Barry Forshaw

Horror Films of the 2010s by John Kenneth Muir, McFarland

The horror film genre – up to the beginning of the 2000s — has been thoroughly investigated and analysed by many writers (not least this one!), but as yet there has been no exhaustive coverage of the horror films of the 2010s . That situation has changed at a stroke with this extremely useful (and compendious) guide to the decade by John Kenneth Muir, published by McFarland.When a new breed of horror film was signalled by the phenomenal success of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, a period of stasis for the Gothic genre followed. However,by the 2000s, a major revival of interest in the field (in both Britain and the United States) took place, a revival which proceeded with fresh vigour as the tropes of Gothic literature found new and inventive forms of expression. It is the latter trend which makes a study such as this ever more à propos, John Kenneth Muir’s pithy and informed analysis, beginning with And Soon the Darkness and ending with Us, is an invaluable resource, and its approach — often generous towards films which have been controversially received — is always welcome.

Barry Forshaw

INVADERS FROM MARS, William Cameron Menzies, director/BFI

I have to confess to having a personal interest in this 4K restoration of one of the best loved films of the science fiction boom of the 1950s. For Invaders from Mars, I provided a booklet essay and also contributed a commentary with my friend and colleague Kim Newman. If you are an aficionado of the alien invasion movies of the 1950s – and what true science fiction fan isn’t? – you may enjoy such films for their jaw-dropping spectacles of destruction, or – in the term popularised by the writer Damon Knight – for their creation in the viewer of ‘the sense of wonder’ that fictitious encounters with beings from other worlds inspire. Invaders From Mars has inspired many directors and is now restored in 4K, and arrives in both UHD and Blu-ray formats, sporting numerous special features, including that newly recorded Forshaw/Newman audio commentary and Not Just a Dream: Designing Hope in Invaders From Mars, with filmmaker Nic Wassell looking at the work of legendary production designer and director William Cameron Menzies.

RED BEARD, Akira Kurosawa, director/BFI

There is no denying the fact that the British film Institute has done a splendid job when it comes to Akira Kurosawa’s remarkable cinematic legacy. This excellent transfer of the director’s last black and white film is the equal of earlier issues. Red Beard was nominated for a Golden Globe Award after its original release; and its star Toshiro Mifune bagged the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. This new issue is bristling with special features, including an audio commentary by filmmaker Kenta McGrath. Kurosawa’s focussed, intense study centres on a socially ambitious young doctor (Yuzo Kayama) arriving at a rural clinic in 19th-century Japan to work with the formidable Dr Kyojio Niide, known as Red Beard (Mifune). Mifune’s performance is towering. Special features? The film is  restored in 2K and presented in High Definition; It also includes interviews with Kurosawa, actors Yoshio Tsuchiya and Kyoko Kagawa, art director Yoshiro Muraki and others.

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, Nia DaCosta, director/Sony

Was it possible that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland were aware that their end-of-the-world zombie franchise would prove so durable? This latest iteration rings some satisfying changes on the formula and contains a remarkable central performance by Ralph Fiennes. Nia DaCosta’s direction takes the horror-defining franchise to unsettling new heights.

DANGER: DIABOLIK, Mario Bava, director/Arrow

Now that the film industry has decided that films based on comic strips absolutely rule the roost, it’s instructive to watch again one of the film’s that started it all. Less influential, perhaps, than Richard Donner’s Superman, Mario Bava’s eye-popping Danger: Diabolik was the first film to seriously recreate the colour and excitement of the comics; Bava based his visually stunning film on the Italian fumetti in his native country, and his Batman -like protagonist in skintight leather is actually an anti hero, star of a long run of digest-sized comics. The actor John Phillip Law is perfect for the part.

The hypnotic black and white cult classic Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio, 1960) remains, perhaps, the calling card movie for the director, but this colourful entry is in the upper echelons.

GOD OF GAMBLERS, Wong Jing, director/88 Films

It’s safe to say that this eccentric and lively comic thriller with the elegant Andy Lau is quite unlike anything the viewer might have seen and steadfastly refuses to be fitted into any one category. Director and actors throw themselves into the proceedings with abandon, and the result is always entertaining.

HI, MOM! Brian de Palma, director /Radiance

It’s always fascinating see the early work of the director went on to have an illustrious mature career – particularly if there are prefiguring is what was to come later in the director’s vision (although neither Francis Ford Coppola door Michael winner were particularly proud of the Cairo films in the erotic vein. Ironically, an adult filmmaker is the role in which a young Brian Robert De Niro appears in this highly unusual early work by Brian De Palma who was later to prove himself the most talented of directors inspired by the great Alfred Hitchcock. De Niro as a Vietnam VAT that investigating the counterculture of New York, here ruthlessly satirised. De Niro, too, shows what he was already capable of. Students of de Palma need not hesitate.

HAMMER VOLUME 7: SHIPS & GIGGLES, various directors/Indicator

Anyone interested in the output of the Hammer Films studios owes it to themselves to investigate something other than the company’s horror product. Hammer’s crime films are making welcome reappearances on Blu-ray, and here is an intriguing set form Indicator that collects several of the company’s comedies, including the much sought after comic version of Jekyll & Hyde, The Ugly Duckling, with Bernard Bresslaw as the identity-changing central character. Those who are of the opinion that Village of the Damned is one of the best British science fiction films ever made will be intrigued to see that film’s director Wolf Rilla handling very different material in Watch It, Sailor!

ADVENTURE CALLS, various directors/Eureka

This welcome 7-film set is a valuable demonstration of how useful the Blu-ray revolution has proved in rehabilitating neglected work. The writer Karl May is hardly known in the UK these days but was massively successful in Germany – much in the way that the novels of the crime writer Edgar Wallace enjoyed much more success in that country in the 1950s and later than in his own territory of the British Isles. Westerns based on Karl May’s lively novels were terrific commercial successes, often featuring the expat actor Lex Barker as the durable gunslinging hero. The directors in this set, are particularly intriguing, including cult craftsmen Robert Siodmak and Hugo Fregonese. Transfers here are impeccable, with colour values that positively leap from the screen.

JACKIE CHAN: BREAKOUT FILMS, various directors/Arrow Films

While Bruce Lee represented the violent apex of martial arts movies, his colleague and rival Jackie Chan has had a far longer career, channelling knockabout humour in his tongue-in-cheek action movies. The selection here of several of the star’s best loved movies demonstrate the reasons for his massive international success; all are prime examples of Chan’s remarkable acrobatic skills – along with many examples of the well-known stunts which left Chan and his unlucky stuntmen in hospital. The films, of course, are of varying quality, but all are exceptionally well make and showcase his vulnerable charm along with his acrobatic expertise – and the word ‘vulnerable’ perhaps sums up his particular appeal and most marked difference from the more savage Bruce Lee. The latter generally appeared to be as invulnerable as superhero and only occasionally did he show pain or discomfort, whereas it’s a critical part of Jackie Chan’s apparatus. The various directors do a splendid job in marshalling the narrative aspects of the films in between the action sequences.

TAXIDERMIA, György Pálfi, director/Chasm

Chasm proves that it can unearth the most intriguing and provocative material with this 2006 comedy-drama drenched in off-kilter body horror. It’s undoubtedly not a film for the faint of heart, but presents a sardonic vision of Hungary’s troubled history from the Second World War up to the present. György Pálfi’s film was an international co-production of Hungary, Austria and France and is a bracing reminder how the limits of the acceptable in cinema should be stretched every now and then.

THE GENERAL, Buster Keaton, director/Eureka

Any recommendation for The General, one of the greatest comedies ever committed to film, is redundant. Keaton’s comic genius shines through in every frame – as does his courage in some of the stunts he performed (although some might interpret that as foolhardiness – in this respect, Keaton looks forward to the similar risk to life and limb taken by Jackie Chan). The quality of this transfer from Eureka is particularly impressive, and the film looks like it was made yesterday, and Carl Davis’s score is absolutely appropriate.

THE MUMMY & FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, Terence Fisher, dir./Second Sight

The Mummy is one of the unassailable Hammer film classics directed by the studio’s Numero Uno filmmaker Terence Fisher, and has never looked as impressive as it does in this splendid new Blu-ray from Second Sight (it’s accompanied by a new disc of  another Terence Fisher outing, one which has grown considerably in esteem over the years, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell). If you need a reminder of just why Hammer films are held in such high esteem, here are two perfect examples: Cushing, Lee, Fisher in The Mummy? An unbeatable trio.

Barry Forshaw

PHASE IV

Saul Bass, director/ 88 Films 4K

Discerning lovers of cinema will be familiar with the astonishing credit sequences designed by great Saul Bass, such as that for  Walk on the Wild Side with its prowling cat and wonderfully seductive jazz-inflected score by Elmer Bernstein. This was a classic case of Bass’s work being superior to the film that it introduced, but the designer was also associated with some ironclad classics, such as Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus and his work with Alfred Hitchcock, notably Psycho and North by Northwest. Saul Bass’s first feature film as a director, the science fiction thriller Phase IV, is a tense tale in which scientists at an Arizona desert station combat a terrifying attack by hyper- intelligent ants (normal-sized rather than gigantic as in such films as Gordon Douglas’s Them!). It goes without saying that the film looks amazing (how can something directed by Bass not be visually stunning?), but Phase IV also generates suspense along with its intelligently realised narrative.

BEN HUR, 4K 3-DISC SPECIAL EDITION

William Wyler, director/Warner

If ever a disc justified the expenditure of a 4K player, it’s this eye-popping transfer from one of the most famous of all epics, looking better than it has done since its original 1959 release. Of course, William Wyler’s Ben Hur was always a film designed to take the breath away with its 70 MM colour photography, surround sound, memorable performances (notably Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd), and a score by the master of dramatic orchestral music, Miklos Rosza. The fact that dialogue was by the British playwright Christopher Fry was another plus. Oh – and perhaps one should mention the chariot race? That remains one of the most heart-pounding sequences in the history of the cinema. Interestingly, William Wyler was one of the many assistant directors on the earlier 1925 version of the story, and the race here (in the capable hands of second unit director Yakima Canutt) pays homage to several of the key moments from the original film, sometimes shot for shot. Of course, the besetting sin of many epics of this era is the ever-present religiosity, but Wyler handles that aspect sensitively – although modern audiences may prefer the sceptical view of religion taken in Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus. But – back to that 4K iteration – the only problem might be that your television set is not big enough to do justice to the sprawling Ancient Roman canvas. The solution? Simple: along with your new 4K player, buy yourself a massive widescreen TV or – better yet – a projector and 7-foot screen. It will be like sitting through a showing of the film would have been decades ago. Ben Hur won a record 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Wyler), and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Heston). The film’s cast also includes Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell, and Sam Jaffe. The new 4k box contains a cornucopia of extras.

Barry Forshaw

Barry Forshaw

THE MAN INSIDE

John Gilling, director/Powerhouse Indicator

Let’s begin with a film for which (along with the indefatigable Kim Newman) I provided an audio commentary. The Man Inside is an unusually cast international thriller with the polyglot cast of the imposing Jack Palance and the zaftig Anita Ekberg. Also on board: ace British character actor Nigel Patrick, not to mention a quirky comic role for a young Anthony Newley. Based on a novel by Elleston Trevor (perhaps better known as Adam Hall, author of the Quiller spy thrillers) and directed with customary verve by John Gilling. Palance is cast against type as a globetrotting humorous hero (rather than the menacing heavy that is his customary métier) on the trail of an exclusive jewel thief played with a surprising degree of complexity by Nigel Patrick. Ekberg relies on her more pneumatic accoutrements than her histrionic ones, but if that was good enough for Fellini it’s good enough for Gilling. An interesting curio.

IDLE ON PARADE

John Gilling, director/Powerhouse Indicator

As a companion piece to the above (with another Forshaw/Newman commentary), here’s an intriguing curiosity from Warwick, the film company who two years after this were part of the genesis of the James Bond franchise. It’s a service comedy starring Anthony Newley as a British Elvis Presley figure drafted into the army (if you’re thinking of the musical Bye Bye Birdie, you won’t be far wrong). Newley proves to be an engaging personality, making virtually no secret of the fact that he can’t play the guitar he is constantly holding, and American import William Bendix plays the bulldog-like Sergeant Major who makes his life a misery. The female lead is the surely soon to-be-rediscovered Anne Aubrey, and this is a fascinating snapshot of a particular era both in British popular cinema and popular music.

NEGATIVES

Peter Medak, director/ BFI Flipside

The BFI flipside label has long been one of the most attractive destinations for cinéastes of eclectic tastes, and this issue of the much-neglected Negatives – the first film from director Peter Medak – is a welcome addition to the company’s already extensive repertoire. With a cast that includes Glenda Jackson (in her first film), Diane Cilento and Peter McEnery, this obviously guarantees performances of considerable skill, as indeed proves to be the case with the actors creating a strange psychosexual trio. This is the first time Negatives has been available on any format in the UK, and extras include an audio commentary and audio interviews with the director. The film is newly remastered from the original camera negative.

CRY OF THE BANSHEE                                                         

Gordon Hessler, director/Hammer

Here’s an interesting tributary connected with the new version of the company, Hammer; Hammer Presents, showcasing films from other companies. I spoke about Cry the Banshee with my late friend, the writer Chris Wicking, for my book British Gothic Cinema. As Chris said: ‘Scream and Scream Again was the second film that Gordon Hessler and I worked on.’ With its radical approach to a variety of genres – the film is a fusion of science fiction and horror elements – it remains one of the more extraordinary films produced in this country.). We subsequently worked on Cry of the Banshee (1970), and by this time, the high esteem in which we were held by AIP has become something different, and Gordon and I had to learn to guard our tongues. We had a notion of drawing modern political parallels with the Banshee script, but we realised we would have to keep that quiet.’ Compromises aside, fans of the writer and director – not to mention Vincent Price enthusiasts – will relish this sparkling new addition, looking better than the film ever has before.

BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB

Seth Holt, Michael Carreras, directors/Studio Canal

And still with Chris Wicking, he continued: ‘A director I greatly admired, Seth Holt, worked on Blood from The Mummy’s Tomb (1971; he was hired, in fact, at my suggestion – although his personal problems (notably his alcoholism) meant that the film was already in trouble, even before Holt’s death during the making — the producer Michael Carreras finished it.’ This splendid new Blu-ray gives viewers a chance to investigate a new film which is the very definition of a film maudit, and viewers are far more likely to be generous today.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Larry Cohen, director/Radiance

There are cult directors and their occult directors. Some, like David Lynch, achieve a wide degree of celebrity despite the esoteric nature of the work. Others, like the director Larry Cohen, make their mark working in a variety of popular genres such as the horror field. Special Effects achieved some attention on its first appearance, notably for showing Cohen’s assured usage of thriller and horror tropes. This sprucing up of that film – which most viewers will only have seen on a fuzzy VHS version – looks more eye-catching.

THE DAY OF THE LOCUST

John Schlesinger/director/Arrow

The body of work by the American writer Nathanael West may be small but in its day made an indelible mark – and nothing he wrote is more highly thought of than his excoriating hellish vision of Hollywood, which ends with nothing less than a kind of Armageddon. The British director John Schlesinger made a considerable mark with his first take on America, a version of James Leo Herlihy’s unsparing Midnight Cowboy, and here repeats that caustic outsider’s view of another country, coaching remarkable performances from Karen Black as an unselfconsciously destructive Lorelei and Donald Sutherland as a particularly vulnerable victim of hers. The arrow Blu-ray looks quite splendid.

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

Charles E Sellier, director/101 Films

Collectors of the slasher movie genre are nothing if not completists, and here in a spruced-up Blu-ray edition is one of the films they may have seen only on a fuzzy VHS tape in its heyday. Needless to say, the cut and thrust here looks better in this transfer and this remains one of the more quirky items in the genre.

SHANGO

Edoardo Mulargia, director/88

One might have thought that with the omnivorous appetite of the Blu-ray industry for new product that every corner of Italian genre cinema had been exhausted – but as this tempting entry proves, that is not the case. Edoardo Mulargia’s distinctive spaghetti western has the kind of energy that distinguishes the most memorable entries in the genre. The script was cowritten by the director and film star Anthony Steffen, with the latter as a Texas Ranger up against a ruthless Confederate officer and his band of savage marauders. Everything is cranked up to the nth degree, and this is a particularly striking entry in the genre from the always enterprising 88 company.

HELTER SKELTER

Mike Ninagawa, director/88 Asia

The bijou label 88 Films belies its modest size issue with a program it is truly impressive. Apart from a spread of genre movies from the American and Italian Cinema, the company’s Asia imprint is a reliable source of unusual Asian cinema products such as Helter Skelter, a colourful and impressive entry from director Mike Ninagawa

SALEM’S LOT

Tobe Hooper, director/Arrow

Few horror entries imprint themselves so indelibly on the memories of enthusiasts as Tobe Hooper’s very impressive version of Stephen King’s iconic novel, which is still remembered with a pleasurable chill by those who saw it on television on its first appearance. It’s particularly good to be able to say that not only does it still work a treat, it has never looked better than in this latest Arrow Films iteration which gives a choice of the original television series and a condensed feature film version. One aspect that wears particularly well is James Mason’s suave murderously aide of the version of Dracula that King presents. This time round, it’s perfectly clear that King was simply rewriting stoker’s Dracula, in terms of the shape of the narrative, but he did it with great style, matched here by Tobe Hooper’s contributions.

INNERSPACE

Joe Dante director/Arrow

The response to Joe Dante’s fun semi-remake of Richard Fleischer’s Fantastic Voyage on its first appearance was underwhelming, but many people will be rewriting their opinion with this welcome reissue showing how well Dante’s film has worn. And Jerry Goldsmith’s memorable score comes up a treat in this new transfer.

THE DEVIL’S HAND

Maurice Tourneur, director/Eureka

This remarkable issue is almost a single-handed justification of the whole Blu-ray industry, bringing to light again one of the most expressive of French fantasy cinema entries in a quite splendid iteration. Those impressed by the work of the director Jacques Tourneur who have been intrigued as to what the achievement of his famous director father looked like need seek no further; it’s perfectly clear (as the cliché says) that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The Devil’s Hand stars Pierre Fresnay as an enigmatic figure who arrives at a mountain inn cut off by an avalanche. He is a bizarre figure with a prosthetic hand, and the remarkable story he tells the guests is the body of the film. Yet again, Eureka has found something notably off the beaten track.

VAMPYROS LESBOS & SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY

Jess Franco, director/Severin Films

Dedicated collectors may have acquired earlier versions of these erotic Jess Franco favourites, but no previous transfers have looked as impressive as these spruced-up new editions do from Severin Films, arriving in eye-popping UHD premiers (4K UHD/Blu-ray) with each film available in two-disc editions along with a cornucopia of special features.

Barry Forshaw

THE UGLY STEPSISTER, Emilie Blichfeldt, director/Second Sight

A striking debut (both as writer and director) for Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister examines, casts aside and remakes the conventions of the horror film, addressing (in currently apropos mode) what actually makes a woman. But intellectual underpinnings aside, the practical effects (often gruesome) are particularly memorable, and Emilie Blichfeldt sports a highly unusual visual style, perfectly suited here to her material. The film arrives in a Limited Edition Dual 4K UHD/Blu-ray makeover.

SPACEWAYS, Terence Fisher, director/Hammer

The Hammer studio dipped its toe into the science fiction genre before its horror heyday, but it was not to be a major preoccupation over the years. Nevertheless, the studio produced several SF movies – such as this (though it is — essentially – a whodunnit). But what makes Spaceways interesting for Hammer collectors (a very dedicated bunch) is the presence of director Terence Fisher, a man who frequently remarked on his relative lack of sympathy with the SF genre – but despite this produced several intriguing films in the genre such as Night of the Big Heat. This new 4K restored Limited Collector’s Edition showcases the film’s blend of Cold War double-dealing and efficient cinematography. The film stars Howard Duff, celebrated as the iconic private eye Sam Spade on radio, but here playing a space engineer caught in a lethal maelstrom. The supporting cast includes Eva Bartok (perhaps best known for her appearance in Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace) and a character actor who reminds us pleasurably that this is a British film, the always watchable Alan Wheatley. Like all the current Hammer issues, collectible, and a rarity.

THE STRAIGHT STORY, David Lynch, director/StudioCanal

David Lynch’s charming and uncharacteristically understated and reflective take on the classic road movie appears from StudioCanal, and is very welcome on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray. Based on a true story, Lynch’s visually striking vision of a stubborn-minded septuagenarian’s journey across America’s on a ride-on lawnmower reminded viewer what a subtle actor Richard Farnsworth is in this an Oscar-nominated study that follows of Alvin Straight as he attempts to reunite with his estranged brother. With a perfectly judged score by Angelo Badalamenti and moving support from a mature Sissy Spacek. In fact, Richard Farnsworth was terminally ill when took on the role because of his admiration for Alvin Straight.

V/H/S/HALLOWEEN various directors/Acorn Media

Aficionados of the portmanteau horror film will relish this eighth lively collection of the V/H/S horror anthology film series. Hit or-miss as some episodes are, this latest outing has a high batting average, and features five new segments and is among the most satisfyingly gruesome in the series.

PEKING OPERA BLUES, Tsui Hark, director/Arrow

With balletic action a hallmark of Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, cult director Tsui Hark dialled the visual and comedic aspects up to 11 with 1986’s Peking Opera Blues. Ace work from performers Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh and Cherie Chung is shown to great advantage in this 4K restoration, sporting a host of extras. The setting is Beijing, 1913. With local tyrants duking it out, three women interact spectacularly in the local Peking Opera house, coming up with a revolutionary plan that stymies president Yuan Shikai.

RE-ANIMATOR, Stuart Gordon, director/Second Sight

Fans of inventive and quirky horror movies couldn’t believe their luck when this remarkable effort by Stuart Gordon appeared. Expectations were high for this riff on the writings of horror maven H.P. Lovecraft, and some adjustments had to be made when it became apparent that this was not typical Lovecraft fare with its duelling mad scientists and extreme body horror. Apart from the enjoyably ludicrous gruesomeness, the film is elevated by the wonderfully over-the-top performance by Jeffrey Combs, coming across like a modern-day iteration of Vincent Price. The Second Sight disc is truly stunning.

KNIGHTS OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER, Aleksander Ford, director/Second Run

Unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool cinéaste – and a specialist in Polish cinema at that – you’re unlikely to have seen this remarkable Polish epic which has been difficult to see in decent form for many years. That omission is now resoundingly put to rest with Second Run’s splendid new Blu-ray of Knights of the Teutonic Order, directed by the much-respected Aleksander Ford. As Martin Scorsese has noted, this is the first Polish historical blockbuster and the most viewed Polish movie of all time, featuring ‘battles galore, political manoeuvring and doomed love’. It’s refreshing to note that the film still works remarkably well in the 21st century, although the colourful costumes hardly appear to get dirty, however grimy the battles. But this is a small caveat, and the new Blu-ray will be welcomed by many, not least for Michael Brooke’s video essay which moves firmly out of the category of ‘extras’ to ‘essentials’. Hard to think of anyone else apart from Brooke creating such an elegant synthesis of analysis and hardcore info.

TURNER & CONSTABLE, David Bickerstaff, director/Exhibition on Screen

If you live in London and are even mildly interested in fine art, a visit to Tate Britain Turner & Constable exhibition is de rigueur. But if that’s not feasible, there is a highly attractive alternative. David Bickerstaff’s reveals the ways these artists redefined landscape painting and paved the way for Impressionism. TURNER & CONSTABLE offers intimate views of sketchbooks, personal items and beloved homes plus insights from leading experts. This is an unmissable opportunity to see these great artists side-by-side, as they so often were in life, on the screen for the first time.

EXCALIBUR, John Boorman director/Arrow

For many film lovers, the wait for a definitive Blu-ray iteration of John Boorman’s celebrated Arthurian epic Excalibur (mostly scored using music by Wagner and Carl Orff) here receives the kind of top-level sprucing up that admirers of the film have long sought. Those same admirers are often critical of one aspect of the film – Nichol Williamson’s bizarre and antic Merlin – but their views are likely to be softened by experiencing the film in what will clearly be its definitive version.

New from Indicator

After the recent selling out of a number of Indicator Limited Editions, eight Standard Editions will be released on 23 March: DEATH OF A GUNFIGHTER, DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE, DEATH CARRIES A CANE (Blu-ray), and THE PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK (Blu-ray), and all four films from our JOHN FORD AT COLUMBIA, 1935-1958 box set: THE WHOLE TOWN’S TALKING, THE LONG GRAY LINE, GIDEON’S DAY, and THE LAST HURRAH

At first glance, The Night of Death would appear to be a little-known entry in the Italian giallo idiom: a murderfest in which two or three barely clad starlets meet bloody ends. In fact, the actual title of the film is La Nuit de la Mort, and it is a gallic entry in the horror genre, here granted the kind of careful attention that Nucleus Films always bestows on its esoteric issues. Youthful, attractive Martine (played by Isabelle Goguey) has been reluctantly taken on as a nurse at Deadlock House, an isolated retirement home, but she quickly realises that the place is even stranger than she expected. The elderly eccentric residents all have some kind of grotesque dietary requirement rather than just their vegetarian diet, and are under the thumb of the nominating Helene (Betty Beckers). Before long, blood – and a variety of organs – are being spilled. The director Raphael Delpard takes his time before plunging headfirst into grande guignol territory, but justifies this with his solid cast and striking cinematography.

Barry Forshaw

There was a time when aficionados of Hammer Films’ memorable film scores had to make do with the odd scrap recorded here and there. That, however, is a situation that has thankfully been remedied over the years, with most of the striking orchestral scores now available in some form or other — particularly those composed by the man who was the doyen of the field, and who might be called its most significant practitioner (in much the same way that Terence Fisher is recognised as Hammer’s key director): the late James Bernard. But Bernard was not alone in his noteworthy endeavours, and several extremely creative musicians supplied suitably unsettling music for many of the classic Hammer films, including one of the very best (in terms of both the film and its score): Curse of the Werewolf, which was scored by Benjamin Frankel. Another memorable contributor was a composer that this writer had the good fortune to know – and who was more than ready to discuss his work, the late Richard Rodney Bennett. While Hammer films are currently undergoing a series of deluxe presentations as part of the company’s latest iteration, what better time for the publication of The Symphony behind the Screams: Hammer’s Musical Heritage by John Mansell, a concise but comprehensive examination of the music that finessed the frissons of our favourite Hammer films. The book arrives with an encomium from Steve Rogers (the man guiding the ambitious reissue programme for many of the classic Hammer films). Rogers notes Mansell’s admirable balancing of composer interviews with in-depth commentary. The encomium is full justified, and – needless to say – Hammer enthusiasts need not hesitate.

The Symphony Behind the Screams: Hammer’s Musical Heritage by John Mansell is published by BearManor media

POSSESSION, 4K, Andrzej Zulaski, director/Second Sight

The reputation of this bizarre cult arthouse-cum-horror film has grown over the years, and its hysterical appeal remains implacable (whether you like it or dislike it, you’re unlikely to be indifferent). Most striking are the scenes of Isabelle Adjani’s grotesque nonhuman lover – with which she is seen in naked embraces. This tentacled monstrosity is Carlo Rambaldi’s most persuasive creation outside a certain cute Steven Spielberg alien.

THE BIG BLUE 4K, Luc Besson. director/Studio Canal

Luc Besson’s spectacular aquatic odyssey looks breathtaking in StudioCanal’s new 4k iteration – earlier versions are now redundant.

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, Harry Kumel, director/Radiance

The vampire film genre seems to lend itself with ease to a variety of reinventions, but few are more surreal and intriguing that this beautifully shot entry from director Harry Kumel which gives every impression of being more influenced by Alain Resnais’s Last Year in Marienbad than any of Hammer’s vampire outings. Resnais’s muse, Delphine Seyrig is mesmerising here.

SPINAL TAP 2: THE END CONTINUES, Rob Reiner, director/Sony/Elevation

Whatever your response to this belated sequel to the beloved original Spinal Tap movie, there is no question that the lovers of the original film will have to see it. With this silver disc, the viewer can now make their own minds up whether or not it was a good idea to revisit the trio of idiotic heavy metal headbangers from England, still played by the memorable original cast.

SHOGUN SAMURAI, Kinji Fukasaku director Eureka

One of the most watchable actors in all of martial arts cinema is Sonny Chiba, who has made his louring mark in almost every variety of the genre. He is typically compelling in Shogun Samurai, and the film makes an impact not just for his hard-edged performances but for its impressive production design. Along with The Fall of Ako Castle, this is director Kinji Fukasaku’s most impressive contribution to the samurai epic genre, sporting (along with Chiba) a remarkably accomplished cast.

SHAWSCOPE VOLUME 4, various directors/Arrow

The latest in a very collectable series of heavyweight set. These generously filled collections from Arrow have proved to be an absolute cornucopia of both familiar and unfamiliar films from the prolific Shaw Brothers studios, and there is now a coterie of collectors who await each new volume full of anticipation. The new set is overflowing with tempting items, but let’s look at just one film, Super Inframan, directed by Hua Shan. This oriental superhero series with its size-shifting, red Lycra-clad protagonist was once regarded as strictly kiddie fare, but has now achieved a cult following among many older aficionados. With a deliberately ridiculous special effects, they are great fun – as long as you don’t go expecting character development along with the monster bashing. And as for the other films here — and the host of extras – well, there simply isn’t room enough in this column to list them all. But, needless to say, Arrow aficionados will know what to expect.

THE BETRAYAL, Tokuzo Tanaka, director/Radiance

In Tokuzo Tanaka’s remarkable drama, a samurai who is trying to live according to the ideals he is devoted to finds himself estranged from his colleagues and, accordingly, vulnerable. Taking on his own shoulders the negative behaviour of others, he is exiled for a year before he may be allowed back into his clan’s embrace, but as the title suggests, betrayal is the name of the game, and he is soon a hunted quarry. This is a mesmerising piece with performances that are more understated than is customary for the genre. Visuals, too are skilfully realised.

FORTHCOMING FROM POWERHOUSE INDICATOR

THE MAN INSIDE, John Gilling, director

A tempting new disc for which I provided a commentary featuring the unusual casting of Jack Palance, Anita Ekberg and Nigel Patrick

FORTHCOMING FROM 88 FILMS

CRASH & BURN (1990) THE HYENA (1997) CRAZE (1974) OVER YOUR DEAD BODY (2014) DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS (1984) SAGA OF THE PHOENIX (1990)

Those who have relished Tom Weaver’s lively and informative interviews with a variety of genre creators over many years (and in many books), will need no persuasion to pick up this toothsome latest volume, subtitled ‘Conversations with Genre Greats of the 1940s – 1970s’. The best known names here include filmmakers Roger Corman and John Landis, but Weaver’s reach is, as ever, wide – including a fun interview with one of the earliest of Lois Lanes, Noel Neill, who played the doughty reporter girlfriend of Superman in the long-running television series. But every interview here has something to offer, and there is always a particular pleasure with one of Weaver’s books: encountering someone with whose work one might be only vaguely familiar – and the effect – as always – is to send one out to look for their films. Creature Feature Creators is Tom Weaver on typical form – and that’s all that it is necessary to say.

Creature Feature Creators by Tom Weaver is published by McFarland