Cemetery Gates (2006) Horror Monster

Cemetery Gates (2006) - When a couple of eco-terrorists decide to set free what they think is a bear trapped and experimented on in a lab they release a mutated Tasmanian Devil named Precious on a local community. The scientist of that labKevin Belmont just happens to have a son Hunter Belmont (Peter Stickles) who plans to shoot his school film, on his twenty first birthday in the area where the creature was released. His father just called Belmont (Reggie Bannister) in the film is a forgetful man with an awkward connection to his son.  He is too busy at work to take time for the young man and because of it Hunter tells him he is moving out. It really is a weird way to base the characters, but establishing relationships is just part of the struggles for this film. There really is never any chemistry between the two so the entire family dynamic thing the film was going for never pans out.
 Kristen Novak), the pot smoker Enrique (John Thomas), the cool guy Tony (Ky Evans) the strong willed brunette Kym (Nicole DuPort) and the buddy Matt (Chris Finch). Most of what we see early is that the film is taking a pretty misogynistic approach to how women are treated and viewed. The sophomoric ogling of August by the three bros as Hunter drives the van to the filming location is meant to be funny but is more cringe inducing than anything. Writers Pat Coburn, Brian Patrick O'Toole, and J. Victor Rinaud are trying to create a fun atmosphere but it will be a miss unless you are a 13 yr old boy. I suppose seeing August boobies is the thrill you get for all the leering and joking at her expense.
The crew for the movie shoot is a purposefully stereotyped group, the ditsy blonde August (
 Now the creature named Precious is gone and he has to explain himself to his superior Dr. Cristine Kollar (Aime Wolf) she is going to keep the security breach and her funneling grant money to Belmont a secret. The two are guessing if the creature was stolen to be released that the likely place for that will be Franklin Park. They are going to head there to try to capture it. So we have our setup, the six film students, the two scientists, the two guys that stole the creature all heading to the same place. Where this is a monster movie gory attacks must soon follow. Add in a couple hippie dudes smoking peyote in the park and we have enough fodder to get this movie going.
  The film is played for laughs, the Director Roy Knyrim was thinking that this would be a fun film and in the special features talks about the spirit of Evil Dead where you have gore and horror elements but also campy humor. Unfortunately there is nothing smart about the humor. The majority of the gags are about August and her body. Then there are the two hicks the sons of the gatekeeper. They are dullard jerk offs who are worst than stereotypes, they are cartoon versions of bad hick boys.
  Made with a bunch of special effects people this film has gore aplenty even if they never quite get a creature that seems remotely threatening. Almost ever kill could be avoided by running away without falling down since the animal design is cumbersome to make move. There is a very impressive body count  17 with tons of fake blood as the creature mauls its way through the supporting cast. Random added characters show up and die and there are further attempts at humor and problem solving. Is this film good, no not really but it is trying to be entertaining.
  I was expecting a payoff for the story line that Hunter treated Precious as a pet when he was young. Like maybe Precious recognizes him and does not attempt to kill him. This never materializes, instead we get a bunch of rationalization from Belmont about wanting to create a creature who could lead to disease cures. It all just comes down to a "we have to kill the monster" plot that really is disjointed in its execution. This film really misses on what it is trying to do, they tried but the end product was not a hit for this viewer, even the twist ending that can set you up for a sequel has the feel of  too little too late.

Ragnarok (2013) Horror Monster Myth

Ragnarok (2013)  - The solid writing in this good old fashioned monster movie makes for good introduction horror for the kids. Scary with children at risk, but never so much that there is a a thought of death. There is nothing gory or too violent in this Norwegian film. It is a tale of a man who is failing at raising his kids since his wife died of cancer 5 years prior, who is failing at his job as an archaeologist seeking the location of the viking myth Ragarök. While attempting proving that myth has a location he reconnects to his family and what is most important in life. The myth which is not really a place but the description of a series of events in the Poems of Edda is the myth used but it is a way for the family to get to the location of the monster. Once there we can see the interpersonal story withing the family play out to a satisfactory conclusion.
The father in this film is Sigard (Pal Sverre Hagen) who plays a man emotionally crippled five years after losing his wife to cancer. He is still struggling with the little things like feeding the children, daughter Ragnhild (Maria Annette Tandero Berglyd) and younger son Brage (Julian Podolski), getting them to school and showing up on time to there events. He is also in trouble in work, arriving late to an investors meeting at the museum his boss gives him the ultimatum he probably should have had years earlier. Problem with Sigard is that besides letting his grief handicap him he is obsessed with the myth of Ragnarok and as things in his personal life fall apart he discovers a cypher for some ruins he thinks will lead him to a great discovery. Packing up the family and accompanied by fellow researchers Allen (Nicolai Cleve Broch) and Elisabeth (Sofia Helin) they head off into the Finnmark along the old Soviet border in search of a myth.
  Well constructed with the building of the interpersonal relationships, the main character's flaws and the plot of the discovery, all withing the concise scenes that set the stage for the adventure. We end up with several well plotted line going at once. Ragnhild and Sigard must reconcile his ineffective parenting as she moves from her tweens to teens.get to his daughter's concert at school. Later with his inability to put her needs for a real vacation ahead of his need to search for vikings. Set up early with his inability to  Sigard must reconcile finally having not moved on from his wife by being presented a love interest. He must also balance the desire to solve the mystery of  his archaeological finds with the safety of his family.  Then also are some nicely set up secondary characters, like the shady guide who helps then find the lake of viking lore. A partner Allen also is well set up as the overly enthusiastic one, with no children of his own we can see his behavior contrasted to that of Sigard. It all comes together to tell a complete tales with multiple facets.
  If there is a criticism to be made it is that the film is so well designed that it is inevitable. I is an example of screenwriting that takes all the time needed, but the limited budget means that the excitement and effects are not included until the climax of the film. Around the twenty minute mark the film finally gets a group heading to the Finnmark, Sigard and his kids, Allen and assistant and love interest Elisabeth and guide Lief head into the wilderness across the old Soviet border to find the "Eye of Odin" which turns out to be a lake with an island in the middle of it. Everything is tied up neat and tidy with each location used later in the film being introduced earlier. Each interpersonal flaw seen earlier is either a cause of later trouble or weakness overcome later. Each set to be used later is shown but not explored. Since this is really a family monster movie we know certain things like the family will come out of it changed but alive. We know that since it is set up early that Sigard needs to move on from his wife's death we know the only other female character next to his daughter will survive as his love interest. That leaves two characters who are in jeopardy. The first being the greedy guide is set up when we meet him so his turn is expected. That leaves Allen and his betrayal or stupid move is straight out of one of the Jurassic Park movies.
  Do not allow these small criticisms to stop you from seeing this film. It is a wonderfully entertaining little family adventure. Sure you will have to read subtitles, unless there is a dubbed version out there somewhere but still it is worth it. There is a definite recommendation for this one.

Abominable (2006) Horror Bigfoot

Abominable (2006) - Looking at the IMDB its hard to believe that this wonderful little film is only rated 5.1 stars of 10. This film although not perfect but a great example of how to do a small budget BBB (Blood, Breasts and Beasts, as Joe Bob Briggs says) film. One part Rear Window, one part monster movie it is a great little adventure with cool creature and a couple really great death scenes.  It is a story of Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy) broken both physically and emotionally by a climbing accident. Forced by a unhelpful therapist back to the scene of the trauma to reconcile his feelings. Traveling with a drunkard male nurse, Otis (Christien Tinsley) Preston confined to a wheel chair is pretty sure it is a bad idea to return to the place his wife died. Otis not supportive or even nice is more of a hindrance to recovery than a help. When an outside unexpected danger arrives he finds the courage to overcome his limitations and survive. Writer/director Ryan Schifrin does a good job creating a claustrophobic and scary film where the hero fights the powerless feelings, to fight back and ultimately reconcile his past as well as his physical limitations to survive.
  The setup as in Rear Window is a handicapped man sees danger from his window and has to figure out a way to intervene. Preston soon after arriving is left alone and while checking out the five newly arrived women next door spies what seems like a creature in the woods. Too far away to easily interact with the bachelorette party Preston find creative ways to get their attention. Too many stairs to get down to them he is stuck watching from afar while the danger closes in. The women Amanda (Haley Joel), C.J.(Karin Anna Cheung), Michelle (Natalie Compagno), Karen (Ashley Hartman) and Tracy (Tiffany Shepis) are soon to be the focus of what is described as larger than a Bigfoot, more like a abominable snowman but more fierce. Certainly looking like a Bigfoot the man in the suit, Michael Deak is a towering six foot six with animatronic head was well over seven feet. Preston is somewhat but not completely helpless saving them.
Early in the film Karen while outside trying to make a phone call is taken by the beast and Preston tries to find a way to tell the police in a way they will believe. Preston trapped in his chair sees through his binoculars the events and threat next door and must figure out a way to intervene. Otis a selfish and unhelpful man acts as a obstacle to Preston adding more conflict and issues to deal with.

 Film maker Schifrin recognized the limitations of the rear window approach and made the decision to expand from the one site to include a couple other scenes that add depth to the film. First is farmer Hoss (Rex Linn) and his wife Ethel (Dee Wallace) having a frightening experience with the creature when it kills an animal on their farm. A good opening to the film that could have been a body count enhancer but surprisingly it isn't. Later there is talking to store owner Clerk (Jeffrey Combs) who adds context to the accident Preston and his wife experienced. The purposefully quirky performance adds one of those small town characters needed round out the location.  The final a wonderfully scary attack scene where Clerk, Hoss and hunter friend Zeigler (Lance Henriksen) is really fun and we get not one but two people dragged off into darkness. Some other scenes at the local police station with Sheriff  Halderman (Paul Gleason) and Deputy McBride (Phil Morris) round  out a fine crew of character actors in this film.  Hiring these great horror icons and solid small part actors makes the film have a gravitas that it would otherwise be lacking.
  The music is excellent by renowned Lalo Schifrin it is great from beginning to end. A couple of excellent kills make this film worth the watching all by themselves. The first an amazing bathroom scene as seen from Preston's POV is wonderful and surprising. The second in the climax of the film is a gruesome practical effect, amazing in its bloody sloppiness. There are some things though that are draw backs stopping this film from hitting real highs and instead just making it a solid horror film. The sound is sometimes a bit off with dialog that seems unattached to the person saying it. It could be this is a dvd issue. It could be that it was added later but either way it was at time distracting. Some work arounds that allow Preston to be less passive are silly like the mobile phone white pages he uses on the internet to get Karen's phone number was lame as well as the gimmick of having the internet on the satellite while the phones are hard wired. Somehow too the wireless service is shitty, a way to get Karen off away from the house and in sights of the monster.
Odds and Ends
 -  Christien Tinsley who plays Otis is an Academy Award Nominated makeup artist earning that nomination for his work on The Passion of the Christ (2004).
  - Director Ryan Schifrin was thrilled with the opportunity to have two crane shots in the film, one at the beginining and one at the end. He felt it was important that such a small budget film get a bit of scope to make it seem larger.
  - Thinking of Rear Window Schifrin has a Hitchcock moment in the film appearing as the outside gas station attendant for a couple seconds.
  - Lead Matt McCoy is shown in photos on the mantle with his real life wife Mary McCoy.
  Overall this film is recommended by this blog, even with its flaws it is a decent well plotted monster movie. Not glossy and expensive the filmmaker makes due with what he has. The addition of the supporting cast brings it from a more pedestrian to a fun and fulfilling experience. The crazy ending shouts for a part two that should pick up right where the first ends. So if you are in the mood for a smaller budget well done Bigfoot film try this one out.

Godzilla (1954) Monster Movie

Godzilla (1954) -"Gojira" (original title) Ah the original, the one that started it all and 28 Japanese and a couple American movie later and it is still going strong. I grew up in Boston in the 70s and 80s and if you happened to want entertainment on a Saturday afternoon during those years, you could turn the dial on the black and white television (we used a pair of pliers since the plastic knob broke off in the first year of that set.) to channel 56 on the UHF band and watch Creature Double Feature. Each week this amazing show provided viewers with two horror / monster movies and as a poor kid it was my first exposure to the wonders of horror. We were a urban poor family in those days and going to the movies really consisted of going to the drive in a couple times a year. Creature Double Feature and Godzilla was a giant part of that education in horror movies and I have watched so many of the early films that everyone of them is like visiting an old friend. The original though tended to be rarely played so in celebration of the latest incarnation of Godzilla here in the States I thought it would be nice to visit the first film. It is a film I knew as a child and as a child my view of it was simple. A large monster comes from the sea and destroys a city. The people fight it with the weapons they have but they seem powerless against this force of nature. Never did I really know the meaning behind the film, for me it was an entertainment. As an adult though, seeing this with mature eyes I see the incredible message that this film is and in in awe.

  I am working off the Criterion Collection print and the quality is excellent. Godzilla particularly the early ones can be seen as a metaphor for the United States, a massive destructive power that seems to rage uncontrollably destroying all in its path. The original film features a atomic created monster and according to Wikipedia can be said to relate the fears of the Japanese people after the devastation inflicted upon them by the USA with the blast of the  atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of  Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Lets remember that this film first showed only nine years after those events. Even still the fact that the Japanese learned to love the lumbering beast is more fascinating than the metaphor. There is a story I saw in the interviews in this collection where lead actor Akira Takarada was excited to be chosen for this part. When he arrived at the set he introduced himself as the lead actor and expressed his pleasure to be working with his fellow actors. He was pulled told by director Irhiro Honda that he was not the lead but that Godzilla was. The Monster has continued to be the lead in some twenty some odd films and a beloved part of the Japanese culture. Not being an expert on the meaning behind the movie, let me stop here and refocus to the pleasure it is to see the Japanese version of this film. I probably saw the western version of the film Godzilla: King of Monsters more than the original, it has the Raymond Burr voice over and scenes to help it be accepted in the United States. Still I was surprised by how many scenes I recognized during my viewing of Godzilla and now with educated eyes the amazing power of many of those scenes.

  The first scene is of sailors on a fishing boat resting in the night playing music and games. The days work done they are unsuspecting victims of the radioactive monster sleeping below. Flashes of that radiation and then the sinking of the ship give the first signs of the danger ahead. The ship the Maru is lost and the survivors radiation burned. It is a direct reference to the Daigo Fukuryu Maru a fishing boat caught in the fallout of a United States nuclear test on the Bikini atoll in 1954. It was certainly current when the movie was made and it is no mistake that the two boats were similarly named and the flashes and radioactive exposure paralleled actual events.
  Later when Godzilla is attacking Tokyo there is a heart breaking scene where a widow has fled and is hiding with her kids in a doorway. As the monster closes in on their location she says to her children that they will all be with Daddy soon. A heart breaking hopeless scene that is very touching with the context of the history of the film. This scene is closely followed by scenes of the devastation left behind by the monster. A broken landscape of barely a standing structure that could be mistaken for newsreel footage of the aftermath of the h bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
  We switch to the human side of the aftereffects and visit a hospital where orphan children are being treated for radiation sickness. The audience knows this is the after effects of the nuclear world, one of pain and suffering and loss. It is pivotal to the personal story that is part of the film because it is the catalyst for the sister Emiko (Momoko Kochi) to reveal the secret weapon.
  When the attacks begin everyone is powerless to stop it. The main character Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada) and his girlfriend Emiko do not have answers but are observers of the attack. Emiko's brother is a scientist who will eventually be the person with a solution but she has sworn to him not to reveal his experimental work. The oxygen destroyer and its existence is the one way the monster can be destroyed but the film takes the time to ask just because you have a weapon of great power, should you use it? Although it is ultimately used in the film the creator gives his own life so that the secret of the weapon dies with him. In the end Godzilla is a pretty amazing movie. It is so much more than I remembered as a kid and I am sure to do more research into this series. So while the big screen is filled with the remake 'full of sound and fury...' here we have a classic that more than holds its own. This film is very recommended by Soresport Movies.

Demon of Paradise (1987)

Demon of Paradise (1987) - I have not been writing for a while, first there was the exhaustion from covering the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, then I went on the oldest of winter activities a beach vacation. Yes nine days in the beautiful warmth of Sanibel Island FL for walks on the beach, sipping adult beverages and visiting my favorite baseball team the Boston Red Sox. Not that vacations are commonplace in this life. The last one this family had was in 2005 so it has been a good span of time since we left the winter behind. A graduation gift for my lovely daughter the trip was just what was needed to deal with what has been a very long and hard winter. Joy is finishing her senior year at college and we wanted to fit this trip to Spring Training in before she heads off to law school.
  The beach part of the trip is not my thing, I don't really like the beach, or the ocean but my wife loves it. She can sit for hours doing nothing while I am more of the climb a mountain or go fishing kind of guy. I was able to fill in the stretches of boredom with wildlife seeking, Sanibel has some extensive wildlife areas and geocaching. For my wife Elisa it was certainly a vacation paradise with her favorite activities sitting on the beach and bike riding.
We also spent a couple full days doing nothing but sitting in the sun baking a nice layer of redness onto our skins at the ball park. Meaningless games but still a wonderful relaxing experience. We have never been down to spring training and if I had planned this vacation I would have spent more time checking out the player routines and talking to people around the park. Still I have to say the vacation was a fair compromise and everyone ended up with something they liked from it.  So with the relaxation of vacation in mind I will be doing some movies having to do with going on vacation and how things can go horribly wrong, hey this is a horror blog after all.
  First up is the Roger Corman distributed film Demon in Paradise (1987) set in the islands of Hawaii it is a monster movie set around a lakefront resort which is the place most of us would love to vacation in. This is a low budget horror film  and should be treated like it. Like many Corman films the script is serviceable with a through plot but lacking that special something that would separate it from other classic horror films like The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  The struggle the film has it has a bunch of character development but never really settles on which of the characters are going to drive the story. Many of them are reactionary to the events of the film while others are only developed to trigger plot points. One that does not work is the dead end plot points concerning the dynamite fishermen. They are the reason the mythical creature "Akua" is awakened from his slumber to terrorized the locals. They have a dual plot line with a pair of them four men building TNT sticks and wanting to get the other two to sell the excess. The second two guys have a plan to bring in "mob" TNT already packaged and want to cut the first pair out of the business. So in the end they served their purpose but the development of all this other stuff was not particularly useful in moving the main plot forward after the creature is up and attacking. Then there is the climax hostage scene that ends in an explosion as all hell is breaking loose and the monster is attacking. It is certainly causal but awkward in its resolution.
  The main plot centers around how the local authorities deal with what looks like a murder and what is later learned to be a sea creature. Actually right from the start the locals are telling the main cop Keefer (William Steis) that it is the mythical monster but apparently eye witnesses are not enough for him to believe it. Maybe its because he is too busy flirting with herpetologist Annie (Kathryn Witt) to listen besides his back story is he left the big city for the small island life to avoid having to do any actual policing. Again there is a missed opportunity in that there is just enough chemistry between the two characters to establish that they like each other but the relationship is only tangentially explored. We needed Annie more to be the scientist who could confirm the possibility of the monster. She also gives us some suspenseful scenes where she is at risk while diving in the lake.  The creature of the rubber suit type is elusive but is attracted to the noise of the local resort.
 A secondary subplot where reporter Ike (Frederick Bailey) and resort owner Cahill (Laura Banks) exploit the monster angle to attract tourist serves the purpose of having many bodies around for the creature to kill later in the film. They also never believe that the thing is real either, at least until it is knocking down the door. Written by Bailey and C.J. Santiago the story never fully develops any of these characters into a proper protagonist so it is difficult to stay interested in the film. Ike and Cahill are also very unlikable characters making them the last people you want to center a story around. Coming in close to being the lead character is Keefer our cop who does not really want to deal with the shit that is going down.  He at least has some bonding scenes with Annie and a back story. That leaves the creature itself  but it really is not its story either, the monster is just a threat to all these other character none of which carries the plot forward with a story arc that is satisfying. The film does throw in some odd characters and the requisite skin shot provided by Leslie Scarborough who plays Gabby a coked up model who goes swimming topless.

 Good things I can say about this film is that it does have a couple decent gore shots to show the damage the monster can do. The film also escalates really fast all the way to the climatic scenes when the National Guard is involved and using its ample firepower to end the situation. Although not totally a lost cause this film just misses that something that is needed to make it a classic monster movie. I don't think I will recommend it but I can't say that it was hard to watch either.

The Blood Beast Terror (1968) Horror Monster

The Blood Beast Terror (1968) - I love a good old fashion monster movie, and certainly this was old fashioned, made in 1968 and starring one of the all time horror greats Peter Cushing as Detective Inspector Quennell an intuitive police inspector who solves the mystery of multiple deaths where the victims blood has been drained. Okay now I used Peter Cushing and victims with blood drained in the first paragraph, but don't jump to that conclusion. There are no two pronged wounds on the necks of the dead people. Instead there are multiple wounds, lacerations that appear to be the marks of someone attacked by a beast. So you just let that silly notion based on years of Peter Cushing experience go. No this is is not the avenging hunter, in a way it is more like the thought provoking genius of Sherlock Holmes, without the genius part that is. In Holmes films there is a mystery to be solved and only the name detective can see the clues that lead to the killer. unfortunately for the viewers of this film the mystery and the clues are in front of us and all too easy to decipher.
The synopsis is that men are being killed and each time they have slashes on their faces and their blood has been drained. The Inspector Quennell looks into it and because several of the young men have been associated with Dr. Carl Mallinger (Robert Flemyng) a local scientist and teacher he questions the good doctor. The behavior of the doctor immediately puts the inspector and anyone viewing the film on edge. He is rude and short tempered with a definite desire to not answer questions. The obvious anti investigation attitude by the doctor makes it clear he is somehow involved so the mystery just becomes the how. Since he is an entomologist we can already in the first twenty minutes of the film guess at a culprit. It is this kind of poorly executed foreshadowing that really brings this movie down. There is no revelation when the whole story comes out and that is disappointing.
  Even more disappointing is what comes next where again when trying to foreshadow the script reveals that  Dr Mallinger's daughter Claire (Wanda Ventham) is somehow involved in the murders, especially given away by her leering eyes and the films musical choices. When the Doctor and his daughter leave town the stupid decision of Quennell to follow them is highlighted by the decision to bring his daughter with him while he pretends to be under cover. I suppose needing a damsel in distress could be a reason for her being there but considering that the inspector is supposed to be the smartest guy in the room it is such a poor decision. It's not like he could not have gone alone. Then the final irritation really has to do with a script that felt the need to have comic relief through minor characters that although might have been endearing in 1968 was awful in today's age. This form of writing which can be seen in every summer action blockbuster out this year, where characters in the middle of a serious and darker story are put through some sort of comedic scenes that are there to release tension. Think most of Simon Pegg's Scotty in the latest Star Trek films, where really the majority of the role is to be the comedic buffoon. In this one they had a couple minor characters who whole purpose was comic release.
  When the plot finishes in the most horribly forced way the viewer is left wanting more, more solid plot more solid writing etc. So in the end this film can't be recommended but listen I am being hard on it because it has absolutely no subtext. The science fiction plot is telegraphed and the writing is less than stellar. It is a harmless film over all but just not enough to hold interest.

The Tunnel (2011) Horror Monster

The Tunnel Movie (2011) - There has to be a threshold where the found footage film is totally played out for a viewer. I am wondering if I have met that threshold after watching the tunnel. The first of these films that I remember seeing has to be The Blair Witch Project (1999) and I got the freedom the medium gave the film maker. If you are skilled enough you can turn a very small budget into a movie good enough to be presentable to a larger audience. That film made for sixty thousand dollars grossed over 14 million as a surprise hit. I don't think I am wrong to give it credit for starting the craze that has only grown the last few years. Still when you run across a movie that fails to capture the magic of the hand held footage variety of film it is really discouraging.
   To be fair The Tunnel is not the garden variety found footage film, instead it is done in the style of celebrity ghost stories TV show. The survivors of the ordeal retell their story in interviews and the footage they shot is used to supplement that telling. One could question the wisdom of using the structure of bad cable television to structure a film but lets be honest the sub genre has to look for new ways to do it as most people are already tired of the camcorder, security camera, shaking as they run footage found in almost every one of these films. At least there was some quality stationary camera work mixed in. Then when they mix in the cameraman's shots, security cameras they past and the night vision of the camcorder they were able to break the look and feel up making it more tolerable.
Similar to The Blair Witch Project, The Tunnel tells a tale of the unseen and the reactions of the characters are the focus of the horror. Hoping to slowly build from their lighthearted start to apprehensive to terrified in the third act is a very difficult trick to pull off. This film tries to use the office politics of the crew as well as their personal motivations as a base for the reason they end up in the situation they encounter. Exploring there motivations and relationships through the mock interview give a decent enough depth to the character but in the end it is secondary reason the film ultimately fails to impress.
  In the end it is that the story is not particularly interesting or scary that makes it tiresome to get through. Everyone at this point has seen this "style" of story somewhere. We have through camcorders followed characters around in the dark and watched them reacted when something goes bump in the darkness. It is a known quantity and all the window dressing about climate change and water recycling can't change that fact. Blurry snatches of glowing eyes are just not going to get our juices flowing at this point, and the fact that two thirds of the film are done when you get that bit does not help the cause. Then have we not already done this story in C.H.U.D. (1984) of course if they had just remade that movie I would probably be bitching about how the new actor can't hold a candle to Daniel Stern who killed it in that film.
  It is not that there was anything offensive about this film. The actors were all capable consisting of  four main roles on the film crew, Producer Peter (Andy Rodoreda), Journalist Natasha (Bel Delia), Cameraman Steven (Steve Davis) and sound guy Tangles (Luke Arnold). They play the confused apprehensive, scare and terrified role well enough. There was enough internal conflict and competing motivation to carry a reasonable story along. What didn't work the most was it was just not very frightening. The special effects were close to nonexistent and when they were employed the shots were way too short. Director Carlo Ledesma shot them from too far away and without enough light to make the creatures scary. It could be the limited budget meant the effects would look to back up close and well lit. Unfortunately this made the shot less impressive.
  When the story played out it really seemed too many possibilities were left behind in the tunnels and the interpersonal story was just not what a horror fan is looking for. I would recommend not going down into the depths of this attempt.

Absentia (2011) Horror Monster

Absentia (2011) - This character driven film is less a horror film than a meditation on grief and closure. Sure at the end it is a horror flick in that just when the main character Tricia (Courtney Bell) starts to move on her past life comes stumbling back to haunt her. Early in the film it Tricia with the company of her little sister Callie (Katie Parker) works toward filing papers to have her husband Daniel (Morgan Peter Brown) declared dead by absentia as he has been missing for 7 years. These actions bring up very difficult feelings for the pregnant Tricia. Pregnant?, you say. Yes it appears our miss Trish has already started moving on. Her love interest and father of her child is Det. Mallory (Dave Levine) who has been working the case for several years. It is part of a well put together set of characters who are not perfect and it plays well in the film. Each has a set of issues that are honest, Tricia having hallucinations of her lost husband as she prepares to seek the death certificate. Mallory who has the awkward professional / personal relationship with her. Callie who is there to help her sister but is struggling to deal with a drug addiction.
Callie I guess is a protagonist in she has some strange experiences in a tunnel that runs from the neighborhood to a park on the other side. Early on she encounters a strange man in the tunnel who wants her to help him. Looking like a vagrant she is slow to react but her heart is bigger than that and she brings him food in exchange for some trinkets. She is warned by a local passer by that she should not trade with "it". Ominous, but not the only strange thing that is going on in the area. There have been a bunch of strange break-ins where the person doing it leaves obvious things of value for trinkets. Strange also are the pets in the neighborhood disappearing at an alarming rate. This all sets up a nice dynamic of having mystery while these full characters struggle with there inner demons.
When the turn comes it is sort of expected but still enjoyable. Things are thrown for a loop and all bets are off for these people. Then the film moves from character driven drama to solid enough horror flick. Unfortunately the explanation comes in a trope that may be overused in Hollywood. Callie searches the internet and then there is suddenly so much clarity for her. Tricia plays the skeptic to make sure we the audience are forced to be convinced. There is a history in this area of people vanishing and Callie "traded with it". Still she has only missing persons information. How is it that police have worked these cases for years without ever seeing the patterns that Callie sees. Is it that in her drug addled mind she is making connections that aren't there? All this combines for a bit of a monster movie without really ever seeing the monster. The film makers did do a nice job creating the idea of the monster, shot for very little money they worked movie magic with glimpses and shadow and things moving behind curtains.
The second turn in the film does the opposite of what we would want in a script. Instead of building off the first turn we get a bit of excitement and then a return to the quiet drama of the first half of the film. The music is not dynamic enough with a very one note tone that never lets tension build but instead holds it at a low level. When the climax begins in what should be pulse racing thrills instead we get a muted flashback of what Callie saw happening in the house. Oh and there is this stupid thing where on two occasions characters are asked to file missing person reports. In both cases it is common knowledge that it is way too soon to do so; so each case is off putting. The climax is also less than fulfilling with a confrontation that is never seen. A trade that is never seen and closure that never comes. You are left guessing if her ploy works or not.
This film is a testament to what can be done with limited resources it is not brilliant but it is decent. So kudos for Mike Flanagan for using Kickstarter to get his project done, and to his friends the actors who pulled off honest portrayals. I can recommend this film as one I liked but wished for more. More? well from the pacing and the music and if ever they could have had more money, and more of the monster.
Rating (5.1) 5.0 and up are recommended, some are just more recommended than others.

Primal (2010) Horror Monster

Primal (2010) - This is an Australian film about a group of 20 somethings on an excursion in the outback. One of the group, Dace the alpha male is an anthropology student who wants to write his thesis on a Cave painting that they are looking for. The early scenes are the typical getting there mild character developing scenes you would expect in this kind of film, but they add an early spoiler. There is the alpha male Dace (Wil Traval) Is his name real or is he advertising his willingness to go anywhere for a job?, free spirited horny blond Mel (Krew Boylan), her stoic boyfriend geek Chad (Lindsay Farris), funny guy Warren(Damien Freeleagus), Plain Jane, Kris (Rebekah Foord) and finalgirl Anja (Zoe Tuckwell-Smith). I am not giving away anything sharing she is the final girl as it is so obvious from the beginning. The research to find this place included a story about a group that found the painting 120 years earlier. It was a tragic story where death was the main result. Unfortunately they reveal one of the victims as a little girl with a mouth full of really sharp teeth. What do you think of early reveals? So we sort of know a piece of the story something turned the little girl into the "primal" girl we see. Does that add suspense or make you think you now know what is going to happen in the film?
As they search there is a shortcut through a cave that allows us to find a bit out about one of the characters and to set up something else. Anja is afraid to walk through the cave and has a panic attack before slamming into a wall in her rush to get back out, the blood she draws from hitting the wall has a very pointed affect on the cave and some water nearby. It seems it may have awakened something that was sleeping. The problem with most of the set up of this film is that it was so ham handed that you did not have to do any thinking about it. Its more a shout at the audience to notice this or notice that. It is not just this instance but repeatedly the cause and effect of the set up was just way too obvious. So Anja drives an extra half day or whatever to get around the mountain instead of going through, well most of their stuff was in the damn car anyway so what were they going to accomplish by going through the cave? Then because there is a car near camp there has to be a way to not have it be an escape route when the shit hits the fan. So there is a clumsy attempt to make that happen. I did get an Aussie term to use forever though, I will now call mosquitoes "mozzies". I really hope it is a real term.
After the camping character development scenes we finally get to the juice in this fruit. It takes a while but once the fun begins it is worth it. After a late night dip in the earlier discussed reactionary water, Mel gets sick and feverish and the group figures out how to handle the situation. Alpha male is all, well alpha male but his approach seems to be the correct one. They see because of earlier hints that the car is not functional so they take care of her and wait until morning. Unfortunately for the group overnight she is transformed into primal creature and we all get to see the better part of this film. It turns very quickly into a survival film. She is wild with a set of pearly whites to die from and ready to eat the raw flesh of her friends. Her superhuman resistance to pain and amazing new strength make her more than a match for her five friends. When we see her take out a deer and eat it we know just how primal she really is. The interesting part happens when she throws most of the carcass into the cave they all passed through and we the audience get to see it get quickly digested. So like the lead in suggested so bluntly there is a creature in the cave.
Now at this point the comparison to "The Ruins" must be made. In it a group of ruin seeking 20 somethings get more than they were looking for when they come across a plant monster in the ruins. Locals not wanting the dangerous plant from spreading out into the world trap them there as infected. They plant monster mimics cell phones and voices to capture its hiker prey. It is a really pretty hopeless and depressing film where a whole bunch of sitting around happens for 95% of the film. This film on the other had creates a similar situation with a variation that leads to action. Here Mel becomes the maneuverable arm of the monster in the cave. She can go around and get and bring back food for it. No slow vines in the leg while you sleep, instead there is a super strong mouth full of fangs coming for the cast. It is a cool idea but unfortunately the film mostly falls on old tropes to move the plot along.
1. They come up with a plan to capture Mel.
2. The boyfriend demise because he thinks he can reason with her.
3. The thing we need to deal with her is in the car.
4. I can't find it in the car and danger is closing in.
5. Kill me before I turn.
Its a shame because the post effected part of the movie is done well enough to keep you involved and caring. Each trope though makes you groan as it slides towards cliche. At the end you even get a false ending and a final battle that is decent but no more or less than what you expecting. Now that the film has been properly hammered in this review, it will get a recommend, why? because it is passable, not good per say but a fun ride if you can get by the same old expectation, the action is fresh and effective and compared to The Ruins, slow train to know where this is a wonderful amusement park ride to adventure. So some credit to director Josh Reed.
Rating (5.1) 5.0 and up are recommended, in the Zombiegrrlz system Rent It!

The Wolf Man (1941) - Horror Monster

The Wolf Man (1941) - There is no doubt what this film is about from the first shot of the film. We open on a bookshelf and a volume is chosen and open to a page to reveal the following. "Lycanthropy (Werewolfism) A disease of the mind in which human beings imagine they are wolf men. According to an old legend which persist in certain localities, the victims actually assume the physical characteristics of the animal. There is a small village near TALBOT CASTLE which still claims to have had gruesome experiences with this supernatural creature. The sign of the werewolf is a five pointed star, a pentagram enclosed by a circle."

There is no doubt the story we are about to see, in this day and age we all know the basics but in revisiting this film I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the screenwriting and the fantastic heart felt performance by Lon Chaney Jr. in the title role.

Like many of the classic Universal horror films it is not a perfect film. There is an uncomfortable mix of American and British sensibilities and accents in the film, what was originally going to be about a telescope installer visiting the European Castle, was change at the studios request to be about Larry Talbot returning home from an education in the United States. For the most part though the script is well put together with some awkwardness. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak attempted to keep the script away from Hollywood executive by delivering it as late as possible; he said in an interview "That gave the front office no time to engage another writer, who could mess up my screenplay. Also Universal was stingy and didn't like to spend money for rewrites. That was the secret of getting a 'classic'. The writer's original screenplay reached the screen, unadulterated by 'improvements.' " (quoted from David J. Skal's great book The Monster Show). Still there is some clunkiness to the early part of the film.

Larry returns home to help his father John Talbot (Claude Rains), in what I think is a slightly miscast Claude Rains. The body types between Chaney and Rains is so different. Chaney the hulking giant and Rains the smaller sharper featured man. Larry Talbot presents some awkward dialog about being sorry he was not there when his brother was killed in a hunting accident but wouldn't he have come back for the services. True global travel was not what it is today and maybe everything would have been done prior to him reaching home. Still they bury the hatch and Larry helps Dad install his new telescope.
Larry can see into town with the telescope and spies the lovely Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) in her room above her fathers antique shop. He makes his way down there and tries to be smooth in asking her on a date. She is too cool for school though and plays inviting while still spurning his advances. While this conversation takes place he buys a wolf headed walking stick. The Wolfs head and five pointed star gives her the opportunity to add to the lore in the film, telling him it the sign of the Werewolf and quoting the saying we get to hear several times in the film.
"Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers at night, May become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."
He buys the walking stick and although she says unconvincing no to his offer to meet for a walk and visit to the gypsy camp to have her fortune read. He leave happy and returns at eight like he said he would. She is actually looking for him when eight arrives. She plays coy and before they start their walk she brings out her friend Jenny (Fay Helm) who will come along on the date. Gwen is excellent in these scene keeping the Larry Talbot character off balance even as he starts to feel confident around her. The interplay is quite cute. Shame poor Larry will later have to learn she is engaged to be married to Frank Andrews (Patric Knowles). Why did she allow this date anyway?
On the walk to the gypsy camp we get to see the wolf bane is indeed in bloom as Jenny picks some. At the camp she goes first and Bela (Bela Lugosi) in a minor role starts to tell her fortune but sees the circled 5 point star on her palm. "What do you see?" she pleads to his distress, but he sends her away, he is deeply distressed as he stands over the wolf bane she has dropped on the ground.

Now we are in the thick of the story as the fleeing Jenny is pursued through the fog by the werewolf. The wolf howls, she moves faster, then Larry and Gwen hear the screams of Jenny and race back towards her. Larry comes upon the wolf after it has ripped of Jenny's throat. He fights with is and is bitten before managing to beat it to death with his cane. The old gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) and Gwen take the wounded Larry back to the castle.
Problem is when the authorities arrive on the crime scene they do not find the wolf carcass but instead find Bela beaten to death next to Jenny who indeed had her throat ripped out. They want to talk to Larry about this of course and go to the castle. There Larry explains what happened and they share the results questioning whether he could have been confused in the dark. Larry insists he saw what he saw and attempts to show them his wound on his chest though there is no wound, just a 5 pointed star scar. It is so sad the way Larry struggles with what is happening. He knows things can not be what everyone is saying but can't prove otherwise. There is a striking scene at the tomb of the deceased Bela where Larry in hiding listens to Maleva recite a poem for her dead son and then when she leave he breaks down in tears.
The authorities are watching him, he learns about the werewolf curse from Maleva and she gives him a pendant to protect him. He though fears for Gwen and gives the charm to her. The first night of transformation is coming it is interesting how little we the audience get to see. Spoiled with modern special effect, the simple cut shot to hairier and hairier legs is so quaint. He is impressive after his transformation with the full facial makeup of yak hair applied in layers.
The film really though is not about the makeup but about the man struggling with the horror of the beast inside. As Larry struggles and the authorities close in he tries to get people to understand it is not all in his head. He attempts to leave but before he can convince Gwen to come with him he sees the sign on her hand. It is inevitable that Larry will die as the werewolf and when it is done it is a truly sad tale of a man caught in an impossible situation. When he gives his own father his walking cane the final night we know what is to happen. It in this case doesn't take anything away from this wonderful classic monster tale. Lon Chaney Jr. is excellent and captures the struggle beautifully. I whole recommend this film for all.

Rating (8.2) 5.0 and up are recommended, in the Zombiegrrlz system BUY IT!

Splice (2009) - Horror Sci-Fi Monster

Splice (2009) - Putting off seeing films can be a good thing, with time their is also a certain perspective gained. Early reviews of Splice were decent with but not great, and unfortunately it was impossible not to hear the details before seeing this film. Still the movie is 74% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. I was interested in seeing it in theaters but you know, sometimes you just can't get out to see everything you want to see. Recently picking it off of On Demand on comcast gave me a chance to see if the film was worth some of the very positives reviews it got or was it was the horrid piece of crap that audiences seemed to be saying. To qualify I read a bunch of early reviews where the author of the review talked about how darkly disturbing the film is, how he or she was enthralled while the audience they were seeing it with were hooting and hollering at the rediculousness of the film. I saw several reviews with this same theme, and then reading reviews written months after it was release, more talk about how audiences trashed the film. So is it a piece of genre art that only true fans can like, but general audience think is bad? Time to find out.

First the description of the film, two hot shot genetic scientist do the unthinkable, they create lifeforms from gene splicing. Giant maggots that produce a certain protein to be more precise. They want to more forward capitalizing on this new technology, but the corporate bosses want to go cautiously. Its not that the corporation has ethical reasons, its just they want to monetize what has already been created. In fact ethics never really enters the film although it is referenced by characters. This is the mad scientist as in, Frankenstien movie, so we sort of know what will happen at this point. Of course they need to have an "Its Alive!" moment. Also with mad scientists the ethics of "could we" versus "should we" is firmly planted in moving forward. So using her own DNA, Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) creates Dren (Delphine Chaeac), a creature not entirely human. It is important to note that at this point, anyone who has any kind of love or even like of science will be pulled out of the film. For us this film becomes just another gimmic and soret of B-movie science wanna be. The problem is that if you are a brilliant scientist as or team is with Kast and Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) then you just don't throw genes together and wait to see what you are going to get. It is not a mix and match and then see if you being is mostly or partly human. you will want to know, and not move forward until you know exactly what the expected outcome will be. Just throwing in frog dna sequences might be good enough for an action adventure film like Jurrasic Park but for a science fiction film, not so much. This may be the reason it was heavily advertized as a horror film, because they knew the science film premise would not hold together. So the deed is done and a creature starts growing, we get to see the development and be as amazed as our science team is on what develops, again they should already know what is going to come but seem amazed when it has funny legs and likes candy. Oh and what fucking scientist would just give the damn creature candies? What if it died from them?

When Dren grows into a semi female-ish being with funny legs the couple begin to see that working right under the noses of their company can only lead to trouble so they need a new place for Dren. Luckily the script writer/director (Vincenzo Natali) rescues them with a farm nobody ever mentioned and the Brody character never knew Kast had inherited even though they appear to be intimately involved in a long term relationship. The self concious reference makes it okay I guess? Really?

Off to the location where things can go horribly wrong, since the psuedoscience is done now the the script veers into personal motivation and we learn about Elsa's need for a child and how her damaging childhood fed into the creation of Dren. It is done as a reveal after we see her play Mom with the creature and loose all perspective as a scientist. She is the mother figure and it is her child, while all along the way Clive is like, "What the fuck we have to end this shit, this is crazy." and Elsa is like "Oh look at the little cutie, can't we keep her for just a bit longer, she's soooo cute." Okay I might be paraphrasing there but hey its close.

When Clive heads out to the barn to deal with Dren by himself things go horribly wrong. Maybe all father figures in movies are evil. Maybe because Dren is adult looking, with breasts but for some reason the Father figure, Clive thinks fucking the creature may be a way to deal with his troubles in his relationship with Elsa. Isn't this what all adopting Fathers do? So Brody goes full tilt on little Dren climaxing just prior to Elsa walking in the door. Yes it is what it looked like and things just spiral from there. Now I am no expert but I would say it is pretty messed up to screw the creature you brought into the world through genetic manipulation. I think Clive had that same feeling and probably felt really off the hook when they find Dren apparently dead in the water tub in the barn. He didn't get to say it to Elsa but I am sure he was thinking. "Okay, I know that was really fucked up but no one else needs to know about that right Elsa, baby." So they bury their problem but not their problems. Only one thing wrong with this, just like they introduced earlier in the film with the maggots, they both turned male and got aggressive. Dren sort of turns to Dan changing from a female to a male. Again let me state that there is no way this could have happened without scientist knowing the possibility was there. How can you combine genes without a basic understanding of chromosomes?

Male creature does what I guess all guys do and rapes Elsa and then comes to a very untimely death. Enough plot, what the fuck kind of fucked up head thought to make the males in this such fucking dickwads? Clive had sex with his non human child and then when that creature, probably out of shame changed into a male then raped its Mother? Hello what kind of freaking psychosis does this writer have? Elsa is no prize either, letting her personal life drive her experimentation but so afraid of intimacy that she can't have a baby, she has to create it. This bit of melodrama was metered out for us in such a soap opera way.

Now it is seeming like I hated this movie, which is not true. I hated alot about this film and wished it was better constructed. As a B-Movie it is decent entertainment, meant to be ridiculed as it is being viewed. As a serious attempt as a science fiction film it is not my cup of tea.

Rating (4.6) 5.0 and up are recommended In the Zombiegrrlz system, Rent it if you need to see it.