Knife Edge (2009)

Trying to live the quaint life can be murder

This British film is more of a mystery/thriller than a horror in the modern day with excessive gore and sex to titillate. It attempts to tell an old fashioned tale that focuses on primal human emotions such as betrayal, revenge and greed with a backdrop of the supernatural. Then it takes on relating points, such as obligations to your job and family with others trying to step in the middle of your progress and happiness for their own selfish gain.

A successful woman named Emma with a sixth sense in the New York stock exchange leaves it all behind to move to an English manor with her French husband Henri and her boy Thomas. She's recently pregnant and life is going extremely well at first, till she gets random, murderous visions and a pain in her abdomen. Her husband loses a business deal and runs into money trouble. He goes to her shady, drug using brother for a loan as he doesn't want Emma to worry about the bills of their new mansion. This is despite her not feeling welcome there anyway by a series of unexplainable nightmares and what-was-that noises. Her son has an imaginary friend named Tobias that might be more linked to the past of the house than the inventive mind of a bored kid.


A share of the interactions turn over to be tediously melodramatic as she starts to become erratic from both the enormous house with nothing to do inside and the strange happenings, along with her thought to be nice husband starting to lash out from getting stressed at work and home. This attempts to shift between if it's real or not, but instead of balancing out both sides equally to be intriguing like a good mystery should it can feel like a string along. The answers to the drama portion are often easily solvable--move, get a hobby, go back to work, honest communication, live less extravagantly--as the characters are hardly given enough pressing circumstances to truly feel trapped to their current situation or the viewer challenged enough to get enraptured/lost to their problems. But then, of course, money is the root of all evil and not many can go back from already having a bulk of it. The title character confides in her family and close friends with some being genuine but others posing as wolves in sheep's clothing.


Trying to cram all of the various threads into an hour and a half time frame didn't do a service to the viewer. The result is some of the revelations are too far fetched with one too many coincidences, though I can imagine if it was in novel form it could have been a diverting yarn without time constraints and with smoother transitions to suspend disbelief. It's still imaginative and attempts to be steadily engaging, but the execution wasn't always put together in a very entertaining order and manner. It feels like a fleeting television feature, despite this being the long awaited darker tale from Anthony "Waxwork"/"Sundown" Hickox after having a share of run ins with the action genre. For one, this has too quick of a pacing for its own good. The movie moves so rapidly at times as to breeze over building up an enclosing atmosphere. Though the camera seems to move just as much as the characters do with a share of panning crane and hand held shots that manage to give this a certain style. The house jumps right into doing odd things before a setup is even established around it to give it a shadowy personality. Not to mention Emma's special abilities of seeing events before they happen is stated in a random piece of dialogue to a new comer but doesn't smooth into establishing credibility; then it's oddly forgotten for a period and blamed on other circumstances.


It looks to be a clear cut case of botched editing but a share of this is a misstep in direction and a combination of being rushed, with the former salvaging what was left. The direction seems to over emphasize points but even then still not make sense or adequately express emotions, such as an extended stare/odd look or a line stated but then dropped by a closing scene. Some revelations take too long to come out to the point of losing focus or interest, and then others can be explained too quickly to lose impact. Some of the minor transitions between scenes aren't always flush, such as a character's demeanor/position slightly jumping around from an action just before it. In areas it feels exactly like they filmed it at different times. Even the performances come in and out of going from lively, overreaching, to just plain stiff or not accommodating a certain written line to themselves. Both the leading actors, Natalie Press and Matthieu Boujenah, have performances that fall in and out to the point of being unconnective to their situation and who they are. Hugh Bonneville, although without that much screen time, gives the most credible and consistent performance as the cheery friend of the family with another side to him. Joan Plowright, as the nanny, believably fits the bill and has a dual screen presence that you're never too sure about.


In theory, this shouldn't have been as lackluster as it turned out. I'd imagine reading the filled to the brim script, seeing the larger than life locations and hearing the enthusiasms of the filmmakers to do something slightly different in the modern day would have sold it beforehand. There's definitely potential here. Though "Knife Edge" is a film that frequently requires the viewer to compensate for lack thereof and mistimings. A portion of the performances, character motivations and even certain dialogue have too many areas where it feels forced and distracting. The story doesn't always maintain charging power and the characters don't always feel credible as a result.

Rating: 3.5/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "The Others." This is a atmospheric drama/horror film that follows an English family who lives in a large house just after WWII that carries a dark past.

Director: Anthony Hickox (Waxwork, Sundown, Hellraiser III)
Stars: Natalie Press, Matthieu Boujenah, Hugh Bonneville, Joan Plowright, Tamsin Egerton
Link: IMDB

Sundown (1990)

Part vampire, western, comedy, oh my!

"Martin" managed to reinvent the vampire in the latter portion of the '70s by bringing a simpler approach and giving the genre an offbeat spark after some films started to lose their bite with the same theatrics. Thirteen lucky years later and "Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat" is a full blown movie that rearranges conventions but also includes its very own uniqueness. It's pushing a little more away from straight horror with an off-the-wall tale with comedic overtones, though it's still just as enriched with the mythology that we've grown to love despite being done in a much more fun and less shadowy way. Enter the town of Purgatory where vampires have evolved to live peacefully out west. During the day they dab on sunscreen, wear UV glasses and cover up with stylish dress, including overblown hats that have brims just shy of umbrellas on their heads. There are rules and consequences in place, such as not killing humans, which right from the getgo is broken when one of them loses his temper.

A human named David Harrison (Jim Metzler) is coming to town to work on a malfunction at the Hemotechnics plant that produces synthetic blood, along with his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) and two girls to make a family adventure out of it. Easy said, easy done, though David has a past rivalry with a vampire named Shane (Maxwell Caulfied) who runs the plant and has an eye on his family. Soon enough the Harrisons encounter some odd occurances from bats to secret passageways that lead to a man sleeping in a coffin named Jozek Mardulak (David Carradine) who so happens to own Purgatory and be the one with the main vision for its inception. Except some of the town's people don't want to live a quaint life, instead of enjoying a warm meal of the real stuff directly from the source. A revolution is on the rise with the Quaker looking Mr. Jefferson (John Ireland) on one side with his posse of special gun-totting recruits, and on the other with most of the town's original inhabitants behind Mardulak.

"Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat" has a flair for the theatrical either with its bombastic music, built up camera shots to its performances and dress. It's a one of a kind film off in its own little world with eccentric and memorable characters. It has a strange atmosphere in that every other person feels from a different time period or location, from 19th century on up to '80s/'90s trends. There's the three hillbilly pals each with white beards at the gas station, a Jamaican cop who runs the jail and even an old German couple at the general store. Bruce Campbell plays Robert: a bumbling professor looking type with a recognizable family name. His car broke down and he uses the excuse to search out Jozek Mardulak with the help of a bombshell waitress, Sandy (Deborah Foreman), that's got her heart more than her teeth set on him.

The movie is more a series of events that leads up to a somewhat overdrawn vampire vs vampire gunslinging battle for the latter half just like the wild west except with high powered weaponry. Apart from a decapitation and some gun shot wounds, this isn't over-the-top gory as the violence falls more in context to the story. The movie's strength is its whimsical charm, not necessarily an intricate storyline. Events happen to further its personality rather than being layered or complex, which makes it all around easy. It almost feels like a family friendly rated R film, as there's no nudity and situations aren't as crude as others with the tag. Since there's a share of characters to show their varied personalities, the pacing often moves somewhat moderately compared to other films. It takes on one unveiling at a time until closer to the end. It keeps up the mystery but doesn't make this a freight train of revelations, though still diverting and loads of fun in the meantime to the point of wishing you were part of the gang. Like director Anthony Hickox's "Waxwork," this is another ambitious film with a little bit of slapstick and a sense for the cinematic experience rather than going for realism. You'll recognize Deborah Foreman and Dana Ashbrook with some roles here too. Likewise, "Sundown" creates an enveloping environment that isn't anything but pure escapism.

Rating: 7.5/10

Director: Anthony Hickox (Waxwork)
Stars: Jim Metzler, Morgan Brittany, Maxwell Caulfield, David Carradine, Bruce Campbell, Deborah Foreman
Link: IMDB


Quotes:

"I can't believe this. I just can't believe this. No one is gonna believe us! I wouldn't believe us! Who is gonna believe that some relic with a sombrero knocked off Tom's head with a backhand?"

"Your parents must be very romantic."
"They're very horny."

"Well, it could be your big night tonight."
"I'll be up as soon as I'm finished."
"You promise?"
"Threat."

"There's only two things that can happen to you in Purgatory. They can kill you, or they can turn you into a vampire."

"We feed on humans."
"Like a hundred other parasites. Like tapeworms, like fleas...like fungus. That's how special vampires are."

Waxwork II (1992)

Slap stickin' and time travelin'

This is a direct continuation from the events in the first film, though Deborah Foreman is replaced by a head-taller, not-so-look-alike Monika Schnarre as Sarah, not to mention Zach Galligan returns as Mark but looks noticeably older and gained a few pounds. After the two leave the fiery scene from the first, the animated severed hand escapes from one of the zombie sets and follows Sarah home, only to kill her abusive father, aptly wearing a scummy wife-beater. Now, a court case is being filed against her for the act, and no one believes her when the naive Sarah actually tells them the hand did it. In the meantime they find a "cartagrian time-door opener" in Mark's grandfather's secret attic that holds all kinds of strange relics, and decide to use it to find evidence for Sarah's innocence. And, of course, stumble into some adventure in the meantime.

"Waxwork II," pushing away from its title, is a sort of "Friday the 13th" TV series, meets "The Monster Squad," meets "Bill & Ted," and still manages to have some of its own distinction in the end. From Frankenstein to poltergeists to aliens to medieval black magic, the duo has to outrun, outwit and overtake evil wherever the small time contraption takes them. The last half being a place in a King Arthur-like setting where they have to stop an diabolical, shape-shifting man named Scarabis (Alexander Godunov) who's trying to take over the King of England's throne, but find themselves in predicaments of incestuous pre-arranged marriage and rat infested prisons. Definitely the coolest scene in the movie involves Mark sword fighting Scarabis back and forth between different worlds from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "Jack the Ripper," "Nosferatu," "Godzilla" and more zombies of the "Dawn of the Dead" kind. It makes you wish they included a few more segments or stayed a while longer while at it after having to sit through the nearly throwaway medieval story that's better left up to the "Excalibur"s to flesh out a richer adventure.

"Waxwork II" is edging more on simple fun than serious challenge, which makes the picture a little light in its load. The comedy is made to be cartoonish at points--such as a bag-o-salt being thrown at the exposed ribs of Bruce Campbell's character--the bloodshed is less gory than the first and there aren't as many build ups for atmosphere rather than setting the stage for zingers. The tone slightly shifts as it gets all biblical with a universe of Cartagra being a place where good and evil battle it out in what's referred to as "God's Nintendo game." The Devil and God--though never shown--have at it with time warriors, and what those warriors do there--Mark and Sarah included--can have a detrimental effect on Earth if evil wins.

This has less mysteriousness than the first and essentially causes you think in the now, which isn't always so enthralling to put you on the edge of your seat in anticipation. This has some slapstick, the time travel idea to create fresh places and there are numerous homages given for the meantime. Nods to other films can be a great tool to hook in an audience to relive nostalgia, though this doesn't always feel like it does something more creative than what they're emulating like the first film was capable of. This is still a decent companion piece to the original film, though I've found over the years it's not as replete on its own as it could have been. The concept is definitely cool--this is just before "Army of Darkness" and even "Sliders"--though I often find myself thinking more of where to go than where the filmmakers took me.

Rating: 5.5/10

Director: Anthony Hickox (Sundown)
Stars: Zach Galligan, Monika Schnarre, Bruce Campbell, Alexander Godunov
Link: IMDB

Waxwork (1988)

What won't kill you, will only make you...waxier

This is a horror-comedy that's incredibly tongue-in-cheek to the point of poking fun at other thought-to-be sacrilegious horror films and even itself while at it. "Waxwork" is an '80s version of "House of Wax" meets "House of Frankenstein" where all the famous cinematic monsters and more are combined into an experience that gives an assorted buffet of the macabre. It has some trendy tunes, hairdos, phrases and clothing, not to mention makeshift acting, that makes it feel exactly like '88, but that's not to say it doesn't hold up still due to being persistently fun because there are just so many subjects inventively dabbled at once than being merely reference points.

Two college ladies--one seductive, the other reserved--are taking a neighborly stroll when they notice a discreet and ominous building with the sign "Waxwork" that they've never seen before. Suddenly an odd looking man appears, later named Mr. Lincoln (David Warner), with multi-colored dress and invites them to a private midnight showing that includes their friends. They don't know what to expect but show up anyway with two other guys--one spoiled rich, the other token sarcastic--and meet a midget butler at the front door and a tall man who can't get orders right. Seems a joke, right? Yeah, that's what they thought.

In a large showroom they find roped off sections with an assortment of life-like wax statues ranging from Frankenstein, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, werewolves, axe-murderers, aliens, mummies and even Marquis de Sade. Soon enough some of the observers turn victim when they want to get a closer look at the set pieces and end up getting transported into a changed world where it comes alive. Inside the locked in portal they have to relive the final horror of the depicted waxwork set and then end up being a permanent fixture with none the wiser looking on. After splitting up, the rich kid and prude lose sight of their two friends and are told they left early. Suspicious, Sarah (Deborah Foreman) and Mark (Zach Galligan)--with the help of detectives and Mark's grandfather--find out that Mr. Lincoln had a greater, far more diabolical plan in motion than just enclosing their friends bodies with wax.

"Waxwork" has gags, gore and a sense of adventure. This isn't scary, but it is still pretty gruesome at times with make-up effects and plays on a certain atmosphere that still rolls in the fog, shadows and a gravitating score over top when calls for it. Part of the tone is going for mock theatrics, such as an over-the-top sound effect with just a door opening or someone else not taking a spooky scene at first seriously, that is until they see red. This has some slap stick gags, such as a man tied to a table with the flesh of his leg missing but the nerves exposed and then rats and other people accidentally falling on it. It's ambitious to say the least, but manages to maintain a steady balance to rope a viewer deep down into a well of escapism dwells. Even with all of its homages to every other genre pic under the full moon, it still feels its own experience enough to be more than just a short-lived gimmick for the times.

Rating: 8/10

Director: Anthony Hickox
Stars: Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, David Warner
Link: IMDB