FEAR IS THE KEY (1972) - finally on DVD in widescreen

FEAR IS THE KEY
(UK, 1972)

Recommended seventies action thriller

UPDATED November 2007

In British cinemas in the 1970's, you could watch two movies for the price of one ticket. You'd either get two brand new films on a double-bill, or there'd be a new film with a supporting feature - an older film that was a proven crowd-pleaser.

I saw Fear is the Key as a support, several years after it's initial release. The car chase alone guaranteed continuing ‘support’ status, and the name of Alistair MacLean on the posters was a big draw, as his bestselling books continued to be adapted throughout the decade.

Admittedly, all I could remember about this film was the car chase and the mini-submarine, so it’s time I watched it again, prompted by the Roy Budd soundtrack CD which is a favourite of mine.

The low-key opening scene is a hook, a mystery motivation for our anti-hero, played by Barry Newman. On a remote airfield, he's talking to an aircraft by radio transmitter, when he hears it being shot out of the sky. For the rest of the film, he is a driven man.

Later, we're not told how much later, he's raising hell in New Orleans and in trouble with the police, starting fights and even drinking on a Sunday!

Naturally, he soon appears in a Louisiana courthouse, but not for long. We hear that he's wanted for killing a cop, and to seal the deal, he shoots another one in front of the judge! Grabbing a hostage, the luscious Suzy Kendall, he leaps into the fastest-looking sports car parked outside and we're off!

Car chase!

13 minutes long!

No seat belts!

Newman, and the stunt drivers, treat the red Ford Gran Turino like a 4x4. A succession of police cars chase them along the river banks of the Mississippi, burning rubber on and off the road, on boardwalks through the bayou, leaping through the air, spinning around roadblocks, and barrelling along a beach. It's the action highlight of the movie, which dares to peak early. The car stunts were arranged by Carey Loftin, the best driver in the business at the time – his work already included the car action in Bullitt, Diamonds Are Forever, and The French Connection - classy credentials indeed.

Accused of driving like a madmen, Newman’s character comes back with "I've got nothing to lose".

The film settles down into an edgy thriller, full of guys in dodgy suits wth itchy trigger fingers. A mix of helicopters, deep-sea diving, and a peripheral blonde – it’s all typical Alistair MacLean material - a sort of Americanised When Eight Bells Toll.

As we get to the crux of what the bad guys want – Newman steers a submersible down to the bottom of the ocean. A sequence achieved almost entirely by modelwork, courtesy of special effects kings Nick Allder and Derek Meddings. The size of the bubbles gives away the scale – but I completely missed this in the cinema. It is an excellently-shot scene, looking like they actual shot the models underwater.

After the big noisy opening, there’s a relatively quiet, but tense climax to this enjoyable slice of seventies thriller.

Watching it again, I was trying to work out whether it was a British or American production. I always thought this was a US film because of the swampy location work in the early scenes, but with so many British actors and technicians, I now believe it’s a British film that fooled me. The oil rig scenes and country mansion could have been filmed anywhere. I think there is some cleverly shot UK studio work, with some deceptive naturalistic lighting making it look like location work.

Two well known American actors help make us think the film is from the US, which also helped sell the movie internationally. Barry Newman had just appeared in the off-beat hit Vanishing Point, where he spent practically the whole movie behind the wheel of a fast car. But he’s famous for very little else than these two cult car films. He had a successful run on TV in his own series as trendy lawyer Petrocelli, but after that he dropped off my radar until I saw him in Stallone’s recent actioner, Daylight.

Glamorous support is provided by Suzy Kendall, who was married to Dudley Moore at the time. You may know her from prominent roles in several key Italian horror films, like Dario Argento’s trendsetting The Bird With Crystal Plumage. Her fantastic screams, heard at various moments in the car chase, demonstrate her suitability for horror roles.

John Vernon is always excellent. Whether good or bad, you never quite trust him, but you know he means what he says. This is a typically solid performance before he parodied himself as Dean Wormer in the comedy classic National Lampoon’s Animal House.

As Vernon's psychotic sidekick, Ben Kingsley appears in his first film role (according to IMDB) - almost as the younger incarnation of his character from Sexy Beast. It’s rare to see him with hair! His piercing eyes must have got him the job, and it's a substantial supporting role.

Another Brit bit-part is filled by the late Tony Anholt, (from TV’s The Protectors and Space 1999) in a rare film appearance.


Fear is the Key was only on DVD in Scandinavia until recently, cruelly cropped from the original 2.35 widescreen, down to full frame 1.33. Not a good way to see it. (The above screengrabs are 16:9 cropped from the original 2.35 widescreen, and are NOT representative of the new DVD release).

The new UK release is in 2.35 widescreen, in the UK (pictured at top).

Roy Budd's exciting, jazzy soundtrack has also been remastered on CD.

If you like this film, you’ll want to check out many other car chase movies on Varaces – the Movie Car Chase Database!

- - - - - - -

THE WORLD SINKS EXCEPT JAPAN (2006) disastrous comedy

THE WORLD SINKS EXCEPT JAPAN

(2006, Japan, IMDB: Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu)

Region 3 Hong Kong NTSC DVD (Panorama)

Not recommended at all

From Minoru Kawasaki, Japan's prolific director of low-budget movie comedy, comes this cheeky item lampooning last summer's blockbuster movie The Sinking of Japan (reviewed here). Even the poster is a parody. Actually the film is an adaption of a novel that parodied the original Japan Sinks book. Okay...

The premise supposes that Japan is left floating, when every other country sinks beneath the oceans. Scientifically silly, it's basically a reversal of the plotline of The Submersion of Japan in order to concentrate on the implications for Japan's immigration policies. Currently very strict, Japan is shown here allowing in state leaders and their favourite film stars from Hollywood, but adopting brutally strict laws to keep out everyone else.

To keep the humour current, the characters are updated with lookalikes of Kim Jong-Il, and film stars Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. But the resemblances are fleeting and the resultant comedy value is wasted. In fact, most of the comic potential is wasted, by not lampooning the movie further. The old scientist who bores everyone with his endless tectonic explanations should have been funny, but was just boring instead!

I was expecting much better from the director of The Calamari Wrestler, which is fantastic. But I think the humour here leans too heavily on politics, as well as the comedy value of TV star cameos, which were all lost on me.

Obviously, this might all be very funny to Japanese viewers, but I usually 'get' their comedies easily. Also, the controversial nature of the bad taste humour here (like dealing with foreigners with flame-throwers) obviously distances gaijin viewers even more. It probably looked a lot better on paper.

The low budget is so low, that a paltry few computer graphics, mostly looking like weather maps, show us the world sinking. Most of the rest of the film takes place in a small bar, which we are supposed to believe is swanky enough for the world's richest people.

But I'd overlook all this if there were laughs, or even a story. The Calamari Wrestler had a surprisingly strong story, besides the fun of showing a large squid mixing in everyday society. The World Sinks Except Japan is sunk by it's largely international cast who can't act for toffee, let alone perform comedy. As always, the Japanese actors playing the journalists and the Prime Minister are good, but any non-Japanese actors are pretty embarrassing.

For me The Calamari Wrestler (reviewed here) shows that Kawasaki can do better, but I'll be approaching the rest of his films with caution in the future. They certainly all look promising, with 'high concept' ideas - Kani the Goalkeeper Crab, Executive Koala, and Wig Detective...

- - - - - - -

GHOST GAME (2006) reality TV Thai horror

GHOST GAME

(2006, Thailand, IMDB Laa-thaa-phii)

Region 3 Thai PAL DVD (Premium Digital)
No English subtitles

Looks good but not recommended

The premise looks promising enough - 11 contestants are locked inside a the site of a wartime prison in Cambodia, where many prisoners were tortured and killed. If they stay in this supposedly haunted site long enough, they stand to win a lot of money. How scared are they willing to get, before they give up? If it really is haunted, are the ghosts dangerous? Whatever happens, everything is live on TV...

But this location is based on an actual prison and the film opens with what looks like actual photos of the real-life atrocities in Cambodia, from the time of the Khmer Rouge. These provide the kind of horror that the ensuing ghost-train level of scares can't hope to compete with. The movie also deeply upset the people of Cambodia, who subsequently didn't allow the film's release in their country.

In the film, the contestants are literally sent up the river to a remote jungle setting and taken through the rules. They are locked in the prison and told to explore. Sure enough ghosts soon start to appear to some of the party. But that's when I started struggling with the internal logic of this particular ghost phenomenon. The ghosts close in on people, touch them, scare them and then... leave. Sometimes everyone can see it, sometimes not. What's the ghost up to? Surely it's not taking directions from the TV director? It's certainly playing the game.

With the gamers strapped into torture chairs, or lying in crates filled with skulls, this is a reality TV show that I'd watch, as long as it was my least favourite celebrities.

The scares certainly build up effectively, but mostly because of ear-splitting sound-effects that guarantee the jolt. The ghosts get more violent, things start going wrong and the fact that it's on nationwide TV is quickly forgotten. As the gamers start dying off, the most gruesome action is edited around, almost like it's avoiding being too intense. After a tight opening volley of scares, the pace falters halfway through.

The saturated greenish hue and contrasty lighting certainly adds to the morbid atmosphere, but when everything looks green, you can't easily see the colour of blood. Also the scenes are sometimes too dark - there's one with a hanging corpse that you could easily miss. The shot has been electronically darkened so much, that it's almost invisible in the shadows.

The clips from the film that are used in the trailer, included on this Thai DVD, look considerably lighter than the finished film. The trailer looks more like the TV show it's supposed to be. Someone's obviously made everything look more filmic in post-production, at the expense of the action being visible!

The cast are the usual crowd of good-looking teenagers, a similar ploy used in Thai horrors Scared and Art of the Devil, and their acting is at least better than the average Friday the 13th movie, or is that faint praise?

A potentially strong and interesting premise is frittered away with a simple story with few scares, constantly interrupted by the daylight scenes between rounds of 'the game'.

Do you want to know more?

If you want a second opinion, Slasherpool has another review and some screengrabs.

- - - - - - -

GAMERA THE BRAVE (2006) - the flying turtle's back!

GAMERA THE BRAVE

(2006, Japan, Chiisaki Yusha Tachi Gamera)

Now on official region 3 NTSC DVD from Hong Kong (Universe)

Recommended for younger Japanese monster movie fans

Gamera - the story so far... In the 1960's rival studios came up with a monster of their own, envious of Toho's internationally successful Godzilla series. Though more childish and lower-budget, the series lasted into the 1970's with six movies.

During Godzilla's hiatus between 1995 and 1999 (to make way for the US version), Gamera triumphantly returned with three big budget action spectaculars that put the 1990's Godzilla films to shame. Gamera - Guardian of the Universe, Gamera 2 - Advent of Legion, Gamera 3 - Awakening of Irys are arguably the best ever to come out of Japan.

Now, during another Big-G hiatus (Godzilla Final Wars in 2004 was announced to be the last film for at least 9 years) this new film returns to Gamera's roots with a child-friendly monster movie.

For me, the 1990's trilogy contained the most exciting kaiju (giant monster) movie moments ever - with great staging and special effects. The human characters were also well integrated with the monster action, making these well-constructed stories that don't collapse when the monsters are offscreen.

Gamera the Brave begins by playing on audience expectations with a rip-roaring night battle between adult Gamera and 3 Gyaos monsters. While the film has a stand-alone story, this scene ties in with the end of the previous film. It's wonderful to see him back in action.

Then we meet Toto, a young schoolboy from southern Japan, who discovers a strange egg that hatches in front of him. A baby turtle emerges and he adopts it as a pet, not knowing that it's a baby Gamera. There are some very silly scenes when he discovers that his tiny turtle discovery can fly. It looks like someone superglued some fishing wire to a turtle's back - turtles just don't look aerodynamic.

The simple story and believable characters are good enough, but the action gets a little silly, soppy if you like, and amusingly Japanese. The baby Gamera soon grows as big as a house just in time to meet the giant reptilian Zedus as it hits the shore. Zedus is a fearsome amphibious lizard that has been wreaking havoc offshore.

As it arrive onshore, the government see Gamera in action, and want to study him, taking him to a huge research station. But Zedus is following him...

This is more of a family film, but it occasionally oversteps the boundaries by having Gamera's green blood spurt - for example with the usual hand impaling. Otherwise, it's a children's adventure centred on three boys and a young girl who believe in Gamera when no-one else does. Because of the heroics of the children in the story, I think this is why the film was originally publicised as Gamera - Little Braves.

The action scenes are few, but excitingly staged, though it's undignified to see Gamera stuck in a skyscraper with his butt sticking out. The monster, Zedus, looks convincingly like a living monster, showing off 'suitmation' at it's best. While the CGI used, (like Zedus' tongue weapon) doesn't look as convincing as the computer FX in Gamera 3.

Being a baby, the face of Gamera looks a little cutesy, especially compared to his recent incarnations. This especially makes it hard to recommend to hardened newcomers - you have to see the 1990's trilogy first, then see this one.

But at a time when giant monster movies are fairly few, it's nice to see one with solid effects, that isn't tongue-in-cheek.

The film is presented 2.35 widescreen (like many of the early films), but the region 3 only has an extra trailer, but does have a handsome embossed card slipcase. A special edition with a disc of extras is available from Japan but has no English subtitles.

Do you want to know more?

For a full plot description, an alternate review and loads more stills, the Sci-Fi Japan website has an article that's very hard to beat!

- - - - - - -

R.I.P. Gareth Hunt - Avenging no more

Gareth Hunt passed away two weeks ago. He was 65.

As action hero Mike Gambit, in The New Avengers, he stepped into a very difficult role and made it his own - the third member of The Avengers. He succeeded in breaking the traditional mould of 'John Steed plus a female sidekick', and making the famous duo into a trio.

Because TV repeats were rare in the seventies, I had hardly seen any of The Avengers. The New Avengers made far more of an impression on me as a teenager - particularly with the advertising ballyhoo and the midweek primetime TV slots. Their foes included plenty of genre fodder, with a giant rat, bloodthirsty birds, sleeper agents, and even a killer cybernaut. Car chases and convincing stuntwork were complemented by offbeat camerawork, witty direction and sharp editing. Sights now very rare on British TV. Laurie Johnson's atmospheric score was the icing on the cake.

As the strong arm of the team, Gambit was a tougher and deadlier breed of Avenger, carrying a gun, which Steed (Patrick Macnee) tried to avoid. But more than being an action man, Gareth had a great comic touch. His timing was perfect and the interplay between him and Joanna Lumley, as Purdey, was hugely enjoyable. Lumley is often regarded as a late developer as a comedian, when she surprised many with her outrageous comic turn as the ageing trendy Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous. But her comedy talents were on show decades earlier, in the role of Purdey.

The New Avengers only ran for 26 one-hour episodes. The first 13 are the classic ones I'd really recommend. They are often looked down upon by fans of The Avengers, which is a hugely difficult act to follow. But in its own right, The New Avengers is head and shoulders above most other British action series from any decade.

The series is poorly represented on DVD - it has yet to be remastered properly the way The Avengers has, but at least it's available.


I don't think that Gareth had as big a success in his career after The New Avengers. The British film industry was in a poor state at the time, and had very little work to offer him, let alone memorable roles.

He kept working steadily in theatre though, and I saw him in Deathtrap (adapted as a film in 1982 - Gareth played the Christopher Reeve role). It was a success in London's West End and on a national tour.

But I was later surprised to see him back on TV in Night and Day, a long-running soap opera that ran for two years on ITV from 2001. He played pub landlord Charlie Doyle, brother to Lysette Anthony's unlucky mother. I was probably one of the few people who watched the soap from beginning to end. Its offbeat Twin Peaks take on the genre, with a central ghostly character, adult-themed late-night versions and madly ambitious mystery story arc, made it the only soap opera I've bothered with in recent years. But even an unreleased theme tune by Kylie Minogue failed to boost its popularity. Hunt's character was occasionally mysterious but again, like The New Avengers, usually humourous. I had no idea that he'd be leaving us so soon after that series.

I just wanted to say that I think he was hugely undervalued.

Do you want to know more?

A great site for The New Avengers is here, which includes an episode guide, info and images.

An old, but interesting site, including a battered mp3 of the Kylie theme tune, for Night and Day is here.

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (2006)

The region 3 DVD cover art

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
(2006, Hong Kong/China, IMDB: Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia)

Opening in UK cinemas on April 13th.

Out now on region 3 DVD in Hong Kong, and region 1 in the USA.

Coming to Blu-Ray HD at the end of May.

Recommended - a highly entertaining epic costume drama

In Phuket, an island off the west of Thailand, I went to see the new epic from Zhang Yimou, the director of House of the Flying Daggers and Hero. It was dubbed in Thai with English and Chinese subtitles.

The story begins as a high-powered drama, where all is not well between the Emperor of China, the Empress and their three sons. The Empress’ health is failing, but this doesn’t stop her from trying to continue a relationship with her son, who’s just returned from war.

As the implications of their secret relationship escalate, the royal house is thrown into full-scale battle, with itself.

The film begins by introducing us to the all the characters in the impeccably lush rainbow-coloured interior of the Emperor’s palace. After a relatively low-key start, the films first action scenes immediately impress.

I loved the black-clad warriors most of all, (with similar skills to Japanese ninja), whose weapons are flying scimitars on chains! Also used as grappling hooks, these silent killers can also anchor in the ground, allowing the warriors to attack from clifftops and sail down the chains on hollow bamboo grips.

But no one is as helpless as they appear. Every character seems to be an advanced master of martial arts. This may unintentionally amuse, as may some of the acting. As bad karma boomerangs on the baddies, emotions reach fever-pitch, but not too subtly. The exception here is Jay Chou who underplays as usual, showing little more range than his turn as the boy racer in Initial D – The Movie.

The legendary Chow Yun Fat is almost unrecognizable as the bearded Emperor. Gong Li (Memoirs of a Geisha) looks both regal and dangerous as the Empress, but overdoes the twitching. Liu Ye, as her illicit lover, ascends to levels of 'mad' acting not seen since Cary Elwes in Saw. The acting isn’t nearly as even as House of Flying Daggers, but here, I guess, the stakes are far higher…

The battle scenes between the factions eventually fill the immense courtyard of the Emperor’s Palace, turning it into a huge, bloody chessboard. Aided by a multitude of computer graphic warriors, the action is still exciting and plot-driven.

I can’t tell you just how much of the epic action had been faked because the print I saw (in Thailand) was quite soft, but I still think there are many scenes that have been done large-scale with a traditional cast of thousands. All dressed in highly ornate colour-coded suits of armour, it’s imaginatively spectacular.

The acting and the operatic drama are enjoyably over-the-top - it seemed to complement the impossible fighting skills on display.

- - - - - - -

The Tribute to Billy Mackenzie Concert - with a host of associates from the 80's

Last night I had a wonderful evening at a tribute concert in memory of singer Billy Mackenzie, who would have turned fifty this week.

Billy was one of my favourite vocalists, still is. An extraordinary and unique voice that soared, a cheeky and surreal humour, mad mad compositions, and attractive to boot. I’d been buying Associates 12” singles and albums from the start and, to me, his music kept getting better and better, continuing with his guest vocals and solo albums. So I was shocked to hear of his death, ten years ago.

A thorough biography (The Glamour Chase) didn’t fully explain why he was no longer with us, but did underline how full a life he’d lead. Thankfully almost all of his recordings were subsequently released on CD, including two unreleased albums and even radio sessions, so that we could, for a while, keep hearing new music from him.

I’d never saw him perform live, though I’d seen him wandering around nightclubs in London a couple of times. I’d got all of his records and wanted to go up and tell him that, but I could never think of the right words fast enough. I was too shy, and hated bothering people I admire, out of respect mostly.

But last night there was a tribute concert at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, in aid of the Sound Seekers charity, with all the bands giving their time for free. They mostly did 3 numbers each, including one Associates or Billy Mackenzie cover version, making it a unique evening full of surprises, and a belated chance for me to hear his music live.

I didn’t know quite what to expect, and I wasn’t expecting to hear so much of Billy’s music - the idea of attempting covers of songs originally recorded with a such an extraordinary voice seemed brave, impossible and even musically blasphemous (steady on).

I was late and missed Howard Hughes, a pianist who’d accompanied Billy in the early days – the gig got underway earlier than I’d expected. But I caught the second act, Mower. Their wild electric guitar sound evoked the energy of early Associates tracks, but I didn’t know whether they had any connection with Billy. They certainly seemed to have been inspired by him, and I’ll be seeking out more of their music. This was their last gig under the name of Mower (mostly because they’re fed up of the confusion with the US band of the same name).
Next up were The Subterraneans, a band originally named by Billy. The thrill of their set was a restaging of an early Billy duet with Christine Beveridge called Kites, originally released under the name 39 Lyon Street. It was a thrill to hear Christine sing live, having heard the song so many times.

Better still, Paul Haig (another 80’s solo artist who started off with the band Josef K) then joined the band and sang two of tracks that Billy used to like, 'Kinda Funny' and 'Something Good'. According to the NME site, Paul hadn’t performed on stage since 1989. He was in fine voice though and still mean on the guitar. I’d loved his voice on electro releases in the 80’s, especially Big Blue World, a collaboration with Alan Rankine, Billy’s main musical partner in the Associates.

Next up was a musical first as two mainstays of ZTT (Zang Tuum Tumb records, infamous for their Frankie Goes to Hollywood releases), played on stage for the first time ever. Claudia Brucken – lead singer of Propaganda (whose music has aged better than Frankie’s) and pianist Andrew Poppy. They played a quiet but powerful set, starting with a cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, and then Roy Orbison’s In Dreams. Claudia’s underrated voice is evocative of the 80’s electro hits of Propaganda, but also of some beautiful solo releases in the 90’s. Her album Love and A Million Other Things, is a special favourite. She closed this set with a cover of the Associates 'Breakfast'.


But Claudia was back on stage in a more lively incarnation, with her new band OneTwo, in which she has teamed up with Paul Humphreys, who was one half of OMD, Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark – prolific backbone of 80’s electropop. Together they have been recording new material, as well as appearing live with a mixture of classic Propaganda numbers, Claudia’s solo hits, classic OMD songs and new OneTwo tracks. An EP came out two years ago, and their first album has just been released. But just as I was hoping for a spate of OneTwo gigs, OMD have reformed for a major tour! Paul has reunited with Andy McCluskey (last heard perfoming on his own under the name of OMD in the 90’s).

So that’s good news for OMD fans, but it looks like Claudia will have to wait a while before properly promoting the new album. This gig was a rare chance to see OneTwo performing, for now at least. Their three numbers were a new track, then the very popular Propaganda hit Duel(which finally got the crowd moving), and finally a wonderful updated version of the Associates’ classic hit Club Country.

The whole evening was like time travel for me, the first gig I ever went to, back in 1981, was OMD. I’ve got all their albums. I saw Propaganda live (in ’85) and never thought I’d be able to hear their music live again, over twenty years later! And there was more to come…

Electric Soft Parade are a much younger band, still releasing music the first time around. Like other bands during the evening, they were daunted by the chance to cover a Billy Mackenzie track, not only because of his huge vocal range, but because musically “the arrangements are insane”. They performed Blue It Is, a downbeat song where Billy stayed in the lower octaves.

Throughout the evening, as the crew quickly but frantically re-rigged for the drastically different bands, Billy’s original music haunted the venue. On a projection screen at the back of the stage, many rare pop promos were playing that I’d not seen before. In the 80’s, the Associates were mainly on TV ‘live’ on Top Of The Pops or The Tube. The pop videos were rarely shown. Thankfully, much of this archive material is on YouTube at the moment, including a wonderful documentary/tribute made by Scottish TV, with interviews with many of Billy’s many collaborators – including Alan Rankine, Paul Haig and Yello.

Next on stage were B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation) who once released 2 marvellous albums of classic cover versions with electro backing and a wide range of guest vocalists, from Tina Turner to Paula Yates. Billy Mackenzie sang on both albums. B.E.F. had managed to exist without ever performing live, so this night was another first, 25 years after the band formed!

B.E.F. were of course an offshoot of the groovy Heaven 17, themselves an offshoot of the original Human League. Martyn Ware on keyboards introduced Billie Godfrey, a singer with a fantastic voice – she performed Free (Mackenzie’s contribution to the second B.E.F. album) noting that even a woman with a good vocal range had trouble hitting the notes that Billy Mackenzie had. She was fantastic, and it’s good to hear that she is part of Heaven 17’s new line-up.


The original Heaven 17 singer Glenn Gregory then appeared and performed a David Bowie track, one of Billy’s faves - Bowie was a huge influence on Billy’s eclectic musical ambitions, not to mention his often extravagant changes of image. Glenn then sang my favourite Heaven 17 track Let Me Go, again which I’d never ever thought I’d hear live – I’d missed them gigging twenty years ago. Claudia Brucken then joined the band for a reworking of the original demo version of Temptation (recently rediscovered by Glenn’s mum digging around in her attic). I think Temptation had been the band’s hugest hit.

Glenn Gregory then reluctantly closed the set with his rendition of Party Fears Two. It had been a huge hit for the Associates and Glenn couldn’t believe no other band had picked it for the evening. Once he studied it, he realised it was a difficult track to master. But he managed perfectly, despite it being a sad thing to have to do. To sing someone’s songs because they aren’t around any more.

Heaven 17 produced some stylish and unforgettable tracks in the 80’s, Come Live With Me was another classic. I’d not realised that they’ve started performing again and even released a new album last year. I’ll be looking out for them gigging in the future, because Glenn Gregory is still a powerful singer and a wonderful performer.


Lastly, seven years after their last gig, with no plans to play live any more, was Apollo 440. With the quality and power of their music, it’s a great pity, though they still work on movie soundtracks – like the barnstorming reworking of the Lost In Space theme tune.

They opened with a track from their 1996 Electro Glide in Blue album. They also performed The Smiths’ William It Was Really Nothing, which is now thought to be a song cheekily written by Morrissey about Billy. There seemed to be fewer and fewer 80’s bands being left out of the night’s roster!

Apollo 440 closed with Pain in any Language, the last song of the evening. The singer gave an extraordinary performance, evoking Billy’s wild and energetic style. It was a fantastic end to the evening.

Emotions were of course mixed – it was also sadly the last song Billy Mackenzie ever recorded. It was with Apollo 440 for the Electro Glide album. Billy later committed suicide. Ten years ago. He was 39.




Update: photographer Peter Ashworth has posted many of his photographs of the bands, taken on the night on his website, here.

Video clips of the concert have even started appearing on YouTube - Paul Haig, OneTwo, Claudia and Andrew, and Glenn Gregory.



Do you want to know more?
Complete Billy Mackenzie/Associates discography here - great grabs of album covers!

- - - - - - -

H.P. Lovecraft movies - the older ones

An introduction to a series of reviews for the oldest movie adaptions of Lovecraft's works...

There was a time when adaptions of the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft could be counted on one hand. I sought them all out because of their reported potency, and the horrors he described were unique and terrifying.

The Haunted Palace (1963)
Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
The Shuttered Room (1967)
Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
The Dunwich Horror (1969)

...as well as two adaptions for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (1971) compendium TV series (the Cool Air and Pickman’s Model segments)

...used to be all the Lovecraft there was to see.

The other major inspiration in American horror literature, Edgar Allan Poe, quickly had many of his titles plundered in the 1960’s, but filmmakers braked sharply when moving onto Lovecraft, because many of his stories were considered “unfilmable”. Lovecraft’s trump card was his medium – on paper, the viewer imagines what he describes, sometime huge, sometimes vague, always nasty. If you have an imagination, a cinema screen can’t possibly better it.

I still have a fondness for these 'Old Ones', the early entries in the Lovecraft filmography, and am currently drawn to watching them again -reviews will be appearing here shortly.

When I sought out horror movies on TV in the seventies, I’d rewatch these five films on TV to wring out any elements of Lovecraft, though sometimes there’s very few to find. If you ignore the often disappointing climaxes and unworthy special effects, the premise of each movie still evokes an unusal atmosphere, albeit mostly updated to modern dress.

Having watched all five films, The Shuttered Room is easily the best film, but the least Lovecraftian. The Dunwich Horror would be the most Lovecraftian story but is set in modern times. The Haunted Palace looks suitably gothic, and is in period dress. Take your pick.

A further slew of adaptions in the 1980’s, helped by a surge of low-budget cinema to fuel the videotape boom, like The Unnamable (1988) and From Beyond (1986), were an equally mixed bag. Re-Animator (1985) is easily the best of this next wave, though director Stuart Gordon struggled valiantly on to try and match it for many years.

Now in an age of CGI when you can put anything you can imagine onto the screen, a host of new filmmakers are doing their best to tackle Lovecraft again, hence the Unfilmable website with news of a raft of recent and future adaptions of the works of H.P.L., and an extensive list of past efforts and possible influences. Proof that Lovecraft’s influence over horror cinema is far-reaching, and definitely thick-bookworthy.

A shorter, rather more 1990’s guide to Lovecraft cinema is on this website here, summarising the contents of the reference book, The Lurker in the Lobby.

- - - - - - -

SOLDIER BLUE (1970) - widescreen and uncut?

SOLDIER BLUE
(1970, USA)

Recommended anti-western

When it was released in 1970, the film's title and the original 'nude squaw' poster made this look like it was going to be softcore porno. In addition, the fuss in the press at the time made it sound like a violent atrocity of bad taste. From accounts I'd read about the stuntwork and particularly the gruesome prosthetic make-up effects (like in John Brosnan's book Movie Magic), it sounded like the British censors had made many extensive cuts.

On paper, the story looked more like an old-school western, 'cowboys and indians'. In fact, Soldier Blue is an early revisionist western, told more from the Native American side as well as the anti-war movement. Like Little Big Man, this film was part of the learning process that challenged the demonisation of ‘injuns’ in countless cowboy movies.

Besides trying to set the record straight on native America, Soldier Blue was also an early Vietnam allegory, targeting the My Lai massacre at a time when it was too controversial to tackle to portray – it took Hollywood until the 1980’s to do that.

  

When I first saw the film on British TV in the late seventies, heavily cut (film jumps infered this was a UK print), it was certainly shocking but for different reasons. Instead of a A Clockwork Orange, I got a rather affable romantic comedy that starts off with an exceptionally hippy song. There were a few fights, a lot of talking and a lot of cuts. All that was left of the climax were the looks of shock on the faces of witnesses.

Seeing it again now, it’s a giddy mixture of heavy-handed pacifist arguments, (cue the shot of American cavalry riding roughshod over the American flag), light comedy and brutal violence. Very seventies, but still worth catching. The techniques used to shock then are mostly unusable now. Multiple rapes, female nudity and child murder... To add to the 70's 'period' feel, it's all topped off with a jaunty Roy Budd soundtrack that constantly feels inappropriate, almost like they were trying to make the film even 'lighter'.

The radiant Candice Bergen is the fiesty lead, Peter Strauss is a touch too naive and easily offended as the 'Soldier Blue' of the title. His slow wake-up call to his new understanding of religion, women, bad guys and natives was all paralleled in what was actually going on in society at the time. A revolution of attitudes that also meant revising the written word in history books. The massacres of civilians by American troops were hard to believe back then, but are now verified facts in both Sand Creek, Colorado in 1864 and My Lai, Vietnam in 1968.

Donald Pleasence rounds off the leading actors to make the middle act more enjoyable, but the meandering storyline drifts way off-topic before the climax kicks in.

Shot totally on location, I was surprised by the huge mobilisation of soldiers and horses. The climactic battle is mounted on an extremely large scale. The film includes horse stunts that are no longer allowed in the UK - they were cut from a recent TV transmission and will presumably be missing from any UK DVD release. A decapitated head, and a rape scene are also missing from the Momentum DVD about 28 seconds in all.

The Dutch Kinowelt DVD version, although hinted at in dialogue, no scalpings are shown, and the infamous breast cutting is simply, but effectively done with a special effects knife that shoots out blood. Today it's not the gore that shocks, even in this 'uncut' version, but the full-frontal nudity and the elaborate stunts showing the killing of children.

Like many censored movies, decades of rumours confuse what scenes were shot and what was actually seen in the cinema in different versions around the world. But this is certainly the least cut version I've seen.

The Kinowelt release has a colourful, bright film transfer from a good print, with a clear audio track. Good to finally see it in 2.35 anamorphic widescreen too.

The US DVD cover has Donald Pleasence's name misspelt
and a cowboy who isn't in the film at all!

This might be the same version of the film on region 1 DVD from Lionsgate, but I’ve read several instances of film scratches, dull colour and warbling audio, but I’ve not seen for myself. Here's a review, with screengrabs.



Do you want to know more?

For screenshots from the German Kinovelt DVD (which I believe is the same release as the Dutch DVD that I have), try this page from DVD Active.

There's also this book about the film.

ONE MISSED CALL (2003) another scary Takashi Miike

ONE MISSED CALL (2003, Japan, Chakushin Ari)
NTSC region 3 HK DVD (Widesight)

Highly recommended J-horror film

Takashi Miike proved that he could make a crowd-pleasing box office hit as easily as his surreal low-budget shockers. Before Zebraman and The Great Yokai War, came this straightforward horror film that was so popular, it kicked off a franchise.

But Miike doesn’t use humour, so much as genre in-jokes, taking a similar premise to The Ring and running with it. The J-horror cliches are all there, but he uses them effectively and often trumps the scares with his own inventive twists.

It’s about a deadly curse that's transmitted by mobile phone – the predicted victim gets a call from the future at the precise time and date that they'll die, as well as a sneak preview of what their final moments will sound like. After several shocking deaths, with no proof of suicide, the press get wind of the serial phenomenon and arrange live television coverage of the next victim's allotted demise. The TV producer tries adding an exorcist to hedge his bets, hoping to either cure the curse or unmask it all as a hoax. Unfortunately, the curse is real and the exorcism doesn't work...

The scares aren’t always logical, Miike is having fun with an all-out scary movie and adds extra frights to keep up the momentum, and the film is way more bloody than the Ring films. Of course there's a long black-haired female ghost, but this movie has something extra - a fast pace.

Some great fx work and icky special effects make-up make this one of the strongest and straightforward Japanese horror films. My only reservation is that tying up all the plot threads makes the ending a little anti-climactic - but full marks for respecting the storyline and following it through logically.

The able and attractive Kou Shibasaki heads the cast. She went on to star in The Sinking of Japan, and appeared in the scary scarecrow movie Kakashi (2001) and Battle Royale (2000).

Two sequels followed, and a TV series that I wrote about here.

The film is out on region 1 DVD (pictured) in the US, but I'd already bought the region 3 release from Hong Kong, which has great audio and excellent English subtitles.

R.I.P. Freddie Francis

Dino and Raffaella De Laurentiis, David Lynch and Freddie Francis, working on Dune

Freddie Francis has passed away at the age of 89.

There are many obituaries online, like from The Independent, but I'd like skew my own towards his horror credits. To me his name was quickly connected with my love of horror films at an early age. As I started watching them, his name kept coming up...

In all, Freddie Francis seemed to have had three careers one after the other – each of them impressive. It makes for a formidable IMDB entry.

His black and white cinematography for gritty British dramas won him an early Oscar in 1960. But I loved his work on The Innocents, which ensures this as easily the best film version of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. It’s an edgy ghost story that still works today. The Governess of two small children (Deborah Kerr) is either being haunted by evil spirits with a debauched past, or is imagining it all as a result of her own inhibitions.

Tiring of being told what to do, (not to mention low wages), Francis broke into directing, salvaging The Day of the Triffids (1962) without earning a screen credit. But he became typecast as a horror director. In contrast to the critical, artistic successes he worked on as a director of photography, he was soon villified for making ‘schlock’. But I’d argue that many of his ‘horrors’ will easily last as long as his acclaimed mainstream work. Critics look through his films and quickly point to Trog (1970) as being awful, but I don’t think he ever needed to be told! Even though it’s not at all typical of the quality of his many horror films, it’s still highly enjoyable and is about to be remastered on DVD.

The films he directed for Hammer Studios, and it’s many rivals, read like a catalogue of my favourite late-night TV horror film experiences. For me his name became a guarantee of something interesting.

His best are The Skull, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, The Creeping Flesh, Dr Terror’s House of Horrors and of course the superb Tales from the Crypt. Inventive and unusual camerawork, an intelligent and imaginative approach, elevates unlikely supernatural material to effective and shocking cinema.

Among his own favourites is a rare movie that ought to be more widely seen – the perverse black comedy Mummy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly.

As British cinema declined through the seventies, he reluctantly went back to cinematography, for the third phase in his working life. But this again produced some of his finest work and another Oscar, for Glory (1989) of which he is rightly proud.

But for me, it’s his work with David Lynch that was so important. His work in widescreen black and white for The Elephant Man (1980) is exceptional. It enabled Lynch to make a mainstream film, while remaining partly in the atmospheric universe of Eraserhead.

Lynch again wanted a team of familiar faces on Dune (1984), an entirely different scale of project, though Francis was undaunted by the challenge of making a special-effects heavy science-fiction epic.

A third project with Lynch was Francis’ final film, as cinematographer on The Straight Story (1999), for which he had an agreement to get shorter working days as a compensation for his advancing years. This was a request Lynch was happy to oblige, especially since leading man Richard Farnsworth was in his seventies.

Seeing Freddie Francis interviewed about his work at the NFT in London, he was unpretentious and almost dismissive about his directing career in horror. But he knew from the constant interest that they were still enthusiastically appreciated. A clip was shown, from Torture Garden, of Peter Cushing being out-manoeuvred by Jack Palance in a quest for Edgar Allen Poe memorabilia. The scene was intense and gripping, and left the audience begging for more. It was my first chance to see even a glimpse of something he’d directed on the big screen, and it was gratifying that it still worked so effectively.

He was obviously proud of the great films that he’d lensed, and that working with the likes of Scorcese, Lynch, Karel Reisz and Jack Clayton meant that his work was appreciated both technically and artistically.

To me it’s amazing that his career was so schizophrenic, balanced between arthouse, mainstream and low-budget horror. He knew when the scripts were poor, the titles daft, the money tight, and the schedules rushed, that the critics wouldn’t be amused. But to me it was the heights he elevated the material to. Like the acting of Peter Cushing, he could take an awful script and make it both believable and thrilling.

Mr Francis, your work has been a great pleasure and I’m very sorry to see you go.

- - - - - - -