A Taste Of Evil (1971)

3 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey
Written by: Jimmy Sangster
Actors include: Barbara Stanwyck, Roddy McDowall, Barbara Parkins
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Length: 73 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Considering this was a '70s made-for-tv movie that was written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Aaron Spelling productions I thought this would be a winner! It's not, in fact it's a rehash of so many films seen previously and this particular retelling is very dry. It's about a young girl who is raped, then put in an asylum because she's in a catatonic state and has sever trauma from the accident. We catch up with her as she's coming home to stay, though she doesn't seem particularly well. See she keeps seeing her Stepfather dead in various places which is tormenting her to say the least. She also has an over-the-top nutty Mother (Barbara Stanwyck) does provide some campy laughter but not a heck of a lot else. I don't want to give more away in case you do want to watch this but let's just say I was underwhelmed. It did have a tidy conclusion and it made clear sense at least!

Availability:  Currently unavailable anywhere

The Psychic Killer (1975)

3 / 5 July '10
Tagline: First it drives you mad, then it kills and kills and kills!
Directed by: Ray Danton
Written by: Greydon Clark, Mikel Angel
Actors include: Paul Burke, Jim Hutton, Julie Adams
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Iceland

Review:
Oh dear, this is quite a film I suppose. It reminds me of Patrick I guess, only this film uses some sort of astral projection in order to get revenge. Arnold Masters is in a mental hospital for a crime he didn't commit. He makes friends with another in the hospital who gives him his magical charm when executed which teaches Arnold astral projection revenge. See Arnold is very mad at the people who killed his Mother and the Men who set him up to make him look guilty. One by one they die off in amusing ways (I give credit there, they did try with the deaths), but it's baffling the cops. See they are tailing Arnold and watching him go into trances while the murders happen, but will they be able to solve the puzzle before Arnold goes too far? It's rather slow and dry for the most part but it never really got to the level of being boring. The amusing deaths and strange story aren't exactly a must see but some will find this entertaining.

Availability:  On DVD

Shutter Island (2010)

4 / 5 Oct '10
Tagline: Someone is missing.
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Laeta Kalogridis, Dennis Lehane
Actors include: Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Leonardo DiCaprio
Genre: Thriller
Length: 138 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Many people seem to have been recommending this to me at work lately, that or complaining about how confusing it. I figured I need to find out which side I'm on, I liked it. I thought it was rather easy to follow and rather well made (despite the fact that the digital clearness of the picture sort of detracted from it somehow...it should have been foggier or something). The story is hard to describe without giving things away, but it takes place with Leonardo and his partner going into an island asylum called Shutter Island. The inmates are divided up into separate wards, A+B for the regular nutters and then C is for the extreme cases. Leonardo (with a bad Bostonian accent) and pal are investigating a missing persons case, a woman named Rachel vanished from her cell. It takes a bunch of twists and turns along the way and yes it is somewhat predictable but they at least tried and threw a few surprises in I thought. It did to a good job of creating atmosphere, particularly in C ward, the mental patients are rather creepy too but that is to be expected of course. My only real complaint is that they could have made it a bit more satisfying, but I'm not necessarily disappointed either. Still a rather gripping mystery that I think most should enjoy providing you go in with an open mind.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Shock Corridor (1963)

4 / 5 Mar '11
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Samuel Fuller
Written by: Samuel Fuller
Actors include: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Mystery
Length: 101 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Although this is rather campy and obviously inexpensively made it's still a really charismatic piece and the ideas within are rather shocking (for the time). Peter Breck plays Johnny Barrett, a journalist hell bent on getting the Pulitzer Prize by any means necessary. He devices a plan to have his showgirl singer girlfriend Cathy pretend to be his Sister who he's obsessed with in order to be committed to an insane asylum so he can try to solve a murder. Yeah it's that simple! As you can probably already guess things don't work out quite as planned but considering that the basics are obvious it's the little details that made it special. Johnny has to try to milk the information out of three different mental patients who witnessed a murder in order to solve the crime. The film manages to delve into racism, mental patient abuse and obsession. It's quite the picture that won't appeal to everyone, but it's pretty fascinating I thought.

Availability:  On Blu-Ray & DVD