The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971)

One of my all-time favourite daft giallos gets a splendid Blu-ray release courtesy of Arrow Films as part of its Emilio P Miraglia Killer Dames box set, which also features THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES. I reviewed EVELYN on here a while ago, and what I had to say then is reproduced below. I’ll be back at the end, though, to talk about the extras on the new disc.

Note the presumably small budget afforded the costume design here

A masterclass in how to make a sleazy crazy giallo out of a straightforward old chestnut of an idea (in this case driving someone who’s rich insane so you can get their money), THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE starts as it means to incoherently go on with its central character, Lord Alan Cunningham (Anthony Steffen) escaping from a psychiatric clinic. This opening isn’t too bad – he’s pursued by white coated orderlies across an overgrown coliseum that just happens to be in the grounds before being dragged back once he gets to the perimeter fence and despite a bit too much gurning from our hero it’s intriguing enough to engage our interest. The problem is I still have no idea where this bit of the film, played out before the main titles begin, is meant to fit into the plot. 

Walking corpse with red hair plus thunderstorm = 1970s Italian horror!

Once the credits are out of the way we’re in Lord Alan’s car, where he’s in the company of an attractive young redhead he’s picked up in a bar, He stops for no other reason than to pull at her hair (“To see if it’s a wig”) and so he can get out and take off the car’s false number plates. He gets back into his Italian car before they set off for his isolated Italian villa set in the depths of the English (according to the film) countryside, where he makes her wear nothing but a pair of black knee length boots before chasing her around his very own torture dungeon with a whip. 

Just another quiet night at home in 1970s giallo-land

Only the most tenuous of reasons is ever given for Alan’s preponderance for doing this (he does it to Erika Blanc in a bit as well), other than of course we’re in Italian film land. Evelyn is Lord Alan’s late wife whom he caught having a naked assignation with a lover in a field (there’s an awful lot of female nudity in this, even for an early seventies EuroHorror, in fact one might go so far as to call it excessive and gratuitous). She died in childbirth and now he keeps a painting of her in his bedroom, which if nothing else should be a big warning beacon to all the girls he brings back. 

Every element of this still is what today's cinema needs more of

As well as a torture dungeon, a predilection for whipping redheads and presumably a psychiatric history, Alan also has one of the most outrageous wardrobes to grace an Italian horror film, which is saying something. A maroon suede suit the jacket of which laces up the back, a crimson double breasted jacket with lapels so big they have their own brass buttons to hold them in place, and an assortment of trousers of such outrageous hues it’s a wonder everyone around him doesn’t keep their sunglasses on. With those kinds of clothes it’s a wonder anyone thinks he isn’t already insane. 

The legs are nice but just look at that staircase.

Alan gets a new wife who doesn’t have red hair but does wear outfits with such outrageously plunging necklines it looks as if her breasts aren’t so much falling out as actively trying to throw themselves into plain sight. She also possesses quite possibly the skimpiest night attire ever seen in a movie as well as an Alice in Wonderland outfit that she puts on to go and investigate the crypt. 

And does Evelyn actually get to come out of the grave? Well, kind of, but like I said, it’s all part of the most ridiculously convoluted plot to drive Lord Alan mad when he already seems to be well on the way without any aid at all. The denouement piles twist upon twist but best of all is the climactic fight by the swimming pool next to which has been precariously placed a big sack of Sulphuric Acid which doubtless carries the warning in Italian ‘Do Not Throw In Swimming Pool’. The final fade out of the villain being carried towards the camera with his legs wide apart is merely the daft icing on a very silly cake indeed, making THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE a movie best suited for hardened addicts of this kind of thing.

          Arrow’s transfer is excellent. Extras comes in the form of a new feature length fact-packed chatty commentary by Troy Howarth that makes for pleasant listening. We also get twelve minutes of Stephen Thrower talking about the picture (double-billed with Ferdinando di Leo\s equally barmy ASYLUM EROTICA in the UK!). There’s a new introduction to the movie by Erika Blanc, and her old intro from the NoShame release had been ported over, as well as the extras from that disc. A very nice package indeed for EVELYN fans everywhere. 

Emilio P Miraglia's charmingly incoherent / barking mad THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE is being released on Blu-ray and DVD by Arrow Films as part of their Killer Dames box set on Monday 23rd of May

Penda's Fen (1974)

It’s a little bit difficult to know where to start in reviewing something like PENDA’S FEN. Not that I’m alone. Its own director, Alan Clarke, was quoted as not being entirely sure what David Rudkin’s script was about. That’s not to say PENDA’S FEN is bad - in fact, far from it, and it definitely deserves its inclusion in Time Out’s 100 Best British Films list that it published back in 2011.

Britishness - that’s a good place to begin. PENDA’S FEN is as much (if not more) about the changing of British attitudes as it is about the attempts of the government to change the country’s landscape, their insidious method of doing it from beneath the ground perhaps more of an allegory than we first realise.

The narrative of PENDA’S FEN follows a young man, Stephen Franklin (Spencer Banks). Stephen is the son of a parson, lives in the tiny country village of Pinvin, and attends the kind of all-boys public school that provides several of the attitudes both Rudkin and Clarke were probably keen to hold up a mirror to. Stephen is a staunch Christian, loves the music of Elgar, and is starting to have strange dreams involving angels and demons (beautifully and disturbingly realised even with the limits of 1970s BBC technology, by the way). 

But there are other weird things going on in the outside world. A local church hall meeting is concerned with a nearby secret underground government development. A local man ends up horrible burned and scarred as a result of an interaction with...something...on the fen that the government are keen to keep quiet. All through this, Stephen is coming to question every value he has ever believed in or felt confident about, including his own sexuality. 

It’s no accident that Pinvin is an actual village in the Malvern Hills, or that Stephen gains comfort from listening to The Dream of Gerontius. Elgar, often considered the most English of composers, derived much inspiration and comfort himself from the area around Malvern, and it’s the perfect place for David Rudkin to set his story. Like Alan Clarke, I can’t claim to understand all of what’s going on in PENDA’S FEN, but it remains a vital, and still very relevant, piece of British television.

How excellent, then, to have this Blu-ray release from the BFI. Most British TV of this period was shot on 16mm film, but the Blu-ray transfer makes this look the best it must have ever done, with the English summer landscape looking absolutely glorious. The only extra is a short sixteen minute new making of, featuring interviews with David Rudkin and producer David Rose. You do get the usual excellent BFI booklet essays as well, though. 

David Rudkin's PENDA'S FEN is getting a DVD and limited edition Blu-ray release on Monday 23rd May 2016. It will also be part of the massive 13 disc Blu ray Alan Clarke box set DISSENT & DISRUPTION which comes out on 6th June 2016

Ghoulies (1984)

Another Charles Band direct-to-VHS staple from the halcyon days of the Entertainment In Video label now comes to Blu-ray courtesy of 101 Films. There now follows a review refreshingly free of all the cheap jokes you might have been expecting at the expense of a title that is just begging for all kinds of phrases that include the words ‘grab’ or ‘grabbing’. But not here, oh no, I’m above that sort of thing.

"You muppet!"

GHOULIES was Charles Band’s rip-off of Joe Dante’s GREMLINS but bears very little similarity to it, other than featuring tiny creatures that cause mayhem. Otherwise the storyline is very different (and somewhat less coherent). 

Melty ghoulie

At some kind of satanic ceremony, Malcolm Graves (a deliciously over the top Michael des Barres who’s almost the only one here who pitches his acting at the level of quality of the material) tries to sacrifice his baby son Jonathan while little rubber puppets and assembled coven members look on. He’s thwarted by Jack Nance (!) who then provides us with intermittent voice-overs throughout the film to assist coherence (not sure it works, though). He also turns up as some kind of wizard at the end.

Finding this random still in a film book would have made me want to see this film 

Now grown up, Jonathan (Peter Liapis, whose acting would only match the quality of the script if said script had been carved onto a rather dull oak tree) and his girlfriend Rebecca (Lisa Pelikan - the same) move into Jonathan’s old house. A 1980s party with 1980s friends and appalling 1980s breakdancing ensues, followed a bit later on by a 1980s satanic ritual that eventually causes the ghoulies of the title to appear. 

Graves back from the grave

I don’t think they’re ever referred to by name, by the way. In appearance they resemble a muppet collection that some child’s evil older brother has taken a blowtorch to but got stopped before they could melt the things completely. Their glove puppetness is amusing and actually a little bit appealing, but unfortunately (and typically for a Charles Band production) they’re not on screen for anywhere near long enough. 

Oh yes I'd want to watch a film with this in it too.

Instead the plot busies itself with Malcolm coming back to life and overacting even more than before. I do hope Michael des Barres managed to perform in the version of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW in which he truly belonged. Otherwise all this stuff is a bit plodding, and despite a playful Richard Band score (with extra bits by Shirley Walker) the film feels longer than its 82 minutes.

Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

An understandably bewildered-looking Luca Bercovici provides us with a special director’s introduction in which he refers to GHOULIES as a ‘silly horror film’ and says he’s amazed it’s still around thirty years later. He’s right on both counts. He also provides us with a feature-length audio commentary that completes the extras for this UK disc. 101’s Blu-ray transfer looks very nice, though. 

GHOULIES is out on UK Blu-ray and DVD from 101 Films now

Hired to Kill (1990)

Nico Mastorakis’ ‘action thriller’, and a film most will probably have never heard of, gets a dual format Blu-ray and DVD release courtesy of Arrow Films. THE ZERO BOYS it isn’t, nor is it ISLAND OF DEATH (both already on the Arrow label) and we should be grateful for that.

Romance!

Or should we? Whereas ISLAND turned the sleaze factor up to eleven, and ZERO turned the suspense and action factors down to about that level by the end, HIRED TO KILL is a different world of silly altogether.

Brian Thompson (a recognisable heavy from numerous television shows like BUFFY and X FILES) is our mercenary hero, employed by orange juice-sipping George Kennedy to rescue The Brother, (Jose Ferrer, who’s in this for about 30 seconds and therefore presumably doesn’t deserve an actual name), deposed leader of a tiny made-up country from the prison where he has been incarcerated by evil, despotic, drunk and heavily moustached Oliver Reed.

Action!

To achieve this not inconsiderable task, George assures Brian that the only way it can be done is for big muscly Brian to pose as a fashion designer and take six models along with him who are actually deadly assassins. Oh, and he’s going to have to train them himself. Cue a round-the-world recruitment montage followed by the only training montage ever to consist of military tactics, makeup application, assault courses, catwalk posing, all topped off by the girls machine-gunning giant cardboard cut-outs of Oliver Reed in full military regalia. I don’t think we ever actually leave Nico Mastorakis’ house for any of this, by the way.

Brian!

With this sort of setup, HIRED TO KILL is actually disappointingly low on action, or decent action at least. But is IS immensely entertaining. As well as everything above we witness the sight of Brian seducing Oliver Reed with a great big onscreen kiss, some impressive (and beautiful) Greek locations, and a storyline that will have you scratching your head a bit as the story nears its end.

More romance!

Arrow’s transfer looks far too good for a load of (entertaining) old rubbish like this, but if you’re a fan of HIRED TO KILL you’re going to love it. Extras include two twenty minute interviews - one with star Brian Thompson and another with Nico Mastorakis where he talks about the cast and the difficulties he had working with poor old Oliver Reed (it was one of the last films the mighty British actor made and he does look terribly rough). There’s also a commentary track with editor Barry Zetlin, which is more of a career overview than specific to the film. 

HIRED TO KILL -Nico Mastorakis' attempt at the action genre - is out on DVD and Blu-ray in a dual format edition from Arrow on Monday 16th May

Roobarb and Custard (1974 & 2005)

The memory of 5.35pm on a weekday night will likely evoke oceans of nostalgia in a certain age group while leaving anyone younger wondering what on earth the fuss might be about. So for those of you who need it explaining: back in the days of only three channels, BBC1 ran programming for children weekdays between 3.55pm (starting with PLAY SCHOOL) and finishing at 5.35pm (either with something more challenging for older children like an Alan Garner adaptation or Peter Dickinson’s THE CHANGES, but it could equally be employment for panto rejects desperate to appear on the likes of RENTAGHOST or EMU’S BROADCASTING COMPANY).

The news came on at 5.40pm. To bridge this gap between the kids stuff and the latest IRA bombings, the three day week and so on, someone had the bright idea of slipping in five minutes of something that might appeal to both children and adults. But not in a Disney-type, life-affirming way. Oh no. This was Britain in the 1970s and we wanted none of that sort of stuff on drizzling teatimes with the threat of another power cut ever looming. We wanted brightly coloured animated sheer eccentricity. Well, it’s what we got whether we wanted it or not.

It’s no secret that the tapes for THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT used to come over from France with no English track, and so narrator Eric Thompson just made up anything to try and rationalise what the hell was going on. Other shows, like THE CLANGERS, were made by British eccentrics working in their garage with bits of foam and wire and a Swanee whistle.

The original ROOBARB was directed by the mighty Bob Godfrey, a man who had given us, only a few years previously, KAMA SUTRA RIDES AGAIN - possibly the only short animated film about a couple whose exotic sex lives ultimately end in disaster to be nominated for an Oscar. 

There’s no sex on ROOBARB. There is, however, a green dog, a pink cat, and numerous birds, all of whom leer at the screen frequently during the onscreen madness to the point that you’re advised not to watch too many of these in a row or you’ll end up in your own brightly coloured room. The wobbling marker-pen animation probably isn’t recommended for anyone who suffers from sea-sickness either. And as for the theme tune...

All of this does NOT mean I didn’t like ROOBARB. In fact it’s charmingly eccentric and a lot of fun. The in your face sense of lunacy is sometimes reminiscent of The Beatles film YELLOW SUBMARINE, but you really can’t watch too many of them in one go or you may go blind, or mad, or both. 

             Simply Media’s disc give you all 30 episodes of the original ROOBARB (on disc one) paired with all 39 episodes of 2005’s reboot ROOBARB & CUSTARD TOO (on discs two and three). The sequel series admirably recaptures the lunacy of the original, and once again features Richard Briers (hooray!) as narrator. The three disc set contains no extras. 

ROOBARB & CUSTARD: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION is out on DVD from Simply Media on 16th May 2016

Heartless (2014)

Arrow’s Nordic Noir & Beyond series goes quite a bit beyond the contemporary Scandinavian crime thrillers that made it popular with this Danish-produced horror series about vampire twins infiltrating an exclusive boarding school. 

Stop! Wait! Come back! This isn’t an American show - this is Euro-horror we’re talking about here. No perfect hair and make-up, no irritating posing, no fashions no-one in their right mind would be able to afford or wear. Just neo-Nazis as prefects, lots of young ladies wearing schoolgirls’ uniforms with short skirts, and that grim, bleak washed-out atmosphere redolent of dramas like THE BRIDGE.

I’ve got your attention now, haven’t I? I bet it was mention of the photography. But what about the plot? Twins Sofie and Sebastien (Sebastien Jessen and Julie Zangenberg) are trying to uncover their past. They return to the orphanage where they were brought up and are given the bag belonging to their mother who dumped them there. A scrap of paper leads them to the Ottman Boarding School, where they enroll themselves as students in an attempt to find out more about their mother and themselves.

During their investigations, they’re hampered by the usual inconveniences - other pupils wanting a fight or a relationship, ghosts, and their constant need to replenish their own life force. Oh yes, I doubt Tobe Hooper’s film has anything to do with this, but the vampires here don’t so much drink blood as suck the essence out of their victims. Fans of Jess Franco’s FEMALE VAMPIRE should calm down right now, however, as most of the sucking here is limited to what looks like the victim’s breath. Most of.

HEARTLESS promises to be a pretty good, sexy, Euro-Horror series, and there’s plenty for fans of classic Euro-Horror to get their teeth into here. The location is perfect Euro-gothic, there are regular flashbacks to witch-burning goings on in 1666, and the characters are engaging and likeable (by no means always the case with these teen things). Add in some teasy eroticism and bouts of casual cruelty and you’ve got everything that made 1970s EuroHorror great. Expect the vapid, airbrushed, soulless American remake with all the good bits taken out soon. And make sure you watch this before it happens. 

Arrow’s double disc DVD set contains all eight episodes of HEARTLESS’s first series with no extras and no option to turn off the subtitles. 

HEARTLESS is out now on DVD from Arrow Films

The Forgotten (2014)

“Heartbreaking Henry James-style ghost story set on a council estate”

One of the best films shown at Frightfest 2014, and one of my top ten films of that year, finally gets a UK DVD release courtesy of Metrodome. 

Teenager Tommy (Clem Tibber) ends up squatting with his father Mark (Shaun Dingwall) in a flat on an abandoned council estate. While Mark keeps busy at night ripping out lengths of copper pipe to sell, or bringing prostitutes back to do unmentionable things to them that get him beaten up by their pimps, Tommy is hearing noises from the boarded up flat next door. 

When Mark ends up in hospital after a savage beating, Tommy, together with his newfound friend Carmen (Elarica Gallacher) investigate and discover the flat has a history of brutal murder and may still be haunted by the events.

At Frightfest co-writer James Hall and co-writer and director Oliver Frampton told me they were aiming for a Henry James-style ghost story but set on an abandoned housing estate to give it a modern feel. They’ve actually succeeded superbly well. The  absence of power in the empty, rotting buildings means people have to use the modern-day equivalent of candle-light to find their way around, and there’s a refreshing complexity to the ghost story that unfolds that we sadly don’t see much these days, but is very reminiscent of the macabre tales of Mr James.

Acting is excellent across the board, and special mention should also be made of the sound design (which reminded me of Delia Derbyshire’s work on 1973’s LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE) and the music score by Paul Frith, which is as ambitious as it is effective. This is another fine production from the producer who brought us modern classics like THE BORDERLANDS and THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS and means I’ll watch anything Jennifer Handorf lends her name to in the future.

Metrodome’s DVD is bare bones, with a choice of two sound mixes but nothing else. THE FORGOTTEN is still going to be one of the best and most affecting ghost stories you’ll see this year, though, so don’t let that put you off.

Oliver Frampton's THE FORGOTTEN is out on DVD from Metrodome on 2nd May 2016