The Unrepentant Cinephile

by Jason Coffman

  Lena (Olga Fedori) is an immigrant working at a UK airport as a cleaning lady. On her first night she meets chatty Birdie (Ainsley Howard) and her shy brother Elbie (Toby Alexander). At the end of the night Lena misses the bus home and Birdie offers to let her stay at her parents’ home. Located just past the end of a runway, the house is a very convenient commute to anyone who might work at the airport, and the constant noise of the airplanes is good for… other things. Once inside the house, Birdie and Elbie disappear, and Lena is knocked cold. When she wakes up, she’s chained to a bed and her voice is gone, and the first thing she sees is Dad (Perry Benson) burst out of a room covered in blood while Mum (Dido Miles) tries to calm him and explain to Lena how the rules of the house work.

  This all happens in the film’s first fifteen minutes. The film opens with a montage of planes taking off and landing with the credits displayed over them, but with no music– just the screaming of the jet engines. Before the film even properly starts the viewer is in a pretty agitated state, and the film takes very little time before it starts delivering the shocks. And shocks are guaranteed, make no mistake. There’s at least one shot that’s sure to disgust even the most jaded horror fan in the early going, and the film regularly delivers something disturbing throughout its running time. This includes what has to be one of the most disturbing Christmas party scenes in film history.

  But that Christmas scene, unsettling as it is, also reveals what it is about the film that is so compelling. One thing is that deep vein of bleak humor, and another is the fact that inside the house, Sheil has created an entirely convincing universe. Everyone has their function in the family, and everything in the house reflects its inhabitants’ uneasy mix of working-class living and serial-killer morality. Porno films play on the television while the family has breakfast, Birdie delivers small items she steals on cleaning duty, one room is dedicated to sorting the items out of stolen luggage, and on and on. The tiny details of everyday life give the film a weird “kitchen sink” feel, although in this case it’s a sink full of unidentifiable meat.

  Mum & Dad is unquestionably a film that some people are not going to be able to stomach. Despite its subtle humor, curious attention to small details, and solid performances, the gruesome violence is going to put off most audiences. For those willing and able to follow the film into the depths of its sick world, though, Mum & Dad is well worth seeking out. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

  Murder Collection Volume 1 (2009)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 2 May 2009

  Since their founding in 2002, Toetag Pictures has made a name for themselves in the horror community with their makeup work for Nick Palumbo’s infamous Murder Set Pieces and their own notorious August Underground series. A trilogy of “found footage” films, August Underground is presented as a series of home movies made by a group of serial killers. After a detour into more familiar supernatural horror with 2006′s The Redsin Tower, Toetag completed the August Underground trilogy with Penance in 2007 and things have been relatively quiet since. Now they’ve returned with a new film whose title promises more mayhem yet to come: Murder Collection Volume 1.

  The premise this time around involves an underground internet show called Murder Collection hosted by a mysterious disembodied “host” named Balan. According to the opening text, Balan hosted the show back in the 90s until it was shut down by authorities, but Balan himself was never caught. Having spent the last decade plus collecting new footage, Balan has returned to share his collection of torture, murder, and atrocity.

  Murder Collection ‘s premise immediately sets the film on a different footing with the audience from the August Underground series. Where those films were meant to be actual home movies of serial killers, the fact that they were mass-produced DVDs automatically put a conceptual roadblock in the way of experiencing them as “real.” Murder Collection, with its framing device of the Balan “host” sequences, puts the footage one remove away from the viewer by giving it a context. This context instantly makes the scenes on display more disturbing than the “direct experience” of the August Underground films, which sometimes felt more like effects reels for Toetag’s formidable makeup skills due to the fact that the viewer’s brain can’t reconcile purchasing a DVD with the idea of watching a one-of-a-kind “found” video.

  That said, it wouldn’t be a surprise if anyone who wasn’t familiar with those films or this one might pull a Charlie Sheen and call the cops thinking they’ve seen the real thing if they just catch a couple stray minutes of any Toetag film. It also doesn’t hurt that a good portion of Murder Collection could easily pass as news footage. Among the vignettes on display are a restaurant robbery and an assault at an ATM that are presented as direct-feed security camera footage: no sound, grainy look, and an unsettling uncertainty as to what exactly is going on elsewhere when you can only see part of the picture. Other sequences feel like pieces of larger narratives of which we only catch snippets– a man primping for the camera before terrorizing a couple of teenage boys, some guys giving a nerdy acquaintance some shit during an ominous walk in the wood, and more. Allowing the audience plenty of room to fill in the details around some of the clips is one of Murder Collection ‘s biggest strengths.

  Overall, Murder Collection is arguably Toetag’s best work yet, and goes a long way toward making their “too real for comfort” approach a lot more accessible. Watching the August Underground films could sometimes be a slog through their often protracted scenes of torture and degradation, which was exactly the point– the films don’t present murder as entertainment. Murder Collection‘s bite-size bits of brutality lend themselves more easily to the short attention span (although a few scenes do go on for a while) while retaining the idea that maybe you’re seeing something you really shouldn’t be– Balan even gets into some Michael Haneke-style audience baiting as the film progresses. While that may hint at one filmmaking influence on this work, there’s no mistaking Murder Collection for anything but a Toetag production. You’re still not going to find this at your local video store or Best Buy, but for a compelling look at the bleeding edge of underground horror, Murder Collection Volume 1 is the best place to start and well worth seeking out.

  Murder Obsession (1981)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 9 December 2011

  The Giallo film– lurid thrillers often skirting the edge between horror and crime dramas, so named for the cheap paperback covers of the books that often inspired the films– has had something of a resurgence in popularity over the last few years, although it has always enjoyed the attention of many fans of genre films and Italian cinema. DVD imprints such as Blue Underground have been issuing these films to hungry fans for some time now, and recently another independent DVD house has joined them: Raro Video. Specializing in Italian films, Raro has thus far mostly released crime thrillers and obscure films by Michelangelo Antonioni (The Vanquished) and Fellini (Clowns), but they have expanded their roster to include Giallo films such as The Perfume of the Lady in Black and, most recently, Murder Obsession, the final film of the legendary director Riccardo Freda (The Horrible Dr. Hichcock).

  Michael Stanford (Stefano Patrizi) is an actor who is maybe working a little too hard: as the film opens, he nearly strangles his costar Beryl (Laura Gemser) for real while shooting a scene for his current film. Michael decides to take his girlfriend Deborah (Silvia Dionisio) along with him to visit his mother Glenda (Anita Strindberg) in the remote estate where she still lives. Michael has not seen his mother in years, and is shocked to find the estate’s servant Oliver (John Richardson) still waiting on her. Oliver informs Michael that his mother is gravely ill, and while she tries to downplay the severity of her condition, it is obvious that she is weak.

  This visit is not just for relaxation, however, as Michael invites some of his friends from work (including Beryl) to the estate to look for locations for their next film. Deborah has a strange nightmare in which she is used in a Black Mass, and before too long
Michael’s past comes back to haunt him: he has not returned to the estate for so long because he believes he was responsible for his father’s death, even though he was just a child when it happened. While confronting these demons, a mysterious black-gloved killer begins stalking the estate, and true to Giallo form, the long-buried truth will explain who the killer is and why they must kill.

  Murder Obsession features all the standbys of the Giallo genre: the haunted past, the childhood trauma, the killer in black leather gloves, the grand estate turned into a house of horrors by long years of neglect, and plenty of sex and murder. It is somewhat unusual (and reminiscent of The Perfume of the Lady in Black) in that its storyline refers to occult and supernatural themes, while most Giallo films avoid such overt genre trappings. However, there is no question that the film falls neatly into the Giallo template, and North American fans will no doubt be glad to finally have a legitimate DVD release of the film.

  They will also likely be very pleased by Raro Video’s presentation of Murder Obsession. While most of the film is presented in English, scenes excised for international release that were only recorded in Italian are presented (with English subtitles) as part of the film. There is a 10-minute interview with special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti (who admits his experience on Murder Obsession was not ideal) and the package includes an informative booklet about the film and its director. With such attention to detail, fans will no doubt want to keep an eye out for future releases by Raro Video.

  The Muthers (1976)

  Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 16 April 2015

  The 1970s were a golden era for exploitation cinema, and “women in prison” (WIP) films were no exception. In the early 70s, Filipino filmmaker and producer Cirio H. Santiago teamed up with American exploitation film titan Roger Corman to produce two of the most well-known films of the WiP genre: Jack Hill’s The Big Doll House (1971) and its sequel, The Big Bird Cage (1972). The Philippines was a hotbed of exploitation film production, and Santiago was one of the leading filmmakers in the industry. In addition to producing, Santiago directed a number of classic grindhouse films including Savage! (1973) and Ebony, Ivory, & Jade (1976). Vinegar Syndrome recently released one of Santiago’s best films, The Muthers (1976), on DVD in a new restoration, giving exploitation film fans a great-looking version of this film, which was previously difficult to track down.

  The Muthers are a band of female pirates led by Kelly (Jeannie Bell, TNT Jackson) and Anggie (Rosanne Katon, The Swinging Cheerleaders). Kelly’s sister goes missing, and Kelly sets off to track her down. During her travels, Kelly uncovers a racket that kidnaps and imprisons women in a work camp on a coffee plantation run by Monteiro (Tony Carreon, Death Force) where Kelly’s sister is being held. Kelly and Anggie go undercover at the camp, but they soon learn that escaping with their lives is going to be a lot harder than they thought, especially when pissed-off rival pirate Turko (John Montgomery) is out to get them, too. Anyone who’s seen the Corman-produced WiP films will have a pretty good idea of what comes next: lots of sweating, shower scenes, poorly choreographed martial arts and fantastic one-liners. Actually, the one thing this film doesn’t have is Vic Diaz, who was in damn near every other film made in the Philippines in the 1970s.

  The Muthers is not quite on the same level as Jack Hill’s WiP movies, but for exploitation fans there’s plenty to like. In addition to Jeannie Bell and Rosanne Katon, the film stars Trina Parks (Darktown Strutters) and Jayne Kennedy (who appeared in tons of television in the ’70s and ’80s including Sanford & Son, The Rockford Files, and CHiPS), and all of the leading ladies do a good job as convincing and sexy badasses. The film follows the WIP formula very closely, but for fans that’s hardly a knock against the movie. This is straightforward, by the book exploitation, and it thoroughly scratches a very particular itch for low-rent ’70s action that cult fans (and Blaxploitation fans in particular) will definitely want to check out.

  Vinegar Syndrome presents The Muthers on DVD restored in 2k from the 35mm negative. The disc also features the film’s theatrical trailer. This film was previously tough to track down in the States other than in bad VHS bootlegs, so having such a nice transfer is much appreciated. Here’s hoping more of Santiago’s rarer films will get a similar treatment down the line!

  My Amityville Horror (2012)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 7 August 2013

  It may be a coincidence, but IFC’s timing for the home video release of My Amityville Horror is impeccable. Ed and Lorraine Warren, the paranormal investigators who were involved with the Amityville incident, were also the inspiration for James Wan’s massive hit The Conjuring. Interest in the Warrens’s 1970s work is high, and can only help bring more attention to this documentary, which features Lorraine Warren but focuses on Daniel Lutz. Daniel was a boy during the events described in the book The Amityville Horror, adapted into a popular film released in 1979 that spawned a franchise and remade in 2005. How many of these events really happened and how much of it was embellished by George Lutz, Daniel’s stepfather, has always been unclear. My Amityville Horror purports to take viewers inside the Lutz family and perhaps provide answers to some lingering questions.

  Unfortunately, it quickly becomes apparent that answering questions is probably not at the top of the list of the filmmakers’ priorities. Daniel takes the opportunity to mostly rant about George Lutz, with whom he had a difficult relationship. Daniel provides little in the way of objective discussion of paranormal activity, instead mostly trying to articulate what it was like growing up with such a poor male role model. Lutz occasionally threatens the film crew when talking about particularly painful events, leading one to wonder why he agreed to do the filmed interviews in the first place. The bulk of the film is spent with Daniel, who is obviously trying to learn how to work through the pain he still feels from whatever it is that happened to him during these years. While the filmmakers may have thought this would be the most compelling interview footage related to the project (and perhaps it is), it also feels invasive and uncomfortably exploitative.

  Much less uncomfortable is the time spent with Lorraine Warren discussing her experiences with the Lutz family and the Amityville house. Warren comes across as earnest about her faith and belief in the supernatural, although she also fails to deliver straight answers regarding what exactly happened to the Lutz family in the Amityville house. Her reflections on her work with the Lutz family are fascinating, but too brief. The scene where Lorraine is reunited with Daniel after decades of not seeing each other is surprisingly touching, giving what would seem to be a rare glimpse of Daniel in happier times. Still, when the film concludes, the only thing that it has conclusively proven is that Daniel Lutz is a very troubled man who had an exceptionally difficult and unpleasant upbringing, compounded by unwanted attention from the public following the publication of Jay Anson’s book. What really happened at Amityville will probably never be known, but My Amityville Horror makes a solid case for leaving any further questions unanswered.

  My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 16 January 2009

  Film fans in general and horror fans in particular constantly debate the remake. Horror fans tend to be more vocal, mostly due to the fact that it seems like the last decade or so has seen a tremendous upswing in horror remakes, most of them pretty awful. Even the decent ones have to deal with the cherished memories of the original films, and it’s probably no surprise that the most well received horror remakes jettison everything but the basics and create something completely different. As technology improves, 3D films have started to become more popular as well, and it was only a matter of time before the horror remake trend and new 3D technology collided.

  My Bloody Valentine 3D will instantly feel familiar to anyone who’s seen any recent remakes of classic genre films– the cast mostly looks like they’re on loan from The CW, but the film departs immediately from its PG-13 contemporaries within the first 15 minutes. T
he film gets the off to a rousing start with a pace that rarely lets up throughout its running time. It still looks as slick and shiny as any other horror remake, but the emphasis here is on returning to the genre’s roots and getting as much blood as possible up on the screen, and killing off as many people as possible to keep the audience on their toes.

  As the film opens, miner Harry Warden (Rich Walters) wakes from a coma a year after being rescued from a collapsed mine and goes on a killing spree. He’s eventually chased back into the mine by Sheriff Burke (genre legend Tom Atkins), but not before murdering a slew of teenagers and traumatizing a young Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles). Ten years later, Tom returns to town after mysteriously disappearing to find his girlfriend Sarah (Jaime King) has married his old rival Axel Palmer (Kerr Smith). Unfortunately, soon after Tom returns to town people start turning up dead, and the townspeople believe Harry Warden has come back to finish what he started.

  The film shares some similarities with the original– aging the characters up a bit was a nice touch and a nod to the fact that the characters in the original were a lot older than the standard teen machete fodder. There’s also at least one very direct nod to one of the original’s more memorable kill scenes that fans will appreciate. The 3D shots are sort of a ridiculous gimmick, as they are in pretty much any other 3D film, but a few of them are nicely done. All in all, however, the film is probably just as enjoyable in regular ol’ 2D– it was good enough for the original, after all.