Director Showcase: Christopher Smith

[philosoraptor42]

Individual images link to the appropriate imdb page.

The first movie I saw by Christopher Smith was "Severance" (RT score: 65%). I'm not even sure how I came to pick it either. I went with my girlfriend who is not really a horror fan, especially not in a dark cinema. I guess we probably heard comparisons to Shaun Of The Dead and were expecting something rather less harsh as a result. The comparison to Shaun Of The Dead actually has good reason behind it. The movie is most certainly a horror-comedy in the absolute sense of the word. The horrific scenes are quite horrible and the comedic scenes are often hilarious. There's an over-the-top background to the movie too which allows both of these elements to go to extremes. It's also very British too (even including the random American star to ensure it does well internationally).

Severance begins with a coach full of office workers who belong to an arms manufacturing company. The group are travelling abroad on one of those outward bound trips often used as bonding exercises for office staff. The idea of using an outward bound outing-gone-wrong as a subject for comedy is not new, but it is done here with particular flair. It should come as no surprise that the arms manufacturers are about to become victims of their own product. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Christopher Smith with this movie is getting a really good performance out of Danny Dyer.

The horror in this movie does, admittedly, use the popcorn-flinging panic-attack device which I find so very horrible. There are plenty of occasions where the background music will convince us that something awful is going to happen and then a loud bang will send you jumping. Still the movie fully recognises that this is a horror movie convention and it plays with it enough for me to half forgive them for using it. There's plenty of points where it will tease you with the "i'm going to scare you noises" when there's actually nothing to watch out for, while on other occasions horrible stuff will happen with absolutely no scary noises building up tension at all (not even a loud noise).

Of the comedic scenes, I'll just say that "the bit with the plane" is hilarious. That's reasonably cryptic so you won't see it coming. I had mixed feelings on this one, but I had no doubt afterwards that I had seen something pretty special even if not perfect.

The next movie from Christopher Smith was "Triangle" (RT score: 81%).

Triangle is very poorly named. It seems that the intention was originally to do a horror movie based around the Bermuda Triangle mythology, but in the end they clearly decided against that. The Bermuda Triangle plays no part in the movie and is not even mentioned. In fact, the only reference to triangles in the movie is that the yacht at the beginning of the movie is named "Triangle". Still, perhaps the main benefit of this ill-suited title is that it makes you less likely to see the actual themes of the movie coming.

It will come as quite a surprise to anyone who has not seen this to hear that it's a sort of "time travel" movie. To start with I was a little worried that this was going to turn out to be a ghost story, but it soon becomes clear that, while the ship might be supernatural, all the events on the ship are very much the work of real people. It's quite a surprise to find myself this excited about what is, essentially, a slasher flick. However, this is quite an original take on the genre (to my knowledge). The ending is absolutely inspired.

Finally the latest movie I've seen from Christopher Smith is "Black Death" (72%).

I loved Black Death, but when I was first reviewing it I felt the need to give a bit less than my 5/5 scoring. The movie certainly unsettled me; there's no doubt about that. However, when the ending went in an unexpected direction, I wasn't sure if I liked it. It's a very interesting movie which, rather than having a specific message, prefers to blur the lines instead. It's got a similar feel to "Valhalla Rising" and while not as gritty and atmospheric, it's also not as navel-gazing, cryptic or slow-paced.

In the middle of the Black Death a village has remained somehow untouched. A group of hired killers, led by Sean Bean, are under orders from the Bishop to investigate stories of demons and necromancy. A novice monk volunteers to help guide them, but his real motive for volunteering is actually a secret relationship with a peasant girl and not a belief in the cause of these brutal men who kill in the name of Christ.

Black Death is an unusual movie set in Medieval England with a good pace and an unusual approach. It has echoes of The Wicker Man, but it's a very different beast.

The one Christopher Smith movie I haven't seen yet is "Creep" (RT score: 46%), his debut feature. It hasn't got great reviews, but having seen his latest work I'm really interested to see it for completion's sake.