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The Night They Returned
Canada 2004
produced by Sv Bell for SVBI Films
directed by Sv Bell
starring Melantha Blackthorne, Suzi Lorraine, Elisabeth Faure, Jean-Pierre Normand, Costa Alexandrakis, Jan Pivon, Uncle Costa, Ron Voot, Larry Lane Stevens, Cole Bumroid, Mark Collom, Etienne Vaillancourt, André Dubois, Francois Escalmel, Jean-Pierre Normand, Chastity, Jean-Francois Dagenais, Martin Maurais, Stephane Barbe
written by Sv Bell, music by Jean-Francois Mayer, Jay Belton, songs by The Kings, Moxy, Cheaper than Therapy, Goddo, Gubber, Soap Opera, Jaimie Vernon, special make-up by Texa F/x, Olivier Xavier, creature sculpture and molds by Michel Bougie
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Jessica's (Elisabeth Faure) family is pretty strange, to say the very
least: Since her parents died, she was brought up by her sisters Brenda
(Melantha Blackthorne) and Tawny (Suzi Lorraine) in a house deep deep in
the woods, but still the sisters keep daddy's corpse around, just to let
him see how grown up they are. However, Brenda and Tawny have this strange
kind of hobby: They bring strange men home, then slaughter them while
Brenda has intercourse with them, and feast on their dead bodies - while
also playing with the food, actually.
Only Jessica can't join in the fun because she is a telepath and always
feels the pain of her sisters' victims ("... this is how I knew it
was wrong to dismember people alive") - which is why the sisters
always have to chain her up once they have guests, lest she hurts
herself while in trance. When the sisters are done eating, they usually
put all the leftovers in a bag and Tawny throws them in a nearby swamp, so
far away from civilisation that noone while ever be looking there for
bodyparts.
Unfortunately though, someone has dumped a drum of toxic waste in the
swamp as well, and ultimately the dismembered bodyparts mutate into a big
swamp monster out for vengeance. Soon enough, the monster goes after the
girls, and before you know it, both Brenda and Tawny are dead and the
monster prepares to kill Jessica too - who now has to use all her
telepathic powers to re-animate daddy's corpse and make him fight and
ultimately defeat the monster. After the fight she breaks down from
exhaustion, and daddy dies all over ... and ultimately she realizes the
only way to have a normal life is to pick up where her sisters have left
off: picking up strangers, feasting on them, dismembering them and dump
their bodyparts in the nearby swamp ...
Ok, so the synopsis for The Night They Returned sounds
incredbily silly, and of course the whole film is not an intellectual and
philosophical masterpiece ... but in this case all of this works for the
movie, because director/screenwriter knew about the inherent silliness of
his story and played the whole thing tongue-in-cheek without ever
resorting to cheap jokes or fart humour, instead turning it into a macabre
comedy in which especially the gore scenes are quite amusing. And of
course, seeing too-sweet-to-be-true Suzi Lorraine throw bodyparts into the
swamp with the
cutest of smiles is worth the price of admission alone - not that the film
hasn't more to offer, this is just the image that sticks to the mind the
most.
By the way, this film can be purchased at http://www.horror-mall.com.
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