(1973)
Dir - Sture Rydman
Overall: GOOD
There is little information out there on The Return; a thirty-minute long film that was presumably shown as a double feature in cinemas as opposed to being produced by the BBC or an equivalent thereof. Sture Rydman only has two writer/director credits, (both of them shorts), and he is successfully joined here by cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, who would go on to shoot the first three Indiana Jones movies, amongst others. The two person cast consists of Rosalie Crutchley and Peter Vaughan, and the narrative is a conglomerate of two short stories; "Nobody's House" by AM Burrage and "The Middle Toe of the Right Foot" by Ambrose Bierce, respectively. The result is appropriately spooky, Slocombe shooting in natural lighting where virtually any supernatural spectre can be lurking in a multitude of shadows. Predictable to a point, but its simplicity and brisk running time present a fat-trimmed and atmospheric trek into the supernatural.
Dir - James Dearden
Overall: GOOD
The debut from screenwriter/filmmaker James Dearden was the theatrical-supporting feature The Contraption. Also on board is none other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Richard O'Brien in the lone staring role as a quite man who spends the entire seven-ish minute running time building...something. That is about it, but stay for the finale as it is a hoot. Clearly a black comedy, Dearden edited it as something more closely resembling an advertisement in style, though the tone remains dark and mysterious. Without uttering a word, O'Brien gets the job done as he seems genuinely pleased with his progress, and even in such a short amount of time, he cannot help but to come off as menacing. Dearden would follow this up with the more straight-forward though equally solid Panic the following year, and then Diversion the year after that, the latter of which would famously be remade by Adrian Lyn as Fatal Attraction.
The debut from screenwriter/filmmaker James Dearden was the theatrical-supporting feature The Contraption. Also on board is none other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Richard O'Brien in the lone staring role as a quite man who spends the entire seven-ish minute running time building...something. That is about it, but stay for the finale as it is a hoot. Clearly a black comedy, Dearden edited it as something more closely resembling an advertisement in style, though the tone remains dark and mysterious. Without uttering a word, O'Brien gets the job done as he seems genuinely pleased with his progress, and even in such a short amount of time, he cannot help but to come off as menacing. Dearden would follow this up with the more straight-forward though equally solid Panic the following year, and then Diversion the year after that, the latter of which would famously be remade by Adrian Lyn as Fatal Attraction.
(1978)
Dir - Clive Barker
Overall: MEH
Clive Barker's second independent, amateur film The Forbidden was his knowingly pretentious avant-garde interpretation of the Faust legend. Nearly twice as long as the eighteen minute Salome that proceeded it, this is equally bizarre. Once again dialog-less and in black and white, the print is shown almost exclusively in negative. This gives Barker and his small art crew the chance to stage creative visuals, painting the sets, costumes, and actors themselves while experimenting with the inverted images. From a technical and visually pleasing standpoint, it is close to a triumph, as well as a solid improvement over Barker's previous film. Yet the problems come in the movie's elongated running time. Scenes involving shadowy nails hammered into wooden squares, (a clear pre-curser to Pinhead), a naked man dancing with a full-on erection, and another naked dude getting flayed as he lays heavily breathing on a slab all overstay their welcome. In a more condensed form though, it would be an agreeable watch.
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