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| Courtesy: Synapse Films |
In recent years, Stephen Carpenter and
Jeffrey Obrow's 1987 film The Kindred is probably best known
to most horror fans as that movie that Synapse Films has very
publicly been trying to work out the rights to release for over a
decade. Synapse has been teasing an upcoming release of The
Kindred since before the blu-ray era, when they were working on
it as a DVD special edition, but the project has been endlessly
delayed by a series of rights issues and legal and logistical
roadblocks, to the point that two new generations of home media
technology have evolved in the meantime. The film has taken on an
understandable level of notoriety amid all of this "will it ever
get released" drama, particularly since Synapse's long-promised
disc won't just be a special-edition upgrade, but the film's
disc-format debut: as it stands right now, The Kindred is a
more-than-30-years-out-of-print orphan of the VHS and LaserDisc era
that has never seen an official digital release. But before Synapse's
struggle to bring the film to DVD and blu-ray gave it a whole new
layer of mystique, it was already a modest cult-classic of the video
store era; a lesser-known title, to be sure, but one that has a small
but passionate fanbase. I've been a fan of The Kindred ever
since I stumbled upon its delightfully creepy and mysterious Vestron
Video VHS cover art in the horror aisle at the late Thomas Video in
Clawson, MI, years prior to Synapse's initial announcement. Now
Synapse's blu-ray is FINALLY happening, with an actual, concrete
release date of December, and a much larger audience of horror fans
will finally get to see what all the fuss is about (or will get to
decide whether they think the movie was worth the fuss to begin
with). As a long-time fan of The Kindred since the VHS days, I
can assure you that, while it may not be a perfect movie, and while
it definitely is rough around some edges when it comes to direction
and characterization, it is a blast: a really fun Lovecraftian
creature-feature powered by awesome effects, which should have
secured a place in the pantheon of '80s cult favorites long ago, if
it hadn't been kept so firmly out of print by its tangled rights
issues.
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| Courtesy: Synapse Films |
Young geneticist John (David Allen
Brooks) receives a bizarre and shocking deathbed request from his mom
(Kim Hunter), a scientist in the same field: she was conducting
secret experiments which proved too dangerous for public knowledge,
and she needs John to go to her secluded house and destroy all that
survived of the experiments. She also makes a cryptic, half-delirious
comment about John having a secret brother, Anthony, who he has never
heard of. John assembles a group of fellow researchers to investigate
the old house, and figure out exactly what was so dangerous that she
would want it destroyed, and exactly who this Anthony might be. But
it doesn't take long for Anthony to start introducing himself to
members of the group: he's very big, very mean, has a whole lot of
tentacles, and an amoral rival scientist (Rod Steiger) has big plans
for him. Much like John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness,
The Kindred isn't based on a specific H.P. Lovecraft
story, but borrows from several, to create its own Lovecraftian
cocktail in homage to the author's work. There are several mad
scientists, some relatively benign though tragically misguided (Cool
Air), and some amoral and capable of monstrous results (Herbert
West: Re-Animator). There is an old country house where dark
experiments have conjured up a horrific, amorphous creature (The
Dunwich Horror). There is a very fishy transformation sequence
(The Shadow Over Innsmouth). And of course there is Anthony
himself, who is obviously visually modeled off of Cthulhu. All the
ingredients are here for a really fun cinematic love-letter to
Lovecraft, and while the script and direction aren't always up to the
task, the visuals absolutely are: Anthony is without a doubt one of
the great Lovecraftian beasts of 1980s cinema, every bit as cool as
the creatures brought forth by the Resonator in From Beyond.
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| Courtesy: Synapse Films |
In addition to drawing most of its plot
points from Lovecraft's work, the film owes a great deal to another
HPL film adaptation, Re-Animator, its obvious cinematic
influence. It similarly starts out with a bunch of doctoral students
in a lab, introducing us to the group before the horror kicks in, and
Rod Steiger's villainous Dr. Lloyd is very obviously inspired by
Re-Animator's Dr. Hill (albeit without Hill's more perverse
tendencies), to the point that I honestly wonder if the part was
written for, and offered to, David Gale before they went with Steiger
instead. However, it must be said that The Kindred is no
Re-Animator, since Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow are not
nearly as talented as Stuart Gordon when it comes to direction. The
secret to Re-Animator's success and enduring legacy isn't so
much in its outlandish practical effects carnage, but in how the
first act very strongly and self-assuredly develops its characters
and world, and in the chemistry that the three very talented lead
actors have with one another; it takes the time to establish itself
as a genuinely very good movie before it reveals itself to be an
insane and gory one. Obrow and Carpenter don't have the directing
chops to deliver nearly as compelling and character-driven a first
act, and whether it is them, an issue of clunky scripting, a
mostly-mediocre cast, or all of the above, The Kindred doesn't
get off to an amazing start. The first act features a couple really
fun effects moments as it develops Steiger's Dr. Lloyd as a
mad-scientist villain who is up to no good, but aside from that, the
film starts a bit flat, and the characters don't have an
overabundance of chemistry, with only the movie's snarky comic-relief
character particularly standing out. In this first act, newcomers who
are mainly familiar with the film from the years of hype generated by
Synapse's battle to bring it to disc might find themselves wondering
why it was worth the fuss, and it will definitely bring down overly
high expectations a peg or two. Fortunately the film finds its
footing and gets a whole lot better when it really starts to turn
into a monster movie, which is clearly where Carpenter and Obrow are
most in their element.
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| Courtesy: Synapse Films |
As soon as Anthony shows up, the
co-directors show a great deal of confidence in how to handle the
creature-related scenes, and a real flair for the monstrous and
body-horror aspects of Lovecraft's writing. While Stephen Carpenter
bears no relation to John as far as I'm aware, The Kindred
very much shares a sensibility with The Thing
and In The Mouth of Madness
in terms of how to portray the indescribable, slithering horrors of
Lovecraft on-screen, showing enough to really make the creature a
character, but doing it in such a ways that still gives it an
appropriate sense of the inhuman and unknown. We actually see a whole
lot of Anthony throughout the second half of The Kindred
– Carpenter and Obrow definitely don't deprive us of
creature-effects goodness – but the way they handle these scenes,
with quick cuts of writhing and whipping tentacles, and the amorphous
body of the creature slinking in and out of darkness, still gives the
sense that the monster is bigger than we see, and its full form isn't
quite within our grasp. Particularly given that the film did not have
a huge budget, the effects are mostly really impressive. Even if the
first act is lacking, the creature-packed second half makes the film
worth recommending on its own, and more than worthy of cult classic
status.
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| Courtesy: Synapse Films |
The
variety of effects sequences and monster scenarios are pretty wild,
with well-executed, very gnarly practical gore, transformation, and
body-horror effects. In addition to the obvious John Carpenter and
Re-Animator
similarities, some sequences are rather reminiscent of another
cult-favorite low-budget monster movie set in a secluded house, The
Deadly Spawn. And the movie's
two most memorable effects setpieces – Anthony's showstopping debut
moment, and a Lovecraftian transformation – are great, and very
queasy. And keep in mind that I'm basing this review on the R-rated
VHS version; the upcoming Synapse blu-ray will feature an unrated
version that's a minute or two longer, which to the best of my
knowledge has never seen the light of day. The film's last act will
also benefit greatly from the dramatic boost in picture quality that
the blu-ray will provide over the VHS transfer which is currently all
that exists. Towards the end, the most effects-heavy sequences are
very dark and murky on the old Vestron tape, with a low-light
sequence that explores Anthony's lair being extremely difficult to
make out. I can't wait to see how it looks in all of its 35mm-quality
glory.
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| Courtesy: Synapse Films |
The Kindred
deserves so much better than the trapped-on-VHS oblivion that it has
been relegated to for the last 30+ years. If it had been readily
available on DVD in the early Anchor Bay era of cult films on disc, I
have no doubt that it would have a healthy reputation as a beloved
cult-classic. I have a certain amount of concern that its
long-delayed disc release, and inevitable resulting hype, might hurt
it when it finally hits blu-ray in two months: it is without a doubt
an uneven film that doesn't handle the human side of its story as
well as it could have, and some viewers may feel that it just isn't
as great as they hoped it would be during these long years of
waiting. Like I said, it isn't another Re-Animator,
despite its best efforts, and it shouldn't be watched with
expectations that high. But for what it is, it absolutely delivers
the goods: having first watched it with no preconceived notions,
having simply rented it from a video store knowing only that the box
art was really cool, I absolutely loved it. Despite a shaky start,
the film really finds its footing when it shifts into monster movie
mode; the creature effects are outstanding, and they really are what
this movie is all about, and are more than able to carry it. Add in
some quality atmosphere, and a seasoned character actor delivering an
enjoyably scenery-chewing villain performance, and you have more than
enough to make it cult-classic-worthy. I'm so glad that this movie is
finally emerging from obscurity after over a decade of struggle, and
I highly recommend that fans of creature-features, 80s cult flicks,
and Lovecraftian horror check it out.
Score:
-
Christopher S. Jordan
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