31 days of Horror: Day Fourteen - Angst

Angst (1983)

Most of the movies on this list are here because I think they're fun. Angst isn't fun. Except for the wiener dog.

This brutal Austrian film is loosely based on the serial killer Werner Kniesek. A disturbed man (Erwin Leder) leaves prison, and immediately begins looking for someone to kill. after a few unsuccessful attempts, he breaks into a house where he terrorises, and murders a family of three.

That's most of the plot right there, but what makes this a special film is how it plays out. We spend the entire film with the killer. A voice over narration brings us right inside his head as he explains his motivations, and tells stories of his childhood.
The fantastic cinematography by Oscar winner Zbigniew Rybczyński is another window into the killers distorted Psyche. Rybczyński uses extreme close ups, chaotic hand held movements, and some kind of harness mounted camera similar to the one used in the movie Pi to give us insight into how the killer sees the world. The effect is both disorienting, and disturbing. And when the violence starts the camera doesn't shy away. Add to this a brilliant pounding electronic score by German composer Klaus Schulze, and you have quite a potent stew.

As I said, Angst isn't a fun movie, and would likely kill the mood at your Halloween party. But it is a strikingly original, and powerful film. It's well worth tracking down.

31 days of Horror: Day Thirteen - The Loved Ones

The Loved Ones (2009)

The Loved Ones is an appalling movie. I don't mean that as a insult, appalling is exactly what you want in a horror movie sometimes.

Brent is riddled with guilt after he gets in a car accident that kills his father. Six months has done little to heal his emotional wounds, and he seems intent on punishing him self. When Lola asks him to go prom, he politely lets her down, telling her he's going with his girlfriend Holly. Unfortunately Lola doesn't take rejection well. She has her psycho father chloroform Brent, and keeps him prisoner at her own private party.

What follows is a wonderfully entertaining hybrid. A little bit of Carrie here, a little bit of Texas Chainsaw Massacre there, and throw in some Misery for good measure. Which is not to suggest that this is a by the numbers horror flick. I was constantly surprised, and shocked as things progressed. The three main actors are phenomenal. Robin McLeavy is fantastic as Lola, in what could have easily been a one note character. John Brumpton as her father also delivers a super creepy performance, and Xavier Samuel (Brent) acts his heart out with barely any lines.

The violence is brutal, but sometimes it's also brutally funny. This is an excellent film to watch with friends.

31 days of Horror: Day Twelve: Aparecidos (The Appeared)

Aparecidos (The Appeared) (2007)

Very nicely done political horror.

Malena and Pablo are in Argentina to deal with their father's estate, and sign the papers to remove him from life support. Malena wants to get it done, and return home to Spain, but Pablo didn't know his father well, and wants to learn a little more about him. He convinces Malena to come with him on a road trip to their fathers house. On the way Pablo discovers an diary that seems to describe a terrible crime that took place twenty years ago. Going to the places described in the diary, the two are confronted with the ghosts of the victims, as the crime seems to play out over and over again.

This is an interesting film. The ghost story allows the film makers to dredge up the recent history of Argentina. During the 70s and 80's thousands of people were "Disappeared" by the government. Taken to secret prisons, tortured, and murdered. This national history is closely tied to Malena and Pablo's personal, family history. The more the two learn, the more painful and dangerous the situation becomes.

If you're looking for something off the beaten track this film is well worth searching out. It works as a political thriller, but is also creepy, and frightening enough to satisfy horror fans.

31 days of Horror: Day Eleven:Two on a Guillotine

Two on a Guillotine (1965)

Duke Duquesne (Cesar Romero) is a stage Magician, who specialises in setting up elaborate murders for his beautiful wife (and assistant) Melinda(Connie Stevens). His newest idea is to have Melinda take on the role of Marie Antoinette, and behead her on stage. Melinda seems less than thrilled.

We jump ahead twenty years to Duquesne's funeral. The tireless showman has publicly promised to try to return from the grave, and his estranged daughter Cassie (Connie Stevens again) is to play a role. As a part of his will he has left her 300 000 dollars, but only if can spend 7 nights in his creepy old mansion, the site of his resurrection. Melinda had disappeared twenty years before, and the sight of her physically identical daughter sends the local reporters into a feeding frenzy. Val Henderson (Dean Jones) befriends the young woman, at first looking for a story, but soon for more personal reasons.

The rest of the plot involves Cassie, and Val developing a relationship, while assorted strange happenings take place at the house. Can Duke Duquesne really return from the dead, or is the whole thing some elaborate hoax? And what really happened to Melinda Duquesne?

This is a charming haunted house/mystery, with a very strong cast. It's great fun Seeing Dean Jones(That Darn Cat, The Love Bug, etc.) in a non Disney role. On top of that it's gorgeously shot, full of atmosphere, and even provides a couple of good jump scares. Perfect light Halloween fare.

31 days of Horror: Day Ten-Spookies

Spookies (1986)

Holy shit! We're Troll 2 territory here.

From what I can tell Spookies was pieced together from an earlier unfinished film called Twisted Souls. There wasn't enough usable footage for a feature length film, and the original actors wouldn't take part, so a new script involving new actors was shot, ant the two were spliced together. The results are nowhere near seamless.

Billy is running away from home, because his parents forgot his birthday. in the woods he meets some dude and explains his motivations for doing things. after he leaves the dude is killed by a monster cat creature dressed like a disco pirate. Meanwhile a group of not very young, young people are driving down a lonely road looking for a place to party. The leader of the group is wearing a leather jacket thing with a yellow stripe running diagonally across it, and leather pants. for some reason there's a guy wearing a suit following behind in another car going to the same party. At first I thought this was the dad of one of the characters. The comic relief character has a puppet he sometimes talks through. he's also wearing a t-shirt with his own face on it. One of the girls in the group has what sounds like a fake British accent. Her being British never comes up as a plot point so I'm not sure why they did that. Maybe it's because she's stuck up?

Billy goes in to an old mansion and finds a birthday party set up with balloons, and a cake. He assumes that his parents have thrown him a surprise party. when he opens a present there is a screaming head inside. He runs away and is killed by the cat creature. Meanwhile the party seekers find the mansion which is in the middle of a graveyard, and decide to party there. Also there's this evil pasty dude who hangs out with the cat creature and can see everything all the characters are doing and comments on it. Pretty soon a ouija board is found, and Demons are unleashed.

The acting is beyond terrible, and the story never approaches making sense, but things move along at a steady pace and the make up, and monster effects are fantastic. The monsters include the already mentioned cat creature, a spider woman, little gremlin like things, a skull faced grim reaper with red glowing eyes, a murderous little boy in a druid cloak, and zombies that could have walked right off an Iron Maiden album cover.

If you get some beer, and invite some friends over Spookies could be a hell of a time.

31 days of Horror: Day Nine-Somos Lo Que Hay (We Are What We Are)

Somos Lo Que Hay (We Are What We Are) (2010)

We Are What We Are is a tasty mix of social/political satire, Art house sensibilities, and Exploitation style violence.

The movie opens with a shabby looking man stumbling through a busy shopping district. He stops to look at the manikins in a fashionable clothing store, before being shooed away. He suddenly falls to the ground, and begins throwing up blood. he convulses and dies. Within seconds his body is dragged away, a janitor mops up the blood, and disinterested shoppers stroll through, unaware that anything has happened.

Director Jorge Michel Grau introduces us to a world of invisible people. The main characters are the family of the dead man. They are a group of cannibals who hunt down, kill, and eat the disenfranchised. Well, they mostly did the eating. It was the father who was the hunter, and with him dead the family is thrown into crisis. The eldest son, Alfredo believes he should become the new provider, but his initial attempts don't work out very well. When he and his brother, Julián try to catch a homeless child, they are attacked and driven off by the other children. next they kidnap a prostitute, but their mother becomes enraged, claiming that the prostitute is not appropriate for their needs, which involves a ritual of some kind.

The film plays out slowly, spending more time on the internal dynamics of the family than it does on the plot movements we're used to in a genre flick. Eventually though, the pieces fall into place. Two cops begin investigating the murders because they hope the lurid nature of the crimes will attract the kind of attention that leads to promotions. The prostitutes band together for their own safety(they can't expect any help from the lazy, and corrupt cops), and go in search of revenge. All the while the family's internal struggles come to a head.

Don't come to We Are What We Are if you're looking for typical slasher stuff, but if you can handle a slow film with a lot of ambiguities, and moments of shocking violence, this film has much to offer. The acting is strong and naturalistic, with a lot of the movie playing out like a social drama. The cinematography is beautiful. And if you like your horror mixed up with social commentary in the George A. Romero style, you might end up loving this as much as I did.

31 days of Horror: Day Eight-Tourist trap

Tourist Trap is an early and very effective entry in the cycle of Slasher films that arrived on the coat tails of Halloween.

A group of friends out for a good time go in search of a spare tire, and end up on the property of Mr. Slausen. Slausen owns a wax museum, and soon seems to be covering up for his brother, as young people go missing.

Tourist Trap is the rare example of a derivative movie, that nonetheless, goes off in it's own direction. in this case both Psycho, and The Texas chainsaw Massacre are obvious starting points, but director David Schmoeller adds both a supernatural element, and the natural creepiness of manikins to the mix. The first death scene is practically a "how to" in terms of combining visceral, and atmospheric horror. From there we're left in the capable hands of ethnic Newfoundlander Chuck Connors who shows what a good character actor can do with a generic genre premise.

If solid Slasher fun and killer puppet terror are what you're looking for, Tourist Trap delivers.