"Frightful" here does not mean that I had a rotten day, but it is just my punning way of reporting that the FrightFest folk had a mini-festival yesterday to promote the release of Dario Argento's latest film (direct to DVD) and to welcome the horror maestro on his first visit to London in some ten years by showing "Mother of Tears" along with two other recent horror releases from the same label.
First up was a wretched movie titled "Welcome to the Jungle"; unfortunately this title has already been used in the UK as the alternate name for the 2003 film "Rundown" which starred The Rock and "Stifler". This one was meant to be inspired by classic video nasty "Cannibal Holocaust" as four young things entered unmapped areas of Papua New Guinea, theoretically in search of Michael Rockefeller who disappeared in 1961. It was all filmed in hand-held videocam point of view shots which was pretty nauseating for starters, but three of the four youngsters were just so annoying that I could barely wait for them to be eaten by cannibals. And it was a long wait and almost totally without acceptable effects. Mind you if I was being attacked by bloodthirsty headhunters, I very much doubt that I would keep on filming!
Next up was a reshowing of the Australian "Storm Warning" from last summer's FrightFest, which I reviewed briefly on 30 August last year. Maybe I was feeling more charitable yesterday or maybe the dire first film made this one seem better than I thought previously, but I quite liked it this second time around. It might well be that since this was billed as "the extreme version" that there was rather more and rather better gore effects than previously. In short an ineffectual fellow and his more resilient French wife who have taken refuge at a farm owned by a psychopathic father and his two very nasty sons manage to turn the tables and escape through some ingenious and bloody action.
As for "Mother of Tears", this was the long-awaited third part of the Mothers Trilogy after "Inferno" and "Suspiria" which Argento has been promising for years. I wouldn't like to say that it was worth the wait, but I think it might seem a better film on a second viewing; it was full of beautiful shots and creative gore, but as incomprehensibly plotted as most of the Master's recent efforts. An unearthed coffin and its urn releases the artefacts which allow the remaining "mother" (the other two having been destroyed in the previous films) to regain her energy and wreak havoc in Rome by a rash of suicides, violence, and mindless slaughter. Smack in the middle of this is the director's daughter Asia Argento playing the one person who can end the witch's reign of horror, although she was unaware of having any special powers before the start of the tale. It has been a while since Miss Argento has agreed to appear in any more of her father's movies, having been poorly treated in earlier ones, and he continues to put her through some unpleasant paces here, including burying her up to her whatsit in some filthy muck. He also manages to include one totally gratuitous topless shot in the shower. She must actually love her father after all is said and done to put up with his nonsense. There is also a small part for the iconic Udo Kier, but he is quickly disposed of, and the movie certainly would have benefitted from more actors of his charisma, rather than the mediocre assortment of dubbed Italians.
There was meant to be a Q and A with the director afterwards which might have been quite interesting, but as the organisers explained his English is insufficiently strong (have they never heard of Italian interpreters?) and he would therefore only be signing autographs. So we packed up our things and were off...
1 comment:
Glad to read that we agree on all three of the films.
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