Overall: GOOD
Boasting an ideal premise for veteran tough guy actors, (plus George Wendt), VFW delightfully fuses "back in my day" boomer posturing with gore-ridden mayhem. Director Joe Begos was approached by producer Dallas Sonnier with a script from Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle that pays respect to the American veteran's code while giving them a justifiable enemy in for the form of an opioid crisis that has ravished their community with gang violence while simultaneously reducing its addicts to the equivalent of rage-fueled zombies. Stephan Lang heads a cast of macho thespians from yesteryear including William Sadler, Fred "the Hammer" Williamson, Martin Kove, and David Patrick Kelly, all playing aged-out military men who instinctively jump right back into action when both their safe haven bar and a millennial with a valid vendetta are threatened by doped-out hordes and drug-dealing scumbags. Isolated to a single, red and purple-tinged location and following a standard structure where one character gets picked off at a time as the stakes grow that much more dire, it becomes monotonous after awhile, but Begos handles the heady subject matter admirably while still keeping a deliberately campy and ultra-violent tone.
Dir - Kimo Stamboel
Overall: GOOD
Indonesian director Kimo Stamboel's remake of the 1981 movie Ratu Ilmu Hitam, (The Queen of Black Magic), is a pretty nasty and effective updating, produced by the same exploitation-focused company that did the original, Rapi Films. Largely focusing on a number of gruesome, self-mutilating set pieces such as a woman slicing her body fat off, a guy stapling his mouth shut, another woman puking up crawling insects, and numerous characters smashing their own heads open, the film plays such arbitrary, supernatural components quite seriously. Such a schlock-less approach could otherwise be detrimental considering how borderline ridiculous much of this seems on paper, but Stamboel maintains an effectively dark, eerie tone that undermines any potential, unintended chuckles. The script is not particularly tight nor chock-full of originality and the occasional CGI is pretty lousy, but the handful of narrative cliches never become particularly insulting. Instead, they are knowingly unsettling and for what is essentially a ninety-nine minute excuse to gradually indulge in over-the-top, ghastly creepiness, it succeeds quite swimmingly.
Dir - Jayro Bustamante
Overall: GOOD
The third feature from Guatamalian filmmaker Jayro Bustamante La Llorona, (not to be confused with Michael Chaves' more genre-pandering and schlocky The Curse of La Llorona from the same year), takes a very sobering approach to the Latin American folklore from which it loosely draws upon. The majority of the film adheres to virtually zero horror tropes of any kind and centers around the family of a disgraced, former General who has been tried and convicted of orchestrating the Guatemalan genocide of 1982-83. Bustamante weaves the story's supernatural components into the proceedings both sparingly and solemnly. Comprised largely of long, single takes, a very deliberate mood is created where both the dread and heartache suffered by the characters escalates at a barely decipherable degree. Even with those unfamiliar with the mythology surrounding the "Weeping Woman", no real mysterious elements seem to be at play. Instead, it is a meticulously slow pondering on those who are put in the position of remaining complacent towards the horrendous acts of their loved ones. In the case here, such otherworldly vengeance seems both an inevitability and a relief and the heavy-handed tone is quire admirably appropriate.
No comments:
Post a Comment