Body Parts (1991)

This horror sci-fi film was co-written and directed by Eric Red, the man who wrote the now cult classic Near Dark, The Hitcher and Blue Steel. And if you have ever seen any of those flicks, you would be impressed. Trust me.

Jeffy Fahey is Bill Chrushank, a psychologist working with convicted killers and a university lecturer, who is worrying that his work isn’t making a difference. One morning, heading into work, Bill gets into a car accident and loses his right arm. His wife Karen (Kim Delany) is approached by Dr. Agatha Webb (Lindsay Duncan) who gives her the news, but says they can transplant a new arm on him immediately. But the decision has to be made now. Karen signs the paperwork, and Bill gets a new arm.

After a recovery montage, Bill tip-top and feeling pretty good about his luck and life. Until one of his death row patients Ray (Paul Ben-Victor) notices a death row tattoo on Bill’s wrist and freaks out. Bill wanting an answer, asks a Police forensics friend of his to take his finger prints. Turns out his new right arm belonged to a convicted serial killer Charley Fletcher (John Walsh). Que the nightmares and mood swings.

After striking his son and almost strangling his wife while he slept, Bill leaves and confronts Dr. Webb. And isn’t she an ego driven mad scientist. He contacts the two other transplant recipients of Charley’s limbs, Mark (Peter Murnik) who got the legs, and Remo (the great Brad Dourif) an artist who got the left arm. And they have all had odd side effects. But when both men are killed and the transplanted limbs are violently removed, Bill and Detective Sawchuck (Zakes Mokae) discover that Charley, whose head has been transplanted onto a new body, is coming for his arm.

Red skilfully delivers a tense horror film about a man losing his mind after a traumatic event, and finding out he is the side effect of a Frankenstein style experiment.  A great cast, cinematography and musical score elevate this flick to something great, instead of the extended Twilight Zone episode it might have been. And that damn car chase scene is intense.

Forgotten classics.

Nobody (2021)

After watching the trailer for this many moons ago, it was instantly on my ‘to watch’ list.

This film was directed by Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) and produced by the people behind John Wick. And if you don’t know either of those properties, go watch them now and then come back to finish this. Caught up? Good.

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is a family man who seems lost. He has an unremarkable office job at his father-in-law Eddie’s (Michael Ironside) company, his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) is distant, his son Brady (Gage Munroe) thinks he is a loser, and his daily routine blends everyday together. Only his daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) thinks he is cool.

After tracking down thieves that broke into his house via some leg work, and his father’s old FBI badge and gun, he finds they are struggling parents with a sick child. Catching the bus home, a group of drunk Russians get on the bus after their car is out of commission. They are mobsters. They are bullies. And Hutch beats the living shit out of them.

One later dies in hospital, and as plot convenience would have it, he was the brother of a flamboyant sociopath, Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksey Serebryakov) high ranking Russian mobster, who wants revenge. But we find Hutch is more than a match for them. This mild-mannered man used to be a government employee who cleaned up other people’s messes violently, sometimes brutally, and quickly. The family man and the Russian mob hit head on, with fight scenes, car chases, explosions, gun battles, with a little humour thrown in.

This movie is so hard to describe. It is full of left field casting choices that work. Odenkirk is amazing, completely believable as a sad sack family man and dormant bad-ass. Christopher Lloyd as Hutch’s dad and RZA as his adopted brother Harry are great, especially their help in the climax. The cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski, coupled with the editing, add weight to the actions and the emotions of each scene, and add to the humorous elements. The score by David Buckley takes us on the journey as the soundtrack is a damn good one.

A great, fun movie with as much heart as action. Pure enjoyment.

Upgrade (2018)

Upgrade is an action sci-fi thriller written and directed by Leigh Whannell, one of the masterminds behind the Saw, and Insidious franchises. Made between Insidious 3 and The Invisible Man, this doesn’t get enough attention, despite the fact that this film fucking rocks.

Set in a near future full of police drones flying overhead, self-driving cars, and people with computer enhanced bodies, our hero is the opposite of the world he lives in. Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is an auto mechanic specialising in restoring old cars that are obsolete in this future. He lives with his wife Asha (Abby Craden), who has a successful job working for Cobolt, one of the companies creating the human-computer augmentations.

After he delivers his latest finished car to Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson), head of the company Vessel, on the way home, their car crashes. In the aftermath, Asha is killed by a group of thugs and Grey is paralysed from the neck down. This leaves Grey remorseful, depressed and suicidal. Eron offers Grey a solution that is experimental. STEM, a chip sized supercomputer that can be used to connect his brain to the rest of his body and gain control of his body. After the operation, a confidentiality agreement is signed. Grey can’t tell or show anyone his recovery.

While looking through evidence supplied by detective Cortez (Betty Gabriel), STEM starts talking to Grey. A voice only he can hear. STEM is a A.I. that is self-aware and living in Grey’s head. Together they track down the men responsible for the accident and his wife’s death. With violent and gory results. Which leads them to unexpected places. And the twist ending you will not see coming.

The action sequences where STEM takes control are amazingly shot and choreographed, especially the changes in body language Marshall-Green uses. The direction in these sequences is also amazing, keeping Grey in the centre of the frame throughout. This is a sharp and perfected story, presented well, in a fully realised world. Stefan Duscio’s cinematography and Andy Canny’s Editing amp up the visuals and Jeb Palmer score is one of the most impressive I’ve heard. Shout out to Benedict Hardie’s Fisk, a villain so detestable you want him to die.

Cyber-punk is alive.

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil (2010)

The killer hillbilly subgenre of horror films has a long history. Just look at the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Wrong Turn franchises. If a back woodsman character shows up in a horror film, your expectations go straight to, ‘they’re the killers’. But what if those expectations were subverted. That is the premise of the film directed and co-written by Eli Craig.

The stand-up Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and his kind, well-meaning best friend Dale (Tyler Labine) are heading to a cabin in the woods Tucker has bought to fix it up as a vacation home. Along the way they meet a group of college kids, who don’t take to the hapless duo, thinking there are the murderous hillbillies of urban legend.

Later, while fishing at a nearby lake at night, Tucker and Dale witness the college kids stripping down to go swimming. One of them, Allison (Katrina Bowden) gets spooked by the fishermen, falls into the lake, hitting her head knocking herself unconscious. The boys save her, but her friends witness her seemingly lifeless body being dragged into the boat, freaking out believing Allison has been killed. This is made worse by preppy psychopath Chad (Jesse Moss) convincing his friends that the hillbillies are evil and must be killed.

So, while Dale is caring for the injured Allison and Tucker is working around the cabin, the college kids hatch a plan to ‘rescue’ Allison. But they are useless and one by one, die by their own hands in accidents trying to kill Tucker and Dale. Hilarity ensues in gory fashion. AS Allison and Dale become closer, Chad becomes more unhinged.

This film is a near perfect horror comedy filled with great dialogue, humour, memorable characters, and shots that could be straight out of a horror cult classic of the 70s or 80s. The misunderstanding at the heart of the film’s premise is a good message, and is good to layer the comedy on. The leads played by Tudyk and Labine are the standouts, it’s their show after all, with Labine shining.

One of the best cult classics of the 2000s and a must for every film lover. If you are not convinced, watch the trailer on YouTube.

The Collector (2009)

The Collector is a tense horror film from director and co-writer Marcus Dunstan (along with Partick Melton) It was originally shopped around as a spin-off of the Saw franchise until morphing into its own disturbing film that is inventive, harrowing, and full of effective gore and white-knuckle moments.

Former convict Arkin O’Brien (Josh Stewart) who is working as a handyman for the wealthy Chase family while major renovations are taking place on their new house. The two daughters, Hannah and Jill (Karley Scott Collins and Madeline Zima) are drawn to Arkin for different reasons.

After work, he goes to see his ex-wife and they argue over money. His wife has large debts to a dangerous loan shark Roy (Robert Wisdom) that are due at midnight. To save his wife and daughter he agrees to take up his olds ways as a safe cracker and steal a valuable ruby from the Chase’s safe.

While attempting to crack said safe, a mysterious masked figure locks the doors. This masked figure is The Collector (Juan Fernandez). He collects people, but only one in every house. The others die in gruesome ways. As Arkin tries to avoid the Collector, he keeps running into elaborate traps of deadly obstacles that the collector is putting up around the house. Arkin tries to save the family who are still in the house but loses all by the youngest daughter Hannah to the masked serial killer. Arkin and Hannah must avoid the Collector and his traps to make it out of the house and get rescued.

The cast do a damn good job here, but it is Stewart’s show, with Arkin being the focus and he is threatening to watch. But the villain and his mask looking like melted plastic is unnerving. The direction and cinematography are stunning, especially the overhead shot inside the house and how many of the traps are revealed. First time I watched it I left fingernail marks in my palms.

While it got terrible reviews from critics, it made $10.5 million on a $3 million budget, So, it was successful. And even got a sequel in 2012. It is a raw, gritty and uncompromising film with an ending that will leave you breathless.

Eyes of a Stranger (1981)

Eyes of a Stranger is a 1981 horror film from director Ken Wiederhorn of Return of the Living Dead Part 2 fame.

The film follows Jane Harris (Lauren Tewes), a local newscaster and an outspoken advocate against violence towards women. She has become convinced that her neighbour in her apartment building is the serial killer and rapist that has been terrorising the city. And she is right, as we the audience see very early on. The killer, Stanley Herbert (John DiSanti) looks like an accountant or banker, a little overweight, spectacled and otherwise very conservative looking.

Jane also looks after her little sister Tracy (Jennifer Jason Leigh, in her first film role), who following a violent sexual assault as a child, now is deaf and mute. As Stanley becomes aware that Jane is following him to get proof of his blood-soaked vocation, he targets Tracy. Someone he sees as an easy mark and to teach Jane a lesson. It does not go well for Stanely.

There is not much to the story here, but it is told effectively. DiSanti is creepy with his altar boy hair cut and evil glare. His stillness in many scenes heightens the tension well as we know he kills quickly and violently. Something that is shown in the opening scenes.

Tewes is excellent as our heroine, her single mindedness worries her lawyer boyfriend, but makes her engaging to watch. Her feminism and work with domestic violence and violence against women in general is painted as a positive in the film, even if it baffles and annoys some of the male characters in the film. Something you didn’t see all that often in the early part of the 80s.

While the film is labelled a horror film, or a slasher film, it has more in common with Hitchcock’s thrillers like Rear Window or the 70s Giallo films of Italy. It does suffer from a few pacing issues, but they don’t make the film lag too much. Tom Savini’s effects accent the kills nicely without going over the top, and Leigh is wonderful in a difficult and mostly wordless role.

Not the best example of the genre, but it does more things right than wrong.

Perfect Blue (1997)

Mention Anime, and people have certain images in their heads. Kinetic action of a TV series, sci-fi wonders, the cuteness and imagination of Studio Ghibli, a unique brand of horror, or Hentai. Films like Perfect Blue get left out of the conversion.

Perfect Blue is a Japanese animated psychological thriller directed by Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress, Paprika), based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi.

Mima Kirigoe, a member of the J-Pop group “Cham!”, leaves to become an actress. Her first gig is on a psychological detective TV show, Double Blind. During her change in career, she is joined by manager and former pop-idol Rumi Hidaka who is against leaving the music scene, and her agent Tadokoro whose facial hair looks like if John Waters was an X-Men villain.

Mima is stalked by an obsessive fan, Me-Mania, who doesn’t like her changing the clean-cut image. Me-Mania frequents a website called “Mima’s Room”, a site containing daily diary-like entries from Mima. He is contacted by someone claiming to be Mima, who charms and then controls the twisted lonely heart. Mima herself soon discovers the website’s existence via a fan letter.

Shortly after starting on the TV show and impressing the writer and producers, Mima’s role in the show gets bigger. But at the same time, people around her start getting hurt and then killed. A rape scene on the show sparks real world violence. Mima starts freaking out as she begins losing time, the real world and the TV show narrative start to blend together, and she starts having conversations with the Pop Icon version of herself that she left behind. The ending is well earned and damn satisfying.

This film has as much Hitchcock, Brian DePalma and Giallo in its make-up and it does the Japanese traditions. While the animations don’t go full WTF territory, the visuals are able to add an element to the narrative that live action cannot. The framing of the scenes and the musical score add tension and unease to the story. And I didn’t see the twist ending coming the first time I watched this, which makes sense on a rewatch. And the pop songs will get stuck in your head.

Amazing.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

This is the fifth and ‘final’ film in the beloved action-adventure franchise. Co-written and directed by James Mangold and starring Harrison Ford as the titular Henry “Indiana” Jones Jr.

Like the previous entries in the series, the plot uses a unique blend of history and fantasy to tell a swashbuckling story reminiscent of the adventure movie serials of the past. Which as we all know by now, was the point. This time the main story concerns an ex-Nazis scientist, Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), who is now a NASA scientist working under the alias Dr Schmidt. He has gained a great deal of credit being one of the men who helped the USA get to the moon in 1969 (the year the film is set) and has enlisted aid from the FBI to search for the Antikythera, the Dial of Destiny, a device created by Archimedes that Voller believes will take him back in time to win WW2.

In New York, Dr Jones is retiring from Hunter College. Marion (Karen Allen) has left him due to depression over the death of their son Mutt who was killed in the Vietnam War. Jones is approached by his goddaughter and fellow archaeologist Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), daughter of Indy’s old friend and colleague Basil Shaw (Toby Jones). Indy confesses to still having half of the Dial, given to him by Basil, which Helena promptly steals from him, as Voller’s thugs also arrive to claim the artifact, led by Klaber (Boyd Holbrook), whose fake teeth scare me. This starts an adventure that spans the globe, mostly traveling via map, as Indy, Helena and young Teddy (Ethann Isidore) try to beat Voller to the Dial.

This is a great ride of a film that hits the right nostalgia buttons, but never over doing it. Seeing John Rhys-Davies’ Sallah pop up for a small roll made me cheer. John Willams returns for the score (Duh!) and everyone does a great job in front and behind the camera. But I wish there was a bit more attention to character development, especially Voller and Helena. The highlight is the opening sequence in WW2 with a perfectly de-aged Ford. Seriously amazing.

Definitely an Indy film.