DVD Review: The Town That Dreaded Sundown

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is not a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, but is a strange sort of sequel that incorporates the first film as a film into its story and framework, as well as the actual 1946 murders which that original film depicts. It opens like a documentary, with old-looking footage and narration about the original murders and how the identity of the killer was never confirmed. Interestingly, the narration mentions the earlier film: “In 1976, a film inspired by the infamous moonlight murders was released.” And there is a shot from that film, as well as a shot of its poster. So this film not only acknowledges the earlier film, but includes it as part of its reality. And then the narrator tells us, “The following happened in Texarkana last year.” It’s an unusual and intriguing opening, and I’m hooked.

The film then begins on Halloween at a drive-in theatre that is showing the original The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Oddly, most couples are seated on the hoods of their cars rather than inside. The camera comes in on one couple, but the girl, Jami (Addison Timlin) is not enjoying the film and so they leave. There is a great shot as the camera moves through the crowd, and we catch little snippets of things, including a man leaving religious flyers on cars, until finally the camera lands again on the couple as they drive out. It’s a well-choreographed shot, and in fact this whole film is shot well, with interesting uses of light and shadow.

The couple decides to park nearby, as teenagers are wont to do in horror films. Soon they see a masked man in the woods. They figure it’s someone from the drive-in, but decide to leave anyway. I like that they behave intelligently (and in fact were talking about colleges they’d applied to and such, rather than sex, before seeing the masked man), but before they can go, the man smashes the window with a gun, telling them to get out or he’ll shoot Jami. It’s a frightening moment. And after stabbing the boy, Corey (Spencer Treat Clark), the masked man tells Jami: “This is for Mary. Make them remember.” Interestingly, the film then cuts back to the drive-in, where the film print gets messed up and the audience shows its displeasure. That’s a nice little play on the reality of what we’re seeing, what we’ve just seen.

But one thing I really love about this film is that there is a good sense of reality to it. People don’t behave in unbelievable ways, and events actually affect the characters. We have a shot of Jami crying by herself a little later, showing she did really care about Corey, something that is often lacking in horror films. And she sees a therapist. I also like that the authorities aren’t idiots. When Jami goes to them with a theory on the identity of the killer, they gently explain that they’ve already gone down that road. And though the film has a good sense of reality, it also has a definite style, which I appreciate.

This film also has a really good cast. Gary Cole plays Chief Deputy Tillman. Ed Lauter plays Sheriff Underwood. Veronica Cartwright plays Lillian, Jami’s grandmother. Edward Herrmann (in one of his final roles) plays Reverend Cartwright. And Addison Timlin gives a really good performance as Jami.

This film returns to the earlier movie several times, like when the man in charge of the investigation watches it for the first time. And Jami’s own investigation leads her to Charles B. Pierce, Jr., the son of the original film’s director (here played by Denis O’Hare, though apparently Charles B. Pierce, Jr. himself appears as an extra). The film certainly takes some interesting turns. It’s part horror (slasher) film, but also part mystery, and you do get caught up in the investigation just as Jami does. The only trouble is that the ending a little weak, a bit of a letdown.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on July 7, 2015. The DVD contains the film’s trailer, but no other special features.

DVD Review: Seek

Seek is about a young gay man named Evan (Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski) who pursues a career in journalism, writing about – but not seeming to participate in – relationships and city nightlife. It opens with a close-up of Evan asleep, facing us. He slowly opens his eyes, and smiles. And we see that there is an attractive man asleep next to him. But the smile soon fades, and from another angle we see that Evan is alone. It’s a nice, sad opening, showing us what Evan has lost and, perhaps, what he hopes to regain. (After all, the title is Seek.)

Evan works as a writer for a small, gay-themed magazine, but he has his sights on something larger, writing for the Toronto Gazette. He is offered the opportunity to do a freelance feature story on the nightlife that the average citizen might miss out on. “Find me a story,” editor Joe Thorpe (Graham Gauthier) tells him. After meeting a club promoter named Hunter (Ryan Fisher), Evan pitches the idea of an article on the organizing of club parties and the scene surrounding that. So Evan follows Hunter around, and we get a tour of clubs, which is terribly dull. In what should be an inside look at clubs, we actually learn nothing new. There is a cute moment with a transgendered woman and a drag queen. But when they learn Evan is writing an article on the scene, the drag queen says, “I don’t think the world is ready for us.” Are you kidding? Drag is completely mainstream these days. And the club scene in this film is nothing unusual either, just people dancing to a techno beat. So I can’t imagine the article will cause any kind of stir among even the most uptight members of the general public. Also, I don’t quite believe that the newspaper editor would call Evan to check up on how the article is coming along. It’s a freelance job about a non-timely subject.

Anyway, the film is sort of a look at different relationships through the eyes of a reporter, and thus someone who is trained to be an observer rather than participant. Throughout the film, we see Evan interviewing couples for his pieces for the gay-themed magazine. His co-worker at the magazine, Aiden Starr (Jonathan Nathaniel), is also one of only two friends. But Evan doesn’t seem all that close to him, or to Kate (Elena Seepe), his other friend. There is a scene where, after getting drunk, Kate tries to make out with him, then gets into his bed. “Come on, come on, seriously,” she says, annoyed that he’s not responding, then falls asleep (or passes out). It’s an interesting dynamic there, but Evan is thinking of that guy again, remembering the two of them in that bedroom sharing a tender kiss, and not at all concerned that his married friend just tried to take him to bed. I found myself wanting more scenes like the later scene with Evan and Kate, in which they do criticize each other. I wanted more about the relationships, and more about the mysterious guy from the opening scene. It’s interesting that the guy from the beginning is like a ghost in Evan’s life, and turns out to be likewise for Hunter. But the guy himself, we learn nothing about. It’s like the effect of him is more important than the reality of him.

The film gives us information in a not-quite-chronological way, sometimes teasing us with our own expectations. For example, there is a shot of clothes on Evan’s floor after a shot of him meeting Hunter, but then we learn that Evan left the club alone and did not take Hunter to bed. For a film that is only seventy-seven minutes, there are several scenes that go on too long. An early scene where Evan takes off a worn pair of sneakers and replaces them with a newly bought pair which is exactly the same is a nice touch in showing his character, but it goes on a bit longer than necessary. Once he begins to put the first new shoe on, we get it. And later there is a scene at a club where an older man sits with Evan to chat him up. Evan is clearly not interested, and when the man asks him for his name, Evan hesitates before giving it to him. I like the little touches like that. But this scene goes on a while, and is increasingly awkward. You feel for the old guy at a certain point, but then begin to get creeped out and annoyed with him. Evan, perhaps feeling bad for him, still gives the man his phone number and so receives a number of calls from him later in the film. But that storyline goes nowhere. And there is a scene of a drag queen preparing and then performing (that is, lip-synching) at a club. This also goes on too long, and is completely pointless anyway, as it doesn’t lead to anything or serve the plot at all. It feels like the scene was simply a favor to the drag performer. Still, the performances overall are decent, and this is Adrian Shepherd-Gawinksi’s first film role.

Seek was written and directed by Eric Henry, and was released on DVD on May 19, 2015 through TLA Releasing. The DVD includes the film’s trailer.

DVD Review: When Calls The Heart: Heart And Soul

When Calls The Heart is a Hallmark Channel television series based on the book by Janette Oke, taking place in the early 1900s. It stars Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher, a young woman who comes from a rich family in the city but who takes a teaching position in a small frontier town. There she has fallen for a constable named Jack (Daniel Lissing) and befriended many of the townspeople, including Abigail (Lori Loughlin). Heart And Soul is the second episode of the second season, following Trials Of The Heart, which was released on DVD in May.

As this episode opens, Jack returns to the town, now re-named Hope Valley, without Elizabeth, as she is still in the city taking care of her mother. Leland (Kavan Smith) begins interviewing men for jobs at his timber company, and is told by Henry (Martin Cummins), the man who ran the mine, that he’d like to be on Leland’s payroll. “You don’t want me as an enemy,” Henry tells Leland. And Rosemary is offered a role in a production in San Francisco.

In the city, Charles, Elizabeth’s lifelong friend, expresses an interest in her. Meanwhile, one of Elizabeth’s sisters is interested in Tom, Jack’s ne’er-do-well brother. And Elizabeth’s mother is on the mend, after seeing a second doctor. Abigail arrives in the city, looking for Clara, her son’s widow, who is in some trouble of her own.

A humorous side-plot involves a con-artist arriving in town and immediately being mistaken for the new pastor when a suitcase full of bibles accidentally falls open. He and his daughter seize upon the opportunity, which includes free board and a way to make off with some cash. And he has to officiate a wedding. I love that his daughter is even more eager to earn money than he is, immediately mentioning that the wedding service carries a five dollar fee. And when the real pastor arrives, it seems he might have some secrets of his own.

This show has a ton of warmth, and this episode is much better than the first episode of the season. Also, it contains two Shakespeare references – to The Merchant Of Venice and Hamlet. This episode was directed by Michael Rohl.

When Calls The Heart: Heart And Soul is scheduled to be released on June 23, 2015 through Shout! Factory. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Cutie Mark Quests

The new My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic DVD, Cutie Mark Quests, includes five episodes, each of which is in some way related to the ponies’ cutie marks. As Twilight Sparkle explains in “The Cutie Map, Part 1,” “A cutie mark is a representation of a pony’s unique talents and skills.” Though the sticker on the DVD case says “Five New Adventures,” three of these five episodes have already been released on DVD.

“The Show Stoppers”

The DVD’s first episode, “The Show Stoppers,” is from the show’s first season, and it tells the story of some young ponies who are hoping to get their cutie marks. They try several things, including testing their psychic abilities, but the marks don’t appear. (The mountain-climbing scene is particularly cute). So they decide to enter a talent contest in order to discover just what their talents are. One of them tries writing a song, then says, “Coming up with words is like…really hard.” But Spike has the best line. Twilight asks, “What do you think they’re up to?” Spike replies, “I have no idea, and I don’t know if I should be excited or scared to find out.” Mostly it’s Cathy Weseluck’s delivery of the line that makes it so funny. But overall, this episode is kind of weak, largely due to the complete absence of Pinkie Pie. (I think I may have finally convinced my niece that Pinkie Pie is the best character on the show.)

“The Return Of Harmony”

“The Return Of Harmony” is a two-part episode (both parts are included on the DVD) that opened the series’ second season. The young ponies are still in search of their cutie marks. As they argue over the meaning of a statue of Discord, the statue begins coming to life. Twilight and the others begin noticing strange things in Ponyville, including bizarre weather such as a chocolate milk rain, which Rainbow Dash vows to gain control of. Of course, Pinkie Pie delights in it, asking, “Why would you want to stop this?” The brief shot of her on her back drinking the rain is wonderful. When Princess Celestia summons the ponies to help stop Discord, Pinkie Pie reminds the others of the benefits of eternal chaos: chocolate rain. Discord (voiced by John de Lancie) creates a game for the ponies, and quickly separates them, trying to undermine the very things that make each of them strong. I love when he innocently asks, “What fun is there in making sense?”

In the second part, the ponies have changed, losing the best parts of themselves. When it begins raining chocolate milk again, Pinkie Pie’s reaction is: “Chocolate milk? I hate chocolate milk.” But perhaps the funniest line is Twilight’s “Look out, here comes Tom.” (It will make sense when you watch the show.) Can Twilight restore the ponies to themselves and defeat Discord?

“The Cutie Map”

“The Cutie Map” is a two-part episode that opened the fifth season (the current season), and it is one of the series’ best episodes. It is about the dangers of cults and group minds. When the ponies take their seats in Twilight’s new castle, a table with a map rises from the floor. Spike wakes from his nap to see it and comments: “Is that new? I like it.” A cute, funny moment to open the episode. The ponies’ cutie marks lead them to a distant spot on the map, which is at the end of the railroad line (once the train drops them off, it hightails it out of there in reverse). The whole village has the same cutie mark and giant fake, creepy smiles (reminding me of the time I went to the Scientology Celebrity Center). I love that it’s Pinkie Pie who suspects trouble. And there’s a seriously hilarious moment when her bright, perky self pops back up, and then she returns to frowning as she slides out of frame. Starlight, the head of the village, leads her ponies in a song, which is delightfully creepy. “In our town we work as a team/You can’t have a nightmare if you never dream.” This is one of the series’ best musical numbers.

The second part opens with eerie messages of the advantages of conformity being played over a speaker system in the room where the ponies are locked up (“In sameness, there is peace”), an example of the kind of brainwashing and conditioning that occurs in cults. Rarity is hilarious when she becomes upset over not being able to tell whether the drapes are tacky. And it’s up to Fluttershy to get the cutie marks back.

Special Feature

The DVD includes the sing-along for “In Our Town,” that great musical number from “The Cutie Map, Part 1.”

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Cutie Mark Quests is scheduled to be released on June 30, 2015 through Shout! Factory.

DVD Review: When Calls The Heart: Trials Of The Heart

When Calls The Heart is a Hallmark Channel original television series based on the novel of the same name by Janette Oke. In October of 2013, a film version aired on the Hallmark Channel. It was directed by Michael Landon, Jr., and released on DVD in December of 2013. Soon thereafter the television series began airing (Michael Landon, Jr. is one of the executive producers of the show). “Trials Of The Heart” is the two-hour season two premiere, and it is now available on DVD through Shout! Factory.

When Calls The Heart is something of a soap opera set in the early 1900s, and stars Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher, a woman who comes from money but has taken a teaching position in the frontier town of Coal Valley. Lori Loughlin reprises her role from the film, that of Abigail Stanton, a woman who lost both her husband and her son in a mine explosion in that town.

When the second season opens, the widows of the miners are preparing for their day in court against the mining corporation. The deck seems stacked against them, with a new, seemingly corrupt judge, a female prosecutor (remember, this is the early 1900s), and a questionable witness. Meanwhile, Elizabeth receives a telegram from her father that her mother has taken ill and she is wanted at home as soon as possible. Jack (Daniel Lissing) accompanies her, to keep her safe and also so that he can visit his brother in the city. There, a previous suitor expresses interest in Elizabeth again, and Jack’s brother Tom seems to be in trouble.

There is some silly competition over Jack between Elizabeth and one of the other women in Coal Valley, including a scene where they both cook him the same dish. And there is some bad dialogue, like this:

“I can’t help but wonder why a stranger would be interested in that trial.”
“Just curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“Well, this cat has nine lives.”

But the show has plenty of warmth and heart, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

When Calls The Heart: Trials Of The Heart was directed by Neill Fearnley, and was released on DVD on May 26, 2015 through Shout! Factory. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: She Must Be Seeing Things

She Must Be Seeing Things tells the story of a relationship between two women, one of whom suspects the other of infidelity. It stars Sheila Dabney as Agatha and Lois Weaver as Jo. When the film opens, Jo is leaving town for a couple of days and has left a note for Agatha, asking her to get her mail. Agatha is a more organized person than Jo, and while at Jo’s apartment she begins straightening out her bookshelves. In the process she discovers a couple of Polaroid photos and then Jo’s diary, which details her relationships with men. At first, Agatha laughs it off, believing it to be something from Jo’s school days. But soon it is clear that she is distrustful of Jo now, suspicious.

And perhaps she has a reason to be, for we see a man asking Jo out to dinner, and Jo accepting. After being asked to spend the night with him, Jo has a conversation with herself over whether or not she should sleep with him. While she decides not to, she does give the man her phone number. So it’s not like Agatha’s suspicions are completely unfounded.

The film takes on a strange, dark tone as Agatha reads Jo’s diary. It clearly becomes an obsession for her, as she even takes the diary to work, pulling it out to read after a meeting. By the way, that meeting scene is the only one that doesn’t quite ring true. Something about it seems odd.

It is interesting that when the film introduces and establishes both characters, it is separately, not with them together. This creates a tension then for that moment when Jo does finally arrive home, while Agatha readies herself upstairs. Jo has no idea what Agatha suspects, even after seeing how she has straightened out all her books and after Agatha has dropped hints. Agatha’s jealousy and suspicions even lead her to believe she sees Jo making out with a man on the street. Jo works as a film director, and her current project, a movie about Catalina and involving nuns, sort of functions as Jo’s fantasy world, especially as we don’t often see the film crew or equipment.

This film really drew me in. Some of it is funny, but there is a dark, obsessive and even mysterious vibe to it as well. It does play a bit with the butch/femme dynamic. There is a scene where Agatha gives Jo lingerie, who then models it for her, Agatha taking on a more traditionally masculine role, Jo a feminine one. This leads Jo to ask, “So tell me, do you really want a cock?” Agatha replies, “Sometimes, maybe.” This is a sweet, funny and sexy scene. There is another funny scene when Agatha goes to a sex shop to buy a dildo. The look on the clerk’s face while she gets a sex doll for a male customer is perfect.

This film also has a really well choreographed shot on the beach, as Agatha walks onto the beach and the camera continues to pan right, going past her, catching Jo as she moves off right, then Agatha again in the distance, and Jo again as she moves back toward Agatha. It’s interesting how the shot separates them, even as they move together, and brings them together, even as they first move away from each other. And it leads to a delightful bit of bondage play in public. It’s sweet, until Agatha asks Jo if men ever did that to her. Jo’s innocent admission that one man did leads Agatha straight back to the diary. What’s wonderful is that even as the suspicion and jealousy play with Agatha’s perception, it is clear that the relationship is strong and that these two do love each other.

Special Features

The DVD includes Inside Out, a 1978 short film by Sheila McLaughlin, starring Lizzie Borden, Mary Rattray and Merien Soto. It’s approximately a half hour long, and is in black and white. It’s a silent film, which at first seems odd because the early shots are close-ups of a girl talking, leaving me feeling that the sound is missing. The second segment shows children swinging a stick at a piñata, which at times seems out of reach and is sometimes out of frame. The third segment shows two people crouching, as if about to start a race.

The DVD also includes Sheila McLaughlin in conversation with Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and Heinz Emigholz, an interview that was filmed in December of 2012. Sheila talks about Inside Out, and the anti-narrative stance that filmmakers at that time took. She talks a bit about Los Angeles, and why she never wanted to move there. And of course she talks about She Must Be Seeing Things, and about the initial reactions to the film.

She Must Be Seeing Things was written and directed by Sheila McLaughlin. It was released on DVD on June 2, 2015 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: The Legend Of Longwood

The Legend Of Longwood is a sweet and completely engaging film about a young girl who becomes caught up in an Irish legend involving the ghost of the Black Knight. Right from the opening, this film establishes a tone of magic and wonder, the way the light plays on the collection of objects the camera pans over, in conjunction with the score. We’re then introduced to Mickey Miller (Lucy Morton), as she rides her horse along the beach in New York with the aim of jumping over a beached rowboat, not seeing that there is a second one behind it. She screams, and the film cuts to several weeks later, when we learn that Mickey’s mother has inherited a house in rural Ireland, and is moving the family there. Mickey doesn’t want to leave New York, and is worried that her father will not be able to find them if they move.

As Mickey walks around the grounds in her new home, she hears whispering, then while in a strange clearing surrounded by large stones, she sees a man on a black horse. Later she overhears a conversation in which a woman tells the town’s mayor that she is certain she saw a man who has been dead for nearly three hundred years. “Well, he ain’t dead no more,” the woman says. We pick up snatches of information, just as Mickey does, and begin trying to piece the story together. Thus, the film quickly and firmly aligns us with Mickey, and we experience the story largely from her perspective.

She soon meets Lady Thyrza Dumonceau (played by Miriam Margolyes, whom you might recall as the Nurse in the 1996 version of Romeo And Juliet; she was also in The Black Adder), who shows her a painting of her great great great granduncle, better known as the Black Knight. She tells Mickey the story of the Black Knight. It’s all exposition, of course, but it’s presented in an interesting way – animated from drawings that Thyrza has in her manuscript. The story involves a fire, a missing daughter, seven horses, and a man whose grief changed him from a kind person into the one everyone refers to as the Black Knight. She tells Mickey that whenever the ghost of the Black Knight appears, “terrible things happen,” adding, “He will never rest until he finds his daughter.”

This film has all of the traditional elements of a child’s adventure story: the child being in an unfamiliar area, an absent or missing parent, adults unwilling to listen or believe the child’s story, and so on. All of these things are familiar, but this film manages to use them in a way that makes them feel fresh. There is also a plot involving the impending marriage of Thyrza’s grandnephew Marc to a scheming woman named Caitlin, and a mayor who wants to use the legend of the Black Knight to attract tourism to the area. While this movie is largely aimed at children, it can be enjoyed by adults as well. And that is mainly because it doesn’t talk down to its audience, but rather keeps them engaged, and keeps them thinking, which is due in part to the fairly fast pace of the film. There are also some beautiful landscapes and good performances.

Special Feature

The DVD includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, with interviews with director Lisa Mulcahy, cinematographer Richard Van Oosterhout, costume designer Susan Scott, production designer Diana Van De Vossenberg, stunt coordinator Philippe Zone, and cast members Lucy Morton, Thekla Reuten, Fiona Glascott, Lorcan Bonner, Scott Graham and Anabel Sweeney. Lucy Morton talks a bit about her experience with horses. This is approximately thirteen minutes.

The Legend Of Longwood was directed by Lisa Mulcahy, and was released on DVD on June 2, 2015 through Shout! Factory.