La Reine du mal

Seizure (1974)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Horror author Edmund Blackstone (Jonathan Frid) is having nightmares about three characters that he created for one of his stories. In the nightmare, the three (a vamp, a dwarf, a strongman) terrorize him, his family and friends on a weekend. Sure enough, his friends gather around for a weekend of fun and the killers show up.

SEIZURE was director Oliver Stone's first feature film and he has pretty much disowned the picture, which is a real shame. I say that because a lot of great directors got their start doing these type of horror or exploitation movies so for him to completely overlook it is a real shame. I also say that because the movie is actually a lot better than you might expect and it's certainly much better than some of the other horror movies that people got their start on.

I thought Stone did a very good job in his role as director. Sure, there's not really anything here that shows proof that he would go on to make such great movies as JFK and NATURAL BORN KILLERS but at the same time it's evident that he had talent. I really liked the surreal nature that he brought to the film and I thought he also managed to create a very good atmosphere. The entire film has a dreamlike (or nightmare) quality to it and I thought this here really helped keep the viewing glued to what was going on.

There's no question that the locations were quite good and I also really enjoyed the cast. Frid, best known for his Dark Shadows series, turns in a good performance as the writer and I thought the actor was very believable when it came time for his character to be terrorified. Jospeh Sirola is excellent as the meanest character and he's not even one of the villains! Herve Villachaize, Henry Baker and Martine Beswick are all extremely good as the bad guys.

There were spots in the film where it dragged and it's basically a "home invasion" picture but I do think it's a bit harsh for Stone to just write the picture off.

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.

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.

Oliver Stone's first film was this unpleasant but fascinating and clever thriller, which blurs the line between dreams and reality in a way that would later become very popular in the "Nightmare On Elm Street" films. The film is technically unpolished, with a crummy look and often inept editing. But it is also a disturbing experience that offers no easy redemptions, and as such it is recommended especially to people who enjoy films like "Alice, Sweet Alice". (**)

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.