Coming Soon: Classic Ghost Stories

From the cosy confines of his study, a learned professor (award- winning actor Robert Powell – Jesus of Nazareth, Mahler, The Detectives) tells five terrifying tales. Inspired by M R James’ legendary readings of his own works, these vintage ghost stories were originally broadcast over the Christmas of 1986.

In The Mezzotint a haunted picture slowly reveals the horrors of the past, whilst The Ash-Tree tells of the execution of a witch and the dreadful curse she places on the Fell family. Wailing Well involves a troop of scouts who find that curiosity can be fatal, and Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad concerns itself with an academic who gets more than he bargained for after he finds an enchanted whistle. Finally, in The Rose Garden, disturbing visions upset Mrs Ansthruthers’ gardening plans.

Special features

Spine Chillers: The Mezzotint, A School Story and The Diary of Mr Poynter (1980, 36 min in total): acclaimed actor Michael Bryant reads three of M R James’ stories adapted for the BBC’s Spine Chillers series – produced by Classic Ghost Stories producer Anglea Beeching and the team behind the BBC children’s series Jackanory.
Fully illustrated booklet with a newly commissioned essay by BFI TV Curator Lisa Kerrigan.

This will be released by The BFI on 28th October. Look out for a review soon.

DVD Review: My Amityville Horror

In the 38 years since 112 Ocean Avenue first hit the headlines, this supernatural phenomenon has spawned 10 films and 13 books on the subject. In 1975, the Lutz family moved into a house in Amityville, New York, fully aware that 13 months earlier, Ronald DeFeo jr had shot all 6 members of his family while they lay sleeping. The Lutz's tenure lasted for just 28 days, culminating in a 'night of terror' that saw them fleeing the house and leaving their belongings behind. Claims and counter-claims have since divided both investigative and public opinion as to whether the events really did take place or were simply a giant hoax. While George and Kathy Lutz both went to their graves upholding their claims, son Daniel Lutz has never publicly delivered his side of the story. Until now.

Directed by Eric Walter - responsible for the AmityvilleFiles.com web site - My Amityville Horror takes Daniel Lutz back to the tenth year of his life on earth, with a series of revealing interviews allowing the short-fuse Lutz to state his case. The first questions we really need answering are why Daniel waited until now to divulge his experiences, and why he felt the need to do so? Lutz states the saga had been following him for over 35 years and that it had finally caught up with him. The time to stop running had arrived, and he decided to present his case. So, we get to hear of Daniel's family background, his parent's divorce, and the fact that he was unwilling to accept George as his stepfather: a man, who according to Daniel, had an interest in the occult. Although Daniel's domestic life was unsteady to say the least, he recalls moving into the Amityville house full of expectation that his time there would be happy. Then, the disturbances began. Lutz remembers the presence of 4 or 500 flies in the a bedroom during December; the infamous 'pigs face' at the window; the numerous cold spots with drops of 20 degrees inside 5 steps; the time when his fingers were trapped under a window that left bone on bone and his had swollen to the size of a baseball glove before mysteriously healing, and the sound of a marching band on the stairs. These and many other claims recorded here will be mostly familiar to students of this controversial story, so how does Lutz handle their re-telling? Well, in a confident, unfaltering manner though detractors will doubtless argue he's had a long time to get his story straight and polished. My own reaction is that Daniel's state of mind where his parents are concerned would not compel him to uphold their version of events out of loyalty, and so it's not a great stretch to conclude he really does believe the recorded events did happen.

Joining Daniel in the documentary are Dr Susan Bartell, a psychologist who approaches the troubled waters with caution, and Laura Didio, an investigative reporter who worked on the case as a journalist used to exploring pyschic phenomena. We also see Daniel meet with Lorraine Warren; the surviving half of a demonologist husband and wife team who visited the Amityville house following the Lutz family's departure. Warren really seems to believe something evil resided in the house, at least for a while, and as the investigator of more than 4,000 cases, she'd obviously encountered more than her fair share of fakes during her time. Naysayers have all sorts of theories up their collective sleeves, believing the Lutz's concocted their story to make money to ease financial pressures which may or may not have existed, and there's even a story that the whole affair was dreamt up by George, Kathy and the attorney of Ronald DeFeo.
None of the families who have since lived at 112 have encountered any supernatural phenomena (at least, none reported), but the story lives on with sightseers still visiting this 'house of horrors' which, incidentally, no longer resembles the building of 1975.
Daniel Lutz himself comes over as deeply pyschologically scarred, and various claims such as his witnessing George moving objects without touching them are said with such conviction, it's not too difficult to believe he's describing things as he actually recalls them.

My Amityville Horror is a thoroughly gripping documentary, and a quite remarkable chapter in a story that will run and run. Part of me - ok, a large part of me - wants to believe the events of 1975 really did take place. After viewing this documentary, I'm still not sure, but there is a scene near the end that further adds to the legend when Daniel is asked if he would be willing to take a lie detector test. It's worth noting that George and Kathy Lutz both took polygraphs. Both passed.

My Amityville Horror will be released by Arrow Films on 28th October.

Coming In December: Joe Strummer Month

I've written a brief acknowledgement on the anniversary of Joe Strummer's death every year since he passed away. This year, I want to do something different. To play just a very small part in a celebration of his life and the great music he was a part of. I was lucky enough to see The Clash play live on many occasions, and those golden memories stay with me. Always will. So, this December will be Joe Strummer month here on Wonderland. I'll be including reviews, video clips, concert memories... and hope to see you here.

Coming Soon To Blu-ray: Streets Of Fire

Looking forward to Second Sight's Streets Of Fire Blu-ray, which will be released 18th November.

DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM Stereo

'RUMBLE ON THE LOT’: WALTER HILL’S ‘STREETS OF FIRE’ REVISITED
A brand new 80 minute documentary featuring new interviews with Walter Hill, Michael Paré, Amy Madigan and James Allen produced for us by Fiction Factory.

ORIGINAL ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT
Featuring ‘Rock and Roll Fable’, ‘Exaggerated Realism’, ‘Choreographing the Crowd, ’Creating the Costumes’ ‘From the Ground Up’, ‘Personality Profile’, Featurette, Teaser Trailer and On-Air Promos

MUSIC VIDEOS
‘Tonight Is What it Means To Be Young’
‘I Can Dream About You’

Look out for a review soon.

Like Father, Like Son. Official UK Trailer

Take a look at this trailer for Like Father, Like Son which debuted online 1st October ahead of the films London Film Festival premier. Kore-eda-Hirokazu's film is in competition for the Best Film award at this years London Film Festival.

BFI Player To Launch 9th October

Exciting news from the BFI regarding the launch of their BFI Player. 9th October will see this new venture launched nationwide,offering seven channels of choice for the millions who enjoy independent and specialist cinema.

BFI Chair Greg Dyke today unveiled the BFI Player, a brand new video-on-demand platform for the millions that enjoy independent and specialised film and who will now get the full BFI experience, wherever they live. Available nationwide from 9 October, the BFI Player will support the UK’s film industry by offering new distribution opportunities while making great film accessible to the widest possible audience across the UK.


Launching to coincide with the BFI London Film Festival, the BFI Player is a pioneering new way of taking cultural assets into the digital age and will offer a mix of seven new channels, or ‘collections’, including behind the scenes at the festival, contemporary and archive films – including GOTHIC and Cult cinema –and, for the first time ever, the full 28 hours of rare Edwardian film footage from filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon.

Offering a mix of free (approx. 60%) and pay-per-view (approx. 40%) content that includes over 1,000 items of content, including hundreds of feature films in the launch period, the BFI Player will go further than current VOD platforms by offering deep exploration and understanding of film content, chosen and contextualised by the experts at the BFI, all in HD quality. The BFI Player will evolve and grow as new partners and increasing content come on board over the coming months with Phase 2 of the BFI Player set to launch in early 2014.

Special events will be a feature of the BFI Player. Today it is also announced that Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant will launch on the BFI Player simultaneously with its UK theatrical release on 25 October and the BFI restoration of The Epic of Everest on 18 October will launch on the BFI Player on the same day as its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and UK release on 18 October

The BFI Player will launch with seven different collections:

London Film Festival Presents; exclusive red carpet action, talent interviews and special behind the scenes access to the UK’s most important film festival
Backed by the BFI; the best of British cinema – a showcase of some of the finest films, many funded by the BFI Film Fund
Edwardian Britain; for the first time ever all 28 hours of the extraordinary films of pioneering filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon, c.1900 – 1912
GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film; The BFI’s blockbuster project featuring four compelling themes Monstrous, The Dark Arts, Haunted and Love is a Devil
Cult Cinema; a passport to an exciting and surprising world of cult British cinema from the BFI’s Flipside DVD label
Inside Film; films about filmmaking for filmmakers and all those who love cinema
Sight and Sound Selects (from their Greatest Film poll); a growing selection of the best films of all time.

As far as I'm concerned, launch date cannot come quickly enough, and this important addition to the BFI should prove a huge hit with the nation's film buffs.

Blu-ray Review: Creepshow

Borne out of a shared love for those great E.C. comics, Creepshow - directed by George A. Romero - has endured for more than 30 years, and continues to delight old school admirers while gaining a legion of new fans. The film contains five stories, each linked by an animated interlude and begins with Stan - an overbearing father (played by Tom Atkins) - slapping his son (Billy, played by Stephen King's son, Joe) for the ownership of a comic book that neatly ties in with his love of the macabre. The first story, 'Father's Day', peeks in at the annual get-together of the Grantham family.

Each year, the clan meet on Father's Day, and Sylvia (Carrie Nye) is joined this year by a motley crew, including Cass (Elizabeth Regan), her new husband Hank (Ed Harris) and Aunt Bedelia ( Viveca Lindfors) who avenged the death of her lover by slaying the family patriarch with an ashtray. Now, it's that time of the year again and the in-fighting is rudely interrupted by the re-appearance of a figure from the past who wants more than just a slice of cake. It's a lively opening from Romero, and neatly takes us into 'The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill'. The titular character - played by Stephen King - starts dreaming of a dollar windfall when a meteor crashes near his rundown abode. Kings plays his character straight out of a cartoon, and his hilarious attempts at cooling and then breaking in half this foreign object

leads to his surroundings becoming a green and unpleasant land. Interspersed by the most inane daydreams, this episode of Creepshow works best with a few bottles of beer and a benevolent attitude, though Verrill's gradual demise and the vision of his dead father - a Bava-esque face at the window do linger long in the memory. The third instalment, 'Something To Tide You Over', is, for my money, the most effective of the bunch. Here, martial infidelity and its fatal consequences are on the menu. Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) receives an unwelcome visit from Richard Vickers

(Leslie Nielson)who has learned of Wentworth's affair with his wife Beckie (played by Gaylen Ross). Vickers, a techno-junkie, devises a unique way of punishing the two lovers, only to discover the dead sometimes don't stay that way. It's a tale supremely well told and not for the first time in this movie, Tom Savini's effects and make-up and effects make a huge contribution. 'The Crate' is the next item on the menu, with a janitor (Don Keefer) discovering a crate

under a basement stairwell dating back to a 1834 arctic expedition. This is pure guilty pleasure entertainment, as Fritz Weaver and Hal Holbrook play major parts in proceedings; the latter keen to dispose of his loud, hard-drinking spouse, played by the wonderful Adrienne Barbeau. A rampaging monster may well prove to be the answer to his prayers, but at what price? The final segment is'They're Creeping Up On You', in which EG Marshall's Upson Pratt character shows himself to be a particularly odious man, who celebrates the suicide of a former employee, and laughs at a grief-stricken phone call from a distraught widow.

Pratt soon finds his sterile apartment invaded by an army of roaches, and it's a genuine pleasure to see him get his just desserts. Creepshow is a successful attempt at bringing comic book excess to the big screen, combining some finely tuned performances with humour and the ability to tap into some of our deepest, darkest fears.

Second Sight's Blu-ray release contains some excellent supplementary features. First off, we get two commentary tracks; the first of which features Romero and the legendary Tom Savini, moderated by Michael Felsher. Here, Romero mentions on several occasions his deep appreciation and respect for the calibre of his cast, and explains why he went with well known faces and of the ingenuity of Savini's effects and make-up. The two of them share some wonderful anecdotes - listen out for the border guard story - and also record the production was in grave financial straits when the cash temporarily ran out. The second track features DOP Michael Gornick, property master Bruce Alan Miller, make-up effects assistant Darryl Ferrucci and actor John Amplas. This brand new track is a little different to the norm as Michael Felsher conducts interviews with cast and crew who missed the boat during the 'Just Desserts' documentary. Gornick recalls his excitement at being chosen for the film, of the challenges posed by some tricky lighting and ambitious camera angles while Miller Ferrucci and Amplas chat about the effects and the real world and comic book world combinations. Comic book artist Bernie Wrightson also gets airtime, revealing he had three months to complete his part of the project, and how a phone call from Stephen King set him on the road. Felsher himself signs off by cataloguing the number of times he spots the famous ashtray during each story, and also invites eagle-eyed viewers to see if he's missed any.

Of course, no special edition would be complete without a deleted scenes section, and Creepshow realised some twelve minutes from all the stories. 'Father's Day' is the most significant beneficiary, and the background info on Bedelia and Nathan could possibly have made final cut. The Verrill segment includes a fantasy visit to the loans office and extended visitations from his father, while 'Tide' delivers additional dialogue and test footage of Harry's disembodied hand. 'The Crate' and 'Creeping' offer just a couple of additions, but nothing that suggests it should have been inserted into the finished product. 'Behind The Screams With Tom Savini' is an informative 26 minute account of some extraordinary make-up and effects work, with 'The Master' holding forth on the methods used to create some very effective sequences. Savini also features on 'Just Desserts', a 90 minute documentary that rounded up key participants from the movie, such as Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Harris and Tom Atkins who reveals he originally wanted the Verrill role. We also hear from composer John Harrison who provided a wonderfully atmospheric score to a film that originally contained library music. Cast and crew clearly had a ball shooting Creepshow (Savini labelled it "5 months of Halloween"), and we get to hear of Danson and Nielson's antics onset - do watch out for Ted's "Can we use your phone?" entrance! Of course, many of you will be familiar with this documentary from the UK 2 disc DVD release, but it does have real replay value, and of course superior image quality in this edition. TV spots, a trailer and photo gallery round off this release, and the high definition picture beautifully showcases the ingenious lighting and macabre effects creations. In terms of image quality, Second Sight's presentation is easily worth an upgrade from your DVD, and is released in the UK on 28th October - just in time for Halloween! This Blu-ray is Region B, and is part of a mouth-watering roster of titles coming soon from Second Sight, including Streets Of Fire, the wonderful Betty Blue and one of the gret American movies, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate.