Chromeskull opens literally right after the end of the first film, with Chromeskull (Nick Principe) in pretty bad shape after being defeated by Tommy (Thomas Dekker) and The Girl (Allison Kyler). Tommy and The Girl drive away and a paramilitary team is shortly on the scene, taking Chromeskull to be revived while Preston (Brian Austin Green), one of Chromeskull’s high-ranking employees, tracks down The Girl to finish her off. After a gruesome opening credits sequence shows a team of surgeons working to save Chromeskull, the film jumps forward to a point where Chromeskull is back in action and planning a new game.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Chromeskull is its depiction of Chromeskull’s organization. Brian Austin Green is actually really good as a sociopath looking to climb this bizarre corporate ladder, and Danielle Harris takes a break from her usual victim role as one of Chromeskull’s high-ranking assistants. What exactly all this is about is still not entirely clear, but the peek behind the curtain that was only hinted at in the first film is interesting. Too bad the rest of the film is not quite at the same level.
Once Chromeskull gets up and running, the kills are just as gruesomely inventive and flawlessly depicted as they were in Laid to Rest, but a large number of the victims are police investigating a disappearance. The uncertain sense that anyone on screen could have a knife take their face off at any second that made the first film fun is completely absent this time around, and without it the film is just a catalog of gory, unpleasant murders. And as far as those go, they are impressively executed (no pun intended), but they don’t make up for the lack of the first film’s gleeful malevolence. Here’s hoping Laid to Rest 3 will be more fun.
Chrysalis (2014)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 29 July 2014
I have to explain something right at the top here: Like many other fans of independent horror cinema, I suffer from Apocalypse Fatigue. It’s a real problem, brought on by watching countless low- to no-budget productions about on the (usually zombie-related) apocalypse. At best, these films give us a handful of characters to empathize with as they wander through remote, isolated areas (see also: Jeremy Gardner’s The Battery). At worst, these films head into the woods and are packed with characters nobody could possibly be expected to care about (too many to even mention). And so it was with some trepidation that I approached John Klein’s post-apocalyptic film Chrysalis. Fortunately, this is one of those rare films that brings something new to the low-budget PA thriller: a truly unnerving sense of an abandoned world dying away.
Joshua (Cole Simon) and Penelope (Sara Gorsky) are a young couple foraging carefully and slowly through the remains of an unnamed city. The year is 2038, twenty-five years after a catastrophic series of events destroyed most of the world’s major cities and left the large majority of the human population infected with some sort of virus that turns them into mindless cannibals. The city is long-abandoned and thoroughly picked over, but Joshua is determined that if there are any other survivors lost or hiding, he and Penelope will find them and help them. They spend their days poking around in ruined buildings, looking for some sign of life or some food, weapons, anything that will help them keep going in the brutal cold.
One night, they are surprised to run into another survivor, a woman named Abira (Tanya Thai McBride). Abira explains that she is on the way to a rendezvous point on the other side of the city where she will be meeting up with the group of survivors with whom she has been traveling. Penelope is uncertain of Abira’s motives, but Joshua is so glad to see another living human that he immediately offers her food and shelter, and decides that he and Penelope will join Abira in finding her group. As they make their way across the desolate ruins of the city, the number of Infected seem to grow larger than Joshua has ever seen. What he does not know is that Abira carries a secret that could save them all—or destroy them.
There is no doubt that Chrysalis treads some well-worn PA territory. However, the incredible production design and location shooting give the film a more convincing post-apocalyptic look than anything this side of John Hillcoat’s The Road. Shot in parts of Chicago and Gary, Indiana during a vicious winter, Chrysalis truly looks like it was shot after the end of civilization. Its ruined locations are so completely convincing, in fact, that they nearly distract from the action of the film. It is occasionally difficult to focus on what is going on in the story when the locations are so disturbing. If this was the only thing going for it, Chrysalis would be worth a look.
Fortunately, the film does have more to offer. There are some strange dialogue choices, but the small cast makes the most of their screen time and each of them gives a solid, convincing performance. The sparse makeup and special effects are done very well, with gruesome practical effects of the Infected and their attacks punctuating the long, deceptive periods of calm. CG is used even more sparingly and to simple but worthwhile effect, helping create the illusion of the ruined city skyline in the background of some shots. Special mention must also be made of Darren Callahan’s excellent atmospheric score, which perfectly complements the gray, nearly monochrome cinematography and barren cityscapes. Despite its sense of familiarity and the occasional awkward line, Chrysalis stands out from the PA horde thanks to its amazing locations, strong performances, and an overall level of technical proficiency that belies its small budget. Even if you, like me, suffer from Apocalypse Fatigue, Chrysalis is well worth seeking out.
Cindy and Donna (1970)
Originally published on Criticplanet.org
While having a conversation with a fellow b-movie/exploitation film fanatic, he mentioned that he always thought of Crown International as the sort of more “proper” cousin to outfits that specialized in more sleazy exploitation fare. While there is some truth to this, there is also no question that Crown International occasionally released some films that could stand toe to depraved toe with their drive-in and grindhouse competitors and still come out looking pretty nasty. Cindy and Donna is one of those films. Cindy and Donna packs a cautionary tale of parental neglect and latchkey kids running wild into a sleazy softcore miniskirt. Parental discretion is most certainly advised.
Cindy (Debbie Osborne) and her older step-sister Donna (Nancy Ison) are high school girls who live at home with their hilariously alcoholic and uncertainly accented mother Harriet (Suzy Allen, maybe aiming for British?) and “workaholic” father Ted (Max Manning). Donna is into drugs, partying and sex, but younger sister Cindy has no idea what it’s all about. She certainly can’t look to her parents for guidance, what with her mother’s severe alcoholism and her dad’s long hours at “work,” so instead she learns from Donna and her own school friends. The audience is let in on Dad’s secret early on: in his first scene, we find him getting advice from his pals and setting up a “date” with a stripper named Alice (Alice Friedland) who looks like she might actually have some classes with Donna. That’s fine for the old man, since Donna isn’t his daughter, a fact that he doesn’t let her forget.
While the parents are drinking themselves into oblivion or out with their stripper mistresses, the kids are getting naked, smoking drugs and taking dirty pictures. One night when Ted can’t get a date with Alice and his wife is passed out drunk in their bed, he sneaks into Donna’s room that leads to a seriously disturbing (and surprisingly graphic) sex scene. Meanwhile, Cindy is drifting further and further into depravity, including looking at naughty magazines, masturbating, and experimenting with her friend Karen (Cheryl Powell) and various boys. Eventually Donna’s drug-dealing boyfriend Greg (Tom Koben) is drawn into young Cindy’s web of highly illegal sexual games. Spoiler Alert: When Donna comes home from a particularly nasty photo shoot to find Cindy and Greg together, she staggers out of the house and directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The film ends with Cindy standing in the doorway, screaming, covering herself with a blanket while Donna lays dying in the street.
The ending, coming as it does completely out of nowhere, was probably tacked on at the last minute. It leaves an awful lot
of questions behind, including abandoning the girls’ parents in the middle of a trip where we see Ted get totally shut down by Alice via payphone, after which the parents never appear again. Up until the abruptly moralistic finale, Cindy and Donna is basically nothing but a parade of scenes in which our teenage protagonists take off their shirts at every opportunity and generally get involved in various activities that are illegal for people of any age. Once Donna gets hit by that car, the audience is supposed to learn their lesson: pay attention to what your kids are doing, blah blah blah. As far as the target demographic is concerned, Cindy and Donna delivers the goods, damn the moral. The queasy mix of blatant exploitation and overkill moralizing certainly makes Cindy and Donna memorable, but you’ll probably want to take a shower when you’re done watching it.
The Clinic (2010)
Originally published on Film Monthly 22 August 2011
It’s always a pleasant surprise to find the proverbial diamond in the rough where direct-to-disc/demand/etc. horror films are concerned. Too much of these films are faceless and forgettable, making it a rare occasion when one is actually worth a watch. The Clinic, feature debut of writer/director James Rabbitts, is one such film– a solid, surreal and unsettling little thriller that delivers where most films in its class fall flat.
Very pregnant Beth (Tabret Bethell) and her fiancé Cameron (Andy Whitfield) are on their way across Australia to visit Beth’s family for Christmas. Somewhere approximately near the middle of nowhere a truck runs them off the road and they decide to find a hotel and finish their trip the next day. The couple comes across a small town that appears to be little more than a hotel, a Chinese restaurant and a police station and bed down for the night. Cameron leaves late in the night to find something to eat and returns to the room to find Beth missing. The local authorities prove less than helpful and Cameron soon finds himself cuffed in the back of a squad car.
Meanwhile, Beth is subjected to a twisted version of a well-known urban legend: she wakes up in a bathtub full of ice water, and her baby has been surgically removed from her body. She finds clothes and stumbles out into the daylight, where she discovers she is not alone. Three other women, all of who had identical experiences to Beth’s, band together to find out where they are and what has happened to their children. The search becomes increasingly strange as the women make their way through the facility, and the tension mounts when they realize someone or something is also out to kill them.
The Clinic sets up its premise quickly and moves at a quick clip, alternating between Beth and the other women exploring the bizarre facility in which they find themselves and Cameron’s attempts to find where Beth has gone. The pieces of the puzzle come together slowly, and if the final explanation is a bit of a letdown, that still does not mean getting there is any less interesting. It’s genuinely unsettling when these characters are in danger, as each woman has some personality that automatically makes them more interesting than the typical slasher cannon fodder. The Clinic is definitely worth a look, and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for what writer/director James Rabbitts does next.
Closed for the Season (2010)
Originally published on Film Monthly 23 August 2011
Too many low-budget films– and especially low-budget horror films– take familiar shapes, with stock characters, standard-issue plot twists, and off-the-shelf monsters. After watching even a few of these, any bit of originality and passion really stands out, and Closed for the Season certainly has both. Shot largely in an actual abandoned amusement park, Closed for the Season also has a spectacular location in the long-neglected Chippewa Lake Park. As a record of modern ruins, the film is pretty great, although as a horror film it has some flaws.
Kristy (Aimee Brooks) finds herself suddenly trapped on the grounds of Chippewa Lake Park. Immediately, she runs into weird creatures and threatening clowns, which disappear as quickly as they appear. She finds a house on the grounds where James (Damian Maffei), son of the park’s former caretakers, still lives. The two attempt to leave but soon find that it’s not as simple as it seems: Kristy sees James killed multiple times, only to have him reappear moments later. Whatever force in the park is holding them is able to bend the rules of time and space (and film continuity) with ease, making for a seriously disorienting trip around the old park.
A familiar face and voice arises out of the confusion: The Carny (Joe Unger), a sort of incarnation of the spirit of the park. The Carny leads Kristy and James through the park and offers cryptic monologues and vague advice, and in his clown outfit certainly seems like a dangerous figure. Like everything else in the park, The Carny is not exactly what he seems, and the trapped couple must figure out what they must do to leave the park, or remain trapped forever.
Closed for the Season is interesting and definitely unique, and at first the idea that there are no clear rules of time, space (and, again, continuity) in the haunted park is exciting. It becomes a bit less exciting, though, when extended to nearly a full two hours. At 111 minutes, the film’s elastic reality becomes tired and a bit irritating. It pretty much goes without saying that the mysteries of the park, once unraveled, are something of a letdown after the epic trip to get there. Still, there are plenty of gruesome and creepy sights, and seeing the inside of Chippewa Lake Park is a treat. Despite its flaws, Closed for the Season offers something unique for the hardcore horror fan scouring the low-budget wastelands, and is definitely worth a look.
Coach (1978)
Originally published on Criticplanet.org
In 1974, Crown International Pictures released a film called The Teacher, in which a young high school teacher seduces one of her students (infamously played by Jay North, formerly television’s Dennis the Menace). In that film, tragedy follows in the wake of that teacher’s irresponsible behavior. Four years later, Crown released Coach, in which a young high school basketball coach seduces one of her players. In this film, uh, nobody seems to be all that concerned about it. Did American cultural mores really change that much in four years?
Cathy Lee Crosby plays Randy Rawlings, the titular coach who is accidentally hired by a private high school when no one seems to bother finding out who she actually is before offering her the job as boys’ basketball coach. Unsurprisingly, she finds herself immediately butting heads with principal Fenton Granger (Keenan Wynn– yes, seriously, Keenan Wynn) and fending off lewd comments from horny teenage basketball players. The final piece of star power comes in the form of a pre-Terminator (1984) Michael Biehn in his feature film debut, playing the young man Coach has her eye on. This is a surprising number of familiar faces for a Crown International film, perhaps only second to Sextette (1978) (Mae West’s last film, which features cameo appearances by everyone from Dom DeLuise to Ringo Starr). Unlike Sextette, however, Coach is watchable.
The story is totally by the numbers and absolutely predictable, but in a comfortable way. Randy deals with the stuffed shirts in the office and somehow whips her ragtag group of underachievers into shape, all while dodging the romantic intentions of a fellow teacher and trying to seduce her star player. The question of whether Randy is a good coach is somewhat conveniently side-stepped by the fact that during the entire running time of the film we only see the team play one game after she takes over as coach, and that’s during the climactic finale. No fair guessing how that one turns out! Still, the ending is weirdly ambiguous, seeming to be more a convenient place to end the film because it was going on too long than an actual end to the storyline. Anyone paying attention is going to come out of Coach with a lot of unanswered questions, meaning the film is best enjoyed at something less than a viewer’s full attention.
Coach was directed by Bud Townsend, who also directed The Beach Girls (1982) and Nightmare in Wax (1969) for Crown International. It was produced by a company called Marimark, which was Crown’s in-house production company run by Marilyn Jacobs Tenser (daughter of Crown International founder Newton Jacobs) and her husband Mark Tenser (President of Crown Internati
onal since 1973). Coach is one of the few Marimark Productions films where Mark Tenser had sole production credit. I personally tend to think that the films produced by Marilyn Jacobs Tenser were better, but Coach is still a decent (if strangely amoral) little diversion.
The Coffin (2008)
Originally published on Film Monthly 30 August 2011
It seems the Asian horror boom that followed in the wake of the massive success of Japan’s Ringu has continued unabated ever since, with occasional imports reminding us here in the States that there are still plenty of supernatural territory left to explore. The Coffin is a 2008 horror film from Thailand that is being released directly to DVD here, and despite the appearance of the ubiquitous black-haired female ghost, it does provide a very different take on the genre.
The Coffin follows two characters on parallel storylines who both partake of a ritual in which they are closed in a coffin and prayed over as if they are dead. This ritual is supposed to rid the individual of bad karma, although that is not quite the outcome for the two main characters. Chris (Ananda Everingham) decides to try the ritual in the hopes that his girlfriend Mariko (Aki Shibuya) may awaken from her coma. Sue (Karen Mok) runs back home to Thailand on the eve of her wedding in Hong Kong, unable to tell her husband-to-be that she has advanced lung cancer.
After the ritual, Mariko wakes from her coma and Sue learns that the cancer has disappeared from her lungs. The ritual seems to have worked, but in fact it has deflected the characters’ bad karma onto their loved ones: Mariko is stalked by a ghostly female figure and Sue’s fiancé Joe (Andrew Lin) suffers an even worse fate. Determined to set things right, Chris and Sue both set out to find out how they can reverse the effects of the ritual before even more people they love are hurt or killed.
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