mwriter35 Reviews

Diamond Skulls (1989)

Brilliant

[21 June 2008]

"Dark Obsession" is a stylish, sexy story of the place where love becomes something darker, and where friendship and loyalty to an ideal become a reason to circumvent justice at all costs. When a drunk English aristocrat (Gabriel Byrne) driving a friend's car accidentally kills a woman, his friends cover it up. When one of them has a crisis of conscience, he is obliquely warned to examine where his loyalties lie. Meanwhile, the aristocrat's wife (Amanda Donohoe) is wrestling with her own marital secrets and her own obsessions.

Directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield, "Dark Obsession" is one of the most chilling ever dramatic commentaries on the British class system and its codes of honour. The film may be too sophisticated for the average American viewer to pick up the nuances (as seen by the other review of this film in this forum) but stands alone as a superb family drama with stellar performances from Byrne, Donohoe, as well as the incomparable Judy Parfitt as the family matriarch, and is one of the most underrated films of its kind. Highly recommended.

Diamond Skulls (1989)

BRILLIANT. QUITE SIMPLY, BRILLIANT.

[14 February 2002]

This movie is perhaps the most compelling--and starkly fascinating--example of a filmmaker's ability to reveal the subtleties of psychology and class, and their combined effect on the an individual's actions. It's also terrifically fun to watch, make no mistake. When Viscount Bucton (Gabriel Byrne) accidentally (or with subconscious intent) kills a woman in a hit and run accident (thinking that it was his wife on an adulterous assignation) his upper-class army friends rally around him to protect one of their own. When Bucton's middle-class friend, Jamie, consumed by guilt, reveals the secret of what really happened that rainy night, he is first brutally ostracized, then framed, then killed. Rarely has the British class structure been so starkly and elegantly stripped of its "Disney" affectations, and shown for what it is. Wonderful performances, also, from Judy Parfitt as Bucton's mother, the Countess of Crune, and Michael Hordern and his father, the Earl of Crune. Bravo to acclaimed social documentarian Nick Broomfield, who turns his unsparing eye to a film that deserves a much wider distribution than it received, and which ought to be acknowledged as a dramatic triumph of Dickensian scope, beautifully and hauntingly photographed, magnificently acted, and powerfully--and tragically-- resonant. This is a profoundly intelligent film that requires a little more sophistication than the average filmgoer possesses, and will likely be a little too complicated for some viewers who might be better served by fluffier, more "Hollywood," fare.

Spellbinder (1988)

A BRILLIANT EXERCISE IN DARKNESS

[19 December 2001]

"Spellbinder," set in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, is one of the most intelligent horror films of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the very best made in the 1980s. Tim Daly plays Jeff Mills, a decent, hardworking, old-fashioned lawyer from the midwest who believes he'll never find love. One night, he rescues a beautiful woman (Kelly Preston) from being beaten up by her boyfriend. Falling under her spell, Jeff is plunged into a world of witchcraft (no political correctness here)and Satanic cults, with an ending that will haunt you long after the television has been switched off. The acting in this film is superb (Audra Lindley's performance as Miranda's terrifying mother alone is worth the price of this rental). Due in large part to the wonderful script and story, "Spellbinder" succeeds in perfectly walking that fine line between classic horror and psychological horror. I can't recommend this film highly enough. If ever a film deserved wider exposure, it's this one. I can't wait for the DVD.

Horror of Dracula (1958)

The birth of the modern Dracula

[20 October 2001]

"Horror of Dracula" marked the debut of Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, and his like hasn't been seen since. Whereas Lugosi, perfect for his time, drifted effetely around the screen looking "foreign" (and perfectly reflecting the xenophobia of the 1930s), Christopher Lee was the first modern Dracula--virile, terrifying, and lethal. Dracula purists might sniff disdainfully at the script, and they'd be right--it rides roughshod over Stoker's novel and plays with characters, names, and locations. That having been said, Lee's performance in the film remains the closest in spirit to Stoker's own vision of Dracula. In subsequent versions, Frank Langella played him as a blow-dried vampire Frankie Avalon, Gary Oldman played him as a bitter, tired, fairy-tale undead prince(hampered by a melodramatic backstory that would make Stoker spin in his grave), and television vaults are littered with hack performances of the late-night horror show variety. Lee's brilliant and oddly modern incarnation of Count Dracula is the definitive one by which all others will be judged. As the editor of two anthologies of vampire fiction, I can't recommend this elegant film highly enough. The fact that it hasn't yet been released on DVD is an embarrassment.