Long Weekends Movies

Not officially reviewing anything here but I did watch a couple things and wanted to write a bit about them. Long weekends are made for movie watching especially when the weather is bad like it was this weekend in MA.  In honor of Vincent Price's birthday I watched him in Laura (1944), a wonderful little murder mystery that was sharply directed by Otto Preminger. Early in his career Price plays Shelby Carpenter, a down on his luck socialite who now "associates" with wealthy women to keep up his lifestyle. He becomes a suspect in the supposed murder of  Laura Hunt (played by the ravishing Gene Tierney) and is along for the ride as Det. LT. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) tries to decide if he is the killer. There are other suspects columnist and professional bully Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) really an amazing turn at a part that is intricately linked to the success of the film and Webb pulls it off in spades. Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson) cohorts with Carpenter has the jealousy angle to make her a suspect. This was a really great film and I loved it. maybe not Price in his glorious apex but he is just fine in the film.

  Then I sat down and watched Downrange (2017), film about a group of car poolers trapped behind their vehicle by a sharp shooting murderer. Starting out the suburban seems to get a flat tire on a desolate road. While changing the tire rider Jeff (Jason Tobias) sees a bullet fall from the flattened tire, before he can say a word another bullet pierces his head. Then the others are scurrying and hiding behind the very few possible pieces of cover and we are in the film. With sketchy phone signals the group can't call for help without going out into the open and ending up dead. Driver Todd (Ron Hernandez), his girlfriend Sara (Alexa Yeames), and passengers Karen (Stephanie Pearson),  Eric (Anthony Kirlew) and  Jodi (Kelly Connaire) hold up trying to figure out what to do. Who will survive? What is the motivation of the killer? Will there be help?  Some questions are answered some characters die. You would think that in a movie where the protagonists are pinned down in the first ten minutes would be hard to keep a decent pace, and you would be right. The early pacing is a bit troubling even though the gore in the kills is exceptional. When we get to the third act though, things pick up really nicely. The final third is gore filled fun and then the ending is just wonderfully mean. I am not giving this a loud recommendation but if you can get through the early movie I think it kinda pays off.. The acting was only okay and the first 2/3 was not as compelling as I wanted. The worst thing probably is never finding out anything about the sniper, a villain with no back story. Written by Ryuhei Kitamura and Joey O'Bryan and directed by Kitamura this is a reasonable wrong turn of a film.

The Forgotten Ones (2009) Horror Creature

The Forgotten Ones (2009) - aka "After Dusk They Come"  aka "Tribe" is a creature movie where a groups of wealthy people get shipwrecked on an island. The problem is there are creatures living on that island and soon the group is fighting for their lives. Well mostly they are looking around for the location of the sounds they are hearing, and oh yeah, dying. This was a straight to video feature that borrows some creature elements from the film The Descent (2006) while not capturing the interpersonal charisma of that movie.
  We open with a camp on an island decades (early 1900s maybe) before our story takes place. A man and woman are the last survivors of a group studying a before never discovered species of "ape" man. Unfortunately the creatures are aggressive lead by an alpha male and enjoy the taste of human flesh. So the tight scene where the final demise of the couple is well done and sets a foreshadowing for our main story.
  There is some initial character setup as a group of five set sail to deliver a sailboat to the wealthy owner. Liz (Jewel Staite) is the insecure in her relationship lead. She is the girlfriend of Peter (Justin Baldoni) an arrogant rich guy who is trying hard to leave his loose and carefree ways behind and get serious with Liz. She is reminded of his cheating not so subtle ways early in the film giving the couple some tension. In screenwriting conflict works better than happiness is giving characters depth and the writer / director of this film Jorg Ihle fills out the group with all kinds of interpersonal conflict. The first mate is Jake (Kellan Lutz), who was dumped by Lauren (Nikki Griffin) who is also friends with Liz but is there with her new boyfriend rich and obnoxious Ira (Marc Bacher). By casting we see Ihle wants to contrast attitude and looks where Jake is young and handsome but a working stiff and Ira is heavier and older but is said to have lots of money. Lauren is depicted as selfish and superficial. It seems more of a high school drama way of approaching it and really only succeeds to make the viewer dislike the characters.
  The setup of the plot is the group is going to sail the boat to another island and turn it over to the owner. We see early on though that the GPS is not working correctly but this malfunction is overlooked by Peter. When they get lost he still is a bit casual about the issue really only Liz is taking it seriously. Lauren and Ira are partying and sunbathing and Jake is staring at them jealously. It is only when in the night the boat hits some rocks and sinks does it become clear just how callus Peter was. They all manage to survive but are stranded on an island not quite sure where they are. Peter saved the radio and at least can call for a pick up, if they can be found. All and good as far as it goes but unknown to the group they have landed on that same island that we the audience saw in the opening. There are weird ape men living on the island and soon the movie become a fight for survival. But not until Peter proposes to Liz and the group celebrates.
  In the night Peter is dragged away apparently quietly by the creatures. Showing the two bottles of empty champagne suggests that everyone is sleeping heavy but come on two bottles between five people is not enough to sleep through being dragged off far into the forest. When Liz awakes she sees a lot of blood and no Peter. Having already had an encounter with something in the bushes, but not seeing it she is super concerned. Jake wants to go searching right away but Ira and Lauren being the great friends they are want to take the life raft and leave the island. The conflict between the group members is eventually settled after some annoying posturing and they all go looking for Peter. He wakes in the woods with a stick stuck in his leg. Not a life threatening injury mind you, not bad enough for the amount of blood we saw on the beach. He deals with it wraps a bandana and wanders trying to find his way back to the others. He never does with is a real flaw in the writing, in fact he stumbles around in the woods hearing sounds for the most part and then later is killed by a creature. He never sees the group again and the only reason I can see for his existence in the film is that Liz gets to find his body and is sad, which the  feeds her determination to live? It just feels like a dead end character that is underutilized.
  The group searching for him meets chaos fairly quickly, when Laura steps into a 80 something year old sneer and is pulled high into the trees. Jake climbing to loose her has to fight off the creatures who are just now starting to be shown. He is knocked from the tree and takes a painful tumble while Lauren is carried off by the creature across the treetops. Ira enraged chases after her on the ground. He is a goner as the ape men are onto him too. Liz and the amazingly not broken Jake find the camp from the opening scene. It is in amazingly good shape considering how old it is and Liz find the journal of the man and woman from the opening. It is a flashback giving detail on the creatures in the woods and his intention to capture one. The locals he says call them the "Forgotton Ones". Unfortunately for the survivors they are also being hunted, and after Jake meets his maker Liz is knock unconscious and taken.
  The third act is all about Liz her battle to survive in the caves of the Forgotten Ones and her escape. She wakes next to the dead Lauren and tries to make her way from the cave. The creatures for their part are semi blind ape men with long clawed fingers and gorilla fangs. Similar to the creatures in the  film The Descent they seem to make a clicking type noise to determine where prey is and follow that up with a good sense of small. Liz has to figure this out and when she learns that there is a tree slime that masks her scent she is clear to make a getaway. Of course though things are not that easy. When she reaches the beach the raft is gone taken back to the cave by the creatures. So she slimes up and heads back to the cave for the raft. Escaping is not quite as easy as she would wish but she gets back to the forest. The finale is her and the alpha male facing off in a battle that unnecessarily becomes a bit sexualized on the creatures part. Seeing as this is a final girl film we after some gnarly fighting get to see our conquoring hero get in the raft and paddle away from the island.
  This movie was a bit disappointing to me. Starting with some shitty characterizations for the sake of interpersonal tension meant that really only Liz was likable. Why she wanted to be around these horrible people is a "who knows"? As a viewer I had really no reason to pull for anyone but Liz the rest of the characters were fodder. The island story was all well and good if  seeming a bit derivative. I don't know if it was actually derivative this idea may have been kicking around in the writers head for years before the film was made. Once we started seeing the creatures which is nearly half way through the film they were decently presented and scary in their wildness. The third act is what it really is all about and it almost got me to a place of recommending this but just missed.

The Black Scorpion (1957) Horror Monster

The Black Scorpion (1957) - The film starts with some great footage of a newly created volcano in Mexico, and some horrible paternal voice over about the Mexican and there only response to the devastation caused by it. The character open is on Hank Scott (Richard Denning) and Artur Ramos (Carlos Ramos), Hank is an American geologist out to study the volcano with his Mexican peer. They have been driving a long time and still find themselves too far from the volcano. Coming across some carnage that does not seem to be created by the natural phenomenon makes a puzzle for them to solve. After visiting a village San Lorenzo they head to the crater where they meet the third main character Theresa Alverez (Mara Corday). She was riding up there but was thrown from her horse so they give her a ride back to town. It's a fifties movie so naturally Hank is attracted to the strong independent Theresa. Once these three are together we start to really get into the plot. Like many of the films from this era this relies on some scientist explaining what is going on is a flurry of exposition. In this case giant scorpions have been trapped in obsidian underground for thousands of years and the earthquake accompanying the formation of the new volcano has broken them free. We first hear of some creature in the village as the residents are shown as superstitious  simple folk who fear a demon is killing their friends and neighbors. This representation is one of many that we need to discuss.
  It sees them as a simplistic people who are more likely to pray for God to save them than to understand the phenomenon. The volcanic activity is important too it is the cause of the monster movie to come. Basing this film in Mexico as opposed to the classical early monster movies where the atomic bomb creates the monster is something to note. It also creates some really uncomfortable to watch scenes with its stereotypes and attitudes towards the people of Mexico. Remembering that this film was released in 1957 well before we ever used the word "problematic"  to point out in a nicer way that racism, sexism and paternalism in the media we consume. Besides the opening voice over we also get to here conversations all in English between the cops and our protagonist where the cops are Mexican but the hilarious voice that was more like a game show announcer than Mexican. We see simple villagers mildly chastise or maybe convince to help the White American hacienda owner on her ranch even after their safety was shown not to exist. Worst is the small mischievous Mexican boy who is constantly saying cute lines in his broken English and also continually get into places where the American protagonist has to save him. I think the one that struck me the most is when Hank and Carlos come across a farm that was attacked by the creature. They find a baby all by itself and hank takes it in his arms and jokes about the baby's quiet behavior  saying:

  "Look at this kid, not a peep out of him. If ever I have any of my own, I think I will feed him beans and tortillas too, and I'll be able to get some sleep nights. Later on a character mentions needing a Tequila and old hank blurts out "In your country I believe you call it a coffee break." All in all this film is not the best representation of how american film makers should depict another country and culture.

  The plot continues almost into classic Godzilla mode with the scorpions attacking people and a train, scenes of people running and screaming from them. Until our trio with the help of scientists from Mexico City and the Mexican army come up with a plan to end the scourge.  First the two geologists have to go down into a hole created by volcanic activity to investigate where all these scorpions are coming from. With a stow away hidden on there cart they are lowered into a nest of at least 50 scorpions. There are some really great creature feature stuff while they are down there and naturally have to save the little Mexican boy who hid to join them down there. Somewhere in the making of this movie they realized that they did not have a method to kill all the scorpions that they started with in the film. So first they blow up the nest but then still have to deal with the pack that is already on the surface. Early on a bunch roamed the country side destroying and killing. It was effective for the terror and the effects were really cool but the plot had a poison as the solution and a weak spot in the scorpion throat was the only way to administer it. So something had to be done to reduce the number of scorpions. The writing of a couple lines that the main characters hear is hilarious in its effectiveness to reach this end. Something to the effect of the reporter saying the big black scorpion has killed all the others and is now heading towards Mexico city. Problem solved.

  Mixed in with the monster movie is the ridiculous love story between Theresa and Hank, in that movie time period the movies had character go from meeting to spending their lives together in ninety minutes or less and in this film we get just that. The character of Theresa is a strong woman and she is almost equal in her pursuit of Hank as he is for her. Still that wonderfully entertaining banter leads over the course of the story to a life long commitment. Luckily there are at least a couple weeks between when the story starts and concludes unlike some of these relationships which go from "Nice to meet you" to "I love you" in a day.  So when Hank is at risk at the end of the film , and has to take the big shot to kill the black scorpions he is trying to get back to his love. Strangely the film does not end with the lovers back together kissing but instead just ends when the creature is dead. All that prepping us for a romantic ending for nothing.
  Leaving it depictions of Mexico out of this film I have to say I really enjoyed the scorpion attack part of it. I grew up on Creature Double Feature in Boston and always have a soft spot for these fifties monster movies. This one was fun for the most part but not great by any means.  Again if you can separate the story from the horrible stereotyping you can probably enjoy the monster part of this. I find it really flawed with some real logic gaps necessary to make the plot work so I won't recommend it. 

Midnight Son (2011) Horror vampire

Midnight Son (2011) - The vampire has been replayed over and over in the movies and with each new incarnation writers try to build on the myth adding rules what they can and can't do. Trans-configuration, lack of reflection, super strength, quick healing,  hypnotism, fear of the Christian cross, sparkling in sunlight each new vampire builds something into the mythos. Midnight son on the other hand purposely strips away the special powers of the vampire and instead creates what could be read as a metaphor for addiction. I doubt that this was the actual message behind the film but it certainly could be read that way. Built more in a reality closer to ours it is a story about a young man, Jacob (Zak Kilberg) who has photo-sensitivity to such an extent that his skin burns in sunlight. This vampire trait means he lives at night. He is a security guard at a building on the night shift. He blocks the light from his basement apartment and sleeps all day. When we meet him he is about to under go a change that impacts his lonely isolating life.
 Scott Leberecht in an interview on the special feature talks about Carl Jung and his idea of a shadow self, a part of each one of us that has been repressed, maturing we wrestle that demon and acknowledging and coming to terms with that "bad" part of ourselves. In the film we see this journey in what may or may not be the most successful wrestling match. Jacob is and his sudden infatuation with blood as a struggle of self control. He needs to acknowledge this shadow and find  way to live with it. Or as the janitor (the great Tracey Walter) in his building says, in a bit of on the nose philosophy. It's like a butterfly bursting from its cocoon transforming into a mature creature.
  There is not a lot of background given about how he got to his twenties and managed to survive and if not flourish at least build a life for himself. He is a lonely guy making his way in the world. We join him at the start of the change, suddenly his appetites are changing and instead of the meat and potato diet he has always had he suddenly wants the taste of blood. Writer / Director
  At the same time of his new dietary needs Jacob meets Mary (Maya Parish) and feels the desire to be connected to another human. It is an interesting contrast between the animal desire he is feeling for blood that is dangerous and consuming, and the sex impulse, physical attraction that is interconnecting and sharing but equally consuming. The relationship comes haltingly because Jacob's blood impulse holds sway and the trust that comes with emotional attachment is not yet in place. His need to hide the desire makes it harder to connect. I appreciated the complex and nuance writing and acting in the character of Mary. She like in life is a complicated women with her own baggage that also slows the roll of the relationship. Parish is subtle in her portrayal with small facial reflections that heighten the character.

  The other main character is a hospital worker Marcus (Jo D. Jonz) who sees Jacob's desire for blood as a money making opportunity. He has access to blood that will be disposed of and can supply as much as needed. Again I appreciated that the character is developed and not just 'that guy with the blood'. Marcus also does not make things easy and plays a growing role as the movie progresses. He has his own motivations and compulsions that make for a more complex relationship with Jacob. Hints of a predatory nature makes his character a bit threatening, besides the fact that he is actually threatening to Jacob. The same can't be said for the Police in this film. they are investigating a murder or two but the entire subplot of their involvement and interaction with the main character is under written. Jacob's  connection to the murder is too weak in my opinion and the suspicion of the cop too strong. Even with that criticism overall the characters are well defined even if the relationships can seemed strained at points.
  As the desire for blood grows stronger the addiction aspect and comparison can be seen. Jacob making worse and worse choices because of the desire for more blood is inevitably going to create the crisis of the story. In that build up to the climax there are a couple of real nice reveals that build a mythos for this world and this kind of vampire. Where the story is so character-centric we never really get any origin story for the Why? question of Jacob's transformation but we do get a complete story arc and a conclusion which many times horror films fail to deliver.

  I can't say I loved this film but it was okay. Even though the pacing of the scenes was good the musical score accompanying them made it feel more of a slow burn than it should have. I know the director liked the music but as the plot got more tense I don't think the music properly kept up with it. As noted earlier the character relationships were in fits and starts and that, although desired over canned characters, made the film feel a bit uneven at times. It starts and stays a small movie which felt appropriate and I mildly recommend it to those who want a slightly different take on the sub-genre. 

Train (2008) Horror Tourist Trap

Train (2008) - Eli Roth in 2005 came out with the first Hostel film and followed it in 2007 with Hostel part II, in those films Roth capitalizes on the unknown corners of a newly liberated eastern Europe to stoke our fears about travel to those lands. In the films young tourists staying in a hostels are enticed to find a party but are instead captured by sadistic locals and sold into a torture murder ring who wealthy clients get off on harming other humans. Roth although a bit mean spirited in his approach touched on the hidden fear we have of 'the other'. His use graphic torture scenes to and nihilistic attitude did strike a chord in the horror community and those films were well received. I bring this up to connect to the subject of today's subject Train. Coming out after Roth's trend setter it works really hard to imitate his work. It takes the eastern Europe setting and visceral graphic violence contains it on a train instead of an abandon industrial factory. Unlike Hostel or the sequel it stereotypes the American wrestlers as a group of ignorant foreigners who may not need the viewers empathy. The bad guys are far worse though, horrible villains and lowly scum whose characters definition is simplistic and cartoon. Plot points are exposed way too early in the film taking much of the mystery out of the film. Some of the lines are so cliche that they make the film stale. Other than that it was great.
  Thora Birch) she at least has the slightest of story arc, and learns a new wrestling move. I think in the end the horrific experience she has teachers her to reach for that little extra you need to survive a torture train as well as in the wrestling circle. She is joined by teammates Sheldon (Kavan Reese), Todd (Derek Magyar), and Claire (Gloria Votsis), as well as assistant coach Willy (Gideon Emery) and Coach Harris (Todd Jensen).
The opening credits give away the theme right away as we see a big guy cutting up a body in a less than sanitary environment. where we see that parts are saved we know either this is a human butchery or that someone else is in need of a human liver. We quickly move past that to defining our victims, uh I mean characters. It's an American wrestling team on an international tour in eastern Europe. There is nothing really defining here we get introduced to personalities and the main character Alex (
  When the wrestlers and Willy sneak out to go to a local party they miss the train to the next leg of the tour. Coach is angrily waiting for them at the hotel the next morning. There is this moment where as they are searching the dark streets for this party where they pass a steam engine sitting in the dark and Alex pauses to look at it. This foreshadowing by Writer / Director Gideon Raff was just a bit too on the nose. His writing gets better though but not in this film, he wrote extensively in the room for the great series Homeland so this early work was a step towards better things.
  Stranded and frustrated with the lack of anyone in a foreign country being able to speak his language the Coach plays the ugly American shouting what he wants at the train station attendant. He is "rescued" by Dr. Velislava (Koyna Ruseva) who tells him that you purchase your tickets on the train not in the station. She suspiciously directs them to her train that happens to be heading to their destination. I say suspiciously because it was like she was directed to act that way. As the creepy as shit helper load them into the train you see they are also told to treat the Americans as mush as objects as possible. Be slimy and creepy and then take their passports. Ugh. Unless this is a very clever satire that I just did not get, it is a poorly executed series of cliches that fail to create any kind of suspense or originality. the added insult where we see the passports thrown into a fire  was so on the nose it stings.
  What follows is a long series of kills and close calls as we unravel the non mystery of this train and why foreign tourists are abducted and killed. The particularly annoying one is Todd who when playing Truth or Dare, takes the dare and has to run the length of the train in his underwear. He reaches the dark dirty part of the train that we the audience have already seen and know this is the cutting room where the parts are harvested in the least sanitary conditions possible. I know that is stupid but really not what we need to talk about. Todd gets there and is creeped out and just says the absolute most cliche things anyone could say.  He hears a sound and says "Guys, this isn't funny." then "Look I don't want any trouble" then "Is anyone out there?" These three lines encapsulate everything wrong with the film. It is like it is trying not to be original.
  After several of the Americans are taken comes the unraveling of the mystery for the rest of the characters. As they search for the others they are thwarted by the not so nice Conductor Vasyl (Valentin Ganev) Played like a game of cat and mouse except these American mice are slowly finding that the entire train is full of cats, and it is too late for them. Once it is revealed that the train crew is taking the passengers organs, again in a way that is so dirty visceral and unsanitary that it is unbelievable and really takes the viewer right out of the movie. Logic dictates that this is not how organ transplants are done so you just have to call bullshit. I know they are going for what was so successful by Eli Roth but boy they really did not nail it. The cruelty that is shown does not make sense and you can't outRoth Roth. They do try though with some rather mean pieces. Like cutting Sheldon's balls off and the nasty bit where they give injured Claire to a group of soldiers who stopped the train. They try to make it poignant by having Alex watch her friend carried away screaming by the five soldiers knowing she is going to be raped and killed. Really it was the writer wanting to be as mean to the character as possible again though there are others that do this better.

  Eventually with the mystery unraveled the film turns into a survival film and when the train reaches a destination the film goes on even longer and it should really end. Alex is our final girl and tries to help any of the still surviving companions she runs into but really all she does is get them killed. I don't know what else to say, the ending with the big Russian cutter guy is inevitable and her using that cool move her boyfriend taught her in the beginning of the film was totally appropriate, set up and paid off. Overall the acting is not bad but some of the lines they have to say and how they chose to act was off putting.  I know I seem to be too critical but I still watch these films with an open mind. Still this film leaves you wishing it was just better.
  

Terror Train (1980) Horror Slasher

Terror Train (1980) - Jamie Lee Curtis was quickly making a name for herself in the horror genre, 1978's Halloween really put her on the path. Coming into this film just two years later she had already appeared in The Fog (1980)  released in February and Prom Night (1980) release in July. She was everywhere and stardom was already in the cards for her. This third film in a year may be the lesser of the three, a classic revenge slasher where we know who the killer is all the way through even if we can't identify him at times.
 Derek McKinnon) three years earlier. Setting him up with the idea he was going to have sex with Alana (Jamie Lee Curtis) they lead the young man up to a frat house bedroom, except the switch is on and Jamie Lee is hiding whispering to Kenny to come kiss her. While Kenny moves to the cadaver prop up in the bed in the darkened room. When he kisses her and flips out while the six schemers bust in laughing, and Jamie feels guilt for her role in it. Kenny becomes unstable leaving school and spending time in a mental institute. So now out he has a plan to get back at this group of mean people.
A group of seniors plan there last college party before the leave pre-med and head off to medical school. It is a costume theme party. Naturally the costumes will work well in hiding the killer and the theme, a steam train excursion puts the group in an isolated location far from outside help. But why is there a killer you ask? Well this particular group of seniors played a very nasty trick on Kenny (

  This film is not so great as far a pacing or creativity in kills, It trudges along with the characters trading places in the train cars enough to hide where the killer is and what costume he is wearing. Early in the film he kills Ed (Howard Busgang) with a sword, but where Ed is a jokester everyone thinks he is kidding. So the killer starts by wearing Ed's Groucho Marx outfit and mask. once on the train it is a bit of a slog. We have a bunch of scenes with David Copperfield being pissy about having to do the performance. His assistant trying to please him is around through the film. When Kenny, now the Groucho killer hooks up with Mitchy (Sandee Currie) we get teased into thinking she is next but No Jackson comes by and suddenly the killer has a higher priority.. The killing starts but it also sputters. The film is ways back and forth when it comes to getting down to killing. Eventually though the six are hunted down one at a time. Jackson (Anthony Sherwood) killed in a bathroom face through a mirror. Mitchy seduces who she thinks is Jackson and is choked out in a sleeping birth. Mo (Timothy Webber) is poisoned and dies next to the prankster Doc (Hart Bochner). He in turn dies thinking the hand on his shoulder is Mitchy trying to console him but instead is beheaded by the killer.

  While the kills are slow and mostly shot off screen, the drama is not and it is all about  Alana and the train Conductor Carne (Ben Johnson) trying to keep everyone left on the train safe. At one point we learn from a yearbook that Kenny was really into magic. The idea that the magician is the killer gets in there heads and they work the crowd trying to isolate him in a locked session of the train. Several attempts are made against Alana as this drama unfolds and she narrowly like the final girl she is just gets away a bit bloodied but alive. When finally cornered and having to confront the killer, we get a twist that I won't reveal here. It is pretty good though and the final battle between Kenny and Alana although short is final.  The acting was fine for the most part, Ben Johnson was great as the conductor. I think the execution of the train and the on the nose writing were the bigger problems.

  My closing thoughts on this film is that it is sort of a not so well executed slasher. I don't hate it but I doubt I will revisit it anytime soon. I just found it too clunky with the on the nose revenge plot and a twist that was not that big, it all just fell flat for me. You can't like everything so I guess this is one of those. Certainly you could be driven as a complete-ist to want to see every slasher ever make and this is probably not the worst of them so have at it if that is you. No recommendation from me.

The Lure (2015) - Musical Horror Myth

The Lure (2015) - Loosely based on the Hans Christain Andersen story "The Little Mermaid" but with wonderful horror moments and songs! That story is where the mermaid falls in love with a human and wants to become a real girl. She trades her beautiful singing voice to get legs to be with her prince. When the prince then is betrothed to another for political reasons the little mermaid is lost, can not return to the sea and can not be with the man she loves. The mermaid's sister trades her hair for a knife that she must use to kill the prince before dawn on his wedding day, breaking the spell and allowing the little mermaid to return to the ocean. In that story like this the plan does not come out as expected. This film is a tale of two mermaid sisters, Golden (Michalina Olszanska) and Silver (Marta Mazurek) who join a trio of musicians and try to make a go of it in the human world. Silver falls in love with Mietek (Jakub Gierszal) a curly haired blonde bass player she hears singing on a beach. She and her sister sing in return to get Mietek and Perkusista (Andrzej Konopka), the bands drummer to call them from the ocean. This allows the women to transform into somewhat human form and join the band. The film follows the girls and band as Silver attempts to get Mietek to return her love. This includes Silver attempting to become more human for him and ultimately having to make a decision about the relationship that breaks the heart. Golden has her own path in the world of humans, she is not like her sister and sees humans not as love objects and more as food. Her navigating of the world has its own weirdness and twists that make her story the more interesting of the two.
  One great thing about this film is the world building. In this world the mermaids are just something that exists. So when the girls join the band the club manager ( Zygmunt Malanowicz) is shown the girls transformed so their long fish tails can be seen. He just accepts this and allows them to sing in his club. There is no disbelief, mermaids are there and the magic is mundane in this world. Already the world is one where clubs are for older people where they go to see bands do disco era covers and dance and drink. It is a fantasy and as such anything is possible. That magic includes siren like voices, and apparent pheromones that are toxic when humans withdraw from them. At least that is what I take from the scene where the band members get sick after the mermaids leave for a while.
  Another really winning point is the contrast between the mermaid sisters. Silver is the lighter haired sweet girl looking for love. Not that she gets what she wants, she works hard to try to seduce Meitek. He is pretty clear that he sees her as an animal and can't love her. There is a magic that the girls have that holds influence over the humans around them but it is not quite enough to give Silver the success she wants. That in turn drives her to more drastic measures to become human for Meitek. Golden sees Silver in her obsession and is not thrilled. At first it seems like jealousy, but as the story progresses it seems she sees the tragedy coming for her sister. Golden is in the film to contrast Silver in she recognizes that the mermaids are not meant for the human world. They are predators and although they can play the part for a while in the end their natural impulses must win out. She is experimenting with the human world but she is not part of it. Golden needs to feed and that in turn leads to a very strange interaction with a female cop who suspect her of eating a guy in a car, but then uses the information to have sex with golden in mermaid form. She is the dark half of the mermaid nature and all her warning can not save her sister from heading down the road to ruin. The message must be that being ad remembering what you are is the safe path while trying to become something you are not is dangerous.

  The musical aspect of this film was so strange that it ended up being completely magical. From the opening tune in the club with the groups lead singer Wokalistka Krysia (Kinga Preis) singing "I Feel Love" a Donna Summer song from 1977 to the more traditional singing their feelings and plot this element works. On a personal note I really dislike musicals, I mean I remember being exposed through film as a child to them. Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, I sang in choir doing Jesus Christ Superstar in middle school, and have seen plays as a young adult A Chorus Line and Rent. I don't really enjoy them too much with the possible exception of The Rocky Horror Picture Show but I can tell if the musical elements are working or not. In this film I don't think the music is a classic representation but I think it works within the world of the film. I don't imagine I would ever seek out a soundtrack for The Lure but it was okay in watching it.

  Enchanted by this film as a fantastical piece of art, I recognize it may just be not for everyone so use caution going into this that it does not fit into categories well. There are some really nice horror elements to the film that I wish were longer. The mermaids at feeding could have been more frightening but what is shown works. The exploration of sexuality (bestiality?) was interesting also but again it was limited to a couple scenes and could have been more. Still I come away from this film liking what it did and recommend a viewing to all of you. It is a strange journey but I think one that is rewarding.