Review: Sawney: Flesh of Man (aka Lord of Darkness) 2012

The legend of Sawney Bean, and his cannibalistic family has been told for hundreds of years in his native Scotland, and the idea has been utilised  numerous times in popular fiction. Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre series drew influence in one form or another. This low budget effort is the first feature from director Ricky Wood, and - for the most part - delivers the goods.

Set in modern day Scotland, a world weary detective (Gavin Mitchell) and a young, alcoholic, reporter Hamish (Samuel Feeney) are both trying to piece together a series of murders where the only remains that turn up of the victims are the head and feet. The perpetrator, Sawney Bean (David Hayman) abducts his victims in his black cab and takes them to his family lair, a dank cave, a place of freaks, chainsaws, chickens and offal. It doesn't matter what gender you are, all that matters to Sawney is how you taste. His family don't mind either, and the hors d'oeuvres for his youngsters often include rape. Again, gender is irrelevant.

Taking the Bible quote "unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves" too literally, Sawney is a perfect bogey man. Other than his odd eye, and perpetual blood stained fingers you would pass him in the street. The family are all hooded , athletic (they inexplicably can't resist doing back-flips, even when fighting among themselves) mutant looking inbreds scurry about the cave while awaiting Sawney, who brings home the bacon. Or in this case, human for them and mother. Who they keep locked away.

Surprisingly well made, and unrelentingly visceral; the gore effects especially are well above par for a film of this budget. It doesn't shy away from throwing all manor of flesh and bones at the viewer, even when they have been ground to a slurry by the titular cannibal. The use of locations, and lack of out of place humour build the tension and atmosphere, the caves especially adding some great, claustrophobic scares. The cinematography (by the director's brother Ranald; father Rick wrote the script) certainly pays dividends on that level.

If there's anything that lets it down, it's possibly the Feeney's acting is not as accomplished as the more veteran talent of Hayman and Mitchell; but it's not so bad as to throw you completely out of the film.

It will certainly be interesting to see what Wood comes up with next. Hopefully this will do well enough to merit a bigger budget for his future films.
(note: the film has been re-titled Lord of Darkness for US audiences)
7 out of 10

Review: Maniac (2012)

I told you not to go out tonight....

Frank (Elijah Wood) is a troubled man. Running the family business, a mannequin restoration shop, after his mother dies, he cruises the internet and the streets looking for women. Nothing altogether strange about that, he's a good looking lad. Except his outings tend to end with him going home with the ladies' scalp.

When he meets art photographer and mannequin enthusiast Ana (Nora Arnezeder) it looks like things might change, and he may well have met that soul mate even psycho killers crave. True love, of course, never runs smooth and he is naturally crushed when she casually slips into conversation she has a boyfriend. A revelation which will send him spiraling even further out of control of his diminishing mental state.

There is always going to be an outcry and some worry (and often preconceived hate) when it is announced a film, especially one which has a reputation, is being remade. Luckily, Franck Khalfoun's update of William Lustig's 1980 nasty, sleazy (but fantastic) flick is a revelation. Instead of turning in a glossy, Hollywood formulaic slasher, we get a film that gets so far under your skin you may well ingest it, staying with you for some time after. While the original had the effect of making you feel dirty, largely thanks to Joe Spinell's inspired performance and the general misogynistic tone, this version, while not completely polished, has something of a heart that is ready to be torn out.

Director Khalfoun appeared as an actor in screenwriter/producer Alexandre Aja's brilliant Haute Tension (aka Switchblade Romance, 2003) and has crafted a work of genius. Shooting the majority of the film from the point of view of our friendly neighbourhood killer is a masterstroke. This is a standard slasher trope but using it throughout instantly sucks you into his world, making you compliant with his actions, while also making you feel empathy with him, much in the same way Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) did. The casting of Wood is a masterstroke, beating his turn in Green Street and Sin City (both 2005) and certainly puts all thoughts of Middle Earth from your head.

The story stays fairly true to the path of the original, with just some minor tweaks, and as such anyone familiar with that will know how it will end and where it is going, but it manages to avoid copying set pieces (so the fabulous exploding head in the car is absent). A great shot has the original movie's artwork re-created in a reflection in a car door, and raises a smile when one of Frank's early pickups puts Q Lazzarus' Goodbye Horses on to seduce him. The junkies and prostitutes of the original are replaced by vacuous art dealers and elitist idiots. Ana's agent and boyfriend (and, we can assume, Ana herself) think Frank is gay, much to his horror. It would, however, have been more radical to have no attempt to explain why Frank is compelled to kill, rather than blaming the usual dysfunctional parent problems.  

The film does not avoid being very visceral and graphic and newcomers to the material are going to be in for a wild ride, and should be prepared to be well and truly freaked out by the end. The evocative soundtrack (credited to "Rob") is impressive too. 

This is, without doubt, a classic for the future and is genuinely terrifying, which is refreshing in this day and age. Catch it on a big screen if you get the chance.

9 out of 10