(1980)
Dir - John Huston
Overall: MEH
Falling under the category of "Wait, HE directed this?" is the dumb Canadian thriller Phobia, which has none other than John Huston behind the lens. Largely regarded as a crud rock in the famed filmmaker's cannon and rightfully so, it suffers right out of the gate with a goofy premise that is impossible to take seriously. Paul Michael Glaser's hopelessly Boston-accented psychiatrist is allowed to conduct inhumane experiments on criminals with severe phobias; criminals who start dying in rapid succession of each other with only one obvious suspect at the center of things the whole time. A mystery that forgets the importance of convincing red herrings, it is staggering that so many screenwriters were credited with the project, yet somehow any winning details were omitted upon re-writes. More surprising is the otherwise reliable chops of those screenwriters. The team of Ronald Shusett and Gary Sherman had and would continue to have some landmark works on their resumes, and even Hammer's mainstay Jimmy Sangster was brought on board in some capacity. Huston must have just needed the money since it is hard to believe that he saw any promise in such a hare-brained project, and he takes an indifferent approach to the material by letting the pacing inevitably drag with no visual flourishes anywhere. The cast lacks familiar faces and the several woman that seem smitten with Glaser's character all have the same hair color and close to the same haircut, just adding one more forgettable ingredient to a forgettable movie.
(1987)
Dir - Colin Eggleston
Overall: MEH
A premonition slasher movie of sorts, Cassandra was the penultimate work from Australian filmmaker Colin Eggleston. Well shot by cinematographer Garry Wapshott and boasting a consistent atmosphere of dread, it has Tessa Humphries' title character being plagued by nightmares and visions of both her past and current murders taking place that she witnesses through the killer's eyes. It all ends up being linked to a convoluted family secret including a mentally unstable brother and a set of parents who are not exactly who they say they are. The melodramatic details would seem silly under a different presentation, but Eggleston plays things dour and straight, plus the mood is enhanced by sincere performances and an unsettling score by Trevor Lucas and Ian Mason. A couple of jump scares, stalking killer sequences, and jarring gore helps to appease genre fans, but the movie unfortunately becomes weighted down by a lethargic pace. Also, we get to the bottom of the mystery about twenty minutes before it finally wraps itself up, making the closing moments feel their length as we correctly assume that it is now only a matter of time before the murderer is offed by the final girl.
(1988)
Dir - Emmanuel Kervyn
Overall: MEH
The only film from writer/director Emmanuel Kervyn, Rabid Grannies, (Les mémés cannibales), fails to deliver on its title in the literal sense since it does not have plural grandmas running around after being bitten by dogs, but it does have two elderly aunties running around after being cursed by a Satanic box. Essentially a Belgium old dark house Evil Dead, it recalls a number of familiar tropes and plot points, yet it seems to be enjoying itself in the process. Every character is unlikable which would usually be an insufferable detriment, yet Kervyn sticks to such a goofy and nasty tone that it is impossible to take anyone's rotten attitude, selfishness, or cowardliness seriously. This makes for a more amusing picking-everyone-off scenario than usual since everyone's grisly deaths comes as a relief. Also, the two old ladies who are running around like cackling, mutated monster demons, (that look like a cross between overgrown babies, zombies, and the crones in Nicholas Roeg's The Witches), are hilariously unpleasant. Unfortunately, the good stuff takes over thirty minutes to happen, plus it spins its wheels after awhile, coming off as a missed opportunity to do more with its ridiculous premise than it allows itself to. Still, it is a wild, mean-spirited, and laugh-out-loud hoot when it gets things right.
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