Reviews

OK, so let me start by saying that, for me, The Blair Witch Project is the greatest horror film I've seen since it's release back in 1999. I've seen a lot of great horror since then but nothing has surpassed it.

The Jersey Devil is an excellent premise as most of us have heard of this unsettling legend.

They use the documentary style very well to cover the story of the cult cable show creators and their sound guy murdered in the woods, supposedly by the psychic they take along, Jim Suerd, while filming a story on the Jersey Devil. The documentary maker sets out to prove the innocence of Jim, who has since mysteriously died in his prison cell from unknown causes. Using the method of interviews with police and others involved in the case, retracing the steps of the crew and viewing the footage the crew themselves took on their first fateful night in the Pine Barrens, the film maker attempts to get an understanding of exactly what happened.

The found footage of their adventure into the woods doesn't scare outright but it sets a tone that slowly creeps in and effectively plants the seeds of dread and fear combined with the interviews and back stories. What happens after this moment is completely speculation to the authorities. Jim is the only survivor and is the one to report the others as missing the following day. Finding DNA matching blood on his jacket that is carelessly flung on his bedroom floor for anyone to discover incriminates him. The fact that he's been on a primitive online chat room during most of the night doesn't even save his bacon when the police find a 45 minute gap in his posts that would give him enough time to commit the carnage.

The fact that I felt very unsettled by this stage without actually seeing anything is a testament to how well they executed this up to this point. Exactly what happened to these guys? You get a glimpse of the dead bodies through police photos of Locus (a co-host of the show) and Rein (the sound guy) which is adequately horrific. The main host, Steven, is missing but his hat lying on the forest floor along with copious amounts of blood is found.

The next part of the film had me brimming with excitement that perhaps, just perhaps, this film may be the one that outshines TBWP. The documentary filmmaker receives an anonymous package in the post with crumpled up VHS tape, damaged to the point where it's impossible for him to view it. Enter Michelle, a data retrieval expert, who is put to task to slowly reconstruct the damaged tape, some of which is still intact and other parts are severely damaged and she uses her expertise to "guide" the computer to recreate the images in the mangled tape.

This next segment of the film had me on the edge of my seat. You get view some footage of Locus and Rein yelling out to Steve in the dark woods after he's gone missing. They happen upon the bloody pool of what is left of Steve and are attacked by something, the initial fear in their faces insinuating something beyond human recognition. Now, this is where I love the found footage genre. The footage is very shaky, grainy and you can't quite see what's going on, which adds to the effect. Jim is exonerated from guilt, he would have been online at that time posting on the net.

Meanwhile, Michelle seems to have found a piece of tape where a different perspective has been filmed during this incident and the face of "another" is slowly being reconstructed. This is where it gets really good. We keep revisiting Michelle on her quest to find the face of the killer and the image is slowly progressing into something that will become recognizable. Are we actually going to see the Jersey Devil?

By this stage I'm certain that this is the film that has finally surpassed TBWP. The final stages of her reconstruction of this face are slowly building up to a pinnacle... what am I about to see?

STOP!!!!

Surely to Christ no? My worst fears are confirmed. The face turns out to be the documentary film maker who proceeds to kill Michelle in plastic. The film descends into a sharp downward spiral from that moment on. All that build about "the Jersey Devil may really be out there" just gets quashed in a matter of seconds. In comparison, that documentary film maker is about as scary as Mary Poppins.

Not only that, all of a sudden, the found footage/documentary genre is thrown out the window and the "murderer" is being filmed in a conventional format in the woods with the dead body of Michelle at his feet. THE END. WTF?!

How could you destroy such a perfect build up with that pathetic dribble? I'm sure they're scratching their own heads now and wishing they could turn back the clock.

This brings me back to the TBWP. You cannot fault the execution and the ending. We still to this day can use our own imagination as to what happened to Josh, Heather and Mike. Was it the Blair Witch?, was it Rustin Parr?, was it a random inbred psycho?

The ending of The Last Broadcast could have had so many other infinitely better options than one they chose. You could have at least half shown the face to be some sort of Jersey Devil looking creature or you could have left it up in the air as to what it was and fed the mystery. Jesus, I don't know, anything but that ending!

This would have been a perfect 10/10 for me. The ending slashed it back to 6/10.

I found the premise interesting in the local store and bought it. What a fantastically realised film. It says so much about human relationships in general and highlights the fact that there's no such thing as the perfect, socially acceptable relationship.

Society's idea of what is acceptable is challenged beautifully, particularly with the dance partners who find love and are forced apart by a concerned parent, although they are technically adults, only to find an ally in the main character and his friend showing them the technicalities of safe sex instead of turning them in to the authorities. The female dancer's resolute explanation that her partner was "my soul" touched me in a very powerful, unexpected way and I can't stop thinking about it.

The main protagonist was exceptional in his role and I hope to see him again in more films in the future. Same goes for the female lead.

I found myself crying a lot and quite emotionally awakened while watching this wonderful film. I was disappointed that the extra features didn't have English subtitles! Very highly recommended.

I'm so obsessed with this film, I've been watching it in awe every week for the past few weeks. To me, it's like listening to a great piece of music, getting better with each viewing. It's such a beautiful film to watch with every scene carefully constructed, every set design(some in Todd Haynes parent's home!)intriguing and breathtakingly crafted with the colours and lighting eerily muted. Everything in Carol's world is beautiful but hides an underlying menace, an obvious metaphor for her internal turmoil.

The premise is Carol develops a severe allergic reaction to her environment, suddenly becoming extremely sensitive to fumes and smells from everyday suburban/city living. Of course, if you take it that literally, you're missing the point. This is more an exploration into the human condition and the artificial happiness we perpetuate in our seemingly unachievable quest for perfection via material possessions. The opening sequence includes one of the most soul destroying and familiar scenarios (coming from a fellow female) that I have witnessed with the supposed 'love making' scene with her husband, especially the 'patting on the back' scene as he fulfils his primal need. She's not a happy camper.

The film then moves into 'society' territory where we witness Carol's attempts to fit in with the American/Western Society ideal. Todd Haynes shines during this part of the film as he ever-so-carefully paints the picture of insidious tedium that Carol encounters during her struggle to recognise what is 'wrong' with her. In particular, I love the scene where Carol enters her friend's ultra modern home to console her on the death of a relative. The friend utters the words "It's so unreal" in such an ironically surreal environment.

We then move into the third act of the film where Carol is forced to seek proper 'help' for her condition. After the 'slap in the face' realisation that this all may be in her mind, with a perfectly executed scene (especially the set!) at the psychiatrist's office, she happens upon a brochure at her local gym entitled "Do You Smell Fumes?".

From here on the movie turns into true horror with Carol moving into the isolated complex with other so called 'victims' of modern society/pollution. Some of the scenes remind me of my teenage years where my older brother took me a 'Born Again Christian' Church (no offence!) where people spoke in tongues and generally 'freaked out' because of their obvious reaction to the perceived constraints of their lives. It's quite an uncomfortable experience, especially with Carol's husband present, and Mr Haynes captures it perfectly. We then experience some almost unbearable scenes between Carol and her husband, who's trying to show some understanding and empathy but doesn't quite get it (with son in tow) and the frustration is dreadfully apparent.

Then we see the product of this 'cult' gone too far with the fellow in the weird getup walking around like he's seriously physically crippled around the complex, the ultimate in horror! The film ends with Carol finally moving into one the ceramic built enclosures that supposedly protect and help you build your resilience to your environment. She looks at herself in the mirror, recalling a story from a fellow cult member, and pitifully says "I love you".

As a world weary adult with a particular penchant for horror films, I've seen a lot of horror in my time. Of course being a horror fan means you're subjected to some of the most terrible attempts at film making ever put to celluloid and my estimate would calculate that probably 95% of horror is rubbish. However, as all you horror heads out there know, you put yourself through this to discover that 5% of gold that gets released so rarely.

The Blair Witch Project is a very welcome addition to that 5%. An ingenious idea well executed has produced one of the scariest experiences this 30 something year old has endured. Thanks to this film I am now officially scared of the dark and not ashamed to admit it.

The uneasiness began to creep in when the locals were telling their tales of the Blair Witch legend, particularly the crazy old lady with her "fur" story. The documentary style was maintained with absolute perfection and hats off to the film makers for showing discipline and sticking to their original idea throughout.

The woods are beautifully eerie, the soundtrack of indecipherable sounds, events that keep getting stranger and more terrifying as the film rolls on and the growing sense of desperation and hopelessness finally brings us to the perfect climax set in that run down house that is the stuff of my nightmares.

I truly don't believe I'll ever be able to re-create the real terror I felt at the first viewing of this film and now I'm doomed to walk the earth fruitlessly trying for the rest of my days.

Sometimes, some things are better left unsaid Mr Zombie. The first half of this film that goes into great detail about Michael Myers terrible childhood is so graphically violent that it makes you squirm and feel nauseous during some scenes. Mind you, this feeling is not to be mistaken for being on the edge of your seat, like any good horror movie should do.

The reality is, who really cares about the background of a slasher monster? Although, I quite liked the idea of describing Michael as the "perfect storm", a human that has just the right combination of natural inclination, coaxed along by their environment to become a killing machine such as Mr Myers.

The second half of the film that copies the original feel of Carpenter's version is when things start to get interesting. The use of the original music score and Carpenter's tricks of the trade combined with the knowledge of how vicious and dangerous Michael Myers is was quite effective I thought. That was 'edge of your seat' stuff.

Anyhow, hats off to Zombie for doing a pretty good job overall.