Antrum: The Deadliest Movie Ever Made

Antrum: The Deadliest Movie Ever Made

2018

Director- David Amito, Michael Laicini

Cast- Nicole Tompkins, Rowan Smyth, Dan Istrate, Circus-Szalewski, Kristel Elling, Shu Sakimoto, Lucy Rayner, Pierluca Arancio

            

     This clever film presents us with a movie within a movie. The premise of the film is that Antrum was a real movie made in the late 1970s. However, it only screened in one theatre and that theatre burned to the ground killing everyone inside. Everyone associated with the film died in some mysterious way and the film was lost. Now, the movie has been found.

        

   

     We start off with a faux documentary with interviews with film historians and occult specialists, all giving their take on the film, Antrum. Then we get to see Antrum, in its entirety, complete with a warning releasing the makers of the film from any liability. This whole set up was a gimmick that would have made William Castle green with envy.

           

     But what about Antrum itself (once we get to it)? The set up did not disappoint. We are treated to a very dark, disturbing film. The story is very small, focusing on a cast of just a few people. It starts with a young boy watching his dog get euthanized (yeah, a real pick me up). He asks his mother if the dog went to heaven and mom says no, the dog didn’t go to heaven because it had been bad and the boy is understandably disturbed by this (she’s not going to get the parent of the year award).

            

     The boy’s older sister comes up with a solution that is elegant in its simplicity. They will dig a hole to Hell to free his dog’s soul. They travel out into a forest to a spot that she says is the point where Lucifer landed when he fell to Earth. She is armed with a kind of homemade grimoire that details spells of protection and what they can expect as they get closer to the Gates of Hell.

            

     Along the way, they encounter various threats; some seem like they may be the product of imagination and some that are concretely real. While the movie is not surreal, it does take place in an environment that puts it outside of any identifiable place or time. The two protagonists are apparently American, but along their journey they encounter a Japanese man and some kind of Eastern European hillbillies. The visuals are beautiful and disturbing, like a giant metallic Baphomet where people are cooked alive inside. I don’t want to share anymore because I don’t want to spoil it. Like Dante traveling through his nine levels, the journey is the reward.

            

     The film starts with clips from various Satanic silent films. Amongst the ones I recognized were L'Inferno (1911) and Häxan (1922). If you’ve seen these films then you can appreciate the kind of tone (and very high bar) Antrum was trying to set.  It doesn’t have the realism of Häxan (few films do) but it does try to push the Satanic beyond abstract philosophy into something more tangible while still examining our own tendency to turn our fears into reality. It also takes a look at the darker side of faith. It is generally accepted that prayer and belief in a higher power can help people through hard times. But if belief in God and divine intervention can translate into positive change in our life, then what about the belief in Satan and the powers of evil?

   

Satanic Rites of Dracula

  

Satanic Rites of Dracula

1973

Director- Alan Gibson

Cast- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Coles, William Franklyn, Freddie Jones, Joanna Lumley, Valerie Van Ost, Richard Vernon, Barbara Yu Ling, Mia Martin

           

     Known in the States by the less controversial title, Dracula and His Vampire Brides, this movie is a direct sequel to Dracula 1972 A.D., taking place in the same timeline. It’s less of a horror film and more of a sci-fi / spy thriller with a little bit of horror thrown in.

           

     A British spy agency has been monitoring a secretive group that has high ranking members of British society in its ranks. The members all participate in salacious Satanic rites where they watch a beautiful nubile young girl get sacrificed on an altar, only to rise from the dead. The horny old men are appropriately aroused and enthralled, but its smoke and mirrors, so to speak. It’s not Satan that is bringing the girl back to life, its good old fashioned vampirism. The sacrificial girl and all of the other women serving the coven are vampires (unbeknownst to the men).

            

     Dracula is using these powerful men to engineer a world ending Armageddon utilizing a new strand of the Black Plague. Along with his stable of vampire women, Dracula also has an army of dirt bike riding henchmen, complete with matching outfits. Fearing reprisal from the powerful men in the coven, the spy agency brings in an outsider, a detective from Scotland Yard (Michael Coles, reprising his role from the previous film). The detective, upon learning of the occult details of the case brings in his old friend Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). Van Helsing brings in Jessica (played by Joanna Lumley this time instead of Stephanie Beacham). So much for secrecy at this point.

            

     

    Van Helsing suspects that his old nemesis is at the center of this cabal and confirms it when he confronts the Count , now living in a high rise apartment built on the site of the old church from the last film.

            

     The rest of the crew infiltrate the coven’s headquarters and the detective finds himself cornered in the basement with the Counts harem of brides. No worries though. Our old friend running water makes its triumphant return when he activates the sprinkler system and kills all of the women with one fell swoop. You know, if the vampires are that vulnerable to water, maybe putting their coffins underneath a sprinkler system was a bad idea. Kind of like the Wicked Witch leaving a bucket of water lying around. Lame.

            

     

      Dracula’s world ending plot is foiled and The Count , chasing after Van Helsing, meets his most humiliating death yet. He runs into a hawthorne bush and gets snagged on the thorns. He screams and writhes and weakly crawls on the ground until finally collapsing in exhaustion. Van Helsing ends the sad display by sticking a fence post in the Count.  So after being killed by sunlight, stakes, lightening, and the Power of God, the thing that finally got the Lord of the Undead was a bush. Yep, a bush. Oh Van Helsing might have put a fence post in him but that was just to save the Count further humiliation.

           

      This is a bad film. No two ways about it.  This was Lee’s last appearance as the Count for Hammer. He was thoroughly disgusted by the role, describing it as a cross between Dr. No and Howard Hughes (Dracula doesn’t even show up until half an hour into the film).  Though the film, and the role, are bad, it would be over stating it to say that this film is what finally turned him off. Lee had been losing interest in the franchise for some time and this volume was just the final nail in the coffin.

           

     Beyond that, the movie doesn’t even feel like a Hammer film, despite the presence of Lee and Cushing. It was directed by Alan Gibson who gave us Dracula 1972 A.D. but it doesn’t even feel like that film. It didn’t look like a Hammer film. It was missing that rich color palette that so many of the films had. It was also missing the recognizable faces that made Hammer films seem like a family reunion. It was also missing the Hammer starlets. Oh there are attractive women, but none of them are genre stars in their own right like what we had seen in the previous films. Every volume of the franchise up to that point had at least one memorable, iconic girl. The women in this film are just used like background scenery.

            

     As bad as the film is, there are some people that will like it and it does have some redeeming qualities.  The concept is original even if poorly executed. If it wasn’t a Hammer film but say, some lower budget Italian or Spanish film with Paul Naschy, I think I would have been able to enjoy it more.

            

     Although Hammer  was on its last leg, it would have one more installment of the Dracula franchise in store for us, a crazy one, that would at least end the franchise on a high note.

Fun fact- In this film, Dracula uses his power to trick a bunch of Satanists. A similar concept was used in the animated Tomb of Dracula movie, Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned. In that film, Dracula convinces a coven that he is the Prince of Darkness and steals one of their members for his wife.

Fun fact #2- Look out for a young  Freddie Jones (to the extent that he was ever young) as one of the coven members.

  

 

The Devil’s Doorway

The Devil’s Doorway

2019

Director- Aislinn Clarke

Cast- Lalor Roddy, Helena Bereen, Lauren Coe, Ciaran Flynn, Dearbhail Lynch, Carleen Melaugh

From Northern Ireland

            

     Fair warning, this is a “found footage” film, so if you don’t like that particular sub-genre, you may not like this movie. Although I’m one of only three living people that didn’t think that The Blair Witch Project was the best thing since sliced bread, I do see the virtues of this type of film.

            

     Catholic priests, Fathers Thomas and John are sent to a Magdalene Laundry to investigate a reported miracle. If you’re not familiar with the term, a Magdalene Laundry was a “home” for “fallen women”, that is women that had fallen from grace through sexual acts such as prostitutes and un-wed mothers.  These were popular in Ireland from the 18^th through the 20^th centuries, the last one not closing until 1996. Whatever the original intent was, the end result was that these “homes” became sources of free labor where society’s unwanted women were hidden away and forgotten.

            

     The miracle being investigated is the report of a statue of The Virgin Mary bleeding from its eyes. Father John (Ciaran Flynn) is young and idealistic and believes very much that what has happened is a sign from God. Father Thomas (Lalor Roddy), on the other hand, is old and cynical and seen his fair share of hoaxes. Whatever has been happening, he’s pretty sure it’s not divine intervention.

            

     The Fathers quickly find a culture of abuse and isolation overseen by the cruel Mother Superior (Helena Bereen). She has nothing but scorn for the priests who are snooping around in her territory and don’t respect her authority. Finally the priests find a dirty little secret hidden away in the basement; a pregnant girl (Lauren Coe) is chained to the wall. The Mother Superior says that the girl is insane and has to be in shackles for everyone’s safety. The priests have her unchained and examine her. Various supernatural phenomenon occur and there is mounting evidence, despite Father Thomas’ doubts, that the girl is possessed. I want say more than that because I don’t to spoil anything for you.

            

     The Devil’s Doorway has all the typical conventions of the found footage genre; shaky cameras, things barely seen for a second or seen out of focus, strange sounds occurring off-camera. However, two things elevate this film above other similar films. First the director seems to have some skill in telling a story and she doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares. Second the acting is solid, especially between the films protagonist and antagonist. Lalor Roddy gives us a very believable Father Thomas who seems weary and philosophical.  Helena Bereen’s Mother Superior is a hissable villain who drips contempt.

            

     If you like this film, or this genre, you might want to pair it with The Devil inside, another found footage film with a similar subject.

Dracula 1972 A.D.

Dracula 1972 A.D.

1972

Director- Alan Gibson

Cast- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Stephanie Beacham, Christopher Neame, Caroline Munro, Michael Coles, Janet Key, Michael Kitchen, William Ellis

            

     Like its predecessor, Scars of Dracula, this film takes place outside of the timeline established at the beginning of the series. Unlike its predecessor there’s no one named Paul! It also features the return of Peter Cushing to the franchise, his first appearance since Brides of Dracula.

            

     The film begins with Dracula and Van Helsing (Lee and Cushing) fighting it out on a runaway carriage. The carriage crashes. Van Helsing is mortally wounded but holds on long enough to see that Dracula has been impaled on a wagon wheel (not the most glamorous death). The lord of the undead soon withers away to dust and Van Helsing keels over dead. Unfortunately, one of Dracula’s acolytes soon swoops down and collects the Counts remains and buries them next to a church yard.

            

     Fast forward a hundred years to modern (for the time) London. Van Helsing’s descendant (played by Cushing) is an anthropologist that specializes in the occult. His niece, Jessica (Stephanie Beachum) hangs with a group of miscreant hippy types. Most of their thrills are limited to crashing house parties and free love. However, a new member of the group, Johnny Alucard (yeah that old gag again) seems to have more sinister interests.

            

     Johnny talks the group into conducting a black mass for kicks (it was the 70s you have to remember).  Like Taste the Blood of Dracula, this film tries to draw a parallel between Dracula and the Devil. The ceremony takes place in a desecrated church (right next to where Drac’s ashes are buried).Johnny is the latest descendant in a line that has always served Dracula and he uses the ceremony to bring the Count back from the grave. The group of kids freak out when things get weird and aren’t aware that the Count has returned. Dracula has his first snack on the beautiful Caroline Munro.

            

     The police investigate the murder and soon tie it to Jessica and her uncle. Van Helsing has a pretty good idea what’s going on and surprisingly the police detective leading the investigation (Michael Coles) believes him.

            

     Dracula bites his way through Jessica’s crew with the help of Johnny (now a vampire himself). The Count really wants Jessica but it seems like if you want something done right you have to do it yourself because Johnny is pretty pathetic as far as vampires go. When fighting Van Helsing, he seems to have absolutely no special vampire powers and pulls a switchblade. And how does Van Helsing kill him? Did he use a stake? Fire? Sunlight? No. Johnny gets killed by a shower. He falls in the shower and the running water kills him. Pathetic.

           

     

     The Count does get his hands on Jessica, leading to a final confrontation between the two sworn enemies. This time the Count meets his end by falling into a hole with sharp sticks. Not a very dramatic end but much more dignified than the way he would die in the next installment of the series.

            

     Compared to the rest of the franchise, Dracula 1972 A.D. is about middle of the road. As a Generation Xer I’m too young to really appreciate the whole free love thing. I kept expecting Austin Powers to show up in some of the films more groovy scenes.  I don’t think the modern setting worked very well compared to the other films, but kudos to Hammer for taking the chance and changing things up.

            

     The best reason to recommend the film is the cast of lovelies. One face that horror fans may recognize is Marsha Hunt, who plays one of the girls in Jessica’s circle of friends.  Marsha would have a much more prominent role as Mariana, the young hot werewolf in Howling 2.  Caroline Munro is the most recognizable starlet in the film having starred in numerous genre films including another Hammer vampire film, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. The main attraction though is Stephanie Beachum. Hammer wardrobe choices always showed off the ladies tangible assets but Stephanie’s dress at the end of the film seems to be defying physics.

            

     Over all, an enjoyable film despite the annoying hippies. It was good to see Van Helsing vs. Dracula again.