Halloween 2021: October 10th

Censor (2021)

Forty years after the fact, the Video Nasty era that ensnared Britain in the early eighties remains a point of fascination for horror fans. Perhaps this is because it's one of the few points in history when horror films were truly persecuted. When people were going to jail over something as simple as owning a VHS tape. In retrospect, it's easy to see the moral panic as nothing but a distraction from real problems facing the U.K. Another way for conservative forces to take control of the culture and enforce their regressive values. Yet the feelings that time created remain potent. This is why the Video Nasty period has begun to inspire horror movies of its own. Such as “Censor,” which received positive reviews upon release earlier this year

Enid Baines takes her job as a censor for the British Board of Film Classification very seriously. As the Video Nasty controversy increases, she painstakingly combs through each gory VHS tape, recommending cuts or banning. When the news breaks that a man who murdered his family was supposedly inspired by a horror film, that the BBFC passed with extreme cuts, Enid's name is leaked to the press. Additionally, Enid has never recovered from the disappearance of her sister as a child. She insists her sister is still alive but her parents have recently pronounced her dead. When Enid watches a nasty apparently inspired by her own childhood, he sinks into obsession and madness. 

There are several key lines throughout “Censor.” While talking about the murderous family man, who claims to have no memory of his hideous act, a co-worker of Enid's says the human mind is capable of editing things out. Earlier, Enid describes her job responsibility as “keeping the public safe.” When you consider that Enid has blurry memories of her sister's disappearance, things start to click into place. Later, the film depicts Enid's ability to shape her memories firsthand. She manages to shrug off the fall-out of being alone with a touchy producer. She wants to protect people because she failed to protect her sister. She wants to edit objectionable content out of movies because she wishes she could edit objectionable content out of reality. It's a clever parallel between the way censors police media and the ideology, of wanting a reality free of things that upset them, that enforces. 

Yet “Censor” is ultimately a far more personal story than a cultural one. Upon viewing the gory horror film “Don't Go in the Church,” which resembles her own childhood, Enid becomes obsessed with the lead actress, Alice Lee. She becomes convinced that Alice is her long-lost sister. The journey that follows is into Enid's personal hell, confronting her childhood trauma head on and attempting to resolve the unresolvable in adulthood. Niamh Algar's performance brilliantly draws you into Enid's world. How she's tightly wound and perfectly controlled up until the point she isn't, a powerfully sad emotional breakdown that is the film's proper climax. The movie assumes her perspective in its final minutes, creating an ending that is emotionally satisfying and deeply sad at the same time.

So many indie horror films visually model themselves after eighties exploitation flicks these days. It actually makes sense for “Censor” to do this though. The film begins with an antiseptic, florescent light visual design, as we dispassionately watch Enid dispassionately watch gory movies in what looks like a broom closest. As her fixation on Alice grows, so does the movie's resemblance to the films Enid watches. More neon sneaks into the color palette. By the time she sneaks onto the film set for “Don't Go in the Church's” sequel, the aspect ratio squeezes into VHS dimensions. This isn't just a neat visual gimmick but a good way to show the character's mental space, how she's loosing the ability to tell the difference between reality and fiction. 

“Censor” clearly has a lot on its mind, about society's reaction to the Video Nasty scare and why people seek out films. Moreover, it's a deeply sad and oddly touching examination of a woman's traumatized inner life, performed beautifully by Algar. It is the feature debut of Prano Bailey-Bond, whose 2015 short “Nasty” apparently touched upon similar grounds. It's a strong first feature, the type that makes me eager to check out whatever the director has coming down the tube next. If you're into these kinds of slipping into madness narratives, the way I am, or just interested in a creepy film with smart direction and a great lead performance, definitely pop “Censor” into your video home system of your choice. [8/10]

Day the World Ended (1955)

Last spooky season, I reviewed “Monster from the Ocean Floor,” which I touted as Roger Corman's first producing gig. This is true but it wouldn't be long before Corman realized directing low-budget movies could be equally profitable as producing them. He would make his directorial debut with the western, “Five Guns West,” and quickly directed another film in the same genre called “Apache Woman.” After doing some uncredited work on “The Beast with a Million Eyes,”  he would make his proper debut in the sci-fi/horror genre with “Day the World Ended” in 1955. (His fourth feature that year.) This would be a profitable combination for Corman and he would direct twenty-six films in this genre, in addition to producing countless others. So the “Day the World Ended” truly was the beginning for him.

At the very least, the title isn't lying. “Day the World Ended' does, indeed, begin with the Cold War getting hot and the world being bathed in nuclear hellfire. A handful of people survive in the valleys of California. Jim, a former military commander, has been preparing for this moment. Despite their limited resources, his teenage daughter, Lori, lets several other survivors into their homes. That would be geologist Rick, gangster Tony, his stripper girlfriend Ruby, an old man with a mule, and another fellow sick with radiation poisoning. These personalities soon come into conflict as they attempt to survive in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Worst yet is the threat of a inhuman mutant, hungry for fresh meat, roaming the valley around the home. 

Considering its minuscule budget, it might not be surprising to read that “Day the World Ended” offers a fairly low-key version of the apocalypse. Most of the film is set inside Jim's house. Much like the earlier “Robot Monster,” the film shows the comfort of the suburban home surviving despite the utter annihilation of society as we know it. While that film's doomsday scenario was kind of cozy, “Day the World Ended” is much more cantankerous. There's a lot of in-fighting among these survivors. At one point, Jim just lets Rick and Tony get into a fist fight, wrecking the living room in the process. Tony is a constant source of conflict inside the home, which mostly just feels like a cheap – from a budgetary and narrative perspective – way to pad the movie out.

Whereas “Robot Monster” was a hilariously goofy take on the end of the world, “Day the World Ended” is just kind of depressing. I know, I know, you'd expect that from a movie about nuclear armageddon. Yet it's not ninety percent of humanity perishing that makes this one a bummer but its streak of creepy politics. As a former stripper, Ruby is the designated “bad girl.” She's belittled throughout the film and finally killed by Tony. Meanwhile, all the men are obsessed with virginal, teenage Lori. Jim encourages her to get pregnant as soon as possible, to begin the re-population of the world, I guess. That just makes me a little uncomfortable. So does the movie portraying Jim, the grim survivalist type, as being one hundred percent right.  

Yes, this is a monster movie that spends far more time with an old man and his pet mule than it does the actual monster. The creature is suggested far more often than not. Among the survivors is Radek, who has been exposed to enough fallout to begin mutating into a strange new life form. Jim eventually provides some backstory about seeing chipmunks and monkeys transformed into armor-plated monsters by radiation. We see the star beast's hand a few times and he spies on the girls as they go swimming. Finally, about an hour into this 79 minute long film, the Paul Blaisdell-designed Mutant does appear. And it's not his best design. The creature's massive shoulders and huge, three-eyed cranium makes it look like a bobble head. It moves awkwardly. Its scowling face and random horns are mostly just goofy looking. Aside from not having much screen time, the Mutant also dies in a hugely anticlimactic matter.

There are some dubious thrills to be had in “Day the World Ended.” Fifties sci-fi veteran Richard Dennings plays the geologist. As always, Dennings' heroic act is so exaggerated that it borders on camp. This script also gives him a couple of Bible quotes to recite. The sequence where Ruby pantomimes one of her stripteases before breaking down in tears made me chuckle too. Overall though, “Day the World Ended” is a bit of a dud. Roger Corman would get a lot better at mixing camp, salacious thrills, and social commentary as he went along. He also shot the entire movie in nine days, which seems practically luxurious compared to the feats of quickie filmmaking he'd pull off later in his career. But, hey, he was just starting off at this point. [5/10]

Amazing Stories: Mummy, Daddy

How is it possible that I'm this deep into the Halloween Horror-fest Blog-a-thon and I haven't seen a mummy yet? Luckily, a vintage episode of “Amazing Stories” is here to provide. “Mummy, Daddy” concerns a mummy movie being shot deep in the swamp of the American south. The actor starring as the shambling Egyptian corpse, Harold, has a pregnant wife at home. During a break in filming – when the nerdy director informs him that the story is actually based on a local legend – Harold learns his wife has gone into labor. He runs off to visit the hospital, still in full make-up and costume. Harold encounters a series of misadventures on his way to see his wife and newborn child, mostly thanks to the redneck natives who mistake him for the real mummy of myth... Which Harold also encounters on his journey through the swamp.

“Mummy, Daddy” definitely features its share of amusing mummy antics. As I also observed in my review of “Under Wraps,” mummies make ideal comedic straight men. Harold wanders into a number of absurd scenarios, like accidentally mimicking Lon Chaney Jr.'s hand movements while at the gas station. Or attempting to freak out the real mummy with some impromptu mummified kung-fu. Of course, it's mildly ridiculous that nobody notices Harold isn't actually a shambling corpse. We can even make out what he's saying pretty clearly, though it's muffled behind his make-up. This is part of the episode's comedic device and actually adds to the fun factor, so I can appreciate it.

Tom Harrison gives a pretty amusing performance as Harold. The way his teeth chatters or his hands tremble through the mummy make-up is pretty amusing. The rest of the cast is definitely on the hammy side. Bronson Pinchot is definitely over-the-top as the director, though it's a mildly entertaining portrayal of a glad-handing filmmaker. The actors playing the rednecks include veteran character actors Brion James and Tracey Walter. This kind of hicksploitation tomfoolery is layered on a bit too thick for my taste. Nevertheless, “Mummy, Daddy” is an amusing half-hour with a good ending. Any film or TV show containing the image of a mummy speeding into a hospital on horseback is worth your time, in my opinion. [7/10]

Transfer (1966)

Long before he became the Canadian Master of Venereal Horror, David Cronenberg was just a film student trying to find a way to express his ideas. “Transfer” was his very first movie, a seven minute long short. It was once obscure and hard-to-find but, thanks to the powers of the internet, is now readily available. It concerns a psychoanalyst who has fled to a snowy field to escape his responsibilities. His most obsessive patient, named Ralph, has pursued him there. The two describe their personal history and their relationship with one another, among the occasional threat of violence. But they work it all out in the end.

Here's what I have to say about “Transfer:” It's pretty bad and also undeniably the work the David Cronenberg. The production values are minuscule, which is to be expected. Yet the movie is also quite poorly shot, with multiple rough zooms and a visible boom-mic. The acting is, to say the least, theatrical and quite wooden. The script is didactic, the characters describing their past and woes in extremely detailed and grandiose fashion. What the hell it all means, I'm not sure I can tell you. And it's definitely a stretch to include it in a Halloween horror marathon. In actuality, I think “Transfer” is supposed to be a comedy?

Despite all its many apparent flaws, “Transfer” shows the director already attempting to elaborate on the ideas that would make him famous. If the guiding theme that connects his movies is the interior becoming external, characters going to so much effort to express their inner thoughts and anxieties definitely counts. The very precise, scientific cadence to the dialogue also feels distinctly Cronenbergian. It reminds me of the highly stylized hyper-verbalism of “Cosmopolis.” It's not funny or that interesting divorced from the man who directed it. Still, “Transfer” is worth seeing if only to prove the Cronenberg's tics and tendencies were readily identifiable from the beginning. [5/10]