WHITE DOG – From the great Sam Fuller, ‘White Dog’ is about the rehabilitation of a racist hound programmed to attack black people by some sickly trailer trash. A young actress befriends the confused mutt after a close roadside encounter, but understandably freaks out when said beast starts going for her friends. An animal trainer with an agenda of his own is duly enlisted. Is ‘White Dog’ a lost classic? I don’t know, but I really liked it. It manages to pitch its social commentary alongside a fast moving ‘B movie’ quality without seeming clunky… in fact, what I liked about it most was that it just seems so odd (and slightly brave) in concept if not in execution. Ironically (or not), ‘White Dog’ fell victim to the kind of groupthink it was trying to skewer, this time by those crazy radicals at Paramount who suppressed the film, saying they were worried it might appear racist itself… don’t know whether they were being particularly sincere on this count, as the film’s message regarding racial violence is unambiguous, despite the pessimistic tone and ending.
SICK GIRL – About a young woman who struggles to bring up her bullied younger brother whilst her older sib is doing his bit for American imperialism overseas… things are difficult, so naturally she starts murdering and torturing the losers who are making said younger brother’s life a misery. I quite liked ‘Sick Girl’, but was possibly primed for something a bit more transgressive than what was ultimately on offer, having read plenty of reviews zeroing in on supposed oodles of twisted depravity. Well, there are a couple of obvious warped highlights, but nothing to massively perturb (although maybe I should be a lot more worried at the concept and image of bratty prom queen type being anally assaulted by a severed cock mounted on a plinth than I obviously am). There is a nicely bleak, downbeat quality to ‘Sick Girl’ that resonates more than its attempts to shock, and is somehow captured by the post-Carpenter synth dirge soundtrack.
OGROFF, THE MAD MUTILATOR – One for fans of zero budget no-fi fanboy super 8 back yard classics, ‘Ogroff’ is the notorious 1983 debut of Norbert Moutier and has only just made it in the last couple of years to legit DVDdom. I can’t remember whether I’ve reviewed it before now or not as I’ve had one of the many bootlegs for ages (not that I endorse that kind of thing etc etc etc). It doesn’t really improve with repeated viewings, that’s for sure, Basically, there is a silent, murdering psychopath who hangs out in some woods and kills a lot of people. That’s kind of it. OK, no, there are a quite few surprising aspects – ‘Ogroff’s hidden depths include a sort-of love story thread involving the mute psychopath and a fan who just seems to seek him out in his lair, a few political / satirical stabs, a final reel which is all about zombies, and Howard Vernon as a vampire. What really works for me is the dreaminess – the throbbing, pulsating semi-industrial electronics on the soundtrack, the knackered editing, the near wordlessness. The humour at play just seems a bit too cute at times, though. I still really like it. It’s obviously akin to Nathan Schiff, but, if it’s more knowing in its tongue in cheek way, it’s also a lot more ambitious on some levels… an acquired taste, but essential viewing for anyone interested in the evolution of microbudget horror.
DARKMAN – When I first saw this, years ago, I thought “Bollocks to you Sam Raimi, I hate you for not making ‘Evil Dead’ again”. I was a student know-nothing and it was late and I was drunk. Picking a copy up from CEX the other day and sitting down with it for the first time in over a decade I found a highly entertaining piece of hokum which rolled along nicely and threw in enough of its directors pre-big studio ‘wackiness’ (you know what I mean, crazy camera angles, florid outbursts of stylisation, bonkers montages) to keep me intrigued. As I’m sure all are aware, it’s a kind of comic book updating of ‘Phantom of the Opera’, with Liam Neeson as a disfigured scientist visiting revenge on the mobsters who left him for dead. Definitely recommended for those on the look out for trash with panache.
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