Prevenge
Written and directed by Alice Lowe (Sightseers), this brilliant comedy horror sees the aforementioned Lowe play Ruth, a heavily pregnant woman who stalks London, killing various men at the behest of her unborn child. Rather than simply being a still in the womb Omen story, Prevenge ventures into some surprisingly touching areas about mourning and accepting one’s grief. There’s a sense that deep down Ruth doesn’t what to do what she’s doing, but once she’s pressured and her blood begins to boil, she sees no other options.
Filmed on a ridiculously small budget, Prevenge is cinematic in scope.The strongest scenes come with Ruth’s regular visits to her midwife (Jo Hartly) and her admissions of anger towards what her baby makes her do is seen as pre-natal depression. Acting like a spiritual sequel to Sightseers, the film manages to comfortably navigate through nihilism and comedy without spilling over too much into either.
Serial Kaller
Here’s a fairy tale for you. There once was a men’s magazine called Loaded, who got their won TV channel despite lad culture’s death rattle being heard across the universe. Still, they persisted and decided to make a film under the Loaded Film banner. Enter director Dan Brownlie who wanted to mark his directorial debut with a script about sex line workers being stalked and killed. Off Brownlie went to film his debut, but alas, Loaded TV folded and off went 90% of his crew. Still, he persisted and now Serial Kaller is here for everyone to see. Lucky you.
Going into this film, knowing the garbage hand that Brownlie had been dealt, you cross your fingers that this’ll turn out to be a rough little gem. Unfortunately, despite a knowing sense of what it is, Serial Kaller is a slog to get through. Out of the mixed bag of acting on display, Dani Thompson (Cute Little Buggers) and veteran genre actor, Debbie Rochon (Vampire’s Kiss) make a fair bash of it. However, unless you’re looking for tepid entertainment that relies on nudity more than it does scares, you’re best looking elsewhere.
The Bat
One of the joyous things about Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is the abundance of exposition around every corner. Practically everyone talks to each other like they’ve never met before. ‘Hello, Donald. You remember my wife. We met two years ago and were married at Christmas. It was a lovely affair. Well, I must be going now.’
The other joyous element is the brilliant Vincent Price, playing Dr Malcolm Wells; an expert on the habits of bats who may also be the creature terrorising small town America known only as the Bat! Spoiler alert – He’s not. But we have a wonderful time watching him play red herring for 80 minutes. Criminally, they don’t make them like Vinnie anymore.
John Noonan 