Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a handful of reviews of THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN'S APOCALYPSE, not to be confused with the Alan Moore-raping turdfest. This is the movie from the great UK off-beat TV show. We have a few reviews below, followed up with a review from FrightFest... that one's a double shot: TLOG's APOCALYPSE and Rob Zombie's THE DEVIL'S REJECTS. You are all my wives now... so let's get going!
Hey Harry, continuing love from across the Atlantic.
I had a strange night tonight. I’d won tickets to a Sin City preview showing – months behind you guys as ever. When I turned up they said the print hadn’t been delivered, but would I like to go in and watch THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN’S APOCALYPSE instead. As a long time fan of the TV series I wasn’t too upset, and headed straight in.
Now, the audience was a strange mix. A lot of people obviously decided to turn around at the door and go home, but quite a few stayed. So instead of a full cinema of people itching to see Sin City you ended up with a slightly annoyed group, many of whom may not have had the least clue what was about to happen on screen. New trailers for BATMAN BEGINS and the fantastically silly looking KUNG FU HUSTLE left me feeling happy, then the main flick began.
For the uninitiated, The League of Gentleman is a group of four writers, three of whom act. Their greatest creation is the town of Royston Vasey, set somewhere in northern England and inhabited by freaks of every variety: wife-snatching circus owners, sadistic unemployment officers, serial-killing shopkeepers. You get the idea. Over three television series, one of which picked up the Golden Rose of Montreux, it has become increasingly dark and bizarre, the last series being almost too much for the viewing public to take. Oh yes, and it’s a comedy.
The premise of the film is beautifully simple, but opens up an entire universe of possibility: the four writers want to move on to other projects, but the characters they’ve created don’t want them too. Without fresh material, Royston Vasey is doomed to destruction (catastrophic storms and fireballs falling from the sky). Several characters find a door into “reality” in the village church, and pass through.
The action follows three lesser-used characters from the series. These are Hilary Briss, the butcher with a worrying sideline in “special stuff”, Herr Lipp, a teacher from Germany with an upsetting attraction to teenage boys, and Geoff Tipps, a failed stand-up comic. Their capers in the “real world”, culminating in bringing the writers (playing themselves) back to Royston Vasey, form the basis of the film with a long sub-section in 17th Century England, the setting for the League’s new project that one old character manages to write himself into.
As you would expect, this is almost an entirely character driven affair. The greatest laughs come from the culture shock of meeting reality. Papa Lazarou, one of the more extreme creations, coughs up a fur ball, observing afterwards that it’s “not easy to fit in.” There are also some excellent, more sketch-based set pieces in Royston Vasey itself, memorably a confession box encounter with the (less than liberal) vicar and a giraffe with a giant electrode up its arse “spunking up” (their words, not mine) over a crowd of old ladies. This might be classed as “gross out” comedy, but I think the word grotesque is more appropriate. And it is funny.
The performances are superb all round. Not since the Pythons has a small group of actors played such a diverse variety of roles so well. They are hugely bolstered by excellent performances by Bernard Hill and Victoria Wood, but top honours go to David Warner who is obviously having the time of his life playing the evil Dr. Pea. Why is this man not in every British film? Why is he not in The Matrix/Lord of the Rings/Star Wars!? His every appearance here is priceless. And there’s even a cheeky Simon Pegg cameo thrown in.
So does it work for the non-fan? Well, it’s very hard to say. There are moments of great tenderness for the characters, such as Herr Lipp (who, on television, buried a boy alive) finding out that all he wants from life is a wife and children of his own. Would you be affected by that if you hadn’t spent time with the character through the TV shows? Sure there are establishing scenes for these people, but they might not be enough for someone who’s meeting them for the first time. You’ll need a review from someone who’s new to the League to answer that.
That said, the group has done a very good job of trying to balance the film for old and new viewers alike. Most importantly, they’ve managed to maintain their utterly unique vision. A couple of times I felt that bits had been stretched out to fill a film timeslot rather than a TV one, but ultimately there’s plenty going on. The idea of characters holding their creators to account is gold. As I drove home, I couldn’t help but imagine Jar-Jar Binks bitch-slapping George Lucas while screaming “whysa you make me talk like doo-doo?!” Or, indeed, any of the Sin City lot turning up and asking Frank Miller for answers.
Can this be the end for Royston Vasey? It’s ironic that, in a film about killing your characters off, the local shopkeepers Edward and Tubbs have been brought back from the dead for the third time. That could be a sign that there’s life in the old dog yet, but if not then this film is a well made, funny and fitting farewell.
Leela
David Warner playing a character called Dr. Pea? What a resume... Evil and Dr. Pea... That man rocks out. Here's the next one!
Dear Harry,
Just went to a screening for the League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, the movie based on the lovable TV show. The press release (which I've taken from IMDB) reads:
The fictional world of Royston Vasey is facing apocalypse and the only way to avert disaster is for our nightmarish cast of characters to find a way into the real world and confront their creators. From present day Soho to the fictional film world of 17th Century Britain, the residents must overcome countless bizarre obstacles in their bid to return Royston Vasey to safety. In addition to featuring the most beloved characters from the original The League of Gentlemen TV series, this darkly hilarious movie adventure will also bring to the screen a whole host of new characters and cameo performances from numerous famous faces.?
I'm a big fan of the show, I've all ways liked the quality of the writing and performance of the League who mix gritty humanism with film fan humour and enjoyed the production values pulled from a minimal budget.
Much of the crew from the TV show (including the director Steve Bendelack) are involved in the film production and these strong qualities in TV land don't seem to translate to the big screen. The movie looks like a TV show; there's no great scope to the picture, everything takes place in "rule of third" close-ups and medium shots.
Going in I thought that the plot itself was a little cheesy "the) characters find a way into the real world and confront their creators". The League started out performing their material live, then recorded their sketches for radio then moved into TV. This movie feels a little like "time to make a movie" rather than showing any real desire to tell a story that was cinematic in nature. Any of the real "movie moments" feel like after thoughts. The Theme of the movie is pretty standard but you will have to be a big fan of the show to understand just how well it's constructed.
The League themselves do an amazing performance with Steve Pemberton getting a particular nod for acting Heir Lip acting like Steve Pemberton. However the characters chosen to be our leads don't provide the cast the room to display the full range of their talent. Whether this was by accident or by design to make it easier to bloc multi character shots is hard to judge.
High point - It is a thing of beauty to see stopmotion monsters again.
Audiences unfamiliar with the show may find the film to be rather confusing at worst, but if seen by an Arthouse crowd who know absolutely nothing of the television series it could be seen as an existential masterpiece. Fans of the show will hunger for more Papa Lazarou and question the absence of Pop (insert your own favs) but will chuckle at the League's self deprecating humour and the fact that they managed to get into the tux's before the end.
Overall I'd suggest that you don?t go to see this expecting a movie movie. Go to see it expecting season four of the TV series (and bring an imagination to explain the continuity errors).
If you use this somewhat informal review please call me Jeffery Tigglebottom.
I'm personally fine with it being a fourth season more than a movie movie. I just love seeing these characters... The Browncoats have their TV adaptation movie this year, I have this one... Here's the final review... League of Gentlemen with a chaser of DEVIL'S REJECTS! Enjoy!
Hey Harry,
I've just returned from the one day FrightFest event in London and thought you might be interested in my thoughts on the preview screenings of The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse and Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects.
THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN'S APOCALYPSE
After three successful television series and a live tour (with another to follow later this year), The League of Gentlemen now bring their goofball creations to the big screen. Royston Vasey is under threat; meteors are falling from the sky and the locals are terrified. The impending doom has been foretold on the walls of the crypt and a decision is made to send three of the townsfolk through the secret door - and into our world. Now aware that they are merely fictional characters it is up to the team of butcher Hilary Briss (Mark Gatiss), German teacher Herr Lipp (Steve Pemberton) and the bungling Geoff Tipps (Reece Shearsmith) to track down the real-life League and to persuade them to keep Royston Vasey going.
It's a risky strategy taking these well-loved characters from their familiar setting and placing them within the real world, but it actually works rather well and opens up the film to a much wider audience. The notion of these odd people actually meeting Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith is amusing, and there's a great build up as the three principal characters prepare to break into their office to steal the team's laptop. Unfortunately just as you're getting into the film you're thrown into the middle of a period drama - which Pemberton is currently writing - as Geoff unwittingly finds himself involved in the schemes of the wily Dr Pea (David Warner). Thankfully the film soon gets back on track and there's much fun to be add as Dr Pea then escapes his environs and the League members come under threat themselves. With most of the characters already well established a lot of the success of the film depends on the writing, and it's a relief to discover that the gags here are of a suitably high standard and well above the level of many other British comedies which made the same journey from television to film (Kevin And Perry Go Large and Ali G In Da House spring to mind here). There's some great one-liners ("I made a little brown fish") and the best of these tend to fall to Herr Lipp with his ever present double-entendres.
Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith tackle their multitude of roles with gusto and actually succeed in making you care about the rather unsavoury inhabitants of Royston Vasey. Only camera-shy writer Jeremy Dyson fails to appear as himself, with Michael Sheen taking his role in the hilarious opening sequence in which he's visited at home by Edward, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou. As always there's a smattering of familiar faces with the likes of Bernard Hill and Victoria Wood taking supporting roles, and blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameos from Peter Kay and Simon Pegg. Director Bendelack (who also directed the television series) does a competent job and you have to admire the team's dedication to stop-motion animation and some old-school horror staples - the exploding head shot is always a classic! Overall it's a fresh approach to these well-liked characters and produces a movie that should appeal to more than just 'local people'.
League members Jeremy Dyson, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith were present to introduce the screening and on hand to answer questions from the audience directly afterwards. Only Mark Gatiss was missing, although he was at the festival earlier in the day to introduce a rare screening of the classic 1973 anthology From Beyond The Grave.
THE DEVIL'S REJECTS
The final FrightFest film was the first public screening of Rob Zombie's sequel to House Of 1000 Corpses. It begins with an ambush on the Firefly family's home led by bible-bashing Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe) whose brother was shot dead during the events of the previous movie. Whilst Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook, replacing Karen Black) is captured, Otis (Bill Moseley) and Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) manage to get away and hole up in a motel while they wait for lumbering clown, Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) to join them and then lead them to refuge at a whorehouse owned by his brother. As The Devil's Rejects - as they're dubbed by the media - go on the run and the body count rises, we follow Wydell's single-minded and increasingly desperate quest to find them and exact his own personal justice.
This kind of movie requires little else in the way of plot as it's nothing more than an exercise in exploitation, sleaze and unflinching violence. Make no mistake, this is a nasty piece of work which aims to shock and offend the viewer in every conceivable way. Honestly, the Firefly clan make Mickey and Mallory Knox seem about as threatening as Spongebob Squarepants. But as with Natural Born Killers, quite what the BBFC will make this, with its violence towards women, and in one particularly uncomfortable scene in which Otis terrorises a female hostage by slipping the barrel of his gun into her panties, remains to be seen. Zombie also risks alienating his audience by having no sympathetic characters in the movie, so you're never really sure who exactly you should be cheering for. The Devil's Rejects are completely beyond redemption, but Wydell is little better as his thirst for revenge sees him use more and more extreme methods. Yet for all their flaws Zombie has created some fascinating characters who are eminently watchable; Haig's foul-mouthed Spaulding is one of the finest anti-heroes of modern times, and both Otis and Baby make a welcome return with their constant bitchy banter. Moseley seems more subdued this time around, but Moon has a lot of fun with her role, switching from tease to tormenter at will. There's a fine array of genre talent on show too, with Ken Foree, Michael Berryman, Steve Railsback and Danny Trejo all making appearances in supporting roles.
Director Zombie has learnt a lot since his first foray into film-making and The Devil's Rejects is a far more assured picture with some fine editing (check out the opening credits) and a terrific score. With its washed out colours it evokes the look and feel of gritty seventies flicks like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Despite the grim tone there is plenty of humour injected into the dialogue, and especially in the scene in which Foree and Berryman's characters attempt to purchase some chickens. Whilst I sadly had to miss the film's big finale in order to catch the last train home, I'm reliably informed that it ended pretty much the way I expected it to. It's a film that will divide audiences - as indeed it did here - and certainly won't appeal to readers of The Daily Mail, but for me sometimes there's a lot of pleasure to be had from such an uncompromising, balls-nasty horror film.
Hope you like them too!
Regards,
