And Soon the Darkness [dir. Robert Fuest]

And Soon the Darkness from writer-producer Brian Clemens and director Robert Fuest (the Dr. Philbes movies) is an effective 'missing person' mystery thriller. Clemens, famous for the vintage Avengers TV series (nothing to do with the MCU, kids), also directed the Hammer flick Kronos - The Vampire Hunter, which featured a James Bond-ish protagonist as opposed to their traditional puritanical heroes.

Pamela Franklin (The Innocents, Legend of Hell House) and Michele Dotrice (who I mainly remember as the long-suffering wife of doofus Frank in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em) are two English lasses on a cycling holiday through rural France. With their comely looks and short shorts, the girls catch the eye of the local male population. Michele is getting bored of the lonely pedaling and not averse to a little attention, but Pamela is determined to (erm) carry on. This leads to a spat between the two friends when Michele decides to stay put in a lonely spot by the road, hoping for that young man on the motorcycle trailing them to make an appearance.

After hearing stories from the locals, a worried Pamela turns back for her friend only to find her missing. The man on the bike pops up again, behaving mighty suspiciously. Actually the whole neighborhood behaves suspiciously. While restrained in its depiction of violence or oppression, the film is a precursor to what would be known as the Backwoods Brutality genre. It helps that the girls are nicely rounded as characters; we do care when bad shit starts to happen to them in a foreign land. The film maintains the tension for a large part of the running time, even if it asks some of the red herring characters to behave in an unnecessarily cryptic/hostile manner. The climax isn't quite as explosive as one would have liked, but this was on the whole a good suspense flick.

A few words on the 2019 UK blu-ray from Studio Canal:

Visually the blu-ray is a marvel. During the opening credits, things are not so great, but immediately after, there is a remarkable jump in clarity, saturation and detail. The film might have been shot yesterday if not for the fashions, attitudes and the lack of teal filters. The lossless PCM 2.0 audio is fine too, easily supporting the modest requirements of the dialog and music score. Extras include two commentary tracks (one with the writer and director, and the other from film historian Troy Howarth) and a video piece by horror reliable Kim Newman. Newman gives his customary cheerful burble, trying to present the film as a 2nd generation British take on French inspirations from British film-makers like Hitchcock. He also goes briefly into the careers of writer Clemens, director Fuest and the two leads.

My Best and Worst of Movies in 2024 - Part I [Theatrical]

Taking into account that there are a good many lacunae in my movie viewing, this is the gist of my theatrical experiences in the year gone:

The Yays

UI - Upendra (Kannada)

It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if S. Shankar and Alejandro Jodorowsky got together and made a movie, UI would be what emerged. In this day when everyone's making super-safe 'movies for dummies', this is an absolute triumph of audacity and divine madness from the maverick Upendra. Even seeing it in Kannada without any subtitles, this was probably the most awed I've been this year. Sadly though not surprisingly, it also seems to have bombed, going out of most cinemas in just a week.

Jagte Raho - Sombhu Mitra & Amit Maitra (Hindi)

OK, this is a cheat, since this movie originally came out in 1956. But the restored version was screened in cinemas this year. Raj Kapoor as an unknown struggler comes to a city and, in his quest for a drink of water, enters a resident colony where he gets taken for a thief and all manner of chaos results. Set in the course of a single night, the film is a satire on urban capitalist society and its sordid underbelly. Remarkably, Kapoor took a part where he is mute through most of the film. It's not perfect, and gets a little preachy towards the end (and the famous Nargis cameo, even though it looks gorgeous, feels like it came from another film altogether. But it's very interesting all the same, and I had a good time on the whole. The resto looks pretty good too in most part.

All We Imagine as Light - Payal Kapadia (Malayalam+Hindi)

My detailed take HERE

Kill - Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (Hindi)

Kill is probably the most fun I've had watching a Hindi movie in a long time. Up to half-way I was wondering if the reviews weren't exaggerating a little about the violence in this movie. But post-interval they crank it up to Holy Shit! levels. One scene with a fire extinguisher is bruisingly memorable. Compared to the bloated ass-fests that most new movies are, it's just a 106 min long and packed with badass action.

Furiosa: Mad Max - George Miller (English)

At nearly 2.5 hours, this film is significantly longer than Fury Road, with a lot of time spent on identifying different factions and their politics. It's not Shakespearean drama, some of it more in the vein of video game cut-scenes, but it's sufficiently punctuated with brilliant action to make the whole dish palatable, and Chris Hemsworth's Dementus is a pleasure.

Manjummel Boys - Chidambaram (Malayalam)

My detailed take HERE

The So-So's / Meh's

Aavesham - Jithu Madhavan (Malayalam)

I have to say that this Aavesham is marred by the 'anaavishyam' (excessive and unnecessary) amount of swag. YMMV. My detailed take HERE

Aadujevitham aka The Goat Life - Blessy (Malayalam)

My detailed take HERE

Merry Christmas - Shriram Raghavan (Hindi)

Mixed feelings. There's a neat little drama here, and a number of trademark Raghavan moments (the pre-interval portion is terrific!), but it's also significantly hobbled by a musical romance the director seems to believe in, but which did nothing for me. Still, you should watch it and make your own opinion. It should be at least better than the bigger movies on account of which it missed the Xmas release date it had been aiming for.