A week off has, in the absence of any real semblance of a life, left me with a lot of time on my hands and a good excuse for a trash fest -
THE CANDY SNATCHERS - This is my second or third time with this one. I think I watched it once when I was drunk. I don't have a real copy anymore, which is a shame because they seem to go for massive £ these days. Anyway, the film is a real sleek bit of nastiness and more than lives up to its reputation as a mean minded wallow in abject cynicism. It has an odd vibe, kind of like a seventies TV movie that finally reveals itself as having been hijacked by a bunch of evil muthas with cut throat agendas and a total disregard for anything good about human existence. It's about a young heiress who gets kidnapped by a trio of incompetents, who, despite being horrible rapists, are practically the most sympathetic characters in the entire flick. Vicious and at points quite sleazy, definitely a seventies exploitation highlight.
SYMPTOMS - Jose Larraz, whilst well known for 'Vampyres', remains vastly under-represented in terms of available formats. I wish someone would give 'Symptoms' and its brethren some kind of official release. Most will associate Larraz with a more full on approach to horror-erotica than is in evidence here, but 'Symptoms' sums up his early - mid seventies work well. More than anything, the emphasis is on atmosphere - low key but somehow suffocating, autumnal and desolate, with undercurrents that seem as highly charged as they are difficult to grasp. Plotwise, it's essentially about a disturbed woman's claustrophobic co-dependence on her female companion in an isolated mansion. In the background lurks a sinister game keeper and a creepy photograph hints at a dark past and nothing much happens apart from a climactic murder or two. This is a languid, dreamy slow burn full of nuance and eerie ambience and will either hypnotise you as it did me or send you scurrying for a copy of 'Black Candles'.
SCALPS - When I think of Fred Olen Ray I think of all those mid eighties comedy horror videos I continue to ignore to this day, but I was surprised to find that 'Scalps' is a different kind of entity, one very much in tune with other times, namely, the raw, grim late seventies / early eighties when horror seemed equally dumb but so much more serious and so much more effective. This is about a bunch of archaeology studes who head out into the wilderness to tamper with some American Indian relics, with predictably dire consequences. What really elevates 'Scalps' (and makes it more than it actually is) is the doom laden electronic score which is nearly omnipresent, and makes the usual stretches of talking and wandering about seem heavy with unease and imminent dread, and immersive rather than tedious. Then there's some pretty strong gore and the kind of slivers of inexplicable weirdness I always like (sudden images of demonic faces, random slow motion etc etc). I'd definitely give 'Scalps' another go, it feels raw and dark, much more so than I expected.
SUPERSTITION - Another early eighties item. This one feels like a small, low budget steering committee sat down and decided to make a pot boiling video nasty - it feels like a succession of boxes being ticked off one by one. Here we have sinister house, some slashing, some stuff about a witch etc etc. This is no bad thing in some ways, because, as clichéd and formula as 'Superstition' is, it at least does what it sets out to in a heads down, no-nonsense boogie kinda way. It's fast paced, full of mindless, mean spirited violence, and perfunctory but sometimes creepy supernatural set pieces, and it's too rough and ready to be the kind of slick opportunism I usually dislike. What it lacks is any real strangeness, but that doesn't divert from its better qualities ie it's fun and entertaining.
THE DEMONS OF LUDLOW - Bill Rebane. I'll just leave those words floating for a while. Anyway, when I was a kid I always used to see this on VHS in discount stores and would think "thank god for my bootleg copy of Cannibal Ferox - this looks like rubbish. What kind of dick would even contemplate buying such a thing?" Years later, for better or worse, I AM that dick and, young Frankie, your loss I'm afraid - although admittedly it takes years of aesthetic downgrading to get one's head around anything like 'The Demons of Ludlow'. There are weirder, more disjointed, more amateurishly surreal bits of horror around - easily - but 'The Demons of Ludlow' gets there. Actually, for a Bill Rebane film it's pretty entertaining in a non-WTF type way, too. That's not to say its meat and drink isn't essentially made up of stretches of unabashed tedium - but the random glowing green hands, cannibal pilgrim ghosts, freaked out doll moments, haunted piano / harpsichord combos, grooveless dialogue, crude (or artistic? Come on) editing and - somehow - genuine stabs of eerie atmosphere - more than make up for dull bits which, as was the case with 'Scalps' somehow still seem portentous and disturbing. I would say that I like, even love 'The Demons of Ludlow', but I imagine someone somewhere could sue me (or at least confiscate my DVD player).
CATHY'S CURSE - As with 'Demons' of Ludlow', this is basically forgotten trash which manages to be somehow evocative and haunting despite itself. Yes, it's an 'Exorcist' type rip off from around that time, but it's not a bland one. It's badly made, badly put together - even the editing looks clumsy and off. The performances and deliveries, again, seem unsophisticated in a way which is off-putting rather than simply laughable or bad. But this is the crucial thing. It's all too easy to buy into the notion of being able to 'take' bad filmmaking ironically - to like it on a kitsch, 'so bad it's...' level - and some elements of any given bad film will predispose reception in this way. But what interests me are those films which, due to such crude, invalid aspects, seem instead strange / distorted / disturbing. Not cheesy fun but... something else. 'Cathy's Curse' is an example of 'something else'. It's just full of strangeness which doesn't make sense. One is left full of questions - why all the long, lingering stares? Why is the mother talking like that? What's with this strangely intense psychic attack in the loft?... etc etc. We all know that these questions have no answers. But I'm glad things like 'Cathy's Curse' exist. They renew my sense of wonder in cinema when I start to get bored. On a separate issue, it would be good if someone like 'Code Red' did a proper version of this, which unfortunately looks pretty shocking in terms of what's available out there. I don't think we'll be seeing to Blu-ray debut anytime soon, sadly.
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