Review: A Dundead Halloween

Despite Halloween being a midweek day this year, most cinemas did their Halloween screenings over the weekend. The Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) were no exception. This year, they had small selection of classic horror films, along with a film that crossed over with the DCA's Discovery Film Festival, which is aimed at children (no really!).

So how was this year's line-up?

Well, there was a screening of a Romero film, two Hammer films, a classic horror comedy and a horror film for children. It was a varied selection to say the least.

 The Crazies (1973)

Horror legend George A. Romero passed away in July this year. He will forever be known for his Zombie films, especially the original trilogy, Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead and Day Of The Dead. However, he made other horror films too and of those, The Crazies is one of his best.

The plot, that of a small town where the population are infected by a virus released when a military plane crashes, a virus causing the population to become either violent or drive them insane is one that has turned up in various other films over the years since, including a rather good remake.

Where Romero's film has an edge I think is it shows just how disorganised the military response is. When they first turn up, they have no idea what to expect as information required isn't passed along to relevant people, trying to contact people takes forever and despite a chain of command, no-one really does know what to do or who to report too. 

Gradually, as the situation gets more out of control, the military response becomes lethal, while a small group of people from the town try to escape.

Romero directs the film very well, and like a number of his films gives it a downbeat but also fitting ending. It's a film that is now nearly 44 years old and looked at now, some of the acting is a bit weak. But even so, The Crazies is still one of Romero's best films.

Room 213 (Rum 213) (2017)

Elvira, a shy 12 year old girl goes off to a summer camp on her own when her friend becomes ill. But due to a problem with their room, Elvira and her roommates end up having to use room 213, a room not used for a long time, ever since a girl died...

As well as the Dundead screenings and festival, the DCA has other festivals and strands of films throughout the year. One of their most popular is the Discovery Film Festival, which is a festival aimed at children. Room 213 is a film that crosses over between the Discovery and Dundead stream of films. Now, you might think a film aimed at children, but one that might appeal to horror fans would be hard to pull off successfully and you are probably right. The only ones that have really done that for me are Joe Dante's wonderful film The Hole and the glorious The Monster Squad. Now we can add Room 213 to the list.

It's a Swedish film, based on a novel by Ingelin Angerborn and is as much a tale of a haunting as it is about the bond of friendship. Elvira makes new friends at the camp, Meja and Bea and while at times they distrust each others as things go missing from their room and the turn on each other, the friendship actually holds together. It would have been so easy to make one of the girls more 'bitchy' but the film resists that cliche. The way the girls and boys at the camp mix and act is both believable and handled very well indeed.

As for the more ghostly side of the story, the film, pitches it just right. The screening at the festival didn't have a BBFC classification, but I would imagine if it did, it would be maybe a 12A classed film, perhaps not one for anyone under 10 years old. It's creepy without being totally scary, but does work effectively as a ghostly tale for children.

The film is well directed by Emelie Lindblom, making their feature debut here. The young cast are really good indeed and the pay off at the end, while it might feel weak for some, I liked it as it fitted the story very well indeed.

Because the film features a young cast and will probably have a rating classification that might put horror fans off, I really hope it doesn't. Room 213 is a terrific little film, one that might draw younger audiences into horror and also has enough in there to entertain a horror fan.

I really liked it.

Doctor Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971)

Doctor Jekyll being pursued by the police, writes down his account of the bloody events in London, as his experiments have transformed him into a woman...

In the 1970's Hammer was on the wane. From their early successes with Curse Of Frankenstein and Dracula, up till the late 60's they were hugely successful as a production company. But films like Rosemary's Baby and Night Of The Living Dead had changed the landscape. Hammer's Gothic set horror was not as enticing to audiences as it once was. Hammer brought in other producers to hopefully inject new life into their productions. Among those brought in were Albert Finnell and Brian Clemens, who had worked on the hugely successful TV series The Avengers. For Hammer they made two films, Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (made in 1974) which was a fun take on the vampire film and Doctor Jekyll & Sister Hyde, made in 1971. 

Writer Brian Clemens takes the classic tale by Robert Louis Stevenson, adds a female twist and then tosses Jack The Ripper and body snatchers Burke & Hare into the mix. It shouldn't work, but Clemens deftly pulls it all together with great humour in among the bloody violence. Key to the films success is the casting of Ralph Bates as Jekyll and Martine Beswick as Hyde. Both throw themselves into their roles with great gusto and because there is a slight similarity in their appearance, the concept just works. 

Director Roy Ward Baker, keeps the film moving at a brisk pace throughout, right up to a rather good ending. The supporting cast are pretty good too. 

Doctor Jekyll & Sister Hyde was one of Hammer's best films in their late period. It's a bloody but fun horror film, one that I enjoy a great deal. Seeing it on the cinema screen simply reinforced that enjoyment.

To The Devil A Daughter (1976)

By 1976, Hammer was nearly done as a production company. Their brand of horror had completely falling from favour. Films like The Exorcist and The Omen had been huge successes. Hammer took one last throw of the dice, and in a co-production with a German company, adapted Dennis Wheatley's novel To The Devil A Daughter. Hammer had adapted Wheatley's work before, with the classic The Devil Rides Out made in 1968 (the year some feel was actually the beginning of the end for Hammer). However, To The Devil A Daughter ended up being a mess of a film. 

The plot, that of an American novelist, who writes about the occult battling an excommunicated priest over the soul of a young nun, whom they plan to turn into the devil's representative on earth does have elements that could have made an interesting film. However, it's clear from early on that there are issues going on here.

I've not read the novel so I can't say if the film is a full adaptation of the book but the film has an odd series of credits. John Peacock is giving a credit for the adaptation, but Chris Wicking gets the credit for the script. According to the IMDB Gerald Vaughn-Hughes apparently did some uncredited additional material for the film. And yet it is clear that there is no vision here. It's a film so disjointed that you can't help but feel scenes are missing, others make no sense and as for the ending, well it is one of the weakest I've ever seen. 

Of the cast, none, even greats like Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark give good performances in truth. Widmark in particular had issues with the film as a whole, threatening to quit at times. Nastassja Kinski who plays the young nun, Catherine, had to do a naked scene, for which she was too young to do.

Director Peter Sykes does his best with the material and the clearly troubled film but he can't save the film.

This was Hammer's final film for years. It's a shame that a company that made some of my favourite horror films and some of the best in the genre went with a whimper after this. 

Young Frankenstein (1974)

An American descendant of Frankenstein, trying to live down the reputation of his ancestor travels to Transylvania and soon gets caught up with the thought of bringing a body back to life...

Mel Brooks, has made some great films. Personally I think Blazing Saddles is his best film. but Young Frankenstein runs it damn close. The script from Brooks and Gene Wilder is very funny but crucially is also respectful to the story of Frankenstein as well. One of Brook's great strength with his 'spoof' films, like the ZAZ team who made Airplane!, Top Secret! and The Naked Gun series years later, is that the film has a strong story at its heart that Wilder and Brooks then pile on the jokes.

The cast are superb. Gene Wilder plays Frederick Frankenstein and is funny in the role. Peter Boyle has great fun as the creature. Marty Feldman plays Igor and nearly steals the film with great moments of humour. Teri Garr is also funny as Frankenstein's assistant Inga as is Madeline Kahn as Frankenstein's fiance Elizabeth.

The humour runs through the film brilliantly with some hysterical scenes; the scenes with the blind hermit (a game uncredited Gene Hackman) are great as is a scene with a little girl, that has a gag owing a big debt to the 1931 Frankenstein film. 

The audience for the film were in hysterics watching the film, laughing along throughout. It's by far the funniest film I have seen this year, which isn't bad for a film made in 1974! It's also a damning indictment of today's comedies.

This was the final film of the Dundead Halloween season and a teriffic way to end the weekend.