Newsletter 20 March 2022
Upcoming Event
HERE BEFORE
Meet IFI foyer 6 pm. Film 6.10 pm. Tuesday, February 22, 2022
https://www.meetup.com/Dublin-Horror-Society/events/284008009/
Reviews
Death Trench (Trench 11): Sinister German medical experiments resulting in Zombies/Monsters is a trope usually associated with World War 2 films but in this case it's set in 1918 close to the end of WW1. A mixed group of British American and Canadian soldiers set out to explore an abandoned German underground trench system, A dark, claustrophobic film with most of the action taking place underground. The allied soldiers have to fight zombiesque German troops who spread infections with bites. They also clash with German soldiers intent on destroying any evidence of the experiments. Some good zombie action, quite gruesome and violent with plot twists, Not a classic but certainly worth watching. Directed & Co-Written by Leo Scherman. Showing on the Horror Channel.
Feria: The Darkest Light: A tale of a Gnostic Cult who might well be summoning up more than they bargained for as they reach across to another world. Two teen sisters are caught up in the aftermath of the death of 23 cult members following a failed ritual, their parents, the apparent leaders of the sect are missing. A secret is shared by many in the town even though the girls are shunned. Set in Andalusia in Spain in 1995, there are flashbacks to 1975 when similar events occurred (the death of Franco in the background also symbolising the birth of a new reality). Gnostic rituals are performed or rather transformed to bring about a better world, even if human sacrifice is required. Some savage scenes of violence when people are possessed as well as strange entities creatures fro the "other side" which are well imagined. Also an ancient underground temple in an old abandoned mine. I'd like to read the comments of a Gnostic scholar on this but I found it to be an entertaining horror/thriller series. Created and Written by Carlos Montero and Agustín Martínez; Directed by Jorge Dorado and Carles Torrens. Eight episodes on Netflix. 8/10.
In From The Cold: US mom Jenny Franklin is acting as chaperone to her teen daughter Becca's figure skating team in Madrid. She is abducted by a CIA team and it is revealed that she is a Russian assassin who adopted a new identity in the 1990s, She is blackmailed into working for the CIA, the alternative being prison. She hasn't lost her skills and we soon discover that she is more of a Bionic Woman than a run of the mill liquidator. I won't give away all of her powers as some of them are crucial to the plot development. We enter a world of smoke and mirrors, plots, counter-plots, red herrings and secret organisations intent on State Power. Spy-Tech observation is ubiquitous, no one knows who really watching them not even the watchers. Some convincing well choreographed fights and flash backs to the young Jenny on her first mission in Moscow in 1994. Family loyalty as well as betrayal and infighting is important to the spies and assassins in both the CIA and SVR as well as to the organisations plotting in Spain. An enjoyable twist on the female assassin trope with quite a few plot twists and surprises. Created and Written by Adam Glass, Directed by Ami Canaan Mann and Birgitte Stærmose. Eight episodes on Netflix. 8/10.
Articles
F.W. Murnau’s haunting film Nosferatu (1922) and Count Orlock, its vampire, turn 100 years old this month. The title villain brought plague from one country to another. The movie brought a new type of fear to a world that almost didn’t see it.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/nosferatu-at-100/
On the Victorian Science and Prejudices Behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula
https://lithub.com/on-the-victorian-science-and-prejudices-behind-bram-stokers-dracula/
In the Resurgence of Folk Horror, We Are the Villains
https://lithub.com/in-the-resurgence-of-folk-horror-we-are-the-villains/