I took two years of French in high school, largely because our local universities required at least two years of a foreign language. I chose French because it seemed easier than Latin or Spanish and because a friend was in the same class. I remember almost none of it now. Anyway, my French teacher had pretty good taste in movies. When we watched films in the class, it was usually classic French-language thrillers. I recall seeing “The Bride Wore Black” and “Diabolique” in the class for the first time. I imagine quite a few people have been introduced to Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic thriller this way, as it's among the most critically acclaimed French films ever made.
Christina is a teacher at an obscure boarding school in the French countryside. Michel Delassalle is both her husband and the owner of the school. He's also an emotionally manipulative, physically abusive bastard who treats Christina terribly. This includes openly cheating on her with Nicole, another teacher at the school that he also abuses. Soon, the two women have had enough of Michel's bullshit and hatch a scheme to murder him. They invite him to an apartment, sedate him with alcohol, and drown him in the bath tub. His body is stuffed in a large wicker basket and dumped in the school's filthy swimming pool. Afterwards, the pool is drained with no sign of Michel's body. Christina begins to wonder if she's going mad.
Clouzot also had a hell of a way with suspense sequences. “Diabolique” gets a lot of mileage out of the fear that the two women might be caught at any moment. After Michel's corpse ends up in the basket, there are several long sequences devoted to transporting the incriminating evidence. Repeatedly, the two are nearly caught in the act. Even after being dropped in the pool, there's this feeling that Christina and Helen's act could be uncovered at any minute. Of course, we are on the women's side, because Michel was so terrible. Yet, because Christina is a decent person, she is also haunted by the guilt of her crime. “Diabolique” is a film that wraps up its perfectly executed suspense with the deeper emotions of the story.
Even if it's a lot easier to figure out where things are going in 2020 than it was in 1955, “Diabolique” still draws the viewer in. This is largely thanks to a collection of wonderful performances. Vera Clouzot – yes, the director's wife – is so wonderfully vulnerable as Christina. The audience relates to her struggle and is drawn along on her journey. Simon Signoret has a more dangerous energy as Helen, projecting a harder edged and even seductive poise throughout her many scenes. Paul Meurisse is an utter scumbag as Michel, embodying a petty tyrant who thinks he can get away with abusing anyone he wants, just because he's a man.
It was the early nineties. Video stores and VHS tapes were extremely popular. Low budget producers, armed with any sort of recognizable brand name, started cranking out titles to meet the sudden demand. This is how Full Moon, Trimark, and Nu Image briefly became profitable companies. It's also presumably why producers Steve White and Barry Bernardi – otherwise known as the truck driver Michael Myers kills in the original “Halloween!” – were determined to keep making new “Amityville Horror” movies. Once again drawing from John G. Jones' book, “The Evil Escapes,” with Republic Home Video footing the distribution, a new haunting story would hit video store shelves in 1992. Yet “Amityville 1992: It's About Time” actually had a somewhat familiar name behind the camera. Tony Randall previously directed fan favorite “Hellbound: Hellraiser II.” Expectedly, his “Amityville” sequel is among the better received entries in this misbegotten franchise.
Architect Jacob Sterling returns to his California home from a recent trip to the east coast. He brings with him a gift: A fancy old clock, taken from a recently burned down Long Island residence. Soon, very strange things happen around the house. Jacob is viciously attacked by a neighborhood dog, his behavior growing more unhinged as the wound festers. Andrea, the family's babysitter and Jacob's lover, has horrible nightmares. Teenage daughter Lisa begins to act more sexually. Unusually violent deaths start to happen around town. Metalhead son Rusty consults his best friend, the eccentric old lady who is also an expert in the occult. She soon determines that the clock is a cursed artifact from the infamous Amityville Horror house.
As with “Amityville II: The Possession,” this kind of vexed-by-demonic-spirits story works best when the unclean spirits merely exacerbate the tension already present in the house. The Sterling household has problems to begin with. Jacob and Andrea's on-again, off-again relationship isn't entirely working for either of them, which is made all the worst when she brings her new boyfriend into the house. This causes the dad's jealous, controlling, and obsessive side to fully take over. The budding sexuality of teenage Lisa is awoken by the evil forces. In a nicely ironic touch, the metalhead son is the only family member not corrupted by the evil clock. This family was always fucked-up, the evil spirits just turned the heat up. While it can't compete with the sexual menace of "The Possession," this is a close second.
I guess it's an example of how weird this franchise got that a part six, which has almost nothing to do with the original and incorporates time travel into the plot, has managed to be the most entertaining entry yet. “Amityville 1992” is exceedingly silly and knows it. Unlike the earlier films, there's no attempt at serious scares here. It's just a goofy, grisly good time for horror fans. I imagine this was rented during many Friday evening movie nights in the early nineties and enjoyed by many developing horror fans with undiscriminating taste. (Randel's next film, the previously reviewed “Ticks,” pulled off a similar trick.) Will the “Amityville” series continue to improve from here or is “It's About Time” a fluke? I guess I”ll find out soon enough. [7/10]
For the concluding episode of “Creepshow's” first season, the show cooks up two stories especially in the E.C. Comics tradition. In “Skincrawlers,” a big fat guy seeks out a radical weight-loss method. Dr. Sloan has discovered a rare species of giant leech that feeds exclusively on fat. Despite the miracle results, the protagonist gets weary and changes his mind. Soon afterwards, he's talked into trying the procedure, just as a solar eclipse causes a grisly side-effect to manifest. In “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” a young girl continues her father's obsession with Champ, the Canadian equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster. Her abusive step-father is dismissive of her obsession, and her mom is worried. All the troubles come to a head when she seemingly uncovers proof of the monster's existence.
Written by veteran comic/animation writer Paul Dini, “Skincrawlers” manages to be the most gruesome episode of “Creepshow” thus far. It concludes in a rather literal explosion of gore, blood and slime splashing all over the place. Some especially gnarly looking monsters are thrown in too, those fat-sucking leeches proving to be a memorable creature effect. (The creature and gore effects are great, though the fat suits seen earlier in the episode are less convincing.) The premise of a miraculous diet fad having deadly consequences is spun into a moral about body acceptance. Though the final image of a vending machine saving the day is an odd way to portray that. Maybe the writing is a bit shaky but all that nasty violence and monster mayhem more than makes up for it.
Shudder has already renewed “Creepshow” for two more seasons, meaning we'll have more batches of horrific morality tales for future Blog-a-thons. My biggest complaint about “Creepshow” is the silent Creep doesn't make for much of a host, especially when you're used to John Kassir's Cryptkeeper slinging puns. The comics motif is neat but we really need more personality in the wraparound scenes. Otherwise, the show is pretty darn entertaining. I hope future seasons continue the route of adapting prominent horror authors. I feel like some Jack Ketchum or Grady Hendrix stories would fit in well here.
“Blind Faith” has, without a doubt, the goofiest premise of any episode of “Forever Knight” so far. Nick and Tracy are on the trail of a serial rapist. Jody, an old college friend of Tracy's, happens to run into the guy on a bus... But, you see, Jody has gone blind because of her M.S. Her seeing-eye dog, Perry, got out the other night and has been acting strangely lately. After the run-in on the bus, the pervert is viciously mauled to death by what's described as a large dog. Nick soon puts two-and-two together: Perry the dog somehow became a vampire and he's suddenly very protective of his master. This causes Nick to think back to the time he owned a vampire dog and inadvertently inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to ride “The Hound of the Baskerville.”
I guess, in the world of “Forever Knight,” vampirism is like rabies and can be spread between animals and humans. “Blind Faith” attempts to mitigate its ridiculous premise by having all the actors involved take it as seriously as possible... But that just draws attention to how silly the entire premise is. The episode tries to mine Jody potentially loosing her closest, fuzziest friend for pathos. Diana Zimmer's largely histrionic performance keeps that from working better. The subplot between Jody and Tracy – they're old college buddies – goes nowhere. This very silly episode concludes on a hilariously dumb note, that couldn't help but make me chuckle. The flashback story line is also pretty overheated and silly. But it does feature Nick and LaCroix arguing about whether dogs make good pets or not and that's pretty funny. In fact, as dumb as this episode it is, its goofiness makes it one of the more memorable season three episodes so far. [6/10]
No comments:
Post a Comment