Review - The Beyond (1981 - Dir. Lucio Fulci)

And so we reach the end of this mammoth zombie watching spree and what a film to finish with. This seems to have come at a perfect time after my review of Hell's Ground, a film that had lots of weaknesses, yet I couldn't help but like it. The Beyond takes that idea to the extreme.

Liza (Catriona MacColl) inherits an old hotel that funnily enough stands on one of the seven doors to hell. She teams up with Dr John McCabe (David Warbeck) and they investigate the mysterious occurrences. What follows can only be described as a disjointed nightmare that throws logic straight out of the window to its blood soaked death.

I could write a review completely slating this film. It has so many problems. In the excellent book Beyond Terror, Stephen Thrower manages to justify pretty much every aspect in a very convincing and academic manner. (Beyond Terror is well worth tracking down if you're a Fulci fan although it is a tad expensive: £175.98 for a used copy, and for a brand spanking one - £7,708.30.) I think the justification only works if you already love The Beyond though. If you don't it must be fairly easy to brush aside everything he says.

We come back to the all important special ingredients I mentioned in the Hell's Ground review. There is one moment that stands out as slightly nasty, when our hero shoots a girl in the head without thinking about it, (whereas the rest of the time he has a right ponder before killing anything). I think Fulci filmed it that way purely for the shock value of the effect. But apart from that the atmosphere and tone are nigh on perfect. The film gradually descends from having a lovely drink in a New Orleans bar into the fog shrouded bleakness of hell as it reaches its climax. 

The ending is my favourite of any film (just pipping The Wicker Man). I doubt many other people will, but I shed a tear without fail. Maybe it's the fact that David Warbeck is not with us any more that makes it all the more poignant. In this scene Fulci has created a stunning version of hell that is far worse than the usual fieriness and Satan sticking his red hot poker up sinners' backsides. Supposedly the corpses were all homeless people that Fulci talked into acting for him. The visuals are only half of the story though.

The music that kicks in at the end is stunning. Little snippets are heard at various points in the film, but just as the music in City of the Living Dead signifies the beginning of the final act, the soundtrack starts in full force as the zombies prepare themselves for an onslaught. When the music is revealed in all its glory, it always has a massive impact on me. I have to listen to it at a very loud volume, but goosebumps and prickly arm hair ensue on every listening. It fits the on-screen action perfectly and it's also one of the only times when I will sit through the credits just to get the full musical experience. 

Here are some of the things that I love about The Beyond, in no particular order:

• The casting of Veronica Lazar (Mater Tenebrarum in Argento's Inferno) and all of the expectations that go along with that. Her conversation with Joe the plumber is a pure slice of red herring (and it's really funny).

• The stilted dialogue (see the above conversation as a prime example).
• The lighting in the scene between Liza and Emily. Beautifully shot and if it doesn't make a plot point completely obvious the next sequence where Emily runs out hammers it home. The first time I watched this I thought there was something wrong with the sound, but a minute later it all became clear. Clever stuff.

• The baffling spider attack, complete with those shiftily moving pipe clean spiders in the background.

• John McCabe sticking to his rational beliefs for virtually the whole film. Despite the fact that he can see that shooting them in the head is the only way to take the zombies down, he perseveres by shooting them in the torso, refusing to believe in anything supernatural.

• The moment in the lift where David Warbeck tries to load his gun by sticking a bullet down the barrel end accompanied by a couple of frames of Catriona MacColl laughing at him.
• The bloke in the book shop who can't stop giggling.

• The fairly rank pile of matted hair that Martha pulls out of the bath.
• The gorgeous shot of a very straight road with a car bombing along directly towards the viewer.

• The way that Fulci lingers over inconsequential moments, for example, the characters walking up to Emily's house is dragged out for ages.

• "Dicky attack!" Any film that contains a dog called Dicky can't be all bad.
• The creepy piano soundtrack playing in the background only for it be revealed that Emily is actually playing it for her guest, Liza. (Most people put on a bit of Kings of Leon for their guests but not Emily.)

• The gore.

Yep, the gore. The Beyond starts with a black and white scene that involves some rather nasty chain whipping. As usual, Fulci makes us watch this in intimate detail for a good long while. The film then never lets up. There's more of the trademark Fulci eye trauma, acid attacks and gushing neck wounds. Saying all that, it's not your usual zombie flesh munching spectacle. The zombies' mouths are pretty much unused (maybe this is due to the fact that zombies weren't originally going to be in it, but the German financiers insisted) even so, they are still very much a threat. The scenes in the hospital have to be my favourite scenes of zombie action. I don't think the Blu-ray format does The Beyond many favours as the gore probably looks better on old pirated VHS copies. Don't get me wrong, it still looks great, but that grainy distressed look suits the style far more.

If you've never seen this, don't get your hopes up. My rating is definitely a personal thing, although I know of other people who also hold this film in an equally high regard (and still other people who think it's rubbish). Watch it with the knowledge that it may well be a film that you'll come to love. 

Well that's it for our Year of the Dead (hooray!) and very soon we'll have some more information about the FA Cup of Actors. Happy New Year to you dear reader.

10/10

evlkeith

If you like this you could also try:
Zombie Flesh Eaters, The House by the Cemetery, City of the Living Dead.

Review - Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001 - Dir. Christophe Gans)

Continuing our birthday celebrations we come to the final entry in our Mark Dacascos Season, and it is one of my favourite films of all time.

The idea of mixing the genres of kung fu, horror, mystery and period french drama, whilst adding a savage stonking great wolf as a garnish may seem a tad foolish. But it works stunningly well, making for one of the most refreshingly original films I've ever seen.


Naturalist (not naturist - that would have been one genre too many. I don't think wolves play volleyball anyway) Gregoire de Fronsac, played by Samuel Le Bihan is sent by the King to the small french province of Gevaudan, along with his native American sidekick Mani (Mark Dacascos). Numerous deaths have been occurring and they have been attributed to a rather large wolf. Fronsac and Mani investigate this general unpleasantness. And hit people a lot. So what we basically have is a berzerk version of Hound of the Baskervilles (not a bad thing).

Gans certainly loves his slow motion and Dacascos has never looked cooler. Forget his Straight-to-DVD actioners. This is what he is truly capable of. There are so many well choreographed fights. His assailants, in true kung fu fashion, take their turn, coming at Mani with fists and various weapons, but he just sorts them. No messing. The sound effects are excessively loud and crunchy, further adding to the stylised nature of the fights. Bihan also gets to do a fair bit of scrapping and is not too shabby in the 'hitting people hard' departpartment.

There is love interest in the form of the gorgeous Émilie Dequenne (The Pack) and Monica Bellucci (Irreversible), just enough to add yet another dimension to the film. Both female leads are great but Dequenne is so great she should get her own season. Now, there's a thought... 

You also get Vincent Cassel as a really creepy villain. He's always good value for money and doesn't let the side down here. Supposedly, he put in a lot of training for his fight sequence and it shows.

Let's get the one negative out of the way. Surprise, surprise, it's the CGI. The wolf looks ropey and a bit too light and lacking in contrast compared to the backgrounds for my liking. Saying that, the close-ups (by Henson) using a practical wolf are premium quality (again, surprise, surprise).

For a film to be so full of disparate elements and still be coherent and top fun is a testament to Gans' skill as a director. (It's a shame Onimusha fell through. That would have been a treat.) He brings out the best in Mark Dacascos (see Crying Freeman) and it would be great to see them work together again. So do the dodgy effects knock the rating down at all? For sheer audacity, I'll let it off.
10/10
evlkeith

(Please note: It's well worth getting the Blu-ray because with the DVD you are limited to a plain stereo soundtrack if you opt for the french language version, the 5.1 sound is only available on the useless dubbed version. The Blu-ray has got the proper full surround experience. Way better. And not smelly.)


If you like this you could also try:
Crying Freeman, Drive, The Pack, the 2002 BBC version of Hound of the Baskervilles.

Review - North by Northwest (1959 - Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

To an older generation this film would be classed as mainstream. To a younger generation, who have never seen it, you are missing a treat. Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, well, Cary Grant really, a man mistaken for a secret agent by James Mason and his crew of suit-wearing henchmen. 

Hitchcock is on top form with this film. There are so many great moments. Standouts include a chase sequence in a corn field (culminating in my favourite film explosion), a comedy auction and a climax on a famous American landmark. There are some great double entendres in the film, especially on a train journey with Eva Marie Saint. Also, there is a cheeky end shot to the film. 

I've had this on DVD for quite a few years and have recently bought it on Blu-ray. It was like watching a different film. The colours and the sense of scale are breathtaking, not to mention the excellent score by Bernard Herrmann never sounding better. Younger readers: ignore/embrace some suspect rear projection shots, relax into a slower pace of editing, enjoy the gentle humour and prepare yourself for a classic that still holds up to this day.
10/10 
evlkeith

 



If you like this you could try:
To Catch a Thief, Suspicion, Rear Window, Rebecca

Review - Serenity (2005 - Dir. Joss Whedon)

Watch the first season of Firefly before watching this film, if you haven’t seen it already. Serenity will be much more rewarding if you do.

After Firefly was cancelled midway through its first season, a small following said goodbye to one of the best TV series ever. Miraculously, Joss Whedon (writer/director) got the chance to give us a more satisfactory conclusion in the form of Serenity.

The cast is uniformly excellent (Nathan Fillion is great in everything he does), the dialogue snappy and witty, believable special effects, involving story with revelations that tie up the TV series, rousing music (the piece over the opening credits sends a shiver down my spine every time - play loud!) Why it didn’t win loads of Oscars, I’ll never know. Well, maybe it’s because the powers that be only grudgingly give awards to science fiction. Serenity in years to come will be fondly remembered and watched, just like The Thing (1982). Who actually still watches Ghandi now? (Ghandi won the best picture award in 1982.) Minor rant over.

One of the best things about this film is the sense of danger. It feels like any one of the characters could be killed at any point. In some polls Serenity has placed above Star Wars. Watch it and decide for yourself.

10/10
evlkeith

 

                                                                                                                              

If you like this you could also try:

Firefly (TV), Buffy (TV), Angel (TV), Dollhouse (TV), Hellboy, Tremors, Slither