Devouring Horror One Bloody Chunk At A Time….
Children of Sin is a crazy, blood-soaked tale about a less-than-perfect pair of parents who send their rebellious daughter and homosexual son to a strange “religious” retreat called Abraham House to save their souls from going to Hell…oh no!! But is everything really as it […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVChildren of Sin is a crazy, blood-soaked tale about a less-than-perfect pair of parents who send their rebellious daughter and homosexual son to a strange “religious” retreat called Abraham House to save their souls from going to Hell…oh no!! But is everything really as it seems? Grab a glass of a delightful, artificially fruit-flavored beverage and get comfy as I tell you a little more about Children of Sin.
This film comes to us from writer/director Christopher Wesley Moore (Triggered/Blessed Are the Children) and essentially Moore tells a story about a family made up of the pervy asshole stepdad, Robbie (Jeff Buchwald), the anything-for-her-man mom Tammy (Keni Bounds), the troubled…aka whorish… daughter Emma (Meredith Mohler) and Lewis Hines as the gay brother Jackson, who’s the most destined to burn in Hell according to Robbie.
Because the kids aren’t living up to Robbie’s ideal family and religious standards, the kids are shipped off to something called Abraham House to save them from damnation. Emma and Jackson are told that they only have to stay at the facility for three days and as long as they follow the rules, all should be fine, and Tammy will come pick them up. Sounds easy-peasy, right?
Once inside of Abraham House, we’re introduced to Mary Esther (Jo-Ann Robinson). The woman who runs the retreat with the love of the Lord in her heart and a mind for punishment for those who don’t share that same love for Him in theirs. Mary Esther is a perfect mix of Mrs. Voorhees (Friday the 13th) and Sister Jude (American Horror Story: Coven) in her personality and approach to carrying out her vicious kills. But Mary Esther doesn’t see herself as a bad person. All she wants to do is help the children who are sent to her by their desperate parents. However, her staff and the kids under her care that we meet along the way see the truth, and they’re terrified. They try to follow Mary Esther’s rules, but she’s got a strict “three strikes and you’re out” policy in addition to other harsh punishments.
As things in Abraham House begin to turn into a crazy bloodbath at the hands of Mary Esther for one reason or another, plans for an escape are made as Emma and Jackson start to fear for their mother as she’s not called to check in on them as promised. They think that Robbie has done something terrible to her. They do manage to get away, but what they find when they return home might be even worse than what they’d just left at Abraham House.
Children of Sin is a completely fun, really bloody good time. It’s got a great ‘80s B-movie feel to it. You would never be able to tell that this film was made on a budget of around $20,000. The cinematography, gore effects, production design and score are all fantastic. The cast does an amazing job and the story flows smoothly. However, there are a couple of spots where things run a little too long and/or could use a little more backstory or explanation. There are also depictions of suicide, and sexual/religious abuse, so if you’re sensitive to those types of things, there’s your heads up.
Congrats to Christopher Wesley Moore on a job very well done! If you’d like to give this film a watch, it’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Enjoy!
There’s something strange happening in Room 203. A grisly past has kept tenants away for fifty years. A strange odor fills the apartment. A hole in the wall resists any attempt at repair. Room 203 has remained empty for decades. Until now. When Kim (Francesca […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVThere’s something strange happening in Room 203. A grisly past has kept tenants away for fifty years. A strange odor fills the apartment. A hole in the wall resists any attempt at repair. Room 203 has remained empty for decades. Until now.
When Kim (Francesca Xuereb) and her life-long friend Izzy (Viktoria Vinyarska) move into the empty apartment, the only concerns they have are breaking away from their past and looking forward to their future. The landlord, Ronan (Scott Gremillion), is a bit of a creep and the antique stained-glass window in the master bedroom is off-putting, but aside from that, the room is perfect. Their optimism quickly sours as the evil within Room 203 returns to claim another set of victims.
Directed by Ben Jagger, Room 203 is a decent lazy-afternoon movie. Engaging enough to play on a whim, but nothing that will really knock your socks off. While it doesn’t bring anything new to the haunted house genre (or haunted room, as the case may be), it manages to be mostly entertaining.
The mystery surrounding Room 203 is slowly unveiled through the journalistic investigation of Kim, along with help from a fellow classmate, Ian (Eric Wiegand). Their investigation is intertwined with a minor romantic subplot as the two grow closer to one another. All the while, Kim becomes concerned about Izzy’s increasingly bizarre behavior. As the relationship between Kim and Ian grows, the relationship between Kim and Izzy wilts.
The chemistry between Kim and Ian comes across as genuine and is actually rather cute. However, while their scenes do work well individually, they tend to get in the way of the core of the actual story. At nearly two hours long, Room 203 feels bloated, with a little too much character development for its own good. Based on a novel by Nanami Kamon, Room 203 very much feels like an adaptation. While a novel can take time to explore character-oriented diversions, cinematic story-telling can quickly become bogged down when doing the same. Such indulgences become burdensome if the B-story is not top notch. Unfortunately, the romantic interactions between Kim and Ian just don’t carry enough weight to warrant the time spent with them.
When we do get back to the meat of the story, major developments occur at a rapid pace, escalating to their conclusion before the audience can even process what exactly has unfolded. Too much time is spent on extraneous sequences and not enough time is spent on explaining what’s happening in Room 203.
Why can’t the hole be fixed? Why does the room stink sometimes? What’s the deal with the bird? How is the stained-glass window important?
Once the mystery was explained, and the evil spirit was vanquished, I found myself more confused than informed about the nature of the entity. The little details tying up all the loose ends seem to have been left out of the script in favor of keeping the running time under two hours. And on the rare occasions those details are mentioned, they’re glossed over so quickly that they are immediately forgotten.
Room 203 manages to simultaneously include too much story and not enough. It’s never outright bad, but more often than not, it’s never quite as good as it otherwise could be. When it does stick to its horror elements, it is a fun watch. With a satisfying mix of unsettling atmosphere and the occasional gory special effects, the film knows how to be horror when it wants to be. In those moments, it truly shines. With 30 minutes or so trimmed from the length, Room 203 could have much more impact.
The performers all around put in good work. From the main cast, all the way down to the small parts which sometimes last for only a scene or two. Everyone on screen comes across as believable and interesting. Viktoria Vinyarska’s performance is the most memorable as Izzy devolves from a fun-loving, if troubled, party-girl into an unpredictable nightmare of a roommate.
The role of Kim is less spectacular, but vitally important. The main character of the story is often burdened with the thankless task of maintaining the rules of reality while the rest of the world spirals into insanity. Due to this story necessity, Francesca Xuereb is given fewer opportunities to flex her acting muscles. She does a fine job of keeping the story grounded, and when those opportunities do appear she proves that she is equally capable of letting loose.
Room 203 may not be anything to go out of your way to see, but for what it is, it’s worth giving it a watch if it comes across your path. If you’re looking for a comfort-watch, something to pass the time on those lazy, rainy afternoons when you don’t have anything better to do, Room 203 is the perfect fit.
In 1973, the Good Doctor was just a 10-year-old intern, but already deeply absorbed in the world of horror and monsters. Quite a shock, eh? However, most of my monstrous interest revolved around the classic Universal horrors of the past, as well as a full […]
Movies & TV TV ReviewsIn 1973, the Good Doctor was just a 10-year-old intern, but already deeply absorbed in the world of horror and monsters. Quite a shock, eh? However, most of my monstrous interest revolved around the classic Universal horrors of the past, as well as a full slate of horror comics of all kinds. Frankenstein to me was Karloff’s flat-topped take on the Monster. At the point, I don’t think I had yet seen Hammer’s rather different version. I watched Night Gallery like a good little ghoul every week and tried to catch Outer Limits whenever it came on.
I very distinctly recall watching a two-part horror tale called Frankenstein: The True Story on NBC. This tragically unique reinterpretation of Mary Shelley’s iconic tale left a very deep mark on me, and I never forgot it even though it would be decades before I would see it again on DVD. It was a lavish version of the story and very graphic for its time, with some very gruesome scenes. James Mason’s superb portrayal of Dr. Polidori remains my favorite Mad Doctor of all time, which covers a HUGE amount of territory. But most of all, I remember a Monster which started out more like an angel. An angel that steadily became a monster and finally, a devil.
The title of Frankenstein: The True Story can be seen as an arrogant affront, considering that it changes quite a bit of Mary Shelley’s original. And yet, at its core, this version is perhaps the most faithful in terms of the tragic fall of young Victor Frankenstein. The subtitle of the original story was “The Modern Prometheus”. Prometheus pays dearly for his attempt to uplift mankind and so does Victor Frankenstein. Victor’s quest to defeat death winds up destroying not only himself but everybody around him. That tragedy is the very essence of what happens in Frankenstein: The True Story.
The movie was split into two 90-minute parts when it was first shown in 1973. On DVD, the two halves are joined into one film running slightly more than three hours. This running time, far greater than any other Frankenstein film, gave room for a lot of extra characterization and details. No expense was spared for the historical setting of the mid-1800s. The film equaled Hammer’s most lavish creations and outdid most of them.
The literate script was the creation of novelist Christopher Isherwood and longtime companion Don Bachardy. The movie was directed by journeyman Jack Smight and can likely be considered his best effort. As for the cast—no horror movie before or since has boasted such a talented crew. Leonard Whiting, who was Romeo in Zefferelli’s Romeo and Juliet, was brilliantly cast as young Victor Frankenstein. The aforementioned James Mason was superb as the suavely sinister Dr. Polidori. In fact, this is the role that made me a lifetime fan of the smooth-tongued Englishman. Also appearing were Michael Sarrazin as the Creature, David McCallum as Dr. Clerval, a ravishing young Jane Seymour as Prima, and Nicola Pagett as Victor’s wife, Elizabeth. John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Michael Wilding, Agnes Moorhead and Tom Baker also popped up in smaller roles.
With the background out of the way, let’s delve a bit deeper into Frankenstein: The True Story. Some spoilers lurk ahead so be forewarned….
It certainly doesn’t take long for tragedy to rear its ugly head. Handsome young scientist Victor Frankenstein is on a lakeside holiday with his young fiancée Elizabeth Fanshawe when Victor’s younger brother William drowns in a boating accident. The event serves as a catalyst for Victor. He leaves the funeral service for William in disgust when the preacher’s pious sermon offends him. “Why can’t I make life rise out of death?” he asks Elizabeth, who responds, “That’s how Satan tempted our Lord!”
“If Satan could show me how to bring William back to life, I’d gladly become his pupil!” Victor tells a shocked Elizabeth.
Satan soon arrives in the form of Prof. Henry Clerval (David McCallum), a disheveled and rudely arrogant scientist who nevertheless has a magnetic personality. He makes Victor’s acquaintance when he roughly saws off the arm of a farm boy involved in an accident. He manages to keep the amputated limb and brings it back to his laboratory. There, he shows an astonished Victor how he can use the power of the sun to bring a huge dead beetle back to life. After seeing this, Victor pledges to aid Clerval in his work, which soon takes him away from Elizabeth and his other duties.
When Clerval manages to bring the arm back to life, work begins in earnest. A tragic disaster in the mines kills a number of young workers. Clerval and Victor poke through the dead bodies as if they are on a shopping expedition, choosing one corpse for its legs, another for its arms, and one for its head. They plan to create a composite being which they will bring to life.
The day soon comes for the great experiment. But the night before, after Victor has left the lab, Clerval discovers with a shock that the disembodied arm they brought to life has deteriorated and become bestial in appearance. Clerval begins to write “the process is reversing itself” in his logbook when a massive heart attack strikes him down and kills him. When Victor finds the body in the morning, he makes the decision to go ahead with the experiment after he has performed one more operation. “No longer will our new man have the brain of a peasant,” he says, carrying Henry’s brain to the waiting subject.
One of the hallmarks of any decent Frankenstein film is the scene where the Creature is brought to life. This film is no different but takes a unique approach. The apparatus looks more authentic, like something that could have actually existed in the mid-1800s, complete with a giant bellows and a huge mirror. After a tense scene, the laboratory is torn apart by an explosion. When Victor wakes in the rubble, he sees the bandage-wrapped form of the Creature standing clear of the wreckage. He removes the bandages from its face…to reveal the angelic visage of a handsome young man.
“I feel you are William reborn,” an elated Victor tells the Creature. “Everywhere you go, you shall bring happiness.” The ultimate result is quite different.
The early days of the Creature’s life are filled with joy. He has the mind of a child and learns by imitating Victor’s lessons. Soon Victor feels confident enough to take the Creature out in society, with the cover story that he is a “foreign visitor”. The pair visit the opera and everyone is taken with the mysterious stranger, who loves music.
One night, though, Victor visits the ruins of the laboratory and hears a thumping sound. He opens the locked door where Clerval put the amputated arm. The arm falls out and crawls blindly on the floor. Victor is aghast…the arm has devolved terribly, becoming more hideous. In a repulsively authentic scene, Victor destroys the arm with acid. A terrible foreboding grips him. The feeling is justified when he notices a malformation of the Creature’s jawbone. The deterioration has begun.
The honeymoon with the Creature is over. Victor keeps him a virtual prisoner in his apartment, keeping him out of sight. The malformation is slight at first, but the Creature starts to take on an almost Neanderthal-like appearance. Victor’s attitude seems to deteriorate with the Creature’s looks and he snaps at it in anger. The Creature now reflects that anger in his own behavior. The dream has become a nightmare and when the Creature’s appearance causes the elderly housekeeper to suffer a stroke and die, things spiral out of control.
Finally, the child-like being sees its own ugliness in a broken mirror that distorts the image further and is overcome with rage and despair. It stabs itself in the chest over and over…to no effect. It then furiously runs out into the countryside, right up to the steep oceanside cliffs. Victor tries one more time to reason with it, but then lets it run over the cliff into the raging sea below. He believes the nightmare is over and the Creature is finally dead.
Of course, we know differently. A bedraggled and brutish Creature washes up on the beach and staggers into the nearby forest. Soon he encounters the blind old man Lacey (Ralph Richardson), who makes friends with him even though the Creature cannot speak. “You have an uncommonly strong hand, sir,” remarks Lacey. “And an uncommonly cold one as well.” The pair soon makes its way to Lacey’s cottage, where they have an idyllic scene that is clearly an updating of the classic “hermit” scene in Bride of Frankenstein. Lacey plays a mean fiddle and the Creature is delighted by his music.
But the old man is not alone. His beautiful daughter Agatha and her handsome boyfriend Felix come to visit him. The fearful Creature exits the cottage before they arrive, leaving a mystery for the young couple. The Creature secretly watches the group from the nearby woods and is fascinated by the gorgeous Agatha. And since she is played by 19-year-old Jane Seymour, I can’t say I blame him much.
Things fall to pieces when Felix discovers the malformed Creature visiting Lacey. He chooses to attack and the Creature fights back with superhuman strength, killing the young man and leaving poor blind Lacey in shock. Agatha flees up the country road in terror and is run over by an onrushing carriage, killing her. The traumatized Creature picks up her broken body and makes off into the woods.
Meanwhile, Victor has enjoyed something of a reprieve. He has put the episode with the Creature behind him and devotes himself utterly to Elizabeth. But on the very day of his wedding, a distinguished visitor demands to speak to him. This is the urbane but sinister Dr. Polidori (James Mason), who was Clerval’s mentor before the pair had a violent falling out. Polidori says he has a surprise guest who is eager to see Victor. Looking out the back window of Polidori’s ornate carriage is a face in a porcelain mask. The mask drops, revealing the now ugly Creature.
Victor is in shock and accompanies Polidori to the old lab where the Creature was brought to life. Polidori has completely rebuilt the structure and created his own laboratory. It seems that the Creature returned to the lab bearing Agatha’s body…returning home, as it were. Polidori is openly contemptuous of the Creature but believes he can use Agatha’s remains to create his own resurrected being using a completely different method than the one Henry and Victor used.
I can’t say enough about Mason’s performance as Polidori. He is full of peculiar quirks…his servants are all Chinese and his black gloved hands were ruined in an accident. He is completely unruffled by the Creature’s appearance and treats him almost like a stray dog. He’s full of arrogance yet his calm demeanor and articulate words speak of a great, twisted intelligence. He absolutely hates anything to do with Clerval’s theories, but he needs Victor’s sure hands to help him with the creation of a female creature. Victor adamantly refuses at first, but Polidori smoothly blackmails him into helping him. And he also says he can help “dispose” of Victor’s past mistake, the Creature.
In a weirdly beautiful and psychedelic scene, the nude form of the female Creature is brought to life in a tank filled with colored chemicals and bubbles. This was pretty racy for a TV show in the early 70s. Soon, Polidori’s creation comes to life…a beautiful young girl he calls Prima. The Creature is smitten by Prima and we can tell that he considers her a mate.
Before long, Prima and Polidori become part of the rarefied social circles that Victor and Elizabeth travel in. Polidori’s plans become clear…he wants to marry Prima to a powerful figure of the European aristocracy and then use her to gain political influence. A sullen Victor is revolted by his schemes and takes to the bottle. As for Prima, she charms almost everyone, but Elizabeth finds out that she has a twisted and almost sadistic soul. She catches her trying to strangle a cat and then sees her mocking Elizabeth’s own pregnancy. Prima may be physically beautiful, but her soul is even uglier than the Creature’s appearance.
Preparations are being made to solve Victor’s “problem.” A tank of highly corrosive acid has been constructed in Polidori’s lab. A master hypnotist, the Dr. mesmerizes the Creature and tells Victor to order him to lie down next to the tank. Even the unnatural Creature cannot withstand such acid. But at the very last second, Victor takes pity on his creation and yells “wake up!” The Creature awakens in a rage and soon one of Polidori’s Chinese henchmen is in the acid tank, which bursts apart. Polidori and Victor hurry upstairs and lock the Creature in the cellar. Polidori starts a fire and intends to burn down the entire building to destroy the Creature. His urbane control cracks and he yells, “Burn, traitor! Burn, Henry Clerval!” as the fire spreads. The house is reduced to ashes.
A couple of days later, there is a huge ball celebrating the marriage of Victor and Elizabeth. Many of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Europe are there. Polidori is delighted; many of the nobles are smitten with the gorgeous Prima. He will have his pick of rich fools to marry her. Disgusted, Victor drinks heavily.
Prima enchants all who see her…with the exception of Elizabeth, who is repulsed. As the crowd watches, the young girl dances beautifully in the grand ballroom. Suddenly, there is a disturbance as the great doors to the hall are thrust open. The Creature strides in before the appalled gathering. Before he was ugly, but now with the marks of the fire upon him, he is hideous. And there is also a change in his demeanor. The child-like innocent is gone now.
He sees Prima and murmurs “Agatha….” Surely here is a friendly face. But it’s not to be. Prima begins to hiss and snarl like a cat…she is preparing for battle. Suddenly some in the crowd realize that there are TWO uncanny beings in front of them. Prima lunges in fury at the Creature, who realizes she hates him. So, he fights back and the result is grotesquely horrible as Prima is torn apart. Polidori collapses in hysterics as the Creature walks up to Victor and says, “Beautiful, Victor…beautiful.”
The crowd has fled in disbelieving horror and The Creature also departs, leaving carnage in a space where minutes before music and gaiety prevailed.
The whole countryside is in an uproar after the debacle and Elizabeth uses all her family’s connections to keep Victor out of jail and the police from snooping around. The incident has been so traumatic that the couple will leave England entirely and take a ship to America in the hopes of starting a new life there.
There is no way for Victor to escape the consequences of what he has done. When he and Elizabeth board the ship to America, they find to their dismay that Dr. Polidori is also on board. He is determined that he and Victor will start their experiments anew in the New World. Elizabeth is completely repulsed by the sinister physician and begs Victor to stay away from him. But unknown to them all, another stowaway has joined them on their journey. The Creature, now looking utterly nightmarish, has smuggled himself onboard in a crate.
The voyage becomes a trip to Hell as the Creature makes his presence known and seems particularly driven to torment Polidori. During a dreadful storm, the Creature takes control of the ship, forcing the crew to depart. “It’s Old Nick himself!” yells one sailor as the cackling Creature is struck by lightning while in the mast and laughs it off.
The ship makes its way to the Arctic wastes, much as what happened in Shelley’s original novel. There, all the characters will meet their fate as Victor Frankenstein and his creation have their final reckoning. The last scenes stayed with me for more than 30 years until I finally picked up the DVD after years spent looking for a copy of this ground-breaking classic horror.
The original Frankenstein novel was typified by a feeling of relentlessly hurtling towards tragedy. In this one facet, Frankenstein: The True Story matches it perfectly. From the first scene of William drowning to the last confrontation between creator and creation, this story proceeds to doom.
The unique twist to “The True Story” is that the Creature starts out as physical perfection, with the innocence of a child. There are several hints during the film that Clerval’s brain and personality is still a part of the Creature, but they are fairly sparse. “The True Story” seems to be a comment on our society’s obsession with physical beauty and perfection. Once the Creature starts to lose his looks, Victor’s entire interaction with him changes, becoming tense and ultimately hostile, even though mentally the Creature is not overtly malevolent.
Dr. Polidori’s stinging rebuke to Victor sums up a lot of society’s feelings on beauty: “What a model parent you’ve been! You’ve loved your Creature as long as it was pretty, but when it lost its looks…hah! That was another matter. So much for your dainty conscience!”
Polidori’s own creature is Prima, who is a living example of how not to judge a book by its cover. She is almost inhumanly beautiful but utterly sociopathic, if not downright evil. When she rejects the advances of the Creature and strikes out at him, the once innocent being has lost its last chance for happiness. With his destruction of Prima, the Creature truly becomes monstrous and his ultimate vengeance on Polidori is horrific.
The writers Isherwood and Bachardy were an unabashedly gay couple in real life and executive producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. was also gay. One can certainly find homosexual subtexts throughout Frankenstein: The True Story but they are not overt. Certainly, when Victor and the Creature are enjoying their happy early days, there’s a hint of a relationship there, even though Victor is in love with Elizabeth. During the final ship voyage, Elizabeth and the Creature are instantly hostile to each other, perhaps recognizing a strange rivalry. These subtexts are subtle, but they are there if you look for them. Even the 1931 Frankenstein had such hints, considering James Whale was gay himself and maybe saw himself as a “monster” in more repressive times, as the superb film Gods and Monsters showed.
Beyond the universal themes which one can find in Frankenstein: The True Story, there is the simple enjoyment of a good story well told, with excellent performances even in small parts. The direction of Jack Smight never flags and harkens back to a time when period films could be done with lush attention to detail. Overall, the appeal of Frankenstein is the same as any great tragedy like Oedipus Rex or MacBeth. It’s a universal tale sadly lacking in these days of “found footage” and “jump scare” horrors. If you haven’t seen this one, I highly recommend it.
Alright, Horror Fans, the tagline is “Breathe in fear,” but the movie is described as a “psychological horror.” I’ve been around long enough to know that calling a horror flick a thriller or psychological is often a tactic used by studios to avoid the H-word. […]
Movies & TV NewsAlright, Horror Fans, the tagline is “Breathe in fear,” but the movie is described as a “psychological horror.” I’ve been around long enough to know that calling a horror flick a thriller or psychological is often a tactic used by studios to avoid the H-word.
So, what makes directors Sarah Jayne Poretlli and Ivan Malekin’s forthcoming feature Machination interesting whether its horror bona fides are embraced by all involved in its creation? Well, for starters, the whole thing was improvised.
Steffi Thake plays Maria, an anxiety riddled woman who struggles to cope with inner—and outer— “demons” during a pandemic. Part meditation on what living in fear can do to the mind, part fast-paced freakout, Machination looks to the real-world terror of Covid-19 for inspiration.
Also starring Rambert Attard, Sean James Sutton, and Andrew Bonnello, Machination is set to premiere on digital platforms May 20 from Nexus Production Group, and you can pre-order the title now.
Watch the trailer below, Horror Fans!
Episodes nine through 16 of AMC’s massive 24-episode final season of The Walking Dead are now interred and moldering away inside the Crypt of Television Past. Functionally, these middle eight episodes are analogous to the second part of any trilogy. The stakes get higher. Our […]
Movies & TV TV ReviewsEpisodes nine through 16 of AMC’s massive 24-episode final season of The Walking Dead are now interred and moldering away inside the Crypt of Television Past.
Functionally, these middle eight episodes are analogous to the second part of any trilogy. The stakes get higher. Our heroes face desperate odds. The story feels ominous, and things get dark. In cinematic terms, these episodes could be considered The Empire Strikes Back, or even The Godfather II of this final season. Of course, they could just as easily be this season’s Porky’s 2: The Next Day.
Rest assured, though, Horror Fans, whether you think The Walking Dead’s coup de grace thus far is high art, shlock, or something in between, we’re now officially eight episodes away from wrapping up one of television’s biggest hits and what will long be considered one of our genre’s most transcendent successes.
When we left off, Daryl (Norman Reedus)—posing as a loyal member of his ex-lover Leah’s group of mercenaries known as the Reapers—helped Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) infiltrate Meridian with a herd of walkers so they could acquire the food stored there. During her time away from Hilltop and Alexandria, Maggie had called Meridian home until it was violently taken by the Reapers.
As the plan unfolded, Daryl revealed to Leah (Lynn Collins) that he was working with Maggie and Gabe, and he asked her to join them. Leah refused, declaring her commitment to the Reapers as she opened fire on Maggie, Gabe, and the walker herd.
Episode nine opens with the herd destroyed, and Maggie and Gabe alive and well. This leads to a tense skirmish between Maggie’s group and Leah’s group which results in lots of dead Reapers. The high-stakes confrontation culminates with the capture of a Reaper named Carver (Alex Meraz) whom Daryl offers to trade for safe passage out of Meridian. Leah takes the deal, but Maggie kills the remaining Reapers anyway and Daryl allows Leah to escape.
Maggie and the others return to Alexandria with the food they’d secured from Meridian. Daryl finally reunites with Connie (Lauren Ridloff) while Eugene (Josh McDermitt) shows up with Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton), the Deputy Governor of the Commonwealth. The episode ends on an ominous note as we flash forward six months to a ravaged Hilltop where Maggie is once again leading a small community there. A platoon of Commonwealth soldiers arrives, intent on entering and just as the standoff is about to escalate, the lead soldier removes his helmet and reveals himself to be…Daryl!
The remaining seven episodes serve to establish the Commonwealth as a nefarious, totalitarian force that’s hiding its true nature from some of our heroes and many of its own citizens. Maggie suspects this from the beginning and refuses to join them. Fans who watched The Walking Dead: World Beyond know well what evil lurks within the Commonwealth. It’s an idea that’s tried and true. History has shown us over and over again that when a cataclysmic event wipes out a nation’s leadership and institutions—a war or perhaps a zombie apocalypse—a vacuum forms that’s often filled by bad people.
The Commonwealth sends its military to independent communities to absorb them by force or otherwise and this will inevitably include the communities we know and love. But more specifically, someone has attacked a Commonwealth caravan and stolen the weapons it had been carrying. Lance is convinced it was Maggie and the residents of Hilltop. He’s also sure that finding those weapons as the Commonwealth usurps Hilltop and Alexandria is his ticket to independence from Governor Milton (Laila Robbins). Either way, he plans to take out Maggie and her remaining Wardens.
Meanwhile, our heroes living inside the Commonwealth piece together the truth. Along the way Eugene learns about the imposter “Stephanie” who was used to manipulate him into giving up the location of Alexandria, and he meets Max—the real “Stephanie” (Margot Bingham)—with whom he continues the romantic courtship they’d started over the radio, only now in person. We learn that Leah was behind the stolen weapons, and our heroes—led by Connie—hatch a plan to expose the Commonwealth’s nefarious deeds to its largely oblivious citizenry via their newspaper.
As a fighting force comprised of Maggie, Daryl, Aaron (Ross Marquand), Gabriel and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) regroups and plans for war against the Commonwealth, episode 16 closes with Lance and his soldiers hanging Commonwealth banners from the walls of Hilltop, Alexandria, and Oceanside.
Unlike the typical TWD structure, these eight episodes don’t have as explicit an arc as we’ve come to expect. That’s not to say there isn’t a semi-season arc at all, but rather these episodes feel more like a set of unified vignettes. The narrative isn’t always linear which contributes to the effect. This approach isn’t completely unprecedented as Season Five had a similar feel, but it is a bit of a surprise coming from a show that’s been objectively predictable with its approach to story structure for all but maybe two of its 11 seasons.
Zombies…excuse me—Walkers—are now officially an afterthought. They are no more or less a threat to our heroes than, say, a coyote or a thunderstorm. Dangerous? Yes. A large share of the antagonistic elements of the plot? No. And good riddance. Although, the transition should have begun several seasons ago, finally shifting the focus away from zombies and toward ‘heroes vs fascism’—the rebels against the evil empire—injects something interesting into this thing. Hell, anything fresh was welcome. But doing it all during the final season feels like a wasted opportunity, and par for the course, frankly.
Speaking of par for the course, Negan is now married to a woman named Annie (Medina Senghore) and she’s pregnant. And they babysit Maggie’s son Hershel (Kien Michael Spiller) sometimes. That’s right! The unfortunate Negan Rehabilitation Project is nearly complete. It still doesn’t work. It’s still nearly-offensively preposterous. But it’s happening.
We’re being asked to buy into Maggie’s newfound trust in the man who gleefully clubbed her husband and one of her best friend’s to death in front of her while she was pregnant, the man who tortured and abused her and her people afterward with no intention of ever stopping, and the man who tried to wipe them from existence merely because he found it intrinsically pleasurable. None of that can be unwritten and no matter what type of plot contrivances get conjured up now, Maggie’s trust in Negan stretches the suspension of disbelieve well beyond its breaking point. The inability of this show to solve that problem has been baffling. It’s like a running joke, except instead of being funny, it’s infuriating.
However, here’s some credit where credit’s due: Our heroes continue to proactively defend themselves and sometimes that defense is violently homicidal. Such is life after the apocalypse. This obviously necessary story element—not homicidal violence per se, but characters having agency—had been absent since the introduction of Negan until it came back in fits and starts during this season’s first eight episodes. I suspect the recent rediscovery of the fact that our heroes are well established bad asses has much more to do with the fact that the end is inevitable than it does any writerly mea culpas. At this point, though, I’ll take anything that helps make this last hurrah a compelling story, no matter how it’s derived.
When a television series has been on as long as The Walking Dead has, so much has been written and discussed that there isn’t much left to cover. It remains a pretty far cry in quality from its artistic peak. Yet these past 16 episodes have been better than what had been churned out for several seasons prior. Nonetheless, these days I’m mostly waiting to see how the many folks behind this machine collectively attempt to shut it all down.
And with that, Horror Fans, there’s now a measly eight episodes of The Walking Dead remaining!* See you back here in the fall for one last postmortem….
*The multiple planned movies and spinoff series notwithstanding
There’s a surprising dearth of Jersey Devil movies out there. Of all the cryptid stories and creepy monster tales floating about, the 13th child of Jane Leeds seems to shy away from the spotlight. Every few years we’ll get another movie about Bigfoot, or some […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVThere’s a surprising dearth of Jersey Devil movies out there. Of all the cryptid stories and creepy monster tales floating about, the 13th child of Jane Leeds seems to shy away from the spotlight. Every few years we’ll get another movie about Bigfoot, or some giant sea-creature, or sometimes just a plain old wild animal. Those stories usually revolve around the creature just trying to live its life while your local gang of idiots blunders their way into the (usually sharp) jaws of death. Very rarely will these stories have an overtly malevolent force at play.
And that’s what makes the Jersey Devil’s cinematic absence so particularly noticeable. Here we have a creature of pure evil. Not some undiscovered animal wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting populace. Not the wilderness keeping man’s hubris in check. No, the Jersey Devil is a creature sprung from the loins of Satan himself, stalking the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and unleashing all hell upon anyone foolish enough to stumble into its domain. The very premise of the creature should be rife with various takes and interpretations of horror, and yet very rarely does it make an appearance.
Which brings us to Reed’s Point.
In director Dale Fabrigar’s latest feature, recent high school graduates Sarah (Sasha Anne) and Kelsey (Madison Ekstrand) hit the road for a vacation with Kelsey’s father. The girls are disappointed to hear that before the trip can truly start, Kelsey’s father must first take part in a few business meetings regarding land in Reed’s Point. As night falls, the overworked driver of the RV crashes in the thick forest of the New Jersey backroads.
Sarah awakens in the woods, pulled from the wreckage by the driver who warns her that they are not alone out there. She finds Kelsey lying on the ground struggling to regain consciousness. Before she does, something drags Kelsey into the darkness and kills the driver, leaving Sarah alone in the woods.
One year later, Sarah and Kelsey’s boyfriend Alex (Evan Adams), the only other survivor of the crash, return to Reed’s Point seeking to finally learn the truth of what exactly happened that night.
For all the potential backstory that can be pulled for the Jersey Devil, the largest hurdle in using the monster is that while there is rich history, there’s not much intrinsic to the creature in the way of plot.
You can go the wild animal route, or you can go the supernatural route. In the end, the basic idea still revolves around people stuck in the woods getting picked off one by one. Reed’s Point wisely navigates this potential pitfall by wrapping the legend around a tale of paranoia and conspiracy.
Sarah and Alex cross paths with several characters whose motivations are anything but clear. Upon their return to Reed’s Point, they meet the town crack-pot Steve (Joe Estevez) who rants in the general direction of anyone with ears that the Jersey Devil is coming for them.
They make a deal with the local handyman Hank (Anthony Jensen) who agrees to lead them into the woods to find the location of their deadly accident. As long as they pay cash for his troubles.
As the night proceeds, they meet Eric (Joseph Almani), a Jersey Devil Expert who lives deep in the woods and answers his front door with a loaded gun in his hand.
Who can be trusted to lead Sarah and Alex to the answers they seek? Who is a threat?
Reed’s Point makes an effort to draw out the tension between trust and skepticism as Sarah and Alex encounter the locals who may or may not know more than they let on. The script also dances around the true nature of the monster. Is it real, or is it the result of an overactive imagination? Or perhaps there’s a far more human evil that stalks the forests? The answers to these questions are kept purposefully vague right up to the very end.
The pacing of the movie is quite prompt as the story unfolds. Sometimes too prompt. The most interesting element of Reed’s Point is the mystery at the center of the story. However, this mystery often isn’t given quite enough room to breathe. Hints of shady land deals and disgruntled property owners are dropped in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it lines of dialogue and then just as quickly forgotten in favor of the next turn of events. If given a little more time to bake, the plot would come across with a little more weight.
Which is not to say the movie is a miss. There are enough curveballs and unexpected developments through the course of the story to keep things interesting through the entire run-time. The standout performance is that of Hank, the grifter-handyman turned reluctant rescuer. His character goes through the most shades and moods over the course of the film. He comes across as believable at all times and the film truly shines when teasing out questions regarding where exactly he stands.
As a monster movie, it tends to be a little light on the nastier side of things. Not completely void of bloodshed, but when it arrives it doesn’t hit quite as hard as it could. There are some good gore effects early on, shortly after the RV crash, which hint at greater things to come. However, it never quite ups the ante after that. There are some solid death scenes, just not quite as many and not quite as gruesome as I would have preferred. Granted, I am something of a gorehound, so anything less than a couple hundred gallons of blood will leave me rather underwhelmed. Your mileage may vary.
Reed’s Point is a commendable effort and is worth checking out. Minor criticisms aside, the combination of Monster-Movie and Thriller blend together very well. The quick pace ensures that it’s never boring, and a handful of genuinely surprising plot developments keep it interesting the entire time. If for no other reason, Reed’s Point is worth a watch just to catch a cinematic appearance of the Jersey Devil. He tends to show up on screen with about the same frequency as he does in real life, and you really don’t want to miss your latest chance.
Reed’s Point will be available on DVD and Digital April 12.
Here we go again. Without any pleasantries, I’m just going to go ahead and cut to the chase. I just watched The Last Possession, a horror/sci-fi offering written by Greg Shouse and directed by Dan Riddle. As usual, the trailer caught my curiosity, and I […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVHere we go again. Without any pleasantries, I’m just going to go ahead and cut to the chase. I just watched The Last Possession, a horror/sci-fi offering written by Greg Shouse and directed by Dan Riddle. As usual, the trailer caught my curiosity, and I was hoping this film would leave me feeling satisfied after watching it in its entirety. Well, you know what they say about the folks in Hell who want ice cubes, yeah? Sit back and let me tell you a little bit about The Last Possession.
Essentially, The Last Possession is a film about a family that moves into a house left to them by a deceased family member. The house is seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, which isn’t surprising. Shortly after the family moves in, a “natural” disaster occurs, and strange things begin to happen in and around the house, especially once they spot the ginormous hole burned in the ground in the backyard after the “earthquake” happens.
The two children, Jack (Sawyer Bell) and Gabby (Lourelle Jensen), begin to see and feel weird things around the house, but their parents just kind of brush them off. The kids’ parents, Stephanie (Cassie Shea Watson) and Kent (Stephen Brodie) finally begin to pick up on the weird shit that the kids keep mentioning, but Kent doesn’t want to believe in anything paranormal because he’s all about there being a scientific explanation for everything until something unexplainable finally happens.
So, more characters are brought in to help to find answers as to what’s going on and things just keep getting more predictable. Keep in mind that nothing really “exciting” happens in The Last Possession until maybe the hour and 15-minute mark. Now, this film has a runtime of around an hour and a half, so it definitely falls into the painfully slow slow-burn category. Once the excitement begins, it’s also a huge disappointment because after all of the buildup, the payoff is just not worth the wait.
The Last Possession is like a Lifetime Movie version of Poltergeist, and that’s being generous. The only good thing I can say about it—my “pros list”—is that the actors portraying the children are pretty enjoyable. Now, onto the cons. The storyline is so full of holes that there really isn’t one. There’s no backstory and no real character development, so I didn’t care about what happened to anybody. Even the camera work and the score are underwhelming, as are the jump scares and gore effects. The acting is largely flat, too. The chemistry between the husband and wife is either nonexistent or so forced that it’s rendered completely unbelievable.
In a nutshell, I didn’t enjoy this movie. Can you tell? But, if you want to check it out, it’s currently streaming on several platforms. Give it a watch and feel free to tell me your thoughts.
Look, Horror Fans, when you run a horror site and Wild Eye Releasing dumps press releases for two Mark Polonia joints in your lap in the same week…well, there’s really no choice. We’re runnin’ ‘em both! Ladies and Gentlemen, we humbly present you the trailers […]
Movies & TV NewsLook, Horror Fans, when you run a horror site and Wild Eye Releasing dumps press releases for two Mark Polonia joints in your lap in the same week…well, there’s really no choice. We’re runnin’ ‘em both!
Ladies and Gentlemen, we humbly present you the trailers and info for both cinematic gems Sharkula and Amityville in Space, coming this June and July, respectively. Please read on and watch below, Horror Fans….
From the makers of Sharkenstein and Noah’s Shark, sink your teeth into Sharkula this summer!
The curse of Count Dracula lives on in shark infested waters, claiming the lives of a tourist community. A sea hunt for the new species results in monsters, madness and bloodshed. This great white is putting the bite back into terror, and it has help with the aid of new vampires intent on seeing it survive.
From writer-director Mark Polonia and starring Kyle Rappaport (Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High Aka Vol. 2) as Renfield and Jeff Kirkendall (Return to Splatter Farm) as Dracula, Sharkula takes to the red sea this June from Wild Eye Releasing!
And not to be outdone….
From Wild Eye Releasing, pack your bags for a frightening intergalactic stay at Amityville.
The ultimate battle against the Amityville curse begins after the infamous murder house is exorcised from Earth and reappears in outer space in Amityville In Space—coming this July!
From director Mark Polonia (Sharkula), and starring Titus Himmelberger, Cassandra Hayes, Tim Hatch, Ryan Dalton and Jeff Kirkendall, Amityville In Space is set to remind you that screams go unheard in space.
I really do try to avoid proclaiming things “objectively true,” but it happens sometimes. I’m opinionated. Go figure. So, at the risk of pissing off some segment of Toxic Fandom du Jour, I’m going to go ahead and state that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVI really do try to avoid proclaiming things “objectively true,” but it happens sometimes. I’m opinionated. Go figure. So, at the risk of pissing off some segment of Toxic Fandom du Jour, I’m going to go ahead and state that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) is one of the best and most important horror films ever made. That, my friends, is objectively true.
One could be forgiven for mistakenly assuming that after nearly 50 years, the TCM canon would include a few highlights—an additional movie or two that are worthy of the immense legacy of the Leatherface mythos birthed by the original lightning-in-a-bottle masterpiece. Unfortunately, though, this franchise has been arguably the most bungled of all of horror’s major players.
Aside from a now well-regarded first sequel by original director Tobe Hooper in 1986—a movie that gleefully threw a wrench into the proceedings with its overtly comedic approach and over-the-top spectacle—the TCM franchise is full of underfunded, half-baked non sequiturs and outright flops. The closest thing to real success was the 2003 remake—a glossy, WWE-inspired Michael Bay production that had more impact on the movie business at large as the progenitor of the remake boom than it had on the franchise it was trying to reinvent.
It follows, then, that one could also be forgiven for not getting too excited about the latest entry into this messy mélange, particularly an entry that saw its original directors fired over “creative differences” after filming had already commenced, and then got unceremoniously dumped onto Netflix upon its completion.
Low expectations, don’t fail me now….
The latest ill-advised road trip into the heart of the Lone Star State—director David Blue Garcia’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022), follows a group of young entrepreneurs who’ve decided to purchase a locale called Harlow—an entire ghost town in the ruralest of rural Texas—in which they envision a thriving community centered around a business hub populated by their own innovative startups. Melody (Sarah Yarkin) and Dante (Jacob Latimore), along with Melody’s sister Lila (Elsie Fisher) and Dante’s girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson), arrive in time to scope out the place before a party bus carrying potential investors soon follows.
While attempting to remove a tattered confederate flag from the side of a dilapidated orphanage, the group discovers the building’s still occupied by an elderly woman named Ginny (Alice Krige) and her “boy” (or extremely large and shadowy grown-ass man, as it were). Ginny swears up and down that she has the deed to the property proving her rightful ownership. As she and Dante begin to argue, Ginny suffers a heart attack. She and her “boy” are loaded into the back of an ambulance and driven off…with Ruth riding shotgun, for some reason.
As horror movie luck would have it, Ginny dies enroute to the hospital which causes her “boy” to freak out. And by “freak out,” I mean cause the ambulance to crash while butchering everyone onboard and then cutting off a fresh face to wear. And just like that, Leatherface is back. And by “that,” I mean exactly how Michael Myers was brought out of retirement via an opportunistic vehicle maelstrom in Halloween (2018). More on that movie later.
The rest of Texas Chainsaw Massacre plays out in entirely predictable, cliché-laden terms. Leatherface heads back to Harlow where he dispatches just about everyone. In the meantime, word gets out to Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), the original movie’s lone survivor, now a grizzled Texas ranger/late-model Laurie Strode doppelganger (speaking of Halloween). Sally, like Laurie was four years ago, is on a mission to put an end to the boogieman after decades of mental anguish. But unlike Laurie, Sally’s inclusion here is seemingly arbitrary, extremely brief, and likely the result of a cynical promotional ploy.
After an abundance of bloody but by-the-numbers carnage, some of our heroes finally confront ol’ Leatherface, and as my favorite one-sheet asks, “Who will survive and what will be left of them?”
This movie is a mess. That’s not to say it’s ALL bad. But mostly.
In broad terms, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) checks all the boxes of an ultra-generic modern slasher flick. It’s lit like an Aerosmith video (see: 1990s). Though there are some admittedly excellent kills, there’s way too much CGI gore. There’s a hollow flinch of an attempt to graft on a bit of sociopolitical zeitgeist, or at least the appearance of it, and there’s only a cursory emphasis on character and story. The result is a movie that will evoke a few smiles from Horror Fans over the course of its one-hour and twenty-one-minute runtime, and little else.
In terms of this movie’s place as the self-proclaimed direct sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? To that end, it misses badly. It doesn’t ever once feel like it resides in the same universe as the original. The few explicit references to the 1974 film are as superfluous and uncompelling as any found in the rest of the franchise.
Leatherface doesn’t ring true, either. That’s no fault of this movie’s man behind the mask, Mark Burnham, who was a great pick for the part, misused though he was. But the original Leatherface was one member of a family of cannibal killers and a much more complex character—partially shaped by that family dynamic—than his later slasher peers would be. He was portrayed as frightened and vulnerable one moment and barbarically homicidal the next, his various masks representing a range of personalities. There were clear implications of severe mental illness and who knows what else, all giving way to utter, manic lunacy and derangement that together created an unmistakable, unforgettable, and apparently unmatchable tone.
That’s one of the things that sets the TCM universe apart from the others. The potential horrifying reality of it. Here, though, Leatherface could be any generic slasher. And to top it all off, his new look is tragically reminiscent of Admiral Akbar from Star Wars, which didn’t exactly have me repeating, “It’s only a movie…it’s only a movie….” Not in a good way, at least.
And it’s not just the apparent indifference to the prior characterization of Leatherface that’s bothersome. It’s that this Texas Chainsaw Massacre goes a step further and portrays him no differently than Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. Like them, Leatherface is now a supernatural killing machine with super strength and apparent invincibility. He might as well be wearing a stainless-steel space-hockey mask.
Things don’t feel very “Texas,” either. The movie was mostly filmed in Bulgaria, and somehow you can tell.
The filmmakers casually yet ham-handedly raise a few sociopolitical issues but to no apparent end. For example, one of our protagonists survived a school shooting and another is a gun-totin’, truck-drivin’ local. And…that’s it. No exploration of that dynamic at all outside of the obvious foreshadowing that the girl who’s scared of guns will end up having to shoot Leatherface before the credits roll. Otherwise, it’s just a stereotype-infused set up with no substantive payoff. What does seem clear is that at one point in its development, this movie wanted to skewer everyone—boomers, zoomers, liberals, conservatives, city slickers and hillbillies alike. Instead, it misses us all and only succeeds at appearing incredibly tone-deaf and incoherent on the “substance” side of things.
Most egregiously, it seems like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) took inspiration from every corner of the horror movie universe other than the very movie it’s attempting to build upon. Again, it lifted its general approach from the rebooted Halloween series, including its setup, its incorporation of a legacy character, and the way its culmination plays out. But also, the killer here is essentially Jason Voorhees in a Leatherface costume, and the lesson our protagonists come away with is cribbed directly from A Nightmare on Elm Street: Confront your boogieman lest he haunt your dreams forever. In trying so hard to be the quintessential slasher movie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre fails to deliver any of the cache of horror film gravitas that its title evokes.
The things this movie does well are few and far between, but if you look hard enough…. A handful of the kills are great, particularly the first one when Leatherface snaps a guy’s arm and causes a compound fracture, the protruding bones of which he uses to stab the man to death through the throat. It’s brutal and over the top. It’s just in the wrong franchise. There are also several great shots that depict Leatherface, chainsaw in hand, sprinting after his intended victims as the movie races toward its climax. These shots are the one element that successfully recalls the terror of seeing the chainsaw wielding hulk sprinting through the woods just inches behind Sally Hardesty all those decades ago.
It feels like there was the germ of an inspired movie here at one time. But utter mismanagement stripped away whatever that was and left an incoherent and wholly unimaginative slasher flick in its place. In a word, it’s generic. Maybe after nearly half a century, it’s time to accept that nobody is going to get this right. So, it’s up to us to either accept these inferior movies for what they are or find something else to watch.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the space race was on! The competition to reach and exploit the infinity of space between Cold War enemies USA and USSR was a constant theme of the news and popular culture. Who would be the first to […]
Movie Reviews Movies & TVIn the late 1950s and early 1960s, the space race was on! The competition to reach and exploit the infinity of space between Cold War enemies USA and USSR was a constant theme of the news and popular culture. Who would be the first to breach Earth’s atmosphere? Who would be the first to set foot on the moon? To orbit Earth? Each side poured millions upon millions into the race to be the first to meet these milestones.
And each side had their own heroes…a new and special breed of fearless explorer who took the risk to conquer space. Sometimes the Space Race demanded the ultimate sacrifice, as pilots and astronauts gave their lives to reach their goals. Men like John Glenn and Yuri Gagarin became icons of their respective superpower…heroes whose names filled the newspapers and TV broadcasts.
It’s no wonder that this Space Race wound up giving moviemakers their own new frontier to conquer. During this period, a lot of films revolved around astronauts and space exploration. But in 1959, one modest little film took a daringly different approach to the heroes of the void…they turned one of them into a lumbering, bloodthirsty monster!
That movie was English director Robert Day’s First Man Into Space, a low budget movie that retold the story of Icarus for the modern age. In this case, Icarus was Lt. Dan Prescott, a daredevil who reached too far, too fast…and tumbled back to Earth as a murderous monstrosity. This was a risky—many would say tasteless—approach to take in a day and age when astronauts were portrayed as fearless, clean cut military men who typified everything a man could aspire to.
Along with the glory of space exploration, there was also fear of the unknown. Our knowledge of space was not as common or thorough back then as it is in the 21st century. There was real anxiety over what could be “out there….” Could there be killer radiation? Alien spores and viruses that could threaten life on Earth? Or maybe even vast and hostile intelligences? Of course, alien invaders were a very popular film subject in the 1950s, with the invaders signifying the fear of “the other”—those who were not the same as us.
First Man Into Space did not take that route. There were no alien monsters in the movie. Instead, one of our best and brightest became the monster. Imagine if Chuck Yeager or John Glenn returned to Earth from one of their pioneer voyages as a hideous mutant. In 1959, such an approach made First Man Into Space not only disturbingly creepy, but downright subversive.
I wouldn’t claim the movie to be a great classic or even above average in many respects, but it does have some hidden depths to it and can be interpreted in more than one way. It’s also a good example of concise, economic filmmaking, telling a tight story in less than 90 minutes. Obviously, it made an impression on someone…the late ‘70s schlock horror The Incredible Melting Man is pretty much an uncredited remake. But where First Man Into Space was a sober and grim story, Incredible Melting Man was dependent on campy, unbelievable gore and the admittedly brilliant makeup FX of Rick Baker to tell its story. It makes its impression in an entirely different way.
The movie was an American/British co-production, with filming taking place in both England and America. The American locations were Brooklyn, New York and New Mexico, while the British scenes were done in Hampstead Heath near London. The actors were almost entirely American, and one would be hard pressed to find any trace of British involvement with the exception of a peculiar cameo from Roger Delgado, later to be the evil Master in Dr. Who. The budget was slightly higher than for most sci-fi B-movies, which helped give it a solid appearance.
Let’s dive into the story of First Man Into Space. Spoilers follow!
Lt. Dan Prescott (Bill Edwards) is executing a test flight of the experimental Y-13 rocket-powered aircraft. The Y-13 is launched straight up like a rocket but once in the ionosphere, it can level off and fly like a plane. Monitoring Dan’s flight is his brother Chuck Prescott, along with Dr. Paul van Essen and Air Force Captain Ben Richards. We learn right away that stodgy, by-the-book Chuck is going to butt heads with his reckless younger brother, who insists on taking the Y-13 past its pre-determined limit. Dan is a risk taker with little use for authority. The Y-13 winds up entering a zone of weightlessness, which disorients Dan. Dr. Van Essen calmly guides Dan back to gravity and a safe landing.
Things get more tense when Dan skips his mandatory debriefing so he can hang out with his hot Italian girlfriend Francesca (Marla Landi). I have to say, I might make the same error, but stiff-necked Chuck is furious with Dan almost to the point of advising he not continue with the project. “I got where I am by taking chances,” snarls Dan. “While you’d be afraid to drive a go-kart across the street!” Captain Richards agrees that Dan is a handful but says there is no better pilot. He will take the Y-13 up again for the next stage of the project.
The next flight begins and sure enough, Dan once again takes the Y-13 past its limits. He is exhilarated by going further up than any man before him and is suddenly determined to enter space itself. With Chuck and Richards yelling for him to level off, Dan hits the emergency booster and finds himself 250 miles above the Earth’s surface…the first man into space! But something unknown is waiting for him. The Y-13 suddenly enters a blizzard of strange particles that stick to the craft like mud. Dan ejects himself from the Y-13 and all contact with him is lost.
The next information comes when a farmer finds a parachute and the remains of the ejector pod on his property. Chuck investigates and finds the pod is basically intact but coated with a kind of hardened substance…the same material the Y-13 flew into. Dan is nowhere to be found, which is perplexing. Tests on the strange material find that it cannot be penetrated by any type of radiation, including x-rays and ultraviolet light.
Later that night, a lumbering, gasping figure approaches the blood bank in nearby Alvarado and violently breaks into it. A nurse hears bottles being broken in the blood storage area and enters the room…only to have her throat brutally slashed by something monstrous! The next day’s newspapers tell of the gruesome crime as well as violent attacks on local cattle, who are drained of blood. Chuck and Alvarado police chief Wilson investigate. The wounds of both the nurse and the cattle are sprinkled with shiny specks of metallic material. A terrible theory is starting to form in Chuck’s mind….
Dr. Van Essen discovers the specks are meteor dust. He also learns that the parts of the escape pod that are coated by the strange space material are completely intact and unaffected by radiation. The parts that are not coated have been turned into pulverized carbon. This weird space substance seems to be a kind of protective layer that keeps anything it coats free of dangerous radiation.
Meanwhile, the monster is still on the rampage. A trucker is attacked, and his blood drained in a diner’s parking lot. When two police pull over a car that’s driving erratically, they are horrified when a dead body tumbles out of the front seat and a grotesque creature lunges at them. We now get a good look at the former Dan Prescott, and he won’t be winning any beauty contests. Still wearing his space suit, he’s covered with a kind of stony crust, with only one staring eye and part of his mouth exposed. The makeup is gruesomely effective. And so is Dan. The cops are also slaughtered.
When these latest murders are discovered, there’s no longer any doubt in Chuck’s mind: The monster is Dan. Van Essen believes that when the Y-13 ejector pod was caught in the “blizzard” of the strange space material, the hatch popped open. For a terrible second, Dan was exposed to the vacuum of space and his blood began to boil. But this protective material formed an instant coating, saving his life and helping him survive the return trip to Earth. But his body is starved of oxygen and his mind has been driven to an animal level by the experience. Only two instincts now drive the former astronaut: He must replenish himself with fresh blood and he must somehow get “home”—the base where his ship was launched. The rock-like coating has made him impervious to bullets…as the cops found out the hard way.
As Chuck, Van Essen, Richards, and Francesca discuss the situation at the base, things come to a head when the hulking, wheezing Dan smashes through a window nearby. He’s returned home, but his mind is still deranged. And Van Essen believes he will soon run out of oxygen no matter how much blood he’s consumed. He doesn’t have long to live.
Chuck believes he can still somehow reach his brother. At first, it doesn’t look like that will happen, but finally Dan wheezes out his first word since returning to Earth: “Chuck?”
Van Essen says that if they can get Dan to the atmospheric testing chamber where high-altitude conditions can be created, it will help him breathe and possibly restore his mind. Van Essen gets on the base P.A. and calmly guides the confused and still dangerous monster through the evacuated base to the chamber.
They manage to get him into the chamber and Chuck, wearing an oxygen mask, stays there while Van Essen adjusts the atmosphere. The gamble works…Dan’s mind begins to clear, and he starts to speak. “It’s been so strange and dark…feel like I’m suffering from some terrible disease. Like I’ve got no blood in my veins.”
As things get easier for Dan, they become more difficult for Chuck. Dan continues his pathetic tale: “I’ve been groping my way through a maze of fear and doubt.” He describes when the space storm hit “…like 50,000 machine guns all hammering at once.” While Dan speaks, Van Essen monitors his body condition. When Richards asks how high Dan flew, the voice of the gung-ho pilot returns for a minute, excitedly saying he went as high as 300 miles above Earth.
But his heart is beginning to weaken. When Chuck tells Van Essen to increase the atmosphere, Dan says “It’s no use…I’m finished.” He speaks to Francesca: “I’m sorry it had to be this way. But I just had to be…the first man into space.” And those are Dan’s last words, as his body finally gives out.
Chuck is taken out of the chamber just in time save his own life. The final word goes to a somber Van Essen: “The conquest of new worlds always makes demands on human life. And there will always be men who accept the risks.”
To be honest, First Man Into Space was not the first film to feature an astronaut returning to Earth and becoming a monster. That honor goes to 1955’s The Creeping Unknown, the first of the Quatermass movies from Hammer Studios. In that worthy film, Victor Carroon crash lands back on Earth after a space voyage and is infected with an alien organism that gradually turns him into a hideous devouring blob. There are strong similarities between the two films, but also important differences that help First Man rise above a mere knockoff.
First Man Into Space begins in a conventional, even hokey manner as the differing personalities of Chuck and Dan are showcased. The concept of sibling rivalry in a military milieu is cliched, but in this case, it was absolutely necessary to set up the horror to come later in the movie. Dan is a cocky hotshot and not entirely likable, but his joy as he breaks the barriers of space is infectious. Dan grins broadly when he leaves Earth’s atmosphere. This makes it all the more horrible when we see him later on as a gasping, crusty monster who drains people’s blood. Bill Edwards does a fine job with both drastic sides of Dan’s character.
To play the part of a stodgy, by-the-book career military man, you couldn’t get a better guy than Marshall Thompson, who was the star of two other excellent space age chillers, Fiend Without A Face and It! The Terror From Beyond Space. Chuck is not exactly a ground-breaking character in any way and is typical of his time, but there are some small moments where he comes across as something more. At first, he and Francesca are bitter enemies, but eventually they become closer when their genuine concern for Dan becomes obvious. Chuck tells her, “I was always making sure Dan didn’t climb too high in the trees when we were kids.” He is still doing the same thing here in the movie. Thompson’s best moment is a very small one: when Dan is in the high-altitude chamber waiting for the atmosphere to change, Chuck reaches out and pats Dan’s shoulder in brotherly fashion.
That’s maybe the most striking thing about First Man Into Space, how most of the cast tries to help Dan even when he is at his most violent and monstrous. In The Creeping Unknown, when Carroon finally becomes a monster, the only thought is to kill and destroy him. Nobody is more merciless towards Carroon than Prof. Quatermass, the man who sent him into space.
It’s a different story in First Man. Once Dan the killer creature breaks through the window at the base, all thoughts turn to trying to restore his mind and maybe even cure him. Van Essen, who first helped Dan cope with weightlessness, again becomes the calm voice of reason. Even before Dan’s wits return, the scientist’s voice seems to soothe him. Wilson, the lead cop whose men were murdered by Dan, could have taken some clear shots at him but refrains. In the era of the ‘50s, when aliens and monsters were almost always menaces to be destroyed without mercy, the different approach taken here makes this movie very unusual.
Most monster movies end with a shootout. This one ends with Dan coming to his senses in his last moments. We see traces of the hero pilot again for just a moment. The murders Dan commits earlier are done without mercy, like the attacks of a rabid animal. He probably doesn’t even remember committing them as his mind is restored. Those last few minutes of Dan telling of his experience is the best part of the movie.
Is the message of the film that Dan should have obeyed orders? He would have probably avoided the horror that happened to him if he did. But if it hadn’t happened to him, it would have happened to somebody else. I don’t think the message is entirely that man should “stay in his lane”. But it does say that sometimes the results of taking those risks can be horrible. Van Essen’s final speech, which could be seen as corny by some, is maybe a little deeper than it first seems.
First Man Into Space is a modest film to be sure, but as a look into man’s race into the unknown depths of space, it’s far from thoughtless. It’s more subversive than it seems on the surface….
