Hardware

Hardware
Aka: M.A.R.K. 13
Directed by: Richard Stanley
Horror / Sci-Fi, 1990
UK, 1990
Distributed by: Optimum Home Entertainment.

Finally Richard Stanley’s dystopian tale of manic death machine vs. hot chick, gets out of legal limbo and hits DVD in a highly anticipated release. And thank god for that, because Hardware is a brilliant piece of independent, low budget futurism that deserves a grand treatment so that new audiences can discover this true pearl of early nineties genre cinema.

I love this movie; it’s one of those that I keep going back to every now and again. When I was a twenty something at university, Hardware was one of the those movies I’d end up watching (on the old Palace Video VHS tape) every time I’d been out with my mates. It was the perfect film to sprawl out on the sofa with on final drink and fade away to. A lot of it was due to the fantastic soundtrack with at the time contemporary artists like John Lydon’s PiL, Motörhead, Iggy Pop, Ministry, and that brilliant Simon Boswell score. Added to that the cameo’s by Fields of the Nephilim’s Carl McCoy (as the nomad in the start) Mr. Rock himself - Lemmy (as a boat taxi driver) and the one and only Iggy Pop (on the radio as Angry Bob, the man with the Industrial Dick.)

Hardware is a dark movie; the entire tone is apocalyptical, brooding and bleak. The radioactive wasteland of nuclear war looks haunting. There’s an aura of dysfunction that saturates the movie. The tension between the lead characters Jill and Moses shows that they have a really bad relationship, the neighbour Vernon [Paul McKenzie] who get’s his kicks spying on Jill, and making perverse obscene phone calls to her – on the futuristic view phone that shows who’s calling… …yeah that thing we call Skype today, is among one of the most creepiest voyeurs’ ever. The aggression everyone holds towards each other is disturbing, stuff doesn’t work and is constantly breaking down - it’s not an optimistic look at the future at all.

Just like in Stanley’s follow up movie, Dust Devil 1992, there are an amount of visual references to his favourite European directors and films along with biblical references throughout the movie, which make it a wonderful piece of nineties independent cinema.

In a nutshell, Hardware tells the tale of Jill [Stacey Travis] a creative artist whose boyfriend Moe (short for Moses, again the religious symbolism) [played by Dylan McDermott] brings home a piece of outer zone trash that turns out to be a deadly droid of the model M.A.R.K.13. The death droid has the ability to rebuild itself and that’s precisely what it does after it drains the power in Jill’s apartment, reboots and goes apeshit in it’s attempt to kill the inhabitants.

There’s a few surprise twists in the movie as the roles are flipped on their end. What we are dealing with here is a strong female protagonist who takes no shit, and stand strong as the male counterparts around her all show their weaknesses one by one, leaving Jill to take on M.A.R.K. 13 in a final showdown. I’d say that the movie is almost like a perfect cocktail of Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo 1989, Ridley Scott’s Alien 1979, and James Cameron’s original Terminator 1984, but without showing the influences too clearly. Then there’s that 2000AD strip SHOK! by Kevin O’Neil (Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Steve MacManus that supplied the original idea. It’s a swell mixture that makes up a fantastic film.

There’s a lot of late eighties, early nineties video imagery playing on the many screens and frequently used to create moods throughout the narrative. Among these are some scenes from Sogo Ishii’s Halber Mensch 1986. Just thought I’d put that in there as Genesis P-Orridge get’s credit for the TV footage on the audio commentary and nothing is said about those great Ishii images.

To add to the cynicism of the future, Stanley has the government passing an Emergency Population Control Bill, that’s mainly forced sterilization for all. That’s one good way of keeping gang’s of brats off the streets. There’s a great little detail of Government Sanctioned Dope too, as that’s the fag's that they are all smoking during the coarse of the film. Keep them sterile and mellow, it’s not the most uplifting image of the future. And to top it all off, just at the end of the movie you can hear on the radio from Angry Bob that the government have just decided to reinvest and resume the M.A.R.K. 13 production. So exiting the movie with Jill’s ordeal in mind, the forced sterilization and the sanctioned drugs, it’s a world that one wouldn’t want to be part of; a world facing impending doom.

Shot on a minimal budget, the movie is a statement to Richard Stanley’s brilliance, and it’s a shame that he’s not given the chance to write and direct big budget flicks anymore. I can’t say that I feel The Island of Dr. Moreau 1996 became a better film after he was booted off it and replaced by John Frankenheimer. I’m sure that Stanley’s movie would still be talked about and not ridiculed like the film eventually was. And even though one of the many rumours claims that Stanley wasn’t a strong enough director to cope with the very demanding cast (Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando) he’s a fascinating director with some great visions. I guess that story and vision means nothing to Val Kilmer. Also, don’t forget that gong with a big budget studio production usually means sacrificing a fair amount of that creativity that got you there in the first place. What you may not know is that Stanley after being banned and kicked out from production after his mere four days on set, eventually worked his way back onto the set disguised as one of the background creatures. It may just be a rumour too, but it’s a fascinating one isn’t it!

Although Stanley is almost thought of as a persona non grata in the film world for some odd reason, he has been quite active and directed a fair amount of very interesting documentaries, and has two new movie projects in the pipe if one is to believe the various sources online. (What is it with Hollywood and visual directors? Do we really need everything to look like Michael Bay movies?) In 2006, Stanley was part of the screenplay team along with Nacho Credo and Canadian enfant terrible, Karim Hussain on Cerdà’s impressive The Abandoned.

Even though there’s no real way to tell which parts of what, or how they wrote the movie together, it’s still proof that Stanley is a great visionary director, a fantastic writer as Hardware and Dust Devil stand as testaments to his immense talent, for they are both great movies.

Image:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio:

Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, English Dialogue, with optional English Subtitles.

Extras:

Being a longed after release, it’s good to see that the companies have supplied the disc with a nice amount of extras. First out the insightful and entertaining Commentary track with Stanley and Producer Paul Trijbits (who also was an executive producer on The Quay Brothers The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes 2005) Stanley’s documentary The Voice of the Moon 1990 which he directed and shot in Afghanistan while prepping Hardware. Two of Stanley’s short Super8 movies, the Eight minute feature Sea Of Perdition 2006 and the Original promo for the film. Also there’s a bunch of extended, deleted and behind the scene clips.

Friday Night Fulci Cameo #4

Comics #1 - House of Hammer

I’ve been a fan of comics ever since I was a wee lad up north in the old UK. A friendly neighbour when I was four started buying me Mickey Mouse comics. I read them over and over again as I learned how to read. Later these Mickey Mouse comics where exchanged for Beano and Dandy, two goofy comics that saw an ensemble of characters face various mishaps and adventures each week. As I grew the magazines shifted into the war comics; Warlord, Battle Picture Weekly etc, the action sport comics and finally to Eagle, Warrior, 2000AD, and the controversial Action - stuff that freaked my mates in Sweden out completely.

These comics saw darker characters and themes explored; Dan Dare going up against his eternal antagonist The Mekon, Pat Mills sinister stories of Hook Jaw, the great white terrorising the waters chomping down on each foe, but still remaining the hero of the series, or Mills, writer John Wagner & artist Carlos Ezquerra’s brainchild Judge Dredd facing of riots and enforcing the Law in a way that only he could, or perhaps their Stontium Dog (recently re-released in compendiums too just like the original Dredd comics) with his nihilistic view on life as a rejected outsider. It was tantalizing stuff and nobody ever questioned that a young boy should be reading stories of war, death and apocalyptic worlds.

It was a different world back then – “Here’s a few comics, now go to your room and stay out of the bloody way!” - There was none of the pampering that kids get these days.

One summer in my pre teen days, I was with my grandmother to the market of the north-eastern English sea side town we once all lived in and found a stall that was complete frustrated kid heaven, a second hand comic stall. The stall had loads of magazines, books and comics on display, but the ones that caught my eye where the HOUSE OF HAMMER comics, edited by Dez Skinn (House of Hammer, UK Marvel, Doctor Who Weekly, and later Warrior magazine which showcased Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta among others). Each magazine packed with horror movie news, articles like Forrest J. Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland, and each featuring a fully illustrated cartoon version of Classic Hammer movies. I was euphoric, and spent almost my entire saving on buying horror comics, which kind of freaked my strict Catholic grandmother.

Needless to say I returned to that small shrine like stall every time I was back visiting my Grandparents, even if it meant going to church with my Nan first before we popped off down the market where she was going to buy spuds for the evenings fish and chips. The saving of the pocket money, the longing to rummage around in that stall, lifting away piles of old, odd magazines and comics to find the specific issues that I had read about on the back of the previous bought magazines, the thrill of lying in bed or sitting in the front room by the gas fire reading those movies over and over again. It’s something that’s lost on children of this modern age, where everything is accessible by the touch of a button online.

This was before the age of home entertainment, before the great format war between Betamax, VHS and Video2000. VCR’s where not yet a household commodity, rental outlets had still to pop up like mushrooms from the ground, the video-nasties a thing of the future, and Swedish TV sure as shit didn't air Hammer flicks late at night. (Although tv3 did in their early days, giving me a great reason to fall asleep on my couch during my student years.) Oogling those magazines started a life long relationship with horror and the supernatural as I could read and see the movies in this cartoon form. Movies I was too young to watch or see on the late night broadcasts on the telly - well I did see them, but shouldn't really at that young age. But it was through these magazines that I read my first articles on the legends, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and the Hammer History. Also it introduced me to the likes of George A. Romero and his films, it was here I read the names David Cronenberg, Mario Bava, Dario Argento and many others for the first time. (Film Journalist Alan Jones wrote early pieces in House of Hammer, which is why I’ve always been an admirer of his work) I would never look at comics in the same way, it lured me into the world of horror as entertainment, and I had a completely new sphere of comic writers and artists that I started to collect and treasure, and today my collection of horror related comics is almost as large as my DVD collection… my precious collections that I hope my kids will enjoy one day...

I still have some of my original House of Hammer magazines, and I frequently cruise e-bay for issues I miss. They are still as delightful today as they where all those years ago, perhaps even better as the flaws of low budget cinema are lost in illustrations too obvious on DVD. I wish that someone could re-release the movie adaptations in some new compendium form, as they are definitely something that I can recommend any fan of the genre to invest in.

Beyond The Darkness

Beyond The Darkness

Original Title: Buio Omega

Directed by: Joe D’Amato

Italy, 1979

Horror, 94 min

Distributed by: Shriek Show

This movie is one sick little puppy. Dealing with cannibalism, voodoo, necrophilia, torture, perverse relationships and violent death, it’s no wonder that it’s one of Joe D’Amato’s most popular movies.

Joe D’Amato, birth name Aristide Massacessi started out as a cinematographer shooting second unit and assistant director work from the late sixties until the early seventies on movies like Alberto De Martino’s Scenes from a Murder and Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done To Solange? 1972.

When he did direct his first features they where a fist full of Spaghetti Westerns, Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado (Scansati… a Trinità arriva Eldorade); God is My Colt (La colt era il suo Dio), A Bounty Killer for Trinity (Un Bounty killer a Trinità) all in 1972. It was also in 1972 that he directed and shot the movie The Last Decameron (Sollazzevoli storie di mogli gaudeneti e mariti penitenti – Decameron nº 69). The film, which blends comedy and erotic situations in a very Italian Sex Comedy manner is obviously inspired by Pier Pasolini’s Award Winning Il Decameron 1971, and shows the beginning of the traits D’Amato would find himself most comfortable directing, sleazy sexploitation flicks. But that comes later.

1973 Saw D’Amato under his birth name directing the surreal horror/thriller Death Smiles at A Murder starring Klaus Kinski and Eva Aulin in leading roles. The movie was an almost like a contemporary Gothic film using themes of incest, necrophilia, murder and sexuality; all themes that D’Amato frequently used in his horror films. As D’Amato chose to direct the arty flick under his real name, Aristide Massaccesi, a title he usually didn’t use for directing credits but for his cinematography as this was what he took most pride in, it's probably fair to say that he was satisfied with the results

D’Amato continued to crank out movies in a varied range of genres, but not until 1975 would he tackle the franchise for which he would forever be associated with, the sexploitation classics that make up the Emanuelle series.

Eventually we’ll get round to Emanuelle, and the living legend of Laura Gemser, but we will save for a later day, as today I’m looking at D’Amato’s entries into the horror realm.

Being so strongly connected to the sexploitation genre, there are certain ingredients one would presume to find in a D’Amato film, sure he did experiment and blend Sexploitation with Horror in several films, ones like Erotic Nights of the Living Dead 1980, Porno Holocaust 1981 to name a few, give you a gist of what the movies are about - the titles say it all. But when he focused on pure horror he gave it all he had, the films Beyond Darkness 1979, Anthropophagus: The Beast 1980 and Absurd 1981 are all cherished entries into the dark underbelly of Italian Horror. No holds are barred as D’Amato brings on the sinister antagonists, buckets of blood and gore and stunning special effects – if you’ve seen the movies you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Beyond The Darkness is a trippy movie to say the least, Kieran Canter plays Frank Wyker a young man who after his parents died inherited their huge mansion where he now lives and conducts his taxidermy on a professional level that would have Norman Bates envious. Frank’s girlfriend Anna Völkl [Cinzia Monreale – who is painstakingly skinny in this movie, and looks so much hotter these days. Monreale who you may remember from Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond 1981, where she plays the blind Emily and House of Clocks 1989 and later in Dario Argento’s The Stendhal Syndrome 1996] is in the hospital on some sort of life support machine, still Frank and Anna have a love like any other between them. Frank lives in his huge house with the maid Iris [Franca Stoppi – who went on to star in several of Bruno Mattei’s Nunsplotitation and Women in Prison flicks] with whom he has a very strange relationship. She probably took care of him after his parents died and was more than likely his nanny as a child, because the first scene she and Frank share, she comforts him after Anna passes away by breast feeding him!

The sinister Iris is in many way’s the main antagonist of the film, as she is the one who has with the aid of witch put a voodoo curse on Anna to start with as she want’s to claim Frank, or is it his wealth and mansion for herself.

After Anna’s death, Frank starts going insane. With the assistance of Iris he steals her corpse the night after the funeral, and D’Amato neatly plants Anna’s twin sister Elena, also played by Monreale into the plot. He embalms Anna, removes her internal organs, and takes a healthy bite out of one, let’s say her uterus to make it even kinkier dresses her and lays her in his bed. Anna’s now a mummy that he now can love for all eternity.

Now things could be all hunky dory from here on, but no, this is a horror flick and shit has to break down any time now. Which it does, on his way back from the morgue with the body of Anna, before the above mentioned autopsy, mummification scenes, he get’s a flat tire, allowing a dumb hitchhiker, Jan [Lucia D’Elia], to get in his van, needless to say after the suspenseful threat of exposure during the ride home, the nosey, doped up hitcher stumbles upon Frank as he lays the final touches to Anna’s corpse. Needless to say the hitcher meets a violent death, as Frank will let nothing come between him and Anna. He beats her, pulls out her fingernails, and finally strangling her.

What makes this such a splendid little sequence is that it’s all intercut by Ornella Micheli’s, the preparations of Anna's body and the hippie hitcher sneaking around build suspense that is exhilarating, because you know that the hitcher is going go catch Frank at work and the shit is going to hit the fan, which it does. Once again Iris proves her dedication to Frank, or is it her underlying agenda to take over the mansion, and helps him dispose of Jan the hippie hitcher’s corpse in a gruelling fashion. She coldly chops the body up into disposable pieces and chucks them in a bath filled with acid. It’s one of the most fiendish scenes of the film and will stay with you for a long time. The special effects are astonishing and really freaky, it’s amazing what you can do with a few pounds of pig, a plastic skull and bubble bath. But it works and is a great sequence.

D’Amato also gives us a small, but effective release after the grim scenes when Iris serves Frank dinner, a beef casserole, and as he moves his camera close to the mouth of Iris sloppily chewing on the food intercut with the hideous remains of Jan, Frank runs to the sink and throws his guts up. Excellent timing for a laugh as the plot thickens and the Mr Kale, who works for the mortician and funeral parlour that buried Anna, and who also saw Frank inject that initial dose of formaldehyde into the corpse, starts to look into Franks activities. A young jogger [Anna Cardini] becomes Frank’s outlet for all that dammed up sexual frustration, but obviously he can’t restrain himself and pulling back the covers revealing the embalmed Anna next to them in the bed, he quickly murders the screaming young woman by tearing out her throat with his teeth. That’s when Iris makes her move, if she is to help the now multiple murderer Frank, she wants’ something in return, she wants Frank to marry her!

The movie gets into it’s last half hour and grows even more surreal as the detectives try to search the house while the joggers body burns in the taxidermy studio’s furnace, then again an opportunity for laughter as Iris family of freaks gather to celebrate the couple soon to be joined in holy matrimony. Mr. Kale takes yet another sneak around the house again and this time to his shock, finds Anna, who for reasons untold is hidden in a closet. The end is nigh, as an external partner now knows Frank’s dark secret.

As Beyond The Darkness revs up to it’s climax, Frank once again picks up a strange girl, this time at a disco, only to be interrupted by a sudden surprise visit from Anna’s twin sister Elena! Frank desperately begs Iris to keep Elena in the house, (as he only sees her as Anna alive and kicking), while he gets rid of disco girl – who actually takes the time to drive home... But Iris has finally had enough of Franks abuse and non-response to her love and life long affection and decides that Frank will have none of the Völkl girls. The grand finale is splendid, gory and vigorous as several subplots come into their culmination, and then when you think it’s all over there’s an excellent little twist concerning Mr Kale and Elena.

Beyond The Darkness is a great movie; gory, kinky and surreal in a way that only D’Amato could deliver it. His cinematography leaves nothing to complain about, he knows what he wants from his compositions and that’s what we get. Ornella Micheli’s editing is perfect once again, and then there’s that excellent soundtrack by Goblin, that constantly keeps the movie moving along with their progressive rhythms. Also it’s where you’ll find the track Quiet Drops that Prog Super group Morte Macabre covered on their magnificent soundtrack alum Symphonic Holocaust. As said, Beyond The Darkness, although not as violent and aggressive as Anthropophagus: The Beast or Absurd is possibly Joe D’Amato’s finest hour as a horror director. It comes with my warmest recommendation!

Image:

1.85:1 Aspect Ratio remastered for 16x9

Audio:

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, English Dub Dialogue

Extras:

Trailers for Massimo Dallamano’s What Have They Done To Solange? 1972, Ruggero Deodato’s House on the Edge of the Park 1980, Umberto Lenzi’s Seven Bloodstained Orchids 1972, and the original Beyond the Darkness trailer. A booklet with articles on D’Amato, Goblin and Beyond The Darkness, Interview/commentary with Art Director Donatella Donati, and a neat little session with Cinzia Monreale who looks better than ever as Mike Baronas and Kit Garvin interview her.

The Virgin Spring

The Virgin Spring

Original Title: Jungfrukällan

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

Sweden, 1960

Drama, 89min

Distributed by: Criterion.

I’ve stated several times that Ingmar Bergman was one of the best screenwriters ever - which he was, making it kind of ironic that the movie to pop the Cinezilla Bergman cherry wasn’t written by Bergman at all, but by Ulla Isaksson.

Ulla Isaksson was a Swedish author who wrote just over a dozen screenplays for TV and film between 1953 and 2001. The first being Hampe Faustman’s Kvinnohuset 1953 known outside Sweden as Caged Women and the last movie - A Song for Martin directed by Billie August made after her passing in 2000 which was based on her experiences of her husbands demise due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Bergman was an admirer of Isaksson, and she was one of the few writers apart from himself that wrote scripts for his films. The three of them being Nära Livet 1958 (Brink of Life), Jungfrukällan 1960 (The Virgin Spring), and De två saliga 1986 (The Blessed Ones).

Yes it was Ulla Isaksson who wrote the original story behind Bergman’s haunting The Virgin Spring, which twelve years later inspired Wes Craven’s Last House on The Left 1972, which inspired Aldo Lado’s Night Train Murders 1975, (marketed in the US as Last House Part II) which encouraged Ruggero Deodato’s Last House by the Edge of the Park 1980, and finally saw itself being remade in 2009 by Dennis Iliadis again as Last House on the Left, which by this time the movie has nothing to do with Isaksson’s story anymore as it this time around credits Wes Craven for that earlier film. Craven credits Isaksson in the opening titles of his version.

Still, it’s an entertaining thought that Ulla Isaksson’s original script inspired someone to make a cheap horror flick take on her story, opening the floodgates for some of the most renown exploitation movies of all time.

Isaksson herself was no stranger to controversy as her first movie, Faustman’s Kvinnohuset 1953, about a house for single working women starring Annalisa Ericson and Eva Dahlbeck,from those great Arne Mattson detective capers “The Hillman” movies, and Inga Tillblad also got in trouble with that first ever board of review institution. The movie contained suicides, murder and even insinuated homosexuality. This lesbianism caused the censors to protest and demanded that the scene be drastically shortened.

Isaksson frequently wrote of women, strong and weak, in threatened situations, and almost always with a very feminist edge to them, mature women ensnaring themselves in unfaithfulness creating strained triangular dramas, and younger women coming of age, finding themselves in their womanhood. Themes of suicide and rape and death also permeate her works.

Which brings me up to The Virgin Spring…

The Virgin Spring is the tale of a family devastated by the death of their daughter, and the drastic measures they take to avenge her when they by chance stand face to face with the perpetrators. It’s a dark, vile and disturbing movie, leaving nothing to your imagination as Bergman cunningly allows murder to be justified... or does he?

Set in a 14th century Sweden, young Karin, [Birgitta Pettersson] who in a typical teenage manner drones her days away being flirtatious, lazy and devious (that’s exactly how I interpret it), trying to ease her way out of her chore, and manipulating her mother into letting her get her way and wearing her finest blue dress. Her mother, Märeta [Birgitta Valberg] tells her to take a Virgin Mary candles to the monastery on the other side of the woods. What is it with churches and virgins? It has to be a virgin who takes the candles. Together with the family maid Ingeri [Gunnel Linblom] the two women set about their journey. Obviously she tries to worm her way out of the task, but is told to go anyway. On her route the two women come upon a shaman’s [Axel Slangus] cabin where Ingeri has disturbing visions of three men riding - three dead men claims the shaman before trying to take advantage of her. Ingeri terrified flees from the shaman and Karin takes to riding towards the church on her own and soon she bumps into three herdsmen strolling in the woods. The three men (well two men and a kid – Ove Porath, Axel Dürberg and Tor Isedal) tell Karin a tale of despair, playing off he pity so that they can receive some of her food. Going about her usual manner, she falls for the flattery and as the situation grows more and more threatening she tries to flirt and charm her way out of the situation, but fate has other plans for you my pretty…

The herdsmen rape and kill Karin as Ingeri, still lost in the woods, observes from a distance without interfering. The men hide the body in a shallow grave and take to the road again. As the cold night sets in they come to the farm of Töre, [Max Von Sydow] Karin's father, who offers them a place to spend the night. Töre does this good deed, even though he and Märeta are worried sick for their daughter who has yet to return from her trip to the monastery. After a terrifying guilt inducing bedtime story that the old farmhand [Allan Enwall in his first role for Bergman] tells the boy, his older companions knock him out after he off camera freaks out and screams. Märeta goes to him only to meet the two herders, who is a sinister twist of fate try to repay the family kindness by giving them a bloodied blue dress that they claim belonged to their deceased sister…

Märeta keeps her calm, and breaks down in tears as she realises the fate of Karin. Töre demands that Ingeri tells him what she knows, Ingeri filled with guilt for wishing Karin dead when she met the shaman and not intervening, confesses and tells of the terrible crime she witnessed. Töre prepares his vengeance, cleanses his soul and slays the three herdsmen one by one as they scream for mercy. Töre looks upon the blood on his hands and begs for god’s forgiveness. The family walk to the murder location and as they lift Karin’s body from the ground a spring of freshwater burst forth – The Virgin Spring.

There’s a lost of brilliant little details going on in this film, especially the way that Bergman set’s up Karin. It’s this eye for detail that make Bergman the genius that he was, and the way he moves his characters in and out of light and dark places, shifting between positive and negative values. You never really know what a characters true traits are.

Karin sleeps late, keeping the others waiting for her, and obviously is leading a fantasy life where she dreams of wealth and handsome men courting her. Karin’s mother Märeta tells Ingeri the maid, to prepare a packed lunch for her daughter, and Bergman has Ingeri prepare the lunch by squeezing a toad in between two pieces of bread. This even before we have been introduced to Karin. Then her mother tries to awaken her, and Karin manipulates her mother into letting her wear the exact dress that she wants – her finest monist precious dress sown by fifteen maidens at once – even though her mother objects that it’s not an everyday gown. Karin comes off as quite a spoiled brat to be honest. Father Töre enters and continues to pamper his little princess, who she manipulates into letting her take Ingeri with her to the church… Ingrid the servant dirty, tattered clothed, pregnant and obviously not with a mate, the complete opposite of Karin.

These scenes work in two ways, first they set up a rift between Ingeri and Karin. We quickly understand that Ingrid doesn’t like Karin too much, hence the toad sandwich, there’s an animosity between the two probably same age girls. Then the parents tender care and inability to resist Karin’s demands. These scenes indicate just how valuable Karin is to her parents, and that they will do, give and budge to her every demand. She’s their everything in other words. Finally Karin asks that Ingeri comes along, and it’s easy to read the subtext that Karin is Ingeri’s tormentor, as is made glass clear when she talks down to and taunts the pregnant Ingeri a while later.

The bloke that the two girls meet on their way to the monetary and his frisky talk with Karin saying “Thanks for last night Karin!” lets us in on the dark secret that Karin isn’t the innocent little girl that her parents take her to be, perhaps too much mead and late night romping are why she was still in bed that morning.

The rape and murder of Karin is disturbing, as we don not wish this fate for her even though she’s been established as an unsympathetic character. Death is too harsh a punishment for her. The vengeance that her parents take is also unsettling, because they have been presented in such a positive light. Their love for their spoiled daughter, their kindness to strangers as they take in the three herdsmen, giving them shelter, food at their table and offering them work on the farm. These are god-fearing people who mean no harm to anyone. That’s what makes the transition and terrifying revenge killings so complex for us to take in.

Finally my favourite scene in the movie; after Töre has been told of Karin’s death, there is a very symbolic little image where he stands alone staring at a lone birch tree, man against nature, man against God if you will. He rejects his faith, wrestles the tree to the ground, and ritualistically slays it. He uses the branches to cleanse himself, beating away the last of his faith before ordering Ingeri to fetch the butchers knife. It’s a really mesmerising scene, free from dialogue until the knife request. After the slaughter he stares at his bloody hands and begs God for forgiveness in an attempt to redeem his actions. Those images say more than any dialogue ever could. Excellent stuff, the stuff that makes a masterpiece.

The Virgin Spring caused quite a stir when it was released in Sweden igniting spiteful debates in its wake. The graphic rape (well graphic for 1960) and the violent tone of the movie stunned and shocked the audiences, and where heavily criticized by many new papers as audiences in Sweden had never before seen such violence and aggressive atrocities on the screens and the movie was reported to the authorities for its provocative content. Luckily the movie was acquitted and to prove the critics wrong the movie won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1961. The old saying you can’t become a prophet in your own land comes to mind once again.

Now this is in no way an indepth review or analysis of this fantastic movie, quite the oposite. There isn’t enough blog space in the world to do this film justice, but this is merely some of my personal thoughts on the film. A film I keep returning to over and over again.

It is still a very effective movie although I wouldn’t call it a horror film. Once again the grandeur of Bergman was that he could summon up the most disturbing fiends and darkness in everyday life by the slightest twist of hand, exposing the inner demon of everyman and woman in his very stylish dramas. The guy was a genius. The sleaziness, nudity, gratuitous gore and teeth grinding grit, was the bag of tricks that the exploitation films that followed brought with them. The main narrative is the same, young women meets violent death - parents take violent revnenge! And never forget that we have Bergman and Isaksson to thank for those splendid grind house flicks; Last House on The Left, Night Train Murders and Last House on the Edge of the Park, that shocked a nation all over again.

Image:

Black & White Full Screen 1:33:1

Audio:

Dolby Digital Mono, Swedish Dialogue, English subtitles or English Dub optional

Extras:

Being a Criterion disc you know that there’s going to be a fair deal of extras giving further insight into the movie, There’s an introduction to the film by Ang Lee, an Audio Commentary by Bergman expert Birgitta Pettersson, an audio recording of a seminar held by Bergman at the American Film Institute in 1975, and a booklet with essays on the film and a letter from Bergman concerning the controversial rape scene.

I can't find a trailer, but here's a few neat posters.

COMPETITION #2!

Right you lot, this is how I'm going to start this year off...

I just started going through boxes of stuff that needs to find a new home, and I don't want to chuck them in the bin so that some vegan dumpster diver ends up using them as target practice for his next Whale War.

So... One of you guys can actually have this delicious little gift for free, I'll send it to you and you can do what you want with it. Watch them, stick them in a box in your basement, flog them on eBay, or shove them under your neighbours car and steal his wheels... it's up to you.

Six brilliant movies directed by Dario Argento all on glorious good old VHS, if any of you still watch tapes that is...

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage - Greek ExRental

The Cat O'Nine Tails - Greek ExRental

Four Flies On Grey Velvet - Dutch - Wonderful Widescreen print

Tenebrae - Greek ExRental

Phenomena - Swedish ExRental

Trauma - UK ExRental

And the finer extra bonus is that FOUR of these tape sleeves are actually signed by Dario Argento himself! I had him sign them at two different occasions several years ago, and they have to go because I need the space back. Now you know why I don't want to shove them down the trash. So even if you don't watch tapes, then it's a nice little piece of memorabilia that you might want to own.

What do you have to do then? Well it's simple just shoot me an email to killfinger (at) hotmail.com and tell me that you want the tapes.

I'll ship them out on the first of February when I've decided who gets them - so you've got until the last of January to mail me.