Even when he’s making bad movies he’s making good-bad movies
as can be said for Robert England and his film Dance Macabre (1992), a kind of
forgotten gem in which England plays Anthony Wager, a dance choreographer of a
Russian ballet school. When American
dancer Jessica (Michelle Zeitlin) arrives at the school, Anthony immediately
recognizes her resemblance to his former lover and takes a liking to her. This doesn’t sit well with the Madame of the
school (England in dual role) and before long Jessica’s classmates start to go
missing.
Written and directed by Greydon Clark the film has a great
look and England steals every scene he is in overshadowing Zeitlin completely
(who comes off as miscast in this film).
Clark’s style would also be seen in the cult favorites Without Warning
(1980), Wacko (1982), Uninvited (1987) and Out of Sight, Out of Mind (1990), to
name a few. He creates a dance a foreboding
atmosphere playing homage to Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) in addition to
England’s own Phantom of the Opera (1989), which is not surprising considering
this film was originally conceived as a sequel to that film.
The film itself is quite forgettable but England does a
great job with the material and he is always entertaining in just about
everything he is in (no matter how bad).
Clark does his best to entertain while providing the elements that will
appease horror fans but since the film hinges on Zeitlin, this is where the
film falls apart the most as she is not nearly as good as the rest of the cast.
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