Thursday 29 October 2009

Ramblings and Retrospectives Halloween Special Part 2: Boogeymen continued

Not long to go until Halloween, so I guess we'd better keep this rolling! We left off our boogeymen special with Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street series. Let's face it, the classic slasher villains are Freddy, Jason, and Michael. Chucky is less of a horror film and more of a dark comedy (as evidenced by the gloriously tasteless Seed of Chucky). We're going to be bypassing a lot of the lesser known slasher villains, such as The Dentist, The Miner (from My Bloody Valentine), and so on. So, let's start with a face that's difficult to forget
HELLRAISER (1987)

Plot: American Larry and his daughter Kirsty move with his new English wife, Julia, to London. However, Larry's nasty brother Frank has come back from the dead, in need of some flesh to put on his bones, and cheating Julia agrees to help. Frank's also on the run from a bad bunch of demons called the Cenobites, who are unleashed when Kirsty opens across a puzzle box.

Is it any good?: Yes and no. The film has taken on classic status thanks to the rather memorable appearance of it's villain, and its (deserved) reputation for unpleasant gore. Doug Bradley's good as Pinhead himself, and Andrew Robinson (the killer from Dirty Harry) has fun as Larry. Ashley Lawrence is an underrated horror queen, putting in a solid show here, and in part two. For the budget, the film is very well made. Clive Barker has always been a very talented writer, and he shows here that he's not a bad director either. But for all it's notoriety, it's a film that repulses rather than truly scares. It also takes itself very seriously, which is fine up to a point, but not when some of the story is this silly. For me, it's good, but it's not a classic.

Sequels: Part 2 (Hellbound) is a lot of fun. Set in an asylum, it brings back Kirsty and Julia, and turns the action and gore up to eleven. Part 3 (Hell on Earth) is not bad either, giving Pinhead a backstory. They really start to go downhill after Part 4; a muddled affair which goes from 17th Century France, to the present day, to space. Hellraiser 6 briefly brought back Kirsty, but by then they'd ceased to be interesting, and the last (Part 8) starred horror veteran Lance Henriksen
Remake: Dimension has been trying to get a remake going for a while now, but they can't seem to decide on a director. Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (A L'Interieur) were first up, then Pacal Laugier of Martyrs. They've all left under the creative differences umbrella, but apparently the remake is still in production, and will be in 3-D

CANDYMAN (1992)

Plot: Helen Lyle decides to write about the mysterious murders on the gang-run Cabrini Green council projects. Once there, she stumbles across an urban legend that is all too real

Is it any good?: Yes, very much so. Bernard Rose took Clive Barker's short story and created a horror film with decent social commentary. The housing projects in the film were real locations, Virginia Madsen (playing Helen) was covered in bees, as was Tony Todd (Candyman). The cast is excellent (, as is the Phillip Glass score. The atmosphere reeks of menace, combining upper class fears of the inner city with urban legend (look in the mirror and say his name 5 times...) and the supernatural. Admittedly, everything falls apart somewhat towards the end as Candyman chases Helen all over the city, smashing through windows and spouting Cliver Barker lines. But damn, the first half is scary. It's often overlooked, but it's a modern classic.
Sequels: Part 2 is set in New Orleans and is worth watching for the excellent pre-credits sequence. Part 3 (Day of the Dead) went straight to video and did not inspire any praise

Remake: Not yet, but give it time.....
SCREAM (1996)
Plot: Someone's killing off teens while quizzing them on their knowledge of scary movies. Can Sidney Prescott keep herself alive?

Is it any good?: Yes, and that's part of the shame. Scream is largely to blame for all the imitators, all the lousy self-referential, self-aware horror comedies that followed. But, as is so often the case, the original is the best. Kevin Williamson's script is clever and funny. Wes Craven is on top form, creating suspense, shocks, and throwing in some excellent set-pieces. The cast is great, with Courtney Cox enjoying playing a bitch, Jamie Kennedy as the irritating movie geek, and Neve Campbell as Sydney. There's Nick Cave's Red Right Hand as the credits music and, most importantly, it's one of those rare films that gets the balance right between laughs and scares.


Sequels: Scream 2 is not as good, but it's still a lot of fun. Sending Sidney and Randy (Jamie Kennedy) to film school leads to even more movie references. Scream 3 is a definite step down, losing Williamson, and losing the scares. It's entertaining, but it's pretty much a pointless exercise. It is worth noting that Craven and the cast stuck with the series, and that they're trying to get a 4th film together.


SAW (2004)

Plot: Two guys wake up in a room, manacled to pipes. Another man lies dead in the middle of the room. A tape recorder tells them that one of them must kill the other, and they realise they've been captured by a serial killer named Jigsaw.

Is it any good?: The first Saw is a decent little horror film, although it nicked the creepy puppet trick from Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso. The film works because it's small scale, and the basic idea is a good one. The cast is odd (Danny Glover playing grizzled and mean, Cary Elwes going over the top), but it works. That's where my personal interest in the film ends. It's since become a franchise, spewing forth one sequel each year. It's also responsible for starting the "torture porn" trend, which is very much a mixed blessing. But, on it's own merits, yes, Saw is a good film.

Sequels: Yes, many. Saw 2 was pretty good fun, but by Saw 3 it became glaringly obvious that the film was repeating the same trick over and over again. Saw 6 is out now, if you still care.


Well, that's it for our boogeymen. Join us again for the next Halloween special!
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