DEATH WISH CLUB (1983)
aka Carnival Of Fools
Directed by John Carr
Regal VHS
THE FILM
What a weird one. It made me think of Vertigo a bit and it made me think of Skullduggery a touch. And, it made me think that anyone who thought this was going to be like Night Train To Terror's very abbreviated version might be left out in the cold. Carnival Of Fools is a better title. Death Wish Club is a good one for the abbreviated version, which adds extra gore, a fun computer voice, the presence of Charlie White but no mention of him and it moves the ending to the middle (that's why there's no ending). It is also a very different movie.
I went into this film knowing the scenes I'd seen in Night Train and being unable to imagine how this film could last almost 90 minutes. It seemed like a simple love triangle/revenge film with a few strange spurts scattered around. Well, I watched the full feature and I enjoyed it. The Death Wish Club portions only take up around 15-20 minutes of the film. The rest of it consists of the strange story of Glen who falls in love with Greta who may be shacked up with an older gentleman who just happened to be the owner of the idiosyncratic Club Manhattan. Greta is a touch on the cuckoo side. Glen seems like he should be a whitebread, straightforward character but he never quite settles in that way, which keeps things off-kilter. The older guy, actually, doesn't do very much. He does provide some narration but most of it seems superfluous.
The script, by Philip Yordan, is more complex than I'd imagine it would have been. You can tell that an actual "writer" wrote this. There are a bunch of different things going on. And, it is peppered with strange asides, like the sex-crazy old couple next door to Glen or the sassy masseuse or the weird vaudeville routine on the soundstage. They're strange almost Vonnegut-like moments, where we see the main characters and then suddenly cut to weirdoes off to the left, living their lives. Some care went into the writing of this one.
The direction doesn't really do too much, though. For being a strange, mysterious, kind of wacky, suspenseful film, it really only pulls off the suspense in the Death Wish Club scenes. Much of the rest of it has an Arthur Hiller feel. Some of the acting is great but some of it is eccentric in a "look at how eccentric I am!" way. That can be charming but sometimes it makes me look around the room until the scene is done.
It all feels strangely unfinished. The narration doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. It has a "we had to add this to get this other thing to make sense" feel to it. There were at least two moments when I suddenly couldn't figure out where I was, plot-wise. Since it is such a strange film overall, I tried to chalk it up to an odd filmmaking style I should roll with. But, it really does feel like there are moments that aren't there. The leaps the viewer has to make seemed a bit much to me. I don't think it mars the film. They're just a few odd bumps in the road.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Regal Video makes it sweet. All we have to do is hear and see.
EXTRAS
The video box is pretty great. What movie might it be for, I wonder? "Join now...pay later" Well, Glen doesn't actually join anything. And, the pictures on there: Donna D. from Iced and The Last Slumber Party. One random guy from the Club with a gun. Dice? A skull? Kung Fu fighting? (There is a brief fight.) And, an arm with a bug on it. (That happens.) Whoever did this was an awesome person. And, the back cover blurb is sort of the movie but not really…And, the running time is not right. Is it Christmas already? I just got a Regal gift.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This film has a very interesting script telling a very loopy story with much too straightforward direction. The actual film expands completely beyond the Night Train To Terror version, in a good way. The whole thing doesn't really move fast but it has enough Weird and enough Interesting to keep you pushing through. Out the door and down the road to Club Manhattan. The piano player doesn't wear pants and Mary will be happy to see you. That should be enough.
— Dan Budnik, 10.27.11 |
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