DOCTOR JEKYLL *** UK 2023 Dir: Joe Stephenson. 89 mins This revisionist take on the oft-adapted Robert Louis Stevenson classic immediately stirs those vulnerable neck hairs with the title and the legend “Hammer Presents” appearing onscreen in big, bright red letters, set to a suitably strident Blair Mowat score. Hammer Films, of course, have impressive history with the Stevenson tome, adapting it into Terence Fisher’s impressively grim but uncommercial THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (1960) and, a decade later, the fascinating, dark-humoured gender-swapping DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971). Dan Kelly-Mulhern’s screenplay has a 21st century Dr. Nina Jekyll…
Author: Steven West
CALVAIRE (aka The Ordeal) **** Belgium / France / Luxembourg 2004 Dir: Fabrice Du Welz. 88 mins After being menaced by a horny, elderly fan in his dressing room, handsome young singer Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas), heading off to a Christmas gala, breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He takes refuge at an old inn ran by “Paul Bartel” (Jackie Berroyer in a standout role named after the director of EATING RAOUL), a former comedian fond of dwarf jokes. Lamenting the departure of his former wife, Bartel warns his unexpected guest not to go into the village – prefiguring…
TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST **** UK / USA 2023 Dir: Sean Hogan. 45 mins Writer of (among others) the superb Midnight Movie monograph about DEATHLINE and ENGLAND’S SCREAMING and director of THE DEVIL’s BUSINESS, Sean Hogan continues his smart, imaginative revisions of vintage British horror with this highly effective homage to the chilly, scarring U.K. TV frighteners of the 1970s. Beautifully shot (almost entirely in monochrome) by Paul Goodwin and Jim Hinson, it’s an authentic evocation of the look, sound and casting of a typical GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS. On a windswept moor in the 17th century, nerves…
OUTPOST *** USA 2022 Dir: Joe Lo Truglio. 88 mins Writer-director Joe Lo Truglio is best known for his comic work, including WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER and a long-running stint as Charles Boyle in TV’s BROOKLYN NINE-NINE. Here he essays a thriller about PTSD not dissimilar at times to Leigh Whannell’s excellent take on THE INVISIBLE MAN. Beth Dover, his real-life wife, portrays a woman physically and emotionally scarred by a brutal attack, taking refuge in a job at a remote outpost in the mountains of North Idaho. Her job involves scoping the area for forest fires from a watchtower…
MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW ***** UK 2023 Dir: Jake West. 124 mins A merchant seaman’s son, the “Mancunian Man” in question is Cliff Twemlow – he had entertainment in his blood and, in addition to pursuing a body building passion that ultimately killed him, wracked up an enormous amount of credits in one medium or another. His film career is the best known part of his life (albeit in niche circles), even though so much was unfinished or unreleased. As relayed here by a host of honest, affectionate collaborators, friends and loved ones, he had over…