The Final Girls (2015) Horror Slasher Comedy

The Final Girls (2015) - How does a really well made film like this make such a little splash? A PG-13 horror comedy with heart this film does a great job at not only giving us a comedy slasher but also having a really well rounded personal story for the lead character. Now I normally avoid the dreaded PG-13 but I had heard many good things about this movie so made the effort to get it. The story is unique and the jokes funny all the while giving us good characters to care about.
  The story is started by establishing the lead character Max  (Taissa Farmiga) and her mother Amanda Cartwright. Amanda (Malin Akerman) is a struggling actress we are introduced to as she feels to get a part at an audition. We get just enough to learn she was a star in an eighties slasher film Camp Bloodbath an obvious nod to Friday the 13th especially with the "Ch, Ch, Ch, Ha, Ha, Ha" sound that queued the killer was near. That movie was the highlight of a long but not particularly successful career for Amanda. She is having money troubles and really but is still grateful for the relationship with Max. We get just enough from these two to understand that they have a tough life but are in it together. The scene ends with the setup for the start of the adventure three years later.
  When we join the story three years later Max is still struggling with the loss of Amanda. We meet her friends and Vicki (Nina Dobrev), Gertie (Alia Skawkat), Duncan (Thomas Middleditch) and Chris (Alexander Ludwig) and the story is set up. There is a double feature of Camp Bloodbath, and Camp Bloodbath two. Duncan a huge fan of the movie has set this up and asks Max to come as a guest, the daughter of a movie's star. She reluctantly agrees to go it being the anniversary of her Mother's death. This is the setup so we get some good character introductions, from Duncan's fandom to Chris's crush on Max and so the group is in the theater and the movie begins. There is this rather Final destination cutting to show how suddenly the theater catches on fire while the movie is playing. The group of friends can't get to the emergency exits so instead make there way to the screen. As the slasher in the film slashes downward so does Max cutting the screen. As the group pushes through the screen the magic of the film takes place. The group wakes to find them selves out in a wooded area. It is the magic you have to accept to get through the rest of the  movie. Not long after the group reforms they realize that they are inside the Camp Bloodbath movie.
  The great thing about this film is it subverts expectations in all kind of unexpected way. It is not enough that our group of outsiders somehow get pulled into the film, but they also stay stuck in the same scene until they get to the location of the next. This pushes them along through the story. Then there is the ability to alter the film by interacting with the characters in it. Max can have some heartfelt moments talking to the character that her Mother plays Nancy while the group thinks they just have to wait things out. Then there is the knowledge that the characters who have sex in the film will be killed off by Billy Murphy the killer who looks an awful lot like Jason of Friday the 13th fame. So here is an opportunity to change the script? Can that be done? We don't have to wait long for the answer to that as our group hides out watching the first movie murder scene play out. Again we the audience get to see the rules of the film come to life when not only is interaction with the characters possible but the killer can harm our group members. It is a really no punches pulled scene that gets its rules exposition in while still having some consequence.
  Resigned to the fact that they have to survive this film they play along and join the plot waiting for final girl Paula (Chloe Bridges) to arrive. The idea that they can stick with her and survive is also subverted right away too. Even as they work on the different characters to get ready for the slasher film, mainly by trying to keep the characters from thinking about sex and by trying to figure out where some weapons are. Mixed in are short bits of the Max and Nancy connecting as we see the Max character built up, a character we can connect with and pull for. A well done building piece that sets us up for the next more important change to what the group think are the rules of this world. Played for comedy it should not be spoiled here. We have seen though that Max stops Nancy from having sex and getting killed so now the predictability of the script is out the window. Thinking that the reason things change is because Max intervened in Nancy scene makes this film more interesting. It was possible that they could have made it through the film if she had not but now the cat is out of the bag.
  So with the film completely fucked from the inside and the rules as they thought pulled from underneath them they try again trying to define them. Now that Max one of two virgins in the film and Nancy the other but because of the script not written well enough to take the role, we have a way forward.  So now it is time to get proactive and do a bit more of the really well space relational scenes. Moving half way through the second act we are priming for the third act where all the great fun will happen.
Loved this though.
Max and Nancy are talking about going into the real world together and we get to a quick exchange about what they can do there like go to college and drive a convertible, Nancy says "And go shopping at the Mall.
"People don't shop at malls anymore they shop online." replies Max
 "What's Online?"
" Nothing I made it up." says Max making me the viewer giggle. There is this thing happening where Max wants her Mother back so bad and is willing to take this character she played instead and at the same time recognizes that the character will never really do. She is limited by the writing in Camp Bloodbath and can never know all she needs to fill max's void. Really well done. as well done as some of the other characters in the Bloodbath film, particularly Kurt (Adam Devine) and Tina (Angela Trimbur) both have some funny bit and its a shame to see them die but hey this is a slasher film. Not to mention the black guy in the film Blake (Tony N. Thompson) who gets short shifted in the film just like it is the 1980's.
  Since all of you should see this film nothing more can be said here. The third act is fun and action filled and we get all the expected and some unexpected turns that make for a lot of fun. When all is said and done we have a very satisfying  with all the excitement you would expect in a horror film. Filled with horror tropes and some really great writing where the double meaning of  Max's dialog takes her character through the journey she inevitably has to travel is just marvelous. Letting go of Nancy and at the same time letting go of her Mother. When max is finally the final girl we get the final battle and the end credits where the film comes back out of the seriousness to have a bit more fun. The last twist at the end is also a good fit. In watching the extras on the Blu-ray the director talks about how the ending was changed a couple times after test audiences did not connect with what they had originally had. Overall this film was really enjoyable from the music to the fake 80's horror vibe to the comedy and the action. all the pieces come together to make a very enjoyable horror comedy. It's is also a well defined character plotting is heartfelt. so this film is definitely recommended.
    As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back.  This week actress Kate Braithwaite (Twitter link) followed back after the review I did on Little Deaths, Thanks Kate!  This film being current and with what I would call some rather popular actors I don't hold much hope for anyof them to even notice this review let alone follow back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment. I am now following over 120 people while the followers is only 16 so as you can see people in the biz do not follow just anyone back. :)

Little Deaths (2011) Horror Anthology

Little Deaths (2011) -  An anthology adding the themes of sex and death in a unique ways made for decent viewing. Made up of three separate stories this is a pretty well done exploration of the bizarre with cruelty, sex, unique relationships, strange science and death all swirling about soup that is strange tasting but satisfying all the same. Unconnected the stories could each stand as dark shorts but there is varying degrees of success to them. The writing interesting in different relationships between the characters that are not cookie cutter but instead complex made the film worth watching even if each story does not necessarily satisfy.
  The first tale "House and Home" is about a couple who have less than healthy sex habits. Wealthy and entitled they approach the world as a place to take what they desire without apology. Richard (Luke de Lacy) can't get sex from his wife Victoria (Suibhan Harrison) who is chill to his advances. She would rather pull him into a unique three way that he is very willing to enter into. Together they target homeless women, offering food and comfort to lure the women into their home. Richard does just that with young Sorrow (Holly Lucas) who takes the bath and meal reluctantly only convinced by the religious appearance of the couple. The meal starts with good food and wine and as Sorrow gets groggy we realized she has been drugged. She wakes bound nude to a bed a victim of a couple who say "We take what we want, we've earned it." Richard just does that raping the young woman while verbally abusing her. The Director/writing Sean Hogan shoots this scene in a blurred soft focus making Sorrows experience a surreal nightmare. She lays still without showing emotion as he does his crime. His wife Victoria dressed only in her underwear watches and they suggest that her kink comes later in the form of torture. As she says "No one gets hurt, much."

  The turn comes after the abuse when Richard is out of the room and Victoria gets to have a turn with Sorrow. There is an unexpected twist at this point in the story where the tables are turned and the couple is no longer in control of the situation. Then the story goes further when Richard flees and we learn that Sorrow is not by herself. The story where the bad couple gets their comeuppance is satisfying considering how unlikable they are built to be.
  The second story "Mutant Tool" by Andrew Parkinson is a strange and I mean STRANGE story of a woman with her own issues gets wrapped up with a group of researchers that have a unique product. Like in the first film Jen (Jodie Jameson) is a woman who has strange relationships, a boyfriend Frank (Daniel Brocklebank), who at one time had her turning tricks. It is alluded to that although not violent he is controlling and she has had violent boyfriends in the past. Now she sells drugs and turns tricks through an agency. She is trying to stay off drugs herself so this is probably not the profession to be in. It seems as we enter the story though she is getting desperate and looks to Dr. Reese (Brenden Gregory) for help. He has a unique program of pills that will help the drug addict kick the habit. It is the origin of these drugs that is unique  in this story. We see a few story lines, Jen and Frank and there living situation, Dr. Reese and his experiments with the drug he is creating, and then also two men who are in charge of caring for the source of that drug.
  All three stories are intertwined as Frank works for Reese's company acquiring black market livers to further the production of the drug. Jen takes the drugs and deals with the psychic side effects they have while trying to get through her less than enjoyable life. Reese and his cronies continue to explore the drug effects through Jen while at the same time trying to secure a steady supply of the excrement needed to create it. Jen is our protagonist though and the effects the drug is having on her is to enhance her connection to the mind not only of people that make physical contact with her, but with the source. The flashes she has allows her to see the secrets of those she comes in contact with, to feel the feeling they had or are having. Being involved with a murderous criminal in Frank or the very physically active job as prostitute do not bode well for Jen and her increasingly more vivid side effects while taking the drugs. This is a sad tale for her and the turn in this one is a bit telegraphed. What is good is the really visceral imagery of the mutant tool  and its working. Still there is no happy ending and the reasons for the drug are left somewhat unanswered.
  The final story "Bitch" by Simon Rumley is about a well written dominant / submissive relationship between a couple, Claire (Kate Braithwaite) overpowers her boyfriend Pete (Tom Sawyer) in their strange little relationship where he wears a dog mask and is scolded by her as a dog. This bit of role playing kink is marked by her selfish attitude often taking advantage of Pete's passive attitude. Still there is so much more to this relationship, Claire suffers from cynophobia and in the times where she is terrified beyond the rational we see Pete as someone who deeply cares for her. Tying this into her need to control him as a dog and his willingness to allow the role play is quite a fascinating setup. There relationship is complex and interesting and the basis for a story that ends with a cruel twist.
  Claire is very selfish in this relationship and uses her dominance over Pete callously. The story of how their relationship goes bad is founded in Claire. She is not satisfied having what this couple shares but instead has to continue to domineer to the point of truly hurting Pete. Choosing to seduce Pete's friend Al (Tommy Carey), although a threesome was proffered is the last straw the boyfriend. Seeing Claire riding his friend taking advantage of his need to be submissive is a pain that Pete can't handle. He concocts a revenge that is beyond cruel for Claire completely and cruelly connected to her greatest fear. Crossed lovers are the most viscous and Pete plays out his pan with precision. The strong character based setup in this really carries it through making it a nasty little bit worth seeing.
  As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment. I am now following over 120 people while the followers is only 15 so as you can see people in the biz do not follow just anyone back. :)
 
 

The Sins of Dracula (2014) Horror Comedy

The Sins of Dracula (2014) -  After actress Sarah Nicklin followed me on Twitter I decided that looking into her filmography might be interesting. So after asking her what her favorites were and ordering, The Disco Exorcist (2011), Nun of That (2008) and Exhumed (2011) from Amazon I pulled up amazon prime to see what I could see for free. Choosing the Sins of Dracula , the service thinks I will rate it 2.5 stars, or is that what other people rate it? It has 6.8 stars on IMDB but since the average rating seems to be a seven on that site I couldn't put too much faith in that. A horror comedy it starts with the horror making it seem that it might be a slasher. It starts classically enough with a actor coming to a theater for a call back only to be axed to death.
  Cut to Billy (Jamie Dufault), a religious young man who wants to expand beyond his choir singing so joins his girlfriend Shannon (Sarah Nicklin) at her local community theater group. What a group it is with an exaggerated cast of cliche misfits, NuWave (Jesse Dufault) a politically charged nonconformist, Traci (Samantha Acampora) the Dungeons and Dragons big glasses gamer nerd, Marty the awkwardly shy gay guy Scott (Johnny Sederquist), and Bandilli (Derek Laurendeau) the sometimes off his meds schizophrenic.  Shannon is the girl next store and Billy the sheltered Christian about to have his worldview expanded. Outcast joining together to learn from each other bring their unique abilities to make theater.
  The Director Lou Perdition (Steven O'Broin) arrive so over the top with his poser lead actress Kimberly (Elyssa Baldassarri) the pretty much you need to throw the idea that this film is taking itself seriously and think of it more as satire. The new show is something cutting edge and after a Jonestown Jubilee about the mass suicide at the James Jones compound. The overacting even when viewed as comedy is challenging to listen to. He is the antagonist though and antagonize he does.
  A Christian based yearn of about staying true to your beliefs and the consequences of failing, mixed with a sort of horror theme of raising Dracula (Michael Thurber) by covering his remains in sinful blood. There are certainly many bits that are amusing, like Billy spending a way too much thought in a monologue to convince himself that premarital sex is what God wants.  Still after setting up that Dracula has been raised and the moral personal choice Billy makes we have a third act goes even way further. With Dracula raised from the grave and turning many a theater geek into his vampire minions it is up to Shannon, Billy, Rev Johnson and this other exorcism priest.(that's a question why?) to deal with the vampire outbreak. We learn a minor character in Rev. Johnson (Carmine Capobianco) is a descendant of the Van Helsing family which comes out of no where abut makes possible the last joke of the movie.
  That other priest played by Jose Guns Alves did not make a lot of sense in the film, almost like the story needed an extra seven minutes so the director Richard Griffin and writer Michael Varrati  pulled it together at the last minute. Like an earlier nod to Salem's Lot this ode to The Exorcist (1973) played hard for comedy and probably done better other places like by Leslie Nielsen in Repossessed (1990) as well as in one with I think with James Woods as the Priest in Scary Movie 2 (2001) so probably could have been left out and does not have a meaningful context to the rest of the film.
  Overall there were a few amusing parts but this film suffers by having characters that are too cliche, although the Tracie character was very amusing in her monologues. Still it just felt like the film maybe changed a lot from its original draft with this and that added to from the second to third act. I don't know but although there are some funny bit I don't really think I will recommend this on. I do love the New England connection being a Dot Rat in my youth but there just wasn't quite enough funny or enough scary to get past the cliche.
As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment. This one is a a bit in reverse, Sarah Nicklin followed me on Twitter prompting me to start looking into what she has performed in. Thanks to her in proactively helping my little experiment along.

Sorority Sister Slaughter (2007) Horror Slasher

Sorority Sister Slaughter (2007) - Wen the DVD which arrived from Netflix had the blue screen without any DVD into screen I know I was in some trouble. My mind immediately started thinking low res video film with the mostly amateur actors and shitty camera work was possible. Sure enough there were some really strange and disjointed camera shots during the title sequence. Shot in video, or a transfer from the film opens in black and white  in what is seemingly a minority sorority house in the fifties where dahlia is upset waiting for a call from her boy Billy, she is upset and obviously pregnant from how she is touching her abdomen in the bathroom. Her friends are trying to talk her out of the room and out to a party. Having been dumped by Billy she is at her wits end and this drives poor Dahlia (Tafne Ellington) to stick a knitting needle inside herself to try to end the unwanted pregnancy. Let's remember this was pre-abortion as a legal option and the statement her might just be 'Do we want to return to the days when girls ended up dying in the tub because of a lack of choice. The scene is compelling enough to keep viewing even if the production values are low.
  Director Susan Hippen forcing the connection between past and present but maybe does not have to. A scene where one of the modern day girls, Eve (Desiry Hall) finds Dahlia's ring in the bathroom where she died. Keeping that ring can not be a good thing in the context of a horror movie.  The lighting maybe from the transfer in this part of the film is too dark and it does not help that a lot of the scenes are lit by candlelight since the electricity has yet to be turned on in the house.
  Move forward in time to 2006 on Valentines Day, back at the sorority we have a candles and color lit scene of a young woman settling into a dream. Will this film end as just a dream all along? I have seen that before so the possibility is there. I believe we fade to a dream of all the young women arriving to that house from the fifties scene where they are about to take up residence. Cool house by the way. The Sorority house is a hit with the new arrivals but the music tells use that this is a horror movie.  Kappa Tau Omega is back in business in a beautiful house but is it haunted? There is some strange cuts at this point in the film where I think
  Effective music carries this part of the film where the girls are introduced and at the same time there are notable instances of a haunting. As much as I appreciate that so far all the characters are minorities and that there are some strong personalities in the story. It is bothersome that there are the cat-fighting mentality we see so much when young adult women are portrayed on screen. Chloe (Kira Modallo Sesay) who is president of the sorority has to establish her dominance not only by bullying her friend and roommate Isabel (Anica Barbosa) about the accompaniments of office but is a bit nasty to the other women around her, like Tessa who walks in at the wrong time and and tries to defend Isabel about her diet. Sure it builds Chloe as a self driven leader but also fulfills a cliche about women having to cut each other down to get ahead.
  The men connected to these women are shown as the classic and not complex hound dogs looking to get their dicks wet. They come around looking to sneak into the new building to get a bit of ass. There disrespect of  Chloe' homecoming sash and tiara as well as their homophobic comments definitely define them as the least desirable type of men.
 The woman are also somewhat catty with each other. We do get our ghost story and the girls are strong enough to not be scared by by the story. Chloe again comes through as a mean spirited character showing no sympathy for Dalia's tale. Some cliche scenes where the men are wandering around scaring each other and the women using a Ouija board to summon the spirit. Teasing Eve seems to be the in thing to do and it is probably not the most feminist approach to character that the writers could have taken. It serves it's purpose to separate her from the group though so again even if I don't like the choices there are reasons behind them.
 Smoking pot, drinking and hooking up become the game once the men are discovered, cut between those scenes and Eve in the tub. So there is an establishment between sex and death as is the most classic of horror tropes except in this case there is some female dominance in the sexual scenes (Isabel) and the kill of Tessa in the tub is short, too short to make it frightening. That quick editing of scenes, not allowing them to play out must have had its reasons but it is hard for the viewer to know them. way to make a bulimic vomit scene a bit scary but again they cut too soon, and only come back to it as a mechanism to show it is still going on for her.  Also sort are the kills not enough staying with the scene. Better is when Kip (Farley Jackson) and Roxy (Erika Ringer) get there death scenes after a game of strip one on one basketball but it is really the ghost they follow through with it. Short and sweet on the scary is the general rule but big on the music which continues to make the mood right.
  Like all well constructed horror movies the kills happen in isolation and the discovery of the bodies have to wait until the cast is whittled down to a few. This film is classically constructed horror and we even have Star (Amy Black) the artist in a trans creating art that shows the killer, the ghost of Dahlia reaching out to us.
Aside: Pizza dude was funny the spirit infested bong of death. A white character which was amusing in his pot head character.
So close to having a whole a black cast. Our dream girl Tessa (Terry Bookhart) from the beginning of the film and Chloe seem to be the only ones that have a chance to be the final girl.  The make it out of the house and into a vehicle and then there is this strange exchange to explain away that it is Isabel's car and how did Tessa get the keys. I really don't think the audience cares that it's not one of the survivors car. Of course in cliche form the car does not start and the ghost finds them. Tessa becomes the final girl that the ghost is following her and since she had the dream it is structurally sound. That said it really makes Chloe expendable so you can guess that now that they have run back into the haunted house that shit is going to go down for her.
  Clever Tessa does the smartest thing in the film by calling Billy Bart and tricking him into coming to the house. Will it be too late for her though? Can she talk to Dahlia and make a deal?  Billy Bart arrives the dog he is and makes really inappropriate comments to Tessa. The ghost gets a chance to reconcile the past and Tessa gets out of it. The final scene between Dahlia and Billy was pretty damn remarkable and unexpected. It really gives an ending to the very sad 1950's tale. Predictably this circular story predicted by the introduction of the dream sequence was a bit expected.
  Overall I have to say the film was alright, it has a really nice horror score and a story that is solid enough. The almost exclusively African American cast although a bit cartoonish, because of the horror structure not their race could have been better drawn better. The men were just pieces to be killed horny guys looking for ass. The women were stereotypes that showed little compassion or caring for each other. Still the story was really well structured with a bit of a slower pace which was good but with short cut editing that made it a bit scattered. The lighting was cheap candle light and color filters which is a mark of low budget horror, but the music was moody and for the most part pretty spot on.  Still a video transfer that was dark and hard to see is not good.The DVD presentation was poor with the blue screen and now title window or scene selection. I can't say that  hated this film but it has enough drawbacks to not make it a recommended film either. There are a tone of cliche horror elements that take away from the fact that it is a women writer / director and an all black cast, things you do not often find in horror and which the genre could use more of. So sort of a middle of the road approach to this one
As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment. Now since the last post I have been followed back by @elskemccain who was in the Splatter Movie Thanks!  So Far though I have followed 75 people with only four following back, not a very good ratio. So lets see who I can get from this latest film in my little social media experiment.
 

Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut (2008) Horror Slasher

Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut - It's a film about a fictional independent horror crew shooting a movie about a crew of fictional filmmakers shooting a movie at haunted house attraction. What a movie within a movie within a movie sounds sort of confusing but really this is just a clever idea pulled off with precision by Amy Lynn Best and Mike Watt through their Happy Clouds pictures. Sprinkle in appearances by Debbie Rochon and Tom Sullivan with a competent cast and you have a slightly off kilter slasher that surprises where it can and fulfills expectations. The somewhat cynical approach the characters take when talking about what is involved in making independent horror brings a savory satire to the affair that promises a cliche but delivers something unexpected.
  In 2008 the film was featured in a Sirens of Cinema article and since Mike Watt was a contributor to the Magazine (maybe more I don't remember) and Happy Cloud Pictures were often covered I can understand the attention. These two have been making quality independent horror for a couple decades. In that article Best expressed her happiness with the set at the Hundred Acre Manor haunted attraction in Pennsylvania. A large facility with completed rooms made for a set that came ready for order. She and writer, partner Mike Watt spent a weekend looking at the location that Best described as "It went on forever and had some of the most wonderful sets." (Sirens of Cinema, vol 2 no.10 Identity Crisis: Dissecting Splatter Movie the Director's Cut by William Wright). They also worked on the script and the set dictated a lot of what they could do. It expanded and changed but remained a very character based story.
The film that came out of this experiment in meta film making is Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut and it is an surprising in its simplicity while still being complex in its structure. The story of  a film crew lead by Amy Lynn Parker (Best) as she directs a crew at the haunted attraction. There is this commentary on the what is needed to make an lower budget horror film. As Parker says in one of the in film interviews with her character. "When we first started making movies all you needed was a shower scene. Now you have to have a minimum of a shower scene and at two lesbian sex scenes, a randomly placed naked tits, we've been trying to figure out how to motivate everything and still mix it up." Since this is a movie in a movie this is the director character talking about the movie they are filming Tesseract, but also about the low budget movie realities. Sure there are lots of horror movies that do not follow this formula but for real horror junkies, myself included as you move down the food chain of more and more limited budgets there is the choice to increase the nudity as the money gets smaller.

   There is an argument to be made that this is a choice that the movie makers are limiting themselves to. Then by including the nudity and sex that the film makers are creating the environment where that is expected by the fans. Or you could say they are playing to a particular audience and could instead choose a different audience that loves horror but is the 'show me some titties' crowd.  It may also be a matter of scale because what I consider a small or micro budget may be giant to a company like Happy Cloud. Consider The Signal (2007) made for 50k and took in more than 500k, this seems like a low budget film but what could they have done if the only had 10k, would the film still be as successful? Or the the example everyone knows about Paranormal Activity (2007) that was make for 15k and has pulled in 193 million. What is the difference between these films that did not smear the screen with sex and nudity and the low budget films that feel the need to have a couple women in nightgowns making out and heavy petting? Is this an issue where the movie makers are boxing themselves in or are the returns on the films they made dictating the content? This film manages to not only have the conversation about nudity in the inner film Tesseract but also includes it in the outer film Splatter movie under the guise of playful actresses and crew. So is the point to complain within the inner movie while doubling the thing you are complaining about in the outer film? I am really not making an argument either way but it seems a conversation I would not mind hearing on a panel horror convention.

  Best for her part attempts turn expectations sideways  even if still participating in the exploitation. The rape scene as it place out in the inner film with Debbie Rochon playing herself  and a character that is a jaded stalking fan seems to be a pretty shocking and  an F-U to the viewers who are waiting for there misogynistic fill of violence against women. The film though is not preachy it really is a look behind the scenes of a micro-budget film making. While doing so it gives the viewer some tense moments where the killer is making a mess of the production. Finishing with a twist the film leaves the viewer in a place they did not expect to be. Now you may notice I watch a lot of Amy Lynn Best films. Something about her that just strikes me the right way. We really should be friends and probably wopuld be if we lived closer to each other. So check out the list of movies or search her name and see what else you can see that she had a hand in. As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment. Now since the last post I have been followed back by Southbound's @HiRadioSilence and @BettinelliOlpin showing that they are not too into self promotion to put up with my tweet's about beer and food and horror movies. Thanks guys!

Southbound (2015) Horror Anthology

Southbound (2015) - I love anthologies and this is one I was waiting to see since I read about it a ways back. Directors Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath and Radio Silence bring us intersecting stories where the participants touch each other only in the slightest way, a location or an emotion or a character but are intertwined.Then again some of the stories are connected with a vice grip. The wrap around story of two killers, Mitch (Chad Villella) and Jack (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin) trying to stay ahead of their demons cross with the paths of the women in the second story only in the women are staying at the motel they pass repeatedly in the freaky cycle of going nowhere fast. Harsh and edgy with a radio DJ (voice of Larry Fessenden) connecting the stories via the FM we get slightly on the nose vignettes leading us through the stories. Mitch's guilt at not protecting his daughter at a time of danger is his own little hell in the first piece that we will learn more about later.
  Guilt carries through to the second story about an all girl band that after a blowout on a desert road are hard pressed to get help. The driver Sadie (Fabianne Therese), with band mates Kim (Nathalie Love) and Ava (Hannah Marks) are soon offered a ride by a slightly off couple who live in the area. The couple Betty (Susan Burke) and Dale (Davey Johnson) are having friends Raymond (Dana Gould) and Bunny (Anessa Ramsey) with there silent twins (Max and Nick Folkman) over for a group dinner. As the night wears on Sadie is plagued with references to her behavior that may have caused another band mate, Alex's (Karina Fontes) death? That guilt is a driver in the conflict but as the real danger is revealed we see that all the locals are more than they appear to be. Sadie is soon in a fight for her life, one that brings her to an unexpected relationship with passerby Lucas (Mather Zickel). The guilt that he now has to deal with from their meeting drives the third segment of the film. The weird turn in this second story drives Sadie out into the desert and brings her face to face and involved with the next piece, a lone girl on a dark desert highway cool wind in her hair.
  Lucas needs to do all he can to deal with a medical emergency but can not seem to get any useful help. As he drives into an abandoned town he works desperately to find some help. When arriving at the hospital he roams the halls looking for help that is not there.  Playing on a television we see Carnival of Souls (1962) playing and that certainly fits the mood of the film. A film where the lead actress is drawn to a strange carnival and later we learn she has been dead the entire time. The creepy and airy fantasy that is that movie is also building in the one we are watching. Lucas is pushed hard to do everything to save the accident victim but it is obvious to the viewer that the information he is getting is just slightly wrong. Left emotionally wrought from his experience he stumbles about looking for a way back out of the hospital. The nightmare of his night is only broken by a call from his wife, but its not her. Instead he has the same people who have tormented him on the line. Telling him to help but ultimately killing the car accident victim. He gets to live with his guilt as he drives out of town with the guilt he thinks he has been absolved of. As he goes he passes a woman on the phone and we pick up the film from there.
  She is a local in the town and walks back into a bar, in that bar are a few locals who are disrupted by a shotgun wielding man, Danny (David Yow). He is demanding to see his sister a woman he is there to save. All of them are more than they first appear with long claws and scary eyes but he does not care. He is there for his sister Jesse (Tipper Newton), and these hick demons are not going to stop him. Things are not really working out for him even as he gets the bar tender to lead him to Jesse. As the Barkeep says to Danny before he is reunited with his Sister, "You're fucked Danny and you don't even know it." This is true for all the characters involved in this film, they are all fucked when we meet them and they don't even know it. Whether it is the desert valley that is cursed or the guilt of losing your sibling or, of causing a death, it is all like the in Carnival of Souls, people caught in a hell that is unrelenting and unforgiving. Circling around the film leaves Jesse and joins a family where the guilty father's secret seals the family's fate. They are to come into contact with the pair of desparados we started the film with. When all is said and done there is little redemption for the victims or perpetrators in Southbound. It is a tale about entering that in between realm somewhere outside the normal world but not fully in the depths of hell. A purgatory where all decisions have consequences and no crimes go unpunished. A very decent dark string of tales these are waiting for you on the road heading Southbound.
  I enjoyed this one and recommend it. I thought the stories flowed one into the next in a pretty fluid motion and they are well tied together with emotion. As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment.

Femme Fatales Magazine

Femme Fatales Magazine was a B-Movie sci-fi horror magazine I read from the late 90s to about 06, So I was in my thirties and so very much into genre film at the time. I loved this magazine for the focus on small independent films filled with scream queens and horror and gore. When I first started reading it it was smaller and focus more in my interests but after 2003 or so it became more like Maxim or FHM and I started to lose interest. The wiki page in the link gives a nice concise history of the magazine. I would say though that for me it introduced me to some of my favorite horror actresses. Debbie Rochon, Tiffany Shepis, Brinke Stevens and too many others to name. It covered the independent horror scene in detail and with enthusiasm, giving the writers producers, directors and actors a forum to promote their work. Femme Fatales brought the actresses on board as writers giving an opportunity for these woman to not only be the object of the magazine focus in front of a camera but also contributor to the discussions behind. After the shift to a more objectifying presentation in 2003 I have to say I moved away from this  and my collection ends in 2006.  They got into the Sexiest Women's list and the such that all these teaser magazines were doing at the time and as entertaining as that can be it was not really why I was reading Femme Fatales.
Yeah yeah I know you want to know who the top ten sexiest women in 2006 were. It is ten years later and you have to wonder what they are up to now.
10. Sophia Bush -  At the time an actress on One Tree Hill and Nip Tuck she is a successful television actress who has a recurring role of Erin Lindsay on the Chicago Fire, Chicago med, Chicago PD and Law and Order Special Victims Unit. @SophiaBush
9. Amber Smith - Spokes-model and actress she gain fame through modelling and for a while was a very hot item. She was featured in Michelob Ultra amber lite beer campaign where she shuttled around the country doing promotions. She has acting career with regular gigs in soft pornish adult shows Sin City Diaries 2007 and Lingerie 2010.  Maybe a real account on Twitter? @AmberLeeSmith
8. Jessica Alba - Successful businesswoman and actress with the face of an angel. Recently watched her in The Veil (2016) which I have not gotten around to writing about. At the time of this list she was a 25 year old who just finished the first Frank Miller's Sin City (2005) film.
7. Masuimi Max - They list her claim to fame as being the world's most notorious German-Asian fetish model. Ten years later it seems her career is still oing strong Facebook page here and website here. @masuimimax
6. Stacy Fuson - At the time she was the St. Pauli Girl! She now describes herself as a Business Executive | Model | Actress | Entrepreneur | Philanthropist | Playboy Playmate | Poker Shark and is all over the social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a website. This woman knows how to promote herself.
5. Emmanuelle Vaugier -  Fresh off a part in House of the Dead 2 this lovely lady came in the fifth position. This actress singer is still working hard in the industry. An actress and singer she can be found on Twitter, and her own website.
4. Ziyi Zhang - Having just been in several high profile films, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon(200), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and 2046 (2004) she was and is a fine actress but at the time of the list was at a peak in recognition.
3. Charlize Theron - Probably still making sexiest women lists, she was in an off time with a couple not great movies in a row after the Oscar worthy performance in Monster (2003). Still she is one of the loveliest women around and recently is killing it with the awesome role of  Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). On Twitter
2. Scarlett Johansson - described at the time as America's most respected barely legal sex symbol, Scarlet's fame has certainly grown over the last ten years. She is massive at this point in her career and still if not more beautiful.
1. Angelina Jolie - Yeah you should have expected this one. So big she does not need to use social media she and husband Brad Pitt are in the entertainment news constantly. A little research and even a decade later she is making lists. These things are definately for the young and marketably hot at the time of construction. So where she has been more raising children than  selling herself we can understand her slipping to #72 in the recent FHM poll.

The Hollow (2015) Horror Monster

The Hollow (2015) - A fiery tree demon returns wanting to burn the life out of its victims. The result of a curse laid upon the island town by six witches burned by the townspeople, as they burned the brought a storm to the island. They vanished each struck by a bolt of lightning their spirits entering the storm and becoming the vengeful creature that would return 100 years later. The local legend that seemed just a myth is now hundred years later a very real threat. This precarious edifice of a plot dangles on the edge of collapse while the melodrama of the main characters wails it way towards the inevitable conclusion. Never a story about the growth of characters it is firmly placed in the realm of survival. It is a paper thin the story of the island where in 1915 they were burning girls for practicing witchcraft and that those girls were actually witches. Then that they could conjure a storm that could take their spirits and turn it into the creature that only appears every hundred years, is complicated by the story line of the main characters. Emma the youngest of three sisters traumatized by the death of her parents in a fiery car crash is having visions of island and the trouble to come.
  Starting the story with the sisters Sarah (Stephanie Hunt), Marley (Sarah Dugdale) and Emma (Alisha Newton), down on their luck after the parents death and a long recovery by young Emma from the accident that killed her parents. They are heading to the island to live with their aunt that they hardly know in a very nice BMW X3, I guess they didn't think of selling the car to ease their financial burden. Sarah and Marley are adults but somehow the only way they can stay together is to travel to the Aunt? The money problems are the basis for tension between them, and the fact Emma wakes screaming from regular naps also raises tension. Add to that Emma wanders off every time her sisters turn there heads and you have a basis for some argumentative frantic searching that continues throughout the film.
  Cliche rule the day in the lead up to the start trouble, running out of gas, getting lost and no phone reception. To hear Marley say "This is not happening." Then when they are scared and running from sounds coming from the forest Emma falls hurting her ankle. All the shouting begins when they get to Aunt Cora's house. She is dead in her jeep and there is another injured woman ready to give the audience a jump scare. There is this really strange in the editing where Marley and Emma head to the house while Sarah checks out her aunt and finds the injured woman. It's daylight and then there is a short cut showing the formation of the creature, then it cuts back to the house, it seems like it is night. For some really unknown reason Marley decides Emma should be in the cellar, and Sarah arrives at the door with the injured woman. It is night and the storm is waging, but the car is only 100 yards from the house, how did the day to night switch happen?
  I struggled with the interpersonal dialog between the sisters as it seemed either the writing or the delivery somehow it just was not good. An example is after the strange shift to night and the group is in the cellar of aunt Cora's house, Marley stands to confront her sister. Emma apparently is sleeping again since her real role is to be someone the other two have to care and search for.
 Marley: "It's time you tell me what happened to aunt Cora."
 Sarah: "I'm not sure okay."
 Marley: "Stop treating me like a child, tell me what happened."
Sarah: "I don't know what happened to her."
Marley: "I deserve to know Sarah."
Sarah: "Fine you want to know. her eyes were gone, just gone like someone cut themout of her head or something and then some sick twist set her insides on fire."
Marley: "What, (turns away) what."
Sarah: "Sorry I shouldn't have told you. Not like that."
  There is something not really genuine between the two. It could be that the conflicts are setup and exercised but we really don't know much about them beside the conflict. Sarah had to quit medical school after her parents death but even the sharing of that was a bit awkward. Then there are the mechanics of the how we get to things and this I guess has to be put on the director. The next day the plan is to siphon gas from the jeep and take the beamer back to town, but not really. You see that they have armed Marley with a hatchet but Sarah obviously has never siphoned gas because the hose she has is way too long. Of course the plan never really was this in the directors head, he is using this idea to get to the conflict between the sisters and as soon as that piece of dialog is concluded we see that the BMW is gone from the road anyway. Then of course the hatchet comes in handy when the attacks of the vines starts. Even sister Emma seems to be just a tool to make the plot move at time serving no other purpose than to vanish and be searched for.

  What they are going for is the idea that Emma is guilt ridden after her parents death. her visions make her fail like she is putting her sisters in danger and so she thinks they would be safer without her. Sarah places the responsible sister who feels she has to take care and protect her two sisters. She is in over her head but is trying to be the adult. Marley is there to tell the audience how bad things are and it works against the character because she seems incapable of problem solving instead just complaining about how things are. These dynamics I am pretty sure were intended to create a tension that the film needs to push the plot forward but I just found tedious. Even after being rescued and being filled in on the curse they still spend the better part of the film running around yelling. They are warned that the creature hears them and that is how it tracks them so being quiet is essential to survival. The broken on the nose exposition to get the information to the audience is such a painful experience. An great example of how the film tries to hard show and tell us what we need to know is there is a story told about Jill who was locked out of the freezer some survivors were hiding in. The decision was made not just to share the story but to show the perfected arranged bloody hand prints on the freezer door.
 I would introduce the other players in the film but we can tell that the are just pieces to get the girls to the finally. None of them have a good chance to survive and in the end this is only a fight for the sisters. Clumsy is how I would put it, blogger Seth is only in the film to tell the story of the witches and he with other survivors are really only there to point the two sisters in the direction of Emma. Once that location is know they are killed off in short order. Sarah and Marley head to where they think the creature is taking the people it is not killing immediately and old power plant. They even though they know that the fucking creature is hunting through sound shout all the time. It is just so frustrating to watch. Even after they find Jill buried under the roots of one of the witch trees Sarah searches yelling Emma's name. Shut the fuck up!
  Increasing my absolute frustration with this film is the ridiculous last sequence in the power plant where the women find a seal-able place to hide until morning but do not take it. Instead they are chased and wounded all the while fighting off the monster. Even after one of the sisters sacrifices herself sealing the creature in with her, another of them releases the creature so she can check to see if her sister is dead. Thus more running and danger that did not have to happen. When the sun finally rises we see who lives and know that if this film does well we will have to suffer the Hollow 2 prequel that will be made and hoisted upon us.
As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment.

Rabies (2010) Horror ish

Rabies (2010) - Kalevet (original title) From Israel this wonderful surprise of the most deadly type rambles its infectious happenstance through the lives of its unsuspecting characters leaving all it touches infected. A beginning with urgency leaves us wondering if this is a slasher film. An incestuous(?) couple Ofer (Henry David) and Tali (Liat Harlev) are in a bind. Having run away together Tali has somehow gotten trapped in a locked pit. Ofer leaves to find help before whomever set the trap comes back and we hear a off scream grunt ending the scene. Is Ofer alright, is this the standard Slasher film and we will now see Tali become the next victim. Well guess what this is not your average horror film. It is a slick and clever adventure in how things can go wrong when small things go wrong. Things fall apart when the first event is triggered,
The characters instead of rising to the occasion seem to be infected by the situation and each spirals out of control in unique ways. The cast of characters is defined early in the film. The forestry ranger, Menashe (Menashe Noy) who is out in the park checking on the standards of the place. He and his dog Buba leave his love coworker to do the rounds, Neither he or the dog have great luck, coming across, the "killer", The man in overalls (Yaron Motola), carrying Tali away from the trap he set. Now I call him the killer but to be clear although he seems to be abducting Tali he at this point has not been seen killing anyone. Our killer himself is shot by Menashe with a tranquilizer he gets off two shots, leaving Tali unconscious and the man in the overalls wanders away before also passing out. 
  Ofer stumbling out of the woods is struck by a car, in the car are four tennis players, Two guys , Mikey (Ran Danker) and Pini (Ofer Shechter) who are friends and two girls, Shir (Yael Grobglas) and Adi (Ania Bukstein) are now pulled into the events in the woods. The two guys head into the forest with the injured Ofer to save Tali, not knowing at theis point she is already gone. Shir and Adi stay behind to call and wait for the police.  Neither of these groups will have a good day. Without giving too much away because this is a movie you should see for yourself, they are just so unfortunate in their luck. The guys because of secrets between them and the girls because they are so unfortunate to get the two cops they got to respond to their call.
  The cops Danny (Lior Ashkenazi) and Yuval (Danny Geva) are not great people and their arrival on the scene sets in motion events that so quickly get out of control in the most amazing way. Danny self involved trying to patch things up with his wife via the phone is distracted from the lecherous behavior of his partner Yuval. The latter pushes the buttons of the young women, eventually sexually assaulting Shir and pushing her friend Adi over a line she can't come back from. All eventually end up in conflict is wonderfully unexpected ways. 
 Ofer after leaving the other two guys to fight out there issues in the woods stumbles across Menashe carrying Tali to a trailer they keep in the woods. He mistaking the forestry agent for the killer makes a valiant attempt at saving her from Maneshe. Things again are so wrong in how they play out and these three characters story lines finish up in smoke and fire.
I was very pleased with this entry such a sneaky clever film turning happenstance into disaster at every turn. Writers, and co directors Aharon Kedhales, and Navot Papushado do a great job creating a plague of characters that can only melt down and not rise up when things go wrong. The deaths in the film are creative and at times unexpected and the editing also done by the pair is exceptional at keep the attention moving between the charactes making the story unfold with ease and pace. So I recommend this film and look forward to there latest film Big Bad Wolves which had quite a bit of buzz when it was making the rounds.
As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment.  

Wake Wood (2010) Horror Cult

Wake Wood (2010) - The film smartly uses the opening credits for a lot of the setup. A couple Louise (Eva Birthistle) and Patrick (Aidan Gillen) have a younger daughter Alice (Ella Connolly) who is mauled by a dog and dies. The couple leaves the town they are in to live in the small village of Wake Wood. Patrick a veterinarian and Louise a pharmacist seem to setting into the community but the loss of their daughter has strained their relationship. Louise can't let go and Patrick feels she needs to move on. All while the credit are playing.The tone through the music is sedate and meditative and the camera not particularly active.
  Things begin to change when there car breaks down on a country road and Louise while looking for the local who lives there runs into a pagan ritual being performed. She does not know what it is but sees the blood covered man emerge from a cocoon. When arriving home on of the participants Arthur, from the event is in their house just so they can know that she was seen too. As the days go on Louise learns from the local woman what the deal is and since she is in such grief she sees it as a way to see her child again.

  A unique ritual can be performed where the dead can be brought back to life for three days. Stricken parents should not be making this decision and this couple in there struggle lie about how long the girl has been dead. In the ritual know one should be brought back only if they have been dead less than a year. Its a big contract, a body of a recently dead person is used to pull the spirit into transforming it into the the earlier deceased. Then the parents and the child will be bound for life to the village limits. The child then must go back after three days. This is about grieving and it is a sad thing so you get the feeling while watching that there is no way this is going to turn out well.
  What is so wonderfully gruesome about this film is some of the things that need to be done to the receiving corpse prior to the ritual. banging and cutting and crushing. Then of course it the need for living blood and a bit of fire and the couple crack the protective shell and have their daughter back.
  Alice is back and the first day is a delight for the family but this is really a temporary condition. These are parents who can not let go so things are going to be strange, and during the next too there are incidents that make the girl more strange and creepy than kind and loving. The film has a nice slow build towards the end and as little Alice gets more and more evil we see why this ritual should not be taken lightly. Overall I think the film delivers in mood proving just how chilling little evil kids can be. Since Alice is a child dead for more than a year she can't be controlled the ways other could and soon the wee one is on a killing spree in the village.
  Satisfying in a small film kind of way this is a nice little flick for a dark night. Not great but certainly enjoyable.
As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment.