OPEN HOUSE
(2010?)
I'm not sure what kind of release this got, but the first I heard of it was when I pulled into a convenience store late at night and passed a redbox. I saw a pic of it and was like "oooh!" upon seeing scary house, plus Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer on the cover. As I came to learn, the film is directed by Anna's brother. I thought this was a simple variation on the usual home invasion thriller (think The Strangers or Them) but that's not really what it is. In a nutshell, a serial killer couple "squat" at homes on the market, killing the current resident and whoever might drop by. Paquin (barely a cameo) plays a friend of the homeowner (Rachel Blanchard) who is held captive by the serial killer couple (Brian Geraghty and Tricia Helfer). The film does have a bit of a satiric subtext, but its not really anything the genre hasn't seen before. The acting by the psycho couple is effective, but the film is short on scares and suspense. I can see why I didn't hear about it before passing the redbox. GRADE: C
HATCHET
(2006)
There's a sequel to this that was released last week and pulled almost immediately. LOL. The reports on that mentioned that people liked the first one, so I decided to watch that. I really need to stop trusting these people. So in New Orleans, legend tells of a deformed boy that was accidentally killed by his father and now haunts the bayou. Well, not haunts. It's actually him? Intentionally stupid humor and over the tope gore abounds. Cameos by horror legends Robert Englund and Tony Todd don't add anything, it just made me feel sorry for them. It's one of those tasteless horror movies that only a few can pull off successfully. It almost made me write off Adam Green until..... GRADE: D+
FROZEN
(2010)
...he directed this. Seriously, Hatchet and Frozen are night and day. Whereas that film wore its intestines on its sleeve, this one was subtle and lowkey. Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore and newcomer Emma Bell (damn! they had to have a woman? so kevin and shawn don't warm each other up!) play college students who end up trapped on a ski lift on a Sunday night and the place doesn't open again till Friday. A practical horror movie that shows less is more, the three must brace the elements: fear of heights, frostbite, wolves and each other. Zegers is cute, but still hasn't quite learned to act. Bell handles the comedic aspects well early on, and is pretty effective in some of the drama but sometimes is really bad. And Shawn - jeez where did that come from? He's really great when he gets his big monologue scene. I very much enjoyed this often harrowing film, but I'd like to say that I don't think packs of wolves hang out at ski resorts during the off hours. Though I will say that Green's filming of the first attack scene is hair-raising. In fact, his direction of this film (especially in contrast to Hatchet) is pretty fantastic. Kudos also to Andy Garfield's elegant score, which foregoes standard horror jump scares in favor of a lovely classical sound. The cinematography of the ski resort also adds to the dread. GRADE: B+
THE VANISHING
(1988)
Known for two things: 1) Being a great suspense film with a terrifying ending. 2) Having an awful remake that showed us where this year's leading Oscar winners first met. Rex's girlfriend vanishes at a rest stop and he spends the next three years looking for her. While that is going on, we meet the man responsible for her disappearance. Rex, in dire need of any information about what happened, agrees to meet the man responsible. I don't quite think this is the great movie the hype made it out to be. I did appreciate the way the film showed who the serial killer was and that he wasn't at all a cliche. Guess Silence of the Lambs and Seven gave us the sick guy that loves exposition. The actor that played the kidnapper was really great, but his chin hair bothered me. Ugh, I HATE guys with that. Petty complaint, I know. This is mostly an absorbing drama, with a pretty horrific ending. GRADE: B
THE CRAZIES
(2010)
I watched the original during Horrorfest '09, and thought it was an okay film with a solid premise. Take note, Hollywood. That is the type of film that should be remade: "okay, with a solid premise." Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell - neither a stranger to the genre - star as husband and wife in a small town where residents are going crazy, killing one another. Suspecting government coverup, they go on the run unable to trust anyone - not the small townsfolk who may or may not have become psychopaths or the armed forces that have invaded supplying no answers but seemingly wanting to wipe out the entire town. The film really hits its verve in the second act and from there doesn't let up. Effective jump scares, terrific makeup and many unnerving scenes including a pitchfork being drug across a tiled floor - a nice American Gothic reference? The film's best sequence is a fantastic set piece set in a carwash. It's one of the best the genre has seen in years. A pure adrenaline rush for the last hour, I look forward to revisiting this one a lot in the future.
GRADE: A-
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE: FIRST SEQUENCE
(2010)
By now, you've heard what this is about. The film became almost a huge in-joke with the internet film community and was even namechecked by Stephen Colbert on this year's Emmys. It begs the question just who is the film for? Fans of both Eli Roth and the Jackass boys? John Waters? Once you get past the gross synopsis, the film is really not the hard to, ahem, swallow. Yes, get ready for a bunch of bad puns. I guarentee you that you've probably seen far worse gore in films, and those expecting to lose their lunch probably won't. It is perhaps the most horrific idea for a horror film if only because it is the most horrific thing you can really think of - a fate worse than death. Most agreed this is pretty tame, which is probably for the best. Several times throughout, it falls into some unintentional comedy. I'm thinking of the the evil surgeon's picture of the three dogs sewn together. And once the human centipede takes its vile form, its not as squirm inducing as one might expect. I think once you've heard what this film is about, your imagination will probably run further than the film does. Again, probably a good thing. The acting from the, well, pedes isn't very good. The girls are downright terrible at first. The actor playing the surgeon is fantastic. A truly great horror villain. The ending is a doozy, even if Tosh.0 ruined it for me. It packs a pretty brutal emotional punch. No one really bought that this is really "100% medically accurate" as it seems several times that the centipede is about to break apart. Though, the filmmakers think they've covered all their holes. (OH SNAP) Oh, and watch the DVD features - there's an amusing outtake of the actors in centipede form doing a dance number. Those of you who would prefer to not have this film pervade your mind might find that a comforting image. GRADE: B-
No comments:
Post a Comment