Catacombs

  

 

Catacombs

1988

Director- David Schmoeller

Cast- Tim Van Patten, Ian Abercrombie, Laura Schaefer, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jeremy West

            

    In the middle ages, the Inquisition imprisons a demon in the catacombs beneath a monastery. Hundreds of years later, the demon escapes at the same time that the monastery has two visitors; an American priest and an elementary teacher from a Catholic school. The kindly monk that runs the monastery is killed by the demon, leaving his second in command in charge, a martinet who sees the devil’s hand in everything.

            

     The film doesn’t have any surprises and it progresses much as you would expect. It could have used about 20 more minutes as we don’t get much back story on the demon and there is a side plot about a psychic girl that didn’t really go anywhere.

            

       The movie was produced by horror veteran Charles Band who was fond of shooting on location in Europe. The story takes place in an ancient monastery and it looks like that is where much of it was shot. The director ,David Schmoeller, had a decent career in horror himself making two cult films, Tourist Trap and Puppet Master (also with Charles Band).

The cast features some familiar genre faces like Ian Abercrombie (the Merlinesque wise man from Army of Darkness) and Vernon Dobtcheff  (who has done a lot of genre work himself including Dr. Who).

The movie also boasts one of the more unusual set pieces you are likely to see. The monastery has a giant life sized crucifix of the type you would see in many churches. This crucifix however is obviously a real person, not a wooden carving. I guess this saved on special effects costs during one scene where the crucifix comes to life but it also means there are many scenes with an obvious half naked guy hanging in the background. Well at least the actor had no problem remembering his lines.

Not a scary film but it does benefit from a good cast and really good looking sets (except for the above mentioned Jesus).

Lord of Illusions

Lord of Illusions

1995

Director- Clive Barker

Cast- Scott Bakula, Kevin J. O'Connor, Famke Janssen, Daniel von Bargen, Barry Del Sherman, Vincent Schiavelli, Joel Swetow, Joseph Latimore, Lorin Stewart, Jordan Marder

           

     If you ask most horror fans to name a Clive Barker film, most will say Hellraiser, and for obvious reasons.  Hellraiser didn’t just spawn a franchise, it made Barker a household name in horror. Some will say Nightbreed, Barker’s ultimate ode to the outsider with a city of monsters being terrorized by humans. Very few people will say Lord of Illusions, Barker’s supernatural detective story. It is loosely based on Barker’s short story The Last Illusion but you don’t need to read the story to thoroughly enjoy the film.

            

      Harry D’Amour (Scott Bakula) is a world weary private eye in the classic noir sense. He has a track record of run ins with the dark side. When we first meet him he is recovering from the effects of an exorcism in which he was involved. We don’t know exactly what happened but we know it involved a child and gave Harry a firsthand look at some dark powers.

            

     Nix (Daniel von Bargen) is the head of a cult that worships him like a god. However, unlike Charles Manson who was just charismatic, Nix actually possesses supernatural powers. He offers the cultists tidbits, little glimpses of power, but the only person who really has the ability to understand Nix’s lessons is Swann.

            

     Swann (Kevin O’Conner who horror fans will recognize from Deep Rising and The Mummy) was a student of Nix who turned away from the evil and left. Nix kidnaps a young girl for nefarious purposes and Swann leads a crew into the cult compound to rescue the girl and kill Nix. Of course, killing Nix in the traditional sense is not possible. He may not be an actual god yet, but he is close enough. Once Nix is “dead”, Swann binds him with magic and the body is buried in a hidden location.

          

  

    Now, thirteen years after his death, someone is killing off Swann’s crew and preparing for Nix’s return. Butterfield, another of Nix’s students, while not as promising as Swann, has remained loyal to his master and has been teaching himself the occult knowledge to resurrect Nix.

            

    In the years that have passed, Swann has set himself up as a kind of David Copperfield stage magician. He has made millions convincing audiences that he is using sleight of hand to construct elaborate illusions. In reality, he is using magic and what they see is real. Swann knows that Nix is returning and is distressed. Swann’s wife, Dorothea, (Famke Janssen, who also appeared in Deep Rising as well as Goldeneye and the X-men franchise) knows that something is wrong, even though her husband won’t tell her what. She hires Harry to find out what’s up. Very early in his investigation, Harry faces Butterfield and Swann is murdered. He could check out and leave this to the police, but he is drawn to the darkness and isn’t backing out now.

            

   

   In the true noir sense, Harry has to dig around in dark corners and put the pieces together. All the while, a romance buds between Harry and Dorothea so he has an emotional investment beyond his dark curiosity. Famke Janssen isn’t the femme fatale of the traditional noir thriller but she is able to provide the mystery and allure that the part needs.

            

     Scott Bakula is not the first person that people think of when they think of horror, but that just shows how genius the casting is. Scott is the perfect fantasy everyman. He is rugged and square jawed, able to be clever and quick witted but can connect with a solid right hook if he needs to. As stated earlier, Famke was well suited as the mysterious love interest. Kevin O’Conner, who plays a weasel in The Mummy, is a genuine tortured soul, someone who has seen too much real horror but is still pretending everything is OK. I think the best performance came from Barry Del Sherman as Butterfield. Though the character is presented as flashy and sexually ambiguous, Barry conveys a sense of melancholy and desperation. Butterfield has spent a decade working feverishly to prepare for his master’s return but he isn’t a deranged Renfield. His devotion is fueled by a concrete logic based on his first hand observations of Nix’s power.

            

     

  The occult investigator is a staple of horror whether it’s the Lovecraftian researcher or John Constantine. However, that character doesn’t have a long tradition in horror movies. Fred Ward portrayed a humorous version in Cast a Deadly Spell. Probably the best occult detective story is Angel Heart with Mickey Rourke as a sleazy New York private eye lost in Louisiana. Lord of Illusions is a good addition to the sub-genre. The 1995 theatrical release is about 11 minutes shorter than the director’s cut. The director’s cut is the better version and shouldn’t be hard to find.

            

     For being a quarter of a century old, the movie has held up well. There is some regrettable mid-90s CGI which looks terrible but that only takes up about a minute of the film. Everything else still works and is effective.  So if you can only have one Clive Barker movie in your collection, that movie should be either Hellraiser or Nightbreed. But if you have room for one more movie, don’t forget this occult gem.

   

The Devil's Advocate

The Devil's Advocate

1997

Director- Taylor Hackford

Cast- Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones, Judith Ivey, Connie Nielsen, Craig T. Nelson, Heather Matarazzo, Tamara Tunie, Chris Bauer, Delroy Lindo

           

      Keanu Reaves plays Kevin Lomax a criminal trial lawyer who has never lost a case. His greatest strength is his uncanny ability to ignore his conscience. Charlize Theron (very good in one of her early roles) is his wife Mary Ann. After Kevin wins a case by getting a child molester off scot-free, he is offered a job working for John Milton (Pacino) a wealthy New York businessman whose interests are global, varied and a bit shady.

            

     Kevin’s mother (Ivey) is a very religious woman and she warns him of the dangers of the big city. Kevin and Mary Ann quickly scoff at this. Kevin’s first case is getting a man off that has been sacrificing goats. That was just a warm up though for his big test, defending a man (Craig T. Nelson) who murdered his family.

            

     As Kevin’s star ascends he has to ignore his conscience more and more and look the other way. His wife, however, who initially encourages him begins to have second thoughts and urges him to quit the firm. Sinister forces begin to work on her until she is eventually driven insane.

           

     Kevin finds out from his mother that Milton is actually his father and by that point in the movie it’s pretty clear that Milton is also a lot more than that. Kevin then faces a tempting offer to serve his father in the coming millennium.

            

     The movie has good performances all around. Reeve’s and Theron’s southern accents sound a little hokey at times, but then again most people think all southerners talk  like Forrest Gump, so what can you do? Theron is particularly tragic as the young wife who sees her dreams of having a family slip away with her sanity. Reeves likewise turns in a fine performance. He is convincing throughout and one is never reminded of his many action roles. Pacino is boisterous and sleazy which fits his character nicely.

            

      This is a fine film with a large, experienced cast of faces that genre fans will recognize; Jeffery Jones (Beetlejuice ,Sleepy Hollow), Connie Neilsen (Gladiator), Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist), Heather Matarazzo (Scream 3, Hostel 2) and Chris Bauer (True Blood). It has a fine score and just a modicum of CGI (enough to enhance the film without becoming a distraction). The Devil’s Advocate is an intense, well-crafted thriller that will arouse you at times and scare and shock you at others. A long movie at over 2 hours and 20 minutes, it is well worth your time.

Fun fact- This was not Keanu's first infernal encounter. He had a brief brush with Satan in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.  

Satan's Cheerleaders

Satan’s Cheerleaders

1977

Director- Greydon Clark

Cast- Kerry Sherman, Jacqulin Cole, Hillary Horan, Alisa Powell, Sherry Marks, John Ireland, Yvonne DeCarlo, Jack Kruschen, Sydney Chaplin, Lane Caudell, Robin Greer

           

   A group of bratty cheerleaders are always getting into shenanigans. Luckily for them, their good hearted (and ditzy) coach, Ms. Johnson (Jacqulin Cole) is always there to bail them out. Most of the girls seem mainly focused on getting laid or making wise cracks, all except Patti (Kerry Sherman). Patti is the deep thinker of the bunch. They run afoul of the school janitor Billy (who bizarrely wears a rhinestone encrusted shirt???). He gets his petty revenge by peeping at the girls as they shower, but he has a sweeter revenge in mind.

            

    Billy is the talent scout for a local group of Satanists. He sneaks into the girl’s locker room and puts a hex on Patti using her clothes. On the way to the football game, the girls and Ms. Johnson break down and Billy (no surprise) shows up to help them. Billy, instead of taking them to the game, kidnaps them and takes them to a Satanic alter where he plans to have his way with them. It seems like Satan may have other plans though. Patti, after stripping naked, jumps on the altar and seemingly strikes Billy down with an invisible power. She comes to and remembers none of it.

            

    Ms. Johnson and the girls take Billy’s truck and look for help. They find a vagrant collecting trash (John Caradine, how the mighty have fallen!). He points them in the direction of the Sherriff’s house. The Sherriff (veteran actor John Ireland) and his wife (Lily Munster herself, Yvonne DeCarlo) take the girls in but they aren’t what they seem. The Sherriff turns out to be the head of the Satanic cult and his wife is the High Priestess. Satan tells them that one of the girls is a virgin and must be sacrificed (but doesn’t tell them which one).

            

    The girls escape, split up, and run for help. Unfortunately, everyone around seems to be part of the cult and the girls are caught one by one and brought back. The Priestess gets a bad vibe off of Patti and implores her husband to kill the girl, but he’ll have none of it. However, when sacrifice time rolls around, Satan has one more surprise in store for his followers. It seems that Satan has his eye on Patti and has given her some special powers that she uses to fight off the cult.

          

     I wasn’t sure what to make of this film through the first half. It seemed very 80’s with its extremely shallow portrayal of teenagers, though the constant disco soundtrack placed it firmly in the 70s.  The writing was bad and there wasn’t much to recommend it, except for the girls getting naked of course. About half way through the film though, it turned itself around. It never got scary, but it did get interesting and pretty funny. There was even some very witty banter amongst the Satanists.

            

    John Caradine starred in a lot of horror movies, but may be best remembered for his portrayals of Dracula. Though Caradine and DeCarlo are the only big stars that horror fans would know, most of the cast is recognizable. John Ireland was in a ton of movies and TV shows including All the King’s Men and Spartacus. Hillary Horan (one of the cheerleaders) starred in 35(!!!!) episodes of Happy Days, usually uncredited, and also appeared in another DeCarlo pic, The Munster’s Revenge. Jacqulin Cole was in several other 70s era exploitation films. Kerry Sherman (Patti) starred in numerous TV shows including her role as Amy Perkins in over 150 episodes of Santa Barbara.

           

    I usually can’t stand remakes but this film could actually be a good remake. It couldn’t quite decide what it wanted it to be. I could easily see someone upping the sex and turning it into a Troma film, or putting in some more humor and making it a black comedy. This is an uneven movie and definitely has its shortcomings, but if you can make it through the first half, the last half is rewarding. If nothing else you can laugh at the bad dialogue and gawk at the skimpy outfits.

Fun fact: Yvonne DeCarlo, after being Lily Munster, had a decent second career in B-movie horror. She starred in Nocturna (with John Caradine in fact) in 1979. That same year she appeared in Silent Scream (which also featured Barbara Steele). She also starred in Play Dead (1983), American Gothic (1987) and the creature feature Cellar Dweller in 1988.

Fun fact #2: This wasn't Kerry Sherman's only brush with the Satanic. She was also in the folk-horror tale Eyes of Fire.

Eye of the Devil

  

 

Eye of the Devil

1966

Director- J. Lee Thompson

Cast- Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings, Sharon Tate, Edward Mulhare, Emlyn Williams

            

      Phillipe (David Niven) is a rich aristocrat, the latest male heir in a family going back a thousand years. He is living the good life with his wife Catherine (Deborah Kerr) and their kids. His family’s money comes from a vast vineyard, worked by the villagers that live around the family estate. His is living abroad until he gets a letter asking him to come back because the vineyard is failing, the grapes dying on the vine. Catherine becomes worried and suspicious when Phillipe tells her that he doesn’t want her to come with him.

            

     He goes off alone but, of course, Catherine ignores his advice and follows shortly with their children in tow.  When she arrives she meets the local clergyman, Pere Dominic (Donald Pleasance, from Prince of Darkness and Halloween, looking impossibly young) and a pair of siblings Odile (Sharon Tate in an early but prominent role) and Christian (David Hemmings who also starred in Barbarella). All of them are a bit menacing, especially Christian who is always walking around with a bow and arrow.

            

     Phillipe acts strange and seems aloof. He makes vague references to destiny and implores his wife to take the children and leave. Catherine (of course) ignores his pleas and decides to do some snooping. While looking around the family castle at night she stumbles across a ritual where Odile presents a dead dove, shot by Christian, to a group of twelve hooded figures.

            

      Odile seems to be some kind of witch. She either has the power to transmute a toad into a dove, or at least has the power to cast convincing illusions. She befriends Catherine’s children, pulling them into her influence. While on the ramparts of the castle, she puts a spell on Catherine who then almost falls to her death.

            

     Catherine (of course) refuses to take the hint and is intent on finding out what kind of cabal her husband is a part of. A family friend (Edward Mulhare who most fans will recognize as Devon Miles from Knight Rider) helps her do some snooping and they find out that all of the male heirs in the family, going back to the time of The Crusades, have met with suspicious deaths; drowning, murder, hunting accidents etc. He reminds her that not only she, but her kids may be in danger. But in for a penny, in for a pound, Catherine isn’t leaving.

            

       While hunting for the grave of Phillipe’s father she is surrounded by a group of hooded figures and barely escapes. Phillipe tries to convince her that the villagers have strange customs but it is clear that he, and everyone else, are gaslighting her. Her persistence finally pays off and she learns her husband’s, and the village’s, dark secret. They practice a perverse form of Christianity (though it’s not explicitly Satanic) where the male heir (symbolizing Christ) is sacrificed in order to give life back to the land and restore the vines. Catherine hopes that she can talk her husband out of the ritual before it’s too late.

           

     I think fans of The Wicker Man and Midsommar will probably figure out the direction that the movie is heading pretty early.  Though this seems like a rip-off of The Wicker Man, the movie and the book that it is based on (Day of the Arrow by Robin Estridge) came out before The Wicker Man (and the book that it is based on as well).

           

     Other than the theme of sacrifice, Eye of the Devil really isn’t anything like The Wicker Man or Midsommar. Though there is the folk horror slant, there is much less focus on paganism. It’s hard to believe that this movie and The Wicker Man are only separated by a scant few years because they seem so different. Part of this is that Eye of the Devil is black and white, but it is also much more reserved, featuring none of the sex of The Wicker Man (and obviously none of the violence of Midsommar). It is a very reserved, methodically paced mystery and seems more like the movies of a decade earlier.

            

     The cast is a group of heavy hitters. David Niven was an Oscar winner. Deborah Kerr was nominated for Best Actress Oscars 6 times over the course of her career. Flora Hemmings and the director J. Lee Thompson likewise had been nominated for Oscars. Thompson is best known for his WW2 adventure film, The Guns of Naverone.

           

     It’s hard to believe that the Sharon Tate in this movie is the same one from The Fearless Vampire Killers. In Vampire Killers she comes across as a little vacant. In Eye of the Devil she is very menacing. I guess that’s a testament to her acting. One scene in particular stands out. Phillipe punishes Odile for almost killing his wife by whipping her. Rather than shrinking away from the pain, she meets his fury with a near orgasmic ecstasy, almost daring him to continue.

            

     Eye of the Devil was a very original thriller for its time, though later films covered the same ground more effectively. Probably the best reason to watch the film is to see its various performers in action, especially Sharon Tate.

Prince of Darkness

   

Prince of Darkness

1987

Director- John Carpenter

Cast- Jameson Parker, Donald Pleasence, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Dennis Dun

            

   The 1980s were the pinnacle of John Carpenter’s career; The Thing, The Fog, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York and They Live. Most directors would be lucky to make one of these impressive movies in their career, much less all of these in a single decade. With so much greatness around it, Prince of Darkness is over shadowed, but this is one dark little gem that should not be over looked.

            

    There are a lot of recognizable faces, both John Carpenter regulars, and other actors from the 80s, most surprisingly is Jameson Parker, best known as one half of Simon and Simon. The casting is spot on and Carpenter’s score, which tends to be too minimal sometimes, suits the understated nature of the film.

            

    The difference between science fiction and horror is whether it makes you think or feel, but this movie does both as it delivers both scares and head scratching ideas. The film poses a fundamental question; what if evil is real? Not real in the sense that it really exists, but real in the sense that it can be empirically proven, measured, and observed.

Donald Pleasance (Halloween) is a priest in a Catholic sect that has guarded a mysterious cylinder for two thousand years. Inside that cylinder, it is believed, lives an ancient evil, perhaps Satan himself. Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China and The Golden Child) is a theoretical physicist who has been recruited to prove the existence of the evil that lives within the cylinder. In the process, the evil within escapes and the horror begins.

            

     One of the film’s ideas is that Satan is not the enemy of God, but rather the opposite of God, an Anti- God, like an anti-matter particle, governing the existence of a mirror universe. Don’t expect the dramatic, memorable, scenes of Carpenter’s other works. This story progresses at the slow, deliberate pace of a scientist testing a hypothesis, and in the end it will probably leave you with more questions than answers. This is fitting. In science, nothing is ever really proven; you can only fail to disprove it.

            

     But don’t think that this movie is a detached philosophical debate.  The film’s apocalyptic warnings, presented as unnatural occurrences and sinister dreams, create a sense of impending doom that builds throughout.

       As intellectually stimulating as the film is, it is still essentially a horror movie as its ultimate effect is emotional. The film is unsettling, and in the worse way possible because you won’t be able to identify why you feel so uneasy. Is it the subtle, dark mood, the sinister warnings, the unanswered questions or the short bursts of violence spread throughout the film? Or perhaps it’s some gestalt, something than can only be perceived when seen as a whole and in the context of some larger message.