Guillermo del Toro Horror

CRONOS

(1992)

Overall: GOOD

 

Proving himself a visionary even on his first feature length film, Cronos is Guillermo del Toro's fascinating re-working of vampire mythos.  Made independently in his native Mexico, a then twenty-eight year old del Toro explores the undead via an ancient contraption fused with the heart of an alchemist and an immortal, blood-drinking scarab that transforms elderly Federico Luppi into a creature of the night through further unconventional means.  The heart of the story is that which is between Luppi's Jesús Gris, (the name "Jesus" intentionally in reference to his rising from the dead three days after the fact), and his non-speaking granddaughter Aurora, both of whose committed, nurturing, and truly lovely relationship skews every concept of the diabolical nosferatu that we have previously seen.  Both Ron Perlman and Claudio Brook make short-sighted, capitalist villains yet even as a bratty goon, Perlman has a charm to him that counters Brook's eccentric, selfishly cold uncle character.  Made on modest production values in comparison to American movies of the day, del Toro and his dedicated team still manage to create something that is visually compelling without the enhanced flare of the director's later works.

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE

(2001)

Overall: GOOD

After the less than satisfactory experience with his first Hollywood feature Mimic, Guillermo del Toro ventured to Madrid to film the much more personal and auteuristic The Devil's Backbone, (El Espinazo del Diablo).  Set during the tail end of the Spanish Civil War in a completely isolated, haunted orphanage, it has some of the scope of Sergio Leone Westerns with that same grit transferring over to its supernatural elements.  There is much said here about a repeated cycle of tragedy where Eduardo Noriega's orphan-turned-caretaker becomes a sadistic loner who desperately tries to overcome his lifelong setbacks by destroying whatever comes in his way.  Meanwhile the setting only adds more spirits to its now dilapidated grounds as the next generation of children are left on there own to carve out a bit of hope.  Purposely on del Toro's part, the realism of the war-torn setting and its effects on the characters is much more frightening than the ghosts as the filmmaker pulls no punches with some brutal violence and tragedy.  It is probably del Toro's least fantastical horror film to date and a necessary stepping stone to his later work which would be much more grandiose in scale while still allowing for unflinching brutality to ground it.

PAN'S LABYRINTH

(2006)

Overall: GREAT

A thematic and narrative companion piece to The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, (El laberinto del fauno), is Guillermo del Toro's first bona fide masterpiece; a combination of brutal, real world oppression and fantastical storytelling made exclusively on the filmmaker's terms.  Shot in the Guadarrama mountain range in Central Spain and once again focusing on a susceptible child newly arriving at a frightening location under the influence of the Francoist period, the two worlds here that del Toro presents are significantly linked at various intervals with the magical one becoming more undeniable as things progress.  Visible through the eyes of Ivana Baquero's resurrected Princess protagonist Ofelia, the land of mystical realms and creatures is seemingly impenetrable to the adults who have had any imaginative innocence coldly beaten out of them.  Still, the effects of the supernatural on "reality" are integrated all the same and the antifascist agenda of trusting one's benevolent intuition as opposed to blindly following orders without question is a paramount one.  Just as the two different universes co-exist, there is a similar melding of practical and computer generated effects which represent a triumph of both.  If anyone were to proclaim that this is one of the most visually gorgeous and moving of all dark fantasy films, such a thing would be rather impossible to argue with.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa Horror Part Two

LOFT

(2005)

Overall: MEH

Though it is beautifully photographed, has a handful of noiselessly eerie moments, and largely evokes the identical, lethargic mood that all of his horror films utilize, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Loft makes some puzzling choices along the way.  Speaking of the filmmaker's deliberate, tried and true pace, the near two-hour running time is less forgiving here.  This is due to a script that is both barren in large parts, then silly and incomprehensible in others.  The first two acts are largely void of narrative movement and the third becomes monotonously confusing.  In this regard, a good twenty to even thirty minutes of screen time seems like it could have been removed to streamline everything.  Especially in the finale, it becomes curious as to whether or not Kurosawa was even going for some kind of avant-garde humor, which obviously clashes with the rest of the meditative, dour tone.  Ultimately, the story is not that interesting and when romantic music sweeps in and characters start talking like they are reciting Hallmark greeting cards, it is all a bit head-scratching as to what the takeaway is supposed to be.

 

RETRIBUTION

(2006)

Overall: GOOD

 

In 2006, Kiyoshi Kurosawa provided his entry into producer Takashige Ichise's J-Horror Theater series with Retribution, (Sakebi).  Actor Kōji Yakusho is in all of Kurosawa's supernatural tales and he is quite effective here as a psychologically stressed Tokyo detective who is unraveling before our eyes.  Speaking of eyes, the lovely Riona Hazuki makes an effectively haunting presence as well.  Kurosawa generally takes his leisurely time with not only the scares but the story as a whole and this is a textbook example.  Cliches are regularly bypassed as well, with specters ignoring the rules and showing up in the daylight, sticking around to have meaningful, (be it still cryptic), conversations, and usually having no stock, creepy music accompanying their appearances.  Even when utilizing such things as jump scares and electricity not working though, the tranquil tone remains unchallenged.  The director's ability to equally convey dread and thought provoking ambiguity by the film's end is on par here as much as ever, making this one of his many triumphs.

CREEPY

(2016)

Overall: GOOD

 

The domestic thriller Creepy, (Kurīpī: Itsuwari no Rinjin), sees filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa returning after ten years to his horror aesthetics even if the movie technically does not fit into said genre in a conventional sense.  Based off of the novel of the same name by Yutaka Maekawa, Kurosawa spins the common, "disturbing neighbor" motif in his always singular way, utilizing long takes and sparring incidental music to create his usual understated tone.  Though the entire cast is quite good, the film largely hinges on Teruyuki Kagawa's performance as a mysteriously disturbed eccentric who manages to be aloof, charming, terrifying, and pathetic often within the course of a single scene.  There are a few curious plotting moments where plausibility is stretched; character's not explaining concerning behavior to each other, police not catching on to the bad guy far sooner, a silly monologue near the end, etc.  Yet just when it seems like such issues will undue the otherwise tightly controlled presentation, interesting surprises spring up that seem to set things back on track.  It is still an odd story to be sure, but it is also one that is  ideally suited for Kurosawa's abilities behind the lens

DAGUERROTYPE

(2016)

Overall: GOOD

As the first non-Japanese speaking, (or cast), film from Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Daguerrotype is an unmistakable change of locale for the filmmaker yet it attains many of his hallmarks.  The mood is persistently understated and the pacing is as deliberate as ever.  Thankfully as well, Kurosawa's penchant for staging his select yet impactful, supernatural moments in broad daylight and without the use of virtually any derivative horror cliches is just as unwavering and strong.  The tone still carries the bulk of the weight, but the material allows for Kurosawa to indulge in far more contemplative and romantic ideas than usual.  With the feel of a period piece, (even though it is set in the modern day), and a narrative that seems like it was based off of a novel, (even though it is solely from Kurosawa's own pen), it showcases a boldness that is quite admirable to say the least.  Performance wise, it could not be better with the almost entirely French cast fitting effortlessly into the director's well-honed aesthetics.  There are some plot points that may seem a bit too sparse, yet the film's ambiguity appears to be intentional so in this regard, it is an effectively challenging end product.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa Horror Part One

SWEET HOME

(1988)

Overall: MEH

Released simultaneously with a video game of the same name which later inspired Resident Evil, the film Sweet Home, (Suwīto hōmu, The Mamiya House), not only bares absolutely zero similarities with the zombie survival series, but it also shares none of the hallmarks of its director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's subdued future work.  On the one hand, it is a standard, "ghost out for revenge in a cursed, abandoned mansion" story, but the tone is primarily goofy.  Horrendously terrible, sappy synth music interrupts random scenes and slap stick or just plain quirky humor is attempted at times.  This occasionally jives oddly with moments that are gory and dark, as it never goes fully into something akin to Sam Raimi Looney Tunes mode even though it seems like it wants to.  Several set pieces are gleefully absurd though, like a guy turning into a melting skeleton and a woman getting her skull split open by an unnecessarily large ax.  The practical effects are also solid, particularly with a giant, animatronic ghost monster during the finale.  Things crawl a bit too much at regular intervals though and the movie is ultimately more ridiculous than interesting.

THE GUARD FROM UNDERGROUND

(1992)

Overall: MEH

 

If one was to imagine Javier Bardem's character from No Country from Old Men as a seven-foot tall ex-sumo wrestler who decides to murder everyone in a high-rise office building for no reason, than this would at least give you an on-paper idea of what Kiyoshi Kurosawa's The Guard from Underground, (Jigoku no Keibiin, The Guard from Hell, The Security Guard from Hell), is.  The title maniac here just calmly tells people that they do not understand that there are people like him in the world, which is the only answer he ever gives in smashing them to death.  Anyone expecting some profound meaning behind any of this will be gravely disappointed though.  While Kurosawa was beginning to experiment with subdued atmosphere at this point, (letting a large number of moments play out to no music and very little if any action), the plotting seems to have been bypassed in the process.  Taking place at one location, it is detrimentally monotonous during its first two acts especially.  Almost nothing of any interest transpires well into the movie and once Japanese Lurch cuts the power off to start meandering around on his murder spree, even more boring slasher motifs are brought into the proceedings.  It is a skippable entry from top to bottom.

CURE

(1997)

Overall: GREAT

For the first time in his directorial career, Kiyoshi Kurosawa was able to match his sobering tone with a story that was perfectly suited for it in Cure, (Kyua).  Said story is enormously puzzling and the fact that the main character, (played exceptionally well by Kōji Hashimoto who would go on to appear in a number of Kurosawa's films), grows violently frustrated with just how puzzling it is, allows him to act as a perfect stand-in for the audience.  Some could argue that the approach here crosses over into style over substance as the material is certainly obtuse enough to discredit as pretentious.  Amazingly though, the ethereal atmosphere is so rich that even after the refreshing shock of how void of genre-pandering the film is has run its course, layers can be theorized as to why the material was tackled in such a patient manner.  Few movies of any kind manage to portray the fascinatingly curious concept of hypnotism in such a creepy way.  "Creepy" in the sense of being impenetrably unknown.  The film could be as deep or as void of heaviness as one can surmise yet in either event, it captures a strange, unsettling mood that is wonderfully difficult to shake off.

SÉANCE

(2001)

Overall: GOOD

Kiyoshi Kurosawa returned to supernatural terrain with the television film Séance, which is another triumph for the director.  Kurosawa was approached by Kansai Telecasting Corporation to adapt Mark McShane's novel Seance on a Wet Afternoon which had also been the basis for a 1964 British film of the same name by Bryan Forbes.  Being a Japanese movie, the setting is obviously changed while the story still focuses on a doomed, unassuming couple who are haunted by the unfortunate decisions that they make.  Story-wise, it is an examination of how well-meaning people can so easily panic, followed by the guilt that inadvertently consumes them after a calamity occurs by their unwilling hands.  The material gels ideally with Kurosawa's fully realized, consistently restrained style and the TV presentation does not hurt the end result in the slightest.  Quite the contrary actually as it further allows for the filmmaker to calmly undersell the frightening bits without the use of an overt violence or gimmicky shocks.  The characters only occasionally even raise their voices and it stays very haunting as well as almost oddly soothing in its mood.  This is hardly a feel-good product mind you, but for a sombre tragedy with ghosts in it, it is rather exceptional.

Clive Barker Horror

HELLRAISER

(1987)

Overall: GOOD

 

Clive Barker's full-length debut Hellraiser remains his most seminal cinematic work; a flawed though inventive, disturbed, visceral, fleshy, sexually-charged, over the top nightmare that spawned a hefty franchise.  Barker adapted his own novella The Hellbound Heart where much of the dark, overt eroticism was toned down by studio heads to garnish a more acceptable R rating.  The movie is still plenty unflinching in its gruesomeness though, with exceptionally wet and bloody visual effects rather stealing the show when they appear.  Of course the design of the Cenobites is the most iconic; freaky S&M torture demons that are actually minimally used in this first installment compared to the others where they became the main attraction.  Barker's inexperience behind the lens is impressively undetected, though his chosen style occasionally gives way to grandiose camp which he would lean into far more with his next two directorial efforts.  The only other issues is the somewhat jarring American dubbing of British actors and the miscasting of Clare Higgins who looks more like a crotchety accountant than a sexy, evil accomplice.  Otherwise, good stuff indeed.

 

NIGHTBREED

(1990)

Overall: MEH

 

For his second film behind the lens, Clive Barker adapts his novel Cabal which is a much more ambitious endeavor than his debut Hellraiser, even if it ended up being less successful and enduring.  Though Nightbreed was granted a sufficient budget which he puts to excellent use with top-notch special effects, monster makeup, and production design, the finished product was butchered in the editing room.  Various cuts of the movie exist, with the theatrical release being nearly an hour shorter than the one Barker initially intended.  This unfortunately emphasizes the movie's poorly structured plot which is made more frustratingly messy due to the slice and dice presentation.  For better or worse, (depending on the audience member), there is an abundance of schlock, with vacantly-written characters, horrendous one-liners, and Danny Elfman's romantically bombastic score that plays uninterrupted throughout the entire running time.  The movie is unmistakably over the top by design and visually stunning, but Barker's grandiose style seems more like a byproduct of studio tampering than a fully-formed realization of his own source material.  At least we get to see David Cronenberg play a serial murderer with a silly mask though.

 

LORD OF ILLUSIONS

(1995)

Overall: MEH

The to-date final directorial effort from Clive Barker was the expanded adaptation of his "The Last Illusion" short story which appeared in the sixth volume of the Books of Blood.  Here titled Lord of Illusions, it works within the budgetary confines of his previous film Nightbreed and similarly, it was given a theatrical edit by the studio that was not in keeping with Barker's initial vision.  It is also bombastic, violent, homoerotic, and loud, with the schlock knob purposely turned up to eleven.  On paper, the neo-noir/horror hybrid is an interesting one with Scott Bakula's private dick Harry D'Amour having previous run-ins with the supernatural, here getting drawn in ever deeper with dark magic, an alluring dame played by Famke Janssen, and an utterly evil, god-like super wizard raised from the dead.  Some of the concepts and set pieces are inventive and the movie works visually when it is not hampered by horrendous digital effects, but the presentation is abundantly silly.  Barker abuses jump scares, grandiose music, screaming, and hokey dialog, with nuance being nowhere in the cards.  It becomes a bit of an accidental comedy too much of the time, failing to work as a chilling piece of macabre fantasy.  Still, the ramped-up charm that is anything but boring at least.

1980s British Horror Part Seven

LINK

(1986)

Dir - Richard Franklin

Overall: GOOD

 

One of the more quirky animal horror films to probably ever emerge, Link is a strange, somewhat awkward pairing of killer monkey suspense and humor.  The story was loosely inspired by famed primate specialist Jane Goodall's accounts of ape on ape violence, which contradicted an earlier, excepted theory that mankind was the only species to commit murder against each other.  Director Richard Franklin was an avid enthusiast and protegee of Alfred Hitchcock and there are some similarities to Psycho here that are fun to pick up on.  In general, the movie has an adequately intense pace with some clever camera work and editing.  It also has a goofy, comical score from Jerry Goldsmith and since the film utilizes actual chimpanzees, (and one orangutan made to look like a chimpanzee), much of their behavior comes off as adorable and amusing even when it is supposed to be sinister.  It is difficult to tell how much of this was intentional since the overall presentation seems to be genuinely straight, but it has a singular charm to it that is still pretty easy to fall for.

 

BLOODY NEW YEAR

(1987)

Dir - Norman J. Warren

Overall: MEH

 

Though it has an oddball appeal in some respects, Norman J. Warren's final directorial effort Bloody New Year, (Time Warp Terror, Horror Hotel), largely suffers from its weak production values and messy plotting.  Originally conceived as a parody of 1950s B-movies, it does not quite get its intended humor across and instead throws a barrage of arbitrary set pieces into the mix with a tone that is more accidentally goofy while still trying to be inventive and spooky.  Obvious comparisons can be made from everything to early Sam Raimi, nonsensical Euro horror, Herschell Gordon Lewis films, and premise ideas taken from The Shining and Shock Waves to name a few.  Yet besides Lewis' work, it is more of a D-rent reputation of its influences.  The characters are completely interchangeable and there is no rhyme or reason to any of the supernatural occurrences that take place, perhaps purposely so.  Warren seems to be doing his best with the shoddy budget and in that respect, some moments are quirky enough to be memorable, but it still routinely comes off as a poorly atmospheric, rushed job.

THE HOUSE OF USHER

(1989)

Dir - Alan Birkinshaw

Overall: WOOF

1989 saw two Edgar Allan Poe adaptation/remakes that no one asked for from director Alan Birkinshaw and screenwriter Michael J. Murray.  The first of which was The House of Usher, followed by a slasher version of Masque of the Red Death with Frank Stallone of all people.  As far as the former goes, they managed to score both Oliver Reed in the lead and a smaller role for Donald Pleasence, but the two admirable British thespians were hardly in their heyday judging by their involvement in this dung heap.  Just as unfaithful as any such cinematic reworking of the source material, it is a cliche catastrophe in the plot department, with the added ingredient of turning half of the Usher household into creepy rapists.  This is all bad enough, but worse is the pathetic, D-rent TV movie presentation.  A cheap keyboard score plays virtually uninterrupted, the set design lacks almost any and all atmosphere, and Birkinshaw's direction is persistently flat.  Whether it is mere budgetary constrains or a lack of talent behind the lens, when the film does try and deliver in bizarre and/or macabre spectacle, it is an embarrassment and more laughably inept than anything.  Ill-conceived from the start, things only get more messy and absurd as it goes on and anyone who remembers that this movie was even made truly deserves one's deepest condolences.

1980s British Horror Part Six

THE AWAKENING

(1980)

Dir - Mike Newell

Overall: MEH

 

The full-length debut The Awakening from English director Mike Newell is a primarily underwhelming entry and partially infamous for Charlton Heston poorly attempting a British accent throughout.  An adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars, (which also loosely inspired Hammer's Blood from the Mummy's Tomb nearly a decade earlier), it is essentially an Egyptian curse/reincarnation story, but one that hardly picks up momentum at any interval.  It is no exaggeration to say that nothing happens for at least an hour into the running time so that once some murder sequences emerge and characters begin to react to supernatural occurrences, even the most patient of viewers would have long checked out.  This also gives the third act a sloppy feel where everything seems to rush to the finish line, resulting in an ending that is unfortunately just as lackluster as everything that came before it.  Production wise, it has some effective sets and location work, but even aside from the detrimental pacing issues, Newell does not bring any style into the proceedings.  Despite what the poster may suggest, not so much as a single mummy comes to life either, providing yet another basic thing that the movie could not bother to get right.

OMEN III: THE FINAL CONFLICT

(1981)

Dir - Graham Baker

Overall: MEH

 

20th Century Fox wrapped up their Omen trilogy with Omen III: The Final Conflict, naturally the most lackluster in the series.  Ignoring the fact that Damien Thorn has grown into adulthood within six years time and the film is still set in modern day as were the earlier installments, (and that he dropped his British accent sometime between adolescence and now), the story does in fact take a logical approach to pit the Antichrist in a position of political power against the newly born second coming of Christ.  Director Graham Baker does a steady job with the material, keeping it tonally in line with the previous two movies at least, while Jerry Goldsmith's choral, Latin score is as bombastic as ever.  The elaborate death sequences are more silly than chilling though and in the lead, Sam Neill hams it up, delivering blasphemously pompous monologues as one does.  Due to its lack of effectively sinister momentum, the film is a bit too tedious in swaying through its predictable beats in direct line to its equally predictable conclusion.  Both as a movie and as a nail in the franchise's coffin, it gets the job done adequately; it just does so without having anything memorable to say of its own.

 

THE WORST WITCH

(1986)

Dir - Robert W. Young

Overall: GOOD

 

In 1986, British production company ITV Studios adapted the first book in Jill Murphy's series The Worst Witch, notable for featuring Diana Rigg, Tim Curry, The Facts of Life's Charlotte Rae being particularly hammy, and an early performance from Fairuza Balk.  It was also directed by Robert W. Young whose 1972's film Vampire Circus was one of Hammer Studio's most memorable horror entries that decade.  Not that this particular television movie has any such blood-sucking hallmarks.  As a lighthearted children's musical, it plays out predictably enough and is basically Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with witches.  The production is crude and cheap with horrendously silly special effects and costumes right out of a discount Halloween bin, but it is still quite innocently charming.  There are a number of clever set pieces and details within the script where a school of young girls have broom flying practice and get pop quizzes on potions.  Best of all though, Curry gets to belt out in his strong, theatrical, Rocky Horror-esque baritone in "Anything Can Happen on Halloween", clearly the best song about said holiday ever written.

1980s Foreign Horror Part Fourteen

ALISON'S BIRTHDAY

(1981)
Dir - Ian Coughlan
Overall: MEH

The last and only theatrically released film from writer/director Ian Coughlan, Alison's Birthday has some unique charm here or there, yet it does not entirely deliver on its potential.  Mostly elderly people involved in mysterious cult practices is an age old horror movie motif and this certainly has a Rosemary's Baby angle to it to name its most famous influence.  The curious elements are Coughlan's strange directorial touches which are occasionally genre-defying, creepy, and silly all at once.  Various moments play out with no musical score which provide them with a successfully unnerving tone while shots of a one-hundred and three year old woman and people changing gibberish in black robes are at least unintentionally chuckle-worthy.  Coughlan could use a little oomph in the pacing department as things eventually drag a bit, getting interrupted by goofy plot points like Alison's boyfriend laughably bamboozling his pursuers and ultimately hurting his ankle while running which of course seals his doom.  Yet for borderline unconventional occult horror of the Australian variety, it is worth seeing at least.

 

AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

(1983)

Dir - Don McBrearty

Overall: MEH

 

Ironically a Canadian production, American Nightmare is not a particularly memorable slasher outing.  Shot in Toronto on a modest budget, genre regulars Michael Ironside and Lenore Zann are present along with a mostly unrecognizable cast and the story is a typical, giallo-inspired mystery where the killer's identity is kept secret until the movie's final moments.  He still murders female sex workers, (plus one cross-dresser), yet substitutes the black gloves with clear latex ones.  Director Don McBrearty makes no attempt at any outrageous visual flare though and presents things in a more seedy, restrained manner.  This is fine in that the more serious atmosphere is kept in check, interjected with some strip club routines that are exploitative without being overtly tasteless.  Still, the plot contains nothing that has not already been seen dozens of times already and it is almost impossible to stay captivated with.  Not ugly enough to disgust and not campy enough to revel in its sleaze, it instead just casts a lukewarm, thoroughly forgettable spell.

 

3615 CODE PÉRE NOËL

(1989)

Dir - René Manzor

Overall: MEH

The French export 3615 code Père Noël, (Deadly Games, Dial Code Santa Claus, Hide and Freak, Game Over), is mostly known as a precursor to Home Alone where a ten year-old kid outsmarts a malicious invader on Christmas Eve.  Writer/director René Manzor went as far as to threaten legal action, but the basic premise also has as much to do with the Tales from the Crypt story "...And All Through the House" as well as countless others where a guy dressed up as Santa Claus is up to no good.  As far as this particular take on the concept goes, it is a curious one that presents its kid Rambo scenario in a partly serious yet unmistakably absurd manner that creates an impenetrable tone.  Alain Lalanne is somewhat likeable as the scared yet laughably resourceful little Thomas de Frémont, yet his nauseating mullet, ridiculous supply of gadgetry, insultingly nimble IQ, and the gargantuan castle that he turns into a contraption-laced fortress are way too far-fetched and silly to work with the more sinister elements.  As a genre mash-up, it is admirably ambitious, but a dog-murdering Santa, countless dutch angles, horrible Christmas music, cutesy adorableness, and heart-racing suspense sequences hardly jive well together.