SLEEPWALKERS (1992)

 

(Director: Mick Garris. Screenwriter: Stephen King.)

Review

Two half-feline/half-monster shapeshifters─”sleepwalkers”─move into a small town (Travis, Indiana), so that one of them, sick, can feed on a virgin. These sleepwalkers, Mary Brady (Alice Krige, SILENT HILL, 2006) and her vain, seemingly adolescent son (Charles Brady, played by Brian Krause, PLAN 9, 2015), insinuate themselves into the lives of the townspeople, especially the virginal Tanya Robertson (Mädchen Amick, TWIN PEAKS, 1989-91), whom Charles sets his oh-so-charming sights on. But the Bradys’ well-established and oft-executed plans go sideways in a violent and moderately gory way.

Stephen King’s screenplay, not based on any of his published stories or novels, is a silly, fun, and loopy ride, a mix of 1950s science fiction-horror, shapeshifter terror, familiar King settings and elements (cats, small towns, etc.), with late 1980s and early 1990s elements (e.g., Charles’s heavy metal guitar-wank motif) blended in.

It’s an entertaining flick, if you can appreciate its inherent silliness and occasionally icky EC Comics homage roots and often goofy, oddball characters, played by some fine actors, not the least of whom is Clovis the Attack Cat, who really hates sleepwalkers, especially Charles.

Beyond Krige, Krause and Amick, these players include: Cindy Pickett (DEEPSTAR SIX, 1989) as Mrs. Robertson, Tanya’s mother; Lyman Ward (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE, 1985) as Mr. Robertson, Tanya’s father; Glenn Shadix (BEETLEJUICE, 1988) as Mr. Fallows, a scheming teacher; Dan Martin (NIGHTMARE CINEMA, 2018) as Deputy Andy Simpson, Clovis the Attack Cat’s driver and staff member; Jim Haynie (JACK’S BACK, 1988) as Ira, the town’s sheriff; Ron Perlman (CRONOS, 1993) as Captain Soames, one of Ira’s cynical deputies; and Rusty Schwimmer (CANDYMAN, 1992) as a housewife, seen at the start of this fast-paced film.

Film and book geeks may delight in SLEEPWALKERS’s numerous cameos: Stephen King as “Cemetery Caretaker”; Clive Barker (HELLRAISER, 1987) as a dismissive in-the-field “Forensic Tech”; Tobe Hooper (THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, 1974), an in-the-lab “Forensic Tech,” Joe Dante (THE HOWLING, 1981), another lab “Forensic Tech”; Cynthia Garris (CRITTERS 2, 1988) as Laurie, Hooper and Dante’s fellow “Lab Technician.”

SLEEPWALKERS may prove a worthwhile flick if you’re a fan of King’s MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986) and CREEPSHOW (1982, another EC Comics homage), and don’t mind oddball silliness and characters, with corn on the cob on the side.

ANGST (1983)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Gerald Kargl. Co-screenwriter / cinematographer/ editor: Zbigniew Rybcynski)

Storyline

A recently-released-from-prison, nervous psychopath breaks into a house and terrorizes its three adult inhabitants.

 

Review

Supposedly “based on a true story,” ANGST is a memorable, impressive German film for the most part. Its docudrama style was ahead of its time, its starkly shot and lit style later seen in films like HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986) and MAN BITES DOG (1992). The acting in ANGST is excellent, especially Erwin Leder as the twitchy K, the Psychopath. His sweaty, bulging eyed gaze and clenched jaw fills much of this eighty-six-minute feature with an unsettled feel, aided by Zbigniew Rybcynski’s always-roving, sometimes jerky camerawork and extreme close-ups, off-set by shots of open rural country. K’s narration of his horrible childhood and subsequent prison sentences prior to his most recent release is illuminating, damning of society and its justice system, and bleakly humorous (psychiatrists refuse to declare him insane, something he clearly is).

The violence is brutal in some parts (particularly the bloody death of the twenty-something Daughter, played by Silvia Ryder, billed as Silvia Rabenreither). Its violence is not as grim as that of HENRY but it’s harsh compared to the slick, Hollywood style of many horror films.

What makes ANGST less than perfect is its long takes, which seem to be intentional, perhaps to further throw off the viewer, giving one a sense of what it feels like to be inside K’s head (he circles people and things even when his intentions are evident). The film runs about a half hour too long, so those used to short-take, efficient tale-telling editing may find Kargl and Rybcynski’s style irritating. That said, this jarring, distinctive and often effective chilling take on the almost-rabid K is one worth viewing at least once, if one doesn’t mind its excessive, fleshed-out-into-a-feature length.

CRAWL (2019)

 

(Director: Alexandre Aja. Screenwriters: Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen.)

Review

As a Category 5 hurricane threatens to bear down on her Florida hometown, professional swimmer Haley goes to check on her father (Dave) at the behest of her long-distance sister (Beth, played by Morfydd Clark). Haley’s relationship with Dave is strained because of his recent divorce with her mother─Haley blames herself for their breakup, because of all the time Dave spent coaching her swimming.

When she finds him, he’s seriously injured and trapped in the basement of their old, unlived-in house. She devises a way to get the out of the flood zone as the storm worsens, and then an alligator strikes─setting off series of increasingly terrifying and potentially catastrophic events not only for her and her father but for those around them.

Rated R for bloody (but not excessive) violence, terror, and tension, this relatively short (hour and twenty-seven-minute) film is perfectly edited (credit: Elliot Greenberg), with great writing, acting, cinematography, set design and direction. Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen (among their credits John Carpenter's THE WARD, 2010) keep the inventive and situation-ratcheting terror element constant and theme-true, whilst underlining the story with relatable human concern and warmth. Lucy Eyre’s set design and Ketan Waikar and Dragan Kaplarevic’s art direction is convincing and detailed, as are the mostly CGI alligators and their briefly gory attacks; Maxime Alexandre’s cinematography is appropriately storm-dark, often claustrophobic, and water-hued as the locations for the nature-sourced attacks shift between characters and places. And director Alexandre Aja, whose work is often amazing (in a good way), horror-true and laced with humor, masterfully guides this top-notch terror flick with its various-angle camera shots and tableaux.

Not only that, CRAWL’s two leads are excellent in their roles. Kaya Scodelario (RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY, 2021) is great as Haley, whose parental-divorce transition is as tumultuous as the waters that threaten to drown her and her father. Barry Pepper, a consistently excellent character actor, nails it as Dave, Haley and Beth’s sad, loving but coach-hard father. Ross Anderson, in his brief role as Wayne (a roadworker who crushes on Beth), is immediately likeable with his boyish charm. Trigger, Dave’s wiry-haired, scrappy mutt, is a charmer, too.

CRAWL is not only one of the best horror films of 2019, it’s also one of the best overall films of that year. If you’re a fan of films like ALLIGATOR (1980, starring Robert Forster), PIRANHA 3D (another Aja-helmed movie) and works of that ilk, check out CRAWL.

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Fred Walton. Co-screenwriter/producer: Steve Feke.)

Review

STRANGER, a highly successful independent feature expanded from Fred Walton and Steve Feke’s 1977 twenty-two-minute college short THE SITTER, shares a lot of elements with Bob Clark’s 1974 proto-slasher BLACK CHRISTMAS (down to the exact phrasing of “the calls are coming from inside the house”) and John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978), the latter of which was a large impetus for STRANGER getting financed and made. That said, STRANGER is not a mere retread of BLACK and HALLOWEEN, it is a top-notch and relatively bloodless thriller that is just as excellent and distinctive as those other two films.

The story runs thusly: while Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) babysits the Mandrakis’ two young kids, a strange man calls her and asks her “Have you checked the children?” (She hasn’t in the last few minutes). More calls, in swift succession and with increasing ring-volume, follow.  (The increasing ring-volume was director Walton’s idea, to further jangle viewers’ nerves.)

Initially, Jill thinks it’s Bobby, a guy she hopes would call her (a reversal of Laurie Strode’s stated wishes in HALLOWEEN). Jill quickly realizes that the calls are not from Bobby and calls the cops, who at first dismiss the calls as a crank, then take her seriously. Through luck and smart thinking, Jill escapes physical harm though the Mandrakis’ children are killed by the apprehended Curt Duncan, a lunatic who murdered them with his bare hands (this is only shown in a flashback, with the unseen dead kids under blankets).

Seven years after these events, Jill is married with two kids. She’s still haunted by her last babysitting gig at the Mandrakis residence and acutely protective of her children. She’s unaware that Duncan (Tony Beckley) has escaped from the asylum he’s been interred for the past seven years. Detective John Clifford (Charles Durning), a retired cop who arrested Duncan, knows about Duncan’s offscreen violent escape as does Dr. Mandrakis, father of Duncan’s victims seven years prior. Mandrakis hires Clifford to track Duncan down and punish him. Clifford agrees.

When Duncan sees Carol’s picture in the newspaper (she’s a media personality), he begins stalking her children, leading to STRANGER‘s thrilling climax and somber denouement.

The look and feel of the tightly written and shot STRANGER are intense, with great use of chiaroscuro (at one point NOSFERATU-ish), its cinematography provided by Donald Peterson in his first film as a director of cinematography. The pacing is solid, feels Seventies in its color palette, and the talent involved in the making of this film is stellar.

Carol Kane (AVA'S POSSESSIONS, 2015) is great as the initially-carefree-then-wary Jill Johnson. Tony Beckley, who was terminally ill during the making of STRANGER (his last film) nails it as the jittery, mentally unstable, and pathetic Curt Duncan, a fully expressed character whose conflicting needs make for a memorable villain. Colleen Dewhurst (THE DEAD ZONE, 1983) also nails it as Tracy, briefly the focus of Duncan’s post-escape obsession.

Charles Durning (SISTERS, 1972) plays Detective John Clifford as an initially understated character who becomes more concerned and darker in his intentions as the film goes on─Durning, pro that he is, embodies this familiar-to-him character with aplomb. Ron O’Neal (SUPERFLY, 1972) is entertaining as the level-headed Lt. Charlie Garber, a fellow policeman.

Other notable actors, brief in their roles, include: Carmen Argenziano (GRADUATION DAY, 1981) as Dr. Mandrakis and Rutanya Alda (AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION, 1982) as Mrs. Mandrakis.

Kane and Durning reprised their roles in director Fred Walton’s television film WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK (1993), also titled SILENT RAGE.

STRANGER is one of my all-time favorite suspense thrillers, an intense-from-the-get-go flick that uses the oft-used urban legend of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs, yet makes it unique in its look, characters, and delivery. The phrase “seminal work” has been applied to the mostly bloodless and only-briefly-violent STRANGER with good reason. 

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (1970)

 

(Director: Gordon Hessler. Screenwriter: Christopher Wicking.)

Review

This American International Pictures [AIP] movie is based on a 1967 novel (THE DISORIENTATED MAN) by Peter Saxon, a pseudonym used by various authors between the late 1950s and the 1970s. According to Wikipedia, Stephen Frances wrote most of DISORIENTATED, with W. Howard Baker editing. The novel was later republished as SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, a title it shares with its resulting flick.

In SCREAM, a vampire-like killer runs wild in London. While the police try to track the blood-obsessed murderer down, an offbeat scientist gets caught between them.

The film is a non-gory, fragmented science fiction-conspiracy-thriller work starring three top horror stars. Vincent Price (THE RAVEN, 1963), played Dr. Browning, an experimental scientist and head of a lab compound trying to create a humanoid master race who wear SS-like uniforms. Peter Cushing (MADHOUSE, 1974) cameoed as Major Benedek, an officer in an unnamed eastern European intelligence service. Christopher Lee (HOWLING II: YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF, 1985) played Fremont, a high-ranking officer in an unnamed British intelligence agency. Price and Lee share a scene near the end of the film. 

Meanwhile, a serial killer with vampiric tendencies targets young women in London clubs, tragedies that, in choppy fashion, draw attention to Browning’s medical-military compound.

If viewed as an oddball, triple-segment and solid conspiracy thriller with horror actors and a horror title, SCREAM may prove to be a fun cinematic outing for you. If watched as a traditional horror film─it has touches of horror, e.g., Browning’s under-the-floor acid vat beneath his operating theater─it might not be choice entertainment for you.

Deep(er) filmic dive

SCREAM’s “Michael Gothard versus police chase” [IMDb] scene was partly shot on the Alpine Circuit at Milbrook test track—also used in TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972, “Wish You Were Here” segment).

COUGARS (2011)

 

(“short-form” film; director/screenwriter: Lonnie Martin)

Review

Sasha (Rebecca Hausman), a teenage girl disgusted by her mother’s promiscuity, isn’t into sex. Bastet, Sasha’s mother (Kendra North), argues with her daughter, telling her she should embrace her sexuality while she’s young and beautiful. When a classmate (Stuart, played by Charlie Dreizen) walks Sasha home, the release she’s been denying herself comes to the fore with messy results.

Lonnie Martin’s seventeen-minute film short is fun. Its intertangled, non-explicit carnal themes are little more than wordplay cleverness (bolstered by solid performances), but to criticize a movie this brief for not further developing the link between sex and its other themes seems clueless. While COUGARS does not go anywhere surprising, it’s a promising short-form film with reasonable─given its limited budget─effects.