"In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy's three children moved into 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, a suburban neighborhood located on the south shore of Long Island, New York. Thirteen months before the Lutzes moved in, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. had shot and killed six members of his family at the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there." (Wikipedia)
After nearly 40 years of refusing to talk to the media about his experiences in The Amityville Horror house, Daniel Lutz, the real-life son / step-son of Kathy & George Lutz, features in a new documentary My Amityville Horror. In the documentary, Lutz discusses the family's time in in the house, his step-father's occult dabbling and exorcisms performed by priests, among other things.
Whether or not Lutz is telling the truth (or at least believes that he is) is still up for debate, but he states that he "didn't want to be the Amityville Horror kid" and has tried to avoid it all these years. He also says that he wanted someone to believe him, which is understandable, but I can't help feeling that the dramatic music and shot styles used in the documentary just play on the horror movie aspects of the story and do little to further his credibility. Perhaps it's just done for the trailer, in order to lure in fans of the genre though.
'Incubus' is a 1966 supernatural horror film directed by Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV show 'The Outer Limits', starring William Shatner and Allyson Ames.
Amael and Kia
Plot:
The film opens with a beautiful, young Succubi, Kia (Allyson Ames), seducing and drowning a man on a beach. She then complains to her demon sister, Amael (Eloise Hardt), that she is tired of taking tainted souls that are already destined to go to Hell and that she would rather take a pure soul instead. Amael warns her against this, as she believes Kia could fall victim to the mysterious power of "love", but Kia ignores her and goes in search of a pure soul anyway.
She soon meets Marc (William Shatner), a courageous war veteran who has returned home injured and lives with his younger sister, Arndis (Ann Atmar). Marc falls in love with Kia very quickly and she attempts to lure him to his death by offering him her body, but he refuses, saying that he wants things to be "right" and for them to share love, not just physical pleasures. Kia falls asleep and Marc carries her to the local cathedral. When she awakes, the religious imagery and Marc's pure love disorient and repulse her and she runs away.
Kia and Marc
Kia returns to Amael and the two swear revenge against Marc for his "defiling" of Kia with his pure "act of love". The demon sisters then summon an incubus (Milos Milos) - a male equivalent of a succubus - to get retribution for them and he begins by going to find Marc's sister...
Kia and the Incubus
About the Film:
'Incubus' was shot entirely in the devised language Esperanto and has never been officially dubbed, only subtitled. It was the second feature film ever to be filmed in Esperanto and one of only four that have ever been shot (so far). It was thought to be lost for many years, but a sole surviving copy was found in the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. However, the French subtitles had been burned onto the film and so when the DVD version was released in 2001, they were blacked-out and the English ones written over the top. This, unfortunately, obscures varying portions of the shots.
It was also said that the film was "cursed" due to the deaths / suicides / murders of several cast members and people close to them, as well as the divorce of Allyson Ames from Leslie Stevens and the bankruptcy of Stevens' production company.
Is it Any Good?:
The film in general was surprisingly enjoyable and far less over the top than recent supernatural horrors dealing with Hell and the damnation of souls tend to be. I was expecting it to be much more ridiculous, but the story line was solid and believable. Even the finale was quite subtle and left the characters' fates somewhat open-ended. Apparently the pronunciation of the dialogue by the cast was quite poor, but I can't speak / understand Esperanto myself, so I can't comment on that. I suppose if it sounded hilarious, it would be pretty difficult to view it as a horror, but again, I don't know about that aspect of it.
Hello there my spooky kids!
How did you all start the new year? I hope in the most spookylicious way possible ;D!
Today I bring you some news you've probably already heard: we're gonna get another Paranormal Activity sequel, coming out this year.
The release date for "Paranormal Activity 4" is set to October 19, 2012 and very little is known about the plot, but we've already watched enough of these movies to have a general idea of what it will be about I think! ;)
I'm not a big fan of these movies, but for those of you who are, hope you enjoy the news!
'The Fades' is a 6 part supernatural horror serial, currently showing on BBC Three, that centres around a teenage boy (Paul - Iain De Caestecker of 'Lip Service' and 'Coronation Street') and his inadvertent stumbling into a battle between the living and the dead. This will only be a quick review, as I often think it's unfair to judge a whole serial solely on the first episode.
Whilst on a location/prop scouting hunt with his horror-obsessed friend Mac, Paul sees a man (Neil - Johnny Harris of 'New Tricks' and 'Whitechapel') and woman (Sarah - Natalie Dormer of 'The Tudors' and 'Game of Thrones' soon too) embroiled in a grisly fight with some kind of creature. When he returns home, Paul begins having apocalyptic nightmares, which are so terrifying that they cause him to wet the bed. I wouldn't have mentioned the bed-wetting specifically, but they make quite a big deal out of it in the show.
Neil later finds Paul at home and explains that the creature he saw was a "Fade", which are the ghosts of the dead who's souls do not "ascend" after they die. It isn't about good and evil, Heaven and Hell; the ascension is completely random. Those who ascend move onto somewhere else, and those who do not are trapped on Earth, eternally wandering in a land they cannot touch. However, a "Fade" has managed to break through to the human world and is now on a killing spree, and Neil fears that more angry souls may follow suit. So, of course, he and the others fighting the Fades (including Helen, a female priest played by Daniela Nardini of 'This Life') need Paul's help.
The first episode was very much an introductory one to let the audience get to know the characters, their relationships with one another, and the basic story premises. It manages this task quite well, whilst still keeping the plot reasonably entertaining, by moving events along at a steady pace and not re-explaining the details repeatedly. (I don't know about everyone else, but my attention span is not that short. Once or twice will do thank you!) Having said that, there are quite a few dream scenes that are essentially just Sarah and then Paul crawling about in ashes, but they did change slightly each time, so I'll ignore that.
I think the main part of the storyline that I really disliked was the sub-plot involving Paul, his sister Anna and Anna's friend Jay (Sophie Wu of 'Casualty' and 'Hotel Babylon'), whom Paul has a crush on, of course. It makes the show have the feel of a teen drama/soap opera and it's really unnecessary. This is made worse by the fact that Anna (Lily Loveless of 'Skins' and 'Bedlam')'s acting is way over the top, even for the portrayal of a teenage girl! I suppose some people might also find Mac (Daniel Kaluuya of 'Skins' and 'Psychoville') annoying, as the horror-geek character has been done numerous times, but actually I found his horror-related commentary pretty amusing.
Other than that, there are also a few cringe-worthy moments when Neil is explaining how the souls "shine" before ascension and fade out if they don't ascend, but ignoring that as well, 'The Fades' is not bad so far. It's not an outstanding show, but perhaps given some time to develop it could be. Really, I'm determined not to just dismiss this series like I did with 'Bedlam'. Besides, it's worth watching, if only because it's not yet another series about zombies. I love zombies, but enough is enough already!
If you missed episode 1 of 'The Fades' last Wednesday, you can catch it tonight (Monday) at 10:30pm and tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4:10am on BBC Three. Alternatively, you can watch it online through the BBC Three iPlayer (see links below), where it will be for the next month (I'm not sure if those outside the UK will be able to watch it there though, sorry). Episode 2 airs first on BBC Three this Wednesday, 28th September, at 9:00pm, when "Neil takes Paul to see an ancient Fade, who foresees his importance in the looming battle". Let's hope it doesn't turn into 'The Sixth Sense' meets 'The Matrix', eh?
