MOVIES: In Brief (October 12th 2013)

Another round-up of recently seen movies...

Sleepwalker (UK 1985, 51 mins, BFI)

A wealthy couple visit a brother and sister in their country home. After an evening of drinking, political bickering and sexual tension, things take a turn for the worse as the guests fall victim to a crazed attacker...

Taking a timely swipe at 80's Britain and its values whilst referencing Argento, Hammer House Of Horror, The Old Dark House and more, it's remarkable that anyone tried making a short film like this in the UK industry climate of the time. The film is perhaps more admirable for what it attempts than what it actually achieves, coming across as an intriguing taster for a bigger, more fully formed project which never came. A comprehensive interview with director Saxon Logan runs for 71 minutes, and is a fascinating watch in its own right. Logan is evidently chuffed to see Sleepwalker available after many years out of circulation. If not a classic, it is worth investigating.

*** Double-billed with... ***

The Insomniac (UK 1971, 45 mins, BFI)

After a long day of work, a man (Morris Perry) struggles to get to sleep. He eventually enters a dream of escape, which the audience follows in full as he goes on a lone car journey, ends up at a strange party in a country house and meets up with a mysterious girl (Valerie Van Ost)...

Tucked away on the same disc as Sleepwalker is this quite different tale of nocturnal activity. Juxtaposing the man's dream state with the daytime fantasies of his children is an imaginative touch, and the end twist is quite effective. Director Rodney Geisler (usually a maker of industrial information films) captures the surreal and otherworldly state effectively. Beautifully shot, it's an interesting period piece.

Deranged (Spain/UK 2012, 78 mins, Phase 4 Films)

Four young girls head to a remote house in Spain for a small hen party before one of them gets married. However, after a male stripper arrives they start to get bumped off, and the survivors have to work out who the killer is before they become the next victims...

It's impossible to believe that these four girls would ever be friends in the first place, and the "twist" can be seen a mile away (the cover kind of gives the game away as well), but it's an entertaining enough romp which doesn't outstay its welcome. Marcia Do Vales' dialogue does require subtitles on occasion, though. Sadly these aren't supplied. 

MOVIE: Runaway Train (1985)

Runaway Train

US 1985, 110m, Cannon Films

Blu-Ray: Arrow Films (UK) - Cert 15

Hardened convict Manny (Jon Voight) has been kept locked in his prison cell for the last three years, until a government order is issued to allow him back with the other prisoners. The somewhat sadistic prison warden Rankin (John P. Ryan) is looking for an excuse to dispatch with Manny once and for all.

After a failed attempt on his life, Manny hatches an escape plan (his third), assisted by fellow convict and prison boxing champ Buck (Eric Roberts), who on the spur of the moment decides to make a break for it with Manny. Having made the break, they eventually reach the railroad and jump onto a train, unaware that it's about to set out on a runaway course with no driver, no brakes, and just them and a female railway worker (Rebecca DeMornay) on board...

If ever a film was blighted by association, it was this one. Its makers, Cannon Films, and producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, were more readily associated with action junk starring Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme. One look at the trailer for Runaway Train tells you that, even after they quoted some of the strong reviews, Cannon really weren't sure how to market or distribute the film, giving the impression of yet another gung-ho action movie. It is something else entirely.

It's a breakneck, edge of the seat ride for sure, but it's also an absorbing character study. It's just as much about the relationship between the two prisoners and their unwitting travelling companion as it is about a train heading to possible disaster and the attempts by both passengers and other parties to prevent it. The on screen action is just as much about the conflict in the claustrophobic confines of the train cabin, as it is about some spectacularly staged railway sequences through Alaska.

There are faults. Some synthesiser-based sections of the score do feel somewhat dated, and it's such a contrast to the stunning use of Vivaldi's Gloria in D Major at the film's climax that you wish they had taken a more orchestral approach to the music throughout. Also, the scenes inside the railway control room do feel like they have strayed in from a traditional Cannon action pic and they both jar with and disrupt the atmosphere created by the train sequences.

Fortunately, the film's considerable merits far outweigh any deficiencies. Both Voight and Roberts give intense and uncompromising performances, and were both rewarded with Oscar nominations. The chances of any Cannon production actually winning an Oscar were unlikely, but Voight was presented with a Golden Globe for his efforts.

Alan Hume's cinematography is simply stunning, and demonstrates some of the best use of a snow-scape ever committed to celluloid. Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky uses the landscape more like his homeland, and makes this remote outpost of the USA look almost alien.

Despite the Oscar nominations and some incredibly positive press, Cannon only secured a limited release for December 1985. By the time the release went wider, the holiday season had passed and the post-Christmas cinema slump left Runaway Train to struggle. After taking just short of $8m in the US and $9.5m worldwide, against a budget of $9m, it was released to video by late summer. It deserved much better.

Like a head on collision between a traditional action extravaganza and an arthouse existentialist piece, and quite unlike anything else you are likely to see, Runaway Train just might be one of the most underrated films of the 1980's. It certainly has one of my favourite endings.



Blu-Ray Notes: I'm sure people must be getting fed up of me praising Arrow Films' releases, but they've done it again. A truly brilliant HD transfer, marred only by a couple of short scenes where optical zooming on the frame was used in the original cut, and the quality of the transfer makes it all too obvious. The original stereo soundtrack sounds great, and there are fascinating interviews with Voight, Roberts, Konchalovsky and supporting actor Kyle T. Heffner which shed an interesting light on the film's prolonged gestation (it was originally going to be an Akira Kurosawa film!), its production and its release.

Original Theatrical Trailer:

FOOTNOTE: Perhaps buoyed by their Oscar nominations, Cannon would produce several more prestigious films over the next few years, utilising talents such as Jean-Luc Godard and Norman Mailer. Hollywood, however would never take them seriously. On the verge of collapse, Golan and Globus sold Cannon in 1989.

COMMERCIAL BREAK: Sun Country Wine Coolers - Vincent Price (1985)

Vincent Price seemed to be on TV all the time in my childhood. If he wasn't in a film late on Friday night, or being interviewed by Terry Wogan or suchlike, he would usually be advertising something, in this case Sun Country Classic Wine Coolers - basically a mix of wine, fruit juice and fizzy water.

The makers' promotional blurb at the time boasted that they had sold something like 1 million cases in their first six months of sale. Evidently it wasn't destined to last, as they seemed to have disappeared by the 90's, at least in the UK. Perhaps they should have shown Vincent's ad for longer...

SINGLE: Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon (1984)

UK - Korova/WEA KOW32 (Jan 1984)

This came on the stereo today, and I immediately thought: I really want to watch Donnie Darko again...

It is hard in my mind to think of a more perfect matching of music to the opening scene of a movie, although it was also accidental. Director Richard Kelly's original choice had been INXS' Never Tear Us Apart (another record I love), but when the licensing costs proved too high, he moved The Killing Moon from a later scene to the opening. A very fortunate accident, in my book. Kelly's original intention can be seen in his own alternative (and, in my view, generally inferior if fascinating) cut of the film, but there's just something about this record that sums up the mood of Donnie Darko perfectly.

The Killing Moon would be the centrepiece of possibly the group's finest album, Ocean Rain. Recorded in Bath, the vocals and additional drums were overdubbed in Liverpool. The rest of the LP (as we used to call albums!) would be recorded in Paris, with vocal overdubs again recorded in Liverpool, but The Killing Moon fits in seamlessly with the rest of the record.

The version on the promo clip here has the closing section somewhat truncated, possibly to make the length more MTV friendly, but the original 7-inch single boldly retained the full 5:46 version.

It would peak at number 9 in the UK.

COMMERCIAL BREAK: Polaroid Video Cassettes (1985)

Still hoarding precious recordings on VHS? Perhaps you're an afficionado of the Betamax?

The problem with this analog technology is when dirt and muck builds up on your video heads, and the picture starts to look a tad snowy.

Never fear - none other than Vincent Price has the solution...