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DRAMA THE HOLLY AND THE IVY (PG) 77min (Optimum) ●●●●● Although it’s by no means a classic, this British melodrama from 1952 provides an interesting snapshot of domestic life in postwar Blighty. Taking place over Christmas in rural Norfolk, it revolves around a family gathering at the vicarage of the widower Reverend Gregory (Ralph Richardson, in good woolly form). With the wife and mother of the Gregorys gone, the family is unwinding: Celia Johnson’s devoted daughter sacrifices her happiness with beau John Gregson to look after her father; Margaret Leighton’s high-flyer obsessively pursues a London fashion career, and Denholm Elliot’s wayward young son gets into trouble doing his military service.
Luckily, a pair of dotty aunts are on hand to tease out the secrets and lies that are destroying the domestic peace. It’s ultimately sentimental stuff, but it never becomes saccharine. No chance that it’ll usurp It’s A Wonderful Life as the Christmas go-to film, but it beats the pants off modern muck such as The Holiday. No extras. (Miles Fielder)
DRAMA THE SECOND WIND (18) 149min (Optimum) ●●●●● This is the second adaptation of criminal- turned-crime-writer José Giovanni’s novel about an old lag breaking out of prison after a lengthy spell inside only to find the underworld of late 1950s Paris has changed beyond recognition. The first,
made by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1966, was a typically paired-down thriller. In contrast, this version, directed by Alain Corneau (best known in the UK for his 1991 period drama Tous Le Matins Du Monde, but well versed in making policiers), is wholly operatic and owes a debt to Martin Scorsese. While the candy
colouring, cool soundtrack and bloody bursts of violence recall Goodfellas amd Casino, there’s none of Marty’s signature gravitas, humour and raw authenticity to underpin the stylisation. What’s left is a nice- looking film that everybody involved – Corneau and his admittedly impressive cast lead by Daniel Auteil, Monica Bellucci and footballer-turned- actor Eric Cantona – seems to be taking far too seriously. No extras. (Miles Fielder)
THRILLER I SELL THE DEAD (15) 85min (Anchor Bay) ●●●●●
First-time writer-director Glenn McQuaid does a pretty good job of invoking the spirit of the camp old Hammer chillers films with this low-budget comedy horror about a pair of luckless bodysnatchers. Set in a mist-shrouded backwater of 19th century feckin’ Ireland (but actually shot in New York City), Dublin- born McQuaid’s
boisterous romp recounts the terrible tale of Arthur Blake (The Lord of the Rings’ Dominic Monaghan) and Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden, also the film’s producer). Confessing his sins to
a drunken priest (Ron Perlman, aka Hellboy) on the eve of his execution, Arthur recalls his apprenticeship into the business of digging up the recently deceased, his servitude to a wicked doctor (Angus Scrimm from Phantasm) and his ghoulish encounters with the not quite dead. Although the tone of the film becomes increasingly dark, McQuaid keeps things buoyant with a nice line in gallows humour. No extras. (Miles Fielder)
HORROR INSIDE (18) 79min (Momentum) ●●●●●
During the filming of Inside, Béatrice Dalle would hide herself under a hoodie, so upset was she that people would deign to look at her when not looking her best. OK, the character she plays (‘The Woman’) has just had half her face blasted away during another entrails- drenched confrontation with the heavily pregnant Sarah (Alysson ‘Younger Sister Of’ Paradis) whose unborn child The Woman appears to be rather keen on destroying. But such precious vanity from the iconic star of Betty Blue seems somewhat inconsistent with appearing in a gory horror flick. This is one of the few real insights in the near hour-long ‘making of’ extra about this movie rarity (a French gorefest) which lays its cruelties on thick after an admirably tense
DVD Reviews Film HORROR ROUND-UP
We’ll start our trawl though the best (and worst) of recent horror DVD releases with the only movie in our countdown to get a (limited) theatrical release. Wolf Creek was one of the most savage horror movies of the last few years and Greg MacLean is back with more terror in the outback with rampaging crocodile flick Rogue (Icon) ●●●●● It’s your standard Jaws affair stripped of the brutality of MacLean’s debut, but entertaining nonetheless.
For a big bite of the undead try zombie comedy Wasting Away
(Kaleidoscope) ●●●●● It’s an earnest effort to mine some subversive laughs but, despite a handful of good moments, it ultimately fails as much as it succeeds. Next we go searching for ghosts. Brittany Murphy and Thora Birch star in Deadline (Metrodome) ●●●●● as a writer moves to an isolated retreat that (surprise, surprise) turns out to be haunted. The Books of Blood (Lionsgate) ●●●●● is another haunted house story, this time set in Edinburgh and based on the short story by Clive Barker. It starts strongly but can’t quite capture the dark perversity of Barker’s writing. Death of a Ghost Hunter (Brain Damage) ●●●●● manages some genuine scares on a micro budget but is the only film we can recommend from Brain Damage’s new budget horror range (other titles include Prey for the Beast and Torture Me No More at £2.99 each) with a clear conscience.
Finally, it’s time for some slice and dice action. If you love the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, Smash Cut (Lionsgate) ●●●●● is the perfect homage to his early splatter movies. There are far better Texas Chainsaw Massacre-rip offs than Cameron (son of George A) Romero’s Staunton Hill (Anchor Bay) ●●●●● who doesn’t seem to have inherited any of his father’s skill, but at least when the action kicks in it’s suitably gruesome. Dr Chopper (MVM) ●●●●● is a cheap slasher with a mad doctor trying to carve up a group of teens for his bizarre experiments. Mr Halloween (MVM) ●●●●● is even more painful as a serial killer uses real body parts as props in his Halloween haunted house attraction. But we’ll end on a high note: imagine if Pedro Almodóvar remade Scream and you might end up with something like Sexy Killer (Momentum) ●●●●●, a smart and sassy Spanish slasher movie that has Marcarena Gómez carving up her college classmates before throwing a whole heap of zombies into the mix in the final reel. Funny, clever and gloriously self-aware. (Henry Northmore)
opening is swiftly discarded for Halloween-esque shocks, all of which are undermined by a motive which can be safely guessed around the 20- minute mark. (Brian Donaldson)
THRILLER KING OF THE HILL (15) 85min (Optimum) ●●●●● If the recent crop of exports is anything to go by, Spanish cinema currently excels at delivering clever, polished thrillers and chillers. This one, starring Leonardo Sbaraglia (the paranormally lucky protagonist from
(Valverde) up a mountain road to a remote rural location where the pair find themselves stalked by an unknown assailant with a sniper’s rifle. The ensuing deadly game of cat and mouse unspools at a speedy pace, and the chase over the rugged terrain is taut. But while Quim and Bea are protagonists worth rooting for, the dénouement is too similar to a pair of recent British and French chillers – that shall remain unnamed for the sake of plot-spoiling – to be anything more than underwhelming. Extras: cast and director interviews. (Miles Fielder) 8–22 Oct 2009 THE LIST 57
Intacto) and María Valverde (soon to be seen in Michael Radford’s Spanish Civil War comedy The Mule) is typically well executed. After being pick- pocketed in a gas station toilet lovelorn Quim (Sbaraglia) pursues thief Bea