THE IRON MASK 12
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knockabout face-off between
Jackie Chan and Arnold
Schwarzenegger is this effects-laden
fantasy’s USP, which zips hectically
between 18th Century England, Russia
and China in a bewildering story
involving cartographer Jason Flemyng,
a disguised princess, an incarcerated
Czar and a hidden dragon (no crouching
tiger). Arnie’s Tower of London jailer
and Chan, one of his prisoners, are
both peripheral to this nonsense, as
is Rutger Hauer’s posthumous cameo
as a bewigged ambassador. Dodgy
dubbing doesn’t help. Neil SmithHAGAZUSSA:
A HEATHEN’S CURSE 18
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olk horror has enjoyed a resurgence in the last decade
(Midsommar, The Witch, half of Ben Wheatley’s output).
The trend continues with Austrian writer/director Lukas
Feigelfeld’s debut, in which a 15th Century woman
(Aleksandra Cwen) living in an Alpine cabin is brutalised
and ostracised by superstitious locals. A minimalist
mood-piece that won’t be for everyone, it’s slow, defiantly
arthouse and bloody creepy – a witch’s brew of David Lynch,
Lars von Trier and Panos Cosmatos. Jamie GrahamDOCTOR SLEEP:
DIRECTOR’S CUT 15
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aving underperformed at the
box office, filmmaker Mike
Flanagan’s epic Stephen King adap gets
a second chance to shine at home. And
while it’s debatable whether we needed
a Shining sequel, this half-hour-longer
Director’s Cut of Doctor Sleep easily
justifies its existence. There’s more
depth to the characters, while pacing
issues have been evened out. It’s no
Kubrickian masterpiece, but definitely
top-tier among recent King adaps. Best
of the three featurettes is a nose around
a certain iconic locale. Anton van BeekVFW 18
OUTNOWDIGITALHD/APRILDVD
BDEXTRASN/ALizard holes up in the VFW (Veterans
Of Foreign Wars) bar across the street,
where the owner Fred (Stephen Lang)
and his loyal patrons are survivors of
Korea, Vietnam and other conflicts,
and are played by veterans of dozens
of B-movie actioners (William Sadler,
Fred Williamson, Martin Kove, David
Patrick Kelly, George Wendt...)
What follows is Assault On Precinct 13
with OAP heroes. But there’s nothing
‘grey-pound’ about VFW. Begos makes
the RED movies look beige, as chainsaws,
buzzsaws, axes, wall-mounted deerantlers and DIY grenades unleash
gallons of gore. If you wipe the blood
out of your eyes and stare hard enough,
there is social commentary to be had
(the US in thrall to violence and opioids),
with an American flag used as a deadly
weapon to drive the points home.
But this is less thematically satisfying
than Bliss, primarily concerned with
overdosing on synth, scuzz and
splintered skulls to play like a lost ’80s
exploitation classic, with more exploding
practical effects than you can shake
a lopped limb at. Jamie GrahamJ
ust a couple of months after his fabulous third movie, Bliss, erupted
all over the UK home-ent market (see TF295), grindhouse auteur
Joe Begos is back with VFW. And yes, there will be blood. Set in
a rundown city in the grip of a drug called Hype, it sees teenager
Lizard (Sierra McCormack) flee from crime lord Boz (Travis Hammer) with
a million-dollar stash – revenge for the overdose of her sister.veterans slay
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