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Leatherface (2017)
Another Texas road kill. Too Gory for today theaters releases? Or just plain waste of film?
After Texas Chainsaw 3d, which was another pretty bad addition to the franchise, another film has the claim (Or fans and medias claim it?) to be the true canon sequel to Tobe Hooper's 1974 masterpiece, The Texas Chainsaw massacre.
No matter how many sequels have been made, none has managed to top the original 3 films franchise: Texas1, 2 and 3 which was also titled Leatherface. The 2 sequels to the original, although a little silly were also mindless fun and that's something that's been lacking to these films since the 2003 remake in my opinion. Now we are stuck on repeat, always trying to find a way to reboot the series but with more of the same at each turn. Only the fans of gore alone, this is a film for you. Don't get me wrong, i love my films extreme and filled with it. Horror and violence deserves to be rated R and be worthy of that mention, and even the Unrated version that avoiding the wide theater release can provide. Hell yes, i'm all for it.
But this time, yet another time for this franchise turns into a wasted opportunity. Or in a waste of film since their might be no more ways to explore and better this once fun and outrageous name. To sum the film up in a short story: Cops are bad and we still try to make the Sawyer family and especially Leatherface sympathetic characters. Trying to find some redeeming traits to this particular monster or justify it after everyone, every fan at least is aware since the 1970s what he is and what he's capable of? I'm bore out of my skull once again.
Try Cult of Chucky. For lack of better films in theaters, it easily tops Leatherface in terms of style, cinematography, silly humor and fun overall.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
A female John Wick? Great acting and cast but sadly far from an heavyweight of an action flick
I heard, and read that the sex scenes between Charlize and Sofia were hot in this film, helping a marvelous movie, yet i was rather disappointed with everything but the cast and acting.
For a little fun it was an action flick, so watching the stunning Charlize fight ridiculous amount of men, way taller than her was charming. But considering that John Wick is such a good and accomplished effort, this Atomic Blonde didn't have much to offer in terms of script and plot was in fact a total letdown. I did enjoy the soundtrack and yes, i'm not a woman, i'm a guy and loved the sex scenes between the 2 actresses (Dear god! Toxic macho man!) But those who almost lost their socks due, in part to these scenes and found them extra-hot have not seen many R rated and Unrated movies that came before, in the 80s and 90s decades! Overall, atomic blonde is a charming attempt at having yet another female bad ass but the team of Stahelski and Leitch were way too lousy with the photography and cinematography, yet the pace to make this a gender contender to a film like John Wick and its sequel.
XX (2017)
XX Quite below a good Horror Anthology
Leaving aside the fact that this Anthology is a women driven horror film, directed and written by 4 women, in which, the men, fathers of the story are depicted as bad, unfit to raise their kids with a mother's love, leaving aside the tackling of racism in a one way matter: The white educator and principal are the evil and the Black woman is the poor victim in the last segment...
Considering the talents involved, i'm really surprised that this Anthology turned out to be a disappointment on many levels. But the thing that struck me the most as the worse part, during the 2 firsts segments at least, is the use of music. Tense music deserves to be used to announce a threat, therefore, putting an emphasis on the drama of a scene and what's coming next. But in this film's case, the directors poorly use tense music, while failing at making the atmosphere of the scene dramatic in any way. The disappointment when the music stops, with no escalade in the horror, without a threat upcoming screams total fail. They should have taken notes from Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity featuring Kyra Sedwyck, Fairuza Balk and Parker Posey: A beautiful drama about 3 separated women and their own stories. The tension in this film, for example, easily surpasses any tension you may feel watching the first 2 segments of XX, and this without using music and without being a horror film of course. The music, doesn't add up to anything or even act as a savior in the case of XX, it turns to waste.
That being said, my favorite episode, Don't Fall comes to create a bit of tension and terror and is a welcome relief after 2 poorly executed segments. It's just a shame that this episode ends as quickly as it started since despite starting on a slasher cliché: Young adults in a deserted area... I would have liked this particular segment to be exploited into a feature length film. Perhaps, make it more about a fight between good and evil. In a short 15-20 mins, Don't Fall sadly ends predictable and lazy. Leaving us hanging and hungry for more.
Brief, if you can find Horror Anthologies such as Creepshow, Bodybags, The first season of The Master of Horror series and The splendid The Theater Bizarre, you can sit and watch many great stories compiled into these horror gems. Horror, as the visual and stories are considered, tend to lean towards women. Strong women often become heroes of horror films but in this case, even trying to depict the drama of motherhood and serious problems women face everyday, the makers of XX failed miserably, both at depicting tension, horror and getting a point across. There is the comical element, a sense of satire in the first episode but yet again, nothing over the top, which would have been welcome also screams that any sense of daring is missing.:(
3/10
The Craft (1996)
Girls Know Their Craft
Director Andrew Fleming was not a familiar name in the middle nineties in my case. But later on I watched his first feature horror film starring a young Jennifer Rubin, BAD DREAMS (1988). Fleming never became one of my interests but let' say that THE CRAFT, released in 1996 is one of these things that caught my attention as a young teenager. And this is another one of those "like it or Leave it" kind of film, among tons of other cheesy teen films released during that era. I loved it and still like it to this day. Even more, it is probably one of my favorite gems of this genre and decade. Thanks to the actresses.
Sarah (Robin Tunney) is a young girl that doesn't seem to fit in. That until she moves with her father from San Fransisco to Los Angeles, where she learns in private school, that she isn't the only one in her situation. She soon starts hanging out with three other rejects. Believed to be gifted with the ability to perform magic, the girls are looking for a fourth member to complete their circle. But what Sarah soon learns is that not everything is grey in the heart of a true witch.
With THE CRAFT, Fleming and Peter Filardi managed to come up with a pretty fun pop-corn film and dug up a beautiful and fascinating cast of actresses. Most of all, the fourth were able to make us believe that they were both very thigh together and that they were convincing teenagers despite the eight years that separates the elder from the youngest. Neve Campbell did good in her first feature film in Hollywood as the shy Bonnie, a character which suits Campbell like a glove since I rarely have seen her playing a fierce, determined woman or a crazy with such convincing talent. It's a shame that we haven't seen a lot of Robin Tunney and/or Rachel True in theaters or commercial films afterwards. But I do remember Tunney's turn in the disappointing End of Days with Gabriel Byrne and Arnold Scharz
Hum, he's five times mister universe and the terminator you know who I'm talking about. Back to Tunney, I thought she played a commendable version of the Heroine à la Bella from Twilight (I will endure comparison but I hated the first film and couldn't bare watching the sequels.) And last but not least, there's Fairuza Balk, in the role of Nancy Downs. She looks way shorter than the others but never let it show throughout the film. She even manages to carry it on her shoulders for the most part, portraying a sometimes candid, other times unstable leader. And if she goes as far as to make some parts a caricature. She also bursts through the screen and that kind of performance in that particular flick is more than welcome in my opinion. She takes a lot of space that she's granted with from the crew I'm sure. The problem is that she may have made that particular character way bigger than she'll ever be in real life. (This is The Joker vs Batman when the Prince of crime is involved in an episode against the dark knight and never the other way around after all). If this is far from my favorite performance of hers, this is surely one to watch.
But going deeper than the casting alone, THE CRAFT shows thousands of flaws. Because the writer(s) may have wanted to make it a cool fiction about witchcraft, without turning it into a joke, one thing must be hard to do when you are writing a story for teenagers, involving teenagers and you want to see it granted a PG13. That it managed to get itself an R rate is beyond me. Let alone the subject. There are a couple curse words here and there but that's about it. Let's get back to the serious(?) of the thing shall we? It seems Fairuza Balk was really into Gothic and Wicca at the time, she even did a lot of research about it in order to perfect her part. Still, she ironically plays the character that ended up with the most ridiculous holes in development. How come she has the means to go to private school and own the uniform if she's as poor as the poorest people alive in the first place? Still, who cares for character development for this one. I had a lot of fun. Another brain freeze is a scene involving the four ladies and sea animals. That scene was so irritating; I wonder how they decided to keep that instead of one of the few cheesy bits that we can see as cut scenes on the DVD's extras.
But, if only for the fact that it might have given girls of my time a little or too much confidence sometimes and if only for the fact that the lovely Fairuza Balk ended up with all the best lines and shots. She often sports demonstrative and crazy eyes, yet there are also great close ups of those piercing blue gems of hers. And for a use of CG that was kept to a minimum, exploiting special effects in a subtle, yet intriguing way, never turning the scenes into the ridiculousness that it could have been if it ended up looking like an annoying cartoon, I think it deserves one viewing.
And with the amount of talks about a remake, I don't know. Yes, I'd just forget about it. But can they still make this one better? Despite how much I like it, I think yes. But boy, I don't want to see forgettable names such as Kristen Stewart and Rooney Mara in the lead roles! And if they happen to find an actress as great to look creepy and as crazy as Fairuza can act, I'd say why not? Go for it.
The Orphan Killer (2011)
Mask serial killer at its cheapest but best shape
So i finally get down to doing this. Reading some of my own and others words lately i found out that once we've seen a movie we tend to discuss it at the past tense. The thing is that this particular film is still alive and well so this will be my bloody review for THE ORPHAN KILLER. It is an indie horror film, slasher mostly and judging by the first time i watched the trailer i was like: "WOW!", immediately sure that i would be in for one hell of a ride with this film. And boy is this statement weak to describe the film! As soon as this film starts, without giving any sort of warning, THE ORPHAN KILLER got me in the stomach and embarked me as 2 new faces in the horror universe: Marcus Miller and his baby Sister Audrey (Diane Foster) were entangled in a fight, what is often the most fun and interesting about this type of film! From the start, the story itself holds its ground and is intriguing as there's already enough displayed for the viewer to know about the main characters backgrounds, but also realize that it would be possible to expand on their mythology.
And with a team that has managed to do that much with the very little they had (Often proof that horror works somehow without the overuse of what a big budget could have provided.), what you see and what's told about, or by the Orphan Killer and/or his sister needed to stay somewhat intact Imo. In a way, i think that both characters made the film. From over the top murders to thrilling chase scenes, this one seems to have caught very well the most captivating essence of slashers. Add to this the really well made gore and other surprising make up effects? A haunting/Haunted murderer (Amazing work by Backus), able to both verbalize and demonstrate through his eyes and movements all of his intentions and you end up with a really fun ride through the whole thing.
Some of Marcus' brutal attacks are awesomely original, still this originality manages to be depicted through Matt Farnsworth's ideas about filmmaking with really well thought out ideas about the filming. And i think that it all paid off, considering that it is, most often what can stand out of a film like that with so little compared to the amount of slasher remakes we see in big theaters nowadays. And with a devastating score to go along with Marcus' ruthless agressions, this film came at a very right time for horror fans, proving that there is room for new faces, masks and names in our horror collections.
I just bloody enjoyed the film from start to finish despite very little flaws and Marcus seems to have done, like his peers in the universe, what Myers, Jason and Freddy for instance have manage to do. Only this time, one film seems to have been enough to captivate the audience for this aggressive and wounded, Christian-raised killer and he is just the antagonist part of this interesting new horror tale! The Orphan Killer has rallied a brutal family of horror fans and it still has the power to grow bigger from here on so this reviewer must thank and congrats Matt, Diane and the whole team behind the movie. Really thrilled, starving for more . Can't wait for what's to come! 8.5/10
The Ridiculous 6 (2015)
As bad for a brain as early reality TV
One star is even a generous rating! Frank Coraci, still the best comic director that worked with Sandler in my opinion gives us one of his first lazy effort, surrounded by lazy actors and comedians. No matter how stereotyped are the characters and the jokes, nothing's funny. except for the burro.
Frank Coraci married The Panavision years ago with the excellent football spoof The Waterboy (8/10). Sandler might not have been at his best back then, but thank god we had Kathy Bates (Mamma) and Fairuza Balk (Vicky). The 2 women played with such energy that the use of the larger image format easily made them stand out, but felt quite unusual and out of place for such a film. Perhaps Coraci and Sandler had seen the beautiful shots of Balk in The Craft or Gas, food, lodging... Still she's about 100 pounds? How does one takes as much space as Bates and Sandler (The 2's accent was awful.) with that shape? She ended up in a little box, thanks Frank, you might have large image but lack dept dear. But who cares if Sandler gets in the background when it's intentional?
The ridiculous 6 is no different. Sandler, in the back seat looks as his pals deliver the so called comedy and all he does is throw a line of encouragement once in a while. Rob Schneider's voice as a Mexican sounds like it was dubbed, as for every other character, all equally dumb and uninteresting. David Spade, with only one scene fairs the better (That says it all, no?) The problem is, we have no Barrymore, Bates, Balk, Walken or Nicholson here. The worst of the former Saturday Night live comedians once again (Including Sandler). And add to this cameos by Nick Nolte, Harvey Keitel, John Torturo, but they struggle with little to nothing. This is no Waterboy or Wedding Singer. Neither is it Billy Madison, Happy G, Click. Why did Chris Farley had to die?
Dose of Reality (2013)
Have a dose, if thrills and acting is your thing
When i randomly stumbled upon the trailer for DOSE OF REALITY, i was really thrilled. I kind of saw it as a return to the screen for a Fairuza Balk that had been spared from movie appearances in the last few years. And did I enjoy this film! I used to love the lady in the nineties and followed her movie career onward but this particular film, being as different as it was? This psychological thriller, flirting on the line of horror helped me reconcile with her.
In the middle of the night, more precisely around 2 A.M, bartender Matt (Ryan Merriman) is about to close when he discovers a bloodied, unconscious young woman on the bathroom floor. He immediately warns Tony (Rick Ravanello), the bar manager. The problem is that they'll happen to have a good reason not to want the cops showing up in the place and so Tony decides that they should wait for Rose ( Balk) to wake and help her demystify the whole thing.
Another problem is that she eventually wakes up and as the two men become suspects in her attempt to remember who did this to her and how. Do they want to help a young lady who could be a little less innocent that she appears at first sight?
I hate to be drawn to tell one thing to get the viewers in sometimes. Since saying only one thing about films like DOSE always make me feel like I'm giving away too much, yet, watching this film one must admit that I didn't give anything away yet.
Despite all of the talent displayed in this little indie film, an emotionally surprising Rick Ravanello and a director able to catch my attention as much with his images as with his own writing. Credits to Chris Glatis for keeping me off balance during the whole thing but still having fun in a way that I wasn't that bothered with what the ending would be (I didn't care before it came). Most of the film is carried on the shoulders of a remarkable Fairuza Balk. Master at her art and at her peek during the whole ride. One of her few roller-coaster character roles that stuck to me like glue! Really happy I watched it.
As much as I loved DOSE, the film might not be suited for everyone as it is more of a dialogue driven movie. Almost a play if you will. But I had a lot of fun watching it despite some flaws that were always quickly turned on their heads with the direction that the script was taking. And they seem to have caught some actors that are used to go "Over the Top" let's face it. But if you can enjoy yourself watching movies that won't spare twists, and/or can love characters when their personas, intentions and behaviors aren't clear and spoiled randomly during the play, you should give this one a go! We sometimes tend to put the emphasis on the word "Different" but I loved about this one that I expected something and ended up fed with something else.
This film noir done, performances as heavy and intense emotionally as those by Balk and Ravanello, shouldn't allow the average human being to walk out of them unaffected, Bravo!
I'm Really trying to find out more about Chris Glatis previous work. I'd love to have the chance to see his movie CALLBACK. And really looking forward to his next steps, whenever they come.
Hate Crime (2012)
Indie Horror that's worth checking it out
Before I get into this one, I must admit, without any intention of comparing a film to another one that if there is something that gets me interested every damn time about film, are subjects such as the one in HATE CRIME. Racism, discrimination, human rights are all things exploited in movies such as the great SHINDLER'S LIST, A TIME TO KILL, and the extraordinary American HISTORY X. These films, for a reason or another all got me to my stomach and I haven't forgotten any of them since. And James Cullen Bressack's HATE CRIME qualifies as one of them. But, nope, scratch that part. Should it be different, HATE CRIME's far closer to a pure horror film than a Drama. Call me a pussy, call me too sensitive, at first I wasn't too sure if I should test myself with this film, but something inside me felt like I had to. So I took the red pill and watched it.
HATE CRIME is the story of a Jewish family. New to their neighborhood, they're about to celebrate their son's birthday. They want to immortalize the event on camera but soon after the party begins, a bunch of crazy, stoned neo Nazi lunatics storm in the house.
This is all I need to give away if you haven't seen the film yet and maybe intend to test yourself. The nightmare that follows starts within about the first 5 minutes of the film and it doesn't let go until the very end. Turning that film into a survival experience, in which a desperate family becomes hostage of a group of people that obviously hate them.
Most of the time, the visual style of HATE CRIME, which involves letting an actor run with the camera surprisingly serves the overall film pretty well with allowing the filmmaker to get as close as the action as he wants you to be and instead of making you feel for the sympathetic characters, just simply making you resent the fear, the anger, the cries and all the emotions storming inside the protagonists. HATE CRIME manages at times to challenge the viewer. I must admit that I've been tested on more than one occasion as this night which started as a quiet, birthday evening became such a fierce and crazy night of crimes beyond what I could have imagined. And that is why I won't spoil you in this review with much about the disaster that occurs but rest assure that pushing beyond the limits isn't something that this film shies away from, as I thought that only animal cruelty and abuse on child and women could happen to make me uncomfortable in horror films anymore.
There are very few weaknesses for this one that don't really bother the entire work. For instance, one of the masked assailants, the biggest one's voice will appear incredibly hard to hear clearly through his mask, making his dialogues hard to understand for the first minutes of the ordeal. But one can thank the need to take himself into such a horrific ride, or the will to see the protagonists' triumph, the film builds strength for itself that far exceed the little flaws. I felt like I must see this film and I did. This one is a rewarding piece of indie film overall. And I'm really looking forward into James Cullen Bressack's future in film as I'm looking to have the chance to see more of his past work. Including the intriguing: TO JENNIFER.
Found (2012)
Not a history maker but a smart take on bullying and a quite disturbing horror flick
Marty, 12 years old is a young Horror obsessed pre-teen. He also knows about his older brother Steve's darkest secret: That Steve is a serial killer. Bullied at school and by his own father, perhaps Marty has found even more than a protector in his brother? The only problem is what might happen to him if Steve discovers what his younger bro knows.
FOUND isn't too far from perfection in the horror genre in my opinion. And it achieves this without even abusing the massacre and gore scenes. Don't panic gore hounds. This film will eventually deliver the goods. But what i liked the most about it is that i was glued to the screen from start to finish despite the slow burn style of FOUND. And it managed to scare me and disturb me even with so little. Because the film is a rare realistic portrait of a family, the most ordinary and average family at first sight, entangled in nothing but everyday problems. Some things that we as a society tend to ignore and/or shovel down deep inside and under the rugs.
If there are things that i've always found hard to stand both in real life and in movies are things like violence on Women, kids, animals, racism and of course the ever present and growing problem that is bullying. That bullying happens in school or at home in the confort of what should be a safe place, it has become a matter with such amplitude that teachers will ignore the bullied like there was nothing that can possibly be done to end a feud between 2 kids. That until a bullied kid finally replies to a bully, which often results into having a nice kid grounded, and sometimes worst: Beaten in return and/or perceived as a young waste of flesh by our society's great thinkers.
Briefly, bullying is such a nightmare and FOUND reflects that reality in such a scary way. This rarety in the Horror genre is to be witnessed at your own risks. This is not a subject matter that you bring to the table at dinner. And there is such a violence involved in this film that even the scenes where it is left to the viewer's imagination might enrage or disgust and disturb someone.
Suspiria (1977)
Delicious!
In 1978, legendary Italian, Master of the Murder/Mystery and Horror Dario Argento Directed Suspiria. One of the most important movie in the history of movies (Since Les Frères Lumière invented the Medium) in my opinion. And it stands as one of the best films ever made.
This one is surely one of the scariest and most disturbing movies i've ever seen. My favorite entry in the genre and probably my favorite movie period, all styles and genres involved. Although Argento's work has never been praised for the quality of his actors and scripts, neither for his stories and plots (Stories made no sense and mostly in Suspiria. This one is also filled with plot holes.) But i honestly think no one should really care to understand an horror movie but he/she should expect from it to be scary, gory or disturbing and nothing more.
But the work of Argento himself and the effort he puts into making each scene his own, filming it and then the editing, in big part all his own unique way make this filmmaker a man apart from everyone else. You can name them all, but none of them can make horror movies and scenes as beautiful as Argento more than often did during his illustrious career, which didn't start with and didn't end with Suspiria. But this one in particular- The first of a trilogy dedicated to 3 witches, each one haunting an ancient residence- is surely the biggest film he's done in terms of making a name for himself. His originality and love of music showed throughout most of his following movies. But Suspiria's music and sounds were rarely matched in the genre.
Dario loves to play with his actors and his camera crew. He loves to play with colours and he won't hesitate to show his audience the most gruesome death scenes in such a elegant way (Say for the first murder scene in Suspiria). He's one of the master at using and even overusing the old clichés and he does it pretty well and without shame. Back during the days when the Murder/Mystery and Horror flicks were still fresh, scary and fun, Argento was arguably the master at it.
The story 4 Suspiria: Suzie Banyon (Jessica Harper) is a young American that came to a prestigious Ballet school in Germany. But the European Dance Academy runned by Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett) hides some sinister secret. Indeed, one so dark that those who find out about it or try to escape are killed off one by one.
If the story, actors and even the voice overs could have been much better (In English, i recommend the french version which was really good) these are the only flaws. This witch tale is guaranteed to stay buried deep within the minds of many viewers and todays paranormal flicks could never stand an inch tall in front of this masterpiece. The flicks trying to pay Suspiria the smallest homage or the smallest amount of respect, taking their inspiration from this flick have for the most part failed miserably sadly.
So, that you like or not Horror, Suspense, Mystery and Giallo movies, you should give this one a shot and instead of judging it for its acting and writing talents, just judge it based on the effort put forth behind the camera, the way the movie was rendered and how this all helps tell the story from the start. The Images, the colours, the score. Because i think i heard that from someone once and i Totally agree and quote: "Not liking Suspiria, is the same as not liking cinema/movies at all."
Devilishly Delicious!! Or Deliciously devilish?
Banshee Chapter (2013)
Screams of a great Banshee Chapter
The BANSHEE CHAPTER is a Half fiction/Half documentary horror film that involves a project developed by the U.S government called MKUltra. The project having already existed of course was nothing to be compared to what we see in the film, which implies injecting a drug to a number of random patients in order to make them hallucinate. But going further into analyzing it would require much more reading for the moment.
Suggesting that the drug would make people more aware of their surroundings, it starts with a Young writer having been able through his contacts to put his hands on a dose of the said drug. Soon after he injects it, he disappears without leaving a trace. An old friend of his, reporter Anne Roland (The Lovely and Talented Katia Winter) sets out to uncover the truth about her friend's disappearance and about the drug by the same way.
If you've seen a little of T.V series Dexter and Sleepy Hollow or if you already follow them you probably know Katia Winter more than i do at the time but i liked her in this one. THE BANSHEE CHAPTER being a Half fiction/Half truth investigation, i doubt that fans of this type of horror movies will get out of this one having found a new favorite but this is more than Worth the Watch imo. The movie relies a lot on mystery and suspense, showing us threats but only in a calculated dose that you won't see or understand who or what is stalking its protagonists really clearly. But it does it well. Will result of this a couple good scenes of anticipation, a kind of thing that not many mystery horror or even slashers have done as effectively as the Extreme John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN in 1978. If you watched Halloween, you know what anticipation i talk about. There were other movies but quite Frankly, i think that Banshee Chapter plots its scares really well. And ain't that all that matters in a film like this one?