Showing posts with label supernatural. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supernatural. Show all posts
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| Shirley MacLaine as a troubled sister |
THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY (1972). Director: Waris Hussein.
Upper east side divorcee Norah Benson (Shirley MacLaine) has increasingly clung to her brother Joel (Perry King) since her husband left, but lately the free-spirited Joel has been acting strange and threatening. [Of course, Norah brushes his hair as if he were an eight-year-old.] Joel becomes a suspect in a horrible murder, the latest in a series of decapitations of women supposedly committed by Joel's friend, Tonio Perez. The trouble is, Tonio is dead. Is Joel the killer, or is he literally or figuratively possessed by Tonio? And will Norah learn the truth before Joel can turn on her and her family? The Possession of Joel Delaney has an intriguing storyline, but while there are a few creepy scenes, it's all handled much too matter-of-factly and there's only real suspense near the climax, which actually consists of utterly repellant scenes of Norah's two young children being terrorized. MacLaine gives a good performance for the most part, but she doesn't seem sure how to handle the grislier "horror" portions of the script involving assorted severed heads. Perry King, who was "introduced" in this movie although he'd had small roles in previous films, is quite good, as are the children. Although Norah reacts to the denizens of Spanish Harlem just as a wealthy snob like her would, the picture does present somewhat stereotypical portraits of Puerto Ricans.The ending leaves room for a sequel which fortunately never materialized.
Verdict: Not awful but misses the mark. **.
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| Lily Taylor finds something worth investigating |
THE CONJURING (2013). Director: James Wan.
When Carolyn and Roger Perron (Lili Taylor; Ron Livingston) and their several children are subjected to frightening supernatural events in a new house they've moved into, they call on [real-life] psychic researchers and demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson). That's the plot of this rather dull horror flick that purports to be "based on the true story." Yeah, right. The Warrens also "investigated" the now thoroughly debunked Amityville Horror hoax, and this movie is little more than a retread of that film -- you get the little girl with the imaginary friend, doors that open by themselves, hidden rooms and a spooky basement; no cliche is left unturned -- and The Exorcist. How this completely unoriginal and rather tedious movie -- even when it gets "exciting" near the end it's still a bore -- got good reviews from some critics [or got some people to proclaim it was the "scariest" film they ever saw] is beyond me. The actors are all okay, but they'd be advised to be choosier about their projects in the future. The Conjuring, like the equally sub-literate Amityville Horror, made enough money for a sequel [and I suppose a remake in about twenty years], but it's not the kind of movie that exactly enhances anybody's career. It's not even that well directed. The only funny moment is at the very end when the Warrens take off to meet a priest who wants to talk to them "about a house on Long Island."
Verdict: Schlock feeding off schlock. *.
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| Michael Sarrazin as Peter Proud |
THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD (1975). Director: J. Lee Thompson. Screenplay by Max Erlich, from his novel.
College professor Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) keeps having weird dreams of being murdered with a paddle by a woman in a boat, so he seeks help from everyone from shrinks to a sleep researcher named Sam (Paul Hecht). Of course, the title of the movie clues the viewer in early on that what Peter thinks are dreams are actually memories of his former life as Jeff Curtis (Tony Stephano), a war hero who played around a little too much on his wife, Marcia (Margot Kidder). Determined to find out what happened, Peter searches for the town he/Jeff grew up in, and encounters his former wife and daughter (Jennifer O'Neill of Scanners), with whom he ... well, let's just say it isn't incest if the two aren't biologically related. The acting in the film is perfectly okay [although Kidder is not especially convincing as a woman in her fifties], but the movie is just kind of blah. The best, very moving scene has Jeff's almost hopelessly senile mother seeing Peter in a nursing home and recognizing him as her son. Very downbeat ending and a somewhat strange score by Jerry Goldsmith.The picture came out at a time when the subject of reincarnation had once again become very trendy, as it does every few years or so. Stephano was a handsome male model who appeared in only one other film, Tron, seven years later. Hecht has had a busy career, mostly on television. Thompson also directed Happy Birthday to Me and many other movies.
Verdict: As this is currently being remade, maybe it will come back as a much better movie. **1/2.
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| Harry Treadaway as Matthew |
THE DISAPPEARED (2008). Director: Johnny Kevorkian.
Teenager Matthew (Harry Treadaway) has been wracked with guilt ever since he let his little brother Tom (Lewis Lemperuer Palmer) go off by himself and he disappeared and is presumed dead. Matthew's mother left years ago, and there's a story circulating that his father, Jake (Greg Wise), once broke Tom's arm. Now Harry seems to be hearing voices from his brother and seeing visions of him as well. He goes to see a medium to find out what he can, and is befriended by a neighbor named Amy (Ros Leeming), Then his best friend Simon's (Tom Felton) sister, Sophie (Georgie Groome ) goes missing. ... The Disappeared is fairly unusual at first, with an added supernatural slant, but it turns into a standard thriller at the end, and the often confusing continuity doesn't help. However, it has much atmosphere, is quite poignant, and features an outstanding performance by Treadaway, a young actor who really delivers. The other performers, including Alex Jennings as a concerned priest, are also on the money.
Verdict: Sad, supernatural British thriller. ***.
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| Chris Lee and cohorts seek safety inside circle |
"I'd rather see you dead than meddling in black magic."
When Duc De Richleau discovers that his young friend Simon (Patrick Mower) and a woman named Tanith (Nike Arrighi) are going to be baptized into a cult that worships the Devil, he takes action. Along with his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene), Richleau spirits the young couple away where he attempts to keep them out of the grasp and influence of Mocata (Charles Gray), the leader of the Satanic cult. But Mocata has no intention of losing these two souls, and Richleau and his group have to contend with sinister materializations of everything from a little girl to a giant spider, not to mention a devil with the head of a goat. One of the best sequences has Richleau gathering everyone together into a circle of protection in the vast room of a manor house. Lee, Gray, Arrighi, as well as Paul Eddington as Eaton, give very good performances, but while the movie is entertaining, it's not completely satisfying either as thriller or horror. From Hammer studios.
Verdict: Lee is always interesting. **1/2.
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| Barbara Steele in satanic mode |
BLACK SUNDAY (aka The Mask of Satan/La maschera del demonio/1960.) Director: Mario Bava.
This is the first film for which Bava was credited as director. The witch Asa (Barbara Steele) has a spiked mask hammered into her face and is entombed, but many years later some blood drips onto the mask and the witch is revived to get revenge on the descendants of those who destroyed her. Asa would also love to possess the mind and body of her lookalike, Katia (Steele, of course). Katia's brother Constantine (Enrico Olivieri) and doctor (John Richardson) do their best to foil the plans of the hateful and vampiric Asa. Although Black Sunday is a famous and influential movie it's still pretty mediocre, but is bolstered by the appearance of Steele with her distinctive, expressive and sensual face [but, who, sadly, is dubbed throughout] and by Bava's excellent cinematography. Like most of Bava's movies, Black Sunday is rich in atmosphere and has excellent settings, especially the castle where most of the action takes place, but it lacks tension and impact. Bava also directed The Whip and the Body/What three years later, but his best film is arguably Blood and Black Lace.
Verdict: Everything Barbara Steele is in is interesting. **1/2.