youtu.be/iQamw4xxxHY?si=dF5bpIz9hpfWBfHS

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-mark-of-lilith/

Probably the best entry so far that I’ve seen in all of the ‘Short Sharp Shock’ boxsets. ‘The Dumb Waiter’ is a simple stalked/home Invasion piece in which a woman is contacted by a man claiming to be following her, and from there the action and tension just keeps getting ratcheted higher and higher.

I’m going to keep my thoughts on the script to a minimum because, it is a quite short film and I don’t want to spoil it. But the direction and cine are really rock solid, reminding me very strongly of the sense of isolation and creativity seen in Bob Clarkes ‘Black Christmas’…which I’m sure is probably one of the higher honours I can bestow a short like this.

Tense, creative and the first film in ANY of these sets to genuinely have me on the edge of my seat, ‘The Dumb Waiter’ is a fine fine movie. And one I can definitely recommend.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-dumb-waiter-1979/

A real shame honestly. What we have here is a pretty decent idea, a nasty racist politician ressurects an occultism from the 15th century to aid him in passing what (at the time) was heavily draconian legislation…but by modern standards is par of the course seemingly…Only to wind up biting off more than he could chew.

It’s a simple idea with scope to be really effective…and the film looks great with some pretty solid performances to boot!

The problem is this movie is just shy of an hour…and the idea can seemingly only really sustain 25 minutes…meaning at least half the movie feels like padding…and not particularly interesting padding at that.

Not helping matters either, the actual plot beyond that initial pitch gets VERY contrived and confusing fairly quickly making a film that was already a bit of a drag, even harder to stay invested in even as the final minutes drew in.

I ultimately started clock watching by the 35 minute mark, and was checking my phone by 50 minutes…its a shame really, as I think had this been 30 minutes, it’d probably have been at least a star and a half higher for me…ah well, can’t be lucky every time.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-face-of-darkness/

A somewhat rarely seen music video for Screaming Lord Suches novelty hit ‘Jack The Ripper’ as produced by Joe Meek.

A little basic, but some interesting cine choices and it’s nice to see a music video getting the full colour film treatment, when generally most of these kind of promo films would have been shot on B&W tape.

Looks good, sounds good, I got no issues.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/screaming-lord-sutch-jack-the-ripper/

Continuing my look through Volume 2 of the ‘Short Sharp shocks’ boxset. We have ‘Mingoloo’ a…frankly bizarre piece that is probably the complete opposite of a ‘Short Sharp shock’ (unless the shock is how much the writer/director had only contempt for women) but is strangely surreal enough so as to he compelling.

The plot? A sculpture awakens from a strange dream where he’s compelled to create a statue of a dog in a Asian art style. While investors visit the studio, one of them spots the sculpture, assumes the artists apprentice made it and essentially tries to schmooze the statue out of her for nefarious purposes.

It’s basically a 20 minute borderline screwball comedy that most reminded me of the old Harry Enfield sketch ‘Women: Know your limits’ only, while Harry Enfields sketchs were super self aware and mocked that kind of attitude. This was VERY sincere in its opinion that women SHOULD only be there to support men and be pretty. Which I still can’t quite believe was still a thing as late as the late 50s…

The direction and cine are basic, but fine enough. There’s a fair few continuity errors across the board with this one. But it’s so daft that I actually kind of can’t hate it too much. Given everything I’ve seen in Volume 1 and disc 1 of Volume 2 so far…its actually one of the more standout pieces…I know that’s not saying much, but it is…I think it’s almost certainly worth catching at least once just to laugh at for how regressive it is as a work.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/mingoloo/

I don’t trust any film that ends with an extended text crawl from the writer/director basically saying ‘who do you believe out of these 3 unreliable narrators, each of which has a fanciful reason as to why their story is wrong…The End.’

What a waste of time. A UK attempt at noir that’s staler than a 3 day past sell by baguette and sloppier than Oatmeal on dairy day.

Jesus…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/escape-from-broadmoor/

What If ‘Carnival Of souls’ was a PIF? Well! If you’ve ever wondered that, firstly…what?, get some help. But secondly! This! This is what it would be! The road safety equivalent of ‘Dark and Lonely Water’ This short warns that 3 children a day are taken away by a terrifying spectre that is death.

I think it’s terrific, ahead of its time and genuinely spooky. Great stuff!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-three-children/

I’m gonna keep it brief. It had pretty much the same issues as Quiz Crime #1 but here at least the mysteries made a *little* bit more sense and *could* probably actually be solved without directly being told some blurry bollocks in the background of one shot was the key to all of it.

I also preferred the detective in this one over the first…he seemed a bit more charismatic and invested.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/quiz-crime-no-2/

Kicking off volume 2 of the ‘Short Sharp shocks’ series from the BFI, I was quite hopeful that ‘Quiz Crime #1’ would be a bit of a lark.

Essentially a ‘whodunnit’ narrated to you by a detective who cracked the case! A thrilling quasi new years treat!

Unfortunately; ‘Quiz Crime’ is a silly thing, that doesn’t play by the rules. What do I mean? Well…prepare to have a 81 year old set of mysteries spoiled…because lord knows you won’t get them yourself.

The first case was one of a man who was found dead and stripped of belongings in the woods. Our detective goes to the Inn he was supposed to have checked into to speak to the bar keeper. Who denies the man ever arrived and invites you to check his room.

Our detective scours the room, plays with some golf clubs, and then arrests the barman and charges him with the murder! How were we supposed to crack the case?! Well! In the room the detective enters, in the background, is a table laid out ready for supper. The detective notes that the golf clubs delivered to the room are for a left handed golfer. And therefore HOW could the barman have KNOWN to set the table for a left handed person IF the victim DIDNT attend the bar!

(Literally, they expect you to have picked up on a blurry background detail that never actually gets brought up to crack the case…)

The second case is an actress who is murdered before her play is set to begin. This time around, I ignored the clues and just picked the first man the detective spoke to…7 minutes later with NON of the clues really making sense…I was right….these were terrible…a nice idea…but terrible.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/quiz-crime-no-1/

I gotta head out for a bit. I’ll review this when I get back. I just had to log it now because this goddamn movie is SO forgettable, I’d likely forget to log/review it if I didn’t set myself a note and log it.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/santas-castle/