80's Foreign Horror Part Twenty-Two

THE SCARECROW

(1982)

Dir - Sam Pillsbury

Overall: MEH

 

A Kiwi Southern Gothic melodrama as well as filmmaker Sam Pillsbury's full-length debut, The Scarecrow, (Klynham Summer), is meandering and boring for the most part, though it has a redeemable performance by John Carradine in a mysteriously sinister role.  Set in the 1950s in rural New Zealand, it is an adaptation of Ronald Hugh Morrieson's novel of the same name.  The story mostly revolves around coming-of-age teenager dynamics that meld sluggishly with off-screen murders, until the point where it becomes tiring to keep up with every side plot.  Unremarkable characters are introduced one after the other, then disappear for long periods, then get reintroduced with other unfamiliar faces joining them and even with regular narration from the young protagonist, it is too easy to get lost in the mild stakes of it all.  Carradine has some impressive if narratively ill-defined moments early on though as a stranger who may or may not have a sinister agenda as he rolls into town performing magic tricks.  Well acted and well photographed, there is simply nothing to hold onto story-wise and it ends up being a rightful obscurity.

ALCHEMIK

(1988)

Dir - Jacek Koprowicz

Overall: GOOD

For his third full-length, Polish filmmaker Jacek Koprowicz ventures into the middle ages with Alchemik; a dark fantasy movie that is mostly grounded within the superstitions time period except for some prominent moments where the gloves fly off into the otherworldly.  The alchemist of the title is a conman who is both desperate and ambitious in unlocking the forbidden knowledge of transmuting common elements into gold as he is threatened and pursued by malicious princes.  It is episodic in structure and just shy of two-hours in length, so it occasionally spins its wheels along the way.  Thankfully though, Koprowicz' script is punctuated with instances that are bizarre and brutal like a gore-ridden, supernatural birth scene, a heart-racing Satanic ceremony, and a surprise ending that brings in even more uncanny components.  The central theme is a fundamental Christian one where man's pursuit of off-limits wisdom, (especially wisdom that would alleviate one's suffering and garnish them a level of wealth and prestige), seals their damnation, but the mystical forces at play seem more mysterious and ancient than what is represented in mere Catholic dogma.

MURDER STORY

(1989)

Dir - Eddie Arno/Markus Innocenti

Overall: MEH

Music video director duo Eddie Arno and Markus Innocenti made their first full-length debut Murder Story in the Netherlands, with none other than Christopher Lee appearing as a crime fiction novelist who teams up with Alexis Denisof's young, aspiring writer to solve a string of suspicious, local deaths.  The first two acts when Lee is regularly present are more interesting, not just because the actor commands the screen even in a normal, unassuming role such as this, (i.e. not a villain or supernatural expert), but also because Arno and Innocenti's script is peppered with clever and comedic quips.  The silly, homosexual panic that Denisof's mother briefly undergoes may be dated and unnecessary, but nothing here is played for sleazy laughs or exploitation value.  In fact the film has a mild tone overall even with a quick detour to the red light district of Amsterdam, with Denisof and his love interest Stacy Burton making a cute, cookie-cutter couple and the violence being tame by late 1980s standards.  Though the plot loses its footing in the final act with details that are both convoluted and uninteresting, the rest of the proceedings are adequate enough to get by.