ALLELUIA: The Honeymoon Killers (1969)

The story of the real-life Honeymoon Killers--Raymond Hernandez and Martha Beck--is chilling, while the story behind the movie The Honeymoon Killers seems too unbelievable to be true.

 Director Leonard Kastle was an "opera composer, librettist, and director" and the film was his first and only foray into cinema. It wasn't the first acting venture for the two leads, however.

Tony Lo Bianco was on TV shows like Get Smart before The Honeymoon Killers. As compelling as Lo Bianco's performance is as Raymond Fernandez, it's Shirley Stoler as Martha Beck who steals the movie. She's sassy and savage and everything in between, like a John Waters character who hadn't yet been invented. And she was 40 at the time of the film's release, an unheard of age for an actress to make her film debut (then and now).

In 1970, The New York Times' Roger Greenspun said of The Honeymoon Killers:

"Unusually seedy in all its particulars, utterly unflattering to all its characters, sufficiently horrible (but never gratuitously shocking) in the details of its murders, Kastle's film succeeds as a kind of chamber drama of desperate attraction and violent death."

That's a terrific encapsulation of a film that feels as real and uncomfortable as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but with almost no gore and little suspense. Its success derives from its languid, sinister atmosphere and the way that Stoler and Bianco are both lusty and dispassionate. The murders are shocking in how mundane yet gruesome they are. Stoler's Martha poses as Lo Bianco's sister, which makes his seduction of other women even more unsettling, especially when she's right there while it's happening. It's made more uncomfortable when she poses as a nurse, one wearing the traditional white uniform and cap, a figure who's supposed to be an symbol of comfort but is more like a cinematic precursor to Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

The Honeymoon Killers remained in semi-obscurity, despite cult and critical status, until the Criterion release in 2003. Sadly, Kastle never directed again, despite having written several screenplays. Lo Bianco went on to be in movies like God Told Me To and The French Connection and is still working; his latest role was in 2013's Send No Flowers. Stoler had a lengthy career and was even nominated for a Foreign Language Academy Award in 1976 for her performance as a Nazi prison commandant in Lina Wertmüller's Seven Beauties. She died in 1999 but her legacy lives on.

How does Fabrice Du Welz's interpretation of Raymond and Martha Beck add to this legacy? You'll have to watch Alleluia to find out.

ALLELUIA screening times:
Thu., Sept 11th, 3:00 PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sat., Sept 13th, 9:15PM, SCOTIABANK 13

THE VOICES: More Dark Comedies!

"You picked the movie last night, Mr Whiskers. I want to watch a romantic comedy." 

If you’ve been paying attention to the Vanguard blog lately, we’ve been going on and on about how The Voices is one of the darkest comedies of the year; maybe even of ever. If you haven’t been paying attention, um, where have you been? Excuse you. EXCUSE YOU. Anyway, to keep this awesome dark comedy ball rolling (it’s kind of like a bowling ball, we think) we’ve put together a list of some of our other favourite dark comedies. It was really hard, guys, because there are so many good ones. SO MANY. 

Think of all the notes we could write if we had our own giant novelty pencil.

Obviously Sightseers is the first on this list. Because erotic knit underthings, and that pasta sauce and hands down the best use of “Tainted Love.”  Sightseers, from Vanguard and Midnight Madness favourite Ben Wheatley, tells the tale of . They’re on a grand adventure to visit such amazing places as the Keswick Pencil Museum. Wow, sign us up for that road trip. Except things take an unexpected turn because it sort of (read: really, actually, no doubt about it) turns  into a killing spree. Don’t you hate it when that happens? There are still plenty (and plenty) of laughs, though, and a giant pencil. What more could you want? 

Great day for a stroll in the park, eh.

Happiness is admittedly a little tougher to digest, even for fans of the darkest of dark comedies. Did you manage to find the humour in happiness? This author did, so take that as you will. She understands if you don’t want to associate with her anymore because DAMN does this movie go down a bleak path. Happiness weaves together a story of some very not happy people—in fact, they’re downright despicable. From a sex-craved phone masturbator to a pedophile who also happens to be a kind of devoted father, we understand why it would be hard to get behind Happiness. We will say that we agree about the plastic baggies. They ARE very relatable. Everyone uses ‘em, after all. 

See what Lance had to put up with? So rude.

World’s Greatest Dad asks the question: what if you have the worst son ever and he dies (because he’s literally the worst) but you sort of want to memorialize a better version of him? We almost don’t blame Robin Williams’ character, Lance. To finally be able to create the awesome son you always wish you had, to make people actually miss him and think he was some sort of awe-inspiring hidden-talent writer when it's really your own writing that everybody is loving is almost impossible to resist. Okay, fine, it’s also super horrible.

Well, how do we even begin to describe Killer Joe. All we can say is we'll never think of Kentucky Fried Chicken the same ever again. We mean K Fried C. Killer Joe is your typical "I'm in gambling debt so I'm going to have to kill my mum for the insurance money" tale. Don't you love those? Chris (Emile Hirsch) hires contract killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey-hey-hey) to get the job done but then Joe decides to take Chris' sister as a retainer. It used to be so easy to kill your mum but it's really hard to find decent contract killers these days. The movie is pretty violent as every character gets their face smashed into something (don't want anyone to feel left out, of course) but that's okay because it's worth it for this amazing McConaughey performance. 

"Did we make it past the first round?" 

Yeah, yeah, we already mentioned one Bobcat Goldthwait film in this list (World's Greatest Dad) but we can't help if he's one of the best at crafting absolutely bananas dark comedies. God Bless America was also a Midnight Madness favourite so it's only fitting we end our list with it. This film is a classic, all-American tale of a man becoming so enraged with how disgusting and awful and selfish people have become that he decides to go on a rampage and kill them all. But just the bad ones, don't worry. He inspires a teenage girl to join his cause and off they go to live the bloody, ultraviolent American dream! Ah, inspring isn't.

This list could be a helluva lot longer but we've got movies to see and more blogs to write so look up some more on your own, jokers. And when you're done with that, make sure you're seeing The Voices this week for the dark comedy to end all dark comedies.

The Voices is screening at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Vanguard Programme. Check out more Vanguard films on the official Festival website.

THE VOICES screening times:

Thursday, Sept 11th 9:00 PM RYERSON
Friday, Sept 12th 6:00 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

THE VOICES Premieres Tonight!

House meeting!

Gather your friends--the talking cat, the talking dog, the severed head and, of course, Ryan Reynolds, because Marjane Satrapi's The Voices premieres tonight. Take a look at the poster and some stills here. Read a profile of director Marjane Satrapi here. Check out the Sundance buzz. And...Ryan Reynolds? Ryan Reynolds!

Tickets can be purchased:

• ONLINE: TIFF.net's Ticket Product List Page
• BY PHONE: 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433 (Toll-free) 
• IN PERSON
• Festival Box Office; 225 King St. West
• Scotiabank Theatre, 259 Richmond Street West

And don't forget...

Furrr-ever!!!

THE VOICES screening times:

Thursday, Sept 11th 9:00 PM RYERSON
Friday, Sept 12th 6:00 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY Premieres Tonight!

Try not to pick at it, Oiwa...

Don't wrong your loved ones, try to keep life from imitating art and don't pick at any injuries, because Over Your Dead Body premieres tonight!

See the poster and trailer here. Read a retrospective of some of Takashi Miike's other films here. Learn more about the play performed within the movie. And then purchase your tickets...

• ONLINE: TIFF.net's Ticket Product List Page
• BY PHONE: 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433 (Toll-free) 
• IN PERSON
• Festival Box Office; 225 King St. West
• Scotiabank Theatre, 259 Richmond Street West

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY screening times:

Thurs., Sept. 11, Ryerson 6:00 PM
Fri., Sept. 12, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 9:00 PM
Sat., Sept. 13, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 6:30 PM

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY: The Many Adaptations of Yotsuya Kaidan

Takashi Miike could not have chosen a more respectable Japanese play to adapt than Yotsuya Kaidan, aka, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan. It is a story originated for the Kabuki stage and told many times before--the story of Oiwa, her faithless and cruel husband Iemon and supernatural revenge. Iemon has been hateful and appalling since 1825. And in almost every adaptation I see, he remains just as appalling a person as the first time I saw him in Keisuke Kinoshita's 1949 film. Miike's adaptation gets a special kick from having famed Kabuki performer Ebizo Ichikawa as actor Kousuke Hasegawa who performs Iemon in the film's troubled production of the play. In Over Your Dead Body, Takashi Miike offers his version of Yotsuya Kaidan in the form of a play within a film.

Nakamura Kankuro as the afflicted Oiwa. (via Japan.org)

 Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan was written by playwright Tsuruya Namboku IV (1755-1839) and first produced for the Kabuki stage in 1825. It's typically performed with Kanadehon Chushingura, or The 47 Loyal Ronin. Ghost stories are respectable in Kabuki and Noh and so there are many tales of love, bitterness and vengeful ghosts, but like a certain Scottish play, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan is relatively unique in having a curse associated with it and cast and crew of any production of the story visit Oiwa's grave to stave off accidents and death. I could explain, but Namboku himself does it so much better in this sweet video with animation and museum artifacts...



The Legend of Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan - Lady... by MstrMacabre

Since 1912, the play has been adapted to film many, many times. I would love to see the silent versions, but I thought I'd mention some of the more recent adaptations that I have seen so you can compare and contrast, after, or even before for maximum appreciation, seeing Over Your Dead Body.

Yotsuya Kaidan, Pt. I and Part II (1949)

In two feature-length parts, director Keisuke Kinoshita intimately details the life of Oiwa and a more sympathetic than usual Iemon, making Iemon's betrayal, and the dread of his inevitable betrayal for those familiar with the story, that much more painful. Kinoshita presents the story in almost psychoanalytic terms with the ghost of Oiwa being an expression of Iemon's guilt. But while it is tragic, it is still plenty spooky, with some startling images.




Yotsuya Kaidan (1956)

Masaki Mori's adaptation stars Tomisaburo Wakayama as Iemon. You might know Wakayama better as Ogami Itto, the hunted samurai of the Lone Wolf And Cub / Babycart Assassin series. Wakayama played Iemon again, inYasushi Kato's The Ghost Of Oiwa (1961). Mori's film is lovely and a fairly straightforward story of impoverished samurai meets beautiful and sweet samurai woman, man marries woman, man meets a wealthier woman, man throws wife's body into the river and marries his new sweetie, terrifying ghost of ex haunts man.

Ceiling ghost sees everything you do.

Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (1959)

Nabuo Nakagawa's Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan adaptation seems to be the biggest influence on Over Your Dead Body. With surreal, gorgeously composed and colored films like Jigoku, Nakagawa himself seems to be an influence on Miike. This version was the first in widescreen and in color and, holy cats, is it in color. It is lurid in the best way and far more familiar as contemporary horror. And Iemon is just a terrible, terrible person in this version. Far more terrible than usual.

"I, Kazuo Hasegawa, am certainly very evil. Just look at me!"

Yotsuya Kaidan / Thou Shalt Not Be Jealous (1959)

Kenji Misumi directed another version the same year, and I feel bad for him because his was not a color spectacle and it's hard to compete with Nakagawa's--especially when Kazuo Hasegawa plays Iemon and it's just hard for Hasegawa to be a terrible person. Of course Misumi works with that by having Iemon not directly responsible for Oiwa's death and decide to avenge her. Doesn't save him, though. Not at all. And I'm sure it's totally a coincidence that there's a character named "Kousuke Hasegawa" in Over Your Dead Body, and that actor plays Iemon in the play within the film.

All this blood? Just illusion...

Yotsuya Kaidan / Illusion of Blood (1965)

Tatsuya Nakadai plays Iemon and Mariko Okada plays Oiwa in Shiro Toyoda's version. He is a morally conflicted scoundrel who at first saves his sister-in-law from his father-in-law, but then finds his wife is in the way, again, of his moving up in life. (Spoiler: she's in his way by being married to him when he could marry someone with better family connections). This adaptation is plenty gory and Tetsuya Nakadai is always a pleasure to watch, but if you can only watch one lurid, bloody, stylized version of Yotsuya Kaidan, go with Nakagawa's.

Oh, there's so much more Yotsuya Kaidan out there, but this seems like a good place to stop.

(I used Japan.org, Kabuki 21, Wild Realm Reviews, IMDb and wikipedia in writing this post).

OVER YOUR DEAD BODY screening times:

Thurs., Sept. 11, Ryerson 6:00 PM
Fri., Sept. 12, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 9:00 PM
Sat., Sept. 13, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 6:30 PM

HYENA: Twitter Buzz!

So we've told you about Gerard Johnson, the director of Hyena; we've played Six Degrees of Separation with the cast; AND we've enlightened you as to the wonderful music of Matt Johnson, who created the score, but you're still not convinced you need to go see this movie? Ahem. I think you'll change your minds after you read what's being said about it on social media.

Don't fall into a spiral of self-destructive despair like the protagonist of the movie. Catch the final screening of Hyena before it's too late.

HYENA screening times:
Fri., Sept. 12th, 12:00 PM, BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

The Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle Winner Announcement!

Well jabrones, it's been a harrowing few days. We dropped Benson, Moorhead, and the mole cricket on an island with nothing but a match, a rubber band, a party size bag of M&Ms (plain, if you're curious), and a bowling ball and set them loose in a battle...TO THE DEATH. Okay, not actually. But only because that would be really, really expensive. We mean, as much as we here at the Vanguard Blog would love to just be dropping directors and insects on islands left and right, we have our expenses to think about. Cats too. Children and significant others? Maybe.

Enough shenanigans! It's time—finally—to announce the winner of the 2014 Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle. Who will come out on top?! Why do we still not know the best breed of cat for lifting?! Why does the mole cricket look so adorable in his boxing gloves? At least one of these questions we can answer and we will do it right now! RIGHT EFFIN' NOW!

But first, let's recap our intrepid contenders. You know, to draw this out as much as possible.

Justin Benson is apparently a respectable skateboarder and we're pretty sure he told us he also does yoga. Does he have what it takes to knock the other contenders out of the running?! DO THOSE TOWEL CONSERVING SKILLZ REALLY PAY THE BILLZ?! 

While we admire Aaron Moorhead's ability to put on sunglasses whilst lifting cats, we wonder how he held up in this battle to the death. Maybe the age old question of "cat versus towels: which is better?" will finally be answered! 

The mole cricket is just so damn cute. Lookit those boxing gloves! Ehehehehehehhehehehehehe. \

Or maybe last year's victor, Joe Swanberg, will somehow use his unstoppable charisma to reach all the way from Chicago and snatch the title back?! It's anyone's game at this point. Do you have any idea who will come out the victor?!? Neither do we! Oh, yeah. Wait, yes we do. The winner of the 2014 Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle is....

 ...a pencil?! A giant novelty pencil? Wait, but that's no ordinary giant novelty pencil. That, friends, is the giant novelty pencil from the Keswick Pencil Museum in Sightseers! How did this happen, you say? Sightseers was from 2012, you say?! Can a pencil even win things, you say?! Listen, that giant novelty pencil transcends all space and time and is also super practical, because you can write notes with it, use it as a weapon, maybe even a door stop. Tina and Poppy understand where we're coming from, right guys?

Seriously, what could be better than that pencil?! 

This has been the 2014 Vanguard Blog Mascot Battle. Congrats to all of our contenders but, sorry, not sorry, this pencil is really rad and we wish we had one and doesn't it look great in a crown? Deal with it. AND IN ONE YEAR WE WILL RETURN WITH THE NEXT VANGUARD BLOG MASCOT BATTLE. EXCELSIOR!

(PS - if anyone were to know of the location of such a glorious pencil (and not one of those barely larger than normal sized ones Amazon sells, pfft, please inform Siân immediately. Thank you.)