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Promenons-nous dans les bois (2000)
Forgotten French Giallo is haunting yet flawed...
Deep in the Woods is a bizarre little French horror film that came out my last year of college. I remember it distinctly for the haunting trailer and eagerly awaited it's release. I remember enjoying it but not sure why so I thought, time to rewatch this film.
Almost Argento-esque in it's style, Deep in the Woods very much borrows form the great Italian giallos that came before it. It was very obvious that the director was attempting to do that. For the most part succeeded quite nicely. It is the story of a group of five actors traveling to a mansion in the French countryside to perform a play for a young autistic boy and his father for the boy's birthday. Shortly after arriving it's quite obvious things are not always as they seem. The father takes an instant unhealthy obsession with Wilfried one of the male actors. There is the creepy groundskeeper annoyed at waiting on the master of the house. This guy oozes creepiness. After performing the play, the master invites the group to stay for dinner and overnight, one of the group wants to leave almost immediately but they haven't been paid so they decide to stay. There's a newsreport of an escaped madman and the police are flying over with helicopters trying to find him. This is the setting of a series of bizarre murders that make this the giallo style horror film it is.
Deep in the Woods takes a long time to really get going, and frankly there are some strange scenes that it looks like the director threw in just to be "creepy". The almost comical French policeman for one. I honestly had a hard time taking seriously. Still I was really attracted to the style of the film and cinematography. The connection to the Red Riding Hood story and the color red and the woods really matched well artistically. The cast is generally solid although watching it in French really is the only way to go as the dubbed version is horrific. I couldn't tell generally if the cast was great actors or amateurs like they portrayed when putting on a play. Still, they are beautiful and the two male leads are beyond attractive.
Overall, Deep in the Woods is a slightly flawed attempt at a giallo that still offers a lot to enjoy. Sure there are long stretches that don't really offer much in the way of horror but enjoy the ride. Ignore the critics who say this is boring film with no merit, the visuals alone make it worth a watch once and those that appreciate giallo will enjoy it. I'm proud to have it in my collection.
The Good Fight: The Gang Offends Everyone (2020)
A fantastic episode ruined...
What in the world do these guys that create those god awful animated shorts have on the Kings? The literally kill the flow of every episode they are in and this is no exception.
Everyone hates them! For the love of god, STOP!
Monster! (1999)
I think they got mixed up midway!
When I heard this movie was by the producers of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" I thought I would check it out to see what it offered. That was my mistake.
Not to say this movie doesn't have any redeeming qualities, it does in fact have one major one. The plot is extremely interesting. It concerns a 50's B movie star who is stuck in a real life movie based on a series of films he stared in. With a blend of B movie magic and mainstream Alien wannabe this movie falls apart. A creature (horrible CGI) is stalking the residents of a small town and the movie star is the "town hero" Only he can save the town from certain destruction. Unfortunately he's been locked away cause the townspeople think he's insane. In comes his grandson to the rescue.
This movie would have been brilliant if the directors had decided to keep up with the B movie elements and went for a monster suit not the horrible CGI (when will movie makers learn you can't make living things out of CGI look right!). Sadly this movie deserves only to be viewed once if only for the plot. 3 out of 10.
Mosura 2: Kaitei no daikessen (1997)
Mothra goes underwater!
Although some kaiju fans consider a majority of this film a joke, I do not.
What you have here is a great little film, made on a small budget, that not only entertains but also keeps the the series going in the same direction as the first of the trilogy, Mothra (1996).
In this film, a creature by the name of Go-Go is discovered by some fishermen. The creature flees and is discovered by some local kids who together with Moll and Lora (Mothra's fairies) head off the coastline to discover a "secret treasure." They are pursued by the fishermen, now controled by Belvera (the evil sister fairie). When they arrive at a point in the ocean, Go-Go raises a temple from under the water and they go inside to investigate.
They discover a horrible monster is being unleased. Dagahra has been awakened by the pollution of man and is wreaking havoc on the island and the fairies have to summon Mothra to battle it.
The fight sequences in this movie are well done, especially for the first major battle between MothraLeo and Dagahra. Some kaiju fans may have a problem with AquaMothra but all in all, this is a fun movie and should be enjoyed by all!
Mosura (1996)
A dark kaiju fantasy with some beautiful scenes.
Although not generally one of the most popular kaiju (Japanese for monster) movies, Mothra: 1996 is in my opinion one of the most beautiful.
Mothra: 1996 is the first in a new trilogy from Toho studios. It features one of their most popular monsters Mothra. Mothra battles a new creation in the form of Death Ghidora. Although, the fairies in this film are not the same in past films they do an adequate job.
What caught my attention of this film was the first 30 minutes. The beautiful visuals of the northern forest and of it being destroyed by man leading to the discovery of the tomb of Death Ghidora. Death Ghidora is one of Toho's most popular recent creations and is a fearsome looking beast. This film contains no less than 4 separate battles between Mothra and Death Ghidora.
The special effects are up to par and the creation of Belvera, the evil fairy is interesting. Although geared toward younger viewers, die-hard kaiju fans should have no problem enjoying this film.