The Witch Who Came From The Sea - Will's Review

Wow, that was an odd one - and a tough one to review, as I can't decide which aspects of the plot are spoilers, as everything is slowly drip fed thorough the movie.

Part exploitation movie, part artful insight into a woman's crumbling sanity, The Which Who Came from The Sea is nothing like the title (or box art) would have you believe - it almost sits as a companion piece to Nightmare in a Damaged Brain; sharing much of that films dreamlike quality, and slow reveal of a childhood trauma.

At its heart is a clearly troubled woman, Molly, who lives with her sister, and her sisters 2 boys.

Molly works at a local bar, has a steady relationship with her (married) boss, and idolizes men, particularly stereo-typically masculine men, TV stars and, most especially, her Father, a sailor who she says was lost at sea (her sister claims he is dead, and in the local cemetery); however as much as she idolizes men, she also has a deep seated hatred of them - in an early scene, she watches 3 muscle bound hunks working out on the beach, clearly admiring the budges in their trunks, while also imagining them slain; their bodies strewn around the exercise equipment.

The whole film is also interesting from a gender reversal point of view - here we have a central character, driven (possibly) to do bad things (possibly) due to an event in their past... that's the setup for just about every slasher / serial killer movie (although this is neither) from Psycho onward, but here, for once, the character is a woman! We also have sexual exploitation shots, where the camera lingers on the (admittedly, clothed) sexual organs of one sex, while the other sex's nudity is framed much more casually - only here we get passing shots of topless ladies, and extended shots of penis-filled swimwear. For some reason though, and weather its the gender reversal I don't know, here the movie is much more sympathetic to our lead; While Norman Bates may be the result of a mother's abuse, he is still painted as the "Psycho", whereas Molly is very defiantly a victim; whether or not she is also a killer. (Side Note: "Psycho" gets a shout out at one point, as we are reminded "We all go a little cray sometimes")

It's a very schizophrenic piece, deals with child sexual abuse, but never lingering on, or sensationalizing it, one second, and having a Malabo pool-party (complete with the promise of casual sex with a movie star) the next, but this duality works entirely in it's favor.

Not a horror movie, thriller, drama or even exploitation flick in any traditional sense of the word, if you're mad for only one genre, I'd have to tell you to stay away. If however you consider yourself a general 'film fan' I really do think you should check this one out.

Body Count: 3
Boob Count: 3 pairs
Gratuitous Crotch Shots: 3
Most Memorable Death: Of all the times to have a heart attack...

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Nightmare Maker - Lisa's Review

Bit of a weird one this week.  This movie, like a few other 'nasties' has the feel of a TV movie to me, but the content is most definately not something you would find on TV.  Obsession, incest, homophobia and murder pretty much sum it up.

We focus on teenager Billy, who has been living with his aunt Cheryl since the death of his parents in a car accident.  The movie actually opens with the accident and some pretty ok effects I thought.  A nasty decapitation for the dad  and a roll job and burst into flames for the mum.  I thought the sudden and fast entry into some action bode well for the movie, but we were led onto a completely different movie from then on.

It becomes very clear early on that aunt Cheryl is not all she seems and has rather sinister incestuous intentions towards young Billy.  Given that she has raised him from a very young child and is like a mother to him, this is very disturbing and somewhat uncomfortable to watch.  All seems well in their rather wierd world until Billy starts to live his life to the exclusion of his aunt, intending on going to college (which she does everything initially to dissuade him from) and spending time with a girl from college who seems to have a crush on him.  The very thought of losing Billy from her clutches seems to send Cheryl over the edge of whatever small amount of sanity she possessed.

We cross from disturbed and creepy into completely insane and murderous when a poor TV repair man spurns her advances and she reacts by stabbing him to death.  Billy walks in while she still has the weapon in her hand, still stuck into the victims neck... she immediately claims rape.   A couple of neighbours also call in and witness the gory aftermath, so obviously the police are called in.  Cheryl manages to talk Billy into covering for her to the cops but our cop smells a rat.  Questions are raised as to how Cheryl managed to escape from the heavyset repair man to stab him and he is later discovered to be gay.... so obviously its a bit odd that he would be trying to rape a woman.

The cop may smell a rat but he is chasing the wrong person as he believes Billy is hiding something and is to blame.  He also believes Billy is gay, something he has a whole load of problems with.  This is another aspect of the movie that is quite uncomfortable... the homophobic language and derisory manner that gay people are discussed throughout.  It is very clearly from a different time and uses language no director would dare to today.  I lost count of the amount of times 'Fag' was mentioned.  The police have it seems no interest in solving any crime or getting to the bottom of any murder in this movie.  There is an altogether more important agenda for this dirty cop.

The rest of the movie plays out as you would expect with more madness, more violence and death, more incestuous discomforts and more homophobia.  I found it really difficult to stay focused and pay attention without my mind drifting.  Its a sign to me that I'm not enjoying a movie when I have to force myself to pay attention to it.

I wouldn't say I hated this movie, but I personally didn't particularly enjoy it.  It certainly wasn't one of the worst I've seen but I could understand people enjoying this one, it just didn't stand out for me and the only thing remotely different about it was downright cringeworthy.

In conclusion, I wouldn't say avoid it, but I wouldn't say rush out and watch it either.

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