His first Hollywood film - The Hills Have Eyes - didn't even come close to equalling his achievement here. If you want to see what Aja is really capable of, and enjoy possibly the finest slasher film in recent years, I urge you to see Haute Tension.
Duke De Mondo: Amityville II - The Possession (1982)
Said producer Dino De Laurentiis to Saint Paul one summer’s eve in 1980; “Saint Paul, I tell you this, I’m in a sore fix. Being a man fond of making a pound or ninety off of the back of the motion picture production, I went ahead and secured the rights to make a sequel to last year’s surprise hit The Amityville Horror.”
“Well that’s fantastic” quoth Saint Paul. “Jesus oh, that shite made a mint!”
“Aye” says Dino, shaking the head. “Aye, it did that. And I was overjoyed to get the go-ahead. But then… Oh Saint Paul it’s terrible.”
“What?”
“Well… then I saw it.”
“Oh.” Saint Paul lowered his head and gave a solemn cluck of the tongue.
“Exactly. God but it’s an awful motion picture altogether. How, under Christ, am I to make a sequel to that garbage?”
“That is a right pickle, now. But I know just how to go about it.” Here, Saint Paul tilted his head some, gazing wistfully at the heavens. “You’ll have heard that in my younger days I was a bit of what you’d call a rogue. Never happier than when burning a Christian or stealing the bricks out a church to throw at a Jehovah’s Witness. Then one day I was traipsing along the road to Damascus, and…”
“I know all this” says Dino. “I’ve never been a man to neglect my Biblical studies.”
“But y’see that’s the thing. The book doesn’t tell you the whole story, for by Mary’s Diddies, says I, I was blinded and deafened and the last thing I considered was that I should maybe jot anything down for posterity. But years later, long after publication and far too late for me to do anything about it without being hung by the bollocks as a heretic, years later, I tell you, I remembered the crux of His message.”
“And what was it, pray tell?”
“What He said to me was this; Saint Paul, the world is in a sore diabolical state. But there’s nothing so broken that it can’t be fixed by the man who made 1971’s Confessions Of A Police Commissioner To The District Attorney.” Lighting a cigarette, Saint Paul gave a shrug. “So there’s your answer. Find you that man, and you’ll get a masterpiece.”
Article comments
1 - Mat Brewster
Nice job with this Ian. Looks like I'll have to add a couple of films to my must see list.
I can't remember if I've ever seen The Vampire Lovers. I used to watch all those old Hammer Horrors, but lord knows I love a good lesbian caper, but the old memories kind of blended them all together.
The last horror movie sounds fascinating.
2 - Ian Woolstencroft
Thanks Matt.
Vampire Lovers is definitly worth a look. It's based on the famous vampire story Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Apart from the horror films I’ve added to my must watch list (or in a some cases my must watch again list) I also have a burning desire to see Confessions of A Police Commissioner To The District Attorney. I’m guessing it has nothing in common with Confessions of a Window Cleaner.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.
3 - DukeDeMondo
Excellent job in putting this together, Ian, and everyone gave fantastic contributions. Even the choices i disagreed with (particularly Haute Tension, which i hated - and i also consider The Hills Have Eyes remake to be one of the finest action / horror / survival pictures of all ever) i loved reading about.
i really must see Eyes Without A Face. i've wanted to see it for AGES, years and years, but for some reason never have. i'll rememdy this immediately, is what i'll do.
and Friday 13th Part III - nice nice nice. Although part 4 - The Final Chapter, is my personal favourite, closely followed by Jason X, which was just sublime.
4 - El Bicho
Tip o' the hat for taking the lead on this, Ian, and to all the participants. Certainly some interesting choices for the reader's queues.
Enjoy "Eyes," Duke. The movie is timely as face transplants have been making progress. Try to find the Criterion Collection version because the extras contain horrific moments from real life that surpass what the film has to offer.
5 - Chris Beaumont
Nice selection of films! Although I didn't care for The Last Horror Movie.
Uzumaki is brilliant weirdness, and material I would like to see someone like Tim Burton take a stab at should Hollywood get the idea to remake it (which I doubt, a little too weird methinks).
I have copies of Eyes Without A Face (criterion) and Vampire Lovers that I have been meaning to watch....
Haute Tension was awesome until the final "twist" which I did not particularly care for.