Hey. I like horror movies.
Do you like horror movies? Good!
The Crimson Cult (Vernon Sewell, 1968)
If you squint, The Crimson Cult might look like a fun movie. It stars genre vets Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff and Barbara Steele, and it fuses swingin' sixties psychedelia with a Gothic twist. Based loosely on an H. P. Lovecraft story, the flick devotes its attention to Robert Manning (Mark Eden), a man chasing after his missing brother, last seen in the old Morley house. While the ground floor holds a batch of frisky twenty-somethings, popping drugs and painting breasts, Robert dreams of a different party, one hosted by a witch trying to draft him to her cult. The crimson cult, you ask? I'll never tell. Never scary, and never cheeseball enough, The Crimson Cult works through predictable story beats on its way to obvious conclusions.
RATING: C-
Note: The Crimson Cult is available on Netflix Instant.
The Eclipse (Conor McPherson, 2009)
A quiet drama occasionally interrupted by screaming ghosts. The Eclipse is a thoughtful, mature story about a widower (Ciaran Hinds) adapting to life after tragedy. He finds some solace spending time with a writer (Iben Hjejle) visiting the town, but he has to contend with her alcoholic ex (Aidan Quinn). Meanwhile, spirits appear in his closet. Viewers expecting heavy tension may not be satisfied by the flick's token deployment of ghosts, and their actual look feels too heightened, black-eyed pallid faces straight out of EC Comics. But the Irish environment coats the film with a unique atmosphere, and the opposition between Hinds' repression and Quinn's volatility keeps the character drama interesting.
RATING: B
Note: The Eclipse is available on Netflix Instant.
The Hands of Orlac (Robert Wiene, 1924)
Fans of silent horror will admire The Hands of Orlac, which comes from the actor/director duo that crafted masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. That film was bold and revisionist and unforgettable. This one? It's good. Conrad Veidt plays Paul Orlac, a pianist who loses his hands in a train accident that's about as spectacular as silent cinema can create. After the trauma, he learns that his new hands originally belonged to a serial killer. Drama! Robert Wiene finds style in locations, instead of his stagy constructions for Caligari, and Veidt creates a performance that's both over-the-top and honest. Together, the two alleviate the predictable story and its trite ending, which is far too neat for the undercurrents of despair.
RATING: B
Triangle (Chris Smith, 2009)
Triangle is the third film I've seen from director Christopher Smith, who made the cheerfully nasty office-slasher Severance and the ruminative Black Death, which was one of my favorite films from last year. Triangle is just as good. Maybe a little better. Smith takes a premise that recalls studio dreck like Ghost Ship and plays it as a confident and tragic tale. Said premise? A young mother (Melissa George, fantastic) joins some friends for a day of sailing, but a storm pushes them toward an ancient freighter called the Aeolus. Which is named for the father of Sisyphus, and if the name doesn't clue you into what might be happening, so much the better. If you haven't seen this flick, know that it's not what you think, even when it seems like it is.
RATING: A-
Note: Triangle features a clever "through the looking glass" CG mirror shot that owes some royalties to Secret Window. Remember, mirrors symbolize stuff.
Triangle (Chris Smith, 2009)
Secret Window (David Koepp, 2004)
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