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gustave_weil
Reviews
Ex Machina (2014)
Ex Machina
Absorbing four person act built around Gothic literature tropes (sublime landscape/castle in the mountains/secret rooms/imperiled heroine/rich and perverted madman/monster creation/sexual deviancy etc...) and primarily re-telling the tale of Bluebeard. Upon the invitation of a rich inventor a young man travels to a remote 'castle' in the mountains to study a new human-like machine that has been programmed with an advanced AI. Ultimately he becomes trapped on the external fringes of the civilized world, and psychologically duped by both inventor and robot after the robot annihilates its parent. Exploring discourses on capitalism,technological revolution, male anxiety over female sexuality and the terror awakened by initiative and self-assertion the production is beautifully rendered and the acting convincing but it is essentially an extended 'Bloody Chamber' fan fiction.
The Shadow of the Cat (1961)
Once upon a midnight dreary...
Ah, how the internet 'creates' new mythology. 'Shadow of the Cat' prophetically opens with a quote from Poe's The Raven, and for most of its running time trots out a parade of mystery movie clichés with wildly uneven results. The anvil of foreshadowing plunges oft, and heavily, and the exposition fairy sure does sprinkle her dust over all the cobweb festooned proceedings. My memories (from 70's television) of this film were actually quite fond, but alas time has not been so kind to 'Shadow of the Cat' upon recent review. As for its legendary 'Hammer' status, I proffer the opinion that upon not-so-close scrutiny the script in NO way follows the Hammer formula, and that just because John Gilling, Barbara Shelley, Bray Studios and some production staff were involved- does not this a Hammer film make. This myth needs clearing up, and I quote a treasured volume (purchased in 1973 when I was 13) "The House of Horror The Story of Hammer Films", Ed. Allen Eyles, Robert Adkinson and Nicolas Fry, Lorrimer Publishing, London UK, p. 110- '...it might be noted that 'Shaow of the Cat' and 'Light Up the Sky', two films that have been characterized as Hammer pictures, are in fact not productions of the company'. Until these editors can be positively proved ill informed (from where did they draw their information?) the case seems obvious. '90's reprint editions of this book completely omit page 110 and the gallery 'Brides of Dracula and others' and ignorantly include 'Shadow of the Cat' in the filmography. One might as well include films like 'The Flesh and the Fiends' (another Gilling Gothic from the period) etc as Hammer films simply because they resemble the company's output. Indeed the internet has made unjustifiable legends out of much (the incredibly over-rated, 'Twins of Evil' springs immediately to mind), and while I still enjoy these films they belong in their pop culture place, not elevated to some ridiculous fantasy standard that they most definitely do not attain. That said, 'Shadow of the Cat' was obviously influenced by Hammer, but script wise and structurally it is ostensibly not.
Et mourir de plaisir (1960)
Controversy
I recently had the opportunity to see the French version of this film ("And Die of Pleasure")and propose two things of note: firstly, the controversy over the omission of the dream sequence- regarding the official running time of 84 minutes, I believe it was actually included in the French version but this print was either damaged or censored, the cutting is way too abrupt and the scene rendered senseless. If the scene was included in the French version then the running time would match official sources. Excellent source materials such as Silver & Ursini's The Vampire Film seem to back this up. The other point of interest that no one has noted so far is perhaps even more controversial. Although there is a brief nude scene included in the dream sequence, there is one nude scene in the French version clipped out of the American prints- before Annette Vadim breaks the mirror she tears her dress away and reveals her blood smeared breast. Yes, we DO see it! This ten years before Yutte Stensgaard's bloody topless resurrection in Lust for a Vampire!