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Reviews
The Revenant (2009)
Loads of fun for the whole family!
Take Michael Mann's DV visual style from Collateral, sprinkle in some Tarantino-esquire dialogue, gently borrow the premise from Deathdream. And voilà! You've got The Revenant! Oddly enough, with all these comparisons one would believe the movie was a spoof of sorts, a giant rip-off machine perhaps. On the contrary, it stands very nicely on its own with head held high.
A horror action comedy zombie vampire buddy popcorn flick with a bit of romance tossed in for kicks. Here comes the kitchen sink too, look out! No, it's not one of those films that 'doesn't know what it wants to be.' It knows exactly what it is and boy does it ever deliver the goods! First and foremost, it is FUNNY! Even amidst some serious subject matter it manages to pull the humor out of the abyss. Dark comedy at its finest, folks! Astounding special effects and camera work especially considering it is an independent film. The acting is top notch, no slacker actors collecting a pay check here.
My only gripe: shorten a few scenes, make it more compact.
Don't Go in the House (1979)
Not a Just a Quick Cheesy Silly Low Budget 80's B-Movie
I first heard about Don't Go In The House when Quentin Tarantino mentioned that it was one of the most disturbing films he had ever seen. That's a bit hard to ignore, especially when it is coming from someone who directed/wrote one of the most brutal "ear-slashing" torture scenes in cinematic history. I still didn't bother renting it until the film left the "new releases" section of the video store I frequent. Even Tarantino's quote didn't grab me THAT much as I thought the title of the movie was a bit goofy, and I read elsewhere that it was really dated. I was just not in the mood for some silly cheesy 80's ultra-low budget exploitation film reminiscent of Last House on Dead End Street. Thankfully, I got more than that...way more.
Don't Go in The House was no doubt influenced by the very true story of Ed Gein which basically means that comparisons to Deranged and Psycho are inevitable. Throw in a bit of Maniac (which opened the same year) with a new weapon of choice and you've basically got Don't Go In The House. What is it about you say? It's about Donny Kohler who lives with his mother and comes home one day from work to find her dead. A normal person who made such a discovery would automatically call 911, but of course Donny isn't normal - that would just be boring. No, Donny instead turns up the stereo, smokes, jumps on a chair like a kid, and burns his cigarette out on a statuette. He is free!! Free from his oppressive and abusive mother. That's until he hears her voice calling out to him. But mother's voice is soon washed away by voices of women luring him on, beckoning him to go against her mothers stern demands and "sin". So, this means that Donny must go out, lure women back to his house, and....the rest is a spoiler.
While Don't Go In The House does have exploitative qualities about it, what sets it aside from typical "graphic" blood-spurting slashers like Maniac and The Prowler is its concentration and attention it gives to the inner turmoil of the lead character rather than focusing on his brutal actions. For this reason the film comes closer to being a character study like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer rather than a simple slasher like The Prowler. Granted, there are certain moments that are a bit hokey, but most of the movie is brilliantly embedded in reality due to solid convincing dialogue, the non-disappearance of daily routine like that pesky thing called "work", and actions that are perfectly in sync with intense situations that the victims find themselves in (especially the first one).
Don't Go In The House doesn't have too much fat either - every scene serves a clear purpose and doesn't seem to be drawn out to meet its feature length running time. The camera work is very good and inventive like an early Sam Raimi film. One instance that stands out is very brief. It involves Donny slapping a corpse across the face that is seated on a rocking chair. We see this from the corpses point of view - meaning that Donny slaps the camera, it shakes, and then it begins to rock back and forth. Brilliant! And completely unexpected in such a movie. The special effects are not bad for a low budget B movie from the 80's minus Savini - the least it can do is not make you laugh.
Overall, this was a solid film that didn't disturb me as much as it did Tarantino, but it did catch me by surprise.
Haute tension (2003)
Same old, same old
Very MINOR Spoilers ahead:
I caught a 7:15pm screening of this French psychological thriller/horror movie at the Toronto International Film Festival. Before I get into the "commenting" I want to say how great it was to watch this film with obvious horror buffs in attendance. All their reaction, especially to the gore was stellar. It made the film all the more exciting. What made the screening even more exciting is that director Alexandre Aja and his silent screenwriter Gregory Levasseur were there to introduce Haute Tension and they did a quick Q&A at the end of it.
Haute Tension which translates to "High Voltage" (or is it "High Tension"?), but the English title for some reason is Switchblade Romance is a typical serial killer taking care of business film. He stalks out a house in a rural area, and decides to get rid of its occupants. Pretty simple stuff, right? Well, not quite. Without giving anything away I'll just say that the film has a twist ending which adds a certain level of sophistication to it, but at the same time it's a cliche. Instead of the "twist" dropping my jaw in disbelief as I'm sure it was intended to do, it only made my eyes roll. The twist also complicated the plot to the point where it ceased to make logical sense. It was only during the Q&A at the end of the film where the director was requested to explain possible holes in the film and as he did everyone kind of let out a collective "Oooooh". In any case, 1 point must come off for that silly twist.
The serial killer of Haute Tension reminded me of Rusty Nails from Joy Ride - he had that rugged dirty trucker appearance. Oh, and his truck was definitely stolen from The Creeper. I'm sure The Creeper would want revenge for that so expect to see The Creeper vs. The Killer from Haute Tension in the near future. Possible title: "Dude, Where's The Creeper's Truck?!?". I guess they've got the villian down right, but he's nothing we haven't seen before. The killer is played by Philippe Nahon who I saw in Gaspar Noe's I Stand Alone and Irreversible. He did a decent job portraying a big bulky emotionless yet clever killer. I've always found killers with intelligence a lot more frightening than those without it since they are a lot harder to fool and are capable of playing mind games making the situation on the heroine (Marie played by Cecile De France) much tougher.
The inspiration for Haute Tension as mentioned by the director during the introduction came from horror films from the early 1980's. One scene in particular was ALMOST entirely lifted from Maniac. As a matter of fact, it was clearly a nice respectable homage which can only be appreciated fully by those who have seen the film. Haute Tension did have that gritty vibe going for it which I am sure would have been a lot more glossy if Hollywood had made it.
Now, for the gore. There is some seriously nice gore in this film, and it showed most of it with sadistic glee reminiscent of a Fulci film. A brilliant decapitation and a throat being slit stood out for me. However, the film did hold back on the gore as it could have been much more brutal but they decided to not show it for whatever reason. There was a barbed wire beating and a shotgun blast which they chose not to show...oh well, guess we all have our limits unless your name is Gaspar Noe or Ruggero Deodato.
All in all Haute Tension was average. There was really nothing special that stood out. Good gore, good intense moments, but still quite forgettable.
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Dreadful plot, and characters, but technically good
I have some respect for Roger Avary, a new Hollywood writer/director whose first film called Killing Zoe was worthy enough to be in my small DVD collection. However, his second film, and the one I am "commenting" on right now will NEVER make it into my collection. Rules of Attraction is just plain bad.
It's obvious that this college party-hardy film was conceived out of the minds of two horny testosterone filled men named Roger Avary and Bret Easton Ellis (the man responsible for writing the novel). I mean, when you see gay men being tossed around by straight men and indirectly being made fun of, a drunken virgin being sexually taken advantage of, a beautiful blonde being gang banged by the football team, and countless young beautiful "easy" college girls getting naked you just know something is not quite right.
As much as this film tries to have a heart, it just simply doesn't. Most of the characters are cold jerks who are either looking for sex, drugs, or beer. They get plenty of it too. Half the time the characters are drunk, high or just being stupid so I really didn't get a good sense of who these people are. The film and the characters have the depth of a bottle cap, and the feeble attempt to add depth to the film with a suicide was laughable. Melodrama at its worst.
I'm not sure about this films budget, but it must have been somewhat low considering that most of the college parties with grandiose names like "Edge of the World", and "End of the World" looked like high school house parties with around 50 people in attendance. Couldn't get enough extras? Too bad, looks like you tried to bite off more than you can chew and it showed.
What I did like about the film is the technical aspects like camera work, lighting, editing, and sound, but not even those things could save the film from its dreadful characters and plot. Come to think of it, was there even a plot?
I'd like to end this "comment" by stating that I sincerely hope that Roger Avary could please try to find his heart behind all the fat he has gained, and attempt to write a script that is more human.
Braindead (1992)
Entertaining Gorefest
Dead-Alive (aka Braindead) is basically about a rat/monkey from Africa that carries a strange disease which transforms humans into zombie-like creatures through its bite. Eventually it manages to bite a human being, and thus begins the farcical gorefest known as Dead-Alive. Dead-Alive is directed by Peter Jackson who has not-so-recently been scooped up by Hollywood to direct the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's interesting to see Jackson's early work in horror/comedy like Meet the Feebles, Bad Taste, and his best film (in my opinion) Dead-Alive. The excessive amount of gore blends beautifully with the black humor. If you can stomach the gore then you'll be laughing yourself silly at some of the insanely ridiculous situations. The ultra quick pace of the film in the second half is highly entertaining to watch, and it almost becomes surreal when it gets to the immensely bloody "lawnmower" scene. The acting is done in a comedic style with quick reactions and proper timing. Dead-Alive is a silly little film, but it is very fun to watch. One thing Peter Jackson knows how to do well is make entertaining films no matter what the budget is.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Falls Short of Brilliance
If you have not seen Cannibal Holocaust then this is the review for you since it contains absolutely no spoilers.
Prior to viewing Cannibal Holocaust I was warned about the incredible amount of violence it contains. This warning came in the form of a note written on the rental box at my local video store which basically said, "Avoid if you're squeamish or an animal lover".I've viewed a fair amount of horror films which had lots of gore, but this was way over the top and it didn't lighten up the situation with humor like Dead-Alive or Dawn of the Dead did. Real animals are slaughtered and eaten (some aren't) but if you've ever gutted a fish or watched a nature show then this will not bother you. Although, I must admit, the buffet of slimy guts the giant tortoise contained was quite disgusting. Fear not, all common household pets were spared.
The story is about an anthropologist from NYU who ventures deep into what I presume is the Amazon Rain Forest of Brazil (called "Green Inferno" in the movie) to locate a film documentary crew who have gone missing, and to study the cannibalistic tribes of the area paying particular attention to the mysterious "Tree People". With a few close calls the anthropologist and his guides locate the Tree People and the dead remains of the film documentary crew. They also find tapes that the crew recorded for their documentary. The true horror of Cannibal Holocaust lies within these tapes. Expect the unexpected. Any further information of the plot would be considered a spoiler.
Beyond all the gore, sex, and amoral acts there lurks something much darker in Cannibal Holocaust which should have been explored to a greater length if only the film could escape its own genre. For this reason I felt cheated to a certain degree. It's as if the viewer is shown a journey with the destination being the belly or the heart of a beast, but the journey ends abruptly in the beasts knee. If the journey ended in the beasts heart then I could have said that Cannibal Holocaust is a perfect blend of The Blair Witch Project, The Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, and Natural Born Killers.
A few worthy things to note:
I rented Cannibal Holocaust on VHS tape so the picture quality wasn't good. However, I also saw a digitally re-mastered Collector's Edition DVD which I am sure has the best possible picture quality.
The acting in the film is good. I'm sure the realism of the shaky hand-held camera work along with some great editing enhanced the performance of the actors.
All in all, Cannibal Holocaust is a mediocre horror film which could have been a lot better. While viewing the film I kept asking myself who the real savages are. I did not over-look Ruggero Deodato and his team.
Windtalkers (2002)
Big Glossy Waste
Windtalkers thrusts the viewer into the thick of battle from the very beginning. Bullets, bombs, and bodies fly in all directions. Japanese soldiers pop out of the bushes from every angle like in a video game. Men scream like Rambo, they die, they kill, and I am laughing. Why am I laughing? Allow me to explain. This entire battle is choreographed to such precise movements that it loses its fluidity and becomes robotic. It feels like we are watching toy soldiers battling it out. The battle is understandably confined to a small space, but with the brightness of the day, and the glossiness of the picture it feels like you are on the set of a big budget Hollywood film. Fake! Fake! Fake! The only thing that could have saved this scene is a director yelling "cut" at the end, but that never happened. If I saw this in a theater I would have walked out right away and demanded a refund.
Windtalkers is simply about two sergeants whose duty is to protect two Native Americans who use their language as a code for radio communications. Nice ideal for a film, but not even Nicholas Cage's acting and John Woo's direction could pull it out of the gutter. The characters seem like they have been put through some sort of Hollywood checklist. Do we have the tortured experienced soldier? Check. Do we have the racist soldier who will mock the Native Americans every chance he gets? Check. Do we have the kind soldier who will sympathize with the Natives? Check. The checklist goes on and on.
The acting isn't stellar, and you will notice this right away. However, here is a scene that stuck out for me. For various reasons Nicholas Cage and windtalker Adam Beach are alone together. Cage just had one of his nightmarish war flashbacks, and Beach attempts to talk to him, but Cage just brushes him away. While Beach is walking away he turns around and says, "What is wrong with you?". This would have been a nice scene if only Beach didn't have an ear to ear smile on his face as he said that last line. There are also some ridiculous reactions to some extreme situations. This film is a good example of actors relying on the camera to save them from their half-ass performance. We come for the pay check! Unfortunately, nobody told the actors that the editors came to quickly collect and leave as well.
Windtalkers would have been a decent made for TV film, but not a big budget feature. Waste of money. Waste of time.
C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992)
Man Bites Controversy
A mock documentary about the life of a serial killer shot in grainy black & white. Don't expect a Jeffrey Dahmer type killer going around disemboweling, dismembering, and eating the hearts of his victims. Man Bites Dog is much more pleasant than that. Our serial killer is simply known as Ben (played charmingly by Benoit Poeloorde) who kills without remorse for kicks and for money. Ben is intelligent, cunning, funny, and psychotic. Well, aren't all serial killers these days quickly labeled as being psychotic?
Ben's cheerful little life is being documented on a regular basis by Remy and his crew as he goes about his business of killing innocent bystanders. We meet Ben's relatives, friends, and for a brief while his enemies. Life is good for Ben as he goes about doing his job which is made easier since the documentary crew willingly assist him. Enough about Ben, lets get down to the movie. Wait, Ben IS the movie. He is in nearly every shot!
Man Bites Dog is a DARK comedy which (like dark ale) is of an acquired taste. Most people can't or simply refuse to laugh at the absolutely ridiculous situations, humorous characters, and dialogue because of a few (alright, perhaps a lot) senseless killings. Ben's face alone is capable o f making me laugh. There was a lot of controversy over the brutal violence in Man Bites Dog. Some people thought it was way over the top. Well, what did you expect? It's a documentary of a serial killer not a priest. The graphic gang rape is what infuriated most people, but again, watch it closely and the sheer ridiculousness of the act and the manner in which it is being conducted should make you chuckle. That's the beauty of Man Bites Dog, it makes you laugh at things that you normally would not laugh at. Sort of like the S&M scene, and the guy getting accidentally shot in the back seat of Pulp Fiction. Same thing, dark humor at its best.
What is the purpose of the film other than to make one laugh? The 2 directors/writers (Remy Belvaux & Andre Bonzel) of the film will have you believe that it's a satire of media violence like the movie Natural Born Killers. I don't buy it, but it's open to interpretation. Man Bites Dog is a brilliant low budget film that really pushes the envelope of film-making. I've noticed it's still pushing it with the new DVD cover which shows a man shooting a gun pointed downward and a pacifier in mid-air with blood behind it. This clearly indicates a baby has been shot. Controversy, controversy, controversy! It sells.