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“A horror film’s job is to scare you, is to get your pulse going, is to make you scream and yell. It’s to make you be afraid. That’s its main purpose, and creeping you out. And that can be an enjoyable experience.” --- John Carpenter ::::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Communion

March 2nd 2010 00:46
Communion movie poster
What a strange little movie this one is. Communion (1989) is based on the autobiographical book of the same name by sf writer Whitely Strieber (who wrote the novels Wolfen and The Hunger), who claimed to have had close encounters of the third kind; an alien abduction which intrigued everyone, but convinced no one. More than likely it was the result of a severe case of writer’s block and an over-heated imagination. The movie, directed by Australian Phillipe Mora, only fuels the writer’s fancies, including a cosmic boogie!

The events of the movie, which apparently really took place, are set around Christmas, 1985. Whitley (Christopher Walken jazz-riff acting and chewing scenery like it’s the last movie he’ll ever make!) takes his wife Anne (Lindsay Crouse), young son Andrew (Joel Carlson who is given all the wrong kind of dialogue), and two of their friends, Alex (Andreas Katsulas) and Sarah (Terri Hanauer), to their upstate New York mountain cabin. The weekend getaway doesn’t last very long when following a disturbing incident in the middle of the night freaks Alex out so badly (lots of big flood light action) he demands that they be driven back to the city after breakfast.
Communion Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken as Whitley Strieber
As it turns out, the weird otherworldly white light that freaked Alex and Sarah (and to a lesser degree Andrew) out was nothing compared to what Whitley experienced. He’s convinced it was just a very strange dream, a kind of celestial nightmare, although the small mark behind his ear and the headaches seem to suggest something a little more palpable. Back in the Big Apple, Whitley is struggling to put words to paper. Even his favourite writing hat and pieces-to-camcorder aren’t having the desired effect. When he freaks himself, and Andrew out, after a young girl in a Halloween praying mantis outfit pops up to say trick or treat, he realises he needs closure, or at least re-visitation. So it’s back to the mountain cabin for the Strieber family.
Communion peek-a-boo
Whilst everyone (‘cept Whitley) is asleep the white light returns, as do the small dwarf like creatures dressed in their black communal threads and wearing their strange black ogre-like masks. They whisk Whitley away from the bedroom and do untoward things to him. Whitley is sure this is all a dream, but he loads his pump-action shotgun anyway and investigates, only to fire off a couple of rounds in the living room and nearly kill his wife. That’s it, she’s had enough crazy behaviour, and she books her husband in to see a psychiatrist, who in turn suggests a hypnotist. The hypnotist, Dr. Janet Duffy (Frances Sternhagen), manages to tap into Whitley’s sensory experience enough for him to remember being given a rectal probe by his alien abductors.
Communion Christopher Walken and Lindsay Crouse
Whitley and wife Ann (Lindsay Crouse) share a lighthearted moment with the psychiatrist
Communion Frances Sternhagen
Dr. Janet Duffy (Frances Sternhagen) is not as amused
Communion is the movie that provided the grey umbrella for what extra-terrestrials might possibly look like; those spindly small creatures with massive heads and black almond-shaped eyes. Supposedly prior witness accounts had described similar creatures, but it was Whitley Strieber’s publication that gave the portrait much kudos, simply because Strieber happened to be an author, a man with his head screwed-on. On the contrary, Strieber was more-than-slightly nuts, and a sf writer to boot. Another genre author, Thomas Ligotti, once said “People who are just on the cusp of total psychological derangement. Sometimes they cross over and fall into the province of ‘outsider artists’. That’s where the future development of horror fiction lies – in the next person who is almost too emotionally and psychologically damaged to live in the world but not too damaged to produce fiction.” Apparently the real Streiber, who was on-set frequently during the movie’s shoot, approached Walken and told him he feared Walken was portraying him as too crazy. Walken replied, “If the shoe fits.”

Communion Joel Carlson
Joel Carlson as Andrew
Whatever it takes to get you through writer’s block, I say. As long as your family doesn’t suffer too greatly. Communion, the book, became a best-seller. The movie didn’t fair so well. It’s just too strange, and Walken is having a field day; mumbling, twitching, grimacing, shuffling, dancing, grinning like a mad man. I love the moment when he’s dressed all in black, his hat on, and about to step out, and Ann remarks that he looks like he's dressed for his first holy communion and then queries where's going, and he replies, “To get cigarettes.” Ann’s brow furrows, “But you don’t smoke,” she says, and Strieber’s gaze shifts so that he’s staring down the camera lens (breaking the fourth wall) directly into the audience.

Communion rectal probe
Beware! The alien rectal probe!
There are two stand-out sequences in the movie, memorable for different reasons. The first is downright creepy, a beautiful alien nightmare moment when Whitley first wakes up in the cabin and from behind his dresser on the other side of the room, the side of an alien mask peers around, the black-slitted eye glinting in the white light that fills the room, then it slides back out of view. Ugh! That’s an image potent enough to give anyone bad dreams.

Communion behind the mask
Behind one mask lies another
The second sequence is the extended scene of Whitley on-board the alien craft meeting with the aliens, both the greys and the blacks, even finding the confidence to have a dance with them as they float in the air, their long tendril-like arms flailing around. It is here that Whitley appears to meet himself, dressed as a magician, and also gets to see beneath the alien grey mask (which curiously, mimics Whitley’s elephant Halloween costume from earlier in the movie). This whole encounter of the third kind seems to be from another movie entirely, perhaps the set of a David Lynch movie on an off-day. What’s with alien rectal probes anyhow?!

Communion alien mask
If the shoe fits ...
Communion skims along the surface of things. Director Mora, who has given us the perverse cicada horror of The Beast Within (1982), the execrable sequels Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch (1985) and Howling III: The Marsupials (1987), and the superb, little-seen Australian colonial portrait Mad Dog Morgan (1976), seems intent on providing little confirmation on Strieber’s experiences. The movie is adequately directed, but looks more like a television movie, than cinema. Strieber’s own screenplay seems like a drastically watered-down version of his book, eschewing the more intriguing psychological aspects for obscure alien metaphor. And the less said about the dreadful Eric Clapton theme music the better.

Nowhere near as nightmarish or convincing as Fire in the Sky (1993), Communion is best watched for Walken’s 'out-there' performance; he consumes the role with the kind of nonchalant conviction he had got down to a very fine art by the late 80s, and director Mora, rather wisely, often shoots him in close-up, so the audience can really sense the cosmic presence that emanates from those crazy Walken eyes.

Communion book cover art
The book's famous cover art that appeared EVERYWHERE


I couldn't find the trailer, so here's an excerpt; the first incident, and that uber-creepy alien peek-a-boo:


Communion DVD (with lots of extras) is courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment, many thanks!

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
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5 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Matt Shea

March 2nd 2010 06:00


20/20 Filmsight
Bryn - nice review of a very bizarre film - Mad Dog Walken indeed. I watched this years ago and it just left me baffled and more than a little annoyed.

Comment by Bryn

March 2nd 2010 22:20


Horrorphile
Matt, "baffled and annoyed" ... fair dinkum indeed. Phillippe Mora has to be one of Australia's oddest directorial "exports" ... He's talented, but he channels some dreadful material at times.

Comment by Mountain Fog

March 3rd 2010 07:58
Mora certainly has had a checkered career, like the abysmal The Return of Captain Invincible.

At the end of shooting, Alan Arkin threatened Mora, with the promise that, if he ever dared show it in America, he would ensure he never got another job there!

I have not seen this film Communion, but I have read a critique of the book.

Lunatic as the idea may seem, I have done some research on this area, and spoken with people who claim to have been abducted.

My opinion, something is definitely going on, as none of the three women I spoke to were loonies, they all came across as very ordinary, sane people.

There is too much evidence photographically and statements by air force pilots, astronauts etc to not accept we are not the only developed race living in our solar system.

Good review Bryn, and it has convinced me not to waste my time watching it!

cheers

fog

fog

Comment by JohnDoe

March 5th 2010 03:23


Film & TV on DVD
Great one Bryn, I was obsessed with Communion when i first saw it on VHS back in my teens.

Time for a revisit too that Walken magic and etheral atmosphere.

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