Cube (1997)
A room with four walls and four doors and seven people contained within. It doesn't sound exciting, but fortunately for Cube those four doors lead to an entertainment experience that a lot of movies with ten times the budget can't match. Through each door is another room, another cube. Inside each of these rooms could lie a trap which will violently end all life that enters. The traps themselves are deliciously evil and from the first scene we see what horrors the Cube has to offer. Luckily for the seven individuals trapped inside the Cube they each possess a talent that can be used to escape certain death and lead them to safety... as long as they work together. Being human beings however, those who are trapped begin to become suspicious and accusatory toward each other which becomes the beginning of the end and seals the fate for many of those inside. I won't give the ending away but it's one of those films where the ending can make or break the entire movie for you. Don't expect deep and multi-dimensional characters. It's not the acting that takes center stage here but rather the emotions suggested by the choices that the characters make. This one doesn't throw buckets of blood at the viewer but the gore that is shown doesn't fail to impress. If you're interested in a low budget, suspenseful movie with a dark atmosphere and bleak attitude toward human nature then you've found it. -
Despare
The Fearless Vampire Killers (aka Dance of the Vampires) (1967)
Danza Macabra (aka Castle of Blood) (1964)
This classic, claimed to have been written by a certain
Edgar Allan Poe is arguably one of the most mesmerising pieces of horror cinema ever made. The plot concerns a journalist,
George Riviere, who accepts a bet to spend one night in a haunted castle. Once in, he finds himself sorrounded by phantoms, both beautiful and evil, re-enacting the ways in which they died, and who need his blood to maintain their nightly orgy of death.
The movie has been beautifully shot, and now released on DVD, looks great for its 89 min length. Evoking both spookiness and depressing moments, it leaves the viewer feeling helpless, once they empathize with Riviere and the atmosphere he finds himself in - multiple murders, cold-blooded passion, vampiric killings all mixed together and played in front of his eyes. Compelling viewing, even for Riviere, even when he has an option to escape.
Margheriti has directed a masterpiece of compelling viewing, and once it starts, the viewers stay glued to their seats till the end. Excellent entertainer. -
___V___
Dark Heritage: The Final Descendant (1989)
From a critical point of view, this really isn’t a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. The actors are some of the worst that I have ever witnessed; the script is just as bad, and the budget makes Evil Dead look like the new King Kong.
“If it’s so bad, why do you like it so much?” you’re asking. Well despite its flaws, Dark Heritage has a sort of magic to it that would be the envy of even Ed Wood.
The story, based loosely on Lovecraft’s “Lurking Fear”, centers around a newspaper reporter named Clint Harrison and his quest to solve a strain of mysterious, brutal murders. The mystery leads him and his co-workers to an abandoned mansion deep in the woods…a mansion with a terrible, violent past and a shocking secret.
Even though he might be the only person involved that knows anything about filmmaking, the director is actually fairly competent (David McCormick, who amusingly enough was also an editor on the recent Wallace & Gromit film). If nothing else he creates some great atmosphere in many of the scenes, especially the tunnel sequences and the grisly spectacle near the end. Furthermore, the sepia toned dream sequence mid-film is one of the most memorable dream sequences since Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Go into this movie with an open mind. By the typical definitions it might not be great filmmaking, but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. -
The Return
Dark Waters (aka Dead Waters) (1994)
