The Darkside of Society, Narrated by Julian Sands

Many horror movies, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre pretend to be “based on a true story.” Brian Yuzna’s Society actually was, but screenwriter Woody Keith, now known as Zeph E. Daniel, did not realize it, even though it was his story. He had just repressed the horrors he endured. It is crazy stranger-than-fiction testimony you might not totally believe, but you will never be bored by Larry Wade Carrell’s documentary, The Darkside of Society, which releases today on VOD.

If you know the cult classic movie, Daniel never claims to have survived the grotesque body-horror conclusion referred to as the “Shunting.” Instead, he explains how his parents, especially his mother groomed him to be the sacrifice of a satanic ritual, much like the lead character, Bill Whitney. That’s right, the much maligned “Satanic Panic” was in fact based in grisly fact.

According to Daniel, his mother was the chief architect of his torment, or at least her satanic witch personalities. She also had nurturing Christian personalities. However, her dark side nearly killed Daniel several times.

If any of this is true, Daniel deserves great sympathy and tremendous credit for overcoming such adversity. Also, his expression of Christian forgiveness sounds genuine and laudable. On the other hand, if this is an extended put-on to create a prequel to Society that is equal parts David Lynch and Andy Kaufman then hats off to Daniel and Carell. Either way, it is an eerily fascinating film that takes the so-called “Satanic Panic” seriously, instead of trying to laugh it away.

Indeed, Darkside is unlike any other horror movie documentary, in which the cast-members prattle on about how gratifying it is to be a part of something that still means so much to the fans. Aside from Daniel, the only major cast or crew members who appear in Darkside are Yuzna and special effects artist Screaming Mad George. However, horror filmmaker Richard Stanley (who is also an abuse survivor) appears to discuss the kind of ritualistic menacing Daniel describes.

The Piper, with Julian Sands

It is hard to figure what the cheapskate Hamelin villagers were thinking. Maybe targeting their kids was a bit unexpected, but obviously he could always just drive another swarm of rats back into town. They were tragically penny-wise-pound-foolish, which understandably angered the Piper. It sounds crazy, but a musician suspects he is still ticked off in director-screenwriter Erlingur Thoroddsen’s The Piper, which releases this Friday in theaters and on digital.

Renowned composer Katharine Fleischer is in a rather agitated state, trying to burn the last surviving copy of her infamous first concerto, but she immolates herself instead. It had not been performed since its infamous premiere, which caused fatal rioting within the concert hall. This was bad news for Melanie Walker, because Fleischer was her patron at the orchestra. As a single-mother, she needs her chair for the insurance, to cover her young daughter Zoe’s treatment for her hearing impairment.

Gustafson, the pretentious maestro wants to perform Fleischer’s “Children’s Concerto” as a tribute, even though the composer always refused his requests while she was alive. Walker was supposed to use her connection to the family to secure the manuscript, but she resorts to pilfering it from Fleischer’s attic. Unfortunately, Fleischer managed to burn several pages, including the third movement, so Walker must channel her mentor to reconstruct the lost passages. While working on the score, she experiences lost time and weird visions. Strange things also start happening around her, including the disappearance of her colleague’s son Colin, who usually spent rehearsals with Zoe, whether they wanted to or not.

Fleischer’s concerto is sort of like the musical equivalent of the forbidden films that lead to madness in Fury of the Demon and the “Cigarette Burns” episode of Masters of Horror. There are similar examples of evil, overpowering records, like Black Circle and Dead Wax, but Thoroddsen still offers some reasonably distinctive variations on the theme.

The late, great Julian Sands also brings a lot to the party, preening and chewing the scenery as the arrogant Gustafson. Sands really was an underappreciated horror master, who will be missed. Charlotte Hope is a decent horror heroine, but Alexis Rodney is more memorable as her brainy ethnomusicologist platonic friend, Philip, who helps provide a framework for understanding the uncanny power of the Piper’s music.

The Ghosts of Monday, Horror in Cypress

Timing can be ironic and unfair. It probably sounded like a good idea to release this film on a Monday, but it comes out while its co-star, Julian Sands has gone missing in the San Gabriel mountains. Everyone hopes for a happy resolution of the ongoing search. That makes this review a little awkward, but at least it gives us a chance to acknowledge Sands deserves more credit as a horror icon (Warlock, Argento’s Phantom of the Opera, Gothic, etc.). He is definitely the best thing going in Francesco Cinquemani’s The Ghosts of Monday, which releases today on VOD and DVD.

The basic premise is pretty familiar: a camera crew comes to shoot a reality show pilot in a Cypriot resort hotel reputed to be haunted. In this case, the Grand Hotel Gula really is creepy. It has been closed since a mass poisoning was committed there decades ago, on New Year’s Eve (a Monday, in fact). However, the new owners plan to renovate and re-open, with the help of the show’s publicity. To make things creepier, the hotel was built atop an ancient site, where human sacrifices were offered to the local deity, so even the soil is soaked in bad mojo.

For some reason, Sofia feels like she has been there before—in a bad way. She has come to the shoot to support, her ex-husband Eric and the host, her famed-celebrity father, Bruce MacPherson. Immediately, Bruce can tell there is something wrong with the owners, Frank and Rosemary, who never, ever leave the hotel. Much to his regret, the crew is stuck there to, staying on the only refurbished floor.

Of course, there is something sinister afoot, but Cinquemani does a nice job maintaining some sense of mystery during the first forty-five minutes or so. The setting is hugely creepy and the backstory pushes all kinds of horror buttons. The ending is a bit ridiculous, but it works pretty well up to that point.

Crooked House: One of Dame Agatha’s Favorites, Finally Adapted for Film

Reportedly, Dame Agatha Christie’s two favorite novels from her voluminous oeuvre were this twisty novel from 1949 and Ordeal by Innocence. Yet, neither featured a Poirot, Marble, or Beresford (Tuppence), so they have rather been odd men out. There was an under-rated 1985 film adaptation of Ordeal, but the anticipated BBC production has been shelved, due to criminal allegations leveled against one of its co-stars. Formerly only staged for radio, Crooked House is now left alone to draft off Branagh’s pseudo-blockbuster Orient Express. French director Gilles Pacquet-Brenner helms a slyly British drawing room whodunit with his adaptation of Crooked House (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Private investigator Charles Hayward met the well-heeled Sophie de Haviland while he was stationed in Cairo for the secret service, but she inevitably broke his heart (a slight departure from the book). Nevertheless, de Haviland trusts the embittered Hayward to investigate the presumed murder of her grandfather, Aristide Leonides, a Greek immigrant who made good. Leonides’s latest trophy wife Brenda stands to inherit everything—a fact that does not sit well with the rest of the family.

For reasons that eluded just about everyone else, old man Leonides insisted on keeping his entire dysfunctional, bile-soaked family in residence at his grand country estate. That includes the newest wife Brenda, Sophie’s dilettante father Phillip, her self-absorbed stage diva mother Magda, and her wastrel uncle Roger, who has been running the family catering business into the ground. Only the widowed Lady Edith de Haviland shows much strength of character, which is why she assumed responsibility for the education of the de Haviland children, including the precocious twelve-year-old Josephine.

Obviously, everyone is a suspect, especially Laurence Brown, the children’s tutor, whom it seems has been carrying on an affair with the presumptive merry widow, but that would be too easy, wouldn’t it? Like the best of Dame Agatha’s work, the murderer in Crooked House is not immediately apparent, but the real pleasure comes from all the gnashing of teeth and door-slamming that come during the investigative process. Co-screenwriter Sir Julian Fellowes (of Downton Abbey acclaim), Tim Rose Price, and Paquet-Brenner deliver all the elements in spades, including the faithful ending, which must have been quite a shocker in 1949.

Glenn Close is terrific as the tart-tongued, no-nonsense Lady Edith. She is imperious yet grounded, in a way maybe only Kristin Scott Thomas could pull off with equal style. Gillian Anderson, Julian Sands, Christina Hendricks, and Christian McKay hold up their end, chewing the scenery and effortlessly bandying about barbed dialogue as Magda, Philip, Brenda, and Roger, respectively. Terence Stamp adds his well-earned gravitas and immediately recognizably baritone as Chief Inspector Taverner, a colleague of Hayward’s murdered father. Plus, the real breakthrough-discovery is young Honor Kneafsey, who is quite remarkable as Josephine.

Not surprisingly, Hayward and Sophie de Haviland are the dullest of the lot, but Max Irons somewhat exceeds expectations, playing the former with a welcome degree of forcefulness and intelligence. On the other hand, Stefanie Martini should have portrayed the latter as more of a femme fatale, but she is really just forgettably pedestrian.

Regardless, Crooked House is a triumph of set decoration and period details. The richly detailed trappings are spot-on, while the locations (King’s College Maughan Library and the Gothic Revival Tyntesfield estate) are wonderfully suggestive of elegance and murder most foul. Honestly, it is such good fun to see an old-fashioned mystery like this hit the big-screen again. Highly recommended for fans of British mysteries and the accomplished ensemble, Crooked House opens this Friday (12/22) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

The Persian Connection: Child Soldier in the Underworld

As a former Basiji child soldier, Behrouz was supposed to martyr himself during the Ira-Iraq War. He is still alive, living in Tehrangeles, but if its any consolation to the Ayatollah, he is a mental and emotional mess. As an aspiring realtor with a hardcore opium addiction, Behrouz keeps one foot in the legit world and one in the underworld, but the predatory corruption of the latter might just finish what Khomeini started in Daniel Y-Li Grove’s The Persian Connection (trailer here), which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

After arriving in America, Behrouz has done odd jobs for Babak Safinia, “The Persian King of L.A. Rea Estate” and Cirrus, the kingpin of the LA Persian mafia. He regularly chaperones Safinia’s entitled daughter Sara as she parties her way through the city’s nightclubs, agreeing to keep mum on her lesbian lovers. Unfortunately, one night of clubbing brings temptation in the form of a high stakes poker game and the sexual attention of Cirrus’s much younger wife Lola. To make amends, Behrouz will have to recover Cirrus’s stolen opium shipment.

That will be an awkward task for several reasons. The culprit is Sepehr, who happens to be Behrouz’s regular dealer. Behrouz’s lover also happens to be Oksana, Sepehr’s ex-wife and the mother of his son, who was originally trafficked into the country by Evegeny, a ruthless Russian gangster, who was Sepehr’s customer for the purloined opium. So yeah, small world.

Just think, this violent scramble for opium would not have been possible if the Trump immigration policies had been in effect back then, so imagine how impoverishing that would have been. Still, it is crystal clear the Russian mob is way, way worse than their Persian counterparts, for what that’s worth.

In fact, Behrouz’s Basiji background adds an intriguing layer of existential angst (even though the Basiji flashbacks—presumably produced on the cheap—look so weird and out of place, they are almost trippy). Regardless, the very notion of a failed twelve-year-old martyr is disturbing in so many ways.

As Behrouz, Reza Sixo Safai really seems convincingly drug-addled, guilt-ridden, and PTSD-shaken. It is definitely an anti-hero role, with Safai emphasizing all Behrouz’s unflattering, erratic tics. Dominic Rains is even more explicit playing sexual orientation games as the flamboyant thug Farid, while David Diaan (so terrific in The Stoning of Soraya M.) projects old school malevolence as his recently arrived partner. Helena Mattsson is not much of a factor as Oksana, but Julian Sands reliably does his villainous thing as Evgeny.

Steven Capitano Calitri’s neon-lit 1980s cinematography is so spot-on, it will make you nostalgic for Miami Vice and early-career Michael Mann. It is not perfect, but many of Connection’s most obvious flaws are a direct result of its severe budget constraints. Ultimately, they are worth overlooking to watch the first-rate Persian/Iranian-American cast ply their craft in a gangster drama. Recommended those who appreciate the 80’s setting and the tragic Iranian backstory, The Persian Connection opens this Friday (6/14) in LA, at the Laemmle Ahyra Fine Arts.

Tribeca ’17: The Escape (short)

Science fiction writer Robert Sheckley was never quite a household name, but he had good success with movie sales. The diverse films based on his work include The 10th Victim starring Ursula Andress, Freejack, and Disney’s Condorman. Over a decade after Sheckley’s death, Paul Franklin adds another entry to the Sheckley filmography, adapting his story “The Store of the Worlds” as the short film The Escape (trailer here), which screens as part of the Shorts: Your Heart’s Desire program at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.

Kellan is a dodgy back-alley scientist who has a tempting offer for miserable, life-tossed souls like Lambert. For a fee, he can temporarily transport them to one of the infinite alternate realities, where they can experience the life they truly crave. In addition to the high financial cost, the process also takes ten years off a customer’s life, so Lambert will have to think about it.

We subsequently learn Lambert is a white-collar family man, with a slightly bossy wife, a teen daughter, and a young son. He is under stress both at home and his downsizing office, but his pompous boss genuinely seems to like him. However, his desire for escape will make perfect sense in light of the big climatic reveal.

Unlike the campy 10^th Victim and cartoony Condorman, The Escape is actually a sentimental sf fable, more in the spirit of Twilight Zone episodes like “A Stop at Willoughby” and “Kick the Can,” but it does have the occasion for some grand spectacle down the stretch. Indeed, The Escape is likely to attract attention, because it is the directorial debut of Franklin, who supervised special effects on several Christopher Nolan films, including the Dark Knight trilogy. Fans should not be disappointed, but they might be slightly surprised by his sensitive character-driven approach.

He also assembles a pretty impressive cast for a short, including an appropriately gaunt looking Julian Sands as Lambert, who really delivers the existential angst when the time comes. Olivia Williams plays off the mopey Lambert rather nicely as his forceful but loving wife, while Art Malik (from Jewel in the Crown and dozens of other British shows) anchors it all with authority as Kellan.

Experienced genre viewers might guess the big twist, but Franklin execution packs a powerful punch. It is quality production that just feels like it will come around again during award season, particularly since he has that Nolan connection. Regardless, it is worth seeing just as a smart science fiction film in its own right. Highly recommended, The Escape screens again tonight (4/24), Wednesday (4/26), and Saturday (4/29), during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.