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Womaneater (1957)
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British B-movie horror melodrama. A scientist who may not be entirely psychologically sound goes off...
botanical horror
Awix (3310 KP) rated Womaneater (1957) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Jun 22, 2019)
Minor entry in the annals of British botanical horror proves that Orson Welles wasn't the only one whose career took a nosedive after Citizen Kane. George Coulouris does the best he can as a scientist so mad he thinks you should keep trees in a basement, but you can see the melancholy in his eyes throughout.
Essentially an attempt to transplant, or in this case re-pot, the US Z-movie horror formula to a British context, but this just makes the results weirder rather than appreciably better. Fabulous insights into assumptions about gender politics and other cultures, obviously. The killer tree itself will linger in your memory, though not in the way the film-makers would have hoped.
Essentially an attempt to transplant, or in this case re-pot, the US Z-movie horror formula to a British context, but this just makes the results weirder rather than appreciably better. Fabulous insights into assumptions about gender politics and other cultures, obviously. The killer tree itself will linger in your memory, though not in the way the film-makers would have hoped.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Little Joe (2019) in Movies
Mar 14, 2020
Offbeat Anglo-Austrian contribution to the botanical horror subgenre possibly makes too much of a virtue of understatement. A dedicated researcher breeds a special new flower with the ability to affect its owner's mood. But has she underestimated her creation's influence?
Clearly a movie which has been made with the greatest care and thought; every camera move and composition has obviously been planned for a reason. The plot is ultimately a somewhat derivative one (elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and perhaps even Rosemary's Baby are in the mix), but the slow-burning slide from normality into something rather unsettling is impeccably done, helped a lot by a strong performance from Emily Beecham in the lead role. The lack of a big, obvious genre climax is probably going to be an issue for many people, but very creepy and watchable nevertheless.
Clearly a movie which has been made with the greatest care and thought; every camera move and composition has obviously been planned for a reason. The plot is ultimately a somewhat derivative one (elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and perhaps even Rosemary's Baby are in the mix), but the slow-burning slide from normality into something rather unsettling is impeccably done, helped a lot by a strong performance from Emily Beecham in the lead role. The lack of a big, obvious genre climax is probably going to be an issue for many people, but very creepy and watchable nevertheless.