SciFiNow-August2018

Details 18 // 93 mins // 1981 // // Released 30 July

Director Umberto Lenzi Cast Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Lorraine De Selle,

Danilo Mattei, Zora Kerova Distributor Shameless

Details 18 // 79 mins // 1981 // // Released 30 July

Director Richard Friedman Cast Patty Mullen, Ruth Collins, Kristin Davis,

Michael Rogen Distributor Arrow Video

Following hot

on the heels of

Ruggero Deodato’s

Cannibal

Holocaust, Umberto

Lenzi’s notoriously gruesome

cannibal movie arrived at the

height of the sub-genre’s boom

in 1981 and remains a deeply

unpleasant watch. It’s brutally

violent, leeringly sleazy and

features extended scenes of

real animal killings. Depending

on what you’re looking for,

Cannibal Ferox is either a

pinnacle or a nadir.

Gloria (Lorraine De Selle)

travels to Paraguay with her

brother and friend to prove that

cannibalism was a colonial

myth, but when they run into two

coked-up emerald hunters from

New York, they discover what

the local tribes are capable of

when they’re pushed too far.

Shameless’ restoration is

fantastic (it’s deliberately left

some grain in), and there are

frank interviews with Lenzi and

star Giovanni Lombardo Radice.

The practical gore effects are

spectacular and the score is

great, and there are some

deliriously ridiculous moments

that are quite fun (piranha!).

However, it’s so mean-spirited

and cruel that it’s defi nitely a

fans-only release.

Jonathan Hatfull

Die-hard fans

of Eighties splatter

comedies may

enjoy Richard

Friedman’s

ramshackle Doom Asylum, which

is so painfully unfunny that it

almost ends up being charming.

A group of teens head for a

sunny day out at an abandoned

asylum only to fi nd that an

all-girl rock band is practicing

there. What neither group

knows is that a grotesquely

mutilated car crash survivor is

living there and is dead set

on killing the new arrivals.

This knows exactly how silly

it is, which would be fi ne if the

self-aware humour was funny.

There are some nice ideas (the

fi nal girl’s mother died nearby

so she insists on calling her

boyfriend ‘Mom’ to feel close

to her), and the practical gore

effects are impressive with some

surprisingly well-constructed kills

early on. However, it drags on

far too long as the teens quickly

end up wandering off alone to

get knocked off by the irritating

monster, and not even the fact

that this is Sex In The City star

Kristin Davis’ fi rst movie role is

enough to keep it interesting.

As ever, the Arrow restoration

is excellent and extras include

interviews and commentaries.

Jonathan Hatfull

CANNIBAL FEROX DOOM ASYLUM

Tainted meat Lose your head

★★★★★ ★★★★★

review

080 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K

an abandoned asylum, is the most

straightforwardly scary, all shadows

and things moving just out of focus.

The second, which follows Alex

Lawther’s nervy teen as he has a

nightmarish accident in the woods,

is almost a mini monster movie,

while the third is a domestic chiller

as Martin Freeman’s obnoxious

stock broker fi nds a presence in his

unborn child’s nursery.

It’s genuinely scary, well-acted

(Whitehouse and Lawther are

Translating a

stage play to the

big screen can be a

tricky business but

Jeremy Dyson and

Andy Nyman demonstrate both a

clear love of the horror genre and

an understanding of how to build

a chilling atmosphere in their

accomplished directorial debut.

In adapting their acclaimed

theatrical production, the duo has

made something that roots itself

as a classic British ghost story.

Traditional landscapes are given an

unsettling feel, beloved comedians

GHOST STORIES

Careful what you believe in

are given the chance to show their

dramatic chops, and lingering guilt

and trauma bubble to surface to

torment the living.

Nyman stars as Professor Philip

Goodman, a man who has dedicated

his life to debunking supposed

supernatural events. One day he

is summoned by the man whose

exploits inspired him as a youth,

only to be told that this now-

infi rm old gent is convinced that

everything he dismissed as fake was

real. Goodman is given the three

cases that his hero couldn’t solve

and sets out to fi nd the explanation.

But the deeper he goes, the more

unsettling things become...

The structure of Ghost Stories is

essentially that of an anthology, and

the two fi lmmakers make full use

of that to experiment with different

styles and tones. The fi rst, in which

Paul Whitehouse’s night watchman

discovers he’s not the only one in

particularly good) and is a strong

debut. The fi nal act does wobble and

the resolution doesn’t work as well

as it should, but if you’re looking for

something to chill the blood, this is

worth dimming the lights for.

Jonathan Hatfull

Details 15 // 98 mins // 2017 // • // Released Out now

Directors Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman Cast Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman,

Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther Distributor Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Session 9

A team clearing asbestos

from an old asylum run

into trouble in Brad

Anderson’s superb horror.

IF YOU LIKE THIS TRY...

★★★★★

Must

see

now!

T THE UK ADVERTISING FOR GHOST STORIES INCLUDED DELIBERATE SPELLING ERRORS AS ‘THE BRAIN SEES WHAT IT WANTS TO SEE’.