SOLITUDE OF BLOOD (2002) - PSYCHO meets REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

SOLITUDE OF BLOOD
(2002, Russia, Stereoblood, Odinochestvo krovi)

A trippy Russian serial killer thriller...

I think that reading about the recent Russian slasher Dead Daughters lead me to this, with the promise of a Russian giallo, which isn't a bad way to approach it. But while the oblique camera angles, experimental camera moves and eclectic soundtrack all work in the film's favour, the techniques strangely aren't applied as energetically to the murder scenes, which horror fans would expect to be the 'set pieces' of the genre. I'd highly recommend this, not so much for the horror angle, but as a murder mystery presented as a subtly disorientating trip.

Maria is trying not to worry that her husband has been missing for three weeks. Added to this is an impending deadline at work that's hugely imporant for her company. Elsewhere in the city, a vicious killer is picking off isolated victims with a particularly nasty knife...


The story keeps us guessing which direction it's is going in, hinting at all sorts of possibilities. It's a nightmarish murder mystery, with a mood that's ideal for watching after midnight.

The expert camerawork repeatedly attempts to disorientate the viewer, mimicking Maria's loose grip on her situation. Like the style of Requiem for a Dream, there is an emphasis on insignificant sounds, the audio changing with each camera angle - a technique normally avoided to lessen the effect of the visual 'cut'. (Should sound be directional every time the editor moves the viewpoint? Discuss.) Some of the floating camerawork, not quite aimed at the action, pushed me slightly towards travel sickness at one point. In conclusion, the cumulative effect is gently trippy.

There's a theramin scene that hints at the eccentric ecesses of a Dario Argento murder, and there's also a visual nod to Psycho (well, it's playing on TV!). But I was more reminded of Brian De Palma's Dressed To Kill, probably for the lift scene. A homage to a Hitchcock homage, perhaps.

Thankfully, for a nightmare scenario of this nature, there's none of the increasingly dull 'is it a dream' moments. Instead Maria's disorientation is used to increase suspense, as most of her friends aren't taking her plight seriously, and that she might also be in danger because she's misreading the situation.


Ingeborga Dapkunaite as Maria is superb. She doesn't overplay her plight and totally held my attention and sympathy. The actress has already played many small roles in American and British films and TV (Hannibal Rising, Bodies, Shadow of the Vampire). The script is by Pavel Ruminov who went on to direct Dead Daughters (2007) reviewed here.

The cinematographer has a trailer and some clips and trailer here on his website. The locations include Moscow in the snow - watching it will make you feel cold.

Strong performances, confidently offbeat cinematography, and an effective (not totally musical) soundtrack all make this a treat. Though it has fewer moments of horror than Dead Daughters, I found this a much more satisfying and carefully structured film. One of the best modern Russian thrillers I've seen.


I think amazon.com is selling the same Russian DVD that I saw (the title is written in Russian). The DVD is 1.66 widescreen (non-anamorphic) with well-translated, if rather large, English subtitles.

Surprisingly Acidemic hasn't rooted this one out yet, but Quiet Cool has a spoiler-filled review with some choice screengrabs that demonstrate the colour scheme on offer.

BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN (1967) - Ken Russell's offbeat cold war epic

BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN
(1967, UK)

This was the third Harry Palmer film, based on the books of Len Deighton, following the adaptions of The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin, and helped to confirm Michael Caine as an international star.

This was also Ken Russell's first feature, and seems restrained compared to his later outrageousness in The Devils, Mahler, Women In Love, Lizstomania... But the director's love of classical music and silent cinema is evident here, with several key sequences playing over orchestral music with minimal sound effects. I noticed an advanced echo of the visuals of Tommy, when a hundred soldiers in shiny silver helmets funnel through a narrow archway. It looked very much like pinball imagery to me.

While much of the film is a cold war spy thriller, Russell's style is in evidence whenever characters get tight close-ups and look straight at the camera, or when action is shot with wild hand-held camerawork.

This is in line with the surreal cinematography of The Ipcress File, where Sidney Furie used deep focus and wide-angles to make London look more sinister. Although the Harry Palmer films were made by many of the same production crew as the 1960s James Bond films, they took pains to distance the two series. This is initially an unglamorous depiction of spying - Palmer has to cook for himself, argue about pay with his boss (Guy Doleman, also a star of Thunderball), he doesn't have any gadgets, and he wears glasses... Bloody hell!But the last of the trilogy is veering nearer to Bond territory, with its tale of world domination, silvery sci-fi settings and larger-than-life baddie (Ed Begley Sr at his most grotesquely frightening). The title sequence is also designed by Maurice Binder, verging on Matt Helm goofiness, with its repetitive, looped animation.

Harry gets a weird phone call from a faltering, monotone voice telling him to deliver a package... to Finland. There he meets Leo, an old friend who offers him work in a secret organisation supporting a revolution in Latvia that will threaten the stability of the USSR. Leo is also getting his orders from the same computerised voice and recruits Harry for assassinations and other dirty work. The trail, or in this case wiring, leads all the way to Texas, where a communist-hating oil-billionaire has designs on the fall of Russia...

The super-computer central to the plot also reminds us how hacking used to be done in the 1960s, by changing reel-to-reel tapes and shuffling punch cards. Computing is presented as a new threat to the world, just before Hal 9000 threatened 2001: A Space Odyssey. The science-fictional technology predicts retinal scans, voice-activated computers and bio-weapons, which still looks a little futuristic, if it wasn't for the punch cards...

The extensive location photography makes the most of the unusual frozen lakes, churches and castles of Finland, contrasted by the shiny petrol tankers and cutting-edge skidoos.

The soundtrack music is another reason I keep revisiting Billion Dollar Brain. Richard Rodney Bennett's score accompanies the snowbound landscapes with the surreal ondes martenot, a keyboard adaption of the theramin (famously used in The Day The Earth Stood Still). Barry Gray was also a fan of the martenot, using it to accompany the loneliness of space travel in Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. Bennett's cascading piano theme couldn't be more dramatic, but the most serious scenes use adaptions of Russian classical symphonies, in line with the Soviet sub-plot.

Michael Caine's character prompted his appearance as Austin Powers's dad in Goldmember, as well as Myers' choice of glasses. Karl Malden plays the slippery Leo, years before he raced The Streets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas. The enchanting Francoise Dorleac (Polanski's Cul-de-sac) was en route to being as big a star as her sister, Catherine Deneuve. The jovial Oscar Homolka (Mr Sardonicus) makes a welcome return as Colonel Stok, reprising his role from Funeral in Berlin.This was a latecomer to DVD, now available 2.35 widescreen by MGM. The delay was presumably because of the music rights to a Beatles track. Unfortunately, the solution has been to remove a short scene, but you might still catch that on TV.

The Harry Palmer Movie Site has much more on all three films, and boasts rare behind-the -scenes footage.

The soundtrack liner notes (from a huge and expensive MGM boxset) are full of insight into the production, including the sad news that Francoise Dorleac died at 25, shortly after the film's release.

PLANETA BUR (1961) - Russian retro space adventure

PLANETA BUR
(1961, Russia, Planet of Storms)

I’m always short of enjoyable science fiction films to watch. I mean the older ones, like the alien attacks and giant monster movies of the 1950s. I like seeing how space travel was visualised before it started happening - a genre that’s now called 'retro-futuristic'.

Planeta Bur fits the bill perfectly, but unlike Destination Moon, Forbidden Planet and This Island Earth, it's almost completely unknown. To find a film this rich in futuristic design, with a pacy storyline and even a half-decent budget, is a joy to see.

In the 1960s, the space race had two competitors, inspiring films in the USA and USSR, but the Russian films of this era have hardly been seen outside its borders. Planeta Bur is a fantastic example. A prediction of how space travel might look, spiced up with monsters, a huge robot and even the possibility of first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life.


We join Earth's first mission to Venus just as a disastrous meteor shower jeopardises the trip. The survivors head down to the surface, leaving the only woman cosmonaut in orbit. The crew get separated as they land, their exploring has to take second place to a rescue expedition.

The impressive scale of the film, using many bleak locations representing Venusian landscapes, compares favorably to US and Europesn sci-fi of the time, as do the special effects. So much so, that Stanley Kubrick reportedly studied the director's space films when preparing 2001 - A Space Odyssey.


Planeta Bur is refreshingly different from Hollywood cliche. The only woman is an able astronaut, rather than a object to be rescued or romanced. The robot isn't a character with a personality, but more like a truck or piece of machinery – indeed, years before Hal 2000, it's almost a liability to the mission. The many local monsters and dinosaurs aren't crafty calculating adversaries, just local colour. The story is about the mission.

Besides the overly fantastic imaginings, the astronauts also philosophise about life beyond Earth, first contact with another alien race, whether Venus could once have had a civilisation many eons ago... all sorts of discoveries that space travel could possibly unlock. As it happens, almost all of their speculations come true during their brief expedition on the planet! Completely unlikely, but at least exciting the audiences with the prospect of what could be gained by such expeditions. All this and a super flying car too.


The Russian DVD is from a reasonable but faded print - it’s a bit scratchy, slightly soft and presented 1.33 full frame. The colour is vibrant and the sound good, remixed into stereo and 5.1. The main drawback is the tiny English subtitles, very hard to read on all but the hugest screens – they’re not pefect translations and also miss out some lines of dialogue, but I’m happy this DVD exists at all.

The extras are good and also have English subtitles. There’s a great documentary overview of the director, Pavel Klushantsev's other space films, featuring some astonishing clips of his visionary ‘documentaries’. He was a Russian equivalent of George Pal – weaving documentary with prediction and fantasy, but keeping the science as accurate as possible. His special effects are certainly a match for Pal’s technicians. There’s fantastic modelwork, made to look good by superior camerawork and seamless compositing. Like Pal, it’s designed to look like it would in real life.

One of his earlier documentaries is included on the DVD, but more can currently be found on YouTube. Get the DVD of Planeta Bur at Diabolik DVD or from ArtPop.


Do You Want To Know More?

DVD Beaver have some more screenshots from the film and a review.

An indepth look at the making of the film was printed in Outre magazine, the sister publication to Filmfax, in issues 14 to 17, written by special effects wizard Robert Skotak.

There was also an appreciation of Planeta Bur in the first Video Watchdog Special Edition back in 1991. In the 12-page article, John Charles examined how it was bought by Roger Corman, who used the special effects sequences for Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and its sequel.

Extensive screenshots from Pavel Klushantsev's Road to the Stars can be found here on Astronautix.com. Road To The Stars itself can be seen here on RuTube. Mars and even Planeta Bur are also on RuTube but without subtitles.

Tons more beautiful retro-future art here on these image-laden pages of Dark Roasted Blend.

DEAD DAUGHTERS (2007) stylised supernatural Russian horror

DEAD DAUGHTERS

(2007, Russia, Myortvye docheri)

PAL Russian DVD (Vox Video)

(This review also appears on 24framespersecond...)

Dead Daughters is a recent horror film that’s part of the push to get Russia back into the international market (like Day Watch and Apocalypse Code). That’s not to say that it has surrendered any of its Russian-ness, but been too obviously influenced by Japanese and US horror. Even so, surprise, surprise, the remake rights have already been bought in the US.

Naturally, the template seems to be Ring, with a simple set of supernatural rules, a short deadline, and scary girls with long black hair…

Vera is waiting in her car when a dishevelled stranger jumps in and threatens to hurt her if she doesn’t drive off immediately. He says that he’s being chased by the ghosts of three murdered children who will kill him if he does anything bad. Vera listens to his story but wisely takes the opportunity to dump him. She later tells five friends about the madman’s ghost story, not realising that he died soon after, and the dead daughters are now watching her every move…

Watching Dead Daughters was quite an experience, but eventually a frustrating one. I was initially seduced by the twitchy camerawork and heavily distorted colours, into a bleak nightmarish mood where vengeful ghosts could actually victimise the living. But I was hungry for the story to progress, and didn’t realise that the two-hour movie wasn’t going to deliver any major thrills until near the end.


The simple premise lost momentum for a long while, as a journalist tries to unravel the facts. But his search, and the experiences of ‘the five’, don’t bear fruit in the loooong second act. I later wandered why the premise had been set up at the start not once, but twice – both with disappointing pay-offs. Mood is important, but it felt like hours before the horror kicked in.

The simple rules laid down (eventually) are very clear, but the narrative is hazy as to how each character does something ‘bad’ enough to become a target, or why they were first chosen. All indicators that the producers want horror movie profits, but aren't taking the genre seriously enough to stick to it's own logic.

When the five agree that they will take the curse seriously, there may have been some comedy moments as they avoid doing anything that could at all be considered bad. Like a Jim Carrey movie, they are forced to tell the truth, be nice to colleagues at work, stop smoking… These are either supposed to be funny and aren’t, or supposed to be suspenseful but aren’t.

Besides the similar plot structure, there are direct references to Ring in the form of in-jokes. Ten years on, this is a little late considering there have also been four Scary Movies to do the job better. Samara even gets a name check, (the US version of Sadako) lumped in with some anime references. They must have watched both films.

I’d really rather see some local homegrown ideas, than such derivative stuff. What draws me to Thai and Japanese fantasy is to hear about their legends and beliefs. Fresh meat for horror fans sick of seeing familiar themes rehashed. Dead Daughters even takes it’s climax directly from the first sequel of a well-known US franchise…


I didn’t mind that the entire movie was shot with a constantly darting camera, it’s very well done. Though the ‘crushed’ details of many interior scenes, reduce much of the screen to blackness. This is an electronic process that takes place after the cinematography has wrapped, sometimes even after the editing has finished. We therefore don’t get to see what the camera or the editor saw, because the colours and brightness have been so drastically altered. I was sensing that I couldn’t see all the important information in the frame, to the point that I had no idea how two of the murders took place! The stylised look is great, but I’d also like to see what’s going on…

The unsettling, shifting camera sometimes means that we are sharing what the dead daughters are watching. I later realised that I’d recently seen several horrors taking a very similar stylistic approach. Shrooms was jerkily but beautifully shot, with extremely unnatural colours. So was Them, though both those were shot on video, while Dead Daughters benefits from expertly filmed cinematography. Nightmare Detective is still my pick of the wobble-cam bunch, because Tsukamoto is years ahead of the pack as an expert in jerky camera technique and fast-cutting, while still communicating narrative.


Unlike Night and Day Watch, the cast is almost completely made up of trendy twenty-somethings, a similar approach to US horror. It’s difficult to learn about modern Russia through such a distorting lens as this film, but there seemed to be satire and, if I read it right, comedy at the expense of the characters. All good-looking youngsters, with new capitalist jobs, like I.T., logo design, rock star, estate agent… They were all into fervent consumerism, laptops, grungy designer clothes... Indeed, we first see them surrounded by a room ridiculously full of litter from an evening in.

Where shops selling consumer goods in Soviet Russia were once only open to tourists, new Russia now has more of a disposable consumer society. Like the new Thai slasher movies, these mean nouveau riche kids are lined up to die bloody and painful deaths. Is that because the characters appeal to the audience, or are they being killed to appease the have-nots?

Attempts at broader comedy sabotage the well built-up, gloomy mood. There’s a taut scene where one of 'the cursed' visits a psychic. But because she is hypnotised by using the twirling flail of a battery-driven kung-fu hamster, it’s very hard to take seriously.


The swirling, layered soundscape is at its strongest using ethereal guitarwork, reminding me of Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie’s score to Mysterious Skin. But this is intersperesed with some downright awful cheap stock ‘horror’ music phrases that fight the modern mood onscreen.

Dead Daughters is almost very good – its strengths outweigh the many weaknesses. The atmosphere and approach are memorable, and I could probably appreciate the dark humour better on a second viewing. But it could certainly lose a few pounds around the middle.


The Russian DVD has English subtitles, but these are sometimes badly timed – there is often a long subtitle to cover the next three lines of dialogue spoken, rather than one each. There are some spelling mistakes and a few minor mistranslations – but nothing damaging. The picture is well-presented in 2.35 anamorphic letterbox, and there’s a choice of Russian audio mixes – stereo, 5.1 and DTS. There are also some extended behind-the-scenes as extras, but these aren’t subtitled. The DVD is available from Diabolik and DVDigitALL. Perhaps if the remake goes ahead, a US release will follow.

An English language website is still online film...

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DAY WATCH (2006) epic sequel to NIGHT WATCH

Cover art for the Russian DVD release with English subtitles

DAY WATCH

(2006, Russia, Dnevnoi Dozor)

Reviewed from the English subtitled all-region Russian DVD (from allDVD)

Highly recommended Russian horror/action/fantasy epic.

After the dazzling originality of Night Watch (2004) succeeded in captivating Russian audiences and worldwide cult movie fans, the sequel delivers more of the same. But at least this time we’re more ready for it. Night Watch has done for Russian cinema what Ring did for Japan. But I've yet to see any other recent Russian film as nearly as accomplished.

Day Watch is another mind-boggling movie, based on the Night Watch novel (a fuller explanation, together with PLOT SPOILERS is here on Wikipedia). All your favourite characters are back, but it’s highly recommended that you watch Night Watch again before ploughing into this. There’s no exposition to remind you of the story-so-far.

There’s the same mix of mundane everyday Russian life alternating with epic other-worldly action. Vampires, black magic, ancient power. It provides a next-generation update on several genres all at once.

The special effects are used with imagination and vision on a very large-scale. Though sometimes, the direction tries a little too hard to impress.

Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabensky) is back, caught in the middle of the war between light and darkness. Vampirism hardly figures in the story – it’s a power struggle teetering on the edge of all-out war. Points are being scored with long intricate battles of mind influence, like a game of chess using people and history. This time, an ancient piece of chalk that can alter fate could sway the battle.

Action scenes, hinted at in the trailer, include the spectacular assault on a labyrinthine fortress on horses that can ride through brick walls, a sports car driving up and skidding around the outside of a huge hotel and, oh yes, the destruction of major Moscow landmarks…

The film expects viewers to pay close attention, open their minds and be blown away by this violent, darkly humorous, black magic epic.

Zhanna Friske as Alisa - a dangerous adversary with a horny hairdo

The only English subtitled DVD available at the moment is from the alldvd online store. But as the film progressed, the timing of the subtitles on my copy got worse, sometimes lagging behind the speaker by several seconds. The picture was slightly soft, as was the audio. Home cinema perfectionists may want to wait for the inevitable US release, that will follow Day Watch’s appearance in US cinema’s in June. It’s certainly a film that will bear, and necessitate, repeat viewings!

24framespersecond (linked here) has just reported that Day Watch will also get a cinema release in the UK in October.

Don’t be put off by the simplistic DVD covers and posters – they seriously let down the layered, stylish look of these films. Instead, check out the trailers on the Day Watch fansite Into The Gloom...

How the third film, Dusk Watch, intends to build on these two films and conquer the US remains to be seen...

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BASTARDS (2006) teenage Russian DIRTY DOZEN

BASTARDS (2006, Russia, Svolochi)
Region 5 Russian PAL DVD (Paradise)

The cover artwork for this made me think this was going to be a Russian Lord of the Flies, but where in Russia are there islands hot enough to walk around half naked? An advanced news article on the TwitchFilm site (which includes a link for the trailer) slightly misdirected me into thinking the plot was more of a Battle Royale scenario.

But this is actually a gritty wartime drama set in Russia in 1943. Young orphans turn to crime and kill for food. A few are caught by the police after a fierce and bloody struggle.

Teen and pre-teen crime is getting so bad that the authorities now treat all criminals equally. The boys are no longer protected from the death penalty by their age. Instead of being executed, some are given a chance to join a special operations Army squad.

The main story is the gang of boys going through arduous training in a remote mountain camp. They try to break the rules, escape, shirk, but at least they are alive. The finale is the special mission itself...

This teen Dirty Dozen was gripping enough, though it was severely let down by sub-standard visual effects at the climax - Night Watch this isn't. It looked like the animatic storyboards had been left in!

I was quite impressed with the film until I read here on KinoKultura that it most probably wasn't a true story at all. There had been a huge fuss in Russia about the country being portrayed as using children in the army in WW2.

What's left is an insubstantial story that recounts events that never happened, as if they had. As a fictional allegory about using children as soldiers, it's insubstantial.

Still, the sweeping location photography is very impressive, as is the acting and the soundtrack.

The final mission looks way too easy, and didn't really need children to do it at all, severely compromising the premise. The writers should have watched a few episodes of Joe 90 and thought of a more convincing mission. After a great start, it runs out of steam.

This Russian DVD has good English subtitles for the dialogue, but many location captions are not translated, including the opening blurb that originally claimed that the story is based on truth.

The 16:9 anamorphic picture is crisp, showing off the locations nicely. However, the aspect ratio in the trailer and documentary clips is framed tighter vertically, inferring that the theatrical release was cropped closer to 1:2.0.

The extras include an extended look at the production - but aren't translated, rendering the many interviews useless. However, the behind-the-scenes footage shows off the location stuntwork - where they were using cardboard boxes instead of airbags to cushion the stuntman's high falls - a noticeably low tech, low budget method. The remote camera crane is also a nuts-and-bolts contraption, but it works beautifully.

I bought my DVD here on AllDVD, (a great tip from Twitch - it's hard to find good Russian sites). Make sure you order the version with English subtitles.

Do you want to know more?
Loads more stills from the film here.

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