Halloween 2026: October 3rd

 

The Dam (2022)
Al-Sadd 

 

The recent history of Sudan has been defined by civil wars, massacres, and government coups. The human drive to tell and record stories survives no matter the social circumstances. Which is my pretentious, hopefully not-too-condescending way of saying that Sudan has, over the decades, had active film-going and making communities. The country's history of “mobile theaters” playing out of trucks or how drive-in cinemas became popular again during the lock-down is extremely interesting to me. However, I've noted before that countries with an excess of real life horror don't often have time for horror movies. However, a title of note did pop up recently. “The Dam” was directed by Ali Cherri, a Lebanese filmmaker based in Paris, but the film was made entirely within Sudan and with a Sudanese cast. I don't think “The Dam” has gotten official distribution in the States yet and finding a subtitled copy took some digging. But let's see how this goes.

In a desert region of North Sudan, workers toil in the shadows of the Merowe Dam. From the waters of the Nile, they sculpt bricks. Among them is Maher, a usually quiet man. During his off-hours, he walks into the desert and works on a personal project. He has dreams and visions, of a grumbling voice rising out from the ground. He has a wound on his lower back, that seems to be growing worst. Despite his failing health, he continues to sculpt a mysterious figure out of mud, He is compelled to continue his mission, which seems tied to the weeping scar in his skin. All the while, rising social unrest plays out in the background. Signs of looming violence and economic disaster are never far beyond any of the workers' minds. 

If the above plot synopsis didn't make it apparent, “The Dam” is a film that is not heavy on narrative. It is a vague story, told largely through imagery. (Which helps, since the subtitles I found for the film were not always the clearest.) The story often feels like a dream, moving through mundane and uncanny events in a slow and meditative fashion. There's not much of a soundtrack, scenes more often scored to natural sounds or songs from the radio. The sound design, however, is quite good. The dream sequences, of Maher wandering into the jungle and hearing strange, gurgling calls from underground feature some truly eerie sound work. While the scenes of the protagonist contemplating nature or wandering from one place to another feels like stereotypical art house stuff, “The Dam” does capture a properly hypnotizing feeling. I felt drawn into the actions of the protagonist, despite the lack of clarity about what he's doing or what is happening to him exactly. 

That's probably the main reason “The Dam” couldn't compel me more. It's a film that never outright says what it is doing. The mystery of what Maher is building is never exactly answered. Is the force pushing him to make this mud sculpture supernatural or spiritual in nature? Does it exist entirely within his own head? There is evidently some sort of connection between what he's building and the growing wound on his skin. It also feeds into the building of the dam, with rising and falling water levels throughout the village. However, if you're expecting any sort of clarification or climax to these threads, “The Dam” isn't the movie for you. There is violence and conflict eventually, though on a fairly low-key level, but the tone remains vague all throughout. “The Dam” is operating more as an allegory, meaning filtered through symbols and suggestion, but what exactly it is allegorical of escapes me some. 

It clearly has something to do with the political situation in Sudan. I definitely do not know enough about that to make any sort of interpretation. Much less attempt to decipher the particular political leanings of the filmmaker, the story they are telling, and how it relates to any atrocities one army or another may be performing at this moment. I suspect the filmmakers were reluctant to pick a clear side over another. We hear news reports of civil unrest and military action from radios in the background. The lack of money, resources, and food the workers must endure is emphasized. There's a moment where Maher glares in anger at a border guard holding a machine gun. All of this certainly paints a picture of an impoverished society, with violent change and just plain violence pushing in on them. The film casts locals from the community to essentially play versions of themselves, the characters and actors sharing names. The dam in the background is very real and the performers were largely actual brick-makers. It all suggests that “The Dam” is about capturing life among the people in this place, at this moment, and seems to do an interesting job of documenting that. 

As for “The Dam” being the first horror movie made in Sudan, that's a debatable statement. A sequence where Maher walks through a darkened area, the underground voice beckoning to him, is eerie. The reoccurring presence of a wild dog or coyote has a somewhat threatening aura to it. I guess the weird scar on his back suggests a layer of body horror? I don't think tension, suspense, fear, or repulsion were any of the intended emotions by the filmmakers though. “Magical realism” is probably a better classification for this one, maybe “Dark fantasy.” It's still probably the closest thing to a horror movie Sudan has produced yet though. And it's an interesting, if very vague motion picture. I liked it enough to be interested in whatever Ali Cherri does next and hopeful that this gets a physical release of some sort eventually. [6/10]

 

Legend of the Werewolf (1975)

As fright films became more explicit and modern in the seventies, vampires in evening wear and fog-shrouded castles started to feel a lot more antiquated. This was a problem for Hammer Productions, who still specialized in the gothic stuff. They would put more flesh and blood in their films, try out newer tales of terror, and eventually drop Dracula into modern day London. It was all for naught and the studio basically didn't exist by the end of the decade. Yet as Hammer was dying, a start-up would appear making the exact same sort of movies. Tyburn Productions was founded by Kevin Francis as a deliberate attempt to revive the spirit of Hammer horror. He recruited several alums of the studio – most prominently his dad, Freddie Francis – to help on this mission. It didn't work out. Tyburn ceased productions for theaters after three tries. While I wasn't much impressed with the previous Tyburn joint I watched, I decided to give 1975's “Legend of the Werewolf” a try.

Hammer never made a sequel to “Curse of the Werewolf” but this one, from the title on down, is so derivative of it as to operate as an unofficial follow-up. Like that film's source novel, "Legend" is set in 1800s France. Its protagonist is also cursed with lycanthropy by the circumstances of his birth. A newly born infant has his family killed by wolves. The canines adopted the baby, instead of eating it. Eight years later, he's living in the woods as a wild child. That's when a traveling side show captures him to be an attraction. In time, he grows into a strapping young lad named Etoile. The full moon prompts him to change into a werewolf, ripping one of the worker's throat out. He flees into the city and finds work in a zoo, before falling in love with a prostitute named Christine. When jealousy over her clients rises up, he changes into a beast again and begins a killing spree. A pathologist named Professor Cataflanque is soon on the case.

Part of what made “Curse of the Werewolf” one of Hammer's best films, or at least my personal favorite, was how keenly human its characters were. Leon was a sympathetic victim of fate but the werewolf remained scary. The romantic subplot was passionate and the inevitability of what his father figure must do was tragic. “Legend of the Werewolf” is trying to replicate this but the balance is off. Etoile's devotion to Christine reads less as sweet than as pathetic. He's a naive man-child in love with a prostitute who he just met and who obviously can't return his feelings. He's clingy, overly protective, and expresses his feelings through crying or murderous werewolf attacks. A lack of likable characters is a big problem for the film. The sideshow crew that take the boy in are cynical, money-obsessed, and hostile. The unnamed zoo keeper that takes him is a sleazy crook, who feels bad about abusing his animals but does it anyway. The madam of the brothel is an alcoholic who is all-business, all the time. 

The result is a prickly feeling film, with little to draw the viewer in. Peter Cushing is the one non-repelling character in the film, as the eccentric detective on the case. Watching Cushing talk his way through various leads and explore clues is always charming. However, the resolution tot he mystery is a moot point. We, the viewer, know who the werewolf is, where he's hiding, and why he's killing. That creates a tension-free narrative. Once Christine rejects Etoile, he becomes a strangely non-active protagonist. He spends the rest of the movie moping in the sewers, unable to stop his murderous hunger. His arc evolves no further past this point. This goes hand-in-hand with a strangely limited lack of scope. For most of the movie, it seems the story rotates through three or four locations: The zoo, the whore house, the coroner's office and the sewer. The script passing back and forth between this handful of places makes the film feel short of budget, ideas, and a vision to implement them.

“Legend of the Werewolf” as a pale imitation of the earlier film is evident in another factor. When the protagonist transforms, he has a wreath of white and grey hair around his face, with a furrowed brow, and a torn open silk shirt. He looks a lot like Oliver Reed in “Curse of the Werewolf,” in other words. Though he's been assigned to remake one of his classic films, you can still see Freddie Francis trying to get something out of this. The film throws in a few creative visuals. The werewolf attacks are often preceded by red-tinted point-of-view shots from the beast. The focus is often on those bloody fangs, as they pull away from the neck of their victim. Another cool shot sees a body floating backwards through the waters of the sewer. A lot of these moments are framed from eccentric angles, askew or upside down. It's the most playful thing about a film that is mostly unlikable and warmed-over.

I like the bits where Cushing's relaxed attitude towards looking at dead bodies grosses out the people around him. Roy Castle has a great bit part as the squeamish photographer Cushing ropes into his plan. Those eccentricities in the cast represents the best parts of the film. Such as Marjorie Yates as the madam, a thoroughly nasty person who nevertheless gets a funny line or two. “Legend of the Werewolf” primarily made me think of two things. Ya know how Hammer's first “The Mummy” is a classic and most of the sequels they made to it feel lifeless and cheesy in comparison? If you pretend “Legend” is a sequel to “Curse,” the exact impression it gives. Secondly, after watching Tyburn's “The Ghoul” and also finding it to be bereft of likable humans, an image of why the company failed emerges. The company tried to adapt the more down-beat attitude horror took in the seventies and combine it with classic Hammer features, forgetting to make the former fully-formed and developed and the latter anything but warmed-over leftovers. [5/10]

 

 

The Hidden Room: Dangerous Dreams
 

You probably thought I was done talking about the Lifetime Channel, didn't you? Last time the cable station came up, it was during a transitional period in its identity. By 1991, the Television for Women premise had been established. The network had already gotten attention for its string of ripped-from-the-headlines TV movies, detailing the traumatic backstories of real women, usually played by slightly washed-up actresses. Again, this probably seemed like an odd environment to launched a supernatural themed anthology network. However, in the past, I've discussed how cable channels moving into original programming have a weird habit of trying to create their own anthologies. I guess “It's “The Twilight Zone” but about the entertainment industry/rock music/sad women!” is an easily understood pitch. Thus, “The Hidden Room” debuted in the early nineties, attempting to combine Lifetime's lady-centric melodramas with a spookier edge. While the series ran for two seasons, it's obscure enough today that online uploads of episodes are rare. The only one I can currently find is “Dangerous Dreams,” the season two premiere. 

Martha and Victor have recently married, following the death of his previous wife. This is a problem for Victor's teenage daughter, Alice, who resents the presence of another woman in the role formally occupied by her late mom. Martha isn't crazy about the kid either, as her prickliness often causes fights between her and her new husband. Martha is also beginning to have unsettling nightmares, that seem to foretell bad things happening in the home. Such as a sweater that belonged to Alice's mom being found sliced up, causing another argument. Or the garage of the house catching on fire. It gets bad enough that Martha decides to spend a night with a friend of her's. This is when the dreams take their most distressing turn yet...

Despite the extreme obscurity it's been cast into, “The Hidden Room” did manage to wrangle up a decent selection of recognizable names. Helen Mirren and Catherine O'Hara did episodes, for two examples. “Dangerous Dreams” stars more cult-friendly faces. Amanda Donahue plays Martha, a young Sarah Polley makes her second appearance this season as Alice, and – bringing it back to “Forever Knight” for me again – Geraint Wyn Davies appears as Victor. Unfortunately, a decent cast cannot elevate fairly maudlin material. “Dangerous Dreams” hits all the notes you expect from a story of a child adjusting to a new stepparent. The circumstances around the arguments are fairly contrived. A very ugly slashed up shirt seems petty as can be, while the garage almost blowing up seems a lot more serious than it's treated as. It all bends towards a narrative twist that becomes more easily predicted as the half-hour goes on. 

The reputation of Lifetime original programming is certainly maintained here. The world of “The Hidden Room” seems to be one filled with aggressive, sexually menacing, cartoonish street gangs. At least Wyn Davis is not a one-note jerk and him and Donahue, mostly underutilized, share some okay romantic chemistry. It's still hard to escape the chintzy quality at work here. The score is composed of either “Incredible Hulk”-sounding sad piano melodies or ominous bongo pattering, going a long way towards making this seem like the forgettable basic cable dross it was. Season one of “The Hidden Room' had a host, an old woman in the titular room blabbering “Hitchhiker”-style philoso-dreck, but she was removed in season two. As a fan of that kind of bullshit, I would've liked to have seen that but I get the impression that “The Hidden Room” didn't offer much otherwise. [5/10]

 

Friday the 13th: The Series: Pipe Dream

Here's another “Friday the 13th” where it feels like they cobbled together several different ideas for an episode. The episode is called “Pipe Dream” because the cursed antique is an ornate, very funny looking tobacco pipe with a devil's face carved into the bowl. When smoked, it produces an orange mist that envelopes the nearest person, causing their skin to crack and bubble before making them dissolve into nothing. This is largely incidental to the actual premise, which takes place at a high-tech weapon design firm. The pipe's first victim is a newbie to the company who has blue prints for a laser-guided, powerful rifle. Ray, unaware of the pipe's murderous abilities, accidentally kills the kid after seeing the blue prints, which he then takes and sells as his own. A tense week follows, with pressure on from the boss, he tries to pitch the rifle to a new contractor. Oh yeah, Ray is also Ryan's estranged dad. Father and son's tense relationship, Ryan invited back into Ray's life because he's also marrying his long-time girlfriend, is actually what drives the dramatic intent of the episode. 

All of these ideas conflict for space within the episode. This is frustrating, as even the screenwriter clearly realized the main focus should be on Ryan and his dad's hang-ups. Michael Constantine, a character actor with a long career who I most recognize as the bewitcher in “Thinner,” plays Ray as a thorny guy. He's so focused on achieving his own idea of success that he's alienated his son. It's a surprisingly frank depiction of an asshole dad unwilling to accept his son's differing path. While you would expect this to lead towards a resolution between the two, where Ryan does finally earn his dad's respect and understanding... That's not what happens. “Pipe Dream” goes for a tragic ending instead and Ryan's trauma is left unresolved, lingering and eating at him. Which is a far more realistic and sad ending. Constantine still manages to make Ray somewhat sympathetic, hard-headed but also with an air desperation around him. He strikes me as a guy who has been struggling to survive all his life and, finally, has gotten a chance to get ahead, if only people would perfectly obey him. A common fault among dads, I've observed. 

This is also, perhaps, a compelling depiction of the nature of evil too. Ray isn't a bad guy. He doesn't mean to commit murder in the beginning, lighting the big goofy devil pipe unaware of what it'll do. At the same time, he still chooses to steal a design that wasn't made by him. I guess the Satanic appearance of the pipe is the obvious indicator of the Deal with the Devil set-up “Friday the 13th: The Series” usually utilizes. Financial windfall is given but only in return for rotting away at the soul. Ray is an average guy who compromises his own ethics to receive an easy answer. That's how good people become shitty ones, making choices that are selfish when proper pressure in their lives is put on them. While the ending is melodramatic in how downbeat it is, the latest in a line of sour endings for the show, it does follow this thread. Ryan's Dad takes the classic Faustian bargain but, unlike most of this show's weekly villain, he does realize the weight of his actions. And, like Faust, it cost him everything.

I say Ray is likable despite being a schmuck. That he also works for weapon manufacturers is another factor that pushes him into the asshole zone. Is this, perhaps, an anti-capitalistic message? Had Ray's soul already been sold when he chose to make a gun for a company that sells ways to kill people? When placed atop the emotionally-fraught premise of Ryan and his dad being at odds, this idea doesn't have the room to develop. I did like the sequence where Jack is knocked unconscious and placed behind a target at the firing range. That was decently suspenseful. I also can't undersell how silly that pipe looks. It's method of execution is also very silly, featuring some of the show's trademark dodgy special effects. Despite the flaws, I do think episode features some strong acting from John D. LeMay, who has been getting a lot of chances to cry lately. [7/10]