Ronny Yu directs Robert Englund, Monica Keena and Katharine Isabelle in this Eighties horror icon crossover.

I wrote an article for Kamera magazine on this back in the day about how in the year of the Dad Movie blockbuster this was the only summer wide release that reflected young people’s lives and was set in a recognisable present day. As a horror it essentially is a glossy tribute act mash-up. All sheen, no grit. The plot develops nonsensically. Yu lets loose some Looney Toon-ish moments of extreme physics. England, even when camping it up, is fantastic value. The doomed girls have a curvaceous cuteness. It is short, busy and passable. A Nightmare On Cash-In Street.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Jason X (2001)

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Jorge Grau directs Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock and Arthur Kennedy in the zombie horror where two longhairs get blamed for the mysterious deaths caused by the rampaging reanimated locals.

An ungainly Spanish British hybrid production. The rules of the zombie siege flick hadn’t been nailed down yet. This is more free roaming, less intense. Annoying characters and very dated. Another one ticked off my long standing Mark Gatiss’ Horror Europa bucket list.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Plague Of Zombies (1965)

Kevin Smith directs Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks and Craig Robinson in this adult comedy where two loser flatmates risk their friendship to make a XXX movie.

This movie’s box office chances really suffered with a constrained and tame marketing campaign. They couldn’t even have the film’s title on the TV spots. Which is a shame as it is easily Smith’s best venture that doesn’t feature Silent Bob. Rogen is at his comedic peak here and Banks (though way too hot for her role as written) is gifted the only leading man she’s has ever had chemistry with. It is the same extreme bawdy foul mouthed heart fest as a Clerks flick… just with a new ensemble and more nudity. The support from old hands like Jason Mewes and stunt casting like real life porn star Katie Morgan is very strong and surprisingly charming. Z&M is unlikely to be anyone’s all-time favourite movie but it certainly is a good time for a Thursday night in.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Mallrats (1995)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Richard Lester directs Rita Tushingham, Ray Brooks and Michael Crawford in this swinging sixties flick where a lothario schools his nebbish landlord.

Very much of it’s time. The first half is a lark. Ripping off the French New Wave on the streets on London like it is a gang show. The second half gets more serious about sexual politics. Very heavy handed and tone deaf. The sight of Frank Spencer pivoting around his unspent erections (albeit fully dressed) doesn’t help this not play like a musty relic.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Girl With Green Eyes (1964)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder directs Volker Spengler, Ingrid Caven and Gottfried John in this West German drama about a trans woman considering suicide.

I had to skip the lengthy unflinching sequence in a slaughterhouse.

4

Perfect Double Bill: The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972)

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George Stevens directs Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters in this drama where a young man on the rise into high society impregnates one woman and falls for another.

First time watch and I absolutely loved this. Every shot is ambitiously framed and pregnant with atmosphere. Taylor looks delectable, Winters puts in a memorable (if depressing) shift. Clift is amazing. You are completely trapped within in his headspace throughout. Even when the outlook is bleak and he is making terrible decisions. A true anti hero in that he is human, fallible and selfish. The final act is very strange as it feels filmed after he had his infamous car crash. It wasn’t, the accident occurred 5 years later. So it is happenstance but the camera avoids his face out of a certain profile and when it does it feels withered and scarred. Like Stevens is making an active choice in the final scenes to de-glamorize the beautiful star. Unfiltered, out of frame, out of focus. Did I bring that to the film? Probably but it is eerily uncanny how it plays like a production working itself around an injured star.

10

Perfect Double Bill: I Confess (1953)

Robert Stevenson directs Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles and Margaret O’Brien in this classic adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel.

Visually, the black and white crispness is amazing. Gothic, often referencing the Universal horrors from a decade previous. I love Joan Fontaine but she is blatantly too naturally soft for this part. She isn’t helped by the fact that Orson is off away in his own little one man play. But Orson giving it large is a joy to watch and he makes the movie. The Mia Wasikowska version is probably the superior in terms of quality and faithfulness, but this is its own kind of pleasure. And young Elizabeth Taylor has an early fly by. What more do you want in 90 quick minutes?

8

Perfect Double Bill: I Walked With A Zombie (1943)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Gary Fleder directs Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy and Sean Bean in this thriller where a child psychologist must get a secret from a catatonic girl or his daughter dies.

Glossy and preposterous. There must be a more direct route for Sean Bean’s gang to get to their buried treasure than all… THIS. Forgettable sub-Hitchcock reheats with a techno twist. The one saving grace is a memorably frazzled and awkwardly sexy support turn from Murphy. Why was she at her hottest in asylums? “I’ll never tell. I’ll never tell.”

5

Perfect Double Bill: A Perfect Murder (1998)