This movie didn't make the official list this year, but the previews looked really good and the festival circuit enjoyed it so we went out to a theater to see it. Aside from a pretty vapid middle aged housewife who insisted on narrating everything that was happening on screen to her husband, who tried valiantly to make her stop, the audience was very good.
Sinister's plot centers around a true-crime writer, Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) and his family, who move into a house in rural Pennsylvania while Ellison researches and writes his next novel. Ellison has been in a bit of slump since his breakthrough hit "Kentucky Blood" and hopes his next book will put him back on top so he can retire and his family can live happily ever after. Soon, he finds a box of super 8 reels and a small projector labelled "Home Movies". Each tape is titled with some innocuous phrase like "backyard BBQ" or "pool party", but they contain recordings of brutal family murders where the method of execution is a pun on the title. As he watches these tapes to uncover the mystery, weirder and weirder things keep happening to him and his family.
Ellison is having a really tough time of the whole thing even outside of the haunting because his family is so absurdly antagonized by the nature of Ellison's work, they've instituted a set of strict rules involving his office which they joke about. They have a son who suffers from sleep-walking and night terrors and a pretty normal seeming daughter who really enjoys painting, but prefers walls to canvas. All indications are Ellison is a man who is, for all his want of money, devoted to his family and committed to keeping them safe. Which makes it really odd that his wife constantly gives him crap over his choice of genre. She has a tendency to support him one moment while using the same breath to deliver an ultimatum. Aside from that issue the characters are all pretty real feeling which helps this sort of movie.
The movie itself is directed by Scott Derrickson who also directed The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which is one of my all-time favorite movies.
Sinister, I think, is probably going to be one of the better new releases this year. It's respectful of the audience in the way that no characters really ever show up to spell out exactly what the backstory of anyone is or what the latest discovery in the central mystery is. The conversations feel very natural, like people actually talking about things they know instead of exposition via As-You-Know-Bob. They expect that if you've been following along you're intelligent enough to make the same breakthrough as the characters are at any step along the way. It's also very deliberate and Insidious-like in the way it approaches its scares. While it's heavy on jump scares they have psychological weight to them and the movie builds to them slowly and deliberately. Another thing that's really good in here is the lack of false scares. They will have situations where the movie is building tension and then appears to reveal something, but it's not done with a soundtrack punctuation or quick editing so the build up isn't broken and the fake out has just served to get you on edge expecting the scare.
The super 8 tapes are a really good use of traditional found footage, incorporated into a narrative instead of the whole movie being "found". Another bit that I really liked about it was the way they used a super 8-like feel during the supernatural scenes, where the frames stutter and skip slightly like they're being played back on an old reel-to-reel, sort of blurring the lines somewhat as the demon pulled the family closer to his world.
This movie is really good. I wish it was as good as Insidious, and while it doesn't go totally off the rails in the 3rd act like Insidious did it's not quite as good in the bits before that which keep it from hitting that level, but it is solid and very scary.
Monday, October 15, 2012
October Horror 2012: Creepshow
Creepshow is a classic 1982 horror film in the anthology style. The stories were written by Stephen King and everything was directed by George Romero. They use the Creepshow comic as a framing device and even use comic panels as transitions, it's pretty cute. None of this is particularly suspenseful, but you should expect spoilers.
The framing story is really simple, it's a kid gets caught reading the Creepshow comicbook which his father disapproves of. He throws it out "with the rest of the trash". As the page blows open, the panels animate and we see the title card for the first story.
Father's Day
The story starts in the parlor of mansion where an older woman, a young woman and her husband, and her faaaaabulous brother are waiting for Bedelia, the family matriarch, to arrive so they can celebrate father's day. They tell the story of her father, a miserable old bastard who emotionally abused her all her life. The rumor was that she had enough of it and bashed the old man's head in several years ago while he was demanding his father's day cake. She arrives in full-on Boss style: barreling down in a luxury car, smoking a huge cigar and swigging straight out of a bottle of Jim Beam. She checks in then goes to visit the gravestone. After spilling her whiskey, the zombiefied corpse of her father breaks through the surface and goes on a murder spree demanding cake. The short ends pretty quickly after this when the grandfather presents his "cake" to the young woman and her faaaabulous brother.
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
Starring Stephen King himself as Jordy, this story takes obvious inspiration from Lovecraft's "The Colour of Outer Space". A meteorite crashes in a dimwitted farmer's yard, and he decides he could sell it to the local college to pay off a bank loan he recently took out. He tries to cool it with water, which cracks it and makes it ooze a strange goo. He picks up the pieces and puts them in a bucket then goes inside to watch TV. Over the course of the night mysterious bright green alien vegetation grows at an alarming rate over anything that has touched the meteorite, or anything that has touched anything that's touched the vegetation or the meteorite. Jordy eventually becomes completely covered by the growth and pleads with God before shooting himself as the radio makes a highly ironic announcement. Stephen King is absolutely HILARIOUS as Jordy, and the whole short has these really comical dream sequences as Jordy imagines encounters with college professors and doctors (both played by the same person). It's one of the more fantastic bits, but it's short and really funny.
Something to Tide You Over
A horror short with Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen? No way this can be scary! Ted Danson is in his swank bathrobe when Leslie appears and demands entrance to his apartment to talk. You see, Leslie plays Richard, the husband of the woman Ted's Harry is having an affair with. Richard plays as completely insane. He jokes, threatens, makes odd references, and generally has a great time while kidnapping Harry and driving him to the beach that he owns. I don't want to give away too much because I really enjoyed it. Nielsen is amazing as the wealthy psychopath. He's funny, charming, and absolutely nuts.
The Crate
This story is a bit odd. One of the main characters is an utter bitch of a wife played by Adrienne Barbeau and her meek husband who constantly fantasizes about killing her. The story starts at a party where she's really drunk and making an ass of herself while her husband tries to hide from her and speak with a friend of his from the local college. The friend gets a call from the college from a janitor who found a box under a stairwell from an expedition over 180 years ago and leaves to check it out. He and the janitor take the box to a lab and open it, at which point some weird beast attacks and eats the janitor. The professor runs into the hallway to tell someone else and get help. The person he finds doesn't believe him and then the thing eats him too. He phones up the husband, and babbles the whole story to him. The poor man decides this will be a great way to dispose of his wife and concocts a plan, that despite some minor glitches goes off quite well. At least until the *DUN DUN DUUNNNN*
They're Creeping Up On You!
This story is probably the most dull, but is also kindof disgusting. It's about a ruthless and wealthy businessman who lives in a hermetically sealed suite in a NYC high rise. During the story he deals with an increasingly numerous and impractical cockroach infestation. He fields business calls, and spends many of them threatening people and generally being a deplorable human being until the infestation is too much. At which point he retreats to a super-sealed panic room in a mad craze. He's overcome by an absurd amount of roaches before the end of the night and when the exterminator he's been yelling at people to get finally shows up, he can't answer.
The framing story wraps up with the comic book being picked up in the morning by the garbage man who flips through it and decides to read some of it, but is disappointed the voodoo doll has already been sent out for. Then it moves to the family where the father is at the table for breakfast, still mad at the son. Then he clutches at himself and screams in pain as we see the son, with the voodoo doll.
I'm concerned with my ability to keep write-ups of this length, but I'll try at least a few more times.
Tomorrow's movie is: Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror
The framing story is really simple, it's a kid gets caught reading the Creepshow comicbook which his father disapproves of. He throws it out "with the rest of the trash". As the page blows open, the panels animate and we see the title card for the first story.
Father's Day
The story starts in the parlor of mansion where an older woman, a young woman and her husband, and her faaaaabulous brother are waiting for Bedelia, the family matriarch, to arrive so they can celebrate father's day. They tell the story of her father, a miserable old bastard who emotionally abused her all her life. The rumor was that she had enough of it and bashed the old man's head in several years ago while he was demanding his father's day cake. She arrives in full-on Boss style: barreling down in a luxury car, smoking a huge cigar and swigging straight out of a bottle of Jim Beam. She checks in then goes to visit the gravestone. After spilling her whiskey, the zombiefied corpse of her father breaks through the surface and goes on a murder spree demanding cake. The short ends pretty quickly after this when the grandfather presents his "cake" to the young woman and her faaaabulous brother.
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
Starring Stephen King himself as Jordy, this story takes obvious inspiration from Lovecraft's "The Colour of Outer Space". A meteorite crashes in a dimwitted farmer's yard, and he decides he could sell it to the local college to pay off a bank loan he recently took out. He tries to cool it with water, which cracks it and makes it ooze a strange goo. He picks up the pieces and puts them in a bucket then goes inside to watch TV. Over the course of the night mysterious bright green alien vegetation grows at an alarming rate over anything that has touched the meteorite, or anything that has touched anything that's touched the vegetation or the meteorite. Jordy eventually becomes completely covered by the growth and pleads with God before shooting himself as the radio makes a highly ironic announcement. Stephen King is absolutely HILARIOUS as Jordy, and the whole short has these really comical dream sequences as Jordy imagines encounters with college professors and doctors (both played by the same person). It's one of the more fantastic bits, but it's short and really funny.
Something to Tide You Over
A horror short with Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen? No way this can be scary! Ted Danson is in his swank bathrobe when Leslie appears and demands entrance to his apartment to talk. You see, Leslie plays Richard, the husband of the woman Ted's Harry is having an affair with. Richard plays as completely insane. He jokes, threatens, makes odd references, and generally has a great time while kidnapping Harry and driving him to the beach that he owns. I don't want to give away too much because I really enjoyed it. Nielsen is amazing as the wealthy psychopath. He's funny, charming, and absolutely nuts.
The Crate
This story is a bit odd. One of the main characters is an utter bitch of a wife played by Adrienne Barbeau and her meek husband who constantly fantasizes about killing her. The story starts at a party where she's really drunk and making an ass of herself while her husband tries to hide from her and speak with a friend of his from the local college. The friend gets a call from the college from a janitor who found a box under a stairwell from an expedition over 180 years ago and leaves to check it out. He and the janitor take the box to a lab and open it, at which point some weird beast attacks and eats the janitor. The professor runs into the hallway to tell someone else and get help. The person he finds doesn't believe him and then the thing eats him too. He phones up the husband, and babbles the whole story to him. The poor man decides this will be a great way to dispose of his wife and concocts a plan, that despite some minor glitches goes off quite well. At least until the *DUN DUN DUUNNNN*
They're Creeping Up On You!
This story is probably the most dull, but is also kindof disgusting. It's about a ruthless and wealthy businessman who lives in a hermetically sealed suite in a NYC high rise. During the story he deals with an increasingly numerous and impractical cockroach infestation. He fields business calls, and spends many of them threatening people and generally being a deplorable human being until the infestation is too much. At which point he retreats to a super-sealed panic room in a mad craze. He's overcome by an absurd amount of roaches before the end of the night and when the exterminator he's been yelling at people to get finally shows up, he can't answer.
The framing story wraps up with the comic book being picked up in the morning by the garbage man who flips through it and decides to read some of it, but is disappointed the voodoo doll has already been sent out for. Then it moves to the family where the father is at the table for breakfast, still mad at the son. Then he clutches at himself and screams in pain as we see the son, with the voodoo doll.
I'm concerned with my ability to keep write-ups of this length, but I'll try at least a few more times.
Tomorrow's movie is: Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror
Sunday, October 14, 2012
October Horror 2012: The Signal
The Signal is really pretty interesting. It was written and directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry and released in 2007 for Sundance. The movie is actually broken into three "chapters" of a continuing story, where each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character which brings about a radical shift in genre. This does make a nice segue into Anthology week.
The basic setup is that Mya is having an affair and wakes up with Ben (her lover) to weird looking TV static. They're so invested in each other they ignore it. This is the Signal, an unexplained broadcast that turns normal people into violent psychopaths. She returns home to her husband Lewis, who is jealous because he knows she's cheating. Lewis and his friends are arguing about the TV static interfering with some sports game before Lewis snaps and beats one of his friends to death with a baseball bat. Mya flees and hides overnight in a closet, listening to her CD player. This seems to be her main defense against the Signal: she's constantly shutting everything out and listening to her walkman. After she wakes up the first chapter begins.
Crazy In Love
The first chapter is a play on the slasher genre, complete with a hilariously gnarly looking weapon and an abductor who's immune to pain. Mya escapes him by crashing her car and running away, passing the narrative to Clark, who was outside at the time and offered to help her. This is amusing, and kindof tense.
The Jealousy Monster
The narrative passes briefly to Anna, who is setting up a New Year's Eve party despite having just murdered her husband in self-defense. Clark comes over and tries to calm her and hides the body. Shortly after, Lewis shows up, on the trail of Mya and the story takes a turn for the awkward as Lewis...and Clark...try to play party with Anna. This is where characters start hallucinating a lot making it much harder to tell for sure what exactly is going on. Does the Signal give people powers? Does it make them nuts or does it just make them see everyone else as nuts? This is probably the funniest bit, but it's really dark. Lewis eventually snaps and tortures Anna to death before Clark reveals where Mya has gone. Ben appears and knocks Lewis out, escaping with Clark and following Mya.
Escape From Terminus
After some brief flashbacks showing Ben's progression over the last 2 chapters, we shift to him and Clark convincing each other of their sanity and discussing the nature of the Signal. Clark wraps his head in tin foil. They arrive at the train station to discover Lewis has beaten them there and strapped Mya to a chair directly in front of the Signal. This bit is the shortest part of the story so it's hard to discuss the overarching developments without giving away how the movie ends.
Suffice to say, it's suitably mind-bending after the hallucinations and questioning of the characters' sanity.
Overall the movie is brisk, darkly witty, and violent. It's really satisfying to watch because it keeps hitting great beats and then quickly moving on to a different mood somehow managing to not seem schizophrenic. The way the narrative follows the characters is very fun, and lends a certain amount of non-linearity keeps it from feeling too breakneck. But it's kept in check so you never really lose where you are in the story.
It's a pretty great close to internet week.
Tomorrow the marathon moves on to Anthologies, starting with the 1982 classic: Creepshow.
I'm going to try to follow this format of giving brief synopsis of the framing story, followed by a quick overview of each short and then final impressions.
The basic setup is that Mya is having an affair and wakes up with Ben (her lover) to weird looking TV static. They're so invested in each other they ignore it. This is the Signal, an unexplained broadcast that turns normal people into violent psychopaths. She returns home to her husband Lewis, who is jealous because he knows she's cheating. Lewis and his friends are arguing about the TV static interfering with some sports game before Lewis snaps and beats one of his friends to death with a baseball bat. Mya flees and hides overnight in a closet, listening to her CD player. This seems to be her main defense against the Signal: she's constantly shutting everything out and listening to her walkman. After she wakes up the first chapter begins.
Crazy In Love
The first chapter is a play on the slasher genre, complete with a hilariously gnarly looking weapon and an abductor who's immune to pain. Mya escapes him by crashing her car and running away, passing the narrative to Clark, who was outside at the time and offered to help her. This is amusing, and kindof tense.
The Jealousy Monster
The narrative passes briefly to Anna, who is setting up a New Year's Eve party despite having just murdered her husband in self-defense. Clark comes over and tries to calm her and hides the body. Shortly after, Lewis shows up, on the trail of Mya and the story takes a turn for the awkward as Lewis...and Clark...try to play party with Anna. This is where characters start hallucinating a lot making it much harder to tell for sure what exactly is going on. Does the Signal give people powers? Does it make them nuts or does it just make them see everyone else as nuts? This is probably the funniest bit, but it's really dark. Lewis eventually snaps and tortures Anna to death before Clark reveals where Mya has gone. Ben appears and knocks Lewis out, escaping with Clark and following Mya.
Escape From Terminus
After some brief flashbacks showing Ben's progression over the last 2 chapters, we shift to him and Clark convincing each other of their sanity and discussing the nature of the Signal. Clark wraps his head in tin foil. They arrive at the train station to discover Lewis has beaten them there and strapped Mya to a chair directly in front of the Signal. This bit is the shortest part of the story so it's hard to discuss the overarching developments without giving away how the movie ends.
Suffice to say, it's suitably mind-bending after the hallucinations and questioning of the characters' sanity.
Overall the movie is brisk, darkly witty, and violent. It's really satisfying to watch because it keeps hitting great beats and then quickly moving on to a different mood somehow managing to not seem schizophrenic. The way the narrative follows the characters is very fun, and lends a certain amount of non-linearity keeps it from feeling too breakneck. But it's kept in check so you never really lose where you are in the story.
It's a pretty great close to internet week.
Tomorrow the marathon moves on to Anthologies, starting with the 1982 classic: Creepshow.
I'm going to try to follow this format of giving brief synopsis of the framing story, followed by a quick overview of each short and then final impressions.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
October Horror 2012: Kairo
Kairo (also known as Pulse) is a 2001 Japanese horror movie about a web cam site that promises visitors interactions with the dead. It was remade in 2006 as the American film Pulse.
Kairo is possibly one of the most serious movies we've seen this year. The movie is very slowly paced and almost 2 hours long. There are a lot of lingering shots, and the color palette is really muted. It feels like it was filmed in the 70s, using fashions and computers from the 90s. It's also really creepy, if more than a bit confusing. For most of the film the view switches between 2 unrelated stories of people being affected by what's going on, which seems to be a city being slowly depopulated via mass suicides that don't leave traces. There's one thread that follows the staff at a greenhouse discovering the website after their techie friend commits suicide, and a 2nd one following a modern Luddite who spontaneously uncovers his keyboard and connects to the internet, stumbling upon the site for some reason I can't really remember. It just sort of happened.
What's impressive is that the movie is almost entirely bereft of special effects, presenting its ghosts as mostly people in shadow in the corner and using clever editing to make ghosts vanish into black stains on walls. It raises a lot of questions about if you're seeing the ghost, the person before fading away, or a hallucination of some sort as the character is initially unwilling to accept the death. It's incredibly creepy without really using a single scare, shock, or death.
It does falter a little bit because the plot is really hard to follow, I don't know if that's a virtue of the plot itself or just my missing something in the subtitles. I wouldn't mind a dub of this movie at all, I think it might help comprehension.
This is probably something that should be analyzed in much greater depth, but unfortunately I don't have a lot of time with the October marathon schedule. I may revisit this later and probably do some comparisons of it with the remake Pulse, which I also enjoyed, but it's a very different kind of film.
Anyway, internet week comes to a close with The Signal.
Kairo is possibly one of the most serious movies we've seen this year. The movie is very slowly paced and almost 2 hours long. There are a lot of lingering shots, and the color palette is really muted. It feels like it was filmed in the 70s, using fashions and computers from the 90s. It's also really creepy, if more than a bit confusing. For most of the film the view switches between 2 unrelated stories of people being affected by what's going on, which seems to be a city being slowly depopulated via mass suicides that don't leave traces. There's one thread that follows the staff at a greenhouse discovering the website after their techie friend commits suicide, and a 2nd one following a modern Luddite who spontaneously uncovers his keyboard and connects to the internet, stumbling upon the site for some reason I can't really remember. It just sort of happened.
What's impressive is that the movie is almost entirely bereft of special effects, presenting its ghosts as mostly people in shadow in the corner and using clever editing to make ghosts vanish into black stains on walls. It raises a lot of questions about if you're seeing the ghost, the person before fading away, or a hallucination of some sort as the character is initially unwilling to accept the death. It's incredibly creepy without really using a single scare, shock, or death.
It does falter a little bit because the plot is really hard to follow, I don't know if that's a virtue of the plot itself or just my missing something in the subtitles. I wouldn't mind a dub of this movie at all, I think it might help comprehension.
This is probably something that should be analyzed in much greater depth, but unfortunately I don't have a lot of time with the October marathon schedule. I may revisit this later and probably do some comparisons of it with the remake Pulse, which I also enjoyed, but it's a very different kind of film.
Anyway, internet week comes to a close with The Signal.
Friday, October 12, 2012
October Horror 2012: Devour
Devour is a 2005 horror movie directed by David Winkler, who unfortunately bears no relation to Henry. It stars Jensen Ackles and Dominique Swain, probably best known for Supernatural and Lolita, respectively.
The movie is about Jake Grey, a pretty upright seeming kid who's stuck in a small town filled with morally tanked and bored delinquents. However, he's been plagued his whole life by ultra-real visions of torture, murder, and self-mutilation. One night at a party his friends introduce him to an online game called "The Pathway". When playing the game, players get phone calls from an unknown voice telling them to do specific acts ranging from sex, to vandalism, to violence, promising good fortune and power.
After some of his friends die while playing, Jake uncovers that "The Pathway" is a front for a devil worshipping cult that killed his mother. The cult is using the game to try to find someone, probably him.
The movie itself has bits where it's maybe over-stylized, but overall it's pretty sharp. The characters aren't terrible, but a bit flat and hammy. The movie shines in its visuals and scenarios. It's pretty imaginative in its setups, and the shooting and editing makes it all feel really fresh. It's got a lot of good stuff that's disturbing and uncomfortable without going too far and becoming ridiculous. The story isn't particularly impressive and I did zone out a bit towards the end, but for the most part I enjoyed it. There's a lot in there about facing fear, or facing temptation or the devil, but it's mostly window dressing to support its style. It's just deep and open ended enough to not be a complete wash but it has no illusions of grandeur. It's good.
Internet week continues with: Kairo, the original inspiration for Pulse (which I mention briefly in the 2009 overview).
The movie is about Jake Grey, a pretty upright seeming kid who's stuck in a small town filled with morally tanked and bored delinquents. However, he's been plagued his whole life by ultra-real visions of torture, murder, and self-mutilation. One night at a party his friends introduce him to an online game called "The Pathway". When playing the game, players get phone calls from an unknown voice telling them to do specific acts ranging from sex, to vandalism, to violence, promising good fortune and power.
After some of his friends die while playing, Jake uncovers that "The Pathway" is a front for a devil worshipping cult that killed his mother. The cult is using the game to try to find someone, probably him.
The movie itself has bits where it's maybe over-stylized, but overall it's pretty sharp. The characters aren't terrible, but a bit flat and hammy. The movie shines in its visuals and scenarios. It's pretty imaginative in its setups, and the shooting and editing makes it all feel really fresh. It's got a lot of good stuff that's disturbing and uncomfortable without going too far and becoming ridiculous. The story isn't particularly impressive and I did zone out a bit towards the end, but for the most part I enjoyed it. There's a lot in there about facing fear, or facing temptation or the devil, but it's mostly window dressing to support its style. It's just deep and open ended enough to not be a complete wash but it has no illusions of grandeur. It's good.
Internet week continues with: Kairo, the original inspiration for Pulse (which I mention briefly in the 2009 overview).
Thursday, October 11, 2012
October Horror 2012: Chain Letter
Chain Letter is a movie. Ok, seriously. Chain Letter is a 2010 horror movie written by Diana Erwin, Michael J. Pagin, and Deon Taylor. Also directed by Deon Taylor.
The movie is about a group of friends in a highly technological suburb who inadvertently attract the attention of a serial killer that determines his victims by seeing who fails to forward a chain letter. He also kills all his victims using chains.
The story is a bit silly, but the characters and acting are alright. We dislike who we're supposed to dislike, we're suspicious of who we're supposed to be suspicious of, etc. Unfortunately the characters who are supposed to be long-lived enough that we're supposed to root for aren't very well developed so it feels bit flat. Also, I'm not entirely sold on Keith David as the heroic cop figure.
The kill scenes are mostly creative and always very gruesome, which plays in the favor of this sort of movie. I do like that they illustrate sometimes the killer having to haul his victim elsewhere to make the kill because the original location where he abducted the teen wouldn't do.
There is an oddly heavy-handed social message about the faith we place in telecommunications, which given that this is an election season comes off as political and makes me reflexively dislike it. The movie's so obvious about it in the beginning and during a few moments with Brad Dourif's character, but aside from that they're pretty calm about the whole thing which is nice. The overall ideas are somewhat interesting, but I didn't realize the true nature of the killer until reading the wikipedia page on the movie which made the last act of the movie feel like it was leaving something out.
Non-linear story telling is used to surprisingly entertaining affect to connect the opening of the movie to the final scene, but there are a few steps to set that scene up that are a bit contrived.
While I imagine the movie doesn't have much to offer repeat viewings it's entertaining enough as a stock slasher with a technological twist to serve the first time through.
Tomorrow, internet week continues with Devour.
The movie is about a group of friends in a highly technological suburb who inadvertently attract the attention of a serial killer that determines his victims by seeing who fails to forward a chain letter. He also kills all his victims using chains.
The story is a bit silly, but the characters and acting are alright. We dislike who we're supposed to dislike, we're suspicious of who we're supposed to be suspicious of, etc. Unfortunately the characters who are supposed to be long-lived enough that we're supposed to root for aren't very well developed so it feels bit flat. Also, I'm not entirely sold on Keith David as the heroic cop figure.
The kill scenes are mostly creative and always very gruesome, which plays in the favor of this sort of movie. I do like that they illustrate sometimes the killer having to haul his victim elsewhere to make the kill because the original location where he abducted the teen wouldn't do.
There is an oddly heavy-handed social message about the faith we place in telecommunications, which given that this is an election season comes off as political and makes me reflexively dislike it. The movie's so obvious about it in the beginning and during a few moments with Brad Dourif's character, but aside from that they're pretty calm about the whole thing which is nice. The overall ideas are somewhat interesting, but I didn't realize the true nature of the killer until reading the wikipedia page on the movie which made the last act of the movie feel like it was leaving something out.
Non-linear story telling is used to surprisingly entertaining affect to connect the opening of the movie to the final scene, but there are a few steps to set that scene up that are a bit contrived.
While I imagine the movie doesn't have much to offer repeat viewings it's entertaining enough as a stock slasher with a technological twist to serve the first time through.
Tomorrow, internet week continues with Devour.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
October Horror 2012: Hellraiser: Hellworld
Hellraiser: Hellworld is the last movie of the original Hellraiser continuity, released in 2005 before they rebooted the series with Hellraiser: Revelations.
The movie is set in a world where the Hellraiser series existed, and they made an MMORPG out of it. A kid named Adam got obsessed with the game and crafted a replica of the Lament Configuration puzzle box used in the series to summon the Cenobites. He then digs a large hole in his basement, presumably to bury the box, but then lights himself on fire and dies. Two years after his funeral, his friends have all gotten cooler and the "pretty" one has stopped playing the game entirely. The ones who are still playing discovered a "secret" in the game that allowed them to solve a virtual Lament Configuration for an invitation to a super-secret invite-only Hellworld party hosted by Lance Henriksen.
They go to the party, which is filled with the expect drunken sex debauchery and then shit goes totally south as they split up. There are a few OH SNAP twists, but the ending feels a little unsatisfying. Some of the kills are fun, but a lot are just throw-aways. There are even a few good mind-fuck scenes for a direct-to-dvd sequel.
The movie has token references to Hellraiser that while they could have done without, lends a certain aesthetic and mythology that really helped elevate it above a pretty flat horror mystery. The fact that we all know the mythology lets them play a little bit with the question of whether the legend is real or is it just a game. It's fun.
There are definitely worse movies in the series and Revelations was way crappier. Hellworld is entertaining enough to watch once or twice, the twists are OK and not too crazy. It's better than a lot of direct-to-dvd horror so it gets a solid "not bad".
Next up: Chain Letter.
The movie is set in a world where the Hellraiser series existed, and they made an MMORPG out of it. A kid named Adam got obsessed with the game and crafted a replica of the Lament Configuration puzzle box used in the series to summon the Cenobites. He then digs a large hole in his basement, presumably to bury the box, but then lights himself on fire and dies. Two years after his funeral, his friends have all gotten cooler and the "pretty" one has stopped playing the game entirely. The ones who are still playing discovered a "secret" in the game that allowed them to solve a virtual Lament Configuration for an invitation to a super-secret invite-only Hellworld party hosted by Lance Henriksen.
They go to the party, which is filled with the expect drunken sex debauchery and then shit goes totally south as they split up. There are a few OH SNAP twists, but the ending feels a little unsatisfying. Some of the kills are fun, but a lot are just throw-aways. There are even a few good mind-fuck scenes for a direct-to-dvd sequel.
The movie has token references to Hellraiser that while they could have done without, lends a certain aesthetic and mythology that really helped elevate it above a pretty flat horror mystery. The fact that we all know the mythology lets them play a little bit with the question of whether the legend is real or is it just a game. It's fun.
There are definitely worse movies in the series and Revelations was way crappier. Hellworld is entertaining enough to watch once or twice, the twists are OK and not too crazy. It's better than a lot of direct-to-dvd horror so it gets a solid "not bad".
Next up: Chain Letter.
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