Monday, 15 March 2021

Nemesis - Review

****


Screenplay by Adam Stephen Kelly
Story by Jonathan Sothcott and Adam Stephen Kelly
Directed by James Crow



Billy Murray


Nemesis is the latest offering from producer Jonathan Sothcott. Evidencing his canny eye for today’s zeitgeist, Sothcott’s picture delivers 90 minutes of unpretentious, thinly-plotted movie brilliance that’s guaranteed to cheer-up a locked down evening!

Character hardman Billy Murray, he of The Bill and EastEnders fame but with a string of cockney credits in TV and film stretching back to the 1960s, is London gangster John Morgan, recently exiled to Turkey. Flying in from his sun-drenched villa accompanied by moll/wife Sadie (ably performed by Sothcott’s real-life missus, Jeanine Nerissa), Morgan’s trip to London is ostensibly for he and Sadie to be introduced to Zoe (played by Lucy Aarden), the girlfriend of their daughter Kate (newcomer Ambra Moore). Of course as the plot spins out one learns that there is much more to this long-term villain, together with his nearest and dearest, than meets the eye.

Sothcott has assembled a cracking cast to flesh out his story’s deliciously two-dimensional characters, with family vengeances proving to be a recurrent theme. Nick Moran plays second-generation copper Frank Conway, an alcoholic who blames Morgan for his father’s death. And giving what turns out to be a very brutal twist on sibling rivalry, Frank Harper puts in a grisly performance as Morgan’s brother Richard, transforming a family get together around the dinner table into a charnel house of slaughter that would make Titus Andronicus blush. James Crow deftly directs and with a hint of 21st century noir thrown in, the story makes for a ripping (literally at times) yarn.  

Some of Nemesis' photography captures London in those heady pre-pandemic days (was it barely a year ago?) when the city’s streets teemed with activity, double-decker buses bustled and London was just, well, London. One can only pray for those days to return….

Until then, Nemesis will have to remain a home-viewed thrill. And with pop up cameos from the venerable and always classy Julian Glover, together with the Capital’s original Flying Eye Russ Kane, what’s not to love about this blood-drenched treat of a movie.


Available on DVD and digital download from 29th March

Saturday, 6 March 2021

The Stylist - Review

*****


Story by Jill Gevargizian
Written by Jill Gevargizian, Eric Havens and Eric Stolze
Directed by Jill Gevargizian



Najarra Townsend


The Stylist marks a stunning first full-length feature from Jill Gevargizian. A meticulously written and directed piece that offers not only a finely constructed psycho-drama to propel its narrative, but also some top-notch horror visuals too.

In an equally stunning performance, Najarra Townsend is Claire, the movie’s titular hairdresser. And without pulling any punches, The Stylist sets out its stall before the opening titles have rolled as Claire drugs and scalps an out-of-town walk-in client who simply wanted her roots touched up, rather than removed.

Gevargizian’s effects are wonderful, with the sight and sound of her victim's demise proving almost unbearable to watch - particular credit here to Colleen May’s special make-up. But it is so much more than the ‘hair-raising’ horror of Claire's carnage that makes this movie work, as Gevargizian’s script explores her protagonist’s murderous motives. While Claire’s candlelit lair, complete with rows of mannequin heads sporting previous victims’ locks may be a tad Hollywood kitsch, her deadly-damaged psyche is as credible as that of Joaquin Phoenix’s recent Joker. Claire’s envies, resentments, rejections and neglect are all in plain sight and in one particular killing, where Claire’s craving for the dopamine release that only scalping a victim can deliver, Gevargizian’s understanding of addiction and its associated compulsions is chilling in its accuracy.

Brea Grant plays Olivia, a long-standing client of Claire who is preparing for her wedding amidst a bride’s usual anxieties of making sure that her hair is perfect for the big day. The decline of the women’s relationship is charted through the movie’s 105 minutes, culminating in a devastating and shocking finale. 

Tributes abound within the storyline, in a production lovingly filmed around Gevargizian’s home town of Kansas City, Missouri. Indeed, in a truly Hitchcockian moment, the writer/director herself puts in a pulsating cameo that only adds to Claire’s body count. 

This is undoubtedly one of the finest horror movies of recent years.


Certificate 18
105 minutes