OCULUS - 'Oculus', by the director of the excellent 'Absentia', is about a pact made between a brother and sister back in their childhood years when their mother and father flipped murderously out on them. At the centre of it all is a mirror which really messes with people's heads. The brother and sister return to the scene of their tragic past, intending to make good on their mutual promise and destroy the mirror which ruined their lives, but, this being a latter day haunting type movie, things don't work out that way and their lives get pretty ruinous again. I thought 'Oculus' was great. It's not without its flaws, but it does much to conjure a slowly evolving doom-laden atmosphere, one which feels genuinely claustrophobic. It also effortlessly splices a narrative unfolding in the present with one which 'happened' ten years ago and mixes them to the point where both time streams become liquid and ultimately simultaneous, a technical and narrative decision which could have been really jarring but which is pulled of with a lot of flair. I could have done without some of the more obvious modern-ghost tropes - spectres with glowing eyes etc etc - 'Oculus' would perhaps have benefited from a more pared down approach, although there are a couple of VERY effective overt shocks along the way, particularly one involving a light bulb... I do recommend people check out 'Oculus', I have feeling that some might reckon it's a bit 'same old', but I thought it was very good.
THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE - I hadn't even heard of this one until I stumbled upon it the other day. That's a bit unusual, because I'm pretty up on seventies Brit horror and, on the other hand, I've discovered it's a well known film with a good reputation. Anyway, I thought it was pretty ace. Some psychic investigators arrive at a supposedly haunted house and set out to prove whether life after death is a reality or not etc etc. Bad things happen. 'The Legend Of Hell House' oozes atmosphere, some of which feels indebted to Italian Gothic - although it may just as easily have been a direct influence itself on later additions to the Euro cycle, I thought I saw a lot of eighties Fulci in there somehow. Might be wrong or misreading, but those aspects seemed a lot more vivid than standard Anglo fare of the time. There's also a paranoid feeling of disconnection between all the characters, none of whom are particularly likeable. For a Brit film made in 1973, it moves along at fast pace - we're in through the doors, then the ghost shit pretty much kicks off. Despite the air of ambiguity around the characters themselves, there's no debate as to whether the supernatural events are happening or not - just competing theories as to why. It's intense, sometimes violent (though not gory), occasionally erotic. However, despite many plus points, I couldn't quite bring myself to be disturbed by it - it just doesn't get under the skin in the same way as. for example, 'The Stone Tape' does. I think that's because the 'haunting' aspects are all very theatrical and overt, and, although a good deal of the atmosphere is generated by camera work and lighting, there is an element of obviousness about this as well. But still, one I highly recommend and will return to shortly - as I've said before, it's not often I finish watching something then want to put it on again. Oh, before I forget, it also has a great soundtrack by the equally great Delia Derbyshire.
SAVAGE VENGENACE - A testament to the power of eighties shot on video horror, 'Savage Vengeance', a Donald Farmer film, is a masterpiece of incompetence which will stretch your head and make you wish you'd watched 'Jaws' again instead (or 'I Spit On Your Grave' for that matter). Yes, it's a remix / reprise of 'I Spit On Your Grave', with Camille Keaton once again menaced to the point of rape by rednecks, this time with mullets. 'Savage Vengeance' is pretty mind melting. A lot of this is down to the fractured video aesthetic, which really does approach 'home movie' levels of technical disaster here. Also, the soundtrack is pretty bananas, a hybrid of casio improv and ultra amateur indie scuzz rock. I actually think that the latter aspect is fascinating and pivotal, because it makes a ten minute chase through the woods seem otherworldly and hypnotic when it should've been simply boring. Perhaps the sentiment of that last sentence pretty much sums up 'Savage Vengeance' - it's a work of rank ineptitude which almost deserves to be dull and unwatchable, but it isn't. When the action fizzles out and the camera focuses on a local band playing their anthem 'Ball Buster' for what seems like ages, it all makes sense in some perverse way. I was hooked for the whole 65 minutes, although I can easily imagine others might not be.
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