Dir - Kutlug Ataman
Overall: MEH
This confounding debut from Turkish filmmaker Kutlug Ataman is a vampire movie on paper, but it takes a persistently distracting route to weave its indecipherable narrative. It is anyone's gu+ess as to what is going on from a plot perspective in Karanlik Sular, (Dark Waters, The Serpent's Tale), let alone being able to decipher any symbolism. While this could merely be a cultural issue that is lost in translation to Western audiences, (though most of the dialog is in English, an American protagonist being at the forefront), there seems to be something profound lurking within such ambition. A scroll that either resurrects the dead or curses those who handle it, (again, little is made clear), drives the narrative, but the handful of characters that are after it, discussing it, or have it are poorly drawn and often times just as poorly performed. Most of the males have their dialog ADRed, giving it an unintentionally stilted Euro-trash vibe that recalls laughably dubbed giallos. Atmospherically though, Ataman is going for wet, gothic, and ominous darkness, which is appreciated yet better serving to a story that solidifies itself more.
(1995)
Dir - Holly Dale
Overall: MEH
Arriving a few years after the vampire comedy boom of the 1980s, Blood and Donuts is a modest non-documentary debut from director Holly Dale, who even managed to score David Cronenberg in a small part as a calm and collective crime boss. Cronenberg has always been one to lend a hand to any up and coming fellow Canadian filmmakers, and he is the most amusing and welcome presence here in his small handful of scenes. Unfortunately, the two male leads are consistently off-putting. Justin Louis does a weird/annoying Christopher Walken doing Béla Lugosi impression for reasons that are anyone's guess, and he is not even the film's vampire. That would be Gordon Currie who wears a ridiculous wig that makes him look like a grunge musician, and he seems to be allergic to emoting throughout most of the movie, instead mumbling, stuttering, staring blankly, and cracking his undead limbs as he finds himself caught up with a bored donut shop waitress, an old fling who is bitter that he never turned her, and Louis' deadbeat cabbie who is in some sort of vague trouble with the local mob. Currie's lack of charisma is problematic, but the entire movie suffers from its clunky approach that consistently lacks humor in its barely detectable attempts to be funny in the first place.
(1998)
Dir - James Bogle
Overall: MEH
An adaptation of Tim Winton's 1988 novel of the same name, In the Winter Dark is a miserable and ugly Australian film that takes an unflinching look at damaged people without allowing for any audience members to sympathize with them. Well, on paper we can with at least two of them, (the older couple portrayed by Ray Barrett and Brenda Blethyn who exude pent-up trauma after losing one of their children), but the other two protagonists remain elusive. Miranda Otto drinks through her pregnancy, screams at people, and acts emotionally dependent upon stranger Richard Roxburgh who is an ambiguous creep that undresses and fondles her when she is passed out while also scolding her for her reckless behavior. There are only fleeting moments of palpable warmth exhibited between anyone on screen, and they are always followed by bursts of rage and frustration, all the while an unseen creature may be murdering livestock around their properties. This horror angle is a MacGuffin at best, merely serving as a inconsequential plot point to get everyone together to fight and act unpleasant towards each other. Director James Bogle keeps up an unflinching tone, but such an approach renders the material too cold and distant to want anything to do with.
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