That “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” became a hit is not so surprising. It's a good film, full of lurid details and strong performances from iconic actresses. That it birthed a new subgenre of horror is kind of weird though. I suppose that's where the horror genre was, at the time: Not yet ready for the gruesomeness that would come to dominate in the seventies but primed for tales of dark psychology and murder by “Psycho's” groundbreaking success. Either way, Robert Aldrich was eager to recreate “Baby Jane's” success. Adapting another story by Henry Farrell, the plan was to get Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in another grotesque melodrama. However, shortly into filming, Crawford grew sick – either genuinely ill or as a stunt to get away from Davis – and the studio demand she be replaced. Another golden age star, Olivia de Havilland, stepped into the role. While not as well regarded as “Baby Jane,” this spiritual sequel has fans of its own.
In 1920s Louisiana, Southern belle Charlotte Hollis has began an affair with a married man named John. After being confronted by her father, he breaks off their relationship... Afterwards John is decapitated, seemingly by Charlotte herself. Forty years later, she still lives in the same, moldering antebellum mansion. With the highway commission claiming she's been evicted from the house, Charlotte invites cousin Miriam to stay with her. This begins a further degradation of Charlotte's sanity, as she hears music and sees visions of her long-since dead lover. Velma, Charlotte's loyal maid, begins to suspect Miriam might be up to something... And that's when the bodies start to pile up.
It's a good thing that “Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte” has such an enchanting look and feel. Otherwise, it's inferior to “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” in just about every way. “Baby Jane” was a meaningful story of sibling rivalry boiling over after years of pressure and the lingering sting of fame lost. This is something much more simple. From the minute Miriam appears and Charlotte starts to see weird shit, it's obvious that this is a story of a frail old woman being gaslit into full-blown madness. Some of the same themes are evident. Public opinion has it that Charlotte is a murderess, the weight of which has further eroded her precarious sanity. There's a hint at the same sort of familial resentment in Miriam's relationship to Charlotte. Yet it's all simply window-dressing on a well-trotted premise, lacking much in the way of depth.
At the very least, I do think de Havilland was a better choice for this role than Crawford, who probably would've attempted to match Davis' histrionics. The title song is catchy too. Which is a good thing, because it's played many times. The spiritual sequel was still a hit, even being nominated for seven Academy Awards. Davis would next appear in two psycho-thrillers for Hammer, before more macabre flicks later down the line, embracing this new stage of her career. Moorehead would lend her star power to other hag-horror flicks like “What's the Matter with Helen?” and “Dear Dead Delilah.” Olivia de Havilland had too much class for that, I guess. This and “Lady in a Cage” would be her sole appearances in the somewhat disreputable subgenre. [6/10]
Dèmoni 2... l'incubo ritorna
The original “Demons” combined the zombie movie thrills Italian audiences knew well by 1986 with grisly special effects and a cool, new wave soundtrack. The result was a hit. Such a hit that, a mere seven months after the first one came out, Lamberto Bava was already behind the camera on “Demons 2.” Thus ended “Demons'” status as a stand-alone horror film and began its legacy as a launching point for a multitude of quasi-sequels. More films have been attributed to the “Demons” franchise than actually, properly exist in it. It must've been an exceptionally popular title internationally to have so many unrelated films tied to. But what about “Demons 2,” the only actual sequel to follow the original? How does Lamberto Bava's second meta whack at fusing demonic horror and zombie mayhem, co-scripted once again by Dario Argento, stand up to his first?
“Demons 2” frames the first film's apocalyptic ending, when the demons breached a Munich movie theater and took over the world, as a fictional movie within the context of this sequel. Seemingly everyone in a high rise apartment building is watching this particular horror movie on television. As the demons awaken in the film-within-the-film, they soon pierce the fourth wall and crawl out of the TV sets. First, the demons invade the party of a girl named Sally, infecting her and all her friends. They slowly take over the whole apartment, spreading through the gym rats and families. Soon, young father-to-be George and his pregnant wife Hannah have to work together if they hope to survive the onslaught of demonic horrors, escape the building, and live to see their baby born.
All these angles are fascinating but it's hard to determine if any of them were intentional. Simply put, “Demons 2's” script is even more thrown together than the original's was. Whatever problems the first “Demons” had, at least the story had an identifiable protagonist. “Demons 2” spreads itself thin over a large ensemble cast. There's a single woman with a dog, a little boy left alone, a simple family (which includes Asia Argento in her screen debut), a horde of gym bros and bro-ettes, a security guard, a claustrophobic hooker and her nerdy john. Not to mention Sally and all her friends, who at first seem to be the main characters. While every-man George and his pregnant wife eventually emerge as the story's heroes, that's only after most of the rest of the cast have been killed or turned into demons. All the characters are strictly archetypal, leaving the cast little to work with. At times, “Demons 2's” attention even digresses outside the apartment building, to some punk speeding around the city and a guy standing at the door. Why are those scenes in the movie at all?
Despite its ludicrous content and free-association plot, Bava and his team make sure “Demons 2” is a good-looking film. The shots of the demonically corrupted hordes running down the apartment hallways, backlit and their eyes glowing, look cool as hell. A pile-up and subsequent fire in the parking garage is also well directed. For what it's worth, the sequel has a better soundtrack than the first film too, with some choice needle drops from the Smiths, Love and Rockets, Peter Murphy, Art of Noise, and the Cult. (I swear, I hear at least one song from this soundtrack every day on 1st Wave.) I admire the gruesome make-up and whack-a-doo imagination on-display in “Demons 2” but I wish the film hung together better as a whole, a similar criticism that could be leveraged at the first one as well. [6.5/10]
Nigel Kneale's short-lived but much-loved horror anthology series “Beasts” would feature probably its strangest story with its third episode, “Buddyboy.” Davis, the proprietor of a strip club and porn theater, seeks to buy a defunct aquarium from a man named Hubbard. The business, well known for a show involving dolphins, closed down following the mysterious death of Buddyboy, the lead dolphin. Hubbard is eager to sell but Davis is concocting a plan to defraud the man. While exploring the abandoned building, he discovers Lucy living in the building. The trainer of the dolphins who had a special bond with Buddyboy, she still feels the cetacean's spell over her. That's when everyone starts to hear a ghostly clicking...
Yes, “Buddyboy” has the rather absurd premise of a ghost dolphin seeking vengeance. Yet “Beasts” executes the idea with a dream-like confidence. Dolphins are intriguing creatures. As water-bound mammals, they are pulled between the air and the sea. Graceful, highly intelligent, charming, and sociopathically violent, it's not surprising that humans have bounded with them in bizarre ways over the decades. This is the angle “Buddyboy” takes. The dolphins never actually appear on-screen. Securing some Flippers was doubtlessly outside the budgetary boundaries of seventies British television. Instead, we only hear Lucy and Hubbard go on at lengths about the sway Buddyboy held over them both. Hearing Lucy wax nostalgically about Buddyboy's charms, or Hubbard grow sweaty with fear as he describes abusing the animal, are probably more effecting than actually seeing the porpoise ever could be. By the end, “Beasts” even manages to mine some low-key chills out of far-off, spectral trills.
While Kneale's ambiguous and thoughtful script is the best thing about “Buddyboy,” what ultimately sells the goofball premise is the committed cast. Pamela Moiseiwitch gives a strangely unforgettable performance as Lucy, who seems more like a young girl than an adult woman. That she relates so much to animals further suggest her nymph-like personality, which Moiseiwitch's performance rightly captures. Martin Shaw brings the right kind of sweaty, macho bluster to Davis, a bastard totally assured of his own convictions. Wolff Morris convincingly sells that he's terrified of a ghost dolphin. Whether you can overcome the absurd premise is a matter of personal taste, I suppose, but “Buddyboy” worked for me, if not quite as chilling as the other episodes of “Beasts” I've reviewed. [7/10]
Financial issues loom over the Munsters in these two episodes. In “The Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World,” the (second) death of an Uncle Wolverine leaves the family with 10,000 dollars. (Which was presumably a lot more back in 1965.) Herman and Grandpa take half the money to pursue his latest invention, which can teleport electricity wirelessly through the air. Lily and Marilyn take their half and open a beauty salon. Neither plan goes very well. “Grandpa's Lost Wife” begins with Herman finding a wanted ad in a detective magazine, offering a cash reward for information about a man who appears to be Grandpa. He claims no knowledge but, after Herman calls the number, finds out the ad was placed by a woman claiming to be Grandpa's wife. After the woman shows up, Grandpa still claims to have no idea who she is, but that changes after the woman suggests she might be rich.
“The Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World” is “The Munsters'” operating in joke-delivery mode. This is an episode packed full of great gags. In the first scene, the mailman delivers a package with an extending pair of grabbers. Herman and Grandpa playing around with his invention involves amusing moments involving bowling balls, an electric razor, and a shout-out to “Dick Tracy's” Moon Maid. Fred Gwyne and Al Lewis' chemistry are put to great use when deferring blame or discussing the truth about an assumed time bomb. Honestly, the subplot about Lily's beauty shop isn't as strong, if only because the show seems reluctant to give the women the broader gags. Granted, the moment these storylines interact – and how it plays out in the final act – got a chuckle out of me.
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