A banker, disillusioned with his life, decides to be ‘reborn’ with the help of ‘The Company, ’ which manages this feat with plastic surgery and a new identity. John Frankenheimer’s film is essentially the same premise as the UK TV show The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, but without the humour, with added paranoia …
A famous plastic surgeon causes a car accident in which his daughter’s face is disfigured. The surgeon coincidentally has a new theory he's dying to test out which involves transplanting whole faces. This could save his daughter’s maimed features but this procedure involves donors- willing or not. I first saw this film when I was …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 61- Eyes Without A Face (1960)
A man with the unique profession of cleaning up after bloody crime scenes decides to spice up his relationship by taking home a corpse. Unfortunately, his wife prefers it to him. I remember reading about this bad boy of a film in past issues of Film Threat and thinking that I’d never get to see …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 60- Nekromantik (1988)
On this day in London in 1983- A Richard Gere double-bill, New York Nights (never seen but I’d like to judging by the artwork), John Lydon’s only excursion into acting (he’s really rather good) and the brilliant Educating Rita.
Jack is a serial killer and architect. He presents five scenarios, i.e., five separate incidents in which he killed. He likens his crimes to making art. He’s also building a house. Lars von Trier returned to directing after a five-year hiatus to make this film. There’s so much going for this- a great performance by …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 59- The House That Jack Built (2018)
On this day in 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Silent Night, Deadly Night were released.SNDN would outperform ANOES at the box office before it was picketed and then pulled from theatres.
A psychopath who had previously shot and killed an old woman (seemingly for no reason) is released from prison. He picks up where he left off and invades the home of a male invalid and his two female relatives. Angst is an Austrian film loosely based on the real-life serial killer Werner Kniesek. It was …
Young criminals with a stash of stolen money seek refuge after violent clashes following a controversial election result. They board at a hotel run by a very strange ensemble of people. Yet again, we have a French extreme horror film from the noughties that is another slice of ‘try-hard’ cinema. Disposable, cheap cinematography, the kind …
Continue reading Shocking Cinema- Day 57- Frontier(s) (2007)
Do you know that Phantasm was retitled The Never Dead in Australia? There was already a racy comedy called Fantasm doing the rounds and so Village Roadshow renamed the film when they bought the distribution rights.
A vegetarian veterinary student arrives at college and is forced to eat raw meat as part of a hazing ritual. Soon after, she develops a taste for something far more extreme. Julia Ducournau’s film was sold as a bold, shocking debut that would leave you shaken. It left me empty. The cannibalism arrives on cue, …
