Macabro ’15: Chemical Wedding

While the fact is strenuously ignored by his subsequent devotees, L. Ron Hubbard was once an ardent follower of the notorious British occultist Aleister Crowley. That was when Hubbard and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) founder Jack Parsons were traveling in the same Pagan circles, so to speak. The relationship between the three men is indeed referenced in Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson’s screenwriting debut, but it is the connection to Parsons that will have greater significance in Julian Doyle’s way-better-than-reported Chemical Wedding (a.k.a. Crowley, trailer here), which screens as part of a retrospective tribute (or whatever) to Crowley at the 2015 Macabro, the International Horror Film Festival in Mexico City.

In 1947, Crowley’s earnest young understudy Symonds was present at his death, but it will not be the last time he sees the dark magus. Flashing forward to 2000, Symonds has forsworn the occult as a respected Cambridge professor. As the Florida recount rages, Dr. Joshua Mathers arrives from Cal Tech to test his Virtual Reality simulator using the university’s powerful super-computer. Unbeknownst to Mathers, his Cambridge colleague Victor Neuman is also a budding occultist, who performs an off-the-books experiment, programming Crowley’s information into the computer while twittish classics professor Oliver Haddo is wearing the VR suit.

As you might expect, Haddo is a different man when he steps out of the Z93. His stutter is gone, replaced by an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible and a voracious sexual appetite. He is indeed Crowley and he has big plans. Symonds understands how dangerous it will be if he completes the resurrection process, so he advises Mathers and Cambridge student journalist Lia Robinson as best he can. Unfortunately, her red hair will attract Crowley’s attention, in a very bad way.

Frankly, the prospect of revered British character actor and Orson Welles biographer Simon Callow going all in as Crowley is reason enough to see Chemical, but Doyle & Dickinson also wrote a considerably inventive narrative around him. Admittedly, the logic and believability of their pseudo-science is hit-or-miss. However, ambition of its scope is rather impressive. Chemical stakes out the territory where metaphysics and theoretical physics intersect—and it is quite a bloody crossroads.

Perhaps realizing he will not have many more opportunities to exercise his Hammer Horror muscles, Callow makes the most of Chemical, luxuriating in Haddo’s agonizing stutter and feasting on scenery as the reincarnated Crowley. Similarly, John Shrapnel is aptly malevolent and larger than life as the 1947 Crowley. Although the film’s aesthetics are stacked against their conventionally unassuming characters, Kal Weber and Lucy Cudden still manage to show some presence and energy as Mathers and Robinson, respectively. However, it is Paul McDowell who really anchors the film and sells its third act revelations as the older and wiser Symonds.

For a demonic horror film co-scripted by a heavy metal rock star, Chemical Wedding is surprisingly tweedy and thoroughly British. It is indeed a throwback to old school Hammer-Amicus films, but one informed by post-Uncertainty quantum mechanics. Pretty cool really (and also available on DVD), Chemical Wedding screens this Thursday (8/27), along with the wonderfully eccentric Karloff-Lugosi vehicle The Black Cat, as part of the Crowley-inspired programming at this year’s Macabro.

Macabro ’15: Cord

It turns out the looming Armageddon is considerably more miserable than Mad Max let on. Sure, food, potable water, and fuel are all scarce, as are dubious luxuries like hope and culture. To make matters far worse, nobody is getting any. Due to the nature of the doomsday pathogen, survivors have a deep-seated cootie phobia. Instead of anything physical, they seek the services of tinkerers who hook them up for some electronically enhanced auto-eroticism. Yet, despite their better judgement, a dealer and his latest customer take matters offline in Pablo González’s English language production, Cord (trailer here), which screens as part of the science fiction and fantasy sidebar at the 2015 Macabro, the International Horror Film Festival in Mexico City.

For enough canned goods, Czuperski will wire you up to a contraption that looks like no fun at all. However, his latest breakthrough is the real deal. It is so potent, he is convinced only women will be able to handle it. Tania the sex addict is willing to volunteer. It turns out to be as good as advertised. In fact, it is so satisfying, she still comes back for more, even after he copped a feel at the moment of truth. Remember, that constitutes a titanic breach of decorum in this dingy, hermetically sealed era. Nevertheless, Tania and Czuperski soon decide combining his implant stimulation with old school physicality produces a heck of a result.

Yes, Cord is basically a post-apocalyptic 9½ Weeks, but there is absolutely nothing sexy about its wired-up bumping and grinding. Seriously, Concerned Women of America should distribute copies in schools, because it will scare even the horniest teens celibate. You feel like a tetanus shot after watching it, which is actually quite a testament to production and set designer Nuria Manzaneda’s gritty, groody low fi creative work.

Even at a mere sixty-five minutes, Cord often repeats itself. Nevertheless, Christian Wewerka’s Czuperski truly commands the screen, while turning the mad scientist stereotype on its head. He is totally flinty and vinegary, yet also strangely vulnerable. As Tania, Laura de Boer is stuck playing a lot of When Harry Met Sally diner scenes. She is more than adequate to the task in that respect, but her character remains comparatively under-developed. Of course, you can hardly blame Czuperski for being attracted to her. If she is not technically the last woman on Earth, she is close enough.

Cord is nearly a two-hander, confined entirely to one set. Perhaps it would have benefited the film if González had opened it up more. While some points are driven home with compulsive thoroughness, there is no denying the power of Wewerka’s performance and the bleakness of González’s vision. It is an interesting film, despite and because of its flaws, but its subject matter and running time will make it quite the programming challenge, so intrigued viewers who happen to be in Mexico City with a little free time on their hands should see while they have the chance. It screens this Sunday (8/23) and Monday (8/24), as part of the Macabro Fantastico section at this year’s Macabro.

Macabro ’15: Hollow

Nature abhors a vacuum. So do vengeful spirits. It is time for another lesson in physics and metaphysics. This one comes from Vietnam, but the vibe is certainly consistent with the K-horror and J-horror traditions. Innocent young Ai has not been herself lately and that means big trouble in Ham Tran’s Hollow (trailer here), which screens as part of this year’s Macabro, the International Horror Film Festival in Mexico City.

Rebellious Chi does not really know why, but for some reason she distrusts her well-heeled step-father, Vuong Gia Huy. However, she adores her little half-sister Ai, even though she feels like the young cherub has taken her place in their mother’s heart. She takes it harder than anyone when Ai drowns while she was supposed to be watching her. Yet, only copper uncle Thuc understands how much he is hurting. To keep the film’s emotional pendulum swinging, Thuc thinks he has good news. When he went to identify Ai’s body at the big city morgue, he found her inexplicably alive on the slab. Of course, after the accident Ai becomes suspiciously distant and frankly kind of weird.

Hollow definitely starts with the child-and/or-teen in jeopardy template, but Tran’s execution is tight and tense, abetted by the pungently evocative atmosphere. He out Blumhouses most Blumhouse productions. Theologically, evil is defined not as the opposite of good but as its perversion. This is a principle Hollow illustrates in spades. For a genre film, it employs some pretty deep archetypal symbolism of innocence and vengeance, while simultaneously calling out Southeast Asia’s most pernicious social pathologies.

Despite all the lurid and paranormal elements, the ensemble is admirable restrained. As Thuc, Jayvee Mai sets the world-weary, spiritually bereft tone. He really looks like the sort of guy who pops an Excedrin as soon as he rolls out of bed. Young Nguyen Hong An and even younger Lam Thanh My also contribute remarkably assured performances, setting a gold standard for kids in horror films.

Although Hollow revisits some familiar Grunge-ish terrain, its secrets are distinctively creepy. The full significance of its uncanny business resonates to an unsettling extent. Life is hard in this spooky morality play, but karma is even tougher, especially for the seemingly privileged Vuongs. Recommended for fans of supernatural horror, Hollow screens tomorrow (8/21) and Sunday the 30^th, as part of Macabro 2015.

Macabro ’15: Ava’s Possessions

Maybe you do not feel like a twelve step program after having a demon exorcised from your body, but the fact that its run by the Catholic Church should give it credibility. After all, it’s a little too late for agnosticism. Those that do not enroll potentially face prosecution for the crimes their bodies committed while demonically possessed. Ava Dopkins pragmatically opts for group therapy in Jordan Galland’s Ava’s Possessions (trailer here), which screens as the opening night selection of this year’s Macabro, the International Horror Film Festival in Mexico City.

When Dopkins comes to, Father Merrino is praying over her and her mother is sporting a conspicuous eye patch. These are both bad signs. Despite the incredibleness of it all, she soon accepts the fact that she was possessed. Unfortunately, she has a lot of fence mending to do. Seeking amends is also part of the Church’s program. Tony, their street-smart hipster councilor also teaches them techniques to ward of re-possession. However, at least one of her fellow group-members misses the feelings of power and arousal that came with her demonic guest.

Although she really should know better, Dopkins will help her rebellious friend perform a wildly ill-advised ceremony. Unfortunately, the results will further complicate her efforts to find a mysterious older gentleman, who may or may not be the source of the unsettling blood stains in her living room.

Possessions sounds like another Exorcist spoof, like the amusingly meathead-ish Bad Exorcists, but Galland takes the clever concept and spins out a fully developed narrative, building up a serious head of paranoia in the third act. For a horror mash-up, it is pretty darned creepy, representing a dramatic step up from his inventive but inconsistent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead.

Galland gets a major assist from the perfectly cast Louisa Krause, who hits all the right sarcastic, confused, and angry notes as Dopkins. As an effective counterweight, Wass Stevens is all kinds of badness as Tony. Possessions also comes fully stocked with colorful supporting turns from the likes of William Sadler, Dan Fogler, and Carol Kane, as Dopkins’ father, her attorney, and a paranormal bookstore proprietor, respectively.

Somehow, Galland finds a way to make a case of demonic possession even more disturbing, while generating a fair amount of laughs. Frankly, Eva’s Possessions is probably the film that most closely approximates the vibe of the Buffy and Angel television series. It is witty and self-aware, but it is all business when the dark forces strike. Highly recommended for horror fans, Ava’s Possessions continues its festival run tonight (8/19) and Friday (8/21), as part of the 2015 edition of Macabro.