Gothic (1987)

Ken Russell's film of Stephen Volk's screenplay about the night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein (and John Polidori to write The Vampyre but you don't need to worry about that) gets a Blu-ray release from the BFI.

Percy Shelley (Julian Sands) and his new wife Mary (Natasha Richardson) arrive at the Villa Deodati on the shore of Lake Geneva. It's currently being rented by Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) whose doctor and close personal peculiar friend John Polidori (Timothy Spall) is also present, as well as Clare Clairmont (Myriam Cyr), Mary's stepsister. After dinner, as a storm rages, the five of them hold a seance, the sequel to which is a night filled with madness and strange visions.

Sandwiched in Ken Russell's feature career by CRIMES OF PASSION (1984) and his deal with Vestron which yielded LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, SALOME'S LAST DANCE (both 1988) and THE RAINBOW (1989), GOTHIC certainly lives up to its name, with as much blood and thunder and 'dark stormy nighting' as its director could wring out of the story. There are a number of arresting visuals, the location is lovely, and the performances are what one might expect from Mr Russell's encouragement. While it's not as gleefully outrageous as CRIMES OF PASSION or as all-round entertaining as LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, GOTHIC remains a fine example of the UK's enfant terrible doing what he always did best.

Extras on the BFI's disc kick off with a lovely 34 minute interview with Stephen Volk, who talks about the genesis of the project, where he was in his life at the time of writing it, and what it was like to work with Russell. Soul of Shelley is a ported over interview with the late Julian Sands from 2017. Also ported over is the commentary track from Lisi Russell and Matthew Melia. Another audio track is given over to The Guardian Lecture with Ken Russell from 1987 which runs the length of the film and includes audience questions and Russell's entertaining ripostes to them.

Also included are some other Russell works: Amelia and the Angel is a 27 minute black and white short from 1957 about a little girl playing the angel in the school play. THE FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER (2002) is Russell's final feature, shot on video and funded by remortgaging his house, at least as far as I can remember from the edition of Melvyn Bragg's The South Bank Show that was dedicated to it back in the day. It's a shame they couldn't have included that as well. USHER is very typical Ken but with the very rough around the edges feel of Jess Franco's later filmed on video efforts. Hardened Ken fans will love it, or at least find it fascinating, but it's not the film to show to someone you want to convert to the cause. Finally, the disc also comes with a booklet featuring new essays and notes on the special features.

Ken Russell's GOTHIC is out on Blu-ray from the BFI on Monday 18th September 2023

Another Day to Live Through (2023)

"Weird Art House 1970s-style EuroHorror - Hooray!"

You can probably already guess that ANOTHER DAY TO LIVE THROUGH is going to get a hearty recommendation from me. It's another horror film from Finland, coming hot on the heels of THE KNOCKING and GOOD BOY, both of which premiered at Frightfest recently, and both of which are also highly recommended. While THE KNOCKING was very much a folk horror tale, and GOOD BOY felt like 50 SHADES OF GRAY done Inside No.9-style, ANOTHER DAY TO LIVE THROUGH feels like a good Jess Franco film. 

If you're not familiar with the director's work that doesn't matter, and may in fact count to this film's benefit as Mr Franco's filmography is certainly chequered. But when he's at his best his movies are dreamlike, thought-provoking, nebulous head trips. They don't necessarily make sense and you likely need to be in a certain frame of mind to appreciate them, but if you are you'll have an experience you'll never forget. And that's what we have here.

ANOTHER DAY TO LIVE THROUGH is the story of Satu (Lene Kqiku), a young woman hiking through forestland when she meets the much older Lauri (Timo Torikka) who directs her to the cabin she is seeking. The next thing she knows she is waking up in bed with Lauri attending her, with no memory of how she got there. The longer she stays in the cabin the more time seems to be distorting and folding in on itself. Sidney Salkow's 1964 THE LAST MAN ON EARTH plays constantly on the television in the lounge, and eventually Satu ends up parroting dialogue from it. Lauri seems to drift in and out of her reality as the days blur one into another. She sometimes eats breakfast on the cabin's veranda while the dead body of someone lies just beyond the cabin's steps.

Eventually all the pieces fall into place. Or do they? That in essence is the appeal (and likely also the turn off for some) of writer-director Peter Simmons' film, because by the end you'll be asking all sorts of questions, ruminating on all sorts of possibilities and, if you've been in what can best be described as a 'Jess Franco state of mind' you'll be wanting to watch it again. Finland is having a great year in horror and this is another unexpected surprise, and a must-see if you love weird art-house fractured narrative 1970s-style EuroHorror. Just ignore the British poster which seems to be suggesting that it's some dull generic slasher movie.

ANOTHER DAY TO LIVE THROUGH is something far more interesting altogether. Here's the trailer:

Peter Simmons' ANOTHER DAY TO LIVE THROUGH is out on digital from Reel 2 Reel Films on Monday 11th September 2023

The Antichrist (1974)

 

Following on from Frightfest's 50th anniversary screening of THE EXORCIST, it's really only natural that Albert De Martino's L'ANTICRISTO, aka THE ANTICHRIST aka THE TEMPTER, the first Italian ripoff of Friedkin's film to make it out of the gate back in the day, should get a Blu-ray release (from Studio Canal) this year as well. 

When she was a child Ippolita Oderisi (Carla Gravina) was in a car accident that rendered her unable to walk properly. Italian exploitation doctors have diagnosed her problem as psychological, and true to the spirit of the genre she's also sexually frustrated as well.

Her father (Mel Ferrer) decides that the best treatment for this is to take her to a religious ceremony where she sees a man vomiting green bile throw himself from a great height. After that they try hypnosis, but all that does is release suppressed memories from a past life when she was burnt at the stake for being a witch. After all that it's not surprising that poor old Ippolita should agree to being possessed by the devil.

Once she's possessed she vomits, swears, levitates, and does pretty much everything De Martino and his screenwriters scribbled down from their trip to see THE EXORCIST. Arthur Kennedy, fresh from playing the swearing and hippy-accosting police inspector in Jorge Grau's superior LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE, plays a priest but he's not up to exorcising Ippolita - that job goes to dubbed George Coulouris playing Father Mittner (and definitely not Merrin) during a welter of early 1970s Italian special effects.

THE ANTICHRIST isn't a great film. It's not even that good, but it is a fascinating snapshot of the Italian film industry of the period and of what stars who had been in much bigger and better things ended up working in during the 1970s. Full marks go to Ms Gravina who really gets put through being soaked, thrown around and having to behave like a wild thing for half the film (she's very good at it). Film score fans will delight to the music by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai, and one of the extras on here, Raising Hell, will tell you who scored which bit.

Other extras include the audio recollections of De Martino from an interview conducted with Eugenio Ercolani back in 2012, opening credits for THE TEMPTER and a 30 second TV spot. The set also comes with four art cards. Finally you get a commentary track from Lee Gambin and Sally Christie which is vigorous and lively but takes a while to get going with gaps big enough at the start that you may be checking to make such you haven't inadvertently switched audio channels. 

Alberto De Martino's THE ANTICHRIST is out on Blu-ray from Studio Canal on Monday 11th September 2023 

Crimes of the Future (2022)

After its cinema release last year, and a barebones DVD (in the UK) and Blu-ray (in the US) release, David Cronenberg's latest film gets a deserved special edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray release packed with extras.

In the near future, and in a world where diseases and physical pain no longer exist, human bodies are continuing to evolve. Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) is a man able to grow new organs inside his body, and he regularly has them removed by his surgeon partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux) in live performances. But Saul is not the only human with strange new abilities. A growing number of people are developing the ability to digest plastic and Wippet (Don McKellar) along with his assistant Timlin (Kristen Stewart) at the National Organ Registry believe Saul might help them to understand the next major step in human evolution. 

"Surgery is sex," says Kristen Stewart early on CRIMES OF THE FUTUR. It's a film that's like having all the elements that made each of Cronenberg's early pictures so unique and memorable all in one place. A film that, more than any other he's made, is all about his body horror obsessions - beauty contests for the insides of bodies, tumours as an art form, designer cancers, etc. Much of the dialogue involves the discussion of fascinating philosophies and science fiction concepts, and there are moments and scenes of utter genius in this, not least the most erotic scene in cinema of last year as Seydoux is caressed by the scalpels in Tenser's strange machine.

Second Sight have once again performed their usual excellent work in providing extras for CRIMES OF THE FUTURE. Author Caelum Vatnsdal provides the commentary track, starting off by echoing Cronenberg himself (from the director's commentary for EXISTENZ) by saying how the credit sequence of his later movies acts as a vestibule for the audience to prepare themselves for the strange new world they are about to see. He then goes in to talk knowledgeably about Cronenberg's work with particular reference to the film.

There is a stack of interviews, consisting of, in order, David Cronenberg (7 minutes), Viggo Mortensen (9 minutes), Léa Seydoux (7 minutes), Kristen Stewart (7 minutes), Don McKellar (27 minutes), producer Robert Lantos (10 minutes), DP Douglas Koch (17 minutes), and editor Christopher Donaldson (23 minutes).

New Flesh, Future Crimes is a new 23 minute documentary on the film and Cronenberg's work in general. There's also a Making Of (22 minutes), a look at production design, and a one minute piece in which the director confronts his own dead body. 

The limited edition set also comes with a 120 page book with a bunch of new essays, sic collectors' art cards and a rigid slipcase. A beautiful set from Second Sight that's going to be a must have for Cronenberg fans everywhere.

David Cronenberg's CRIMES OF THE FUTURE is out on 4K UHD and Blu-ray in both limited and standard editions on Monday 11th September 2023

Blazing Magnum (1976)

"Cracking EuroCrime Picture With Spectacular Car Chases"

Who knew the Canadian police enjoyed such exciting over the top car chases? Well now you can see for yourself as Alberto De Martino's BLAZING MAGNUM aka UNA MAGNUM SPECIAL PER TONY SAITTA aka STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM aka TOUGH TONY SAITTA gets a Blu-ray release from Studio Canal.

While in the middle of an over the top car chase tough Ottawa cop Tony Saitta (Stuart Whitman) is contacted by his sister Louise (Carole Laure) with something important she needs to tell him. Unfortunately Tony is too busy mercilessly gunning down bad guys to take her call and pretty soon she's dead by poisoning. 

Ignoring all the rules of actual policing (but abiding by all the rules of crazy Italian cop movies) Tony investigates Louise's murder himself with the aid of sidekick  John Saxon. Was she murdered by the doctor (Martin Landau) she was having an affair with? Or is something altogether more complicated going on? As another body turns up it becomes less clear but Tony's determined to get to the bottom of it even if he has to beat up every transvestite and visit every well-stocked and spacious sex shop in town.

BLAZING MAGNUM is an amazing, extreme, and above all supremely entertaining example of the Italian cop movie (it was a co-production between Italy and Canada). Whitman's Tony Saitta is the most two-fisted example of a policeman imaginable, never bothering to check he's got the right guy when he can just beat the hell out of them / drown them in a sink / shove them through a plate glass window. The movie opens with a really good car chase but that's nothing compared to the one we get in the middle of the picture, all organised by the master of such things, Remy Julienne (THE ITALIAN JOB et al).

As well as all the action, De Martino stages at least one fantastically suspenseful sequence involving Tisa ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS Farrow as a blind girl who doesn't realise the floor to ceiling windows on the second floor of her apartment block have been removed, and the whole film moves at such a breathless and perfectly executed pace it's a real surprise that this one isn't better known.

Studio Canal's Blu-ray comes with a 22 minute piece on the movie by Kim Newman who extols its virtues and I agree with every complement he gives this one. There are also extracts from an audio interview with the director from 2012 conducted by Eugenio Ercolani which covers the movie and some of De Martino's career. Top stuff.

Alberto De Martino's BLAZING MAGNUM (aka all those other titles up there) is out on Blu-ray from Studio Canal on Monday 11th September 2023

Resident Alien Season 2 (2022)

Alan Tudyk as the alien trying to fumble his way through pretending to be human returns in a welcome second series of RESIDENT ALIEN, now getting a DVD and Blu-ray release courtesy of Fabulous Films.

When we last saw Harry (Tudyk) he was on the way back to his home planet. Unfortunately it turns out that young Max (Judah Prehn) has stowed away, resulting in Harry crash-landing back on earth, his spaceship still invisible, while he loses his memory. Octopus No.42 (Nathan Fillion) is able to restore it, only for Harry's next problem to be that he has to prevent the imminent destruction of earth by his own people. Meanwhile the police suspect Harry of being involved in murder while Linda Hamilton (yes that Linda Hamilton) and her team of FBI X-Files wannabes are closing in on their alien quarry.

Season One of RESIDENT ALIEN was a smart, tightly scripted and above all very funny version of the 'fish out of water' concept that made the most of Alan Tudyk's comic timing. Season Two allows more time for character development of the rest of the (sizeable) cast such that the laughs don't come as thick and fast. There's enough to keep you watching, though, such that RESIDENT ALIEN remains one of the SyFy Channel's best original productions.

Fabulous Films four disc Blu-ray or DVD set presents all 16 episodes of Season Two. Extras consist of a single, four minute long deleted scene on disc four but that's all.

Resident Alien Season 2 is out from Fabulous Films on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday 4th September 2023

Mercy Falls (2023)

"Decent Low Budget Scottish Thriller"

It's grim up North, or to be more specific the Scottish Highlands, in director Ryan Hendricks' new thriller, which is getting a cinema release from Bingo Films, to be followed by a digital release in November.

Five friends get together to go hiking in the wilds of Scotland, the purpose being to locate a remote cabin left to one of their number, Rhona (Lauren Lyle) by her father. The night before they are due to set off they are joined by Carla (Nicolette McKeown) whom they saw hitchhiking earlier. The six of them set off into the Scottish wilderness with little experience between them except for one, who soon turns out to be not what they seem.

MERCY FALLS boasts lovely location work, a few very nicely composed shots, and a climax that's well put together and appropriately tense. Performances are pretty good as well, with everyone present doing a good job of rendering their characters believable and likeable. Considering how much terrible modern low-budget British product there is out there at the moment, MERCY FALLS is a welcome surprise and if you're in the mood for an unassuming thriller that will keep you guessing until everything starts to go exceedingly pear shaped, this one's not bad at all.

MERCY FALLS is getting a cinema release through Bingo Releasing on Friday 1st September 2023 and a Digital Release on Friday 6th November 2023