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September 5, 2015September 5, 2015

Top Five Wes Craven Films

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward

Last week saw the passing of one of the coolest directors in cinematic horror, Wes Craven… He deserves to be called king of the slashers, for he kick-started two classic franchises of the genre (A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream). However as crude as the slashers were, Craven’s films were always smart, imaginative and underpinned with great plot and occasional literary references. They were also quite scary. I admit I haven’t seen every Wes Craven film (including Last House on the Left, which I’m still kicking myself for) but I have arranged the handful I have seen in order of the best, according to my opinion of course. All aboard the Wes Craven ghost train…

5. Scream (1996)

It’s a shame that this was the film that inspired the Scary Movie franchise and the legions of unfunny film spoofs that followed. The original Scream movie was better, in that it worked the same way that its signature ghoulish killer did (you know, the one who dressed like he was trick or treating). Both were tongue in cheek and poked fun at the horror genre, yet still managed to efficiently scare and slaughter the other characters, no better than in the darkly funny but terrifying opening scene starring Drew Barrymore. In other words, Craven succeeded in paying tribute to classic slashers while being slyly aware of their clichés. At the same time he delivered an intense, gruesome chiller that was also funny and entertaining, thus creating a perfect recipe for a horror hit. The sequel Scream 2 , also by Craven, was just as good as the first film in exploring the public’s obsession with horror films. The follow-ups got a bit silly.

4. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Craven did another twist on the genre in the final addition of his other popular series (unless you count the heathen 2010 remake ). Despite his iconic creation Freddy Kruger getting ‘killed’ in the sixth Nightmare on Elm Street film , Wes couldn’t resist directing a follow-up, the only Nightmare sequel he directed. While Freddy may have died on film, he returns with a vengeance to the real world; a world so real that actress Heather Langenkamp (aka Nancy from the first film) plays herself, as does Wes and Robert Englund (who plays himself and Freddy if you can get your head around that). Then try and get your head around the fact that this is a Nightmare on Elm Street movie about a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie being made, and Langenkamp realising that the character of Freddy is creeping into her reality and threatening her life, sanity and family. The best thing about this movie is that it’s possibly the scariest Nightmare, since Wes stripped Freddy of the wisecracks and clownishness popularised in the previous sequels and left him as he is: a psychotic kidnapper. This movie not only stepped the game up from the previous sequels, but was a comment on audience’s obsession with Wes’ films and his nightmarish figure of Freddy.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

You can’t beat the original. One of those great cinematic success stories where a film starts with a budget of just over a million dollars (small in the eighties) and becomes an unstoppable franchise, cementing itself in the horror hall of fame. Starting off with a great premise (a killer returned from the dead to slaughter teenagers in their dreams), this classic is also great for its weirdness and imagination. Take the iconic villain Freddy Kruger for instance: a Dennis-the-Menace sweater, a trilby, a mutilated face and a glove with knives for fingers. You can’t even imagine how they put all that together, yet lucky they did for Freddy’s image proved very marketable in toy shops.

The other great thing, regarding the low budget, is the variety of stunts and special effects created for when the characters enter Freddy’s dream world: stairs become quicksand; phones lick you and beds vomit blood. I guess what makes this a horror classic is its blend of crassness (the bloody massacre of sex-addicted teenagers) and sophistication (dreams, a Gothic trickster and Shakespearean references). And while the soundtrack is heavy with synth and the hairstyles are big, this still remains a thrilling, gruesome and effective horror. By the end you’re no longer sure of the difference between dream and reality. Watch out for a baby-faced Johnny Depp too.

2. The Hill Have Eyes (1977)

Craven’s second feature after his controversy-baiting debut Last House on the Left and released the year punk broke, The Hills Have Eyes deserves its place as a horror classic for its sheer brutality. It’s a nasty, gritty piece of work in the same manner of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and fits right in with the decency-assaulting home-invasion shockers of the 70s (see Straw Dogs and I Spit on your Grave). Once again Craven blends sophistication with exploitation.

The plot has something for psychologists, sociologists and violence addicts alike. It’s essentially a merciless battle between two families. On one side you have a typical decent white American family. On the other, a clan of cannibalistic savages who live out in a patch of American desert previously used for testing nuclear weapons; which the other family happen to be driving through. The movie succeeds in building up suspense in the first half, with lots of howling wind and spooky desert shots, and once the violence starts it never lets up. The audience is assaulted with constant noisy savagery as the civilised family find themselves in a bestial fight for their lives. The 2006 remake offered the same with some pointless back story. Watch the original for a ferocious vision of the American dream.

1. The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Possibly Craven’s most underrated masterpiece and one of the most underrated of all horrors. I consider this his best work, for he concentrates most on the story and characters over the violence, which pays off. I cared more about the heroes in this film than any of Craven’s others, mainly because they were kids and they weren’t stereotypes of teens or nuclear family members, and the villains are truly detestable. This film could almost be a family adventure if it weren’t for the disturbing content. What makes it genius is its blend of classic and contemporary storylines. It’s almost like a traditional fairy tale: children are lost in a big scary house, outwitting the ogre and witch-like adults. The modern aspect of the story comes from its depiction of the social and economic divide between races in America.

Our hero is a young black kid named Fool (Brandom Adams) who lives in a deprived neighbourhood and agrees to help rob his landlord’s house in the rich white neighbourhood. Unfortunately the landlord and his wife turn out to be a pair of racist, incestuous, cannibalistic fiends, who like to feed undesirables to their clan of deformed, animalistic offspring locked in the basement. When Fool finds himself trapped in this fortified, booby-trapped house from hell, he relies on his wits and the help of some allies among the children (including the brutalised daughter Alice played by A. J. Langer) to escape and get justice. This most original and imaginative of Craven’s efforts (which says a lot) wins for having such a classic enjoyable plot: plucky underdog heroes in a battle of wits against some truly nightmarish villains. Like all of Craven’s films, there’s a lot going on under the horror and it’s still quite frightening. A real exhibit of the talents of a great director.

Images from IMDB

September 4, 2015

Music Review: Atreyu

Our guest music writer Robert Moody continuously trawls the country for live music. In this post he reviews Atreyu and Shvpes who played a sold out Rescue Rooms in Nottingham last week.

The ‘Sold Out’ signs were on display at The Rescue Rooms on Friday night, as Metalcore pioneers Atreyu descended on the venue as part of their first full UK tour in nearly 5 years. Following a lengthy hiatus, the band had torn apart The Underworld in Camden back in April of this year, and were now playing the similarly sized Rescue Rooms as a warm up show for their appearances at the weekend’s Reading & Leeds festivals.

The sole support for the evening came from Birmingham quintet Shvpes, who wasted no time launching into an energetic set to get the crowd warmed up. Shvpes are an interesting band to critique – having previously been known as Cytota, they have been touring for several years now and feel like a familiar name. Yet the band are still very young as they played their first shows when most of the band members were under 18. Because of this where many bands have had time to hone their craft in the confines of smaller venues, this band have done so in the limelight, often supporting much larger bands. Since bringing in new vocalist Griffin Dickinson just under a year ago, the band have really begun to gain momentum, and watching them tonight it is clear to see why. Griffin commands a great stage presence and has a powerful voice to complement it, notably on latest single ‘State of Mine’. By the end of the set the pits were breaking out and the band left the stage to a warm reception.

But there was no doubt which band had sold the tickets for this show. Atreyu walked onstage to a thunderous applause, and launched into ‘Becoming The Bull’, which like every song in their set was well received. However, it was fair to say that throughout the set, the deeper Atreyu went into their back catalogue the more raucous the crowd became. Such that the intro riff to ‘Right Side of the Bed’ was enough to open up a large space in the packed room. Moments later bodies were flying across the room and as they moved straight into ‘The Crimson’ the room erupted.

As the band revealed to us in an interview before the show, they are not planning on playing live shows as frequently as they did prior to their hiatus, and instead want to focus on giving their absolute all to every show they play. This is firmly evidident throughout the show with drummer Brandon Saller still managing to deliver a great vocal performance during the most complex drum beats. Whilst bassist Porter McKnight even found himself out amongst the crowd towards the end of the set, with them promptly organising a circle pit around him. Lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas seemed slightly more muted on stage, but later revealed that his initial jump into the crowd 2 songs in had not gone so well, so on this particular occasion he was understandably forgiven!

The band’s hour long set covered everything fans expected and had come to see, right down to their cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. Yet it was pleasantly surprising to see the first of the band’s new songs ‘So Others May Live’ generating a huge reaction from the crowd. By the time the band closed out with the classic ‘Ex’s and Oh’s’ the capacity crowd were in little doubt that Atreyu are not just back, but they are back at their best. Fans of the band can only hope that the decision to the title their upcoming album ‘Long Live’ is as much a reference to the band’s future as it is to their past.

August 28, 2015

Puddings in Film

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward:

The Great British Bake Off is ensnaring everyone in its doughy tendrils and in spirit of all things cake, I’ve been thinking about some of the best scenes in cinematic history involving puds. So in no particular order of preference, here are my choices. I apologise in advance for Matilda not making the list.

Inglorious Basterds (2009) Apple Strudel

Apple Strudel

Who wouldn’t accept an invitation to eat apple strudel? Perhaps not if the invitation came from the “Jewhunter” or Nazi Colonel Hans Landa played by Christoph Waltz and not if you were a French Jewish woman named Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), whose family Hans Landa had slaughtered. As much as you want to hate him, Hans has all the charm and vocal fluency of a true Frenchman as he politely interrogates Shosanna about her cinema and her background. He also orders her some apple strudel and a glass of milk, which is what he was drinking when he rooted her family out. When the strudel arrives, he realises he forgot the cream. He orders Shosanna in French to wait for the cream in such an absurd comical manner it’s kind of scary. When the cream arrives, there is a hush and an intimate close up of the cream being spooned onto the strudel. This moment gives me goose bumps, not just because it makes me drool but for the quiet moment in such a tense scene. The same thing happens when Hans takes a moment to chew and the sound of his teeth working on the soft flaky pastry is so crisp and clear it makes my hair stand up. Pudding can cause tension.

The Shining (1980) Chocolate ice cream

Ice Cream

One of the spookiest yet most touching scenes involving a dessert, or dessert residue as the bowls the characters talk over look empty. Young Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd), whose dad has just started the caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel for the winter, has been invited to have ice cream with the hotel chef Mr. Hallorann (Scatman Crothers). The only thing sinister about this is that Mr. Hallorann invited Danny with his mind (probably the scariest invite for ice cream on film). Hallorann then goes on to explain that they can communicate mentally thanks to the special psychic gift they both possess. Danny says it comes from a little boy called Tony who lives inside his mouth. Thus begins a rather delicate conversation in which Mr. Hallorann attempts to explain in child’s words the hotel’s dark past that clings to its walls much as the ice cream residue clings to their bowls, before giving a stern warning not to visit a certain room. The audience, having already been informed of the hotel’s violent history, is given a fresh curiosity. Heavy stuff to discuss over ice cream. What increases the impact of this scene is, like in Inglorious Basterds, there is a lack of soundtrack and background noise, so the softness and menace of the atmosphere is heightened.

Jurassic Park (1993) Jelly

Jelly

Remember, if you’re ever scoffing puddings with your sister/companion and they’re eating jelly, keep an eye on them in case they stare suddenly over your shoulder and start shaking so much the jelly wobbles on their spoon like an overweight belly dancer. Then would be a good time to scarper as they may have just seen a dinosaur’s silhouette, or a shadow-saurus.

Natural Born Killers (1994) Key lime pie

Key lime pie

The opening scene of this carnage fest sees our star-crossed psychopathic lovers Mickey and Mallory (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) stop off at a diner on their cross-country murder spree. Mickey orders key lime pie while Mallory dances to the juke box. She is harassed by two hot-blooded rednecks and the scene explodes in violent hallucinogenic mayhem, ending in Mallory playing eeny-miny-mo with the two remaining survivors, and it all started with a slice of pie. This scene sets the mood for the rest of the film, as does the sharp but sweet, squishy and sickly green nature of the key lime pie.

Chocolat (2000)… Chocolate, of course

Chocolate

It is night in a sleepy French town, and a Catholic priest played by Alfred Molina freaks out during Lent and sabotages the delicious window display of his most hated chocolaterie. In the midst of his chocolate-smashing frenzy, a fragment brushes his lips and within seconds he’s cramming every chocolate sculpture between his teeth, consumed by a lust for sweetness as if he’s fallen into the lap of some chocolaty prostitute, before breaking down in tears and falling asleep. He is woken in the morning, smothered in brown residue amongst the wreckage, by the concerned chocolatier. We feel for you Father, we feel for you.

August 25, 2015August 30, 2015

Hevy Festival Diary 2015

Regarded as one of the best small festivals in the UK, Hevy Fest has come back better than ever from its 2013 cancellation. After a smaller but incredible affair in 2014 check out what happened when our music writer Amber Carnegie descended on Port Lympne for the diverse line up they whipped up for 2015.

Thursday 14th of August

Shortly after arriving at Hevy, we soon realised that not only had we brought the wrong tent but that Camp Things & Ink was held together with worn out bamboo, wasn’t entirely waterproof and wouldn’t be around for long.

A fact we learned pretty quickly as the weekend started with some expected thunder and lightening. Lucky for us our lovely neighbours let us throw our belongings into their tents while we helped other drenched campers set up. We then escaped into the larger tents for a good wringing out.

Once we began to resemble ourselves again we headed into the arena to catch the rest of the acoustic stage. Sam Duckworth and Dave McPherson both incited sing-alongs to those who had survived the rain but it was the acoustic set from Jamie Lenman that nearly had us in tears. Reminiscent Reuben tracks like ‘Moving To Blackwater’ and ‘Let’s Stop Hanging Out’ really hit the tone for all of those brought to Hevy this year. Dave McPherson also came back out to join Lenman for ‘I Ain’t Your Boy’ that brought together the camaraderie that you cannot miss at Hevy.

Friday 15th of August

Luke keeping up the caffeine at Hevy

After we assessed Thursday’s damage and sought out breakfast we ventured into the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. A portion of each ticket sold for Hevy goes towards The Aspinall Foundation, to help protect endangered species, and where possible return them back to the wild. With little else to do before the bands start in the afternoon it’s amazing that you are able to wonder around the park free of charge. You can also pick up an actual meal or even some Kentish Cider if you fancy it.

If that didn’t wake you up, Continents had the task of kicking off the festival from the Main Stage. Despite pretty much baking in the arena the sounds of their upcoming album got people moving and early tracks like ‘Pegasus Pegasus’ began decimating the grass in front of the stage. There is always a place at Hevy for instrumental, post rock bands and Chon certainly proved why. Chon bring movements between the stages to a stand still with riffs that mirror vocal chords in incredible succession. Closing with ‘Perfect Pillow’ with a guitar sequence that will be riddled in your brain for weeks. We highly recommend you check them out.

Even if you’re not into it, Hacktivist certainly got the Hevy party going. If they didn’t have you with ‘Djent In Paris’ then they had us in crowd peer pressure of waving hands to ‘False Idols’. We didn’t know the words but we soon picked them up before we headed to the Third Stage where Heck were destined to make us double check we all still had our limbs. What we were not expecting is the band formally known as Baby Godzilla to induce a stage wide floorshow with the audience as props. Tracks we’d never heard before had the crowd in a frenzy and if you didn’t feel the need to sing along, you’re probably broken inside.

Heck At Hevy

We headed back to the Main Stage for Touché Amore for a completely different feel, the band brought this closer environment as the crowd reached over desperate to shout lyrics. This amazing wave of post-hardcore has this insane ability to unify emotions that were once overlooked or hidden. To have witnessed this at Hevy within a crowd all clearly in touch with every word was striking and completely epitomises Hevy and the love and respect everyone has for the music and its abilities there.

Once we’d all pulled ourselves back together and the iconic intro to ‘Bloodmeat’ kicked in we knew we were in the midst of Protest The Hero. Wilding riffs and lungs you will never quite believe from Rody Walker. With his renowned anecdotes dropping momentum it allowed us a chance to breathe before winding back up into techy sequences and guitars that lick through ‘Clarity’ to see the blur in front of the stage give it one last go.

The Dillinger Escape Plan then called out the sunset with the most unnatural spasms their bodies could muster with ‘Prancer’ opening up the set and the ground. ‘Milk Lizard’s grooving rhythms had us more inclined to dance than to thrash about as the band seemed more and more determined fracture themselves. Although we’ve come to expect this self inflected battering while remaining indefinably tight it’s exceptional to witness every time.

The Dillinger Escape Plan At Hevy

The iconic opening riff to ‘43% Burnt’ ensued madness immediately and carried through to ‘Panasonic Youth’. The crowd completely lost their shit when vocalist Greg Puciato dove into the crowd for ‘Farewell Mona Lisa’ only to immerse back on stage as bodies flung for ‘When I Lost My Bet’. With no time we legged it over to catch the end of Fightstar’s delayed set, seven strings and all. With a feral tent that proved that Fightstar could have headlined a bigger stage they tore out their new track ‘Animal’ with a new synth sound before nailing out titans tracks like ‘Deathcar’ and their first single ‘Palahniuk’s Laughter’. As we held each other up in the swarming stage it was so reminiscent of our swinging emo fringe days that we couldn’t thank Hevy enough for putting something so awesome together.

Coheed And Cambria closed Friday’s live music by playing ‘In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3’ in its entirety. Coheed are incomparable, the album a spectacle in itself and it didn’t stop with the album. The encore saw their latest track ‘You’ve Got Spirit Kid’ carry away the audience as the eminent ‘Welcome Home’ took over Port Lympne to show that Hevy is well and truly back.

Saturday 15th of August

Despite some technical hitches the crowd spurred Milk Teeth in some of the freshest sounds that hit Hevy. Their grunge punk rock is something not to be missed and we can’t wait to see them live again. We were then allured into a doomy tent where Hang The Bastard had incited the slugging, aching head-bangs through layers of smoke. And then as if our eyes were deceiving us (they weren’t) a fluorescent pink two piece with a triangle found its way around the Second Stage for HORSE The Band.

HORSE The Band at Hevy

If you had never had the pleasuring of witnessing these guys before Hevy you were certainly in for a treat. Their sweet set of insanity blew Saturday up only to be followed by The Fall Of Troy on Main Stage. They were the second band of the weekend to play an album in full so when ‘Doppelganger’ kicked off we knew were in for unchartered territory. Within the first track they were a band we regretted never getting into. Impeccable guitar work with catchy rhythms had us all dancing. For an album played on its ten year anniversary The Fall Of Troy not only kept everything so incredibly tight but probably gained a lot of fans who wished they tuned in a long time ago.

The Get Up Kids then followed in full album suit, and although it was now getting slightly tiring it is amazing to see so many albums still have the ability to pull in such crowds. ‘Something To Write Home About’ saw people singing word for word with ‘I’ll Catch You’ holding a quiet moment over the main stage as the album closed.

Thrice at Hevy

Headliners Thrice come together like they have never been away. Every track fell into the next and just the intro to ‘Of Dust And Nations’ sparked frenzy. With a varied set list that saw ‘The Artist In The Ambulance’ and ‘Deadbolt’ take off as if it was the early 00’s again the entire campsite was gathered around the Main Stage.

As they closed on 2011’s ‘Anthology’ we couldn’t quite believe that it was over for another year. Hevy have brought us bands in their revival that we could have never expected, what’s for 2016 Hevy?

Did you go to Hevy Fest? What did you think?

August 22, 2015

Film Review: Kingsman

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward. On th-ink.co.uk Harry will be writing a series of posts in which he will be sharing his opinions on things he has watched. In this post Harry will be reviewing Kingsman…

Kingsman: the Secret Service, 2015, cert 15, dir Matthew Vaughn, 2/5

I am not a fan of spy films. I feel the genre has been over done a tad. As fun as they can be, there’s only so much I can take of gadgets, cars and smug, woman-exploiting heroes armed with cheesy one-liners. If there’s a brand of action thrillers I fall for, it’s westerns and yes they can be horribly clichéd too. But the genre has produced a handful of genuinely good films, about human drama and conflict playing on the vast stage of the American historical landscape. Whereas most spy films, with the exception of those based on Le Carre, don’t have much going on under the shiny cars, pretty actors and explosions.

I enjoy the silliness of James Bond and I like the grittiness of the new ones. I’d just rather watch a more human, even grittier hero than someone who always looks good, always gets the girl and always wins.

Kingsman does indulge in spy movie clichés, but somehow it didn’t annoy me. Now on DVD and blu-ray, the plot follows a young man named Gary or ‘Eggsy’ (played by Taron Egerton), who is offered an escape from his inner-city life and his violent stepdad by an old friend of his deceased father’s: Harry Hart (probably Colin Firth’s best role) a gentleman tailor who actually works for a private spy agency called the Kingsmen, run by Michael Caine. Under the guidance of Harry and another agent Merlin (Mark Strong), Eggsy is indoctrinated into the intense training programme to become a Kingsman agent. Meanwhile, a wealthy techno-wizard named Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson with a lisp) has a scary plan to solve mankind’s damage of the environment with SIM cards.

You can tell this film was directed by Matthew Vaughn. I didn’t like Layer Cake (mainly because it had Daniel Craig trying to swear) but I liked the Kickass films because they were… kickass. In fact the Kingsman film has a lot in common with Kickass. Both are about teenagers finding their heroism through excessive violence. Kingsman does it better than Kickass, as in Eggsy is a more likeable underdog character than the nerdy Kickass hero. The plot is also more interesting if farfetched, a tribute to the old Bond movies. There’s even a scene where Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson are reminiscing about them.

The best thing about this film, however, is that it maintains a hard, violent edge as well as being a humorous farce, with dramatic stunts and intense, stylized action. Actually maybe the action is too intense and stylized. I do enjoy stylized violence but Kingsman does it to the point where it’s no longer realistic, which I feel is more important. There’s also a scene which is basically a massacre shot like an action scene and set to the guitar solo from ‘Free Bird’. I felt a bit uncomfortable that such gratuitous slaughter was set up like we were supposed to enjoy it.

The other problem I have with the film is that while it strives to be a decent spy flick rather than just a goofy spoof of Bond like Jonny English, it still indulges in some of the worst aspects of the genre. For example, a Swedish princess crudely propositions amoral relations with Eggsy and of course he accepts with suave confidence. I heaved a frustrated sigh when the same ‘hero-has-spontaneous-sex-with-random-floozy’ ending was used just to needlessly big up the hero and we’re expected to cheer him on for being such a cad.

To be fair, the film doesn’t deal with subtlety. While the recent Bond films are trying to appeal to an older, serious audience Kingsman is definitely a spy movie for teens of today, with lashings of excessive violence, language and chavs turned spies. But there is still something for the Bond lovers, with sharp-dressed gentleman spies wreaking havoc with pens, umbrellas and a dash of patriotism. The whole thing is a rollercoaster of guilty fun, paying tribute to the classic spy formulas while delivering a harder, darker and funnier breed of action thriller. Plus the hero has a pug.

Do you agree with Harry? What did you think of Kingsman?

Images from IMDB