2018 Horror Part Six

WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE

Dir - Colin Minihan

Overall: MEH

This solo venture from writer/director Colin Minihan of the Vicious Brothers fame, (Grave Encounters), takes a slow boil approach that unfortunately leads into borderline insulting rubbish.  What Keeps You Alive makes some interesting moves, focusing on a same sex couple for one thing and pulling off one thoroughly exciting rug-pull early on.  Outside of that though, it stretches plausibility to a breaking point and quickly becomes an exercise in illogical storytelling and the type of slasher movie tropes that have long aggravated viewers.  In fact it manages to push such moronic cliches even further, spending its last two acts letting both victim and pursuer get away with schlock-level nonsense.  That said, Minihan handles everything in a fairly respectable way.  The movie is artful in many instances and the lead performance from Brittany Allen, (who also composed the effective musical score), is quite strong.  It is a shame that the film could not continue in the more singular direction that the first act may have hinted at, but its few redeemable qualities are worthy of some recognition at least.

CLIMAX

Dir - Gaspar Noé

Overall: MEH

 

The latest from contentious, Argentinian filmmaker Gaspar Noé is on the one had both simple and wildly ambitious.  Climax is an exercise in style over substance to be sure and features the type of confrontational, brazen approach the director is routinely known for.  Featuring an ensemble cast made up almost entirely of dancers with no previous acting experience, no script or written dialog, the ending credits at the very beginning, the opening credits midway though, some of the on screen text backwards, some of the cinematography upside down, and one continuous take lasting over forty-two minutes which makes up nearly half the total running time, it is about as conventional as a Naked City live performance.  One can scarcely deny the technical skill on display and the dance sequences and overall visual spectacle of it leads one to at least champion Noé's bold creative moves on a surface level.  As far as actually being able to enjoy watching the movie though, that is a different story.  While certainly fascinating, it is unavoidably tedious far before the extended descent into chaos takes center stage.  At that point there is literally no break from the improvised insanity on screen so sticking it out is an exhausting experience.

 

POSSUM

Dir - Matthew Holness

Overall: MEH

The full-length debut Possum from English comedian/writer/actor Matthew Holness seems to have been made with respectable intentions, but is almost obnoxiously unwatchable.  Based off of his short story of the same name which appeared in the 2009 anthology book The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease, Holness draws direct inspiration from silent, German Expressionism, Dead of Night, George A. Romero's Martin, and old British public information films.  The simple premise is ideal enough to warrant an unnerving end result, the lead performance from Sean Harris is rather committed, (though his mumbled dialog is literally unintelligible throughout), and the cold, grimy look is appropriately atmospheric.  Two very persistent issues undermine the entire thing though.  One, the sound design is eerie and un-melodic yet annoying punctuated by deafeningly loud bangs and shrieks literally EVERY SINGLE TIME the very creepy title monster appears on screen.  It is highly disturbing enough to look at in its own right and the fact that we are never allowed to experience it without such gross overuse of jump scare tactics is unforgivable.  Secondly and even more problematic is that the pacing is comatose-inducing.  Very little happens and with so many ear-piercing noises increasingly screaming at you, good luck even getting a nap in while you are waiting for the whole ordeal to be mercifully over with.

2018 Horror Part Five

CAM

Dir - Daniel Goldhaber

Overall: GOOD

 

Despite one or two semi-annoying plot conveniences present in order to propel things along, Cam, (the debut from director Daniel Goldhaber and screenwriter Isa Mazzei), is an effectively creepy tech horror outing.  Apparently, Mazzei originally intended to make a documentary about the camgirl industry, (herself having previously been one), yet as there has already been an influx of those in recent years, her and collaborator Goldhaber wisely chose to craft a horror movie around such a premise instead.  The script does not quite convincingly sell us on the fact that no one will help the odd yet easily provable predicament that Madeline Brewer's protagonist faces, but this does lead to concerning questions revolving around the sex industry in general.  When not taken seriously, women in it can be easily preyed upon and left hanging without a safety net and parallel to this, one's identity can be lost amongst such a competitive, toxic environment.  Mazzei maintains a strong, feminist angle and the movie does not exclusively denounce the camgirl lifestyle.  Instead, it is part cautionary tale, part social commentary, and part good ole spooky and disturbing horror movie, all done rather inventively.

 

HIGH LIFE

Dir - Claire Denis

Overall: MEH

The latest from French writer/director Claire Denis, High Life is the type of tranquil science fiction that unmistakably hearkens back to Andrei Tarkovsky's landmark Solaris.  Rather exclusively concerned with weighty, human-centered themes in place of compelling storytelling, Denis indulges in a profound level of patience that will easily perplex most viewers.  The film is not dialog heavy to begin with and when most of it is spoken in a barely intelligible mumble, this coupled with the ethereally vague, non-linear plotting makes for a challenging ordeal.  Denis is too good of a filmmaker to let such a lackadaisical approach to her material be for naught though.  Concerning the characters' hopeless isolation and crumbling turmoil under such a strain, the fact that the movie assuredly feels its one-hundred and ten minute running time is entirely intentional.  It is beautifully photographed by Yorick Le Saux and the design work by Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is appropriately lived-in and unassuming.  The film ultimately does not have enough unique ideas to justify how demanding it is to experience, but it is a commendable work that may reward those with the diligence to try and unearth what its layers may be hiding.

OUR HOUSE

Dir - Anthony Scott Burns

Overall: MEH

 

While it seems positively ridiculous that we have arrived in an era in horror banality that film's are getting remade in their native country a mere eight years later, the Ghost in the Machine redo Our House is not altogether regrettable.  Ignoring the fact that its mere existence is rather unnecessary at best, there are the standard issues with modern horror in a staggering amount of loud jump scares, predictable supernatural set pieces, and a severe lack of anything remotely frightening taking place.  Some of this may come down to the user-friendly, PG13 rating which is conventionally streamlined to follow most of the rules.  That said though, director Anthony Scott Burns and British screenwriter Nathan Parker offer up a few somewhat surprising upsides.  For one, the characters actually let each other in on the ghostly activity they witness almost immediately, making for a consistent stream of logical behavior from them.  Though it takes quite a long time for anything spooky to start happening, this benefits the story as it provides ample opportunity to make everyone likable which they thankfully remain throughout.  It stays too cookie-cutter to make it anything close to memorable, but there are far worse offenders being regularly churned out so it is also not nearly as big of a waste as it easily could have been.

2018 Horror Part Four

SUSPIRIA
Dir - Luca Guadagnino
Overall: GREAT

Luca Guadagnino's well-intentioned Suspiria remake can be seen as a poster boy for the "Why have it be a remake in the first place?" conundrum.  The film is so wildly different from its predecessor in so many capacities that it is a shame that it cannot be its own thing.  Instead, all the ambition, interesting themes, remarkable performances, elaborate cinematography, beautiful Thom Yorke score, and grandiose style need inescapably be compared to Dario Argento's supernatural giallo benchmark.  Guadagnino and his screenwriter/collaborator David Kajganich are at once concerned with paying homage to the film that they are reworking, but there is also simultaneously a definite determination to make it as unique and singular from it as possible.  Changing the character names and removing a couple clear nods to the 1977 version would essentially be all it would take and voila, THIS Suspiria could instead be a mere tribute in spirit instead of something permanently linked to that version.  What Guadagnino and everyone on board here has crafted is a highly challenging art film that should belong in its own universe and be judged solely by its achievement as a movie; not as something that is co-existing with one of the most lauded and individually outstanding works in the horror genre.  Unfortunately "flawed" from the get-go then, it is a frustrating accomplishment that flies close but can never achieve the legendary status it otherwise might.

ANTRUM

Dir - David Amito/Michael Laicini
Overall: GOOD

Points at least must be given to David Amito and Michael Laicini's Antrum, (Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made), for its uniqueness if anything else.  While it is assuredly a mess, the presentation is so unorthodox that it remains fascinating in spite of or because of its bizarre construction.  Beginning as a mockumentary about a 1979 cursed movie that until recently was presumed lost, it quickly shifts gears and simply shows a possibly tampered-with print of said movie in its entirety.  While the film within a film is puzzling enough and seems to embellish multiple sub-genres, it also has an extended post credit scene and then more faux-documentary footage interrupting the real ending credits.  The sound design is rather fantastic as is the equally ethereal and unnerving music from Alicia Fricker.  There are also enough strange, creepy visuals almost subconsciously thrown in to further emphasize the movie's alleged, dangerously mystical quality.  At the same time though, the pacing is largely comatose, the plotting borderline incompetent, and the jumbling of styles could come off to some as if Amito and Laicini were trying to have their cake and eat it too by making several movies at once at the expense of each.  An argument can be made that it overextends itself, but its boldness is admirable.

THE MEG

Dir - Jon Turteltaub

Overall: MEH

 

A by the books, B-movie with enough action film cliches to consistently roll ones eyes at, The Meg has the dumb in all the appropriate places.  Stuck in development hell for two decades and run through both Disney and New Line Pictures before ending up at Warner Bros. with Jon Turteltaub of 3 Ninjas, National Treasure, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice fame directing, its schlock level is adequately mainstream-friendly.  Jason Statham plays the only character he is ever allowed to and fits the well-trodden mold of "misunderstood tough guy with a heart of gold who reluctantly goes back into action because he's the best of the best".  Amongst all of the hammy-to-terrible platitude-laden dialog, ill-timed comic relief, and textbook plot points that only happen in the movies, (like why is Rainn Wilson's paycheck-signing billionaire consistently putting himself directly in danger along with actual trained professionals?), there is also an odd, reoccurring theme of characters making the immediate decision to sacrificing their own lives unnecessarily.  Anyway, it is everything one would expect in a big, loud, splashy monster movie so enjoy your popcorn folks.

2017 Horror Part Nine

THE ENDLESS
Dir - Justin Benson/Aaron Moorhead
Overall: GOOD

The follow-up to their quite excellent, 2014 film Spring, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's The Endless acts as a quasi-sequel to their collaborative debut Resolution.  Essentially Lovecraftian horror with nods to Twin Peaks and the Heaven's Gate cult, it ends up being a highly unique, ambiguous hybrid that very gradually becomes more unnerving as it goes on.  The performances by Benson and Moorhead in particular are both convincing and funny, consistently mumbled dialog aside.  Though it has a slightly awkward finish, the filmmakers balance their more comedic tendencies for the most part with an intriguing and bizarre story that frequently circles back to its dominant, mysterious tone.  The movie confidently poses more questions than providing answers and some may be unwilling to forgive the cryptic leniency, but it most likely will benefit those who revisit it.  Which is actually one of the main plot points of the film itself; returning to something to obtain closure yet instead unlocking more boxes to challenge that closure.  The fact that such an interpretation can be either way off or right on the nose is one of the things that make the movie work in the first place.

ONE CUT OF THE DEAD
Dir - Shin'ichirô Ueda
Overall: MEH

Essentially a (very) long build up to a (very) long joke, Shin'ichirô Ueda's One Cut of the Dead, (Kamera o Tomeru na!), tries the viewers patience to an aggravating extent.  To its credit, it is wildly ambitious for such an independent film, and if you absolutely have to make yet another goddamn zombie movie, it is admirable that Ueda here chose such an unorthodox way to go about it.  On the technical end of things, the opening thirty-seven minute single take is impressive, as is the third act which goes it one further and brings everything ridiculously together.  It is a shame then that the road to get there is so boring and off-puitting.  The first segment is great for those who love when director's never say "cut", (pun intended), but it just goes on and on, and with no context, (as that would spoil the finish), it comes off as clumsy and juvenile.  Ultimately, the whole movie comes off more like a prank that overstays its welcome where the payoff is fun for everyone not being pranked, yet the victim of such a jest will be left brimming with an awkward mixture of anger, humility, and eventually honest amusement.

THE BAR

Dir - Álex de la Iglesia

Overall: GOOD

 

Another top-notch, wonderfully dark and violent entry from Álex de la Iglesia, The Bar, (El bar), was the first of two films released in 2017 by the director, the other being the straight comedy Perfectos desconocidos which was a remake of the previous year's Perfect Strangers from Italian filmmaker Paolo Genovese.  As far as this one is concerned, it utilizes an almost Hitchcockian gimmick, (people trapped in a single location that they cannot leave), and it follows the usual patterns of such high-tension thrillers where the characters quickly and aggressively begin to not trust each other, resulting in much mayhem ensuing.  Said mayhem is consistently amusing and increasingly, (as well as literally), messy.  While de la Iglesia sees the mysterious, quarantine-based origin of what starts off his character's predicament as being of little importance, in doing so he emphasis that the real threat is merely normal people reacting paranoid under extreme circumstances.  The plot avoids having any kind of payoff in this respect which might aggravate anyone hoping that the entire thing was leading to something more profound.  The lack of a twist though is actually refreshing and it rather becomes a twist in and of itself that it does not have one. 

2017 Horror Part Eight

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID

Dir - Issa López

Overall: GOOD

 

A strong offering from Mexican filmmaker Issa López, Tigers Are Not Afraid, (Vuelven), is an unflinching and dark fantasy/narco-crime film hybrid.  The title is frequently referenced throughout and serves as the steady theme of overcoming extreme childhood trauma.  The cast is almost exclusively focused on orphaned kids whose parents have been picked-off by the cartel and now have to brutally fend for themselves.  Referencing the Narcosatanists and top to bottom corruption, López does not shy away from the all too real and disturbed lifestyle these children find themselves unwillingly in, and it is all heartbreaking and uncompromising in its depiction of hopeless violence at the hands of nearly every adult they encounter.  The movie works best in this very grounded context, but when it comes to the supernatural fantasy elements, things are ill-defined and almost haphazardly thrown in.  Thankfully, the presentation is strong and the movie is emotionally powerful enough to forgive certain moments where it does not seem to know how to logically weave its horror genre components into things.

MOM AND DAD

Dir - Brian Taylor

Overall: GOOD

 

This fun and gruesome comedy from Brian Taylor has him reuniting with an always gonzo Nicolas Cage after Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance from six years prior.  Working away from his frequent collaborator Mark Neveldine this time, Mom and Dad is still done in the trademark frantic, combative style of Taylor's other works.  It suits the material in this regard where the majority of the film indulges in delirious violence, this time set in the white picket fence, soccer parent-friendly suburbs.  Cage of course is ideally present and doing essentially what people hire him to do at this point which is to dial it up to eleven and perform as if he is trying to simultaneously terrify and amuse every other character in the movie as well as everyone at home watching him.  Taylor's screenplay only offers up a vague, deeper meaning of domesticated stress and crushed dreams manifesting themselves in a blind rage towards the objects of such torn feelings of disappointment, meaning one's very own children.  It is more focused on clever set pieces and a consistent tone of dark humor that forgives its rather bare bones narrative and borderline sudden finale.  For Cage fans alone it is a must and thankfully there is enough else present to warrant sufficiently disturbed giggles.

TERRIFIED

Dir - Demián Rugna

Overall: GOOD

The latest and somewhat unique, supernatural genre film Terrified, (Aterrados) from Argentinian writer/director Demián Rugna, plays many of its cards rather interestingly.  While it does feature some standard poltergeist activity, psychic experts, a conventional horror movie score, and a jump scare hither and tither, Rugna's script fuses these with a rather singular premise.  The story is not concerned with properly explaining any of the highly spooky goings-ons, but the idea of multiple hauntings on a single block bringing in multiple paranormal researchers and detectives on board and then told at various intervals in flashback does not really follow the standard point A to point B plotting for such films.  The set pieces themselves are frequently creepy and benefit the keen viewer who does not blink often and pays particular attention to what is lurking in the background.  Besides parts of it coming off rushed and a few curious reactions from actors who do not seem to be as terrified as they logically should be, it is impressively a few notches above average and done with enough unorthodox tweaks to recommend.

2016 Horror Part Ten

THE CONJURING 2

Dir - James Wan

Overall: MEH

The third installment in the Conjuring cinematic universe and second to find James Wan returning to the director chair, The Conjuring 2 is a similarly textbook example of modern supernatural horror sensibilities for which Wan particularly is a consistent enforcer of.  While he surprisingly shows some level of restraint in keeping the jump scares down to a minimum, (at least for him), and the script rather quickly lets every character witness ghostly happenings in a group as opposed to seeing them individually and mentioning them to no one for the first two acts, the film still buckles to many other overused hallmarks.  Evil entities follow the rules of there being no rhyme or reason to their mischief and generally only perform their arbitrary tricks when it is in the middle of the night, they are asked to do so by psychic investigators, or when the music gets either all spooky scary or jarringly quiet for another patented psyche-out.  Said entities in this case are hardly interesting, (a crotchety old man), or cartoonishly silly and merely shoehorned in there for future franchise inclusion, (the Nun and the Crooked Man).  It is conventional to a fault and the ending is borderline ridiculous, but Vira Farmiga and Patrick Wilson's highly fictionalized Warrens do provide a strong, heart-felt undercurrent at least.  For shameless popcorn horror, it fits the mold for those who crave such things.

 

TRAIN TO BUSAN

Dir - Yeon Sang-ho

Overall: MEH

 

In his live action debut, South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho tackles a rather ambitious zombie outbreak film with Train to Busan, (Busanhaeng).  While there are moments of humor dashed about, things becomes super dark and ultimately almost unwatchably depressing by the incredibly heartbreaking end.  For those expecting a mere popcorn zombie movie, the dizzying action and frantic pace that tries to catch up with the aggressively fast, infected ghouls this round may be misleading in conjunction with the bleak avenues that the movie progressively goes down.  It does not necessarily uplift itself from its gimmick, (zombies on a train), and unavoidably features conventional characters and conventional predicaments for them to overcome that are in nearly every other film of the same irk.  At the same time though, it is anything but a B-movie production, both in its very fleshed-out, emotionally-fueled script and over-the-top action sequences that are successfully on par for walking (or running in this case) dead movies of the modern era.  There is nothing really here that is able to elevate it over the massive burn-out this sub-genre has succumbed to, but for those who cannot get enough, it is as decent as they seem to get.

THE MONSTER

Dir - Bryan Bertino

Overall: WOOF

A borderline abysmal offering that balances between monotony, miserableness, stupidity, and annoyance, Bryan Bertino's The Monster fails staggeringly.  Centered exclusively around an abusive, alcoholic, dismissive, unsympathetic, and all-around dirtbag mother and her traumatized daughter, Bertino seems to be posing a rather direct "Who's the real monster?" question as the simple premise has them fending for themselves on a stretch of road that literally no one ever drives down apparently.  Bouncing between flashbacks that become more and more uncomfortable and then the present time-frame which becomes more and more one-note and boring, the end result spins its wheels for the duration.  When the emotional payoff is a kid proclaiming "I'm not afraid of you!" while standing up to a huge, ridiculously dangerous creature that kills everything, it practically feels laughable which jives poorly and oddly with how much of a downer everything else is.  Worse, Bertino indulges in completely foreseeable jump scares to a criminal level and his characters behave in a way that will both confound and irritate anyone watching.  For a film that is technically well made, taking itself so incredibly seriously, and with committed performances, it is a perplexing shame that it gets so much so very, very wrong in the process.

2016 Horror Part Nine

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS

Dir - Tom Ford

Overall: GOOD

Fashion designer turned filmmaker Tom Ford's A-list follow-up to his debut A Single Man came a full seven years later in the form of Austin Wright's novel adaptation Tom and Susan, here titled Nocturnal Animals.  It is a meticulously crafted film, down to Ford's screenplay, the performances, and the crisp, polished look.  Even when its story-within-a-story embarks on a more grimy, Coen Brothers-esque trek into neo-noir Western terrain, Ford still places enormous emphasis on detail and the somewhat romantic quality (which is no doubt narratively intentional), is never lost.  Above being a thriller or anything else, the movie's potent core is that of a thoroughly heartbreaking, cautionary love story.  Bouncing between two plot-lines where the fictitious one becomes more and more clearly an explicitly addressed metaphor for the real one, the flowing structure blurs the lines in a very emotional, impactful way.  The entire cast is exceptional and though it technically breathes as a melodrama, the film has an unmistakably grounded weight to it.  Far from a feel good movie which should probably be understood going in, it certainly leaves an impressive, well, impression.

SIREN

Dir - Gregg Bishop

Overall: MEH

The full-length adaptation of David Bruckner's "Amateur Night" segment from V/H/S, Siren is mostly uneven and disappointing.  While the found footage original was effectively creepy, this one goes for bombast in a more tacky way.  The director chair handed over to Gregg Bishop, (Dance of the Dead, the "Dante the Great" story in V/H/S: Viral), the film leans enormously heavy on schlock while also dipping its toes into torture porn.  This balancing act becomes problematic, but that is only part of the headache.  The dialog is mostly crap, the performances mostly hammy, moments of sentimentality are awkward, and the plotting is predicated on logistically flimsy character motivation.  The script tries to justify some of this by having people be tripped out on drugs and making a pledge to be hellbent on not saying "no" to anything during a bachelor party weekend, but it ultimately makes everyone we meet seem stupid and unlikable.  On the plus side, Hannah Fierman, (reprising her role), is equally unsettling and alluring as the title character and even though it is a tonal mess, Bishop maintains a steady pace navigating through such chaos.

THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS

Dir - Colm McCarthy

Overall: MEH

Dystopian zombie movies have been a dime a dozen for years and ever since 28 Days Later popularized the concept of the living dead moving at lightning speed, the sub-genre has boomed to the point of overkill, (nyuck, nyuck).  In this respect, Scottish television director Colm McCarthy's The Girl with All the Gifts is inescapably derivative or at the very least, a trendy offering.  For a major budgeted adaptation of Mike Carey's novel of the same name, (Carey who also wrote the screenplay here simultaneously with the book), it is at least impressively done.  The cast is strong, the music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer is quite haunting, and the production value is adequate enough to stage a few single-take, heavily populated walking dead action sequences.  The second and third act spend the most time humanizing both the desperate military personnel and the film's title character, sort of a zombie version of Blade minus the cool sunglasses and wicked kung-fu moves.  For the most part the story is engaging as McCarthy is ultimately less interested in indulging in gory set pieces than presenting a hopeless gray area for those infected and those not to be able to co-exist.  It takes a respectable stab at eschewing certain formulas, but too many seem unavoidably present to raise it above just being a well made post-apocalypse movie like many others.