(1986)
Dir - Richard Franklin
Overall: GOOD
One of the more quirky animal horror films to probably ever emerge, Link is a strange, somewhat awkward pairing of killer monkey suspense and humor. The story was loosely inspired by famed primate specialist Jane Goodall's accounts of ape on ape violence, which contradicted an earlier, excepted theory that mankind was the only species to commit murder against each other. Director Richard Franklin was an avid enthusiast and protegee of Alfred Hitchcock and there are some similarities to Psycho here that are fun to pick up on. In general, the movie has an adequately intense pace with some clever camera work and editing. It also has a goofy, comical score from Jerry Goldsmith and since the film utilizes actual chimpanzees, (and one orangutan made to look like a chimpanzee), much of their behavior comes off as adorable and amusing even when it is supposed to be sinister. It is difficult to tell how much of this was intentional since the overall presentation seems to be genuinely straight, but it has a singular charm to it that is still pretty easy to fall for.
(1987)
Dir - Norman J. Warren
Overall: MEH
Though it has an oddball appeal in some respects, Norman J. Warren's final directorial effort Bloody New Year, (Time Warp Terror, Horror Hotel), largely suffers from its weak production values and messy plotting. Originally conceived as a parody of 1950s B-movies, it does not quite get its intended humor across and instead throws a barrage of arbitrary set pieces into the mix with a tone that is more accidentally goofy while still trying to be inventive and spooky. Obvious comparisons can be made from everything to early Sam Raimi, nonsensical Euro horror, Herschell Gordon Lewis films, and premise ideas taken from The Shining and Shock Waves to name a few. Yet besides Lewis' work, it is more of a D-rent reputation of its influences. The characters are completely interchangeable and there is no rhyme or reason to any of the supernatural occurrences that take place, perhaps purposely so. Warren seems to be doing his best with the shoddy budget and in that respect, some moments are quirky enough to be memorable, but it still routinely comes off as a poorly atmospheric, rushed job.
(1989)
Dir - Alan Birkinshaw
Overall: WOOF
1989 saw two Edgar Allan Poe adaptation/remakes that no one asked for from director Alan Birkinshaw and screenwriter Michael J. Murray. The first of which was The House of Usher, followed by a slasher version of Masque of the Red Death with Frank Stallone of all people. As far as the former goes, they managed to score both Oliver Reed in the lead and a smaller role for Donald Pleasence, but the two admirable British thespians were hardly in their heyday judging by their involvement in this dung heap. Just as unfaithful as any such cinematic reworking of the source material, it is a cliche catastrophe in the plot department, with the added ingredient of turning half of the Usher household into creepy rapists. This is all bad enough, but worse is the pathetic, D-rent TV movie presentation. A cheap keyboard score plays virtually uninterrupted, the set design lacks almost any and all atmosphere, and Birkinshaw's direction is persistently flat. Whether it is mere budgetary constrains or a lack of talent behind the lens, when the film does try and deliver in bizarre and/or macabre spectacle, it is an embarrassment and more laughably inept than anything. Ill-conceived from the start, things only get more messy and absurd as it goes on and anyone who remembers that this movie was even made truly deserves one's deepest condolences.
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