PHENOMENA / CREEPERS

PHENOMENA (aka Creepers/1985). Director: Dario Argento. 

At the Richard Wagner International School for Girls in Switzerland, Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly), a new student with a sleepwalking problem, develops a strange affinity for insects. This comes in handy in tracking down an unknown maniac who is murdering several of the students. Donald Pleasence plays the entomologist, McGregor, and Daria Nicolodi is Frau Bruckner, who is keeping a deadly secret. Heroine Connelly is too inexperienced to convincingly carry the film, but considering the things she's called upon to do one has to say that she earns her pay and then some. Pleasence, Nicolodi, and a lovable chimp are much better. This is a somewhat zany but likable picture with a few memorably gruesome sequences. 

Verdict: A fascinating Gothic nightmare. ***. 

MURDER WITH MIRRORS

Helen Hayes and Bette Davis

MURDER WITH MIRRORS (1985 telefilm). Director: Dick Lowry. 

Told that there's something off about her old friend, Carrie Louise (Bette Davis), Miss Jane Marple comes to stay at her estate for a few days to investigate. Carrie's husband, Lewis (John Mills), is in charge of a home for juvenile delinquents, which adjoins the estate. One evening, while Lewis is arguing with a troubled young man, Edgar (Tim Roth), who insists he is Lewis' biological son, family lawyer Christian Gilbranson (John Woodwine) is shot in the study. Then it turns out that someone is apparently trying to poison Carrie Louise. Suspects include granddaughter Gina (Liane Langland), her husband Wally (John Laughlin), her Aunt Mildred (Dorothy Tutin), Steven Restarick (James Coombs), who has a hankering for Gina, and others. 

Dorothy Tutin as Mildred

Murder with Mirrors is based on a fairly clever Agatha Christie novel, and this is a fair-to-middling adaptation. Although Hayes is by no means perfect casting as the very British Miss Marple -- she doesn't even try to affect an accent -- she is a strong enough actress to pull it off in spite of it. Although clearly affected by her recent stroke (it is explained that she is getting over the flu!), Davis is also better than expected. Leo McKern scores as Inspector Curry, and Mills is fine as well. The others are all professional, with Roth and Tutin giving especially notable performances. Langland is perhaps too irrepressible as the very outgoing Gina. The changes made to the story aren't necessary. 

Verdict: Minor-league but entertaining-enough Christie adaptation. **1/4. 

 

THE SEA SERPENT

The pop-eyed serpent of The Sea Serpent

THE SEA SERPENT (aka Serpiente de mar/1985). Writer/Director: Gregory Greens (Amando de Ossorio).

Pedro Fontan (Timothy Bottoms) loses his licence as ship's captain and may go to jail for claiming that his ship was sunk by a sea monster. Linares (Jared Martin), who didn't see the creature, insists to a board of review that Pedro was drunk. Pedro was also captain of another ship that sunk, and Linares' sister died. Leaning of a woman, Margaret (Taryn  Power), who was institutionalized after seeing her friend devoured by the creature, Pedro goes to see her and sneaks her out of the hospital. The two then contact Professor Wallace (Ray Milland), who after initial distrust, believes their stories and decides to help them track down the sea monster, which was apparently created or revived when the military activated and dropped an atomic bomb in the ocean to keep it out of the hands of the enemy (!). 

Bottoms, Power, Milland

If you're hoping for a classic sea monster movie like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms or a not-quite-classic like The Giant Behemoth -- and this movie borrows many elements from both films -- be warned that The Sea Serpent is nowhere near that level. The screenplay itself is by no means terrible, and there is at least an attempt at characterization, but the movie is almost defeated by the rather silly-looking monster. Not a "sock puppet" as many have described it, the creature has a full-size prop head large enough for certain actors to fit inside its mouth. (The scenes of the beast gobbling down supporting cast members eventually become comical.) The monster is quite large, with a very long, snake-like, slithering body that in one genuinely creepy scene winds itself around and around a lighthouse. The climax involving a bridge and a helicopter is somewhat exciting as well, if only the budget and the FX had been up to the challenge. The protagonists in the movie seem less interested in fully destroying the monster than they are in simply chasing it away so it can become somebody else's problem! Nice!

Bottoms and Power

One might suggest that the performances in the film are better than the movie deserves. Although most of the actors are dubbed, it appears as if the four leads were allowed to use their own voices. One has to say that this cheapie-creepy certainly has an interesting cast: Bottoms from The Last Picture Show; Martin from TV's Dallas; Milland, a Best Actor Oscar-winner for The Lost Weekend; and Tyrone Power's daughter, Taryn, from Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. I wonder if they knew what the monster with its decidedly limited movement would look like while they were filming? It's one of the least convincing monsters since the big bird of The Giant Claw. 

The Sea Serpent was Milland's last theatrical film. Power only made one more film out of ten. Bottoms' career survived this flop and he is still acting and producing today. Martin passed away in 2017 at age 75. 

Verdict: Not completely atrocious, but hardly one of the better efforts in the genre. **. 

LIFEFORCE

Steve Railsback

LIFEFORCE (1985). Director: Tobe Hooper. 

Colonel Tom Carlson (Steve Railsback) leads a crew of astronauts who are investigating Halley's comet when they come across a huge derelict spaceship. Inside it they find many deceased bat-like creatures, and are unaware that three of the survivors of the alien race have transformed themselves into attractive humans. One of the trio is a naked female (Mathilda May) who begins to entrance the Colonel. This "woman" is an energy vampire, and back on earth she and her companions create havoc, leading to a plague in London and a near-apocalypse that only Carlson can stop. 

Pitiful victim of the space vampires

Lifeforce was not well-received when it was released -- I always thought the film was actually not bad -- maybe because the plot was a little confusing and audiences at the time may have been sick of zombies. But Lifeforce moves at a swift pace, is well-acted, has some marvelous special effects and stand-out sequences, and the riot scenes in London are very well-staged. In fact, Tobe Hooper's direction [Texas Chainsaw Massacre] is on-target every step of the way. There's a terrific sequence involving an autopsy, as well as a scene inside a copter when the vampire uses blood to form a surrogate body. Although one wouldn't expect this is the kind of material to be scored by Henry Mancini, the composer does an excellent job. 

Steve Railsback and Patrick Stewart 

Steve Railsback gives a very effective performance as Colonel Carlson. As for the supporting cast, Peter Firth seems to be channeling Brian Donlevy as Professor Quatermass in his generally cold portrayal of Colonel Caine. Patrick Stewart scores as Dr. Armstrong, who runs a psychiatric institution and who has been possessed, in a way, by one of the vampires. There's a wild scene when Tom Carlson smooches Dr. Armstrong on the mouth, thinking he's kissing the lady from space! Frank Finlay and Michael Gothard are also good as scientists fighting against the vampires. 

Mathilda May

Lifeforce was undoubtedly influential on Species -- which also featured a sexy female creature --  which came out ten years later. It's also possible that Lifeforce was influenced by Alien, as well the 1979 "Proteus" storyline in the X-Men comic book, in which the villain absorbs energy from victims, leaves them desiccated husks, and takes on their form. One might argue that the entertaining and fast-paced Lifeforce is a bit too busy at times, and is borderline campy, but in general the film is quite well-made and entertaining, if rather cold-blooded.

Verdict: One of Hooper's best pictures. ***.