[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike

December 6th

Siren (2010)

Merlin's Eoin Macken heads a film about three friends travelling around gorgeous sun kissed islands in a hired yacht. Things start to take a turn for the worse when they discover a man on the point of death bleeding from the ears.

Siren is a well directed, great looking film that is well acted throughout. It has a competantly written storyline which flys along, not allowing the viewer to get bored. For a low budget British film it is a nice change to have it set in such lovely sunny locations.

But the film lacks something, that certain spark to make it memorable, its difficult to say exactly what that spark is. It may be the siren herself who is certainly pretty, but to me is not irresistibly beautiful enough to portray this mythological creature. It could be the lack of hardcore thrills and spills or gory murders. I'm not certain, as films don't begin and end with blood and guts to me. It just lacks that certain something, so for me Siren was purely ok and difficult to recommend.

December 7th

Alone in the Dark (1982)

What a highly enjoyable film with a terrific cast - Donald Pleasence, Jack Palance and Martin Landau. A slasher film but slightly different to the norm as we know from the start who the slashers are, in this case three escaped mental patients (Palance, Landau and Erland Van Lidth) who manage to get away from Pleasence's institution during a blackout and terrorize the family of their new psychiatrist.

The film is both a lot of fun and incredibly sleazy in places, especially the scene where Palance, hidden under a womans bed repeatedly thrusting a blade through the mattress with its point emerging between her thighs. It all culminates when the mild mannered shrink fights back to save his family.

The film may mix and match its genres, slasher, revenge thriller, action movie, but it all adds up to a gripping viewing experience.

I really liked 'Alone in the Dark' when I saw it about five years ago, but the last time I watched it (around Feb / March this year) I found it a bit disappointing and boring in places. I can't account for the difference in 'pleasure yield' between viewings, although it's fairly typical for me to feel very differently about a film from showing to showing. I'll have to give it another shot to get things straight, or to at least find another perspective.