Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Bloodwank I've read that Oliver Stone has disowned Seizure. Understandable perhaps, unlike a lot of his later work its not a big film or a loud one, it doesn't declaim from on high on issues of society or politics. Rather its a small film, and a slightly pretentious one, not an important film and not the kind of pretension that can readily be spun to something greater. But its an interesting film, a decent little work of weird horror cinema, somewhat compelling and assured in its style. It tells of author Edmund Blackstone, writing a children's story but plagued by nightmares. His worries come to a head as he invites friends round for a weekend, when it transpires that three lunatics have escaped from an asylum, lunatics that mirror his imaginings and come to torment him and his guests with malevolent games. And as things go on it turns out that these aren't any ordinary escaped lunatics but something stranger, incomprehensible and unbound by space, an inescapable menace. The home invasion becomes fantasy, but what is really going on? It's an interesting set up and happily the cast is eclectic and well up to making it come alive. Jonathon Frid is the cold centre of the film as Edmund, Christina Pickles caring and affecting as his wife, afflicted more strongly by events. Joseph Sirola is a grand brassy grotesque as monstrous millionaire and cuckold Charles Hughes, Mary Woronov meanly spiky as his wife, Troy Donahue a suitably arrogant philanderer. Roger de Koven pleasant as the most likable of the characters, Ann Meacham his sadly disturbed wife good too. The villains really drive the film though, Herve Villachaize quirkily vicious as Spider, Henry Baker a strong and silent figure as Jackal, and best of all the alluring Martine Beswick black gowned as the Queen of Evil, her every word, every move dripping with cruelly regal poise. With all the cast gunning and sharing decent chemistry things can't help but grip, and a well handled pace ensures the films strong hold. The direction is quality too, freeze frames and snappily edited (Stone shares editing duties) close ups give violent scenes a punch, while rich and moody blues and oranges instill interesting atmosphere. Sadly there are notable flaws though. The film touches on an array of interesting themes, the isolation and arrogance of the artist, the notion of subconscious as ultimate judge, the enduring resonance of stereotypes in the imagination and more, but while such themes are a fun spice the film often tells rather than showing, with variously labored passages of writing. There's also an unfortunate lack of grue, with violent scenes either cutting away or having the nastiness just out of frame. Were the film generally saner and quieter this wouldn't be an issue but as is it comes across as pulling its punches. The ending is a tad off as well, a reasonable use of a slightly pat twist, but it doesn't really tie everything together and slightly exacerbates the problem of the aforementioned labored themes. Still, its a good little film. Creepy, well paced and engagingly weird, cult cast put to good use and passages of effective tension. Definitely worth a watch for enthusiasts of low budget 70's oddities and in general terms a worthy opus, but certainly flawed and no classic or anything

The_Void Seizure will be a point of interest to many simply for the fact that it is the feature film debut of Oliver Stone; made some years before he went on to make critically acclaimed films such as Platoon and JFK. Despite not being a big fan of the director; that was actually the thing that attracted me to this film also, and while I didn't go in expecting much; I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised as this is a surprisingly good low budget seventies horror movie. The film is halfway between a psychological horror and a slasher film and we focus on a troubled horror writer named Edmund Blackstone. He is plagued by a recurring nightmare which involves creations from his own literature terrorising him. He decides to invite some friends round to his isolated country home, but gets some uninvited guests in the form of those pesky evil characters he created; who proceed to break up the party by killing his guests.Seizure features an obvious low budget and as such there is a very cheap feel to it. However, Oliver Stone gets over this problem well thanks to some very capable handling and an entertaining cast. The simple plot means that the director has plenty of time to build up his characters, and he does this well. The central location is isolated and that helps to build the tension as the innocent characters are trapped in the house at the centre of the film. The set of bad guys is undoubtedly the most interesting thing about the film; Martine Beswick leads the way as sultry 'Queen of Evil' and gets good back up from an exotic looking strongman as well as a menacing dwarf named 'Spider'. Things are kept interesting thanks to the immediate action and the dialogue between the central characters, as well as a few revelations. It all builds down to a satisfying conclusion that gives credence to the plot and main character. It's a shame this film is so obscure really because I'm sure it could find an audience and it's certainly not the worst film Oliver Stone ever made! Recommended, if you can find it.

julie-242 I agree with the previous reviewer who talked about the amazing casting done for this film. Hervé Villechaize was absolutely legit as the totally heartless Spider, and I have to admit gaining a new respect for him as a serious actor.Martine Beswick puts a lot of movie villainesses to shame with her "so cold, it's hot" take on the Queen of Evil. She even manages to make her strangulation of Troy Donahue look alluring.But for me, as viewer and as female, star Jonathan Frid makes the movie. He finally gets to move beyond Barnabas Collins a bit in the decidedly non-menacing main role of Edmund Blackstone. As the previous reviewer couldn't take his eyes off Ms. Beswick, I couldn't possibly look away when Mr. Frid was in the frame. The scene where the Queen of Evil attempts to seduce Edmund is still very steamy indeed.As for the plot, it is, by today's standards, very pedestrian. Yet, even though you know what's coming, you still get entertained when it occurs. Worth a look-see if you get the chance.

Sturgeon54 OK, this was Oliver Stone's first movie, so I'll cut him some slack (although Satyajit Ray and George Lucas didn't need any pity points for their stellar debuts, "Pather Panchali" and "THX 1138", respectively). Though attempting to make a low-budget horror film with serious undertones about the dark recesses of the unconscious mind, he has instead put a group of very capable actors into a series of macabre scenes - some of which are quite good - but that don't add up to much. And as for serious subtext, the movie ends up with about as much depth as a young adult horror novel. In addition, I didn't like the twist ending, as this same twist was used in literature over a hundred years previous.The true strength of the movie comes from the casting of several iconic actors and actresses from various places ("Dark Shadows" and elsewhere). Though I had not seen any of these actors elsewhere, I give complements to the performances of both the dwarf actor Herve Villachaize and Martine Beswicke as the Queen of Evil. Beswicke, in particular, is the most darkly beautiful actress I have ever seen, and I could not keep my eyes off her whenever she was in a scene. Casting her as the ultimate villainess was a stroke of genius. I'm even tempted to say that her performance is the one best reason for seeing this movie (which is surprising, because Stone has never been very good at creating compelling female characters). Otherwise, there is little here to predict Stone's master craftsmanship on virtually all his films from the late '80s through early '90s.* INTERESTING SIDENOTE: the newscaster voice narration at the end of the movie as the credits roll is that of Oliver Stone himself.