Welcome to this yearz reviewz! I think if i learned one thing from this year's process, it's to stop paying attention to critics as much as i do. I think i have my screening process finely tuned enough (mostly via the "Tomato-meter" at RottenTomatoes.com) to lighten the research a bit. Most of the truly foul reviews were right on, but almost all the mirky ones ended up being worth seeing. Two of the top picks i found this year were mostly trashed by the pop critics, so go figure. (but i guess that just really points at the question: why am i paying attention to pop critics?) Well, as with years past i thought there might not be enough unseen flicks to watch, but my list ended up being huge. As always, the films aren't necessarily ones that were released this year, just ones i saw for the first time this year. Enjoy...
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RECOMMENDED
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
THE DESCENT
WOLF CREEK
THE INNOCENTS
THE WOODS
SLITHER
HEAD TRAUMA
THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA
| IF THERE'S NOTHING ELSE
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)
RED EYE
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2005)
SILENT HILL
OMEN (2006)
THE SKELETON KEY
GINGER SNAPS
| DON'T SEE
DARK WATER
THE CAVE
LADY IN WHITE
THE INNOCENTS
FEAST
AN AMERICAN HAUNTING
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THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE (2005)
dir: Scott Derrickson (HELLRAISER: INFERNO)
Didn't make it to this one in theaters last year. Roger Ebert's favorable review and in depth explanation made me curious. This movie was fantastic! A "must see." A fusion of horror-film and court-room drama that deals with my favorite subject in horror: "was it real or imagined and does it make a difference?" Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson deliver great performances in a story loosely based on real life events. Part THE EXORCIST and part THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE, this movie forces us to ponder the gray areas between religion, science and law. The special-edition DVD has a great featurette with the filmmakers explaining their personal ethics behind the making of the film and the disturbing research they did for the script. The film is very articulately crafted and one of the best fright-films i've seen in recent years. I don't want to give too much away but the most of the narrative takes place real-time in the court room, with flashbacks that serve as the horror part. The spooky parts are really creepy...! Terrific score and all around solid filmmaking.
THE DESCENT (2006)
dir: Neil Marshall (DOG SOLDIERS)
I heard great reviews on this one and was excited to see Neil Marshall's follow-up to DOG SOLDIERS which i thought was a very effective low-budget effort (see last year's list.) I found this film to be a real gem. A very sub-textural film of women on a spelunking expedition who encounter murderous beings and must fight to survive. The narrative serves as a metaphor for the lead characters spiritual re-birth. Having lost her family in an accident, Sarah struggles to begin her life again. Her "descent" into her subconscious allows her to face her demons and destroy them, ultimately to re-surface born again. Although the subtext is pretty readable on the surface, it's none the less effective. In the darkest recesses of the cavern, Sarah faces her evil twin in the form of a mother creature (reminiscent of ALIENS, as DOG SOLDIERS also was) she also must face an ethical battle with the woman her husband had an affair with. Everyone seems to cause their own inevitable face off with destiny- but only one can survive. During the films first act, as the women travel to the cave opening in the woods, i was reminded of the opening shots of THE SHINING. There was a feeling of something monumental about to occur- an epic journey about to unfold. When the women become trapped after a cave-in, the audience, including my two friends i went with, literally came out of their seats with claustrophobia. Everyone was talking about this afterwards and making comparisons to the coffin scene in KILL BILL vol.2. Overall, i found this to be a great high note in the current climate of stale horror movies. Great Carpenter inspired score as well.
WOLF CREEK (2005)
dir: Greg McLean (ROGUE, ICQ)
Excellent must see indy horror film from Australia! Of all the supernatural wonderings we may have or far out stories of the bizarre we may hear- it is the isolated and mundane that is the real horror in our world. WOLF CREEK may very well be this era's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE- only simpler and in many ways better. Investing seriously in it's characters, the film weaves it's way slowly towards tragedy, starting with the simple opening title: "25,000 people go missing each year in Australia. 90% are found within a month. The rest are never seen again." Which will our characters be? What happens to those missing few?? A very compelling and understated device that propels us right to the heart of the films conceptual matter. The film is a survival piece- and not without some disturbing violence and tension, some moments quite graphic. I felt this film was really meditating on something- and succeeded as a sincere, albeit very dark, human interest story. In this era of "what concept can we find next" horror assembly line, WOLF CREEK quietly goes back to the beginning so-to-speak (as in PSYCHO, CHAINSAW, etc.) and reminds what "horror realism" actually is again. Visually direct, well acted and directed and effective score. Go rent this one- and don't forget to set your watch (wink, wink)
AUDITION (1999)
dir: Takashi Miike (IMPRINT)
A very effective and haunting film. The performances and the cinematography in particular are very controlled and create a suffocated atmosphere that's perfect for the madness that comes in the final act. WARNING: DO NOT SEE THIS IF YOU ARE AT ALL SQEAMISH. Despite my strong feelings about the film, I must admit- the ending is quite ghoulish and i had a hard time watching, not to mention the long half-life it left afterwards. I specifically avoided this one last year based on the reviews i read. One of the most horrific graphic scenes you will ever see on film. (think of "that scene" from MISERY only times ten.) As much as i embraced the social subtext behind the film, it has been topic of debate whether such intense gore eclipses what is an otherwise extremely calculated film. Commenting on the nature of Japanese misogyny towards women, the narrative story plays as cool and architectural as a Kubrick film, lulling you into a certain ambient rythym- which sets us up for the completely un-glued ending. I certainly recommend this film, but only with a strong "proceed-with-caution" disclaimer attached. AUDITION's message is an effective- if not forever haunting one- which opens discussion on a whole realm of "creative-expression" issues. Certainly a well made film and one that has already been much talked about.
THE INNOCENTS (1961)
dir: Jack Clayton (THE GREAT GATSBY, OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE, THE PUMPKIN EATER)
Deborah Kerr stars in this ghost story about a governess trying to save two children from supernatural possession. Exquisitely composed, the deep-focus B&W cinematography by Freddie Francis has the look of Bergman or Welles. Based on Henry James' TURN OF THE SCREW, the narrative is not as much concerned with the mystery of the story as it is the concept of it's dark premise. Is it more dangerous to awaken one from a nightmare and force them to see the truth, than it is to leave them possessed? As with many ghost-story based horror films, the narrative ponders the meaning of ghosts not just in the literal sense, but as powerful elements of human memory and emotion. Interestingly, Alejandro Amenábars recent film THE OTHERS(2001) would seem a direct offspring of this film. There is even a line of dialogue where Kerr's character refers to the ghosts as "the others."
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977 original)
dir: Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, SCREAM, RED EYE)
Because the copy at my video store is always out, i didn't think i was gonna see this one anytime soon so i actually watched the recent remake first. Bummer because i liked this original version better. Now considered a "classic," HILLS uses a simple, yet chilling story to draw allegories about the nature of the American family. Although the visual gags and devices are (thankfully) less impacting than the remake, the story and it's premise are much more lasting. As with Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT there is a meditation on the stripping away of human values down to a base level of animal survival. Craven based his original script on a 16th century family of cannibals who were brought to civilization and tortured beyond compare. The duality / hypocrisy of "civilization" is a theme that runs throughout Craven's work. At the end of HILLS the hero characters are left with as much blood on their hands as their oppressors, keenly aware of their own inner human "animal." There is something in the quality and nature of the horror films of the late 70's that i really admire. Films like HILLS, LAST HOUSE, Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and Carpenter's HALLOWEEN ushered in the exploitation "slasher" movement of the 80's, yet despite their status as "genre pictures" were original drama's with sincere, allegorical themes. I miss the raw originality of these films.
HEAD TRAUMA (2006)
dir: Lance Weiler (THE LAST BROADCAST)
Well done, but essentially a redo of Brad Anderson's THE MACHINIST with the look and feel of Brad Anderson's SESSION 9. If i hadn't seen THE MACHINIST last year, i probably would have liked this a lot more. Shot in video and transferred to film, the whole piece has a gritty low-budget feel that was really refreshing compared with all Hollywood garbage i've been watching. The acting is poor and the production value limited but the story is a compelling point-of-view drama about guilt and madness. Nice ambient score as well.
SLITHER (2006)
dir: James Gunn
Totally fun and well done "drive-in" camp! Spoofs paranoia films while updating the genre. Never serious but never treating us like fools, the fun FX and campy humor keep you laughing while the underlying concepts actually work as social commentary. A must rent!
GINGER SNAPS (2000)
dir: John Fawcett
This dark-comedy cult-favorite is part HEATHERS, part EDWARD SCISSORHANDS crossed with THE HOWLING and DEAD RINGERS. Two death-obsessed goth teens get more than they bargained for when bitten by a werewolf. The movie has constant subversive humor toward adult convention and macabre twists on modern teen angst. Mimi Rogers plays the girls hopelessly optimistic mom, reminiscent of Annette Bening in AMERICAN BEAUTY. Although the dialogue and some of the plot logic can be faulted, the film was clearly using the horror milieu as tongue-in-cheek metaphor for puberty and issues of social isolation and revenge. A nice indy film attempt rather than a slam dunk, it's energy fizzles by the end. i recommend this rental with some friends, some beer, SLITHER and THE WOODS.
RED EYE (2005)
dir: Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, SCREAM)
Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Not a horror movie, but a gameful psychological thriller. Got such favorable reviews last year but i couldn't make it to the theater. Was first on my rental list this time. I was hoping this would be Wes Craven's return to splendor as it was touted, but i think not. Truth be told, i've never liked Craven's work. I was challenged to rethink my views on LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT which i only saw a few years ago- and i did. I think i like his films better on paper than actually seeing them. RED EYE was all surface story- and well done as such- but i require more from a horror film. To me, it's about concept and subtext. A decade ago, Quentin Tarrantino proved (for new audiences) that you can have surface level plot devices captivate audiences enough to pay to see, but the question is- who cares? The sad part here is that Wes Craven has been at it for 40 years and is considered in some sense as one of the modern "masters" of horror. I like the man and what he has to say and respect what he stands for -just don't wanna watch his flicks. Although the performances are really good and the action/suspense is tight throughout- i felt the film was a bit on the "pop" side- much like SCREAM was. The narrative was a lot like the DIE HARD movies and the final act full of dynamic action. There were a few logical flaws, but mostly the story played really smart and the characters tended to do what you think "you would do" if in their situation. Certainly there were few if any genre cliches here. All in all, the film was on the surface. The "Craven touch" was present of course- the constant allusion to man's darker tendencies and the human survival "animal" in all of us. Music by Marco Beltrami (ECKS vs SEVER, THE TRANSPORTER.)
THE OMEN (2005 remake)
dir: John Moore (BEHIND ENEMY LINES, FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX)
Once again, skip and rent the original. Despite the fact that BEHIND ENEMY LINES was one of the stupidest Hollywood films i've seen in my life- John Moore manages not to screw up this needless yet faithful remake of the original classic. Liv Schreiber is solid but no Gregory Peck of course in this re-telling of the birth of an Earthly antichrist. I love the whole original idea of Satan's son incarnate being born of human politics- awesome! The scene at the graveyard where they exhume his earthly mother is as affective (ie: seriously creepy!) as the original, really haunting concept stuff here. Not sure the need to remake of course, but the perhaps it will get a new generation of fans. With films like THE DAVINCI CODE nowadays, the gothic religion aspect is a bit outdone here, given of course that the original THE OMEN came out in the mid seventies. Especially freaky in this version is MIA FARROW portraying the evil nanny- great inside joke for those fans of ROSEMARY'S BABY. Marco Beltrami smartly avoids any remake of Goldsmith's MASTERFUL score from the original film. There are moments of homage to certain themes, but the only direct reference to the famous choral "Avi Satani" is briefly in the end credits. Although a remake, they changed very little and the ending is still so powerful. I guess i'll recommend ONLY if you absolutely cannot find the original, which is impossible. There is a great remaster on DVD available.
SILENT HILL (2005)
dir: Christophe Gans (BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, NECRONOMICON "The Drawned")
Not a remake, but "based on a video-game" - the other recent mindless trend. Got bad reviews but the reviews were so intriguing in their explanation of how confusing the story was, that i decided to check it out. Well, for the first 2/3rd's of the film i thought i'd found a new favorite. The premise and the visuals were terrific! Then the end happened. The story is quite contrived, but i was able to follow along. Basically it's a story of a woman who crosses over into purgatory, in an abandoned ghost town called "Silent Hill." She is searching for her daughter who has a mysterious psychic link to the place. The confusing but really compelling part is that she's not in the "really-real" and the end offers a surprising twist on this. The mother ends making a deal with the Grim Reaper basically, that she will help him access an evil cult that hides within Silent Hill and think they are saving the world but really have created the whole supernatural mess. There is a scene where the understatedness of the film flips upside-down and we are treated to some really ridiculous dialogue. The evil presence at the heart of the town speaks to our hero and it becomes "thank you Captain Exposition..." This scene reminded me of the end of A.I. when Meryl Streep narrates, or when Neo meets "The Matrix" in MATRIX:REVOLUTIONS. The story's third act is a bit like Ripley's "descent into hell" in the final act of ALIENS when she goes back in to rescue Newt. The film also comes with some of the more recent Japanese "J-Horror" cliches like the obligatory pasty-face freaky little kid running around and lots of CGI inspired chaos in a big ending (suspiciously video-game looking) fanfare. Of course, the whole twisted world has been created by the anger of a ghost who was tormented unspeakably in life and holds a grudge. The ghost leads the hero to the truth, etc, etc. (see: THE RING, THE GRUDGE, STIR OF ECHOES, etc.) I was reminded mostly of THE RING and also FEAR DOT COM. The movie was inspired by video-games by the Japanese company "Kagami." I very much liked the hyper-real dream-state of the ghost town (reminded me of Miazaki's SPIRITED AWAY- only like, the nightmare version) The sets and overall production design are quite amazing. Every few hours a siren sounds and the place goes dark and all the creepies come out. The rest of the time white ash falls like snow from coal fires burning endlessly underground. The story has a nice set-up, but gets a campy at the end. Radha Mitchell makes a great B-movie version of Charlize Theron. Debrah Kara Unger co-stars (the freaky chick in Cronenberg's CRASH) which is odd because i confuse her with Mitchell all the time. The score was quite good- industrial percussion effects and ambient electronica.
THE SKELETON KEY (2005)
dir: Iain Softley
Gena Rowlands is one of our greatest living actresses, so the film is worth it right there. That being said, it was a bit of a shaggy dog story. Kate Hudson is well cast opposite Rowlands as a crusading elder-care worker who stumbles into all-things-voodoo at an old house in New Orleans. The mood is creepy and everything tightly portrayed. The end is a big twist and leaves a haunting after taste, however, it's kind of a Twilight Zone episode and i dunno- not quite enough for a feature, to me at least. I recommend as a second-string rental. (Also, on the special-features there's a cooking video of a crew member giving his secret gumbo recipe which is really fun!)
DARK WATER (2005)
dir: Walter Salles (THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES)
Way too depressing for nothing! Another Japanese horror remake- this one a straight-up Roman Polanski homage with show-stealing performances by John C. Reilly and Timothy Roth. Incredible cast and crew. Jennifer Connelly solid, well cast. Tragic portrayal of custody battle. Cross between psychological thriller and ghost story. The back-and-forth between these two forms is what is most interesting about the film, yet it's biggest flaw for the narrative. We spend so much time wondering what-is-which, that when there is no succinct answer at the end we realize we've wasted our attention on the wrong elements. As with Del Toro's DEVIL'S BACKBONE, the narrative is more interested on commenting on the nature of "ghosts"- whether personal or literal, than a straight-up horror tale. While this successfully avoids genre trappings, it leaves us a bit confused. The character and heart of the story is so well done that it deserves real clarity for it's heavy ending. I was left a bit mystified. The special features on the DVD go into much detail on this, which was some comfort after the fact. The Roman Polanski influences are quite obvious, most notably ROSEMARY'S BABY (from which one of the characters names is borrowed from!) Score by Angelo Badalamenti is very effective and quite sad. The whole film is a downer because the characters are so likeable yet endure so much hardship. This film had all the best intentions but a flawed premise leaves it ultimately ineffective.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2005 remake)
dir: Alexander Aja (HIGH TENSION)
First of all, skip this and rent the original. 'Tis the era of unnecessary remakes (argh) and Wes Craven himself was a co-producer on this one. This remake is directed by Alexander Aja, the guy behind last years HIGH TENSION which i recommended. The identity of the American "nuclear" family is turned upside-down in this nearly shot-by-shot remake of the original. HILLS deals with the legacy of a societies sins and the affect of these sins on a future generation. The film making was quite crafty and weighed heavily on graphic violence in it's portrayal of a normal American family versus a DNA twisted family. Normalcy prevails as the young baby from the "normal" family is saved and the film ends with the infant and two young relatives as a portrait of the new American family, atoned for it's sins. This ending, as well as some other select moments, were changed a bit from the original version. Not sure i cared much for the overbearing heaviness of the socio-political allegory this time 'round. The original film had a much simpler approach to it's subtext. Also, Craven's original HILLS spent more time revealing the twisted nature of the family and it's operations, in contrast to the hero family- which better served the films story. The soundtrack was a bit off-beat and interesting. Ambient score using rock motifs- reminiscent of Carpenter or GOBLIN. The violence was extremely realistic and un-necessary. If you like suicidal heads being blown off, fingers lopped off with axes, a loving father burned alive- well, it's all here. Made me a bit sick actually. Unlike the initial reviews i read when this came out last year, i felt it did a decent job steering away from cliches of the genre. Perhaps the strongest element of the narrative was the sense of lonely abandonment in the desert (shot in Morocco) when a carefree vacation turns into a perilous survival story. I dunno, i find it fun to think of such things, but again, i feel the original film did all of it better. I think this new reworking of HILLS is the film that the recent TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake and Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES were trying to be, but weren't.
AN AMERICAN HAUNTING (2005)
dir: Courtney Solomon (DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: The Movie)
Pretty darn good till the end, then it fell completely apart. As a ghost story, it managed to do some things that most don't and created a compelling story till the finale we're they reveal their shaggy-dog-story twist. Really bad. Don't see. Also, despite good performances by Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek, the editors managed to hustle along so fast the pacing kinda killed things. I thought this might be a nice counter-point to disappointment of THE VILLAGE, but ended up even more of a let down.
FEAST (2006)
dir: John Gulager
As far as one word titles go, "SUCKED" might be more appropriate. Brought to you by the Weinstein, as well as execs Wes Craven, Ben Afleck and Matt Damon. Clearly a tongue-in-cheek send-up of itself- the film is not at all mindless as it zealously tries to riff on it's own genre- but quickly becomes a failed experiment. A cross between FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and DOG SOLDIERS, FEAST is a splatter fest of schlock humor and make-up FX. In a greasy desert tavern in the middle of nowhere, we're treated to the same down-and-out characters we've known before: the crusty old bar-keep with the shotgun, the kid in the wheelchair with the fingerless gloves, the chesty actress wanna-be who's "gotta get out of this town" and of course the freaked out "game over man- game over!" dude. There is no story whatsoever and the characters are purposely offered as cliches we're supposed to enjoy seeing slaughtered. The problem is, in order to enjoy clever detours you have to be going somewhere in the first place. FEAST is all icing and no cake and it gives us a belly-ache of "so what?" For all their wit the filmmakers missed the fact that even purposely cheesy flicks have to have a thread of something to invest in. Despite some funny ideas, the irreverent humor becomes one note on a piano after the first act. Henry Rollins plays a really bad motivational speaker who won't shut up and Bruce Campbell is introduced as "The Hero" only to be decapitated 10 seconds later (Campbell fans beware, that's all you get.) If you're a 14 year old with a subscription to Fangoria, this might be for you. Otherwise, skip this one and go rent: EVIL DEAD, TREMORS, SLITHER, NEAR DARK, EIGHT-LEGGED-FREAKS, DOG SOLDIERS, etc.
THE CAVE (2005)
dir: Bruce Hunt
Started out as an engaging dark adventure- slipped into a mindless actioner. No subtext or meaning in this one at all, just another ALIENS clone. Patrick Tatapolous designs once again very solid. Perhaps one of the more interesting angles on the vampire legend- also only hinted at- the film is about something else.
LADY IN WHITE (1988)
dir: Frank LaLoggia (MOTHER, FEAR NO EVIL)
Well there goes two-full hours of my life i'll never get back. Not that there's anything wrong with this little film if you like after-school specials or movies-of-the-week. Pretty Disney-esque all around except for the villain who is a child molestor(!?) A little kid sees a ghost that clues him in to an unsolved murder which he helps solve, etc, blah, blah, blah. Made back in 1986-87 and recently re-released on DVD for 20th anniversary. I found out about this film online and there were really strong reviews for it. Guess i'll have to start looking closer. Skip this one.
THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA (2001)
dir: Larry Blamire
They finally did it! Someone made a "SPINAL TAP" for the sci-fi/horror genre! Despite it's sleepy pace, this spoof is so much fun it's worth everything. Of special note are the endless marketing items showcased in the DVD special-features (and also on the official web-site.) The "Lost Skeleton" lunch box, board game, trading cards and other collectibles add to the films mocku-fiction bending humor. "ROWR."
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FILMS I PURPOSELY SKIPPED:
PULSE (2001) aka: "KAIRO"
dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Got excellent reviews. An American remake is out this year with horrible reviews.
PULSE (2006 remake)
dir: Jim Sonzero
Another remake of a Japanese film- this one co-penned by Wes (why won't
he go away already!?) Craven. Reviews are bad on this one although the
trailer looks provocative. However, i don't think i can stomach another
horror film about the internet.
CRY_WOLF (2006)
dir: Jeff Wadlow
i just can't force myself to see this. yet ANOTHER horror flick about the internet.
THE FOG (2005 remake)
dir: Rupert Wainwright
got the worst reviews i've seen for a horror film, i will not be seeing.
As i am a big fan of John Carpenter's original version, i was curious to check this out, however, the reviews changed my mind.
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: The Beginning (2006)
i refuse to see unless someone pays me.
THE GRUDGE 2 (2006)
i refuse to see unless someone pays me.
SAW II (2005)
i refuse to see unless someone pays me.
SAW III (2006)
Hell no- i won't go!
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