THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (1982)

 

(a.k.a. HOUSE OF EVIL, UK title; director/screenwriter: Mark Rosman, with additional dialogue by Bobby Fine)

 

Review

June 19, 1961. A woman (Dorothy Slater), giving birth on a stormy night, is told she lost her baby. Her screams echo on the screen as HOUSE cuts to twenty years later, on a sunlit college campus where seven pretty Phi Theta sorority sisters get ready to throw a graduation party despite the certainty that their shrill, “weird” house mother (Slater) will veto it. After the mentally unstable Slater (she hasn’t been the same since her miscarriage) catches one of her sorority charges (Vicki) having sex with her boyfriend, Slater becomes violent, inciting the young woman to pull a nasty prank on Slater—retaliation that goes horribly awry, setting into motion a series of murders. Do the stabbings have anything to do with the mysterious figure hiding in the attic, watching the collegiate sisters romp through their mostly carefree days?

HOUSE’s cast, many making their feature debuts, is solid. Standout players include Christopher Lawrence as Dr. Nelson Beck, Slater’s longtime physician, who’s certain she’s headed for a “psychotic break”; Lois Kelso Hunt is believably intense as Dorothy Slater, the disturbed house mother; Kate McNeil (MONKEY SHINES, 1988) is great as a sorority sister with a conscience; Eileen Davidson, who played the cruel, vengeful Vicki, also convinces; Harley Jane Kozak, billed as Harley Kozak (I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE: VENGEANCE IS MINE, 2015) played Diane, one of the sorority sisters; Jodi Draigie (FREAK, 2015) is also solid as Diane, another sister.

HOUSE is an entertaining, easily figured out movie that fuses Henri Georges-Clouzot’s 1955 thriller LES DIABOLIQUES with familiar, occasionally bloody and goofy slasher tropes—its cut-to-it pacing and intriguing set-up are largely due to Paul Trejo and Jean-Marc Vasseur’s tight editing (especially during the often off-camera kill scenes) and Tim Suhrstedt’s immersive, sometimes color-wild cinematography. Richard Band (THE RESONATOR: MISKATONIC U, 2021) created a mood-effective, occasionally quirky score for HOUSE, further elevating it above other films sharing its stalk-and-slay setups—at times his score reminded of me RE-ANIMATOR (1985), whose soundtrack he created, and, on occasion, SUSPIRIA (1977) and FRIDAY THE 13^th (1980). HOUSE isn’t inventive in its plotting or characters, but it’s engaging, viewer-immersive and smart, something most filmmakers in this genre should aspire to.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb, HOUSE‘s story also bears a strong resemblance to a 1932 Myrna Loy film, THIRTEEN WOMEN, where a woman rebuffed by a sorority sets out to cause the untimely deaths of its sisters.

Lois Kelso Hunt’s voice was dubbed because director Mark Rosman didn’t think it was scary enough.

Rachel Talalay, script supervisor on HOUSE, went on to work on other films, notably as the director of the 1991 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET sequel FREDDY’SDEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE.

13 MINUTES OF HORROR: SCI-FI HORROR (2022)

 

(a.k.a. NYX 2022—13 MINUTES OF HORROR: SCI-FI HORROR. Various directors and screenwriters, listed within review)

 

Overall review

Edited by Ashley Lynch, 13 MINUTES is one of the best short-film anthologies I’ve seen a long time. All of the one-minute flicks have something to recommend them to viewers, especially “Overtime” and “Screengrab.”

 

 

Review, film short by film short

1

“Beauty Booth”

(Director/screenwriter: Marilyn Flores)

A young woman (played by Alba Villaronga Cases) uses a photo booth-like app to make herself more attractive. The results are considerably less than what she was hoping for.

Good, smart work.

 

2

“Overtime”

(Director/co-screenwriter/co-star: Kristine Gerolaga. Co-screenwriter/co-star: Steven Krimmel)

This is a blackly humorous, ethereal, and eerily—almost sleazily—red backlit entry (kudos to cinematographer William Green), where a bedridden, dying woman and “sole breadwinner: for her family (Kristine Gerolaga) in a dark room is attended visited by a masked co-worker (Steven Krimmel) regarding financial coverage for her family when she’s gone.

Standout short film.

 

 

3

“Nothing Has Changed”

(Director/screenwriter: Carla Grace Fajardo)

A romantic virtual reality trip with his boyfriend goes awry for a gay man. Stars: Manase Missa and DJ Tinaz.

Good, smart (with a briefly palpable angst) piece.

 

 

4

“Screengrab”

(Director/screenwriter: Sadie Walton. Screenwriter: Meaghan Morris.)

Occult, intensely dark and mood-effective (especially its end music, no credited composer) film short where a grim “Zoom Participant” (listed character name, played Sam Kittelson) watches an online “Witch” (Meaghan Morris), and reacts in a shocking fashion. Also co-stars Sadie Walton as a “Disembodied Head.”

One of my favorite entries in this filmic anthology, has an Old School, 1980s-esque feel.

 

 

5

“Transform(Her)”

(Director/screenwriter: Bianca Malcolm)

The fashion choices of three pretty female dolls are judged by three male dolls, one of them a hideous alien, in this reality TV-esque, stop-motion animation short, where the female dolls are more than they seem.

Fun, clever, and brightly hued.

 

 

6

“Sayonara”

(Director/screenwriter: Elaine Chu)

A woman’s practical and briefly upbeat online video about getting through an apocalyptic pandemic turns dark (and hilarious). Good, timely—especially after these last couple of years—short.

 

 

7

“Specimen 9126”

(Director: Robbie Barnes. Screenwriter: Devi Bhaduri.)

In an Area 51 lab, an alien “Creature” (Rob Motoc) stalks a terrified woman (Quinn, played by Tammy Davis). Entertaining and creepy.

 

8

“Pardon the Intrusion”

(Director/screenwriter/animator: Megan Llewellyn)

This animated, prose-poetic short concerns a woman being visited by a narrating creature (voiced by Aysha U Farah). It’s well-made, has an intuitive, experimental element going for it.

 

 

9

“2 Weeks”

(Director: Sara Werner. Screenwriter: Bry Gallagher.)

A woman (Sadie, played by Bry Gallagher) losing weight, two weeks in advance, for a friend’s (“The Bride”) beachside wedding. Lots of flashy hard cuts and weird angles in this one, with a funny ending.

 

 

10

“Mother”

(Director: Deanna Gomez, billed as Deanna M. Gomez. Screenwriter: Mercedes K. Milner.)

Explorers in spacesuits investigate an unfamiliar space, not knowing what they’ll find. Solid, interesting (in a good way) short work.

 

 

11

“Take a Breath”

(Director/screenwriter: JC Farris)

A woman (played by Maria Stephens) physically shifts between two locations—one likely fatal for her, the other slightly less dangerous—in every-few-seconds increments. Excellent character sketching in this one.

 

 

12.

“nine”

(Director/screenwriter: Olivia Hill)

A ticking clock paces this audio-focused, effectively unsettling, and bleakly humorous mini-film.

 

 

13

“Momento Mori”

(Director/screenwriter: Izzy Lee)

April 9, 1983. A frustrated scientist (Megan Duffy), up for days, monitoring lab machines, and writing down her findings, gets a result she isn’t prepared for.

Entertaining, well-shot, atmospheric.

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

 

(Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, and Basil Dearden. Screenwriters: John Baines and Angus MacPhail, with additional dialogue by T.E.B. Clarke.)

Review

Not to be confused with Dan Curtis’s 1977 NBC telepic, this influential 1945 multi-tale movie, put out by Ealing Studios (a British production company mostly known for social dramas, documentaries, and comedies), is a rare World War II cinematic work (the production of horror films wasn’t allowed in Great Britain during the 1940s).

 

DEAD begins with an architect, Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns, THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, 1963) arriving at a house in the English countryside, a haunted look crossing his face as he sees his destination. While walking up to the cottage, he’s greeted by Eliot Foley (Roland Culver, THUNDERBALL, 1965), who invited Craig for possible renovations to the house. They enter the house, where, in the living room, he sees five other people—guests—and his haunted look deepens. He’s not heard of, nor met them, at least in waking life.

He tells the congregated host and guests about how he has a recurring, half-remembered “evil” dream that begins exactly like the events shown thus far. He says another guest, a surprise “penniless” visitor, is due to arrive and provides other details about his dream that have happened or will happen.

 

One of the guests, Dr. van Straaten (Frederick Valk, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH, 1940), a psychoanalyst, tries to convince Craig that it’s all in his head. The others, entertained by the situation, debate about the merits of Craig’s recurrent night vision, and talk about their own eerie, possibly supernatural experiences, seamlessly segueing the overarching (and untitled) segment into other segments.

This wraparound section was directed by Basil Dearden, its screenwriter not specified.

 

“The Hearse Driver”: Hugh Grainger (Anthony Baird, billed as Antony Baird), a race car driver, relates how during a post-crash recovery, he sees a hearse and its driver outside his hospital room. Later, something happens that leads him toward a life-changing decision.

Based on E.F. Benson’s story, published in The Pall Mall magazine in 1906, “Hearse” was directed by Basil Dearden, screenwriter (again) not specifically credited.

 

One of the other guest, a teenager, Sally O’Hara (Sally Anne Howes, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, 1972) recounts a spooky, chiaroscuro-drenched game of hide-and-seek during “The Christmas Party” in a murder-site mansion the previous year, a holiday shindig with a surprise guest.

“Christmas,” during its upstairs/hide-and-seek portion, is especially excellent in its visual aspects. Penned by screenwriter Angus MacPhail and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, its twist may be apparent to modern day viewers, but it’s still a striking cinematic experience in parts.

 

Joan Cortland (Googie Withers), the next tale teller, speaks about “The Haunted Mirror” she bought for her fiancé-now-husband (Peter), and how the reflecting glass with a troubling history intensely influenced their lives. Great use of light and shadow in this DEAD entry as well.

Robert Hamer directed “Haunted,” from John Baines’s screenplay.

 

The host, Eliot Foley, is the next to chime in with “The Golfer’s Story”.In it, two golfing buddies (George Parratt and Larry Potter, a real-life comedy duo played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne) fall for the same woman (Mary Lee), threatening their joyous amity. They agree to decide who gets the indecisive woman by playing golf—whoever wins becomes her betrothed. (Yes, sexist overtones here, in the weakest of these DEAD-told microtales.) But all is not as it seems.

Based on H.G. Wells’s “The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost,” it was directed by Charles Crichton, no specific screenwriter named.

 

“The Ventriloquist’s Dummy” is told by Dr. van Straaten, who discloses his experiences with a patient (Maxwell Frere), a famous, overwrought ventriloquist with an equally iconic dummy (Hugo). When Hugo begins scouting for a new partner (Sylvester Kee), Frere further unravels. Is Hugo, a brash personality, an aspect of Frere’s feverish insecurities, or is he a separate, supernatural entity?

 

“Ventriloquist” is the most-remembered segment in DEAD, an influential tale whose gone-mad ventriloquist trope has been seen in numerous works since. It wasn’t the first notable ventriloquist-trope flick (that honor goes to the 1929 movie THE GREAT GABBO, co-directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim), but GABBO doesn’t appear to have the following that DEAD has.

Alberto Cavlcanti directed the John Baines-scripted “Ventriloquist”.

 

DEAD’s circular storyline dovetails in a dreamlike, shadowy and déja vu manner after the psychiatrist’s remembrance—it’s a satisfactory, twisty and memorable finish, one that makes DEAD one of my all-time favorite horror anthology films, with its striking visual aspects, inherent charm, humor and fright, tight editing (hello, Charles Hasse), superb direction and writing, and Michael Relph’s art direction. Check it out!

 

Deeper film(ic) dive

Googie Withers, comedy duo “Parratt and Potter” (Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne) and Michael Redgrave all appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 film THE LADY VANISHES.

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Big thanks to Anne Hockens, who, in the September 2022 edition of her monthly column (“Film Noir and Neo-Noir on TCM”) reminded me and compelled me to write about DEAD with these words: “. . . noir-stained horror anthology. . . Michael Redgrave started the whole evil ventriloquist trope with his masterful segment. This is not strictly a noir but is a brilliant film."

Also, thanks to Turner Classic Movies’ Alicia Malone, who mentioned in her televised 9/6/22 introduction to the film, that the “initial [stateside] release of the film was missing two of the segments, ‘The Golfer’s Story,’ and—depending on the source—'The Haunted Mirror,’ or ‘The Christmas Party’.”

MERMAID: LAKE OF THE DEAD (2018)

 

(a.k.a. THE MERMAID: LAKE OF THE DEAD; directors: Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy, who co-wrote the screenplay, and Christopher Bevins, the latter of whom co-directed the English-dub version. Other screenwriters: Natalya Dubovaya and Ivan Kaptionov. Unrated.)

 

Review

A young, quiet woman (Marina) with natatophobia, a fear of swimming—begun by her mother’s drowning years ago—must save herself and her fiancé (Roma Kitaev) after he’s seduced by a malevolent and perception-shifting mermaid (long ago an unmarried, drowned woman named Lisa Gregorieva), a rapacious being who wants to permanently bring Roma into her watery realm. As Roma’s relentless beguiler further claims him, Marina struggles with her darker aspects and family secrets.

Often tinted in Anton Zenkovich’s aquatic colors (various shades of green and blue, mixed with faint yellow), this slick Russian theatrical update of a Slavic myth about unwed drowned women becoming demonic mermaids is beautifully shot and especially vivid, with tight editing (courtesy of Anton Komrakov). The lots-of-camera-movement filmmakers effectively maintain the sometimes spooky, water-based theme (visually and otherwise). Evgeny Golubenko and Midhun’s visual FX are largely convincing, though some of the movie’s CGI’d mermaid is generic-looking in look and action. Additionally, the mermaid is too powerful in her psychic/perception-tweaking abilities (e.g., making doors shut, miles away from her deadly lake), and most of the characters are underdeveloped, sometimes Plot Convenient Dumb caricatures (even most of the actors’ solid acting can’t fix that). MERMAID is probably not the worst film you’ll see, but don’t be surprised if you forget about it five minutes after it ends.