Missionary schoolteacher Gwen Mayfield [Joan Fonatine]
escapes from a terrifying and traumatizing attack during her time in Africa. Back
from Africa, and following something of a breakdown, she moves to the small
rural English village, Heddaby when Alan Bax [Alec McCowen] and his wife
Stephanie [Kay Walsh] invite her to come take a position as head teacher in the
village’s school. At first all is fine and Gwen quickly settles in, despite the
fact that Bax wore a priests collar when they first met even though he’s not a
man of the clergy, and the fact that the village still hasn’t rebuilt the burned
down church ruin that stands on the hill above the village.
During her fist class she goes through the names of the
pupils and reacts to the fact that young Linda Rigg [Ingrid Boulting] has her
doll with her to school, something that she feels Linda is way to old for. The
next day, Linda is absent and Gwen finds a note in one of the children’s textbooks
claiming that Linda’s Granny treats her cruel. Here comes the first sign of odd
behaviour in the village as Gwen learns about Linda’s Granny forcing her hand
into the mangle! Not to worry says the chuckling old Granny Rigg [Gwen
Ffrangcon Davies, who also starred in Terrence Fisher’s magnificent The Devil
Rides Out two years later], she’s given Linda a nice brew of herbs to ease the
pain.
Although Linda’s hand-in-mangle isn’t the thing that is
worrying Granny Rigg the most, it’s her concern over young Ronnie Dowset
[Martin Stephens] running after Linda, especially as they are at “That” age. If
one was to be prejudice, Gran and her cat – who just happens to trail Gwen after
Granny Rigg whispers into it’s ear to follow her and the talk of herbal
medicine, home made sherry and chutneys – it would be easy to think that the
old woman may just be a witch!
Ronnie suddenly falls into a coma, an effigy of him is found
in a tree with pins stuck in it and the head missing, Gwen awakens from a
sleeping pill slumber and screams in terror as she mistakes a feather duster
for one of the Voodoo statues from her terrifying encounter in Africa. With the
strange events occurring all around her, Gwen comes to the conclusion that
Granny Rigg must be planning to use Linda as a virgin sacrifice in an occult
ritual!
Slowly, slowly devilish things start happening to villagers,
a man is found drowned, sheep attack Gwen and the African effigies start to
turn up in dreams – or is it real? Guess the confusion and shock as Gwen
awakens after fainting only to be in a nursing home and not Heddaby and under
the supervision of the odd Dr. Wallis [Leonard Rossiter]. Is Gwen going insane
or is there a conspiracy lead by Granny Rigg and the witches of Heddaby?
Prepare yourself, because as the movie shifts into the third act, suspicions are
overthrown, truths are exposed and the real constellation of the Heddaby coven
is revealed!
This is classic Hammer occultism, gradually building the
presence of the unnatural elements, letting paranoia grow, exposing our leading
lady to the horrors of Heddaby, voodoo dolls, creepy cats, mystic happenings, Sabbaths
and virgin sacrifices!
No stranger to the world of the weird, screenplay writer
Nigel Kneale delivers the creeps and eeriness perfectly with his adaptation of
Nora Lofts’ (under the pseudonym Peter Curtis) The Devil’s Own, and Cyril Frankel dispenses
it well. The Witches was the final big screen performance for Jean Fontaine,
which she also co-produced as she’d bought the rights to the Loft story.
Fantastic Hammer Horror creepiness and low key shocker filled with wonderful
paganism and occult dabbling make this a movie I feel can be classed as
something of a underestimated Hammer gem well worth seeking out!
500 years ago a cannibalistic clan roamed the Scottish
highlands. Dwelling deep underground they where said to have slain and eaten
over 1000 victims until they where all rounded up and put to death, all but
one... Ricky Wood Jnr. opens his first feature film with ye Olde based
on true story gimmick before cutting to 1990 and a cold winter Highlands, where a first
of two initial attacks establish that there’s still some monstrosity roaming
the hills. The first is an off screen birth of what we can understand to be a
monster baby and then the poor bloke who was driven all that distance from the
city out into the back end of nowhere has his head blown off. Cut to cheesy metal
ban at Halloween party… Charlotte walks out on her druggy boyfriend and walks home
all alone in the wee hours of the morning… a black cab arrives… get’s in, it
rocks, she screams – cut to funeral.
Two somewhat unclear initial attacks to establish the
“antagonists of the film” may be confusing, but all makes sense as the film
splatters itself into the last act in about an hour’s time. It also creates a
rather curious line of questions of who the real antagonist of the piece is…
Bring on regional crime journo Hamish MacDonald [Samuel
Feeney] who’s written and gone to print with a piece on the macabre murder,
mutilation and ritualistic arrangement of Charlottes body when it was found by
the police a few days after her death… Police inspector Bill Munro [Gavin
Mitchel] grows sick of MacDonald’s slanderous articles published in The
Scottish Chronicle approaches MacDonald with some grim facts that nobody but
the police knew and Hamish is sent off on a wild chance to expose a secret that
has been hidden in the highlands for decades. Hamish search takes him into the
belly of the beast where he comes face to face with Sawney [David Hayman], the
offspring of the legendary cannibal family!
Just as so many other genre flicks get their kicks from
vague connection to authenticity so does Sawney : Flesh of Man. Although in
this case the backstory is as far back as the 15th century and the stories of
clan leader Alexander Sawney Bean, a legendary character who, with his almost
fifty men and women large clan, roamed the area of Ballantrae for almost a
quarter of a century, robbing, murdering and eating their unfortunate victims. It’s
told that they killed over a thousand people and that even King James IV took
part in the 400 people manhunt that took place to track the clan down before
bringing them to justice. Heavy shit and a great source for a horror film!
Sawney : Flesh of Man uses something of a classic investigation
plot to tell its tale, although it kind of backfires as we already know who and
what is responsible for the violent deeds… or at least so we think. There are
some effective surprise twists hidden along the way that manage to make the
last act pick up and make this a pretty neat horror thriller
On the down side, a really silly fight scene where two of
the mutant monsters act out a series of choreographed martial arts moves
totally punctured any kind of atmosphere that the film had built up to this
point.
At the end of the day, David Hayman’s grand performance
as the sinister Sawney Bean is what leaves the best impression; dark, quirky,
disturbing and fun. Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre, think The Hills have Eyes, think
snoopy investigator on random TV show and you have Sawney : Flesh of Man, a badass
thriller with a bloodlust that goes way off the scale. With its impressive, highly graphic effects
and loads of sickening gore that will offend sensitive viewers, Sawney : Flesh
of Man is most certainly Blood and Guts in the Scottish Highlands!
Spice Girls in Hell! Yeah, that’s the best description I can give you of The Hike. I dunno, but I just didn’t get into this flick at all, and it all felt like Spice Girls in Hell. A bunch of Sappy chicks go into the woods for a weekend hike, prove themselves to be complete stereotypes and fall victim of a band of geezers out for a weekend of mayhem.
Wham Bam. The Hike goes right in for the kill with it’s effective initial attack. An off-screen predator slaughters a bunch of unknown youths, we don’t really give a fuck, but it set’s the tone of the movie and establishes the killer in the woods… and because he stripped that last girl before tying her spread eagle to trees and roots in the forest floor, we know that he’s a pervy sadist too… but that’s about as good as it gets.
Quick titles and then a presentation of the gang of girls set on an adventurous weekend in the woods. Character traits are indicated and Kate’s [Zara Phythian] “the secret” is hinted. Their most successful friend, photo model Tori [Barbara Nedljakova], and her obnoxious boyfriend arrive on the scene in the last moment and makes an entrance to capture everyone’s attention. But Dean [Tamer Hassan], Tori’s huge rough boyfriend starts pushing Tori around, Kate steps in and takes him down – another reference to her time in the army.
So these tough Grrrls, fully capable of taking care of themselves get deep into the woods and bump into a bunch of typical adrenaline junkies. You know the kind and you probably hate them just as much as I do. Buffed, fit bastard urban adventurers, and the girls turn into moist crotched giggle buns, fully intent on getting it off with the boys. Or at least being cock teases. Surprise, surfukingprise when the lads turn out to be sadistic sex predators on their annual, let’s go rock climbing and rape-murder any unfortunate women that come along… Yes predicable as hell and the only person who you know will make it through is Kate, because she’s been in the army and it’s pointed out so blatantly over and over again that you know her repent rage, sadness and frustration over her deal boy friend is going to come back and motivate her to take revenge when push comes to shove.
There’s some really annoying and stupid dialogue at times, like when they talk about not having cell phone coverage, - what moron writes dialogue like that 2012? Break shit, loose shit, fucking run out of batteries, but don’t DON’T write no coverage dialogue. Oh I almost forgot the ridiculous dialogue where one girl freaks out over the “rest room” being out in the woods, Öh what part of Hike didn’t you get… Ok I can take that the photo model is supposed to be some sort of comic relief, but it’s still annoying.
The salvation of the movie is to be found in Kate. As said, the backstory of Kate is referenced several times, before she finally tells the girls what happened on that occasion they have been avoiding to talk about when she’s around. Sat round their camp she tells them how her partner was killed in action whilst they served time in the army together. And what better time to attack the girls! When Kate has opened up and exposed her vulnerability we empathize with her, and an attack at this point in time only helps create empathy for the characters. It almost works, and where you perhaps root for Kate to make it through and get the vengeance she’s entitled to, you just want the rest of the girls’’ dead.
The Hike get’s a two out of six. It was a clear disappointment although it had a promising set up and a decent idea going. Unfortunately it is devoured by convention, predictability and really shitty dialogue. In a nutshell it’s a cheap Rape-revenge knock off of Neil Marshall’s The Descent with a paper thin plot, shallow characters and crap dialogue – YOU DO NOT WRITE SCENES WHERE CELL COVERAGE CONVENIENTLY RUNS OUT AT A BAD TIME AND HAVE CHARACTERS TALK ABOUT THIS IN DIALOUGE. YOU DON’T!
The Gorgon Directed by: Terrence Fisher UK, 1964 Horror/Mystery/Fantasy, 83min
I can’t really understand genre fans that don’t like Hammer films! How can you not like Hammer films? For years I’ve been fucking annoyed that watchers of genre cinema all seem to be so polarized, they either only want the gore, the violence, the nihilistic carnage, or even worse, the ones that draw a line with The Exorcist, Jaws and Alien and determine that everything beneath them is automatically unwatchable trash.
Well obviously these people are not really fans of genre cinema. Let's just say that they like a few quick scares, and keep Hollywood in business. Fans of genre cinema take it all in, and leave no rock unturned in their search for the next thrill. The audience above are joined by the fact that they completely ignore the fluff… whilst supposedly claiming to like genre cinema. Well, the fluff is really what makes it all worthwhile. It’s the stuff that keeps the really good from the really bad. It's within the realm of the fluff where the important movies really are found. Such as the Hammer films. Looking at them historically the Hammer movies where the first gore films. Yeah, screw Hershell Gordon Lewis, screw the Japanese Chanbara flicks, Terrence Fisher’sThe Curse of Frankenstein 1957 is the first splatter flicks. When Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein shoots Christopher Lee’s creature in the head with a shotgun and Lee holds his hand up to his face as the blood pours out of the concealed hole in his head, it was deliberate. When Lee’s eyes turn red and the blood seeps from the side of his mouth in The Horror of Dracula 1958, Fisher with makeup artists Phil Leakey and Sydney Pearson knew exactly what they where doing and knew that they where pushing the limits of things… and they created a complete new horror ingredient that people had never seen before, which in it’s own turn made Hammer Studios the minor success story that it was to become.
Terrence Fisher also helmed 1964’s The Gorgon based on a script by screenwriter/director John Gilling – who would later also direct some of the better later movies for Hammer, such as The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile both 1966, and ended up directing the Paul Naschy penned La cruz del Diablo (Cross of the Devil) for Naschy in 1975.
Let’s set up The Gorgon – Something is luring in the dark of Castle Borski just outside of Vandorf. Seven unexplained murders in five years have Inspector Kanof [Second Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton] a frustrated man. When young woman, Sacha Cass [Toni Gilpin], goes missing and shortly after, her bohemian boyfriend, Bruno Heitz [Jeremy Longhurst], is found hung from a tree. It all looks like a closed case, and the town Judge rules it all as a murder followed by suicide. Nobody but Bruno’s father Professor Heitz objects and points out that Cass body was actually turned to stone… the town of Vandorf obviously want’s to keep something a secret, and he will not leave until he’s unveiled the mystery and cleared his son’s name. Doctor Namaroff [Peter Cushing] and his assistant Carla Hoffman [Barbara Shelley] run the village mental institute and all seems fine, until Professor Heitz second son, Paul [Richard Pasco] arrives with the same ambition to solve the curse of Vandorf. Carla and Paul take a liking to each other, and plan to take off as soon as Paul has figured out what goes on at Castle Borski, which obviously set’s up an interesting little triangle drama between Paul, Carla and Doctor Namaroff. Towards the final act, Paul’s mentor, Professor Karl Meister [Christopher Lee] also comes to the small village and together with Paul they aim to put an end to the rumors that, Magaera [Prudence Hyman, in one of her few onscreen credited parts in a Hammer flick] – one of two lesser know sisters to the legendary Medusa - resides in the woods of Vandorf.
It’s obvious that Gilling has a passion for detective stories – he wrote several crime/detective screenplays, and directed loads of super detective shows, like The Saint, The Champions and Department S. This is seen in the way he constructs the script to The Gorgon, as the movie primarily is a horror movie with an investigation plot. Gradually the audience know what is going on – the gorgon, and the subplots – and with a Hitchcock-ian structure, Gilling and Fisher lead us down a path that is more detective story than horror.
Red herrings are laid out for us to stumble on such as the Martha [Joyce Hemson] character who we blatantly are lead to believe is the Gorgon, and there’s very driven dialogue to make us pose further questions such as when Carla with panic in her voice says to Dr. Namaroff that “She has come back!” Everyone seems to have something to hide, facts they dare not proclaim, truths not yet spoken, which obviously propels the narrative forth.
Obviously the horror comes through the loan of a legendary icon, the Gorgon, Medusa or Mageara as she’s called here, and the heavy gothic vibe that seeps though the movie. Hammer movies are at their best when they ooze of EuroGoth created through the wonderful set design of Bernard Robinson, those great matte painting landscapes, and James Bernard’s magnificent scores – of which The Gorgon holds one of the darkest he composed for Hammer.
The motif of death is very dominant in The Gorgon and despite using a legendary tale we all know by heart – stare in her eyes, turn to stone – they put a spin on it, where characters don’t turn to stone in the flash of an eye as in the old Harryhausen flicks, but more of a sadistic torment as they slowly turn into stone statues. One character even writes a letter home, telling of the pain and despair he feels in that very moment. That’s kind of heavy, even for a Hammer movie. Also they bring a familiar spin to the story when it becomes apparent that the second night of the full moon is when the attacks occur, something we all know from Werewolf folklore.
Building tension and then gradually releasing it is what Hammer movies are all about. God knows they made their fair share of movies that did nothing but build only to present a semi-shocking reveal at the end. This is also true with The Gordon. The initial attack if you will shows us the exact path that Sasha Cass takes, the religious nook by the roadside, the full moon, and the looming structure of Castle Borski. These elements all become referents later on as Professor Heitz walks the same path, it’s not rocket science and we know he’s walking right into danger. Returning imagery, locations and motifs are all important tools for building anticipation as the next time we see them we are aware of the threat they pose.
Characters are kind of stiff and restrained throughout The Gorgon. There’s no real arcs with evolving characters here, and there’s nor really anyone to feel for to start with. Secrets are kept, science argues against fantasy and every one – especially Dr. Namaroff act as skeptics when it all comes around. So there’s a use of something called the contrast frame at work here, where even the men of science deny to acknowledge the Gorgon – which the audience by the way, knows exists – it becomes logic that we tend to empathize with Paul and Carla. They are after all the only characters to stand up for there beliefs, and even though we as an audience are miles ahead of them both, we tend to favor them.
Although one must not forget the many subplots that are irking their way in, of which the Paul – Carla one is the strongest. There’s also the whole protection racket that comes with Dr. Namaroff. It’s almost eerie the way Cushing sluggishly floats around, stopping here and there for a pose to show us that he’s lost in thought, because despite being the skeptic of the piece, he knows what’s going on… Or at least, has an idea, which is why he becomes a human shield for Carla. He won’t let anyone near her, and does his best to protect her. But he’s so overprotective of Carla that it becomes painfully obvious why she falls for Paul, as he offers her the freedom she looks for. Away from corridors of Dr. Namaroff’s institute, away from Vandorf. Ironically it’s merely a metaphorical freedom and her real freedom comes in a completely different form during the final moments of the movie courtesy of scarcely used Christopher Lee’s Prof. Karl Meister.
The Gorgon, is still one of those Hammer movies that sums up all that was great about Hammer horror, the atmosphere, the somewhat stiff stage performances of the cast, lurking death, gothic horror and, for the time period, acceptable special effects. Perhaps not as impressive as his work on The Horror of Dracula, you still have to give Sydney Pearson credit for the Medusa and her head of snakes. It get’s the job done, the turning to stone transformations, although primarily only make up, work and the final decapitation scene is still something of a classic Hammer moment. When it all comes around, the movie may be a tad on the slow side, but then again that’s what draws me into the world of Hammer. The slow meditative approach, the modest scares and the clean cut closure, which almost all Hammer movies end with. There’s never any lingering around for no reason at all in the world of Hammer. Kill the monster, cue the end credits, let’s all get up off the couch, and sod off to bed.
The Witches
This is classic Hammer occultism, gradually building the
presence of the unnatural elements, letting paranoia grow, exposing our leading
lady to the horrors of Heddaby, voodoo dolls, creepy cats, mystic happenings, Sabbaths
and virgin sacrifices!
