One of those movies that im surprised MST3K didnt get around to riffing (though ‘Cinematic Titanic’ certainly didnt waste the opportunity!) ‘The Doomsday Machine’ is a SLOG. and a fairly unpleasent and mean spirited one at that.

The plot? Its the not to distant future (I believe the far off year of 2010) and China has invented a doomsday weapon thats capable of destroying earth. In the opening of the film we see a covert agent sneaking into a compound to photograph the weapon inside a cage that ‘Only Chairman Mao has the key to’. Oh…this film gets a bit racist in places too…so…BUCKLE UP FOR THAT!.

Photos of the weapon arrive back on US soil just in time for a united global mission to Venus. men and women from all around the world have been selected as the first people to colonize the planet, with a not insignificant portion of the film dedicated to them getting ready to go into space.

Once the launch itself happens, things almost immediately start going wrong, first and foremost being that some of the men are irresistably horny and IMMEDIATELY try to bang the women on the mission…whether they consent or not (and again, this film gets VERY SA in places…so again…BUCKLE UP!)

This is then shortly followed by a break in transmission where its revealed that the Chinese are either about to, or already have detonanted the ‘Doomsday Machine’ which is then followed by COMPLETE confirmation when the planet becomes a magma filled slag heap after a chain nuclear reactor failure. Leaving the astronauts trapped on board.

Its at this point that the ‘TRUE’ plan of the mission is properly revealed (and this is the halfway point of the movie…) It turns out that the US government KNEW china had a doomsday weapon, and were likely to use it, so they sent the astronauts up to basically make their way to Venus and ‘Adam and Eve’ it up to repopulate the planet.

Unfortunately they didnt count on TWO things, ONE being that some of the women aboard didnt sign UP to become birthing units for a new population of people. and TWO being that the radiation from the seismic blast was SO strong its catching up with the spaceship and will ultimately leave all the men sterile unless they can propel away from it. Some of the crew handle this fairly well and begin working on a solution…Others decide to use the situation to ramp up their SA efforts…Its all downhill from there really.

This thing was a total slog, I caught it as part of ‘Elviras Movie Macarbre’ which is probably the absolute best way to watch this one, purely for the fact that at least you get some fun enough host segments to take you away from the dull misery.

The scripts SO long and boring, scenes drag on and on and on WELL past the point that the audience understands whats happening and quickly into the realms of clockwatching. the pacings equal to a heavily laiden tortoise, the tone swings from ‘Buck Rogers’ esq 50s scifi schlock to some pretty unpleasent moments of racism, mysoginy and abuse. it doesnt really have a coherent story to tell and quite regularly threads are spun and then abandoned across the runtime. The entire opening sequence for example is just to establish there IS a doomsday machine…when your films called ‘The Doomsday Machine’…non of the characters or plot elements from that opening sequence make it past the 10 minute mark.

The characters are all super generic and unlikable, the dialogues really basic, tells EVERYTHING while also showing it. non of it is interesting or engaging to the audience, its 70-80 minutes of technobabble. and very little else.

The direction is incredibly poor, making most 50s poverty row features look expensive. its basically 2 sets, frequently redressed, shot wide and mid wide with a one or two (at most) camera setup. other than some VERY lacklustre wirework, this things got nothing to bring to the table. When I Can say confidently that films 20-30 years this films senior outshine it in terms of effects and camera work, from film makers with NO experience…well I hope that imparts just how poor this viewing experience really is.

The cine has a couple of flickers of moments here and there, theres some interesting colour and lighting work dribbed and drabbed across the runtime, but its all a bit thrown together, composition is static and repetative. the sequences rely heavily on stock footage for big chunks fo the runtime and feel quite slack in terms of how they’re cut together. its a messy work honestly.

The performances are HILARIOUSLY wooden in places, but ultimately dont provide enough comic relief to help this production pull through. everyones stuck on one mode of delivery, which is fairly dry and stilted for 90% of the runtime…But they DO all get at least one moment to do ‘frantic over the top’ acting…which garners mixed results. Theres not enough here from the cast to really truely win me over…their physicality on set is frankly dreadful, they bearly animate in that regard…its a mess.

And the score is so forgettable, I honestly forgot it. I literally have no notes…its that bland.

Had this not been hosted by Elvira, i’d have really struggled to make it to the end of this one. its dry, dull, and honestly a bit offensive in the year of our lord 2024. If your gonna catch it, watch the ‘Cinematic Titanic’ version of the ‘Movie Macarbre’ one…But maybe bring a pillow and a blanket, because this thing WILL knock you clean out in 30 minutes or less.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/doomsday-machine/

Its got to be coming up to 15 years since I first sat down and ‘Tail to snout’ watched ‘Manos: the Hands of Fate’ a film quite unlike anything that had come before it, and a film thats infamy proceeds it in almost any and all film discussions.

Yes, ‘Manos’ is widely considered a stinker, a much beloved movie (thanks to the MST3K/Mads/Rifftrax crowd) but a stinker non the less. But, and I dont want to be controversial here, I dont really think its THAT bad…or rather, people who cite it as one of the worst films ever made, I feel are rather overexaggerating it.

I absolutely wont defend this thing as a ‘good’ work, or even really a ‘fun’ work…but as something rather unique and exotic in terms of testing the limits of ‘the rules of cinema’ I find this picture really quite watchable.

The plot? follows a young(ish) family as they head out on a vacation, however they experience car troubles along the way and end up at a rundown house where they’re greeted by a dishevelled and goat-like caretaker by the name of ‘Torgo’ who is VERY reluctant to help or get involved with the family, warning them to leave as soon as possible as ‘The Master would not approve’ before somehow being swept up into letting them stay the night and head out in the morning.

During the night the tone and vibe shifts quite drastically as Torgo corners Margaret (the mother of the family) insisting that the master wishes for her to become his new wife…and what follows is a further 30 minutes of not quite horror, not quite satire, not quite psychological piece, as the family consult the master and his otherworldly realm that houses his many MANY wives…

And you know your in for an interesting time when its easier to describe what the film ISNT than what it actually IS.

The script has a VERY basic plot line underpinned in 3 acts thats pretty clean to follow…How it manouvers through those 3 acts however to GET that basic plot across feels like ‘Concussion cinema’ to me. Scenes just run on and on and the conversations feel like the kind had when your trapped in a motel suite with people you dont really know or like that much 6 pints of beer in. It feels awkward, like the cast are trying to socially navigate the scenario, but not in a naturalistic way that you could reasonably EXPECT a few strangers trying to read the room to feel like. This is awkwardness explicitly BECAUSE whats written in the script only really made sense in the mind of the writer, and he didnt really bother to direct the cast on set all that much.

The pacing and tone are all over the place, it has moments of very dry dated comedy, it gets VERY bleak in places quite quickly, but when thats married up to the BEYOND strange dialogue and the woozy and unsettling pacing, it ends up at times feeling more like a work of AI than something an ACTUAL person paid money to make.

Its a nippy 73 minutes of a movie, but that puts it in the awkward situation where, im not entirely sure whether this thing should have been 10 minutes longer and REALLY, TRUELY given us the detail needed to make the plot a bit more clear and layered (rather than what they’ve ended up doing, which is just throwing everything they’ve got at the screen.) Or whether they should have cut the thing by 20 minutes and TRUELY made it a surrealist art house piece where the basic plot was really all there needed to be.

I also cant quite figure out whether the characters not really having any depth works in the films favour or not either…on the one hand that lack of depth keeps things a little more mysterious and ‘otherworldly’ we never really truely know what ‘The Master’ and ‘Torgos’ FULL mission was here…nor do we really get to know the rest of the cast in any menaingful sense barring the scenes they occupy. Which I think does help give the film a bit more appeal.

But then on the other side, that lack of character depth makes everything feel really shallow and strange. made even STRANGER by the BIZARRE decision to dub all the casts voices over in post because the ‘on set’ audio was unsatisfactory…but to redub ALL the womens performances with a single voice actress who doesnt even TRY to differentiate voices…It really doesnt do the film any favours…

On the direction front, everything is gently out of focus, the colour schemes are either overly vibrant and heavily lit (due to the exposure rating on the cameras being very VERY dark) or pitch black. shot setups had to be ‘guessed’ at because the cameras used only had VERY rudamentary viewfinders. its clear there was some creative vision behind how this film should have looked and behaved. But given this was the directors first feature film outing, and that he did it really just because he ‘could’ rather than having any kind of burning drive to make something specific. Its unsurprsing that sequences here are undisciplined, experimental and often badly framed.

When Harold P. Warren had a shot in mind, he CLEARLY had a vision in hand…but if he didnt, well…the assumption based on the extras is that the DOP was just given free reign to ‘fill in the gaps’ on the script.

It also became apparent from the extra features on the ‘Manos’ bluray that the cast were chronically left in the dark in terms of how to perform. Harold didnt direct them or give them any advice. I assume either because he didnt know he had to, or if he did, he decided to leave it up to the cast to communicate their interpretation…this simultaineouly worked in the films favour AND backfired spectacularly…as I feel, had their been a more seasoned director at the healm, we’d have never got to see ‘Torgo’ as a character in all his strange and unusual glory, and the awkward stiltedness that has really helped cement the films infamy probably would have been a smoother experience. So I guess shoddy direction actually kind of saved this one.

As mentioned the cine is hit and miss, when it hits (I.E a cleanly composed shot thats massively overlit and full of rich vibrant colour) I absolutely fall in love with it, it feels like an absurdist piece in those moments…when it ISNT that (which is the majority of the film) its blurry, smeary and beige up to the elbows. Your milage almost certainly may vary. But I think if you have a keen eye for visuals, there are at least half a dozen shots in this thing that may effect you in a profound way.

In terms of the editing?..Well, again we go to the special features of the ‘Manos’ bluray, where they described the editing process as ‘Three drunk guys hashing it out over a weekend’…THAT, is EXACTLY how it feels to watch, cuts are inconsistent, badly timed, they use way too many fade ups and downs to and from black when it isnt needed, splices are badly made, there is noticable print damage that was dubbed into the master copies of the film during the edit process…its a mess, effective in places when combined with everything i’ve said above…but a mess.

Performance wise, the core cast had little to no guidence, The actor playing Torgo was on drugs for most of the shooting period and comitted suicide a couple of weeks before the premiere. Its a real mixed bag. Probably the best performances in this are Tom Neyman as ‘The Master’ bringing a genuinely commanding performance to the role, he really had an animated presence here, and while I do think he didnt *quite* nail enough menace for ‘adult horror’ here? I think he’d have been an amazing kids tv and film villain.

John Reynolds as Torgo is as iconic a performance as the riffer would have you believe, he was a method actor, which meant ACTUALLY huritng himself with prosthetics in his knees and shoes to help him hobble for most of the runtime. while he may not give the best performance of the film, he’s almost certainly the most memorable with some amazing physical turns here, and dialogue deliveries that range from unsettling to hilarious.

The rest of the cast…im gonna be honest, are a little dull. They all have their own moments to shine…but when you’ve got performances from ‘Torgo’ and ‘The Master’ to compete with, it’ll always seem a little less thrilling.

Score wise? its weird. a hybrid of chilling piano pieces, and music that sounds like it belongs in a nudist camp movie. some of this suits the film, some of it REALLY doesnt…but I cant really imagine the film without it.

‘Manos: The Hands of Fate’ is not a good film. it struggles on a technical level, the lack of coherent direction is palpable, the perforamances beyond notable exception leave a lot to be desired and the score is unusual. But it does have some upsides, with a script that is really truely ‘unique’ for the time, some BIZARRE and mesmorising performances, choice cine and directional turns when everything lined up properly, and ultimately we did get arguably one of the best ‘MST3K’ episodes out of the deal as well…

I can absolutely understand why folks love AND loath ‘Manos’ for me? I think I may stick to a ‘riffed’ version in future…but seeing it unriffed from time to time DOES make me appreciate the few times it actually does go above expectations. i’d say this was worth catching at least once.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/manos-the-hands-of-fate/1/

I first caught ‘Dead Heat’ a couple of years ago as part of a double feature on ‘The Last Drive in with Joe Bob Briggs’ and I honestly cant think of a better example of a film that has good ideas driven into the ground by bad decisions. This one comes courtesy of ‘New World’ pictures, Roger Cormans production company, and you can pretty quickly tell that this has ‘New Worlds’ typical ‘fantastic soundtrack and character pieces held together with masking tape and a prayer’ aesthetic.

The plot follows two detective pals Roger Mortis (GETTIT?!?) and Doug Bigelow as they do their usual patrols of the city. After a strange encounter with two jewel theives that take an entire swat teams worth of bullets and are only stopped by LITERALLY being blown up. The pair discover that there was more to these crooks than meets the eye…namely that they’d already been checked into the morgue a few months prior. Some invetigations reveal that a shady scientific company appears to be stocking unusual supplies that have been shown to have restorative bodily properties. and, on inspecting the facility, they find something a bit odd.

A backroom containing a giant table and electronic equipment…and a stitched together biker who goes full on Beserker at the pair. during the scuffle Roger ends up dying in a pressure chamber, but Doug and one of the scientists at the facility get him tot he backroom and with some ‘weird science’ wondery, Roger is brought back to life. He feels great…but somethings off…it turns out, he’s rotting…unable to die! but rotting…with the local pathologist giving him only hours to live before he begins to decompose to a point that he’d be umable to hold his own frame.

And so, a race begins with Doug, Roger and others to find out WHO is running the ‘death ressurection’ racket and hopefully put an end to it before things get too far out of hand.

For starters, the script is a lighthearted and fun little idea, it moves at a reasonable clip at an hour and 20, they pace out the action across the 3 acts pretty well, and the three acts themselves are reasonable well paced out starting strong, maintaining a good momentum and finishing a *little* bit abruptly for my taste…but probably about as well as these things could have honestly.

The characters, for the most part are likable, but herein lies the first issue…while most of them are nicely charismatic and really fit the bill of the roles they’re playing. The character of Doug and more specifically the performance of Joe Piscapoe absolutely poured cold water on this thing. Doug as a character is a quip machine. He doesnt really do all that much plot wise, he doesnt have any real solid character development moments. He seems to literally exist in this film to turn EVERY. SINGLE. SITUATION…into a bad joke-fest. and its frankly insufferable.

Had they opened with him being that way, then maybe explored his character a bit more to reveal maybe some kind of background that means he uses humour to cover, and ended the film with him reigning in on it. I’d have probably gotten on better with the character. but after the first 10 minutes of the character not taking ANY situation presented to him seriously, I started to feel a nagging head pain, that only got worse and worse as the film wore on.

Honestly? this could have just been Roger, Randi (The scientist who helps the pair uncover the truth on whats going on) and ‘Smithers (the pathologist in the lab who first reveals the unusual circumstances) and it probably would have been a much stronger work for it. Unfortunately we end up with a bit of a crowded house, which didnt exactly do the film any favours.

The dialogue (bad jokes aside) is for the most part fine enough, nothing TOO out there or interesting, but the film has some interesting moments for decent one liners and I think they nailed the chartcter dynamics for the most part.

The tone of this thing is another minor issue…It cant seem to decide if it wants to be an all out action film with supernatural elements. or an action comedy, or an action horror/thriller…or some kind of macarbre dark comedy…so it just sort of…tries everything. Which makes it quite hard to get a decent read on the intention of the writer director…and can cause some moments of the film to feel a bit ‘bad taste’ or jarring compared to the general tone of the production.

Direction and cine in and of itself is actually pretty above standard, Its a studio picture so I expected the bare minimum to be met. But theres actually some really solid creative visions realised here and some really quite solid scene building. A particularly noteworth sequence being set in a chinese deli featuring special effects and puppeteering that, the first time I saw this, had my jaw on the floor.

Shots are well composed, Colour use is kind of drab here, which is a real shame as I think a splash of colour really could have helped elevate this one a bit more. sequence building can be a bit messy in places, I think they were tight on the amount of film they could shoot on. So there are moments where I feel a bit more B-roll maybe could have helped this one out a bit more. On the whole though, its a kind of inoffensive work. Nothing too ‘genre’ defining. but it gets the job done pretty well.

Performance wise, We stumble again. While our core cast of Treat Williams and Lindsay Frost are a deligthful pairing bringing real charm, charisma and energy to proceedings. I had a real bad time with Joe Piscapoe…I appreciate he was probably directed to be this obnoxious…but he REALLY gets to a point in this where I couldnt really roll my eyes any harder. he’s loud, awkward and a bit fumbly on physicality…I wasnt a fan.

Mercifully, the film does win things back with an unexpected (but welcome) Vincent Price cameo, and he’s as wonderful as ever, ultimately pulling the film back from becoming a bit bland. Darren McGavin ALSO delights as Dr. Earnest, giving ‘Mayor from Jaws’ vibes throughout ALSO helping to keep this thing on an even keel.

The soundtracks killer, Honestly? ‘Dead Heat’ is a fine enough film, it wont win any awards. But if you like New World pictures like ‘Night of the comet’ or ‘The Stuff’ you’ll probably dig this. it has sparks of a good idea, it just…doesnt quite fully realise them.

Someone on my discord server called this film ‘Miami Vice, but with zombies’ and I think they may be onto something…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dead-heat/1/

Watched on Saturday August 3, 2024.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/skip-tracer/2/

Whenever a TV show or film attempts a ‘throwback’ vintage porn parody for laughs, Im always left with the feeling that they go TOO far into trying to make it funnier than it is sexy…Then I remember that ‘Starship Eros’ exists and quickly fall back into place.

CHEESY. this film is wall to wall 6 inches thick of pure cheddar. Parodying seveal 70s and 60s science fiction shows, ‘Starship Eros’ is short, sweet, and not here to mess around.

The film follows a ‘star trek’ style crew made up entirely of women who pilot the titual ‘Starship Eros’ its mission seemingly to uphold the ‘sexy’ values of their home planet. We open to the commander of the ‘Eros’ engaging in ‘shenanigans’ before being called up to help stop an attack from an amazonian space tribe (also made up of women) who are on their way to attack earth.

On arrival at the ship, the commandor is introduced to her new vice captain, where further ‘Shenanigans’ ensue only pausing briefly so that the commandor can introduce the male servent droid of the ‘Eros’ who comes *fully* equipped to help the ladies on board keep warm on those dark cold lonely space flights…and…thats basically the movie. gangbangs with a C3PO clone thats bordering on litigeous and waiting for the grand encounter with the rival space faction.

All the while we have everyhting from bad green screen effects, to cardboard sets, to bad stock footage, to cheesy and stiff dialogue. for someone interested in analysing bad movies, this thing was astounding.

it clocks in at a tidy hour and seven minutes, the sex scenes make up about 45 minutes of that runtime, with the remaining being the MST3K-esq style dialogue and set work. at least 10 minutes of this movie is set on earth. the pacing is repetative, but the charming low quality of everything kind of wins me back over. the characters are all one not. the tone is campy, self aware and very tongue in cheek, the dialogue is ASTOUNDING. You’d think, given its supposed to be a ‘far future/utopia’ type picture that they’d flower up the dialogue a little…make it sound a bit more affluent. But we have cast members regularly and aggressively instructing each other to ‘Do them.’ the first time that happened it was so abrupt I damn near lost a mouthful of cherry 7up in the process.

The directions dry, stiff and frankly uninterersting. a lot of it feels randomly focussed or not thouroughly planned. the camera kind of just swings around till it finds a point to settle on, its largely mids and wides, which just about keeps it on the level, but the second it tries to do anything more than ‘fixed’ shots, it just starts going downhill fast.

The cine is much the same, the sequences are a kind of hodge podge of whatever was shot just shoved together. compositions not the worst i’ve seen, but is FAR from ‘technically proficient’ B-roll is pretty plentiful here, but it feels like they didnt really know how to encorporate it…Frankly this thing isnt very erotic. and because the plotting is paper thin, it cant even really fall back on that. Add to that a wishy washy edit, which again, isnt the worst i’ve seen…at least they time cuts reletively well…its just that they dont seem to know what they’re cutting TOO thats problematic.

The cast are all playing it very cold, serious and professionally, which is hilarious given the genre they’re playing in…It makes sense! and they’re doing a decent enough job of maintaining that early ‘Star Trek’ style of delivery…but the combination of the SUPER cheesy and weird dialogue and the dodgey direction and camera work just makes it BEYOND hilarious and kind of tempers the eroticism a bit more.

All in all? if it wasnt for the fact that this thing is SO cheap, and SO cheesy in its execution, this would be a snorefest. As it stands, it kind of makes me wish that Rifftrax or MST3K riffed adult features, as this is a prime candidate for a solid riff.

Cute and funny more than erotic and arousing. I had fun with ‘Starship Eros’ its just trying to be a goofy cheap and cheerful parody and in that sense, it succeeds…if you go in with that expectation, you’ll probably be pleasently surprised.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/starship-eros/

Of the original 39 Section 1 Video Nasties, I personally only consider a very small handful to actually be worthy of the title. Movies like “Bloody Moon” and “Love Camp 7” may have shocking or gory themes. But in real world terms, by this point? There positively pantomime. Even some of the big shockers of the day like “Driller Killer” and “Tenebrae” while violent, have more artistic value beyond just being obscene for obscenities sake.

But in amongst the “Mardi Gras Massacres” and “Forest of Fears” we find movies that even some of the most ardant horror fans would consider “A bit near the knuckle”. And today, to celebrate the frankly astounding fact that this channels amassed 1k subs (Sincere thank you’s by the way on that front, when I started this channel I didnt think i’d ever hit 50 subs, letalone 1000…im honestly lost for words) I decided that this required something a little bit “extra” than your usual hack and slash fodder this channel regularly looks into. So today? We’re taking a look at what is arguably one of the nastiest, most graphic, obscene and horrible movies not just in terms of the video nasties, but in actual cinematic history. 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust.

A film thats courted controversy since even BEFORE its premier due to the large amount of live unsimulated animal mutilation, realistic (but fake) rape, and violence presented throughout…The film was premiered in Milan where, after only 10 days in circulation, all prints were seized by the Italian authorities and the films director was arrested on murder charges because the authorities couldnt contact any of the cast members to confirm they were alive after the shoot because the deaths looked so authentic for the time.
It transpired that the cast had all signed agreements to go into hiding for 12 months after the film had wrapped in order to add to the “reality” of the film.
But when they found out the director was looking at a life sentence, they quickly came out of hiding and the murder charges were dropped. That didnt however save the film from the censors. With it being outright banned in over 50 countries between 1980 and the present day…not in Japan though. No…they REALLY liked this film…how much did they like it? It was there 2nd best selling video tape of 1983, only being beaten by E.T: The Extra Terrestrial (and THAT is a hell of a double feature let me tell you right now)

The film was SO controversial that porn actor Robert Kerman, who’d signed up to the film in an attempt to escape the horrible working conditions the porn industry of the time, WENT BACK TO PORN after this film was completed. Thats how badly the film was recieved by not just audiences, but the cast and crew as well. It was one of the main films to be wheeled out in the UK when it came to showing footage to parliament in order to justify the video recordings act of 1984 coming into effect. Seriously, they showed a supercut of all the horrible bits from an array of the other nasties, which caused most government officials at the time to wince. Then when that finished they were like “This is the stuff we leave IN after editing” before playing a second supercut containing mainly footage from Cannibal Holocaust and Cannibal ferox showing the absolute WORST elements of these films all rammed together, causing some MP’s to walk out of the screening…if that isnt an effective way to manipulate and legislate, I don’t know what is.

So what deranged and broken mind put together this absolute FILTH!? Well…It was a chap by the name of Ruggero Deodato. An Italian film maker with an impressive 60 year career in film direction. And some of the goriest titles under his belt that cinema has produced. His main inspiration for the film came from two places. First; was a documentary he’d been made aware of about a documentary film crew who all died while investigating stories of cannibalistic tribes in Africa, it was only shown once due to its graphic nature and shocking subject, BUT! It apparently does still exist in an italian tv networks archive.

The other inspiration came from a chance encounter one morning with his son after the pair caught a news report on television that was excessively violent. He noticed that the reporter was focussing heavily on descriptions of violence and the scene of the crime and that some of the shots used in the report were clearly staged to help sensationalise the story more. Deodato put these two ideas together and the rest they say…is infamy.

The films really a game of two halves, as we open following one Professor Harold Munroe, Professor Munroe has been nominated by New York University and a network cable company to lead an expedition and rescue mission with the aim of locating and safely returning home four famous American documentary film makers and their guide who’ve been missing now for 2 months. They were originally heading out to document cannibalistic tribes of the Amazon for the cable network after many previously successful documentaries showcasing cruel and oppressive environments around the world. There’s Alan Yates, his girlfriend and lead scripting director Fey Daniels, and there camera crew Jack and Mark alongside their Amazonian guide “Phillipe”.

It’s here that we’re introduced to both our main tribe for the film, the Yanomamo, and our “Guides” for the movie. Basically armed malitia who maintain with force a section of the amazon by killing any tribes they reckon are getting too rowdy and ringfencing a section of the amazon with modern tech and equipment using it essentially as a docking station for travellers beginning their journey through the Amazon. The professor arrives and after brief chats with the Lieutenant of operations, he’s assigned a guide called Chaco.

What follows is essentially a travel-log as the professor, Chaco, Chacos assistant and a recently captured member of the Yanomamo tribe traverse the pitfalls and dangers of the Amazon rainforest encountering all manner of nasties in search of the Yanomamo’s and any hints that could possibly lead to the documentary crew’s whereabouts. Along the way things start to become increasingly apparent that the crew have met a terrible end. Feys lighter was found at the docking station and after only a short time of hiking, Chaco stumbles over something on the forest floor revealing a completely stripped skeleton thats confirmed to be Phillipe.

After the discovery our troupe continue on, eventually coming to a clearing where they rest up, graphically kill a muskrat, give their tribal hostage cocaine and muskrat stomach to eat they then watch from the bushes as one of the local tribesman appears, dragging a bound and muddied woman behind him… and…well…Im not going to describe what he does, but that lady isnt going to be doing much of anything after this scene. This act however lets them know the tribe they’re seeking is close by.

Eventually after some mild negotiations and some bartering, they manage to meet with the Yanomamo tribe who take them back to their village. It doesnt take long for Professor Munroe to notice something gutwrenching. One of the women in the tribe has a film can bound to her chest like an amulet. With the documentary film crew nowhere to be found and random items from their personal possessions beginning to turn up more and more, Professor Munroe slowly becomes convinced that he isnt going to be bringing the crew back alive.

After attending several rituals of the tribe it’s revealed that the Yanomamo are in a state of constant war with a rival tribe the Yacumo. After helping to protect the Yanomamo from an attack by the Yacumo Professor Munroe tries to strengthen bonds with the tribe by swimming naked in the local rivers with the other villagers, which does endeare him to the them. Unfortunately, after being led away from the river by some locals, Munroe stumbles upon some kind of hand built charm…constructed from the bones and equipment of the documentary film crew he’s been searching for. It’s also revealed that the Yanomamo’s have taken all of the film cans front he crew and have woven them into their huts as charms.

After showing the Yanomamo his dictophone and it’s ability to “trap voices” the tribe become convinced that Munroe is some kind of powerful sourcerer and in exchange for him lifting an evil curse thats plagued the village since the film crew arrived, they offer to give him all of the film reels they have. Munroe returns to new york as quickly as possible to feedback news of the teams demise and to get the reels checked and prepped for viewing. The Execs are keen to move quickly on the project given that their deaths can be used to help more widely publicise the documentary, and they’re keen for Professor Munroe to host and narrate the it to help further legitimise it.

The professor is reluctant as he wants to make the decision AFTER reviewing all of the footage…He wants to know what he’s getting into. So, to prepare the Professor for what he might find, one of the execs takes him to one side and shows him an example of the film makers last documentary “The Last road to hell” which features ACTUAL footage of live executions and murders. (no really. This isnt part of the plot, they literally cut real actual murders during wars and other atrocities into this fictional film…jesus christ.)

Anyway; after the film plays, the professor is noticably shaken, but the exec informs him that the documentary he just watched was entirely fabricated and that Alan and the team are notorious for manufacturing scenarios, creating issues and then capturing the fallout. All for the sensationalism of being able to capture gory, strange or awful happenings and present them as “Life on the other side” she clarifies that most of the “Guards” in the documentary were in fact just locals that Alan had paid to dress up.

The Professor heads out to try and grab some interviews while the cable networks editing team assess the footage and edit it together for review. The interviewee’s are INCREDIBLY reluctant and even standoffish to talk about the film makers, some because their deaths are still too fresh, others because they thought the team were all complete bastards…in either case, not a tremendous amount of usable material is captured so the professor heads back to the studios where the AV team confirm that 2 reels were damaged beyond use and the rest have had to be treated with a special solution to combat humidity damage. BUT! they’re ready to review.

And whats revealed is horrifying, as it transpires our “All American” good guy film makers are in fact absolute bastards of the highest order, and that, on top of just generally being deeply unlikeable people, they’ll stop at NOTHING. And I sincerely MEAN nothing. To make this documentary the most gratuitous, over the top, obscene production they can muster. With notable moments including (but certainly not limited to) dredging a sea turtle up out of the ocean and ripping it apart with a knife and their bare hands for their own amusement, coralling a load of the Yanomamo tribe into a single hut and then setting it on fire so that they could film the carnage. FUCKING in the burnt out remnents of the tribes homes and places of worship IN FRONT OF THE TRIBESPEOPLE. And in one particularly awful scene gangraping a young tribe member on film for literally no reason (its even mentioned in the documentary footage off camera that they cant use the footage so why are they doing it) in barbaric 30-40 minutes of utter UTTER deranged carnage.

This all leads to a final act where the professor begs the execs to shelve the film, citing it’s total and utter scientific inaccuracy, the obscenity and the total distaste in showcasing what amounts to a snuff film. The execs refuse to budge, leaving the professor with little choice but to arrange a “private screening” of the final reels from the shoot, containing some of the most over the top hideousness the film has to offer in a desperate attempt to get them to reconsider. In a frankly grim finale that makes “I spit on your Grave” look like “Muffin the Mule” Will the professor convince the execs? Will we finally learn how the crew met their demise and…oh god, I hope they arnt going to do what I KNOW they’re going to do to that monkey…all this and more will be answered if you feel comfortable watching “Cannibal Holocaust”.

And I really need to stress that aspect of this whole thing, this isnt a film to test your metal, it isnt something you brag about having “survived”, if your doing that you’ve missed the point of this film. This is an intentionally difficult watch. Deodato WANTED to make audiences feel what the excesses of “mans inhumanity to man” could produce. It’s SUPPOSED to make you feel down and reflective in the credits.

Your not SUPPOSED to come out of this whooping and wanting more. Which is why I honestly feel that, if this is too much for you to handle, you shouldnt watch it. Thats a totally understandable stance to take with this film BECAUSE its SO heavy on the animal abuse, sexual assault, gore and other unpleasentries. I wouldnt think less of anyone who didnt fancy putting themselves through it. I only have because im fucking stupid. So if this is where the boat begins and ends for you, TOTALLY understand that. It’s a heavy film and some people just don’t need that in their lives.

What I WILL say though is if you DO attempt to get into this film (and if you feel comfortable doing so I highly recommend it) you will find probably one of the most technically proficient, visually pleasing and razor sharp pictures to make it on to the video nasties list. This film is a phenomenal work, a real primal piece that stirs raw and gutteral emotions out of most everyone who does sit through it. And the fact it’s not only so raw, but technically interesting to boot. Well, it really won me over despite how abhorrent it really is.

From a script perspective we have a light on actual plot, heavy on subtext, unique piece that allows the film a lot of leeway in terms of pacing, plot and act structure. With half of the film playing as a straight work of fiction and the other half essentially being presented via “found footage” which was still quite the novel idea at the time, it frees the film up to just cut to the chase in giving the audience what they came to see. Gore, violence and grimness. There’s a rock solid 3 act structure for the broader film and the film within the film, but because the shock and gore is SO front and center in this production, it can get a little lost in the background at times. Pacing is breakneck as we hurl ourselves from salvaged reel to salvaged reel seeing atrocity after atrocity. And I enjoy how the script is pretty blunt in it’s commentary about how modern man, in many ways is more hostile and aggressive than the tribes the documentary crew are tyring to imply are nothing more than brutes and savages.

Our characters have fantastic structuring and narrative development, with our documentary film crew being portrayed as nothing short of “American heroes” by the media at the beginning, but as the film ticks on the cracks begin to show and that squeaky clean facade that these film makers had slowly ebbs away until your left with the real versions of them as crude, crass, violent, horrible people who would quite literally kill to get what they wanted.

It’s nice to see a film where pretty much ALL the characters have some degree of “arc” or development across the runtime, whether it’s the professor who opens the film being a bit wallflowerish but determined to forge on for the greater good of knowledge and education, and ends the picture with his illusion of academia thoroughly smashed and his head and heart left in a total gray zone as he tries to piece together whats right and wrong anymore. Or the executives, who start off very cavalier and “Fuck it, just get it done” in mentality. And end the film ultimately bittered by the entire experience and ashamed at what they helped create. Theres some serious talent thats gone into developing these characters. Which I thought was a beyond nice touch.

We do have to address the elephants in the room however, the animal cruelty is fucking awful, its raw, unpleasent and the fact this was scripted and planned even in early drafts of the script, makes it clear that this wasnt just a spur of the moment “fuck it” decision, they planned to murder a bunch of animals in horrible horrible ways for the entertainment of the audience and thats fucking terrible.

Deodato in more recent interviews has more or less fully disowned the film for this and other reasons, and in 2011 actually recut the film to remove as much of the animal cruelty as possible. But thats all well and good saying that 30-40 years after the fact, once you’ve made all the money you can off it. I felt incredibly uncomfortable during these scenes, but, I cant deny that they cement this film firmly as one of the most obscene and unpleasant pictures i’ve ever sat through. If your going to make a film thats core message is basically “everyones a bastard, but some are more bastardy than others” you cant really pull your punches. I don’t condone it, but I cant deny that it DOES take my hatred for the characters, the director, the whole fucking situation right up to the next level.

Theres some debate as to whether this film could be considered a “Mondo” film in horror circles. Mondo cinema for the uninitiated is essentially faux documentary cinema that has a harsh, graphic exploitation edge. So for example films like “Shocking Asia” and “Goodbye Uncle Tom” would both be considered Mondo as they’re exaggeratory, over the top, obscene and horrible exploitation style pictures presented as very matter of fact style documentaries.

Cannibal Holocaust in some regards is a mondo film, and in some regards isnt. The professors side of the film is straight fiction cinema, its a movie. But the second half of the picture when they start looking at the “in movie” documentary footage is very much Mondo territory, even if the “in world” execs tell our professor that most of the actions on screen were staged. Thats literally what most Mondo films did anyway, So…I’d consider this “Pseudo Mondo”?…”Quasi Mondo”? It has definite Mondo elements but its probably only just over half out and out Mondo and half fiction cinema. Let me know what you think in the comments I’d be genuinely interested on your take.

The other issue present throughout is the portrayal of the amazonian tribes, which in this is incredibly questionable. These cannibal movies flirt and quite often fully embrace racist stereotypes and rhetoric, and this film could best be described as culturally insensitive to the people involved in the production and could, at worst be described as exploitation for the purpose of entertainment of these peoples cultures. That’s sketchy as fuck and I thoroughly dissapprove of it, but at the same time, with it not really being an out and out mondo movie, at least it cant be accused of trying to convince people that this IS how these people behave in real life. It’s just through very suggestive implication. Which is depressing…but there y’go.

Throw in some razor sharp dialogue that flows totally naturally, is entertaining, well written and rock solid alongside the almost william castle-esq decision to literally pay the cast to disappear for a year once filming finished to only add further uncertainty about how real the film was, and I think you have a script thats absolutely horrible. Almost unwatchable for some people. But one that ABSOLUTELY nails the brief of what was requested for this production. It left me with VERY strong emotional and gutteral feelings. And I feel that if any movie can stir an emotional response out of someone, good or bad, it’s achieved something as a work of art. You may strongly dislike it, but if it’s made you feel. It’s achieved the goal that any work or craft should strive for. And it made me SO angry. That I absolutely feel compelled to savour it for what it is.

The script was written by Gianfranco Clerici, a major and infamous talent in the world of italian scriptwriting with 67 credits under his belt in a career spanning nearly 41 years. Highlights include (but are certainly not limited to) “Don’t Torture a duckling”, “The New York Ripper”, “Miami Golem”, “Delerium” and the “Confessions of Emmanuelle”. When you consider those films were just one of his “Another day in the office” type offerings…it’s not surprising that when he pushed himself to go further than before, he turned out something like “Cannibal Holocaust”.

As mentioned, the film was directed by Ruggero Deodato. He has 36 directing credits with some decent heavy hitters including this films prototype “Mondo Cannibale”, “The House on the Edge of the Park” and “The Washing Machine” with his last credit in 2022! So he’s still somewhat active on the scene, though he does seem to have mellowed out a fair bit from his “Impaling people on poles” phase of film making.

On the direction front, we had absolute chaos, while the end result is, in my opinion a tight and solid product that utilises all elements of the cast and crew effectively to give a well rounded and impressive horror show of a movie. The behind the scenes on Deodatos directing style for this production are fairly infamous. Key actors were flown to the amazon without bring provided with a script or even an idea of what or who their character was supposed to be outside of a name, Deodato would *allegedly* constantly shout and swear at the actors in Italian when they felt uncomfortable on set. Tensions ran high between the cast and Deodato with threats of walkouts being made if they were made to repeatedly kill animals. THE FACT THIS FILM HAD AN ALLOCATED “ACCEPTABLE NUMBER” OF ANIMALS TO MURDER. And that There was no start and stop time on shooting. It went on until it didnt.

They say that through hardship and struggle some of the greatest works of tortured art have been produced. And in this instance i’d be inclined to agree. The people who worked on this film absolutely suffered throughout the shoot in humid and unpleasent conditions with real danger around them at all times and an uncompromising and bizarre director in a high pressure situation. And yet somehow despite the total anarchy. I think this works, it presents an end film that feels totally unique when compared to its peers and shines as an example of dedication at *all* costs to see a job done.

It’s the same story with Direction of the cast. It could best be summed up as, there was limited direction of the cast outside of basic scene outlines and they’d only know if they did it wrong if they got shouted at in Italian. And yet somehow, this film has turned out some genuinely well orchestrated performances, you feel the genuine fear the cast have in certain situations, the strong discomfort in the more controversial scenes and that negative energy runs right through this film helping to feed the script in producing something genuinely quite unsettling. It’s rare that you fear for the welfare of a cast. But by god this film had me nervous.

On the cine front? Its gorgeous, just. An EXPLOSION of colour and composition. This is a late 70’s, early 80’s exploitation film. It has ZERO right to be colourful. By my count this thing should have been shades of brown and orange as far as the eye could see…and yet what we have is some VERY forgiving handheld shots, tightly cut together alongside carefully planned and crafted, vibrant cinematography that this film just doesnt deserve…but by GOD it’s here.

The planned shots all follow standard cine procedure, decent compositional structures presented with decent attempts at blocking and the rule of 3rds, the handheld footage is fairly meticulous too, though, for my money I think it could have stood to have gone rougher still than it did. While theres no mistaking that shaky hand held camera aesthetic, there were points here that felt just a little *too* considered. Where a bit more shake and a bit more of a loss of control on the camera may have helped to cement an extra layer of reality.

Theres a decent variety of shot types on display here, with plenty of experimentation across the runtime which I thought was decent, when combined with the scripts razor edge and the beyond interesting set designs across the runtime you really do end up with something quite interesting as a visual piece. In fact, the only other thing I really noted was that, while the lighting is pretty much all ‘natural’ light. It maybe would have been interesting to see a bit more attention to detail in the new york segments when it came to interesting lighting. The scenes shot in locations like offices and theaters are all fairly flatly floodlit, which seemed a bit clinical, im not saying they needed to go mad with creating interesting lighting. But just…something a bit more inkeeping with the style we see in the jungle shots, even if it was just something a bit less flat and white probably would have just taken this film to the next level.

Performance wise we largely have a fairly believable and decent cast at hand. Given the main remit of our deceased documentary crew members is “to be the biggest twats this side of the Amazon river” I feel they more than live up to that, swinging between malicious, hammy and irritating. They’re the perfect combination of traits that make a character not just someone you dislike, but actively despise for who they are and what they do.

Notable performances Include Robert Kerman as Professor Munroe, who brings a wonderful weighty performance along for the ride in this, starting off as a hopeful academic believing he’s going to be part of the history books, only to end the film disillusioned and bereft by all that he’s seen, experienced and learned across the runtime. Carl Gabriel Yorke as Alan is phenomenal, not only did he have NO idea what was going on most of the time, but he’s easily one of the more demented performances present in this film and I found him perfect for the role and utterly despicable in equal measures. Patrick Bateman before the fact, he’s just…fantastic in the role truly phenomenal.

Credit also must be given to Salvatore Basile as Professor Munroes Amazonian guide Chaco. He’s blunt, crude, smart, and not one to mess with and Salvatore well and truely realises the character perfectly with a quiet but sharp performance that really shines through in the opening half of the movie. Thats not to do a disservice to the rest of the cast, all of whome perform excellently throughout. But the ones mentioned above, are the ones who really take it to the next level for me. With some fantastic physical performances and an almost electric energy in their physicality. They really help make the film the believable and terrifying end result it truely is.

And finally; the soundtrack! Simple. But effective! We have a hybrid synth/acoustic soundtrack courtesy of Riz Ortolani a maestro of sound, his musics been featured in films from Tinto Brass to Quentin Tarantino. And here it’s PERFECT. It’s sickly sounding, warbly and thudding, it feels alien. But not in the science fiction sense, in the sense of it being of the unknown. It fits the tone of the film perfectly and amplifies the power of the hardest hitting moments. Theres a reason this films had its soundtrack issued seperately multiple times over the years. Its a fantastic work with the theme tune itself being nothing short of Iconic for the horror genre as a whole.

Just to quickly get it out of the way as well, while researching this film I found a few of my fellow film critics criticised this film for having poor dubbing. My friends, I say to you. You show me an italian production from 1975-1985 with perfect dubbing and i’ll show you a green dog. This is actually one of the better efforts i’ve seen in terms of ADR…whether its just that not many people have seen the Grindhouse release or whether they just havent fully experienced the ‘dubbed’ italian film scene yet, I cant say…but yeh. I think the audio on this is actually one of the more solid efforts truthfully.

Cannibal Holocaust managed 10 days before it was seized by milan police and the director charged with breaching the obsenity laws of the country alongside suspected murder. In terms of a home video released it was released in the UK uncut on VHS in 1980 by ‘GO Video’ there wasnt even a question of this getting scooped up by the 1984 video recordings act, it’s place on the nasties list is one of the few instances where I totally understand how it ended up on there…I might not agree with the draconian idea of the government telling me what I can and cant enjoy in the comfort of my own living room. But I absolutely understand that if your making a list of films most likely to cause upset and corruption amongst the population, as of 1984, that this film would be on that list.

As such it didnt get re-released in the UK again until 2001 when it was released on VHS and DVD by VIPCO with 5 minutes and 44 seconds worth of cuts, removing all the animal cruelty and a decent chunk of the gorier or more misogynistic material altogether. In 2011 Shameless films resubmitted the film for classification and this time the film was passed with only 15 seconds cut (basically the muskrat killing) with all the other instances of animal cruelty either reframed, trunkated, or altered to mask the worst elements of it. This release came out on DVD and Bluray and was accompanied by a ‘Director approved’ animal cruelty free cut, which removed all instances of animal cruelty, masking them with film ‘leadout’ stock footage. Finally in 2014, Gridhouse releasing released a region free bluray copy of the film which included the full film in HD uncut for the first time, alongside a different version of the “Animal cruelty free” cut and a second disc packed with extras alongside the motion picture soundtrack, all packaged in a lovely boxed release. It’s gorgeous, I love it, and because I live in the UK I DEFINITELY DO NOT OWN THIS VERSION OF THE FILM…okay? It’s DEFINITELY NOT ON MY FILM SHELF RIGHT NOW. got it? Good.

Oh…and in 2022 88 Films put out a 4k release of the movie, but it’s basically the same cut as the 2011 shameless version, so…while I appreciate the effort…and if you don’t mind seeing a cut film and you don’t own a copy already then, absolutely go grab that version. Im happy with the version I own and i’ll probably only upgrade again if grindhouse do a 4k version of their bluray release…I mean…I WILL NOT BE BUYING THAT BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE NAUGHTY AND ILLEGAL TO DO IN THE UK…god damnit im digging a hole here…move on! Move on!

Cannibal Holocaust is worthy of its reputation, a vile, despicable film with unlikable characters abusing and torturing only slightly less likable characters in a big grim situation filled with awfulness. And I honestly think it’s one of the most impressive pieces of art produced in the modern cinematic age. I wont debate the morality of the piece, I think thats an open and shut case, it’s repugnant. But as a work that can stir feeling, start discussion, create debate, raise instinctual feeling? This is a masterwork. With a razor sharp script, gorgeous and colourful cine, rock solid performances, a creative and alien soundtrack and direction that dances a fine line between artistry and madness. Its okay to hate Cannibal Holocaust for what it did, and what it does. But as scholars of the field. All I ask is that you try to look at it more broadly than it just being a piece of shit cannibal movie. Its much more nuanced than that below the surface.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/cannibal-holocaust/1/

Watched on Sunday July 28, 2024.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/cannibal-holocaust/1/

Out of all the ‘Video Nasties’ the fact that ‘Island of Death’ doesnt get as much love as some of the bigger hitters frankly astounds me. a highly compitent production. Niko Mastorakis takes us on a demented killing spree for which we are unflinching hostages.

The plot? two cousins arrive on a small remote greek island and begin a whirlwind killing spree while engaging in erotic and incestuous happenings. As time goes on however ‘Celia’ (one of the cousins) believes her partner in crime is going too far and begins to pull away from his life of psycopathy…Oh! dont get me wrong, she’s still a SUPER into it murderer…she just isnt AS into it as her partner.

While the nasties had a bit of a ‘rep’ for being extreme and over the top, very few of them were really, truely all that bad…’Island of Death’ however VERY much lives up to its reputaiton. delivering everything from rape and incest through to beastiality and graphic mysoginitic driven mutilation. Its a tough watch in places. But Nikos script work and direction here is ultimately what saves it as a picture. In lesser hands, this could have been REALLY poor ‘grindhouse’ fodder. But Niko makes almost every aspect of the production really feel like a fully fleshed out universe.

The script, clocking in at an hour and 48 is reasonably paced, bleakly toned and deeply unpleasent to see in places. However, it maintains its tone and style from beginning to end and rarely falters. While I do think some slight trims here could help to aid the viewing experience. I ultimately felt like this was about the right length for this film.

Its an examination of Psycopathy and what drives (or rather doesnt drive) people to commit abhorrent acts, and while it maybe sags a little bit here and there, Nikos script work in balancing genuinely unsettling violence with actually interesting character pieces I thought was actually quite unique.

The characters here have depth, nuance, they may not be the cleverest killers ever put to screen, but they do feel quite believable as characters and I enjoyed watching them fall deeper and deeper into the madness of their own creation. Towards the end of the 3rd act ‘Christopher’ (one of the killers) comments that ‘once one thing goes wrong, it can make everything go wrong’ and thats pretty much the mantra of this film.

I’d stop short of saying this is a ‘complex’ work. But it is FAR from simplistic and really does make the most of its characters, the drives behind them and the world building of the mysterious exotic greek island location.

But for me? what really sets this thing up to the next level is the direction and cine. Marrying up this deeper than usual script with a set of visuals that are quite frankly gorgeous in places. Rich deep colourful shots that have expert composition and really make the most of the locations and set spaces they have.

the choice to shoot a lot of these brutal murder sequences as erotically charged pieces really only further drives the unselttling madness of the piece and makes it even more surreal and nightmarish to sit through.

Couple this up with a rock solid edit that really helps sell the nightmare, and some really decen performances that only further help to sell the surrealist and horrifying vision playing out (Not to mention the amazingly out of place soundtrack that somehow works despite feeling TOTALLY out of place) and you have all the makings of a much underrated classic.

‘Island of Death’ will absolutely not be for everyone. Its over the top, graphic, unsettling and a little *too* real for comfort in places. But as a piece of cinema, I really struggle to find fault with it. We have an interesting and somewhat complex script that plays with light and dark moments, with complex characters who have their own independent drives and motivation, married to MORE than compitent direction, interesting and creative visual choices, GORGEOUS cine that really pops, and a rock solid edit holding it all together.

I think this one is probably one of my favourite ‘Nasties’ and if you hanker for the ‘Stronger side’ of Nasty history. This one will more than give you your money’s worth!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/island-of-death/1/

One of those ‘Public Domain’ films that i’d always been meaning to get around to, but never quite managed. I’ve probably seen ‘White Zombie’ more than any other public domain movie via it being chopped, changed and remixed into the many MANY ‘rad’, ‘hip’ and ‘totally tubular’ repackagings of PD movies in the 80s and 90s…So when ‘Gold Ninja Video’ announced a presentation of the film from a 16mm print from the Toronto reference library that promised a little more ‘grizzled’ edge to the feature than the pristine Kino and Kino adjacent remasters. I figured this was probably the best way to catch it and ordered a copy. Ultimately, I wasnt dissapointed.

The plot finds us in Haiti as ‘Bride to be’ Madeline meets up with her Fiance Neil ahead of their wedding and honeymoon. During the stay they’ve been invited to stop at the residency of one ‘Charles Beaumont’ a plantatian owner who has a past history with Madeline, and was spurned by her in favour of Neil.

It quickly becomes apparent though that Charles is FAR from over Madeline, and has in fact invited them to stay at his residency with a deviously feindish plan. Teaming up with an evil ‘Voo-doo’ master LITERALLY called ‘Murder Legendre’ played wonderfully by Bela Lugosi, Charles plans to use dark magic and mysticism to turn Madeline into a ‘zombified’ state, with the intent to have her all for himself.

But ‘Murder’ is in fact a LOT more malicious than Charles bargained for, and it quickly becomes apparent that his ‘Zombie’ magic is being used to run not only an entire sugar cane processing plant. but has given ‘Murder’ an army of mindless workers who bend to his every whim…and ‘Murder’ has eyes for Madeline too!

With Neil beside himself at the premature ‘death’ of his bride. he teams up with other residents on the island to learn more about ‘Murder’ his operations, with the hope that he may once again be reunited with Madeline.

For a more contemporary horror fan, I could maybe see this dragging a little script wise. apart from the not so subtle racist tones of ‘voo doo rituals’ and enslavement, which I imagine will put a fair few off before the 15 minute mark. the script is a really quite simple plot thats dragged out about 10-15 minutes past its comfortable ending point.

For folks who are used to older horror films and the way they’re paced. This isnt actually that bad for 1930s horror pacing wise, but I do think it could be a little bit tighter. the opening act takes a little while to get going and the second act crawls a little too until around the halfway point where it finally finds its momentum.

The oversimplicity of the plotting makes it quite hard to stay focussed on the films drive because, you almost know how this is going to play out pretty much right from the get go…which means that the urge to only half pay attention, or to drift off to social media or other things is STRONG.

What I can say in this films favour is the closing act is rock solid, really picks up the pace, has some wonderful moments, some solid lines and left me overall quite impressed with the picture. But I did ultimately come away from this one both kind of happy with the end result, but also wondering where nearly an hour went to in getting to the resolution we ultimatley did.

What IS this films saving grace is the direction and cine. While still playing with a few of the tropes of more traditional film making of the era. ‘White Zombie’ is BURSTING with creativity. Shots are clearly very intensely planned out, theres some phenominal tracking shots for the era, seriously quite unprecedented stuff for the time. and its clear Victor Halperin had a VERY strong identity for this film in terms of how it looks, how it plays out and the key focus of the visuals in telling the story it wants to tell…Honestly; if the film didnt look as good as it does, you could probably knock a whole star to a star and a half off my rating for this one.

The cine is phenominal, with intricately crafted compositions, careful cross fades VERY interesting use of screenspace and fantastically creative lighting choices that seemingly envelope the entire film in a thick black Vignette that only adds to the suspensful mystery surrounding the films subjects. There are moments where this feature feels utterly ‘otherworldly’ for lack of a better descriptive. Given this was a reletively independent production, I was all the more impressed by the sheer visual weight behind it. The word ‘iconic’ is thrown around a lot these days, but the visuals here most definitely ARE ‘iconic’ of just how rock solid some of this ‘oft’ derided public domain features that arnt really given a chance because ‘how good can ‘free’ be?’ can be.

The edit on this versions a *little* skittish due to the age of the print itself, but the transition work is wonderful, the cuts are pretty solid and the effects work here is memorable to say the least.

Add to this Lugosi’s performance here as ‘Murder’ being highly enjoyable and animate, while hardly a stretch for Lugosi, given he had only finished work on ‘Dracula’ 12 months prior to this, he still FULLY encapsulates the role, giving a feindish performance that manages to feel familiar enough to ‘Dracula’ to be familiar, but different enough that it really manages to stand on its own two feet.

Madge Bellamy as ‘Madeline’ gives a somewhat muted performance, but when she gets her moments. She runs with everything shes got, giving even something of a (for the time) progressive performance in the scenes where she stands up to Charles. Really, its her physical performance that won me over here, with her ‘possessed’ sequences genuinely coming across as quite creepy. I think she really understood the task at hand and easily gives the films some of its more memorable moments.

As for the rest of the cast, a good solid range of performances lie here with all of the cast fully embracing the picture with a good (for the time) level of animation both in delivery and physicality, its the final act that really pulls out all the stops and I dont think theres a ‘bad’ performance in the bunch here.

‘White Zombie’ is a little simplistic in terms of story, but what it lacks in nuance on the page, it MORE than makes up for in terms of what made it up on the screen. A visual delight, I think this may pair well with something like ‘Carnival of Souls’ as a decent ‘etherial’ double feature. One i’d definitely recommend catching at least once if your a budding horror enthusiast. While imperfect, ‘White Zombie’ did ultimately win me over, and I could easily see myself revisiting this one in future.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/white-zombie/

Watched on Sunday July 21, 2024.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/suffer-little-children/2/