REVIEWS HOME FILM
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They Look
Like People
Listen carefully
Release Out now
Director Perry Blackshear
Cast MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel,
Margaret Ying Drake
Distributor FrightFest Presents/
Signature Entertainment
Certificate 15
Format VODPerry Blackshear’s gripping and
sensitive chiller They Look Like People
is finally available after wowing at
FrightFest back in 2015.
After some time apart, old buddies Wyatt
(MacLeod Andrews) and Christian (Evan
Dumouchel) reconnect in New York. Christian’s
got a new outlook on life that revolves around
motivation tapes and working out. Wyatt seems
to be at a little more of a low ebb, having broken
up with his fiancée. Christian insists that Wyatt
stay with him, and it’s not long before they fall
back into their old patterns However, Wyatt’s
troubles are greater than Christian realises. He’s
been hearing voices telling him that the world is
coming to an end, and that he will have to fight
against the threat that is already here.
They Look Like People wouldn’t be nearly as
effective if the relationship at its core wasn’t so
involving and affecting. As it is, we’re invested
in seeing how the reconnection between Wyatt
and Christian will play out even before the
genre elements begin to creep in.
The restraint that Blackshear shows is one
of the film’s greatest strengths. When it breaks
from being a mumblecore-style drama and
begins to send chills down your spine, it’s as
underplayed and naturalistic as the Wyatt-
Christian relationship. The inside of Wyatt’s
head is scary, as the whispered phone calls from
an unknown intelligence become increasingly
bleak, the sound of flies that signifies a non-
person becomes increasingly frequent, and he
seems to become increasingly reconciled to the
fact that drastic action will need to be taken.
This also makes the question of whether
Wyatt is really losing his mind more complex;
the lack of big effects or attempts to shock
means that it could go either way, and there’s a
nerve-shredding, satisfying conclusion.
Truly frightening, gripping and moving, They
Look Like People is an impressive debut indeed.
Jonathan Hatfull
The Chill
Factor
Ouija! Cults!
Snowmobiles?
Release Out now
Director Christopher Webster
Cast Dawn Laurrie, Aaron Kjenaas,
Connie Snyder, David Fields
Distributor Arrow Video
Certificate 15
FormatHot on the heels of Arrow
Video’s Trapped Alive comes the
next chapter of the Wisconsin-
spolitation saga: The Chill Factor.
A group of buds head out to a remote lake
to race their snowmobiles, but when one of
them is badly injured they are forced to take
refuge in a derelict summer camp. When they
find a Ouija board, they quickly realise that
whatever happened there was not good, and
that they’re not all who they used to be...
While the dialogue is verging on Room-
esque as the characters verbalise every
single thing, spend an unusual amount
of time snowmobiling and reminding the
audience who’s related and who’s dating,
there’s something oddly easy to like about this
no-budget horror. What’s more, the practical
effects are actually rather good and pretty
outrageous as characters fall prey to ceiling
fans, rogue netting, giant icicles and such.
It’s utter schlock and there’s a hilariously
wistful voice-over, but as the frankly charming
interview with production manager Alexandra
Reed reminds us, it’s all good fun.
Jonathan Hatfull
Lust For A
Vampire
In a girls’ boarding
school? With my
reputation?
Release Out now
Director Jimmy Sangster
Cast Yutte Stensgaard, Michael
Johnson, Suzanna Leigh, Ralph Bates
Distributor Studiocanal
Certificate 18
Format tEnjoying its first Blu-ray
release, Hammer’s follow-up to
The Vampire Lovers is a blend
of boobs-n-blood box-ticking
and interesting mythology and is, as the
experts say in the disc’s doc, indicative of an
awkward transitional period for the studio.
Michael Johnson stars as an author who
stumbles across a girls’ finishing school, where
he sets about blagging a job as a teacher
and falling for Mircilla (Yutte Stensgaard).
However, the townspeople are right to
fear the Karnstein curse as it turns out his
paramour is not as innocent as she seems...
The film is surprisingly less interested in
exploiting the sexuality of Carmilla than its
predecessor and there is something interesting
in the character of Giles Barton (Ralph Bates
stepping in for Peter Cushing), a weedy
teacher desperate to become a creature of the
night. The problem is that it’s dull and drab,
with Suzannah Leigh the clear highlight. Still,
it’s not as bad as you may have heard.
Jonathan Hatfull