Immaculate

 

Immaculate

2024

Director- Michael Mohan

Cast- Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, Simona Tabasco

            Sister Cecilia (Sidney Sweeney) is a young nun who has just arrived at a convent in Italy. The convent serves as a hospice and retirement home for older nuns, many that are close to death or who have developed dementia. The younger nuns, like Cecilia, take care of their elderly Sisters in their twilight years.

            After a short time in the convent, Cecilia becomes sick and it becomes quickly apparent that she is pregnant. After a rudimentary examination, her pregnancy is proclaimed a miracle, an Immaculate Conception. Cecilia is immediately placed in a position of reverence among the other sisters but the miracle begins to seem sinister and Cecilia starts to wonder what horrible thing has truly happened to her.

            The movie mixes equal parts religious trauma with body horror. Cecilia is quickly reduced to an unimportant object whose only value is in giving birth, regardless of her own desires or the dangers. Also, despite being in an environment surrounded by women, she finds herself at the mercy of men, as the Father, the Cardinal and the convent’s male doctor have complete say as to what happens to her.

Isolation, dogma, and hierarchy are used along with psychological gaslighting to create confusion and dread. The viewer knows that the truth, whatever it is, won’t bring relief.

            The film’s budget, though comparatively large by independent standards ($ 9 million) is still rather small by Hollywood standards. The film, which languished in development Hell for years, was saved by Sweeney’s recent Hollywood success. She had auditioned for the role years ago, and then ultimately became one of the film’s producers helping to finally get it off the ground, which makes this a bit of a passion project for her.

            It’s a very American film but has visible roots in Italian horror. First there is the location, with principal photography taking place in Rome and much of the dialogue being in Italian. The film further shows its love of Italian horror with a prominent use of Bruno Nicholai’s “Servizio fotografico” from the giallo, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. There isn’t a lot of gore in the film, but what there is, is very graphic and Fulciesque with people’s faces being obliterated in a way that would have seemed natural in one of Lucio Fulci’s films. Also, though the film is not a gothic horror, it has a gothic aesthetic. Sweeney, walking through the darkened convent corridors with only a candle to guide her, clothed only in a thin white gown, looks very much the part of a gothic heroine.

            The film is a competent horror movie that most horror fans will find enjoyable, at least for one view. However, the story unambiguously deals with the very modern issue of reproductive rights, and there will be a few people who will identify very much with the protagonist’s struggle. I can easily see Sweeney’s nun taking her place alongside Florence Pugh’s Dani from Midsommar or Mia Goth’s Pearl, at least for the people who will identify closely with her.

           

Poison for the Fairies (Veneno para las hadas)

 

Poison for the Fairies (Veneno para las hadas)

1985

Director- Carlos Enrique Taboada

Cast- Ana Patricia Rojo, Elsa María Gutiérrez

From Mexico

            This charming tale from Mexico follows the relationship between two elementary school age girls, Veronica and Flavia. Veronica is raised by an older nanny who tells her stories about witchcraft. Rather than being scared, Veronica is fascinated. Flavia is raised by rich parents who have instilled a sense of skepticism about the supernatural. Both are classmates in a parochial school.

            Veronica tells Flavia that she is a witch. Flavia is incredulous but Veronica begins to create doubt in Flavia’s mind after her piano teacher suffers a stroke. Veronica cultivates a relationship with Flavia, partly through piquing Flavia’s curiosity and partly through intimidation.

Veronica develops a plan to brew poison for the fairies that she says are living around them and enlists Flavia’s aid in acquiring the ingredients. As their relationship continues, Veronica becomes more domineering and abusive until things finally come to a head.

Despite the prevalence of witchcraft and the occult. Poison for the Faries is not  really a scary film. It is a story about the power that belief has over us. In this regard it is similar to The Witches and The Juniper Tree. It is also a very realistic portrayal of child psychology. The viewer sees the world through Veronica and Flavia’s eyes, and as such, we never know for certain what is real verses a child’s exaggeration. The movie focuses entirely on the two girls. Adult characters, when present, are faceless, much like the adults in a Peanuts cartoon. It also broaches the uncomfortable subject of evil in children. Can a person already be “bad” at a young age? 

            An intelligent film that is horror, not because of any particular imagery, but because of its unsettling look into the minds of children. There is no sex or profanity so its also totally appropriate for any younger viewers who are mature enough to appreciate its themes.

Still want more: Check out Don’t Deliver Us from Evil, a more grown up, and salacious, examination of similar themes of occult belief in adolescents.

          

The Pope's Exorcist

 

The Pope’s Exorcist

2023

Director- Julius Avery

Cast- Russell Crowe, Alex Essoe, Laurel Marsden, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney. Daniel Zovatto, Ralph Michael Ineson, Franco Nero

            This film serves as a dramatization (with a quite a few liberties I imagine) of the real life exploits of Father Gabriele Amorth, a Catholic Priest and exorcist who, over the course of his life performed some 160,000 exorcisms (when did he have time to eat and sleep?).

            This story follows Julia (Alex Essoe) and her two broody children after they have just relocated to Europe. Apparently, her husband has died and her only possession is a ruined abbey that had been in her husband’s family for centuries. Construction crews, knocking about, free a trapped demon that promptly possesses Julia’s son and terrorizes the family. The local priest calls Rome for help and Russel Crowe is dispatched to do battle with the demon.

            The Father soon figures out that possession is just a small part of the demon’s plan. A long-buried conspiracy comes to light as he peels away the layers of the demon’s machinations.

            If you are expecting a full-on horror show like The Exorcist or a taut thriller like Exorcist 3, you better pump the brakes now. The Pope’s Exorcist is a horror movie but played more for entertainment. It reminded me of a bigger budget version of Paul Naschy’s Exorcism than a typical possession film.

            Horror fans will find a lot to like. The film isn’t particularly scary but has lots of nice, creepy and satanic imagery. There are some good practical make-up effects and only in a few places does the film indulge in obvious CGI.

There is also a good horror cast. Daniel Zovatto (Crowe’s fellow priest in the film) has done a few horror films including It Follows. If Alex Essoe looks familiar its because she’s developed quite a horror resume even though she isn’t really thought of as a scream queen just yet. She’s starred in Tales of Halloween, Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly Manor and played Wendy Torrence in Dr. Sleep. And if the voice of the demon sounds familiar, that’s because it's Ralph Ineson known to many from his roles in Game of Thrones and The Witch.

            The most unusual casting though has to be Franco Nero as The Pope. Yep, you read that right. The original Django and the titular character in Cannon’s inaugural ninja film, Enter the Ninja, plays the most virile looking Pope you’ve ever seen.

            Franco’s unusual casting aside, The Pope’s Exorcist isn’t going to live forever in the annals of satanic cinema. However, if you are looking for a fun scary diversion for 90 minutes, there are worst ways to spend your time. 

The Haunting of Morella

 

The Haunting of Morella

1990

Director- Jim Wynorski

Cast- Nicole Eggert, Lana Clarkson, David McCallum, Christopher Halsted, Jonathan Farwell, Maria Ford, Gail Thackery

            The movie begins with a witch, Morella (Nicole Eggert best known from the 80s sitcom Charles in Charge and her stint on Baywatch), being tortured by a mob of angry villagers. Her milquetoast husband stands by with their infant daughter while villagers prepare to finish her off. Morella pronounces a curse that her spirit will live on in the body of their child, Lenora, and that one day she will have her revenge.

            Fast forward and Lenora (also played by Nicole Eggert) is 3 days away from her 18^th birthday, upon which she will come into an inheritance (in a rare bit of spot on casting, Nicole was herself 17 at the time and 4 months away from her 18^th birthday).

Her father has become eccentric over the years and a tad unhinged not to mention he has also gone blind. Lucky for them he’s filthy rich. He has kept Lenora confined to their plantation her whole life. He secretly fears his dead wife’s curse and hopes to shield her from anything that might bring out his dead wife’s spirit.

He is aided by a governess Coel (statuesque Lana Clarkson better known to fans from her sword and sorcery movies like Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen). Unbeknownst to him though, Coel was a disciple of Morella and secretly works to bring back her dead mistress’ spirit.

A young handsome, lawyer shows up with legal papers for Lenora’s inheritance but he’s quickly turned away lest he stir up Lenora’s adolescent loins and risk a return of Morella. Coel decides to take matters into her own hands and leaves Lenora’s father’s diary conspicuously out for Lenora to find. From its pages, she learns the truth about her mother.

Morella, it turns out, wasn’t just a witch, she was working on a Bathoryesque scheme for immortality, complete with bathing in virgin blood. This proves to be just what the witchdoctor ordered. Morella’s personality begins to surface and Coel begins dark, bloody rituals to hasten her mistress’ return.

The movie was directed by Jim Wynorski (best known for the 80s horror-comedy, Chopping Mall and the mainstream debut of Traci Lords in Not of This Earth). It was produced by Roger Corman. It is nominally an adaptation of a story by Edgar Allan Poe. But if you’re familiar with Corman’s work (i.e. Pit and the Pendulum, Masque of the Red Death among others), you know better than to expect a strict (or even faithful) adaptation. This is fine by me as Corman’s Poe pics were all pretty entertaining, just don’t watch one to help you write your book report.

Rather than Poe, this film is more like an erotic retelling of Mario Bava’s Black Sunday. Both films begin with a witch issuing a curse before her execution. Both films have a Gothic setting. Both involve the spirit of malevolent ancestor trying to replace their innocent descendant. Both have the star playing two characters, one evil, one good (this was something that Barbara Steele did several times in her career, including Black Sunday).

Now, I don’t want to sound like I’m equating Black Sunday with The Haunting of Morella. Black Sunday was a landmark film that spawned the Italian Gothic horror genre. Morella is, when it comes down to it, a B movie, all be it a B movie with pretty good production values.   It looks as good as the better Full Moon pictures of the same era. It has impressive sets, a good musical score and good costumes (though probably too revealing for its vaguely early 19^th century American setting).

            But more importantly than what it is, I think you’ll notice what it isn’t!. If you know Wynorski’s catalogue, this film is distinctly unlike most of his other offerings. His older 80s stuff was very entertaining but very tongue in cheek. His 21^st Century stuff has mostly been T&A flicks with porno names (Bare Wench Project, The Da Vinci Coed, The Breastford Wives, Witches of Breastwick….see a pattern here?).

            The Haunting of Morella, on the other hand, is dead pan serious. If I didn’t know better I’d think it was directed by some alternate universe Wynorski. It makes me wish he’d a done a few more movies like this. That’s not to say that this movie is without his signature dose of nudity. There is a fair amount of nudity here. Lana Clarkson fans, especially, will be pleased by her rather lengthy nude scenes.

            But even though Nicole Eggert was seventeen at the time, you don’t have to worry about Chris Hanson showing up if you decide to watch this. This isn’t To the Devil aDaughter. Though Nicole has several erotic scenes, all of the nudity is accomplished with editing and a body double. The use of a double is so obvious in fact, it’s a bit distracting. If I have any complaint about the movie it would be that they should have just ditched her naughty scenes rather than try to pull them off in such a convoluted fashion.

            As for the performances, Nicole was good, especially for someone so young. I wish that she had spent more time in horror because I think she could have been a good scream queen. It was interesting to see Lana in a much more reserved role without a sword. Older fans may recognize David McCallum as Lenora’s father. He was in the creepy Disney movie Watcher in the Woods but he is best known as Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

            So to sum up, if you’re wanting a thoughtful adaptation of Poe, this is not the film for you. But if you like Gothic creepiness, and you enjoyed Full Moon and Vestron flicks from the 90s, then you will probably find this erotic thriller both entertaining and possibly a little arousing.

Elves

 

Elves

1989

Director-  Jeffrey Mandel

Cast- Julie Austin, Dan Haggerty, Deanna Lund, Borah Silver, Laura Lichstein, Stacey Dye

            The film begins with Kirsten (Julie Austin) and her girlfriends out in the woods on a cold winter night. They fancy themselves as a kind of witch’s circle and Kirsten is trying to enact an occult ritual using one of her grandfather’s old occult tomes. The ritual doesn’t work but unbeknownst to the girls they have inadvertently summoned a bloodthirsty elf.

            Kirsten’s home life is pretty miserable. Her grandfather is a mix of abusive and absent minded. Her little brother is a perv and her mother (played by Deanna Lund from Land of the Giants) is a real bitch.

            Meanwhile, Mike (played by Dan Haggerty who most people over 45 will remember as Grizzly Adams) is a former cop now down on his luck thanks to his alcoholism. He’s managed to string together a few months of sobriety and gets a job (and is living) in a local department store.

            The elf stalks Kirsten and (unknown to her) attacks anyone who does her wrong, including stabbing a mall Santa in the dick after he gets fresh with Kirsten. But this elf is no guardian angel. He has his own plans for Kirsten.

            As it turns out, Kirsten’s grandfather is a Nazi who, during WW2, worked on a project involving the murderous elf. The elf was either created or summoned (the movie is not quite clear) to be the vessel for some perfect Aryan genes. The plan was for the elf to mate with a perfect Aryan woman during an occult ritual on Christmas Eve, thus ushering in the Fourth Reich. Kirsten’s grandfather, it seems, has engaged in some perverted eugenics creating his granddaughter to be the receptacle of the elf’s seed.

            Grizzly Adams discovers the plot and does his best to protect Kirsten not only from the elf but from a group of modern day Nazis that are after her.

            One’s reach exceeding one’s grasp is characteristic of low budget and independent cinema. That’s part of what makes it enjoyable; filmmakers who don’t know that they can’t or shouldn’t try to do certain things. Elves is far too ambitious for its meager budget. The elf actually is pretty well sculpted but has limited movement. I’d say, in terms of quality,  it’s  somewhere between the imp  of Sorority Babes in the SlimeballBowl-O-Rama and Ghoulies. I’m usually not a fan of remakes, but Elves could use one. The idea is very original and I’d love to see someone with access to resources help the story realize its potential.

            If you’re interested, Elf shouldn’t be hard to track down. The bad news is, as far as I know, it hasn’t made its way to DVD or Blu-Ray. The good news is that you can probably find it on Youtube (albeit a grainy straight from VHS transfer). Maybe someone like Vinegar Syndrome will take an interest and pick it up (and maybe put out an easier to watch version).

            Don’t watch if you’re wanting polished or even scary. On the other hand, if you life WTF stories, this will be entertaining.