Maniac (2012) Horror Psycho

Maniac (2012) - This remake of a slasher Maniac (1980) is a surprise to me. It's original was not really a hit and although horrorphiles will point it out as something to see it is not a very good film. Too straight forward with a real lack of surprises it is just a slog to get through. Although the lead, Joe Spinell is great at being a maniac and Tom Savini's gore effects are awesome, the lack of a interesting story is its downfall. I mean how many times have we seen Mommy issues as a basis for abhorrent behavior in the horror genre. Pycho (1960) famously did it and there were scores of films after that. So the trope needs something else to make it interesting. The original did not bring that added something and fell flat. So what will the 2012 remake bring?
   Starring Elijah Wood as Frank in the opening scene he is stalking a young woman who is out clubbing with a friend. When the friend grabs a cab we see POV from Frank are he drives slowly following the girl along the street from inside his car. She notices him too and starts moving at a quicker pace getting scared. When he turns off saying he knows where she lives we get the realization that this is not a random victim, that Frank has been following her for a while. When the girl arrives at her apartment building relieved for the safety of home, the lights have been cut by Frank. POV Frank walking in the dark behind her as she arrives at her apartment. As she gets the key to her apartment she senses him and turns, Her says Please don't scream and then jams a large knife up her throat to make sure. Unfortunately this effects in this scene are not well done and the logic of the interaction make no sense. Frank grabs her hair, takes the knife out of her skull, at this point the body should fall to the ground but no an unnaturally she stands in place dead while he makes a quick slice to scalp her. eh.
  Frank stalks women through a online date site, which as an idea is scary as shit. The fear that should come with the amount of our personal lives are broadcast through the internet is his tool. After finishing off Judy in the first scene he now introduces himself to the profile of Lucie (Megan Duffy) who he expertly chats up to get a date with. Franks issue social anxiety as we see when he meets Lucie for dinner. Shot always in the POV of Frank the film is interesting in its approach. Producer / Screenwriter Alexandre Aja wanted this change in perspective thinking it would be terrifying. The POV perspective becomes an issue now, where the viewer will wonder over and over again how the director Franck Khalfoun will manage to get the star into a shot. Distracting at best annoying mostly. Frank's awkwardness with Lucie's seduction is wonderfully uncomfortable. Seeing himself in the bed above the mirror shows the star who you would not see otherwise. The scene though is a character defining event where we learn about the sickness driving the main character. The gore is more realistic in this scene and we are now set up for the main story.
  Frank meets a young artist, Anna's (Nora Arnezeder) who is taking pictures outside his store. She loves his collection of mannequins from different eras and wants to use them for a photo shoot she is doing. A new obsession that is not from a dating site maybe?  Well instead of that we get another very long stalking and killing scene which brings us to almost the halfway point in the film. I would think that establishing who the killer is was already done in the two stalking and killing scenes we already saw. No this one is different, way more brutal and surprise a release from the killer POV but just for a second. Did the brutality pull is out or did I miss something?

  Finally we get to his obsession with Anna, she likes him even with his quirks and they date and start forming a relationship. Frank is not a person who can handle situation that are not what he imagines them to be so every little negotiation of interpersonal boundaries is too much for him. He can't stay connected to anyone because he has been warped by his past. We get a couple of scenes where we see his Mother (America Olivo) was a prostitute who had no boundaries about him seeing her at work. So the story really is the same as the original in its structure. Still not really connecting the dots about how his childhood made him the way he is we get even more killer POV as he continues to deal with his sickness by acting out. Trying to make us understand but really no one should get this crazy from that childhood.
  This film should have had a couple detectives hot on the trail but it doesn't and because of that you have to wonder if this is a cop free city. Instead this is a meditation on his sickness and how he just can't stop himself. When his relationship with Anna goes sideways as we knew it would. We realize they are really not going to attempt to make the film have a different outcome than the original. In the 1980 version there is this small hope that Frank can change but not in the new version. There is never an indication that this film is going to be anything but a tragedy. Although it tries to save itself with a gore filled final scene overall you are left wanting. It is a film about a sick bastard and in the end he stays just that. I have to say I love that there was enough interest in this film to get it remade. I think it is an indication of how strong the genre is right now where even bad horror is getting remade. Not really my cup of tea Maniac is what it is and this film never found an audience. It opened and closed before anyone could see it and will probably never recoup the 6 million spent on making it. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone but those who have seen the original may want to check it out as a slightly different take.

Demon Kiss (2008) Horror Demon

Demon Kiss (2008) - Sometimes the choices we make turn out to be really poor. We have no reason to think they are bad, with limited information decisions can be made on a whim and then BAM! It turns out that you made a bad choice and things will never be the same. One morning a year ago I was driving to work and instead of going to my regular Dunkin Donut I decided the one on Main St. was closer and headed there. So I pull up to the light a hundred yards from the shop at the corner with Prospect ST. to wait for the red light to change. An aside if you turn down Prospect a couple blocks up is Carl's Steak Subs, which is just the best steak and cheese subs in that town. I prefer the Mexican, Steak, Red Hot Sauce, Jalapeno Peppers & Melted Cheese. So sitting at the light I had no idea that this was a bad decision, then BAM! somebody slams into the back of my car pushing me through the intersection. Even before I can come out of my daze, the car goes racing off and is out of sight on a side street. So my innocent need to have my coffee just a bit earlier ended up being such a bad decision. My car was totaled, but I was okay, I still got that coffee while waiting for the cops to arrive just because of a simple decision, a choice.
This is sort of how I felt after choosing this film, like I had been hit from behind without knowing it was coming. Sure I could have spent a bit of time looking into it before starting it up on Netflix. I just decided I didn't want to do my normal route of watching an episode of the X Files before work. This should teach me something about sticking to my morning routine. So I randomly chose Demon Kiss as the morning feature. A low budget movie about a Demon summoned into the body of a prostitute. Made for about 30k it is not the best filmed movie in the world. Note: I really only say it's not the best movie in the world when a movie sucks. I have this part of me that knows all creative endeavors take energy and planning and hard work and I don't want to shit on that part of the process just because I didn't like the results. Director Dennis Devine has been making low budget horror since 1989 and has more credits as a director (26) than you and I will ever have, so lets give him the respect he is due. He makes films something millions of us could never pull off.
 Now that we have given proper credit lets talk about this film. Lets start with some of the writing, Devine wrote the screenplay based of the ideas of Ted Chalmers and Annie T. Conlon and the first thing that was troubling was the real lack of a main character. Somehow the idea became not to base the film around the demon but instead on a Therapist Dr. Lacey (Sally Mullins) who specializes in working with prostitutes. Now they didn't show any long therapy sessions but they might have gone something like this:
"Dr. Lacey, I feel like they all treat me like a sexual object. It's like all they want is my body and they don't value me as a person."
"How does that make you feel?"
"Oh horrible, I feel so devalued and its makes me sad."
"Have you ever considered stopping?"
"Shit No, the money is too good."
"Tell me again about your step father touching you as a child, and then taking you shopping."
  It is a weird main character mostly because she really does not have a driving force when it comes to dealing with the demon. She is a periphery character who knows many of the prostitutes but only is brought in on the case by the police.  Still she is the closest thing to a main character and when it comes time for an exorcism she is there. So if she is not the main character then it must be the Demon, but the problem with that is the demon keeps switching bodies.
  Originally summons by a manic bald guy is the most inexplicable scene the demon never stays too long in one body. Let me paint this picture with a bit more detail. We have this scene where the bald guy has hired a hooker, Tiffany (Shannon Lee) so he can kill her and summons a demon. There is no reason why he is doing this, he just figures he will pay her a lot of cash to be cuffed and then stab her and read a passage from a book and Wham! a demon will enter his body. Again Why? Because he is so manic and crazy bat shit insane in his interaction though the girl turns the tables, but ends up cuffed to him instead of out of there. When the passage is read the demon chooses the girl to enter and the poor bald guy for all his trouble is stabbed in the eye as the sacrifice. So now we have a setup. There is a demon who can travel between bodies when they kiss and a therapist to the prostitutes that this demon is infecting. Then some cops who want to try to figure out why this hooker killed her John. So is the main character the demon? It has a driving force behind its actions. It's trying to get to another prostitute named Amanda but the reason for his desire is not really clear. There is some mumbo jumbo about a guy stalking Amanda who turns out could be the demon in the cop but there is nothing really tying in the how's on this theory. Then there is the Demon, even when  it possesses a person it seems to know everything about the modern world.
  Now Amanda (Jessica T. Perez) could be the main character I suppose but it is such a hollow character without any spunk that she fails to be the role we need. No one in particular is a main character but Dr Lacey comes closest. Unfortunately she is a peripheral character who is only brought into the story by the actions of others. The indirect connection but with interactions with prostitutes she seems the most likely candidate. What really happens is that there is no real strong characters.
  In the end though it really does not matter because so much of the acting is so sub-par. In particular the two cops are tough to listen too, Detective Smith (Jamie Macek) is the better of the two (that's not saying much) and spends a good part of the film possessed by the demon. The second guy Det. Gonzales (Sebastian Gonzales) is just awful, then there is Katie the psychic hooker (Sally Fay Dalton) who sees demons. Included oin this stream of horrible actors are all the real side character Johns and hookers who must have been friends of the film makers. Really dreadful acting to go with the canned acting of Sally Mullins as the doctor. So much is bad about this film. Most of the side character are really amateur and it really pulls the viewer out of the story. On top of the acting problems is that three of the characters look so much alike, Tiffany, Lucinda and the slightly more attractive Amanda.
  The film tries to make up for the lack of acting skills by showing quite a bit of female nudity and several inexplicably violent and hurtful murders. The attitudes and murders though are incredibly misogynistic performed by the possessed cop who helps spend the effects budget repeatedly.  So as the cop slash demon makes his way through one prostitute after another trying to get closer to Amanda. In the end though there has to be some sort of resolution. The way we get there is so convoluted and silly that if you make it into the last twenty minutes of the film without throwing something at the TV your disappointment will make an Angel in heaven cry. When Lucinda says "This Shit is fucked up." the unintentional double meaning is great. So you would think then the religious craziness starts! Dr Lacey then sets up the exorcist to solve the problems as they are. This movie is really not for me even with the demon possession and the exorcism it is all too bad. So when it comes to that ill fated choice. Where you are thinking, how bad can it be? I have nothing better to do with my Thursday night. Beware that choices have consequences and you too may get rear ended by your choice. It may be that most people will need to skip this movie and when they do they will be must better off.

Sombre (1998) Thriller Serial Killer

Sombre (1998) - Writer/Director Philippe Grandrieux bring this quiet emotionally disturbing piece of transgressive cinema. The story of Jean (Marc Barbe) a puppeteer and compulsive serial killer, okay the puppeteer job really plays a small part in the story but is also very interesting. Early in the film before we know anything about Jean we see children in an audience, the faces tense with the nervous interest in what is happening in the show they are watching. They fidget and react to the puppet show we never see totally controlled by the master Jean behind the scenes. It is Jean, the man who needs to be in control who creates that reaction and we see later it is not the only control he is compelled to hold.
Jean is a serial killer, a man with a particular routine, compulsion that he can not control but controls him. The transference of that control onto the prostitutes his picks up and kills is a rigid ritual they and he must follow. Stand, small the midriff and crotch, sit and lay back, spread the legs, he command of the prostitute. The engulfing embrace from behind, the smelling of her hair, her struggles as she is strangled to death. His need to walk away from the body fulfilled and shamed. The Director establishes this three times so we are in tune with the killers need, each time he drives to a remote place to dump the body. Each time he finds a new victim. He seems to be following a bike tour in his driving and we see the people lining the roadways of France. Jean can prey more easily in this way, lots of people on holiday, easy to not be remembered in a crowd.
His third kill has a stunning reveal shot, beautifully framed and executed. We see Jean pick a women up at his hotel. She drives with him most of the day and we know her fate having seen his actions twice to this point. Jean is seen from behind, shimmering water frames his head the camera pulls back and you see at his feet the poor third victim. So well executed that you stick with this rather slow and deliberately scatter film making style. On his way from that experience Jean comes across Claire her car broken on the side of the road. He offers to help and give her a ride which she reluctantly accepts.
The film shifts here and more must happen off screen than we are allowed to see. Claire (Elina Lowensohn) and her sister Christine (Geraldine Voillat) are on holiday following the same bike tour? They seem to now be traveling with Jean although it seems a quick and risky thing to the viewer. There seems to be a connection between Jean and Claire. We learn she is a virgin and the more amorous Christine may be the one at risk with this guy. Late one night Claire unable to sleep notices Jean coming out of the club across the street from the hotel with a couple strippers. She watches from the shadows as his ritual plays out. Then she doesn't say anything? No police?
It plays out like this a scattered artistically interesting film that plods a bit. When the girls realize how crazy this guy is it is too late to flee. He has Christine tied in the hotel room and forces Claire to come out with him. His desire is for her and she for him but she also knows poor Christine will not stand a chance when they get back. So she parties hard and attracts a couple of bisexual men to try to get help, by getting them to take her and Jean back to their place for sex. It is a strange way to go about getting help but I suppose that since this is a world without cops it is a solution. The drunken party that happens as she leads the men on gets out of control and Jean is punched out by one of the men. This gives Claire the opportunity to get the car keys, get back to her sister and escape. Then at the train she puts her sister on it and goes back to find Jean? WTF?
Again with Jean she is offering him a chance at something more than what he has. An intimacy and acceptance he has never known. Her virgin body is his and he does not have to stay on the destructive path his is on. As he makes love to her he begins his ritual, but stops himself and forces her away with a women in a car he flags down. He can not be with her and he knows it she must be sent away before he kills her. It is an act of love that Claire can not comprehend but again she can live.
The woman tells her a story of love missed in her youth and the regret she carried in her life because of it. This make Claire go back to Jean one last time with forcing his final decision to either accept this new form of love or stick to his compulsion.
Like I said earlier this is a tough film to watch in it is a jagged style of filming, with limited dialog. It does have though a serious and formidable emotion heart that beats a steady rhythm throughout. I can recommend it but know you are getting into an artsy slower film that is not for strict pulse racing horror fans.
Rating (5.2) 5.0 and up are recommended

The Girlfriend Experience (2009) Drama

The Girlfriend Experience (2009) - Sasha Grey plays Chelsea, a high end call girl who tries to balance a relationship with Chris (Chris Santos) and look after her business. Written by David Levien and Brian Koppelman and directed by Steven Soderbergh it is a movie about intimacy and pretend intimacy and whether we can tell the difference. Do we need there to be a difference or is the act of seeming intimate equivalent to actual closeness? Chelsea played with very little affect is struggling with this question and I think Soderbergh sort of leaves it for the audience to decide at the end. There are a mix of relationships to look at here, a trainer to his clients, a call girl to her clients, the call girl to her boyfriend and the call girl to a client she hopes will be more. Shot in beautiful digital the movies is edited uniquely and I am not sure the best order. My personal reaction to the movie was that I didn't really care about the characters. I recognized the questions being posed but really don't connect to the world created to explore them. So I was left a bit flat, interested in the subject but not the story.
Rating (6.0)