Wow! Such a good movie.

The Worst Film Ever

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This understated psychological thriller is unlike any other film you will see. It's a film that ranks high in originality, and the horror comes from the human madness on display here. Indeed, it's a film that focuses on insanity, and puts it across in a matter-of-fact way, which is quite unsettling and succeeds in making the viewer also feel mad while watching. This is the kind of low budget drama which the British did so well, creating a powerful film solely via the script and performances of the players. There are no special effects here to distract you, there's no gore either. The lack of these typical components give this film a closer edge to reality and really gets you hooked up in the action.There are four deeply disturbed individuals in this film: two children, a mother, and a nanny. The mother is perhaps the sickest of the four. She's a woman who has presumably (there are no explanations here) ruled her children's lives strictly since they were born. She has warped views on life, and is obsessed by her own set of "rules" which everybody must abide by. She literally takes the typical family ideals too far. The actress playing her, Ursula Howells, may be familiar as the werewolf woman from DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, and is excellent. Nanny is the most unimportant member of the family, and her role is to simply look after the other three. Despite always following Mumsy's orders, she is secretly envious of her employer and when the newcomer arrives on the scene, sexual jealousy of the mother becomes apparent. Nanny is pretty sick, and in one sequence she almost murders someone by suffocation.The two children of the family actually look to be in their early twenties, yet still live the lives of innocent children - they haven't grown up at all, instead stuck forever as ten year olds. Sonny has a cruel streak in him, and takes his childhood games too far.He also enjoys filming his playmates in some weird PEEPING TOM-style fetish. Girly is the most feisty of the group, a virgin with a high sexual appetite, and her relationship with the newcomer is the catalyst for all the events which later occur. She is played to the hilt by Vanessa Howard, who is excellent and believable. As the other main member of the cast, Michael Bryant is very good as the sane man caught up in the chaos. He is effectively the prisoner in a nightmare world, his life alternating between plotting escapes, playing a child, ravishing Girly, and being shocked at the activities of the family. Michael Ripper also pops up in a typical cameo appearance as a zoo keeper.Fans of understated, slow-moving yet highly disturbing character studies will really enjoy this film, which is directed with a firm hand by genre stalwart Freddie Francis. Some parts are very tense, while others are genuinely frightening and disturbing too. A neglected exercise in madness.

This movie features a dysfunctional family of a different sort, a clan of homicidal adults, two of them who think they're still kids, kidnapping beatniks and hobos in Britain and forcing them to stay in their creepy mansion until they're either murdered or driven as batty as the whole family. When one man comes between Mumsy, Girly and Nanny, the family begins turning against one another and mayhem ensues, from Girly singing about chopping Nanny's head off to competing with her mom. (and it's never mentioned what Sonny and Girly's real names are, so chances are they never even had real names, went to school or got jobs). It's just so damned weird that it's hard not to like it, and the soundtrack and acting is hilarious. My favorite part of the movie is Sonny's Kodak home movie camera; not only is it nostalgic but he never runs out of film for it and he uses it to film each "new friend" for archives of their "collection". This movie is right up there with American Gothic (1988) and Running With Scissors (2006), it's low budget but it's incredibly funny and needs a better rating.

British cult flick that took a while to have a good release. Finally after 40 years it's available on DVD. It's based on an old English play about a family without a father living in a mansion seducing lonely men to bring them home to be playthings for the children. You better follow their play or girly will get angry.It was directed by British horror veteran Freddie Francis (The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) or Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)) but still it was overlooked by the Brits even as it had a glowing review in Variety and had a limited US release. It suffered poor sales at the theaters and the distributor decided to stop promoting it. It got an extremely limited VHS release and once VHS was over it vanished into obscurity. But this flick is a perfect example that the internet could save a flick or bring it back on surface. In 2004 suddenly horror freaks copied it from VHS to DVD and a cult flick was back their on specialized sites, 6 years later it had it's official DVD release.Is it worth watching, well, it's slow but that's the nature of the time being. It is even low on red stuff and there's a lot of talking. The actors are of course all British and some made it into the scene like Pat Heywood (Nanny) moving further to 10 Rillington Place (1971) or Michael Bryant going to Ghandi (1982). Howard Trevor (Sonny) only made it in two flicks as Vanessa Howard (Girly) only acted until 1973. Typical British acting, with posh English language, clocks in over 90 minutes and did survive the time because you still want to know what is going to happen to the family.Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 3/5 Coedy 0/5

After reviewing 'The Whip & The Body' & 'House of Long Shadows', and because I've already covered the ultimate 'Family' horror film('Texas Chainsaw Massacre')and my 'Pink Flamingos' review was inevitable anyway, I decided to go a bit more esoteric and review this obscure film from director Freddie Francis(which has been sitting on my shelf for ages unwatched) as a sort of marathon of films featuring murderous, twisted families. I've always considered Francis one of the most underrated horror directors, and I always speculated that the reason for his detractor's venom, besides his infamous distaste for the genre; was because his films were often very accessible to mainstream audiences and mostly(Key word being mostly, 'The Ghoul', which I will also review for this 'Family Un-Friendly' marathon; is one of the bleakest bits of celluloid I have ever seen)meant to be 'fun films' like a carnival spook-house, and as his Amicus anthology films showed, he had a wry sense of humor. 'Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly' is fun, it is humorous, and it is wry; but it is anything but 'acessible'.The film follows the exploits of an unnamed aristocratic family in '60's London who are led by an aging, but kindly(so far...)mother(Mumsy), a doting nanny(Do I have to explain here?) and two happy, life-loving siblings who love to skip around, harass zoo animals and the gruff attendant(a cameo by Michael Ripper; the British Dick Miller) and search for new friends among the disenfranchised(Sonny & Girly). These people sure are not like the Addams Family or The Munsters, or even TCM's Sawyer clan. There are no hulking butlers, vampirish femme fatales or dark clothing here, no abusive patriarchs or glaring portraits of great-Uncle Hugo either; All smile, speak in sappily cloying voices and compliment each other and giggle. This would all seem perfectly ideal, if not for the fact that Sonny & Girly are in their early twenties and we never see Mumsy or Nanny, just hear their voices. And this is only just the first sign of something being not quite right. Francis does an excellent job building tension in these slowly paced early scenes, as we get a creeping sense of uneasiness. It all works amazingly well until we find out the truth: Sonny & Girly love to torment their 'friends', but not the way children normally do; after all, these are both adults here. No, they love to torment them, but if the 'friend' does not fully cooperate, then they die, and move on to new 'friends'. And after disposing of a homeless vet, the 'dears'(as Mumsy calls them)blackmail a drunken, middle-aged socialite after he accidentally kills his girlfriend on a slide into being their new 'friend' and bringing them pleasure...or else, and soon, Mumsy(An attractive middle-aged woman) finds new ways of using our protagonist to bring her pleasure as well, if you get what I mean, and soon, spinsterly Nanny finds herself wanting some of that pleasure as well...Didn't I say this family was nothing like The Munsters, Addams or Sawyers? I was right, those families were well-adjusted compared to this brood. And it only gets worse when Girly interprets a rape by our protagonist(I hesitate to use the word 'hero', as not only is rape a horrible act whoever the victim is, but it steadily becomes apparent that he identifies with the family more than he lets on, which leads to a genuinely disturbing climax)as an act of love.Francis does a great job weaving this twisted tale, the cinematography(his greatest strength)isn't as up to par as usual, but he more than makes up for it with his directorial flourishes, changing the film from a Not-quite-right day-in-the-life piece, to a 'Kind Hearts & Coronets'-style black comedy, to a genuinely disturbing and unpleasant drama. He also elicits great performances by the entire cast, particularly Vanessa Howard as Girly, and manages to make us experience every feeling of the protagonist, even though he is a character we don't particularly come to like, we still care about him.The film is also a remarkable study of gender politics; for example, the entire film is driven by strong-willed, and deranged women, and all the male figures are weak. Even the homicidal, conniving Sonny is ultimately a pawn done away with as easily as his victims, our protagonist, on the other hand; the closest thing to a heroic, ideal male figure that the film has, is not only driven to the clutches of Girly by trying to escape his nagging, controlling girlfriend, but is controlled by her even after death as the guilt of his killing of her and fear of exposure is what keeps him at bay. Even when he becomes a bone of contention between the 3 females, he still remains a captive. The implications of the ending; as he gives in to his captivity at the hands of his two beautiful jailers even though he has the perfect opportunity to escape, is truly disturbing, he will never be free of nagging, bitchy, women, and now, ensnared, has given up all hope and decides to enjoy it. It is the myth of the succubus in a non-supernatural form, and quite possibly, given that there is no backstory to explain any of this, a supernatural explanation could reasonably be inferred. This makes this film either one of the most sexist films ever made, or one of the most intelligent films about warped sexuality ever made.This debate is probably what will continue to fuel the cult following this obscure film increasingly enjoys.~