13 Nights of Shocktober: One Cut of the Dead

by A.J.

Night 13: Happy Happy Halloween

“We keep rolling!”

 

One Cut of the Dead

It is hard to talk or write about One Cut of the Dead not just because of its twists and turns but because of how far it twists and turns. In fact, it turns into a different genre and essentially a different movie. In addition to shifting genres, it also has a very unusual structure. The first 37 minutes tell the story you expect from the synopsis: a low budget independent horror movie crew are attacked by zombies while filming a zombie movie. Then the film flashes back and this is where it may lose people who wanted a pure zombie movie. However, this is also where it becomes something unique and very entertaining. I do not believe in vague recommendations (“The less you know, the better” or “Go in knowing as little as possible”), so my review will contain at least one major spoiler. Although, maybe spoiler is not the right word because I think knowing where this movie is going does not diminish the fun experience of watching it get there. For now I will say that even if you do not like zombies, there is a good chance you will still enjoy One Cut of the Dead. 

The film opens on the set of a zombie movie with an intense director (Takayuki Hamatsu), berating an actress for needing 42 takes for an emotional scene. Two things are immediately clear: this is a found footage movie and it is all in one take. During a break real zombies turn up and attack and terrorize the cast and crew. The lead actress now finds herself living out what she had been only pretending. Even with all that happens, this feels like the movie’s most conventional chapter (the novelty of found footage wore off long ago), although it being done in one take is impressive. 

And now for something completely different (Spoiler Alert):

The second chapter flashes back to one month earlier to the same director, Takayuki Higurashi, being approached by executives to direct a live broadcast of a zombie movie to launch the brand new Zombie Channel. And they want it in one take and they want it ready to shoot in just one month. Takayuki laughs because he thinks they are joking, but they are not. He’s not at a point in his career where he can turn down the offer, and it is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with his daughter Mao (Mao Higurashi), a production assistant who takes movies very seriously. So, this is actually a movie about a low budget zombie movie crew struggling to make a low budget zombie movie about a low budget zombie movie crew being attacked by zombies. This shift in genre (now a comedy), style (no longer a found footage movie), plot, and characters feels jarring at first because a new movie starts after you’ve been watching for more than half an hour. However, this “new movie” with essentially the same plot (minus a real zombie attack) is very engaging, very funny, and it is interesting to see the origins of the film within the film. 

The third act is the behind the scenes of the live broadcast and it is full blown chaotic comedy. Takayuki and his wife, Harumi (Harumi Shuhama), a former actress who had to retire because she would get too caught up in her roles, have to sub in at the last minute for injured cast members. Harumi does indeed get too caught up in her role and is unable to come out of her character. An alcoholic actor relapses, equipment breaks, crew members have to quickly make signs to hold off camera to let the actors know about last minute changes, to name just a few things that go wrong. Even knowing how the broadcast turns out does not take away from any of the excitement of watching it come together. 

The Japanese title translates to Don’t Stop the Camera! and that is a more fitting title since it applies to both storylines. This began as a student project, which is why many of the characters have the same names as their performers. It turned into a very low budget indie movie that slowly but surely impressed audiences and built a following as it played in different film festivals. There’s no doubt that what made this movie stand out and connect is its unusual structure. The shift after the first act provides a different perspective and appreciation of the found footage horror movie within a movie. Whether you like horror movies or not, or zombie movies or not, One Cut of the Dead has something for everyone and, taken all together, is a great movie. Happy Halloween!

One Cut of the Dead is available to stream on Shudder and rent from Amazon Prime.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Madhouse (1974)

by A.J

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 4: Vincent Price Night:  
“I must play the final scene. The death of Dr. Death!”

Madhouse (1974)

It just wouldn’t be Shocktober without Vincent Price. He appeared in so many horror movies, turning out such quality performances, that he became a horror cinema legend. Some of those movies are genuine classics, others campy fun, others forgettable. Madhouse, released in 1974, combines the campy entertainment of Price’s most famous horror films (the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations he made with Roger Corman) with a more hard edged 1970's horror sensibility. It is also, in its own way, a tribute to Price’s career in horror.

Price plays Paul Toombes, an aging actor famous for playing the character Dr. Death in a series of horror movies. After his fiancée is murdered gruesomely, Toombes suffers a mental breakdown and disappears from the limelight. The writer of the Dr. Death movies, Herbert Flay (Peter Cushing, another horror legend), arranges a comeback for Toombes with a new Dr. Death series. Yes, putting a traumatized man who may or may not have murdered someone into a situation similar to the one that traumatized him in the first place is a bad idea. Toombes arrives in London and even before the cameras roll, the bodies start piling up.

Madhouse is ostensibly a murder mystery (who is dressing up like Dr. Death and murdering people?) though there is little doubt about the identity of the killer and their goal of framing Toombes for the murders, or driving him mad, or both. That doesn’t hurt the film, however, because the real entertainment comes from its approach to horror: a mixture of shock visuals, admiration for the genre, and a dash of camp. The plot follows the structure of a slasher movie though that subgenre would not be solidified until the early 1980’s. One by one people are murdered in different and more elaborate ways: decapitated, hanged with their own hair, crushed by a bed. The kills are not especially gory or violent especially when compared to other 70’s horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, released the same year as Madhouse, or Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left, released two years earlier.

There’s a sly sense of humor to Madhouse. Any horror movie with characters named Toombes and Flay can’t take itself too seriously. There's even a costume party scene that has Peter Cushing (famous for playing the vampire hunter Van Helsing in numerous Hammer Films) dressed as Dracula. Living in the basement of Cushing’s house—a dungeon straight out of a Hammer horror movie—is his ex-wife Fay Flay (Adrienne Corri), who was disfigured in an accident and is now obsessed with spiders. The clips we see of the “Dr. Death” movies are actually scenes from older Vincent Price movies: Roger Corman’s The Raven and Tales of Terror, both distributed by AIP, the company behind Madhouse. Using footage from another movie to pad out a new low budget movie was something fairly common at the time, especially in horror (Roger Corman would do this several times with footage from The Terror). In Madhouse this device feels a bit more justified since the story is about a horror movie star confronting his past. Viewing the film today, these clips of Price’s older movies feel like a tribute to his career and talent. Though Vincent Price’s career would continue into the 1990’s, by 1974 he had already appeared in enough horror movies that a film playing on his horror career felt justified.

The reason to watch Madhouse is, of course, Vincent Price. Other roles have given him more to sink his teeth into but he still plays the part of a reluctant actor unsure of his sanity very well. For me the highlights of the movie are his speeches; these are the scenes where he really gets to shine. Watching him talk about death while lighting candles is just what you want from a Vincent Price movie. My favorite scene is of Price talking about the nature of horror movies and their appeal to viewers. A TV interviewer asks, “Why do you think that your films have been so very successful?” Toombes replies, “Well, I think it’s because they’re not about the ordinary everyday world around us. They’re about a world that’s deep inside of us. A world of impulses and instincts that we have been taught to suppress. That sounds a bit spooky…” Spooky and true sentiments, wonderfully delivered by Vincent Price.