Sunday, 8 February 2015
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Hands of the Ripper (1971)
Dir: PETER SASDY
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
For me the most intriguing and
interesting period in Hammer Film Productions’ long history is from 1970-76. By
this stage Hammer were no longer the despised whipping boys of the critical
cognoscenti but were establishment figures. In a remarkable about turn from the
late 1950’s they were now the acceptable face of the horror genre in British
film culture. But some things are more important than critical acceptance, and
one of those things is commercial success. At the turn of the decade Hammer
found themselves out of step and out of time, thanks in no small part to the
cynical nihilism of hard hitting horror productions such as Witchfinder General (1968) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), and the
subtle and nuanced terrors of rigorously modern films like Rosemary’s Baby (1968). The release of controversial films such as Straw Dogs (1971), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The
Devils (1971), and later horror titles such as The Exorcist (1973) and The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) would only further dilute Hammer’s
horrifying visions. Hammer had little choice but to turn to nudity,
increased violence, and scenes of softcore lesbianism, in a series of films which
had little to differentiate them from the sexploitation product distributed
with seemingly unending regularity in mainland Europe.
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Curtains (1983)
Country: CANADA
Beset
by production difficulties, the 1983 Canadian slasher flick Curtains, emerges from the early 80’s
effluent as a quite thoughtful, intelligent, and at times lyrical contribution
to the horror genre. The slasher film is the horror sub-genre that I have the
lowest regard for, so when one comes across my screen that is a little bit
different I tend towards generosity. In the case of Curtains I’m willing to overlook the myriad plot deficiencies; the only
partially developed characters, and the patchy performances, because the film
has a fairly original premise, and an offbeat tone that is most welcome. The
producer of Curtains was Peter R.
Simpson, who a few years before had scored a major commercial success with Prom Night (1980), and clearly sought to
replicate that feat. Simpson evidently knew what ingredients were required to
make a successful horror picture in a market place that was obese with
derivative product. The first time director was Robert Ciupka, a
cinematographer, who brought with him a wealth of visual artistry. Therein lies
the tragedy of Curtains, the reason
why there is a push and pull between the market and art, why the film only
partially succeeds, why the film suffers from an uneven style and a number of
structural weaknesses. It is also the reason the film, which commenced shooting
in late 1980, didn’t see the light of day until 1983. A clash of philosophies
between producer and director would ultimately be the films undoing and lead to
marginalisation, commercial failure, and for fans of horror, badly distributed
and poor quality releases.
