Corruption – The Fade of a Fad
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1 year agoon
By
Goth Santa
Between Les Yeux Sans Visage and The Brain That Wouldn’t Die there is Corruption. Not chronologically of course; Les Yeux came out in 1960 and the brain hit the screen two years later while Corruption premiered on the tail end of the sixties. Corruption is an English exploitation film following in the footsteps of the previously mentioned films. Starring Peter Cushing, Sue Lloyd, Kate O’Mara, and Noel Trevarthen. Writing credits to Donald and Derek Ford, and directed by Robert Hartford-Davis; all of whom stayed in the vein of exploitation and low budget films.
History Lesson
In the 1920 as the Theatre Grotesque jumped over to celluloid and a new form of horror began in the European art cinema subgenre. Experimental. Surreal. Unusual. Taboo. The terror was not the monster or the ghoul but the man, or the illness be that physical or mental. Franju’s classic Les Yeux is a tale about guilt and obsession. Genessier having the tools and knowledge, in theory at least, to fix his daughters disfigurement that he caused. We identify with Genessier. In his shoes, with his talents, under that pressure, we all know a part of us would at least toy with the idea of doing anything in the name of someone we love. It’s a touching and personal story, which is why it was so easy to rip it off.
The other film I mentioned, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, similar set up except make it a fiancée instead of a daughter and her face is the only thing that isn’t destroyed, this though meant to be serious comes off significantly more comical. Americans and their lack of subtly, there needs to be a big bad monster in the basement or else it’s not a real horror show, and the talking head is just hilarious. If Les Yeux is art and The Brain is schlock then what is Corruption?
Set Up
It’s Frankenstein, it’s Jurassic Park, it’s the battle of Could V. Should. The morality of our choices and the lengths we’ll go to see our visons realized. Our Hammer Horror Alumn Peter Cushing, who you might know from Screamqueen’s review of Asylum. Peter is in the role of John Rowan, a brilliant surgeon light-year ahead of his peers like Steve Harris, played by Noel Trevarthen. Sue Lloyd is cast as Johns soon-to-retire-model-fiancée Lynn.
Lynn invites John to a party being held by her photographer. It’s funny, only Peter Cushing could look like a narc at a party where everyone else is in their mid-forties playing some one in their twenties. Either due to his jealousy or his sense of modesty John starts a fight with the cameraman resulting in a floodlamp falling on the Lynn’s face. His love is disfigured and she falls into a deep depression.
John in classic Cushing Frankenstein fashion falls into an obsessive binge of medical esoterica, quoting tricks of the ancients, like you do. The doctor steals a pituitary gland from the morgue. An injection here, a laser blast there, bippady-boppady-boo face reclaimed.
After a few days the scar returns, otherwise there wouldn’t be conflict. Much like to decision on what in my fridge I shoe eat the answer is obvious, fresher is better. In a montage ripped directly from the The Brain the good doctor takes to the streets to find a fresher sample. After the murder and Lynn is looking better and the two head to the country to hide out the heat. As times arrow marches ever onward they realized that no mater what they do, it will just be a temporary fix but that isn’t good enough for the future Mrs. Rowan.
Another body found headless on a train and surgeon-detective Steve is on to them. John wants to call it quits as it become obvious that Lynn is more infatuated with her own image than him. Lynn to ensure that she gets what she wants sells her fiancée out to some hoodlums to ensure he will continue, and through psychotic shenanigans and lasers everyone dies.
The Good
The music score is phenomenal, Bill McGuffie has excellent taste. The camera work during the party or the kills are great at conveying the sense of panic and disorientation the character feel. I enjoyed the costume destines miss that 60’s chic look. Though things seem to jump out of nowhere the plot is relatively solid for the most part, even the more absurd instances have an explanatory follow up.
The Bad
As good as the editing can be during the disorienting scenes, the rest of the film is quite jarring. Terrible pacing. There is no metric denoting the passage of time; I often found myself wondering if it was the same day, week or month, What? Steve and Lynn’s sister are getting married? How long have they known each other? We don’t have any idea how long the operations effects last, long enough to give false hope and short enough to need a steady supply of bodies. The first half of the film is a slog to get through. The first fifteen minutes had me questioning my watch and the ending comes out of nowhere and hits like a bullet train.
Character motivation is my biggest gripe, specifically that of Lynn. At the start she makes it clear that she doesn’t care about modeling, stating that she was going to retire once married because she found someone that truly loves her. Then the accident happens and her image becomes her only focus; she becomes vapid and narcissistic, trading lives for looks. Steve seems only to show up for exposition or to be superman. John is little more than a whipped Frankenstein wannabee with a laser, Val (Lynn’s sister) has such little agency I genuinely forgot her name for the most part of this review.
The Ugly- my opinion
Apropos considering the plot of the film. Corruption is a short film but it feels like a marathon. The effects aren’t terrible but not astounding. Flat characters which is odd considering the power house that is Peter Cushing. This is not a good film. It’s not a so bad it’s good film either. It’s dry, convoluted, and insulting.
Typically, when I watch an old movie I suspend modern sensitivities and try to frame it in the cultural minds set of the period, but the depiction of women in this film is detestable; vain, fragile, single minded shrew that use men to do there bidding. The marketing too was grotesque, and not in the macabre way, ‘Corruption is not a woman’s picture!… Therefore: no woman will be admitted alone to see this super-shock film!’ alone or not, if you respect yourself and your time forget admittance all together. (2 / 5)
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Episode two of Amazon Prime’s Fallout was equal parts funny and bloody. This almost always leads to a good time.
The story
We begin this episode with the birth of some puppies that look like they’ve had a rough start to life. Each one is weighed, with the ones who fall short being incinerated.
One pup who is just below the correct weight gets a bit of a thumb on their scale. The scientist weighing them, Wilzig, writes down the proper weight. He later takes the puppy home to raise instead of putting them into what looks like an unforgiving training program.
Eventually, we see Wilzig put some blue glowing thing into his neck. When a soldier comes for him, Dog attacks the soldier, and the two escape.
We go from there to the wilderness, where Lucy is recovering from the last episode and enjoying a campfire at night. Wilzig and Dog come out of the shadows, saving Lucy from a bug monster. Wilzig tells Lucy she should go home. And if she’s not going to go home, she needs to evolve.
The next day Lucy finds her way to a town called Filly. As a Pennsylvanian, it hurts me to spell it that way. Lucy is entranced by this town, though clearly put off by the fact that no one is very nice here.
She eventually finds her way to a shop run by a delightful woman named Ma June. Ma doesn’t seem particularly interested in helping Lucy. Or, frankly, having Lucy in her shop.
Or in her town.
Eventually, Wilzig is tracked to this same shop, being tracked by The Ghoul. This is our final primary character. Lucy defends Wilzig, being aided at the last moment by Maximus.
Maximus, by the way, has been having a terrible time. After finally becoming a squire he’s disappointed to find that his knight, Knight Titus, is a terrible person.
Fortunately, Maximus doesn’t have to put up with Titus for long. After Titus gets the bright idea to go hunting, he’s attacked by a mutated bear. Maximus freezes, unable to save him. Then, well, he decides not to save him.
It was Titus’s idea to go hunt the bear, after all.
What worked
The first thing I want to draw attention to is the shootout scene at Filly. This scene checked every box a fight scene should check. It was fun to watch, with great effects. But it also gave us insight into the characters. Lucy is a decent fighter and has a strong moral compass. The Ghoul is callus and desensitized to death. And Maximus continues to be, well, sort of bad at this whole fighting thing. But with enough moral fortitude that we have a hard time blaming him.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the dog. Who’s name, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, is just Dog. Which is fine. He doesn’t need to have a name to be a very good boy. He’s sweet, loyal, and fearless.
Also, puppies. Puppies are always great.
Finally, I’d like to shine a spotlight on Lucy’s reaction to the world at large. She is both amazed and terrified by everything. And while she certainly doesn’t want to be rude, she also doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. The best example of this is when she stops to ask for directions with a bright smile and a gun.
Once again, I don’t have anything bad to say about this episode. It was funny, dark, and fun to watch. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the season. (4 / 5)
Launching with worldwide excitement, Fallout is based on the extremely popular game series of the same name. Fans of the series have waited with anticipation and trepidation to see if the Prime series would live up to the game.
Having now watched the first episode I can say that, so far, it’s successful.
The story
Our story begins with a children’s birthday party. A performer is there with his daughter, giving horse rides and taking pictures with the kids.
As much as the adults try to focus on the party and the kids, it’s impossible to ignore the looming threat of war that’s on everyone’s mind.
Of course, it’s during this party that war comes, and the bombs drop.
We then cut to after the war and into one of the vaults established to protect humankind and the American Way. For future reference, this is Vault 33. We meet Lucy, our first main character, who’s petitioning to be married to a man from Vault 32 to ensure DNA diversity.
On the wedding night, though, Lucy and the rest of Vault 33 are met with a horrible surprise. The group they let in is not in fact from Vault 32, but is instead a team of raiders from the surface. The raiders kill a lot of the vault dwellers and kidnap Lucy’s father.
We are then introduced to our second main character, Maximus. He is in training to become a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel. And, well, he’s not doing great.
Things get worse when his best friend Dane becomes a squire before him. But when Dane is hurt, Maximus gets their spot.
We then go back to Lucy, who has decided to leave the vault and find her dad. Of course, the council of her vault doesn’t want her to go. So she is aided by her brother Norm and cousin Chet in a wild escape.
What worked
The first thing that deserves attention is the exceptional character work. Our three main characters are fleshed out and relatable right away. We feel sympathetic for The Ghoul before he’s even introduced as such. We love Lucy’s nativity and selflessness. And we love Maximus for his honesty and passion for his cause.
While these characters are their own people, they also exhibit the three responses we might expect to see in a post-apocalyptic world. We have the hopeful optimist who doesn’t understand how bad things are. We have the aspiring hero who wants to make the world better by force. And we have the self-serving individual who’s given up on the rest of humanity and is only focused on surviving.
Another thing I enjoyed about this episode was the balance of humor and gore. Because there was certainly enough blood and guts for even the most hardcore horror lover. We had a violent sabotage, a brawl with raiders, and even several nuclear bombs.
But there were a lot of funny moments as well. Usually from Lucy. Her overall goodwill and fearless gumption are absolutely hilarious, especially given the horrors she’s facing. It never ceases to amuse me.
Both of these aspects are done perfectly. The jokes land and the bloody scenes pull no punches. It was delightful.
All in all, this was an exciting start to a much-anticipated series. Here’s hoping they’re able to stick the landing.
For more tv shows based on video games, check out my review of Witcher. (4 / 5)
Episode seven of American Horror Story Delicate was a classic AHS flashback episode. If you were excited to see what Preecher had to say to Anna at the end of the last episode, I’m sorry to say that you will not get that satisfaction. However, we did learn all sorts of other fascinating things about the strange coven hunting Anna. And, we learned all sorts of things we didn’t know about Dex’s first wife, Adeline.
The story
We begin our story with a woman giving birth alone in a barn. When it becomes clear that she’s not going to be able to deliver vaginally, she pulls out a knife and cuts her stomach open to pull out her children.
For whatever reason, this is when the coven of witches decides to make themselves known.
We then cut to 2013, when Dex was still married to Adeline. In true Dex fashion, he’s surprised her with a puppy.
While that sounds great in theory, dogs are something a couple should talk about, not gift each other with as a surprise. An adult would know that. A trust fund boy like Dex does not.
Adeline owns a vegan restaurant called Ave Hestia. Love that name. She seems to be living a great life. She has a career she’s passionate about, friends who love her, and a husband she seems kind of fond of.
Maybe that’s why she didn’t want a puppy. She already had one.
Of course, things aren’t as good as they appear. We soon find out that Adeline was one of those babies we saw at the start of the episode. The other baby was Sonia, the painter.
And yes, both of these characters are played by Annabelle Dexter-Jones.
Adeline has stepped away from their family, and whatever dark things they do. But the family isn’t happy with her decision. And if she isn’t going to come back willingly, they’re going to make her.
What worked
To start with, I loved the character, Adeline. She is fierce, she is fearless, and relentless. I feel like this would have been a far different story if Adeline had been our main character. It was astounding to see her interact with the same people Anna has, and get a completely different response. It’s clear now, how much everyone around Anna resents her for simply not being Adeline.
I also appreciated that there was just a shocking amount of blood in this episode. From the start when Adeline and Sonia are born, to the climactic end of Adeline, this episode is just drenched in blood.
Finally, I’m fascinated by the changes in this season from the book it’s based on. Because absolutely none of this was in the book. Compared to this, the book is heartwarming.
The book is kind of heartwarming even without the comparison.
But I love the fact that, even with just two episodes left in the season, I have no idea what’s going to happen. I do not know what Anna is carrying. I do not know if she’s going to survive this. I do not know what these people want with her.
But I can’t wait to find out.
What didn’t work
All that being said, it is a bit frustrating to have no forward momentum in this episode. This was all backstory, and it felt like there wasn’t enough backstory to fill a full forty minutes. Because of that, it dragged. There were a lot of scenes that just didn’t need to be as long as they were. It felt like they could have cut that down considerably, and had some time to check in with our main characters at either the start or the end of the episode.
There are only two episodes left in the season, and I can honestly say I have no idea what’s going to happen. But so far the story has been dark, bloody, and provocative. So I hope they can manage to end it on a high note.
(4 / 5)
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