www.list.co.uk/film HORROR I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (18) 103min (Anchor Bay) ●●●●●
1978’s I Spit on Your Grave is one of the most notorious entries in the Video Nasties list, banned by the Department of Public Prosecutions in 1984 for its violent depiction of rape and the victim’s subsequent revenge on her attackers (though it has since been released on DVD; the most complete version available in the UK is 101 Films’ 2010 release). Here Jennifer Hills (now played by Sarah Butler) rents a cabin in the woods only to be tormented, gang raped and left for dead by local rednecks. The protracted sexual assault is uncomfortable viewing; you certainly never identify with any of her assailants, and if anything you cheer on Hills’ grisly vengeance involving acid, fish hooks and garden sheers. It’s undeniably slicker than the rough and ready original, making it slightly more palatable for modern audiences, but this is undoubtedly still an exploitation flick that pulls no punches. Extras: interviews, making-of feature. (Henry Northmore) THRILLER/HORROR IN THEIR SLEEP (DANS TON SOMMEIL) (18) 79min (Optimum) ●●●●●
Opening on a shot of a woman reclined on the grass, it is the first of many scenes in writer/director siblings Caroline and Éric Du Potet’s psychological thriller that are not quite what they seem.
Sarah (Anne Parillaud, best known as Luc Besson’s Nikita) is in the depths of grief following the sudden death of her teenage son. Late at
unsurprisingly, the former, more established style is far more accomplished. The film is also notable for being set aboard the eponymous steam locomotive that served the London to Edinburgh line and for the cast, which includes Ray Milland making his debut, performing some breathtaking stunts including clambering along the outside of the moving train. And what a thrill it is to see the famous train arriving at Waverley Station, on what looks like platform 11. No extras, which seems like a missed opportunity. (Miles Fielder)
DRAMA/THRILLER BETRAYAL (15) 93min (Optimum) ●●●●●
Nazi-occupied Oslo in 1943 and the black market is rife. Life is sweet for corrupt businessmen who frequent the nightspot Club Havana, largely thanks to the compliance of the SS Major who turns a blind eye and takes his share. The arrival of a suspicious new auditor from Berlin puts schemes and lives in danger, not least for Eva, a double agent who sings in the club. Period setting,
costume and vehicles may be accurate but the overall look of Haakon Gundersen’s film is so glossy that it’s hard to feel involved in any way. The characters are almost entirely two- dimensional and the action is lacking the necessary punch to generate excitement. The fact that Eva is played by Lene Nystrøm (of dance-pop group Aqua) may be a curio for some, but even a rendition of ‘Barbie Girl’ wouldn’t be enough to liven up the proceedings. Minimal extras. (Ian Hoey)
night, she comes across a young man covered in blood on a stretch of woodland road, claiming a mysterious assailant is pursuing him. Parillaud’s taut,
suspenseful performance provides a strong central focus, assisted by an understated and eerie soundtrack. The directors continually play with the story’s timeline, showing various scenes from different perspectives until eventually the whole picture is revealed, giving the opening sequence a quite different meaning. Quietly unsettling. Minimal extras. (Lauren Mayberry)
COMEDY/THRILLER THE FLYING SCOTSMAN (PG) 57min (Optimum) ●●●●●
This romantic comedy thriller from 1929 (digitally restored for its Glasgow Film Festival and DVD premiere) competes with Hitchcock’s Blackmail for the title of first ever British talkie. Like Blackmail, The Flying Scotsman (which was directed by the marvellously monikered Castleton Knight) started as a silent film and had dialogue added to it. As a result, it begins with captions and music and, rather disconcertingly, switches to dialogue a third of the way in. The change from visual to verbal-oriented filmmaking is fascinating, and,
DVD REVIEWS Film
Possessed DVD
JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT To mark the release of The Rite, Ian Hoey celebrates our obsession with possession
We know that modern society is obsessed with ownership – fancy electrical goods, high fashion and general clutter. But there’s another form of possession with which people have been obsessed for a very long time. It’s possession of the body, the spirit and perhaps the soul. Cinema has thrown up endless ways for a person to become possessed
and a huge list of those that are prepared to do the possessing – think of Vertigo, Audrey Rose and The Innocents. Home may be where the heart is but it can also be where the possession is, as illustrated by the likes of Burnt Offerings, The Haunting, The Amityville Horror and The Legend of Hellhouse. There’s also vehicular possession such as Christine, The Car or even the several Herbie films – a spirit for good maybe, but possessed nonetheless.
However, the most enduring and popularised variety of the condition is demonic human possession. The Exorcist (Warner, DVD and Blu-ray) is undoubtedly the benchmark for all that has come before and since. It’s hard to top a film that had evangelists claiming that the very celluloid on which it plays is inhabited by the Devil. Excellent though her performance was, rumour had it that Linda Blair’s Oscar nomination was reliant upon voters mistakenly believing that the demonic voice emanated from her as opposed to being spoken by Mercedes McCambridge whose name had been left off the credits. Looks like Fathers Karras and Merrin weren’t the only ones the demonic voice was out to deceive.
It’s now nearly four decades since the release of The Exorcist but there is still no shortage of evil trying to get inside the unsuspecting. A few years ago, German thriller Requiem (Soda) and US-made The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Sony Home Video, DVD and Blu-ray) were factually based on the same true-life exorcism that occurred in the 1920s. The conclusion of recent hit Paranormal Activity (Icon, DVD and Blu-ray) sees the female protagonist becoming more than a little devilish, while last year the fake documentary approach invited us along on The Last Exorcism (Optimum, DVD and Blu-ray). And you can be sure the last in that title does not refer to the conclusion of the genre.
The viewing public is fascinated with the idea of good and evil and the ability to banish evil in the triumph of good. After all, possession is nine- tenths of the law. ■ The Rite, general release from Fri 25 Feb. See review, opposite.
DRAMA PELICAN BLOOD (15) 94min (Icon) ●●●●● Irish indie director Karl Golden’s second feature is more raw and vicious than his 2003 debut The Honeymooners. Harry Treadaway (Fish Tank, Control) plays Nikko, a suicidal young man whose low-key daily routine of bird watching is shattered by the reappearance of his bad influence ex-girlfriend Stevie (Emma Booth). Despite all the unlikely
twitching drama, at its bare bones this is an anti-love story. While Nikko obsessively ticks off the 500 birds he has allowed himself to spot before taking his life,
Stevie eggs him on, her coldness jarring with his ever-present vulnerability. Booth plays unattainable bitchiness with shocking believability, while Treadaway’s Nikko, careening towards a seemingly inevitable climax, is heartbreaking. Golden teases the audience, stopping this ticking time bomb with a sudden soaring twist that flips the film sideways, thus propelling it into something else. Minimal extras. (Kirstyn Smith)
17 Feb–3 Mar 2011 THE LIST 47