Bad places are a staple of genre horror. Essentially, there
are two types. Places already known to be domains of evil, visited only for
the purposes of investigation, or exorcism by fools or heroes (Legend Of Hell
House, Ghostbusters), and places where the forces of darkness lurk
unsuspected yet soon to be encountered by protagonists (The Amityville Horror, The Grudge). The first category tends to rely on broadly
theatrical effects, while the second delivers suspense with audiences
forewarned about a supernatural menace that characters have yet to confront.
Based on a novel by Kei Oishi, Japanese chiller Apartment 1303 belongs to
the latter group. A malevolent spirit haunts a hotel condo. Female residents
commit suicide after disturbing events, and several girls exit via the 13th
floor balcony. Wholly responsible for the strange death of her abusive mother,
the resentful ghost is deficient in redeeming qualities, using her medusa hairdo
and brooding expressions to drive the heroine crazy. Director Ataru Oikawa astutely preserves a novelistic
approach to exposition here and so, because uncanny imagery and moody
atmosphere are more vital to cinematic frights than witty dialogue or memorable
characters, the movie plays out its generic narrative with a second-hand
checklist of impressionistic scares. This is not a classic but it passes the
time.
Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist is now available as a
digitally re-mastered 25th anniversary edition. Despite the influence of
producer Steven Spielberg on this classic movie, it retains many peculiar
characteristics found in the director’s other works. From the sweaty chills and
savage humour of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, to the childhood problems and
domestic strife underpinning his underrated Invaders From Mars remake,
and various socio-political anxieties in the pilot episode for TV series Taken,
all these disturbing themes indicate that Hooper is one of the few auteurs
capable of working on a Spielbergian project without losing his own distinctive
vision, most evident here during the weirdly surreal goings-on affecting the
Freelings’ household. Hooper takes Spielberg’s spooky plot - inspired by
Richard Matheson’s Twilight Zone episode Little Girl Lost, and
transforms it into one of the most nightmarish and shockingly visceral
confrontations with death (the bathroom mirror shows a rotting face, the
suburban garden ejects broken coffins) that fantasy-horror cinema has ever
seen.
In the same issue, I also reviewed:
Hostel: part 2
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
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