Wayne K
A few weeks ago I watched The Innocents, a psychological horror film based on The Turn Of The Screw, and loved it. The story was compelling, the dialogue was subtle, the performances were effective and the atmosphere was haunting and eerie, so much so that I actually froze in my chair during one of the most frightening scenes. So imagine my surprise, and confusion, when I discovered that there was a prequel of sorts made a decade later called The Nightcomers. Starring Marlon Brando on the cusp of his massive comeback with The Godfather, and directed by renowned purveyor of low grade action thrillers Michael Winner, it's a bizarre, disjointed film that bounces back and forth between various plotlines and meanders with little direction for most of its runtime. Brando's performances is its most divisive element, and while his accent is so cartoonish I actually thought he'd been dubbed, it does feel like he's actually trying, and not just slumming it for a pay check as he's often been accused of doing. The film itself adds nothing to The Innocents, offering no interesting insights into the characters or the situation. I'm not at all sure why it was even made in the first place. It's more of an odd curiosity than it is a functioning feature film, and unless you're a diehard Brando fan or are desperate to kill 96 minutes, don't bother.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
11/20/23
Full Review
David F
This film is kind of a prequel to the story in The Turn of the Screw, the Henry James novel that was turned into the film The Innocents. In The Nightcomers, Marlon Brando adopts an Irish accent and takes on the role of Quint, the country house servant who in the James novel has passed away in a violent fall or something more sinister. So this film basically presents the filmmakers idea of what happened before the events of The Turn of the Screw that led to the haunting of Bly or the corruption of the children, and in this take on the material, it is very much a sequence of events that lead to the corruption of the children. Quint and the governess engage in an explicit, sexual relationship full of nudity and bondage in full view of the children peeping into their bedrooms. The film really brings out the Freudian sexual sub-text into the text-text and as much as James was about suppression, subtlety, and suggestion, I have to say that this kind of works here. Not a great film but an inspired take on the world of Bly.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/07/23
Full Review
a.l.jude p
Slow but not up to the point.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
CKB
Brando made this independent film following 11 box office failures. He was now middle-aged, a bit flabby, and had a reputation for being difficult to work with. Good roles had become hard to find. Director Michael Winner had an intelligent script that no one would fund. It told the story of the 'evil' lovers whose memory -- or ghosts -- are at the center of Henry James's Turn of the Screw, and sought to turn them into real human beings who were complex yet understandable. Brando had enough fame to attract funding for this low-budget film, for which Winner even waived his salary for the privilege of working with Brando. The two needed each other, and they worked very well together, since Winner was one of the rare people who didn't treat Brando like a god or royalty at that point. Here Brando was playing a lowlife loser, much like his early role in On the Waterfront, and this seemed to fit where he was at in his life and career (right before Godfather and Last Tango in Paris would rekindle his star power). As a result, this is one of Brando's most natural performances, and there is something great about this film because of it.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/09/22
Full Review
Audience Member
Besides a wooden performances from the children, (performed by much older actors), and Marlo Brando incomprehensible accent. This enticing, tragic prequel, with its bondage and feverish sex scenes, was original and a welcomed, daring take on the 1961 movie "The Innocents".
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
laurent b
A very good hommage to The Turn of the Screw (and Jack Clayton's The Innocents).
Marlon Brando is awesome, and ...fearsome.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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