Tag: Ireland

Victor Frankenstein (1977)

Directed by Calvin Floyd [Other horror films: Vem var Dracula? (1974), The Sleep of Death (1980)]

More than anything, Victor Frankenstein feels like a television movie, portraying the events of Mary Shelly’s novel as accurately as possible. Certainly that’s an admirable goal, but it’s also true that the movie just feels a tad too stagey to make a great impact.

I should note, though, that when I say Victor Frankenstein (or, as it’s sometimes better known, Terror of Frankenstein) attempts to accurately follow the original story, I’ve not actually read the original story. Bits and pieces, perhaps, but when it comes to early horror or gothic literature, I’m woefully ill-equipped. Still, I’ve heard that this is among one of the more accurate movies out there, and I’ll take their words for it.

If your only experience with Frankenstein is the 1931 Universal classic, or perhaps the 1957 Hammer edition, then I think you’ll find this quite a bit different. The structure is largely the same – a young man attempts to discover the secret of life, and his experiments go awry – but where the differences develop become clear in the Creature.

Here, Frankenstein’s Monster is capable of developed speech. He can hold conversations, hold awareness of his surroundings, and even plot revenge. In fact, there’s a sequence in the film where the Creature is explaining to Victor Frankenstein about his experiences after being brought to life. After the story (which is told in a 15 minutes or so flashback), he tells Frankenstein that he wants him to make him a woman, so he won’t be so lonely.

And here’s the kicker – the Creature straight-up blackmails Frankenstein. If Frankenstein doesn’t consent to make him a mate, the Creature says that he’ll kill all of Frankenstein’s family and friends, one-by-one. That is a promise that he holds onto pretty well, too.

So what we have is a Creature who generally seems pretty human-like. Sure, he has black lips and a dead face, but he can hold conversations, can plot revenge, can blackmail, and can generally tend to his needs. In fact, toward the end, he even gets a bit philosophical, in what has to be among the best lines of the film (“When the world was new to me, I would have wept to die. Now death is my only consolation, because in death, I cease to be a monster and a man.”)

Per Oscarsson (Traumstadt, The Night Visitor, The Sleep of Death) plays a fascinating version of the Creature. It’s not something I’m used to, but I can appreciate it here. Leon Vitali does great as Victor Frankenstein, an amoral young man far more interested in discovery than his love interest, played by Stacy Dorning. I also liked Nicholas Clay (The Night Digger) here, especially toward the beginning, where his friendship with Frankenstein was most fully on display.

In terms of scares, it probably doesn’t surprise many to learn that they’re somewhat scarce and spread out, when they do make an appearance. We see a young boy killed, but perhaps the best sequence is a somewhat tense scene focusing on a mountain climber who runs amok of the Creature.

I highly doubt Victor Frankenstein (or Terror of Frankenstein, should you prefer) will be long in my memory as a movie, but as a rendition of the Creature, I do think that this film will make a lasting impression. It wasn’t exactly a fun time, but I enjoyed how the story was framed. Still, it felt quite stagey, and while impressive on some levels, and certainly worth a look if you’re into the original novel, it wasn’t entirely my thing.

6/10

Vivarium (2019)

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan [Other horror films: Without Name (2016)]

From the striking poster to the intriguing trailer, Vivarium is a movie that held my interest from the first time I heard of it. I didn’t seek it out, though – like a bird of prey, or a sleek panther, I waited. I watched. I wanted to hear what others thought of it before I jumped in. I was going to watch it anyway, but I like to have a barometer on odd occasions.

And I didn’t really hear that much about this one. A few comments on Twitter, perhaps, but either negative or positive, I didn’t run across all that many. Now, that could in part be due to the fact I don’t delve deeply into the Twitter horror community, but I think something also has to be said about how Vivarium, despite the unique premise, doesn’t end up feeling that memorable.

To be sure, there are a few scenes and ideas I’ll remember, but for a film that’s about an hour and forty minutes, there’s a bit of dearth when it comes to meat in the story. The basic idea is cool, and it’s what first got me interested in the movie – a young couple go to see a house, and get stuck in a suburban maze of houses with no way out.

It’s a fine idea. It’s a more philosophical approach to horror, and the story primarily comes from the cyclical natures of parenthood. The movie isn’t much grounded in reality, of course – there’s seemingly no way out of this suburban neighborhood, boxes are mysteriously left for the couple with no idea of who dropped them off, and sidewalks can be lifted up, but that’s philosophy for you: it has something to say, and little practical ways to apply it.

There’s a large portion of the movie which deals with the couple, who, after being given a mysterious baby in a box, have to raise the child. It’s not a normal child – it shrieks inhumanly whenever it wants something, it mimics the couple’s voices with eerie accuracy, and it has an abnormal physiology. Personally, I’m assuming it’s an alien, but because this movie goes hand-in-hand with Kafka, don’t expect any answers, because you’re not getting them.

Some of the horror, or more appropriately, tension, is pretty well done. Early on, Jonathan Aris’ character mimics Imogen Poots while showing the couple the house, and generally acts like an over-enthusiastic, creepy individual. The sprawling neighborhood, impossible to escape from and the houses all exactly the same, does bring a strong sense of oppression with it. Related, the clouds that never seem to move, and in fact, never vary in shape, are rather disturbing too. Oh, and toward the end, while I’m lukewarm to the finale as a whole, there was a pretty creepy scene in which a character seemed to lift up the sidewalk and go inside another realm.

Imogen Poots (Green Room, Fright Night, Black Christmas) does pretty well. There’s certainly a good sense of despair, though as we’re given a few time-skips, I don’t think we see it occur naturally in real time. Jesse Eisenberg (who I know best from The Social Network, but has also been in Zombieland and Cursed) does decently too, though there comes a point where his character sort of fades into the background. Though Jonathan Aris (who played Anderson on Sherlock) only really appears toward the beginning of the film, his creepy mannerisms do add quite a bit.

Like I said, I felt lukewarm toward the finale. It’s not that I necessarily wanted all the answers (such as the nature of the neighborhood, the realities under the pavement, whether these things were alien or not, etc), but at the same time, I think a few would have been nice. Cube is a fun film, but I’d still like more than just the set-up, and the same goes for Vivarium, which has such a striking plot, but aside from being a clear metaphor for parenthood, I’m not sure how many of the elements make sense.

More to the point, while some scenes were well worth seeing, I don’t think that Vivarium is going to end up that memorable a movie. It was okay, and I definitely didn’t think it was a bad film, but memorable? I doubt it. Interesting idea, but I wish the execution went better.

6/10

Sea Fever (2019)

Directed by Neasa Hardiman [Other horror films: N/A]

I forget when I first heard about Sea Fever, but from the beginning, I was intrigued. It was partially the poster, partially the title font, and of course, the plot sounded like it had potential. Well, the movie isn’t amazing, but I did find it quite decent, and personally, I found a mostly solid movie.

Never having heard of any of the actors or actresses here, I was impressed by just how quality some of them were, especially Hermione Corfield. She may be younger than me by a month and a half, but boy, what a stellar performance. I actually rather liked her anti-social character, and got a kick out of her being thrown in a situation where she had to interact with others, despite her utter disinterest in doing so.

Of course, most of the cast is strong – though I don’t know the names, the performances by individuals such as Jack Hickey, Dougray Scott, Connie Nielsen, Ardalan Esmaili, and Olwen Fouéré were all worth seeing. It’s also nice that we got a decent amount of personality from each of these characters, which isn’t always a given with movies featuring a smaller cast.

It is true that the story itself isn’t altogether that amazing, but I do think aspects here are there are well-done, such as Corfield’s character diving beneath the trawler and seeing quite a terrifying creature (one of only two full appearances, which is something else I appreciated – they didn’t overdo it), or the argument her character gets in with the others about quarantining themselves off.

As far as violence goes, there’s really only one scene that’s worth talking about, but I think it’s quite a great scene. Of course, any scene that has eyes bursting has to be quality, so I think I’ll leave it at that.

Oh, and during the ending credits, they played a totally thematically appropriate song titled “Shallows” by Daughter. I know Daughter only from a Sound Melody remix of the song “Medicine,” so I’m not really familiar with their untouched music, but this song was a fantastic way to close out the movie, and it’s somber and dark sound fit really well with the conclusion here.

For a movie that doesn’t possess a whole lot of originality, Sea Fever had a strong presence. Partially it’s from the fleshed out characters, and partially it’s due to really nice cinematography and a unique setting, and though it’s not a great movie, and maybe you can see the ending coming long before the movie ends, it was still a pretty fun ride, and I’d suggest giving it a chance if it sounds like it could be your type of thing.

7.5/10

Dementia 13 (1963)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola [Other horror films: The Terror (1963), Dracula (1992), Supernova (2000), Twixt (2011)]

This proto-slasher has always been interesting to me. I’ve never found it a great movie, and rarely have I found it good, but I do appreciate the combination of an old dark house mystery style of horror from the 1920’s and 1930’s with the emerging slasher (and arguably giallo) stories of the 1960’s. Dementia 13 isn’t a good movie, but I do think it’s one that’s certainly worth experiencing.

Obviously this isn’t H.G. Lewis – there’s no excessive gore here, and in fact, barely any gore at all. It’s also black-and-white, and focuses more on the atmosphere than it really does the kills. That said, we do get some okay kills here (by an unseen assailant with an ax), and some skin from Luana Anders (no nudity, of course, but solid, smooth skin), and the mystery is almost fun, so that helps also.

William Campbell and Bart Patton were decent as brothers, but I sort of wish we saw more of them actually acting like brothers as opposed to feeling like two people who live in the same house without ever seeing each other. Though now that I think about it, the house is certainly large enough to warrant that excuse. Either way, both were decent, but I don’t think either one was all that amazing.

Neither Mary Mitchel or Luana Anders were really all that special, either – Anders might get higher accolades, though, as her character actually did something. Patrick Magee (who’s been in quite a few horror films, Tales from the Crypt being the role I’m most familiar with) was okay, but he felt a bit over-the-top here, and almost intentionally sinister (and whether or not that’s a red herring, well, you’ll see).

It’s the atmosphere of this one I’ve always liked, and while the mystery is okay, I don’t know if the ending is entirely satisfying, and I wish maybe a few more twists were thrown in. It’s not too hard to figure out the one behind these things, and I wish it were more of a challenge. Even so, Dementia 13 is a proto-slasher that is at least worth one look, if for no other reason, to see how far slashers have come in the years following Psycho and this one.

6.5/10