Dark Age

Title: Dark Age

Director: Arch Nicholson
Released: 1987
Starring: John Jarratt, Nikki Coghill, Max Phipps, Burnham Burnham, David Gulpilil, Ray Meagher, Jeff Ashby, Paul Bertram, Ron Blanchard, Gerry Duggan, Ken Radley

Plot: When a giant crocodile starts feeding on the local population, park ranger Steve (Jarratt) must work with a pair of Aborigine guides Oondabund (Burnham) and Adjaral (Gulphilil) to track down the beast.

Review: Probably one of the more elusive films I have track down as of late, having first caught by interest when it was featured on the essential Ozploitation documentary “Not Quite Hollywood” which served to provide a shopping list of titles as it did expose the until then little recognised sub-genre of cult cinema. Of course its nothing compared to its native Austrailia which didn’t get to see the film untill 14 years after its release thanks to Avco Embassy who held the Australian distribution rights going bust and even then it was down to Quentin Tarantino once again doing his part for film preservation held a screening of the film in 2011.

Entering into the film I was pretty much expecting another fun crocodile movie in the vein of “Lake Placid” or “Alligator” but what I got here was something actually a little different as what starts off essentially as a scene by scene remake of “Jaws” only to then goes off in a completely different direction for its final twenty minutes as director Arch Nicholson throws us an ecological curveball. Infact its rather uncanny when the film is examined closer just how much it matches up as John Jarratt’s park ranger is essentially a transposed Sheriff Brody while Hooper is represented for the most part by Aborigine elder Oondabund who sees the croc as being the mythic croc “Numunwari” and as part of his peoples beliefs belives that the creature has to be saved rather than destroyed which is exactly what local hunter / poacher Jackson and his band of lowlifes have planned.

Jackson here essentially fills the Quint role as the blue collar thug who cares only about making his living hunting the local crocodile population while also to blame for the monster croc showing up in the first place when him and his buddies piss it off during a failed hunting expedition. Outside of the fact that him and his gang are constantly drinking, to the point where there is no scenes in this film where one of these isn’t at any time seen holding a beer, he also becomes obsessed with an Captain Ahab style desire for hunting “Numunwari” after it chews him arm off following his misguided attempt to kill the creature with an axe and while standing precariously in a boat no less and which ends pretty much how you’d expect. But for that one moment it looks pretty badass if still totally ridiculous at the same time.

John Jarratt now no doubt best known for his turn as the psycho Mick Taylor in the “Wolf Creek” films here is almost unrecognisable as he plays the dashing Shrieff Brody esq lead here who constantly tries to walk the tightrope between his loyalty to his boss who is concerned it will affect tourist developments while equally noteworthy for being played by legendry soap actor Ray Meagher from “Home and Away” and keeping the local Aborigine popularity happy. At the same time he also has to deal with his feeling for his ex Cathy who he is forced to work alongside and inevitably they get back together with Nicholson randomly deciding that their sex scene should be dumped in the middle of a chase scene as one moment we get an old man being chased by some local thugs and the next we have the argument foreplay between Cathy and Steve which soon leads to a gratuitous sex scene before we are then flung back into the chase. It’s almost as if Nicolson suddenly remembered that he hadn’t finished the scene and randomly tossed its conclusion in not knowing any other way to work it in and no doubt hoping that we were all too distracted by Nikki Coghill’s boobs to really care. The same could be also said for the final act car chase which not only sees Oondabund sitting on the front bonnet of a speeding truck like a old man hood ornament but him also being launched through the air when said truck crashes with him still on the bonnet in a scene which I had to rewatch a few times as I couldn’t figure out if it was the actor or a dummy being launched through the air. Still this being an Ozploitation movie it would be kind of disappointing if we did get random nudity and car chases being the backbone of the genre that they are.

The final act on a whole though is pretty random seeing how we essentially have a great ending only for the film to carry on for another twenty minutes which I would argue should have been cut had this extra time not contained so many great moments which loosely justify its inclusion here. At the same time I like the idea of the group trying to save the croc and relocate it rather than being another film in which they have to kill the monster animal with Nicolson including arguments for the crocodile following its nature than any kind of desire to hunt people.

When it comes to the crocodile while its always great to see a practical effect, even if it is a rubbery looking croc, let alone one which moves oh so slowly, making it all the more surprisingly that it can catch anyone had it not been for its ability to randomly pop out from any body of water it chooses including one memorable moment where it’s supposed to be tied to the front of the boat only to suddenly appear at the back of the boat. Nicolson even gives us his version of the beach attack from “Jaws” in probably one of the better known scenes from the film and also one of the most violent scene as the croc chomps down on a small child in a scene which is actually surprisingly shocking to watch. While the attack scenes are certainly a lot better than anything we’ve seen from recent croc attack movies with their heavy use of CGI and sudden cuts, it’s still a pretty gore light film outside of some bubbling red water and the occasional lost limb but still satisfying to watch none the less.

Despite his background mainly being in TV Nicholson here crafts a film which is strangely intriguing as I’m sure there is a great film which could be if you can cut through the frequently plodding plotting and rubbery looking croc. While it might equally be as noteworthy as other films in this category it’s still miles ahead of more recent efforts.

Phase IV

Title: Phase IV

Director: Saul Bass

Released: 1974

Starring: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton

Plot: A cosmic event has the effect of mysteriously evolving ants which leads to them developing a hive mind. Now scientists James Lesko (Murphy) and Ernest Hubbs (Davenport) have set up a lab in the Arizona desert to study the ants who threaten to take over the local area.

 

Review: February might be “Women in Horror Month” but equally important is that it also sees my good friend and occasional podcast co-host Emily over at “The Deadly Doll’s House of Horror Nonsense” celebrating her 5^th Annual shortening. A cross blogging event celebrating all that is vertically challenged, so what better excuse could I really need to revisit this film.

Originally I saw this film back was I was a kid as part of a double bill which also included the equally surreal “Fantastic Planet”. This of course was more down to TV scheduling than my parents being the kind of free thinkers who took their kids to surrealist film double features, even if it was my dad who being was responsible for taping the films in the first place. Since that original viewing there was unquestionably something which stuck with me about it, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I revisited it here on the blog.

The sole film to be directed by the acclaimed designer of countless film title sequences and posters, it remains a curiosity to say the least as director Bass teamed up with wildlife photographer Ken Middleham who previously handled the insect sequences for the documentary “The Hellstrom Chronicle” to produce a film which is probably unlike any of the other Wildlife gone rouge movies which came before or which certainly followed and certainly worlds apart from the other ant movies such as "Them!" and "Kingdom of the Ants".

Unlike so many of the Wildlife gone rouge movies this film plays things very smart from the start as it opens with some trippy visuals of the solar event listed as the first of the “Phases” as we soon see the ants coming together in a mini Ant United Nations to put aside whatever differences it is that ants have and start working together, forming huge columns in the desert and hunting the animals which would normally prey on them, as seen with a swarm of ants descending on a spider. All the ant sequences Middleham shot using real ants, making it only all the more remarkable some of the footage that he captures here as he gives the ants a personality let alone has them performing in some remarkable sequences which I’m still stumped as to how he pulled them off.

Setting up their dome shaped lab in the desert the two scientists have very different approaches to the work with Lesko trying to adapt his methods for communicating with whales in an attempt to establish a communication with the ant’s hive mind, using messages coded in mathematics, which generally translates to a lot of constant chattering noise from the ants, while Lesko spends his time looking at various screens of wavy lines or print outs of shapes which he takes to be the ants attempting to communicate. Hubbs meanwhile constantly feels himself being pressurised to deliver results from his superiors frequently leading him to take more direct action against the ant colony in an attempt to stir up more of a reaction, because we all know how well that tends to end up. Things for Hubbs also take an Ahab style turn after he gets bitted by one of the ants, causing his arm to grotesquely swell up while sending him into an ever more delusional and irrational state.

The ants meanwhile prove to be frequently resourceful bunch capable of adapting to any situation the scientists throw at them, even rapidly evolving to become immune to the pesterside sprayed around the lab. At the same time their superior numbers see them tackling anything they consider a threat in skin crawling swarms which could not be truer than when it comes to the demise of one of the characters here which proved to provide the same sense of ill-ease that it did when I first watched and most likely to be the one which sticks with you after the film ends even despite it being filled with so many beautifully shot sequences which really benefit from Bass’s visuals focused style.

While this might not be the most action packed of films, it does have a number of great set pieces such as the ants getting past petrol filled trenches via the use of a log raft or lining up their dead like a world war one field hospital following the collapse of their towers at the hands of Hubbs. At the same time the film is visually stunning despite the spare location which see’s Kenya standing in for the Arizona desert, though why Base choose to shoot here is unclear. The barren desert shots and space ace style dome lab really project a sense of isolation and claustrophobia especially when the ants start to build towers around the lab to increase the temprature or by infiltrating the lab and starting to sabotage the lab equipment. This tension is only added to by the rapidly crumbling mental state of Hubbs so that you truly get the feeling that your part of the situation. Ironically the titular phase IV would end up on the editing room floor leaving us with a rather open ending, rather than the more trippy and fantastical ending that was originally planned seeing the surviving characters being altered to form the next evolutionary step between humans and insects. Shots for this scene would appear in the trailer but even without this ending the film still ends pretty satisfactory if maybe slightly more sudden than you would like.

The film might be low on gore and action but this is still a highly watchable film and one which deserves its cult status, especially when other animals gone rogue movies leaned toward the more preposterous. Here Bass shows that with you can still keep things grounded in a sense of reality without the film being any less effective.

Blackfish

Title: Blackfish
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Released: 2013 

Plot: A two thread documentary, the film investigates the orca Tikilum who has been responsible for three death aswell as the treatment of the species being kept in captivity with particular focus being placed on those kept by “SeaWorld”.

Review: It has been said that a great documentary moves their viewer as it informs, while a truly great documentary changes how we think and view the world around us and it’s the latter category I truly believe that this documentary belongs to. 

Largely comprised of interviews with ex-trainers, the history of Tikilum and his history in captivity is a compelling one starting with his capture in 1983 in incident which lead to the death of three adult whales, which as one of the divers reveals was also covered up by submerging the bodies. From here the film follows him as he was first moved to the now defunct “SeaLand”  which would be the site of his first attack on a trainer, before being finally bought by his current home “SeaWorld”. Along the way the film documents the cruelty such as inadiquent sized pools and underfeeding, aswell as the fact that he has frequently suffered aswell as attacks from other Orcas.

One Part nature documentary and the other animal activism piece, the film explores the nature and behaviour of Orca, while drawing comparisons to how captivity can changes their behaviour especially when kept in tanks and sheds too small to house creatures of their size, while also increasing aggression between orca’s as seen in the damage inflicted on Tikilum by two females he was put with as the film showcases footage and photographs of teeth raking and scaring inflicted on him from these confrontations.

While this the documentary might be unbalanced in the sense that all those interviewed are against the keeping of Orca’s in captivity, it is a strong case which is certainly put forward and in a sense only made the stronger by no representatives from “SeaWorld” being willing to contribute their side to the film, leaving their imput coming solely from the testimonals from the court cases featured here aswell as their history of attempting to cover up the attacks and place the blame on the trainers rather than admit to the risk which Tikilum poses to the trainers working with him.

It is interesting in this respect that the majority of the interviews are with ex-trainers, however these are not disgruntled staff but people who truly loved their job and the animals they worked with. They are however more than happy to shed light on the poor practices and conditions used for keeping Orca’s in captivity. It is equally worth noting that none of the trainers carry any kind of training or any form of qualifications to work as animal trainers but rather hired for their swimming ability and general enthusiasm which was something which came as a surprise to me, especially after years of thinking that the trainers must have some background in marine biology to work at the park. A myth which is only further highlighted during the section which exposes the various false pieces of information that guest are frequently told, such as the lifespan of orca being around 30 years when they can live to 100 in the wild while the dorsal fin collapsing so that it flops over is something which is something which only happens in captivity, again something which the park are keen to write off as being normal.

It is a shame that “SeaWorld” refused to be involved in the documentary if only to provide some form of balance, to proceedings rather than “SeaWorld” being portrayed as little more than corporation intrested in little more than making money with little concern for the welfare and treatment of both Orca’s and trainers. Needless to say following the release of the documentary they soon released the following statement to CNN

"Blackfish is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for Dawn Brancheau's family, friends and colleagues. To promote its bias that killer whales should not be maintained in a zoological setting, the film paints a distorted picture that withholds from viewers key facts about SeaWorld -- among them, that SeaWorld is one of the world's most respected zoological institutions, that SeaWorld rescues, rehabilitates and returns to the wild hundreds of wild animals every year, and that SeaWorld commits millions of dollars annually to conservation and scientific research. Perhaps most important, the film fails to mention SeaWorld's commitment to the safety of its team members and guests and to the care and welfare of its animals, as demonstrated by the company's continual refinement and improvement to its killer whale facilities, equipment and procedures both before and after the death of Dawn Brancheau."

True this film can be written of being the documentary version of an animal rights pamphlet, especially as it lacks any kind of subtly with the facts much like both “The Cove” and “Sharkwater” which came before it, but at the same time these films are about inspiring change and reform and to this extent “Blackfish” more than succeeds in its aim. Needless to say after viewing this film I would find the prospect of watching an Orca show all the harder to stomach, while equally make me wonder if we are soon to see an end of animal acts in the same way that Circus’s no longer feature animal acts, I guess only time will tell but this documentary certainly provides much food for thought.

Cannibal Holocaust

Title: Cannibal Holocaust
Director: Ruggero Deodato
Released: 1980

Staring: Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi, Salvatore Basile, Ricardo Fuentes, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Polo Paoloni

Rating: 4 / 5

Plot: A documentary film crew disappears in an area of rainforest known as “The Green Inferno”, while searching for the tribes of cannibals which live in the area. Professor Monroe (Kerman) an American anthropologist heads up the search party to find the crew, encountering two tribes the Yanomamo (The people of the trees) and the Shamatari (The people of the swamp), two tribes locked in an ongoing war with the other. However when they discover the remains of the film crew along with their missing film, the grisly and shocking truth is only then discovered.

Review: “Cannibal Holocaust” is a film whose reputation tends to proceed it, which originally made me weary of actually watching it, much like the rest of the cannibal genre, which proved to be especially popular with Italian horror directors in the 70’s and 80’s, with the genre peaking between 1977 and 1981 with this film in particular being one of the genres most notorious entries, whilst also marking the beginning of the end for the popularity of the genre, it still manages to cover all the main areas familiar with the genre including rape, torture, castration and animal cruelty in one grisly offering.

The film is essentially split into two parts with the first half focusing on Monroe and his team, searching for the missing film crew, while the second half focuses on the footage itself and while it’s true that either half could have stood up on it’s own, the blending of these two halves complement each other perfectly, whilst also helping the viewer to gain a true understanding of the two tribes, who upon first impressions seem savage and quick to violence, especially when one of these first encounters see’s Monroe and his team bearing witness to a native girl being violated with a rock by her husband, before being bludgeoned to death by in a ceremony we are informed, is being performed as the result of the girl committing the crime of adultery, a scene which sets the tone in many ways for some of the horrors yet to come. Despite witnessing this brutal act, Monroe approaches the tribe in a scientific manor as he attempts to win the trust of the Yanomamo, a method which includes him running around naked with several female members of the tribe (apparently played by girls hired from the local brothel) and even joining them in a feast were the main course turns out to be the body of a member of the rival Shamatari tribe. Thankfully it pays off as the tribe revel their grotestque totem made up of the remains of the missing film crew, as well as giving Monroe the footage which the team captured, which the natives also believe to be a source of black magic.

With the footage taken back to New York to be studied, the film enters its second half as we learn more about the film crew, whose director Alan Yates (Yorke) has built a reputation for staging scenes to create more exciting footage, with his last film “The Last Road to Hell” despite being claimed in the film as being fake footage, was actually created using real news reel footage of public executions. Still it’s this desire for more exciting footage which ultimately proves to be the down fall for Yates and his crew, as we soon discover as they butcher their way through the rainforest, gleefully killing various animals on their journey to find the cannibal tribes, who upon finding the tribe, find them perhaps a little to sedated for their liking, as they proceed to set out on a mini rampage, setting fire to the village, while raping and shooting the natives, with the only member of the crew who actually bothers to protest their actions being Yate’s fiancé Faye (Ciardi). Faye constantly proves to be the innocent in the group, being shown protesting the group’s actions frequently, aswell as most notably throwing up in disgust, when they kill a turtle on film.
It is unsurprising that the Yanomamo take these actions of the crew, rather badly and proceed to hunt down the crew, murdering them in an orgy of violence and gang rape which disturbingly Yates continues to film from the safety of the bushes, even when his fiancé is being killed. Thankfully he soon also meets a suitably grisly end and having seen what they have done to provoke this reaction, your almost cheering on the natives.

Despite the numerous scenes of violence, which feature so predominantly throughout, it is really the scenes involving animals being killed, which prove to be the most disturbing, in particular the killing of a turtle by Yates team, which is not only shot with an unflinchingly voyeuristic style, but also appears to have been filmed in real time. The fact that all the animals being killed are very much alive, only adds to the disturbing and monstrous nature of the footage, comparable to slaughterhouse footage used so readily by animal rights groups and it is no doubt these images which will stick with you, more than any of the scenes of violence being committed against the human cast. These scenes would prove to be a source of much regret for director Deodato and would also lead to the film being banned in Deodato’s native Italy, were it was mistaken for being a snuff film, which is only really true if you happen to be a turtle.

One of the most effective parts of the film, belongs to it’s score by Riz Ortolani, which essential switches between two main themes, with one being it’s main theme which is a nice laid back orchestral track and really highlights the beauty of the surrounds, while the flipside of this soundtrack being the darker synthesised theme, which appears during the more shocking scenes, on occasion several times without warning, appearing part way through a scene and only makes these scenes all the more darker and chilling.

The cast all give convincing performances, even if Porn star turned actor and genre regular Kerman proves to be the main draw here, while the rest of the cast give more than convincing performances, especially with those playing members of Yate’s team, which in a way explains why so many people found their footage so realistic, especially with so many of their scenes appearing largely improvised, only adding to this illusion.

Although not an enjoyable viewing experience, with it’s every attempt to disgust and shock the audience, it is still however an important film for not only the cannibal genre, but the horror genre on a whole, as it’s influence can be seen especially with films such as “The Last Broadcast” (1998) and “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) both of which used the same grainy documentary style, which Deodato adopts for the footage shot by Yate’s team and it’s an incredibly effective way of telling the story of how they met their demise.
The film contains so many memorable moments, though the chances are that you won’t want to remember most of them (and if you do perhaps you should be seeking some help) but even as sick and twisted as it gets, it still proves to be a gripping ride until the end, as you find yourself strangely drawn to see it out until the end, which is perhaps the one credit which it holds above so many of its gratuitous genre cousins, as it remains at it’s heart a powerful piece of film making and an interesting comment on how civilised a society we really are.

Ozploitation Month: Long Weekend

Title: Long Weekend
Director: Colin Eggleston

Released: 1978

Staring: John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, Mike McEwen, Roy Day, Michael Aitkens

Rating: 3/ 5

Plot: Peter (Hargreaves) and Marcia (Behets) decide to go camping for the weekend, at a remote beach in an attempt to save their marriage, only to find that nature isn’t in an accommodating mood

Review: Long weekend is a strange movie, not only because of it’s plot content, but mainly because even after the title credits have rolled your still not quite sure, what you have just watched, an experience that I havn't really found outside of the films of David Lynch and Shinya Tsukamoto with Gregg Araki’s “Nowhere” (1997) being the only film watching experience, that I can compare to that of watching Long Weekend, which really doesn’t help, as I sit here trying to provide you all with some form of critic on this film….oh well here goes.
As I said Long Weekend is certainly a strange movie, if not one of the few movies that falls into the genre of “Humans invading the animal sphere” (to quote Jenn, whose blog “Cavalcade of Perversions” is always worth a look) which again is unusual as it see’s us humans as the aggressors rather than a member of the animal kingdom doing the terrorising, which honestly was kind of a new one for me and not something I’d seen before and here it is used to great effect without spilling over into the usual camp horror which the creature feature genre usually comes with, as Peter and Marcia come under attack from pretty much anything that mother nature can muster to throw at them.
The relationship between Peter and Marcia is an interesting one to watch, especially seeing how they pretty much despise each other as they, bitch and moan at each other over the course of what will be a very long weekend. One of the first warning signs of their relationship, is when we see Peter sighting the scope on his rifle while using Marcia as the intended target, which is even before the first argument has even started and kind of says all sorts of things about their relationship, whose dark secrets are slowly revealed throughout the course of the film, as we start to understand why they are the way they are to each other, which might fill you with some sort of sympathy, but lets not forget this film is part of the Ozploitation genre, which means that nothing is ever straightforward, for it seems that not content with bitching at each other, these two are also a real danger to the environment around them, as Peter runs over a kangaroo and refuses to stop aswell as spending pretty much all of his time failing to cut down the surrounding forest and shooting his rifle at the local wildlife, as he plays at being a wilderness expert / cowboy, having spent their holiday budget on all this expensive camping equipment, he constantly reassures himself that he knows what he is doing like some kind of wilderness expert, while meanwhile Marcia shows an equal dislike for anything resembling nature, that interferes with her personal comfort zone, using this as further ammunition against Peter, as she refuses his sexual advances and constantly states how they could have spent the money on a nice hotel, rather than being forced to rough it like this, which doesn’t just make them unlikeable to the audience, but hoping that they are going to get slaughtered.

Meanwhile while we are watching this couple on their rampage through nature, nature is slowly beginning to muster it's forces and strike back, with these first strikes coming subtly at first, with Ants invading their camp site and the couple hearing strange noises coming from the woods, but as the film progresses, these attacks become more aggressive and obvious, while at the same time both Peter and Marcia’s sanity is being stretched more and more thin, making them unsure whether it is nature that is striking back or whether it is all in their minds and it’s these mind games that Director Eggleston enjoys playing mindgames throughout, from the camerawork, which often lurks amongst the bushes, watches on like a lurker and taking the time to film the picturesque settings, someone gaining tension from even the simplest of locations throughout and even giving nature a voice in several scenes, including having the ants screaming in pain when Marcia pours insecticide on them, as well as having a supposedly dead manatee, which Peter shoots earlier in the film, after Marcia mistakes it for a shark, slowly crawling up the beach despite being buried (if admittedly quite half assed) by Peter when it’s body washes up on the beach, with these mind games only intensifying as the film reaches it’s shocking climax, while still maintaining the aura of mystery as to what is really happening and never once feeling the need to explain what is happening, preferring instead to leave it up to the audience to figure things out for themselves.

Long Weekend is certainly a film stripped down to the bare necessities, with no special effects, a minimally intrusive soundtrack and never once going to cheap scares to keep it’s audience, it truly is a film driven by its two leads, as unlikable as they are, we are still tied to them through this whole experience and it’s with a mere curiosity to what will happen to them, or finding out the next dark secret, which they are desperately trying to hide, that keeps you drawn into the story. Ironically these same things are also which make the film less easy to get into for horror fans, which prefer something more visual and it’s these fans which are going to find this film hard to stick with, but for those of us who like a little mystery with their films, then they will no doubt find something to enjoy here.

For a film which is generally not so well known, it has lead to a shot for shot remake, bringing back memories of Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of “Psycho”, though at present it seems to be also below the radar at present, being found purely on the festival circuit as it struggles to find some for of mainstream release. In the meantime this original version is at the least worth the price of a rental, even if it won’t be for everyone, it is still a highly original film of what I’m sure is a very lonely genre.