Dir: Dario Argento
The giallo's giallo, Deep Red is about as good as the genre gets. Although its plot follows a pretty familiar pattern (a foreigner (David Hemmings) in Rome witnesses a brutal murder and must prove his own innocence before the cops lock him up for it), the script is way slicker than most. There's a great rapport between Hemmings and Daria Nicolodi (a reporter who offers help in solving the crimes) and even some humour in there, which is rare for Argento. The set design and photography are both unbelievable and Argento's direction keeps things tight, brutal and beautiful. Goblin's ferocious musical score still sounds incredible today and the killer's reveal at the end is simply the most audacious and ingenious twist I've ever seen in a detective film. Brilliant stuff. ****
Showing posts with label Creepy Puppet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creepy Puppet. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
Dolls (1987)
Dir: Stuart Gordon
Cracking, underrated Empire Pictures movie from Stuart Gordon's golden period of overwhelming creativity (one a year with "Re-animator", "From Beyond" and "Dolls"! Wowser!). This one plays with the classic motif of travellers seeking shelter from the storm in a spooky old house. The house is inhabited by the Hartwickes, a pair of hospitable dollmakers who seem glad of the company. The only problem is that, during the night, their loyal and protective dolls made come alive and have plans of their own for anyone who's been naughty ... Part fairytale, part classic horror and part rampant splatter flick, "Dolls" is a successful and original blend of styles. At 77 minutes, it zips along and manages to be funny, poignant and shocking, all without pretense. John Carl Buechler provides some top-notch FX work; his evil little dolls are simply marvelous. This beats the stuffing out of most deadly toy movies. ***1/2
Cracking, underrated Empire Pictures movie from Stuart Gordon's golden period of overwhelming creativity (one a year with "Re-animator", "From Beyond" and "Dolls"! Wowser!). This one plays with the classic motif of travellers seeking shelter from the storm in a spooky old house. The house is inhabited by the Hartwickes, a pair of hospitable dollmakers who seem glad of the company. The only problem is that, during the night, their loyal and protective dolls made come alive and have plans of their own for anyone who's been naughty ... Part fairytale, part classic horror and part rampant splatter flick, "Dolls" is a successful and original blend of styles. At 77 minutes, it zips along and manages to be funny, poignant and shocking, all without pretense. John Carl Buechler provides some top-notch FX work; his evil little dolls are simply marvelous. This beats the stuffing out of most deadly toy movies. ***1/2
Sunday, 26 March 2006
Seed of Chucky (2004)
Dir: Don Mancini
A joke taken too far can be one of the most torturous things to have to endure, as proven with "Seed of Chucky", the fifth "Child's Play" film. Watching it makes you feel like checking into a Slovakian hostel just to get some relief from the agony. In this, Chucky and Tiffany, the killer dolls, find their long-lost androgyne child (named Glen/Glenda - geddit?) and head to Hollywood where a film is being made about them. This provides ample excuse for almost non-stop awkward self-reference and a total lack of coherent plot. In fact, the script is so appalling that even at an ultra-lean 82 minutes (which includes a prolonged end credits sequence where all the 'highlights' of the movie get revisited), it draaaaaaags and feels like an epic. There are about five 'false endings' thrown in as further padding and, if that's not still bad enough for you to avoid this movie at all costs, just ask me about calibre of humour (ie: Chucky blowing up Britney Spears and giggling "Oops, I did it again!" to himself). With CGI dolls, CGI gore and (God save us all) CGI sets for some of the scenes, the movie plays like a cross between "Corpse Bride", "New Nightmare" and "Scream 3", which is to say TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE!
A joke taken too far can be one of the most torturous things to have to endure, as proven with "Seed of Chucky", the fifth "Child's Play" film. Watching it makes you feel like checking into a Slovakian hostel just to get some relief from the agony. In this, Chucky and Tiffany, the killer dolls, find their long-lost androgyne child (named Glen/Glenda - geddit?) and head to Hollywood where a film is being made about them. This provides ample excuse for almost non-stop awkward self-reference and a total lack of coherent plot. In fact, the script is so appalling that even at an ultra-lean 82 minutes (which includes a prolonged end credits sequence where all the 'highlights' of the movie get revisited), it draaaaaaags and feels like an epic. There are about five 'false endings' thrown in as further padding and, if that's not still bad enough for you to avoid this movie at all costs, just ask me about calibre of humour (ie: Chucky blowing up Britney Spears and giggling "Oops, I did it again!" to himself). With CGI dolls, CGI gore and (God save us all) CGI sets for some of the scenes, the movie plays like a cross between "Corpse Bride", "New Nightmare" and "Scream 3", which is to say TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE!
Saturday, 25 March 2006
Pin (1988)
Dir: Sandor Stern
Perhaps not strictly a horror film but certainly marketed as one ("Designed to disturb! A bone chiller!" screams the video box!), "Pin" is weird and unsettling enough for me to believe it warrants inclusion here. It's a low-key Canadian movie about a boy, his sister and his, uh, anatomically correct dummy. The dummy (whose name is Pin) is initially used as a ventriloquist act by the children's doctor father to teach them about the facts of life at an early age. However, when both parents die in a car accident, the boy finds himself forming an unhealthy attachment to the dummy that leads inevitably to murder and madness! "Pin", in spite of its subtlety, is a unsettling experience that resonates long after the final, devastating frames. It deals in uncomfortable subject matter with a straight face and a sympathetic, clever screenplay. In an era of horror where screaming topless girls and wisecracking rubber-faced demons were almost mandatory, a film as genuinely disturbing and eerie as "Pin" was quite a rare find. Sadly, it still is, but if you can rescue a copy from a VHS bargain bin somewhere, I'd certainly recommend the purchase. ***
Perhaps not strictly a horror film but certainly marketed as one ("Designed to disturb! A bone chiller!" screams the video box!), "Pin" is weird and unsettling enough for me to believe it warrants inclusion here. It's a low-key Canadian movie about a boy, his sister and his, uh, anatomically correct dummy. The dummy (whose name is Pin) is initially used as a ventriloquist act by the children's doctor father to teach them about the facts of life at an early age. However, when both parents die in a car accident, the boy finds himself forming an unhealthy attachment to the dummy that leads inevitably to murder and madness! "Pin", in spite of its subtlety, is a unsettling experience that resonates long after the final, devastating frames. It deals in uncomfortable subject matter with a straight face and a sympathetic, clever screenplay. In an era of horror where screaming topless girls and wisecracking rubber-faced demons were almost mandatory, a film as genuinely disturbing and eerie as "Pin" was quite a rare find. Sadly, it still is, but if you can rescue a copy from a VHS bargain bin somewhere, I'd certainly recommend the purchase. ***
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