(1980)
Dir - John Hough/Vincent McEveety
Overall: MEH
A lackluster "family horror film" from Walt Disney Productions, The Watcher in the Woods was one of the less successful live action products from the company around the early 1980s. An adaptation of Florence Engel Randall's novel of the same name, it scored Bette Davis and director John Hough, both of whom had worked together two years earlier on Return to Witch Mountain. Shot entirely in England and going in part for a traditional haunted mansion vibe, (some of the locations are from The Haunting, a film that Hough had already directly emulated in 1973's exceptional The Legend of Hell House), the production was muddled with re-shoots and re-writes, including a completely different ending in an attempt to fare better with poor initial audience reception. The result is a movie that never produces anything remotely spooky, with a script that toys with a number of cliches without making any of them interesting. At least the original cut had an appreanace from a ridiculous looking alien to garnish some giggles yet in its finished form, there is much more to snooze from than chuckle at.
(1985)
Dir - Tom Holland
Overall: GREAT
Screenwriter turned director Tom Holland's debut Fright Night is arguably the 1980's best vampire film; a sexy, clever, creepy, and funny homage to horror tropes that ups the ante for the genre as a whole. An act of pure inspiration from the script department, Holland amused himself by concocted the story of a teenage horror fan living next door to an actual member of the undead and the finished product is one where all of the elements fell into place. The cast is great with William Ragsdale in the relatable lead, Amanda Bearse as a girl next door turned sexually enchanted victim, Stephen "You're so cool Brewster!" Geoffreys as the hilarious dweeb with the best line delivery in the film, Jonathan Stark as an effective Renfield bully, Chris Sarandon as the irresistibly charming blood-sucker, and of course Roddy McDowall stealing the show as the cowardly, ham-fisted horror movie icon. Richard Edlund's special effects team, (hot off of Ghostbusters), deliver one outstanding visual gag after the other, all of which hold up and some of which are positively freaky. Similarly, the score by Brad Fiedel, (hot off of The Terminator), helped produced a killer soundtrack album to boot.
(1987)
Dir - Chuck Vincent
Overall: MEH
A unique and ambitious work in psychological horror from porn director Chuck Vincent, (who primarily worked in pornographic films though occasionally broke into more "conventional" material), Deranged chronicles a traumatized woman who further succumbs to her disturbed mental instability. Besides one or two boom mics that are jarringly visible, some melodramatic line readings, and a stage play presentation that does not allow for much atmospheric decoration, Vincent and cinematographer Larry Revene do commendable work within a piss-pour budget, staging most of the proceedings in long takes that bounce between what may or may not be actually happening, flashbacks, and hallucinations. Completely different actors enter the frame during single tracking shots and sometimes a plethora of them suddenly appear in certain rooms, only to vanish again while the camera is still in motion. Set almost entirely in a spacious apartment, it properly conveys a sense of claustrophobia that heightens the wackadoo headspace of Veronica Hart's protagonist, whose mentally unstable walls are clearly closing in on her. The results are off-putting and awkard at regular intervals as well as yucky in its subject matter, but it is also unmistakably singular in its style.
No comments:
Post a Comment