KNOCK KNOCK (2018)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Paul Catalanotto)

Review

In this six-minute horror short, a woman (Christine Tonry, ANTI-VAXXER, 2021), excited and getting ready for a date, is stalked by a stealthy, hard-to-track faint knock in her house. She follows the intermittent and spooky knocking throughout it, and you know it’s not likely to end well for her.

KNOCK is an all-around solid, every-shot-counts, suspenseful short, with—aside from the woman not grabbing any kind of weapon—a promising premise, and a worthwhile not-quite-a-twist ending. Hamp Overton’s (SACRILEGE, 2017) cinematography is impressive, especially considering KNOCK’s limited budget, and its sound department (John Charles, Mike Gilbert, and Qing Yu) maintains an unsettling feel throughout. This feels like a “proof of concept” work, one worth watching.

ATTACHMENT (2022)

 

(Shudder Original/streaming film. Director/screenwriter: Gabril Bier Gislason)

 

Review

Danish actress, Maja (Josephine Park), meets Jewish academic (Leah, played by Ellie Kendrick) in a bookstore, and they quickly fall in love. When Leah, who has strange seizures, returns to her mother’s home, Maja goes with her. Chana, Leah’s mother, is a strict practitioner of Jewish black magick. Furthermore, the serious older woman doesn’t seem to like Maja, driving her to figure out the changes in Leah’s personality, her relationship with her rigid mother, and the Kabbalah-related objects hidden around Chana’s house.

If you view director Gislason’s feature debut for what it comes off as—a barely R-rated made-for-television, initially fun and romantic drama with occasional PG-13 horror moments—it might be a good viewing choice for you. If you’re one of those sensitive souls who sincerely use the phrase “elevated horror” and doesn’t get the joke (all horror work has inherent subtext, it’s not meant to be worn as a fan-badge of arrogance and/or ignorance), ATTACHMENT could easily be your vaguely, occasionally horrific check-it-out flick as well.

If you’re an Old School/traditional horror fan looking for a well-edited film that effectively, continually builds up to a satisfying, suspenseful horror-flick ending, you might want to skip it. ATTACHMENT‘s first twenty or thirty minutes are promising, relatively fast-paced, a steady-build work. Then it hits a drawn-out, glacial-paced thirty or so minutes, where Maja, initially smart, becomes so love-dumb and gormless that she strains believability. By the time all is spoon-fed, er, revealed to her, it’s a moot point—experienced horror viewers will likely have sussed out the film’s lacking-in-suspense storyline and upcoming shots early on and, like me, just wanted the movie over with already.

On paper, I see where ATTACHMENT might’ve worked as an hourlong television/streaming horror show episode. It builds like an unedited novella (one can almost see which scenes would be dramatic chapter endings), but as a feature. . . Gabril Bier Gislason, his cast and crew are clearly able to put out part of a good movie. It’s a shame that its snail-crawl middle-to-end section relies on its lead (Maja) being excessively dumb, even for someone newly in love, and scenes recycling (without building on) previously established plot points.

 

Standout actors include:

Sofie Gråbøl (THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, 2018) as Chana, Leah’s intense, black magick-practicing mother;

David Dencik (DEPARTMENT Q: THE ABSENT ONE, 2014) as Lev, a bookstore owner and Ellie’s uncle.

 

If you don’t like gore, suspense, violence, good editing, or anything darker than weak milk chocolate in your movies, ATTACHMENT could easily be your cinematic kick for an hour and forty-five minutes. If you’re not, feel free to skip it.

SWEET SIXTEEN (1983)

(Director: Dmitri Sotirakis, billed as Jim Sotos. Screenwriter: Erwin Goldman.)

Review

In a small Texas town, the recently arrived fifteen-year-old Melissa Morgan (Aleisa Shirley, her cinematic debut) is flirty, lonely, and lusted after by many of her male peers and a few of the older men. This isn’t much of a problem until that the last guy she went out with (Johnny Franklin) is found stabbed to death the next morning. The most likely suspect is a local Native American bad ass, Jason Longshadow (Don Shanks, HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1989), who’d almost gotten into a bar fight with aggressively racist Johnny, his older brother Billy, and one of Johnny’s friends the same night Johnny was murdered.

Easy-going Sheriff Dan Burke (Bo Hopkins, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 2: TEXAS BLOOD MONEY, 1999) begins investigating the crime even as the violent Billy Franklin, riling up local ire, looks for Jason Longshadow. More murders happen, all of them centered around Melissa, culminating in a bloody, deadly showdown that’ll likely be talked about in that town for decades.

More a well-written drama with an almost Seventies feel than a slasher film, SWEET is a solid, if sometimes oddball work. Slash-and-stab scenes occasionally punctuate the steady-build drama, with full-frontal female nudity (Aleisha Shirley), mostly solid acting, effective foreshadowing, a shoehorned and character-unlikely shock ending, and scenes that recall better movies (FRIDAY THE 13^th, 1980, and HALLOWEEN, 1978, e.g., the shot where Tommy Doyle, holding a pumpkin and being bullied, is watched by Michael Myers). And if you’re a fan of cheesy Eighties ballads, Joel Wertman and Mark Wertman’s “Melissa’s Theme” (which plays during certain Melissa-focused shots. . . foreshadowing?) might be your briefly heard favorite new tune.

 

Other actors (beside Bo Hopkins and Don Shanks) who stand out:

Dana Kimmell (FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 3, 1982) as Marci Burke, Sheriff Dan Burke’s murder mystery-reading teenage daughter;

Steve Antin (THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, 1982) as Hank Burke, Sheriff Dan Burke’s teenage son;

Patrick Macnee (THE HOWLING, 1981) as Dr. John Morgan, Melissa’s protective, archeologist father;

Susan Strasberg (BLOODY BIRTHDAY, 1981) as Joanne Morgan (née Platt), Melissa’s protective mother;

Don Stroud (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, 1979) as Billy Franklin;

Logan Clark (NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN, 1972) as Jimmy;

and

Michael Pataki (GRADUATION DAY, 1981) as George Martin, a shady politician.

You might enjoy SWEET if you’re looking for a solid (sort of) murder mystery with occasional, slasherific kill scenes. Anyone wanting an edgy thriller should seek something else.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb: Leslie Nielsen (PROM NIGHT, 1980) was originally set to play Dr. John Morgan, Melissa’s father, but bowed out because of scheduling conflicts.

QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966)

 

(a.k.a. PLANET OF BLOOD. Director/co-screenwriter: Curtis Harrington. Based on Mikhail Karykov and Otar Koberidze’s story/film MECHTE NAVSTRECHU.)

 

Review

1990. Ambassadors of a mysterious alien race, enroute to Earth to establish relations with humans, crash-land on Mars. On Earth, the International Institute of Space Technology, created to “explore” Mars and Venus, sends a rescue mission for the aliens, with whom communications are hazy at best (along with their general appearance).

The crew of the Oceano are on their way to Mars when multiple complications occur, starting with a sunburst, which damages the Oceano’s system. Upon reaching Mars, the crew members find a lone survivor (a green-skinned, exotic-looking, and mute Alien Queen (her character end-credited as “?”, played by Florence Marly, DOCTOR DEATH: SEEKER OF SOULS, 1973). Several men, especially Paul Grant (Dennis Hopper, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2, 1986), are dreamily, romantically drawn to her. After she drains one of her admirers of blood (offscreen), killing him, the remaining crew members decide to restrain, not kill her, because she’s a scientific specimen. . . an obviously bad decision, an opinion voiced by alarmed crew member Allan Brenner (John Saxon, TENEBRAE, 1982), who wants to destroy her.

QUEEN, with a fun, familiar twist or two, is a fast- and tightly paced (for its time) low budget movie, with an all-around solid cast and crew. Its look is sumptuous in an often color-drenched B-movie way (opening with John Cline’s exotic, science fiction-monstrous “title” paintings and stock spooky-theremin music by Ronald Stein, billed as Leonard Moran—Moran’s credits include SPIDER BABY, OR THE MADDEST STORY EVER TOLD, 1967). QUEEN’s look is further augmented (and made more atmospheric) by impressive special effects lifted from bigger budgeted and uncredited Russian films, BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, 1959, and MECHTE NAVSTRECHU, 1963), fitting because QUEEN is a remake of MECHTE, English translation DREAM TOGETHER. (MECHTE was also titled DREAM COME TRUE in some countries.)

 

QUEEN’s other notable players and behind-the-scenes crew include:

Basil Rathbone (SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1939) as Dr. Farraday, head of the International Institute of Space Technology;

Judi Meredith (THE NIGHT WALKER, 1964) as Laura James, scientist and Allan Brenner’s romantic interest;

Don Eitner (KRONOS, 1957) as Tony Barrata, one of the crew members;

Forrest J. Ackerman (THE HOWLING, 1981, and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD II, 1988) as Dr. Farraday’s assistant (“minus his trademark glasses”, according to IMDb’s QUEEN OF BLOOD “Trivia” page). Ackeman, then-editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, holds something in the movie’s last shot;

Virgil Frye (GARDEN OF THE DEAD, 1972) as “Control Panel” (Frye’s first feature);

Gary Crutcher (GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, 1958) as an uncredited spaceship crew member;

Leon Smith (VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, 1965, also co-directed by Curtis Harrington) was VOYAGE and QUEEN’s set designer, then billed as "set decorator".

and

Vilis Lapenieks (VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, 1965) was VOYAGE and QUEEN’s cinematographer.

QUEEN might be worth your time if you appreciate its above-noted qualities, particularly if you’re a fan of MARS ATTACKS! (1996; director: Tim Burton) and ALIEN (1979; director: Ridley Scott), the latter of which shares a similar, if darker, more primal, and feminist storyline.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb: though Ronald Stein’s spooky theremin music sounds like it’s mixed with Louis Barron and Bebe Barron’s FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) “tonalities” it’s not.

Florence Marly reprised her role of “?” (her character’s end-credit in QUEEN) in a six-minute, 16mm sequel, SPACE BOY (1973). In SPACE BOY, her character is named Velarna, and Marly is billed as Florence Marly von Wurmbrand.

QUEEN’s running time is an hour and eighteen minutes, a good choice if you’re looking for a shorter movie to watch.

SUBSPECIES (1991)

 

(Director: Ted Nicolaou. Screenwriters: Jackson Barr and David Pabian, based on Charles Band’s idea.)

 

Review

In fictional Prejnar, Romania, Radu Vladislas, monstrous offspring of a twisted sorceress and a briefly ensorcelled King Vladislas, returns home and kills his elderly father for the Bloodstone, a mystical gem that contains the blood of saints—a powerful, addictive elixir.

Radu’s vampiric half-brother (Stefan, played by Michael Watson), arrives and finds his father dead. He, good, kind, and half-human, seeks to avenge his father’s death, and poses as a college student studying local “nocturnal creatures”.

Stefan is not the only new arrival in Prejnar. Three medieval-history-studying college students—Romanian native Mara (Irina Movila), free-spirited Lillian, and bookish and especially resourceful Michelle—show up and stay at a local fort near Castle Vladislas, where Radu lurks.  

When Lillian takes to her bed with “anemia” after secretly being visited by Radu, the blood-fueled sibling conflict between sensitive Stefan and his ruthless, more virile brother (as well as his devilish, pint-sized minions) ratchets into full-blown war, with all around them—including local groundskeeper Karl (Ivan J. Rado, PUPPET MASTER II, 1990)—caught up in their designs.

SUBSPECIES has an authentic Romanian feel, strong writing (a lot of its dialogue comprised of interesting Romanian bloodsucker mythology and real-life history), tight editing (credit Bert Glatstein and William Young), and great cinematography (Vlad Paunescu, whose work adds to the realistic feel of SUBSPECIES) and striking, spooky scenes. The rest of the behind-the-scenes crew nailed it as well. When combined with the strong acting of its cast, particularly Anders Hove’s shadowy, hiss-whispery Radu, all of this makes SUBSPECIES a fun, well-made take on bloodsucker tropes, one worth checking out. 

SUBSPECIES‘s other noteworthy actors include:

Angus Scrimm (PHANTASM, 1979) as the visibly ailing, spirited King Vladislas;

Michelle McBride (THE MASK OF RED DEATH, 1989) as just-do-it Lillian;

Laura Mae Tate (DEAD SPACE, 1991) as the studious Michelle, whose mutual attraction to Stefan might save them.

Followed by four sequels and a spin-off movie, its first sequel BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II (1993).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

SUBSPECIES is the first American movie to be shot in post-Communist Bucharest, Romania (called Prejnar in the film).

According to IMDb’s Trivia page, Radu’s character was inspired by Radu the Handsome, real-life sibling of Vlad the Impaler.

In Justin Beahm’s article “From TerrorVision to Subspecies: Ted Nicolaou Interviewed (Part One)” (Scream magazine, issue 56, September/October 2019), Nicolaou said that Michael Watson (who played Stefan Vladislas) recommended his GENERAL HOSPITAL co-star Anders Hove to play Radu, and Full Moon head/producer Charles Dance almost immediately cast Hove after meeting him.

Nicolaou also mentioned how Laura Tate (SUBSPECIES’s Michelle) “left the shoot two weeks” before it was completed, after she slept-walked into Nicolaou’s hotel room where she woke and freaked out. Tate’s remaining scenes were shot with a double.

Also noted in Beahm’s article: Nicolaou was a boom operator/sound guy on Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974). Nicolaou owned the van that Sally and her friends traveled in.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

 

(Director: Freddie Francis. Screenwriters: Milton Subotsky, Al Feldstein, and Johnny Craig, “based on stories written by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig and Bill Gaines, originally published in the Comic Magazines Tales From the Crypt[, The Haunt of Fear] and The Vault of Horror by Bill Gaines” [IMDb].)

 

Review

In this five-story horror anthology film put out by Amicus Productions, a group of catacombs-exploring tourists wander into a room where a commanding, hooded Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson, THE GHOUL, 1933) tells his reluctant, disturbed listeners possible demises that face them.

The first tale he tells, “. . . And All Through the House,” set in a Christmastime, garishly decorated house, shows Joanne Clayton (Joan Collins, EMPIRE OF THE ANTS, 1977) killing her husband (played by Martin Boddey) while her young, gone-to-bed daughter, Carol (Chloe Franks) eagerly awaits Santa Claus’s arrival. Meanwhile, on the radio, news about a Santa suit-wearing maniac on the loose, is heard—an escape that will impact the quality of Joanne and Carol’s holiday celebration.

“. . . And All” originally appeared in the February-March 1954 issue of The Vault of Horror (#35).

 

“Reflection of Death” concerns Carl Maitland (Ian Hendry, DAMIEN: OMEN II, 1978), a businessman leaving his family for his younger secretary, Susan Blake (Angela Grant), when they’re involved in a serious car accident. Upon coming to—he miraculously survived the crash—he stumbles home, where stranger fears await him.

“Reflection” originally appeared in the April-May 1951 issue of Tales from the Crypt (#23).

 

In the Crypt Keeper’s third story, “Poetic Justice”, a snob, James Elliot (Robin Phillips) engages in a smear campaign against his kind, grieving and lower-class neighbor, Arthur Edward Grimsdyke (Peter Cushing), driving Grimsdyke into emotional dire straits. Of course, this comes to haunt Elliot later.

David Markham (BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB, 1971) played Edward Elliot, James’s father.

“Poetic” originally appeared in the March-April 1952 issue of The Haunt of Fear (#12).

 

“Wish You Were Here”, a rework of W.W. Jacobs’s 1902 story “The Monkey’s Paw”, concerns a couple, Enid and Ralph Jason, who are granted three wishes via a Chinese figurine, and live to regret their desires.

Richard Greene played Ralph. Barbara Murray played Enid. Roy Dotrice played Charles Gregory, the Jasons’ lawyer.

“Wish” originally appeared in the November-December 1953 issue of The Haunt of Fear (#22).

 

In “Blind Alleys”, an administrator for a home for blind people (Major William Rogers, played by Nigel Patrick) indulges in a luxurious lifestyle while neglecting and terrorizing his clients. When one of them dies, another, George Carter (Patrick Magee, DIE, MONSTER, DIE!, 1965), confronts the greedy, dismissive director, leading to Rogers’s nightmarish punishment.

“Blind” originally appeared in the February-March 1955 issue of Tales from the Crypt (#46).

 

All the mini-tales (including its wraparound) are entertaining, some better than others—standout segments are “. . . And All” (with its eye-popping, Christmas-colored hues and cherry-red blood, and Joan Collins’s nasty-then-desperate characterization), “Poetic Justice” (with its incisive viciousness and a great performance by Peter Cushing), and the nightmarishly creative comeuppance of  “Blind Alleys” (and a memorable performance by the always compelling Patrick Magee).

TALES, tightly edited (hello, Teddy Darvas), and one of cinematographer-turned-director Freddie Francis’s better films, is often shot in grim, dark color tones (credit Norman Warwick). It’s a mostly excellent film, its atmospheric opening scenes, shot in Highgate Cemetery, Swain’s Lane, Highgate, England, set the tone for the film whilst Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata & Fugue in D Minor” plays at key moments. TALES’s PG rating is due to its lack of onscreen violence and brief instances of obviously fake blood (“. . . And All”, “Poetic Justice” and “Blind“)—that said, its sometimes nasty characters and resolutions, while they further sell TALE‘s often potent horror, might give some parents pause in letting their younger kids see this.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb. . .

Stephen King and George A. Romero’s 1982 film CREEPSHOW originated in their desire to remake TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972).

Peter Cushing took a cut in pay to act in TALES.

 

The Jasons’ mansion in “Wish You Were Here” was also a shooting location in THE OMEN (1976, the Thorns’ mansion).

 

In “Wish You Were Here”, the scene where Ralph Jason is pursued by a motorcycle was shot on the Alpine Circuit at Milbrook test track—also used in Gordon Hessler’s 1970 hybrid terror flick SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (in the Michael Gothard being chased by cops scene).

 

“Blind Alleys” was remade as an episode of the 1989-1996 HBO series,TALES FROM THE CRYPT episode, “Revenge is the Nuts” (Season 6 episode 5, original air date: November 16, 1994).

 

Peter Cushing and Joan Collins, who share no scenes in TALES, co-starred in FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972).

NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)

 

(a.k.a. TERROR EYES; director: Ken Hughes. Screenwriter: Ruth Avergon.)

Review

Boston, Massachusetts. A teacher’s aide (Anne Baron, played by Meb Boden) at the Jack ‘n’ Jill Daycare Center, is beheaded by a black-clad, black-helmeted motorcyclist wielding a recurved blade (a kukri, sometimes called a Gurkha blade). The investigators on the scene note that the killing is similar to another recent murder. Given the nature of the crimes, lead investigative cops, Lt. Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) and Taj (Joseph R. Sicari), are drawn to Wendell College where womanizing anthropology professor Vincent Millett (Drew Snyder, FIRESTARTER, 1984) teaches a course on tribal rituals, which introduces them to Millett’s research assistant, Eleanor Adjai (Rachel Ward, THE FINAL TERROR, 1983)—this visit deepens Austin’s suspicions about Millett. It seems that the murderer either works at or attends Wendell. The pool of suspects widens when a creepy busboy (Gary, played by Bill McCann) at a local diner is introduced as well.

More women in the area are decapitated, as Austina and Taj further investigate clues and suspects, and eventually figure out who did it.

This solid, occasionally suspenseful police procedural/slasher film shows a bit of blood and severed heads but rarely shows actual violence (lots of shots leading up to attacks, freeze frames and cutaways), and the killer is relatively easy to spot if you’re familiar with the genre. What makes NIGHT SCHOOL a gem of a slasher flick is its playful touches of macabre humor, good acting, well-sketched characters, lack of gratuitous violence, effective soundtrack (courtesy of Brad Fiedel), twisty/bizarre-ish ending, and its competent crew. It probably won’t win many awards (it won a few small ones when it came out) but it might provide tightly edited hour and a half entertainment for you, if you keep your expectations modest.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

NIGHT SCHOOL is Rachel Ward’s feature debut, and director Ken Hughes’s final movie, in a forty-eight-film career that includes THE IPCRESS FILE (1965, he was an uncredited writer).

Though a perforated hockey mask is shown in Gary’s room, it’s probably not a reference to Jason Voorhees from the FRIDAY THE 13^th films. Jason’s iconic mask (its first version) wasn’t introduced to the summer-set franchise until FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 3 (1982).

 

NIGHT has two minor players from JAWS (1975) in its cast: Belle McDonald, who played Marjorie Armand in NIGHT, was an uncredited Mrs. Posner in the JAWS; Edward Chalmers Jr., a “Construction Worker” in NIGHT, was also uncredited in JAWS— he played Mr. Denherder in that blockbuster film.