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SILENT SERIFS
LES VAMPIRES (PG) 339min
tArtrficral Eye DVD retarli O...
Les Vampires
Trrnes of crisis are often also eras of escapism: yet the forms of art produced rn such periods often unconsciously reflect the very crises we seek to escape. Thrs rs certarnly' the case rn Louis Feurllade's Les Vt'rmprres. a serres of shorts of uneven length from lSJlS. which makes lrttle allusion to the slaughter gorng on not far from rts Parrsran locatron. but rs filled with a subtext of dark anxrety.
ln rt. we meet crusading journalist Phrlirppe Geurande rEdouarde Mathe whose sole arm rn lrfe rs to bring down the secret crrmrnal gang of the trtle. avast organrsatron dedrcated to murder. extortion and robbery stalking the streets of Paris and beyond. Hrs chief assistant rs Ma/antette rlvlarcel Levesque: a comrcally morally flax/ed undertaker. but nerther is a match for the ‘-.‘.’rly femrne fatal lrma Vep rlvlusmtorar. a promrnent gang member. Geurande sees hrs trance murdered. '.'.'hrle hrs mother who proves more formidable than the gang. rs kidnapped rn the opening eprsodes. lhe journalist then chases the vrllarns through a serres of increasingly outlandrsh scams and capers.
A madly inventive narrative cornbrnes with all of the devices 'pozsoned household objects. l)rarnwashrng. drugs that stop the l‘eart then start rt on demand. that have come to be assocrated .vrth the espionage frlrn. ,et beyond this. there rs a ‘ar rr‘ore fascinating encounter with history. lhe gang seem to
reflect a profound drsrllusronment with the hrerarchy of French socrety. its members rncludrng magistrates. estate agents and aristocrats. So too. they atrr> fr(3(ttl(}ltt|y' assocrated wrth the nrghtmare of the modern. wrth telephones. automobrles. recordrng devices and every other rnventron of recent years rncluded rn their evrl dorng: they even possess a canon. a chrllrng remrnder of the slaughter rn Flanders that modern technology has brought. Some wonderful clowning from Levesque. whose character at one point has hrs prornrnent hose shot off by hrs son. also gives us an rnsrght rnto an old form of comedy that as nov: sadly lost. Theresa solrd extras package, rncludrng a serres of Feurllade shorts. rSteve Cramer. PSYCl lOl OCElCAl Ifiél‘iiiues (15) 99mins 'Optrmum DVD retail rental 0.. out or we M061 ammo mm or n: mm
For hrs yarred pedrgree alone. screenwrrter John August's debut feature rs a worthy currosrty. Having written Doug l.rman's Go. botl‘. Char/re '5; Angels rnstalrnents and three frlrns by Trm Burton rrackrng up an Oscar nornrnatron for Big Fish in the processr. thrs low— budget feature mrxes srnrster rntrrgue wrth a gleaming Holly".'./ood sheen.
Over three reverse~ chronology segments. the same actor's Ryan Reynolds. Hope Davrs and l‘vlelrssa McCarthy »— play a drfferent trro of characters. who may or may not be :r‘. the rnrdst of a dream or a sci-fr fantasy. Budgetary constrarnts mean that rnost of tilt. frlrn rs shot rn l./\. much of rt even rn August's own home.
and the constant referencrng of Reynolds various jobs rn the er‘rtertarnment industry recalls the playfulness of Steven Soderbergh's more obscure works. The elements of subjective reality that eventually appear. however. are an only semrsuccessful attempt to recreate the pux/le box effect of a Davrd Lynch frlrn. Extras rnclude rnten'rews. trarler and 'behrnd the scenes' shorts. rDavrd Pollockr
DRAMA INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE (U) 69min
rFreemantle DVD
rental retarlr .00
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Comrng rr‘. at just over an hour. thrs rs a frlrn that can be found rn drfferent versrons ranother one goes under the trtle of Terminal Stat/cm Ti‘rs one's strength lies in another of Montgomery Clrft's troubled incarnations r/ Confess. A Place II? the Sum Falling in love with felloy'x Amt-zrrcan Jennrfer Jones at Rome Central. Clrft's the professor who can't gurte let go. Thrs hardly passes for the neo-realrsm we expect from Vrttorra B/cvc/e Thieves De Srca but rt has moments of bustle. and producer Davrd O Sel/nrck rnrght not have cared much for realrsrn «Truman Capote was drafted rn to work on neo-realrst master Cesare Zavattrnr's scr'rptr. but he drd at least unrant the frlrn shot rn the recently burlt rarl‘».‘.ray statron. An rnterestrng oddrtv.
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THIRTY DAYS OF NIGHT
(18) 113 min
rlcon Home Entertainment: .00
\.«"./hrle cornparrsons to Katherine Brgelow's class'c Near Dark rnrght be a lrttle exaggerated
DVD ROUNDUP
Horror has to be one of the most prolific genres. particularly on the direct to DVD market. so as per usual there's plenty to get through this issue. For the true aficionado Mother of Tears (Optimum) 000 sequel you've been waiting 28 years for. the final part of Dario Argento’s ‘Three Mothers triptych that started with 1977’s sublime Suspirr‘a (a true marriage of art. cinema and violence) and 1980's Inferno. Argento's daughter Asia takes the starring role as the heroine battling the final witch. the Mother of Tears. who unleashes death and destruction across Rome. It could never quite live up to its legacy and feels dated. but it‘s by no means an embarrassing conclusion to the trilogy with Argento still demonstrating a keen eye for cinematic violence. Commendable distribution company Shameless continue their trawl through cinema‘s dark underbelly with rape-revenge thriller Night Train
Murders (Shameless) ooo
(pictured) is the
getting it's first uncut UK release. It’s fairly
uncomfortable viewing: think an Italian Last House on the Left. but its ambiguous ending and commentary on social class runs deeper than at
first glance. Ratman (Shameless) 00
has the immortal tagline: ‘He's
the critter from the shitter‘ emblazoned aCross the cover. Predictably an experiment crossbreeding rats and apes goes awry with the mutant hybrid heading off on a murderous rampage. Not the greatest film but you have to admire Shameless‘ dedication in unearthing obscure titles like this.
Thanks to the last decades J-horror explosion we‘ve become immune to the charms of the Asian market so lets just travel a few more miles round the globe for a double bill of Antipodean horror. Storm Warning
(Optimum) 0.0
is a surprisingly brutal and effective Aussie chiller. which
focuses on a city couple who stumble upon a farmhouse of psychopaths
while The Ferryman (Revolver) 00
starts promisingly as three
couples set off on a sailing holiday only to encounter an evil spirit that can jump from body to body with the use of a sacred knife. but quickly chucks it all away becoming increasingly ham-fisted and over the top.
Finally. we just have time for Snoop Dogg taking on Tales From the Crypt
in anthology Hood of Horror (DNC) 00 The Living and the Dead (DNC) o
and Brit psychological horror . which. despite some great
acting is tedious. pretentious and amateur. (Henry Northmore)
there are certarnly some nrcely burlt moments in Davrd Slade's varnprre flrck based on Ben Templesmrth and Steve eres' graphrc novel.
In rt. ‘a'u’O meet a town sherrff rJosh Hartnettr baffled by a serres of mysterious petty crimes around hrs isolated Alaskan hamlet. all seernrngly geared towards cuttrng off the cornrnunrty from the outside world as the long arctrc nrght of the trtle sets in The source rs a pack of vampires who. rt emerges. run a
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nice lrne rn exrstentralrst dialogue in some unknown tongue. subtitled for our benefrt. The apocalypse happens as nrght falls. and survivors of the
vampires bloodlust hrde out in attics and trashed homes awaiting the daybreak.
There are some nice performances here. but while there's no shortage of tensron in the first half hour of the trim. a lrttle too long rs spent follo\.'r.'rng the character's through their claustror)hobrc hiding places in the rnrd section. All the same. rt's worth the ride for the frosty location shots aione. arid a huge package of extras adds interest. rSteye Cramer
' n “.l.‘:. THE LIST 65