CHILD'S PLAY (2019)

Andy and Chucky 

CHILD'S PLAY (2019). Director: Lars Klevburg. 

Karen Barclay (Aubrey Plaza) gives her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a technologically sophisticated doll, Buddi, for a present, but she doesn't know that a disgruntled employee of the firm who makes these toys has removed its safety protocols. The "doll." who calls itself Chucky, does everything it can to defend Andy, and gets sinister ideas after Andy and his pals -- along with Chucky-- watch one of the sequels to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It isn't long before the massacre is on ... 

Child's Play is a pretty bad remake of the original 1988 film, and it gets just about everything wrong. The first mistake is turning Chucky into more of a robot that can already walk and talk on its own. Unlike the 1988 film, Chucky is not possessed by a serial killer, and -- although voiced by Mark Hamill -- has absolutely no personality. (It's like stripping Freddy Krueger of everything that made him interesting.) Andy is much older than in the original film, a teen, so the contrast of innocence with utter evil is minimized if not eliminated altogether. In addition the mother in this film is edgier than Catherine Hicks in the original, but both actress and character are unlikable. 

Andy and his pals

The sequels to the original film became increasingly stupid and gory, and this new version follows in that tradition. The killings in this aren't just grisly, they are sadistic (along the lines of the Saw movies), and even if most of the victims are creeps, I'm not sure they deserve what happens to them. Horror movies are not supposed to be in good taste, but I think the absolute nadir of this film -- if not modern horror films in general -- is when a cute little girl gets splattered and undoubtedly traumatized by a victim's spouting blood. Even the moments of black comedy don't do much to help this waste. 

Verdict: Even Deadly Friend was better than this! *1/2. 

STRANGE CONQUEST

Peter Cookson

STRANGE CONQUEST (1946). Director: John Rawlins.

Dr. Mary Palmer (Jane Wyatt) is quite put out when told that she can't join  Dr. Harris (Lowell Gilmore) at a research post in Sumatra because she's a woman. She's even more annoyed when she learns that her replacement is Dr. Bill Sommers (Peter Cookson of Fear), whose family is backing the foundation. When Bill arrives in Sumatra he is not warmly welcomed by Dr. Harris or his associate Bert (Milburn Stone of Swing It Professor), because they were expecting a more experienced doctor. Harris and Sommers both try to concoct a vaccine (or "serum") for something called "Black Grass Fever," which has already killed the man Sommers is replacing. Half an hour later in the running time Mary does get to meet Dr. Harris, although by this time he's impersonating Dr. Sommers. And then  Sommer's wife (Julie Bishop of Lady Gangster) shows up ...

Peter Cookson with Lowell Gilmore

I have withheld some of the plot details because the movie is unpredictable unless you've seen the previous version, which is called The Crime of Dr. Hallet. I think this film is meant to be ennobling and touching but it simply isn't convincing enough to do so. For that the actors cannot be faulted because everyone is perfectly on target, especially Cookson in one of his best portrayals. Cookson played Morris Townsend on Broadway in "The Heiress," but when the film was made the better-known Montgomery Clift got the part. Cookson would also have been marvelous and might have had an entirely different career had he been in the film version. Instead he mostly did cheap pictures for Monogram, and on occasion, bigger studios like Universal, which released Strange Conquest. 

Gilmore with Jane Wyatt

Lowell Gilmore was also an attractive and talented leading man type, but after a few movies, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, most of his credits were for television series. Jane Wyatt became more famous for Father Knows Best than anything else, but she did quite a few films earlier in her career. The synopsis on IMDB.com makes this sound like a film about a romantic triangle, but that is not the case. Wyatt is the only actor in this who is billed above the title. 

Verdict: Half-baked melodrama has a very adept cast. **1/2. 

SLEUTH (2007)

Michael Caine and Jude Law

SLEUTH (2007). Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine of Jack the Ripper), a best-selling mystery author, greets an unusual guest at his front door: Milo Tindle (Jude Law of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), who happens to be his wife's lover. Milo hopes that Andrew will grant his wife a divorce and make things easier for everyone, but Andrew has a different plan. He wants Milo to steal his wife's jewels, get the cash so he can finance his girlfriend's expensive tastes, while Andrew will win a big cash pay-out from the insurance company. Milo goes along with this but could discover that Andrew's plans for him are much more sinister than he imagines. Then Inspector Doppler rings the doorbell ... 

Jude Law, not Helmut Berger

This remake of the 1972 Sleuth casts Michael Caine in the role originally played by Lawrence Olivier. While Caine can't quite compare to Olivier, he is still excellent, as is Law as Milo, who in this version is an actor (which makes more sense than his being a hairdresser as in the original). This version has a screenplay by Harold Pinter, who discards Andrew's obsession with games and curious memorabilia, and makes significant changes to the third act. Pinter adds a psychosexual element, a homoerotic tension between the two men, that may be completely faked by both parties or have some underlying truth to it. (The role of Milo would have been perfect for a young Helmut Berger.) In the long run, it doesn't matter, as this whole business just comes off as contrived, phony and unconvincing. As in the first version, the wife never appears, although she does arrive at the door, unseen, in the remake. Considering Pinter's touches -- that is the supposed, somewhat silly, bisexual twists in this -- you half expect RuPaul to walk through the front door (wouldn't that have been a trip!) Yes, the remake might as well have gone all the way and made the unseen lover a man. Sleuth should best be viewed as a splendid acting exercise for two very talented thespians. Jude Law also reprised a role originally played by Caine when he starred in the superior remake of Alfie. 

Verdict: Very well-acted, edgier than the original and less comical, but still not as good. **1/2. 

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (2006). Director: Simon West. 

Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) is hired by a doctor and his wife to babysit their two young children, who are asleep upstairs in their luxurious estate complete with aviary and goldfish pond. Jill begins to receive strange phone calls in which she hears someone breathing, and then a sinister and threatening voice. She gets a shock when she discovers exactly where the calls are coming from and engages in a fight for survival for her and her two charges against a maniacal intruder. 

When a Stranger Calls is loosely based on the original film of the same name, which in turn was based on a film short by Fred Walton. Instead of merely remaking the first movie, which had three acts (much of which had little to do with a terrified babysitter), Stranger manages the admirable feat of expanding the short into a full-length feature of just one setting and one act (aside from a brief prologue). What is even more amazing is that the film is able to sustain  tension and suspense over an hour and a half, building inexorably to an exciting and frightening climax.

When a Stranger Calls is not a slasher film and gore geeks will be disappointed, but the film is well-made enough that it doesn't need the lopped-off limbs and spurting blood so frequently seen in modern-day horror films. Camilla Belle's performance is at times on the amateurish side, but even that doesn't harm the movie too badly. With slick direction from Simon West, high-class cinematography by Peter Menzies, Jr., and an effective score by Jim Dooley, this one is a winner all the way. 

Verdict: Well-made, creepy and absorbing thriller. ***.  

KING KONG (2005).

KING KONG (2005). Director: Peter Jackson.

Although better by far than the first remake that starred Jessica Lange, this isn't as good as the 1933 original, despite some exciting sequences and outstanding visual effects work. The movie has a slow and tedious opening that borders on the campy approach of the Lange version. The leads are all miscast as well. Jack Black might be fine for a Saturday Night Live parody of the movie, but as a leading man in a serious motion picture he's completely ludicrous and even amateurish. Adrien Brody is a better actor but really adds nothing to the movie. Lead actress Naomi Watts , who plays Ann, is a bit of a lightweight. The movie picks up a bit once our voyagers arrive at Kong's island, although the first appearance of Kong is muffed, much less dramatic than in the original picture. Once the action starts, however, it rarely stops, and some of the sequences are astounding: a harrowing stampede of brontosauri (or apatosauri); Ann and a Tyrannosaurus Rex swinging past one another on vines as the dinosaur repeatedly attempts to snatch her into its jaws; the nightmarish scenes in the pit where the sailors are gruesomely dispatched by monstrous prehistoric insects. 

As in the Lange version, more of a rapport is developed between Ann and the Big Ape, which leads to a lot of nonsense that was not in the original. Kong may not have asked to have been shanghaied to New York but it's hard to feel sorry for him when so many innocent people have been killed during his rampage (including not one but three helpless blonds that he tosses aside to their presumed deaths). This dopey “animal rights” undertone gives the movie a pretentious and airy ambiance in its final moments. Fay Wray was just glad to get away from the monster; she didn't get all upset when it died! The musical scoring is bland and inept, only reminding one of the masterful work of Max Steiner for the original.

Verdict: Watch the 1933 version instead. **1/2.

THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH

Anton Diffring

THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH (1959). Director: Terence Fisher.

In Paris of 1890, doctor and sculptor Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring), is anxiously awaiting the arrival of an old friend, Dr. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marle). Elderly Weiss, who is actually younger than Georges, performed a certain operation on the latter that has kept him young for many decades. The operation needs to be repeated periodically and now it is time for Weiss to perform it again, only a stroke has made this impossible. Now Georges is desperate to find another doctor who might look the other way and save Georges' life. But will Dr. Pierre Gerard (Christopher Lee) agree to do what Georges' requires? Complicating matters is a woman named Janine (Hazel Court), who is in love with Georges but may find his secrets a bit too much to bear.

Arnold Marle and Anton Diffring

The Man Who Could Cheat Death is a notable Hammer production, well-directed by Terence Fisher, and with a splendid lead performance from Anton Diffring, who makes the most of both the characters' arrogance and his near-hysterical desperation. Court and Lee are also memorable, and Arnold Marle is excellent as the originally compliant doctor who becomes increasingly appalled by his old friend's attitude and actions, which include murder. Based on a play by Barre Lyndon, this was originally filmed as The Man in Half Moon Street. This is the superior of the two versions.

Verdict: Lurid and entertaining with a superb Diffring. ***. 

PIRANHA (1995)

William Katt and Darleen Carr

PIRANHA (1995 telefilm). Director: Scott P. Levy.

A writer named Paul Grogan (William Katt) and a private eye named Maggie (Alexandra Paul) look for a wealthy developer's missing daughter. Fearing that the young lady and her boyfriend might have drowned in a pool at an abandoned complex, Maggie drains the water, and inadvertently unleashes a horde of voracious, razor-toothed, foot-long piranha who begin devouring everything in their path (but not each other -- huh?) Paul and Maggie try to stop the critters from reaching a camp where his daughter is staying, as well as a new resort that is scheduled to open that day. 

William Katt

Piranha is a scene-by-scene made-for-cable remake of the original 1978 movie, which was no great shakes to begin with. The most effective scenes in the original are also the most effective in the remake: for instance when the fish nibble away at the ropes holding the raft together as Paul and the others sail down the river. The film is a bit bloodier than the original, and attack sequences, especially on children, are still disturbing (but not nearly as atrocious and ugly as the massacre scene in yet another remake Piranha 3D). William Katt of Carrie fame gives a good performance, although he doesn't make as much of an impression as Brad Dillman in the original. Conversely, Alexandra Paul is more effective and less "cutesy" than Heather Menzies in the '78 version -- her acting definitely got better after Christine. In a sex switch, Darlene Carr is good as the disturbed scientist who has created the deadly breed of killer fish and sacrifices herself to save a child. Monte Markham plays the greedy developer whose daughter becomes fish food in the opening sequence. 

Verdict: Unnecessary remake. **. 

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK

Carol Kane 

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK (made-for-cable telefilm/1993). Co-writer/director: Fred Walton. 

A babysitter named Julia (Jill Schoelen) is watching her two charges when a man comes to the door and tells her his car has broken down. Julia is smart enough not to let him inside, but when she offers to phone for assistance, she discovers the phone is out of order. Afraid to tell him this, she lies and says she's made the call. Then things get much worse. The suspenseful prologue of this film possibly out-creeps the prologue in the first film, When a Stranger Calls. 

Jill Schoelen

As in the first movie, the scene then shifts five years into the future, when Julia fears she is being stalked by that man outside the house, who disappeared along with the children. Two people who believe her story and come to her aid are Jill Johnson (Carol Kane,) who has her own babysitting horror story to tell, and private eye John Clifford (Charles Durning), who came to Jill's assistance in When a Stranger Calls. Jill is convinced that every weird thing that's happened to Julia is real, but John is a little more skeptical. Both agree, however, that the man or men who terrorized her five years before have to be tracked down. But is this mysterious figure tracking them down as well?

Gene Lythgow

When a Stranger Calls Back is arguably better than, and certainly just as good, as the original. Walton doesn't just replay the prologue of the first film, but comes up with some new twists, and the storyline that follows is also different from the original movie. The sequel is a bit slow at times, but it is atmospheric and never shakes its sense of dread. One scene in a hospital is especially creepy, and the exciting climax is also noteworthy. The performances are good -- this includes Gene Lythgow in an important role --  but as in the first film, I wish the characters had been better developed. Although Kane had a husband and children in the first film, they are not even referred to in passing in the sequel -- she even uses her maiden name -- and we never learn all that much about Julia or her stalker. There are also some annoying loose ends. However, the film is still entertaining and suspenseful, and the eeriness is abetted by the photography of David Geddes and the score by Dana Kaproff.

Verdict: Worthwhile sequel is creepy and disquieting. ***.