Wednesday 12 August 2020

Snake Eyes (2020)

 


In a sign of US indie cinema emerging from lockdown, here is the latest piece of Shasta County kick-assery from director Rene Perez, he of Death Kiss, the Playing with Dolls series and more recently the controversial and heavily suppressed The Insurrection. This time its a non-profit, available for free, fan film based on G.I. Joe. A franchise I have to admit to having no real history with, aside from catching one of the Hollywood adaptations a few years ago...the one with The Rock in...which I recall being a confusing mess of ego and CGI crash, bang wallop. In comparison the Perez take on G.I. Joe is quite coherent and accessible. Even if you are not au fait with G.I. Joe though, Snake Eyes is actually an ideal primer into what Perez's brand of cinema is all about. Namely a guy in a cool ninja outfit taking on dozens of goons, the utilization of real life martial artists, female eye candy, and extreme gore mixed with old fashioned gallantry (our hero thinks nothing of smashing in other men’s skulls or blowing away male faces and genitalia, but also sends flowers to his special lady and can't bring himself to punch out a female opponent). Despite the bruising he took for The Insurrection, Snake Eyes also finds Perez in unapologetically boat rocking form, politically. Whereas the pre-pandemic The Insurrection touched a raw nerve by predicting that leftish 'deep state' figures were about to unleash a virus onto the populace, as a means to justify forming a totalitarian government, Snake Eyes takes place after such a plan has been initiated. Making this as much a thematic sequel to The Insurrection as a G.I. Joe homage.

As is par for the course for Perez, Snake Eyes is also an unapologetic love letter to 1980s action cinema, with Perez simultaneously channeling all those Miami Vice era vibes with his soundtrack, composed under his regular alias 'The Darkest Machines'. So, if this 20 minute freebie floats yer boat, be sure to check out his prolific feature film output, with normal service set to resume soon with ‘Righteous Blood’, a western starring Michael Pare, Emily Whitcomb and frequent Perez collaborator Joseph Camilleri.

Video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJGD8LosjTA


Tuesday 11 August 2020

Darker Shades of Elise (2017)

 

Ever wondered what a 21st century British sex film would look like…well wonder no more and meet Darker Shades of Elise, a film that clearly owes its existence to a certain Hollywood blockbuster with the word ‘Shades’ in its title.  The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon from a few years ago resulting in a short lived revival of sexploitation filmmaking in Britain, that includes this film and ‘Dirty Work’ made by the same bunch of people.  As much as Darker Shades of Elise and Dirty Work are examples of plucky, low budget British filmmakers grabbing onto the designer coattails of 50 Shades of Grey, they are also in the tradition of the middle class sex dramas that the British film industry used to make in the late 60s and early 70s…think, “Loving Feeling”, “Love is a Splendid Illusion”, the swinging suburban dramas of Derek Ford, and in particular 1971’s Not Tonight Darling.  Darker Shades of Elise is essentially Not Tonight Darling updated to a world of mobile phones, hard drives and revenge porn.  This film did go through a number of titles on its way to the DVD shelves of supermarkets…it was filmed as The Domino Effect…appears to have been briefly mooted as 50 Shades of Elise, before finally settling on Darker Shades of Elise. 

For some reason, I keep wanting to call this film Darker Shades of Elsie, which makes it sound like a Coronation Street origins story.  This isn’t however, a film documenting Elsie Tanner’s descent into BDSM, this is the story of Elise Styles (Becky Fletcher), a young, well off yet bored and unfulfilled newlywed whose love life is on a downward spiral.  Her decent, but dull hubby, is a high flying businessman who would rather focus on his job in the city than his wife, and may also be playing away from home.  All of which leaves Elise more than a little envious of her best friend, a sex crazy minx called Bianca (Charlene Cooper) who can barely wait till she has hustled Elise out of the door before she is riding on top of a muscular hunk.  Catching the sight of those two engaging in carnal pleasure, causes the desperate Elise to resort to a spot of public masturbation outside of Bianca’s house.  Elise’s fortunes appear to be on the up when she meets Felix (Arron Blake) a handsome fashion photographer, who initially appears to be Elise’s passport to a more exciting existence…enough to blind her to the slightly ‘off’ vibe that Felix projects to others.  An early scene in the film where Felix barges into an office, demanding work, only to be shooed away by a female boss he then loses his composure with, tips off the audience that Felix has ‘issues’ with women, and has a history of making an incessant pest of himself around them.  Despite this, Elise is soon throwing caution to the wind, and embarks on a dangerous, high risk affair with Felix.  One that is daringly played out right under her husband’s nose.  While her husband is taking a shower, Felix lets himself into Elsie and hubby’s apartment and insists on having rough, rear entry sex with her.  Ironically her oblivious husband then emerges from the shower feeling horny, and also insists on having rough, rear entry sex with Elise…proving that a woman’s work is never done.



Soon the thrill seeking Felix begins pushing things even further by demanding that Elise have anonymous, impromptu sex with any man that Felix chooses.  A situation that results in a succession of near naked, young bucks appearing at Elise’s apartment all ready for carnal pleasure, including a homosexual couple who feel like playing the field, and show up looking for an Elise sandwich.  Not every character who exists within this kinky world is cold hearted and unfeeling though.  When Felix hires a dominatrix, played by Claire Maria-Fox, to do her thing, the dominatrix gets an instant bad vibe about Felix, prevents him from raping Elise, and shoos him away by threatening to call the police.  Thus becoming the first character in the film to show any kind of compassion or concern for Elise’s wellbeing. 



It should be mentioned that Claire Maria-Fox has subsequently graduated to leading lady status in a string of British horror films like Bride of Scarecrow, Mother Krampus and The Tooth Fairy…and is an absolute scream in all of them.  I’ve no idea if Claire Maria-Fox is actually from Essex, but with her fur coat, Afghan hound hair, and mouth that rarely closes, she does play the most excessively Essex girl type characters imaginable in those movies.  Knowing just how grating and irritating her performances must be to so many, just makes me adore Claire Maria-Fox all the more.  She is definitely the standout, quirky star of those horror films, but I’m not sure you could make the same case for Darker Shades of Elise- after all she only has about two scenes in the whole movie.  So, it remains rather puzzlingly that it is Claire Maria-Fox who is plastered all over the DVD cover of Darker Shades of Elise, while the actual star of the film Becky Fletcher, is relegated to background imagery.  A decision that also seems slightly suspect in this day and age, if you consider that Claire Maria-Fox is white, and Becky Fletcher is…I believe…mixed race.  Who knows though…there could be some innocent explanation for this…such as Becky Fletcher not wanting that level of exposure…so let’s not set off those woke alarms too prematurely.  


Whereas this film’s Hollywood counterpart posited its male character as a romantic and redeemable figure, Darker Shades of Elise is under no illusions that Felix is anything more than a disturbed, stone cold deviant.  A side to him that becomes more apparent as the film progresses.  A more accurate movie character comparison would be with Hellraiser’s Frank Cotton.  Felix’s rugged looks and bad boy appeal belies a jaded, seen and done it all extremist interior.  Like Hellraiser Frank he is destined to change the life of a bored, sexually repressed woman…but certainly not for the better.  As Elise seeks to distance herself from a debasing and destructive lifestyle, Felix resorts to strong-arm tactics to lure her back in.  Pasting illicit photos of her at the office of the company she is seeking employment with, and blackmailing her with a sex tape before turning her over to a trio of his creepy, swing buddies who take turns in raping her from behind, with one of them hissing “go harder on her” and “I’ll fucking break you”.  For a film born out of ‘sensitive’ times, Darker Shades of Elise isn’t afraid to go to some uncomfortable and disturbing places when it comes to depicting Elise’ degradation.  There is also frequent nudity from its female stars and -befitting an era of equal opportunity- plenty of bared abs and thrusting buns from its male actors…so something for the ladies and the gay blades here as well.  Couple that with a multi-racial cast, and Darker Shades of Elise does represent an attempt to drag the British sex film into the 21st century. 


While the landscape of Britain has dramatically changed since the 1970s, the ghost of British sex films past still haunts this movie.  Darker Shades of Elise is practically Fordian –Derek not John- in the manner in which it is torn between being a celebratory portrayal of sexual excess and a paranoid frightmare about what can happen when people step outside of the sexual norm.  Darker Shades of Elise even resurrects one of Ford’s frequent stock characters, the obnoxious male photographer.  A type Derek Ford always seemed to have it in for in his writing and direction…think Tony Booth in Corruption, Kevin Lloyd in Don’t Open Till Christmas, and the shutterbugs of Suburban Wives and Scream and Die…Felix would have been right at home amongst that sick bunch.  The same team’s other sex film ‘Dirty Work’ is likely to have also met with the Derek Ford seal of approval, the tale of a shy, wallflower whose fumbling attempts at voyeurism and BDSM lead to her being framed for a murder.  While I seriously doubt anyone connected to these films has ever heard of Derek Ford, they nevertheless adhere to the same Fordian belief that a high price must always be paid for sexual misadventures. 

As well as the aforementioned Claire Maria-Fox, it is notable how practically everyone involved with this film has subsequently gone on to have careers in British horror films.  The director Jamie Weston, preceded this with a horror film (2016’s Fox Trap), and followed it with another (2018’s Mandy- The Haunted Doll).  Co-producer Scott Jeffrey has continued with a run of constantly interesting horror films…Suicide Club, Cupid, The Final Scream, Clowndoll and Don’t Speak.  Another producer on this film, Louisa Warren has gone on to become one of Britain’s most prolific female director of horror films.  Warren also takes a supporting role in Darker Shades of Elise.  So, if you’ve ever wanted to put a face to the person who makes all those horror films about scarecrows that you see in supermarkets, Warren shows up here as Janet.  A friend of Elise’s husband, who is consistently mean and nasty towards Elise and eventually receives her comeuppance in the form of an almightily slap around the face from Elise.  Actress Becky Fletcher aka Becca Hirani, has also been no slouch when it comes to British horror films either, starring in 2017’s House on Elm Lake and –as Rebecca J Matthews- directing Pet Graveyard and The Candy Witch. 

Given how these careers have panned out, it is tempting to wonder if these people weren’t already foreseeing such a future for themselves when they made Darker Shades of Elise.  A film that teeters towards being a horror film throughout, and arguably, mounts a full scale assault on the genre with a wildly violent last act that sees characters tied to chairs, caked in blood, being repeatedly stabbed, and Felix going full tilt psycho by caving in heads with a hammer.  At which point you do a double take, step back and ask yourself “ermm…at which point did this become a Pete Walker film?”  Unused scenes, included as an extra on the DVD release, further push Darker Shades of Elise in a horror film direction, revealing a sub-plot in which Felix follows one of Elise’s confidants back to her house, stalks her while she is in the shower then suffocates her.  The deleted scenes also afford Felix a back-story…his momma was a whore, and youngman Felix was exposed to some inappropriate stuff, including mum eventually slashing her wrists in the bathroom…the typical horror movie way of explaining why characters grow up to be arseholes. 

As tends to be the case with Louisa Warren’s subsequent horror films, Darker Shades of Elise is a bit of a rough diamond.  The film emulates the look of a glossy Hollywood production, taking in lots of aerial views of London’s corporate landscape, imagery that has become the norm when it comes to big budget Hollywood’s way of depicting a London location.  At the same time, cracks, revealing a low budget and against the clock shooting, gradually appear.  Some of the supporting actors aren’t quite up to the standards of the leads –both of whom are very good- and there are sound recording issues.  The impression you get is that time and money, or the lack thereof, are constant enemies of Warren, and that the films emerge as unpolished and a little rough around the edges as a result.  Still considering that the film was (according to the director’s audio commentary) only shot in 12 days, runs around 100 minutes with around 10 minutes of leftover footage, that is nearly two hours of usable material from a 12 day shoot.  A considerable, low budget achievement that demonstrates just how fast and efficiently Warren and Co are able to crank this stuff out.


Darker Shades of Elise does come across as someone striking while the iron was still hot, and when 50 Shades of Grey was still a fashionable ‘thing’.  I can’t help thinking, with regards to this film’s relationship to 50 Shades of Grey, that mainstream films dealing with sexuality and eroticism tend to be massive in their day, but largely forgotten as time has gone on.  Films like Carnal Knowledge and Last Tango in Paris were the source of controversy and after dinner conversations at the time, but these days tend to be remembered more by film historians rather than the average joe.  Whenever 1980s cinema comes under the nostalgic spotlight, you don’t tend to hear films like The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Blue Lagoon and Nine and a Half Weeks brought up in the same revered company as Back to the Future, The Goonies or Robocop.  The only exception to the rule would have to be Showgirls, a derided laughing stock in its day, which managed to have the last laugh by rising from the ashes to enjoy a camp afterlife.  The verdict is still out on 50 Shades of Grey, but even now, only a few years on, it does feel as if those films were just a flash in the pan, that are quickly disappearing from the pop culture radar.  Seemingly validating the decision of so many connected to Darker Shades of Elise to jump ship and start making horror films instead, a genre that generally tends to date better than erotic cinema. 

I suppose in writing this, I should have made the ultimate sacrifice, broke down and watched one of the 50 Shades of Grey movies, in order to compare them to this British answer to the series…but, alas dear reader, even I have my limits when it comes to doing research.  I did watch part of the first 50 Shades of Grey film while staying at Suzy Mandel’s place… it was playing on the cable service that S’Mandel has… but I have to confess to dozing off through it.  More recently a penny pitching friend was ecstatic to pick up the third film for 50p at a charity shop…not because he wanted to see the film, but because he thought it might be worth more to take back to CEX…which in fairness it was…it was worth £1.  So I did see part of ‘50 Shades Freed’ before its date with CEX.  Not that I can look down on people for buying and selling at CEX…having picked up Darker Shades of Elise there for £1.50…my small contribution to the British film industry.  It should be mentioned that the first 50 Shades of Grey film is also currently £1.50 in CEX, so in CEX terms at least 50 Shades of Grey and Darker Shades of Elise are currently on equal footing, and in my book, Elise spanks 50 Shades bare buttocks…on account of that fact that I didn’t fall asleep during this one.  As much as I’ve enjoyed many of the horror films that have since emerged from this ‘collective’, both Darker Shades of Elise and Dirty Work rank among their best work, and make you regret that the window of opportunity for a British sex film revival, inadvertently opened by 50 Shades of Grey, proved to be a very brief one.         

      

     

 

Wednesday 5 August 2020

Folies Meurtrieres (1984)



Video version of this review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOn5SnHhwyk

https://archive.org/details/follies


Blood and guts action from 1980s France, that as you might expect from an amateur super 8 film made by gorehounds with only fellow gorehounds in mind, cuts right to the heart of what the era's slasher films were all about, namely peeps getting carved up with chainsaws, chopped up with axes, stabbed, and meeting pick axes head on....with none of that pesky dialogue or character development to get in the way of painting the screen red.

Very much in the same league as the trashy, chunkblowing antics of Nathan Schiff (Weasels Rip My Flesh), Andreas Schnaas (Violent Shit) and fellow countryman N.G Mount (Ogroff-The Mad Mutilator), it's one for those that can still connect with their gore fixated teenage selves who worshiped Chas Balun, Tom Savini and Fangoria magazine....and are able to put a mental block on how inept and repetitious it all is. Le Plot?...errr a masked killer stalks and kills a woman, then stalks and kills another woman...then stalks and kills yet another woman...rinse, repeat for about forty minutes or so, after which that thing that happens to Joe Spinell at the end of Maniac, also happens here (the killer's identity and motivation represent the only real flashes of originality). Still, check out that scene where the girl gets killed in the car and wonder if they managed to clean off all that red paint from dad's car after they'd finished filming- such are the follies of low budget, gore obsessed filmmakers.


Sunday 2 August 2020

Babbling about Bedabbled magazine

A few words about Bedabbled , the British Horror and Cult Cinema magazine

Video links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9fLMfJezso

https://archive.org/details/bedBBLED