THE ALCOVE - house of the devil

THE ALCOVE: Believe it or not, there’s an art to making a good dirty movie. And no one was better than the late Joe D’Amato. He made movies with an artist’s eye and Tiger Wood’s libido. His most famous cinematic collaborator was the lovely Laura Gemser. Together they milked the Emmanuelle franchise for all it was worth, transforming the soft-core erotica title into a parade of sequels, each more shockingly tasteless than the one before. By comparison, The Alcove is almost timid. Yet there’s still plenty of Cinemax-style skin on display in the story of an African princess (Gemser) brought back to Europe by an army officer to act as personal servant to his wife…who’s already having her own love affair with her husband’s personal secretary (Annie Belle). 3/4s of the movie is filled with the required heavy petting, but then things get ugly when someone suggests making a snuff film. The Alcove’s unexpectedly brutal finale might come out of left field, but it’s that kind of unpredictable storytelling that earned D’Amato his reputation while a hundred other sleazy directors have been long forgotten. The Alcove gets a great transfer from Severin Films on DVD and includes a trailer and 15-minute interview with the director about his work with Gemser.

THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL: Ti West sets-up his film with the sort of retro-cool that Tarantino / Rodriguez were going for with their Grindhouse experiment: full of feathered hair, dated music and old-school title cards. But as the film progresses, we realize he’s not just mocking the idea of a horror film flashback, he’s actually going to play it straight. And I couldn’t have admired him more for it. The House of the Devil lays down the groundwork exceedingly well, with college sophomore Samantha Hughes accepting a babysitting job from a creepy couple (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) who admit they don’t have a child, just an invalid mother locked in the room upstairs. Hard up for cash, Samantha accepts the job against her better judgment. And just when you think thing are going to get really scary, the film stops. It just…stops. Any struggling screenwriter can tell you that the second act of a movie is always the most difficult to write. But The House of the Devil literally doesn’t even have one. Samantha pokes around the house, calls her friend, orders a pizza and dances to The Fixx. Admittedly, most of these elements play into the third act where the movie kicks into gear again. But it’s hard to regain the momentum. Even with its flaws, West’s movie has it all the competition simply because he manages to craft a teenager-in-jeopardy movie that sports a teenager you actually care about (played by Jocelin Donahue) unlike the current crop of ‘70s horror remakes who almost make you root for Satan. The Blu-ray from Dark Sky Films looks very nice with two commentary tracks, deleted scenes, interviews and more.