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I've
never been interested by tales of necrophilia simply because
I don't see the appeal. Immobility in a lover is not something
I find attractive. To my thinking if your partner isn't responding
in some way you must be doing something wrong and if you want
a partner that doesn't respond then you've got deep problems.
Still, a completely compliant lover with no interests other
than your own seems to be a standard fantasy for some; I guess
a corpse would be the most obedient mate imaginable —
if you could stand the silence. In the film's publicity Living
Doll is referred to as a love story and I guess it is,
but this is love carried to the level of sick obsession. One
of the better aspects of this movie is that the man in love
with a corpse is just as appalled by his actions as we are,
but only after he's shocked out of his delusions. Beauty's in
the eye of the beholder but death eventually conquers all.
Mark Jax plays Howard, a young medical student
earning rent money working by day in a hospital morgue while
attending classes at night. He's in love with a flower shop
clerk named Christine (Katie Orgill), whom he goes out of his
way to speak with every day. Christine barely knows Howard exists.
After he learns that she has a jerk of a boyfriend he seems
on the verge of serious depression. Then one morning he reports
to work to find that the latest morgue arrival is his beloved,
killed in a car accident the night before. Forced by the circumstances
of his job to witness her autopsy, Howard seems to snap. After
her funeral he conducts a midnight raid on the graveyard and
settles her in his shabby one-room apartment. It becomes obvious
that the poor boy's pat o' butter has slipped from his toast
as he continues to see Christine as she was in life —
even as her body begins to gradually decompose. Knowing that
sooner or later his obnoxious landlady (Eartha Kitt) will investigate
the increasing smell and discover his new roommate, Howard installs
a new lock on the door then arranges a strange marriage ceremony.
That a rat has gnawed away part of the bride's face doesn't
phase him but luckily we're spared the details of the wedding
night. An encounter with fumigating Health Department agents
frightens Howard into moving Christine to an empty slab in the
morgue but then his happy new wife makes a request that scares
him even more —
she wants him to kill her jerky boyfriend for causing her death!
Nuttier than a rat trapped in a coffee can,
Howard is an odd leading character that, without his obsessive
love, would fade completely into the wallpaper. Nearly somnambulant,
eyes constantly at half mast, he seems on the verge of collapsing
and only snaps to attention when living out his fantasy of a
perfect life with the perfect woman. I would find him a sick,
worthless loony except that I understand the passion that drives
him. He is supremely unhappy and has convinced himself that
if he can just get this woman to love him everything will be
great. Of course, her death might have driven a lesser man to
suicide but Howard seizes the opportunity to make lemonade.
You have to admire the force of will he shows in maintaining
his little bubble of happiness against all odds, even if there's
no good way for things to end. As a portrait of madness Living
Doll is an interesting show but as a horror film it's
not too much to get excited about. The performances aren't bad
even if Jax's fake 'Joisy' accent really grated on my nerves.
The film is paced at about mid-tempo —
not fast but also never too slow, which works well for the story.
While the low budget and made-for-video origins show at times
there is a surprising amount of creativity on view both in the
framing of shots and in the use of lighting. There are some
beautiful moments that point toward a Bava or Argento influence
in the use of primary colors, especially as the story winds
down and Howard flies out of control. But the film's pulse is
a flat line most of the time with only the occasional moment
of interest to keep things moving. It's not a bad film —
it's just
not a very good one.
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| Mondo
Macabro has brought this British production to stateside DVD with
all the bells and whistles. The film is presents a widescreen
anamorphic transfer taken from the negative, but this doesn't
mean the movie looks great. The image is probably intentionally
soft; it also shows a large amount of speckles and scratches throughout
and in several night scenes there's a lot of break up in the blacks.
This pixelization gets very distracting at times and I was surprised
to see this on a Mondo Macabro disc. The DVD is packed with extras
in the typical MM way, starting with a pair of interviews. Actor
Mark Jax speaks briefly about the film and the creative process
during filming but writer Paul Hart-Smith's 18-minute talk is
longer and quite entertaining. He speaks about the circumstances
that caused him to write the script and his astonishment when
producer Dick Randall bought it. Another bonus is the 5-minute
short Hart-Smith directed in 1987 to show he could make the film
himself. Called Horrorshow, it's a mildly interesting string
of nasty images that at least demonstrates the ability to capture
gore effects well. Then there is the slightly humorous documentary
Making of a Horror Film, focusing on one of producer Randall's
earlier horror opuses entitled Don't Open
'Til Christmas. Clocking in at 51 minutes, I expected it
to be a painful slog but I actually enjoyed this little bit of
self-promotion. It's not particularly great but it is interesting
for its backstage view of low budget filmmaking and Caroline Munro
in a sequined dress. The disc's strangest inclusion is writer
David McGillivray reading several entries from his diary. In 1984
he was asked by Dick Randall to write a pilot for a never produced
TV series called Park Lane. His tale of writing and then
rewriting this piece of crap is pretty amusing but I have no idea
what it's doing here other than as a testimony to Randall's tightfisted
nature. The extras wrap up with the trailer, a large number of
production stills and previews of other Mondo Macabro releases.
Heck of a package.
8/04/05 |
