Short Shudders Part One

Let’s face it: After multiple home video releases, there is little reason to keep reviewing the same old movies released in different formats. The film itself remains unchanged, but its latest formats have evolved (from videotape to laser disc, DVD, Blu-ray, and now 4K), and I’m not interested in reviewing the new formats available. So, let me venture to various streaming channels and review the best classic horror films available and of interest to horror lovers who read our magazine. To make it even more interesting, all reviewed films are foreign-made, demonstrating that even films from other nations follow the American model and that our influence extends worldwide. After being exported to the US in the 1950s and 1960s, primarily from England, France, and Italy, foreign horror titles began to be licensed for domestic markets in poorly cut, re-edited prints with subpar dubbing. Recently, uncut prints with accurate subtitles have started to appear. Because of streaming services, international movies from often neglected countries (such as Norway) started appearing regularly on Shudder, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. So, let us dig deeply into four of them.

5.0 excellent

4.0 very good

3.0 good

2.0 fair

1.0 poor

WHERE EVIL LURKS ****1/2: Argentina

[original Argentina title, Cuando acacha la maldad]

Director and Writer: Demián Rugna

Horror films are now made worldwide and distributed to the USA for mainly streaming channels. Unlike commercialized American-made franchises, these imports are made by creative artists delivering upon their craft, not necessarily for mass consumption as Friday night entertainment. One of the best horror film imports released last year was Where Evil Lurks. What makes this film unique, besides its moody atmosphere, well-composed scares, and ultra-creepy plot, is that it constructs a new mythology and features an original type of evil. Films in the hey-day of Hammer Film Production were often produced based on mythology, including the Hammer vampire pictures, the Frankenstein mythos featuring both doctor and monster and even Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, which was composed upon a readily established mythology, which is often sadly missing from today’s films.

After escaping the first half-hour chaos, brothers Jimi and Pedro, along with his children and mother Sara, speed away from the city in Pedro’s ex-wife’s car. Jimi asks his mother if she ever saw a possessed one, and she answers no. Then, one of the children asks their grandmother what a possessed one is, and Sara lays out the mythology for the family and the audience. “Something really, really bad. It goes into a person and uses its body to be born.” The child asks, “Like a disease?” Grandma Sara answers, “There’s a song, do you know it? They get into your body, they infect your mind, and they take the most valuable thing in your life. Your body is no longer your body.”

Telling the children, “It’s not that bad if you take precautions. Look. There are seven rules to follow and remember when there’s a possessed one. Don’t use electric lights. Don’t stay close to animals. Please don’t take anything that was close to them. Don’t hurt them. And a very important rule: never name the evil by its name.” The child asks does evil have a name?” And Sara answers, “Lucifer ... there’s a very important rule too! Don’t shoot them with firearms.” Pedro and Jimi tell Sara to stop. Suddenly, Jair, mentally challenged, must receive ice cream before he stops moaning, and at the same time, Pedro gets a phone call from his dead ex, Sabrina, “You took my children. I want them back ... I know where you are. I’ll come get my kids and get them back. You don’t know what I’m capable of.” Pedro destroys his cell phone and confesses to Jimi, crying, he saw her die ... I took the evil to her; I almost killed them all. We should have left as soon as we knew.”

Once the mythology is firmly established, we can return to the film's first half-hour to see how the mythos' rules were continuously broken. A few families live on the land of landowner Ruiz, but one night, brothers Pedro and Jimi are shocked to hear five revolver shots fired nearby on the property. Waiting until daylight to investigate with their two dogs, the brothers discover a man cut crudely in half, examining the human atrocity in detail. They decide to tell their neighbor Maria Gomez, who lives in an out-of-the-way shack with her family, about the gunshots. Inside her home lies the heavy-breathing, bloated (he looks like a blown-up balloon), and festering body of one of her sons, Uriel, still barely alive. The two brothers are in a state of shock seeing a disfigured man they once knew. Maria announces, “He’s possessed ... he’s been rotten for a long time. Maria and her children are waiting for special people, cleaners, “to dispose of him.” She believed for the longest time, “Prayers could heal him, but it’s been a year like this.” Reporting the problem to unconcerned police, one brother reports, “Uriel is dying ... he is swollen; he is a ball of pus.”

The brothers then tell landowner Ruiz what is happening, that the police have washed their hands of the manner, but then there’s the mystery of the corpse cut in half. They conclude that someone prevents the “cleaner” from reaching Maria’s place. Ruiz says, “First, they make animals crazy (Ruiz’ four dogs recently ran away), and then they make even the deceased crazy.” In a panic, the brothers feel they must quickly auction everything they own “before this goes viral.”

Ruiz rushes to Maria’s home to shoot “the rotten.” But her family warns, “If you kill him, you die.” Maria utters, “It will take our bodies; it will take our souls ... it has to be done by a professional.” Uriel yells for Ruiz to kill him with his shotgun. “You’re a coward, kill me!” before he moves to another body and even threatens a woman carrying an unborn baby. “You will be the first that I visit.” Leaving the rotten alone, Ruiz sits in his car and utters, ”He taunts us.” Ruiz yells that they must take Uriel 2-3 hours away from here. As he puts gloves on, the brothers and Ruiz plan to do the job, “He must be removed before it rots the rest!” “You have a family, Pedro, do it for them.” Maria says, “They are taking away your brother.”

As someone suggests, use ropes to carry Uriel. But somebody also recommends using the bed sheets to drag him. As four men attempt to move him while on the sheets, pus spews from his orifices as the men drop him with a thud. “Nasty fucker,” Ruiz utters. Finally, they manage to lift him as pus pours from the sheet. They manage to move him to the back of a pickup truck. Driving down a dusty road, 300 kilometers, they vow to drive another, then dump him. Swerving to miss hitting a kid going to school, they lose Uriel from the rear bed. They decide to leave him where he fell off the truck 20 minutes ago. Soon, Ruiz and his wife are shocked to learn their goats are converging near their home, seemingly led by one male goat that is seemingly possessed. Ruiz fires his rifle in the air to scatter them. The one male goat remains as Ruiz takes dead aim, his wife getting an axe for defense and shouting, “Don’t do it.” Don’t shoot the beast. You’ll condemn us, love.” Suddenly, the goat approaches Ruiz’s rifle, and he utters a sound while Ruiz fires at point-blank range. Suddenly, Jimena uses the axe to split open Ruiz’s head; she then bows down on the soil and repeatedly hits herself in the face with the axe blade. Her face becomes a mass of blood.

A young boy reports the two deaths to brothers Jimi and Pedro, saying his mother disappeared. “You did the wrong thing by taking Uriel away ... don’t use electric lights. Its shadows call in the evil.” The following day, the plan is to drive into town, pick up Pedro’s kids at his ex-wife’s home, and leave the area. Sabrina, his ex-wife, lives with Leo, her new husband. Pedro begs to talk with her. When entering the house, he strips naked, asking to have two changes of clothing; Sabrina gets upset and yells. He tries to warn her of impending disaster. He tells his kids to prepare to leave, preparing a bag each, and Sabrina is outraged. “There is a rotten in town, a possessed one, Sabrina ... this town will turn into hell quickly!” But Sabrina wants Leo to call the cops on Pedro. Sabrina accuses Pedro of scarring the kids and lying. “You disappeared for four years, not a single dollar, and now you come back!” Suddenly, the family dog, without provocation, attacks one of the children suddenly and violently. The dog holds the child with his teeth, shaking her. The dog, with Vicky, runs outside and disappears as the family searches for her. Leo, grabbing a gun, gets in his truck and speeds off. Pedro pleads for him not to shoot the dog ... “You will find a demon!” Off in the distance, he hears one gunshot. He finds Leo and the dog dead. Vicky has returned home with minor injuries, but she seems joyous and giddy in telling her Mom that Daddy will come home and try to kill her. Suddenly, Leo’s car comes racing down the block and toward the house, hitting Sabrina head-on, killing her instantly as Pedro is driving away with the kids, shielding them from the mayhem. Leo, bloody, awakens at the wheel of the car and sees Vicky dancing up and down with wild abandon.

As they say, karma’s a bitch, not having followed the rules of the mythos. First, they move “the rotten,” the dog is possessed and must not be shot. But when it is, the demon jumps to Leo's body. The dog attacked Vicky, who is also possessed and takes joy in her own mother’s death. They most likely use electric lights in Sabrina’s home. They remained too close to animals. They hurt the dog by killing it. They took the possessions of those infected and shot the possessed with firearms. In other words, they deserved every bit of mayhem because they ignored basic rules. But this is only the first half of the movie, and there remains a ton of terror to yet experience. As one can easily tell, I love this movie and recommend it to all. I didn’t want to ruin the second half.

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL ****: Australian

Director, Writer, and Editor: Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes

We zoom in on an old cathode ray television set that displays a montage with shots of college demonstrations, Vietnam, political upheaval, Charles Manson, Son of Sam, riots in Los Angeles, and brief snippets of past Night Owls shows. Then narration begins (narrated by Michael Ironside), “Mindless violence lit up the sky. America—the 1970s. The energy crisis is real at times of unrest and mistrust. It was a night of terror, a time of fear and violence. We are entering a satanic age! Anyone who can’t see that is blind! Television documents the chaos and beams the horror into our living room. And so it is done. But it also offers comfort. April 4, 1971, the first episode of UBC’s Night Owls goes on the air. The network’s hopes for a late-night hit ... With its entertaining mix of interviews, music, and sketch comedy, Night Owls with Jack Delroy captures the hearts and minds of midnight America. Five nights a week, Jack helps an anxious nation forget its troubles. In November 1972, Jack inked a five-year with UBC owner Walker Bedford. What did you have to sacrifice to get here tonight? With an Emmy nomination to his name and a growing audience share, Jack’s sights are set on the coveted late-night crown. By Jack’s side through everything is his wife, the beloved actress Madeleine Piper. Despite Jack’s relentless quest to be number one, they are considered one of showbiz’s happiest and most enduring couples. Madeleine is his muse and confidante, but she is not his only source of support. Jack’s association with The Grove, a men-only club in the redwoods of California, has been the subject of rumors since his days on the radio. Established in the 1800s and among its members politicians, entertainers, and captains of industry, The Grove has long portrayed itself as a harmless summer camp for the rich and powerful. But speculation swirls around its taste for arcane ceremony and its power to make and break careers. Four seasons on, and ratings still fail to match Carson’s. The nominations mount, but no trophy. Jack’s reputation as a perennial also-ran starts to bite. He knows that history remembers only kings. Then, in September 1976, Jack’s world is turned upside-down when Madeleine, a non-smoker, is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In October, Madeleine makes a special appearance on the show. It is the highest rating in Night Owls history but still falls a point short of Carson. Two weeks later, Madeleine is dead. A grieving Jack shuns the media. He flees New York, but his location is unknown. Just one month later, and to the surprise of many, UBC announces his return. But the gap between Delroy and Carson continues to widen. Jack and his longtime producer, Leo Fiske, go to court controversy to improve audience share. Ratings are in free fall. Sponsors are nervous. Jack’s contract is set to expire. Everything is on the line when Sweeps Week begins on Halloween night, 1977. A desperate Jack plans an episode he hopes will turn his fortunes around. You are about to see the recently discovered master tape of what went to air that night and previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage. The live TV event shocked the nation, Late Night With The Devil.”

Out of this 92-minute movie, exactly eight and a half minutes are used for this opening narration, perhaps the longest in movie history. However, in its defense, since the totality of this film is the Halloween night broadcast of Night Owls in 1977, how could the filmmakers build a backstory in any other way? But the narration sure is long!

The late-night show begins as an ordinary Halloween talk show with Jack Delroy’s spooky entrance leading to trading quips with his Ed McMahon-style co-host, Gus, and doing the typical monologue. “Interest in the occult has seen a major revival ... This is true ... We think it’s important to keep an open mind on Night Owls. Our first guest tonight ... Some call him a medium; others, a spiritualist ... let us welcome the mysterious Christou!” A young Indian man wearing a currently stylish Nehru jacket enters looking like a skinny version of Boris Karloff from The Invisible Ray. Christou believes Halloween is when communications with the dead are the highest and the spirit world is very active. Contorting his face, he begins receiving “some signals here,” breathing heavily. He calls out names Peter, then Peterson, and finally Peterman. The subject in the audience, in an innocent way, has some fun with Christou, who becomes the butt of the man’s jokes. Christou says, “Gone, the spirit has passed. I’m sorry. Sometimes, the signal gets scrambled. Studio lights, cameras, I am only a messenger.” Christou gets another signal from The Beyond about a mom and her daughter's brother who died as a suicidal victim five years ago; adding some comforting words and suddenly erupts into pain, saying, “Something very intense here!!!” He is getting a message from something named Minnie. As the intensity increases, the studio lights spark. And the spirit is lost to Christou as they go to break. All the break footage will be in black and white as the producer, Leo, of the show talks to Jack about a VIP in the audience that he must see. But Jack asks about the status of tonight’s guests.

“Our next guest is someone equally renowned in his field. Once known to us all as Carmichael the Conjurer. But he became a leading voice of the skeptic’s movement. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, if you dare, Mr. Carmichael Haig. “Your group hypnosis routine was the first of its kind,” Jack comments. Haig’s job is to distinguish between trickery and genuine psi phenomena. “But until I am presented with irrefutable proof, I will continue to expose these men and women for the swindlers they are,” Haig comments. He also carries a check for 100 grand to anyone who proves him wrong. Sitting alongside Haig, Christou starts a coughing attack, receiving another signal from the Beyond. Christou, very upset by Haig’s charges, is incensed; Haig now says, “You, sir, like me, are a liar, a cheat, a charlatan, and a fake. The difference being, I’m honest about it.” In a rage, Christou rises from his seat, throws a glass of water in Haig’s face, and starts walking off stage. Jack feels that the last reading of Christou might have been meant for him, as “Minnie” was his private name for his wife, Madeleine. Haig offers Christou half a million dollars if he could conjure the spirit of Jack’s dead wife on stage tonight. Christou, growing nauseous, slumps over, his stomach growling, lifting his head and spewing black vomit across the stage, hitting Haig in the back. As Jack goes to the commercial, Christou faces the cameras and vomits directly into the television lens. He dies backstage later that night.

More guests appear and evoke weird occurrences, leading to the electrifying climax. As the late-night show continues, things grow stranger. We have a female doctor who adopted a 13-year-old girl, Lilly, who is sometimes possessed by the demonic Mr. Wriggles. We see co-host Gus hypnotized and forced to confront his worst fears, worms. Then, when studying a video glitch, frame-by-frame, we see the ghostly figure of Madeline standing behind Jack. Suddenly, the studio blackens, and electricity runs through Lily’s body. As she screams, a violent wind rips across the studio set. In a tribute to The Exorcist, Gus tears a crucifix necklace from his neck and commands, “The power of Christ compels you!” as Lilly’s energy force turns Gus’s neck halfway around, killing him.

June, Lilly’s doctor, points her religious necklace at Lily and is levitated by the necklace up off the stage, high into the air, the necklace splitting her neck. At the same time, Haig bows allegiance to the demonic super-power before him, forgetting his skepticism. Jack is thrust across the stage and falls against a backdrop. But Lilly is soon burned to a crisp. Jack is saved by his producer, Leo, who emerges from a backdrop and pulls him backstage. Soon, the screen fades to video static, where an undistinguishable face—a demon, Satan—appears for a few seconds in the static. Then we cut to Jack at a meeting of the Grove, where he is forced to drink an amulet of blood, bowing down to a man wearing an owl outfit as the other members squawk like birds.

Then, a door opens to reveal the dying Madeleine in her bedroom, bald, wearing an oxygen mask. Madeleine says, “I was worried they wouldn’t let you see me. They told you that you could have it all. Didn’t they? Be number one. Well, you finally made it, darling. But you had to pay a price. Exit Minnie, stage left. I never thought that they’d ... Your soul belonged to them. Still does.” Holding her hand, Jack answers, “It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. You have to believe me.” Madeleine chimes, “You’re on your own now, Jack.” “I love you, Minnie,” Jack breaks down, sobbing. Minnie responds, “Then, please, do this one last thing for me. The pain, please. Please! You know what to do. Do it. Do it. Jack picks up a sacrificial knife from the night table and slowly plunges it into her chest, killing Madeleine. Then Jack screams as Madeleine’s body is replaced by Lilly’s, the knife now in her chest. Then Jack is on stage, and as the camera zooms backward, everyone on stage is dead, their bodies all appearing as if staged; then Jack says softly and repeatedly, “Dreamer, here. Awake.” The videotape abruptly cuts off. Appearing then on tape is “End Transmission.” And static hissing drones on. Cut to credits.

This Australian film is innovative and original; turning a late-night talk show like Johnny Carson’s into a horror spectacular is outrageous, but it makes sense. Here, we have a variation on a theme: the man who sells his soul to the devil for success and fame. All he has to do is sacrifice his wife, Madeleine. In many ways, I wanted the movie’s focus on The Grove and how the evil cult infected Jack Delroy. But that would have been a horror version of Eyes Wide Shut or a film similar to Rosemary’s Baby, probably being accused of ripping off the theme. And which version seems more original? Observing individual guests and watching the program fly off the rails in spectacular ways is fun. Still, the character of Jack Delroy, played by David Dastmalchian, holds the film together, marrying both a conniving evil character and a man who loves his wife and genuinely finds himself conflicted. As Jack’s wife Madeleine, Georgina Haig submits, at times, both a haunting performance as a scary woman and a sensitive one who gasps for every breath she takes, dying in pain. Never hating Jack, even at the end, she understands why Jack would sacrifice her. But her performance gets real in her final appearance on Jack’s show. Also commended is Ingrid Torelli, as Lilly, the 13-year-old, possessed. Her performance sometimes satirizes Linda Blair's stellar performance from The Exorcist. But I presume Torelli plays both roles, the innocent child and the possessed demon, and the differences between the two characters she creates startles. But her best moments are when Lilly casts a demonic smile at a cast member or stares, seemingly playing innocent and quirky simultaneously. And even though Fayssal Bazzi as Christou creates a pretty intense performance, it is a show-offy one going for the bombast. His performance remains in the audience’s mind, but is spewing vomit across the stage great acting?

This found-footage film is sinister in all the right ways, moving from guest to guest and illustrating new and different avenues of horror. We have the intense horror of Christou and Lilly, the underlying subtlety of Delroy, the body horror of Madeleine, and the eccentric antics of on-set misfires. The primary setting for all the horror is a live studio show, which we usually do not associate with horror. All in all, Late Night With the Devil is unlike any horror film ever made, and it remains a very good one, well worth seeing.

"THE ROTTEN" STARTS THE CURSE IN WHEN EVIL LURKS

THE HOLLOWS RITUAL SEQUENCE FROM LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL.

SHORT SHUDDERS