The Unrepentant Cinephile

by Jason Coffman

  As with Babysitter Massacre, Couto (and his screenwriter John Oak Dalton) excels in creating characters that the audience can actually care about. Particularly impressive is the film’s emphasis on well-drawn female characters, an important factor in the storyline that becomes even more central to the action when their secrets are revealed. All of the female cast members are very good, and although the film deals with some very dark subjects, there are well-placed jokes and some quirky ideas (one girl’s dark secret appears to be some guilt over not taking care of her dog well enough when she was young, although it is still alive and lives with her parents) give the film just enough of a sense of humor to keep the proceedings from becoming too dour.

  From a visual standpoint, Couto uses the supernatural elements of the story to play around more with the look of Haunted House on Sorority Row in contrast to the straightforward but solid look of Babysitter Massacre. Colored lights, Dutch angles, thick fog and strategic candlelight factor in much of House’s most memorable imagery. Additionally, there are many more makeup effects to create the ghosts haunting the house, ranging from simple and creepy to somewhat goofy. Given the film’s extremely low budget, however, that’s to be expected, and Haunted House on Sorority Row effectively creates and maintains a creepy atmosphere better than many films with exponentially bigger budgets.

  There is little doubt that come the end of 2014, Haunted House on Sorority Row will be making horror fans’ lists. It’s an excellent follow-up* to Babysitter Massacre and confirms that Couto and his ensemble of friends in front of and behind the camera are talents worth watching in the world of independent horror cinema.

  *Technically, Haunted House on Sorority Row is not the follow-up to Babysitter Massacre. After completing Massacre, Couto shot a family-friendly Christmas comedy, A Bulldog for Christmas, which was released in late 2013. Now that House is complete, Couto is preparing to begin production on his next film, Awkward Thanksgiving, a holiday comedy funded entirely by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign.

  The Haunting of Helena (2012)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 20 September 2013

  Every few years it seems someone takes a crack at the “classy ghost story” style of horror story, from the glacially-paced and quiet (Pascal Laugier’s Saint Ange in 2004) to the more visceral (Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Orphanage in 2007), all of which try to conjure up a similar atmosphere of dread. It’s a tricky balance trying to keep things interesting while most of the time not much of anything is going on. Misjudgments can make scenes meant to be tense just seem like long quiet stretches between loud noises. When done well, these stories are compelling and creepy. When not done so well, they can be fatally boring. Italian filmmakers Christian Bisceglia and Ascanio Malgarini’s The Haunting of Helena (originally titled Fairytale) is one of the latest films in this subgenre, and leans more toward the visceral end of the spectrum. However, its strong effects work is basically the only thing it brings to the table.

  Sophia (Harriet Masters-Green) is a professor living in Italy with her daughter Helena (Sabrina Jolie Perez) after divorcing her husband Robert (Jarreth J. Merz). The huge apartment they have moved into includes a beautiful but ominous armoire that Helena demands be put in her room. Soon thereafter, Helena loses one of her baby teeth and becomes strangely obsessed with teeth. When Sophia asks her why, Helena explains that the woman in the armoire is looking for her teeth. Sophia is understandably upset, but when she learns that the apartment was the scene of a grisly murder decades earlier, she starts to wonder if Sophia’s new imaginary friend isn’t something more sinister.

  From here, The Haunting of Helena treads mostly familiar ground in both its ghost story and the family drama running parallel to it. Robert comes back into the picture after a traumatic run-in with the ghost leaves Helena nearly catatonic, and the strain on his and Sophia’s relationship comes to the fore. Meanwhile, the weird lady from the closet continues to follow Helena even into the institution where her mother has her committed. The film’s “haunting” sequences are mostly done with near-seamless CGI effects, especially where objects in the frame are rendered to be nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. However, the trade-off is that in order to help sell these effects, the entire film is shot in a very flat, severe style that is not very interesting. Each scene and location has its own particular color palette, but they are so drained of life that they don’t make much of an impression.

  Unfortunately, the same can be said for the film as a whole. Despite the mostly solid CG effects and some nice late-film twists, The Haunting of Helena is just too slick and mannered for its own good. The film’s gruesome scenes will likely put off anyone looking for a more traditional ghost story, while anyone expecting more action will probably find the film’s pacing frustrating. There are some worthwhile ideas here, though, so hopefully the filmmakers’ next project will take more advantage of their story concepts more than their access to a good CG effects house.

  The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine (2003)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 10 April 2008

  Olaf Ittenbach first made his name back in the early 90s with The Burning Moon, a film that had underground horror fans likening him to contemporaries like Andreas Schnaas (writer/director of Violent Shit) and Jörg Buttgereit (writer/director of Nekromantik). Although The Burning Moon still has never seen an official US release, the Violent Shit series got its own boxed set and Nekromantik and its sequel saw loving US DVD releases, Ittenbach is arguably the most commercially successful of these German low-budget horror auteurs, having parlayed his early underground successes into a steady career in directing and special effects work. The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine (originally released as Garden of Love) is the latest of Ittenbach’s films to receive an official US release.

  The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine opens true to Ittenbach’s reputation, with the sadistic massacre of the members of a commune run by popular folk singer Gabriel Verlaine (Bela B. Felsenheimer). The murderer leaves only young Rebecca alive. Two years later, she wakes from a coma with complete amnesia and is adopted by her aunt and uncle. They are informed that even though Rebecca remembers nothing of the traumatic experience, she may someday recover her memories. This is what appears to happen ten years later when the adult Rebecca (Natacza Boon) begins seeing images of her father’s ghost, and so she decides to return to the site of the murders with her psychology professor/boyfriend David (Daryl Jackson). But naturally, not everything is as it seems.

  The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine is a vast improvement on Ittenbach’s other US releases (Legion of the Dead and House of Blood). While the storyline is predictable, Ittenbach keeps things interesting with some bizarre humor and a nice twist on the concept of the vengeful ghosts. While they were harmless hippies in life, death has turned them into rampaging gore machines that aren’t terribly picky about whom they take their revenge upon. The dialogue and the acting are mostly pretty terrible, but the increasingly ridiculous series of scenery-chomping villains (and James Matthews as the hilariously creepy Detective Munster) nicely fill the running time between the scenes of cartoonish gore that are the film’s real focus.

  Overall, the film is an uneasy mix of horror camp and cruel violence–that opening sequence is truly horrific, but the rest of the violence in the film goes sailing over the top and into splatstick territory. It’s obvious that Ittenbach’s more interested in the gore than characters or storytelling, and the film’s unstable tone is just confusing. Still, The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine is worth a look for fans of Ittenbach’s particular brand of blood-soaked b-movie antics and gorehounds in general, but it probably won’t win over many new fans. Maybe we just haven’t seen the right Ittenbach film(s) yet?

  Heathen (2009)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 19 April 2009

  As filmmaking technology has become cheaper and more accessible, more and more people are able to realize their filmmaking dreams. Of course, it’s still not easy to make
a film, and it’s especially not easy to make a film while most of your cast and crew are working day jobs. Heathen, the debut feature film from writer/director/producer/editor (whew!) Ross Shepherd, is exactly that sort of production, shot on weekends and free time over the course of 2008. And as far as no-budget debuts go, Heathen, is a damned good one.

  The film opens with several minutes of moody black and white footage with eerie sound design that establishes a intriguing, somber tone. William (co-writer Tom Rudd) drifts through his bleak, identical days since the disappearance of his brother David (Steve Lorrigan). Disconnected from his friends and family, William rarely leaves his home except for work. That all changes shortly after Chloe (Amber Coombs) moves into his apartment building and the two strike up a relationship, but before long the past comes back to haunt William as he begins receiving messages regarding his brother’s disappearance. And William starts to notice a man who appears to be following him…

  Heathen, is a dark drama with shades of psychological thriller that relies on a solid central performance from Tom Rudd as William. William is in nearly every shot of the film, so it’s a good thing that his performance is so convincing. There are barely five speaking parts in the entire film, lending it a focused, claustrophobic quality. This narrow works very well with the stylish black and white photography and evocative music and sound design. From a technical standpoint, Heathen, is surprisingly accomplished for such a small production.

  The only real complaint I have regarding Heathen, is that it puts a lot of stock in a shocking twist near the end that may not be much of a surprise to keen viewers. Regardless, the film is undeniably hypnotic, and well worth seeking out. I’m anxious to see where Shepherd goes from here.

  Hell Up in Harlem (1973)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 1 September 2017

  Larry Cohen’s Black Caesar was a surprise box-office hit for American International Pictures, helping to establish Fred Williamson as a bonafide superstar. Williamson had starred in a couple of films in 1972 (The Legend of Nigger Charley and Hammer, both featuring characters he would reprise in later films), but his role as Tommy Gibbs in Black Caesar was a turning point. After the film’s spectacular opening in February of 1973, AIP tapped Cohen to rush a sequel into production as quickly as possible. True to form, he delivered: Hell Up in Harlem hit New York theaters in December of 1973. An impressive feat to be sure, but the rushed nature of the project is fairly obvious from the final product.

  Tommy Gibbs (Williamson) manages to get a call out to his father Papa Gibbs (Julius Harris) to help him out following the events at the end of Black Caesar. They stash the ledgers that helped launch Tommy to the top of the New York underworld and stage an elaborate siege at the Harlem Hospital emergency room to save Tommy’s life. Once he’s back in fighting shape, Tommy gets back to business with Papa as his new right-hand man. Despite his insistence that he’d never even seen a man shot before he helped Tommy, Papa takes to the gangster life swimmingly. Tommy, Papa, and their main enforcer Zach (Tony King) strike fear into the hearts of crooked cops, politicians, and mob rivals alike. Utterly ruthless, Papa even takes the children away from Tommy’s ex-girlfriend Helen (Gloria Hendry) so he, Tommy, and Tommy’s new girlfriend Sister Jennifer (Margaret Avery) can raise them as their own. But trouble is brewing: Zach is a little too ambitious, and District Attorney DiAngelo (Gerald Gordon) is sick of Tommy putting the screws to him. It’s only a matter of time before this powder kegs blows, but will it finally take Tommy with it?

  As a sequel to Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem is a disaster. The first film had some “action movie” touches, but it was mostly an observant character study that played more like a 1970s updating of Little Caesar or White Heat than a typical Shaft knock-off. All that basically goes out the window the second its sequel begins: Cohen packs the early hospital standoff with gritty, palpable tension, but the film quickly moves into completely ridiculous territory shortly thereafter. A sneak attack from sea on a mob compound seemingly occurs days after Tommy’s surgery, and Papa’s transition from meek traveling salesman to Tommy gun-toting gangster is extremely sudden and wildly implausible as well. The film as a whole feels very much like it was being made up as the production went along. This leads to some slower patches, but also results in some wild invention such as the airport chase near the end of the film, which is so outrageous it basically makes the whole movie worth watching.

  So as a “Blaxploitation” action movie, Hell Up in Harlem is entertaining enough. The difference between the two films is somewhat similar to that between Jack Hill’s Coffy and Foxy Brown films starring Pam Grier: Hill intended Foxy Brown to be something of a parody of the Blaxploitation cycle in general and Coffy in particular (its working title was Burn, Coffy, Burn), but its cartoonish action instead proved to be exactly what audiences wanted. Hell Up in Harlem occasionally feels like a goof as well, which is somewhat disappointing given how great Black Caesar is. However, it’s tough to get too upset about the inevitabilities of the movie business, and if Black Caesar had to have a sequel at least it reunited that film’s principal collaborators and it looks like they had a great time making it. They’re both notable films for very different reasons, and well worth a look. But to get the maximum enjoyment from each, don’t watch them as a double feature.

  Hell’s Labyrinth (2007)

  Originally published on Film Monthly 24 April 2012

  In 2004-2005, several films were released that were shot almost entirely against green or blue screens. The most high profile of these were the major studio Jude Law sci-fi adventure Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and– perhaps more importantly– Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City. This technique generated a lot of excitement at the time, although Sky Captain was a box-office disappointment. Sin City, on the other hand, showed low-budget filmmakers that there was a lot they could do with a little green screen and a lot of passion. One of those aspiring filmmakers was no doubt Wisconsin-based filmmaker Drew Maxwell, who happened to found his production company Lightning Rod Studios in 2005. His second feature film, shot nearly entirely on a large green screen set, was originally released as Carnivorous in 2007. Carnivorous has now been released by MTI Home Video on DVD as Hell’s Labyrinth, but unfortunately the (seemingly appropriate) title change does not improve the film itself.

  Kate Walker (Leah Rose) is on the run from a dangerous ex who is threatening to kill her. She gets a flat tire in a remote forest and crosses paths with a creepy guy (Chris Flieller) in a black truck who chases her down and knocks her out with a shovel. She wakes up in a metal box, and when she gets out she finds herself in a large chamber along with several other people who also met the man in the black truck. None of them know where they are or how they arrived in this place, but they’re quickly set upon by large demonic creatures that wipe out half of their group before they can even exchange insurance information. A few other survivors join Kate on the run, and they meet Ian (Ryan Schaufler), a man with a weapon and a strange artifact that can keep the demonic creatures at bay. Ian claims he can get them out of the labyrinth, but with an army of monsters and a seemingly endless array of deadly traps, their chances seem remote at best.

  As a proof of concept that someone can indeed make an entire feature film on a shoestring budget by shooting largely on green screen sets, Hell’s Labyrinth works. Unfortunately, that’s just about the only level on which the film works. The look of the environments is extremely dark and the action is often difficult to make out, especially during one of the film’s frequent, lengthy “tracking shots” leading up to a scene featuring actors. The labyrinth the characters are trapped in looks like a Quake knock-off, and the monsters are about on par for that as well. All of the monsters are completely identical as well, which is just as well since they have no real personality other than “big, mean and spiky.” There is an odd mix of decent practical blood and makeup effects and awful Photoshop, the most egregious of which is a severed head that is inexplicably shown repeate
dly, just in case you didn’t catch how bad it looked the first couple of times it was on the screen.

  In keeping with the video game look and style of the film, most of the cast seems like they were pulled directly from the same pool of talent used in 90s FMV classics like Night Trap. Lead Leah Rose is fine, but she is the exception among a cast that all seem eager to devour as much of the CG scenery as possible. Ultimately, Hell’s Labyrinth is held down by the standard-issue problems that plague most low-budget productions, but it’s still an admirable feat to pull off a fairly ambitious full-length feature using such limited means. Still, Hell’s Labyrinth is an easier film to admire than to really enjoy.

  Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass (2011)

  Originally published on Film Monthly April 6, 2012

  Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass is the kind of film that raises a lot of questions– both in the film itself and in how the film was made and released to a mainstream audience– and does not bother to provide much in the way of satisfactory answers. After playing several genre film festivals, the film was picked up for a U.S. DVD release by Bloody Disgusting Selects. Most of the films released by Bloody Disgusting have been appropriately gruesome and mostly strongly genre-based, but Hellacious Acres bears virtually no resemblance to anything else they have released yet. And not necessarily in a good way.