Behind the Couch

2008 Dir. Jamie Blanks Suburban couple Peter and Carla (Jim Caviezel and Claudia Karvan) take a weekend vacation in the hopes of repairing their crumbling relationship. The couple show an absolute lack of respect for their surroundings and amongst other things, drop litter, constantly spray insecticides, accidently kill a baby dugong, bicker with each other and are generally unable to conceal their utter contempt for one another. As the tension between the two escalates, nature itself seems to strike back against them. Is something supernatural afoot, or is the squabbling, insular couple losing their grip on reality? Australian horror movies have been making quite an impact on the horror genre recently, though the country has a history of genre movies including classics such as Mad Max, Razorback and Picnic at Hanging Rock . More recently with films such as Wolf Creek, Rogue , Lake Mungo and Undead , filmmakers have begun to explore the darker recesses of the outback once more.

As you may or may not be aware, this blog takes its name from a phrase in popular culture that apparently originated from commentary on Doctor Who – namely the actions taken by younger viewers being frightened by episodes of the show - particularly during the 1970s. According to Sam Leith, who wrote an article titled ‘Worshipping Doctor Who from behind the sofa’, the cliché that Doctor Who had us ‘hiding behind the couch’ whilst watching it – ‘is more telling in its tone than its questionable factuality. It connotes nostalgia and a pleasurable mixture of fright and fascination - but above all it connotes domesticity. It united fear and soft furnishings in the British mind.’ Apparently The Economist actually went so far as to present this notion of "hiding behind the sofa whenever the Daleks appear" as a British cultural institution on an equal par with Bovril and ‘tea-time’. Indeed, the phrase is so strongly associated with Doctor Who in the UK, that in 1991 the Museum

James, Donna and Maddy gather in Donna’s living room to sing a song . The three are united in their grief over their friend Laura Palmer’s death. Donna realises that James is falling for Maddy, Laura’s cousin, who also bears an uncanny resemblance to Laura. After the song, Donna leaves abruptly and James chases after her. Left alone in the living room, Maddy – who seems to share the same perceptive nature that Laura, and indeed several of the other townsfolk exhibited, and just seems able to sense when something is 'wrong' – feels a dark, creepy presence in the house. Suddenly she sees ‘Bob’ a filthy, lecherous man Laura wrote about in her diary, claiming he abused her and would eventually kill her, slowly appear in the room. He quietly skulks towards her from the other side of the room and we see it all from her point of view as she sits rooted to the spot with fear.   The sight of this dirty, carnal beast-man slowly advancing towards us and crawling over the couch with war

2008 Dir. Bruce McDonald The small town of Pontypool descends into chaos when the residents become infected by a mysterious virus that seems to spread through the English language. Inside the local radio station, the small production crew of shock-jock Grant Mazzy’s show continue to broadcast news and updates of the ensuing chaos as the town spirals into madness. They are unaware though, that their broadcasts may very well be adding to the contagion… The last decade has produced a staggering array of films that, since 28 Days Later , have attempted their own spin on the zombie/infection/virus sub-genre; and like all cinematic cycles, this one also produced some titles that were much more original and creative than others. Pontypool is perhaps one of the most striking and interesting films to have come out of this resurgence in the popularity of the zombie flick. It is based on the 1998 novel Pontypool Changes Everything and was adapted for the screen by its author Tony Burgess.

1977 Dir. Robert Wise Janice and Bill Templeton (Marsha Mason and John Beck), an affluent middle class couple living in New York, look on helplessly as their comfortable existence is shattered when the mysterious and charismatic Elliot Hoover (Anthony Hopkins) enters their lives. He declares that their daughter Ivy (Susan Swift) is actually the reincarnation of his dead daughter Audrey Rose. Is he telling the truth? Or is he a raving psychotic they should cross the street to avoid? When Ivy begins to experience weird seizures and hallucinations, the couple have no choice but to accept the help of Hoover and the family are plunged into a nightmare they may never wake up from… Director Robert Wise began his eclectic career as an editor for RKO. He was given his big break by producer Val Lewton directing the poetic horror sequel The Curse of the Cat People – a sensitive, deeply moody study of child psychology. Wise would return to the horror arena again with titles such as The Body

1970 Dir. Mario Bava Three couples are invited to spend the weekend at the secluded private island retreat of their friend, wealthy industrialist George Stark (Teodoro Corrà). One of the men, a research scientist, has perfected a secret formula for an industrial resin and the others are all keen to acquire the rights for it as it promises to be lucrative. Tempers flare as they vie to obtain the formula. Meanwhile their wives kick back and entertain themselves. The group soon realises that someone is prepared to kill to get the secret formula, and they find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer in their midst! Gosh – that’s a lot to take in. Truth be told though, as soon as you begin to watch 5 Dolls for an August Moon , it becomes apparent that none of the above plot summary really matters – all that stuff about a secret formula is just a rouse to get these volatile characters in one secluded location so they can all be bumped off, one by one nonetheless, in what amoun

2009 Dir. Park Chan-wook Father Sang-hyun (Kang-ho Song) selflessly volunteers for some highly dangerous medical experiments to develop a vaccine to eradicate a deadly virus. He contracts the disease and seemingly dies, only to return to life and be regarded as a Messiah. He soon discovers to his horror that his immunity comes at a price: he now has a taste for blood, and all those human urges he suppressed throughout his life in the priesthood have become too strong to resist. He becomes locked in a bizarre and destructive relationship with Tae-joo (Ok-bin Kim), the wife of an old friend, and the two plummet headlong into a darkly erotic world soaked in the blood of all who cross their paths… The vampire film has proved to be one of the most versatile, adaptable and popular sub-genres with filmmakers and audiences alike. It lends itself so well to reinterpretation whilst maintaining a hardcore of themes and ideas that seem timeless in their appeal and accessibility. Of course, t

2006 Dir. David Arquette A group of friends attend a music festival, only to find themselves stalked and brutally butchered by an axe-wielding psychotic killer wearing a Ronald Reagan mask.  David Arquette’s wacked-out, utterly gonzo directorial feature debut is a loving throwback to gritty backwoods slashers from the Eighties. Arquette actually sticks fairly rigidly to the preconceived slasher tropes. A pre-credits-like ‘flashback’ to the 80's depicts a young boy who, after seeing his father, a lumberjack foreman, being attacked by a deforesting protestor and subsequently arrested by the police, goes on a killing spree with a chainsaw. Cut to present day and Samantha (Jaime King) who, still reeling from the breakup with her abusive boyfriend, joins her friends and heads to the American Free Love Festival in woody Northern California. Arquette has gathered together a pretty cool bunch actors including Jason Mewes, Lukas Haas, Balthazar Getty and Marsha Thomason who delve int

1979 Dir. Werner Herzog AKA Nosferatu the Vampyre Estate agent Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) leaves his hometown of Wismar and travels to Transylvania to complete a property sale for Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski). When Dracula sees a photo of Jonathan’s wife Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) he is captivated and determines to find her. Drinking Jonathan’s blood and locking him in the castle, the Count departs for Wismar, bringing with him plague-infected rats. As the inhabitants of Wismar fall victim to the plague and to the Count’s thirst for blood, Lucy realises she must take matters into her own hands to save her soul and that of her traumatised husband… Werner’s Nosferatu is a respectful and masterful remake/homage to F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens . Murnau couldn’t obtain permission to adapt Bram Stoker’s seminal novel Dracula , so he went ahead and crafted his film anyway – altering it slightly so as to avoid prosecution. A law suit was still filed by Florence Bal

1976 Dir. Pete Walker AKA The Confessional Jenny (Susan Penhaligon), a troubled young woman, seeks help at her local church. Unfortunately for her, the sexually repressed priest Father Meldrum (Anthony Sharp) she confesses to, becomes obsessed with her. He begins to stalk her and will stop at nothing, including blackmail and murder, just to get close to her. ‘He's gone out again. You're all alone ... with me.’ If House of Whipcord was Walker’s attack on the British moral conservatism and the justice system, House of Mortal Sin is surely his scathing defilement of the Church, or perhaps just organised religion in general. Released in the States as The Confessional it plunges the viewer into even darker territory than before. Walker drew on his own fears and opinions as a lapsed Catholic to create a more considered and mature film than most viewers would have expected, particularly given its lurid title and subject matter. Typical of Walker though, the film was a de

A couple of fellow bloggers have said nice things about Behind the Couch and even chucked me a couple of awards, too. I’m not really one for speeches or anything, so I’ll just say thanks very much to Christine at Fascination with Fear , Carl at I Like Horror Movies and Matthew at Movietone News for their kind words. Basically I’m just going to take the awards and run. But before I do, I wanted to mention a few blogs I enjoy frequenting... Radiation Cinema A wonderful site dedicated to Atomic-era B-movies and monster movie classics from the 50s. Each film is painstakingly dissected and eloquently discussed by Mykal, who has actually just received a nomination from Total Film for Best Newcomer Blog – drop by and vote for him. http://www.totalfilm.com/features/2010-blog-awards-best-newcomer-blog/ Anchorwoman in Peril Calm librarian by day, frenzied fan of gory slasher movies by night, Ross’s fantastic trawls through TV-movie thrillers, stalk ’n’ slash films, women in peril mo

1987 Dir. Michael J. Muro A dodgy liquor store owner flogs bottles of out of date ‘Viper’ at discount rate to the local homeless community, unaware of its true properties: it causes its consumers to melt. Very graphically. Fred and his brother Kevin, two young drifters, find themselves up against the effects of the toxic brew, as well as having to contend with the junkyard overlord Bronson, an unhinged war vet… When a film opens with a slapstick chase scene in which a tramp steals liquor and money from various people, full frontal nudity, fart gags, a man falling out of his wheelchair and some completely random and absurd violence when a man is pulled from his car by a hulking shell-shocked hermit and hurled through his own windshield, you just know you’re in for an utterly depraved splurge of a treat. Dearest reader, may I present to you the gloriously perverted and truly outrageous schlock-fest Wes Craven once said made John Waters look like Mary Poppins: Street Trash ! Leave y