Time for the traditional HMC Boxing Day round up of new films that have found their way into the screening room this year and made sufficient impression on me that I feel they deserve another mention. In terms of movies released and festivals held, 2021 was a vast improvement over 2020, with things feeling as if they were getting back to (almost) normal. Many festivals provided digital alternatives for those still not prepared to venture back into the auditorium, and often the digital lineups were different from physical ones.
And so we come to the films I found the most things to like about this year. The rules stay the same - each film had to have been shown in the UK for the first time, either cinema, festival, disc release or streaming service. And big budget major studio successes don't get a look in because everyone will already know if they want to see NO TIME TO DIE, DUNE, or SPIDERMAN NO WAY HOME.
But wait! I hear you cry. What of the worst of the year? The bit that seems to be the favourite according to many readers. Well, I didn't watch anything too deserving of being dragged over the coals, which probably reflects my viewing habits more than the fact that there was definitely a lot of rubbish out there. However there were a couple of films worthy of mention, both because their directors fall into the could do / have done better category. So let's have a couple of awards:
Best Bad Film of 2021
Yes James Wan, I like a lot of the films you've made but not MALIGNANT, and not even rabid fans claiming 'it's deliberately supposed to be this bad' had me buying that this one was any good. Mind you, there's so much awfulness to delight in with this one that not for one moment might it be considered dull. Awful, yes, all the way through in fact, but never dull. And so many questions! Which director does James Wan really want to be? Stuart Gordon? (The beginning of this) ELM ST era Wes Craven? (Lots of this) Or Dario Argento at his convoluted worst? (You'll know. Believe me you'll know). So many lines of dialogue clamouring for the coveted 'Worst Of 2021' award! So many actors determined to deliver those lines as appallingly as possible! No spoilers in this review because for the true Bad Film Fan this one is a feast indeed waiting to be discovered. Take heart that the appallingly misjudged opening 10-15 minutes is merely a hint of the dreadful delights to come, because believe me it gets even better / worse.
The 'What Were They Thinking?' Award of 2021
Previously won by Neil Marshall (for THE RECKONING), Bruce McDonald (for HELLIONS) and Brad Anderson (VANISHING ON SEVENTH STREET) this year the award for a film-maker who is known to be more than competent but has somehow delivered something that has all us scratching our heads and wondering if perhaps it's someone else with exactly the same name goes to Neill Blomkamp for DEMONIC. This was a film that felt more like a first effort from someone with a couple of interesting ideas but lacking the talent or expertise to carry them through, and the only tradition it did live up to was being a Frightfest opening film that really wasn't very good.
Okay that's quite enough of the bad, onwards with the good and the ugly (but still good!):
10 Greywoods Plot
Premiering at Frightfest, what a surprise GREYWOOD'S PLOT was. For about the first 45 minutes this is the not-especially enthralling tale of two likeable, bumbling losers on the hunt to film the chupacabra for their youtube channel. Then it suddenly goes completely mental and becomes a modern-day version of early 1930s mad scientist movies. Shot in black and white this becomes sufficiently disturbing towards the end that I was glad it wasn't a midnight movie. Director Josh Stifter knows his stuff and even cited TERROR IS A MAN as an influence in the post film interview. Let's hope he gets to make more messed up movies like this one.
9 When the Screaming Starts
A very specific kind of Great British Horror film that I love is in safe hands if WHEN THE SCREAMING STARTS is anything to go by. A horror comedy with the accent very much on the horror, this takes the form of a mockumentary following the attempts of a wannabe serial killer who wants to form his own Charles Manson-style family. The balance between comedy and horror is perfect, with some quite horrible murders in between bits of properly dark humour.
8 Spencer
A film where image, music and especially Kristen Stewart's performance combine to provide moments of near cinematic genius, and possibly the only movie with aspirations for Oscar time to ever grace this site. Pablo Larrain's SPENCER plunges us into Great British Horror country from the off - that soggy, gloomy, stately setting of country houses that were home to so many mad scientists, sadists and satanists back in the 1970s. In fact the film SPENCER reminded me of a lot was dear old Norman J Warren's SATAN'S SLAVE, with our innocent and unsuspecting victim being prepared for sacrifice by a bunch of eccentrics, right down to her being weighed near the start ("for fun") by Timothy Spall in the Michael Gough (or possibly even Sheila Keith) role. "I'm lost," says Kristen Stewart's Diana at the very beginning as she's trying to find her way, alone and unaided, to her destination, giving the increasingly strange goings-on she finds herself involved in something of a CARNIVAL OF SOULS vibe.
7 The Forever Purge
Who would have thought the fifth entry in THE PURGE franchise would turn out to be the best? (Although THE PURGE 3: ELECTION YEAR might still be my favourite). The political subtext isn't really sub at all in this splendidly angry film that's a bang up to date commentary on some of the major socio-cultural problems affecting the US at the moment. But - and it's a big one so BUT - unlike certain films I've watched recently where you feel the makers are hitting you over the head with a hammer marked 'Issues' to the point where you just wish they'd shut up & go away this never loses sight of being (or at least pretending to be) a bloody good exploitation movie in the MAD MAX / BRONX WARRIORS mode. But there are moments in THE FOREVER PURGE of sheer, perfect, spot-on social commentary genius that will make you shiver as you nod and which I'm not going to spoil because I want everyone to go and watch it so they makeTHE PURGE 6 (they certainly could & it could be amazing). After the slight drop in quality of THE FIRST PURGE this franchise is wonderfully back on track, James DeMonaco is an exploitation auteur par excellence, and I love that the US has its own horror franchise that gets new entries planned for release on Independence Day instead of Halloween. Is THE PURGE the MAD MAX franchise for the 2020 generation? I actually think it's better. Fight me. But only on Purge night.
6 Lamb
To suggest that director and co-writer (with Sjón) Valdimar Jóhannson's LAMB possesses elements of the fiction of Arthur Machen would be to give nothing away, but might help to prepare you for some of the delicious strangeness we get in this one. Two people encounter a Very Weird Happening on their remote Icelandic farm and just...go with it. Also features stunning landscapes and, amongst some fantastic animal 'acting', some of the scariest sheep you'll ever see.
5 Censor
In CENSOR director Prano Bailey-Bond conjures a superb atmosphere of incipient dread against the seediest of 1980s backdrop settings. Niamh Algar's Enid works for the BBFC (probably, perhaps, maybe) and is still mourning the loss of her sister many years ago. But did that sister even exist? Watch again if you doubt me. As the film goes on the fracturing of her sanity is depicted with all the skill and discomforting style of a Ramsey Campbell short story and the final act brings in aspect ratio manipulation in a way I thought was terrific to reflect how her world was falling apart and if anything it didn't go far enough. Criticised by some as failing as an accurate depiction of the state of the early 1980s UK film industry and to a major extent the video nasty phenomenon, but I don't think that's the point of this one at all. I do think, however, that as a depiction of someone living in the early 1980s slowly spiralling into madness it's quite excellent.
4 Candyman
Nia DaCosta's CANDYMAN remake is very good, and far better than certainly I was expecting it to be, because remakes tend to be a bit crap on the whole, don't they? But this is clever, subtle, extremely well-directed (I very much hope DaCosta gets to make another horror film as she really knows what she's doing) and also manages to not just namecheck the events of the original but cleverly weave them into this film, a movie that is very much its own thing while also being the best 'CANDYMAN 2' anyone could have wished for. The ending is perhaps a bit too abrupt after the delicious long slow build and character and story development of the first 85% of the film, but maybe that's a testament to how engrossing the rest of the film is. Now the Blu-ray is out we can all watch this on a double bill with Bernard Rose's original.
3 Annette
Powerful, moving, strange, unique and filled with songs only Sparks could come up with, thanks to director Leos Carax ANNETTE also managed to be one of the greatest visual feasts to enjoy on the big screen this year. Every note of music, every line of dialogue, every directorial flourish and all three lead performances - Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and Simon Helberg - are just fantastic. "If you liked it tell a friend and if you have no friends then tell a stranger" they sing at the end, so here I am telling everyone. Out on Blu-ray in early January 2021 and truly magnificent.
2 The Green Knight
A very decent attempt indeed to do for the medieval epic poem Gawain and the Green Knight what Roman Polanski managed for MACBETH, making its source material accessible through powerful visuals and fine performances. The photography is sumptuous and the pacing is leisurely and, in the era of the multiplex action picture, really quite welcome. In fact in some ways THE GREEN KNIGHT feels like the antithesis of a Marvel film (I am *not* saying Marvel movies are bad, btw, in fact I love - most of - them) where here we have the tale of a hero and his quest that's all about atmosphere rather than jump cuts, silences rather than noise, and words rather than actions. Put all that together & I'd go so far as to say it's something of an intellectual chill out film. David Lowery also directed A GHOST STORY, another film I quite unexpectedly found that I loved. Looking forward to more from him.
1 Last Night in Soho
How could it be anything else? Edgar Wright's LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is so Great British Horror it hurts, and in all the best ways. I could list all the references and influences I spotted but I'm sure my Golden Age of BritHorror friends will delight in discovering them for themselves, suffice to say the film is evocative of the feel of contemporary 1960s classics like THE SORCERERS or THE SKULL - it's all very Amicus / Tigon bedsit sleaze with a few surprises thrown in. And the soundtrack is packed with 1960s classics (including John Barry's BEAT GIRL - nice touch, Edgar!). So yes I loved this, a film that I think can reasonably be described as Edgar Wright's NEON DEMON (another House of Mortal Cinema number one film of the year). The credits even include a dedication to Diana Rigg at the beginning and Margaret Nolan at the end. Sheer class from start to finish.
As usual there was plenty of stuff bubbling under, especially festival movies like DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES (a tribute to the halcyon days of 1970s EuroHorror), BRING OUT THE FEAR, Richard Bates, Jr's KING KNIGHT, the Carry On Deliverance-style fun of SWEETIE YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT, the Fawlty Towers-style insanity of HOTEL POSEIDON and the twisty-turny timey-wimey genius of BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES. The best from streaming service Shudder was probably QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC, a cracking remake of the 1970s original, while Netflix's outstanding contribution was the terrific Norwegian comedy horror THE TRIP.
And that's it for 2021, a year in which House of Mortal Cinema celebrated its tenth birthday and (nearly) 1000 reviews. As always my thanks to the PR companies who keep me supplied with review materials and all the local cinemas who know me and Mrs Probert almost as well as the local restaurants we go to afterwards do. As the spectre of COVID looms once more it's impossible to say how movie watching in 2022 will be affected but for now at least House of Mortal Cinema will be there to point out some of the more esoteric good (and occasionally terrible) movies that are out there to enjoy. Have a good New Year's and HMC will be back in 2022!
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