Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

aka Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti
aka The Living Dead at Manchester Mourge
aka Do Not Speak Ill of the Dead
aka Don't Open the Window

1974 / Dir. Jorge Grau / Written by Sandro Continenza and Marcello Coscia / Starring Cristina Galbo, Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy, and Aldo Massasso

From the start this is quite obviously a retread of Romero’s Living Dead territory, like so many zombie films in the early 1970’s that were influenced by his seminal work. But unlike those films, Corpses is genuinely scary with some great atmosphere and special effects, and a story that actually works. It begins rather slowly taking us from city to rural England, where local farmers are ecstatic about a new technique to kill crop pests by using a giant tractor-like machine and a wand that omits radioactive sound waves. The problem is, these waves also jump-start the nervous systems of slumbering residents of the local cemeteries, and the deceased rise from their graves to hunt for – what else? – braaaaaaaainsssss. Our heroes are caught between proving this to the police (and thus proving their own innocence) in what appears to detectives to be Manson-like crimes committed against families living in the countryside. The ending, like many of the zombie effects, will definitely remind you of Romero; however, this film feels more like a reinvention than a rip-off in a surprisingly succinct collaboration between Spanish and British filmmakers. The film on its own would probably have received 3 ½ stars on my rating system if not for the terrific introduction by director Jorge Grau on the American DVD, who asks that you “suffer profoundly” while watching his work. That’s the right attitude for a horror filmmaker – and definitely merits a half star extra in itself. ****

The Beast of the Yellow Night

1971 / Written and Directed by Eddie Romero / Starring John Ashley, Mary Charlotte Wilcox, Leopoldo Salcedo, and Eddie Garcia

Hasn’t anyone learned by now that making a deal with Satan is never worth it? Joseph Langdon (Ashley) is saved from death by Satan, but in exchange he must become one of his devoted proselytes and carry out his evil bidding. This includes transforming into the eponymous beast and wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting Filipino public. Langdon then realizes he’d rather die than continue to perpetrate these horrors (duh). The film is low budget, yes, and there are certain expectations that one has regarding special effects (which are laughable) and set design (practically nonexistent). However, I’ve seen much better done for much less in other horror films. Some of the photography is so dark that the actors are barely visible – and one of the major reasons to watch Werewolf/man-to-beast films is to witness how the filmmakers depict the “change.” Beast, however, only gives us one lousy transformation, and not until close to the end of the film. The Philippines location seems incidental, when it could have been a good means of playing up the atmosphere. The are some good ideas in the script and I don’t fault it for being shot with little money – in fact, some of the best horror films are low budget because it forces the talent involved to be more creative than just acting opposite a piece of blue tape (which will later become a CGI dinosaur/critter/hobgoblin). In his career, Romero has churned out some gory, campy trash that always had an element of fun, making up for the lack of story and/or decent acting. Beast, however, lacks a great deal of what makes a Video Nasty so appealing – instead of reveling in its badness, it just falls flat. *

Baby Blood

aka The Evil Within
1990 / Dir. Alain Robak / Written by Serge Cukier and Alain Robak / Starring Emmanuelle Escourrou, Christian Sinniger, Jean-Francois Gallotte, and Roselyne Geslot

We’ve seen the killer/demonic baby theme so much, it can stand alone as its own horror subgenre – Rosemary’s Baby, It’s Alive, Grace, The Brood, etc – in fact, “evil children” is one of my tags on this site to sort those films from the rest. What’s refreshing is that every now and then a killer baby movie comes along that is inventive, compelling, and departs from many conventions of the subgenre in interesting ways. Baby Blood (perhaps more commonly known as The Evil Within, but titled Baby Blood on American DVD) is one of those rare films that had me sitting up and taking note when things take a dramatic shift from the conventional all the way out to left field – and that’s where I like it. Emmanuelle Escourrou stars as Yanka, the beautiful yet disturbed wife of a circus Ringmaster, who uses any available opportunity to abuse her – though she is newly pregnant. The circus setting is eerie and eccentric in itself, and presents a creative stage for the evil “other” to enter the film – as an unseen entity that bursts out of the body of a captive leopard and inserts itself vaginally into Yanka’s uterus, thus taking over the body of her growing fetus. Are you still with me? Good, because it gets even better. Soon the baby begins to communicate with Yanka through her thoughts, demanding that she kill the men in her life that mistreat her – in exchange for a feast of their blood, which sustains the baby’s growth. This is the impetus for a barrage of over-the-top, gore-drenched murder sequences as Yanka reluctantly then tenaciously butchers every man who comes across her path (each possibly serving as an extension of her abusive husband), while simultaneously developing a maternal instinct to nurture the parasite growing inside her. Some truly remarkable camera work and deftly acted by Escourrou, the film is also refreshing because it is men who fight for their lives against a determined woman, turning the “exploitation” film on its ear. Dark and gruesome yet never taking itself too seriously, Baby Blood is an underseen gem in French horror that earns a high place amongst the greatest of all the “wicked children” fare. **** ½

Audition

aka Ôdishon
1999 / Dir. Takashi Miike / Written by Daisuke Tengan / Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, and Jun Kunimura

A gut-wrenching, pillow-clenching tour-de-force from the master of extreme Japanese cinema, Miike’s (arguably) best film to date is a seminal entry in the popular and controversial J-Horror phenomenon. Other leading entries in the movement, including Ringu, Ju-On, Honogurai mizu no soko kara, Janghwa Hongryeon and Gin gwai, have all received the Hollywood remake treatment (The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, The Uninvited, and The Eye, respectively.) Much of the content in the originals has been toned down in their American counterparts – even to PG-13 standards – so that many of the larger issues that the ample and often shocking violence and sexual content stands for in J-Horror is misrepresented or completely negated for the sake of raking in some extra box office dough from the lucrative 13-to-17-year-old demographic. There is no way that Audition can receive the same American treatment, unless the storyline becomes so sanitized that it becomes a different film altogether. The film starts innocently enough in comparison to the last hour, although the premise in itself is problematic from the beginning: Ishibashi (also of The Grudge) plays Shigeharu, a down-on-his-luck widower who is urged by his teenaged son to get back into the dating scene lest he continues to languish in middle-aged lovelessness. A film director friend proposes that he and Shigeharu host an audition and “cast” him a potential wife. The problem is, all the women auditioning believe that they are trying out for an actual role. The relationship that does blossom between Shigeharu and beautiful, demure Asami (Shiina) is already problematized because he lured her into his life under false pretenses. Turns out, it is not the first time Asami has been deceived by a man, and in the past she has exacted revenge accordingly. I won’t go into detail about what transpires after the first hour or so of the film, which is a melodramatic and oddly sweet (but eerie) courtship. The slow pace accelerates dramatically as we learn more about Asami and what she has in store for her new beau – but I can guarantee you, it is probably nothing that you could ever imagine on your own. Miike takes every spine-tingling moment to the very extreme of what many directors will show before they cut away, daring to elevate Asami to a vengeful anti-heroine, particularly in a culture where women have been subjugated for centuries. Because of how equally disgusting men are portrayed in the film, Asami may serve on a larger level as a distorted neo-feminist seeking redemption for her oppression – and a warning for all men who continue to perpetrate wrongs against the “secondary” gender. You may be tempted to look away, but Miike certainly doesn’t want you to – so take it all in, and see which side you land on.****

Note: this film is based on the original novel by Ryû Murakami.