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London Voodoo Director: Robert Pratten
Lincoln and Sarah Mathers (Doug Cockle: Reign of Fire, The Second Coming; and Sara Stewart: Mrs Brown, Drop the Dead Donkey) are an American couple who relocate from New York to Greenwich with their two-year-old Beth (Grace Sprott). Lincoln works for some hideous faceless corporation in Docklands, burning the midnight oil to put together a project for a Swedish client. Former auctioneer Sarah (it’s not relevant but it is mentioned!) lives at home in their expensive townhouse with Beth and a nanny, Halle Berry lookalike Kelly (Vonda Barnes from girl group Madasun). In the basement, workmen uncover a stone slab, and when Sarah cracks it open she finds two mummified corpses and a variety of religious artefacts - and we briefly see something possess her. Houseboat-dwelling local history buff Fiona (Trisha Mortimer: Frightmare, Schizo) reveals that a couple were believed killed in a house fire at the address in 1902, and her friends, voodoo practitioners Ray and Ruth (David Webber: 51st State, the Avengers movie; and Jacqueline Boatswain, a stage/TV actress who was one of the dancers in the video for Red Dwarf spin-off hit single ‘Tongue-Tied’!) try to help the Mathers but are rejected. Gradually, strange things start happening, and gradually they build. Sarah is forgetting things, and then starts behaving provocatively towards the workmen, while also creating concentric heart-shapes in sugar and flour. Or is this really happening? Kelly has her own agenda which involves self-mutilation, steering Beth away from her mother, and a growing obsession with Lincoln - is this related to what else is going on in the house, or is it just one more thing for the couple to worry about? How much of Sarah’s behaviour can be blamed on Lincoln’s workaholic approach? (This is the only horror film in history where a fax machine assumes the status of evil icon!) How much on Kelly’s attempts to undermine her? And how much on whatever escaped from that hidden grave? When Sarah starts speaking French and becoming violent, even Lincoln starts to realise that something supernatural is going on, and seeks help from Fiona and her associates. The film culminates in full-on voodoo weirdness as Lincoln struggles to release his wife from the restless spirit of a 19th century Beninese warrior which possesses her. Corking stuff!
Exhibiting a deft directorial hand, writer-director Pratten ensures that the growing tension never flags. For 98 minutes I couldn’t tear myself away from this film because I had to know what was going on. What was Fiona up to? Or Kelly? Or Ray and Ruth? There are a lot of agendas at work among these characters, and though I’m not sure everything is resolved by the end, nevertheless there is an effective climax as good and evil battle for possession of Sarah’s body. Pratten is a mature graduate of the London Film School with seven short films under his belt, including Army of Clowns (which may or may not be the same as Clown But Not Out aka Rediscovery...) and Waste Disposal (“an Avengers-style film about the end of an affair between a hitman and a hitwoman”). Swedish cinematographer Patrick Jackson also studied at the LFS and here makes the transition from directing shorts (Before It All Ends, Vigilante) to photographing features. Shot on super-16 over seven weeks in February and March 2003 on an unspecified (but clearly low-ish) budget, London Voodoo is a very promising debut feature and well worth checking out. MJS rating: A- DVD: Amazon.com | ||
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