Land of the long DARK cloud
November 20th 2006 23:36
There aren’t too many horror movies from picturesque New Zealand (my home land). But, we can lay claim to a handful of gutsy originals (and a few not so gutsy).
As most people now know, one of the most successful horror-fantasy directors ever, Peter Jackson, is a Kiwi. I worked on his zombie-fest Braindead (1992, aka Dead Alive), which was both grueling and tremendously exciting. But that’s a post in itself.
Before Braindead Jackson made Bad Taste (1987) which took him four years to film (and another two years of post-production)!! Jackson filmed the splat-stick alien invasion on 16mm over weekends, DIY-style. It was an extraordinary feat which impressed financiers who agreed to have the film blown up to 35mm, have an entirely new soundtrack added, and sent it off to festivals around the world. It worked a garish treat.
Then he made Meet the Feebles (1989) (think Muppets in the gutter), Braindead, Heavenly Creatures (1994), and The Frighteners (1996), and the rest is history …
Both Bad Taste and Braindead are incredibly inventive with their use of special effects. Jackson’s background in model-making and miniatures was put to fantastic use in both films. And his SFX team, WETA, went on to provide Jackson with extraordinary achievements in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But in the early days there was no CGI mate; it was all latex and corn syrup, buckets of the stuff.
While Jackson was making his intergalactic burger-chain opus, another low-budget horror hit the screens in NZ called Death Warmed Up (1984). Maverick director David Blyth’s flick garnered its own perverse cult following. The tale of a psychopathic-scientist-and-his-programmed-killer, complete with graphic lobotomies. It’s an absurdist movie with a wildly uneven tone, and even more wildly uneven logic. Worth a late night look if you can find it.
There was a co-production in 1981 between the US and Australia which used Auckland (doubling as an American town) and a handful of Kiwi actors. Known as Strange Behaviour Stateside, but known down under as Dead Kids. This too has a cult following, and is renowned for an infamous syringe-in-the-eyeball sequence.
Also from the same year is Sam Pillsbury’s period film The Scarecrow (from the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson) which stars the late John Carradine as an aged, crippled, serial killer killing fowls and young girls in a small Kiwi country town. This is a much under-rated and atmospheric little chiller, and also co-starred my best friend at the time.
A film which did big box office in Aoteoroa (Land of the Long White Cloud) in 1985 was Mr Wrong (aka Dark of the Night), directed by Gaylene Preston, which was a rather lightweight haunted car story, competently made, but too tame to be considered a real horror movie.
In 1993 there was Garth Maxwell’s Jack Be Nimble, a strange, surreal horror about a screwed up family, and the young man who searches for his sister, and whom wishes to seek revenge for the torment he’s been forced to suffer. American transvestite Alexis Arquette was in the lead, and one of those flicks for the wildly uneven basket.
Another Auckland film came out in 1996 called The Ugly, about a criminally insane killer and the demons that haunt him. It looked great on paper (I script-assessed the film for the NZ Film Commission), but the end result, written and directed by Scott Reynolds, flapped and gobbled like a prize turkey.
This brings us up to the present. Next year two new Kiwi horror features will be unleashed; Black Sheep and The Ferryman.
Black Sheep is the debut feature of Jonathon King, an acquaintance of mine. From the trailer this looks decidedly Bad Taste-inspired (in fact WETA do the old school effects). While The Ferryman, directed by Chris Graham (who's apparently married to an ex of mine) looks like Dead Calm meets Wolf Creek.
The Black Sheep trailer is cleverly brief, while The Ferryman appears to condense the entire film into a couple of minutes, which is never a good sign. Still, good to see the long skeletal arm of the current horror resurgence has sparked the indie filmmakers in NZ.
* images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
Bad Taste,
Black Sheep
They are licensed from the GNU Free Document License
Death Warmed Up and The Scarecrow movie poster images courtesy of www.nzvideos.org
As most people now know, one of the most successful horror-fantasy directors ever, Peter Jackson, is a Kiwi. I worked on his zombie-fest Braindead (1992, aka Dead Alive), which was both grueling and tremendously exciting. But that’s a post in itself.
Then he made Meet the Feebles (1989) (think Muppets in the gutter), Braindead, Heavenly Creatures (1994), and The Frighteners (1996), and the rest is history …
Both Bad Taste and Braindead are incredibly inventive with their use of special effects. Jackson’s background in model-making and miniatures was put to fantastic use in both films. And his SFX team, WETA, went on to provide Jackson with extraordinary achievements in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But in the early days there was no CGI mate; it was all latex and corn syrup, buckets of the stuff.
There was a co-production in 1981 between the US and Australia which used Auckland (doubling as an American town) and a handful of Kiwi actors. Known as Strange Behaviour Stateside, but known down under as Dead Kids. This too has a cult following, and is renowned for an infamous syringe-in-the-eyeball sequence.
A film which did big box office in Aoteoroa (Land of the Long White Cloud) in 1985 was Mr Wrong (aka Dark of the Night), directed by Gaylene Preston, which was a rather lightweight haunted car story, competently made, but too tame to be considered a real horror movie.
In 1993 there was Garth Maxwell’s Jack Be Nimble, a strange, surreal horror about a screwed up family, and the young man who searches for his sister, and whom wishes to seek revenge for the torment he’s been forced to suffer. American transvestite Alexis Arquette was in the lead, and one of those flicks for the wildly uneven basket.
Another Auckland film came out in 1996 called The Ugly, about a criminally insane killer and the demons that haunt him. It looked great on paper (I script-assessed the film for the NZ Film Commission), but the end result, written and directed by Scott Reynolds, flapped and gobbled like a prize turkey.
This brings us up to the present. Next year two new Kiwi horror features will be unleashed; Black Sheep and The Ferryman.
The Black Sheep trailer is cleverly brief, while The Ferryman appears to condense the entire film into a couple of minutes, which is never a good sign. Still, good to see the long skeletal arm of the current horror resurgence has sparked the indie filmmakers in NZ.
* images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
Bad Taste,
Black Sheep
They are licensed from the GNU Free Document License
Death Warmed Up and The Scarecrow movie poster images courtesy of www.nzvideos.org
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
I like the look of Black Sheep. I love a bit of horror tinged with some fun!
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
Health Focus
Poetry Lighthouse
MS Paint Art
I like the sound of the too tame one.
katyzzz
Comment by Stuart
Mediated
That ear just dripping down was magnificent.
I really do hope they get that released in Aus
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Totally agree that Scarecrow is not discussed enough but have to disagree with your verdict on The Ugly.
Sure its not a masterpiece but its no turkey either.
The atmosphere and controlled storytelling hooked me in, the acting was dodgy but i still thought it was better than a lot of other films that year.
Black Sheep and Ferryman show potential but everyone knows the greatest New Zealand film is the post apocalyptic sci fi The Quiet Earth.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
you make me giggle .... lol
kylie, bahhhhhh!!
Stuart,
Black Sheep will most definitely get an Australian release. You can shear me if it doesn't ....
JohnDoe,
Guess The Ugly hits a raw nerve with me, as after I gave the film a bad review in NZ when it came out, the producer came after me, the head of the NZ Film Commission gave me an earful too .... It was all bollocks, like I have to treat a local flick with kid gloves or something.
I'm the first person to call a spade a spade.
The film was much better as a screenplay than as a finished feature. But then, not many people would know that. So, therein lies the Rub.
Acting is paramount as far as I'm concerned. It's not the most important element of a horror, but if the acting is below par in a flick, then I find everything else suffers as a consequence ....
As for The Quiet Earth. Yes, excellent film indeed, easily Geoff Murphy's best work. But it's not my fave NZ flick. Roger Donaldson's Smash Palace is my fave (curiously another Bruno Lawerence flick) ... Another fave is John Reid's Carry Me Back, and not just because it stars my father .... It's a wonderful little black comedy about two grown men trying to get their dead father back to the farm so they can claim inheritance ....
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
For me the screenplay is the most important factor in a horror film, then cinematography and sound. Of course acting plays apart, for instance I could never again sit through a horror film starring sarah Michelle gellar, there is bad acting then there is unwatchable.
Good call with Smash palace, Im not a Donaldson fan but this is his finest moment.
Have not seen Carry Me Back, but have added it to my list. As for your dad the star, will you name drop?
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
1. screenplay
2. direction/editing
3. acting
4. music/soundtrack
5. sfx
Grant Tilly is my papa. Not really known across the Tasman here ... he's a huge stage actor back home, co-founded Wellington landmark theatre Circa, was senior tutor at the NZ Drama School for years, played opposite Tommy Lee Jones in Savage Islands (aka Nate & Hayes), yadda, yadda ...
Comment by suitably*wounded
Eternal Days; Author: Illness, M.
1) The Scarecrow
2) Jack Be Nimble
3) The Ugly -- insanity, haunting demons (like there are any other kind) and lobotomies beware! -- I'm so hooked!!!
and finally now,
4) The Ferryman, because I just have to anyway, no matter what your curmudgeonly self says.
I've always been a huge fan of Heavenly Creatures and desperately wanted a crack at Meet the Feebles, but Netflix discontinued it. I assume too much pilfering.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I'm not too surprised you missed these flicks, it's not as if they'd be readily available on video, let alone DVD, outside of Australasia ...
The Scarecrow is definitely worth seeing. Jack Be Nimble is messy. The Ugly is butt ugly. Tis a pet hate of mine. If you find Death Warmed Up, that's worth a twisted squizz. The Ferryman has yet to be released ... Unfortunately everytime I say the title, I can't help think of that cheesy Chris de Burgh song from the 80s ...
Comment by suitably*wounded
Eternal Days; Author: Illness, M.
See, and all I can seem to think about (well, besides that) is the river Styx.
And no, not the band.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile