Place of Bones (2024)

"Low Budget Western with Good Parts"

Director Audrey Cummings' (SHE NEVER DIED) new western is getting a digital release from Signature Entertainment.

Pandora (Heather Graham) and her daughter Hester (Brielle Robilard) live in an isolated house in the country, with the nearest town apparently 96 miles away. One day Hester finds the unconscious body of bank robber Calhoun (Corin Nemec) and they take him home. Confined to bed, the bullet wound that has shattered his leg soon turns gangrenous, making it necessary for Pandora to amputate it. Unfortunately this means they now only have a one-legged man to help defend them against the rest of Calhoun's gang, led by Bear John (Tom Hopper from BLACK SAILS and THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY), who want their shares of the money it turns out he stole from them.

PLACE OF BONES is a film of two halves, or rather two styles. The external location work, and the low-budget action set pieces therein, all work just fine. However, much of the first half of the film is dialogue, set within the confines of Pandora's house, and this is flatly directed to the point where the viewing experience feels more like a somewhat static stage play, or a televised version of the same. 

It's being advertised as a 'horror western' but don't expect any werewolves or for Pandora's husband to rise up out of his grave that we see several times. The horror here is strictly the kind of violence that would have been inherent in the Old West. The ending is suggestive of more extreme horror, but it's the kind of thing that would more suit a 30 minute TV episode, or even a four-page EC comic story than the near 100 minute film this is, and as such feels tacked on even though it isn't.

Overall, if you're a fan of more modern low budget westerns you'll find PLACE OF BONES an entertaining time-waster. Let's have a trailer:

PLACE OF BONES is out on Digital from Signature Entertainment on Monday 16th September 2024

The Vourdalak (2023)

"Like a French 'Ghost Story For Christmas' "

Aleksei Tolstoy's short story 'La Famille Du Vourdalak" has done pretty well in terms of adaptations over the years, with big screen versions directed by Mario Bava (as part of 1963's BLACK SABBATH), Giorgio Ferroni (1972's NIGHT OF THE DEVILS) and now this new French version from director and co-writer Adrian Beau, which is just as good as its predecessors. In fact, with its winter pastoral backdrop and a distinctly 1970s feels to  the photography, this one almost feels like the version Jean Rollin might have made of the story.

The Marquis d'Urfe, emissary of the King of France, gets lost and ends up at the chateau of a rather strange family. The patriarch has gone off to fight the Turks, with strict instructions that should he return after six nights he must not be allowed entrance as he will have become a vampire-like vourdalak and will destroy the family.

You can guess what happens. What you won't guess is that the vourdalak is rather originally and gruesomely portrayed using a full-size puppet, voiced by the director himself. Slightly resembling Max Schreck's NOSFERATU as interpreted by the Muppets, as promised this weird creation begins to destroy the family. Will the Marquis be able to destroy the menace? Or will he himself end up dead as well?

As mentioned above, THE VOURDALAK benefits immensely from authentic locations, a sensible script and performances that sometimes balance on the knife edge between macabre and crazy. The style of photography is reminiscent of numerous BBC productions of the 1970s, including Leslie Megahey's SCHALKEN THE PAINTER and the GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS series. THE VOURDALAK premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Film and I can believe it, because this is a must watch for fans of 'classic' EuroHorror. Let's have a trailer:

Adrian Beau's THE VOURDALAK is out on Digital from Blue Finch Releasing on Monday 16th September 2024

Red Sun (1971)

Studio Canal are releasing a 4K restoration of Terence Young's EuroWestern on Blu-ray, DVD and on 4K UHD as a steel book:

Link (Charles Bronson) robs a train with Gauche (Alain Delon) who makes off with the money. He also makes off with a gold Samurai sword belonging to the Japanese Ambassador to the US. The ambassador charges Link and his one surviving Samurai - Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune) - with returning the sword in seven days or Kuroda will have to commit Hara-Kiri, and include Link for good measure. 

A French-Italian-Spanish coproduction from the early 1970s, RED SUN really should be more fun (or at least more interesting) than it actually is. After all we're now in the era of the ultra-violent American Western, with Bronson himself starring in Michael Winner's CHATO'S LAND the same year. As a result RED SUN feels dated before its time and the music score by Maurice Jarre doesn't help. This was the era of Morricone, or avant garde composers like Dee Barton (HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER) but Jarre frequently goes for some old-fashioned heroic-style scoring.

There is some fun to be had, especially if you're a fan of EuroHorror from the same period. The explosives expert at the beginning is played by Julio Peña from HORROR EXPRESS (Inspector Mirov) and Paul Naschy's WEREWOLF VS THE VAMPIRE WOMAN (he's the doctor at the start). José Jaspe, also from HORROR EXPRESS (as Koñev the conductor) is the driver of the train in this. Anthony Dawson (Director Terence Young's DR NO, Hammer's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF and Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER) is one of Delon's gang, as is Luc Merenda (TORSO and PENSIONE PAURA). 

Extras consist of 20 minutes of documentary film-maker Steven Okazaki talking about Toshiro Mifune, and a 9 minute extract from a French TV series called Pour Le Cinema which provides an on-set report which is worth watching to see director Terence Young explaining the film in French. The Blu-ray edition includes four art cards:

Terence Young's RED SUN is out on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD steel book from Studio Canal on Monday 9th September (4K on 29th September) 2024