Movie Review: Dark Ride    12:39pm 04/07/2008   A low budget picture released under the 8 Films to Die For banner, Dark Ride certainly can't deliver great acting or plotting, but the atmosphere and gore is mostly top notch. Set in a modern day dark-ride/spookhouse in which a kid was traumatized in the sixties, the film makes the most of the environs and really showcases a lot of dark ride gags and devices, which is largely what appeals to me, given my love of horror walk throughs and rides. The killer is suitably intimidating, a hulking figure wearing the face of one of the animatronic figures inside the ride as a mask, and the film features some fun kills. However, the all-too-predictable teenage cast including a dorky guy, a stoner, a sexy hitchhiker, and all the rest of typical movie teen cliches, are just a waste of film. Great location and well made dark ride itself, lots of focus on the props and scares within, and a decent killer. Just ignore the rest of the actors and ludicrous, transparent "plot".        Post   Review: Blade Runner (Dir: Ridley Scott)    11:54am 22/06/2008   Truly a film I should have seen long before this, Blade Runner is a superb, detailed, dark and often times flat out weird movie I can only describe as being gothic future noir. Noir conventions like the conflicted police main character, dimly lit streets, fog and mist, and vaugely forties looking costumes for the handful of lead characters, such as Deckard and Rachel, added to the weird almost cyberpunk detailing and mannequin filled lair of the second half of the movie cement it as being distinctive and almost overfilled with details to catch the first time through. The replicants remaining for the film's final act, Pris and Ray, are both distinctive and odd, and are brilliantly given both small human moments and outrageously weird actions owing to their being created with extra abilities. I also quite appreciated the brilliantly ambiguous ending, and the way Deckard's faith in himself and his world, his convictions slowly crumbled away. The entire ending sequence, from the arrival at the Bradbury building and it's mannequin and robotic filled loft, to Ray's stunningly heartfelt and lonely summary of how it feels to be the last of his kind, to Deckard and Rachel stepping into the elevator and out of sight, is brilliant. Dark, funny, weird, and touching depending on the moment. A brilliant film, and highly recommended.        Post   Movie Review: Haxan, Witchcraft through the Ages (Dir: Benjamin Christensen)    10:01am 18/06/2008   A truly odd and menacing silent Dutch film about the history of witchcraft, Haxan deserves a watch by any lover of serious horror films. It can be at times dry and scholarly, but even at these moments, like the showing of a model of the ancient Egyptian idea of the universe, the imagery is very strong and strange. The best portions of the film are undoubtedly the blue and red tinged fantasies shown of a old woman's confession of she served the devil, and the other witches and activities that went on there. Obviously stage built sets are suitably menacing and twistedly artistic, and the casting is fantastic, lots of odd and distinctive character faces, nudity, leering demonic set pieces, and silly nonsense like the bewitched dancing in circles wearing large costume animal heads, or kissing the devil's ass. A odd, well-crafted, and quite surprisingly advanced film for it's early time period. Definitely recommended.        Post   Movie Review: Black Sheep (Dir: Jonathan King)    02:17pm 16/06/2008   If you ever thought horror movies weren't quite as dependent on evil livestock, here's your movie. Both hilarious and disturbing, Black Sheep is definitely worth watching for the flat out preposterous gags and the gruesomely designed effects and mutant sheep creatures. A small New Zealand farm is the location of the drama, where a businessman/farmer is testing out genetically modified sheep for market, much to the horror of his just returned brother, who naturally has a intense phobia of sheep. Toss in a couple environmental protesters, and factor in that the sheep are angry and out for blood, and you can figure out what happens from here. One gag in particular is effective, where the big city brother with the fear of sheep and the female environmentalist are trying to escape down a old well system, are promptly followed by one of the deranged sheep, causing them to spasm in terror whenever a not particularly menacing "Baaaa" drifts after them down the darkened tunnels. The effects are well done, if intentionally silly in some cases, and it functions well in giving the killer sheep actual character and menace. Recommended indeed for fans of off-beat horror.        Post   Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk (Dir: Louis Leterrier)    11:04am 15/06/2008   The Incredible Hulk is a extremely strong film, and more than keeps up with the level of quality and originality set fourth by Iron Man a few months before. The widening and building upon of a filmic Marvel universe is handled brilliantly, and the film works stunningly well on a stand alone level also. The opening sequences in Brazil are visually gorgeous, the city is amazing to watch, and as echoes through the film, the loneliness of Ed Norton's Bruce Banner is striking and very moving to watch. As soon as the action picks up, the Hulk emerges of course, in a very dark, almost horror movie style scene, flashing out of the shadows to crush both soldiers and locals who had been taunting Banner. The film works well on several levels, most notably blending the persecution and loneliness elements of seventies TV show (with a few large elements featured, such as the green contacts trick, the recognizable walking away music cue, and Lou Ferrigno doing the voice of the Hulk) with the sci-fi/fantasy elements of the comics (sonic sound cannon weaponry, throwing gamma radiated monsters around like it's commonplace.) Even better is the sheer number of Marvel universe hints dropped throughout, from mention naturally of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D, Stark Enterprises, the super soldier experiments of the forties, a possible origin of the character the Leader, and of course, the appearance of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark at the very end. A fun to watch, well made and written film, and a worthy relaunch of the character.        Post   Movie Review: Terror at Red Wolf Inn (Dir: Bud Townsend)    11:53am 14/06/2008   This 1972 film is a welcome one, having gruesome subject matter implied well and hinted at, with a few scenes of gore, otherwise being well-acted and subtle. A college student named Regina is informed she has "won" a weekend getaway at the remote Red Wolf inn, overseen by a kindly elderly couple and their mildly mentally challenged son. It soon becomes apparent, obvious for this kind of film, that things aren't right, as anyone with half a brain can see the kindly owners are fattening up the young women, followed by a hasty excuse that they have "gone home" the next day. Add in the many, lingering dinner scenes during which the victi---er, guests are happily chewing on cuts of meat and remarking on it, and you figure out pretty quickly what is going on. Mary Jackson in particular, as the dominant member of the murderous family, Evelyn, is delightful to watch for being both extremely kindly and subtly creepy. The movie has a gruesome joke for an ending as well, involving Baby John, the couple's son, and Regina attempting to escape together before the old woman tracks them down, followed by a flash to the next scene, John sitting on the floor of the old house,innocently playing with toy trucks, as Regina watches over him, then a cut to show the severed heads of the elderly couple in the meat freezer. A unique, offbeat film and a must for anyone with a enjoyment of the cannibalism sub-genre.        Post   Movie Review: The Golden Compass (Dir: Chris Weitz)    12:03pm 13/06/2008   Compared to yesterday's review, where I had trouble even watching the movie all the way through, this film was a pleasure. A well-told, original fantasy universe put on film is a welcome thing. The concept of the daemons as a external kind of soul is very good, and the people and animal spirits working around each other in every frame of the film is fascinating to watch. Better still, the movie has actual bite and uneasy bits for a kid's movie, my favorite being the rather brutal dispatch of the king of the armored polar bear. Further pleasing to me is the marked undercurrent of the story dealing with the religious/government agency being the ones doing the really dark, underhanded shit and attempting to squash free will basically, at the cost of kidnapping children. A very atheist approach to film villiany, which seems likely to be at the core of the books as well. Standout cast includes Sam Eliot playing Sam Eliot, or in this case, a crusty old air-pilot who wears a cowboy hat and six shooters, and whose daemon is a long-eared dessert hare. Also delightful is Ian McKellen, sounding truly menacing and hardcore as the exiled prince of the armored polar bears, and the always engrossing Christopher Lee in a tiny, miniscule part (one line!) as one of the heads of the sinister Majesterium. A few quibbles, the elithiometer, the golden compass of the title, which the lead Lyra uses to find the truth of situations, is an extremely convenient film contrivance for moving the plot along. Worse, though, is the fact the end of the film hints at a much larger story to tell, which it seems unlikely at this point will ever happen in filmic form, given no even whispers have been said of the followup films. A fine, solid fantasy movie with enough to satisfy any fan of the genre, minus a few small missteps.        Post   Movie Review: Beast of the Yellow Night (Dir: Eddie Romero)    12:28pm 12/06/2008   This 1971 film, based and filmed in the Philippines, is most definitely representative of a whole slew of cheap films with maybe one decent effect spread out by loads of ridiculous crap and boring dialogue scenes. In this film, the lead, a fellow with a lazy eye named John Ashley, plays two roles in a way that is never explained in any fashion, and merely alternates between the separate "characters" he is supposed to be playing in any given scene. This is highly confusing and pointless, as it is never really explained as to why exactly this is happening, it just enters another long scene of talking. In addition, the "plot" at work, centering on a dead man giving his soul to the devil to return to life, and being transformed at night to a monster, is shoved aside basically into irritating little scenes where the devil (a chubby, naked Asian man with a headband and a woven bag of raw meat) spouts pointless quasi-philosophical crap at the bemused looking lead actor. I must admit, the monster makeup effects aren't bad at all, well designed, kind of like a dirty Mr. Hyde/werewolf cross. But the whole film is pointless, and by the time, you won't care when Joseph Langdon transforms into a monster. Not recommended under any circumstances.        Post   Movie Review, June 11: Teeth (2007), Dir: Mitchell Lichtenstein    11:02am 11/06/2008   Director and writer Mitchell Lichtenstein has made with "Teeth" a truly original and unique horror film. The premise on it's own is cringe worthy and inspired, and would indeed be a great launching pad for inspired gore and uneasy elements along with social commentary. It is too bad, then, with such a good central idea and strong casting, that the script doesn't fully realize it's potential. Jess Weixler as Dawn, the lead character, is certainly a fine actress and can capture both the initial naive nature of her character, as well as the darker aspects she gains as the film progresses. The gore is certainly intense and everything you would expect from a film with a teenage girl having a fanged vagina. One notable shot at the end of the film features Dawn standing up from the bed where she has dispatched her disgustingly unappealing step-brother's member, and dropping the severed penis from within, only to have his pet dog bound over and chew on it. The change in Dawn is well-handled, from a outspoken proponent of abstinence at her school at the beginning, to someone willing to use her uniqueness and sexuality to punish or avenge slights against her at the end, but the subtext is largely ineffective, such as the constant shots of the huge nuclear towers behind the family home, or the unresolved emotional issue of Dawn killing her best friend when she refuses sex, and he presses the issue, only to become the first victim of her fangy mutation. The cinematography and settings are admittedly rather bland, but this isn't a exotic film in that way...no truly innovative work is produced visually, but the film does not call for that. Definitely worth viewing on the merits of being a unique and thoughtful horror film, even if all the elements don't exactly gel together 100%. There are not so much scares as uneasy moments, including a monumentally hard to watch scene involving Dawn's first gynecologist appointment. Recommended, just expect a interesting and well-made film that falls shy of being perfectly realized.        Post

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