(Jim Mickle, 2007)
After loving Mickle's Stake Land and really looking forward to his We Are What We Are, I thought I'd check out his first film. This played with the "8 Films To Die For - After Dark Horrorfest" that happened in 2007. Remember that? They did it like 2 years. Anyways, the denizens of a New York City tenement battle a rapidly spreading virus that turns people into rats. It sounds ridiculous, and it is, but the film's gritty aesthetic and authentic acting (the cast is comprised almost entirely of no-names) keep it grounded in reality. As in Stake Land, Mickle is great at showing the dynamics of a makeshift family. That aspect is easily the film's strongest, as the genre elements are a tad derivative. The very real characters make up for it, though. Nick Damici (who co-scripted) stars and I'm really starting to wonder why he isn't a bigger presence in film. GRADE: B
THE DEAD ZONE
(David Cronenberg, 1983)
I'd say this is probably Cronenberg's most mainstream film. Yes, even more so than The Fly and A History of Violence. I think of the films I've seen by him, this is my least liked. I knew one of The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horrors' segments was based on this, and I completely forgot there was also a USA series, too. Christopher Walken is a teacher (amusingly, he talks to his students about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) who gets into a car accident and slips into a coma for 5 years. After waking, he has a supernatural gift of forseeing the future of anyone he touches. His gift eventually puts him at odds with a crooked politician (Martin Sheen, at his most skeezy). Walken is fittingly Walken-y, but other than that there wasn't much here for me to like. It felt like The Manchurian Candidate with some paranormal elements. GRADE: C
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE
(Guillermo Del Toro, 2001)
Del Toro's sorta companion film to Pan's Labyrinth in which the son of a recently deceased Spanish Civil War soldier is sent to live in an orphanage where a ghost resides. Like Pan's, the fantastical elements are incidental to the main story. Always nice to see a genre film that keeps its story first and lets the scares flourish naturally. There is blood and scares, but the story is gripping enough on its own. That said, I think Pan's was overall a much (much much) better film. That said, Eduardo Noriega is, like, insanely hot. GRADE: B+
KISS OF THE DAMNED(Xan Cassavetes, 2013)
Stylish tribute to the erotic Euro-horror movies of the past, a young female vampire (Josephine de La Baume) brings home a screenwriter (Gilmore Girls' Milo Ventimiglia, YUMMMM), converts him, then her sister (Eva Green doppleganger Roxane Mesquida) arrives and throws a wrench into the situation. The music, costumes, cinematography and sound design are top notch, casting a hallucinogenic spell. The actors are mere props, the mood is the real star. The film is very surface level feeling almost like a Vogue photoshoot with fangs. It's an homage, so these minor criticisms don't bother me. Hey, at least it's a vampire movie with sex and blood. Remember those? GRADE: B+
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