Films Catch Up 17

Three more films I watched last year.  It would be nice if that finished us; sadly there are more films I have watched but not yet written up reviews for. All in good time.

1. Fragment Of Fear

Tim Brett’s a recovering drug addict; in fact he wrote a book about it and it’s been successful. On holiday with his aunt in Italy he arranges to meet her in the ruined city of Pompeii; she’s discovered there, strangled. He has a breakdown.

At the funeral there’s flowers; the hotel owner, a friend of the aunt who arranged the funeral disposes of the card but Brett picks it up. It’s from the “Stepping Stones.”

Back in London Brett investigates on his own. Having met Juliet, the woman who found his aunt, they are now engaged. Unhappy with what he sees as police inaction he looks further into things, visiting the hotel she lived in on the South Coast (it being winter it’s rain-lashed). His aunt’s vocation was helping former prisoners find their way into normal life (offering them a “stepping stone.”)

A woman on the train home, who seems to be both gay and a Christian hands him a letter; when he opens it it turns out to not be a tract as he expected but a warning. It’s been typed on his typewriter and also someone has recorded laughter on his tape recorder. The next morning a policeman arrives, claiming that the woman made a complaint against him.

Things get weirder. The policeman takes all the evidence with him. Later the woman reappears, to apologise, then dies. At the police station they’ve never heard of the policeman. Brett is attacked on the street, and they leave a hypodermic needle by him, which he gets rid of, feeling tempted by the stress, but losing the evidence. There might be a blackmail ring going on amongst the former prisoners. There might be a secret government department. Brett might be losing his mind.

Watch This: Delirious, paranoid crime thriller
Don’t Watch This: Every answer just raises more questions and we’re left more puzzled than we started

2. Assassin Club

In a prologue a Russian oligarch/oil tycoon is assassinated in front of his daughter by a masked killer. Now in the present we meet Morgan Ganes, ex-Royal Marine sniper, now a hitman. But he has a conscience, he only kills criminals, so he’s going after a people trafficker. But another sniper gets in first, Ganes is spotted, has to escape, and is also targeted by the sniper.

Ganes gets his targets and pay from Caldwell (Sam Neill) who was his mentor back when he was a marine. Morgan goes home to Rome and decides to spend some time with Sophie, his girlfriend, a teacher who knows nothing of his hitmanning, thinking he travels for a company. He’s considering retiring, but then the two of them are attacked. Morgan kills him, gets a picture of his face, goes to Caldwell, where he has the discussion he’s been avoiding; six contracts, each of them another assassin, and they’ve all been given the same targets.

We’re introduced to the files of the other assassins, the pursuit of which will take up the middle section of the film. We also discover there is an interpol task force investigating the murders.

Tracking the confirmation (it’s a body part) Morgan kidnaps one of the Interpol officers, discovers they are working with a secret organisation Maat (after the Egyptian god of judging the dead) who are behind the seven assassins all killing each other plan. Caldwell’s files are incomplete with the most mysterious assassin Falk, who calls Morgan; having assessed he’s the best of the others and none of them are supposed to survive the game anyway, they suggest teaming up, using the hits to track down who is behind it.

There’s some twists, some turns, some betrayals. Stunt setpieces of varying vividness. Sam Neill’s role as dubious mentor is pretty good, but sadly exits the film before the final sequences, so we lose the most interesting part.

Watch This: For an undemanding action film of assassin vs assassin
Don’t Watch This: Assassin underworld, hitman competitions have been done before and better

3. The Exorcist

In northern Iraq Father Lankester Merrin is on an archaeological dig, finds a horrid looking idol, is haunted by memories and weird events. In Washington DC Chris MacNeil is an actress starring in a film, living in a rented house with her daughter Regan, also her assistant as well. Up at Georgetown University, a Catholic institution in DC, is Father Damien Karras, a psychiatrist who treats and advises priests.

Regan starts acting strangely and at a party she appears in front of everyone, wees on the floor and speaks strangely. Taking her back to her room, the bed shakes violently. One of the guests is Father Dyer, a friend of Karras and also Dennings, the film director, making the connection that will be important later.

While Chris has doctors examine and medical tests, Karras visits his failing mother in New York. Between this and all the problems of all the priests being put on him he’s feeling a lack of faith, too much stress. His mother dies while he’s in Washington to his regret.

The doctors have no idea what to do. Regan’s fits get more violent, weirder, her voice stranger and her language more obscene. Then one night when Chris comes home, Regan’s window is found open; at the bottom of the steps below the house Dennings is found dead, his head twisted around. At last, a doctor suggests an exorcism and Father Dyer brings in Karras. Karras, doubtful, seeks permission from the church authorities, who bring in Father Merrin, who is newly back and has performed exorcisms before.

A classic whose iconic scenes have been referenced and parodied endlessly. But even now there’s something compelling about the physical effects, and shocking at the abuse coming out of a twelve year old’s mouth.

Watch This: Classic Horror that’s influential and also powerful
Don’t Watch This: The pastiches have spoiled all the most dramatic bits