(1972)
Dir - Robert Altman
Overall: MEH
The only official horror title in Robert Altman's filmography, Images is exclusively of a physiological nature, essentially being a hundred and one minutes of experiencing the topsy-turvy, reality-morphing of a schizophrenic woman. In the lead, Susannah York bypasses the usual tropes of hysterical madness, instead putting on a disbelieving smile and occasionally playing along while her abusive lovers co-exist with actual people. This storytelling approach is considerably off-putting for a time, made even more indecipherable due to York also narrating the words of her author character, sometimes over her subconscious phantasms also talking. Altman bleeds all of these interactions deliberately to the point where the audience is just as confused as she seems to be, if not more so. Elsewhere, you could make an alcohol-poisoning drinking game every time that René Auberjonois says "Jesus Christ", "Goddamit", or "Son of a bitch", usually choosing one particular phrase to repeat ad nauseum at a time. John Williams unorthodox score is pretty effective when it emerges, but despite the consistent tone and challenging approach, the movie does not quite get past its monotony, overstaying its quirky welcome in the process.
(1974)
Dir - Bob Clark
Overall: GOOD
The second horror film from Bob Clark and likewise the second collaboration between he and screenwriter Alan Ormsby, Deathdream, (Dead of Night), is a marked improvement over 1972's obnoxiously silly Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things and easily stands as the director's finest work in the genre. The tone here is persistently dour and unnerving, helped by Carl Zitter's avant-garde score and some sincere performances. Richard Backus is frustratingly creepy as a soldier-turned-ghoul, returning home from Vietnam by way of his traumatized mother's will alone. John Marley and Lynn Carlin reunite from John Cassavetes' Faces, both standing in for any other set of American parents who lost and/or found it impossible to cope with their child's significantly changed, post-war re-emergence. Though the film was clearly shot on a modest budget, Clark avoids any pronounced humor or B-grade schlock. It is a bit too slow at times, lingering on Backus refusing to wipe the disturbing smirk off his face while he rocks away endlessly in a chair, ignoring people. Still, it delivers a simple yet effective message while being plenty chilling at significant intervals.
(1977)
Dir - John Boorman
Overall: WOOF
One of the most infamous sequels in cinema history, practically everything goes awry in Exorcist II: The Heretic. By deepening the mythos, it narratively undermines the original in a way that offers up a never-ending slew of terrible ideas. While Linda Blair and Max Von Sydow regrettably returned, William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty, and Ellen Burstyn all wisely refused to participate, which left money-hungry producers to cobble something together with director John Boorman and playwright William Goodheart. Boorman had and would continue to be a worthwhile filmmaker, yet his persistent re-writes of the material, illness setbacks, and various other production malfunctions seemed to significantly contribute to making an ill-conceived project even worse. A completely unintentional hilarity goes with every bombastic choice being made, starting with the increasingly incomprehensible script, to the lack of establishing shots, jarring ADR, recreation of certain scenes, recasting of young Regan MacNeil, Richard Burton's embarrassing performance, the "go big or go home" finale, and a fundamental concept that good and evil can be exorcised subconsciously through the linking of minds via a blinking lamp or whatever. So basically, it is as bad as everyone has always said it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment