THE DEMONS AMONG US – This is by the director of 'Monstro' and 'Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla', both strong, imaginative latter day horror entries which approach the genre sideways on. 'The Demons Among Us' is not exactly a straightforward stomp through the usual territory, either. “The Evil Dead shot by David Lynch” screams the blurb. I think what they probably meant to say was “freaky and aggravating in a way that you probably won't understand, with zombies”, but this is a Troma acquisition, so you can't exactly expect humility, especially when it comes to packaging. So some guy returns to his home town and something involving the dead returning to life starts to happen. A narcissistic ad man and a gloopily murdered family are in there too, although as soon as any kind of plot emerges, it's swept away by a deluge of visual tangents and fractured images (and, it has to be said, by a fair amount of People Wandering About In The Dark). I kind of lost all sense of what was going on about a third of the way in, but, I admit it, I was drunk and slightly distracted by Troma's characteristically poor AV presentation, although it's entirely possible that 'The Demons Among' us was as grittily shot as it plays on my disc. None of this is intended as criticism, particularly – I like weird, skewed films that don't really make sense, and 'The Demons Among Us' is pretty much at home in that niche. It might try the patience of those looking for something a little more linear, but it delivers gore and cheap video effects with flair. The director obviously evolved a lot after he made this, but traces of 'The Demons Among Us's eccentricity can be found in those other films of his that I mentioned.
NECROMENTIA – Another confusing and weird entry, obviously by some guys who've read some Clive Barker short stories whilst listening to Industrial Metal. 'Necromentia's plot is convoluted and difficult to describe, but basically, there's this necrophiliac, and he's visited by an angry rocker type guy in his hairdressing salon, and the rocker guy, who it later turns out has a disabled brother who is coerced into suicide by a pig demon living in his TV, tells necrophiliac-barber “dude, I'm gonna carve some sacred symbols into your back and you're going to hell, 'cos I like need you to explore this whole other reality I have no real understanding of” - oh, did I mention that Necrophiliac-barber has already been killed by a messed up Cenobite-looking entity in one of the more moodily shot corridors of the depths of hell – 'Necromentia' is kind of told in reverse - anyway, angry rocker type guy turns out to be loving brother of aforementioned suicidee, and also he's addicted to smack and performs as a creepy s&m droid in some kind of underground sex club, and he has visions of an otherwordly being who, it transpires, was the lover of necrophiliac-barber's once living crush before he flipped out and killed her and was transformed into a demon because, well, y'know. And so it goes on. 'Necromentia' is baffling, contrived and ambitious beyond the wherewithal of its makers, but these qualities in themselves are to be applauded in the face of the usual direct-to-dvd dirge. It also looks pretty nice despite its (I assume) microbudget origins, with a damp looking and claustrophobic visual style, plus some icky practical effects (some of the rapid editing looked a bit 'of its time', but you can't have everything). Good? Bad? Who knows, but oddities like 'Necromentia' get my vote every time.
SCARECROWS – Back to the late eighties with this low budget 'sleeper'. 'Scarecrows' is about some thieves who've escaped the scene of their latest heist in an aeroplane. Unluckily for them, they end up having to touchdown in a sinister field after one of their number does one and hits 'eject' with the readies. Down there in sinister field is a sinister house, and, more to the point, lurking in the background are some sinister scarecrows intent on doing some damage. A NOTLD type scenario then evolves. 'Scarecrows' isn't very original, but it is pretty watchable. At first, it looks like there may be some drag – yes, the return of those People Wandering Around In The Dark, they do feature quite heavily here. But soon a tense, creepy atmosphere sets in. And those scarecrows are pretty mean – they're well into gore. That facial stabbing.... ouch. As well, there is a kind of elusive, fairytale or dream-like aspect to it... nothing is explained, there's nothing about the supernatural goings on that makes narrative sense, and, although the previous occupants of the sinister house are alluded to a lot, their role in all of this isn't clear, and for me this just adds to the tone of dislocation. There are some flaws, of course. The characters do stupid, unbelievable things, but hey, when did they ever NOT do stupid, unbelievable things in films like this? The pacing is off and the filmmaking has an awkward, stilted quality about it. But this in itself is quite enticing, and puts me in mind of those serious, earnestly made regional indies from seventies and eighties America, films put together by inexperienced crews who just happened to have a bit of backing, a camera and a straightforward desire to turn in a few bucks. In fact, 'Scarecrows', and others like 'Beyond Dreams Door', can lay claim to being the last gasp of that kind of flimmaking, from a time before low budget horror was more fully corporatised, or left in the hands of stoners with vid cams. 'Scarecrows' is a good movie, not earthshattering, but atmospheric, eerie and satisfyingly grim. I had a good time with it and I'm pleased it's coming out soon (if it hasn't already) on Blu-Ray.
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