THEGAYUK

Tag: Movie Genre Horror

  • FILM REVIEW | Freaks (1932) Cinema Re-release

    ★★★★ | Freaks (1932) Cinema Re-release

    Hollywood Classics presents a cinema release of “Freaks” – in cinemas from 12th June 2015

    This classic opens with a sideshow barker shouting about his latest addition, without showing it immediately builds some tension, as you want to see this freak. The audience around the cage gasps and screams and so sets the scene for that back-story, the story of how the freak came into being.

    A beautiful circus trapeze artist, Cleopatra, takes an interest in Hans, a dwarf who works in the circus sideshow away from the main ring. She has ulterior motives though as her interest is more about Hans and his inheritance than in Hans himself. Hans has his head turned by this beauty, and forgoes his loving finance to pursue this highflying love.

    What he isn’t immediately aware of is that she is carrying on an affair with Hercules, the circus strongman. At their wedding party, a drunken Cleopatra tells the sideshow freaks just what she thinks of them – huge mistake and this group of friends close ranks and plot. Together, the freaks decide to make her one of their own.

    Tod Browning, the director and producer, drew on his own experiences in the fairgrounds and circuses of America to create this once shocking film. He was given leeway by the studio system to create this horror after his success in creating Dracula. He intentionally showed the “freaks” to be the ones with a code of honour and a sense of justice and the so-called normal cast as the ones with murderous intentions.

    Tod also managed to interweave sub-plots that built on the “freaks” having normal lives, such as the co-joined twins who each have romances, the armless wonder who performs everyday tasks with her feet – remember folks, in 1932, these were shocking images, things never before seen, hence their place amongst the circus sideshows.

    It seems impossible to believe now, but after test screenings in New York, the film was pulled after one lady threatened a lawsuit – claiming the film had been so shocking, she had suffered a miscarriage! The film was butchered and reduced from its original 90 minutes to just over 60, with some of the more shocking scenes removed. There were extended images of the freaks attacking Cleopatra and the scene where Hercules, her lover, is castrated was also removed.

    The initial barker scene was added to give it some context, but despite this and the other cuts, it lost money on it’s second release and despite Brownings earlier work with Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi, his career was effectively over – Hollywood doesn’t forgive or forget easily!

    The film was considered overly exploitative over here and was banned in the UK for over 30 years but even with mainly negative reviews, some saw this as a masterpiece, a true gem of film-making with even the Rotten tomatoes site giving it an overall thumbs up, stating that time has been kind to this film and the US National Film Registry adding it to its archives as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

    It isn’t easy to watch, in this age of PC conformity, you do question its making, it’s potential to exploit – but if you can, put that to one side and consider it in it’s historic context.
    Take a peek if you can, in its intended surroundings – aim for a real cinema with Rococo fittings and real organ music. Failing that, go see it at your local multiplex, but DO GO SEE IT.

    A huge 4 stars – not as scary as it once was, but excellent historical perspective and amazing cast

  • FILM REVIEW | Hooked Up

    ★★★ | Hooked Up

    Technology is moving so fast and we now own more powerful processing power in our pockets (I mean your phone) than ever before. The cameras are better, image storage immense thanks to cloud storage and video quality crisper than ever.

    So, when I got the chance to review a horror movie filmed entirely on an iPhone, you can imagine how it piqued my curiosity, I am after all, a complete iFan.

    The storyline is fairly straightforward for schlock horror movie fodder, two stereotypically loud Americans go to Europe to get drunk and get laid. Both come across as quite unlikable characters, and in a horror movie, I always found you need to invest some feelings towards at least one character – otherwise why watch?

    With this, I didn’t really care for either – felt no emotion that one had just split form his long-term girlfriend, didn’t care what happened to them but was curious about the film and how it looked as it was shot on a phone.

    However, once they get to Barcelona and get out there, things take a more interesting turn and, after picking up two girls, they are invited back to one girls “grandmothers” house for the usual rumpy-pumpy. I must stress, the grandmothers house was supposed to be empty and said rumpy-pumpy did not include the grandmother.

    And this is where the film gets interesting. Obviously, there are nasty things going bump in the night, lights going out, strange happenings, lots of blood and a bit of gore – but the best thing for me was that the iPhone filming felt right?

    I know that sounds odd, but not once did I question why they were filming things – I use my phone all the time, without it, I feel like someone cut off my hand. To use one to film and take images whilst on holiday is now normal so this film didn’t feel contrived in that sense.

    Co-writer and director, Pablo Larcuen, has a good stab (yes, i went there) at writing something that tries to move the found footage genre along a little by the inclusion of something we all own – a smart phone.

    The performances are, on the whole, good with my only issue being the characterisation I mentioned earlier – give me one person to care about and I’ll stick with a film to the bitter end to see what happens. When you don’t really care, you’re just looking for the inventive ways they’ll die!

    My other issue, and not just with this film, but with all found footage films is who found the film?

    A decent 3 stars – it won’t set the world alight but a decent watch with a good pizza and a nice white wine.

  • FILM REVIEW: Drink Me

    ★★★ | Drink Me

    Young gay couple James and Andy seem to have everything, especially an extremely busy sex life.

    Life in the rather comfortable house they share couldn’t be more perfect and James wants to make it all even more permanent by getting down on his knees and proposing marriage. However timing is everything and Andy fesses up that he has just been laid off from his job, which puts a dampener on any ideas of paying for an expensive wedding right now.

    After he has trouble finding new work, money gets tight for the couple so James suggests taking in a lodger. Sebastian a handsome stranger moves in and all seems well until housebound Andy realises that the new member of the household is hiding a secret. He suspects that Sebastian could be the killer who has been stalking the streets of their neighbourhood and responsible for so many people seemingly disappearing into thin air. He will not have to wait long to find out the truth.

    This brand new thriller made on a micro-budget on by husband & husband team Daniel & Richard Mansfield is a rare genre i.e. gay vampire drama. Strangely enough it is not nearly as frightening as the overly dramatic soundtrack intonates it should be, and the slight plot unfurls at such a slow pace that there are neither any real scares nor surprises. It does however possess more male full frontal nudity than I have ever seen outside of a porn movie, and full credit to both director and cast, as they ensure that most of it is highly erotic.

    The movie following on from The Secret Path that the Mansfields made last year proves again that this young couple of talented British gay filmmakers are definitely a pair well worth watching.

     

  • FILM REVIEW | Kissing Darkness

    ★★ | Kissing Darkness

    New gay film Kissing Darkness can be summed up as summer camp meets the Twilight movies.

    Five college boys decide to skip the gay pride festivities in their hometown of Los Angeles to spend the weekend in a cabin in the woods. They are young, cute, sexy and believe it or not one of them is straight Vlad (the very hot Nick Airus). He’s vile, unhappy, homophobic and luckily for us spends more of the film with his shirt off. Why he would want to go on a camping trip with four other gay men is beyond me. Of course, all of other men fancy him, but Vlad’s nipples aren’t the only things lurking around. There’s also Malice Valeria, a local woman (ghost?) who, after catching her boyfriend in bed with another man decides to bite Vlad (and the rest of boys one by one) to turn them into her slaves.

    In between all of this we see the men in the house in various states of undress, it’s pleasing to the eye and takes away from a story that’s pretty bad. Unfortunately, it’s all Kissing Darkness has going for it – the eye candy (did I mention how hot Airus is)?

    The plot is quite ridiculous, the acting mediocre, and luckily for us it’s only 87 minutes. Gay Director and writer James Townsend, who plays one of the boy’s lover in the film (he shows up near the end), has put together a film that’s so bad that it’s not even good. Hey, but at least there are lots of young male bodies to look at.

    The tagline of the film is ‘Love Has Never Been so Cruel’ – that pretty much says it all!

  • FILM REVIEW | The Cat

    ★★★ | The Cat

    The Cat is a Korean horror film which tells the story of a young woman, So-Yeon, who is an animal groomer in a pet parlour. Following the death of one of her customers who dies in a lift, she cares for the abandoned cat found next to the body. But So-Yeon soon finds herself haunted by the ghostly figure of a young girl with cat like eyes and as people around her start to die in small spaces So-Yeon tries to uncover the truth about the link between the cat and the violent deaths of those around her.

    The Cat was very typical of the Asian horror films which have become more popular over the last ten years or so. Films like The Ring, The Grudge, A Tale of Two Sisters and Dark Water have brought the Asian film industry to the attention of the West and this film is a good, if standard, example of the ghost story genre. It has all of the elements you would expect in such a film – a ghostly figure, a few jumps, a slow build of the tension and an uncovering of the truth behind the shadowy figure. Whilst the structure of the story was nothing ground-breaking, it held your attention and built to a satisfying enough conclusion.

    Overall, the film is a slow burner, with the story gently unfolding throughout the first two thirds of the film before reaching its denouement and revealing the reason for the hauntings. Those expecting an all-out action packed gore fest will be disappointed, but for those who want a decent ghost story and something more atmospheric, there are some nice set pieces (as some of the characters meet their demise) and the ghostly figure of the little girl comes across as both menacing and creepy at times.

    Overall, the performances of the cast are perfectly functional and the special effects are muted but effective. However, viewers should be aware that throughout the film there are some scenes of animal cruelty, which may make uncomfortable viewing for some people (although the film very clearly states that no animals were harmed in the making of the film). Also, the film is subtitled, which may also put off some people, although it shouldn’t. If you have never seen an Asian horror then this is a decent enough introduction.

    Available to buy / view on: Amazon | iTunes