Downtime

 As some of you may already know my favourite TV show since I was a little kid is Doctor Who, I won't bore you here with a recap of the show as I've no doubt most of you already know the at least the premesis. What I will tell you about is the wilderness years, that time between 1989 and 2005 when Doctor Who was absent from television (with the exception of re-runs and the 1996 TV movie), though the stories of the Doctor never stopped, comics that had run almost since the shows beginning continue to this day, series of novels continuing the story as well as adding new adventures for the past Doctor's, in 2000 Big Finish would start it's series of highly successful Doctor Who audio plays and then there is todays subject Reeltime Pictures.

Reeltime Pictured (and later BBV) produced original direct to video films based in the Doctor Who universe. Though the BBC kept close guard of the series Reeltime was able to directly licence characters and creatures directly from the writers who created them, so while The Doctor himself couldn't appear they were able to use characters such as Sargent Benton, Sarah Jane Smith and alien species such as The Sontaran's and Draconian's. Today we'll be looking at one of their films that sees several Doctor Who characters return to fight a classic foe, the recently released to DVD, Downtime.

Written by Marc Platt who also wrote the Seventh Doctor story Ghost Light as well as a number of Doctor Who novels and audio dramas, and directed by Christopher Barry who had directed many episodes of the show in the 60's and 70's, Downtime sees the return of five characters from Doctor Who; Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), Victoria Waterfield (Deborsh Watling), Professor Edward Travers (Jack Watling) and the villainous Great Intelligence along with its henchmen The Yeti. The film also introduced the character of Kate Stewart (Beverley Cressman) who would appear in the revived series of the show. The film also features Doctor Who alumni John Leeson and Geoffrey Beevers in new roles of Anthony and Harrods.

The plot see's the villainous Great Intelligence and his army of Yeti once again attempt to take over the world, this time having manipulated former companion of the Doctor Victoria Waterfield into founding the New World University, all in a ploy to invade the internet. Fellow former asociats of the Doctor Sara Jane Smith and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart fight to save the day with help from the Brigadier's estranged daughter Kate, former RAF man Harrods and psychic teenager Daniel Hinton (Mark Trotman). The film is more than a sci-fi romp especially with the Brigadier as we also get to see his strained relationship with his daughter, and the effects working for a secret government agency had on his life.

What I really love about this film is that I really believe this is what Doctor Who would have been like had it continued into the 90's. It has a similar feel to late 80's Doctor Who especially the Sylvester McCoy years (my favourer era of the whole show) but with a dash of the 90's, especially as the story is heavily involved with the early internet.

The story itself is a sequel to 60's Doctor Who serials The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of fear, which to my eternal shame are two I haven't seen, I will soon as I plan to get both then marathon all three stories back to back to see if I get any more out Downtime that way. The Great Intelligences is a great villain along with its new breed of his menacing robotic yeti. It's great to see a bit of the lives of Doctor Who companions Sarah Jane and Victorias lives after their travels in the TARDIS, and in the case of the Brigadier this film is actually a prequel to his final appearance in Doctor Who, the fantastic Battlefield which took place in the late 90's.

As said before Reeltime productions couldn't directly name drop The Doctor but a few cheeky references are made, a particular favourite of mine happens after the Brigadier has been in a fight, he's been hit on the head and as he falls into unconsciousness he sees another character run towards him to help, the Brigadier says “Good lord, is that you? Have you changed yourself... again?” Little touches like this are charming additions for fans to spot.

The film was also novelised by Marc Platt as part of Virgin Book's Missing Adventures series of Doctor Who novels, a book I would love to read one day as from what I have read it is a greatly expanded version of the story and even has cameos by both the third and fourth Doctors.

This film is great and a must see for fan's of classic Doctor Who though if you are only familiar with the new show you may not get as much out of it. But if thats the case check out some classic Who then give this one a watch.

Updates and Sci-Fi Month

Massive apologies, I meant only to take a two week break after my Christmas reviews but things have been crazy this last couple weeks so haven't managed to get my next review done, at the latest my next review will be out in a week but I will aim for before then. And as a teaser I will tell you my next four reviews will all be sci-fi, even a horror hound like myself likes a change once in a while.

After that I already have lots of ideas for what I want to review this coming year so keep your eyes on this page.

But as you wait for my next pice of incredible writing (yeah right) I want to reccomand two other blogs by friends of mine.  

First is sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris and like mine is a blog looking at films especially horror ones, she is a much better writer than me on the subject so check it out.

https://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com/

The other is Retro TV Corner, a look at classic sitcoms of the 60's, 70's and 80's, mostly British, if like me you grew up watching a lot of the older sitcoms you'll be hit with a flood of nostalgia as soon as you click onto the page.

http://www.retrotvcorner.com/

So go over, check out their stuff, comment, like and all that good stuff!

Christmassacre Five - Silent Night (2012)

After how much I raved and said I loved the original Silent Night, Deadly Night you would think I'd watch the remake with higher expectations than I normally would for a modern slasher film, that I might review it in comparison to the original rather than letting it stand on it's own merits. And while I can't say I have never done this when watching a remake, I can say I watched 2012's Silent Night without comparing it too much to the original because in reality this is an in name only remake, new plot, new characters and only passing references to the original. This could easily have been called Silent Night, Deadly Night 6: Malcolm McDowell Saves Christmas, actually it might be better to watch it with the mind set of it been the fifth sequel. So yeah, as a remake Silent Night doesn’t work as it has the barest in common with the original, but as a film on it's own right is it good? Maybe, is it fun? Hell Yeah!

This time around we follow the cops of a small town as they try to track down a man going round killing people dressed in a Santa suit, targeting sinners such as pornographers, bitchy kids and perverts.

First off I must say this film looks great with some scenes really wonderfully shot including the opening and the first out door kill, the latter including some wonderful shots and angles (it is also probably the best kill in the film so I won't spoil it here). Colour was used well, especially in the final battle in the police station where rooms are bathed in either red or green light.

Jamie King plays an enjoyable lead as cop Aubrey Bradimore, but it's Malcolm McDowell I love in this film as Sheriff James Cooper, you might find some of his cheesy dialogue eye rolling at time but that was part of the fun for me, he's clearly having a blast here spouting these often ridiculous lines. Donal Logue also has a small role as an arse-hole mall Santa and is just wonderful, he isn't in the film enough.

Our killer Santa has a good look, particularly the creepy rubber mask he wears, though I'm on the fence weather or not I think we should have seen his eyes through it, I think it might have been scarier if they had just been solid black voids like on the poster. Most the kills are your standard sharp blade's been inserted into squishy humans, nothing wrong with that of course, though there are a couple more creative ones, such as the first death, the porn actress's and of course the remake of the famous antler impalement from the original. Speaking of the deaths the effects are good, yeah there are a couple of CG kills that are probably not that bad but they do tend to stand out more because the practical ones look so good and are very gruesome.

There are a couple things I'm unsure about, it implies the killer lives in the town and while this may be true it's never confirmed as it also hints that he may travel around. Though him living in the town does explain how he knew who to kill, yeah the pervy priest and adulterous cop would have been easy for him to find out about but some of the others it would only really make seance if he lived there. But this is a small nit-pick and never stopped me enjoying the film as I watched.

There are a hand full of references to the original, they remake the creepy granddad scene, have a character say 'garbage day' (in reference to the infamous scene from the second film) and as I said before do the antlers kill. While these are fun most seem to just be a token effort and mostly could be removed from the film without affecting it at all, but they are fun nods and I'm glad they are there.

This won't be a film to everyones taste, it is far from perfect and I'm sure you could pick apart plenty of holes in it, but if you can just kick back and enjoy it for what it is, a fun pice of slasher escapism, you'll have a blast. It also teaches a valuable lesson...

'Never bring a flamethrower to a gun fight.'

Christmassacre Four – Black X-Mas (2006)

Now remake's always have a hard time, it seems that no matter what they do there will be a number of people who hate them on principal, or complain that they changed too much from the original or just did the same thing so whats the point? While I like to judge every film on its own merits it can be hard with remakes because that comparison to the original will still be there in the back of your mind. My personal preference is for a remake to go in its own direction, take the premise for the original and pay homage to it but try to tell the story in a new way or look at it from a new angle, and 2006's Black X-Mas is an example of doing this well.

The original Black Christmas followed the girls of a sorority house as they are picked off one by one by a serial killer, the remake follows the same premise (albeit over one night instead of a few days) but unlike the original that told us nothing about the killer other than his presumed name Billy this film spends much of it's runtime to his backstory, a very creepy back story too. I really like this as it really feels like we are looking at the other side of a coin and is a unique spin on the story.

In a nice bit of casting Andrea Martin, who was one of the sorority girls in the original plays house mother Barbara MacHenry in the remake, and she is just the start of a great cast including Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Hudson, Crystal Lowe, Lacey Chabert and Kristen Cloke. All of which are great and play very well off each other and they feel like real people.

Though reception was initially mixed when it first came out the film has slowly started to become more popular over the years, and I'm glad of that. Though many still hate it I personally think this is a great horror film and a great remake.

One thing I don't think even the people who dislike this film can deny is that it is beautiful, every shot uses colour to great effect from the soft blues to the bright reds, the Christmas lights that decorate both the inside and outside of the house, and even the log fire that bathes the room in warm yellow.  Joe Dante once said there are two types of colour films, ones that happen to be in colour and 'colour films', that use colour to help tell the story, this is a 'colour film' and really stands out from the dozens of horror films these days that stick to grey, blue and otherwise dull colours.

Now it's worth mentioning that I watched this on the UK DVD which is a different cut to what America and some other places got, there are lists you can find online such as at movie-censorship.com detailing the differences. But by far the biggest change is the ending, my DVD included all four alternative endings but my favourite and the one I wish they had used is the mobile phone ending, which I have read was the original intended ending, it's the least action oriented one and ends the film on more of a chill up the spine moment which appeals to me so much more.

It is important to note that the film didn't turn out exactly the way director Glen Morgan intended due to producer and studio interference that forced him to add some more gore and jump scares to the film, and while they don't detract from the film in any major way they do in places feel unnecessary. But by far the biggest way the studio screwed him over was by filming some extra trailer only scenes without him knowing, they made the film look more like a non stop thrill ride than the slower horror film it was. Naturally as soon as the film was out word of mouth spread that scenes from the trailer such as a girl been trapped under ice or Lacey Chabert been dragged into a thresher weren’t in the film, how the studio ever thought this kind of stunt would work is beyond me.

Despite studio interference the film still turned out great and is well worth your time to check out, it's a different beast to the original but is highly enjoyable and does enough different that you won't feel like you have watched the same film twice.  Check this one out.

Christmassacre Three – Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Silent Night, Deadly Night was perhaps the most controversial slasher film in 80's America, it never did see a cinema or video release here in the UK until 2009 but we had our own share of film controversy with the Video Nasties. The thing about the Video Nasties is a lot of them are bad films and if it was not for the controversy surrounding them they would probably have been forgotten. Is this the same case for Silent Night, Deadly Night? Well I'm glad to say it is not, in fact this might be one of the best slasher film's I've seen.

Unlike most slashers we don't follow the soon to become victims of a mass killer, instead we see the life of the slasher and the events that drive him to kill. One Christmas Eve Billy Chapman (Jonathan Best) get's freaked out by his grandfather (Will Hare) who tells him Santa Clause punishes children who haven't been good one-hundred percent of the year, Billy been a normal kid knows he has been naughts sometimes so starts to dread Santa coming, despite his parents (Tara Buckman and Jeff Hansen) protests that his grandpa was wrong. That same night he witnesses a criminal in a Santa outfit (Charles Dierkop) kill his father and attempt to rape his mother before killing her too, leaving just Billy and his baby brother Richy alive. From here we detail Billy's live as he grown up in a orphanage run by an evil Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvi), the kind of woman who is so set in her methods of raising and punishing the children she doesn’t even see the damage she is causing to Billy’s mind. Also forcing him to sit on Santa's lap despite knowing what he lived through really helped mess him up, in other words the blood of what he will do latter in life is on this woman’s hands!

Despite all this Billy seems to grow into a nice young man, at least this is how he appears on the outside, getting a job in a toy store he does well until Christmas comes around and he is made to fill in for the stores Santa on Christmas Eve, he finally snaps after seeing the attempted rape of his crush, flashing back to his parents deaths. And so he sets out to punish the naughty.

What I find most interesting about this film is its format, sure I've seen other slasher films that show the killers backstory but this is the first one I know of that actually follows the killers story for most of the film, it isn't until the third act that focus switches to the police hunting Billy. We really get a sense of what he has gone through and most of the film is dedicated to his character development, he really is a sympathetic character, we can't blame him for what he does as we know the trauma he went through and that he never got the help he needed.

The latter half of the film detailing the rampage is great two, it's set up so we'll go to a scene with new characters only for Billy to burst in and kill them, yeah we don't get to see much about these characters except some are bullier and others like to screw on pool tables but it really feels like these a scenes right out of another slasher, like you could have made an alternative film to this where we follow these characters but know nothing about Billy. This is Billy's story so he is the focus so we don't need to know as much about these other characters but if you are a fan of slashers like me you already have an idea what they are like.  Though I did feel that having Billy repeat 'Punish!' over and over sounded a little silly, at least to me.

I also have to say some of the kills here are pretty creative, yes we have our standard axe swings to the gut and hammer blows to the head but by far the most iconic of the film is when the lovely Linnea Quigley is impaled on the antlers of a mounted deer head, giving a whole new meaning to horny teenager. Even when a guy is thrown out a window it's a bit more creative when we see massive shards of glass sticking out of him. The blood and gore effects in the film, it must be said, are very good.

Other than Linnea Quigley there are probably few actors you will recognise here, but thats not to say any of the cast were bad, though some of the smaller roles and the kids at the orphanage may not be the best acting, the main cast give good performances throughout, especially Lilyan Chauvin as the Mother Superior who really sells her part, you just want to reach into the screen and deck this woman!

This is one of the slasher classics, though I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you that, if you haven't see this one I highly recommend it.  The film also sets it self up nicely for a sequel, how did that go?  Well, maybe we'll talk about it another time.

Out Now - Krampus

Now this is a film I went into with high hopes after seeing director/writer Michael Dougherty's previous feature film Trick 'r Treat for the first time earlier this year and falling absolutely in love with it. So when I heard his second film was to be based on the legendary character Krampus I knew I had to see it as soon as I could.

The plot follow's a family as they get together for Christmas, but it is a less than fun arrangement as young Max (Emjay Anthony) and his sister Beth (Stefania LaVie Owee) don’t get on with his cousins; twins Stevie and Jordan (Lolo Owen and Queenie Samuel) and Howie Jr. (Maverick Flack). While their parents Tom and Sarah (Adam Scott and Toni Collette) seem to have a rocky relationship with their aunt Linda (Allison Tolman) and uncle Howard (David Koechner) as well. At dinner Stevie and Jordan steal his letter to Santa and read it aloud, leading to a fight and Max storming off, though his dad tries to comfort him he rips up his letter and throws it out his window. This act seems to bring on a massive snowstorm that cuts power to the entire town. From here we follow the family as they try to survive the snowstorm and eventually the coming of Krampus and his minions.

At first I was somewhat worried, when the aunt and uncles family arrived as I thought I would hate these people, the father Howard was a gun nut survivalist, his twin daughters super bullies and so on, and while maybe not so much for his kids the script and actors did a good job making sure the adults weren’t just one note characters, sisters Sarah and Linda have some great scenes where they reminisce about the past while Tom and Howard start to gain some respect for each other and even start to like each other, or at least dislike each other less, and all these interactions feel genuine. It is hard to say who my favourite character is, I was very fond of Omi (the german word for grandmother) Max's grandmother and Tom's mother played by Krista Stadler, but in the end I think I have to go with Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell) who is wonderfully blunt, abrasive and drunk, and kind of a bad ass when she gets her turn and is probably the funniest character in the film.

Another highlight of the film is the monsters, from the trailers you'll have seen the living gingerbread men but they are just the first of what is a number of demented Christmas themed creatures. It is also fantastic to see that, with the exception of the gingerbread men, the monsters are practical and I have to applaud the prop department and puppeteers that brought these creatures to life. And though I always choose practical over CGI I have to say the gingerbread men were cute as hell and looked great, there is also a CG animated sequence mind way through the film where Omi tell us what she knows about Krampus and it is wonderful with a heavily stylised aesthetic.

I also have to mention the great opening scene where we see a Black Friday like shopping spree with people pushing each other and fighting, shop employees hiding up ladders to avoid the onslaught of ravenous customers and even some been taken down by security and tasered, all in beautifully shot slow-motion to the sound of Bing Crosby's 'It Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas'. It's fantastic to say the least, in fact the whole film looks good, Dougherty is really developing his own style through his films and I look forward to seeing what he does next.

I honestly can't recommend this one enough, the film is scary, funny and pure enjoyment from start to finish, it's up there with Gremlins as a great Christmas horror comedy and one I'm sure I'll revisit every year.

Out Now - Victor Frankenstein

When I first saw the trailers for this film I was excited, it looked like a cool take on the Frankenstein story starting two actors I like a lot; Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy. When the first lot of reviews came in they were pretty poor, at least the US critics while in the UK it has been getting more favourable write up's. So I ended up going in not sure what to expect, I could end up hating it or loving it, and I'm happy to say that it's the latter.

So this film is a retelling of the Frankenstein story from the point of view of his sidekick Igor, this time around he isn't a poorly educated assistant to the mad Doctor but an equal partner and friend. This is one of the best part's of the film as Daniel Radcliffe's Igor and James McAvoy's Frankenstein play off each other fantastically and the friendship between these characters as well as the mutual respect they have for each other really shines through, something even the poor reviews seem to agree on. One scene that stands out is when Frankenstein shows Igor an early experiment, and while impressed Igor points out a mistake the Doctor made, many films would have had the Doctor be angry but instead he is over joyed to see that Igor was intelligent enough to spot it.

These version's of the characters are a bit different to what we have come to expect, McAvoy's Frankenstein is a mad eccentric medical student, loud, full of energy and possibly drunk, often neglecting his studies in favour of his own experiments. He is a man that seems to find the mundane life of those around him boring and is completely obsessed with his work, but there is depth to him as we learn his backstory and why he feels he must create life. Igor, a character who for decades has been modelled on Fritz from the 1931 film is a very different character here, though he starts off as a circus clown once he teams up with Frankenstein it's revealed he is not hunchback, a fluid build up in his back has giving him the appearance of one, something the Doctor treats right away. Igor is also very intelligent, having self taught himself about anatomy and the human body from books and it's a demonstration of his knowledge that drawn Frankenstein to him. Both leads play their parts well, playing off each other fantastically and are a joy to watch.

The rest of the cast is on fine form too with Jessica Brown Findlay as Igor's love interest Lorelei, Freddie Fox as fellow medical student Finnegan, and Andrew Scott as a Scotland Yard Inspector who wants to bring Frankenstein down as he believes his creations are the devils work. Charles Dance and Mark Gatiss also have small roles in the film.  You can tell everyone was just having a blast on set.

Another thing I love about this film is its production design, from the circus where Frankenstein first meets Igor to the fantastic almost steam-punk looking lab sets, this film has a great look and I was especially impressed with the grimy streets of early nineteenth century London, which could of looked grey and boring but instead bursted from the screen with large colourful billboards and crowds of people everywhere you look. I'm a big fan of the ascetics of this time period and they look fantastic here.

The plot is where my opinion on the film wavers a bit, while there is a lot to like and some great ideas such as showing us Frankenstein's early creations, there are a few bits that I feel could have been improved on. The film opens showing up Igor's life in the circus where he is treated very badly by almost everyone around him, I enjoyed these scenes but they are over very quickly as he meets Frankenstein and escapes about ten minutes into the film. I would have enjoyed more time spent here especially in relation to Lorelei, whom he tells us through narration is the only person at the circus to be kind to him, but we don't really see this and it's not until later in the film when they meet up again that she has any substantial dialogue. There is also a character who takes a villainous turn latter in the film that pushes the plot forward briefly but doesn’t amount to much in the end, though perhaps it didn't need to. But to be fair these are small issues I have with what is a very fun film.

The film also contains references to may other Frankenstein films, such as the Universal films and even Young Frankenstein gets a nod, screen writer Max Landis is clearly a fan of this story and wanted to work that love into this script.  There is also some clear inspiration taken from Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes but this film is still its own beast.

I must admit when I came out the cinema I was so so on the film and wasn't sure if I would recommend it or not, but thinking back the stuff I liked far outweighs the stuff I didn't and I had a lot of fun watching this one. So yes I do recommend this film, it's good fun, a dark campy film with a slick style and seance of humour.