Fmartiterron

Ah, the haunted house sub-genre... there are quite a number of movies in it, but I can't think of any memorable or definitive one. Maybe that's why "Hell House" is more or less considered the best of the lot. Now, I don't want to attack the film gratuitously, but I have some problems with it. Generally speaking, "Hell house" is a creepy, well made little film, but the script by Richard Matheson -and his novel, which shares the same problems- is just smoke and mirrors.

My main issue with the film is that it seems to promise a scientific approach to the "haunted house" cliché. After all, the main character is a physicist, and there's a lot of dialogue about his theories and the inner workings of a machine of his invention he plans to use to "de-haunt" the mansion. However, when the supernatural phenomena start to appear, they seem practically to occur at random, and he barely investigates them. The whole thing then seems to take a different path, only to deliver an explanation of sorts at the very end, one that nobody could have guessed, although it is true that there are clues here and there. But come on, how are we supposed to connect the final explanation with stuff like a character being attacked by a black cat, or the increased sexual drive of others? It makes zero sense.

On the other hand, as I said, there are many things to like about "Hell house": it's never boring, the acting all around is competent -although I kept asking myself if Roddy McDowall was wearing a bad wig or not- and, specially, British director John Hough managed to infuse it with a great deal of atmosphere. Part of it is due to the electronic score and the immaculate set design, true, but now and then Hough manages to create a pervasive sense of unease only through his eccentric directing choices. For instance, he makes a very creative use of unusual techniques like low angles or deformant lenses, and he often frames faces in extreme close ups while keeping the background out of focus, which makes a very effective way of letting us now of the malignant influence of the house on its inhabitants.

With time, I've learned to avoid any film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. These days they often come as half-baked, pretentious or just bad affairs. But there was a time when she used to be an interesting filmmaker, and "Blue Steel" is perhaps her best film. Starting with close-ups of a revolver and partial shots of Jamie Lee Curtis playing to the electronic gasps of Brad Fiedel, it shouldn't come up as a surprise that this is a film about guns, violence and the almost sexual thrills they both can produce.

During the film both Jamie Lee Curtis and Ron Silver's characters try to channel those compulsions in different ways. Megan (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes from a dysfunctional family and a violent background. She chooses the way of repression, becoming a policewoman, a job were violence is legal, but only under the right circumstances. Eugene (Ron Silver) also lives in an ambiance of implied violence: his scenes at work always show him shouting and holding papers in the air, surrounded by other brokers in similar attitudes. He instead chooses the way of exteriorizing violence, going in a killing spree with a gun that accidentally falls in his hands.

Kathryn Bigelow shots both actors accordingly. Jamie Lee Curtis often appears tight-lipped, her hair restrained in a ponytail and her sexuality contained, if not entirely hidden under a police uniform or male clothes. in the occasional moments when she loosens up a little she still can't help to act somehow aggressively would-be suitors or co-workers. Ron Silver, on the other hand, often appears acting maniacally, letting whatever emotions run through his mind take reign of him.

"Blue Steel" is, for the most part, a great film. Co-writer Erid Red has a knack for tying together opposite characters and exploring madness, the same way he did in "The Hitcher".

***SPOILERS FOLLOW*** Regrettably, there's only one way the film can end, with a showdown where one of the character has to end up consumed by his compulsions, so it's no surprise that the film ends just like that.

***END SPOILERS*** On its way to said denouement, the film also often gets too close to offering generic psycho-thriller moments, and Kathryn Bigelow's stylish, detached camera-work can only hide that for a while.

But know what? I still like it more than I should.