BARBARIAN (2022)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Zach Cregger)

Review

Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives at an Airbnb house (476 Barbary Street) in Detroit, Michigan, in the falling-apart neighborhood of Brightmoor. She’s staying there for a job interview (as a researcher for a documentary filmmaker) she has the next day. When Tess gets there, problems begin immediately—the house key isn’t in the lockbox like it’s supposed to be; the person who rent it to her can’t be reached by cell phone; she discovers that the house has been double-booked.

The other guest is Keith M. Toshko (Bill Skarsgård, IT, 2017), a gentlemanly, friendly but possibly sketchy man who causes Tess’s guard to come up, even after he confirms his Airbnb reservation and does nothing but nice things for her. Her suspicions continue for a little while, then odd things begin to happen, causing her to rethink her situation, like: why is their Airbnb, the only pristine house in the neighborhood, surrounded by such exurb ruins? What are all the weird, whispery noises she hears when she’s trying to sleep?

It’s not long before BARBARIAN, a mixed genre horror film, shifts gears and lead characters—for better or worse, depending on the viewer. The occasionally gory movie, with its deft pacing (hello, editor Joe Murphy) and touches of dark humor, well-timed reveals, effective audio effects and makeup FX, and often smart characters (usually women), initially has the audio and visual feel of a David Fincher work; later, its tone/feel is that of a Sam Raimi flick, something director/screenwriter Cregger (who cameos as Everett) has noted in at least one interview.

BARBARIAN sports some noteworthy actors, beyond its initial leads:

Kate Nichols (DOOM: ANNIHILATION, 2019) played Catherine, a documentary filmmaker Tess wants to work for;

Jaymes Butler (RESIDENT EVIL, 2002) played Andre, a street person living near the strange Airbnb;

Justin Long (DRAG ME TO HELL, 2009) played A.J. Gilbride, an abusive Hollywood actor;

Richard Brake (HALLOWEEN II, 2009) played Frank;

Matthew Patrick Davis played The Mother;

Kate Bosworth (THE RULES OF ATTRACTION, 2002) voiced Melisa, a television executive;

J.R. Esposito (DOOM: ANNIHILATION, 2019) played Jeff, A.J.’s accountant;

Söphie Sorenson (MIDSOMMAR, 2019) voiced Bonnie, a property management employee.

As I noted before, some viewers might be put off by BARBARIAN’s story shift (which comes back to its initial leads)—not only that, some might be put off by brief instances of implied/off-screen rapes and a few over-the-top moments, but given its mostly smart and sometimes clever characters, effective and fresh twists, and previously noted virtues, BARBARIAN is an above-average horror film that ably addresses societal ills (poverty, crime, the police) without speechifying or sacrificing its entertainment value.

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE III (1990)

 

(a.k.a SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 3. Director: Sally Mattinson. Screenwriter: Catherine Cyran.)

 

Storyline

A high school girl invites her girlfriends to spend the night at her house, only to have it crashed by a murderous nutjob with a drill motor.

 

Review

In Venice Beach, California, high school senior Jackie Cassidy (Keely Christian) throws a slumber party in her parents’ house. Unfortunately, there are a few male weirdos lurking around the girls, and one of them is a psycho with a drill motor.

Considered the worst entry in the SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (SPM) trilogy, III is an in-name-only, by-the-numbers sequel that recycles a lot of its scenes from the two previous films. III was directed by Sally Mattinson, who said in a later interview she hated horror films─ she made it was because she wanted to direct her first film, and producer Roger Corman offered it to her. She probably hated III more when Corman told her she had to put an unnecessary rape scene in it, one that messes up the continuity of the film and makes the occasionally plucky characters come off as dumb(er), cruel, and cowardly, before they recover their courage.

As with the first two films, III is a brightly lit terror flick, with little suspense, groan-worthy humor, gratuitous nudity, and lots of run-knock-down-killer-run-again scenes, except this time there’s no satirical feminist bent to help III stand out from other slasher works. It does, however, move along quickly, have an impressive body count (twelve), a good, postmortem intestines-ripped-out scene (as well as a don’t-bathe-with-that scene). Not only that, SPM films are the only franchise to be written and directed solely by women (shame on the industry, a plus-point for SPM films).

The cast, who play stock slasher characters (blame the writing), sports some names which appeared in other notable horror flicks:

Maria Ford (NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD, 1993) as Maria;

Hope Marie Carlton (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER, 1988) as Janine;

Maria Claire (SOCIETY, 1989) as Susie;

Brittain Frye (HIDE AND GO SHRIEK, 1988) as preppie Ken Whitehouse;

Michael Harris (SLEEPSTALKER, 1995) as Dr. Morgan Herdman, Jackie’s pervy neighbor;

Yan Birch (THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, 1991) as The Weirdo;

Marta Kober (FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 2, 1981) as “Pizza Girl”;

Wayne Grace (FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984) as Officer O’Reilly;

Alexander Folk (FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2, 1988) as Detective Davis.

 

Sharp-eyed low budget fans might notice two other things about III, like that fact that the poster girls for III are not in the film, and that III’s interior set─located in Corman’s Venice Beach studio─were later used in another Corman franchise sequel, SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE II (1990).

Would I recommend III? For most people, no. However, if you’re looking for a generic, video-slick 1990s production (although III enjoyed a successful, limited-release theatrical run) with some T&A and an unnecessary, strange (though not explicit) rape scene, this might be a flick to fall asleep to.

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Dan Curtis. Co-screenwriter: William F. Nolan, their script based on Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel.)

Review

Ben and Marian Rolf, a middle-aged couple, along with their twelve-year-old son (David) and Ben’s elderly aunt (Elizabeth), rent an ornate, hundred-year-old-plus summer manse for the “entire summer” for $900. Its quirkily intense owners, Roz Alladyce (Ellen Heckart, THE BAD SEED, 1956) and her brother Arnold (Burgess Meredith, THE SENTINEL, 1977), clearly in love with the house, rent it at an amazingly good price— remember, this is 1976—on the condition that they look in on and feed their off-camera “Mother” (Mrs. Alladyce) who lives in the attic. Marian, also enchanted by the sprawling abode, volunteers to take care of Mrs. Alladyce, unseen and dead quiet.

All is good when the Rolfs move in. The house, located near a spooky, overgrown graveyard (all of its tombstones bear the surname Alladyce, none of them earlier than the 1890s). Within days, however, something sickly begins creeping into their psyches. Ben, a good and playful father, tries to drown David while rough housing in the pool; meanwhile, Marian is enraptured by an old music bo outside Mrs. Alladyce’s attic room.

The next night, Ben begins having nightmares about a grinning, creepy chauffeur (played by Anthony James, NIGHTMARES, 1983), a haunting figure last seen by Ben in his childhood at his mother’s funeral. While all this takes place, the house starts looking impossibly new again, some of it due to Marian’s manic cleaning. Something else, something supernatural, is going on—something that means to tear the Rolfs apart, in spirit and flesh, all except for Marian, whose personality changes in unsettling ways.

This steady ratcheting of unease is reflected in Robert Cobert’s shivery soundtrack. (Cobert scored many of Dan Curtis’s projects, including DEAD OF NIGHT, 1977.) The setting and its shifting mood (well-lensed and -paced by Jacques R.Marquette’s light-to-dark-toned cinematography and Dennis Virkler’s effective editing) are equally affecting. As terrifying and strange events mount in more overt ways, and the house continues to thrive (e.g., previously dead plants bloom overnight), it’s evident that the Rolfs must leave the house if they wish to survive.

BURNT, with its steady build-up and traumatizing finish, wouldn’t work as well as it does without strong acting. Ellen Heckart and Burgess Meredith are fun and borderline spooky as the Alladyces. Dub Taylor (THEM!, 1954) is hilarious as Walker, their take-no-crap groundskeeper.

Oliver Reed (THE BROOD, 1979) is great as the under-pressure Ben, who’s trying to maintain his family’s previous-to-house happiness. Karen Black (TRILOGY OF TERROR, 1975) is equally so as Marian, a high-energy woman whose affections eerily shift from her family to their rented house. Bette Davis (WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, 1962) is dead-on as the independent, affectionately spiky Elizabeth. Lee Montgomery, billed as Lee H. Montgomery, is convincing as the oft-screaming David.

BURNT is one of my all-time favorite spook house movies, a distinctly 1970s, steadily mounting PG rated horror flick with some crazy fun, briefly bloody flourishes to spice up its underlying unease. Highly recommended, this.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb, BURNT was shot entirely on location at the historic Dunsmuir House in Oakland, California. The first movie to be shot there, the house would later be used in PHANTASM (1979), A VIEW TO A KILL (1985), THE VINEYARD (1989) and SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER (1993).

According to BURNT OFFERING's Wikipedia page, the filmic ending is different than that of Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel—Dan Curtis wasn’t a fan of its open-ended conclusion.

HAUNT (2019)

 

(Directors/screenwriters: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods)

Storyline

Friends experiencing an “extreme” haunted house that preys on their starkest fears discover that the terror tour is more real than they thought.

 

Review

This Eli Roth-produced movie, said by its creators to be influenced by Tobe Hooper’s THE FUNHOUSE (1981), is a fun, clever, and often scary flick, one that mostly dodges the pitfalls of many horror works. The kids touring the Halloween “extreme” terror house, with its inventive death traps, are smart, semi-likeable and brave for the most part (except for a few Plot Convenient Stupid Moments where they flee rather than finish off their easily killed tormentors). These death traps are effective, intriguing set pieces, worthwhile as the masked killer who stalk them (Clown, Devil, Ghost, Vampire and Witch), whose motivations are mysterious─it does not matter why they’re tormenting and brutally murdering these young people, it’s enough to know (for this viewer, at least) that they’re doing it. It lends an inscrutable, force-of-evil feel to their work, a vibe shared by HALLOWEEN’s (1978) Michael Myers.

HAUNT is impressive for how it trusts their viewers like to be smart. Because of this, it jumps around between characters in different parts of the seasonal horror abode, which may be a little confusing for those not giving HAUNT their entire attention. Its slam-bang, satisfying finish makes such a jump, eschewing a spell-it-out ending, which may put off some viewers who prefer familiar, filmic finishes. Rob Zombie fans may appreciate Lissie’s cover of “Dragula” over the credits crawl.

HAUNT is a great, fresh entry in the horror genre. Worth your time, this─I’m not surprised, considering that filmmakers Beck and Woods are two-thirds of writing team that created A QUIET PLACE (2018; director/co-screenwriter: John Krasinski).

THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936)

 

(Director: an uncredited Tod Browning. Screenplay by Garrett Fort, Guy Endore and Eric von Stroheim based on Tod Browning’s story, which is based on Abraham Merritt’s 1932 novel Burn, Witch, Burn!.)

 

Review

Two Devil’s Island prisoners—Marcel, a scientist concerned with human overpopulation (played by Henry B.Walthall), and Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore, MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, 1935), a now-hateful man wrongly convicted of theft and murder—escape. They make their way to Marcel’s house where Marcel’s wife, Malita (Rafaela Ottiano) has been continuing her husband’s experiments to shrink people to doll size to reduce consumption of the world’s resources. After a tired, wounded Marcel dies, Paul, with Malita’s help, begins using Marcel and Malita’s experimental science to get revenge on those who put him set him up seventeen years prior—he does this by returning to Paris and dressing up as an old woman who sells the criminal, shrunken dolls out of a shop. Paul now goes by the name Madame Madeline.

Paul also reconnects (as an old woman) with his beloved adult and life-beleaguered daughter, Lorraine Lavond (Maureen O’Sullivan, THE THIN MAN, 1932), making him question his murderous goals.

DEVIL-DOLL is a great hour-and-eighteen-minute revenge flick, with its tight script, good FX and atmosphere, strong acting (Barymore, Ottiano, etc.) and waste-no-time pacing. I love that a lot is left to the imagination, that there is no visible blood spilled, making it more effective. Beyond that, there’s not a lot to say about DEVIL-DOLL that hasn’t been said before, except that it’s one of my favorite living manikin-based horror films.

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958)

 

 (Director: Terence Fisher. Screenwriter: Jimmy Sangster, whose script was augmented by dialogue by “Huford Janes” [Sangster’s pen name] and an uncredited George Baxt.)

Review

REVENGE immediately picks up where THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) left off, with Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) being led to Swiss gallows. The camera cuts away from showing his death as the offscreen sound of physical body blows are heard.

Three years later, 1860. Frankenstein, going by the name Victor Stein, is a highly successful medical practitioner in Carlsbrück, running a clinic for the surly impoverished as well treating wealthy clients. The local medical board, jealous of the baron scientist’s popularity and independence, seek to pull them into their organization. He refuses, citing their snubbing him when he originally arrived in Carlsbrück. They, in a huff, leave. However, one of the junior members of the board, Dr. Hans Kleve (Francis Matthews, DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, 1966) recognizes Stein for who he really is and blackmails the doctor into letting Kleve work with him—Kleve admires Stein’s past and current work and wants to be part of it. He doesn’t bear Frankenstein any ill will.

The medical clinic is not Frankenstein and Kleve’s only endeavor. Karl (Michael Gwynn, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, 1960), the hunchbacked jail attendant who helped Frankenstein escape the gallows, is to be the beneficiary of the Baron and Kleve’s outlier efforts: Karl’s brain is to be transplanted into a well-preserved, handsome male body. The experiment goes well, and Karl, besotted with pretty nurse Margaret Conrad (Eunice Gayson, DR. NO, 1962), is pleased as are the two scientists—in this new body, Karl might have a chance with her! However, his plans to bury his hunchbacked past are threatened when the scientists want to make a big scientific splash by revealing the experiment, Karl and his old body, to their more reputable peers around the world. Karl doesn’t like this, and coupled with Margaret and Kleve’s obvious mutual attraction, Karl goes violently mad even as his limbs begin to wither.

Not only that, superstitious distrust among the villagers (including the ungrateful poor whom he treats without charge) dogs Frankenstein and Kleve, while the local medical board tries to push their own agenda on the two doctors. Throw in a shady and drunken Janitor (George Woodbridge, HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958) in Frankenstein’s employ, and the ingredients for the notorious scientist’s ruination are in place.

Cushing’s Frankenstein is not the callous murderer he was in CURSE. He’s relatively charming and more generous, though he’s still willing to rob graves and, if pushed, kill anyone who threatens him and his experiments. In a lesser story, such a character change might not work but here it does.

Other REVENGE talent, on and off screen, includes:

Michael Mulcaster (uncredited as Tattoo Harry– Mulcaster also played Frankenstein’s warder in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1957).

Jack Asher (cinematographer, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1957, and HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958). 

Alfred Cox (editor, QUATERMASS 2, 1957).

Bernard Robinson (production designer, THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, 1957).

Phillip Leakey (makeup, HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958).

REVENGE, which confidently builds on its predecessor, is one of the best entries in Hammer’s seven-film FRANKENSTEIN series. Its streamlined script is effectively twisty and tight, with no wasted shots, solid visual representation, good-to-great acting, and a standout ending that’s memorable in any FRANKENSTEIN film, Hammer-produced or otherwise. Followed by THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964).