De infarto

Seizure will be a point of interest to many simply for the fact that it is the feature film debut of Oliver Stone; made some years before he went on to make critically acclaimed films such as Platoon and JFK. Despite not being a big fan of the director; that was actually the thing that attracted me to this film also, and while I didn't go in expecting much; I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised as this is a surprisingly good low budget seventies horror movie. The film is halfway between a psychological horror and a slasher film and we focus on a troubled horror writer named Edmund Blackstone. He is plagued by a recurring nightmare which involves creations from his own literature terrorising him. He decides to invite some friends round to his isolated country home, but gets some uninvited guests in the form of those pesky evil characters he created; who proceed to break up the party by killing his guests.

Seizure features an obvious low budget and as such there is a very cheap feel to it. However, Oliver Stone gets over this problem well thanks to some very capable handling and an entertaining cast. The simple plot means that the director has plenty of time to build up his characters, and he does this well. The central location is isolated and that helps to build the tension as the innocent characters are trapped in the house at the centre of the film. The set of bad guys is undoubtedly the most interesting thing about the film; Martine Beswick leads the way as sultry 'Queen of Evil' and gets good back up from an exotic looking strongman as well as a menacing dwarf named 'Spider'. Things are kept interesting thanks to the immediate action and the dialogue between the central characters, as well as a few revelations. It all builds down to a satisfying conclusion that gives credence to the plot and main character. It's a shame this film is so obscure really because I'm sure it could find an audience and it's certainly not the worst film Oliver Stone ever made! Recommended, if you can find it.

I'm not saying that drugs were involved in the making of Seizure, but I wouldn't be at all surprised, especially considering that director Oliver Stone is no stranger to class-A narcotics. The film definitely feels like the work of people on mind-altering substances, featuring as it does bizarre characters and a hallucinatory plot that blurs the line between dreams and reality with extremely baffling results.

The film sees writer Edmund Blackstone (Jonathan Frid) and his wife Nicole (Christina Pickles) welcoming a group of friends to their lakeside house for the weekend. There's brash businessman Charlie (Joseph Sirola) and his willowy unfaithful wife Mikki (Mary Woronov), womanising stud Mark (Troy Donohue), and philosophical oldster Serge (Roger De Koven) and his wife Eunice (Anne Meacham), all of whom are plunged into a night of terror when three demented strangers - The Queen (Martine Beswick), The Spider (Hervé Villechaize) and Jackal (Henry Judd Baker) - crash the party with murder on their minds.

The origins of the film's terrible trio is unclear: are they the escaped lunatics mentioned in a radio broadcast, or are they characters from Edmund's books, somehow come to life? What is clear is that they intend to kill all but one of their victims before the night is through.

This was Stone's first feature film, and as such isn't as assured as his later, more acclaimed work - it's undeniably rough around the edges in terms of photography and editing. There is, however, plenty of the director's visual excess in evidence, with wild camerawork and rapid cuts, and unrestrained performances, particularly from Beswick, Villechaize and Woronov (would we expect anything less from such a B-movie/exploitation legend?). While I wouldn't pretend to understand precisely what is going on for much of the time, there's enough of interest going on to make it a reasonably entertaining one-time watch.

Any film that sees the diminutive Villechaize breaking through a window and duffing up several full-sized adults is going to have some entertainment value, but this one also delivers fun in the form of Woronov in her panties engaged in a knife fight, the friends competing for their lives by racing around the house, a wiener dog hanging from a tree, and Serge positing interesting back-stories for each of the villains. Sure, none of it makes much sense, but it's certainly different and never boring (although the death scenes could have done with being more graphic - they feel rather restrained given the film's general wild nature).

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Back in the spring of 1974, I was a freelance writer in Manhattan, New York. While at distributing office in New Jersey, the editor and publisher of the magazine " Castle of Frankenstein" asked me if I wanted to do an interview with Jonathan Frid, about his new film SEIZURE. Well having been a fan of both Frid and Dark Shadows, I jumped at the chance. After interviewing Frid in his apartment, I also had a telephone interview with Oliver Stone, who told me of his future projects. I, at the time was only interested in his current project, SEIZURE. Little did I know how important Mr. Stone would someday be. After meeting with and buying some photo's from the films photographer and co-star Herve' Villachaze " meeting him was a treat in itself" I did the article. After 6 month the film was released in New York. The best and only safe place to see it was, believe it or not, the Lyrick theatre of 42nd street. Now, not that Seizure was a masterpiece, but,in a time where horror films were almost non-existent this was a nice treat. The music, photography and editing were all top notch, as well as the entire cast, who all played their parts as over the top as humanly possible. Seizure was a high guilty low budget film, that to this day has gone nowhere. In the late 80's the film was released on video, but was soon pulled off the market mainly due to Oliver Stones objections. Too bad, with all of the high budget c.g.i. horror films out today, it would be nice to see a tale like Seizure, a low budget film that is packed with high quality acting and writing.

Oliver Stone's feature film debut concerns a horror author named Edmund (played by Dark Shadows' Jonathon Frid) who is plagued by nightmares. When he and his wife have a bunch of guests up to their isolated house for a relaxing weekend. After a few go missing, Edmund's friends and family are confronted with three awful beings who are manifestations of his nightmares. The guests are either killed or forced to go through a series of tests to see who deserves to live. Can anyone put a stop to this hellish nightmare? What a strange film! It's obviously very low-budget and has a distinct gritty 70s quality. The characters from Edmund's dreams are each fascinating and truly make a scene. We have the lovely Martine Beswick as the provocative and sultry "Queen of Evil," who appears to be the matriarch of the evil trio. There's also the exotic strongman giant Jackal (Henry Judd Baker) and a dwarf named Spider (none other than Hervé Villechaize!) who may be tiny but is just as evil! The trio's antics are amusing, but also very unsettling. The cast also features Troy Donahue in a random role as well as the iconic Mary Woronov, who plays a straight-forward "bored wife" role (yet still oh so very funny!), proving again that she has much more to offer than the camp factor. The score in the film is very fascinating and varied. At one point, there's a sudden persistent and deafening siren-like synth that I swear was swiped by Tarantino for "Kill Bill." While the film is eerie and unpredictable most of the time, it also has a very charming sense of humor that suits it well. I'm thrilled this rare film finally made it to DVD, but it really deserves a better treatment. The print is hard to see, especially in the nighttime scenes. Still, any fan of 70s horror should check out this quirky and original film.

OK, this was Oliver Stone's first movie, so I'll cut him some slack (although Satyajit Ray and George Lucas didn't need any pity points for their stellar debuts, "Pather Panchali" and "THX 1138", respectively). Though attempting to make a low-budget horror film with serious undertones about the dark recesses of the unconscious mind, he has instead put a group of very capable actors into a series of macabre scenes - some of which are quite good - but that don't add up to much. And as for serious subtext, the movie ends up with about as much depth as a young adult horror novel. In addition, I didn't like the twist ending, as this same twist was used in literature over a hundred years previous.

The true strength of the movie comes from the casting of several iconic actors and actresses from various places ("Dark Shadows" and elsewhere). Though I had not seen any of these actors elsewhere, I give complements to the performances of both the dwarf actor Herve Villachaize and Martine Beswicke as the Queen of Evil. Beswicke, in particular, is the most darkly beautiful actress I have ever seen, and I could not keep my eyes off her whenever she was in a scene. Casting her as the ultimate villainess was a stroke of genius. I'm even tempted to say that her performance is the one best reason for seeing this movie (which is surprising, because Stone has never been very good at creating compelling female characters). Otherwise, there is little here to predict Stone's master craftsmanship on virtually all his films from the late '80s through early '90s.

* INTERESTING SIDENOTE: the newscaster voice narration at the end of the movie as the credits roll is that of Oliver Stone himself.