David Jonsson Discovers MURDER IS EASY

MURDER IS EASY (DVD)

2023 / 117 min

Fifth Season

Review by Carl the Couch Potato😽

David Jonsson crept onto my radar after catching him in Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk, two films where his character was the most interesting, largely due to what he brought to the roles. And in my humble opinion, his performance in the latter was damn near Oscar-worthy. From what I’ve seen, the guy’s one of those actors able to convey more with an expression than a mouthful of dialogue.

He brings that same skill to Murder is Easy, a British mini-series (being two episodes, maybe a mini-miniseries) that was produced before he started making waves on this side of the pond. Adapted from Agatha Christie’s novel, Jonsson plays Luke Fitzwilliam, a Nigerian on his way to a new job in England. Onboard the train, he befriends Lavinia Pinkerton, a kindly old woman who informs him of multiple murders in her hometown of Wychwood, all of which have been officially deemed accidents, and claims to know who’s committing them. Then she’s struck and killed by a car shortly after they arrive.

When you reach the drive-thru menu and are still undecided.

His suspicions raised, Luke takes it upon himself to visit Wychwood and do a little investigating of his own. Posing as a writer conducting research, he finds an ally/love interest in Bridget Conway (Morfydd Clark), who’s engaged to Lord Whitfield (Tom Riley), a wealthy, arrogant profiteer who basically owns the town and is a chief reason for the bad blood between the upper and lower classes. Since most of the victims have been the former (and critical of Whitfield), he’s the primary suspect, especially after the murders continue. Unfortunately, Whitfield is so heavy-handedly established as a total bastard that even casual mystery fans can confirm with utter certainty that he’s not the killer. 

Still, Murder is Easy is fairly entertaining, largely thanks to Jonsson, whose character exudes cool confidence among the locals suspicious of his presence. We’ve seen this kind of story and structure many times before, including previous adaptations of the same novel. The plot dutifully throws numerous suspects our way before revealing the killer in a climax that’s a little too talky for its own good. Until then though, it’s a decent little mystery.

SALEM'S LOT (1979): Boob Tube Bloodsuckers in 4K

SALEM’S LOT Limited Edition (4K UHD)

1979 / 183 & 112 min (Two versions)

Arrow Video

Review by Carl, the Couch Potato🙀

I remember feeling tempered anticipation for this miniseries when it first aired on CBS back in the late ‘70s. As a horror fan who recently discovered Stephen King, I devoured the novel it's adapted from just a few months before. However, television was a lot different back then and there was no way certain aspects of the novel would ever make it to the boob tube. Sure enough, Salem’s Lot was reasonably faithful to the book storywise, but certainly de-fanged (no pun intended) and sanitized to meet broadcast standards. Still, I enjoyed the show for what it was, and Trilogy of Terror notwithstanding, this was about as scary as TV horror ever really got back then.

The story is typical King, with author Ben Mears (a miscast David Soul) returning to his hometown to write about an old house with a dark past that terrified him as a boy. But the big local news is the opening of a classy new antique shop, run by newcomer Richard Striker (James Mason) and his partner, Kurt Barlow, whose impending arrival is highly anticipated. In reality, Barlow is actually a vampire, with Striker as his servant preparing for his arrival. Soon after, people begin dying or go missing. But of course, they don’t remain dead for long.

Time to go full Hutch.

Revisiting Salem’s Lot decades later was kinda fun. I’d forgotten how much the first half unfolds more like a nighttime soap than a horror film, with subplots involving unfaithful spouses and jealous boyfriends. But along the way, director Tobe Hooper does manage to build some creepy atmosphere here and there.

The cast is loaded with familiar faces, some who’d go on to bigger things (like Bonnie Bedelia), others who’ve been around forever. It wasn’t until re-watching it this time that I realized Elisha Cook Jr. and Marie Windsor once played together as husband and wife in the classic heist film, The Killing. They’re married in this one, too, but certainly get along better. Overall, the performances are perfunctory, save for Mason, who’s wonderfully sinister and steals the entire movie.

Salem’s Lot looks a bit quaint these days and is probably not as scary as you might remember it, but there’s a lot of nostalgic fun to be had here. Whether or not something that still plays like a ‘70s made-for-TV movie really benefits from the 4K treatment is debatable, though the picture and sound are an improvement over previous physical releases. For some fans, however, the real prize of this set might be theatrical version (originally released overseas) that’s included on a second disc along with most of the bonus features. Also rendered in 4K, it’s an hour shorter, but also includes scenes that weren’t considered suitable for American broadcast TV back in the day. I could be in the minority on this, but it's the version I prefer.  

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review.

ORIGINAL MINISERIES & THEATRICAL VERSION - The miniseries version features two viewing options, presented as the original two-parter or as a single movie.

INTERVIEWS - New individual interviews with Stephen King biographer Douglas Winter and frequent King adaptation director Mick Garris.

FEATURETTES - Fear Lives Here visits Salem’s Lot locations as they look today; We Can All Be Heroes features film critic Heather Wixson; Second Coming is an video essay by critic Grady Hendrix; A Gold Standard for Small Screen Screams features podcasters Joe Lipsett and Trace Truman.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By critics Bill Ackerman and Amanda Reyes (NEW); 2) By director Tobe Hooper.

IMAGE GALLERY

SHOOTING SCRIPT GALLERY

ALTERNATE TV FOOTAGE

TRAILER

Welcome Back to SALEM'S LOT

SALEM’S LOT (DVD)

1979 / 183 min

Warner Bros

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

I remember feeling tempered anticipation for this miniseries, which first aired on CBS back in the late ‘70s. As a horror fan who recently discovered Stephen King, I devoured the novel it's adapted from just a few months before. However, television was a lot different back then and I knew there was no way certain aspects of the novel would ever make it to the boob tube. 

Sure enough, Salem’s Lot was reasonably faithful to the book storywise, but certainly de-fanged (no pun intended) and sanitized to meet broadcast standards. It also didn’t help that its biggest star at the time, David Soul, was still TV’s “Hutch” to most of us and certainly wasn’t who I pictured as the protagonist (he plays him like Hutch, too). Still, I enjoyed the show for what it was, and Trilogy of Terror notwithstanding, this was about as scary as TV horror ever really got in the ‘70s.

The story is typical King, with author Ben Mears (Soul) returning to his hometown to write about an old house with a dark past that terrified him as a boy. But the big local news is the opening of a classy new antique shop, run by newcomer Richard Striker (James Mason) and his partner, Kurt Barlow, whose impending arrival is highly anticipated. In reality, Barlow is actually a vampire, with Striker as his servant preparing for his arrival. Soon after, people begin dying or go missing. But of course, they don’t remain dead for long. 

Looks like someone needs to cut back on the caffeine.

Revisiting Salem’s Lot decades later was kinda fun. It certainly looks, sounds and plays like a made-for-TV movie of the era, including frequent fades-to-black for commercial breaks. I’d forgotten how much the first half unfolds more like a nighttime soap than a horror film, with subplots involving unfaithful spouses and jealous boyfriends. But along the way, director Tobe Hooper does manage to build an increasingly creepy atmosphere (even as we suspect his hands were somewhat tied by television restrictions).

The cast is loaded with familiar faces, some who’d go on to bigger things (like Bonnie Bedelia), others who’ve been around forever. It wasn’t until re-watching it this time that I realized Elisha Cook Jr. and Marie Windsor once played together as husband and wife in the classic heist film, The Killing. They’re married in this one, too, but certainly get along better. Overall, the performances are perfunctory, save for Mason, who’s wonderfully sinister and steals the entire movie.

Salem’s Lot looks a bit quaint these days, though there’s a lot of nostalgic fun to be found here. It’s probably nowhere near as scary as you remember it, but story remains engaging and, if nothing else, it’s still better than the two subsequent attempts to remake it. Now back in print, this is a re-issue of a previously released DVD. Except for a trailer for the theatrical version, no additional bonus material is included, nor has the picture or sound been upgraded.