Friday, December 1, 2023
Prince of the Air
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Tomorrow's Headlines Today
BETWEEN February 1970 and August 1972, the BBC broadcast three seasons of DOOM WATCH, a sobering set of cautionary tales created by DOCTOR WHO story editor Gerry Davis and medical scientist/author Kit Pedler. In the show, a Government sponsored organisation - led by Physicist Dr Spencer Quist (John Paul) - investigate ecological and technological dangers in stories influenced by contemporary cases. This "Department for the Observation and Measurement of Science" combated intelligent carnivorous rats, mind-destroying sound waves, toxic mutations and a plastic-eating virus, and a final episode - exploring permissiveness and its impact on human behaviour - was banned. This story, SEX AND VIOLENCE, courted controversy not for its subject matter but for a scene where the footage of a real-life African execution is shown. Even though the programme attempted to make the serious and valid point that watching genuine violence has a different effect on viewers than fantasy harm, the episode was nevertheless pulled by nervous executives.
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Black As Sin
POSSUM (2018)
THE feature directorial debut of Matthew Holness, POSSUM is an expansion of his short story from The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease. Comma Press had the writers read Freud's theory of the uncanny, then asked them to choose a fear and provide a story (Holness combined two, doppelgängers and dummies). The film sees puppeteer Philip (Sean Harris) returning to his childhood home where his uncle Maurice (Alun Armstrong) has been living for some time, who raised him after the death of his parents. The haunted Philip revisits places significant to his formative years, as he attempts to understand the past and rid himself of his unnerving puppet, a spider with a human head and a thousand yard stare.
POSSUM draws on silent expressionist horror and English Gothic, especially THE INNOCENTS. Jack Clayton's adaptation of The Turn of the Screw shares a lot of POSSUM's foundation, namely an inherent sadness through problematic sexual awakening. This examination of trauma is expertly brought to live by performance and fractured narrative, and even the surrounding forest - with its warped branches - symbolise spindly spider legs (when Maurice attacks at the climax, he puts his fingers into Philip's mouth, providing a further nod to arachnid digits). Another plus is the score by The Radiophonic Workshop, marking the studio's first soundtrack purposely constructed for a feature film. Actually more a sound design for mental anguish, pieces include unreleased material by Delia Derbyshire.
Philip has never recovered from a corrupted innocence, with his monosyllabic speech and movement reminiscent of childlike mannerisms and anxieties. Even the rhyme, "Mother, Father, what’s afoot? Only Possum, black as soot et al," lovingly illustrated in a sketchbook, bridges the simplicity of youth to his adult existence. Harris would remain in character throughout the shoot to the point where Holness felt that he was working with Philip rather than Harris. Both lead actors only interacted with each other while filming scenes together, further enhancing the feeling of separation and tension.
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Short Cuts (Part III of III)
COMEDY SHORTS - SMUTCH (2016)
SMUTCH, an eleven minute Sky Arts COMEDY SHORT, follows Oswin Thaddeus Tow (Holness), an embittered author who has just written his masterpiece, A Shiver at Blandwood. Tow drinks green tea for its hallucinogenic properties to aid the artistic process, but this causes regular urination. When he desecrates on the grave of Smutch - who was an aspiring writer - a black stain appears on his manuscript, and strange messages appear. His photographer Keene (Jim Howick) is accidently killed by the toxicity of his urine mixing with developing chemicals, but Father Fenton (Clive Merrison) is "sucked inside out" by the otherworldly Smutch, as Oswin himself succumbs to an M. R. Jamesian-type demise. With a knowing nod to the British horror fascination with magnifying glasses, it's all a lark, though peeing makes for a rather one-note foundation.
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Short Cuts (Part II of III)
SELKIE (2014)
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Short Cuts (Part I of III)
BLACK ANGEL (1980)
The main thread has Mary (Margaret Heald) and Anne (Helen Bernat) hitching to the Ashford pop festival, despite being given money to safely use the train (this land-locked event is illustrated by ITN footage of the 1970 Isle of Wight gathering). Picked up by a black-gloved man driving a convertible, the women become uncomfortable when he shows them a porn mag; a LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT-style assault then takes place by a river. The other violent tale has two female hoodlums (Gennie Nevinson and Sella Coley) steal a knife and - after an unconvincing drug deal - decide they need "a whole new scene;" this involves traveling "to the coast" and stabbing a driver for the contents of his wallet.
The unintentional highlight however is the yarn of Suzanne (Danish model Ina Skriver). "Excuse me, do you hitchhike?" asks the optimistic voiceover as she is stopped in the street; "oh yes, I used to hitch" she replies, "but it's not a pretty story." In flashback, we see our leggy blonde picked up in a Rolls Royce by swingers Alan (Alan Bone) and Margaret (Tara Lynn), ending up in a semi-consensual ménage a trois. The only glimmer of decency is portrayed by lorry driver Jock (Charles Erskine), who picks up a couple of girls (Pauline Bates and Christianne) - presumably going to the same festival - and protects them from abuse in a transport café (although he does take obligatory glances at their legs).