Die screaming, Marianne.
Susan George stars at Marianne, working her way across Europe as a go-go dancer in a bid to avoid the hired thugs sent by her corrupt and incestuous father The Judge. Marianne is set to inherit a fortune when she's 21, money her late mother stole from the Judge. Marianne heads to Britain with a bloke she meets hitchhiking and the head off to get married, only she marries the wrong fella. Not really liking the bloke she was
supposed to marry she moves in with her accidental husband and they end up falling in love. It turns out however that the bloke she was supposed to marry works for the judge and he lures them back to Portugal where the knives are sharpening for a final showdown.
This film is often wrongly accredited as a horror film when it fits more into pulp crime fiction territory. I've never really gotten on with the film previously, and while I still find it the weakest of Pete Walkers films (the non sex-picture ones) I actually enjoyed it a lot more this time round than I did previously. Leo Glenn is marvelous as the corrupt and sleazy Judge and naturally Susan George is both good as an actress and easy on the eyes as Marianne. The opening credits are genius and still one of the best part of the film.
The Comeback.
I've always had a soft spot for this film. Like With Die Screaming Marianne I actually enjoyed it a lot more this time round as well. Jack Jones plays a pop star who has returned to London to make a new record after a six year absence. His producer sets him up at a sinister old mansion run by Mr and Mrs B. (sheila Keith and Last of the summer wines Bill Owen!) Pretty soon he starts hearing a girl crying at night and starts to think he's losing his mind. To top it off there's a demented killer lurking at his apartment who has killed his ex-wife and anyone else who happens by!
Watching the film again after a long absence I found myself enjoying the comeback more than I had previously. The opening murder of the ex-wife is genuinely shocking, the killers motivation is both insane and plausible and it's there are plenty of clues to be seen (though most people will guess, Walker has never been very good as a film maker at keeping secrets as Schizo also demonstrates) The Comeback deserves a reappraisal in my opinion. It's perhaps more conventional than Frightmare or House of whipcord and perhaps suffers a little from no David McGillivray screenwriting. It is however a fun little Horror/thriller with a decent plot. Jones is no oscar material but he carries the film well. Also nice to see Pamela Stephenson looking hot. That Billy Connolly is a lucky bloke. A real shame she quit acting though as she's really gifted.
Slice and Dice: The slasher film forever.
A nice little documentary from Callum Waddell who brings together hours of interviews together for an interesting look at one of Horror's biggest sub-genres. I doubt it's the last word on the subject but it'll definitely have you digging through your collection for stuff to watch.
Unhinged.
Speaking of which, the first title I came across was this Bizarre slasher picture from Oregon. Unhinged is about a group of girls who get stuck at a creepy old mansion out in the middle of nowhere, populated by an old woman and her daughter. The dialogue is overwritten, the acting is amateurish and some of the editing is frankly odd. Watching it today its difficult to believe this was ever considered worth banning. Whichever moron took this off the shelf must have been a habitual glue sniffer or ether fiend to find it shocking. That said it's also easy to see why its a cult film. It may be really, really, bad but it has a weird quality to it that seems to keep me watching it until the end. I don't know if its an Ed Wood factor, where the filmmakers believe so strongly that the film is some kind of masterpiece, or whether the freaky editing and stilted acting make it surreal enough to transcend itself when watched around midnight.