 Decemberdike
December 27th
Cold Skin (2017)
An interesting and in it's way unique film from Xavier Gens - Frontier(s) (2007) - about a young man (David Oakes) who takes a job as a meteorologist on a remote South Atlantic island. The only other person there is the lighthouse keeper (Ray Stevenson), however as night falls it soon becomes apparent to the young man that the lighthouse keeper isn't the only one on the island.
The film has strong production values, beautiful photography and an icy atmosphere, it's well acted and the background story of isolation works well among the striking visuals of the night time creature attacks. It is a creature feature but in the mould of Assault on Precinct 13 yet it also has parallels with Alex Garland's Ex Machina in it's exploration of two males with, not in this case a female robot, but a female amphibian.
I enjoyed Cold Skin, it may not be for all, but it's Lovecraftian atmosphere and Gothic trappings should find fans on here.
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December 28th
Sweet Sixteen (1983)
A slasher film unoriginal in plot yet somehow seemingly quite fresh and very enjoyable.
It may be the usual teens getting murdered by a mysterious killer, who may or may not be the pretty fifteen year old new girl in town (Aleisa Shirley, 20 at the time of filming and looks it) who is fast approaching her 16th birthday storyline, but an unusually strong cast featuring Bo Hopkins, Patrick Macnee and Susan Strasberg, and underlying themes of small town bigotry make Sweet Sixteen stand out from the crowd.
The sub Barry Manilow theme song has to be heard to be appreciated and the final shot is a slasher classic.
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December 29th
The Psychopath (1966)
Following a sluggish beginning this Amicus thriller really kicks on in it's second half. It has a very giallo-esq plot - Police inspector Holloway (Patrick Wymark) investigates a string of murders where the victims have dolls attached to their bodies. The trail soon leads to a disabled German woman named Mrs. Von Sturm (Margaret Johnston), who knows a set of dark secrets that may hold the key to the murders.
In fact giallo is the best word to describe The Psychopath. It's stylishly directed by Freddie Francis and Patrick Wymark gives a quintessential performance as the investigating policeman. There are red herrings galore and the doll plotline with Margaret Johnston (Night of the Eagle (1962)) is creepy as f*ck. Add this to a shocker of an ending and you have an excellent film.
Had this been Italian made instead of British it would have been up there with Bava's Blood and Black Lace from the previous year as a bench mark film in the giallo genre.
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