TUNE IN JUNE: Fortress (1985)

Note: Here on Shlock to the System, June is TUNE IN JUNE, which is really just an excuse for me to catch up on some TV series I've been meaning to watch for a while. But I will also be watching a number of TV movies, particularly ones from the hey-day of the TV movie, the 70s and 80s.

Fortress (1985)
Director: Arch Nicholson
Starring: Rachel Ward, Marc Aden Gray, Rebecca Rigg, Sean Garlick
Format: AVI

Plot: In the Australian countryside, a school teacher and her students are kidnapped by masked men. She and the children fight for their lives and try to escape from their captors.

This Australian made-for-TV movie stars the beautiful Rachel Ward, who was fresh off a series of American big budget movies (SHARKEY'S MACHINE, DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID, AGAINST ALL ODDS), and a supporting cast made up mostly of children actors.

Teacher and children are the focus of the movie, from the moment they're snatched from their classroom and taken into the Aussie bush for ransom, through their escape from a cave, to another run-in with their captors and climaxing in a final, deadly showdown that sees the kids becoming feral warriors, ala Lord of the Flies, but with bad guys on the receiving end instead of other children.

The fact that this is a made-for-TV movie might suggest that the violence is muted. But remember, this is Australian TV, not American. Whereas American network TV is highly censored, that's not the case in Australia (or here in New Zealand). With a story like this, that's an important difference, because the violence is an important part of proceedings and doesn't have to be kept off-screen.

But in saying that, some of the violence is still quite shocking, being that it involves children. And not children as victims, but children as perpetrators. These kids are pushed over the edge and they fight back in a big way.

The kidnappers are kept faceless for all but a brief moment, and their masks really add to the tension. Like in a more recent move, You're Next, seemingly-friendly masks become instruments of terror. Here it's also animal masks, but the ringleader wears a Santa Claus mask, which is all kinds of twisted.

Ward carries the bulk of the acting load (as well as getting her kit off), but most of the children also do a great job of acting terrified and bewildered and then, towards the end, vengeful. None of the young actors went on to become a Heath Ledger or Naomi Watts, but for most part they've all kept working in TV and movies since.

Fortress is a prime example of a made-for-TV movie done right. At just short of 90 minutes it never feels overly-long. Unencumbered by the censorship issues of an American production, it doesn't pull any punches and weaves an entertaining and suspenseful tale which will have you cheering along as the kids mete out their justice.

31 Nights of Terror #6 - Eden Lake (2008)

Eden Lake (2008)
Director: James Watkins
Starring: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Tara Ellis, Jack O'Connell
Format: DVD

- This one was a cheap blind buy. I know nothing about it.
- Okay, so it's British. And directed by James Watkins, who wrote a great little flick called My Little Eye.
- And stars Michael Fassbender, who since this has gone on to play parts in Inglourious Basterds and X-Men: First Class (as young Magneto).
- Hello Kelly Reilly. If there's one thing the Brits know how to produce it's sexy redheads (for more evidence see Karen Gillan from Dr Who).
- I guess I'm getting old and crotchety, because nothing makes my blood boil like disrespectful kids.
- Jesus Christ, there's some tough viewing in this. The one scene with the kids taking turns cutting the guy in particular.
- Movie is finished and I just realised I didn't write any notes for the second half of it, I was so engrossed in what was happening on screen.

Overall thoughts: Wow. It's been a long, long time since I've been as affected by a horror movie as I was by Eden Lake. This movie brought out more raw emotion (most of it anger) than I've felt in forever. At the core it's an isolation survival movie (like The Hills Have Eyes and so many others) mixed with a revenge flick (Last House on the Left, I Spit on Your Grave et al), and an effective one at that, full of suspense, jump scares and brutal violence.
But beyond that it is a commentary on the way our society is changing. From what I've seen and read, the increase in youth violence is a major problem in England (where Eden Lake is set), but disaffected and disrespectful youth are prevalent in any western society. This movie takes what we all know is going on in our society and puts it right in our face in a blunt and extreme manner. The idea of a monster chasing us through the woods is pretty scary. Switch the monster with a group of conscienceless youths and it becomes something that could actually happen, so all the more terrifying.
If you haven't seen Eden Lake, see it now.

August 10 - Bloody Birthday (1981)

The cover of my VHS copy of Bloody Birthday

Bloody Birthday (1981)
Director: Ed Hunt
Format: VHS (Video Classics)

This surprisingly-good killer kid flick fits into the "couldn't be remade today" category. It's hard to imagine any studio greenlighting a flick about a group of killer tykes, or at least one with kids as ruthless as the trio in Bloody Birthday.

The plot is simple enough - Three babies are born during a solar eclipse in 1970. Skip forward 10 years and as they approach their 10th birthday the murderous tykes set about killing anyone who gets in their way. They shoot, strangle, bury alive, beat to death with a baseball bat... nothing is too brutal for this triad of terror. A boy in the tykes' class and his older sister (Lori Lethin, THE DAY AFTER) learn what's going on and try to put a stop to their reign of terror.

The killer kid story has been done plenty of times before (THE OMEN, THE BAD SEED, THE GOOD SON, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED etc) and Bloody Birthday doesn't really offer anything new to the sub-genre. In essence it's a slasher (with music lifted straight from the previous year's FRIDAY THE 13TH) with cute kids in place of a hulking killer.

Director Ed Hunt (ALIEN WARRIOR, STARSHIP INVASIONS) does a good job of keeping things interesting and doesn't scrimp on the kills, which are carried out in a variety of imaginative ways. Look out for an especially cool kill involving a bow and arrow. The tension and suspense is also good, particularly in the final act.

The supporting cast is good, including square-jawed Joe Penny a few years before becoming a TV regular in RIPTIDE and later JAKE AND THE FATMAN, and former MTV VJ Julie Brown (not the more famous Downtown Julie Brown, this one went by West Coast Julie Brown, got that?) who gets her kit off early in the movie.

But the real stars are the murderous mopheads, or at least two of the three. The blond-haired boy doesn't stand out, but Elizabeth Hoy is the right mix of adorable and creepy as Debbie and Billy Jayne (who a decade later would star as Parker Lewis's best friend on the TV show PARKER LEWIS CAN'T LOSE) is fantastic as the nerdy-but-cold-blooded Curtis.

Bloody Birthday is a definite case of don't judge a VHS by its cover. I went in expecting an 80s slasher but was surprised to find a nice little killer kid flick. Definitely worth watching.

Previews on my VHS tape: Dawn of the Mummy, Get Mean