(1990)
Dir - Gennadiy Klimov/Igor Shavlak
Overall: MEH
The confused and frustrating Semya Vurdalakov, (Семья вурдалаков, Family of Vampires, The Vampire Family), is another quasi-adaptation of Russian author Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy's The Family of the Vourdalak which viewers will recognize also inspired the "I Wurdulak" segment with Boris Karloff in Mario Bava's Black Sabbath. Set in contemporary times and focused on a reporter who is sent to investigate a very remote farming village where the residents are regularly disappearing, director's Gennadiy Klimov and Igor Shavlak, (the latter who also appears in the lead), go for a sleepy time tea-induced mood in every conceivable way. The music is minimally used up until the finale, hardly any of the characters emote except for rare instances, the cinematography is purposely impenetrable, and the story moves at such an alarmingly lackadaisical pace that it soon becomes quite difficult to stay with. This is a shame in that the atmosphere is occasionally effective and on paper there are moments that should be more chilling than they ultimately appear, but the lumbering presentation makes things nearly incomprehensibly boring instead.
(1992)
Dir - Rémy Belvaux/André Bonzel/Benoît Poelvoorde
Overall: GOOD
Certainly an exercise in audacity, the low budget mockumentary Man Bites Dog, (C'est arrivé près de chez vous) from Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, and Benoît Poelvoorde is a movie that effectively toys with the viewer's thresholds for what is fascinating, funny, and appalling. Shot on 16mm film, Belvaux, Bonzel, and Poelvoorde handle nearly every production aspect as well as appearing on screen with the latter portraying the charming, sadistic, and blasé serial killer Ben who treats his murders as if they are simply an enjoyable profession. The challenging aspects are not just the subject matter which purposely emphasizes a disregard for human life that is more nonchalant than glamorizing, but the fact that Poelvoorde's character is downright likeable if still clearly psychotic. His friends, family, and the crew filming him all seem under his charismatic spell and the world they inhabit is an uncomfortable bizarro one that seems eerily grounded and familiar on account of the non-glossy presentation. The tone shifts gradually as if the movie itself is coming to its senses, but by that point we have been captivated and disturbed in equal measures and the lingering feeling is anything but warm.
(1997)
Dir - Douglas Jackson
Overall: MEH
Made for Canada's The Movie Network, Twists of Terror is a mediocre anthology film and the second of only two feature-length properties written by author John Shirley. It is the usual set up of three individual stories being linked by a "host" who is simply a mad conspiracy theorist held up in his house while spouting warnings at the camera. That easily being the lamest aspect to the narrative, the segments themselves are not particularly bad, they just are not all that exciting. None of them are supernatural based either and each one involve some sort of diabolical twist with the one in "The People You Meet" being convoluted, "The Clinic" predictable, and "Stolen Moments" rather random and unconvincing. The synth score is the same found in every other low-budget horror movie from the era and therefor highly forgettable, but there is a low-level sleaze factor throughout that along with the minimal gore is pretty tame by those same standards of the day. As a Canadian stab at a type of Tales from the Crypt property it is certainly a failure, but it is a harmless one that easily could be worse.
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