News|Movies|BD & DVD|Writings|Other

USA: Tobe Hooper, 2004

Based on the news that a pair of American screenwriters, Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch, would be co-writing Dario Argento's Mater Lachrymarum, I decided to check out one of their previous gigs to get some idea of what lies in store for the concluding part of the Three Mothers trilogy. I picked Toolbox Murders, a vague remake of a 1978 Video Nasty, primarily because it stars Angela Bettis, who was so good in May. Toolbox Murders is not an overly good flick, but if Argento has seen it, I can see why he chose its screenwriters to help pen his film, since it does share a number of plot devices with Inferno.

Basically, Angela Bettis and her husband move into a creepy old apartment building where all the residents act like nutcases. An assassin is on the prowl, murdering the inhabitants using various DIY tools, but no-one seems to notice. The only one who isn't crazy and/or woefully negligent, Angie turns amateur sleuth and decides to get to the bottom of what's going on in the house. At this point the film changes pace and decides to mix some supernatural elements into what was previously a straightforward slasher, revolving around strange symbols, missing rooms and a killer who just won't stay dead. This is hardly the high point of director Tobe Hooper's career, but then again it's not as if he's ever managed to live up to his seminal The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Even so, though, old Tobe does throw in some sadistic kills (my favourite being a spinal cord being severed by bolt cutters), the house has a suitably creepy atmosphere, and Angela Bettis puts in a good performance. The script, I'm sorry to say, is probably the biggest problem, with some extremely lame exposition and badly-written dialogue (or maybe it's the actors reading it badly?).

Basically, my dalliance with Toolbox Murders has left me with ambivalent feelings about Anderson and Gierasch. All I can say is that if Argento is looking for them to provide more believable English dialogue for Mater Lachrymarum, he's come to the wrong place. Then again, clumsy, blatantly expositional dialogue didn't hurt Suspiria or Inferno. Eh, he can probably pull it off.

IMDB reference

USA: Iain Softley, 2005

The Skeleton Key turned out to be quite a bit better than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, it's got problems, most of them down to Ehren Kruger's script, but the execution is of a high standard and the film manages to make the most of its eery New Orleans bayou setting. There's something naturally disturbing about crazy old Southern coots, and director Iain Softley seems to be aware of this, since much of the horror comes not from the standard "gotcha" jump scares (although there are a few of these) but the atmosphere of the setting and the presence of several creepy Southerners.

Anyway, Kate Hudson plays Caroline, a nursing assistant who quits her job in order to go into private caring. She lands a gig looking after a paralysed old man who hasn't got long to live, all the time heckled by the gent's overbearing wife (the aforementioned crazy old Southern coot). As she cares for the gent, she begins to think that he was paralysed not by a stroke but by some sort of hoodoo curse, and that his wife plans on offering him up as some sort of sacrifice. To be honest, the plot isn't very important, riddled with holes as it is, but the atmosphere is very good, and Softley more than redeems himself for inflicting Hackers upon us all those years ago. Kate Hudson also turns out to be a far better performer than I was expecting, and it's nice to see a film shot in Panavision in this day and age (what with most filmmakers opting for Super35 for their 2.35:1 movies).

IMDB reference

USA: Mike Gabriel/Eric Goldberg, 1995

IMDB reference

USA: Wes Craven, 2005

Hmmm, yes, well, this could have been a lot worse. Trouble is, it could have been a lot better too. Wes Craven's Cursed had a particularly "cursed" (See what I did there? Aren't I hilarious?) production history, being meddled with by the hated Weinstein brothers to the point of ridiculousness, with the vast bulk of the movie being re-written, re-cast and re-shot on a whim. Given the right material, Craven can be a good director, but he can't salvage this mess. There's a good horror movie in here somewhere, and a good thriller too - hell, even a good high school drama if you want to be really desperate. The problem is, none of it comes together at all, with an addled script by Scream writer Kevin Williamson - then again, given what the Weinsteins did to it, that's not exactly his fault - and some of the most hideous CGI known to man. Add to this a whole bunch of Dawson's Creek drop-outs and you have yourself a recipe for disaster. Geez, I really hope Craven's Red Eye is better than this.

IMDB reference

USA/UK: Tim Burton, 2005

Having read a number of very positive reviews and some more mixed ones, I wasn't sure what to expect from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but from the trailers and other promotional material I had seen beforehand, I was already a bit wary of Johnny Depp's embodiment of Willy Wonka. In that regard, the film more or less lived up to my expectations - I felt that Depp played him too much like a goofy children's TV host with a dash of Michael Jackson thrown in for good measure - but in most other areas the film was a success. The sets are excellent, and Tim Burton does a damn good job of capturing the quasi-UK, quasi-US, non-specific timeframe from Roald Dahl's book. Additionally, the added subplot featuring Wonka's dentist father didn't grate anything like as much as I thought it would. The musical numbers were terrible, though, destroying the aforementioned non-specific timeframe with their impressions of the Beatles and heavy metal, and the kid playing Charlie annoyed me intensely.

Overall, the film is an improvement on the Gene Wilder vehicle from the 1970s, but I don't think it's the triumph that some people have made it out to be. If you want a more positive review of the film, though, Todd S. Gallows' in-depth report constitutes as good a defence as any.

IMDB reference

Italy: Alex Infascelli, 2000

Modern-day gialli are few and far between (barring Argento's recent output, the only two that I've seen are this and Occhi di Cristallo), but the ones that have been produced seem to be of a high standard. Almost Blue is a gritty, police procedural oriented thriller with some incredible cinematography and a very interesting central idea: a serial killer who assumes the identity of each individual he murders. While watching this film, I was reminded several times of what Argento later did in The Card Player (backed up by the fact that Claudio Santamaria is featured in both films, albeit in very different roles), and I think that, of the two, Almost Blue is the superior movie.

IMDB reference

USA: Martin Scorsese, 1983

IMDB reference

Original title: E Tu Vivrai Nel Terrore - L'Aldilà
Italy: Lucio Fulci, 1981

(Watched with commentary by Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck)

IMDB reference

USA/Canada: Dario Argento, 2005

I wasn't all that impressed, to be honest. Yes, it was reasonably entertaining and had some nice gore effects, but there was nothing in this to signal that a director of Argento's calibre was behind the camera. This could really have been done by anyone, in my opinion, and the fact that it was written by someone else - itself an adaptation of existing source material - unsurprisingly means that there's really nothing personal at all in it. The performances are reasonable, but none of the characters are really developed enough for us to care about them at all.

I guess I went in with my hopes too high, expecting some sort of "return to form", but in reality I feel that Jenifer is a non-event.

IMDB reference

Japan: Satoshi Kon, 2003

IMDB reference

More posts