All genres of suspense, terror, and horror will be reviewed by Richard Gary. His address to send preview copies supplied upon request to rbf55@msn.com.
Death Knot (aka Tali mati) Directed
by Cornelio Sunny
Matta Cinema; Kathanika Entertainment; Well Go USA Entertainment
101 minutes, 2021 / 2023 www.rhythmicfilms.com/ https://wellgousa.com/Death-Knot. #DeathKnot
@WellGoUSA
“Momma told me not to come” – Three Dog Night
Indonesia is slowly but
surely becoming a hotbed for Asian horror, especially thanks to the push of
companies like Well Go USA Entertainment. After all, who cares about subtitles,
right? Personally, I like ‘em.
Cornelio Sunny, Eidike Sidmore
The film was first-time directed
and co-written by Cornelio Sunny, who is also the principal protagonist. After
the chilling prologue, we meet Hari (Sunny) and his sister, Eka (Widike Sidmore),
who is married to the annoying but sometimes charming Adi (Morgan Oey). The three
cosmopolitan characters who live in Jakarta, head off to a small agrarian
village where Hari and Eka’s estranged-for-years mom (Djenar Maesa Ayu) has
recently died in the prologue. On a cultural note, I find it interesting that on
the drive up (thankfully not a long “road trip” scenario as is common in many
genre films that start in one place and the main action is in another), both
men sit up front with the sister in the back. Perhaps I am too Woke? But I
digress…
There is obviously
something afoot and mysterious as the villagers are evidently not very keen on
their mom, with only less than a handful of fingers of people show up for the
funeral: Mrs. Hesti (Very Handayani), Mr. Darno (Landung Simatupang), and mom’s
sketchy money-focused brother, Rahman (Rukman Rosadi).
Morgan Oey, Sidmore
This delves deeply into
local folklore, surrounded by superstition and poverty. Think about the “Christians”
in the Deep South who use their religion like a sword against anything they
think is “of the devil” (or evil, e.g., Democrats, though they constantly vote
against their own self interests). Here, the mom is considered a “shaman,” or a
witch in Western terms, who danced in the woods at night, at supposedly sold
her soul to the debbil. Her deep dive into the rituals is what drove her now late
husband and the two siblings to the city when they were young. The village is
both familiar and strange to them (e.g., the need to ask for directions).
There are lots of local evil
deity films (i.e., folklore), where the gods live in the woods, such as JugFace (2013) and The Burned Over District (2022). Here, “he” possesses people, or as the title suggests, he influences villagers
to hang themselves. Like the gathering of crops, this amassing of souls is also
called “The Harvest,” which the viewer learns through the exposition of a villager.
While this is a bit of a
slow burn until the third act, it is creepy as hell and effective in its goal
of making the viewer a bit anxious, aided by the subtle and dissonant background
sounds and music.
There are a lot of
day-for-night shots, with the use of a dark blue filter, as is the norm these
days. Also, there are many yellow tones, especially inside rooms with lamplight.
Hari’s room in the city is immersed in a yellow motif, for example. I also find
it interesting that in many of these folklore storylines, it follows the maternal
lineage rather than the masculine of our modern culture, even when the god is considered
a “he.”
Also, the scenery and set
pieces are stunning to look at, with cloudy mountains in the background and old
huts and farms or forests in the foreground. The cinematography and editing,
really help to enhance the story.
There is little blood as
this film comes from a country that is approximately 87 percent Muslim (though,
surprisingly, there is some cussing), but do not be deterred, because there are
old god or gods (but not Cthulhu) that pre-date Allah, Jeebus, or Yahweh, spiritual
possessions, ghosts, generational curses, violence (especially during the
expected Act 3), sacrifices and suicides. While there is a lot of dialogue, and
the film could easily have been trimmed a bit (Asian films tend to be a little
longer than Western ones, but shorter than those from India), the tension is
kept up throughout, and that is fine with me. An excellent debut by Sunny.
Death
Knot will be available on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD after
January 17, 2023.
The
Grandmaster of Kung Fu (aka The Grandmaster of Kungfu)
Directed by Cheng Si-Yu Zhonglele Pictures; Well
Go USA Entertainment; Hi-YAH!
75 minutes, 2019 / 2023 https://wellgousa.com/films/grandmaster-kung-fu www.hiyahtv.com
@WellGoUSA; #TheGrandmasterOfKungFu
Many of the Chinese kung
fu/martial arts films of late that date back to a dynasty period, even a later
one, tend to be stylized to the point of art, such as Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon (2000). This is a natural progression of the old Shaw Bros
films of the 1970s-‘80s, but you may wonder whatever happened to the down and
dirty fighting of those good old days?
In Mandarin and
Japanese (with English subtitles) comes this little ditty that is relatively
new to the canon, but has that old time feel, without being VHS blurry images that
we all had to get used to when we rented them from the local video store. The
period in which this takes place is the end of the Qing Dynasty, which was essentially
during World War II, when Japan invaded China and decimated many of the people
and cultural icons. It is also the focus of the story, as Japan tries to take
over Tianjin, a city dedicated to the martial arts. If the city is wiped out, there
are less warriors fighting for their home turf.
When Japan invaded
China in 1931, it lasted until the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945. Japan’s
brutal reign over China was short-lived, but was replaced by so-called
Communist China in 1949, and was modernized under a different brutal regime. This
is also the time period of Ip Man (2008, also released by Well Go USA
Entertainment). But enough with the contextual history lesson.
The protagonist of
this story is Huo Yuanjia (former World Wushu Champion Du Yuhang (aka Dennis To).
He is a lowly porter (with a large house, for some reason) with a wife (Mei Xue)
and young child. Of course, he is a master at a specific kung fu, which is not
recognized by the official wushu (an umbrella title for a form of kung fu; the
other being kuoshu) association of Tianjin, and its new president, Zhao. His becoming
the head of the group is the opening sequence of trial by fist and feet. Still,
Huo manages to get a single disciple, Chen Zhen.
In comes the Japanese,
led by trigger happy Commander Yoshida Masaichi and his Aikido sword wielding superior
Colonel Takeda Kamesaburo, who takes over the association’s building to open a
forbidden Japanese martial arts school. Of course, just minutes in, it is easy
to tell that at some point it will be a fight between Yuanjia and either Masaichi
or Kamesaburo in a match of Chinese kung fu vs. Japanese budō. Following the
narration of nearly all these kinds of films This is a Chinese martial arts standard,
and rightfully so.
Du Yuhang is very
likeable, and his style is reminiscent of Donnie Yen (Ip Man). It should
come as no surprise that he played the Ip Man character a year later in the
prequel, The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010). As far as the other actors,
interestingly, the Japanese are played by Chinese actors, and the Japanese
language is dubbed in. The film also stars Gao Xuemei, Yang Yongfeng, Li Ruoxi
and Zhuang Han, but I do not know who played which role.
The film relies on a
few cliches, such as the championship tournament, Japan’s overreach and malevolence,
the final battle, and the one-against-many opponents (including Ninjas!).
Because of this there are some formulaic narratives, but hell, we watch this
stuff for the, well, Hi-YAH! quality. In this case, the action is both
well-choreographed and shot/edited. There is a bunch of wirework, as is par for
the course, but no ridiculous flying through the air or jumping from one roof
to another. While obvious, it is done only within fights and not over-emphasized
(e.g., no jumping from the ground to the top of a building).
My one complaint is
that sometimes the subtitles roll by too fast for my aged eyes. But what the
hell, it is the action sequences that are the backbone of any martial arts
film, and this definitely delivers.
This is director Cheng
Si-Yu’s first film and has since made the likes of Land Shark (2020). I am
hoping he goes on to do a crime drama, or another martial arts release set in the
Feudal period. Meanwhile, there is this gem.
A Hi-YAH!
original, the film is available on the Hi-YAH! martial arts streaming service (link
above), as well on Blu-ray and DVD.
I do believe this is the
first time I am reviewing a film from the Balkans, and I am excited. It is in Albanian
and mostly Italian, with subtitles. Unlike some, I love subtitles; comes from
seeing to many live, loud bands in my youth.
Taking place in the
Albanian capitol of Tirana, the prologue is set in 1997, after the fall of
communism in the area, and the rise of the infamous and bloody civil war that
followed. In a supposedly abandoned bunker stumbled young Matia
(Matia Çobanaj) meets the Commander (Francesco Rossini), and especially the
Commander’s Wife (Manuela Arcuri), who are hiding out in the bunker, which sets
up the story to follow, and will intermix back and forth for a while with the
present.
Emir Jouka
Back in modern day, arriving
in Albania from the UK – but speaking Italian – is Adrian (Ermir Jonka), his
girlfriend Nua (Ilirda Benleri), and Giulia (Ingrid Monacelli) and her
boyfriend Davide (Endrit Ahmeta). Carrying their money in a leather bag (you
can see that this is not a good idea, of course), they plan to open a
restaurant in an abandoned bunker with the help of Adrian’s restauranteur cousin,
Ilir (Arnold Damazzeti), who is a bit of a sketchy character, into MMA-style kickboxing
(as a participant, not viewer).
Ilirda Benleri
Thanks to a betrayal by
one or two of the group, with Romanian mobsters and drug dealers and money
owed, their savings are gone, but some do not know it yet. This leads to them
meeting up with the now insane and murderous Matia as an adult (Lorenzo Lapori,
also a co-writer and fight coordinator), who had been sealed behind a wall.
Years of loneliness and a seemingly perpetual 8mm propaganda film (200-foot
reel, or 20 minutes) has made Matia – now known as Eagle Man in the credits – a
bit tetched in the haid. He does, however, have a couple of cool and rusty
knives and reminds me a bit of Kruger’s infamous claw (he even tends to run it
along a wall), except one big blade for each hand. And, as the film shows, he
is not afraid to use it on associates and indiscriminates alike. Yes, he is both
mad, and angry, having his childhood and life taken away from him for a cause
that never recovered (think of the roundly defeated Confederates or Nazis who
hoped their evil beliefs would rise again.
There is a bit of a crime
drama mixed in at some point, as the abandoned bunker where Eagle Man is
captive behind a wall, is being utilized by a gang of drug dealers – we see a mound
of bricks of white powder, perhaps representing the wall of evil that held
Eagle Man captive – and their molls, more commonly known as the body count when
Eagle Man flies to coop, blood and sorrow will follow.
Arnold Damazzeti
Into this scenario comes
our Italian crew from England, hoping to make a new restaurant by recycling and
transforming the very same bunker. As I have quoted before, Marshall McLuhan
famously said when an object becomes obsolete, it comes back as art. Or in this
case, a fancy eatery. While they may have served bird on the menu, they become
the prey of an Eagle.
Our two couples arrive at
the nest – I mean bunker – late at night, and that is where I end my descriptions,
and the battle for life and death (mostly the latter, of course, as this is a literal
slasher film). Somehow, in my head, I keep mishearing Creedence Clearwater Revival
singing, “Down in the Bunker / Killing in the streets / The Eagle Man’s
a-playin’ / Killin’ with knives so sweet.”
Lorenzo Lapori
Eagle Man is actually
quite an interesting character by himself. He is as physically filthy as the
Pig-Pen character from the Peanuts cartoons from literally years of not bathing,
he wears the long coat and boots of the defeated army, his hair is long (though
his beard not as much), and he is extremely scarred thanks to a meeting as a
youth with some barb wire. Like most genre serial killers, he does not speak
(though he does scream), probably from decades of loneliness. His anger comes
out in the brutality of his kills. Most modern slashers, the killers like Jason
and Michael are stoic, or punsters like Freddie, but this is pure rage. And
then there are the cool booby-traps.
A certain level of disbelief
is definitely needed around the Eagle Man, mostly pertaining to longevity. For
example, he runs the projector constantly, but the bulb has not burned out, he
eats food from cans, but how large a supply did they have in 1997 to the
present? How does he shave (most of) his beard? How many gas drums does he have
for the generator; perhaps he is Jewish, and this is a Hanukkah tale? I kid…
Manuela Arcuri
What I find interesting is
that as brutal as Eagle Man is, and he really is, he is also a sympathetic
character, rather than a one-dimensional killing machine. The murders are
brutal and look great, without being overly graphic (i.e., not body horror),
though there is a nice amount of blood to keep the customers satisfied. Hell,
they even find a way for (female) nudity and a gratuitous sex scene.
While the acting is top-notch,
it is the cinematography by the director that stands out for me, especially the
last shot. Despite most of the film being in an ill-lit bunker, it was all
clearly seen (thank you, blue filter). The bunker itself is both a maze and
claustrophobic at the same time. Well done.
Disturbing Behavior Directed
by David Nutter
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Hoyts Partnership; Beacon Communications; Behavioral
Problems Productions; Village Roadshow Pictures; MVD Rewind Collection
84 minutes, 1998 / 2022 www.MGM.com www.MVDvisual.com
Yeah, I know, with a $15
million budget, this is hardly indie filmmaking, especially with the relatively
top-tier talent behind it. But it is a cool film that is now being released in High
Definition (1080p), so here we go.
Controlling and adapting human
behavior in cinema is usually done with aliens or demons possessing a body,
such as in The Faculty (1998) and Fallen (1998). But there is
also a genre of scientific experimentation to achieve the “perfect” person, be
it Captain America (pick a film, any film), The Stepford Wives (1975) or
even as recently as Get Out (2017).
Nick Stahl, Katie Holmes, James Marsden
In the Island town of
Cradle Bay, WA (filmed on beautiful Bowen Island in British Columbia, a place I have vacationed). Things are going weird. Long-haired, pot-smoking,
wild child Gavin (Nick Stahl) has witnessed a homicide by a member of the High
School’s Blue Ribbon Club of another free-spirited woman; you can tell by the
Devo tattoo on her ankle).
Into this mess, comes
newcomer (there’s always a newcomer in high school dramas) and the film’s main
protagonist, Steve (James Marsden, who was 25 when this film about high school was
made, and looks every year of it) and his sister, Lindsay (a young Katherine Isabelle,
who would go on to star the now horror touchstones, Ginger Snaps in 2000,
and American Mary in 2012).
The Blue Ribbons
As with most schools,
there are factions, like the nerds, the metal heads, and the stoners. When I
went to high school, I was at the table of wimpy kids that nobody really
bothered with because the factions in my Brooklyn school were more racially divided.
But I digress… One of the groups is the aforementioned Blue Ribbon club, named
because these were the “good” kids who all wear similar blue jackets. They look
and act like jocks, but there is something creepy about them.
Into this pool comes
Steve, a typical overage cinematic teenager with some parental issues, but not
really a shit-stirrer, but not easily cow-towed, either. He’s not like, say, Richard
(Tygh Runyan), who is a trouble maker and fights against authority (you know, sideburns,
leather jacket, smokes and calls teachers “peckerhead” one day, and is a Blue
Ribbon the next.
But there is definitely
something off about the Blue Ribbons. Whenever they feel lust (remember high
school?), their eye glows red and they become ultra-violent, because they are
being “bad.” They are a tightly insulated group who react negatively and often
violently to anyone who is not in their “club” (hence, Devo girl). Their clique
is run by the obviously villainous school Edgar Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood).
Bruce Greenwood, Marsden
Thrown into all this mishigas,
with the help of resident philosopher and loose cannon Gavin, Steve meets “town
trash” Rachel (Katie Holmes looking her best, even with that weird crooked
smile), who is Gavin’s friend. The three bond while Gavin understandably lusts
after one of the Blue Ribbons, Lorna (Crystal Cass, in her only film role).
Perhaps it was the sign of
the times, but I find it interesting that when the male Blue Ribbons get horny,
they instantly act violent outwardly and damage anyone around them (as is seen
in a supermarket melee, but when the females get turned on, the first reaction
is to self-harm. I would really like to question the writer of this film about
that.
Chad Donella, Marsden
Meanwhile, it’s up to
Steve, Rachel, albino stoner/drug dealer and comic relief U.V. (Chad Donella,
who has some of the best lines in the film) who is sort of a more mellow Spicoli,
from 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High), and coming out of left field
with a cinematic device that can be predicted a long time on, custodian, Andy
Newberry (Nick Stahl), to save the world… well, at least Cradle Bay High School
from the likes of Dr. Caldicott and police officer Cox (Steve Railsback in an
underused role). You know the showdown is coming in the third act as some of
our top cast is up for being the new Blue Ribbons. While I am sure it will be
exciting ( am nearing the end of Act 2, as I write this), the means that will
change the battlefront power is already obvious.
Extra! Extra! That’s what
this Blu-ray has!! The biggie is the full commentary by the director, David
Nutter. Typical of most, Nutter (who also directed the “X-Files”) describes the
process, what scenes mean, hiring and working with the actors, etc. He’s a bit
monotone, but never flat as he keeps the focus to keep this worth watching.
Crystal Cass (center)
The Deleted Scenes part is
actually quite extensive and worth the watch. They are not just clips, but some
of the 11 are enlightening, especially the one with Steve’s mother, which explains
an important motivating action later on. And most enjoyable was the last, which
was the original ending of the film (both work). The viewer can choose to watch
these as they are, or with a commentary by Director David Nutter. Along with audio
options of English and French 2.0 Stereo and optional English and French subtitles,
the rest of the digital end is the original theatrical trailer among other
coming attractions. On the physical end is reversible cover artwork,
collectible mini-poster, and limited-edition slipcover for the first pressing
only.
Now do not get me wrong.
This is a hell of a fun joy ride of a film, right through. It has aged a bit
though, but still fits into the whole teenage paranoia scenario to a tee; however,
it is an early example of a formula that has been used and reused many times
since. As I said, the 3 Act is action packed albeit predictable, and I had a
lot of fun with it. Hell, it has been 20 years since I first saw it, and I will
probably see it again without that much of a time span.
There’s a really nice coda
at the end that’s, again, obvious, but still made me smile. If this was to come
out now, they would probably have put it after the credits.
Heartland of
Darkness (aka Fallen Angels; Blood Church) Directed by Eric
Swelstad Donovan Productions;
HOD Productions; Visual Vengeance; Wild Eye Releasing; MVD Entertainment
101 minutes, 1992 / 2022 www.wildeyereleasing.com www.mvdvisual.com
While this film was to
be released in 1992 (though filmed in ’89, and not really finished until 30
years later), it had never been offered on any home format until now. And
typical of the Visual Vengeance sub-brand of Wild Eye Releasing, this Blu-ray was
supervised by director Eric Swelstad into an SD master from the original
sources.
Who doesn’t love a
good satanic cult movie, unless you are a fundamentalist yahoo? This film does
not necessarily tread new ground, even though it is 30 years old. While many devil’s
cult releases have come since then, it was preceded by the likes of The
Devil’s Rain and Race with the Devil, both from 1975. But as I watch
each film with an open mind, let’s hit the play button, shall we?
First of all, y’gotta
love a film that, in its credits, presents Scream Queen Linnea Quigley with an “And”
at the end of the cast list, even though it is 1992. Off to a good start.
Amusingly, I start off
with a question about the prologue. Without giving away the reason, a man is
being chased through the woods by said cult. I understand that the chasers are
wearing sunglasses to indicate that they are a united group, but sunglasses
after dark? Is this a Cramps song? Seems like a visual oxymoron, like someone wearing a baseball cap backwards,
and shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. The map does not match the
territory.
Dino Tripodis, Sharon Klopfenstein
As the story begins, ex-Chicago
Tribune writer (saywhat?) Paul (stand-up and future DJ Dino Tripodis
in his first IMDB listing) and his teenage daughter Christine (Sharon Klopfenstein,
in her only role, as with most of the cast), who wears less and less as the
film goes on, has just moved into a small town in Ohio (though mostly filmed
around the Columbus area). Paul has taken over the local newspaper, The
Copperton Chronicle, which obviously has been shuttered for years. Love the
old typewriters. As I was a phototypesetter for a local Brooklyn weekly
newspaper (The Weekly) in Bay Ridge during the late 1970s, this may
indicate it had been shuttered for quite a few years. He soon hires Evelyn
(Mary Alice Demas). Also hired right off is ex-The New York Times writer
(saywhat?) and shoulder-pads wearing Shannon (Shanna Thomas). Love
interest or cult plant? We shall see.
There are lots of
personality contradictions. For example, the Sherriff (Lee Page) is grumpy to
Paul, but gives him information. The local priest, Rev. Donovan (Nick Baldasare),
obviously the bad guy, pressures Paul and Christine to show up at church. Would
not fly with atheistic me. I mean, the biblical god killed way more innocent people
than Satan did in their holy book. But I digress… Another digressive question:
Paul is trying to make the local, small-town newspaper into a journalistic
hotspot. Have ya ever seen a small-town newspaper? Usually, it is 90% local business
advertising (i.e., the paper’s bread and butter), and the rest is what
is going on at the Rotary Club, “coffee time” jokes, or who has a 75th wedding
anniversary. The hardest news you will find will be how the local crop did this
year, or changes in the trucking rules.
Nick Baldasare
Meanwhile, back to the
show, Donovan quickly presents himself to be the villain that he is (again, no
surprise), through his sermon (of which Christine is enamored). I mean, you
know something is off when the congregation says a communal “Yes” rather than “Amen.”
He is also setting in motion a temptress, Julia (Quigley, who is topless within
5 minutes of her intro; gotta love it), to seduce the newcomers into the fold.
Paul and Shannon are
joined by Reverend Kane (John Dunleavy), who is a Satanic cult expert. Perhaps the
character was named after the Puritan Satanist hunter, Solomon Kane, from the
Robert E. Howard novels. He, Paul, and Shannon, confront Donovan. Which leads
me to some other questions: people are killed off by the cult for the smallest
of infractions, even their own members (e.g., plans to leave town), so if
confronted by this trio, why are they not immediately killed off like the
others, especially after the newspaper first releases a story about the possibility
of the local murders being cult-related? And when do students (Catherine) and
especially teachers (Quigley) show up in high school (where they teach about Aleister
Crowley and the positive side of Hitler) wearing belly-showing clothes and neck
diving tops? Oh, yeah, in B-movies…
Linnea Quigley
When it is payback
time, aka Act 3, the action naturally ramps up. I smiled how one scene near the
end reflected an inverted version the beginning, something rare in most films.
The acting runs from
quite decent, such as the two male leads, to just wooden and terrible (I will
leave out the names), but that is to be expected in B-films. During the 1980s
and ‘90s, indie films leaned towards bad acting, but that is also part of its
charm, in my opinion.
There are hours upon hours of extras on this
Blu-ray, so if you are interested in this kind of thing, you should be happy. It
took me three days to watch everything, including these extras. First up is a
full-length commentary with the director, Eric Swelstad, the lead actor Nick
Baldasaere, cinematographer Scott Spears, and composer Jay Woelfel. I was amused
that they brought up the sunglasses after dark; in fact, they mention a bunch
of topics I did above, though I watched this after the film. While sometimes
hard to tell who is talking, they are respectful, do not talk over each other, and
tell interesting stories. It was better than I expected with this large a crowd.
The second full lengther is with Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop magazine. It
a bit of a more academic deep dive into the culture before and after the film,
info on the shoot itself, and histories of the actors. Often these dives are
dull, but Strauss’ keeps it a bit light without losing any of his topic’s integrity.
Some of what he says is reflective of the previous commentary, but even then,
he adds more on top of it.
One of the noteworthy extras is the 2020 documentary
featurette, “Deeper into the Darkness” (39 min). This is a well put-together collection
of interviews of crew members and Baldasaere, mixed with archival footage both
in front and behind the camera. Really fun to watch, actually. I really enjoyed
the part about Quigley (though she is not interviewed), and the release has
been dubbed “The Lost Linnea Quigley Film,” which I found amusing. There is
also a trailer for “Deeper into the Darkness.” Meanwhile there are two Quigly-related
shorts, a new interview called “Linnea Quigley Remembers” (6 min), and a very
grainy, obviously VHS taped off the TV archival interview on the program “Close-up”
(20 min). The newer one is just Linnea talking about her experience with the film
and gets to plug her website. The older interview by Jane Sachs is from
Columbus Fox Television, as Quigley not only talks about this film (under the title
Fallen Angels), but her career and her animal rights work. All very
cool, but I especially liked the many commercials between the two segments,
including a promo for an upcoming Beach Boys special.
The complete, original
Fallen Angels 1990 workprint (37 min), is also available with a commentary
track with director Eric Swelstad, which is how I watched it. This was to be shown
to promote investors. It has the timeclock on the bottom and is grainy, which
helped me appreciate the modern, final cut. Unfortunately, there is no subtitles
for this version, which is not surprising. It is extremely abbreviated, with
some different moments here and there with more raw edits, including video
noise between scenes. For the ritual scene, it is almost like a blooper reel as
parts are shot over and over. Also, some scenes, such as a key Quigley bit, is
shown both with and without nudity. A lot of the conversation is similar in
information to the other commentaries. Naturally, there is a “The Making of Fallen
Angels” (18 min), which is vintage newscast interviews with Quigley and Swelstad
in a longer format. Again, it is a grainy and extremely “noisy” VHS copy, but it
is interesting as a lot of the info is unique and not mentioned in the
commentaries.
A 1990s abbreviated version
of the film for distributor promotion, edited by someone out of the loop of the
director, is Blood Church (13 min). Again, fuzzy, washed out, and time
stamped. It is kinda weird and incoherent. A SFX featurette is “Heartland of
Darkness: Filming [Name Redacted]’s Death” (3 min). I have removed the character’s
name because it would be a spoiler. This was cool. Following, is an article
scanned from Fantasm magazine, which I saw but did not read.
Then there is the behind-the-scenes
image gallery, television spots, two versions of this film’s original coming attractions
and the new one for this release, as well as a couple of Visual Vengeance
trailers, and optional English subtitles.
On the physical side,
there is a six-page liner notes booklet, a Limited Edition slipcase (first
pressing only), a collectible Linnea Quigley folded mini-poster, a stick your
own’ VHS sticker set, and a reversible sleeve featuring original Blood
Church promotional art
For a low budget (appx
$100,000) indie film (despite all the Pepsi placements), the practical SFX (with
one exception) looks astoundingly good, and there is a lot of it. So is the nudity
by more than one character.
Before this, I had
never heard of Heartland of Darkness, which is no surprise considering
it seen as a “lost film,” but despite my questions, I found it to be a very
enjoyable vintage piece of its period.
Amber Road, for the purposes
of this film, is a Dark Web site where you can order drugs, food, and a host of
other things that are technically illegal. But it also has an audience that it
caters to who are interested in watching people being tortured and snuffed. Internet
torture for hire has been a common theme lately, with the likes of La PetiteMort (2009) and Death Count (2022),
among many. Like Hostel (2005), it is merely an excuse to push the
envelope on body horror, or what others may call torture porn.
This release is a bit stylized,
showing customers making requests (cameos by the likes of Tom Sizemore and
Robert LaSardo, both of whom were in the similarly themed Death Count)
on what will happen to the captives. And right off the bat, while the film
introduces the protagonists (see second paragraph down), it is inter-mixed with
scenes of torture, such as involving removal of fingers, which is nicely
intercut with someone cutting a hedge using shears: the mundane and the malevolence.
Rachel Riley
The first couple being
tortured during this intro, Mary (Janet Wang) and James (William McNamara), are
given a drug to paralyze them, but they can still feel the pain. My question
is, why are they bound to a chair, and why do they have ball gags in their
mouths if they are immobile (though they easily move their heads and facial expressions
do not seem to be affected by the drug)? The perilous mistress of distress is
Pauline (Rachel Riley), professionally a mortician we learn early on, who gets
pleasure from her “work.”
And speaking of work,
our main protagonist is police deputy Emma (Scream Queen Elissa Dowling), whose
husband – also a copper – was murdered, is being helped by her brother, Deke
(Jed Rowen); meanwhile the nasty Dark Web (sometimes here described as the Deep
Web) group is working on the married couple. At the early stage, the two stories
flash back and forth. You just know at some point in the storyline, the trains of
Emma and Aber Road will meet. But I am still on Act 1.
Elissa Dowling
Eventually, we get to
meet the police that are after the Webbers, led by Sherriff Taylor (Vernon
Wells), who has nothing to do with Mayberry, or perhaps it is Opie grown up? Yes,
there are lots of cameos throughout the film.
When the big reveal
comes at the start of Act 3, it will either surprise the hell outta ya, or you
will have seen it coming a mile away (I was somewhere between the two). My only
issue is I think they gave away the gravy a bit too early in the telling.
The torture parts are
actually spaced pretty far apart in the storyline, with lots of dialogue in-between.
Do not get me wrong, what we see is gruesome, but I get the feeling some
gorehounds are going to get a bit restless. Not only does the gore increase in
the third act, but they find places to hurt that I have not seen before, which
is – er – refreshing, in an imaginative way.
Jed Rowen
The acting here is
great for a low-budgeter, but it is important to remember that most of the cast
each has a long history in cinema, so that is hardly surprising. While Dowling
is the de facto lead actor (i.e., not cameo), this is totally Riley’s film, as
she has the most screen time, and her character is so germane to the violence
that occurs.
The effects look good
and gross, but I do wish there had been a bit more of it. Sure, it is effective
and gooey as bits are snipped away, but there is long gaps between, even if the
practical SFX works.
Throughout the film,
they employ either a dark filter, or color correction in post-production, which
gives the visuals a mostly bluish haze that seems unnecessary. Well, not to
this extent, anyway. I understand the practical SFX may look better if it is
harder to see, but it gets tiresome after a while, and is employed by too many
films these days.
It feels like there is
a lot of overlap with the films by Michael Su (who directed Death Count),
and those put out by the Cinema Epoch/CineRidge Entertainment group. It is a
mix of many of the same actors of the former and style of the latter, which
combine to make a low-budget film that is interesting on many levels. It is
good to see all these legends in the same film, though none interact together
(again, one-day-work cameos), but most seem to be on Zoom, which makes sense in
the story. More than a plot of sheer malevolence for the sake of malevolence,
this is a tale of greed above all else, even more than, say, revenge.
For reasons I have
stated above, this is a between-the-cracks film, in that it may be too mild for
the gorehounds and to extreme for the average viewer. But the story works, and
in my humble opinion, that is what makes it watchable.
Creature from Black Lake Directed
by Joy N. Houck Jr.
Howco International; Multicom; Synapse Films; MVD Entertainment
95 minutes, 1976 / 2021 www.synapsefilms.com www.MVDVisual.com/
I remember seeing this
film early on, and thinking it was silly. But I was
young, and now, all these years later, I don’t really remember it much, so it will
be nice to see it under my present mental state in this new widescreen 4K
restoration from the original 35mm camera negative.
This was one of a bunch of
either Bigfoot or woodland creatures tearing up the place and causing human
deaths that were released at that time, such as The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)
and Prophesy (1979). Here, we fall closer to the Sasquatch than a mutant
bear.
John David Carson, Dennis Fimple
After the intro where we
see a mash-up of an attack by said creature (Roy Tatum) in a Louisiana swamp in
Oil City, in Caddo parish (yes, a real place, though it was also filmed around Shreveport,
20 miles away) on a couple of fishermen, including Joe (wild eyed Jack Elam; d.
2003), and a professor in Chicago, Dr. Burch (the director, J.N. Houck Jr.; d.
2003); the latter is essentially an exposition for the viewing audience on the
creature at hand. This leads to two anthropology students, comedy relief and ‘Nam
vet Pahoo (toothy Dennis Fimple, who is known to the modern horror crowd as
Grampa Hugo in 2002’s House of 1000 Corpses; d. 2002), and prettyboy Rives
(John David Carson, who was in the underrated Pretty Maids All in a Row
in 1971, and 1974’s awful incest film The Savage is Loose; d. 2009) set
off to the swamps to find Joe and the monster.
The reception the two receive
is not pleasant, especially by the Sherriff, Bill Carter (Bill Thurman; d.
1995). Interestingly, the two asked the locals about Joe and the monster, and
you get the feeling this is being done to actual residents of the town who seem
baffled, much like in the overrated The Blair Witch Project (1999).
Jim McCullough Jr., Dub Taylor
Along the way, our two
intrepid Yankees meet a bunch of colorful characters, such as one of the early
witnesses of the creature, Orville (writer of this film, Jim McCullough Jr.; d.
2022); his grandpa is Western film star and a semi-regular on “The Andy Griffin
Show,” Dub Taylor (d. 1994). Then there are the two romantic leads for our
protagonists, high school students (saywhat?!) Michelle (Michelle
Willingham), and the beautiful Becky (Becky Smiser, in her only listed IMDB
role). In an unintended cameo, playing a toddler Orville in a flashback, is future
WCW professional wrestler Chase Tatum (d. 2008).
Throughout, there are the
requisite POV shots via a handheld, shaky camera. At least it wasn’t re-colored
or distorted…well, occasionally it is fuzzy, but that’s about it. We
occasionally see what the Sasquatch-ish thingy observes, often through the
foliage.
Carson, Becky Smiser, Fimple, Michelle Willingham
Of course, our students are
going to meet up with Joe, and then the young’ns will hunt the hunter. Or, perhaps,
be prey? I will not tell. My question is, if the point is repeatedly made that Pahoo
is a Vietnam Veteran, why is draft resister Rives responsible for holding the rifle?
The last act as they face
the upright monkey-looking Sasquatch, seen mostly in silhouette, is pretty exciting in the third act, with
a bunch of jump scares and some unexpected actions. The ending, though, is a
bit anti-climatic and left open for a sequel which never came. And considering most
of the cast is now passed on, I doubt it is going to happen, unless there is a
remake at some point (and the way Hollywood is at the moment, that is not
farfetched).
Bill Thurman, Jack Elam
There is a bit of a “Dukes
of Hazzard” (TV series, not the film) vibe, and also a buoyancy, that makes
this watchable. It is better than I remembered, but kinda goofy at the same
time. It is also a piece of its period: there is little blood and no nudity,
and barely cussin’. It was rated PG (content is not
recommended for viewing by people under the age of 15 without adults).
However, it does have quite a bit of clever and humorous moments, though not
technically a comedy. At least there are
some decent jump scares.
Notable extras are a full-length
audio commentary with author/filmmaker Michael Gingold (whose bibliography
includes 2017's Frightfest Guide to Monster Movies) and film historian, fanzine publisher, and blogger, Chris Poggiali. they come across as likeable and occasionally humorous, and give the usual information about the making of the film, historical info on the cast and crew, and its effect on the culture of the time. "Swamp Stories" (19 min) is an all-new featurette with Dean Cundey, who waas the Director of Photography. He discusses what it was like to be shooting in a swamp after coming out from Los Angeles, how it was working with some big-name actors and the crew (such as the director), and even some Bigfoot history. Last is the original theatrical trailer and radio spot.
Roy Tatum
The cinematography by Cundey is exceptional and, for me, one of the strongest aspects of the film. This is the kind of release that would play as a second bill at a drive-in, especially in the South. I find it amusing that it is in widescreen, but was a big hit playing on television when the medium was a box, rather than the new, rectangular screens, so it had to have been serious cropped. Glad it is back to all its widescreen glory.
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