Diabolical Danger

We’ve all had it happen before. . . an experiment goes awry – a recipe doesn’t turn out (and the cake somehow turns green), or we simply think ‘the old Mentos in a bottle of Coke trick’ is just a myth, but you’ve likely never had a day quite like scientist André Delambre (David Hedison – the only actor to play Felix Leiter in two James Bond flicks), a moment that will change his life forever – so, without further ado, I present to you 1958's: The Fly. Written by James Clavell (based upon a short story by George Langelaan) and directed by Kurt Neumann, the story is set in exotic Montreal, the french speaking Canadian city that is one of the oldest continuously inhabited locations in North America. It is here that a wealthy industrialist family is seemingly struck by a more than unusual tragedy – André Delambre has been found dead, head and arm obliterated by a hydraulic press. . . further adding to the mystery, his loving wife Hélène (Patricia Owens) is seen running from the scene of the crime.

Twenty-first century film studios have a very strict checklist as to which movies they produce. Sequels, spinoffs, crude comedies, reasonably priced horror flicks, animated fare, name/brand recognition, award hopefuls. . . all of this meaning that very few adventurous, risky projects get made anymore. Gone are the days (for the most part), when adult oriented features like Basic Instinct and Body Double graced the silver screen, or edgier family films such as Adventures in Babysitting, The Neverending Story, and Home Alone were made – whether you love them or hate them, they did not fit your prototypical mould. So, when a 2018 motion picture that is so far outside of the stratosphere gets a thirty-two million dollar budget (thank you 20th Century Fox – which may soon be snapped up by Disney. . . a worrisome acquisition for moviegoers, as the bloated studio already owns Lucasfilm, Marvel, The Muppets Studio, and Pixar), it is an exciting day for cinephiles and adventurous moviegoers. So, welcome to the El Royale. Bad Times at the El Royale is an R rated gem written and directed by Drew Goddard (co-scribe and director of Cabin in the Woods; adaptor for the screen of The Martian), the type of dynamic thriller that resembles a sharp British crime flick (one where we do not expect everyone to survive). As twisted as it is twisty, Goddard designs the most fascinating of settings (its own character). . . a neon-glowing, mid century modern gambling den of a motel, hidden on the outskirts of Reno, a building that straddles the Nevada/California border (and has one of those tacky red lines that indicates the boundary between states).

Could First Man finally be the film that brings Ryan Gosling that elusive Oscar? With two nods (for La La Land and Half Nelson), and countless other memorable roles that could have earned him more chances (think Lars and the Real Girl, Blue Valentine, Drive, and The Ides of March), Gosling has re-teamed, in short order I might add, with his La La Land writer/director, Damien Chazelle, for another perfect vehicle (one might call it a rocket) to showcase his acting chops – a fascinating Neil Armstrong biopic. Chazelle’s first directorial effort not to revolve around music (also, the screenplay does not come from him, rather Josh Singer), instead, he shoots for the moon. Gosling plays Armstrong, a man who has his own personal troubles. Married to Janet (Claire Foy), they have two children. . . one of which has cancer.

Special delivery – a five minute journey into a world devoid of science and logic, writer/director Roman Bubnov pits a mysterious, gift-giving force against a woman in an intriguing little Russian short film – Who’s There (2018). A twenty-first century Hitchcockian blonde (Darya Yanvarina) – ear buds in, phone attached to hip; a beautiful mystery, so alluringly aloof. . . a woman placed in a dire situation, she receives a text from source unknown, asking if she got the said sender’s present.

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. . .” – witches, constant fodder for horror films, but one feature that takes a more sophisticated look at the boiled, pointed black hat wearing creatures, is first time writer/director Robert Eggers’ 2015 motion picture The VVitch: A New-England Folktale – remind me never to book a vacation to rural New England. Set in seventeenth century America, a puritanical Calvinist family has been banished from the plantation they once called home (due to religious differences). . . heading out into the wild unknown (a beautiful voyeuristic shot depicts the children leaving the bustle of the growing town), they look for some solace on their new plot of land, an open piece of property surrounded by a dark, brooding forest. More of a mood piece than a horror film. . . Eggers painstakingly recreates what life would be like in the lonesome location – the senses coming alive; you can feel the roughness of the carriage ride, see the sullen seclusion and ominously dark home life, smell the animals in the nearby barn, endure the weight of their clothing, suffer the same starvation they struggle with as their crops are destroyed by rot.

Though not one of Buster Keaton’s most iconic shorts, 1921's The Haunted House is, at its best, like one of those uber-fun Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? chase scenes – ghosts, skeletons, demons and other unexpected spooks flitting in and out of rooms and doorways, dodging, ducking, dipping, chasing, and ultimately, scaring our jarred, though still somehow stone-faced, hero. Where it struggles slightly is its setup. Keaton is a clerk, a hard working employee at a small time bank. The larger than life money manager (behemoth Joe Roberts) has hatched a plan to rob said bank, his team of thieves looking to a crumbling old home, long rumoured to be haunted, as their hidy-hole – preparing for the cops or any other unlucky trespasser, they have booby-trapped the long since abandoned abode while also gathering white sheets to act as ghosts, building on its infamous reputation. After a glue gag that kind of falls flat, Keaton is spotted by the owner with guns in hand (after having chased off the robbers) – it looking like he is the criminal mastermind. . . fleeing, he hopes to find respite in the haunted house.