Enormously entertaining, WAKE UP DEAD MAN offers more than a good murder mystery, delving into the soulful with an ex-boxer priest, playing excellently by Josh O’Connor, seeking his own forgiveness and an unforgiving monsignor, played menacingly by Josh Brolin, with his own little kingdom in a Gothic church isolated in a rural upstate New York that feels straight out of “The Headless Horseman.” Rian Johnson’s third installment in his Knives Out mystery series may be his best yet, featuring his droll Southern detective Beniot Blanc, the two Joshes and a star-studded cast of supporting players including Glen Close, Andrew Scott, and more.
A murder in a church sounds wrong but in Rian Johnson’s capable hands it turns into the perfect place in a story that pits faith and love against power and evil. The Gothic setting lends itself well to the tale of long-buried secrets and hidden motives in this isolated, claustrophobic small community. But director/writer Johnson makes you wait a bit for the crime and the detective, focusing first on Josh O’Connor’s priest as he grapples with his spiritual journey, trying to put love at the forefront, and overcoming the rage that led to him killing a man in the boxing ring.
To help him in wrestling those inner spiritual demons, and to help the church to unravel the curious goings-on at a remote little parish, his bishop (an unexpectedly darkly funny Jeffrey Wright) gives the young priest his first assignment. Not to replace the mysterious long-time priest, a monsignor, at that ancient church but as to be the assistant priest, and perhaps figure out what is happening there.
Josh O’Connor’s priest starts out with a firm belief in the power of love but a more knowing eye for human failings, his own and others. He arrives at the ancient church, which looks more like it was transported whole, complete with churchyard graves, from old England than something in New England. Josh Brolin’s parish priest gives the newcomer a chilly greeting, insisting on being called monsignor, and immediately asking him to hear his confession, a scalding one that leaves the young priest staggering. The battle of the Joshes is on.
Rian Johnson spins out this tale brilliantly, crafting the characters and the mystery to draw you in, and adding plenty of humor and twists along the way. Daniel Craig’s detective arrives a bit late but from that point on, the film takes the brakes off for a wild, massively entertaining ride, while still keeping it’s good versus evil. Figuring out who is good and who is evil is part of the fun.
Reportedly, this is the last of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out mysteries, which is disappointing news if true. This mystery is the best of the series, demonstrating the elastic nature of the genre and showcasing Johnson’s considerable talent.
Of course, that is aided mightily by the wonderful cast, especially first-rate performances from Josh O’Connor, who is really having a year, and Daniel Craig, as the clever, quipping detective. Some of best moments are between these two, as the believer debates the non-believer, in dialog that is both though-provoking and entertaining. Who wants to see that kind of film-making come to an end?
WAKE UP DEAD MAN opens Wednesday, Nov. 26, in theaters.
Before Bela Lugosi created the image of an elegant Dracula in Todd Browning’s film DRACULA, F.W. Murnau made the brilliant silent film NOSFERATU, the first film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s eerie novel. Stoker’s estate refused to let the legendary German director use the book’s title but Murnau made the film anyway, renaming the vampire Count Orlok and re-setting the latter part of the story in Germany rather than England. Director Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is an outstanding film that both honors and recreates Murnau’s great classic, while also adding a modern horror edge as well.
Fans of Murnau’s incredible silent horror film will delight in Eggers’ new NOSFERATU, which faithfully recreates several of the striking scenes in the original. NOSFERATU is visually astounding, with gorgeously eerie scenes and set pieces, often using the central, symmetric framing typical of the silent movie era. Scene after scene opens with either a perfect recreation of Murnau’s atmospheric composition or a sternly creepy vista that sets the tone for the horror to come. The dark, brooding scene of a coach wending its way through stark looming mountains, to enter the sinister castle, which is featured in the movie’s trailer, is but a small taste of the visual delights to come. Leaning into the visual power of the silent is the perfect choice.
Although there have been countless Dracula movies, only a handful have gone back to Murnau’s great silent, with his Count Orlok. Those exceptions have included SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE, a chiller about the making of Murnau’s silent, and Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE, with the great Klaus Kinski.
While Eggers’ based his script on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Henrik Galeen’s screenplay for the first NOSFERATU, there are a few changes. The source of the vampire Count’s fascination with his real estate agent’s fiancee (his wife in this tale) is different and references to Vlad the Impaler, the blood-thirsty Eastern European Medieval prince who was Bram Stoker’s partial inspiration for the vampire in his novel.
The cinematography and the script are near flawless in this homage to the brilliant original, and the modern horror elements added by director Eggers, including leaning into the psycho-sexual aspects of the story, help bring the story into the current era without violating its late Victorian gothic setting. However the pacing is a bit slow for modern horror fans. Further, Bill Skarsgard’s Count Orlok, after his first appearance, looks more like a bulky if decaying Prince Vlad than Max Streck’s skeletal Orlok, making Orlok seem more intimidating than truly scary.
The cast includes a splendid Willem Dafoe as the Van Helsing-like Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz. Nicholas Hoult plays Thomas Hutter, the first victim to aid Count Orlok’s escape from the castle, and Lily-Rose Depp plays his wife Ellen, who in this retelling is the reincarnation of Orlok’s former lover. Lily-Rose Depp’s performance is bold and over-the-top, sometimes veering into the absurd, but Nicholas Hoult’s more grounded, sincere performance helps balance things. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin do fine work as the Hutters’ friends Friedrich and Anna Harding, but the other supporting actors give the horror tale its real fire, with outstanding work by Ralph Ineson as Wilhelm Sievers and Simon McBurney as creepy Herr Knock.
This remake/update NOSFERATU is a treat in particular for fans of Murnau’s original, but may not connect for all horror fans not familiar with the silent classic. Hopefully, they will remedy that by seeing the Murnau film, ideally on a big screen with live music.
At West Point in 1830, a cadet is found hanged, in an apparent suicide, but then the body is mutilated – by removing the heart. A former New York constable with a tragic past is brought in to investigate, and the detective enlists the help of an eccentric, clever young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe, in the Gothic murder mystery tale THE PALE BLUE EYE.
Edgar Allan Poe really did go to West Point briefly but the story in THE PALE BLUE EYE is purely fictional, based on the novel by Louis Bayard. Christian Bale plays the detective Augustus Landor, with a wonderful Harry Melling playing the young Edgar Allan Poe. Having the author who is credited with creating the fictional detective as a character in a detective mystery thriller is a thrill in itself. Director Scott Cooper’s (CRAZY HEART, OUT OF THE FURNACE) atmospheric, twisty murder mystery also features an impressive cast that includes Toby Jones, Robert Duvall, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Timothy Spall and Charlotte Gainsbourg, among others.
In 1830, a young West Point cadet is found hanged, but sadness turns to shock when, as the body rests in the morgue, someone mutilates it by cutting out the heart. West Point head superintendent Colonel Thayer (Timothy Spall) and his assistant Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) are eager to keep things quiet, and hire a reclusive former New York constable living nearby, Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), to secretly investigate. Stymied by the tight-lipped cadets, Landor enlists the help of one bright but unusual young cadet, Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), in solving the case.
At this time, West Point is a young institution, and there are powerful forces who would like the academy to cease to exist. Worries about that drive Superintendent Thayer and Captain Hitchcock to avoid reporting to local authorities and instead seek an investigator who can find the perpetrator in secret. The constable has a reputation solving crimes but also one for hard-drinking, which means Thayer and Captain Hitchcock are wary of the detective. While Thayer and Hitchcock are aloof, the campus’ doctor, Dr. Daniel Marquis (pronounced the Anglicized way rather than the French, and played well by Toby Jones), is more accepting of Landor’s flaws and friendlier, cooperating with the investigation.
Landor is quietly mourning the death of his wife but is especially haunted by the more recent disappearance of his teen-aged daughter. In puzzling out the bizarre events, Landor calls on an old friend, a reclusive scholar who is knowledgeable about history and the occult, Jean-Pepe (Robert Duvall). He also gets insights on the cadets’ secrets from an affectionate barmaid, Patsy (Charlotte Gainsbourg), at the local inn. As more bizarre crimes occur, the alarmed brass nervously press Landor hard for results.
As expected for a Poe-inspired tale, there is also a beautiful, tragic young woman – the doctor’s smart, musically-gifted daughter Lea (Lucy Boynton). Lea suffers from a mysterious ailment, and is watched over by her tightly-wound mother Julia (Gillian Anderson) and haughty brother Artemus (Harry Lawtey).
There is a certain risk in making a film that features a well-known historical figure like Edgar Allan Poe, but this story is set during an early time in Poe’s life about which little is known, which gives the film considerable freedom. Melling’s young Poe is a charming eccentric but also an artistic soul and a brilliant outsider who knows at heart he is not a soldier but a poet, something he declares to Landor.
In fact, Poe did embark on his literary career directly after leaving West Point. Director Scott Cooper’s tale is twisty and sprinkled with Poe-like references like death, evil, hearts, the supernatural, illness, re-birth and lost love. The story incorporates an array of familiar elements and themes from Poe’s works, including the detective, as well as short snippets of his poetry recited by Melling. In fact, the film’s title comes from a line in Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
The film draws from pieces of Poe’s real life and literary works, as it creates a sense of the influences shaping the future writer, which makes this tale a bit of an origin story. In one scene, Melling’s Poe regales fellow cadets in a bar with a ribald rhyme, alluding to the real Poe’s reputation among students for his satiric poems, often aimed at officers. The real Poe’s reputation for these satires inspired some cadets to pitch in to help finance his second book of poetry, published after he left West Point, deliberately getting himself kicked out.
Melling and Bale are splendid together, as is the whole cast. The mystery takes place in deep winter, with the snowy landscape adding to the chill, along with scenes in a cemetery and starkly brooding Gothic locations. Photography by Masanobu Takayanagi is sternly beautiful and wonderfully atmospheric, and a marvelous score by the great Howard Shore adds just the right touch for the mood.
THE PALE BLUE EYE is an enjoyable Gothic tale, although the story is a bit too twisty and over-wrought, with a final resolution that may make you wonder about some of the investigation that went before. However, the film is satisfyingly packed with well-researched historic detail, including accents and costumes, and the characters are so well-drawn – intriguing, affecting and colorful – by the gifted cast, and all that is wrapped in a perfect Gothic horror setting, so it is easy for fans of the genre to let some flaws go.
Particularly, the film is a showcase for the talented Harry Melling, whose performance in the Coens’ THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS was a highlight of that anthology and caught Cooper’s attention for this role. Melling really dazzles as young Poe, playing the young cadet/poet with a youthful enthusiasm tempered by a dark wit and a sharp mind that can’t help figuring out the puzzle. Melling’s orphaned Poe forms a sort-of father-son bond with Bale’s brooding detective, and Melling’s layered, complex performance in scenes with the detective – a Poe literary invention – are among the film’s most enjoyable.
Although it is far from a flawless film, for lovers of period murder mysteries that feature fine acting, THE PALE BLUE EYE has much to offer, and for fans of Edgar Allan Poe, it is an irresistible temptation.
THE PALE BLUE EYE opens Friday, Jan. 6, streaming on Netflix and in theaters in select cities.
The title of the historical drama THE LITTLE STRANGER is the same as an old-fashioned way to reference a baby, as in “awaiting the arrival of a little stranger.” But there are no babies or ones on the way in this dark moody film, although there are some spooky goings-on about children in the dim, misty past, particularly the childhood remembrances of a visitor now returned as a doctor to care for the members of the aristocratic Ayers family in their dark crumbling mansion.
Abrahamson’s previous film was ROOM, an acclaimed drama that was a scary, taut thriller and a deep psychological drive into the experience of a woman and child held captive for years by an abuser. That drama was so riveting, it is no surprise expectations were high for this one.
However, anyone expecting either another ROOM, or even THE OTHERS or JANE EYRE, will be disappointed with director Lenny Abrahamson’s THE LITTLE STRANGER. A moody, brooding historic drama set in 1930s England, the film is filled with foreboding but leaves the viewer in suspense.
Doctor Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson) is called to Hundreds Hall, the once-grand mansion of the aristocratic Ayres family mansion in rural England to tend to an illness. When the doctor arrives at the home of the old aristocratic family, he is shocked by the state of the house. He is greeted at the door by Caroline Ayres (Ruth Wilson), who scoffs at the doctor’s surprise that it is not one of the servants opening the door. The only servant the once-wealthy family now employs is a young girl, who works as maid and cook, and who, it turns out, is the patient. Having dealt kindly with the servant girl, who was suffering from nervousness and home-sick more than anything, the doctor offers to treat the family heir, Roderick Ayres (Will Poulter), a World War I veteran badly burned and disfigured, and still battling a painful leg injury. The family is reluctant at first to accept Dr. Faraday’s offer but finally agrees when the doctor tells them there would be no charge as it would help with some research he is doing on a particular treatment.
How the mighty have fallen and the shifting fate of the British upper class between the wars is a theme in this drama but not the only one. That change in social structure has been touched on in GOSFORD PARK and the BBS series “Downton Abbey” but this is a much darker version. But a major focus is not on the fall of the house of Ayres, a proud family still regarded warmly by the locals, but on the psychological goings-on with the doctor. His mother had been a servant in the grand house in its heyday, and a childhood visit to the house for a grand garden party instilled in him a fascination with the Ayres and a longing for the house. As Dr. Faraday becomes a part of the Ayres family’s lives, strange tensions arrives and strange occurrences begin to unfold.
THE LITTLE STRANGER certainly has the goods as far as cast, with Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Charlotte Rampling, and Will Poulter in the lead roles. There are disturbing things and creepy occurrences. If only the film had a more focused script and director Abrahamson had a better sense of what he wanted his film to be. As it is, it wavers between ghost story, Gothic thriller, moody historic commentary on the fall of the British class system. Because it keeps hinting it is one or the others of these genres, it fails to gel around anything and leaves the audience feeling unsatisfied and somehow cheated of a promised emotional payoff. It is tense, moody, edgy throughout until it ends with no real resolution or even a big scare.
What’s more, the gripping trailer suggests an eerie ghost story or tale of buried secrets in a family of British aristocrats sinking into decay and financial ruin in the 1930s. The arrival of a local doctor into this closed, musty world hinted at scary, disturbing things. The film is based on the novel by Sarah Waters, adapted for the screen by Lucinda Coxon, who wrote THE DANISH GIRL. Why all this talent didn’t produce a more successful suspense film is the real mystery.
Cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland also delivers the goods, as does the excellent cast. Domhnall Gleeson is chilling and intriguing as the restrained yet charming doctor. Charlotte Rampling gives a fine performance as the chilly aristocrat, still vividly aware of the class difference between her family and the doctor, but unfailingly polite as she drops comments to remind him of his “place,” no matter how kind he has been to them. Ruth Wilson’s Caroline, on the other hand, comprehends how the world and their circumstances have changed, in a way neither her mother nor her brother do. Will Poulter is all pent-up frustration as her brother Roderick, the lord of the manor by inheritance, struggling to live up to family obligations while battling physical and mental pain from his war injuries, PTSD, and a growing madness.
The film has all the authentic period detail and perfect locations one could wish. Events unfold in a decaying manor house that was clearly once grand, grandeur we see in periodic flashbacks as Dr. Faraday returns time and again to memories of his childhood visit to the mansion where his mother worked as a servant, a visit none of the family recalls.
Through atmospheric photography, fine acting and taut pacing, THE LITTLE STRANGER successfully builds suspense to a fever pitch yet never pulls the trigger on all that build-up. It raises questions throughout yet never answers them, leaving at most hints about possible answers. The film feels like it wants to be Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” but can’t figure out how to get there, leaving the audience lost as well.
So many things are right about this eerie film, including the outstanding cast, that it is doubly frustrating when the film appears to just end without real resolution. As a fan of both historical dramas and Gothic ghost stories, I should be the right audience for this film. Yet, the film felt disappointing by its end. After building up a nail-biting suspense and hinting a hidden horrors, psychological or supernatural, it fails to commit to either of those paths, wavering between them until it merely rolls to an unsatisfying conclusion. There is death but no catharsis. Secrets remain hidden and no questions are answered.
THE LITTLE STRANGER opens Friday, August 31 at the Tivoli Theater.
From the Vestron Video Collector’s Series, the horror classic Gothic will arrive for the first time on limited edition Blu-ray™ on January 30 from Lionsgate. Starring Golden Globe® winner Gabriel Byrne (2009, Best Actor, “In Treatment”), Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson, and from legendary director Ken Russell (Lair of the White Worm), Gothicis the fictional retelling of the night Mary Shelley developed the story of Frankenstein. While under the influence of experimental substances, she and a group of friends experience terrifying visions that bend reality into her horrific tale. The Gothic limited edition Blu-ray is packed with all-new special features, including audio commentaries, isolated score selections, interviews with the cast and crew, and more, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.
Five famous friends spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in a frenzy of shocking lunacy and horrifying visions in this fictional tale, which tells the story of Mary Shelley’s conception of Frankenstein on one debauched night in Lord Byron’s home.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary with Lisi Russell and Film Historian Matthew Melia
Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Thomas Dolby
“The Soul of Shelley” Featurette with Actor Julian Sands
“Fear Itself” Featurette with Screenwriter Stephen Volk
“One Rainy Night” Featurette with Director of Photography Mike Southon
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spot
Still Gallery
CAST
Gabriel Byrne The Usual Suspects, The Man in the Iron Mask, Stigmata
Julian Sands Warlock, Warlock: The Armageddon, TV’s “The Haunted Airman”
Natasha Richardson Maid in Manhattan, The Parent Trap, The White Countess
Can I just say I really, really wanted to like LIVID. I mean, I truly looked forward to eating this movie up, but instead, I found myself staring at my plate wondering what I had just been served. This is the second feature film from the writing/directing team of Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, whose first outing was 2007’s INSIDE. Bustillo and Maury appeared to have started with an interesting idea, but somewhere along the path of production lost their focus, perhaps distracted by their own visions, which make numerous cameos that feel more like party crashers than official invitees.
LIVID begins as a story about a teenager named Lucy (Chloe Coulloud) who is training as an in-house caregiver. She travels from house to house with her trainer Mrs. Wilson (Catherine Jacob). The last house of the day is a large mansion owned by Miss Jessel (Maria-Claude Pietragalla), a successful former dance instructor infamous for for strict methods. Miss Jessel is bed-ridden and in a coma, the soul resident of the massive, ornate estate in disrepair. Mrs. Wilson casually reveals stories to Lucie as they tend to Miss Jessel, such as her only child Anna having been born mute and passed on many years ago, and the mysterious “treasure” which is said to be hidden somewhere in the house.
This treasure is the driving factor for the first half of LIVID, which has Lucie reluctantly leading her two male friends, Ben and William (Jeremy Kapone and Felix Moati), into the Jessel estate in search of the alleged treasure. For what it’s worth, this first half of LIVID is the half that works reasonably well, an atmospherically Gothic but straight-forward haunted house tale. LIVID invites the audience in to share the adventure of three nosy teens, snooping around a creepy old house, certain to unleash something dreadful. Unfortunately, this is what they unleash… something visually stunning, but dreadful to watch.
LIVID’s opening sequence sets an alluring tone for something out of Dark Shadows, with gray skies and massive waves crashing against a treacherous rocky shore. Rolling green hills in the distance with an ominously slow orchestral score (Raphael Gesqua) drawing the viewer in like a Pied Piper written with the pending doom of Poe’s pen. Once Lucie and the boys enter the house, the focus appears to shift rapidly to something more akin to a cinematic roadside attraction of visual oddities. As they explore the various rooms of the Jessel house, they stumble upon everything from strange things preserved in jars, mounted animal heads, creepy dolls and a number of other typical genre props used in countless horror films.
To be fair, and to repeat my earlier point, this is all visually stunning stuff, if not a tad generic and certainly not crucial to the story in many cases. LIVID looks amazing, as does the score deem itself worthy of attention on it’s own merit. The issue I have with all this is that it serves little purpose to the story and, in some unclear fashion, becomes the story. Once the reality of the situation makes itself known to Lucie and the boys, the gore comes out to play and Miss Jessel exposes her true self. The nature of her “true self” and the twists involving her daughter are grounds for spoilers, but I can say the potential is there, but the execution is terribly flawed.
The first half of LIVID is a based in the real world, with the realm of fantasy taking a bold and often intrusive spotlight in the second half. I could not help but notice the second half of LIVID is heavily influenced by the works of Guillermo del Toro, from the visual style, creature and prop design and even the movement and performance of the non-human characters. Many of these scenes stand alone as really cool, artistically impressive achievements, but when they’re all spliced together into a narrative as they are, the film that began as a fresh ode to Halloween-inspired films (the holiday, not the franchise) unravels into a broken, disconnected mess of ideas that fails to come together as a fully comprehensible story.
Perhaps LIVID will make more sense with a second, third or multiple viewings. Maybe this is a film that needs a decade or two for fans to digest before it’s appreciated as a once misunderstood genre classic. It’s impossible to say for sure, but for the time being, LIVID struck me as a film with massive potential but paid out primarily in disappointment. See the film, even buy the score, then make your own decision… I’ll be the first to tell you my opinion appears to be amongst the minority of those attending Fantastic Fest 2011.
