have the title characters switch genders.  This in itself is a nice enough variation and some other liberties are taken with the source material to keep it a smidge unpredictable from every other version.  Per example, both the real life Jack the Ripper and Burke and Hare cases seamlessly get woven into the proceedings to the point where Ralph Bates is credited as both Jekyll and the Ripper.  Bond girl Martine Beswick is cold, quiet, evil, and occasionally naked and steals her comparatively few scenes while Bates' Jekyll is more subdued than others before him, (though of course he trashes his lab at the end and looks a bit tense when transforming, as is required).  Jekyll's justification for killing helpless girls is a a bit thin and he does not seem near troubled enough by it to sell us on feeling he is the victim in all this.  Yet there is some clever humor here and there, like when Jekyll's colleague Prof Robertson proclaims "It's all very queer indeed", to which the next scene jumps to Jekyll opening up dresses that his alter-ego ordered without his knowledge, per example.

I, MONSTER
(1971)
Dir - Stephen Weeks
Overall: MEH

There is one really nice element to Amicus Studios' Jekyll and Hyde reworking I, Monster, released the same year as Hammer's own redo Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.  That is to see Christopher Lee at last in the title role, one that was given to Paul Massie in Hammer's own adaptation eleven years prior.  The characters names are changed for this round, which seems pointless since we all know what story we are watching anyway.  Lee's Dr. Marlow/Mr. Blake is a beautiful thing to watch though, where he stays rather stiff as the doctor, (no doubt intentionally), and his appearance and actions as the mister become increasingly nasty.  As the plot dictates, the more evil the deed and the more frequently they occur, the more ugly he becomes.  Blake starts off like a big, dumb, grinning child as he harmlessly plays with his lab equipment on first dosage, only by the end to be completely unrecognizable as the type of heavily made-up and monstrous Hyde we have all come to expect.  Sadly, elsewhere things are rather dull.  Peter Cushing barely has anything to do, there is the usual boring "duality of man" babble, there is no sex or even a love interest, and really, the story has been told so many times that besides Lee getting a stab at it, there is really little else to distinguish it.

2000's Asian Horror Part Three

BLIND BEAST VS. DWARF

(2001)

Dir - Teruo Ishii

Overall: MEH

 

Closing out his decades-long career, filmmaker Teruo Ishii's Blind Beast vs. Dwarf, (Mōjū tai Issunbōshi, Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf), is a shot-on-digital-video reworking of Yasuzo Masumura's 1969 movie Blind Beast, both being adaptations of Rampo Edogawa's novel Moju.  As has been the case with a number of exploitation directors, (and even David Lynch on Inland Empire), they have switched to the SOV framework for later efforts, likely due to budgetary reasons here as well as the niche market that such a movie would fall into.  A handful of other Japanese filmmakers appear on screen, the most prominent being Shinya Tsukamoto in the second-billed role of a police inspector who is trailing the exploits of the two title maniacs.  Even though it regrettably looks cheap and suffers from such a lack of production values, Ishii's eye for wacked-out visuals is still on point.  There are numerous severed limbs, a weird room full of body part statues and a pair of lips to crawl through, a bunch of people are unwittingly fed human flesh only to understandably puke it up, plus Hisayoshi Hirayama's Blind Beast makes out with a woman's head after cutting it off.  The story is convoluted and boring though, with the weirdo bits spread out too leisurely to make a memorable impact.

THE HOST

(2006)

Dir - Bong Joon-ho

Overall: GOOD

The often ridiculous and just as often amusing The Host mostly does a bang-up job as an actually good giant monster movie.  Our protagonists in the Park family are dysfunctionally humorous, though at times it is hard to tell just how much we are supposed to be laughing at them.  For instance, is it absurd to grieve to THAT extent or were we only supposed to laugh when they all fell down and started flaying about all silly like?  There are a number of dark surprises that are always appreciated, though it did feel like the movie overstayed its welcome just a tad with a few too many improbable moments stretching the running time to where it felt unnecessarily tiresome.  The sub-par look of the monster gets an obvious pass as we are clearly not dealing with Hollywood level budgets here.  That said, the movie garnished a considerable sum for its production based on the success of Joon-ho's previous Memories of Murder and this would in turn go on to gross record-breaking figures in South Korea.  As it should.

 

THE MACHINE GIRL
(2008)
Dir - Noboru Iguchi
Overall: GOOD

Writer/director Noboru Iguchi's The Machine Girl, (Kataude Mashin Gāru), stays in its ultra-violent lane as far as cartoonish revenge movies go.  Squaring off against a bratty ninja yakuza clan that killed her brother, Minase Yashiro's title character possesses inexplicable superhuman agility and ass-whooping skills even if she is a self-proclaimed "average" high school girl at the tale's infancy.  Plausibility is hardly a concern though, with physics-defying set pieces flying at you from left and right, as well as a wacky tone that blends preposterous overacting with so many people wailing over brutally murdered family members set to melancholic music.  The main selling point of course is to watch Yashiro flip around in a schoolgirl outfit with a machine gun arm, effortlessly slicing and dicing up her opponents as she becomes just as sadistically-driven as the bad guys.  She is assisted/trained by Asami Miyajima, (eventually equipped with her own weaponized appendage in a chainsaw leg), and the two of them form a feminist anti-hero team that helps us root for all of the reckless violence, disregard for human life, and justified comeuppance, all of which is enhanced by splattery practical effects and some truly embarrassing CGI ones.

2000's American Horror Part Two

THE MANSON FAMILY
(2003)
Dir - Jim Van Bebber
Overall: MEH

From a "making the viewer severely uncomfortable" standpoint, Jim Van Bebber's The Manson Family is probably the ultimate film out of many with such a source material.  The infamous Manson murders and goings on at the Spahn Ranch have been documented in various media countless times, but Van Bebber's very Natural Born Killers-esque take on it, (that often times seems like actual footage, having artificially aged the overall look), and completely unflinching, way over the top, ubber-violent portrayal is commendable for pulling no punches.  It is incredibly difficult to make a movie that is so disheartening to watch also be worth the viewing experience and in this regard, the film is indeed too much.  It is not so much the gruesomeness of it which many an avid gore and/or horror buff can be plenty desensitized to nowadays, but the jittery, rapid-fire, avant-garde presentation mixed with unrelenting Manson gospel babbling is possibly the most difficult thing about the movie to bare.  To scale any of that back to be more user friendly though would be missing the point to really put us in a birds eye seat of such wickedness.  So this is definitely not something you would want to watch twice, (or once), but it does appear to be the be-all end-all Charles Manson movie for better or worse.

 

BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON

(2006)

Dir - Scott Glosserman

Overall: MEH

Scott Glosserman's Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon comes alarmingly close to paying off.  The premise of a film crew making a documentary on an aspiring slasher killer gets believably stretched to a breaking point where unfortunately, it does indeed break.  As smart and carefully as Glosserman and his solid cast plays everything by delving very deep into their details, it is just too much to stop you really getting invested as is necessary.  The parts that seem genuine and intense are well executed on their own, as are the moments that are played straight yet at the same time quite humorously  When these two things are intermingled though, it does not gel since you never stop getting taken out of the movie by how impossible the scenario is.  Going the serious thriller route, the premise would have to be completely reworked.  On the other hand, if going full ridiculous comedy, it would have to go a whole lot further.  Still though, this is in many ways is still likeable for what it attempts in small sections here and there.  Out of all the self-aware slasher parodies that have come in the wake of Scream, there are far worse than this; a movie that is still technically a failure, but a charming one at that.

TRICK 'R TREAT
(2007)
Dir - Michael Dougherty
Overall: MEH

Trick 'R Treat is the full-length debut from writer/director Michael Dougherty, Bryan Singer's right-hand man who previously co-wrote Superman Returns and X2.  It is also a silly, dumb, over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek popcorn, quasi-throwback that is made to be celebratory of all things festive and horrory.  There are cliches in nearly every scene, but the rug is pulled out from under them often enough to get a chuckle if one is in the right state of mind.  In Dougherty's fictional Ohio town, the streets and shops are nearly elbow-to-elbow filled with people treating Halloween like it is Mardi Gras on acid.  There is a parade, news crews covering it, everyone is packed into stores buying their catalog-ready costume the night of, every jack o lantern in the entire country makes an appearance, etc.  Which is all fine.  A harmless little genre-fests like this can be appreciated and/or left well enough alone depending on the viewer.  There is nudity, tons of gore, tons of fog, tons of orange, a mascot, and a bunch of obnoxious kids get brutally murdered so it probably deserves to be forgiven.

2013 Horror Part Three

BLUE RUIN

Dir - Jeremy Saulnier
Overall: GOOD

Jeremy Saulnier's second film Blue Ruin is a mostly crowdfunded noir effort with childhood friend Macon Blair in the all-consuming lead.  You cannot discuss the movie without discussing Blair who is rarely ever off-screen, delivering a relatable and occasionally amusing performance amongst a generous amount of downtrodden chaos.  The film has obvious odes to some of the Cohen brothers schtick, (ordinary, everyday guy caught up in some not-at-all-ordinary turmoil), but the comedy angle is quite subdued.  There is plenty of brutality though, with ever-mounting tension due in part to how sloppy things continue to pan-out.  Saulnier wrote, directed, and shot this film and it looks dirty and grounded, but not in a pandering to the gritty-trend way.  The approach is quite fitting for the material, material that is plenty horrific and nasty without venturing into conventional genre terrain.

WILLOW CREEK

Dir - Bobcat Goldthwait

Overall: MEH

Polarizing stand-up turned filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait's first venture into horror is the thoroughly lackluster Willow Creek.  There is a careful line to be walked when creating a slow-boil type atmosphere and in this regard, Goldthwait takes WAY too long to get there.  About three/fourths of the movie's running time is spent with a couple sight-seeing, interviewing locals, awkwardly filming their own amateur documentary, and getting in adorable couple arguments.  All of this is fine to a point, but even at a mere seventy-nine minutes in length, the disappointing pay-off makes it appear likely that there simply was not much of a compelling idea here to work with in the first place.  So why does the last act not work once we finally get there?  Well, that is because it is an almost carbon copy of The Blair Witch Project.  Just with Big Foot.  So if you have seen the most famous found footage horror movie of all time, then you have also seen this far more boring and less successful version.  All that said, there is a pretty good, twenty-minute single-shot take that makes this not a complete trainwreck.  If only this was a short film then.

UNDER THE SKIN
Dir - Jonathan Glazer
Overall:  MEH

There is a difference between bizarre and astronomically confusing.  Jonathan Glazer's adaptation of Michael Faber's Under the Skin assuredly falls into the latter category.  While it is virtually impossible to make heads or tails of anything going on in the first half, any assumptions that it would all fall into place at some point later on becomes frustratingly realized.  This is unfortunate since Glazer's steadfast stubbornness not to spoon-feed his audience could wield fascinating results with such compelling production values at play.  Visually, the film is quite excellent and not just because of Scarlet Johansson's much talked about nudity.  The experimental soundtrack by English singer/songwriter Micachu is perfectly unearthly, yet this still cannot completely forgive the, well, unforgiving narrative.  Along with the constant tole this film takes on the brain, it is further bogged down by being ultimately pretty dull and boring, waving its arms in pretentiousness without finding anywhere substantial to really go.

2015 Horror Part Two

THE WITCH
Dir - Robert Eggers
Overall: GREAT

Despite many critics going ga-ga for any new horror outing that does not pummel you with boo scares or is simply not depressing torture porn, rarely do they accomplish that with The Witch does.  The debut from writer/director Robert Eggers is a wonderful departure from both tired and lazy horror tropes yes, but it is also a considerable achievement over virtually anything else being done within the genre.  There are many moments in this film that could have been easily ruined by generic, pandering stylistic choices. Instead, the atonal soundtrack was done with era-appropriate instruments, the dialog is archaic and challenging, the lone jump scare comes with no predictable warning and ergo actually works, and the atmosphere is relentlessly ominous.  These elements only scratch the surface though.  As an exploration of Puritanical Christian paranoia and ignorance fueled by desperation which in turn takes over a family and essentially shows how an actual witch can be made, there are layers to the narrative that can be debated intellectually for decades to come.  Thoroughly researched and loaded with details, it all benefits the film not only as a compelling, psychological essay, but as a deeply eerie example of what the horror genre can truly pull-off.

THE HALLOW
Dir - Corin Hardy
Overall: MEH

The "bad guys" in English filmmaker Corin Hardy's debut The Hallow are a nice departure, skewing would-be whimsical fairytale concepts into a more gritty, contemporary setting.  It is in the execution where Hardy takes the very easy route of piling on the cliches with a "here's a creepy book that explains everything that's going on" and some cold, cryptically warning neighbors both providing some much worn-out tropes, per example.  The CGI is used somewhat sparringly though due to the indie budget, it also comes off pretty cartoony.  Based on Irish folklore with a dash of some heavy-handed environmentalism thrown in, there is a family in peril, but the script does not do that well of a job helping the viewer either learn or care much for them.  It is nice that the film gets to the "good stuff" quicker than most and forgoes a slowboil approach that leads nowhere interesting, yet at the same time, it is all ultimately bogged down by so many horror things that have been seen before.  This makes the relatively action packed second half so much more dull than it otherwise would be.  Sometimes a different movie monster than we are used to is simply not enough.  Lesson learned here.

THE NIGHTMARE
Dir - Rodney Ascher
Overall: MEH

Rodney Ascher's Room 237 follow-up is a comparatively superior documentary, this is true.  It is also not without its flaws, be they very different ones than the "let's listen to one-hundred plus minutes of nutbars with the most ever time on their hands rattle on about what The Shining absolutely isn't about".  For The Nightmare, we are presented with eight cases of real people who suffer extreme cases of sleep paralysis, a terrifying sleeping disorder made all the more so by the fact that most of them seem to have it on a nightly basis.  The good part is that Ascher is equipped with a hefty enough budget to stage re-enactments that for the most part are effectively unnerving.  They are certainly several cuts above what one would see on A&E or the History Channel in other words.  The bad part is that that is all the movie is; interviews with the afflicted people and then a visual aid to basically make the whole thing more horror movie than straight documentary.  This intentional approach ultimately ends up a frustrating experience as we are given no other points of view let alone any scientific explanations for the phenomena.  There are no interviews with doctors or anything to help us learn much, making it all feel like rather a half complete work.  Instead, all that the film can really offer us is "well damn that's pretty fucked up" and "sucks to be them" reactions.