Film 82: Spirit Trap

Like so many of these films, Spirit Trap was more fun to write about than watch. Just the biggest grab-bag of hoary old haunted house cliches you've ever seen, it's jaw-droppingly awful. Sole point of interest is that it was the last thing Billie Piper did before she made Doctor Who.

Or at least, that was the the sole point of interest until now. Despite the almost complete absence of media coverage (apart from various reviews pointing out how dire it is) I have a couple of relevant, contemporary interviews on file which gave me some previously undocumented background info. Of which the most interesting revelation is that 'first-time director David Smith' was actually a pseudonym for someone who was already very experienced and has gone on to be enormously successful.

So probably a smart move taking his name off this crap, then.

Film 81: The Descent

Neil Marshall's second film is, for my money, the best movie in this book. So good is it in fact that the section on The Descent pretty much wrote itself. Which is good because I spent several hours knocking out a couple of thousand words on the film, then lost nearly all of it due to some unspecified computer error and had to rewrite while the basic structure was fresh in my memory.

There are a lot of nice touches in the film that don't necessarily register the first time around, like a brief shot of Sarah's never-mentioned medication that she doesn't take with her to the cave. Above all it's the ambiguity that really hits the spot. Are the crawlers real? Is Sarah hallucinating? If so, when does that start? What's real and what's not? Absolutely superb stuff.

Chemical Burn re-release Bane in USA next month

James Eaves' impressive and disturbing sci-fi horror Bane was previously released in the States in 2009 by an outfit called Celebrity Video Distribution. Chemical Burn Entertainment now have the rights and a new disc is scheduled for release on 10 April. It's available for pre-order on Amazon.

Chemical Burn have a number of other UK titles on their books many of which, unlike Bane, remain unreleased domestically. Here's a page on their site which also lists Kevin McDonagh's Tied in Blood (no release date) and Idol of Evil (released last April), Philip Gardiner's Lady of the Dark: Genesis of the Serpent Vampire (scheduled for 8 May), Kemal Yildirim's Tales of the Dead (which was released in September 2010) and Colin Bickley's 2004 obscurity The Porcelain Man (no release date).

Film 80: The Cottage

After an enforced break due to holidays and computer problems, the book is back on track...

Paul Andrew Williams' horror-comedy stiffed at the box office and has a reputation as a bit of a failure. But watching it for the first time I laughed myself silly. Furthermore, most contemporary reviews were broadly positive (even if some critics were confused by this as a follow-up to the very different London to Brighton) so I can't understand why this one isn't better regarded.

Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith have the brotherly chemistry spot-on and Jennifer Ellison is great as their gobby, Scouse kidnap victim. Doug Bradley's cameo seems somewhat arbitrary, the very final shot doesn't have the impact it should and the backstory of the hideously disfigured Farmer isn't clear, but these are minor quibbles. Wish I'd seen this one at the cinema.

The Reeds - UK disc coming in June

High Fliers have lined up Nick Cohen's The Reeds for a UK release on 25 June. The film, which stars Scarlett Alice Johnson (Panic Button), Geoff Bell (Storage 24, Botched) and Emma Catherwood (Spirit Trap) was released in the States back in March 2010.

Mother's Day Evil - what's that?

Here's the synopsis for Mother's Day Evil, set for US release by DVD Deluxe (through Tempe Distribution) on 19th June:

Lauren and her young daughter, Emily, travel from the USA to visit the English countryside. Shortly after their arrival at a dilapidated cottage, a creepy old woman conducts a seance and things rapidly begin to go wrong. Lauren wakes up in bed in an old and unfamiliar room, watched over by Len, the kindly rescuer who took her in. Stuck at his mercy, Lauren tries to remain calm and slowly learns more about her rescuer. He hears voices from “Mother” who tells him what to do. Ever fearful of his unpredictable, violent mood swings, she tries to placate him in order to be reunited with Emily and escape. When Len’s history is finally unraveled, it is far more terrifying than she could ever have known. He carries the darkest of secrets and he needs Lauren to absolve him. But first, she has to deal with the terrifying evil that is... “Mother.”

Wondering why you've not heard of Mother's Day Evil before? That's because it's a retitling of Steven Nesbit's film Curio which was released in the UK last September. The soundtrack is by Blur's Graham Coxon who is lined up to act in Nesbit's next movie Mawken, although that seems to still be in development.

New interviews with Michael Riley and Mike Busson

Over on my main site I have added two brand new interviews. Producer Michael Riley talks about the Paul Hyett-directed horror movie The Seasoning House. And actor Mike Busson talks about his role in zomcom Stag Night of the Dead as well as his other work on that film and his extraordinary naked performance in mockumentary Hardcore.