Island of Death, 1976 – ★★★★

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/

by tytdreviews

White Zombie, 1932 – ★★★½

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/

by tytdreviews

Video Nasties: Draconian Days, 2014 – ★★★★

Watched this tonight as part of a late night double feature commemorating 40 years since the royal ascent of the ‘Video Recordings act’ of 1984…Essentially, the bill that gave birth to the ‘Video Nasties’ as a phenomenon.

I really love the first edition of this, I felt the pacing was razor, the storytelling was equally sharp and the use of archive footage and talking heads recounting the events as they happened impactful.

This edition pretty much picks up where the last one left off and covers everything from 1984 to 2000…and…it’s pretty much more of the same. Super sharp film making, great attention to detail, some really decent archive pulls and unique discussion points.

If I was being really REALLY picky. I’d say that I feel like this one *just* overstays its welcome by about 10 minutes or so. Theres a bit towards the end where the narrative shifts from telling the story of the nasties from the people who lived through it, to a bit more of an anecdotal intermission dealing with bootleggers, convention traders and film makers living under the nasties.

While I feel that segment DID add value, it also slowed things down quite a bit, and I think it maybe could have been a tiny bit tighter.

It also does feel in places a bit less like a new documentary and more a ‘We scraped this off the cutting room floor’ type affair.

These are however small quibbles, that ultimately didnt stop me really enjoying this one. I recommend both this AND volume 1 if you have ANY interest in the ‘Video Nasties’ as a period of film history. Its probably the most accessable and comprehensive pair of works on the subject that i’ve seen released to date.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/video-nasties-draconian-days/1/

by tytdreviews

Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape, 2010 – ★★★★½

A DAMN fine overview of the history of the ‘Video Nasties’ charting their early creation in the mid 70s through to the legislation of the ‘Video recordings act of 1984’

Insightful, shocking and INCREDIBLY well made. Volume one of this two volume set, for me? is frankly must see documentary cinema.

If you havent seen this. do it. if you already have? what are you reading this for? go watch it again.

Jake West here has assembled a tremendous story using deep cuts from the vault and interviews with the people who created it, and the people who lived it. This one is a personal favourite of mine.

*Watched to mark the 40th anniversairy of the passing of the Video Recordings act 1984

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/video-nasties-moral-panic-censorship-videotape/1/

by tytdreviews

Satan’s Black Wedding, 1976 – ★★½

It seems that lessons were clearly learnt during the production of 1975’s ‘Criminally Insane’ as 12 months later Nick Millard would return to work once again with ‘Satans Black Wedding’ a satanic vampiric romp that in some ways VASTLY out flanks his previous work…While in others really manages to come up short.

The plot follows ‘Mark’ a gent who’s been away from his family for a while who, on returning to attend his sisters funeral, finds her bedroom covered in blood and suicide note left offering little answer to what exactly transpired. Mark links in with a detective who says that the case is being examined. But it’s the housekeeper who seems to have the best measure on exactly what is going on. An evil presence is stalking the grounds of the house, and she desperately wants to cut her losses and leave while she still has her life.

Mark tries to piece together exactly what happened alongside his childhood friend Jean, which leads them on a journey of black mass rituals, satanic beings and an encounter with a mysterious rider of the devil himself. leading to a rather unsettling conclusion.

And, the first thing that jumped out at me with this feature is, when compared to Millards previous work, the technical ability seems to have massively improved across the board. Direction seems more considered, thoughtful and there seems to be more emphisis on showing rather than telling which is great. there seems to be a much more coherent vision present here.

Shots are stronger, better composed, utilise depth of field well and, for the most part it feels like scenes were actually structured rather than it feeling like they just got to the location, shot whatever they wanted, however they wanted and assumed it would just work in post.

B-roll gets a nice increase which helps the scenes breath a lot better. theres much more creatively inspired and solidly constructed lighting setups, which really help give the production much more professional flair! Colour use is much more cohesive here and results in a much more styalized production!

The edit is coherent, tightly cut with decent match cuts, much less repetative footage, and effects are utilized in a much more meaningful way offering a very solid base that the films works to. In fact, barring only a couple of instances of mixed to poor composition and occasions where scene building ‘crossed the line’ I thought this, considering what came before it, was pretty well put together by comparison.

That is also unfortunately where the vast majority of my rating for this film goes. As it seems that, in exchange for a much sturdier and solid technical production. The script has been allowed to wilt somewhat.

Make no mistake, this is an (at times) rather atmospheric little horror thriller. But the issues with the script here are plentiful. From revealing who the ‘baddies’ are pretty much immediately (thus spoiling the ‘mystery/surprise reveal’ element of this thriller) to ropey, dry and uninteresting dialogue. To really rather poor act structuring where we once again find ourselves with a solid first act, a decent 10 minute closer and about 30-40 minutes that AT BEST could be described as a ‘runaround’ with the occasional half decent atmospheric moment in it. This is a script that absolutely had potential, but has been ill thought out in its translation to the screen.

The biggest issue? is a mixture of pacing problems and an unengaging cast. The film starts strong enough out the gate with some genuinely interesting mystery fodder. But quickly devolves into a repeatative form of our core characters visiting a location, wandering around for a bit, learning a little bit of info (that we as an audience were clued into 20 minutes prior) before moving onto the next scene.

The tone is much more serious than Millards past works, which I think works wonderfully in the more atmospheric scenes where our characters are fleeing from vampiric satanists…But that seriousness becomes a millstone when we get to the ‘wandering around’ segments. with the lack of charismatic, interesting or engaging characters, this piece does become rather dry, rather quickly.

The dialogue is very heavy on explanation and plot detail, this is the kind of movie where knowing less about the mysterious force our characters are up against would have really worked in the films favour..No such luck though sadly, as we’re instead given explicit detail of their plans and how its going to be executed multiple times across the runtime.

Its also just…kind of boring. Its idle chatter dialogue…only it runs for 60 minutes when it really should have been used to help give the characters a bit more depth and complexity. Idle chatter can be essential to character growth when used SPARINGLY. And here, it very much isnt. relegating the actual INTERESTING plot points to a few mintues here and there in dribs and drabs.

The performances across the board are largely quite dry and uninteresting. a few good horror moments here and there really isnt enough to save this thing.

I feel kind of bad ripping into this one because the bones of a really solid idea ARE present here, and it DOES have some good solid moments. But it feels like a lot more effort was put into making this film look better than it sounded…and thats kind of a make or break for me.

I’d still say maybe check this one out if you can find it. Its really not bad. But just…temper your expectations on this one. I think this would play brilliantly with Bob Clarks ‘Deathdream’ as a B-feature. But is this ‘must see?’…well, its a no from me.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/satans-black-wedding/

by tytdreviews

Criminally Insane, 1975 – ★★★½

I had heard about ‘Criminally Insane’ (Though, to me…it’ll always be known by its alternate title ‘Crazy Fat Ethel’) for years amongst the B-movie and cult enthusiast circles as a HELL of an oddity of a picture. So when Vinegar Syndrome recently announced a ground up HD remaster of the thing, OF COURSE I pounced on it to see what all the Hubbub was about…Frankly, I wasnt dissapointed.

The plots pretty much as simple and bizarre as it can be. The film follows ‘Ethel’ a morbidly obese woman who’s spent a number of years in a mental facility due to her psychotic episodes. After managing to subdue her with a combination of drugs and electro shock therapy. The doctors decide to release Ethel back into the custody of her grandmother. The doctors give careful instruction on how to take care of Ethel, alongside the suggestion that she start to seriously consider losing some weight, due to the strain it puts on her heart…

This will prove to be the catalyst for which the rest of the film unfolds. As, on returning home, Ethel almost immediatley goes into a feeding frenzy happily consuming entire ice cream cakes, and whole large packs of bacon with boxes of eggs. Her grandmother decides enough is enough and locks the food in a cupboard. Informing Ethel that she wont be allowed to snack between meals anymore AND that she’ll live on ‘modest portion sizes’ till her weight starts to come down.

Ethels response to this is to accuse her grandmother of attmepting to ‘Starve her to death’ before she picks up a kitchen knife and murders the poor lady, stealing back the key to the cupboard and eating the entire pantry in one sitting.

And…what follows from that is essentially Ethel trying to cover up her initial murder by murdering even more people in a hunger induced rage. While her sister Rosalie (who has returned to the house to lay low after escaping an abusive relationship) decides to use the place to work her ‘trade’.

And…thats basically the movie. Theres not much in the way of complexity, next to no nuance. Its essentially a bit of a proto slasher, with a one note fat joke embedded in it, running on dialogue that would make John Waters rise for applause.

The scripts ultra basic, the act structuring is pretty uneven. the opening act is fine enough, but, for me? This films biggest problem is that it gets into the second act (around the time Rosalie turns up and starts turning tricks) and the film just…locks into a pace and energy and never breaks out above or below that pace. It quickly becomes padded monotonous and repetative.

It has its moments here and there, but it feels very much like its stalling for time right up until the 3rd act…Which is basically the last 10 minutes or so of the film where they remember that this is a movie where they’re ALLOWED to have fun, and they just about stick the landing. With an abrupt cut to credits that made me audibly roar with laughter.

Idling for 30 minutes is a real shame here. But mercifully, everything else is pretty much how I wanted this to play out. its got a comedic, macarbre tone. the dialogue is SO rough and pacey, it reminds me of films like ‘The Baby’ or ‘Female Trouble’ for its ability to just throw out the most BIZARRE lines, scattergun style…it really does become a case of ‘Where do I even begin?!’

The characters are a little flat and one note, but mercifully that one note is campy and mesmorisingly strange. Seriously, this one doesnt let up. constantly pushing the characters into bizarre happenings and with both lines and line deliveries that frankly have to be seen to be believed. The second act may feel slow and repetative, but the quality of the characters on hand more than helped pull me back on track.

Due to the lopsided act structuring the pacing is a bit hit and miss, when its on a role, its superb. But when the film crawls, the pacing matches its speed and my mind quickly wandered to my emails quite frankly…Not that you’re going to miss anything here. Its a plus size woman mudering people in a psychotic blind rage whenever she gets hungry…it’s hardly Chaucer.

Technically? this things a bust. and EASILY the worst aspect of this produciton. Based on the ‘Apology’ note at the opening of Vinegar syndromes release for this one, it feels less like this film was ‘lovingly remastered’ and more like it was ‘recovered from oblivion’ Which does make it hard to gauge how much of whats here is poor direction/post work and how much of it is ‘This film was literally found unspooled in trash liners, where they’d sat for 30+ years…its a wonder they survive.’

Frankly speaking, the direction feels like someones first ever attempt at making a movie…which, given Nick Millard up to this point had basically almost exclusively worked in the adult film industry…I could believe this may have ACTUALLY been his first attempt at trying to string together a coherent narrative using his own creative vision.

scene construction here is an after thought. It feels like they planned a scene out on the day with no paperwork or thought as to whether it would cut together in post, they shot what felt right rather than what would work and then shoved it together as best they could.

As a result, nothing really feels quite cohesive, shots just kind of…happen. it feels mindlessly composed, with only a handful of shots seemingly consisdered…and thats less because Millard had something to say, and more because it couldnt ‘technically’ be shot in any other way.

As a result theres a lot of slow motion shots, repeating shots over and over again, weird effects like inverting the film, and instances of cuts overlapping poorly (though…how intentional that was is probably up for debate). Its bad. It doesnt really show creative story telling through the visuals…But. I need remind you that this film is called ‘Crazy Fat Ethel.’ I think you get the picture.

On the cine? its pretty poor, due to the lack of thought that went into the direction, shots are poorly composed, dont seem to have dominant subjects for a decent chunk of the runtime, and B-roll is almost exclusively saved for ‘kill scenes’ and thats it. NO time was taken to block sequences or work with ‘the line’. While it DOES have its moments here and there shot wise. im not 100% convinced Millard INTENTIONALLY planned any meaning behind this setup. with the one or two good shots being more ‘happy accidents’ than anything else.

As an editor…the edit made me wince. NO timed cuts, NO consideration for B-roll, NON of the match cuts ACTUALLY match. Everything cuts way too early. theres an EYEWATERING sequence near the beginning where Ethels Grandma goes to visit the doctor to get an update on her that could quite easily cause whiplash and a nosebleed given how fast the cuts between shots are. It feels like someone who’s never edited before in their life just decided to ‘have a go’. And given the chronic state of the direction, cine and lack of B-roll…I feel even a veteran would have REALLY struggled to make this thing hold together well…So to see someone just ‘attempt’ to put this thing together is frankly painful to me.

Pricilla Alden is ESSENTIAL to why you need to see this film. She has a wonderful grit and earthy ‘thud’ to her line deliveries which are entirely charasmatic and interesting…Honestly, I fell in love with her performance here, its a character piece and she nails the brief PERFECTLY. shes also surprisingly spry clearing a staircase multiple times without so much as a wheeze which, given I too am a ‘big boy’ I found VERY impressive.

The rest of the cast all basically feel like they were B-characters that fell off the truck of a Grindhouse flick. Not exactly ‘unremarkable’, but when you have such a strong performance in the form of Pricilla, its always going to take a bit of the shine away.

The soundtrack is a bleepy bloopy mess. and, for some reason, much like the edit. the sound edit on this thing is atrocious. theres a full 30 second segment at the beginning of this film where the audio is entirely missing…Noone knows where it went, and Vinegar Syndrome traced it back to the print used to make the copies that were distributed…So this was very likely an issue on the original print too…the adr works terrible, the sound effect work is poor…its frankly quite hilarious.

‘Criminally Insane’ is an incompitent production. Im quite confident of that. But the utter charm it has in its characters, scenarios and simplicity made it a feature I really, honestly quite enjoyed. a PRIME film to watch with friends and beers, I think this would pair up well with a John Waters movie or maybe something like ‘The Baby’ I think this one will grow on me even more over time. Its a TERRIBLE production on a technical level. but utterly watchable on a story and performance level. Definitely recommended.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/criminally-insane/

by tytdreviews