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Horror Films

I've got an old sci-fi novel called "Xeno" by D.F. Jones.
A passenger aircraft is targeted by an alien life form which uses every passenger and crew as a host to its insectovirouos growth on the plant.
Not great, not bad.
But the thing that struck me was the realism in the official response to the invasive arachnids. When you're hit with a swarm then you can't fight back with individuality.
 
Run Rabbit Run: An Australian tale of horror, the trope is familiar, girl starts asserting she;s really someone who is long dead, but it Hhas some interesting twists. Sarah Snook is fertility doctor Sarah, her daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) starts to act bizarrely when a stray rabbit appears at their home. She claims she's actually Sarah's long-lost sister Alice (Sunny Whelan) who went missing decades ago aged seven. The horror is largely psychological and it's possible that some of the events are imagined rather than Mia going Dybbuk but an uncertainty remains and real life dark secrets are revealed. Directed by Daina Reid, written by Hannah Kent. On Netflix. 7/10.
 
ramonmercado said:
Run Rabbit Run: An Australian tale of horror, the trope is familiar, girl starts asserting she;s really someone who is long dead, but it Hhas some interesting twists. Sarah Snook is fertility doctor Sarah, her daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) starts to act bizarrely when a stray rabbit appears at their home. She claims she's actually Sarah's long-lost sister Alice (Sunny Whelan) who went missing decades ago aged seven. The horror is largely psychological and it's possible that some of the events are imagined rather than Mia going Dybbuk but an uncertainty remains and real life dark secrets are revealed. Directed by Daina Reid, written by Hannah Kent. On Netflix. 7/10.
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I watched this and really didn't know what to make of it. I didn't realize that Sarah was a fertility doctor, so maybe that explains the random bunny.

I did figure out what happened to the errant sister.
 
ramonmercado said:
Hereditary: Tolstoy wrote: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this film each member of the Graham family is unhappy in their own way. Annie (Toni Collette), the mother, grieves for her own recently deceased mother. But she was estranged from that difficult, domineering woman for years only reconciling towards the end. Her father starved himself to death, her brother committed committed suicide. All of that trauma seems to have driven Annie over the edge.

Charlie (Milly Shapiro), the daughter, is unhappy in herself, gorges on chocolate, sketches continuously, cuts the heads off dead birds, sleeps in a treehouse. Peter (Alex Wolff), the son, is a pothead, he feels unloved by his mother, as the film unfolds he develops a crippling guilt over an accident he feels responsible for. Steve (Gabriel Byrne), the paterfamilias, has a countenance as dour and world weary as we've come to expect from Stephen Rea. He carries out the mundane tasks of cooking and trying to keep the family together. A counterpoint to the craziness of Annie.

One of the most shocking scenes in the film has no explicit supernatural cause but it left me gasping. There are plenty of shocks provoked by strange entities though and none of seem forced. Spirits possess Seance participants, messages are written on chalkboards by invisible hands. Murderous spirits are summoned up. Levitation and Spontaneous Human Combustion All of this is somehow related to secrets kept by Annie's deceased mother.

Annie builds dolls house's, meticulously detailed, she is even working on a model of the hospice where her mother died. This is used by director Ari Aster to frame many shots as the action moves seamlessly from model to the real house and back again. The Graham's residence has the appearance of a dolls house, the furniture layout, shots along corridors. While Aster is at the helm and delivers a witty but scare inducing screenplay, cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski, editing by Lucian Johnston and Jennifer Lame, production design by Grace Yun and set decoration by Brian Lives all contribute to success of this unique Horror Film. I see elements of A Dark Song, Kill List, The Exorcist and even Rosemary's Baby but this is very much it's own film. Pacing is perfect. A new paradigm in Horror. 9.5/10.
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I know this is somewhat old news, but I wasn't able to see Hereditary when it was in the cinemas and have only just caught it now courtesy of a DVD release. I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast my reaction to Ramon's (and others).

My feelings about what I have just seen are somewhat mixed and I am not at all sure that this is the gamechanger - or `new paradigm of horror` that Ramon and so many others insist that it represents.

To boil the essence of the content down: it's a Series of Unpleasant Events which afflict a decidedly middle-class family who live in a des res in a wooded and rural part of North America. Great use is made of the domestic interiors, full of polished wood and all sparsely lit. In fact, judged on the level of cinematography, this is a film hard to find much fault with: the photography and ambient score blend well together, the setting is luscious and the acting is high powered and really does paint a plausible portrait of a fairly typical sort of family, which is to say a `dysfunctional` one. Gabriel Byrne is unrecognisable as the stiff nondescript paterfamilias and the girl who plays Charlie is blessed with a unique appearance which is great for this type of film.

Tonally, the film is sombre to a fault - but the problem I had was that the tragic - and occult - events which transpire are so laboured that the whole thing - whilst not funny - starts to have an unintended comedic aspect about it. A lot of critics found the film to be `scary` in a way that a lot of more mainstream horror films are not. For myself, I found it to be more on the `disturbing` end of the spectrum rather than frightening. People shown suffering intense grief and going berserk is bound to be disturbing if well acted enough - so there's no big surprise there.

Critics have dubbed Hereditary `Elevated Horror` - the implication being that it's somehow more grown up than horror usually is. Yes, this film is not aimed at either the `horror fan commnity` nor at the (often overlapping) teens-with- popcorn punters. In that sense it has more latitude to be serious. it's an Arthouse flick. Nevertheless, about halfway through it rolls up its sleeves and plunges us into a full on old hat horror trope - the seance -without any subtlty. (Conmpare and contrat this with the Russian film Sisters -which I reviwed upstream somehwere- also dubbed `Elvated Horror` - where you're never sure what is paranormal and what isn't).

Some other things just didn't work. Much has been made of the fact that this film `explores` grief. Well, I have recent experience of family bereavement and I really though that this film might say something to me - but it didn't really. Then there was the wife's miniature house project. This felt as though it was intended to be some sort of metapohor for something or other, but it never got developed.

So is this film a `gamechanger`? I think this film is more influenced than something likely to be influential. I was very much reminded of The Shining - with its focus on family tensions and all those Kubrikian long shots. In fact I would go so far as to call it `The Shining of the twenty tens.` The ending, however, is pure Rosemary's Baby.

In short, the film has left me a little shaken, but not spooked. I felt as though I had watched a well made family melodrama that just so happened to use the occult as a part of it's plot.
 
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While I'm here, let me mention The Lodger.

This is a Fernch film, from three years ago, and is out on DVD with subtitles. The director is Baptiste Drapeau. One doesn't - or at any rate I don't - associate the French with ghost stories, but they have knocked out a belter of one here.

The central character is Julie, a sweet looking student of nursing who has just arrived in Bordeaux to begin her training. She becomes a lodger in a house with an ageing widower called Elizabeth- played with much aplomb by Jacqueline Bisset.

The deal is that Julie will do some household tasks in lieu of paying rent - but there is one odd catch. Elizabeth insists on pretending that her dead sea captain husnband is still alive and expects Julie to go along with this charade. Matters are not helped when Julie brings back a medical test dummy from her school and dresses it up in the deceased man's old naval uniform.... (The premise reminds me a lot of The Boy - but goes in a wholly different direction).

Initially, Julie conforms to these demands with due scepticism but, being of a rather dreamy (and lonely) disposition herself becomes ensnared by the romantic story of her charge's love for the man of the sea - until it seems that she is in contact with him herself. A battle of two generations of women over a spectral (and possibly non- existent) man ensues. (Some critics have compared this film to the likes of Who Killed Baby Jane - i.e a psychodrama that gives a meaty role to a Grand Old Womam of the screen - in this case Bisset).

There is no blood and guts here and not many jump scares. This is a paranormal romance with a lush score, pleasing location and sedate direction. The story does feature phone texting but, otherwise, it could have been told any time in the last 50 or so years.

Get yourself some French romance.
 
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Zeke Newbold said:
I know this is somewhat old news, but I wasn't able to see Hereditary when it was in the cinemas and have only just caught it now courtesy of a DVD release. I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast my reaction to Ramon's (and others).

My feelings about what I have just seen are somewhat mixed and I am not at all sure that this is the gamechanger - or `new paradigm of horror` that Ramon and so many others insist that it represents.

To boil the essence of the content down: it's a Series of Unpleasant Events which afflict a decidedly middle-class family who live in a des res in a wooded and rural part of North America. Great use is made of the domestic interiors, full of polished wood and all sparsely lit. In fact, judged on the level of cinematography, this is a film hard to find much fault with: the photography and ambient score blend well together, the setting is luscious and the acting is high powered and really does paint a plausible portrait of a fairly typical sort of family, which is to say a `dysfunctional` one. Gabriel Byrne is unrecognisable as the stiff nondescript paterfamilias and the girl who plays Charlie is blessed with a unique appearance which is great for this type of film.

Tonally, the film is sombre to a fault - but the problem I had was that the tragic - and occult - events which transpire are so laboured that the whole thing - whilst not funny - starts to have an unintended comedic aspect about it. A lot of critics found the film to be `scary` in a way that a lot of more mainstream horror films are not. For myself, I found it to be more on the `disturbing` end of the spectrum rather than frightening. People shown suffering intense grief and going berserk is bound to be disturbing if well acted enough - so there's no big surprise there.

Critics have dubbed Hereditary `Elevated Horror` - the implication being that it's somehow more grown up than horror usually is. Yes, this film is not aimed at either the `horror fan commnity` nor at the (often overlapping) teens-with- popcorn punters. In that sense it has more latitude to be serious. it's an Arthouse flick. Nevertheless, about halfway through it rolls up its sleeves and plunges us into a full on old hat horror trope - the seance -without any subtlty. (Conmpare and contrat this with the Russian film Sisters -which I reviwed upstream somehwere- also dubbed `Elvated Horror` - where you're never sure what is paranormal and what isn't).

Some other things just didn't work. Much has been made of the fact that this film `explores` grief. Well, I have recent experience of family bereavement and I really though that this film might say something to me - but it didn't really. Then there was the wife's miniature house project. This felt as though it was intended to be some sort of metapohor for something or other, but it never got developed.

So is this film a `gamechanger`? I think this film is more influenced than something likely to be influential. I was very much reminded of The Shining - with its focus on family tensions and all those Kubrikian long shots. In fact I would go so far as to call it `The Shining of the twenty tens.` The ending, however, is pure Rosemary's Baby.

In short, the film has left me a little shaken, but not spooked. I felt as though I had watched a well made family melodrama that just so happened to use the occult as a part of it's plot.
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Great review, even if i disagree with parts of it!
 
Swifty said:
Mr Mrs put on a horror film that had been recommend to her by her ex called 'INBRED' ..

.. a torture porn which I hate, set in England in Yorkshire and with townies sent there who get captured then tortured or violently murdered. 10 out of 10 to the special FX crew to be fair, I never thought I'd get to see a horse stamp on someone's head with no cutaway. The decapitation by meat cleaver was done with reverse motion photography in three fast edits ending with the lingering fake head so someone needs to buy F/X legend Tom Savini a pint to thank him for teaching them that. I couldn't stomach watching it because I don't like the 'torture porn' genre of horror but some people might enjoy it. It's intense.

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Oh I saw part of this horrible film some time ago .."part" as I couldn't carry on watching. ... Death by Muck spreader..... Eeek!!!... I don't like torture porn either..... And we are not that backwards in Yorkshire either :)
 
FunkyTT said:
Oh I saw part of this horrible film some time ago .."part" as I couldn't carry on watching. ... Death by Muck spreader..... Eeek!!!... I don't like torture porn either..... And we are not that backwards in Yorkshire either :)
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I watched Inbred a few years back and recall that its slight saving grace was that it had its worm-eaten tongue firmly in its gory cheek. Torture porn doesn't float my boat either, but when a horror movie is played for laughs, with deliberate clichés amongst the black humour, that does redeem it somewhat. French horror films in recent years have taken the torture porn genre to new extremes (and yes, I'm thinking of the truly repugnant "Martyrs") but without any levity as a respite from the nastiness.
 
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@Zeke Newbold, do you have any information regarding the Russian "Sisters" movie and The Lodger movie by Baptiste Drapeau, particularly where they might be found for viewing. I can't find information for the Russian one at all (most of the search suggestions come up with other films).
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
I watched Inbred a few years back and recall that its slight saving grace was that it had its worm-eaten tongue firmly in its gory cheek. Torture porn doesn't float my boat either, but when a horror movie is played for laughs, with deliberate clichés amongst the black humour, that does redeem it somewhat. French horror films in recent years have taken the torture porn genre to new extremes (and yes, I'm thinking of the truly repugnant "Martyrs") but without any levity as a respite from the nastiness.
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I get that from Theatre of Blood or the Doctor Phibes duo.
 
Insidious: The Red Door: Wraps things up but literally needs time shifts to do so. It's 9 years after Jack Lambert's possession and his memories have been suppressed. This has resulted in a brain fog which sees him divorced from Renai and estranged from his son Dalton (who believes his own lack of memory is due to a coma). After Jack's mother Lorraine dies he drives Dalton to University but they end up quarreling again, Dalton's new art professor inspires intensity and he draws a door, even spilling blood onto it. this will open the gates to the Further, a realm where people travel to through Astral Projection and angry ghosts dwell who use the presence of the sleepwalkers to enter the earthly realm and harm people, even possess them. Things move a bit slowly at first and the film, imo, would have benefited from a ten minute cut in it;s running time. There are some good jump scares and the Further is portrayed as a place of terror and strangeness but you might also find a helpful ghost trapped there. Yiu really do need someone to watch over you while practice Astral Projection. There is a great scene where an MRI scan turns into a trip through a tunnel of darkness. A tale of family connections through three generations, a ghostly realm and Dybbuks.. a good horror film rather than a great one but it's doing well at the box office. Directed by Patrick Wilson Co-Written by Scott Teems and Leigh Whannell. 7/10.

In cinemas.
 
10x10: An obviously very wealthy Robert Lewis (Luke Evans) kidnaps flower shop owner Cathy Newland (Kelly Reilly). No. he's not a serial killer but he demands that Cathy answer questions, the first being her real name. It's difficult to relate more about the plot without spoiling things, Suffice to say that this isn't just a one sided affair. Cathy fights back, attempts to escape and shows that she can joust with a large man like Robert. Perhaps she's a bit too handy, while it's obvious from the beginning that she keeps fit some of her fighting skills seem to be at a SEAL level. There is a lot of violence in the film but the psychological drama is also important. some secrets are gradually revealed but more than Robert wanted or expected. Mostly a two-hander with good performance from Reilly and Evans. Perhaps the ending is a tad OTT but 10x10 is well worth watching. Directed by Suzi Ewing, Co-Written by Ewing and Noel Clark. On Netflix. 7/10.
 
brownmane said:
@Zeke Newbold, do you have any information regarding the Russian "Sisters" movie and The Lodger movie by Baptiste Drapeau, particularly where they might be found for viewing. I can't find information for the Russian one at all (most of the search suggestions come up with other films).
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The Lodger is an easy one : it's readily available. on DVD by Lightibulb and available via HMV:

https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/dvd/the-lodger-(2)

The situation with all Russian films is trickier now - for reasons which hardly need to be expanded on. I saw Sisters in the cinema when I was in Kazakhstan. (The main actress in the film - Irina Starshenbaum - is an opponent of the invasion of Ukraine and this fact makes her unpopular with the authorities in Russia, but, meanwhile, just the fact that she is Russian makes her unpopular in the West!) Despite all this I do believe that the film will appear on some kind of World Cinema DVD release at some point in the future. Here are some details on it in Russia (maybe you have some kind of translator?):

https://www.film.ru/movies/sestry-10

And my own write up in my blog (reviewed alongside another important Russian film):

http://alternativerussianculture.sp...-hometruths-the-films-like-a-man-and-sisters/



Thanks for the interest!
 
Medusa: A satire about misogyny, hypocrisy and the rise of political extremism. It's almost as if David Lynch directed Cabaret, taking a town as a microcosm of Bolsonaro's Brazil. A girl gang wearing white masks, reminiscent of The Purge or Clockwork Orange roam the streets, hunting female sinners, physically attacking them, making them admit their sins of lesbianism, prostitution or adultery. This gang is also an Evangelical vocal group the Treasures run by Mariana (Mari Oliveira) and lead singer Michele (Lara Tremouroux). Their dance routines are counterposed to those of their male equivalents the Watchmen who train to take up their positions as the Morality Police. Tomorrow belongs to them. There is also the Evangelical Prophet who is running for election and uses these forces to control the streets, Even the girls selfies must be taken in a Christian manner. These Dark Barbies also have reasons for applying their mascara, Mariana is terribly scarred on her face when a victim fights back, she loses her job as a beautician and goes in search of a legendary figure who has inspired the Treasures venturing into grim clinics which care for those in comas. A touch of magical realism kicks in here as her search involves a reawakening. Some really disturbing scenes but the possibilities of redemption turning the tables on dark forces are also explored, A film you will mull over in your mind long after the final credits have rolled. Written & Directed by Anita Rocha da Silveira. 8/10.

In cinemas.
 
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I've not seen any of these recently highlighted films but I can't help wondering ...
When you see "It's a commentary on ..."
Or "A satire about ..."
What is really being said it's a 'horror' film and there's an arty-farty reason for blood, gore, jump-scares and slashers.
If you enjoy gore, over-the-top murder porn, and sitting back congratulating that it's fiction then fine.
Why not 'review' it as ...
"The face being ripped off is realistic!", "They should've poured more from the slashed torso!", or "When they tore the baby from her womb, it didn't look painful enough."

There is horror in real life. There is horror in films. I've no problem with the latter at all.

What's happened to emotional horror, to relationship horror, where you're not a victim to some form of cinematic visual gore-fest?

Might I put forward Rebecca?
The protagonist was caught between genuine love and being completely out of her league. She lives in the shadow of someone she cannot compete with or confront. There was a mystery but it wasn't of her making.

Might I put forward The Turning of The Screw?
Was this an account of a governess fighting against the paranormal ... or was it in her own mind, a delusion that took herself to insanity?

I know there's plenty of 'psychological' thrillers and so called horrors being made, but it seems that to get a good 'income' they need to throw in a couple of buckets of Kensington Gore.
 
Stormkhan said:
I've not seen any of these recently highlighted films but I can't help wondering ...
When you see "It's a commentary on ..."
Or "A satire about ..."
What is really being said it's a 'horror' film and there's an arty-farty reason for blood, gore, jump-scares and slashers.
If you enjoy gore, over-the-top murder porn, and sitting back congratulating that it's fiction then fine.
Why not 'review' it as ...
"The face being ripped off is realistic!", "They should've poured more from the slashed torso!", or "When they tore the baby from her womb, it didn't look painful enough."

There is horror in real life. There is horror in films. I've no problem with the latter at all.

What's happened to emotional horror, to relationship horror, where you're not a victim to some form of cinematic visual gore-fest?

Might I put forward Rebecca?
The protagonist was caught between genuine love and being completely out of her league. She lives in the shadow of someone she cannot compete with or confront. There was a mystery but it wasn't of her making.

Might I put forward The Turning of The Screw?
Was this an account of a governess fighting against the paranormal ... or was it in her own mind, a delusion that took herself to insanity?

I know there's plenty of 'psychological' thrillers and so called horrors being made, but it seems that to get a good 'income' they need to throw in a couple of buckets of Kensington Gore.
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Possibly due to people's attention spans being shortened to t*kt*k like consumption. People now seem to want everything fed to them and not have to contemplate what may not be obvious smack in the head observations and motivations for human behaviour.
 
Stormkhan said:
I've not seen any of these recently highlighted films but I can't help wondering ...
When you see "It's a commentary on ..."
Or "A satire about ..."
What is really being said it's a 'horror' film and there's an arty-farty reason for blood, gore, jump-scares and slashers.
If you enjoy gore, over-the-top murder porn, and sitting back congratulating that it's fiction then fine.
Why not 'review' it as ...
"The face being ripped off is realistic!", "They should've poured more from the slashed torso!", or "When they tore the baby from her womb, it didn't look painful enough."

There is horror in real life. There is horror in films. I've no problem with the latter at all.

What's happened to emotional horror, to relationship horror, where you're not a victim to some form of cinematic visual gore-fest?

Might I put forward Rebecca?
The protagonist was caught between genuine love and being completely out of her league. She lives in the shadow of someone she cannot compete with or confront. There was a mystery but it wasn't of her making.

Might I put forward The Turning of The Screw?
Was this an account of a governess fighting against the paranormal ... or was it in her own mind, a delusion that took herself to insanity?

I know there's plenty of 'psychological' thrillers and so called horrors being made, but it seems that to get a good 'income' they need to throw in a couple of buckets of Kensington Gore.
Click to expand...

There is some real horror in Medusa, it is reflective of real life in Brazil.
 
brownmane said:
Possibly due to people's attention spans being shortened to t*kt*k like consumption. People now seem to want everything fed to them and not have to contemplate what may not be obvious smack in the head observations and motivations for human behaviour.
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I absolutely agree. I'll still make time to watch crap horror films when I don't want to have to think (Jason Statham in 'Meg' for one example which was switch your brain off fun) but talking about sharks ...

Most people only remember JAWS for the music and end scenes these days but there was so much more going on in that film between the characters .. highlights for me include exhausted Chief Brody so his Son miming his body language and his Mum melting watching that "Give me a hug." .. "Why?." .. "Because I need one.". Alex's Mum slapping Brody in the face for keeping the beaches open, the rich boy/working class man rivalry between Hooper and Quint. Robert 'Quint' Shaw's draw dropping speech about the USS Indianapolis and his ex forces crass personality as a result ........... the teen girl getting ripped to pieces within the first ten minutes because she's gone drunk skinny dipping. All human behaviour motivated scenes.
 
A.M.I (2019).

In this techno-thriller-cum-slasher a suburban seventeen -year-old rich kid,who is trying to get over the recent loss of her mother, befriends a new phone app which makes use of A. I (the title being an acronym of Artificial Machine Intelligence). She programmes it to speak in her dead mother's voice and it soon uses its fact-finding capacities to mimic the deceased woman and become a surrogate parent to the daughter.

However, the application has no conscience and is soon goading it's owner into a series of reprehensible crimes against female rivals, errant boyfriends and her father as the heroine becomes a decided antiheroine.

This is a Canadian film - although you wouldn't really know it. With its teen-in-suburbia focus I felt I was watching something like Dawson's Creek much of the time. Debs Howard confidently plays the lead role and I have read that she is a seasoned T.V star, which figures. The director - Rudsty Nixon - seems to have some interesting sounding films already to his credit - such as Candiland from seven years back,

For a 15 certiticate product this features some fairly unsettling scenes of violence. This could almost be a black comedy yet, except for a brilliant final sequence, is never funny enough to be so. Ultimately, the story itself could have been adeiquately covered by a single episode of the Twilight Zone. The sentience of the software application is signposted by a pulsing circle in the centre of the phone's screen - putting one in mind of HAL.

As I was watching this film I kept telling myself that this was a low budget recycling of MEGAN from last year - but then I checked the release date! The main significant difference in the story lies in the fact that A.M.I the evil deads are commited by a human, with the A.I acting merely in an advisory capacity - and the human concerned doesn't seem to need that much encouragement. In fact, having -as this film does - a villanous protagonist does make the film feel quite unique, but leaves you with no-one to root for.

On the whole this is a mediocre film, but deserves to be a little more celebrated for its ever so slightly ahead-of-its time premise.

Available on DVD from Bounty Films.
 
For some reason, I looked up A.M.I. and with my search results, The Little Girl Who Lived Down The Lane was somehow associated with my search.

I had seen this one several times as a kid, on tv. It's a weird one with Jodie Foster and, as I just found out, Martin Sheen. Of course as a kid, I didn't know who MS was, but Jodie Foster was familiar to me.

It's not a great movie, but definitely odd with uncomfortable undertones running through it.
 
GNC said:
Isn't there a Jaws play on in London, I think Ian Shaw is involved?
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gordonrutter said:
For those in the area I would recommend you go and see The Shark is Broken. Its excellent. Saw it when it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe.
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It's opening on Broadway soon, with Ian Shaw still playing his dad. I saw it today in preview. Really good. Mostly comedy, with some nice serious moments. The set was beautiful: a cross-section of the Orca with a projected backdrop of sky and sea.
 
Talk to Me: A rather disturbing and violent Australian horror film, from the opening sequence to it's end you will encounter shock after shock.. My one quibble with it is that the accents are difficult to understand at times and it would have benefited from subtitles! Teens summon up the spirits of the dead at parties, it's more than just a game, they expect it to work. They use a porcelain hand which supposedly contains an embalmed hand. There is a ritual to be gone through and you see the face of the spirit who you must then invite in. Mistakes happen and the spirits linger. taking possession, being seen by those who went through the ritual. Some really effective/nauseating scenes where the spirits get the teens to commit self harm, thinking that they are combating a threat. Really akin to Japanese Angry Ghosts. The shape shifting nature of the spirits and their ability to fool the teens into thinking they are dead or even living loved ones is vividly portrayed. Great performances from a mostly young cast led by Sophie Wilde with Miranda Otto as the mother of two of the teens. A remarkable dark work of horror, one you will be mulling over long after the final credits roll. Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, Written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman. 8.5/10.

In cinemas.
 
The Mafu Cage (1978).

An unsettling psychological horror, featuring two sisters. One, Ellen is a brilliant astrophysicist, whereas Cissy is mentally unbalanced, acts like an impetuous child and is prone to acts of violence. They live in a sprawling mansion inherited from their father, an anthropologist who worked in Africa. The house is gloomy and full of overgrown plants, grotesque African artefacts and other antiquities, giving an ominous and gothic backdrop to the proceedings.
As Cissy, descends further into a delusional and barbaric state, her tantrums result in the death of her pets - monkeys and apes, all of whom she calls "Mafu".
There are hints of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" in here, but this is a fair bit nastier. There are scenes of madness and animal abuse but, unlike those repugnant Italian movies, which featured real animal torture, it is simulated/implied here.
As Cissy's tastes turn to larger "Mafus" you can kind of guess where things will end up.
Some very good cinematography, with excellent use of colour (check out the amazing bath scenes!) and powerful music - playful harpsichord music when Cissy is happy and intensely pounding tribal sounds as Cissy's mental state worsens. Carol Kane, who you'll recognise from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, puts in a commendable performance as Cissy.
It is though very much a movie of its time and the slow-burning psychological plot punctuated by a few sudden elements of horror, may not be to everyone's taste.
I'd rate it 7/10.

Currently available on YouTube (age restricted and with apparently one minute cut).


mafu.png


 
A name from the past has risen from the grave...
British Horror Label Amicus Resurrects With Anthology Film ‘In the Grip of Terror’

By Naman Ramachandran

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In The Grip of Terror poster
Amicus Productions
Iconic British horror label Amicus Productions is resurrecting with anthology film “In the Grip of Terror.”

Based at Shepperton Studios, Amicus was founded by American producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg and was active between 1962 and 1977. The outfit was mainly known for their portmanteau or anthology films featuring four or five horror shorts each, including “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors” (1965), “Torture Garden” (1967), “The House That Dripped Blood” (1971), “Tales from the Crypt” (1972), “Asylum” (1972), “Vault of Horror” (1973) and “From Beyond the Grave” (1974). A galaxy of stars including Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Donald Sutherland, Herbert Lom and Patrick Magee starred in the films.
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https://variety.com/2023/film/global/amicus-horror-label-in-the-grip-of-terror-1235696606/
 
Watched Phenomena / Fenómenas (2023) on Netflix last night.
Based on real events, it tells the tale of the real-life Hepta paranormal researchers investigating an infamous poltergeist case in Madrid.
All the right boxes are ticked; a creepy old antique shop, a Ouija session, a pre-teen girl seemingly at the centre of the events, a walled-up hidden room and loads of (probably too much) poltergeist activity. The three middle-aged, chain-smoking women's investigation turns up far more than they bargained for though, including child-abuse and a murder. There are a few moderate jump-scares and some irritating use of strobe-lighting in the latter stages.
I found it reasonably entertaining, but the director opted for a rather tongue-in-cheek style, including some ironic use of background music and comedic interludes (notably the guy with alopecia) which I found detracted from rather than enhanced the plot.
Overall I'd probably rate it a 6/10.
I did just about enjoy it enough though to research the real events that inspired the film - see link below the picture.


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https://auralcrave.com/en/2023/04/15/netflixs-phenomena-the-true-story-of-the-hepta-group/
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Watched Phenomena / Fenómenas (2023) on Netflix last night.
Based on real events, it tells the tale of the real-life Hepta paranormal researchers investigating an infamous poltergeist case in Madrid.
All the right boxes are ticked; a creepy old antique shop, a Ouija session, a pre-teen girl seemingly at the centre of the events, a walled-up hidden room and loads of (probably too much) poltergeist activity. The three middle-aged, chain-smoking women's investigation turns up far more than they bargained for though, including child-abuse and a murder. There are a few moderate jump-scares and some irritating use of strobe-lighting in the latter stages.
I found it reasonably entertaining, but the director opted for a rather tongue-in-cheek style, including some ironic use of background music and comedic interludes (notably the guy with alopecia) which I found detracted from rather than enhanced the plot.
Overall I'd probably rate it a 6/10.
I did just about enjoy it enough though to research the real events that inspired the film - see link below the picture.


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https://auralcrave.com/en/2023/04/15/netflixs-phenomena-the-true-story-of-the-hepta-group/
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Now I have to watch it. I'm usually dissuaded from watching these movies because of the silly pics used to try to entice you to watch and the poor descriptions of the program. Your link did help me to decide. Thanks.
 
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