"The night HE came home!"

Do I really need to talk about Halloween? It's a classic and the Halloween staple. You have to watch it around this time of year and that's that. Is it so wrong that I've always enjoyed the air of mystery around Michael Myers? Thanks, Rob Zombie, for completely eradicating that in your lackluster remake. You sir, are no chain-smoking John Carpenter.


That wraps up the Halloween Movie Fest for this year! We got through five titles, not too shabby...

Happy Halloween!!

Kiwi is a fruit best served delicious...

Ah The Locals...why do I love ye so, The Locals? Here's a movie from New Zealand that strangely has not been fondled by Peter Jackson. It's the story of two city boys who get lost late at night in the country, get their car stuck, and then find themselves running from murderous country folk. It sounds familiar but The Locals has a pretty fresh storyline, taking it in unexpected directions at times. I think what makes it work for me is how much I just really like the main characters. They come off as genuine and real, and you can't help but feel empathy for their plight. Dude, this is the only horror movie that makes me cry. What's up with that?!

Surprisingly, The Locals has a shockingly low score on the old IMDB. Maybe that shouldn't be shocking considering it was a majority vote that passed Measure 8 in California last year...just sayin'. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think!

Oh, the horror...

If you are a fan of Hammer Horror, then Horror of Dracula is where it's at. Even us die hards have to admit that our British friends knew how to put out a snoozer from time to time, but Horror is a glowing example of how good Hammer could be when they were in top form. This movie is basically another re-telling of Bram Stoker's source material but here we have Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing playing Van Helsing. Both actors have taken on these roles multiple times but it's here that they bust out some serious performances. Halloween Movie Fest, check. Giant bowl of candy, check. Sweet gothic horror, check!

"Hey, these things don't leak, do they?"

The Return of the Living Dead is in full effect! As far as I know, this might be the first movie where zombies moved from eating flesh and intestines to focusing on delicious human brains. Make that BRAAAAIIIINNNSSS!! And what's up with the creepy torso zombie lady they interrogate? Not only does she talk (what?!) but she gives some interesting insight into why zombies need to eat. Return supposedly picks up where Night left off more than 25 years earlier when a zombie in a sealed military tank is accidentally let out and all hell breaks loose. This has definitely got to be one of my favorite movies of all time. It has a fun punk soundtrack, zombies, a Nazi mortician, some pretty awesome zombies, and it never takes itself too seriously.

"Send. more. paramedics."

Kristy Swanson killed Mama Fratelli

Halloween Movie Fest kicks off with Wes Craven's Deadly Friend, an underrated little gem from 1986. Albert Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie puts his robot's motherboard into Kristy Swanson's freshly dead brain in hopes to bring her back. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this scenario, right? Heads explode, bodies fly, and Joe Bob Briggs once said Deadly Friend is A Breakfast Club version of Bride of Frankenstein which for me makes it a no-brainer. Or a crazy robot-brainer.

Halloween Movie Fest!!

I'll be kicking off my Halloween Movie Fest in a little over an hour. The plan is to pack in as many horror films as I can on this frightful Halloween day/night, all while blogging, tweeting, and facebooking it up. Good thing we turn the clocks back at 2 AM, all the more spooky screen time for Citizen Irene! Stay tuned...


Don't forget to follow The CineFiles on Twitter!!
@CitizenIrene

David Cronenberg: Auteur (Part Three)

While we question the reality of a situation we must also question who a person really is in a Cronenberg film. There are a wide variety of ways that the identity of a Cronenberg character comes under speculation. In films such as Shivers, Rabid and The Fly, it is disease or metamorphosis of some kind that causes a drastic change in identity. In Videodrome, The Dead Zone, Naked Lunch and M. Butterfly, it is a deliberate act by a character masking their true self that causes confusion.

Cronenberg takes this a step further in his truly unique and fascinating use of actors to really make his audience unsure as to who is who. In Naked Lunch, eXistenZ and Spider, certain actors play multiple characters to increase as well as confuse the layers of meaning to what is happening. This is especially powerful in Spider when the same actress portrays Spider’s mother as well as the prostitute he imagines his father having an affair with and the woman who runs the transitional home he lives in as an adult. "It’s very hard at this point to know what’s real and what’s not…the audience’s confusion is also Spider’s confusion.”(Spider Com. 35:06)

In exploring David Cronenberg’s films, it is essential to not only look at specific themes but to also address the overall atmosphere of feeling that they create. Extreme violence and destruction play a central role in these movies with the vast majority ending in death, often in the form of suicide. What is interesting is how this element has really evolved over the span of Cronenberg’s career, from chaos to deliberate and sophisticated subtlety.

Beginning with Shivers and on through Cronenberg’s first few films, the violence and death is frenzied, messy and loud. As character development becomes more central along with performance, death and destruction takes on a sad quality, as successfully executed for the first time in The Fly. “…I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it, but now the dream is over and the insect is awake.”(1.17:58) As Seth Brundle utters this haunting line, the tragedy of what is happening to him becomes real to us through his articulation. The audience is able to recognize that what’s really going on is incredible loss, loss of life and loss of love. When he is shot by his lover, she is not defeating a monster but ending the misery and suffering of what used to be the man she loved.

Starting with Cronenberg’s next film Dead Ringers, this element of sadness intensifies and takes on a sweet and beautiful tone through the music and cinematography which stands in contrast to the violence of the situation. It is absolutely heart-wrenching to see Beverly’s reaction to the sight of his dead brother at the conclusion of the film even though the audience knows Elliot died at Beverly’s hand. The utter sorrow and devastation comes across through the childlike whimperings of Beverly combined with the visual beauty of the scene. “It has to do with that element of being human. It has to do with this ineffable sadness that is an element of human existence.”(Cronenberg 149)

This theme of sorrowful violence progresses and intensifies through M. Butterfly, Crash and Spider. Once again, Spider proves to be an especially potent and striking example. From beginning to end, this film feels desolate, cold and melancholy but is contrasted by the absolute visual and audible beauty presented to the audience. “For Cronenberg it is an austere record of a poor human’s sad, quiet condition of suffering…a massive force pressing inwards on Spider and compressing everything into a state of dense unceasing pain.”(Beard 473) For us, the audience, the end comes as a devastating catharsis as our confusion is finally cleared but at a dismal cost.

David Cronenberg’s most recent film, A History of Violence, on the surface may seem to be evidence that he has finally crossed over into mainstream Hollywood with a straightforward gangster film. While it may come across in this fashion upon a single viewing as a stand-alone film, this conclusion would be a mistake as this study will show upon closer examination.

As the crux of this writing is looking at David Cronenberg as an auteur, we must approach A History of Violence from an auteurist standpoint. In other words, we have no basis for judgement unless we look at it as it compares and fits with the body of work as a whole. With this in mind, of the themes discussed, which ones if any, appear in History? Does this film successfully contribute to Cronenberg’s status as an auteur or does it break away from the common themes and concerns as addressed in his earlier work?

A History of Violence is the story of a man who at first is shown as a quiet, loving family man in a small, idyllic town somewhere in the Midwest. We soon come to realize that Tom Stall is not who we think he is when he is forced to kill two men who come into the diner he owns. There is something dark hidden in his past that is forced to the surface. This element certainly fits in with idea that people are not who we think they are. The Tom Stall persona is an invention, a new identity created by former gangster, Joey Cusack.

As Tom Stall’s past is uncovered, the audience witnesses his subtle regression back into his former self. Actor Viggo Mortensen displays an acutely controlled performance through the slightest variations in facial expression and linguistic style to let us know that there is something dark and deadly under the façade of this small town man. In this skilled portrayal, Mortensen perfectly illustrates how Cronenberg has evolved, refining his ability to use strength of performance to explore a common theme in a fashion that carries much more potency.

In History, we can extend the concept of a ‘body-consciousness’ to encompass the idea of the human condition and the threat certain elements thereof pose to our mortality bringing us back to our fear of death. Cronenberg discusses in an interview that while violence is something that is very common in the world we live in, we try to turn away from the reality of it happening to us. From his own perspective as a director, he says, “…artistically you feel it’s something you have to come to terms with and hope that you’ll deal with it in your creative life and not have to deal with it in your actual day to day life.”(Acts 10:28) The characters in the film must confront devastating evils while the audience keeps it safely on the glowing screen.

The violence and death in History turns away from the progression of poetic beauty found in Cronenberg’s later films and returns to the gritty, explosive destruction found earlier in his career. As this particular film finally deals explicitly with violence itself, Cronenberg was very specific in what he wanted the audience to contend with, pointing out that “…it’s all very physical human violence and it does very bad things to the human body…the audience finds themselves looking at something particularly disturbing” because “if you’re going to like the violence then you have to accept the consequences…”(History Com. 24:41) We are shown up close what it looks like when a man is shot in the face; there is no beauty in the violence here. He uses graphic realism to force us to acknowledge what really happens outside of the cinema.

It can be concluded that David Cronenberg is in fact a true auteur as the term is used in American auteur criticism. He has many common themes that he continues to return to, building and progressing the discussion in each film he makes which according to Cronenberg’s own admission, reflect his personal concerns and interests. Actor Martin Sheen recognized this when he worked with the director on The Dead Zone, recalling, “I knew here was a filmmaker with a definite point-of-view, who was courageous about it and confident enough to trust in it.”(Lucas 27) As an auteur, Cronenberg has uncompromisingly insisted on communicating this point-of-view through his work over the span of more than three decades and continues to do so today. What will he show us next?

David Cronenberg: Auteur (Part Two)

The premise of Cronenberg’s first feature-length film, Shivers, is the spread of a parasite within an isolated high-rise community that transforms its hosts into sex-crazed, killing machines. Aside from the obvious focus on disease, aging is also addressed as voiced by one tenant who we overhear discussing the topic with a fellow tenant while waiting to see the resident doctor. Once in audience with the doctor, while being examined, the tenant excitedly asks, “You want me to breath deeply?…good shape for an old man, eh?”(27:34) The tenant in displaying his irrational optimism that he might have the inside line for beating the system, demonstrates our common fear of growing old. In The Artist as Monster, critic William Beard further explores our obsession with disease and death:
“What is so disturbing is the complete unknowableness, uncontrollability, and fearful destructive power of the body…The mind, ego-rationality, may seek to inhibit or direct these protean forces of life, it may even succeed to a considerable extent. But what is absolutely certain is that it will not succeed indefinitely. The body will kill the mind eventually; the body’s death will kill the ego-subject. In this respect, in its inevitable decaying and dying, the body is therefore always the enemy in the end.”(31)

Cronenberg continues this look at disease and destruction of the body throughout his career as seen in Rabid, Videodrome and eXistenZ to name a few. It is in his film The Fly that the filmmaker really delves into our fear of aging. The story is of an eccentric scientist who invents teleportation, accidentally fuses with a fly and then undergoes a horrific transformation before finally committing suicide with the aid of his lover. Although often thought to be a film about AIDS, Cronenberg really saw it as being about the natural effects of aging and our reactions to them, “it’s about mortality and the way we deal with it and try to understand it and the philosophies and emotional attitudes we develop towards it.”(Fly Com. 1.00:47)

In the world of Cronenberg, our attempts to confront these basic fears often end in failure at which point we go into a sort of proactive denial through the incorporation of technology. “We have never accepted the world as it is, we’ve never accepted even our own bodies as they are given to us and are constantly not just trying to understand them but trying to understand how to change them, modify them, improve them…”(Rabid Com. 18:55) Both of the deadly outbreaks that are featured in Shivers and Rabid are the result of medical advances intended to improve our ability to fend off our inevitable demise. In Dead Ringers, a film about twin gynecologists who self-destruct and end up killing themselves, Cronenberg uses their custom-made tools as “a physical symbol of the twins’ efforts to deal with reality…by their own attempt to create something that could modify the human body and in that sense, to control it.”(Dead Com. 5:14)

The obsession with modifying ourselves through technology expands to include the re-invention of our environment in Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. In this film that takes place in the not-so-far away future, video games have become even more of a craze than they already are. What is unique about these video games while very fitting for a Cronenberg project, is that they plug directly into the human body. Gamers have ports that are surgically installed into their backs and the flesh-like gamepods are connected by what looks disturbingly like an umbilical cord. Once plugged in, the gamer is whisked into a virtual world that looks, feels and interacts every bit as realistically as the real world.

As stated earlier, while we are unable to accept our bodies, we are also unwilling to be satisfied with our environment. Everything around us is created by us, by technology. The first thing we see when we wake up is a world of our own creation. “We want light at night, we want heat when it’s cold…and so for humans, there is no such thing as a natural environment, we invent our own.”(Rabid Com. 18:55) It is the extreme of this concept that Cronenberg explores in eXistenZ, how far will we go to distance ourselves from what is real in order to shield ourselves from our fears?

Human invention is not the only way that reality is threatened in David Cronenberg’s films. Again and again, he shows how nothing is what it seems and people are not who we think they are upon initial examination. One way this is presented is through characters’ hallucinations. Videodrome’s Max Renn is constantly seeing things that turn out to be not real. As we experience the film from his point of view, it becomes increasingly more difficult to decipher what is really happening and what is just a hallucination. In The Dead Zone, Johnny Smith has psychic visions that seem very real until they are revealed to be otherwise. Naked Lunch runs rampant with hallucinatory scenes brought on by extreme drug use that makes it almost impossible to understand what is really happening to the main character.

Cronenberg brings his most sophisticated approach to this in his later film, Spider. Spider is a man who suffers from what we assume to be schizophrenia, a deterioration of the mind to return to the earlier discussion of disease. The film is about the main character’s attempt to unravel the mystery of his past. This occurs through flashbacks from his point of view but it soon becomes apparent that these flashbacks are unreliable. “Memory is not a static, absolute thing, it’s not like a documentary that you can play at any given moment but actually it’s a volatile, created thing that we’re constantly creating and re-creating.”(Spider Com. 28:46) This holds true for all of us but this combined with Spider’s compromised mental state causes great confusion for what the truth really is.

To be continued...

Zombie Fun = Child Abuse

If you can set aside the fact that the people who made this video possible are going to hell and you are more than a little damned for enjoying it, watch this for some serious zombie fun. These kids are hilarious although watching them be traumatized for life is occasionally tough to take, but we are a sick and twisted lot so check it out!

District 9

I don't know about anyone else, but this looks like it could be awesome:

David Cronenberg: Auteur (Part One)

So it's official, Universal is going to remake David Cronenberg's Videodrome and make it into "a large-scale sci-fi action thriller". Ugh. Is it really coming to this? This is like trying to remake Rocky Horror Picture Show or Harold & Maude or Eraserhead. They aren't stories to be re-worked, they are iconic cult classics that rely on their look, feel, the actors who played the parts, and the directors who created something unique and temporal. As an auteur, Cronenberg's work feels especially untouchable in my opinion. All of his films certainly have their flaws but they each are very special and hold a significant place within his overall body of work. For shame, Universal, for shame! I shake my fist at you!


With that said, this week starts a multi-part series on Cronenberg as Auteur. Enjoy!

David Cronenberg: Auteur

“There’s a lot of mythology about what a director must be and the qualities that he must have and I think it’s all mythology. In fact, each person invents himself or herself as a director in a very intimate and specific and unique way.”

- David Cronenberg (Rabid commentary 34:05)

In the world of film, an auteur is a director who can for all intents and purposes, be considered the author of the piece he directs. The drama that plays out on the screen embodies the vision held by the director and conveys the message intended through the choices made by the director. This is often a difficult task to accomplish within the Hollywood system where story and final product are often dictated by the studios providing the funding. David Cronenberg is one director who has managed to successfully retain his identity as an auteur throughout his career in independent filmmaking while occasionally crossing over into the Hollywood limelight.

Beginning with his first feature-length film, Shivers, Cronenberg established areas of personal interest and has consistently explored and re-explored common themes of “body horror”, technology as relating to the body, identity and alienation. Not only does Cronenberg return again and again to the same issues and concerns, in doing so, he is perpetually developing and refining his approach to the subject matter. While celebrating moderate success within the confines of Hollywood, as an auteur, Cronenberg has managed to preserve the execution of his vision through his work.

Before continuing with this study of David Cronenberg, it is important to clarify what is truly meant by the term auteur. In American film criticism, the concept of the auteur comes from auteur theory as introduced by film critic Andrew Sarris in the early 1960s. According to Sarris, auteur theory is the approach by which the entire body of work by a director must be taken under consideration in order to understand an individual film as it will be found that “after a given number of films, a pattern is established.”(Sarris/"Perils" 28) It follows that in order to be a true auteur, “over a group of films, a director must exhibit certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature. The way a film looks and moves should have some relationship to the way a director thinks and feels.”(Sarris/"Notes" 516)

David Cronenberg can absolutely be considered a true auteur by Sarris’s definition. When looking at his complete filmography, certain patterns emerge in respect to theme as well as the look, tone and feel of Cronenberg’s pictures. This study will not cover every aspect of these patterns but will focus in on some of the more prominent, recurring themes and approaches that have come to define Cronenberg as a director and auteur.

As he himself acknowledges, Cronenberg’s films tend to be very body-conscious with the narrative often firmly imbedded within the body. “I gradually realized that I was more interested in things that happen inside you…to a certain extent, it’s your own body that’s the monster.”(Fear 11:16) In the book Cronenberg on Cronenberg, he discusses the fact that we are always trying to prepare ourselves for that which is inevitable but because certain inevitabilities are deemed taboo within our society, we find alternative ways to discuss and face these issues. “One of the ways man has always done this is through art. The cinema is one way we can do that. We confront things in a relatively safe context.”(73) With this is mind, Cronenberg began his exploration of the body through our fear of disease, aging and dying.

To be continued...

Marilyn Chambers, we hardly knew ye...

Well, that's not quite true. We knew Marilyn Chambers, if you know what I mean. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

All silliness aside, I have to say I was a little sad to hear that Ms. Chambers died yesterday at the age of 56, cause currently unknown. While best known for her work in the adult film industry, Marilyn Chambers also played the lead role in the Cronenberg oldie but goodie Rabid. Where else can you get a blood-thirsty armpit monster that turns unsuspecting Canadians into ravenous zombies, eh? Sadly, Chambers' solid performance did not pave the way for a bright future in mainstream cinema but I will be forever grateful that she gave me Rabid.

Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

While Jesus never ate the brains of His followers, He does ask that all good Christians eat of his flesh and drink of his blood. This can only lead me to surmise that the son of God was the true origin of the modern day zombie mythology, we just got some of the details mixed up along the way. So today, in honor of the most spectacular raising of the dead since Lazarus of Bethany, I will be watching my own personal favorite zombie film, Day of the Dead.


Now for all you purists out there, I will readily admit that Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead are technically better films and certainly hold far more historical significance for the genre. But the truth is, I just have more fun when I watch Day.

Just to name a few favorites other than the aforementioned Romero staple of three:

Zombie 2 (1979)
Re-Animator (1985)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Dead & Buried (1981)

And just for fun:

Shaun of the Dead (2004)
My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
Fido (2006)

What are some of your favorite zombie flicks? Which ones do you hate? Weigh in with your opinions!

Lat den ratte komma in/Let the Right One In (2008)

Director: Tomas Alfredson
Writer: John Ajvide Lindqvist (based on novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist)
Actors: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson

Rating: 3 1/2 Black Sheep

In a year when vampires are enjoying a renewed place in the spotlight sadly thanks to such Hollywood fare as Twilight (grossed close to $200 million in the US so far), another vampire film has quietly made quite the impression on more discerning viewers. Let the Right One In is a phenomenal new Swedish film that is a must see for just about anyone.

Oskar is a 12 year old loner who seems to have trouble making friends, let alone keeping out of the path of the bullies who torment him daily. Everything changes when he meets Eli, a mysterious girl who moves into his apartment building in the middle of the night. The two children connect through their mutual loneliness but it doesn’t take long for Oskar to realize that Eli is hiding a sinister secret.

Let the Right One In is not a horror movie, at least not in the traditional sense. It is a darkly bittersweet drama with horror elements that takes on the vampire mythology from a fresh if chilly perspective. The film is set in the dead of winter and the ever snow white setting lends a feeling of numbing emptiness that complements the story in all the right ways. The plot is character-driven with brief moments of brutality that are over almost as soon as they begin. You feel for these children even as you realize that their moral compasses may be diseased.

The cinematography in Let the Right One In is interesting and deliberate. The camera is not merely there to relay a story but to manipulate every step of the telling. On several occasions, the focus sharply zeroes in on the one stationary subject in the frame while all the action of interest remains blurred in the background where the viewer has to make assumptions about what is actually happening. I found myself almost frustrated that I wasn’t able to look at what was really taking place but at the same time, it forced me to be all the more conscious of the choices being made in the telling of the story.

The only thing that keeps me from giving Let the Right One In a top rating of four black sheep is one solitary scene. For the majority of the film, the special effects are subtle but disturbingly effective, giving the viewer just enough to understand the gravity of what is happening. For reasons I can’t possibly fathom, there is a scene where CGI is grossly and comically overused to the point of distraction. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see the movie and in my mind it is a tragic besmirching of great filmmaking. The fact that this is such an excellent film makes it all the more sad.

There you have it. Now go out and rent this one or even buy it; you won’t be sorry!

Now on to my news: I am in the planning process for a podcast that will be available for what I hope will be your listening pleasure sometime mid to late summer of this year. I will have a co-host and we will be discussing movies, movies, and more movies that fit under the general category of genre/cult/outside-the-mainstream. I have a lot of ideas for the different segments that will be featured but I’m still in the brainstorming stage, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment. Most likely the name will be The CineFiles of Citizen Irene or something similar and once the podcast launches, it will replace this blog. I will keep you posted and please, please send your comments my way!

15 Reasons Not To Leave Your House: Part Three

I bypassed the ratings for these films as they are more general recommendations than full reviews. I'm sure I will return to some of them at a later date for a more in-depth analysis. Enjoy!

Fade To Black (1980)



Director: Vernon Zimmerman
Writer: Vernon Zimmerman
Actors: Dennis Christopher, Tim Thomerson, Linda Kerridge

Fade to Black is a dark journey through the world of cinema that is best enjoyed by viewers who have a deep appreciation for old classics but don’t mind a little slashing mixed in. Dennis Christopher plays Eric Binford, a young misfit whose obsession with the early days of Hollywood leads him to do bad, bad things. This is one of those movies that is deliberately paced and quite possibly might not be your cup of tea, but if you are open to it, Fade to Black is a rich cornucopia of twisted nods to a lost era. Me likey.

Raw Meat (1972)



Director: Gary Sherman
Writers: Ceri Jones, Gary Sherman
Actors: Donald Pleasence, Norman Rossington, David Ladd

Dead & Buried’s Gary Sherman first came out with this lesser entry into the horror genre. The basic premise is that decades ago, a group of miners carving out the tube tunnels in England were trapped in a cave-in and left to die. They survived in their giant tomb by way of cannibalism and procreation and now their ancestors continue to claim victims who make the mistake of dilly dallying late at night in the Russell Square station. The plot holes are aplenty and the creepy gross cannibal dude is shown far too much for my taste but still, Raw Meat has some redeeming factors. Actually, one redeeming factor, Donald Pleasence. Pleasence is at his brilliant best as Inspector Calhoun, a wise cracking, snarky copper who has a meandering way of figuring everything out just in the nick of time. If you are a Pleasence fan, you will not be disappointed!

Anatomie/Anatomy (2000)



Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Writer: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Actors: Franka Potente, Benno Furmann, Anna Loos, Sebastian Blomberg

I have to say, Anatomie gets a bad rap. I did some digging around on the old IMDB message boards and I think I may have an answer for that. It appears that many viewers who have seen Anatomie, have had the misfortune of watching a dubbed version of the film which apparently is quite terrible. I haven’t seen this version, but from what I gather, the dialog is wretched and causes the acting to come across as fairly dismal. This is why I almost always insist that you watch a film in its original language if at all possible! This is a really fun German film starring Franka Potente of Run, Lola, Run fame and she gives a fine performance here. Potente plays young Paula Henning who is following in her grandfather’s footsteps by attending Heidelberg medical school, a highly prestigious and exclusive institution. Upon her arrival, Paula begins to realize that there are also some highly unethical practices going on behind closed doors and she doesn’t hesitate to uncover them, as long as she doesn’t get herself killed first. This flick has some amazing effects that if you’ve ever seen the Body Worlds display, you won’t believe these ones aren’t real.

Waxwork (1988)



Director: Anthony Hickox
Writer: Anthony Hickox
Actors: Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, Dana Ashbrook

Waxwork brings me fondly back to my childhood as I was in the eighth grade the first time I saw it. I loved it then and I love it still. It is a campy lark through every Halloween monster you can think of as a group of college students explore the new wax museum in their neighborhood. What they don’t know is that the ageless owner needs a different soul for each display so that he can open a portal to hell and destroy life on earth as we know it. One by one the students are sucked into the world of wax, from Dracula to the Marquis de Sade. Two of them, Mark (Galligan of Gremlins) and Sarah (Foreman) narrowly escape their fate but then must fight to save the world. This movie is a really fun ride for Halloween, a little gory and definitely silly but good stuff. The sequel, Waxwork II is also a good one and spotlights a cameo by camp god, Bruce “Ash” Campbell.

Deathdream (1974)



Director: Bob Clark
Writer: Alan Ormsby
Actors: Richard Backus, John Marley, Lynn Carlin

I think Deathdream is especially relevant to the current situation in Iraq and many Americans’ disapproval over how foreign affairs have been handled as of late. It follows a young soldier, Andy, who is killed in Vietnam and yet manages to return home sort of alive, but not. He’s not exactly a zombie or a vampire, at least not in the modern sense, but something is certainly very wrong with Andy. A slow paced but thrilling ride from director Bob Clark of A Christmas Story back in his good old horror days, Deathdream is a curious look at war and its effect not only on the individuals who live and die for our country, but also on the families they leave behind.

15 Reasons Not To Leave Your House: Part Two

I bypassed the ratings for these films as they are more general recommendations than full reviews. I'm sure I will return to some of them at a later date for a more in-depth analysis. Enjoy!

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)



Director: Robert Wiene
Writers: Hans Janowitz, Carl Mayer
Actors: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover

For a quick lesson in the study of German expressionism, check out The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The stylized tale of a crazed doctor and his murderous somnambulist, Cesare, Cabinet was groundbreaking at the time it was released and its influence is still felt today. Watch this film and tell me you don’t see elements of Edward Scissorhands and The Crow, or Tim Burton’s entire career, for that matter. This movie throws realism under the bus and takes the viewer on a fright-filled ride that leaves you questioning what is real and what is merely an insane nightmare.

The Wicker Man (1973)



Director: Robin Hardy
Writers: Anthony Shaffer (screenplay), David Pinner (novel)
Actors: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee

If you were unfortunate to have seen Nicolas Cage in the remake of The Wicker Man, you can redeem yourself by revisiting the real deal. The original cleverly weaves humor, music, terror, and fantasy together to create a uniquely fantastic film. Sergeant Howie (Woodward) travels alone to Summerisle, a remote island, to investigate the case of a missing girl. When he arrives, the inhabitants feign ignorance of the girl’s very existence, causing Howie much frustration. The truth turns out to be far worse than anything he could have imagined as he learns a hard lesson about faith and its repercussions.

The Changeling (1980)



Director: Peter Medak
Writers: Russell Hunter, William Gray, Diana Maddox
Actors: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere

Ready for a good ghost story? Furniture that moves on its own accord? Creepy old houses with nasty secrets? Then The Changeling is the movie for you! Not to be confused with the new Angelina Jolie flick, Changeling, The Changeling is a grand ghost flick that takes us on a ride with a grieving widower (Scott) who in an attempt to start his life over by moving to a new city and into an old mansion, finds himself in the center of a mystery. What happened in this house so long ago? Watch the movie if you want to find out, I love this stuff! George C. Scott is awesome as usual and plays a brooding widower well.

Zombie 2 (1979)



Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti
Actors: Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson

Watch Zombi 2 if for nothing more than to see the most amazing zombie versus shark scene ever to hit celluloid. Ok, it’s probably the only zombie versus shark scene to ever hit celluloid, but it is still marvelous. Zombi 2, otherwise known as Zombie, was meant to draw in Dawn of Dead fans but has no connection to Romero’s Dead films. It follows reporter Peter West (McCulloch) who travels to the island of Matool to investigate the origins of a boat full of corpses that appears in New York Harbor. He is accompanied by Anne (Farrow, sister of Mia) and together they discover that Matool has a little problem with, you guessed it, zombies! I think this is a great movie but be warned, it’s pretty gory, make that really gory. The only version of this flick is dubbed but it’s an Italian horror so the dubbing is done well.

Dead & Breakfast (2004)



Director: Matthew Leutwyler
Writers: Matthew Leutwyler, Jun Tan, Billy Burke
Actors: Ever Carradine, David Carradine

Yay, Dead & Breakfast! I think this is one of those movies that you think is awesome or you just don’t get. I of course, think it is awesome. I saw this in an independent theater with a couple of friends and the house had maybe 25 people in it but we laughed and laughed, it was a good old time. Dead & Breakfast is a silly, silly spoof of a zombie movie that is part comedy, part musical, part gorefest, and all fun. There are a ton of recognizable faces such as David Carradine, his niece Ever Carradine, Portia de Rossi, Jeremy Sisto, and even Brian Krakow from My So Called Life! If you like silliness, you might enjoy this one.

15 Reasons Not To Leave Your House: Part One

I bypassed the ratings for these films as they are more general recommendations than full reviews. I'm sure I will return to some of them at a later date for a more in-depth analysis. Enjoy!

Dagon (2001)

Director: Stuart Gordon
Writers: H. P. Lovecraft (short stories “Dagon” & “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”), Dennis Paoli (screenplay)
Actors: Ezra Godden, Raquel Merono, Francisco Rabal

Dagon is a lesser known title brought to us by Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon. Young couple Paul (Godden) and Barbara (Merono) find themselves stranded in a small coastal town in Spain after a boating accident and it doesn’t take long for them to realize that all is not right, in fact it is very wrong. This is a fun, gothic, creepy, sometimes gory film and one of my favorite Gordon flicks.

To be clear, I think Dagon is lesser known for a reason, a lot of people just aren't into it. Had I rated it, I probably would have given it 2 1/2 black sheep but for some reason I really enjoy it and some of the gore effects are pretty cool (and I'm not talking about some of the CGI effects that I do NOT like in the movie). I think it's one of those movies that either grabs you or it doesn't, but it is worth the risk if you end up really liking it. I just really enjoy Stuart Gordon in general and this Lovecraft adaptation is probably the closest anyone has ever done.

Saam gang yi/3 Extremes (2004)

Directors: Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike
Writers: Lilian Lee, Chan-wook Park, Haruko Fukushima, Bun Saikou
Actors: Bai Ling, Byung-hun Lee, Hye-jeong Kang, Kyoko Hasegawa, Atsuro Watabe

This collection of three short horror films from three different Asian directors is a must-see. They are all excellent but my personal favorites are the second and third entries, Cut and Box. Cut is directed by Chan-Wook Park (Oldboy) and is everything you could hope for from this Korean director. Takashi Miike is my favorite Japanese director and he does not disappoint with Box, a haunting and beautiful art film with a sweetly dark plot. Dumpling is pretty disturbing but good if you can handle the premise.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)



Director: John Landis
Writer: John Landis
Actors: David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter

I love this movie! The average movie goer had a tough time with American Werewolf when it was first released as they weren’t used to such a mixture of horror and comedy. John Landis of Coming to America and Trading Places fame really hit this one out of the ballpark in my opinion. Two college buddies are backpacking through Europe when they are attacked by a werewolf, changing their lives forever. The Howling has long had the reputation for revolutionizing movie effects but it was released in the same year as American Werewolf and both films credit effects giant Rick Baker but Baker actually left The Howling to work on American Werewolf, leaving the bulk of The Howling effects to Rob Bottin. I’ve always thought the effects in American Werewolf were far superior and the initial transformation scene is fantastic, music, visuals and all.

Hell House (2001)






Director: George Ratliff

Hell House is a documentary that features an annual haunted house hosted by Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas. The house is extravagantly designed and includes live horror scenes being acted out by church members, covering themes such as abortion, homosexuality, AIDS, drug use, and adultery. Visitors are shown the many ways they might find themselves going to hell and are given a chance to find salvation in Jesus upon completion of the tour. The film is surprisingly unbiased in how it portrays the church and its followers, leaving it up to the viewer to make any judgments.

Dead & Buried (1981)



Director: Gary Sherman
Writers: Jeff Millar, Dan O’Bannon
Actors: James Farentino, Jack Albertson, Robert Englund

Dan Gillis (Farentino) is sheriff of Potter’s Bluff, a small, quiet coastal town where everyone knows their neighbor and life is simple… or is it? Sheriff Gillis finds himself dealing with an unusual number of deaths and Dobbs, the local undertaker, is obsessed with restoring the dead to their living form. Dead & Buried is a fantastic movie by the director of Vice Squad that has remained on the fringe despite the fact that it is rad! The master, Stan Winston, creates some amazingly realistic makeup effects that are seldom achieved even now, more than 25 years later. Note, however, that there are a couple of sequences that stand out as being far below Winston’s usual standard. This is because the studio that ended up distributing the film wanted more gore and as a result, scenes were added using a different effects artist… bad idea. Otherwise, great movie!

Westworld (1973)

Director: Michael Crichton
Writer: Michael Crichton
Actors: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin

Rating: 3 1/2 Black Sheep

Ahh, Westworld. What a wonderful, wonderful movie. And the main character may very well be James Brolin’s hair, it is that magnificent. But in all seriousness, the film Westworld continues to be a great piece of cinema more than 30 years later, despite its place on the fringes of mainstream pop culture.

If you could afford it, would you pay $1000 a day to stay in a Western resort town where you would be able to pretend to live in the Wild West, drinking whiskey, engaging in shootouts, and doing a little business with the oldest profession in the world? Come on, who wouldn’t?! This is the basic premise of Westworld where in a futuristic time, guests can pay to stay in one of three artificial resorts: Romanworld, Medievalworld, or Westworld. The fun part is that all of the world’s inhabitants are robots who are almost impossible to tell apart from the human guests if not for the strange bumps on their hands, but they bleed and “die”, adding to the authenticity of the experience. Peter (Benjamin) and John (Brolin) are friends who have come to Westworld to let go and get away from it all. It is John’s second time and Peter is hesitant but soon embraces his new Western identity. Everything is going well when the robots appear to malfunction and are no longer behaving according to their programming. The resort’s crew is unable to intervene and guests from all three worlds meet their demise in quick succession.

Yul Brynner plays The Gunslinger, a rough and tumble robot cowboy who’s role in Westworld is to be the bad guy that guests can beat in a shootout for a substantial ego boost. Brynner is chilling in this part with his shaved head and his square jaw. Well into his 50s at the release of this film, Brynner looks like he is made of steel and could most likely crush your skull with one hand. His exotic look and stiff mannerisms completely sell him as one robot cowboy you would not want to mess with. And when his eyes turn silver (apparently an indication that this machine has gone bad), he is beyond creepy. In the end, he is a man on a mission to kill and nothing will get in his way. For me, Brynner really rose to the challenge with this character. James Cameron must have had The Gunslinger in mind when he directed Robert Patrick as the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Brynner displays that same relentless drive for destruction that seems impossible to escape. But he brings some depth to the character, pay close attention when The Gunslinger is tracking Peter and gets confused by the heat from the torches; Brynner’s facial expressions speak volumes.

This is an extremely fun movie to watch. The scenes in the Western town echo Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch with slow motion fight scenes and bright red bullet holes. Peter and John act out scenes that they’ve only ever seen in the movies and it plays like an homage to old Hollywood westerns. James Brolin is very playful as John and looks comfortable with a chomped cigar between his teeth and a six shooter. There are small flaws, such as the likelihood that a resort like this would ever actually exist, the safety issues alone are difficult to ignore. Also, parts of the film are fairly dated such as hair styles and the hokey computers that make up Main Control. But the same could be said for the original Star Wars movies and who doesn’t love them? On the other hand, the robot effects still stand up fairly well to today’s standards since it’s relatively easy to make believable robots when you just have humans play them.

Westworld is one of Michael Crichton’s earlier cinematic ventures and it’s an excellent precursor to the theme park concept behind Jurassic Park. As I’m writing this review, a remake is rumored to be in the works although a director has yet to be chosen. I’m generally firmly against remakes because I just feel like it’s an excuse for Hollywood studios to not bother coming up with original ideas. Also, Westworld in particular is still an excellent, vibrant film with an outstanding performance by Brynner that begs the question, how can you top that? I have serious reservations but I’ll try to hold back judgment until I see the final product. Remakes can occasionally work if care is taken to look at the material from a fresh angle and to give the story a new perspective that lends it current relevancy. We’ll see. In the meantime, if you haven’t seen Westworld, what are you waiting for?!

Dopperugenga/Doppelganger (2003)

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (not to be confused with Akira Kurosawa)
Writers: Ken Furusawa, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hiromi Nagasaku, Yusuke Santamaria

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

Have you ever seen two different trailers for the same movie and they seem to have completely different plots? I understand that studios and distributors are going to do what they can to get people to buy tickets or DVDs but I think there is a certain danger when you go too off-track in an attempt to draw in an audience. The Japanese movie Doppelganger is a case in point. If you look at the DVD cover art for the U.S. release, it refers to the film as "the most frightening", a claim that is so misleading, I'm sure it has disappointed plenty. The one reviewer on Amazon.com says he was expecting a Japanese horror film but was very upset when he realized he wasn't getting what he bargained for and now anyone who comes across his review might think twice about making a purchase based on his one-star assessment. Does Doppelganger fail to deliver in the fright department? I say no because it's not meant to be frightening, disturbing, yes but not frightening. It can't even be considered a horror movie, really. The question is, what kind of movie is it?

Michio (Yakusho) is a researcher/inventor for a company that specializes in medical equipment and he is working on a "virtual body", a chair on wheels with arms that move in response to the occupant's brain waves. He is married to his job but Michio is obviously stuck in a rut and has become unpleasant to say the least. One day he sees his doppelganger, or his twin, and from that point on is unable to shake him. His double turns out to be an uninhibited, mischievous and dangerous version of himself. Michio resists his double's "attempts" to get his life back on track, but as he sees things going his way, he gets on board with his twin's questionable methods. Everything spins quickly out of control and Michio must contend with the possibility that his doppelganger's murderous tendencies may have been a part of him all along.

Doppelganger is at times a thriller while at others it plays like a comedy, an action-adventure, or a drama. There aren’t any scares but the premise is certainly disturbing. And is that really what it sounds like when you are hit on the head with a hammer? The special effects that allow actor Koji Yakusho to play both Michio and his double are top-notch. A combination of green screens and CGI effects are used to create the illusion not only that there are two distinct individuals but also that they actually interact with each other on the same physical plane. Yakusho supplements this by deftly showcasing each character’s unique personality. Director Kurosawa also employs some clever and stylized cinematography tricks to really draw the viewer into the world of Michio and his double in a way that almost dares you to just try and find a technical error. Look for a scene where the doppelganger slaps and shakes a drunken Michio awake, neat and incredibly effective.

As I alluded to earlier, Doppelganger is difficult to categorize so in order to appreciate the film, I think it is best to go into it with as few expectations as possible. At times it is tough to speculate where the story is going and this can be a negative point for some viewers. Questions are left unanswered and there is no easy resolution in the ending. Is the doppelganger real? Which man is the true Michio in the end? Is there a message to be found about societal repression and the breaking free of the individual? Is the doppelganger a necessary evil who serves as a catalyst to liberation? Or is this just one man’s descent into madness? Is any of it real? I don’t know, but it is certainly thought provoking. Give it a watch and let me know what you think.

Hell Night (1981)

Director: Tom DeSimone
Writer: Randy Feldman
Actors: Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

After the huge success of John Carpenter's Halloween in 1978, the next decade spewed forth an avalanche of teen slasher flicks that followed a general formula, with varying degrees of originality. Some were clever and stood out, but there was also a lot of garbage to wade through in order to find good stuff. What's changed? Hell Night is a film that is often overlooked or relegated to the trash heap. I'm not entirely sure why this happens because I've always been a fan of this movie. It's fun, it's great on atmosphere, and it has Linda Blair!

The credits open on one of those ridiculous fraternity parties where everyone seems to be having the time of their lives while drinking copious amounts of alcohol and dancing in the street (ah, the good old days). My favorite part of this sequence is the guy sitting on a car, spastically blowing on his tuba like he's never been so stoked to be alive. Does the school band really go to parties with their instruments? Apparently so. As the credits end, we learn it is pledge night, otherwise referred to as Hell Night, and the four pledges have quite a night in store for them. The whole party drunkenly forms a motorcade down to the abandoned Garth Manor where Peter the president of the fraternity informs Marti, Jeff, Seth, and Denise that they will be spending the next six hours alone. Of course it wouldn't be any good without a scary legend to contend with. Peter shares his rehearsed tale of the Garths who gave birth to four deformed children, forcing the family to live in exile from the outside world. When the father could no longer take it, he butchered three of his children and his wife before hanging himself, all in front of his youngest son, Andrew. Andrew was supposedly never found and continues to lurk on the grounds of Garth Manor. The four pledges are locked inside the giant gates and left behind with no electricity or phones. Of course the house has been rigged with all kinds of scare devices to keep the group on their toes and they soon discover that it's going to be a long night. Things get really interesting when we realize that Andrew isn't just a story and he begins the task of killing the students one by one, starting with the jokesters outside.

I'll be the first to say that Hell Night has its flaws, the first being its pacing. There are times when the rhythm is a bit off and momentum is broken by an unnecessarily drawn out scene. The film could easily lose a good 15 minutes to really tighten it up and keep the viewer engaged; a movie like this is almost always better off when it stays under 90 minutes. It also gets a little old watching Marti (Blair) shriek and cower behind Jeff whenever anything remotely scary happens. Sure, I would be doing the same thing were I in their shoes, but you can't tell me that he wouldn't be shitting his pants too once he realizes what's going on. On the other hand, this happens in plenty of other movies and it's really just a set up for Marti to redeem herself later. But do women always need to be terrorized and scarred for life in order to grow some balls? Luckily, Linda Blair makes everything alright and maybe that's why I like this movie so much. She just comes across as so genuinely sweet, and smart too. Both she and Jamie Lee Curtis have a way about them that makes you love them and trust that they're going to figure a way out of whatever mess they're in.

Director Tom DeSimone is another interesting element in Hell Night. Prior to this movie, he had quite an extensive career directing gay adult movies and in 1977 he directed Chatterbox, a bizarre campy flick about a woman who discovers her vagina can talk and has a mind of its own, causing all sorts of hijinx to ensue. Despite this background, Hell Night is relatively tame in the sex department; we know some of the characters are indulging but there's no gratuitous nudity just for sake of titillating the audience (pun intended), and the real steamy stuff happens off-screen. What it all boils down to is if you down for some mindless fun and a post-Exorcist Linda Blair, check this one out!

Bosque De Sombras/The Backwoods (2006)

Director: Koldo Serra
Writers: Jon Sagala, Koldo Serra
Actors: Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Virginie Ledoyen

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

Here is an interesting film from Spain that does indeed star Gary Oldman, speaking Spanish no less! Actually, the majority of The Backwoods is an even mixture of English and Spanish as it follows two British couples vacationing in the countryside of Spain. Paul (Oldman) has recently purchased the home that once belonged to his mother, a Spanish woman who married a Brit, and he has grand plans for fixing it up and living there permanently with his wife Isabel (Sanchez-Gijon). They are joined for the weekend by Norman (Considine) and Lucy (Ledoyen) who are obviously having some serious marital issues that are leaving things between them looking rather grim. Paul and Norman trek off to do some hunting and in the process come across an abandoned house only to find a wild, somewhat deformed girl locked up inside. Paul insists they take her with them although Norman has serious misgivings being the indecisive and weak man that he is. This kicks off a chain of events that can lead nowhere good as the locals come after them and the missing girl.

This movie seems to get a bad rap but I really enjoyed it. One criticism is that it rips off the film Straw Dogs. Now I have to admit, Straw Dogs is one of those movies I'm always telling myself I need to see but it just hasn't happened yet. I did however, read an in-depth description of the film and while I can definitely see similarities, I feel like this is truly a different story that makes homages to Sam Peckinpah's classic. The story is deliberately paced so for some, it may seem a bit slow at times, something I appreciate if done well. The director really takes the time to develop the characters and give us a chance to get to know them and what's motivating their actions. It's not cut and dry as far as who's bad and who's good. We have a chance to see more than one side of the leader of the locals and while his actions are abhorrent, we're given a chance to see the humanity inside. Also, the movie is set in the 1970's possibly to further evoke the feel of Straw Dogs but instead of feeling like a period piece, it really looks like it could have been filmed in the 70's, even the acting fits the mold. The vibe of the whole flick is pretty well established by the opening credit sequence; I dig it.

By no means is this movie destined to be a classic, but I'm glad I bought it and I'm sure I'll enjoy further viewings. It's a solid picture and a neat little treat if you are a Gary Oldman fan. Just be ready to take your time and I think most of you won't be sorry.

Ils/Them (2006)

Directors: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Writers: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Actors: Olivia Bonamy, Michael Cohen

Rating: 3 1/2 Black Sheep

The French film Ils, or as known by its American title Them, is essentially a well-crafted home invasion thriller/horror film. I'm going to say right up front that I loved it. I have been watching horror films since I was a kid and very few movies have scared me as an adult. Haute Tension definitely had me on the edge of my seat during the "high tension" moments, but Them actually had me freaked out. To be fair, I have a real fear of someone coming into my home and attacking me so it was definitely playing on those emotions. Also, I watched this film by myself, late at night so what was I expecting?

The story follows Clementine (Olivia Bonamy) home from work as a middle school teacher. She lives with her husband Lucas (Michael Cohen) in a house they have recently purchased and are in the process of renovating. Of course it is out in the middle of nowhere and the house is a ridiculously large mansion with a million rooms, nooks and crannies, all bad things when someone is trying to kill you. Once you suspend your disbelief that they would be living in such a space, you can really buckle down and enjoy the ride. Soon after dark, things begin happening like strange phone calls, noises outside, and appliances turning themselves on to let us know Lucas and Clementine are not alone. They spend the rest of the evening being terrorized and tormented. For me, what makes this film work is that for much of the time, we have no idea who or what is launching this attack and then there is no terrifying reveal of a monster or depraved attacker, instead you see just enough to know what is happening but you have to wait until the end to understand why. This film comes from directing team Moreau and Palud, the same guys who brought us the American remake of The Eye with Jessica Alba, a B- horror flick that doesn't live up to its original Chinese version directed by the Pang brothers. Hopefully their next venture will be closer in quality to Ils.

One more thing to note about this film: The American film The Strangers seems to borrow many elements from Ils although the director Bryan Bertino claims to have been inspired by Helter Skelter more than anything else. I just want to comment that I think it's sad that Hollywood seems to think that U.S. audiences need to have these films spoon-fed to them in Americanized versions that generally are never as good as the movies that inspire them. When the original versions are released here in America, more often than not they are dubbed in English, such is the case for Haute Tension, as if having to read subtitles is going to ruin our movie viewing experience. Are we really that unimaginative a people? I like to think most of us are better than that. (Of course I realize that this way, the studios make tons of money, but come on.)

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Director: John McNaughton
Writers: Richard Fire, John McNaughton
Actors: Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a dark, fictional portrayal based on the confessions of real-life Henry Lee Lucas, a convicted murderer who claimed to have taken the lives of hundreds of victims. His true number of crimes has since come under much contention due to many factors including the inconsistency of his claims, faulty police work, and Lee's frequent recanting of details. Still, he remains one of the more infamous killers of modern time, no small thanks to this film.

Director John McNaughton delivers a truly creepy and disturbed inside look at Henry (Michael Rooker), a man that we know has served time supposedly for killing his mother, and is sharing an apartment with Otis (Tom Towles), a small-time ex-con who was in prison with Henry. The film starts with Otis' sister Becky (Tracy Arnold) coming to live with the two men after she has apparently escaped a domestic violence situation. Henry and Becky "bond" over their shared abused pasts and Becky spends the majority of the film trying to seduce Henry much to his discomfort and Otis' inappropriate delight. Henry seems to use murder as a way to "blow off steam", to stave off the anxiety acting normal brings him, and he soon draws Otis into his world. Otis doesn't have the control that Henry does and acts on impulse, something that brings him trouble.

What I find interesting about this film is the lack of a law and order presence. Typically in these kind of movies, we see the depraved acts and simultaneously, there is a parallel story of the detective attempting to solve the case. The closest we come to law of any kind is Otis paying his monthly visit to his parole officer, a character we see as clueless because we know what is really going on. The film focuses solely on these three characters and their relationships with each other. We aren't drawn to feel sorry for them but at the same time we are given clues as to how they came to be in the place they are. We see how their deep level of disfunction has made it impossible for them to draw any real meaning from their lives, as much as they try to connect with each other. McNaughton has a real talent for painting a gritty, unglamorous reality. There's nothing fun about this movie but it draws you in and forces you to look at a dark side of society you don't want to believe exists in real life.

Gwoemul/The Host (2006)

Director: Joon-ho Bong
Writers: Joon-ho Bong, Chul-hyun Baek
Actors: Kang-ho Song, Hie-bong Byeon

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

What can I say, I love Asian cinema! For some reason plot lines and character treatments that would never be accepted in American film, as perfectly welcome in Asian movies, and for this I am grateful. My favorite Japanese director, Takashi Miike is a perfect example of this, and in The Host, South Korean director Joon-ho Bong does not disappoint.

The basic gist of this film is that an American military morgue director orders his assistant to pour hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde down the down and subsequently, into the Han River. Shockingly, this has negative consequences as a mutated water beast appears months later to exact terror upon the city. The story centers around a misfit family comprised of a grandfather, his three adult children, each with their own flaws, and his granddaughter. Shortly after the start of the film, the giant water monster snatches the granddaughter and the rest of the screen time is devoted to the misfit clan trying to get her back.

This movie is nothing but entertaining. There is quite a bit of comedy mixed in with the big action, gross-out effects, and substantial drama and even the recognizably CGI monster is semi-realistic enough to keep the viewer involved in the story. There are some questionable elements like why the military doesn't just come out and start shooting their big guns at the monster which is certainly not invincible, and why the main characters can't just coherently explain to the authorities what has happened to their youngest family member. There's also a strange subtext going on that seems to blame the U.S. government for not only the mutation-causing pollution but also for the ill-advised "solution" that seems to do more harm than good and also appears to have some hidden agenda that goes unexplained. At the same time, the Korean government doesn't come out looking much better and leaves the viewer to wonder what exactly the message of the film is.

So if you are into ridiculous over-the-top Asian monster films that don't entirely make sense, this is the movie for you! (It certainly was for me!) It is no Citizen Kane but the characters are colorful, the cinematography is pretty cool, and there are even some tasty hidden touches that take at least a second viewing to discover.

Note: Be sure to watch The Host in Korean with English subtitles. The copy I have automatically plays it dubbed in English and I am a firm opponent of dubbing. It covers up the original sound track created to go with the film and I feel that this ruins the experience as it was intended by everyone who worked to bring it to you. Also, in all likelihood the budget for voice actors was smaller than for the actual screen actors so you will certainly suffer from deficient acting, or at least lower quality acting than the original actors. The one exception to this is certain Italian films because the Italian film industry has a long tradition of dubbing their films and often Italian movies are shot with no intention to even use the original audio, this is especially true for Italian horror. I've seen Italian movies where the original dialog was filmed in multiple languages because dubbing would automatically take place later. Just be sure to check if the original audio track is available before succumbing to a dubbed film.

The Woods (2006)

Director: Lucky McKee
Writer: David Ross
Actors: Patricia Clarkson, Bruce Campbell

Rating: 2 1/2 Black Sheep

Here is another movie I had never seen and I got it at the same time as Apartment Zero. The description on the back didn't particularly make me want to see it but I had to get it for three reasons: 1)Any movie with either Patricia Clarkson OR Bruce Campbell is worth at least one viewing and to have both of them together only reinforces this view, 2)I absolutely loved the film May, another one directed by Lucky McKee, and I was excited to see if he could deliver on another film, and 3)the deal was three for five bucks, I had to get something else if I wanted to buy Apartment Zero!

First things first, I was pretty disappointed by this movie. It is by no means a terrible movie and at times plays out as a decent ghost/horror story. However, decent is not enough for a film that boasts McKee, Clarkson, and Campbell on one bill. The story is set in the 50's and is basically about a troubled girl, Heather, who gets sent to boarding school by her parents, her father being played by Campbell. Heather arrives at the school and of course it is spooky right off the bat and all the teachers are a little strange to say the least. Things go from spooky to downright deadly pretty quickly and Heather finds that she is somehow the key to some sort of witchcrafty plot on the part of the teachers to use the students as vessels for the spirits that reside in the woods.

My first complaint is that Campbell's character is far too underused and that's not just because I want Ash from The Evil Dead to have a little more face time (although that is certainly true too). Campbell comes back to kick ass in the end but his character just felt too one-dimensional and underdeveloped for my tastes. Patricia Clarkson's character of the headmistress left much to be desired as well. I feel like the part could have been much more complex and there are moments where you feel there is something more going on but it just never quite fully makes sense. At times she is distant but occasionally Clarkson's headmistress reveals a subtle genuine depth of feeling, a kind of sad longing that never quite comes to the surface. In the end, we are forced to believe her intent was based on evil but it just doesn't add up for me. I really wanted this movie to go deeper. It's as if there were more scenes that got left on the cutting room floor that had they been included, the story would have retained its much needed depth.

So, if you love Patricia Clarkson, Bruce Campbell, or Lucky McKee, go ahead and get your hands on this flick, it still has some worthy moments and I'm not sorry I watched it. If you don't care about any of these people and you have no need to see a mediocre film about haunted school girls, then by all means, skip it.

Apartment Zero (1989)

Director: Martin Donovan
Writers: Martin Donovan, David Koepp (Toy Soldiers, Stir of Echoes, Secret Window)
Actors: Colin Firth, Hart Bochner

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

I had never seen this movie before but had been meaning to get a hold of it for years. The other day I was waiting for a friend in Union Square in New York City and I saw somebody hawking DVDs at a little table, three for five bucks. This little gem happened to be hidden amongst a plethora of shit and I immediately snatched it up. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It's a great psychological thriller/drama with a pinch of comedy that showcases some really rich characters.

I've never really felt one way or the other about Colin Firth but he really blew me away in this one. Firth plays a cinema-obsessed man by the name of Adrien DeLuc who owns a theater and cherishes his privacy (possibly to hide from others the madness that is growing inside him). When his theater fails to make much revenue, DeLuc decides he's going to have to take on a boarder in his spare room. When you see how he interacts with his neighbors, you'll understand why this prospect causes him much anxiety. After interviewing a few people, however, he finds Jack (Bochner), an American who looks like he could have just stepped off a Hollywood screen with his James Dean ways. DeLuc has finally found someone he actually wants to be around and Jack seems to have this effect on everyone, charming men and women alike. His charm turns out to be a mask for something much darker which perhaps only adds to his draw for DeLuc.

The film is set in Buenos Aires and has an interesting balance of sweetness, anxiety, and sadness when you really take the time to think about what is really happening within each of the characters, from each of the apartment tenants to DeLuc and Jack themselves. Ultimately, for me this film is about a journey into madness and a last attempt to truly connect with the outside world that instead results in a full-throttle leap over the edge (metaphorically that is, I'm not revealing any spoilers, I promise).

Check it out, it's definitely a solid piece and I have a feeling that subsequent viewings will reveal even more enjoyment and appreciation.

Update

Wow, it's already been over a year since I set up this blog, hard to believe. Since then, I ended up hosting my blog at my buddy Ross's site, Reject the Herd. I've realized that it is difficult for some people to fully access my blog entries if they aren't interested in registering on the RTH site so I'm returning here to make things easier. The content will still be appearing on RTH but now anyone who is strictly looking to view my blog can come here! I'm going to transfer over most of my previous RTH content as well and then new reviews should show up on a weekly basis.

Also, plans are in the works to transition the blogging into a weekly podcast which will find its home on this site, so stay tuned!