Behind the Couch

2008 Dir. Marek Losey Roy Tunt, a compulsive birder (that’s bird watcher to you and I) settles down in a secluded bird-hide on the barren Suffolk mudflats to try to catch a glimpse of the elusive ‘sociable plover’. A brewing storm brings Dave, a bedraggled and bloodied young man, to the hide to seek shelter. Over the course of the day the two men seem to bond until news of a police manhunt comes over Roy’s shortwave radio. This puts both men on their guard, forcing their impromptu and already brittle relationship to a shocking conclusion. Adapted from his own play, writer Tim Whitnall has carefully crafted a complex and rather compelling two-hander. The story unravels in one location – the bird-hide – and the action rarely leaves the four ramshackle, draught-ridden walls. The bulk of the film consists of the burgeoning relationship between the two men as they size each other up, make small talk and eventually confess deep, dark and sordid secrets. A stark and moody opening sets u...

The story behind director Michael J Murphy’s recent low budget, darkly comic and rather splattery Skare , is an interesting one. Basing the script on his own short story, Murphy set about filming in 2001. Disaster struck, however, when the unprocessed film got lost in the post on the way to be developed at Kodak. Murphy found himself in debt and without a film. Skip ahead a few years and as Murphy began working on a new project, he found himself drawn back to the original script of Skare . Gathering together a new cast and crew, the tenacious filmmaker set about filming Skare once again. The story focuses on the unlikely, and increasingly disturbing, partnership between Martha - the reclusive owner of a country club and Dan - a young escapee from a nearby psychiatric hospital. Dan soon discovers that Martha has sinister ulterior motives for her kindness and following the discovery of a decapitated head in a refrigerator, it soon becomes very clear the lengths she goes to in order...

Cult actor Edward Woodward, best known for his roles as a virginal policeman in The Wicker Man and a former secret agent turned vigilante in the 80s TV show The Equalizer , sadly died on Monday 16th November at the age of 79, after suffering from a number of illnesses including pneumonia. The actor died in a hospital near his home in Cornwall and was said to have been surrounded by family and friends. Woodward made his mark in cinema with his portrayal of celibate and devoutly Christian Police Sergeant Neil Howie, in British Horror film The Wicker Man. The film has quite often been referred to as "the Citizen Kane of horror movies", and both Woodward and Sir Christopher Lee have said they were "enormously proud" of their roles. According to The Guardian the director of the The Wicker Man , Robin Hardy, paid tribute to Woodward, saying he was 'one of the greatest actors of his generation, without any question', who was 'an absolute star of The Wick...

After moving into their new suburban home, a young couple become increasingly disturbed by strange nightly disturbances that are revealed to be a demonic presence. Every once in a while a film comes along with a reputation that precedes it. Having already caused something of a stir in the horror community and now breaking out into mainstream box office success, Paranormal Activity is a slow-burning and highly atmospheric horror tale that effortlessly preys on our fear of the unknown and of the dark. Hand held camerawork lends the film a sense of intimate urgency, whilst long static shots prompt us to gaze into the dark abyss of the screen for the smallest flickers of movement in the corners of the frame, the vaguest hint of threat. Before we know it, the abyss is starring back. Rammed full of creepy images, sinister sound effects and queasy tension, Paranormal Activity could very well do for your own home what The Blair Witch Project did for camping. Head over to Eye for Film ...

This is part II of an interview with George Clarke - director of Battle of the Bone and The Knackery . I caught up with George recently to chat about his independent film production company Yellow Fever, and the 2nd Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival - as well as his current project, old school slasher flick Splash Area . If you've just joined us, you can click here to read part one of the interview. If you've already read it, I shall take up no more of your time - read on for part II... Tell me about your own festival – Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival. How did you go about setting it up? Going back to the beginning when I started filming Battle Of The Bone , I had always wanted to help independent film makers from the word 'go'. One way of doing that was to hold a real indie film festival. At that time, I had never heard of any in Belfast, or NI, and wanted to be responsible for creating such an event. After our visit and win at the Freak Show Film F...

As the head of Yellow Fever Productions, a Northern Irish independent film production company, George Clarke has his work cut out for him. Currently in the midst of filming his latest project, a crazed Halloween Night-set slasher film about killer clowns and escaped lunatics, and having already thrown himself into preparations for the second Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival next August, I thought it was about time I caught up with Mr Clarke to have a chat about low budget filmmaking, genetically modified zombies, the film industry in Northern Ireland, the importance of self belief and, er, killer clowns! When and how did you go about setting up Yellow Fever Productions? I officially launched Yellow Fever Productions when I kicked off production on Battle of the Bone . I had always wanted to name my company Yellow Fever because of my love for Asian cinema. It has been the biggest inspiration to me in regards to film making so I wanted to pay some sort of homage to it with my ...

Filmmaker Tim Hope began his career experimenting with computer graphics and editing packages. His short film The Wolfman was apparently inspired by a performance piece that he and a colleague created and titled ‘Man-chine’, a hectic story involving a character comprised of part man, part machine. Hope was eventually inspired to transform his ‘soundscape-laden mechano-human exploits’ into a short animated film. The result is The Wolfman , the strangely disturbing tale of an astronomer whose love of the moon is so strong he longs to become a werewolf. I just caught this by chance, very late one evening on Channel 4, a few years ago and it has remained lodged in my head ever since. The film opens with a creepy fairytale-esque scene in which a young girl gingerly picks her way through a spooky forest – all the while she is stalked by intimidating camerawork while a worrying nursary-rhyme warns about a mysterious man with ‘a hairy back.’ Something pounces on the girl and an increasingl...

1961 Dir. Jack Clayton Governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) takes up a new post at an isolated country manor. In her charge are two young children, Miles and Flora, whose uncle wants nothing to do with their upbringing and has given her full responsibility and autonomy. A series of strange occurrences at the house lead Miss Giddens to suspect that the children are possessed by the souls of their former Governess Miss Jessel and her lover, valet Peter Quint. Is something supernatural occurring? Is there something genuinely sinister in the childish games the youngsters play with their sensitive Governess? Or is it all a product of the over-active and neurotic imagination of a repressed and unhappy woman close to losing her clutch on sanity? These are just a few of the provocative questions The Innocents raises. Based on the Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw and co-written by Truman Capote, Jack Clayton’s The Innocents is a masterpiece of understated, ambiguous and half-...

1972 Dir. Robert Fuest Three years after he murdered the surgeons he held responsible for his wife Victoria’s death, Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) awakens from his hidden tomb to discover his parchment scrolls detailing the location of a Pharaoh's Tomb have been stolen. The tomb grants access to the River of Life, and could revive his beloved wife. Phibes quickly murders those responsible and reacquires the parchment. But! He soon realises he is not the only one looking for the Pharaoh’s Tomb and the secrets of eternal life – an archaeological team led by the dastardly Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) is close behind him. Phibes, aided again by his loyal assistant Vulnavia, resorts to what he does best to eliminate the competition – killing them off one by one in ever elaborate ways… Flesh crawls! Blood curdles! Phibes lives! Much like its predecessor, Dr Phibes Rises Again is drenched in an irresistible high camp Gothic and grandiose excess. We open with a recap of the even...

1974 Dir. Mickey Lion (Mario Bava) When she separates from her tour group to look around an old antiques shop, Lisa (Elke Sommer) encounters a man (Telly Savalas) who bears a striking resemblance to a depiction of the Devil she saw in a fresco. Making her way back to the town square, Lisa is suddenly struck down by a mysterious and somewhat disturbing ailment that causes her to spasm uncontrollably and to spout obscenities. She is visited in hospital by a Priest (Robert Alda) who surmises that she is possessed by the Devil and sets about trying to exorcise her. During the exorcism she reveals to him how she came to be in this unsavoury situation… Due to the success of Bava’s prior film Baron Blood , he was given ‘carte blanche’ by his producer Alfredo Leone to write and direct another film. Bava had apparently waited his whole career for such artistic freedom and the resulting film, Lisa & the Devil is amongst his most accomplished, beautifully surreal and engaging films. D...

1972 Dir. Mario Bava When she separates from her tour group to look around an old antiques shop, Lisa (Elke Sommer) encounters a man (Telly Savalas) who bears a striking resemblance to a depiction of the Devil she saw in a fresco in the town square. Becoming lost in the myriad streets, she eventually hitches a ride with a bickering couple and their driver. When their car breaks down outside a mysterious villa, they are invited to stay by its occupant – Max, a nervous young man who lives there with his overbearing mother (Alida Valli) and their butler Leandro (Savalas again). Lisa's resemblance to Max’s former lover seems to stir something sinister within the house and someone begins murdering the guests. Lisa soon begins to lose hope as she navigates her way through what can only be described as a waking nightmare, peopled with bodies and mannequins… Due to the success of Bava’s prior film Baron Blood , he was given ‘carte blanche’ by his producer Alfredo Leone to write and d...

2008 Dirs. Marcel Sarmiento & Gadi Harel Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and JT (Noah Segan) decide to bunk off school for the afternoon and go to a nearby abandoned psychiatric hospital to drink beer. Wandering through the labyrinthine basements beneath the hospital they eventually find a living-dead woman chained to a table. Ricky flees, but JT remains and rapes her. He eventually discovers she cannot be killed and becomes obsessed with her. The ostracised Rickie wrestles with his conscience and decides to somehow free the undead woman.  ‘She’s just a dead girl.’ Zombie films are ripe for reinterpretation and enable filmmakers to comment and critique certain aspects of modern society. Deadgirl makes its mark by twisting the usual conventions of zombie flicks into a dark fable about sexual abuse, predation and consent. It unfurls as a shadowy, harrowing rite of passage about a young man who repeatedly rapes a captive, (un)dead woman. One of the most horrific elements of the film i...