1971’s Lets Scare Jessica to Death deals with a woman who is attempting against all odds to hold onto her sanity in the face of a supernatural horror.
The film begins with Jessica being released from an institution after suffering a mental breakdown. It seems that Jessica is plagued by strange voices and visions of a mysterious woman. In order to help rehabilitate her, her husband and a friend take her to a small backwater Connecticut town. There they purchase an isolated house, and apple orchard, and plan to work the land and hang out and play acoustic guitar. Oh, and they happen to drive a hearse… for some reason.
When they arrive at the house they are surprised to find Emily, a free spirited hippie squatter living on the grounds of the estate. The group inexplicably takes in Emily and allows her to stay on the farm, but soon strange things start to occur. Jessica’s strange voices start coming back in her head, and she gets a sneaking suspicion that Emily is having an affair with her husband. Jessica also discovers that things are not quite right in town, as the entire population seems to be comprised of middle aged men who are mysteriously bandaged. Then Jessica finds that a woman mysteriously drowned on the houses property decades earlier, and legend has it her spirit still haunts the area.
Due to the questionable psychological state of the main character, you never really have a lot of certainty as to what really happens in this movie. The movie has a strange dream like quality that is highlighted not only by the mysterious voices and visions that Jessica experiences, but also by the irrational and sometimes quite silly actions of the main characters. It seems like these characters take bizarre happenings in stride, and don’t seem to mind the series of inexplicable events that happen in the plot. This would be fine, but I wish that the film had taken some time to get to know the characters better.
We find out very little about the characters and their relationships in this movie behind the basic back story, and this makes it really hard to figure out what we are really supposed to take away from what is shown in this movie. If you don’t like ambiguity, then stay far away from this movie. Things are not helped here by what is also a very thin plot. There is basically an hour of slow build up followed by about 30 minutes of action, and to be quite honest I didn’t feel like the pay off of this movie justified the first hour.
I do have positive things to say about this movie. The music, directing, and cinematography add up to a very creepy experience. It is interesting to note, that I found most of the creepiest scenes were the ones that took place in broad daylight, such as when Jessica comes face to face with ghostly figure emerging from a lake. There is some great imagery in this film. Also, when things do pick up toward the end, the film is pretty well done and entertaining.
I can appreciate this films attempt at slow paced psychological horror, but I wish the film had a more unexpected pay off and better developed, interesting characters. It lacks both of these. If your’re looking for some eerie early 70s horror film making you might enjoy Lets Scare Jessica To Death, but I found myself wishing there was a bit more substance behind all the creepiness.
5/10
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Horror film review marathon
In order to celebrate the month of october and halloween I plan on watching and reviewing thirty one horror films. One for each day of the month. Stay tuned for the first installment coming soon...
The White Ribbon (2009)
After thoroughly, enjoying his 2007 shot for shot English remake of his own film, Funny Games. I found myself eager to check out some other films in director Michael Henneke’s filmography. And what better film to start with than his recent Oscar nominated film The White Ribbon?
The White Ribbon provides snapshot into a small agricultural village in 1913 Austria on the eve of the First World War I. At first things seem idyllic, and perfect, but a series of nefarious occurrences start to occur revealing a dark underbelly to the town, exposing profoundly flawed society. First, the town’s doctor is injured when his horse trips on a wire stretched across the entrance to the town, then there occurs a tragic accident at the town’s saw mill, and town Baron’s son is found beaten. As suspicion and paranoia grow in the town, the town school teacher believes he may know the answer to who is causing these events.
I was a bit worried that I would not enjoy The White Ribbon, as it is more of a period piece and lacks some of the horror and thriller genre elements of Funny Games. But I was totally drawn into the mystery of what was happening in this town of right from the beginning. Henneke’s direction shows a lot of restraint, with a lot of deliberate long takes, and the black and white style gives the film a very ominous tone. The plot is also very deliberately paced, with the viewer slowly learning more and more about the characters in the village and their relationships. Certain things you take for granted or assume at the beginning of the film will be turned upside down by the end, making the film ripe for multiple viewings.
In a way The White Ribbon does to turn of the century German society what a film like American Beauty does to turn of the century American suburbia. Check out the White Ribbon if you are looking for a good foreign film.
9/10
The White Ribbon provides snapshot into a small agricultural village in 1913 Austria on the eve of the First World War I. At first things seem idyllic, and perfect, but a series of nefarious occurrences start to occur revealing a dark underbelly to the town, exposing profoundly flawed society. First, the town’s doctor is injured when his horse trips on a wire stretched across the entrance to the town, then there occurs a tragic accident at the town’s saw mill, and town Baron’s son is found beaten. As suspicion and paranoia grow in the town, the town school teacher believes he may know the answer to who is causing these events.
I was a bit worried that I would not enjoy The White Ribbon, as it is more of a period piece and lacks some of the horror and thriller genre elements of Funny Games. But I was totally drawn into the mystery of what was happening in this town of right from the beginning. Henneke’s direction shows a lot of restraint, with a lot of deliberate long takes, and the black and white style gives the film a very ominous tone. The plot is also very deliberately paced, with the viewer slowly learning more and more about the characters in the village and their relationships. Certain things you take for granted or assume at the beginning of the film will be turned upside down by the end, making the film ripe for multiple viewings.
In a way The White Ribbon does to turn of the century German society what a film like American Beauty does to turn of the century American suburbia. Check out the White Ribbon if you are looking for a good foreign film.
9/10
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Devil (2010)
After a series of critical failures such as Lady in the Water, The Happening, and The Last Airbender, writer/director M Night Shyamylan returns with his latest film, Devil. It is the first installment in a trilogy of films which are being called the “Night Chronicles.” This series of films will feature films and ideas coming from Shyamylan himself, but will be directed by someone else. Perhaps it is a good idea to reign in Shyamylan, by having a different person direct his screenplays. After all, I don’t think anyone could accuse Shyamylan of being uncreative, but some have definitely criticized his directorial style over the years. But if Devil is any indication, I don’t think Shyamylan will be bouncing back into good favor with critics anytime soon.
The concept behind Devil is simple. Five strangers are trapped in a stalled office building elevator. As rescuers race to open the elevator, they soon realize that one of the people trapped amongst them could be the Devil themselves. This is not the most original idea ever, but the concept of most of the film taking place in an elevator, could lead to some interesting possibilities. But the film doesn’t make use of this concept as well as it could have, and much of the film feels padded to meet the required running time. For instance, a good chunk of the film focuses on a detective character trying to figure out what is going on in the elevator as he tries to coordinate rescue efforts. He starts going through their backgrounds trying to figure out which one of them could be the murderer. However, by this time the audience pretty much knows that it is the devil that is killing people, and the detective’s efforts pretty much amount to red herring filler.
Devil’s problem lies in the fact that the film is simply not very scary or suspenseful. Left to the confines of the elevator, there is not much our characters can do except argue with each other (with some pretty unrealistic dialogue). Occasionally the lights go out, and some character will meet with a horrific fate at the hands of the devil. This happens so many times, that it becomes pretty banal by the time it happens to the third character. You will start to wonder why if this devil is so evil he just doesn’t break the elevator cable and return to Hades.
Which is another problem with Devil: the Devil doesn’t seem very devilish. Sure he murders several people throughout the film, and makes people’s toast fall jelly side down (I am not joking, this is used as evidence of the devil in the film), but he also seems to spare people who are willing to confess their sins to him. I’m not religious, but isn’t that more of God’s job? I’m sure Shyamylan was trying to incorporate a feel good redemptive aspect to the story similar to what he did in Signs, but while the ending of that movie came across as being genuinely touching, the ending of Devil just feels far too convenient and sloppy, as if Shyaymlan had to force things together in the last ten minutes to get the theme he wanted in the ending across.
Devil is the first of Shyamylan’s films that I just found boring. Sure, The Happening and Lady in the Water had huge flaws, but I can’t say I didn’t find them entertaining. Devil lacks the original concept of The Happening, the thrills and heart of Signs, or even the interesting twist of The Sixth Sense.
4/10
The concept behind Devil is simple. Five strangers are trapped in a stalled office building elevator. As rescuers race to open the elevator, they soon realize that one of the people trapped amongst them could be the Devil themselves. This is not the most original idea ever, but the concept of most of the film taking place in an elevator, could lead to some interesting possibilities. But the film doesn’t make use of this concept as well as it could have, and much of the film feels padded to meet the required running time. For instance, a good chunk of the film focuses on a detective character trying to figure out what is going on in the elevator as he tries to coordinate rescue efforts. He starts going through their backgrounds trying to figure out which one of them could be the murderer. However, by this time the audience pretty much knows that it is the devil that is killing people, and the detective’s efforts pretty much amount to red herring filler.
Devil’s problem lies in the fact that the film is simply not very scary or suspenseful. Left to the confines of the elevator, there is not much our characters can do except argue with each other (with some pretty unrealistic dialogue). Occasionally the lights go out, and some character will meet with a horrific fate at the hands of the devil. This happens so many times, that it becomes pretty banal by the time it happens to the third character. You will start to wonder why if this devil is so evil he just doesn’t break the elevator cable and return to Hades.
Which is another problem with Devil: the Devil doesn’t seem very devilish. Sure he murders several people throughout the film, and makes people’s toast fall jelly side down (I am not joking, this is used as evidence of the devil in the film), but he also seems to spare people who are willing to confess their sins to him. I’m not religious, but isn’t that more of God’s job? I’m sure Shyamylan was trying to incorporate a feel good redemptive aspect to the story similar to what he did in Signs, but while the ending of that movie came across as being genuinely touching, the ending of Devil just feels far too convenient and sloppy, as if Shyaymlan had to force things together in the last ten minutes to get the theme he wanted in the ending across.
Devil is the first of Shyamylan’s films that I just found boring. Sure, The Happening and Lady in the Water had huge flaws, but I can’t say I didn’t find them entertaining. Devil lacks the original concept of The Happening, the thrills and heart of Signs, or even the interesting twist of The Sixth Sense.
4/10
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Alan Wake (2010) VG Review
After encountering a severe case of writers block while working on his upcoming novel, famous author Alan Wake travels with his wife to the Pacific Northwest in order to get away. However, it soon becomes clear that a dark malevolent force is following Alan Wake, and after his wife goes missing he must uncover the dark secret surrounding the town of Bright Falls, Washington.
The game pays direct homage to television shows such as Twin Peaks, and the Twilight Zone with its mysterious twisting narrative. Conceptually, the story of Alan Wake is very strong, and deals with the idea of how a writer “creates” a narrative and how the real world and fiction can intertwine. The developers even went as far as breaking up the game into “episodes” complete with title and ending credits as well as a “previously on Alan Wake” segment.
Unfortunately, while it is great to see a game attempt to recreate TV style episodic story telling, the game suffers from weak voicing acting and some truly cheesy dialogue. Alan Wake’s character in particularly suffers from some lame pseudo-intellectual voice overs throughout the games cutscenes and gameplay. The cut scenes themselves are also distracting as character’s facial animations and voices never sync up quite right. These factors unfortunately took me out of what was otherwise a pretty successful narrative.
Above all, Alan Wake succeeds at creating truly creepy and suspenseful atmosphere. Most of the game’s environments are heavily forested areas, abandoned mines, and deserted buildings. The forest environments are detailed with swaying pine trees, and underbrush, and the game has extremely eerie lighting and environmental effects. It doesn’t help, that often enemies can materialize instantly from almost any direction, and often times the player turn around only to see an enemy about to stab him in the back.
At its core Alan Wake is primarily a third person shooter with an interesting gameplay twist. The player must use light sources to weaken the demonically possessed enemies known as the taken and make them vulnerable to conventional attack. Enemies are numerous, and often attack in large swarms. Completing the game successfully means using your flashlight, flares, and other environmental light sources to keep the enemy swarms at bay, and whittle away their health with your firearms. A distinct lack of enemy and weapon variety can lead to the combat becoming a bit formulaic as the game goes on, but the level design and atmosphere (including some excellent scripted sequences such as poltergeist attacks) serve to help keep the gameplay fresh.
The game attempts to integrate more character based elements and interactions with day time levels taking place in Bright Falls. However these non combat sections consist of mainly listening to exposition from certain characters, and running through a certain location to the end. If Remedy had taken more time to make these segments a little more involving and interesting, it would have added a bit more depth and variety to the game.
While Alan Wake is a great experience for horror fans, it never truly rises above the box’s bold claim of being “A Psychological Action Thriller,” and is instead content with being a competent third person shooter with great atmosphere and an ambitious but clumsily told story. It is disappointing that after five years of development, Remedy did not make something really new or unique but for those who looking for a creepy shooter, Alan Wake is a good time.
7/10
The game pays direct homage to television shows such as Twin Peaks, and the Twilight Zone with its mysterious twisting narrative. Conceptually, the story of Alan Wake is very strong, and deals with the idea of how a writer “creates” a narrative and how the real world and fiction can intertwine. The developers even went as far as breaking up the game into “episodes” complete with title and ending credits as well as a “previously on Alan Wake” segment.
Unfortunately, while it is great to see a game attempt to recreate TV style episodic story telling, the game suffers from weak voicing acting and some truly cheesy dialogue. Alan Wake’s character in particularly suffers from some lame pseudo-intellectual voice overs throughout the games cutscenes and gameplay. The cut scenes themselves are also distracting as character’s facial animations and voices never sync up quite right. These factors unfortunately took me out of what was otherwise a pretty successful narrative.
Above all, Alan Wake succeeds at creating truly creepy and suspenseful atmosphere. Most of the game’s environments are heavily forested areas, abandoned mines, and deserted buildings. The forest environments are detailed with swaying pine trees, and underbrush, and the game has extremely eerie lighting and environmental effects. It doesn’t help, that often enemies can materialize instantly from almost any direction, and often times the player turn around only to see an enemy about to stab him in the back.
At its core Alan Wake is primarily a third person shooter with an interesting gameplay twist. The player must use light sources to weaken the demonically possessed enemies known as the taken and make them vulnerable to conventional attack. Enemies are numerous, and often attack in large swarms. Completing the game successfully means using your flashlight, flares, and other environmental light sources to keep the enemy swarms at bay, and whittle away their health with your firearms. A distinct lack of enemy and weapon variety can lead to the combat becoming a bit formulaic as the game goes on, but the level design and atmosphere (including some excellent scripted sequences such as poltergeist attacks) serve to help keep the gameplay fresh.
The game attempts to integrate more character based elements and interactions with day time levels taking place in Bright Falls. However these non combat sections consist of mainly listening to exposition from certain characters, and running through a certain location to the end. If Remedy had taken more time to make these segments a little more involving and interesting, it would have added a bit more depth and variety to the game.
While Alan Wake is a great experience for horror fans, it never truly rises above the box’s bold claim of being “A Psychological Action Thriller,” and is instead content with being a competent third person shooter with great atmosphere and an ambitious but clumsily told story. It is disappointing that after five years of development, Remedy did not make something really new or unique but for those who looking for a creepy shooter, Alan Wake is a good time.
7/10
Greenberg (2010)
In Greenburg, the titular character (Stiller) is facing a mid life crisis, when he heads to LA to housesit for his brother and figure out where his life is heading.
When I started Greenberg I was expecting a quirky comedy about an oddball slacker. But the film is more of a dark character piece about a very bitter man who has a lot of regrets about his life. Greenberg himself is a funny but unlikable character, who often neurotically criticizes people and has a constant habit of writing complaint letters to companies. Most of the humor comes from these scenes. There is also a romantic subplot with his there is also a bit of a romantic plot between Greenberg and his brothers 20 something assistant, Florence.
The film reminded me a bit Lost in Translation both because of the relationship between Florence and Greenberg, and also because the film itself is almost completely plot less. It is simply a snapshot into a couple weeks while Greenberg house sits for his brother. Because of this, the movie feels a little too uneventful and meandering. It is not helped much by an ending that is both sudden and unfulfilling, but works well as a metaphor for the psychological issues Stiller’s character is dealing with.
For those looking for big laughs or a more traditional plot based story Greenberg will surely disappoint, but for those looking for a more character based drama, Greenberg may be what you are looking for.
6/10
When I started Greenberg I was expecting a quirky comedy about an oddball slacker. But the film is more of a dark character piece about a very bitter man who has a lot of regrets about his life. Greenberg himself is a funny but unlikable character, who often neurotically criticizes people and has a constant habit of writing complaint letters to companies. Most of the humor comes from these scenes. There is also a romantic subplot with his there is also a bit of a romantic plot between Greenberg and his brothers 20 something assistant, Florence.
The film reminded me a bit Lost in Translation both because of the relationship between Florence and Greenberg, and also because the film itself is almost completely plot less. It is simply a snapshot into a couple weeks while Greenberg house sits for his brother. Because of this, the movie feels a little too uneventful and meandering. It is not helped much by an ending that is both sudden and unfulfilling, but works well as a metaphor for the psychological issues Stiller’s character is dealing with.
For those looking for big laughs or a more traditional plot based story Greenberg will surely disappoint, but for those looking for a more character based drama, Greenberg may be what you are looking for.
6/10
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
Scott Pilgrim is a 22 year old loser dating a high school girl, and playing in his nerdy garage band “Sex Bob-bomb” when he suddenly meets his mysterious dream girl Norma Flowers. Scott quickly strikes up a relationship, only to realize that in order to date Norma, he must defeat seven of her evil exes in battle.
The film is designed to be lighthearted and fun, and at its best moments it does succeed at this. However, the film’s plot is so sparse and disjointed it is difficult to have a lot of emotional investment in the characters or story. It all is just blur of ridiculous fights, goofy pop culture references, and video game humor. If this is all your looking for, you will be in for a good time, but I was constantly wondering why Scott found Norma so special that he had to fight an army of exes. Michael Cera as Pilgrim is his usual awkward bumbling self. He has been playing this angle since Arrested Development, but he is the king of this type of character and he works in the film.
What makes Scott Pilgrim bearable is its fast moving stylized visuals that play that reference old school arcade video games and comics. Scott defeats each of his adversaries and turns them into coins and points, and comic style sound effect words are constantly appearing on screen. This visual style gives the movie a lot of style and makes it reminiscent of a living cartoon in much the same way as 2008’s magnificent Speed Racer. Without these fun gimmicks, this movie would be little more than another Nick and Norah’s Infinite Play List.
Scott Pilgrim is a interesting watch, and fans of the comics and of quirky comedies may enjoy this film quite a bit. However, I found the movie ultimately unfunny and by the halfway point I was growing tired of the constant pop culture and video game references, followed by repetitive fights that seemed to be motivated by little else than the movies own silly premise of a guy fighting his girlfriends exes like they were a video game boss. By the end credits I wasn’t wishing for a bonus stage
5/10
The film is designed to be lighthearted and fun, and at its best moments it does succeed at this. However, the film’s plot is so sparse and disjointed it is difficult to have a lot of emotional investment in the characters or story. It all is just blur of ridiculous fights, goofy pop culture references, and video game humor. If this is all your looking for, you will be in for a good time, but I was constantly wondering why Scott found Norma so special that he had to fight an army of exes. Michael Cera as Pilgrim is his usual awkward bumbling self. He has been playing this angle since Arrested Development, but he is the king of this type of character and he works in the film.
What makes Scott Pilgrim bearable is its fast moving stylized visuals that play that reference old school arcade video games and comics. Scott defeats each of his adversaries and turns them into coins and points, and comic style sound effect words are constantly appearing on screen. This visual style gives the movie a lot of style and makes it reminiscent of a living cartoon in much the same way as 2008’s magnificent Speed Racer. Without these fun gimmicks, this movie would be little more than another Nick and Norah’s Infinite Play List.
Scott Pilgrim is a interesting watch, and fans of the comics and of quirky comedies may enjoy this film quite a bit. However, I found the movie ultimately unfunny and by the halfway point I was growing tired of the constant pop culture and video game references, followed by repetitive fights that seemed to be motivated by little else than the movies own silly premise of a guy fighting his girlfriends exes like they were a video game boss. By the end credits I wasn’t wishing for a bonus stage
5/10
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