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H-Volke
Reviews
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Outstanding cast!
One of my favorite horror movies. It has two subjects underlying it, and it manages to deal with them without playing to the gallery. First of all, it deals with sexuality and the coming of age. The combination between the first period and her turning into a werewolf is a great idea showing disturbing feelings about one's own body. The second subject is treated as well: exclusion, and the fear of being alone. Both sisters have spent a great deal of their time together, and, as both are outsiders, the older sister protects the younger one. When Ginger is bitten, her sister slowly comes to grip with the alterations Ginger's body is going through, but the process of separating from the beloved sister is difficult. At the end, we see Ginger (as a werewolf)lying to die on the floor, with her sister crying on her chest. These final shots are maybe the greatest of the whole movie: they show the beginning of adulthood for Ginger's sister. Great movie, great acting performances, keeping into account the small budget spent on this movie. Worth a look.
Mein Bruder, der Idiot (2000)
Entertaining movie without moralist undertones
This movie narrates the story of two brothers, one of which has the Down Syndrome, the other is preparing for an important examination for a piano contest (or something like that). Like "Le huitieme jour" ( a good French movie dealing with the same subject), we see both brothers in different situations. The most impressive scene happens in local dance hall where Jakob (the brother with Down syndrome) starts to dance frenetically and wants a blond girl to do the same. She feels embarrassed, and, being rejected, we see Jakob crying on the floor. This is one of the most intense scenes of the whole film: everybody is in a good mood, but Jakob is excluded. His own interpretation of "fun", shown in an outburst of feelings and his desire for physical contact is seen an embarrassment. A great scene. The title "Mein Bruder, der Idiot"does not only refer to the mentally retarded brother, but although to the non-handicapped: he has to learn that Jakob has a different view of the world he is living in, and that it is sometimes impossible to make it match with the surrounding and "hostile" world. Fortunately, the movie does not try to hang out a moralist point of view of how discriminating the "normal" world can be to handicapped people. Its undertone is full of understanding for the problems both characters have in getting their lives arranged. Worth a look.
Holes (2003)
Good story, good actors: pure family entertainment
Holes (4 out of 5 stars)
Warning: Spoilers!
I saw this one in Bremen the other day, and, although it has a 6 rating, it was pure fun watching. And that had nothing to do with the cast that comprises of stars like Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight. The best performance was given by the new actors, especially Shia LaBeouf, who plays Stanley Yelnats. He is the son of an inventor who is trying to find an agent against malodorous feet.
The movie starts in a strange way: on strolling home, Stanley is hit by a pair of sneakers, coming right out of the air (at the end of the movie, all becomes clear, but this opening scene leaves the audience totally in the dark).
We soon learn that the sneakers were just being stolen from an auction around the corner, and it was a special auction for homeless kids and their orphanage. Totally unguilty, Stanley is arrested and tried for stealing the sneakers, and has to serve his correctional time in the so-called `Camp Green Lake'. This camp consist of juvenile delinquents that have to dig a hole in the desert sand every day to ascertain that their `characters will be correctioned and strengthened'.
The camp is lead by the Boss (Sigourney Weaver as the high-handed leader that rules with inexorable rigour). Her foreman is played by Jon Voight, and his old and wrinkly face is combined by an absolutely fantastic manner of playing the dumb foreman of the Boss. Weaver puts down a totally unsatisfying role: she rules with the `carrot-and-stick'-method. One day, one of the children finds a rest of a lipstick with two initials engraved on it. Greedy to find more, she gives the guys more water, and this scene is so ridiculous because Weaver tries to act like the merciless lady whose word is law.
What did I like most when viewing this movie? First of all, it has a straight and entertaining storyline, a good plot, and outstanding young actors. Second, and this makes the movie less suitable for very young children, it deals with problems of exclusion, racism and love between a white female teacher and a black retailer. The local farming boy, that is, like we learn at the end, a relative of the Boss (therefore she was keen on digging), soon kills the black man while fishing on the local lake. Decades later, the lake is totally dried up. Now all pieces come together, and the audience can out all pieces together. The boat the black man was killed in contained a treasure, and the Boss want to put her hands on it.
Admittedly, the whole story is too long to be completely told here, and I do not want to give away all elements of the plot that has in a Disney-movie a must a happy end. But I liked the film: it has epic features (just when we see shots of the whole lake dried up and full of holes, the two boys climbing up the `thumb', or when the teacher that has just lost her lover becomes a robber, is finally bitten by a poisonous reptile and dies.
An entertaining family film that should be consumed with parents and kids together to explain one and another. It was fun of seeing it on the big screen.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
One of the best horror movies ever made!
This movie has been long banned in different countries, among them Germany. But why? Hardly no blood is seen and spilled, and one nasty scene with a woman being hooked up is intense, but unbloody. So what makes this movie watchable? Above all, it's message is simple, but effective. In one scene, a group of teenagers (in an old VW-bus) are passing a cattle farm, where the cattle is waiting to be slaughered. They pick up a strange hiker alongside the road, and when a guy in a wheelchair starts glorifying the slaughtering of the cattle (..they make headcheese...) he is cut with knife by the hiker. This is the onset of their deadly journey, only two of them will survive. The VW-bus scene is central, and shows that the director wanted to mix the treatment of cattle and of the group: they are treated like cattle(one of them is slain with a big butcher hammer) and hooked like animals. Although there is never graphic violence, the movie is (above all for horror movie beginners) hard to endure: because of hearsay, a lot of gruesome chainsaw action with guts and blood spilling is expected. But nothing about that. There are by far more bloody movies. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is, although cheaply made and done, a horror gem that has already give its place in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In Germany, a slightly cut version has been re-edited by the SPIO/JK committee. It is worth taking a look, although the real fan will want to see the original one.
Rosso sangue (1981)
The director should be sued!
This is, very unlogical,indeed, the second part of the "Man-Eater" movies that were only made to play to the meanest and lowest gallery. And as may be expected, there is no real story: Eastman, when being hunted by some man (he was scientist experimenting with nuclear materials) gets his guts impaled, and is brought to the nearby hospital. He starts a killing spree there, the contents of which I will not recall, because otherwise I would be deepfully ashamed of my common sense. At the end, and after a lot of gratuitous and graphic (also cheaply made efx are presented) the audience may well find that it has lost half of its braincells during the viewing of this inhuman piece of this waste of money, celluloid and time. Although I am still vigorously against censorship, the director should be sued for compensation. This has nothing to do with neither horror nor entertainment. Its inhumanity is only be outdone by the actors imcompetence to set down a good role. I strictly advice everybody, even it is simply for reasons of curiosity, to watch this crap. It spoils the whole evening.
The Terminator (1984)
Cameron at his best!
This is the movie that started Schwarzenegger's career, and, as we all know, his acting has only slightly bettered since. But that's not the problem. Schwarzenegger is at his best as the reckless, unmotivated robot trying to hunt down and kill Sarah Connor. And the more inhuman he seems to be, the more human the whole story gets. Behind all the action, explosions and the furious (although cheap slow-motion) end, there is a deeper message: even if you feel small and unimportant, you can be of some paramount importance in the future. The most intense scene are not those when the Terminator kills the dancers in the disco or runs amuck in the police station. It's the loving scene in the middle of the movie, when John Connor is conceived. This scene is intense, and is interrupted by the nearing Terminator that abruptly disturbs the whole scene. A great combination. Terminator is thus a typical movie of the 80's with a lot of shootings, but, beneath it, a great story, and a message that makes the movie my all-time favorite.
The Fear: Resurrection (1999)
Save your money!!
I don't know why I saw this movie, but I think the cover looked cool. And that's all the audience can expect when watching this nonsense. It simply tries to copy films like "Scream" etc., but it fails!!!! And how!!! More than 90 minutes no gore, nothing, and I expect that this was the r-rated version with all violence cut out. That this crap has been rated 18 in Germany shows that in this country censorship and ignorance rules by the FSK (comparable to MPAA or BBFC). Admittedly, gore and violence do no make a good horror movie, but even the dialogues are so dull and senseless that I had to pull the forward button as often as I could. My advice: save you money!!!!
Day of the Dead (1985)
More dialogues, better guts, less atmosphere!
This is the third and last part of the trilogy of Romero's Living Dead movies. The living dead have spread all over the world, and the last survivors are trying to find some other remnants of civilization. Meanwhile, tensions are rising between a group of scientists and a military group. A doctor, called "Dr. Frankenstein" tries to domesticate the zombies, so they will stop eating the living. For gorehounds only the last 15 - 20 minutes are really interesting: Tom Savini has outdone himself, and the perfection of his efx are breathtaking, but nothing more. His violence seems to be so clean, so well set up that it losses a part of its effect: while in Fulci's movies the violence was so cheap and filthy that the whole atmosphere was breathing a scent of rotting flesh and death, Romero's zombies are state-of-the art corpses, perfectly made and directed. Nevertheless, what makes the movie watchable is the lack of misogyny Fulci's films were full of. The film is violent, yes, but the violence is alleviated by not specifically making women the victims of the zombies' attacks. All in all watchable, but some people will need a strong stomach and a sense of humor. Additional information: this movie has been strongly cut in Germany, but was banned instead. Now, it has been re-ratified 16 by the FSK (German board of censors), but keep your fingers away from this torso. It's a shame!!!!!
Der Seewolf (1971)
Well done, but not for children
Admittedly, this film is well done. It narrates the story of a ship under the leadership of Rolf Larssen, a violent, mentally-ill man. When a ship wreckage of another ship happens, the survivors are taken aboard, and the unholy cruise begins. Harmstorf, a bad actor, who in his career was allowed only to play scumbacks, muggers and robbers, does not play Larsson, he is Larson. Once in a while, his furious attacks of mental pain are so real and scary, that the movie gets a realistic touch that goes far beyond imagination. But, it also plays to the gallery by showing a seaman crawling around after his legs having been bitten off by a shark, with all other seamen standing around, cheering and laughing. Although such scene of graphic violence are rare, the movie is not for children. Harmstorf, who committed suicide after a long and drawn-out suffering of Alzheimer, sets down a figure that is so real that we can deduce from that his real nature : a lone, psychopathic man, prone to violence.
The Mighty (1998)
Great actors, great movie!
WOW! Once in a while, from Hollywood their comes a real gem, succeeding in getting famous names like Sharon Stone and Harry Dean Stanton (although the latter is not a star, he's strong in characters). The film deals with the friendship of two boys, one of them (Culkin) handicapped. The neighborhood boys like to make fun of him, until he gets to know his friend, a loner like himself, who helps him. Both guys are quite the opposite of each other: the one is clever, and quick at inventing things, but handicapped, the other a little bit slower, but has his heart at the right place. Both can learn from each other that tolerance is very important in a friendship, and, above all, a good friend should be counted on, whatever may happen. Unfortunately, at the end of the film, "The Mighty" has to die, due to a long sickness. The end is therefore very heart-rending, and even I was lucky to had a handkerchief at reach. So what makes this movie recommandable? First of all, it can put its strengh from marvellous actors like Sharon Stone, that gives a very good performance as the sick boy's mother. Harry Dean Stanton, the alcoholic father of the other friend, in not so bad at all, but he simply has no patience and cannot keep apace with his son. The second point is that the film mixes reality and fiction, a good example of this the two boys going on a stroll, being accompanied by knights. The wonderful soundtrack from Sting does the rest. Taken all in all, a film for the whole family, and a film that is worth being watched over and over again.
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
A kick in the stomach. Two thumbs up!
This movie is for a mature audience only. It narrates the story of Teena Brandon who pretends being a boy. In the beginning, she rodeo-rides a car, behaves like a man, and is integrated into the family of her girlfriend she finally falls in love with. This ultimately turns out be her biggest mistake, leading to her death, because the two redneck brothers of her girlfriend don't like "freaks". She is beaten, violated, and ultimately shot to death. What made me feeling sick and sad after this movie is not only the violence depicted, that is never gratuitous or superfluous. What made me feel bad is that there is a growing tendency in the world to inhumanity, intolerance and hate against all that is different. Therefore is a good contribution to the discussion what makes violence happen, how it happens and, above all, where it happens. The two redneck brothers depicted in the movie are chanceless, dumb and prone to alcohol. Unfortunately, this combination leads to a climate of intolerance and violence, something we can witness in a strong extent in today's European societies. This film should be watched by classes etc. and to be discussed about. And outstanding performance is delivered by Hillary Swank!!
Lo squartatore di New York (1982)
Shows that Fulci was one of the worst directors ever!
This movie has stirred much discussion, above all in countries with a strict violence policy on movies, like Germany. In this democracy, the movie is still banned, and, one might add, this could do the movie only a favour. Fulci has repeatedly been called "Master of Gore", but, by a long shot, he's only able to film a crude mixture of misogynic nonsense and an abstruse story. The EFX presented are bad, even the last, most brutal scene, cutting a woman's body to pieces (with a close up of nipples being cut in half) may break a taboo; in fact it isn't worth a look. Violence is very boring when applied to movies at random and without function. Here, we got to do with such an example. Obviously, Fulci had a bad childhood, his mother often treated him bad, and he could not come over those experiences made during childhood. "The New York Ripper" should not be banned, it should give new directors an example how worse a horror movie can really be.
Maniac (1980)
Another Fulci interpretation: beware!
Here's another of the video nasties of the early 80's. Maniac narrates the story of a fat, psychotic, mummy-child. Monologues are held with an imaginary voice, probably his mother, that orders him to punish women. So it happens. The movie was banned in several countries for showing scalpings of a woman and other cruelties. But, and every horror fan should remember that, violence without a function is not hard or shocking, it's boring. And that's what I felt when watching this movie. I felt bored. Maniac simply is the story of a loser, trying to compensate this with nasty murders and some surgery (although made by Tom Savini are not state-of-the art, but I guess the guys we're finally out of money for this smuck-movie). In the Netherlands, everybody is allowed (from 16 on) to watch this garbage. The Dutch know that that kind of nonsense cannot harm any normal people. As to its misogynic contents: forget about it. Long- drawn-out scenes of a woman being hunted down to the subway, finally being stabbed (sense?). And, the filmmakers should be sued for torturing the audience) again and again the fat, filthy face of the "Maniac" talking to his mother.
In a nutshell: this movie is a shame and a waste of celluloid used, but it cannot count as a real and good horror movie. Give me the trashcan, I'll do the rest.