Tag: 80's Nostalgia

House of the Devil (2009)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Tonight’s horror film is one I’ve been putting off for a while. This is “House of the Devil” from writer/director Ti West. I put it off because I’d watched two of his films previously and frankly, hated both. But this had a lot of hype around it and I felt I should give the director one more chance. This is one of his earlier works and is written, directed and edited by West. Eliot Rockett provides cinematography and Jeff Grace the soundtrack. The movie stars Jocelin Donahue. This was made for just $900k, but didn’t get close to recouping that in theaters. With that kind of budget though, it’s likely made it’s money back in the secondary market.

The movie is set in the 1980’s and follows “Samantha” (Donahue), a cash strapped college student needing to find some work to pay her rent. After finding a babysitting job advertised, she has her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig, yes the “Barbie” director) drive her out to check it out. On arrival she finds out it is not actually a child she will be sitting. Instead she is just required to house sit and keep an ear out for the clients elderly mother in case of an emergency. The client, “Mr Ulman” (Tom Noonan) offers to pay her four times the usual rate with half in advance. Despite her friend calling her an idiot to do it, she elects to stay. Obviously, not a wise decision.

Retro Nostalgia Bait

This film is what I imagine an alien that’s never actually seen a horror movie but read about slow burn 60’s/70’s horror may try and make. It’s easy to see what it is trying to do, but it does it so clumsily that I’m almost embarrassed for everyone involved. Yet for some reason this film has a lot of praise. Most of that praise though seems to be based on them liking the throwback style and pacing. Sure, it contrasts with a lot of the horror movies of the mid 2000’s, but if you actually put it head to head with a slow burn movie of earlier decades it is exposed for it’s shallowness. This is a million miles from “The Haunting” (1963).

Like many Ti West movies, the film uses the gimmick of being set in a past decade (80’s here) as a distraction and shortcut to world building. It doesn’t really impact anything. West also opted to use 16mm film to give the movie a retro feel. I like the look, but again it is just a gimmick. The film wants to convince you it is from a different age, yet it doesn’t have the heart of either an 80’s movie or a 60’s/70’s slow burn horror. The truth is, this is a 15 minute short story padded out to a feature film. It uses artificial tension building (Mostly through a generic, yet definitely effective soundtrack) to pretend there is more to it.

Rooting For The Villains

The first act is itself fine, if overly long. Half the movie is gone by the time our victim is in place in the mansion. I didn’t really have an issue with the movie up to this point. That didn’t last long. Samantha becomes annoying fast. After everyone leaves she starts randomly wandering around the house. About two minutes in she phones her friend and is annoyed she’s not already home. She then wanders around opening random doors and touching everything (Despite being a “Germaphobe”, which impacts almost nothing in the movie). About five minutes in, she orders a pizza and then sits down and starts eating a chocolate bar while watching TV. That lasts about 30 seconds, before she gets bored and turns it off.

After this she puts on her Walkman and plays an undetermined amount of pool. Then she starts dancing around like she’s in a disco, touching more stuff, throwing peanuts up in the air to catch in her mouth. Unsurprisingly she knocks over a vase, but only does half the job cleaning it up. After some actual plot briefly happens, she watches 5-10 seconds of TV again before getting bored once more and wandering around again. By this point, I was already rooting for the devil worshipers. This is the thing with Ti West films, his characters are not real people, they are just plot devices. She did all this stuff, because West wanted her moving around the house to build “Tension”.

Worst Devil Worshipers Ever

But the final act takes the biscuit for stupid. Turns out these are the most ineffective devil worshipers ever. They apparently can’t tie knots and they all have a tendency of standing around doing nothing to make sure Samantha has a chance to run away or deal with each of them individually. Again, no one here acts like a real person. They don’t even act like fictional characters. They are all plot devices that only ever do what is necessary to move the story along. Then you get the ending. I won’t give you spoilers, but it is very, very stupid. Even if it wasn’t, it’s basically just a knock off of far better films with a similar outcomes.

On top of this, there is some terrible continuity and abysmal lighting (Pretty sure they regularly forgot the story revolves around an eclipse). There was one scene, in the final act which I’m fairly sure it was filmed in daylight, despite it supposedly being mid lunar eclipse. The acting varies throughout, sometimes reasonable, sometimes poor. Since there are some good actors involved, I’m marking this down as bad directing. Last but not least the news report at the end about the eclipse ending fast… yeah, I just laughed at that stage.

Concussion (Not a Typo)

I feel I should say some positives, before I render judgment. I will give them a solid soundtrack. Not ground breaking, but it works very well (And the movie relies heavily on it). The use of 16mm film does actually work in the films favor too. It is a gimmick, but one I’m happy with. There’s some good visuals in the final act and the one early kill is well executed (Pun not intended). I do applaud an attempt at doing this kind of film, but this ultimately a shallow imitation of far better films. I’ve watched three Ti West films now and every one of them I found to be notably poor. I just don’t get the hype. IMDb considers this a 6.3/10. Best I can give it is a 4.5/10, which is at least higher than I gave X or The Innkeepers . Not worth your time.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10.

Censor (2021)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Back in the 1980’s, every teenager and young adult in the UK knew the term “Video Nasty”. We were into a period of boom for the horror industry and specifically for low budget direct to video horror. Producers like Charles Band would be pumping out two horrors a year (One for theatres and one direct to video). Italians were actively making films for international audience and video stores paid very little attention to certifications (I know this first hand, I wasn’t 18 until 1994 and I watched it all in the 80’s). Unsurprisingly there was a moral backlash to this which got big media attention. As a result a number of movies got banned in the UK and even today those UK release VHS tapes are incredibly valuable. Because they were band obviously we deliberately sought them out. It became a point of pride to have watched a “Video Nasty”.

Anyway horror film Censorship became a big issue in the UK. Largely down to campaigner Mary Whitehouse and the MVLA. But there were those that realised this was a huge marketing boost for people peddling anything that pushes the boundaries. Whitehouse and friends became an unwitting marketing tool. The result was more such content got created and it fed back into the boom. So much for censorship huh? Anyway, the independent British movie “Censor” from 2021 plays off that entire scene. This is from upcoming writer/director Prano Bailey-Bond and appears to be based off a short film she made a few years earlier called “Nasty” (At least the synopsis sounds really similar). It stars Niamh Algar (Raised by Wolves).

The Mary Whitehouse Experience

Enid (Algar) is a film censor that takes her job very seriously. She wants to protect people, and this stems from some childhood trauma where her sister disappeared, presumably being abducted. No one ever solved the case. While her parents have taken the move to have her declared legally dead, Enid is unwilling to move on. After being shaken up by having one of the movies she approved accused of inspiring a real life murderer she is asked to look at a film from a particular notorious movie director. In the film one of the actresses looks really familiar to her and she starts to wonder if this is her missing sister.

This sets Enid off on a mission to find out about the director and see this woman for herself. She starts to believe her sister is in genuine peril from these people and it’s down to her to save her. But is everything what it appears to be? Has a career doing nothing but watching the most violent of movies for the greater good damaged her? Eventually she finds her way to the movie set where they are recording the sequel to the film she saw earlier. Mistaken for an actress she is thrust right into the center of the action.

Video Nasties

The biggest problem with Censor stems from it being a feature length extension of a 15 minute short. This is something I’ve noticed a lot in similar films. The truth is what it takes to come up with a cool 15 minute horror isn’t necessarily enough for a feature length movie. Despite not being especially long, Censor really feels like it doesn’t have much to say. We have the basic idea of the video nasties and a damaged mind unable to separate reality from fiction and… that’s it. That’s the movie. You can tell this is a story that could have just as effectively been told over 15 minutes. It’s a problem with a lot of modern horrors. Writer/Directors go in with one good idea and just try and stretch that out.

As far as the sort-of tribute to video nasties goes, it’s a little shallow. There were some aspects of it I appreciated, such as how Enid’s rampage is shown to us in a similar fashion to the movies she was watching earlier. But this isn’t a clever meta film like Scream was to slashers. It uses the British backlash and censorship of these movies as a backdrop but doesn’t really go much deeper. There are is a sort of minor plot thread involving a murder that is thought to have been inspired by a video nasty that Enid had cleared, but that is somewhat detached from the main plot. Eventually it transpires the killer never even saw the film. Of course Enid has seen all those films, so it’s left unclear where the film stands on the topic. Indeed, it feels like the film doesn’t really care to examine it that closely.

VHS Nostalgia

I do appreciate that they went to the effort to make the film itself look like it was filmed in the 80’s and that part of the production is well done. The flickering of what looks like bad VHS tapes done for atmospheric and stylistic reasons and work well in both regards. This isn’t the most original concept and 80’s nostalgia is the most cliched nostalgia, but for me it’s a positive. That aside the film doesn’t really provide much in the way of memorable visuals and perhaps it could have done with making some visual references to more famous 80’s horrors. The soundtrack is pretty forgettable too and feels like a missed opportunity. A “Goblin” or Fabio Frizzi style soundtrack could have really elevated this movie.

There are some things I liked about the movie, mostly in the final act. Although the twist is obvious in coming, I liked the way it is presented. Really this sequence is the highlight of the movie and remains good right up to the credits. I also liked the ending of the scene where Enid accidentally kills the horror producer. The scene itself was nothing special and missed a lot of opportunities to demonstrate Enid’s bad mental state, but her polite exit after the incident was a good way to show her shattered mind. That is basically the signal point for the final act which is in all very solid. The trouble is the first two acts to get there are not at all interesting or compelling. Niamh Algar however puts in a very impressive performance as Enid and that certainly helps elevate that finale act.

Eject

This is a conceptually good, but mostly below average horror with a strong final act that narrowly falls short of redeeming the movie. The trouble is while the concept is interesting, far too little is done with it. Ultimately the entire film is just designed to get us to the ending and little interesting or worthwhile is provided along the way. It would however have made a great Creepshow episode. It’s not a complete waste of time though and British fans of 80’s horror will likely enjoy the references to some extent. Censor falls just short of “Good” and levels off slightly above average at 5.5/10

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Vicious Fun (2020)

Posted on by fenrisfil

October Challenge – Day 7

Tonight’s movie is Canadian Horror Comedy “Vicious Fun”. A movie about killing serial killers set in the 80’s because… why not, I guess. The film stars Evan Marsh, Amber Goldfarb and Ari Millen, is directed by Cody Calahan and written by Calahan and James Villeneuve.

Synopsis

Our story follows Joel (Marsh), a loser film critic for a Horror magazine that manages to stumble into a gathering of America’s most successful psychopaths. At first he attempts to blend in, but his rouse only lasts until the arrival of Bob, another psycho that also happens to be dating his roommate and specialises in faking occupations, so is quick to rumble Joel. Then it becomes a struggle for survival, but fortunately for him one of the psycho’s isn’t all she seems.

Admittedly that seems a bit of a spoiler, but they unfortunately telegraphed it a bit too much in the opening scene where we see a woman (Goldfarb) hitch a lift in the car of someone that is obviously a serial killer and then kill him. That wasn’t a great start. Not only is it a bit cliché (I’ve seen the victim turns out to be the killer many times since I first came across it in Blade II in 2002 when it was still a subversion), it also gave away that she wasn’t a legit member of the psycho fun club and diminished the surprise of Joel realising the situation he is in (Would have been so much better if it come out of nowhere).

Psycho Buddies

Joel and his saviour, Carrie, find themselves having to deal with the other killers and a bunch of horrendously incompetent cops to boot. The psychos themselves are a colourful bunch of of somewhat stereotypical loonies, including a classic hulking slasher type (Robert Maillet), a John Wayne Gacy type (Julian Richings), an Yakuza assassin type (Sean Baek), an ex-CIA torture specialist (David Koechner) and of course Bob (Millen), whose ability to disguise himself isn’t actually that impressive and relies on everyone being an idiot. Fortunately this is very much a comedy horror and very much a self aware one with Joel even pointing out how bad Bob’s disguise was. Bob is clearly modelled on Patrick Bateman from American Psycho but really just comes across as your typical 80’s movie douchebag (The kind of person that is inexplicably dating the hot girl and challenges the hero to a skiing competition).

For the comedy side of things the best part is the interaction between the serial killers. That was actually quite fun, while Joel’s general pathetic incompetence was too clichéd to enjoy. Eventually Joel has to pull himself together and grow a pair with the guidance of bad ass Carrie. But this is something I’ve seen done before and much better in “Guns Akimbo”. Not only did that feature two better actors in Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving, but the balance was a lot better with Radcliffe actually becoming quite badass by the end and Weaving not feeling like an unstoppable ass kicking machine with impenetrable plot armour. It is frankly a much better film.

Assessment (some spoilers)

The way most of the killers are despatched is a little too easy for my liking, with Bob really being the only threat for Carrie, but only through luck and then even a weakened Carrie, after losing a load of blood makes short work of him. Honestly Carrie is way OP in this. Not only that but when Joel’s room mate turns up, she randomly pulls out some martial arts and takes out the John Wayne Gacy type killer. You can tell this movie came out recently. It also seems to have made the mistake of assuming it would get a sequel seeing as the movie has a big set up with no pay off (Specifically a big bad that is talked about but never shows up).

The violence is pretty well done, but the real strength of this movie is the initial premise and the synopsis I read seemed to suggest Joel pretending to a be a serial killer would go on for a lot more of the film and it’s a shame it didn’t because that was the best part I would have liked more of that and more of the killers in general. Everyone other than Bob who was just a douche. A lot more interesting things could have been done with this premise but they missed that opportunity by basically turning it into a less interesting version of Guns Akimbo. It’s also worth noting the serial killer convention idea was done in The Sandman comics back in the 90’s so the most interesting part of the film is also not original.

Stranger Nostalgia

The soundtrack is 80’s style Synthwave, reminiscent of Stranger Things. Again at this point that’s become somewhat of a cliché thanks to Stranger Things, but I’m not complaining because I like Synthwave. That brings me to the fact the movie is set in the 80’s. It’s clear they wanted to go for some kind of 80’s style but the truth is this movie could have been set any time before mobile phones were common and not change one bit. Also because it’s heroes are very much from the archetype of 2010’s/2020’s heroes and not the 1980’s ones it means that theme simply fails to click. Indeed it was only the end credit soundtrack that reminded me it was an 80’s movie.

The film seems to want to be retro while not really committing firmly enough to that to pull it off. Meanwhile the imaginative premise is blown far too early and the movie ends up going exactly as expected it to after that opening scene. The performances are all competent enough (Especially Julian Richings, David Koechner and surprisingly Robert Maillet who used to Wrestle under the name “Kurgen” in the 90’s) and the production values are solid. So it’s not actually a bad film as such, just very average.

Final Judgement

As such I’m going to give this a 5/10. Too many conflicting ideas and too many modern cliché’s waste the films few good ideas and push the interesting characters into the background. A movie that wants to cash in on 80’s nostalgia but doesn’t really show any affection for the decade itself.

Rating: 5 out of 10.