Stake Land | 2010

It's a gamble any time a film attempts to stretch outside its genre constraints. Successfully merge two or more ideas in a film and it can do wonders. All too often though, what you wind up with is a muddled film that can't decide what it wants to be.

Not so STAKE LAND, the 2010 vampire/post-apocalyptic/road movie/coming of age film that works on a variety of levels, being genuinely thrilling and action packed, disturbing and at times truly frightening, while also manaing to be a commentary on the perils of religion and the evil of man without condemning faith as a whole. Working on a small, independent budget (the film was produced by indie/horror auteur Larry Fessenden and distributed by his Glass Eye Pix), STAKE LAND is beautifully shot, well-acted, and juggles multiple conventions without slipping, an incredible feat from writer/director Jim Mickle in only his second feature film.

The film is loosely narrated by Martin (Connor Paolo), a teenager traveling North with the hardened, battle-scarred man known only as Mister (played by co-writer Nick Damici). Without relying on too much explanation, we learn that something happened in the South, releasing a plague that has turned much of the world into bloodthirsty vampires. The reality of the world is captured in an early scene where Martin simultaneously loses his family and meets Mister: in a few moments we get all the explaining we really need to understand the world Mickle and Damici have created , and it's wrapped up in a great fight scene to boot. After this meeting the film comes back to the present where Martin, now a few years older, is traveling with Mister North to Canada, dubbed "New Eden" because it is supposedly free of vampires. Mister and Martin train constantly to be proficient and efficient vampire killers, a jot hat carries weight in the various lockdown communities that dot the American landscape. Along the way they save a nun (Kelly McGillis) from being savagely raped by two men who belong to The Brotherhood, a religious cult that has sprang up under the leadership of Jebedia Loven, who has proclaimed that the vampires are a plague from God to assist with the purifying of the Earth. Indeed, Loven and his crew do seem to have some small influence with the beasts, and STAKE LAND continues to escalate the risks and scares as Martin, Mister, and their growing family contend with evils both human and supernatural as they continue to make their way North to a sanctuary that may or may not exist.

There is a keen sense of America in STAKE LAND. The landscape of Middle America is used to great effect, and for such a small movie, the scale of the apocalypse is remarkable, precisely because Mickle wisely remembers to have the world be something we can instantly recognize and be familiar with. As the. And gets further North and the landscape becomes colder, whiter, it actually begin to get more beautiful. It's a unique look for a film like this, and the big set pieces: a small town square, a corn field, a junkyard, all feel tangible and found, as opposed to specifically constructed for the purposes of a film. This may be one of the few vampire films where there's more day than night scenes.

The vampires of the film act as a force of nature in STAKE LAND. Mindless berserkers can only be killed by piercing the brain stem, while other, younger beasts can be stopped with a stake in the heart. All perish by the light of the sun, but we see this used more as a release for the survivors, as townspeople chain captured vampires to boards to watch them fry as the sun rises. What's interesting about the vampires is that the film doesn't see too concerned with stopping them: they're a part of the fabric now, an elemental force to contend with the same way you would a savage storm or pack of wild dogs. The pack imagery is used to great effect in a chilling chase sequence, perhaps the best sequence of the film, a small town party is interrupted by The Brotherhood in a way that you never see coming.

STAKE LAND is truly a wonderful surprise, not only as a horror film, but as a film. It's a great example of a lot of disparate ideas coming together in a singular vision that manages to stretch beyond its confinement as a "genre" film, and a testament that you don't need a lot of money to execute grandiose ideas. This film deserves to be widely seen, so check it out.

Suspended By Sickness

Horror reviews, writing, and basically anything more than lying in bed have taken a bit of a backseat as I've been battling a wicked upper respiratory infection since the tail end of Columbus Weekend, which was spent in update New York in the middle of nowhere.  I was on my second week of a serious health/diet change, and not wanting to lose the rhythm of the work I had been doing on my bike, I decided to try running.  The problem with this was two-fold:

1. I hadn't run seriously (except to chase my son) for at least a decade.
2. The mornings I attempted this wheezing, pathetic flailing of arms and legs, it was 45 degrees.  The temperature was 40 degrees higher by lunch.

So for the grand total of about 4 miles of jogging, I got stuck with a nebulizer treatments 3 times a day, antibiotics for the infection in my chest and sinuses, and a 3 day does of steroids that causes my hands to shake and my body to spontaneously burst out in furnace sweats throughout the day.  Which is STILL better than feeling like I did before the meds.

So activity's been at a minimum - but I have written up about half of my second review for THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, and have watched my next two films as well, so hopefully by this weekend we'll be somewhat back on track.  In the meantime I'll be enjoying the massive amounts of obscure death metal made possible by the lovely folks at Spotify (seriously, how else can I listen to Pathology, Absu, and Futur Skullz?) and working through the chaos that is IOS 5 on my iPhone and iPad.

How are you passing your time?

The Curse of Frankenstein | 1957

Not only am I kicking off Hail Horror for the third time with a film from the velvety Gothic vaults of Hammer Films, but with the one that started it all: Hammer's first color horror film, bringing together the knockout team of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in their first real stand out roles under the direction of Terence Fisher, a potent combination that would launch Hammer into the horror spotlight, treating the world to lush, vibrant takes on not only the mad Doctor Frankenstein and his abomination, but much of the rest of Universal's monster staples: only a year later the three would make a colossal mark with THE HORROR OF DRACULA (reviewed last year) and THE MUMMY only a year after that.  Decades later they stand alone among dozens of remakes and retellings as being as impressionable as the Universal greats of the 1930s.

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN opens with a clergyman making his way to a forgotten cell in the darkest corner of the town's prison.  There we meet the ragged, possibly deranged Victor Frankenstein, awaiting his execution for the murder of Justine, Frankenstein's maid and secret lover.  Victor's last chance at salvation is to relay the story of his life to the priest, hoping the truth of his words will secure not only his release, but his legacy.  Told in this roughly flashback style (the narrative doesn't return to the present circumstances until the film's conclusion), this telling of the Frankenstein story immediately distinguishes itself from its predecessors by putting the focus of the story on the man rather than the creature.  

In fact, one of the biggest issues with THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN is that, for a horror film, it's very low on scares.  The creature itself, wonderfully brought to life by make-up artist Phil Leakey and Christopher Lee as a towering, fashionable mod (that overcoat is wickedly awesome) is left with very little to do once brought to life. The creature escapes, stumbles in the woods for a bit before being "retired" until he's needed in the end to terrorize the women of Castle Frankenstein and die.  And it's a damn shame because, again, the monster design is fascinating, almost out of place and time with the rest of the setting.

So what does that leave us with?  Peter Cushing's Doctor, who begins as a brilliant if cold, calculating child who soon outpaces the brilliance of his tutor turned partner Dr. Paul Krempe (played by Robert Urquhart).  Cushing is great in this, playing all sorts of angles in his relationship with Paul, with the beautiful if slightly inessential Elizabeth (Hazel Court) and the lusty maid Justine (Valerie Gaunt), whose death is the cause of Dr. Frankenstein's incarceration.  There's a great scene in the film where Victor and Paul's first success - bringing a puppy back from the dead, hilariously ends with them accepting numerous kisses from the recently reanimated corpse, and their laughter is infectious in its ridiculousness.  In fact, sly undertones seem to simmer just beneath the surface of Victor and Paul's relationship, and the obligatory love triangle between the two scientists and Elizabeth feels like a cheap coat of paint covering a much more interesting and lascivious romance between two men and the work of bringing new life into the world - without the interference of a woman.  At the film's end, Frankenstein seems more upset at the turning away of Paul than of anything that happened to Elizabeth or Justine, his two "loves".  Of the monster, even less is said, leaving you with the impression that even that feat, the crux of the story, is not the Doctor's obsession.

Although it served as the real launching point for Hammer's success as a horror studio, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, as enjoyable as it is, comes off as rather slight when all is said and done.  Only a year later DRACULA would re-team Fisher with his two stars and fire on all cylinders, giving the world a clearer glimpse of what the studio was capable of.  Still, recommended just for the puppy scene, the chance to see Cushing and Lee in the roles that more than anything launched their careers, and for the unique monster design.  Just be sure to check out DRACULA (called THE HORROR OF DRACULA in America) and THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF for some truly great Hammer Horror.

Classy to the End

RIP, Steve Jobs.  A true visionary and, in the words of Patton Oswalt, "the closest thing we had to Tony Stark."

Hail Horror 6(66): The New Batch

Holy crap.  Six years.

Hail Horror, my yearly ritual of recklessly exploring the cavernous, decrepit mansion that is, in the most loving terms, the horror film, will be six years old next week.  And like every year, I have a small number of films I know I want to get to, but the best entries are always the ones I don't think of...the ones recommended by you, the discerning horror fan.  Without you I never would have seen (and loved) RAW MEAT and forever have "Mind the doors" stuck inside my head.  I wouldn't have taken a second look at John Carpenter's PRINCE OF DARKNESS and realized how great a film it is. I also wouldn't have seen SOMBRE, a film I really hated but was worth watching for the great comments from those that disagreed with me.

So once again I come hat in hand, asking for any horror recommendations.  If there's anything out there you think I should check out, let me know in the comments section.  As always:

1. It can't be a movie I've already reviewed (to help with that I have a nice list at the bottom of this post)
2. It has to be readily accessible - either at the local theater, store, rental house or VOD/Streaming?mail-order service (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes...you get the idea).  I'm not adverse to spending a few bucks to see, rent, or even purchase a film, but I'm not going to shell out $49.99 for an obscure Asian bootleg with no subtitles).

Like I said, I have a few movies already lined up, ranging from 60s Hammer horror to torture porn sequels and hopefully a hidden gem or two.  So let me know what you think is worth watching out there.  Grab a flashlight, make sure your feet are under the covers, and let the shrieking commence!

Here's where we left off after five years:

SOMBRE / HABIT / SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD / DON'T LOOK NOW / SPLICE / THE STENDHAL SYNDROME / GOTHIC / MONSTERS / PRINCE OF DARKNESS / SESSION 9 / HORROR OF DRACULA / TENEBRE / MR. FROST / GRACE / PHANTASM II / MARTYRS / FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II / DEAD SNOW /BAY OF BLOOD / DEADGIRL / RAW MEAT / TRICK 'R' TREAT / THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF /THE SHINING/ MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN / BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA / C.H.U.D. / HATCHET / RE-CYCLE /DANCE OF THE DEAD / THE SIGNAL / KAIRO / PHENOMENA / THE HOWLING / NOSFERATU (1922) /PHANTASM / THE HAPPENING / [REC] / THE WOODS / DIARY OF THE DEAD / THE MONSTER SQUAD /FROM BEYOND / RE-VISTING PLANET TERROR / THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) / MAD LOVE / 28 WEEKS LATER / SUBLIME / RE-VISTING DEATH PROOF / NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) / DEAD SILENCE / SEVERANCE / RESIDENT EVIL 3: EXTINCTION / SCANNERS / THE DESCENT / GRINDHOUSE / THE EVIL DEAD / BROKEN LIZARD'S CLUB DREAD / THE MASK OF FU MANCHU / RINGU / FEAST / HALLOWEEN (1978) / HELLRAISER / A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET / DEAD AND BREAKFAST / FRIDAY THE 13TH / THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2005) / DAY OF THE DEAD / CAT PEOPLE (1942) / HOUSE OF WAX