Movies
Damned By Dawn (V)
“Damned By Dawn is well made, fast paced (once it starts) and tackles an under-utilized monster myth, and on a meager budget to boot. I look forward to the next Amazing Krypto Bros. production.”
Sometimes I’m really baffled by the quotes on DVD cases. I mean, it’s one thing to say a movie is great when I think otherwise, but then there’s stuff that truly confounds me, like the one on the cover of Damned By Dawn: “Sick of waiting for Evil Dead 4? Check out Damned by Dawn.” Look, Damned is not a bad movie by any means, but that’s sort of like saying Analyze That could be considered the 4th Godfather film. They have similar subject matter, but the tone is completely different, and I think if you go in expecting ED-style horror/comedy you’re bound to be disappointed.
For one thing, Damned is a fairly humorless movie. There’s some dry silliness concerning the family’s lack of culinary skills (the father stirs coffee with his finger, the sister’s cooking is so bad that they send out our heroine’s boyfriend for pizza), but otherwise it’s more like a Hammer film, where it’s all about the atmosphere and fog machines going haywire. Even the occasional gore doesn’t seem very splattery or over-the top, it’s just what you’d expect from the wound being given.
And that’s a shame, because there are some scenes here that would have benefited greatly from Sam Raimi’s crazed touch and humorous performances. Late in the film, our heroine and one of the other survivors (not for long!) are attempting to drive away from the house where most of the action takes place, only to be swarmed by flying skeleton ghost things. When the ghosts are hit, they turn into mud that splatters all over the point of impact (i.e. the windshield), which of course limits their visibility. It’s a cool scene, but its played for scares, which is slightly problematic since the CGI is a bit underwhelming. Had it been played for laughs the CG wouldn’t have been an issue.
But it’s not a bad flick. I dug the old-school approach mixed with the new “toys”, such as CGI and (LOTS of) color correction – the final shot is the only one where we see someone with natural color. Everything else has been given a dreary and cold blue feel, which works perfectly (it’s almost jarring to see the non-colored shots in the behind the scenes). And the Banshee is a monster that doesn’t get enough cinematic love, if you ask me.
Also, it does take a while to get going (first kill is around the 30 minute mark), but it’s pretty non-stop from there, as our characters are constantly being besieged by one thing or another. Plus, the action often takes place in two locales (folks are always finding an excuse to go outside while something’s going down inside), so it helps keep up the frenetic pace without becoming repetitive. And there’s variety! Cockroaches, skele-ghosts, the banshee herself, even a random zombie of sorts all make things tough on our heroes. The low budget may be apparent, but so is the ambition, and that is to be commended.
Even if you didn’t like the movie you should give the making of a look, because it’s a pretty comprehensive and entertaining look at how they pulled off what they did considering their meager resources, with lots of funny anecdotes and revelations (one might want to go back and re-watch any scenes with the father running through the woods). It also offers a brief look at some deleted scenes and some of the team’s early (impressive looking) short films, which is nice since the making of is the only video based extra on the disc (besides the trailer) – I wish they had put some of the shorts on the disc as well. The only other supplement is a pair of commentary tracks, one for cast and the other for crew (writer/director/producer Brett Anstey is on both). The crew track repeats some of the information found on the making of, but it’s a non-stop chat fest, with a lot of anecdotal production information and a general sense of camaraderie that I always enjoy.
The video quality is quite good. They didn’t use the best digital camera in the world, but with all of the post production coloring helped (just compare it to the rather soap-opera looking deleted scenes in the making of, which aren’t color corrected), and the codec handles the very dark and muted look of the film quite well. Audio isn’t demo material (though the Banshee’s wails will give your entire setup a nice workout), but sounded crisp and clear, which is good since they strangely provide no subtitle track.
So it’s got a shaky start and carries the weight of some unfortunate comparisons splashed all over its DVD case, but if you can keep your expectations in check you should enjoy the film. It’s well made, fast paced (once it starts) and tackles an under-utilized monster myth, and on a meager budget to boot. I look forward to the next Amazing Krypto Bros. production.
Movie: 6/10
A/V: 7/10
Extras: 7/10
Overall: 6/10
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At the Abigail premiere, Dan Stevens listed Norway among his four favorite vampire movies. “I just saw a great movie recently that I’d never heard of,” he told Letterboxd. “A Greek film called Norway, about a vampire who basically exists in the underground disco scene in ’80s Athens, and he can’t stop dancing ’cause he’s worried his heart will stop. And it’s lovely. It’s great.”
You won’t find a better endorsement than that, but allow me to elaborate. Imagine Only Lovers Left Alive meets What We Do in the Shadows by way of Yorgos Lanthimos. The quirky 2014 effort follows a vampire vagabond (Vangelis Mourikis) navigating Greek’s sordid nightlife circa 1984 as he dances to stay alive. Not as campy as it sounds, its idiosyncrasies land more in the art-house realm. Stylized visuals, colorful bloodshed, pulsating dance music, and an absurd third-act reveal help the existentialism go down in a mere 74 minutes.
With the recent solar eclipse renewing public interest in the astrological event, Bloody Birthday is ripe for rediscovery. Three children born during an eclipse – Curtis Taylor (Billy Jayne, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose), Debbie Brody (Elizabeth Hoy), and Steven Seton (Andrew Freeman) – begin committing murders on their 10th birthday. Brother and sister duo Joyce (Lori Lethin, Return to Horror High) and Timmy Russell (K.C. Martel, The Amityville Horror) are the only ones privy to their heinous acts.
Bloody Birthday opened in 1981 mere weeks before the release of another attempt to claim the birthday slot on the slasher calendar, Happy Birthday to Me. Director Ed Hunt (The Brain) combines creepy kid tropes that date back to The Bad Seed with slasher conventions recently established by Halloween and Friday the 13th – with a little bit of the former’s suspense and plenty of the latter’s gratuity. The unconventional set up helps it to stand out among a subgenre plagued by banality.
Starting in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, Italy built an enterprise out of shameless rip-offs of hit American movies. While not a blatant mockbuster like Cruel Jaws or Beyond the Door, 1989’s Alien from the Abyss (also known as Alien from the Deep) was inspired by – as you may have guessed from its title – Alien, Aliens, and The Abyss.
After a pair of Greenpeace activists attempt to expose an evil corporation that’s dumping contaminated waste into an active volcano, the environment takes a backseat to survival when an extraterrestrial monster attacks. Character actor Charles Napier (The Silence of the Lambs) co-stars as a callous colonel overseeing the illicit activities.
Director Antonio Margheriti (Yor: The Hunter from the Future, Cannibal Apocalypse) and writer Tito Carpi (Tentacles, Last Cannibal World) take far too long to get to the alien, but once it shows up, it’s non-stop excitement. The creature is largely represented by a Gigeresque pincer claw that reaches into the frame, giving the picture a ’50s creature feature charm, but nothing can prepare you for its full reveal in the finale.
Set against the backdrop of displaced Syrian and Palestinian refugees, What Is Buried Must Remain is a timely found footage hybrid from Lebanon. It centers on a trio of young filmmakers as they make a documentary in a decrepit mansion alleged to be haunted on the outskirts of a refugee camp. Inside, they find the spirits of those who died there, both benevolent and malicious.
It plays like Blair Witch meets The Shining through a cultural lens not often seen in the genre. The first half is presented as found footage (with above-average cinematography) before abruptly weaving in more traditional film coverage. While the tropes are familiar, the film possesses a unique ethos by addressing the Middle East’s plights of the past and the present alike.
Cathy’s Curse is, to borrow a phrase from its titular creepy kid, an “extra rare piece of shit.” The Exorcist, The Omen, and Carrie spawned countless low-budget knock-offs, but none are as uniquely inept as this 1977 Canuxploitation outing. Falling squarely in the so-bad-it’s-good camp, it’s far more entertaining than The Exorcist: Believer.
To try to make sense of the plot would be futile, but in a nutshell, a young girl named Candy (Randi Allen, in her only acting role) becomes possessed by the vengeful, foul-mouthed spirit of her aunt, destroying the lives of anyone who crosses her path. What ensues is a madcap mélange of possession, telekinesis, teleportation, animal attacks, abandoned plot points, and unhinged filmmaking that must be seen to be believed.
Visit the SCREAMBOX Hidden Gems archives for more recommendations.
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