Lindsey C. Vikers' unsettling, slowburner The Appointment was still lingering in the old grey matter long after the end credits were over. Not too many films have me revisiting them the following day, either.Dada Debaser Film of the Month™.
The worst thing about cheeky cabbie, sex comedy romp Adventures of Taxi Driver, isn't the absence of a discernable plot, its grim Poverty Row production, the unflattering glimpse of Barry Evans' todger, Adrienne Posta's horrid theme song, or the humiliating shame of British luminaries Judy Geeson, Diana Dors and Blakey from On the Buses appearing in it, it's because it's a painfully, unfunny movie.
Did not need to see Mena Suvari taking a dump in graphic detail in Åkerlund's Requiem for a Dream (2000) knockoff, Spun. Symbolic of her career, however.
Stone isn't in the same league as Mad Max (1979) like various genre experts claim it to be. Only time the two Ozploitation films should be discussed together, is when referring to a character called Bad Max being in it, and Hugh Keays-Byrne being the only highlight in this hippiefest.
File The Bikeriders as another film where Tom Hardy adopts a funny voice and expects us to take it seriously. Jodie Comer also does the same in this Scorsese-lite biker movie. Great soundtrack, though.
Disney now owning The Planet of the Apes franchise has predictably turned it into another beloved film property ruined. The latest film reminds me of those forgettable Y.A dystopian flicks from the 2010s. All the more evident knowing it's helmed by the bloke responsible for some of the Maze Runner movies.
MaXXXine had me revisiting Angel for the eighties era L.A sleaze it was aiming for. Also watched You're Next on account of Ti West's hilarious death scene.
Talking Pictures TV has begun broadcasting the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense series recently. That one episode I mentioned in a wish list will be on TV on Friday 16th August. That's a date for the diary. Hopefully, it holds up after all these decades since seeing it.
Other than Death Wish II (1982) being your host's favourite film in the series, it also boasts a great soundtrack. All the more impressive is it's produced by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page. Blasphemy to many, but the Death Wish II soundtrack is the only music that's related to Led Zeppelin that I can listen to without Rap making it palatable.
A Shadow in the City is the best track off the soundtrack - and defines an outsider's impression on the sound of Los Angeles via film. Mean and moody from the offset, blessed with nasty synth stings, eerie cries and a bubbling noise that I can only imagine is the pent up anger rising out of Paul Kersey's soul. Simply put: it perfectly compliments Charles Bronson's vigilante prowling the cold, urban streets of Los Angeles as its Angel of Death.
Michel Colombier - John and Betty's Theme
Deep Cover (OST), 1992
Elements of A Shadow in the City are noticeable on Michel Colombier's track John and Betty's Theme off the Deep Cover soundtrack. What I love the most about this instrumental is how it samples Page's recognisable two notes and uses it as the skeleton to a late night, minimalist track for hustlers and love makers.
The connection between the two films isn't just applicable to just these two tracks, however. Both films featured Lawrence Fishburne (previously credited as Larry Fishburne back then).
While not a leading role like his undercover cop in Deep Cover, Fishburne would play Cutter, a member of Nirvana's gang; memorable for his futuristic-looking visors. Cutter would meet his demise in a shootout and idiotically shielding himself with a boombox.
Even further down the rabbit hole, Fishburne's co-star in Deep Cover was Jeff Goldblum, who also played a nasty street punk in the first Death Wish (1974) film.
Does anyone else remember the hoax of Jeff Goldblum's death in 2009? I definitely recall it, but I also remember the bizarre use of a Goldblum scene from Death Wish as part of the news story. Of all the Jeff Goldblum film clips to use, and the one selected is where he's a horrible scumbag. Barely anyone knows he was in it, either. Sadly, I can't find the news report which contained the Goldblum's Death Wish scenes online, after all these years.
Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) wasn't the only horror film involving a family of cannibals released that year. On the otherside of the pond, Pete Walker's Frightmare (1974) had a similar premise when it came out in theatres a month later. Unlike Hooper's influential classic, Walker's film was lambasted by critics due to its bloody violence and its commentary on the legal system. Decades later, Frightmare's reputation has improved drastically and revised as a British horror classic from the seventies.
Beginning with a monochrome prologue, set in the year 1957, a young Andrew Sachs, more commonly known for playing Manuel in the sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975-1979), enters a grotty caravan to have his fortune told. These would be his final moments as he meets an unpleasantly gory demise. His muderer, the psychotic fortune teller Dorothy (Sheila Keith) and her accomplice Edmund Yates (Rupert Davies), are sentenced to a mental institution until they are cured.
Fast forward to the present day (the film's present day; not ours!) and the fifteen year old hellraiser, Debbie Yates (Kim Butcher) has it in for the poor nightclub barman who won't serve her alcohol. Young Debbie doesn't take this too well and lies to her biker boyfriend and his mates that she was called a slut by the barman. The end result is the barman being beaten by the biker mob after closing time. Debbie goes one step further after her friends ride off by murdering the beaten man.
Meanwhile, Debbie's older half-sister, Jackie (Deborah Fairfax) is attending a friend's dinner party and being cringefully chirpsed (it's suprisingly working, though) by another guest, the psychiatrist Graham Heller (O.G Captain Zepp - Space Detective Paul Greenwood). Jackie is now Debbie's guardian after the murderous brat was thrown out of her orphanage. As a result, her social life has been terrible while looking after the bad seed.
Jackie has a secret of her own; which revolves around her sneaking off during the night and delivering a wrapped parcel to an isolated farm. Cue lots of day for night shots and library sounds of owls hooting. The farm is where her recently released father and step-mother now dwell, and a major proponent to the film's brilliantly macabre atmosphere.
No surprise to anyone into horror films, Dorothy has had a relapse. Sad, lonely women visit the farm to have their fortunes read by Dorothy while Edmund is away at work. Their futures are cut short once Dorothy has one of her turns. The murders are gruesome; one poor woman is
stabbed in the abdomen with a flaming poker with Kensington gore gushing from her mouth. The victims are covered with hay in the barn next door to the farm. The corpses aren't given any dignity. The sight of Sheila Keith's blood spattered crazed face as she uses a power drill on a cadaver is horrifying.
There's a cool scene where Debbie and Graham are at the pictures watching La Grande Bouffet (1973), but you can hear the recognisable dialogue from Walker's fantastic, previous film House of Whipcord (1974). With the stress of living with Debbie living under her roof and her parents being released, she abandons her date with Graham and drives back to the farm.
With Jackie's aid, the cops find the barman's corpse in the boot of a car. The mutilated barman proves Debbie is a psychopath and possibly a cannibal, just like her dear old mum. "What did you mean when you said 'it was more than murder'?", are what Jackie asks the fuzz; implying Debbie might have developed a hunger for long pig.
The film gets bleaker and darker as the film progresses, and this is the appeal as to why Frightmare
is so memorable. Walker courted controversy for how lurid his films were,
but they also were critical of British institutions and the generation of our elders. All this from a tory who made sexploitation films a few
years prior. His commentary on both mental health and judicial
systems in Frightmare is damning, regardless of its intentions being possibly exploitative
The film is bookended with a judge's quote:
"And
let the members of the public be assured that you shall remain in this
mental institution until there can be no doubt whatsoever that you are
fit and able to take your place in society again."
Comparitively speaking, Sheila Keith was the Robert De Niro to Pete
Walker's Martin Scorsese. The elderly actress was a class act in Walker's films and elevated them a great deal. She was an intergral part of why Pete Walker's films clicked for a generation of Brit horror fans. Keith would also play a fortune teller in an episode of the BBC mini-series Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible (2001) — a comedy which lovingly mocked various British horror films from the sixties and seventies.
Frightmare would turn out to be Deborah
Fairfax's only real theatrical film; which is a shame, since she played the
frustrated protagonist way better than some of Walker's other heroines. It would also be the last film by the veteran actor Rupert Davies, as he passed away a couple of years later.
With the exception of Die Screaming Marianne (1971), your host is unashamedly a fan of Pete Walker's "terror films". Torn between House of Whipcord and Frightmare over which is his best. What is an absolute certainty is just how fun it's been revisiting his films recently after purchasing 88 Films' Pete Walker blu-ray set; so it's no real surprise at least one of Walker's films got some shine on this blog, eventually.
The wait is almost over, Second Sight Films is close to releasing Robert Harmon's horror thriller The Hitcher (1986) in a couple of months. This particular physical release was already eagerly anticipated when this blog was created, so it's been a while.
The premise of the film is a cautionary tale as to never pick up a hitch hiker or they just might be a psychopath like the one an unlucky C. Thomas Howell picks up.
The Hitcher (Coin Scene)
Robert Harmon, 1986
Rutger Hauer will always be remembered as the killer android Roy Batty in the sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982) and those old Guiness ads, but many seem to forget, or are just unaware of, his mesmerising performance as the sadistic, serial killer John Ryder. Sean Bean was never able to match it in the forgettable 2007 remake.
The original The Hitcher has aged like fine wine, but I can't say the same for C. Thomas Howell's other 1986 film, though.
What really set Ennio Morricone apart from other great soundtrack composers was how he dipped into multiple musical genres without sacrificing quality. A jack of all trades; master of all. Therefore, it was hardly a surprise he was called Il Maestro.
It would often come as a surprise that a film's soundtrack would contain a distinctive style, which would have you thinking it was composed by Morricone. For the longest time Roberto Pregadio's music for The Forgotten Pistolero (1969) had me completely fooled.
Here are a bunch of themes which had me fooled into thinking they were by Il Maestro:
No surprise his old mate and fellow peer, Bruno Nicolai, would feature so heavily.
Switchin things around, how uncanny is it that Morricone's theme for John Carpenter's classic, sci-fi horror The Thing(1982) actually sounds like something Carpenter would have composed for his film?
Kenneth Johnson's alien invasion mini-series V (1983) may have been an allegory for fascism and the rise of the Third Reich, but to any young lad back then, it was the rise of the third leg thanks to its villainess Diana, as played by Jane Badler. (Brits wouldn't see the show until just before V: The Final Battle (1984) premiered the following year.)
Big fan of Jane Badler adopting the heavy metal, vixen big hair and tight fitting catsuits on the ongoing series of V (1984-1985). With Kenneth Johnson no longer writing, the show became a failure and was cancelled before the final episode was even filmed. It may have been awful, but it was peak era Jane Badler, in my opinion.
Badler would eventually reside and work in Australia; appearing in the completely forgotten The Highwayman (1987-1988) and the reboot of Mission: Impossible (1988-1990). Still a smokeshow on those shows.
Fast forward several decades, and she would wind up playing another Diana in the Aussie soap Neighbours (1985- ).
Can't say I care for any of the Tubi level horror films or her singing career, in all honesty. But she can rest easy with the knowledge she was one of the sexiest woman on TV during the eighties.
Imagine if the same dreamlike and ominous atmosphere which permeated Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) manifested itself with Edward Woodward driving a Ford Granada. That's the best way to describe Lindsey C. Vickers’s lesser seen, The Appointment (1981).
Apart from the short film The Lake (1978) (which shares many elements with this film) and a host of second/third unit directing spots for various Hammer films, this was Vickers’s one and only feature film as a director. One and done like Herk Harvey. A real shame, as this unseen chiller is a bonafide gem.
The Appointment manages to convey a tremendous sense of foreboding dread throughout its run time. Even scenes that involve inanimate still life objects, like a flower vase, Vickers manages to turn it into prophetic doom, with fallen flower petals being a sign of what’s to come. This scene, along with an abundance of other moments, make for a compelling build up. Fortunately, the climax of the film manages to be equally as satisfying.
A pre-credits sequence involving a young school girl walking home is when the film's first major, and most unforgettable, shocker occurs. Whilst taking a shortcut through the nearby woods, she's shockingly grabbed and whisked into the dense undergrowth, never to be seen again. The only trace is her violin being crushed by an unseen entity. It's a disturbing scene; one which completely earns the rest of the film all undivided attention.
Thankfully, the rest of The Appointment is equally as captivating. Edward Woodward plays Ian, the beige sweater wearing suburban dad, tasked with having to break the news to his bratty daughter Joanne (Samantha Weysom) that he won't be able to attend her violin recital, due to a work commitment. When she pleads for him to make it to her performance, it all gets uncomfortable. It’s a power struggle between the two. Not being able to attend his daughter's concert is perceieved as a betrayal, and seals Ian's fate. This is the crux of the story.
A restless night follows. Dad gets the worst of it with vivid bad dreams; one of which involves his wife Dianna disturbingly turning into Joanna. Another is where both Ian and Dianna experience the same nightmare, where Ian is involved in a very serious car accident. Meanwhile, a pack of mysterious rottweillers manage to stalk around the family's home and Ian's place of work. Not only are the canines the same breed as the demonic one from The Omen films, but they also behave the same way.
While the stealthy dogs are doing who knows what to Ian's car in the garage, the most disturbing part occurs when Ian is tempted to go into his daughter's bedroom. Joanne is awake and stares at the door handle. Wasn't until another viewing when I realised the supernatural source.
Early in the morning, a tired and groggy Ian drives off to attend his long distance appointment.
Really great how the sound of screeching tyres, which were featured in a nightmare, persist while Ian is resting at a motorway service station. It's a minor detail that lends to the impressive vibe of the film.
Ultimately, the significance of the mysterious dogs and Ian's upcoming doom become very apparent during the final act of the film, of which there's really no need to divulge any further plot details.
Considering The Appointment was released during the hayday of the video nasty, it's a virtually a bloodless affair. Foreboding, atmospheric dread is its main objective. Edward Woodward is great at playing authoritarian figures who’ve bitten off more than they can chew in horror films. For fans of British horror, it's a winner. Effective as a slow burn chiller that doesn't abuse one's patience with a long arse run time; and rewarding to the observant who can spot hidden clues and symbolism within the film.
The Appointment is one of the better films I've seen released via BFI''s Flipside imprint. Tragic how it's spent forty years in relative obscurity and doesn't even have an official trailer. Worst of all, is it spending another two years sitting in my unwatched pile until I got round to watching it.
Managed to finally check out Jim O'Connolly's circus-themed, proto-slasher, Berserk (1967) over the weekend. Overall conclusion was that Joan Crawford wearing a leotard was far more horrifiic than any of the gruesome deaths that occurred. However, it was worth enduring just to tick it off the list of ‘Judy Geeson films I have not seen’.
With a career stemming back to her childhood, Geeson really came to prominence when she starred alongside Sidney Poitier's teacher as the besotten student Pamela Dare, in the hit drama To Sir, With Love(1967). Her subsequent roles had her appearing in numerous genres which were popular at the time; ranging from spy adventures, sex comedies and horror thrillers. The latter category was where she really got to shine as an actress, as she got to flex some acting chops rather than appear as eye candy.
Thus, here are Dada Debaser's favourite Judy Geeson films:
Richard Attenborough's weird shaped bald cap isn't enough to distract from this deeply disturbing and dark thriller based on real life, serial killer John Christie. Judy Geeson is the sympathetic young mother Beryl Evans, while a young John Hurt delivers one of his underappreciated performances as her simple-minded, hypochondriac husband. One of the G.O.A.T Britisih films, in my humble opinion.
On the lighter side, 10 Rillington Place might inadvertedly serve as a prequel to the politically incorrect British sitcom Love Thy Neighbour (1972 - 1976) as Rudolph Walker is the nameless new occupant moving into the house of horrors during the film's ending.
Taking obvious inspiration from Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques (1955), along with Sangster the script gangster's earlier stories - Taste of Fear (1961) and Nightmare (1964), this is a pleasant throwback to the psychological thrillers Hammer had produced before they went all in on horror. Six months after an assault, Geeson is left traumatised and seeing a psychiatrist. She's attacked again aftter marrying her teacher hubby, Ralph Bates. The attacks continue even after moving in a house on school grounds in the remote countryside. Are the attacks mere figments of her imagination? The unreliable narrator is hardly a fresh concept, but Geeson's performance is a major highlight in keeping you guessing. Various twists and turns, along with the dread filled paranoia class Fear in the Night as a Hammer giallo. To round out the cast, the legendary Peter Cushing plays the creepy headmaster and Joan Collins in pre-Alexis mode as his shotgun wielding wife.
Both Judy Geeson and Joan Collins previously were in the spy thriller The Executioner (1970), which is a snoozefest despite George Peppard pretending to be a Brit in it.
Helmed by Spanish director Eugenio Martin, the film maker responsible for the classic Peter Cushing & Christipher Lee chiller Horror Express (1972), A Candle for the Devil is another high quality effort in Spain's horror canon. The clashing of liberal and conservative attitudes lead to numerous deaths and full bodied rioja inside a village hotel run by two puritanical and murderous sisters; Fawlty Towers it's not! Geeson is the heroine investigating the disappearance of her sister who might have lived to go on another summer holiday if she bothered keeping her kit on while sun-bathing.
Judy's actual sister, Sally Geeson, was in Carry On Abroad (1972), which makes for an interesting double bill with A Candle for the Devil on account of both film's reflecting the popularity of package holidays for Brits at the time. Both films, however, are radically different.
Film historians would probably label Brannigan as part of the popular Eurocrime movies which would often star recognisable Hollywood actors; middle-aged Brits like myself would call it a forerunner to eighties cop show Dempsey and Makepeace (1985 - 1986). The legendary John Wayne plays the hardboiled Yank cop in London; Judy Geeson is the English blonde assigned to him. All about John Wayne, first and foremost. Worth peeping just for the Duke leaping over Tower Bridge in a Ford Capri.
An all-star WWII, action thriller revolving around a Nazi plot to kidnap or kill Winston Churchill. This would end up being the final film by the celebrated director Jim Sturgess. Sadly, Geeson's role is relatively minor in comparison to the screen time given to the likes of Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall. Overall, a superb film which remarkably turns its villains into being sympathetic.
Please believe admitting to liking any Rob Zombie film is not an easy task. The Lords of Salem is essentially the only decent film by the talentless hack with a penchant for remaking past films with a white trash spin. Therefore, it's a surprise that the dreamlike The Lords of Salem comes acrosss as a grungier Peter Strickland film than Zombie's other overrated shite. After decades of television work, Judy Geeson returned to film as one of three Salem witches aiming to impregnate Zombie's trustafarian-looking wife with the seed of Old Nick. Trippy and surreal, with more replay value than anything else Zombie ever made.
Controversial, psychological drama starring Judy Geeson and Martin Potter as a pair of disturbed aryan looking twins. The allure of the bright lights and the big city turn into a nightmare as the incestuous couple cross paths with Alexis Kanner's crazy pimp. Unfortunatley, the film is nowhere near as captivating as its disturbing premise; in fact, with the exception of a memorable ritual scene, it's lethargically paced to the point of curing insomnia.
Film adaptation of the BBC science fiction series. Sasdy's film is initially set up as a folk horror on a Cornish island. Turns out this is really a tragic, ecological thriller with Ian Bannen's scientific investigator discovering growth hormone pollutants have wound up in the food chain, deforming the locals. As poignant as its environemental message is, Doomwatch drags far too much to maintain any interest. Geeson gives a solid performance as the friendly school teacher, but she's not given much development, regrettably.
The only good things about this cheap as chips Alien rip off are Judy Geeson and Stephanie Beacham being in it. Essentially a slasher, and one that makes some of Roger Corman's Alien knock off films look like Ridley Scott's influential masterpiece. With all the gore and nudity in the film, perhaps the most unflattering are the close-ups of Geeson's fillings whilst she's giving birth to a hiliariously looking alien homunculus. A career low for Geeson, and possibly the reason why she focused on televison work after being in this cinematic abortion.
That’s about all that's worth covering here; at least what's relevant to the tastes of this blog. The Plague Dogs (1982) will probably remain a blindspot as it's an animated feature film about a pair of escapee canines from an animal research laboratory. It's by the team responsible for Watership Down (1978), and supposedly even more depressing. Thus, your host has no idea how significant Judy Geeson's vocal role is in the film. Not worth the risk of being reduced to tears just to find out.
In recent years, Mia Goth has turned into a Hollywood star. A status that her characters Maxine Miller/Minx and Pearl Douglas have craved. Together with director Ti West, the first two instalments of their film trilogy X (2022) and Pearl (2022) has netted them critical praise and fans in the franchise. Therefore, the third entry, MaXXXine (2024) was always going to be eagerly anticipated, especially when it's set in Hollywood during the mid-eighties.
MaXXXine never relents in its mission of showcasing the overly familar eighties aesthetic which has been pastiched for decades now. Cue an abundance of neon lights, video filtering and the retro sound of cold synths and sleazy saxophones. It's a remarkable achievement in MaXXXine; a nostalgic trip to a world defined by films from a given era rather than adhere historical authenticity. Both The House of the Devil (2009) and the previously mentioned X were testament to West's expertise in recreating past decades, thus, it's hardly a surprise MaXXXine's cinematic world is easily its strongest asset.
Ironically, West's devotion to visual aesthetics, film references and various homages have come at the expense of a focused plot, character developments and a worthy final act. Worst of all, the levels of suspense and terror, which were part and parcel in the very films which inspire MaXXXine, are largely absent. These egrious errors result in the weakest entry in the X trilogy.
As talented as Mia Goth is, Maxine has regressed to a two dimensional character. Aspiring to transition from a porn star to a Hollywood starlet is not only her ultimate goal, but her entire personality. Her ruthlessness is largely on the back burner and only appears in a few scenes; one of which involves an unfortunate Buster Keaton impersonator. For the most part, she's either being harassed and stalked by Kevin Bacon's slimy P.I, or taking career advice from Elizabeth Debicki’s snooty horror director. Meanwhile, Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale have little to work with as cops on the hunt for L.A's serial killer, the Night Stalker, other than light relief. Similarly, Giancarlo Esposito as Maxine's agent hardly offers little in the film with the exception of look amusing wearing a wig on his head. The rest of the cast are even less fortunate. Maxine's close circle merely exist for the bodycount. Throw in the obligatory Satanic Panic hysteria from the era, and you have loads of elements that come across as scatterbrained. They all lead to an unsatisfying conclusion, unfortunately. The big reveal was no different to the nonsensically, eye-rolling ones featured in the Scream sequels.
Still, fans of genre films, especially lovers of the slasher and the giallo, might get more mileage out of the film than normies. Notable setpieces include a beautifully filmed Argento style kill à la Tenebrae (1982) inside a seedy video store. Tyler Bates supplies a fantastic score for it; which sounds like a mashup of vintage Goblin and Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key's soundtracks. Fans of eighties Friedkin and De Palma won't go hungry, either. Biggest surprise of all is the severed head on a bed homage from the video nasty Nightmare in a Damaged Brain (1981). There are of course less obscure references like the parallels between Pearl and Norma Bates; made all the more obvious with the former peering out of the iconic house adjacent to the notorious Bates Motel. Maxxxine is loaded with many movie references and easter eggs for easily pleased cinephiles. All distractions from the film's aforementioned flaws.
To conclude, MaXXXine is an enjoyable, but significant step down from its predecessors; plenty to appease horror fans and eighties nostalgia heads, but lacking in offering anything truly meaningful. Which is a genuine shame, since Ti West and Mia Goth were a winning combination over the last couple of years.
Kind of funny that, despite being a band from New York City, Blondie would record a song which is forever associated with the sunny vibe of Los Angeles, thanks to it appearing on the opening titles to Paul Schraeder's thriller American Gigolo (1980). Blondie's official video for Call Me features footage of an overcast N.Y.C. Thus, it doesn't compliment the song as effectively as Richard Gere cruising in his black Mercedes convertible while on his way to satisfy some rich cuckhold's wife.
L.A. home of the body bag... and also a bunch of soundtrack choons which sum up the city that I've never been. Since I already did one of these compiliations for its east cost twin, here's the City of Angels' equivalent:
A real shame that Josie Cotton's problematic Johnny Are You Queer? predates its soundtrack appearance in Martha Coolidge's teen comedy Valley Girl (1983), as it's my fave choon off the soundtrack.
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