Shameless Self Expression

Nine months after her sister was brutally murdered by her psycho husband, Teressa Liane is in the Pacific islands with her friends (Kate Lister and Ann Truong) as well as her youngest sister (Saskia Archer). A kayaking trip turns deadly when a great white shark turns up to feed on them.   Andrew Traucki was the co-director of the excellent, terrifying crocodile film “Black Water” , but I wasn’t a fan of his rather bland solo effort “The Reef” , a rather by-numbers shark film. I did rather enjoy his follow-up to “Black Water” , the quite effective “Black Water: Abyss” which wasn’t too far off the mark of the first film. This 2022 sequel from the writer-director is unfortunately a step backwards not only from “Black Water: Abyss” but it’s even worse than “The Reef” .   I suppose it’s nice to have an almost 100% female cast and strong-willed characters at that, but it’s also nothing original in that regard ( “The Descent” ), let alone enough to save this subpar outing....

An Anglo airline security officer (Joachim Fuchsberger) and a Chinese detective named Ling Chu (Christopher Lee) investigate a series of murders of young women that seem to be connected to a heroin smuggling ring involving hollowed-out plastic daffodils. Scotland Yard (represented by Walter Gotell) is also on the case, with the security officer and Ling Chu eventually combining their resources to track the killer down. Peter Illing plays a bar manager whom Ling Chu prises information from in torturous fashion, whilst Klaus Kinski plays to type as a disturbed man, and Albert Lieven is the crooked club owner.   One of my white whales in trying to get my eyes on every movie Christopher Lee ever made, this 1961 West German-UK co-production from Hungarian director Akos Rathonyi ( “Don’t Blame the Stork” with Ian Hunter, Brenda de Banzie, and Thora Hird) is yet another Edgar Wallace mystery. The Germans seemed obsessed with the author, with the Brits not far behind. This is a solid ...