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by Pamela Torres |
Written and directed by Alex Chandon and
released on DVD in 2001, this British shot-on-video anthology is a black
metal blood feast guaranteed to satisfy every occultist's desire for the
terminally sick! Kemper (David McEwan RIP), a
crazed child murderer and Satanic hypnotist, is imprisoned within the
concrete walls of Fenham Asylum. Despite this, he calls upon his own son
and follower, "The Man" (fanged caterwauler Dani Filth), to wreck havoc on
society by painting the streets with blood and death. "The Man," by the way, is sort of like "The Crow"
except he has supernatural powers and an insatiable lust for killing.
Meanwhile, an embittered Detective Neilson (Edmund
Dehn) is forced to investigate the crimes. As each twisted tale
unfolds, Neilson becomes hellbent on destroying Kemper by any means
necessary. |
Story #1: Melanie (Emily Bouffante) is a sexy Goth chick who meets
"The Man" in a rave club. Anticipating a hot
night of passion and drugs, Mel gets more than she bargains for as her
partner gives her a nefarious one-night stand (shown through a rather
impressive stroble light effect). The very next day, after seeing
several mind-stretching dream images of demons lurking around every
street corner, she dies of a nightmare pregnancy as a grossly deformed
child with spider legs bursts out of her stomach! |
Story #2: Sophie (Rebecca Eden) and Emma (Emma
Rice) are a pair of tough street girls who try to rob a rundown
apartment. After finding a huge sum of cash under the bed, the two are
suddenly attacked by a deaf old man (Al
Stokes). Together, the terrified Sophie and Emma bludgeon him
with a candlestick and stab him in the face with a knife. Then, in a
last ditch attempt to cover up her deed, Sophie murders her best friend
and snatches the money all for herself. As you horror freaks might have
guessed, both Emma and the Old Man return to life as zombies and give
poor Sophie an eyeful of their wrath! |
Story #3: Nick (Louise Brownsell) is a rich and greedy businessman
who lost one of his legs in a car accident (undoubtedly because he and
his lover Natalie (Eileen Daly) snorted
cocaine behind the wheel). Determined to be a whole man again
(especially under the sheets), he sinks to new lows by shooting his
former partner Thomas (Neil Keenan) in cold
blood. Then Nick carves off one of Thomas's legs and forces a doctor to
perform the surgery. At first, all seems to be going well in Nick's
physical therapy. However, as he and Natalie get in their fancy car and
go out on a drug-infused joyride, Nick's new appendage takes on a life
of its own. |
Story #4: Detective Neilson's own
son Richard (Stuart Lang) is an office
employee who develops a dangerous addiction to Internet snuff and porn.
Knowing this was his weakness, "The Man"
entices Richard with The Sick Room, an interactive website where members
can torture and kill random victims with just a few clicks of a button.
After losing both his job and his home to this perverse obsession,
Richard searches for the site only to be led down a trail of madness...
and his execution is ready to be broadcast. |
With cannibalism, dismemberment, and Devil imagery at every turn,
CRADLE OF FEAR is quite campy at some
moments, although the movie overall was intended to be serious. Viewers
will definitely laugh at the scene where Dani Filth stabs a pussycat and
swallows its mutilated organs in one gulp! Yes, it's THAT over-the-top!
Now although I want to kiss and hug Mr.
Chandon for having the guts and the balls to create a dark and
brutal homage to the gory glory days of video nasties and the eerie
atmospheric tales of Amicus, I regret to say that CRADLE OF FEAR isn't perfect. The acting talents
vary among the cast members and the script has dialogue more suited for
a graphic novel. As for Dani Filth and David McEwan, they don't get to speak any lines
until the final 10 minutes of the film during the grisly climax in
Kemper's cell. In addition, some of the low-tech CGI effects were
embarrassingly out of place with the rest of the live-action sequences.
Still, these flaws do not bother me too much. Actually, the best element
of CRADLE OF FEAR is the CD soundtrack.
Featuring only two Cradle of Filth songs
(LORD ABORTION and a dance macabre remix of
SAFFRON'S CURSE), the album surprisingly
doesn't have alot of heavy metal music. Instead, obscure UK artists like
Lungworm, The Dark
Poets, Quicksilver and Jezebel (fronted by Eileen
Daly) assault the cranium with a percussive plethora of
tech-house beats, blunt hammer punk and coldwave instrumentals.
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TRACK LIST:
1.Calyx -
FALLOUT (D.O.P.E remix)/Quicksilver - THE BEAST WITHIN (D.O.P.E
remix)
3.The Dark Poets - BREAKBEAT
HALLOWEEN
4.Jezebel - PLASTIC
SURGERY
5.Intense - TIME SPACE
CONTINUUM
6.Lungworm -
DISCONNECTED/RESURRECTED
7.The Dark Poets -
IT DOESN'T MATTE
8.Cradle of Filth -
SAFFRON'S CURSE (DANCE MACABRE remix)
9.Slacker - PSYCHOUT (O.S.T remix)
10.Intense - JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN
11.Lungworm - BLUEPRINT/RIP THE FACE OFF
12.Cradle of Filth - LORD ABORTION
13.D.O.P.E - SHOES |
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"Cheers, Sophie! Where's my share?!"
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