Feral (2017) Horror Zombie

Feral (2017) - This is an incredible detailed spoiler filled commentary I wrote while watching this film. I am not really reviewing it as I am experiencing it and writing my thoughts as I progress through the plot. So if you have plans to watch this film and don't want it ruined then stop reading now. Six twenty-something medical students get more than they expect on a camping trip when they find themselves face to face with zombies. The first scene is a man watching a woman turn into a zombie like creature, tied to a bed once she turns he puts a bullet in her head.  The other early scenes are all about set up, get into the woods do some simple character development and then hear some noises so they can get nervous. The director doesn't try very hard to show these youngsters know anything about camping, they are all walking with backpacks on but waist belts undone. Of course some can't figure out how to set up the tents, of course they have a fire that night and all have beer to drink. A practiced camper knows that beer bottles weigh too much, so if you are going to drink on a trip which is not recommended you bring distilled liqueur and switch it into a canteen. You don't have campfires, leave no trace camping is preferable and routes are planned these guys are just following one guy who "thinks" the lake is this direction. Enough complaining about poor set up, they have their fire and we get to know them and then it is time for bed.
  This is a perfect time to give us just enough about the characters couple by couple so we can get on with the scary. Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Jules (Olivia Luccardi) talk about Alice not being able to come out to her bible belt father. Jules is from NYC where it is not such a big deal, she also worries that Alice has slept with most of the people on the trip. Jesse (Brock Kelly) and Gina (Landry Allbright) are at odds because Jesse thinks Gina is going to ruin the trip. She gets her character development by wearing a fur coat at the fire and sort of bitchily saying she is going to bed. Jesse is upset that Alice "is a lesbian now" and Gina feels like the girl he is seeing because he can't be with Alice. Matt (George Finn) and Brienne (Renee Olstead) are a very handsome couple, Brienne is Alice's best friend and their dialog fills in how Jesse is jealous of Alice coming out. The get engaged in this seen and so we have all the dynamics for a film. (or at least all you are going to get from this film.

  Matt taking a piss is attacked by a humanoid creature and so the fun begins with a scene of his guts being ripped out. Of course Brienne goes looking to come upon the gruesome scene and is chased while screaming. When the others hear the screaming they rush out and find her unconscious a bite on her face. We see a bit more in who the characters are with Alice taking charge of treating her. Both Jules and Gina are scared reaction people not showing much agency even after finding Matt's body. Jesse is there to butt heads with Alice. I loved the ridiculous bite in Brie's face all around her eye like the creature was trying to bite out her eyeball. It's going to leave a mark. Then the stupid scared girl line by Gina. "What if whatever did this is still out there and comes back." Hello, of course it is still out there! Then they all go back to bed? WTF! Now would be the time to build that fire and post a guard. What about Matt's body?
When morning is arrives we come in late on the scene of the group talking to local Bill Talbot (Lew Temple) who is sorry for their loss. WTF it looks like 10am and they just got up. Not hiking the fuck out at dawn no what a stupid premise. Instead of heading out to civilization they go to his remote cabin. Jesse and Jules are going to hike out to get help. Now the logistics of this are absolutely insane. Let's assume the group hiked all day to their original camp, without strapping their backpacks on correctly. That means they were one day from the parking lot. Now after going from there camp to the Talbot cabin they learn following the trail will take them to a service road that leads to the parking lot, but it is 20 miles long. Slow hiking is a mile an hour, that with rough terrain in the mountains, even in shape without packs the two could cover 20 miles probably in a long day. The terrain looks hilly but not mountainous. Jesse says if they cover four mph they can get out and back before sundown. That would be ten hours until sundown? meaning even in the height of summer it can be no later than say 8am. This means it must have been just sunrise when they met Talbot and headed to his cabin. But if the casual nature of there hike the day before is to be believed, the group probably did no more than ten miles into the wilderness and it they were lost probably did less than that. So assume they are eight miles from the car when they meet Talbot, then they carry the unconscious Brie for three hours to the cabin, probably a mile an hour to reach a cabin with a trail that is twenty miles long. That must be a trail that goes close to ten miles out of the way as it meanders back to the service road. Then in the very next scene we see mountains, so none of this is going to work. They don't take packs, water, snack or anything else. they are just going to follow a trail.
  Cut back to Brie awake and mourning Matt and Alice and Talbot now back where Matt's body used to be. "He didn't just get up and walk away." says Alice. Or did he? We cut between the that and Jules and Jesse arguing about Alice. It is just a way to get Jesse caught in a bear trap. As if the impossible logistics of the hike were not enough. There is this masculine toxicity with his character where he can't believe Alice is really gay because he slept with her. Is he worried he turned her gay by having bad sex? Now unable to free him from the bear trap Jules has to go back to the cabin. She does not make it before the sun sets. Even though Brie is awake she does not tell them that she was attacked by a humanoid creature. Does she not remember?  Alice and Gina don't trust Talbot and considering the first scene, we sort of know he knows what is going on in the woods.
  The overnight has Jesse stuck in the bear trap, Jules trying to find her way back to the cabin but hunted by one of the creatures. At the cabin a confrontation where Alice has Talbot's gun and trains it on him when he is standing over Brie with syringe that he says is antibiotics. "I have no choice." he says trying to give the shot, before she shoots him in the shoulder to stop him and knocks him out with the butt of the rifle. Gina is useless and afraid and when Alice goes outside to check on a noise she heard she leaves Gina with Talbot. At least we get some exposition about the virus that Brie has and Talbot escapes into the woods. So lets assume Talbot stayed in the forest after doing in his infected wife. He knew the creatures were around but did nothing to fortify his cabin. So maybe he knows the nature of the infliction. He stated that the virus was taking over Brie and that she would turn into something else. Since the opening scene took place in the cellar of the cabin as Alice and Gina find the space we know that he is not just a loner in the woods. He has potions that make one think he may have caused the zombie like creatures or at least was trying to find a cure. When Jules returns to the cabin just past the half way point this knowledge sets up the third act. So where are we, Jesse is in the bear trap hours away from the cabin and is soon dispatched by one of the creatures. The four women are in the cabin armed and caring for one of their own who will soon be a creature. Matt and the other creatures are roaming around outside somewhere and may run into Talbot wounded but at least in the know about the dangers around him.
  So what happens at the cabin? They all go to sleep, yep that is it. Next morning Alice and Jules leave the useless Gina with the gun and alone in the cabin with the changing Brie. They hike to Jesse and find him already turned on the ground but unconscious. The yellow eyes should be an indicator but they carry him back to the cabin anyway because he has a pulse.I appreciate that they are still taking moments to do further character development. We learn that Alice is a strong competent young woman with a good heart. All back at the cabin we are ready for the third act. Since they all sleep and do not lock anything up it is a perfect time for Talbot to get the drop on them.
  Lots of parts should build into a frenzy rather quickly if this is to be executed in a satisfying way. Talbot reveals his son is a creature, Jesse transformed rises from the dead, Jules sneaks up on Talbot with a knife. Useless Gina wakes and starts looking for Jesse scared as ever. This is a tiny cabin and the noise of Gina being attacked by Jesse, full creature now, gives the other girls a chance to jump Talbot. Jesse escapes jumping out the bedroom window, Gina is bitten and Alice and Jules are going to get answers from Talbot. I have to say I hate when the line "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." just before giving the all too believable information that fills in the participants of said scenario. The "Feral Virus" as Talbot calls it, very science smart he was trying to find a cure for the first creature his son Ben. They are nocturnal and the virus transforms them into the creatures. The women know that both Gina and Brie are going to turn. All the creatures will come to the cabin because they want to feed on the living in classic zombie trope. So are we safer in the cellar or the upstairs. Is this "Night of the Living Dead"? Sure is close but with fast zombies. Also the trope of should the they kill their friends which is wonderfully played out comes into play. So locking Talbot in the cellar they have to make it through the night, virus goes dormant in the day which will give them a chance to escape.
  I like that the earlier character development comes into play in the argument about whether they should execute Brie. It is a natural conversation considering the circumstances and since Alice is the alpha it will eventually be up to her to make the decision. Joining Talbot (tied up) in the cellar and also tying up Brie they try to wait out the night seems like a smart idea. But leaving Gina unbound but sleeping is a mistake. Then the really big mistake. when Alice hears noises upstairs she goes to investigate. Maybe necessary for plot purposes but how many horror films does it take to know that you never go investigate noises, alone armed or not it is just crazy. I would think that having two zombies in the cellar with you and three more trying to get in could in itself be a really exciting climax. You would also have the antagonist of Talbot waiting for his chance to take control of the situation to spice things up further. Instead while Alice is creeping around upstairs Talbot is getting over on Jules who does not seem too bright in the scene.
  So instead of a action packed attack scene we have a slow burn creeping around the house. There is tension which is great but I hoped for more. Alice takes out a couple of the creatures so according to my count there is still one left up above and two potentials in the cellar. When Alice come down the stairs Talbot is waiting for her. she is knocked out falling literally down six steps. Talbot leaves her locked down there only to sacrifice himself to his son upstairs. When Alice come awake she sees the Gina creature hovering over her girl Jules and with a baseball bat in hand we get a fight to the death. Where she was never really friends with Gina anyway she does not hold back. One down stair and possible two upstairs. Brie waking and screaming gets the upstairs son of Talbot creature breaking into the cellar. The woman make a plan and Alice will handle the creature while Jules flees for her life. (Instead of double teaming the creature?) Alice is getting better at this and succeeds in finishing it off but now she is separated from Jules and the Talbot creature is on the loose. I dislike when you set up rules about the transformation and then break them. This is the case in this film where Talbit changed way faster than any other character that was infected.
  Then of course Alice has to decide whether to kill her girlfriend when she is infected by Talbot creature before he is killed. I have to hand it to the film maker, he plays the setup and scene for all it is worth. Unfortunately everything creeps back to a crawl meaning Jules turns very slowly and it is daylight before the end. this uneven action plotting where there are burst of action but no steady build to a climax is just unsatisfying for me. Our final girl gets to walk out in the light but of course the obvious omit of leaving Brie to finally change over  is revisited in the hopes of a sequel. Let me remind you she was the second person bitten and yet is the last to change. I think there was a giant opportunity for a third act that was missed in this film. It was filmed and cut well enough but I am not sure the script was good enough. (Who am I to judge right? someday I will write something and put it out into a cruel and critical world and then see how I feel about my critiques) I think Director Mark Young did what he could with it but maybe some more development could have helped.Well not really a pleaser for me. It is not horrible but it is also not one I would recommend.
 
 

It Follows (2014) Horror Monster

It Follows (2014) - Going to the movies is something I avoid as much as possible. You always have to make the decision of going in on time to get the seat you want and having to sit through 25 minutes of previews, or showing up later and sitting in the seats that are left. Considering the movies are $12 at the Solomon Pond Mall the fact that I have to make this choice pisses me off. Really, the only reason I went was to support a horror movie at a time when so few are even getting runs in theaters. Gone are the days when crowds would line up to see the latest horror flick we are now in the time of VOD and streaming and although that has made it possible for more smaller films to get exposure it seems to have put a large dent in the movie going audiences for the same type of film. So it was surprising to me to see national advertising dollars being spent on "It Follows". Being plugged as the "scariest movie of the year" it at least is getting some push and setting expectations through the commercials which always sets films up for failure. I was pleasantly surprised by the audience at the 4:30pm show I went to. It was a dozen or so adults, no chatty kids, no phone checkers just a bunch of grown ups.
The primary storyline is promising a young woman, Jay (Maike Monroe) after a few dates with a young man Hugh (Jake Weary) has sex with him in his car. The post sex behavior of the young man is less than to be desired knocking her out and tying her onto a wheelchair. Hugh tells her that he is being chased by a being that comes unrelentingly. He can get a respite from the stalking by passing the curse on to others through sexual interactions. He lets her see the being coming before releasing her. If the creature captures you it will kill you so staying ahead of it is the challenge. Hugh is creating a sex partner buffer zone by passing this curse onto Jay, one could assume he probably, or should have multiple partners that way increasing his chances at a longer life? How would that work, would Hugh give the curse to each new sex partner in order from most recent to least. Lets assume he had sex with Jay then Sharon then Michelle, would the creature go after Michelle, then Sharon and finally Jay before pursuing Hugh again? What if each of them had sex with three partners? Would the creature then go in order by time of the sex acts or would Michelle's 3 people be first then Sharon's 3 etc? What if there are multiple sex acts with multiple the same set of partners, could you confuse the monster? What constitutes a sex act in this case, seems like the movie is saying intercourse but what if you just had oral sex, does the monster still come after you? Instead of killing you it just smacks you hard in the face.
What also is as tired and old as going to the theater is the allegory of this film. Since the dawn of film casual sex has been punished in horror movies. Wrapping the message up in an allegory about STDs does little to change the fact that the message is worn. When you think about it, the lead is being punished for casual sex, something I encourage all young adults to engage in if they find it fulfilling. After this she is haunted by the act (diseased) and has to contemplate whether it is okay to continue this behavior with others knowing she will infect them too. Then in the end monogamy is the only answer the film gives us as a solution, tough message.
You could think Hugh a decent guy for telling Jay about the creature. She will have a fighting (running) chance, but really he is just increasing his chances of having a longer run without it coming after him again. Hugh could do a bit of self sacrifice and commit to two things, lots of plane flights and not passing this on to someone else, but no for him the buffer seems the route. The better Jay does at avoiding the creature the longer he can rest without pursuit. Jay has some help in that department with Sisters, Yara (Olivia Luccardi) and Kelly (Lili Sepe), unrequited love on his side Paul (Keir Gilchrist) and handsome next door neighbor Greg (Daniel Zovatto). Together these "Scoobies" will look out for Jay even through the thick and thin of the adventures to come.
  The creep factor of someone relentlessly coming after you is a great idea. An idea shown with better effect in the film The Dead (2010) where resting is no an option when the dead are coming and sense the living. Still this film does a nice job creating the atmosphere that poor Jay can get proper rest unless she herself creates a buffer. She tries not too but eventually is worn down to the point that she passes the curse on. Now the film does not show her doing this it just implies it and it does not let us know if she also passed on information about the curse to the recipients. Leaving us guessing about what kind of infected person she is, a responsible one or not. Well structured to have adults not be an option to turn too the film isolates the Scoobies and leaves them to problem solve on their own. Set in the suburbs of Detroit there are not a lot of options to earn money and make a run for it. The nature of the creature and some math could have made their lives easier. Timing the pace of the creature and determining how long it would take it to reach a place could have made for a manageable problem but the lack of financial resources doom this group. You can't run forever if you have no funds.
  Eventually the men in the group step up to be the buffer for Jay, and there is a nice piece of writing with the teen drama of choosing Greg over Paul. Poor Paul even when he finally gets his chance he with the girl of his dreams it means a lifetime of looking over his shoulder. His idea of hooking up with prostitutes is a cruel and mean solution, granted it looks like the prostitutes in the Detroit area are not real busy. Still the idea that he would pass the curse on to possibly hundreds of people is really an indication of his lack of moral backbone. (Sure in his position I would go on a prostitute binge with all my savings, and I would be asking for the hardest working busiest ladies on the corner. I am an asshole though.) I thought the nice kid would be better than me.
  Overall the film works if you do not think too much about the mechanics of it. Once you go down that road it unravels quickly. Purposely creating a out of time environment, with old TVs and lack of technology. I am sure the compact computer was in there just to make you scratch your head but overall the effect was okay. It works as presented and the characters are decently drawn and the situation presented in a way that most of their decisions can be justified. I liked that the actors in are close to the age they are playing in the movie.
 It adds a credibility to the story. So many times we see thirty somethings playing late teens and early twenties these actor seemed more of a match. The film does have some false advertising because the scares are few and far between. It may be the scariest film of the year but only because it is April and their have been so few horror films released. It seemed that Writer / Director David Robert Mitchell really pulled punches in this film. Many of the scares are the cheap kind like knowing the creature is outside and crawling up to the hole in the door to have a look. The music builds the we get close up and Boo!, that kind of scare. I did like the sense of dread the story structure created and wished that the moral choices the kids were making were either explored with a bit of exposition or shown in the horror of what they had to do. Jay, Greg and Paul all are implied to pass the curse on to others but never do we see the devastation of those decisions. In fact the one time we see the creature capture a victim it is quick cuts and then just shot of the dead face. Very disappointing to have such a good monster idea but have only the one kill. Considering how slow the film is as a whole you would hope to see more of what the monster can do towards the end of the movie. It is with reluctance that this film gets a recommendation I wanted more from it than it delivered but it does pass muster to a point. If I had it to do again I would probably have waited for VOD.