ancellwilliam

I've watched all of his films in chronological order thus far, and this is the first one I was compelled to leave a review of. This is his peak - not Fascination, the film he made before this. That was an ok film. This is better. I found it to be haunting, reflective and beautiful but also sad and disturbing - like watching a loved one succumb to dementia. Shot very well I thought for the time and budget. Great use of locations. Jean Rollin was an amazing film maker, and I think this is a good example of his best work - the lovely ending!

I'd say so far this is my favourite of his films. Awesome atmosphere.

Partially disabled but fully obnoxious author Nathan Prince (Philip Lyndon) is on holiday in Greece, writing his sequel to his hit book/film "Zombie Knights". He's clearly a monster - he writes his scripts in Times New Roman, point size 10.

The film (which we get to see clips from) was a voraciously homoerotic affair that involved oiled topless men endlessly wrestling with some zombies, but the real wrestling was the awkward dialogue.

He meets with journalist Amanda Blake (Judith Holding) and they enjoy some combative yet mutually gratifying interviews. Then things take an odd turn. It all gets very self referential. And confusing, when reality and fantasy start to blend into each other. Or do they? Is it real? Is it fake? Do we care?

It is quite hard to swallow that Zombie Knights was the hit it was, given it is worse than the micro budget film it features in, and this is a substantial barrier when doing a meta-textual film like this. But the will is there, and you can see the progression our Michael made in terms of shot composition and camera angles. A lot of optical effects are used in the flashback/dream/cutaway sequences, and some of the zombie makeup is ok.

There is something creepy about the shots of the zombies. And it is not all bad - there are a few snorts and chuckles to be had both with and at the material - but it's just not effective in the end. I was bored at points. None of the characters are likeable. One for completists of Michael J Murphy's work, and I suppose there is a lot of him in it.

There is quite a twist or two. It just could have been done better, and with a micro budget like this, less is more but I felt it tried to show too much.

I love Michael's output, but this was a real letdown and I thought it could have been truly good with a bit less talking and a bit more fun and action.

It goes like this. Charming village, people turn up, a LOT of talking happens, it builds up SLOWLY to a climax and, well, it has a bit of action and fun towards the end but it is too little too late.

It needed better pacing - with a lighter touch, tighter edit and less infernal talking, conversations, exchanges of opinion, pontificating, debating etc. It could have been more like The Wicker Man and less like The Boring Man.

The final scene made me snort in amusement. But took too long to get there, nice to see some period cars though, particularly the Vauxhall.