THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2
(Tobe Hooper, 1986)
I'm not entirely certain why I never saw this. Actually, I've never seen part 2 in the Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street series either. This month might rectify one of those. While the film's following can't hold a candle to the original classic, based on the buzz around this film's recent blu-ray release, it definitely has a fanbase. As I found out, it's for good reason. I have no doubt it was panned during its theatrical release, but many films of this ilk thrive during their home video run. (This is one of the many reasons the rise of digital downloading and the fall of the video store frustrates me.) Broadening the dark comedy present in the original and amplifying the gore by a significant margin, the film follows the same inbred cannibal family of the original. This time, they are lurking under a fairgrounds popping up every now and then for a quick, ahem, bite. Two of their victims are on the phone with a DJ (Caroline Williams, an actual grown woman in a horror movie!) as the clan makes their kill. She teams with a local sheriff (Dennis Hopper as Dennis Hopper), but soon the hillbillies come for her. Like I said, it's much broader than the original but also proves that horror sequels aren't always complete retreads. Williams is a good Final Woman, and it must have been groundbreaking at the time to have a 29-year-old as the lead, as opposed to some teen HPOA. She reminds me of Rashida Jones for some reason. Rob Zombie fave Bill Mosely is really gross as the metal-headed Sawyer member who comes for her. His scene of him picking at and eating part of his own scalp is disgusting, emitting more winces from me than anything from a Saw or Hostel movie. A scene early in the film also boasts one of the most effective jump scares I've ever seen. The production design of the family's lair, though a little unrealistic in its grandeur, is pretty spectacular given this was probably a low budget endevour. A death late in the film has a raw power, grounding the film's occasional absurdity. Gross, funny, suspenseful and very very 1980's, a very worth sequel to what I think is one of the best and most influential films. GRADE: A-
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
(James Watkins, 2012)
Mixing elements of old school gothic horror with modern jump scares and amplified scary sounds, the result doesn't work. Daniel Radcliffe plays a lawyer arriving in a small town to sort of the documents of a recently deceased woman. Her house and seemingly the entire town are haunted by a woman in black, who shows up to snatch living children. Hey, that sounded a lot more interesting than what the film is! Most of the film's running time is Radcliffe in the house while sound effects pound from room to room. My biggest issue with the film is Radcliffe himself. I know this is really not his fault, but he's just not believable in this role and him interacting with the adult actors - yes, I'm aware he's in his 20's - comes off as laughable. Whenever he's with the actor who plays his 4-year-old son, I kept wondering when the kid's parents were going to show up and pay the babysitter. It's not fair to pidgeonhole an actor, but he really should've done a bit more transitional parts before he played such a grown up character. Take a note from Emma Watson! Of course, I think most of us knew she'd have the best post-HP career. That issue aside, the film is decently paced. But when it did end, I was like 'that's it?' It needs more fleshing out, and it would've helped to develop the characters Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer played. As such, both talents are wasted. The director, James Watkins, made the terrific and thought provoking horror Eden Lake a few years back. Any tension that striking film had is sadly MIA here. GRADE: C
RETREAT
(Carl Tibbetts, 2011)
A variation on Phillip Noyce's great 1989 thriller Dead Calm, a couple are staying in a cottage on a desolate island miles from England (I wanna say?) when a bloodied soldier shows up claiming a virus is wiping out much of the population. Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton are the damaged conflicted couple, wondering whether Jamie Bell's soldier is who he says he is or an escaped nutjob. The film proceeds exactly as you think it will, with tense confrontations, crawling grasps for weapons, planned escapes thwarted and secrets bubbling to the surface. Despite some familiarity and being a hodgepodge of better films like the aforementioned Calm, 28 Days Later and Bug, it works well. The three actors are strong, with Bell making a lasting impression as the psychologically unstable (or is he?) stranger. Funny to think his other major role was a young boy longing to learn ballet, this is a total turnaround from that. Judging from the reaction on Netflix, most average people found this dull. I don't get that, but to each his own. There are original surprises to each character to keep the intrigue going. Even though I predicted some of the twists, there's enough still left for me to recommend this one. GRADE: B
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