Amazing Kreskin (as the famed mentalist is billed). The film- maker (kid cousin to ALICE, SWEET ALICE’s Albert Sole) is articulate and thoughtful about his choices but his heady com- mentary only underscores his failings as a storyteller. As in his earlier DESECRATION [VW 63:43], Tomaselli and his DP of choice (Brendan C. Flynt is replaced here by Tim Naylor) do a remark- able job with their $250,000 budget and 18 day shooting schedule; HORROR looks pro- fessional, even downright hand- some, but without an emotional core, there’s no scare there. However noble Tomaselli’s inten- tions (and the DIY filmmaker should be given props for going against the smutty grain of such indie horror practitioners as Troma, EI Independent Cinema and Seduction Cinema), the re- sult is yet another hodgepodge
of shopworn iconography and stick figure characterizations, glazed over with a patina of glib surrealism. “It may mean noth- ing, it may mean everything,” Tomaselli comments during one trippy setpiece, assuming a Jodorowskian ambiguity that he has not yet earned. While DESECRATION did
good business for Image Enter- tainment in 1999, Elite Entertain- ment has Tomaselli’s back this time. The feature is framed at 1.85:1 and 16:9 enhanced. Shot in Super 16, the image is a bit grainy at times and there is some attendant chroma noise, but the presentation is generally satisfy- ing, as is the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix. Extras include, but are not limited to, trailers for both HORROR and DESECRATION, along with two on-set featurettes and a behind-the-scenes photo gallery.
A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS
1955, Home Vision Entertainment, DD-2.0, $19.95, 89m 56s, DVD-0 By Shane M. Dallmann
Three years after his knight-
hood—an unprecedented honor for a filmmaker—producer/direc- tor Carol Reed (THE THIRD MAN) helmed this gentle, fantasy- tinged look at British working- class life. Adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his own novel (the first screenwriting credit for the future author of THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL and THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE), it tells the tale of Joe (Jonathan Ashmore), a young boy who dreams of a better life for his mother and friends—all denizens of “Fashion Street,” modelled after the true-life Petticoat Lane of London’s East End, which naturally served as the actual
Speaking of goats, here’s a charming example (with co-star Jonathan Ashmore) in Carol Reed’s classic fantasy, A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS.
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