Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape


            The film opens with Jess (Melissa George) at home with her autistic son, Tommy (Joshua McIvor). We watch (sound unheard) as Jess goes about cleaning up after her son. Suddenly, there is a buzz at the front door. Jess goes to see who it was, but finds no-one there. Asking a neighbor who was working in his yard, he claims he didn't see anyone.Sometime afterward, Jess goes down to the nearby harbor where she accepts the invitation of a friend named Greg (Michael Dorman) to go sailing on his boat. Accompanying him are Victor (Liam Hemsworth), Heather (Emma Lung), and the couple Downey (Henry Nixon) and Sally (Rachael Carpani). Greg had also invited Jess to bring her son Tommy with her, but when he asks Jess where he is, Jess hesitates for a moment, before saying he's at school.The crew seems to be sailing along okay, when the wind suddenly dies down. Also of question is a strange electrical storm that is steadily approaching. Greg tries to radio the coast guard, but finds their communications wavering. Another communication comes across, but Greg's request for coordinates of this unknown communication soon gives way to more static.The storm soon reaches the boat, which capsizes, but not before Heather is swept out of the boat into the stormy waters. When the weather clears, the survivors climb onto the upturned boat, unsure what to do next. Suddenly, a large cruise ship floats into view, and the survivors quickly board it, only to find no-one on deck or in the halls. As they criss-cross through the corridors of the ship, Jess begins to have an eerie sense of deja vu. As they keep moving around the ship, a sudden noise catches their attention. What they find is a set of car keys, that are exactly like the set that Jess carries! No-one is sure what this can mean, and the search continues.Jess splits up, only to then encounter Victor who is bleeding, and attempts to strangle her. Jess manages to escape, only to hear a gunshot. Finding herself in the theater of the ship, she finds Greg shot, with Sally and Downey accusing her of killing him. Suddenly, more gunshots ring out, with Sally and Downey being killed. Jess gives chase and soon encounters a masked figure with the shot gun. Finally confronting the figure, it speaks in a muffled speech through the mask, but not before pitching over the side into the ocean below.With everyone around her seemingly dead (and no idea who the masked person was), Jess goes to a cabin on the ship, only to hear yelling from off the boat a few moments later. Looking over the edge, she is shocked to see the overturned boat, and everyone (even herself!) calling to be rescued.Jess soon realizes that she is trapped in a time-loop, that repeats itself when everyone on the ship is killed. The ship also seems to have certain areas that have experienced the same incident multiple times. In one area, Jess finds a locket she wore with her son's pictures inside hanging from a small grate. When she looks further inside, she sees there are multiples, as if this same incident has happened before! Another time, chasing a wounded Sally, she finds this version of Sally now askew in a part of the ship with multiple dead Sally's all around!Mentally fearful that she may never see her son again, Jess attempts to follow the events of what happened and kill everyone. She soon dons the mask and other clothing that she had seen previously, until in a confrontation with herself, she ends up falling off the ship.Jess awakes on a beach soon after , and makes it back home... only to find herself there that morning (where the film started). However, this time, we hear the audio that was missing... and find out that past-Jess is blatantly angry with Tommy, cursing at him and yelling at him. Present-Jess sneaks into the house, and using a hammer, bludgeons her past-self to death. Unfortunately, Tommy witnesses this, and Present-Jess assures her son he just had a 'bad dream.'Jess then takes the locket from her former self's neck, and puts the dead body in a black duffle bag, before putting it in her car's trunk. Jess then proceeds to drive her son to school, promising that things are going to be different from now on. As they drive along the ocean, a seagull suddenly slams into the windshield, leaving bloody streaks. Jess pulls over to retrieve the dead bird and throw it into the ocean. However, when she goes to throw it over the edge of the embankment, she sees something that causes her to pause: much like the multiple necklaces and Sally's from before... there are multiple dead seagulls pooled in the area where she was planning to dispose of the one she (just) hit.Jess disposes of the bird quickly, and then rushes to get into her car. As they take off, Tommy begins to panic over the blood on the windshield. As Jess turns to calm her son, she turns into the incoming traffic lane, and ends up hitting a semi.In the aftermath, we see Jess watching the aftermath, as we see her body and that of her son's lying on the highway. A man in a nearby taxi is observing this as well, saying that there's nothing that anyone can do now. Jess then requests the driver take her to the harbor.Jess then begins the cycle anew, intent to somehow prevent her son from dying all over again.
    

Triangle


            Black Death begins with a voiceover from Wolfstan (John Lynch), a soldier in the employ of the Church in 13th Century England. As an enforcer of the Church's will, Wolfstan is one of a group who roots out and hunts down all traces of infidelity and sacrileges against God. The opening voiceover talks about the bubonic plague decimating life across England. Many people believe the plague is a divine punishment sent by God to scourge the unfaithful, but Wolfstan questions what amount of sin would warrant a punishment as cruel and merciless as the plague. He believes the plague is the result of people in league with the Devil, and he and his fellow soldiers must hunt down and destroy those devil worshipers responsible for the plague.Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) is a young novice monk going into a nearby town on an errand. He stops to see Averill (Kimberley Nixon), a beautiful young woman who is in love with him. Osmund convinces Averill to leave town because of the plague's spread. He wants her to run and hide in a forest. Averill begs Osmund to go with her, and tells him that she will wait one hour each day, at dawn, by a particular landmark in the forest, for one week. After that she will know he is not coming.Osmund is torn between his love for Averill and his vows to God. Back at his monastery, he falls to his knees and prays fervently for a sign that will help him choose.A day later, a troop of Church soldiers arrives at the monastery. The soldiers are led by Ulrich (Sean Bean), an aide to the local bishop. Ulrich and his men, including Wolfstan, are on their way to a remote village at the edge of a large marsh, to investigate stories that it is free of the plague. Ulrich is at the monastery to conscript one of the monks as a guide to lead the soldiers through the marsh to the village. Osmund, having grown up in the area, sees this as the sign he prayed for, as the expedition must pass through the forest where he sent Averill into hiding. He eagerly volunteers to guide the soldiers.Along the way, in the woods, the soldiers pass by a group of villagers preparing to burn alive a woman suspected of witchcraft (Marianne Graffam). Ulrich interferes and unties the woman, leading her away only to cut her throat with a dagger. He tells Osmund that as soon as the soldiers left, the villagers would have promptly seized the woman again and carried on with the execution. The woman was as good as dead when they encountered her, and all Ulrich could hope to do was make her death painless and quick.They are passing through the forest where Averill is in hiding and make camp. At dawn, Osmund hurries to the landmark where Averill told him to meet her. He finds only her scarf and a group of bandits. Osmund makes it back to the camp, but the brigands track him there and attack the soldiers. The soldiers slay most of the brigands, but a few manage to escape -- with the soldiers' horses, forcing them to go the rest of the way on foot.They arrive at the village and are greeted by Hob (Tim McInnerny), who welcomes them when they say are travelers seeking shelter for the night. Osmund, who is wounded, receives treatment from the town herbalist, Langiva (Carice Van Houten). They are all invited to dine with the villagers in the evening. But slowly signs start to come out that things are not as they appear in the quiet, peaceful village. Langiva saw right through Ulrich's story, as she tells Osmund. Seeing a look about him, she trusts him with knowing that she harbors a resentment toward the pious and holy, as they killed her husband. Shortly before dinner, she brings him to a field where a number of scarecrow-like effigies are on stakes -- but Langiva tells Osmund that they are in fact the remains of the last Church party that sought to kill them for perceived heresies and sacrileges. Then she reaches into what appears to be a shallow grave... and pulls out Averill.Ulrich has found an idol that, to him, is proof that the village is without God -- and for that, they must all pay.But it is Ulrich and all the others who about to be betrayed. Their food and drink, at the dinner, was drugged. They all come to at dawn, bound in a deep trough filled to their waists with water. All the village is gathered around, and Langiva is to preside over THEIR trials. The village has become strong in its sense of community and having all renounced God. Now they intend to do the same with the soldiers, all of whom are defiant and ready even to wrestle each other over the 'right' to die first in God's name. The village chooses Frith (Thorsten Querner) to be first. They bind him to a cross, ready to kill him slowly and painfully unless he renounces his faith. But Frith's profession in the Church is a torturer; he inflicts torture on perceived heretics, witches, and those accused of being ungodly. He proves that there is nothing they can teach him about pain, and finally they simply disembowel him. The next soldier chosen, his morale broken, renounces his faith and God before the village, whereon Langiva says that three villagers will escort him to the outskirts and let him go free-- a lie, as he is hanged like a common criminal from the trees just outside the village.Langiva directs Osmund to go into a particular nearby house. She still sees him as a potential convert to the village's independent, atheistic way of life. Osmund finds Averill inside. She is in a deep, deep stupor, barely coherent, but she is alive. Still, to Osmund, it appears very much that her mind is gone; he believes Langiva has used dark witchcraft to make Averill into a zombie. Grieving and desperate to see Averill spared any pain and suffering, he takes a knife and grants her release through death, carrying her body out back to the village square.Langiva, angered by Ulrich's continued defiance, has him bound between two powerful draft horses to be drawn and quartered. Hob, instead of letting Ulrich be torn apart, has the horses pull enough to stretch Ulrich like he is on a rack, torturing him. Ulrich appears to break and begs that Osmund be allowed to administer last rites. As the young monk begins to do so, he removes Ulrich's outer garment.Ulrich's body is covered with large, bleeding sores. He has contracted the bubonic plague, and has now brought it to the village as his instrument of dark justice for its ungodliness. The villagers begin to scatter, spooking the horses, who tear Ulrich apart. The remaining soldiers manage to grab a dropped knife, cut themselves free, and overpower the remaining villagers. Hob is captured alive and most of those who remained are killed. Of the soldiers, only Wolfstan survives.Osmund runs after Langiva and accuses her of killing Averill. Langiva answers that she has no powers, no sorcery; she is merely an extremely skillful herbalist who used some 'parlor' tricks with her mastery of herbs and her ability with verbal persuasion, to give the villagers confidence and independence. She is not a witch, merely a good leader. She insists she did not kill Averill; she had found her alive in the forest and merely kept her drugged as part of the plan to convert Osmund. As she walks away, Osmund begs Langiva to bring Averill back, but she coldly tells him she has no power to do so; she scornfully suggests he pray to God and ask Him instead.Wolfstan places Hob in a restraint device hooked up to the wagon they brought. He is bringing Hob back to the Church to be put on trial as the village necromancer. But, as he explains in a voiceover, he knew that Hob was not guilty of witchcraft or any form of demonic consort. The village remained free of the bubonic plague not through witchcraft or necromancy, but merely by its remoteness from the rest of civilzation. Once Ulrich was found to have brought the plague to the village, any of the villagers who didn't die in battle with the soldiers were quickly wiped out by the illness.Wolfstan brings Osmund safely back to the monastery en route to the Church. Although he prays for Osmund to have a long, peaceful life, a series of voiceovers provided by Wolfstan show that Osmund's life became anything but peaceful. Wolfstan explains that he never saw Osmund again, but heard the terrible stories:Averill's death left Osmund nearly mad with grief. Desire for vengeance on Langiva turned his heart stone cold, and he took up the sword as an inquisitioner for the Church, leading merciless crusades against perceived witches. He saw Langiva's face in every woman who was tortured and killed at his command. He is shown delivering a terrified young woman to a dungeon, where she is brutally tortured; he watches impassively as her toes are crushed with metal pliers, and orders her to be killed when she still does not confess to heresy and witchcraft.Wolfstan's closing voiceover offers a prayer that Osmund somehow found peace in his work, as Osmund is seen presiding over a dark execution where a young woman suspected of witchcraft is dragged in terror from the village fields as she is working there, and burned alive. Fade to black.
    

Black Death


            
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Severance

Get Santa

Detour


            The film opens with two sewer workers in London, Arthur (Ken Campbell) and George (Vas Blackwood), who discover a tunnel in one of the walls that neither of them is familiar with. Arthur enters and when he does not emerge or respond to George afterwards, George follows. He soon discovers Arthur, injured and in a state of shock. Moments later, a similarly injured young woman jumps out in front of them, crying for help, only to be pulled back into the darkness.The focus then shifts to a young German woman, Kate (Franka Potente), at a party. After hearing of another party that George Clooney is supposedly attending, she decides to travel there. After unsuccessfully trying to get a taxi, she heads to Charing Cross tube station, but soon falls asleep on the platform while waiting for the train. When she awakens, she is alone and finds the entire station locked up for the night. Another empty train arrives and she boards it, but it stops abruptly. Confused, Kate makes her way to the conductor's compartment but is unsuccessful in finding a reason for it as unbeknownst to her, the driver has been killed. Kate soon encounters Guy (Jeremy Sheffield), an obsessive acquaintance from the previous party. Guy, intoxicated by cocaine, crudely attempts to seduce her, but Kate is not interested and tries to leave the train. Guy then sexually assaults her, but is dragged off of her and out of the train by an unseen attacker.Kate flees from the train and runs into a homeless couple, Jimmy (Paul Rattray) and Mandy (Kelly Scott), and their dog, a Jack Russell terrier called Ray (Strapper). Kate explains what has happened and Jimmy reluctantly agrees to help her after she pays him. Meanwhile, Mandy is also attacked while alone. Kate and Jimmy find Guy lying on the railway track with his back mutilated. After they pull him onto the platform, Ray appears with blood smeared on his fur. Jimmy, immediately thinking of Mandy, goes with Ray back to their shelter where she is nowhere to be found. Kate attempts to contact a watchman via speakers to get help. Suspicious of her, the watchman demands Guy to be dragged in front of the security cameras to prove that she is not lying. When she does so, Guy dies and the watchman is also killed in his office by having his throat slit by the stalker. Kate runs back to a despondent Jimmy who has shot himself full of drugs. She eventually persuades him to help her find Mandy and a way out of the station. After exploring a tunnel together, another train pulls up in front of them. Jimmy enters and is killed by the stalker, who was lurking on the roof. Kate flees into the sewer system below the station, but is soon captured by the killer; a hideously deformed, mentally ill hermit named "Craig" AKA The Creep (Sean Harris).Kate finds herself in a water-filled cage deeper underground, presumably being stored as food for Craig. She also meets George, who is still alive and also trapped. However, before Craig can harm either of them, Kate manages to escape, temporarily incapacitate Craig, and release George. Together, they run through several dark corridors and end up in a secret, deserted abortion clinic, where they find an unconscious Mandy strapped on an operating chair and mistakenly presume her to be dead. However, before they can investigate further, Craig appears and they are forced to flee and leave Mandy alone with him, who kills her in a twisted imitation of an abortion.George and Kate eventually find themselves in an abandoned platform and Craig soon catches up to them once again. George attacks Craig, but is impaled through the head with a serrated blade protruding out of a wall. Kate attempts to escape, but is soon cornered by Craig. She breaks down until she spots a large hook on a long chain, with which she stabs Craig's throat. She then hears the distant sounds of an approaching train and she throws the other end of the chain over the tunnel, in an attempt to electrocute him. Her plan fails, and although severely wounded, Craig rises and attempts to crush Kate with a barrel. Then the train passes through the tunnel and smashes into the chain, which tears out his throat. Craig finally dies, and Kate makes her way through the tunnel and finds herself back in Charing Cross Station. Tattered and filthy, she collapses on a platform and Ray appears, curling onto her lap. The film ends when a man waiting for a train puts a coin next to her, thinking she is a beggar, and she breaks into hysterical giggles and tears.
    

Christopher Smith

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