Narc
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave
Night of the Hunted
Naked
Evil (B&W, 1966) AKA Exorcism
at Midnight (with added footage)
Atmospheric voodoo horror with some yardie gangsters expanding their turf-battles
to include obeah instead of just old fashioned hits. Instead of tossing
bombs, they throw bottles of feathers and grave dirt, and seem to get
even better results. The headmaster of a university for Jamaican science
students starts getting obeah bottles and has to determine who's practicing
witchcraft. Kind of like an early British version of blaxploitation, which
plays a little like Curse of the Demon. Despite the title, nobody
gets naked. For exploitation purposes, the film was color-tinted and another
"framing" story was put together around Naked Evil's footage and
it was titled Exorcism at Midnight. -zwolf
Narc
(C, 2002)
Low-budget but very well done police drama, like the kind they made in
the '70's (except for a little too much flash-editing, which is the bane
of the 21st century filmmaking world... god, I hate that stuff).
Jason Patric is an undercover cop who's on hiatus from the force because
he shot a pregnant bystander in the belly during a bust that went horribly
wrong. He doesn't really want back on the job but he needs a paycheck
and they need his expertise to close out a case that's gone cold; a cop
killed during undercover work. The cop's old partner (Ray Liotta, who
deliberately packed on some weight for the role by eating a lot of Chinese
food to make him retain water and look "puffy") is obsessed with finding
the killers, and Patric soon becomes obsessed, too, and the law gets thrown
out the window. The dialogue and acting gives the film a very natural,
realistic feel, while the camerawork is very stylized, but for the most
part that conflict works amazingly well. Gritty and rough and well-worth
watching. Directed by Joe Carnahan and also stars Busta Rhymes. Man, does
everybody say "fuck" a lot. It's like this and Boondock Saints
are having a contest. -zwolf
The Narrow Margin (B&W,
1952)
Extremely well-done noir actioner with a tough cop (Charles McGraw) given
an assignment that may be even tougher than he is - getting a dead gangster's
wife to trial before the mob's hit men kill her off to keep her quiet.
The bulk of the film details their attempts to find her on a train, while
the gravel-voiced McGraw tries to stop them. The low budget forced director
Richard Fleischer to make up for the lack of cash with imagination, and
that makes this a standout B-film that simply couldn't be better (but
o' course they tried anyway - it was re-made in 1990). Besides, ya gotta
cherish any film with lines like, "I'd like to give you the same
answer I gave him, but it'd mean stepping on your face." Hard-boiled,
fast-moving, well-done, and any other good hyphenated things ya can say
about it. -zwolf
The Nest (C, 1988)
Killer cockroaches (the product of government experiments) attack the
inhabitants of an island, and the sheriff tries to put a stop to it, because
eating people is illll-legal! Stupid law if you ask me. The only way to
stop the roaches is to destroy their nest. A fair amount of gore, a mutant
cat, a roach monster, and lots and lotsa cockroaches! Based on the novel
by Gregory A. Douglas, which I read as a kid and kinda liked, although
I never figured they'd make a movie out of it. -zwolf
New Tale of Zatoichi
(C, 1963) AKA Masseur Ichi Enters Again, Zatoichi Enters Again,
Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman's Return, Shin Zatoichi monogatari
Third in the incredible blind swordsman series, and the first in color.
Ichi comes back to his hometown to visit the man who taught him swordsmanship.
The sensei's daughter falls in love with him, but the sensei doesn't approve
and, furthermore, has been helping a gang of kidnappers. Ichi finds himself
in a very difficult position when the sensei wants a showdown with him;
he'll not only have to face the whole gang, but possibly his beloved teacher
who is also the father of the girl he loves. Lots of drama and very well
done, but I must admit that this one drags a bit; not a lot of action.
-zwolf
The Night
Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (C, 1971) AKA The Night She Arose
from the Tomb, The Night that Evelyn Left the Tomb, La
Notte che Evelyn Usci dalla Tomba
Erotic Eurotrash horror with Erica "I'm in nearly all the Eurotrash horror"
Blanc. Suave, debonair, and sadistically crazy playboy Alan brings girls
to his decrepit estate, gets them to dress up in thigh-high boots and
play bondage games with him... but they aren't games, because he chains
them up and stabs them to death while hallucinating that they're Evelyn,
the wife who cheated on him and got killed for it. He meets Erica at a
strip club where she go-go dances after coming out of a coffin. He tries
the old S&M game with her, but she escapes and Alan has to find another
woman. This one he marries... and then he starts thinking that Evelyn
has risen from the dead and is lurking around. And someone else is doing
killings, too; one murdered girl is fed to a pen of foxes. Alan goes crazier
and crazier... and that might just be someone's plan. The whole thing
gets pretty tedious and doesn't have much in the way of gore, and the
creepiness is minimal, confined to only a couple of scenes, so by far
the best part of this film was the completely-excellent poster, depicting
a skull-faced woman holding out a man's severed head, under the legend,
"THE WORMS ARE WAITING!" A co-worker used to have that on the wall of
the cubicle we shared, just to freak out anyone who dropped by. This film
is readily available on cheap DVDs, but be aware that they're old TV prints
with a whole lot of footage chopped out, rendering viewing pretty useless.
Currently, if you want a full print of this, you should get it from Sinister
Cinema. -zwolf
Nightmare Castle (B&W,
1965) AKA The Faceless Monster, Orgasmo, Lovers Beyond
the Tomb, Night of the Doomed, Amanti d'Oltretomba
Barbara Steele gets lonely because her husband Stephen's hideous experiments
don't leave him much time for her, so she takes up with a stablehand.
Stephen catches them, chains them to a dungeon wall, whips them, drips
acid on them, electrocutes them, and drains their blood before cremating
them and potting plants in their ashes. Now that's just spiteful. Then,
since Barbara left her estate to her mentally-ill sister (Barbara in a
blonde wig), he marries her and starts trying to drive her mad. She also
becomes possessed by her sister's spirit, causing nightmares about the
killing. Her sister haunts her, turning her against Stephen and using
her as an instrument of revenge. Meanwhile, Stephen's aged housekeeper/mistress,
who's been made young again on his first wife's blood, decides she needs
the second wife's blood, too. Finally the ghosts of the murdered couple
show up for vengeance. Barbara's ghost, with half its face eaten away
by acid, is pretty creepy and memorable. Atmospheric, with stark black
and white photography that adds to the nightmarish nature of some of the
horror scenes, and lots of pretty shots of Barbara. Would make a good
triple-feature with Black Sunday and Terror Creatures from the
Grave. -zwolf
Night Must Fall (B&W, 1964)
Remake of the '37 original. This time it's Albert Finney as the psycho
who hacks women's heads off with a hatchet. He comes across as well-mannered
at first, but is horribly obnoxious and smarmy. Somehow, though, he manages
to ingratiate himself with every woman he meets, particularly a rich old
lady in a wheelchair who plays "mother" with him and hires him
to do some home repairs. So, he moves in, bringing along a hatbox with
a severed head in it. And all he does in the way of "home improvement"
is to paint weird black jaggedy scribbles on the wall and pace back and
forth, gouging the wallpaper with his fingernails. He's already gotten
the maid pregnant and begins seducing the daughter, who apparently likes
it rough, because he's pretty violent with her. Meanwhile, the police
are investigating the headless body found in the nearby pond. The daughter
starts getting disturbed by his weird mood-swings, which are becoming
crazier and more frequent... and therefore creepier. He starts losing
control over his little games, and who knows what'll happen next? Engaging
psychothriller with cinematography by Hammer legend Freddie Francis and
plenty of over-the-top menace from Finney, who looks a lot like professional
wrestler William/Stephen Regal. -zwolf
Night of the Death Cult
(C, 1975) AKA Night of the Seagulls, Blind Dead 4, They
Don't Go Out at Night, Night of the Blood Cult, Terror Beach,
Noche de las gaviotas
Fourth and final Blind Dead film. In a flashback, the Templar knights
cut the heart out of a girl and put it in the mouth of their sea-demon
idol, then they suck her blood and leave the rest to be eaten by crabs.
Then, in modern times, a new doctor and his wife come to the seaside village
to set up his practice, and realize that there are strange rituals going
on at night. The townspeople chain girls to the rocks as sacrifices to
the Templars, who are still active even though they're now mummified zombies.
The villagers are very unfriendly, especially to the village idiot, who
they beat up. When the doctor takes him in and rescues one of the sacrificial
girls, the zombies attack his barricaded house, Night of the Living
Dead style. Pretty standard Blind Dead film, but they're all good
atmospheric Spanish horror and worth seeing... preferably in order. -zwolf
Night of
the Hunted (C, 1980) AKA La Nuit des Traquees
Jean Rollin movies are always a bit surreal anyway, so when he tries
to be surreal, look out. A woman named Elizabeth is perpetually lost because
she has no memory - she can't remember what happened five minutes ago
or who she knows, where she lives, anything. (Possibly some influence
on Memento?) Some people come and take her back to a "Black Tower"
- a skyscraper/asylum where people with similar mental conditions get
treatment... and are held prisoner. Elizabeth rooms with a girl who's
too messed up to even feed herself, because she can't control her hands,
but she can invent memories for people - "Even if they're false, they're
true." Elizabeth starts to remember a few things and wants to escape.
And that might not be a bad idea, because one girl ends up with scissors
in her eyes, one of the guys is a rapist (as well as a dead ringer for
Charles Manson when he shaved his head), another kills with a hammer,
the doctors may be causing the symptoms, and bodies are being burned.
Elizabeth finds a friend, Veronique, but she soon starts losing her mind
completely. A guy she met on the outside comes to help her and finds himself
in trouble, too. Very strange narrative with more implication than explanation,
and the usual Rollin sex and blood. -zwolf
Night Tide (B&W, 1961)
Somewhat-obscure classic with Dennis Hopper as an awkward, lonely sailor
who spends his leave-time goofing around a California amusement pier,
where he meets a girl named Mora, who plays a mermaid in a sideshow. He
really likes her, and she likes him, but the bad part is that she believes
she really is one of the sea people, which means she has a tendency to
drown any human who gets too close to her. Dennis tries to convince her
that she's wrong, but then he has to wonder if maybe she's right after
all. Everyone warns him that all of Mora's past boyfriends have died,
and there's also a strange woman (Cameron, who was supposedly a witch
in real life) who follows her around... Lots of authentically-cheap, sleazy
Cali carny atmosphere and a certain eerieness make this not-quite-a-horror-film-but-sorta
a must-see that, for some reason, I always want to compare to Carnival
of Souls. Maybe it's the waterfront-carnival aspect, or it could be
the creepy scene where Dennis follows Cameron around through deserted
Venice back-alleys. Either way, I suggest a double-feature. -zwolf
Nine Demons (C, 1984) AKA Nine Venoms, Ju Zi Tian Mo,
The Demons
Bizarre Chinese horror/kung fu about a guy named Joey (yes, Joey) who
falls through a hole into Hell and makes a deal with the devil (a guy
with eyeshadow and a knife sticking out of his forehead) so he can save
his friend Gary (yes, Gary) from bad guys. Joey is given hellish powers
and a necklace of nine skulls that sometimes fly around drinking blood,
and sometimes change into a woman and eight giggling, acrobatic kids.
These demons are highly obnoxious and their thirst for blood keeps Joey
busy trying to feed them, which results in a bunch of acid-trippy scenes
with flashing colored lights and people and skulls flying all over the
place. There's also some kung-fu fights (as you'd expect, considering
two of the actors from The Five Deadly Venoms are starring in it)
but this takes a back seat to wacky, over-the-top (and real real cheap!)
supernatural stuff. One of the strange fights is conducted with everybody
skiing around on a pond of soapy water and floating in the air on wires.
Anybody who goes into this looking for a kung fu movie is bound to come
away a little disappointed (and dazed), but if you know to expect crazy,
imaginative supernatural fantasy instead, you'll probably have fun with
it. -zwolf
Ninja Wolves (C,
1979)
An evil white-haired eunuch is using the emperor's guards for his own
decadent ends, and plans to kill everyone between himself and complete
power. First he stages a contest to kill off all but the most powerful,
elite fighters. Two Japanese competitors are warned that the eunuch will
just use them selfishly if they're made into guards, but they continue
anyway and become the eunuch's top bodyguards. Their ambition and their
boss's ruthlessness soon leads to a rash of killings. One loyal officer
who sees what the eunuch is doing wants to protect the emperor from him,
but the Japanese want his position and get permission to kill him, even
though he wants to just resign and move away with his mother. Finally
all this crazy ambition gets out of hand. Nice-looking film (it's an independent
production from Taiwan but approaches Shaw Brothers quality) showcasing
some great swordplay and hand-to-hand (looks like the eunuch uses Leopard
Fist; that doesn't show up too often in these movies). The plot's a bit
too complex for its own good and it's odd to see a movie that's not hero-driven
for the most part, and there are no "ninja," really -- the Japanese fighters
aren't ninja - but this is quality stuff for kung fu
fiends. -zwolf
