Four connected spatterbunk horror tales come together in gory carnage in Alex Chandon’s 2001 film Cradle of Fear, now on Blu-ray with his short films via Unearthed Pictures.
The Film
Alex Chandon’s film Cradle of Fear is an anthology of nastiness, gore, and excess. Slightly based on anthology master studio Amicus’s 1971 entry Asylum (a freakin’ great one), this 2001 film follows a police officer trying to figure out how to prove an asylum-bound child killer is getting revenge on those who helped put him away. This might work for others, heck, I think it’d reach the me that would have watched it when new, but it did not work for me at all now. I found Cradle of Fear to be an edgy for edgy’s sake, poorly made and shot, cheap with poor acting, and half-assed stories that don’t feel complete in the individual stories. One story did work well, but the rest? I can’t help but think of Danzig’s Verotika. It’s better than Verotika, but what isn’t? However, that had a sense of “WTF am I watching?” comedy.
Look, I don’t mind extreme cinema, splatterpunk, or whatever you want to call it. When I covered Garden of Love a few months ago, also for Unearthed, I noted that so much splatterpunk is empty edgelord splatter. That’s where I found Cradle of Fear. I do like the idea of a killer getting revenge from within, and the questions of how. There’s a good idea at the core, but the telling doesn’t work. It’s the sort of film where making it look gritty and nasty, with no lighting, plenty of boobs, and so much blood for blood’s sake.
The first story finds a pair of girls hitting up a club, and one gets knocked up by The Man, a killer across the films, which eventually becomes a murder baby. The second is about a pair of women (so more boob shots) who rob a house and kill their victim; hauntings commence. The third is almost there, an amputee finds a gruesome way to replace his leg, but becomes the same old possessed new body part. The final story, outside the wraparound, had an interesting touch, one used across cinema since the internet, most recently in Faces of Death, but previously in feardotcom and others. A man comes across a site where one can see real torture and deaths, and becomes addicted to watching to the point where he may be the one in control. Each story, even the one I liked, is underdeveloped and scream-acted.
However, the gore effects are damned good. The care of the effects is a highlight with a great amount of blood and ways to spill it. Separated from the film, they are exciting and visceral. Incredible detail lends a credence of crawling skin. There’s a creative effect towards the end that is A Plus.
Yes, the title is a reference to the band Cradle of Filth. To the point where that band’s frontman, Dani Filth, plays the killer with a giant set of shears.
Cradle of Fear has a good reputation from within horror circles, so I might just be off the mark here. If it sounds like your jam, but all means go for it. I appreciate much of the effort, even if I found the result iffy and underdone.
The Presentation
I do not know what it is about Unearthed films and my inability ot see what the heck is happening. I watched parts of the film and features on two different screens, and if there is any light in your room, it’ll be hard to parse, not unlike my comments on the review for Garden of Love. The Ugly was more visible though. What I could see was fuzzy and blue. The sound is tinny and cheap. In English with subtitles.
The Packaging
Unearthed Films puts Cradle of Fear and the second disc on either side of a clear blue Blu-ray case. Disc one features a bloody baby monster, disc 2 a disembowled woman. The single-sided sleeve features the poster art. The same art is repeated on the cardboard O-ring slipcover
The Features
Cradle of Fear offers two discs with features. Disc one is localized to this film. Disc 2 is a collection of short films from writer-director Alex Chandon
Disc 1
As the titles suggest, Chandon and crew are trying to come off blase. I find this annoying.
Some Making Of
Behind the scenes of how some of the sequences came together. I always like seeing the background of effects. (12m)
Important Words
Crandon is trying so hard to be edgy while talking about the making of the film, where he comes from, and what he wants to achieve. (12m)
The special German DVD making of thinking something for Cradle of Fear
Expanded version of the above two features, looking at more behind the scenes and interviews. Chandon is trying so hard to act like he doesn’t care. Awesome to see how the gore was achieved, annoyance at the creator aside. (42m)
Image gallery
Nine minutes of behind-the-scenes and production stills.
3 trailers
Disc 2: Short Films of Alex Chandon.
It’s no surprise we love short films here. I love seeing filmmakers’ earlier work that got them to this point. Arrow put Lee Cronin short on Evil Dead Rise, and I really love Vinegar Syndrome’s Adam Rifkin Film Festival.
So big thanks to Unearthed Films for putting these 8 films on a second disc. Yes, many fall into the same issues I had with Cradle of Fear, purposely edgy gore. But I still appreciate the DIY, especially in the gore of it all.
Chainsaw Scumfuck (7m): A quick and dirty, and nastily gory slasher.
Bullshit News (2m) A fake news program has the sneering edgyiness.
Bad Manor (40m) Far too long. Kinda shorted and focused into the movie itself as two girls break into a house and deal with the occupant. Drags. But that’s the learning curve. Moving from a pair of quick and nasty to a full story, gotta work out the kinks.
Bad Karma (36m). I liked this one a fair bit, even if it also goes on for far too long. A cookout is attacked by mutants, and then other groups get involved. Delightfully over-the-top.
Drillbit (32m). A zombie film with a whole lot more. Incredibly ambitious in a bigger storytelling than above. I also liked this one. It might actually be my favorite thing on the disc set.
Film Extremes 3 promo (4m) A guy looks at an extreme horror magazine, it gets nasty.
Night Pastor (9m) A grindhouse sort of flick, as a priest goes Death Wish. Fun.
Borderline (4m). No gore, but experimental as Chandon tries out some compositing methods.
Some trailers, cut bits, and image galleries are on some of the films.
Final Thoughts
In the end, I was more interested in the short films than the feature. While it wasn’t for me, it might be for you. I love anthologies, love DIY sort of thing, and gore, too. But Cradle of Fear didn’t come together. It doesn’t help that I couldn’t see it. However, the added collection of shorts is enough for me to bring in. Cradle of Fear (and Chandon shorts) is out now on Blu-ray via Unearthed Films.