80's David Cronenberg

SCANNERS

(1981)

Overall: MEH

Boasting a compelling and bizarre premise, a wonderfully scene-chewing performance from Michael Ironside, and of course that dude's head blowing up, Scanners is still a slight misstep from David Cronenberg who otherwise was on a solid roll at the time.  The most unmistakable drawback is the lead performance from Stephen Lack whose strange, unemotive line-readings seem consistently amatuerish and off-putting.  It is also a problem that the actual character is poorly fleshed-out, which can be said about everyone else as well.  With no one coming off as relatable on screen, (or in Lack's case, even convincing), the movie struggles to emotionally connect its story of underground groups of telepathic psychics.  Again though, there are some nifty ideas here and memorable scenes, even besides the celebrated head explosion.  Legendary make-up artist Dick Smith does his usual stellar work and the ending between Ironside and Lack both duking it out with their destructive brain powers is some wonderful body horror.  Coming from Cronenberg, this is only natural yet also coming from Cronenberg, the rest of his 80s output was far stronger.

 

THE DEAD ZONE

(1983)

Overall: GOOD

The only Stephen King adaptation from David Cronenberg, The Dead Zone represents one of the strongest cinematic entries for both director and author.  Originally a Lorimar Film Entertainment production, the company ultimately went belly-up before the project could get off the ground, eventually getting in the hands of Dino De Laurentiis who went through a few screenwriters, (including King himself whose treatment of his own material was classified as "involved and convoluted"), before Cronenberg got on board.  This was the first of his movies not to be written by him and perhaps because of that, it does not have the explicitly stated body horror elements of his usual work.  Still, the source material does deal with awakened senses and this in effect produces at least a psychic morph with disturbing results.  Christopher Walken delivers one of his strongest performances as a man both cursed and blessed with second sight who paid terribly for a "gift" that he hardly asked for.  Martin Sheen is likewise excellent as a shady politician and he would play yet another creep in the following year's Firestarter, also from King.

DEAD RINGERS

(1988)

Overall: GREAT

After a steady stream of bizarre body horror excursions, David Cronenberg went introspective for the first time with Dead Ringers, one of his most artistically triumphant works.  Based in part on the mysterious, real life deaths of gynecologist twins Stewart and Cyril Marcus as well as the book Twins by Bari Wood, the movie examines the complex, emotional dependency of such siblings whose personalities are markedly different yet become more and more interchangeable as their detachment succumbs to the traumatic.  Jeremy Irons is utterly terrific in the dual lead, who never once exaggerates his performances in a gimmicky way.  Instead, he portrays subtle yet clear contrasts in each twin's behavior and makes them both equally sympathetic even as their actions become self destructive and morally deplorable.  The split screen special effects hold up quite well and Cronenberg indulges in very few gross-out gore moments, which grounds the still extreme subject matter appropriately.  It is quite a stretch in fact to label this a horror film at all, certainly in a traditional sense even by the director's usual, challenging standards.  Though it does deal with rather explicit and shocking events, the focus is purely psychological and it remains quite fascinating and fully realized.

80's Dario Argento

INFERNO

(1980)

Overall: MEH

 

Sadly, Dario Argento's follow-up and sequel to his seminal masterpiece Suspiria is acutely underwhelming.  The script for Inferno was once again a collaboration between Argento and Daria Nicolodi, (the latter who went uncredited this round), and establishes the concept of the Three Mothers which was based off of the "Suspiria de profundis" series of essays by English author Thomas De Quincey.  Switching cinematographers, Romano Albani does spellbinding work and the film is absolutely gorgeous the entire way through.  Fusing purples and blues with some fantastically decorated sets, it is in many ways as much of a visual spectacle as Suspiria was.  Problems come in the pacing area though as the movie is catastrophically boring.  Rick Wakeman's classically inspired score occasionally livens things up a bit in a quirky way, but enormous amounts of screen time play out silently and the borderline incomprehensible story is so vapant that there are no stakes or suspense to go along with endless build ups to nothingness.  One cannot underestimate how first-rate the film looks though and there are of course a few memorably silly death sequences, but coming after such a flawless landmark, it is rather a disappointment.

 

TENEBRE

(1982)

Overall: MEH

Returning once more to non-supernatural giallo, Dario Argento's Tenebre, (Tenebrae, Unsane) is a typical entry for the filmmaker yet one with unfilled potential.  He conceived of the story to take place in the near future, with unnatural landscapes and buildings meant to create a post-apocalyptic landscape.  All of this sounds fine and good in theory, yet the finished product completely fails to convey any of it, coming off exclusively as a contemporary-set, Italian slasher movie like countless others.  The director still manages to stage some clever, flashy, and of course logically-void murder sequences and the pace is kept on high alert throughout.  The synthy score by various members of Goblin is pretty hooky as well and the script deliberately addresses Argento's more uppity critics and disturbed fans who both take issue with and seem to revel in the misogynistic, brutal violence in his films.  It still ends up being a standard, black-gloved, "whodunit" giallo though, with a nonsensical killer reveal that hinges on a sexualized, traumatic past episode.  So in other words, it is by the books while being more self-referential if not altogether more memorable.

 

PHENOMENA

(1985)

Overall: GOOD

 

One of the strangest works from Dario Argento which is clearly saying something, Phenomena, (Creepers), fuses a handful of bold, nonsensical choices into its giallo framework.  The director's first collaboration with screenwriter Franco Ferrini, the desperate pairing of a young girl's psychic connection to insects and a nurse chimpanzee work just as "logically" as anything else in Argento's movies.  In the lead, fifteen year-old Jennifer Connely is a long way from her Oscar winning performance in A Beautiful Mind and practically zombies her way through the silly material, while Donald Pleasence is his usual, elder statesmen self.  This is notable for containing a more contemporary, rock-heavy score with both Motorhead and Iron Maiden songs making an appearance, the latter much more effectively.  Bill Wyman of all people contributes some sounds as well, (as he also would do in 1987's Opera), just to add to the randomness.  Unfortunately, Argento indulges in very few kill scenes and does not bust out the insanity until the last twenty minutes yet when he finally does let loose, it is laugh out loud ridiculous and more than makes up for the comparatively stagnant flow to get there.  As far as endings go, this might take the prize as the Italian Hitchcock's finest and most over the top, at least in a good way.

OPERA

(1987)

Overall: GOOD

Ten films into his career and Dario Argento's extravagant and nonsensical abilities when it came to textbook giallos were a very well-oiled machine, proven wonderfully with Opera, (Terror at the Opera).  Once again teamed up in the script department with Franco Ferrini and working with British cinematographer Ronnie Taylor for the first time, this would mark the end of Daria Nicolodi's involvement with her former partner's films until 2007's Mother of Tears.  Story inspiration came from Argento's own failed experience of directing a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth, with the infamous "needle pins taped under the eyelids" gag spawning from a joke where he openly wished that movie patrons could not turn away from the unpleasant gore in his movies.  While there are enough rushed plot holes here to collapse several films, Argento and Taylor bust out the wild camera angles and highly inventive murder sequences at an almost reckless abandon.  With plenty of flashy visuals and over the top moments, this is probably his best paced work since Suspiria.  Harsh critics of narrative stupidity will have a field day, but for a nasty, captivating bit of tightly-wound mayhem, it is a gem.

Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy

THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE

(1970)

Overall: MEH

For his directorial debut, Dario Argento wasted no time in solidifying himself as a proponent of giallos with the textbook entry The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, (L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo).  Lifting plot elements from Fredric Brown's pulp novel The Screaming Mimi and serving them up in a highly Italian fashion, Argento does the sub-genre a solid service with burgeoning flare.  A black-gloved switchblade killer offs numerous pretty, female victims while the authorities and an innocent bystander get caught up in the convoluted hoopla.  Though Argento moves his camera around in a fairly ambitious fashion, the filmmaker's visual extravagance is understandably toned down from future works with this being his first such outing.  The story is pedestrian so it would certainly benefit from much of his later flashy aesthetics and the twist here is hardly mind-blowing.  In fact red herrings are hardly even bothered with at all, though the characters are likeable and well-portrayed enough to not get bored with.  That said, this has one of the most ridiculous, "stupid would-be female victims in horror movies" examples there is as a woman immediately collapses to the floor in uncontrollably hysterics when her killer cannot even get into her room, only being saved by the dashing hero scaring the pursuer away.  An adequate start yes, but it still ever so slightly underwhelms.

THE CAT O' NINE TAILS

(1971)

Overall: MEH

 

Following in a quite similar vein as his previous giallo offering, Dario Argento's sophomore effort The Cat O' Nine Tails, (Il gatto a nove code), is still adequate yet unremarkable.   The best component to not only Argento's work but giallos in general are the elaborate death sequences and optical pizzazz, yet sadly this one is largely lacking in both.  There are only a handful of murders shown and only the final one where the killer falls to his death down an elevator shaft while burning his hands on the wires provides a sufficient chuckle due to its outlandishness.  Elsewhere, it is people whose demise we can see coming from a mile away just getting strangled.  The story has some disturbing elements like the kidnapping of a child and a fine gimmick of Karl Malden playing a blind, ex-news reporter who is assisting a dashing and not blind James Franciscus to uncover the mystery.  Said mystery itself is lame though and the final murder reveal is proven to be of a character that we barely remember previously meeting in the first place, which is never a good sign.  Considering that Argento himself ranks this as his least favorite film even after making Dracula 3D is rather telling though in all honesty, it is quite a few steps above that one at least.

FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET

(1971)

Overall: MEH

Though Dario Argento was delving more headlong into elaborately fiendish, showy visuals for his third straight giallo in a row, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, (4 mosche di velluto grigio), is still bogged down by the usual shortcomings.  The script is once again equally boring and harebrained as the only narrative approach available is still a handsome, male protagonist being at the wrong place at the wrong time, getting harassed by an unseen killer, and then various characters enter in only to be predictably done away with.  To be fair, there are a few minor tweaks to the formula (our main hero is targeted from the very beginning for one), but the structure is identical enough to be completely interchangeable with many other giallo offerings of the time, including Argento's previous two Animal Trilogy installments.  The pacing is a mixed bag as the filmmaker has upped his chops at creating show-stopping murder scenes, but some of them overstay their welcome and become tedious instead of tense.  Still, there are plenty of quirky details and wildly inventive camera angles to applaud, with enough low-brow humor, absurd plot details, and misogyny thrown in as well to keep the eye-balls sufficiently rolling.  Oh and lest we forget, a whole lot of hip, jam band drum solos and shots of musicians playing music that does not match their arm movements is also on display.

70's Foreign Horror Part Thirteen

THE SADIST WITH RED TEETH

(1971)

Dir - Jean-Louis van Belle

Overall: MEH

 

An utterly strange vampire comedy from obscure French filmmaker Jean-Louis van Belle, The Sadist with Red Teeth, (Le sadique aux dents rouges), is somewhat akin to a Jean Rollin film, only if it were made by Ed Wood Jr.  The plot is utterly preposterous; a doctor discharges his deranged mental patient that thinks he is a vampire, only to concoct a pointless scheme along with his girlfriend and the police to further convince him that he is a vampire, which apparently he turns out to actually be after murdering several people.  Stylistically, it is aggressively surreal and goofy with lots of hallucination sequences, completely inappropriate, seemingly unsynced music playing over dialog, cheap production values, and black and white stock footage even though the movie is in color.  It has a claustrophobic amateur feel as well with lousy, imposing cinematography and messy editing.  Despite all of its bizarre attributes, the movie does not manage to maintain one's interest outside of short bursts of time, but it is certainly interesting in the annals of Euro-horror.

 

BLACK MOON

(1975)

Dir - Louis Malle

Overall: MEH

 

A mostly failed experiment from Louis Malle, Black Moon is a bit too maddening and aimless to pick up any compelling momentum as a potent art film.  It was shot at Malle's actual estate in Southwestern France; a two-hundred year old manor house surrounded by just as much acreage and plenty of livestock.  While the setting provides the right isolated atmosphere, the fact that the movie was made with little to no shooting script certainly shows as it has a "making it up as they go along" vibe that is only occasionally fetching.  Surreal moments of crying flowers, a talking unicorn, an invalid old lady suckling breast milk, male and female soldiers at war with each other, and naked children gallivanting around with pigs are definitely wacky, but the non-narrative is rather unforgiving in conveying any symbolism with such images.  At other times the movie seems to be purposely funny, as if Malle is at least enjoying the absurdity of it all and sharing that with the audience.  It ultimately collapses under its pretentiousness though.

RABID

(1977)

Dir - David Cronenberg

Overall: GOOD

Conceptual cousins with his exceptional debut Shivers, David Cronenberg's follow-up Rabid once again deals with a horrific outbreak of sorts via equally similar production values.  Ivan Reitman took on an executive role with John Dunning stepping in as the credited producer this time and a few of Cronenberg's stable of actors make an appearance, including the final one from friend Ronald Mlodzik who cameos in a single scene.  While the story has a similar enough premise to Shivers on paper, the sexual angle is more downplayed and it has the feel of a conventional zombie movie even if that is not technically what it is.  Marilyn Chambers in her first non-pornographic lead is a bit too aloof to make heads or tails of, yet that could be more due to the writing than her performance.  In fact the script kind of meanders a bit as Chambers goes from one encounter to the next with identical results and no new information ever being delivered to the viewer.  Still, it has some freaky moments, plus the tone is consistently grounded and severe.  Cronenberg continues his career-long obsession with disturbed body transformations and bleak outcomes here and it certainly works even in such a comparatively less profound and more streamlined way.

70's American Horror Part Thirty-Four

SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES

(1971)

Dir - Bruce Kessler

Overall: GOOD

One of the more singular occult horror films to emerge around the turn of the 1970s, Simon, King of the Witches takes a subdued, "embracing of energies", New Age hippy angle to its occasionally gritty source material.  As the title warlock, Andrew Prine is charismatically ambitious yet remarkably chill and unassuming even as those that he curses or impresses with his mystical abilities become more enamored with him.  He also rubs elbows with male prostitutes, drug dealers, Andy Warhol Superstar Ultra Violet, and a district attorney's daughter along his nonchalant quest for godhood, breaking the forth wall and casting spells as if he is making it up as he goes along.  Relatively minimal on blasphemy, violence, and overt nudity, (sans one witch ceremony scene because you gotta have one of those), it has a dated charm to go along with its odd story.  Though it was falsely advertised as a sleazy, Charles Manson-inspired sex cult romp, its low-level quirkiness is in effect refreshing in contrast.

THE NORLISS TAPES

(1973)

Dir - Dan Curtis

Overall: GOOD

 

Retreading quite similar terrain from the already retreaded The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, Dan Curtis got behind the lens for the second time in 1973 with The Norliss Tapes.  A pilot-turned-feature, it has a monster that might as well be a vampire, a tape recorded narration, and Claude Akins once again playing a member of law enforcement who refuses to believe anything supernatural is going on and that it must be kept from the public at all costs.  Though it is lacking in a charismatic character like Carl Kolchak and very little humor is present, Curtis still delivers some chilling atmosphere, plus prolific genre writer William F. Nolan's script offers a few quirky, narrative tweaks.  Here, the undead come back to life via an Egyptian scarab ring and must make a clay statue of the deity Sargoth with human blood.  The makeup effects are primitive yet pretty creepy where it counts and stuntman Nick Dimitri makes a ferocious fiend who can rip off car doors and throw German Shepherds across the room as if they were a blanket.  Largely predictable and ultimately not as memorable as some of Curtis' other projects throughout the decade, it is still certainly well made and easily worth a gander.

COMA

(1978)

Dir - Michael Crichton

Overall: GOOD

Michael Crichton's follow-up to Westworld was the tense, medical conspiracy thriller Coma.  Based off of Robin Cook's novel of the same name, it directly addresses such chauvinistic cliches as steadfast women being dismissed by their male contemporaries.  In the lead, Geneviève Bujold's character is perpetually treated as a nuisance, first by her selfish, co-surgeon boyfriend, (Michael Douglas oozing his usual subtle unwholesomeness), and then by the higher-ups in her field.  The audience's sympathies lie solely with her though, which pits the almost exclusively alpha cast in a shady, villainous light.  Crichton takes his time with the material, casting logical doubt on the mysterious circumstances until it is all too obvious that things are indeed as dire as Bujold has been pleading that they are.  Small roles by Ed Harris, Tom Selleck, and Elizabeth Ashley, plus two menacing turns from Rip Torn and Richard Widmark round out the notable cast.  Things do not start getting increasingly unsettling until about the second half and the ending may be a bit abrupt and unresolved, yet overall it is expertly performed and quite steady moving.

70's American Horror Part Thirty-Three

SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

(1973)

Dir - David Lowell Rich

Overall: MEH

The largely moronic television movie Satan's School for Girls from producer Aaron Spelling takes an admirable stab at being atmospherically engaging, but it is too flawed to pull off such a thing.  Pamela Franklin, Kate Jackson, and Cheryl Ladd make up the notable cast of TV actors and this was one of four such films from director David Lowell Rich in 1973 alone.  All parties involved get us from point A to point B soundly enough, but unintentional humor creeps in and the meandering plot emphasizes the low budget.  With such a fetching title, the central mystery plays out more as a waiting game for Franklin's character to catch up on what the viewers knew was happening before the film even started.  Watching her walk around conveniently, (for a horror movie), dark hallways and interact with people who are clearly hiding something takes up a predominant amount of the running time and this is only interjected by silliness like a guy drowning by a couple of students poking him with sticks and a cop blowing a door's chain lock off with a handgun.  The ending would be a little creepy if it was not so predictable or did not feel as if it took too long to get there, but alas, such is not the case.

NIGHTMARE HONEYMOON
(1974)
Dir - Elliot Silverstein
Overall: WOOF

Plenty of rape and revenge films unfortunately came in the wake of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left and Elliot Silverstein's Nightmare Honeymoon is one of the more idiotically plotted.  The nasty elements set off the second act where newlyweds Dack Rambo and Rebecca Dianna Smith stumble across a murder, which is the first incident that testes the audience's tolerance for unwholesome scumbags and absurd overacting.  Instead of being a menacing sociopath as seems intended, John Beck comes off like an utter buffoon, mugging with his eyes bugged-out and veins popping from of his neck and forehead to the point of cartoon villain embarrassment.  His character then makes a move that no murdering rapist on earth would ever make, allowing the rest of the film to play out under the pretense of a glacial plot hole that only gets more miserable.  Rambo's protagonist then behaves just as hare-brained and it becomes impossible to buy into the trauma suffered by him and his new wife, something that is not helped by slack pacing that only picks up in the finale when we are treated to more of Beck making a fool of himself with such odious material.

OBSESSION

(1976)

Dir - Brian De Palma

Overall: MEH

 

Brian De Palma returned to straight Alfred Hitchcock worship with Obsession, essentially an unofficial Vertigo remake which followed up his wackadoo, financially disappointing cult musical Phantom of the Paradise.  Co-scripted by Paul Schrader, it originally featured a completely different third act which jumped ten years ahead of where the film ended.  De Palma's reworking of the story to fit a more reasonable running time and sense of structure did not fit well with Schrader who practically disowned the final result.  While it is lushly photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond and has a strong performance from Geneviève Bujold, it is primarily flawed in every other department.  Cliff Robertson is unnaturally stiff in the lead, a traumatic role that would logically dictate more than the bare minimum of emoting which he gives off here.  Bernard Hermann's score is obnoxiously over the top and plays continuously throughout the entire movie.  Mostly though, the story is rather hare-brained and features a ridiculous twist ending that is surprisingly predictable in its stupidity.  Certainly harmless and nothing to take all that seriously, it is still a haphazard entry for De Palma.

70's American Horror Part Thirty-Two

STRAW DOGS

(1971)

Dir - Sam Peckinpah

Overall: MEH

The infamous home invasion thriller Straw Dogs was Sam Peckinpah's rather misguided exploration of sadism and misogyny, a film unpleasant enough to strike a great deal of well deserved criticism upon its release.  An adaptation of Gordon M. Williams' novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm, Peckinpah and co-screenwriter David Zelag Goodman reworked many of the earlier plot points, though they kept the final set piece intact where Dustin Hoffman and Susan George get besieged by drunken sociopaths in their rented, Cornish abode.  While the director takes his usual, unflinching approach to the brutality of the material and it is anything but glamorized, it nevertheless becomes murky as to what may be the intended takeaway.  Each character, (including the would-be relatable couple), exhibit irrational, destructive behavior which seems to suggest that there is a disturbing disregard for women either lurking subconsciously or right out in the open.  In this way, it presents a bias, cynical view that is made more uncomfortable by the movie's deliberate lack of warmth and its nearly two-hour running time.  A challenging movie to be sure, but whether it was intentional or not, it is hardly one that is intellectually fulfilling enough to revisit.

THE CRAZIES

(1973)

Dir - George A. Romero

Overall: MEH

Released the same year as the vastly superior yet quite different Season of the Witch, The Crazies i.e. "Unattractive Actors Yelling All of Their Lines - The Movie" is a miserable viewing experience that retreads many of George A. Romero's frequented themes in the least successful of ways.  It is essentially another zombie outbreak movie, except instead of flesh-eating ghouls, it has people gradually losing their grip on reality before resorting to aloof insanity or balls-out violence.  While it centers on a small band of blue collar characters, their dialog is as banal and occasionally even as loud as the other half of the story which focuses on scientists and military personnel spending a hundred percent of their scenes arguing with each other at peak volume.  A sense of hopelessly ill-prepared and unorganized chaos is certainly intentional on Romero's part, but the shoddy production values, (including awful stock music and poorly recorded, overlapping dialog), and relentless bickering makes it nearly unwatchable.  Romero loved to show human being's inability to cope with and overcome an apocalyptic event, but he was often able to explore such things in a far more engaging, potent, and not to mention atmospherically eerie way than here.

SHOCK WAVES

(1977)

Dir - Ken Wiederhorn

Overall: MEH

Indestructible Nazi zombies sounds like a swell idea on paper, but Shock Waves does not necessarily get by on its premise alone.  The full-length debut from Ken Wiederhorn, he and producer Reuben Trane were Columbia University graduates who had already won an Academy Award for their student film Manhattan Melody four years prior.  Though they were able to score Peter Cushing, (the same year that he appeared in Star Wars no less), Brooke Adams, and about a days worth of shooting with John Carradine, this is a noticeably low-budget affair despite its surprisingly schlock-less intentions.  The look of the SS undead is pretty striking and they make a menacing presence in part due to the fact that they do not act as slow, Romero-style flesh-eaters.  Instead, they are tactful, normal moving soldiers who just so happen to have the ability to live underwater for decades at a time.  Despite being enhanced to withstand any climate and kill without the need of any weapons, they still collapse within a few moments of having their goggles removed from their heads, so figure that one out.  The story has a fun gimmick, but there is hardly anywhere to go with it as the majority of the movie is the same characters prodding through knee-high water, hiding, and then just slowly getting picked off.