"Brings about that welcome feeling of viewing anxiety associated with the best experiences in horror films’’ - Paul Cooke 2008 Cinema Nocturna

Review By-Paul Cooke
Director: Brian Clement
Writer: Brian Clement
Starring: Brian Clement, Chuck Depape, Bronwyn Lee, Michael Ian Farrell & Robin Thompson
Source: Frontline Films
 

‘‘This is crazy … I’m in my book !’’

A book of the black arts enables its possessor the ability to conjoin parallel time periods, and in so doing brings humanity to the brink of nihilistic chaos !.
 
War torn Italy 1943, introduces two Canadian soldiers, having deserted their post. The pair set out to relieve their German counterparts of an ancient artefact, a book that has been under the guardianship of monks to protect the world from its contents of Evil. Only one of the soldiers survives a fatal fracas, claiming the book as his own and with intent to learn of its scriptures in alchemy and witchcraft, for nefarious personal gain.
 
Away from the battlefield, and back in civilian life, the books possessor resides in a solitary room within a guest house. Having gorged on knowledge from the book he delves deep into the passages of the tomes pages, and unlocks a dimensional portal between this world and an alter-verse. Lashings of H.P. Lovecraft follow from here on in with welcome relish. A slithering tentacle dispatches with several federal agents, called to the house by its terrified owner, consuming their very fibre and still leaving room for the house cat !. Moggy of the menu for dessert leaves the home owner to immediately dial for the Forties version of agents Mulder and Scully, in the returning guise of Paranormal Investigators John Katzen and Lola Morgandy to tick another ‘X’ in their box of mysterious case files.
 
Sixty years later the house is still standing and the book is rediscovered, sat all too conveniently upon the wooden floorboards in the middle of the same room. The book finds its way to a modern writer, a note with it stating he should use the tome as inspiration for his own new manuscript. The recipient of the package is Barry, as played by the movies Director and scribe himself Brian Clement.
After receiving the dark book the world outside of Barry’s sanctum sanctorum turns into a state of disturbing discourse. When he takes a break from his typewriter and goes for a walk all around him he witnesses violence. Something has begun to impede upon the harmonious balance of day to day life !?.
 
Barry accepts an offer from his agent, Allen, to stay at his family home on a more remote island retreat. Reminiscent of Director John Carpenter’s ‘In The Mouth Of Madness’ (1995), all the classic signatures of H.P. Lovecraft inspiration seep into proceedings, heightening viewer interest and brings about that welcome feeling of viewing anxiety associated with the best experiences in horror films.
Is the writer of violent fiction traversing a paradoxical path, upon which a convergence of what he is creating in written form he is actually starting to experience in the real world !?. Once away from the madding crowd and in residence at his new retreat Barry starts writing anew. Creating what he believes are two new characters, whom he names John Katzen and Lola Morgandy !. A reality check for the watching audience that turns into a classic jump to the edge of the seat moment of pure genius !. As an audience member intrigued by unravelling events to this point you will suddenly be further invigorated by this revelation, as truly a ‘Dark Paradox’ draws you deeper into Barry’s fragmenting world. The plutonic P.I’s are born, given character, shape, form, depth and dimension as if the writer were drawing upon factual rather than fictional creativity.
 
Taking a break from his prose Barry turns on the television set to witness news reels showing escalating scenes of violence breaking out all over the city he has left behind. The general public are advised to stay inside and lock their doors ! Two worlds of parallel existence set sixty years apart touch each other as Barry continues to write about the adventures of his two lead characters. At the exact same time Barry is releasing his creativity upon the blank page both Katzen and Morgandy become aware of Barry’s own existence. Lola and John fear that this writer they perceive may be manipulating both them and events surrounding the environment around them. Is Barry becoming a character in his own book or are his characters becoming people in his real world ?.
 
Exploring the house Barry uncovers its dark past as hidden newspaper clippings detail murders and violence associated with the family of this home. The cuttings also reveal in pictured detail Allen, his long time writers agent, as a young boy with his mother and father at the core of the morbid undertakings. But, how is it that even as a young boy some sixty years earlier that Allen, in 2007, is still a relatively young man in his forties ?.Satanic covens and dark rituals of evil intent are at play, and Barry has become enveloped in these malevolent machinations.
 
The films last quarter unleashes all the nightmarish abominations associated with the very best in Lovecraftian creation. Multiple sized maggots masticate of rotting flesh, mutated monstrosities step out of the shadows, and black magic takes centre stage. Past and present bleed into each other as the bond between Barry, John and Lola collide. A sacrifice must be met in order for one world to ultimately survive. The terrifying truth linking everything together reveals itself as the fate of mankind lays in the hands of a machine gun totting Brian ‘Baby Face’ Clement, as Cthulhu meets The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre !.
 
Director Brian Clement has taken all the successful elements of what makes a horror film highly watch-able and skilfully integrated his own original script, inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, blended in some Lucio Fulci ( the book of Eibon from ‘The Beyond’ ) and unleashed upon his audience some great imagery, along with several moments of sheer quality. This companion piece to his earlier ‘The Dead Inside’ (2005) is without question the stand out movie of the two. A highly competent slice of low budget film making at its finest. The bleakly nihilistic conclusion to ‘Dark Paradox’ is another throwback to those mesmerising open mouth endings of the Italian gut munchers from the Eighties. This is just what horror movie fans deserve !.
 

Film: 3.5 Dark Delights

2008 @ Cinema Nocturna