From Venezuela, amidst the chaos, comes a based-on-life police procedural/bloodsucker movie, Carl Zitelmann's THE LAKE VAMPIRE

Back in the mid-1970s, in a healthier (compared only to the past few years) Venezuela, a serial killer by the name of Zacarías Ortega was narrowing down the population, body by body.

Ortega may be little more than a footnote in Venezuelan history today, but an industrious  filmmaker, Carl Zitelmann, in his full-length debut, has brought Ortega's tale -- sort of -- to the screen in the new film titled THE LAKE VAMPIRE (El vampiro del lago).

As director and writer, who adapted his screenplay from a novel by Norberto José Olivar, Señor Zitelmann (shown at right) has no doubt added some of his own "liberties" to those already taken by Olivar in telling this true-life tale via his novel, A Vampire in Maracaibo.

The result, TrustMovies opines, is a film that quickly engulfs us by offering up the news (but fortunately not the views) of decapitated corpses and severed heads -- often those of children -- and the simultaneous introduction of a novelist named Ernesto (Sócrates Serrano, below) trying awfully hard to find a subject for his second book. Oh-oh: Could he be on to something here?

Indeed, yes, and so Ernesto tracks down the police investigator, Jeremias (Miguel Ángel Landa, below), who handled that initial case back in the 70s -- one that these new killings would seem to imitate -- and together the two men begin to bond and then to investigate.

As Jeremias tells Ernesto the story of how he tracked down the earlier killer, we are given a number of scenes devoted to those distant days (Jeremias' younger self is played by Abilio Torres, below), even as we are also learning about the current spate of killings.

The filmmaker competently juggles his police procedural, serial killer and vampire genres, as well as his past and present time frames, though we do grow a little weary of things by the point the movie has reached its pretty-much foregone conclusion. The identity of one or two characters, past and present, may carry a surprise, though for fans for either the serial killer or vampire genres, the bigger "reveals" will have probably revealed themselves awhile back.

What saves the film is its visual style -- atmospheric and almost always compelling --  along with it's mostly excellent pacing, and the fine performances from its entire cast.

As good as everyone is, the top acting honors actually go to the actor who plays the three "vampire" roles in distant past, not-so-distant past and present day: Eduardo Gulino (shown above and below), who is by turns crazy scary, sublimely creepy, and quite classy.

One of the more interesting things about this film is how male-centric it consistently is. The single female character of any note (other than one of  the killer's victims, below) exists simply for the most prominent male to use for work and sex purposes; otherwise, it's all men all the time. And not particularly nice men, at that. By the time of the very downbeat finale, you may feel, well, fuck 'em all: They got what they deserved. (Even if the people of Venezuela, then and now, certainly have not.)

From Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures, The Lake Vampire will have its U.S. theatrical premiere tomorrow, Friday, September 27, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Glendale -- with a VOD release to follow later this fall.

Better-than-average giallo arrives on Blu-ray: the 1974 Massimo Dallamano/Etore Sanzò WHAT HAVE THEY DONE to your DAUGHTERS?

Italian filmmaker Massimo Dallamano was a B-movie writer/director who came to prominence in the 1970s. Up until then he was a good cinema-tographer whose career spanned the mid-1940s through the mid 60s. His film WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS?, made just two years prior to his death, is a smart little mash-up that conflates the giallo/thriller/police procedural genres, while giving fans of all three a pretty good run for their money.

Well cast using some of Italy's popular actors of the era and written (by Dallamano, shown at left, and co-writer Etore Sanzò) with a good deal more intelligence than many of the then-popular giallo movies, Done/Daughters begins with the discovery of a nude teenager whose death appears to have been a suicide, but of course we suspect it may be a murder. From there the film tackles everything from a teen prostitution ring servicing the rich and powerful (who else?) to government corruption and a very nasty serial killer in a motorcycle helmet who sports a bloody machete. Yes: yikes!

What's going on here, and how the the pair of investigators on the case -- an female assistant D.A. (unusual for the era in which the film was made) and a local police inspector -- discover this is handled with savvy and enough filmmaking skill to keep  the viewer alert and interested.

As suspects emerge (and are sometimes murdered in the graphic, bloody giallo manner), the depth of and disgust we feel for the corruption at hand makes itself keenly felt.

In the role of the female D.A., the beautiful Giovanna Ralli (above, of Deadfall) brings a quiet seriousness to the proceedings that proves a big help in countering some of the sleazier aspects of the film, while Claudio Cassinelli (below, of The Suspicious Death of a Minor) offers the usual solid-if-stolid leading man machismo that's required in this sort of endeavor.

There are a couple of good chase scenes, smart stalking via hand-held camera, and some especially interesting Italian police procedural tactics that keep us interested. Less a who-dunnit? than a who'-s behind-it? scenario, the movie wraps up with multiple resignations borne out of frustration and anger. Well, as the French say (and the Italians certainly understand at this point), plus ça change.....

From that by-now giallo specialist, Arrow Video, the new Blu-ray -- distributed here in the USA by MVD Entertainment Group -- hit the streets yesterday, for purchase and (I would hope somewhere) for rental. As with all of Arrow's product that I've seen, the Bonus Features alone are worth the purchase price. In addition to the excellent Blu-ray transfer, there are some fascinating interviews with the film's composer and editor, a grand new video essay from Kat Ellinger, and even some harcore footage shot for (but never used in) the film by its director.

Sunday Corner with Lee Liberman -- RIPPER STREET: British late-Victorian police procedural

Whitechapel is life in all its wild and rotten splendor; 

beside it, the rest of the world seems a tomb. 

The streaming series RIPPER STREET might have escaped me were it not for an accidental meet up with an enthusiastic review, followed by a binge-watch and absorption from the first moment. Set near the time that the ghoulish Jack the Ripper serial-murdered his prostitute victims, the 5–season police drama is particularly energetic, suspenseful, and literate, thanks to prolific writer-creator, Richard Warlow (below).

Real life persons (events, and the Dublin shooting locale) lend historicity, for example Edmund Reid and Fred Abberline, the former played by series lead, Matthew MacFadyen (Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina), and the latter by Clive Russell (Game of Thrones, Outlander); Abberline was Reid’s superior (below).

Reid headed criminal investigation at H Division in Whitechapel where Ripper did his crimes. Although you’d expect so, the series does not directly address the murders. They add dolorous atmosphere, a guilty prod to the police for work unfinished, in that Ripper was never caught. (Episode 1.1, a copy-cat murder, is as close as Div H police get.) In the main, Ripper Street is a deep dive into the late 19th century world of London’s East End and the battles by its protagonists to solve crimes, keep the peace, and have some semblance of private life and love. 

Reid’s particular sidekick is his forensic pathologist, an American with a shady past, Homer Jackson, played by Adam Rothenberg (above, second l). Jackson is a “two-penny sawbones, a snake-oil-pushing clap doctor” whose outside-the-box genius for uncovering crimes in the bones and tissues of victims is invaluable to Reid. Homer has a wife from whom he is estranged, Long Susan (far l) a criminally inclined, heart-of-gold brothel madam played by MyAnna Buring (Twilight Saga, Downton Abbey).

Fellow officer(ctr. r) is Inspector Bennet Drake, the craggy Jerome Flynn (GoT's Bronn) and one more main player, Rose, the prostitute who seeks to better herself, is played by Charlene McKenna (far r). Drake’s gnarly charisma is a helpful offset to MacFadyen’s buttoned-up Inspector Reid — the center spoke around which action turns, “attached to Whitechapel as if by lead weights on a river bed”.

The Dickensian world of Whitechapel comes to life with assorted guest players such as the winsome (Ms) Charlie Murphy (above, l, of Rebellion, The Last Kingdom), and the very appealing Damien Molony (above, r) in an episode that stews together romance, Irish politics, and a battle for adoption of either alternating or direct-current electricity.

Joseph Mawle (shown above, of The Hallow and Clapham Junction) has a recurring role as the evil-doer Inspector Shine, revealing his unshowy acting chops (above). Iain Glen (GoT, Downton Abbey); Jonas Armstrong (Robin Hood); the talented David Dawson (Alfred the Great in The Last Kingdom) as newspaper hound and dandy Fred Best (below); Lydia Wilson, John Heffernan, Josh O’Connor, Amanda Hale, and more familiar faces appear from BBC, PBS and other networks' series.

Whitechapel itself is an affecting character. St Mary’s, a small local chapel dating from the 1300’s, lent its name to the area which became a slum in Victorian times as Irish, Jewish, Indian, and other foreigners crowded in to this and other East End neighborhoods. ‘Elephant man’ Joseph Merrick (below) lived and died in Whitechapel, often on exhibit as a curiosity (one story is his).

By the 1880’s there were reportedly 60 brothels and 1200 prostitutes. Noxious businesses located there, the sounds and smells of tanners, brewers, and metal shops comfortably distant from the affluence of central London. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry headquarters (below), dating from the era of Elizabeth I, cast Westminster Abbey bells, Big Ben, and the Liberty Bell of Philadelphia.

The East End has been in our sights over and again. In the 1590s Shoreditch, East End, Shakespeare plied his trade at the Curtain Theater (Shakespeare in Love).The late 1990’s series Bramwell featured a woman doctor operating on this turf and telling stories of East End poor; Call the Midwife (1950’s-60’s)is a more recent take, and Tom Hardy’s recent Taboo features East End locations. However, Warlow’s Ripper Street is likely the most consistent, visceral, and frenetic portrait of this small piece of real estate. Division H policed a bit over a mile and 67,000 poor, including factories, tenements, brothels, and pubs. Their stories addressed labor conflict like the Match Girls strike and discrimination against Jewish, Chinese, and Indian minorities.

The ever-present thread of women seeking to control their own lives and bodies is revealed in Long Susan’s career, for which she pays and pays more. New technology arrives — the telephone and micro-reader, blood typing, finger printing, and the invention of film become lynchpins for murder.

Rose, the prostitute, is manipulated into being photographed by a pornographer who strangles his subjects in front of the camera; we are introduced to the amazing invention of moving images, sure to become cash cows for future pornographers. A gang of child criminals is led by an adult man who directs the boys to capture girls for sale to groups of men; Reid traces the source of the Plague to a “Molly House” (gay/transgender brothel); a train robbery results in the deaths of 55 people; Long Susan finances a hospital and is convinced to treat victims of back-alley abortions when an affiliated male doctor is discovered using poor women for experimentation and sterilization; the stockholders of a shipping company are dismayed to find that a woman is the inventor of a new engine that could save the company; a work house administrator is found to have murdered sickly children in his care.

Four seasons serve up a steady diet of these social-justice-themed police procedurals, each complex and tightly wound, but season five resolves the relationships of the main characters while bringing to justice a poor fellow who having seen his mother eaten by wolves, bites his victims to death: “homo homini lupus est — man is wolf to man” (that's Jonas Armstong, above, as Nathaniel).

Curiosity if not hope, is satisfied because these tales of Whitechapel do not end with a warm glow like episodes of Call the Midwife. Rather, life and loss go on: “We are doomed to the ragged purgatory of these streets...Lady Justice holds us...to her righteous tit.” (Inspector Shine). And, as creator Warlow writes, there are diamonds to be mined from pain.

Ripper Street streams now via Netflix.

The above post was written by our 

monthly correspondent, Lee Liberman

Peter Berg's PATRIOTS DAY is a (sort of) patriotic, suspenseful look at that infamous Boston Marathon

PATRIOTS DAY, which opens nationwide today, proves a pretty good example of what a docu-drama can accomplish when it is written with some flair, filmed smartly and acted well, This one, directed and co-written (with four other writers) by Peter Berg (shown below) takes us back a few years to the 2013 Boston Marathon and the sudden bombings that rendered the event what is now referred to -- as with every act of (so often) homegrown terrorism -- as a national "tragedy." I would call the recent and rigged election of Donald Trump far more tragic for America than any of these murderous events, but the dreadful results of this election on everyone except the wealthy are only beginning to unfurl.

As is his wont -- see Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor  or his early (and still best) film, Very Bad Things -- Mr. Berg does a busy, brawny job putting together the many pieces of his docu-drama. Patriots Day is filled with all kinds of characters, and those to be major to the movie are singled out early. Most of these are based on real people, and the film has been cast (with a single exception) exceedingly well, with faces and figures that seem for the most part quite reasonable and real. The cast here does not resemble the usual ultra-buffed-and-toned, perfect-teeth people from so many of those TV, cable and movie journeys into the supposedly "real."

The one exception, unfortunately, is the movie's star, Mark Wahlberg (above and below, center), who gives a perfectly OK, if occasionally heavy-handed performance as the Boston cop who holds the movie together and becomes its focal point. This character does not even exist in reality, so basing the movie around him seems much too easy a way to earn questionable emotions via short-cut storytelling. (That's Michelle Monaghan, two photos below and at bottom, who has the thankless role of the made-up wife of this made-up character.)

So many other of the real characters, shown here in both their acting counterparts and (at the finale) as themselves, are so vital and interesting, that I believe the movie could have succeeded even better by simply using them and leaving out Wahlberg's created-out-of-whole-cloth cop. As much as his many scenes might seem to help hold the film together, they're actually unnecessary and simply add foot-tapping time to the film's very long, two-hour and seven-minute length. Tightened up, it might have zipped by and still had its cumulative emotional effect.

The movie's most suspenseful scene involves the kidnapping/car-jacking of a young chinese immigrant, the results of which will keep on edge anyone who did not follow all the ins and out of this bombing scenario (and very probably even those who did). Unfortunately the scene ends with our heroic fellow telling the cops to "Get those motherfuckers!" Even if the guy actually uttered these by-now-uber-cliched words, here, they come off as mere fodder for the mainstream.

The finale, in addition to showing us the real people involved, also demonstrates how Boston came together in a way in which citizens helped each other through the crisis. It's good to be reminded of this, though the movie does bang its point home a bit hard. (That's a thinned-down John Goodman, above, center, as the police commissioner, and Kevin Bacon, below, as the FBI guy in charge of the case.)

Still, for the most part, Patriots Day does a good job as docu-drama, moving fast and steadily toward the initial incidents, and then showing us the police/FBI work that went into discovering the identities of the perpetrators. All this does bring up an interesting point about surveillance vis-a-vis privacy. In this case, having cameras everywhere in public places was able to bring the culprits to justice and makes its case for this kind of surveillance.

On the other hand, all the private phone-tapping and email-probing did little good in this instance (the government has evidently not been able to make a case against the older Tsarnaev brother's wife). The fight for privacy of all Americans in terms of their correspondence -- spoken and visual -- still matters.

From CBS Films, Patriots Day opens wide today, Friday, January 13. To find a theater near you, simply click here and then scroll down, type your zip code into the proper slot, and press ENTER.

THE DEPARTMENT Q TRILOGY: Jussi Adler-Olsen and Nikolaj Arcel's top-notch Danish police procedurals hit home video

Better by some distance than the much-vaunted and hugely-successful Scandinavian behemoth, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, the three full-length films that comprise the current DEPARTMENT Q series (named for a newly organized "cold case" division of a Danish Police Department) are tighter, more focused, less florid and bizarre than that popular Lizbeth Salander trilogy. (Of course, those very negatives are seen as attributes by those of us who love Ms Lizbeth.)

As adapted from the novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen by Nikolaj Arcel (shown at right, who also wrote the original Dragon Tattoo film, as well as directing and co-writing the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair), the trilogy has two directors: Mikkel Nørgaard (who helmed the first two films) and Hans Petter Moland (the last of them). So dark and driven are all three, however, that I don't think viewers will notice much difference in style. Molan's movie takes longer to click into gear. From there onwards, it moves like a house afire.

Each tale told by each film is complete unto itself, but I would suggest beginning with the first, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES (Kvinden i buret), as it introduces us to the characters and to this new bureau, Department Q, and to its first "case" -- looking into what was ruled a suicide but now begins to looks more like a "missing person." Here, as in each of the films, motive is as important as all else, and as we learn details of the characters of each of the antagonists, it is difficult not to feel some sympathy for them, even if we cannot excuse their actions.

In "Keeper," we also learn of the problematic victim and her history, as our two protagonists, Carl (a terrific job by Nikolaj Lie Kaas as the troubled, driven and socially awkward  detective) and his new assistant, Assad (the fine Fares Fares, of the Easy Money series, who can quietly handle some of the team's toughest problems). These two are not your usual police procedural protagonists. Carl is heroic, all right, but he is as apt to get beaten up and thoroughly shamed as anything else. But he endures and drives forward.

Movie two is titled THE ABSENT ONE (Fasandræberne), and it is the longest and, for me, the best of the three. Dealing with bullying and entitlement and how these can grow into horrific behavior if not blocked early on, the movie watches as high-school-age kids go from beating their peers to worse, until one of them can no longer handle it all. She, Kimmie, is at the heart of this tale, and Danica Curcic (below) brings her character to splendid, dark life.

We are allowed much less empathy for the villains this time around -- Borgen's Pilou Asbæk  and Men & Chicken's David Dencik -- for they are upper-class nasties who seem not to have learned a thing from any of this, except to push harder, stronger and longer into death/destruction. The plotting is twisty, the investigation smart but believable, and the outcome awful, moving, and with a keen, deep sense of justice for all.

A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH (Flaskepost fra P), the final film in the trilogy, makes a good capper, as it delves into the subject of religious faith -- the belief in which sets off the terrible tale told here, while also making it possible for this film's villain (himself an abused product of faith gone haywire) to do and even get away with his awful deeds. This theme also gives us a chance to observe Assad's Muslim heritage, as well as Carl's complete lack of religious faith. (The dark ironies ever-present in these films shine through with an icy light.)

That villain -- played with stunningly cold reserve and sharp, surprising strength by Pål Sverre Hagen (above, right, of the Kon-Tiki remake) -- proves a formidable character, a man apparently unfettered by most of the feelings that might trouble the rest of us.

The scene of the disappearances -- children have gone missing -- is a countryside community of some visual beauty (unusual for this series), but what we learn of those children and their religiously stifled parents is enough to put us off "god" for good. Though this final film is slow to reach blast-off, once it does, you will be as breathless, frightened and maybe a tad hopeful as you were with the preceding installments.

For folk who love police procedurals, I would consider Department Q a "must." And if you've been somewhat disappointed with many of the other procedurals you've already seen, give Carl, Assad and these dark, Danish movies a shot. They're likely to be habit-forming.

From Sundance Selects/IFC Films, after a very limited theatrical release, the series hits DVD (with each film on a separate disc but in a single package) this coming Tuesday, December 20, for purchase and/or (individually) for rental. The three films can also be seen currently (in high def!) via Netflix streaming.

Frédéric Tellier's SERIAL KILLER 1: a humane shocker about the French justice system

Serial killer movies come and go with alarming regularity, and most of them are worth shit. Which makes this new one from France -- SERIAL KILLER 1 (L'affaire SK1) -- directed by Frédéric Tellier and co-written by Tellier, David Oelhoffen and Patricia Tourancheau (from her book on the same subject, the infamous Beast of the Bastille) -- something special indeed. This case is said to have resulted in the largest manhunt in French history.

M. Tellier (shown at right), whose resume includes work as actor, writer and now director, comes at his subject full throttle and all-encompassing. His movie tracks back and forth between the early beginnings of the case -- which lasted a decade of more and involved the killings of many young women -- and its ending in court. The filmmaker covers his subject surprisingly deeply from the viewpoints of the police investigating the crimes (with emphasis on the newbie officer played by Raphaël Personnaz, below), the victims and their families (who are themselves sometimes suspects), the prosecuting and particularly the defense attorneys (Nathalie Baye center, two photos below, portrays one of these), and the man accused of the crimes, Guy Georges (a phenomenally rich, frightening and finally moving performance by Adama Niane, at left, two photos below, whose impressive work alone makes the film a must-see).

It has been a long, long while since I've seen a police procedural (which this movie certainly is, in part) that offered up so well the trying, difficult road that investigators must tread, while making us feel and understand the horror and fear of the victims with such specificity (yet without forcing us to watch the killings themselves and thus become somehow partners-in-crime with the killer).

Instead we see the results of the crime, as do the police, as they view and deal with the corpses and their own pain and shame at being unable to prevent more of the killings. Tellier forces us to deal with all this yet never rubs it in. Even during the killer's confession, because we already know what has happened, the filmmaker discreetly blocks out the voice of the killer as he describes the details of the murder.

The French judicial system, it has longed seemed to me, bends over backward to protect the rights of the accused -- far more so than does our own here in the USA. This movie helps us understand why and what this achieves. The film's conclusion -- full of surprise and emotion, catharsis and revelation -- allows us to see that the monster, as the Baye character maintains, is also a man. Granted he is a man who must be locked up forever, but we are the better for having experienced this movie about his story.

By turns exciting, taut, suspenseful, frightening, horrible and yet enriching, Serial Killer 1 is a welcome addition to the genre, immediately taking its place near the top of the heap.

From Kino Lorber -- in French with English subtitles and running two hours -- the movie opens today in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3 and then here in South Florida at the Coral Gables Art Cinema on June 17. Elsewhere? I should hope so -- for a movie this different and important. It lifts its genre to new, and newly humane, heights.