The Sunday Afternoon Western: More Dead Than Alive (Region 1)

February 19th, 2007 Posted by Ian W | DVD Reviews | no comments

This is a strange little film, a pacifist western with an ambiguous message. Clint Walker star of TV’s Cheyenne plays “Killer” Cain who upon release from prison after 18 years is determined to go straight and make an honest living. His reputation presedes however and unable to find decent work he’s ultimately forced to join a travelling sideshow and make money from his notorious past.

After a big opening action scene featuring a prison break that goes awry the film settles down to a more easy going pace with Walker travelling around looking for work, meeting artist Monica Alton (Anne Francis) and generally doing his best to avoid trouble. When he hooks up with Dan Ruffalo’s sideshow he takes the place of young sharpshooter Billy as the show’s main attraction. It’s here that the film really comes into it’s own as Billy, Ruffalo and Cain travel from town to town making an “honest” living. It’s Cain’s relationship with the two men that forms the cornerstone of the film.

As Ruffalo, Vincent Price steals every scene he’s in. He may be a conman but Price also brings a twisted decency to Ruffalo; he may be exploiting Cain but you get the feeling he’s also trying to help the guy. At the time price was usually seen either in his trademark horror roles or as a guest star on TV shows like Batman and this must have made a pleasant change for the criminaly underused actor.

DVD Review: Head Trauma (Region 1)

February 19th, 2007 Posted by Ian W | DVD Reviews | no comments

The Movie

While Hollywood plays it safe with a diet of remakes, re-imaginings and rehashes of classic horror movies it’s down to independent filmmakers to give horror fans what they really want - original, thought-provoking films that stay with you long after the credits have ended. Lance Weiler’s second feature Head Trauma is just such a beast.

The basics are simple enough. After a 20-year absence, George Walker returns to his late grandmother’s home in the hope of saving the condemned building. Late one night he finds an intruder in the house. The ensuing struggle leads to George taking a blow to the head, and that’s when the fun starts.

George begins to experience dreams full of nightmarish imagery, including a mysterious hooded figure. Soon the lines between reality and imagination start to blur as the dreams bleed through into his waking world.

To go into more detail about the plot would be to do the film a disservice; one of its pleasures is the way the story slowly unfolds, giving us bits of information that we have to unravel in much the same way George does. Almost the entire film is told from George’s perspective and this gives the viewer a front row seat as George’s psyche becomes increasingly fractured.