Dr. AC's Rec of the Week (F)

Hello, you panting purveyors of freakish, fantasmagoric and flesh-eating film fare! Welcome back to the Dr.'s office. Time again to deepen our palate's and test our nerves against the fiercely unique and hauntingly different - are you up for the challenge?

This week's double feature is another combo of nutty and nihilistic, cornball and clinically caustic. Because such is the varied menu of the genre, and what we love about it. Something for everyone. This F's for you...


Frogs (1972)
From American International’s executive-producing team of Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson comes this highly entertaining low-budget schlockfest, raiding the entire reptile house (in addition to the titular croakers) to provide the creepy crawly chills. Riding on the earth-friendly movement of the early 70’s, screenwriters Robert Blees and Robert Hutchison whip up a tongue-in-cheek cautionary tale of embittered critters living around grouchy millionaire Ray Milland’s pesticide-ridden swampy island estate. When a rugged environmentalist photographer (Sam Elliot, in a rare bare-upper-lipped film appearance) shows up during Milland’s annual Fourth of July family celebration, the stage is set for a muggy, buggy good time. While watching the various obnoxious guests besieged by frogs, snakes, geckos, gators, spiders, turtles, leeches, (and in one side-splitting sequence, killer moss) is certainly the film’s raison d’etre, there is equal joy to be gained from the sultry soap opera scenarios and robust scenery chewing. Former Oscar-winner Milland’s obvious bitterness at having sunk to this cheese suits his cantankerous character brilliantly (1972 was big for Ray and AIP, with The Thing with Two Heads released the same year.) And imagining director George McCowan’s expression when handed the impossible task of making docile amphibians appear menacing is as hilarious as the end result. Resorting to frequent close-ups of flicking tongues and frogs hopping across lawns, the word “horror” doesn’t exactly leap to mind. Grand, goofy fun.



Funny Games (1997)
Austrian writer/director Michael Haneke (Benny’s Video, The Piano Teacher, Cache) is not interested in pandering to audiences, especially not those glutted on bloodshed and slavering for more. Yet, in his astonishing self-reflexive meditation on onscreen violence and the fans of such fare (i.e, us), he walks the tightrope between catering to our baser desires while simultaneously implicating us in the crimes carried out in the film. As we observe two young men (Arno Frisch, Frank Giering) insinuate themselves into a vacationing family’s lives, growing increasingly violent and demeaning, Haneke challenges us either to walk out or to admit to ourselves that we want to see these “innocent” people hurt, to see them tortured and humiliated; otherwise, why do we stay to watch? There are numerous bravura cinematic techniques executed to keep the viewer as off balance as the onscreen characters (that I will not divulge in order to preserve their power) and as the final credits rolled, I was breathless with admiration for Haneke’s audacious filmmaking skills combined with a feeling of having been beaten soundly around the mind and soul. Haneke's scene-for-scene 2008 English language remake featuring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Michael Pitt is fine for those who don't like subtitles, but for my money, this is the one to see. Highly Recommended.

Dr. AC's Rec of the Week (C)

Greetings, blood brothers and sisters!

Time to once again delve into the elusive vaults of horror, unearthing forgotten gems and undiscovered treasures. Hope you've been enjoying the expedition thus far! This week, we'll "C" what we can find for you.

(Note: I realize that I've unwittingly started a trend where my two choices spring from two decades: the '80s and the 2000s. Oddly enough, the pair that I selected this week also follow that pattern. I suppose we could alter our course, but it's been fun thus far, don't you think? Let's see where this dark path takes us...)


Changeling, The (1980)
This stellar haunted house tale usually takes a back seat to the big budget envisioning of Stephen King’s The Shining, released the same year. But in many ways, Peter Medak’s smaller film, loaded with creepy atmosphere and tightly fashioned suspense sequences, surpasses any axe-swinging histrionics that Kubrick dishes out. As a grieving composer recovering from the deaths of his wife and daughter (a harrowing pre-credits sequence), George C. Scott anchors the picture with a compelling strength and vulnerability. Roused by a murdered child’s spirit in the mansion where he has retreated, Scott’s utter conviction with which he seeks to uncover the mystery is riveting. There’s also the neat subplot of Melyvn Douglas’ duplicitous politician, whose backstory proves more and more integral to the house’s healing. William Gray and Diana Maddox have crafted a marvelous script, one that functions not only as a pure ghost story but equally well as a character study charting Scott’s journey back from the abyss of tragedy and loss. Well worth seeking out.



Calvaire (2004)
This rare genre offering from Belgium presents a few novel twists on the well-worn “travelers off the beaten path” trope. After his car breaks down en route to the next holiday gig, low-rent crooner Laurent Lucas stumbles into a backwards backwoods community devoid of women. Taking shelter at a nearby inn, he soon finds himself captive in a nightmarish scenario that manages to surprise and unnerve without resorting to eviscerations. Kudos to director Fabrice Du Welz, who co-wrote the script with Romain Protait, for his skillful evocation of dread-filled atmospherics, as well as one of the strangest dance sequences ever to pass through a camera lens. Watch for appearances from Eurobabe Brigette Lahaie and High Tension’s Phillipe Nahon.