RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "HOW I CELEBRATED 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 2020!"

 

“HOW I CELEBRATED 31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 2020!”

So, Halloween 2020 is over now and I’ve had a month to reflect on all the films and TV series viewed during my 31 Days of Halloween – 2020 version!  I tried my best to view something new each day but when I didn’t, it was always spurred on by family (like on October 10^th when the family wanted to do a double feature of The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) after having seen both numerous times).  This year was a mixed bag of both films I had repeatedly overlooked (Cargo, Death Note, Gerald’s Game, and The Invitation) and films that I watched on a whim (A.M.I., House of the Witch, Train of the Dead, The Dybbuk) but what I most enjoyed about this year’s viewing list is the amount of foreign films I decided to view (Betaal, The Ghoul, The Doll 2, Sabrina, The 3^rd Eye 1&2, Train of the Dead, etc.).  This month was definitely a month for me to explore lots of different films both fiction and non-fiction.

 

First up I’d like to list the films and TV shows on the bottom of my list.  Most of these are barely watchable but you’re more than welcome to seek them out for yourself but don’t say I didn’t give you a head’s up.

 

WORST FILMS & TV SHOWS:

Train of the Dead (2007)

Jinn (2019) Season 1

The 3^rd Eye (2017)

The 3^rd Eye 2 (2019)

Alien Vs. Ninja (2010)

Betaal (2020) Season 1

 

In terms of animation I did view several great films of which I recommend which include:

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)

Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)

Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)

 

What I was really surprised was the list of non-fiction films and series I managed to squeeze into my watch list this year.  I normally stick to films that are mostly fiction but this year I took a chance that paid off:

 

NON-FICTION FILMS & TV SHOWS:

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Search for the World’s Next Drag SuperMonster Season 2

Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2017)

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019)

Rewind This! (2013)

American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020)

Dream/Killer (2015)

Scare Tactics Season 5

 

In addition to having to rewatch The Addams Family and Addams Family Values I also had the chance to rewatch the amazing films of Dick Maas with The Lift (1983), Amsterdamned (1988), and Down (2001).  Amsterdamned is one of my favorite films of the ‘80s and my favorite of Maas’ films.  The Lift still holds up extremely well but Down actually feels dated having been an American remake of The Lift.  I was able to see all three on Blue Underground’s amazing Blu-Rays which present the films the best that I’ve ever seen them.  The upgraded purchases were definitely worth it (especially The Lift which I had a poor bootleg of).  If you’ve never experienced the amazing films of Maas, these three are worth seeking out.

 

This now brings me to the best films and TV shows I viewed during this year’s 31 Days of Halloween!  This year was actually probably the best in terms of diversity and quality.  I’m not going to go into each of the films individually but I will put them in a list of Top 10.  These are all films I would recommend others seek out!

 

BEST FILMS & TV SHOWS:

1. Apostle (2018)

2. No One Lives (2012)

3. Rewind This (2013) – Non-Fiction

4. Gerald’s Game (2017)

5. Cargo (2017)

6. The Invitation (2015)

7. #Alive (2020)

8. Would You Rather (2012)

9. Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019) – Non-Fiction

10. The Golem (2018)

 

Now comes the films that were neither great nor horrible but lie somewhere in the middle.  Seek them out based on your own taste and interest:

 

The Dybbuk (1960)

The Car: Road to Revenge (2019)

Death Note (2017)

1BR (2019)

Still (2010)

Truth or Dare (2017)

Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)

House of the Witch (2017)

 

With this ends my 2020, 31 Days of Halloween viewing list!  I’m already looking forward to 2021 but I know that next year will be just as interesting and diverse as this year due to the fact that there are still so many international films and TV shows that I still need to view.  I hope you had a get October 2020 and feel free to let me know what you watched and what you would recommend.

 

 

Film Review: CLOWNFACE (2019)

Originally Published by ScreamFix

The clowns have come to engage a small town in the film Clownface (2019).  There is a legend or myth about a serial killer that wears a clown’s face and stalks the night.  Unfortunately, for roommates Jenna and Zoe (Hannah Douglas and Dani Tonks, respectfully) they are about to learn that there is truth to that legend.  When Jenna goes out to party one night leaving Zoe and her boyfriend Rick (Thomas Loone) to have their own fun, she returns home to see her best friend gone and Rick’s body mutilated.  Jenna claims that the infamous Clownface (Philip John Bailey) is responsible, but others do not necessarily believe her.

 

On the one-year anniversary of  Zoe’s disappearance and the murders renewed interest brings this trauma back to light, Jenna is hounded by an old friend Charlotte (Leah Solmaz) trying to pry the truth from her and the sudden appearance of Owen (Richard Buck), a man with his own traumatic experience linked to Clownface who wants to prove that the monster is real and that Jenna’s friend Zoe may, in fact, still be alive but a captive of the serial killer.  Jenna does not know what to believe but all of this has put her on edge, and she must decide how to confront her trauma and Clownface before it is too late.

 

At the same time, Zoe who has been a captive of CLownface for the last year is trying her best to find a way to escape her prison before Clownface makes her his next victim.

 

Now, first off, there are a lot of problems with the film the first of which is the fact that since there were no witnesses to Rick’s murder and Zoe’s disappearance how would anyone know to blame it on Clownface?  This plays heavily in the fact that there are those who believe Jenna and those who believe that she is hiding something.  Another problem with the film is the fact that the audience never knows why Clownface does what he does.  He kills some people (in horrendous ways), captures others, and just maims still others.  There does not seem to be any consistency to his motivations or actions which becomes frustrating to watch at times.  The pacing of the film is all over the place mainly because there are so many flashbacks which stop the story instead of pushing it ahead as it simply just provides needless background info.

 

What the film gets right is the lead performance of Douglas who easily overshadows everyone else as you believe she was fully engaged in the film from beginning to end.  Other than some rough spots in the end (where the focus shifts to other less interesting characters), Douglas’s Jenna is engaging and interesting mostly due to the actor’s commitment.  She does an amazing job lifting the film over the rough spots.  I also want to give kudos to the Hans Michael Anselmo Hess’ music score which elevates the film higher than it needs to be but does a tremendous job with keeping the film focused on the fact that it is still a horror film when there is so much drama contained within.

 

Written and directed by Alex (The House of Screaming Death) Bourne this could have easily been a film without the killer having a clown’s face as it doesn’t really add anything to the overall film as Clownface does nothing other than stalk and slash.  It is a concept not fully realized, but visually makes for more of a Leatherface type of killer.  Horror fans will enjoy the big bloodbath ending (!) and anyone with coulrophobia should make sure to stay clear away.

Film Review: THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO

Original Title of Article: “Vampires Hand Delivered to Your Door in THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Demonic vampires are the scariest thing this Halloween in writer/director Jess Novisgaard’s The Good Things Devils Do (2020).  Small time crook Richard and daughter Mouse (Bill Oberst Jr. and Mary Katherine O’Donnell, respectfully) have been hired to do a small and simple job on Halloween night which includes breaking into the house of school teacher Professor Melvin (David Rucker III) and his wife and step-daughter (Linnea Quigley and Kelley Wilson Robinson, respectfully) and stealing an undisclosed amount of money contained within.  What should have been an easy breaking in and stealing job turns into a nightmare when a package Prof Melvin ordered for Halloween turns out to be a coffin with the corpse of a vampire.  When Melvin’s wife Louise mistakenly removes a table leg from the bones of the corpse the vampire-demon Masquerade (Veronika Stoykova) is resurrected and all hell is about to break loose.

 

Masquerade is a not a demon-vampire to mess with as she can control people with but a look causing Melvin and Richard to no longer trust their loved ones.  If the two men want to survive the night, they are going to have to put aside their differences and find a way to work together in order to destroy the vampire before she kills everyone.

 

Now, I am not really a fan of the vampire genre but I will pretty much watch anything with Linnea Quigley and Kane Hodder in it.  Hodder plays a hench man (sans makeup!) who does some really bad things.  I’ve also been catching more films with Oberst who is an indie film staple.  None of them disappoint as the film allows them all to get really nasty.  The film has some amazing makeup effects, and these are some undead and bloody vampires with some gory kills that will appease horror fans.  What I enjoyed the most was the fact that despite there was some typical vampire lore in the film, there was enough deviation from that to make the vampire Masquerade interesting especially in regards to how she controls people and uses them against one another.

 

The Story borrows its influences most directly from Joe Hill’s novel Heart-Shaped Box with the Melvin ordering a box containing a real vampire skeleton off the Internet but from there it becomes a gruesome and macabre film in which Richard will do anything to save his daughter Mouse and Melvin will do anything to save his wife Louise (the 40 year old stepdaughter still living at home he has less fondness for).  If there is a weak spot in the film, it is the way in which it tries too hard to be funny at times especially in terms of the stepdaughter Caroline, who is a 40-year-old dunce.

 

The film looks great and cinematographer James Suttles makes every shot look good and vibrant with color (I get the impression that someone is a little influenced by Dario Argento and his films).  This sets the film apart from other similar films as does the music by Neil Lee Griffin which perfectly helps set up the atmosphere.  Kudos to the cast and behind the scenes talent for helping to create a world that sells the film!

 

I must also say something about the great job with the makeup and special makeup effects of Faith Tramp and John Lauterbach, respectfully, which help achieve everything that the film needs to entertain and appease horror fans…even the ones who don’t really care for the vampire genre. 

 

Film Review: MONSTER FORCE ZERO

Original Title of Article: “Cosplay Goes Out of This World in MONSTER FORCE ZERO!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Nathan Letteer directs a new type of Cosplay in the energetic and fan friendly film Monster Force Zero which elevates Cosplay to a whole different level!  Calvin Cashill, aka A.I., (Adam Singer) and his fellow comic book creators Ammorama and Kadabra Couture (Aeon Cruz and Dalena Nguyen, respectfully) are at a convention promoting the latest issue of their Monster Force Zero comic book when they are thrust into an outer worldly competition with a fellow Cosplay group of which the price is to gain supernatural powers in order to help two aliens defeat their mortal enemy.  Ana Unaki and Igigi (Silvia Taziri and Sly Clayton, respectfully) represent two alien races that need the help of humans in order to overcome their enemies Dr. Isolanda Eeche and her Consultant (Rachel Darden and Justin Cooper, respectfully) but first they need to know who is most worthy to wield their gift of supernatural powers and help them – A.I. and Monster Force Zero or Gunns Lazer (Heath C. Heine) and his team of misfits.

 

The first half of the film is a competition between the two teams in which they are in a race to grab icons that unleash their inner powers (or the powers their Cosplay character would have if they were real).  Once they have their powers it is game on in a battle for supremacy.  When one of them loses a battle they are sent to the penalty box or “janitor’s closet.”  After A.I. and his Monster Force Zero team succeed in defeating Gunns Lazer and his team they are sent on a mission to defeat the evil Dr. Eeche but nothing is what it seems as A.I. soon learns and he realizes that he doesn’t know who to trust which may endanger the mission.

 

Monster Force Zero is a love-letter to the Cosplay community as it takes what some see as a misunderstood community and gives it weight in an entertaining and engaging way.  The visual effects are actually really well done and the style is incorporated seamlessly into the Cosplay world of the film.  Although the film seems choppy due to the fact that there are two distinct halves to the film – one dedicated to the tournament between the two Cosplay groups and the second is the actual “mission” they are set upon, this plays well with the theme of the film in which the first half is a “game” and the second half is the “adventure.”  I actually found myself really enjoying the first half of the film more than the second as I loved the “game” aspect of the film.  There are also fun additions to the second half of the film including dinosaurs and Sasquatch (the less you know beforehand the better) which keeps the film (and audience) on its toes throughout!

 

I am not a Cosplay person but I can understand the allure of that culture and this film most definitely wants audiences to be immersed in this world enough to understand it and be entertained by it.  The cast does a tremendous job selling these aspects to the audience as they all know what style of film they are in and they know how to sell it (which at times makes for a very comedic film).  The film is also about teamwork and friendship which is also hallmarks of the Cosplay community.

 

Overall, Monster Force Zero is a great and enjoyable film for both audiences invested in Cosplay and those who (still) have no idea what it even is and it will entertain and take audiences on a unique and fun ride into a different “type” of world.

Film Review: CHICAGO ROT (2016)

Original Title of Article: “The Ghoul Unleashes Carnage in CHICAGO ROT!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Getting vengeance has never been so fun (and gory) like in the film Chicago Rot (2016).  Wrongfully imprisoned  Les (Brant McCrea) has just got out of prison and there are a lot of people who want to see him dead among several gangsters and even the cops of which Detective Dave Simmons (Dave Cartwright) is but one who believes that Les killed his partner in front of his own eyes.  But there is more to Les than it seems as he is unable to die due to a pact, he has with a mysterious benefactor who wants to use Les for his own goals.  Les is an unstoppable killing force working his way up the underbelly of the underworld to Elion (Jonez Jones), whom also has his own secrets to shed.  The only thing keeping Les on the straight path is his girlfriend Alex (Shira Barber) whose been awaiting his release from prison for a very long time.  Now time is running short for Les as his enemies get closer even as the body count gets higher.

There’s an interesting mythology in the film involving Les who is know on the streets and the media as “The Ghoul” because he’s unable to die and he uses the flesh and blood of his victims to replace the damage done to his own body and there is a lot of it.  The one thing that may turn viewers off from the film is the way in which writers McCrea and Dorian Weinzimmer (who also directs) has mixed genres throughout the film leaving audiences uneasy throughout with some batshit crazy visuals and story elements.  To put the film in perspective, it feels like a typical knock-off of The Crow with Les’ The Ghoul seeking vengeance against those that have done him wrong and he does not necessarily control his own destiny.  The Ghoul dispatches his enemies with relish and carnage until getting to his ultimate challenge Elion (aka The Devil) and their battle is like a musical battle of the bands in LED technicolor.  This is not actually a bad thing as it gives the film a visually stunning and engaging pallet that was missing in the first half of the film.  The first Act may have been a paint by numbers revenge tale but by Act III you have been thrust into a whole other world which is also complimented with surreal dream sequences.  Those not willing to engage in the film’s more fantastic elements may be ultimately turned off but I found them more interesting and dynamic.

The one element of the film I least thought was successful was the overindulgence in violence as mostly committed by Les who is supposed to be the hero but comes off more like a sadistic thug.  Les does not really get the audiences empathy at any point in the story as he has committed such gory atrocities to be the villain himself.  It would be like watching The Punisher if he had no consequences for his actions and felt no sympathy through other characters so that audiences could empathize with his internal struggle.  None of that is present in Les and instead he comes off like a Snake Plissken if Plissken killed everyone that got in his way and indulged in seeing their pain as he did it. 

This being said, I loved the musical aspects of the film as Weinzimmer does a phenomenal job incorporating the musical performances of Rachel Morgan as Calamity Jane with that of the visual musical cues (such as the final battel between a reborn Les and The Devil that’s edited like a battle of the bands).  This gives the film a unique feel and atmosphere unlike other similar films.  Especially note worthy is the Opening Credit Sequence!

Overall, there are some elements that distract from the film, but it also contains so much more than what you would expect from your typical revenge thriller.

Film Review: SLEDGEHAMMER (2017)

Original Title of Article: “Violence in Joshua Miller’s SLEDGEHAMMER!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

If there was ever a film about the dangers of drug use it would be writer/director Joshua Miller’s Sledgehammer (2017).  Yolner (Stephen Miller) is having a bad day.  He is late for work at a construction site because his car is out of gas and he must take the city bus, which he almost misses because the driver forgets to stop for him.  Also, his girlfriend Sibby (Samantha Green) decides to breakup with him over the phone because he is too boring and does not enjoy any of the things she does.

When two co-workers spike his coffee with drugs, he descends into anarchy thinking he is a Nordic God armed with a sledgehammer who must rid the world of generally anyone he comes across.  This leaves killer Yolner on a crazy odyssey of chaos and murder throughout the city with no one able to stop his carnage.

Now, on the surface this might be an interesting idea for a horror film like a warped version of Falling Down (1993) but unfortunately this film lacks all the elements that make that film so enduring.  Yolner is not a very interesting character as he is someone whom you think deserves everything that is happening to him and everyone he kills is so random and haphazard that they just come off as a simple body count of carnage similar to the violence seen in infamous director Uwe Boll’s Rampage trilogy (which I actually do not mind).  Unfortunately, this film decides that because Yolner is on drugs everything needs to be viewed through a drug induced state of CGI filled carnage edited to heavy metal music which if that is what you crave then this is perfectly suited for you.

If you have seen the Neveldine/Taylor directed Crank films then you know that this could have worked out to some amazing advantages but you kind of wish Miller had taken full advantage of the aesthetic. The over use in CGI backgrounds and use of black & white footage for no reason actually take away from the film as does as the side stories of random characters that are not established enough or given any type of back story before they are killed.  Yolner has a great gimmick in the sledgehammer as a weapon of choice and the fact that he comes from the construction job is also inspiring but  once he steps away from all that, the film descends into madness and not always in a good way.

Believable gore effects could have smoothed over the film’s rougher edges but that is lacking as it is done in a cartoony way that after the first few kills it becomes repetitive and less interesting and unfortunately Yolner kills a lot of people so you have to sit through a lot of extraneous cartoon violence.  It is like a Loony Tunes cartoon of violence and depravity which will appeal to some audiences.

One of the bright spots is the use of locations in the film as the sequence where Yolner chases three bike riders across the city streets is quite interesting as is the final sequence that takes place in a rock-climbing quarry.  Some of the film’s best cinematography is used in these sequences which makes you wish that the rest of the film were just as good.

Overall, the best way to truly enjoy this film is to be drugged just like Yolner, which may not necessarily be a bad thing after all.

Film Review: GETTING SCHOOLED (2017)

Original Title of Article: “Surviving Detention in Getting Schooled!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Detention has never been so dangerous as in the film Getting Schooled (2017) in which Julie (Mayra Leal) and a bunch of her fellow classmates run afoul of a Vietnam veteran teacher with thoughts of murder on the brain.  Written by Chuck Norfolk (who also directs), Tim Norfolk and Steven Scott Norfolk this is a film that gives PTSD a whole different meaning.

The year is 1983 and after school detention is still in full swing where five students must pay the price for previous transgressions.  Mr. Roker (Tom Long) is a wheelchair bound teacher task with overseeing the students of detention which include the jock, the bad boy, the geek, and the princess (Jake Byrd, Roland Ruiz, Susan Ly, and Morgan Tyler, respectfully).  Mr. Roker has an accident in the head that prompting him to relive the trauma of the war. He soon believes that the students are his enemy and trying to kill him.  Now Julie and rest of the gang must find a way to escape the murderous intensions of Mr. Roper before they become a casualty of war.

On the surface, this seems like it is a mixture of The Breakfast Club (1985) and Cutting Class (1989) but despite never having a cell phone in sight, the film never feels like it is in the ‘80s even though Principal Vernon (Nick W. Nicholson) does in fact have an ‘80s phone.  There are some creative ‘80s horror film kills that will satisfy the gore fans, but the characters are never as savvy as those in The Breakfast Club making most of their dialogue scenes amongst each other nothing more than pandering drivel.  The film is best when Roker is killing people off and sprouting mad about his war memories.

What the film does get right in terms of ’80s slasher films is the sense that the characters are pretty much cannon fodder for the killer and rarely come off as anything more than caricatures of their stereo type which worked well in the ‘80s but in the ‘10s seem dated and out of touch.  What I did appreciate was the diverse casting (something the ‘80s were not known for) and there are a lot of great homages to ‘80s films.  I did enjoy the few instances that try to break the stereo type mold with having the Princess be a black belt and the bad boy actually have higher SAT scores than the Geek but these moments are few and far in between with a film more interested in maintaining the slasher film quota.

There are some logic issues with the film that will annoy audiences one of which is if the killer is in a wheelchair, why not just take the wheelchair away from him (which they get plenty of opportunities to do)?  Why do characters willingly go off on their own to do dumb things and get themselves killed off?  These are questions that ‘80s filmmakers and audiences didn’t need to answer but in the ‘10s it is something that must be answered, or it takes the audience right out of the world of the film.

I will say that the original score by Mike Fair fits the film perfectly and puts you right into that ‘80s slasher movie mindset and the practical effects look great (no CGI gore here!).  Also, infamous actor Ron Jeremy makes an appearance as Janitor Dan and has a great death scene!

If you’re a fan of ‘80s high school slasher films then you will find something to enjoy in this film.

Film Review: THE TENT (2020)

 

Original Title of Article: “Surviving a Post-Apocalyptic World in THE TENT!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Post-Apocalyptic films can be tricky as filmmakers have to decide whether less is more (i.e. The Rover or Carriers) or to go all out (i.e. The Road Warrior or Tank Girl).  In terms of writer/director Kyle Couch’s The Tent (2020), the film goes for the less approach in order to focus on character.  In the film an event called The Crisis has devastated David’s (Time Kaiser) world and he has been forced to fend for himself in the woods while living in a tent of his own design.  He has only his wits and his own life lessons to keep him alive while a mysterious beast lurks in the woods and constantly watches him from the shadows.

Living alone in the woods has taken a toil on his psyche to the point where he is unable to comprehend memories from his past or the present.  When a young woman by the name of Mary (Lulu Dahl) helps to free him from one of his own traps, an unlikely partnership happens where she relies on the safety of David and his tent but is his tent truly a place of safe haven our a tomb to slowly die in?  David must decide his own fate while trying to help both survive from not only the beast outside but the monsters that David has created within his own mind that threaten everything he believes in.

There is a lot going on in the film in terms of themes about faith and the nature of evil both internal and external and sometimes they work and sometime not so much.  David’s mental balance is at the heart of the film as he must decide what is a safe place – whether to stay in the comfort of the tent that he has created for himself or to face his fears and the evils of the world.  Christian ideology is peppered throughout the film but is not overpowering.  The film could have worked better with more to strengthen that theme.  The same can be said for the monster which represents the “other” evils outside the tent more figuratively than physically which may be a huge turn off for horror and sci-fi fans.

The film wants to play with the conventions of the horror and sci-fi genres but never truly melds them to the overall story to satisfy the needs of either genre.  The film plays out more like a two person play about character than it does about anything else which may be a turn off for a lot of audiences expecting something much more.  This does not take away from what Couch is trying to say with the film, but his message may be a bit heavy handed especially in the final act of the film.

This being said, the film looks good from the art direction and cinematography (Andrew Doetsch and Robert Skates, respectfully) which makes David’s tent and the surrounding area look lived in and breathes life into images that rely on the two main leads.  Also, of note is the music by Pierre Vaucher which works wonderfully with the film.  Performances and dialogue at times can be wooden but it is all in the service of the overall story.

The Tent may not satisfy genre film fans but if you stick with it, there is a satisfying twist at the end that puts the whole film in perspective.

Film Review: INVASION EARTH (2020)

Original Title of Article: “Aliens Vs. Addicts in Invasion Earth”

Originally Published by ScreamFix.

Invasion Earth (2020) is the type of sci-fi film that will anger sci-fi fans but may appeal to those wanting a more character driven film with small sci-fi elements.  Both will probably come away disappointed in some way.

 

Dr. Carson (David Shaw) is a renowned psychologist who deals exclusively with troubled young people.  He has published several books to the chagrin of TV show host Pearson (Jon-Paul Gates), who has made it his mission to destroy Dr. Carson’s reputation.  Carson’s latest group of subjects are the who’s who of bad habits – a heroin addict, a nymphomaniac, an anorexic, a racist, and more, whom are all being forced to enter into his months long program or suffer going to jail.  Carson’s only ally is his right-hand man Thomas (Nigel Thijs), who has a military background and handles the things that Carson is unable to do.

 

Carson’s program includes taking his group to a secluded location and making them earn back their sense of worth and humanity by embracing their fears and insecurities.  This all sounds like a great lead into a drama with quirky characters that get into some shenanigans, but a dramatic comedy this is not.  Instead, this all happening while an alien invasion is going on all around them and once the aliens reveal themselves then this group of misfits must find a way to survive or escape the confines of the secluded clinic before it is too late.

 

Now, on the surface, this could be an interesting concept for a film.  Unfortunately, as written by director James Twyman, the film does not always know what type of film it wants to be.  The first two-thirds does a great job building and establishing the characters while in the background the occasional death via alien happens.  Then for no apparent reason the aliens possess one of the characters and then that character goes on a killing spree before being killed herself.  Then the aliens return to finish the job!?!  There is no real reason given why the aliens are hanging around for weeks on end while Carson’s group gets therapy nor why they would waste time possessing anyone when clearly they are shown to have the power to just zap people and objects from the comfort of space.

 

Night scenes are far too dark, but I am sure that was to hide the filming location whereas most scenes are over lit with the alien’s purple hue even when the aliens are not even around.  Most of the film starts to fall apart when there is an over reliance on trying to create the “alien menace” while characterization is sacrificed which is a shame since the film has very little suspense or surprise and it is the characters who make the first two-thirds interesting in the first place.   Often, this film feels like the low budget cousin of Signs (2002) just two decades too late.  Less is more as in this film the aliens look like something out of an S&M fetish store (or Hellraiser film) as opposed to an actual sci-fi alien film.

I am hard pressed to see how any audience will enjoy the overall film as it will leave you pondering all the missed opportunities of what it could have been instead of what it ended up as.

Film Review: THE COOK (2017)

Original Title of Article: “Snake Handling the film THE COOK!”

Originally Published for ScreamFix.

Writer/director Joshua Miller’s The Cook (2017) is an odd mixture of backwoods slasher movie, drug movie, and religious cult thriller rolled into one.  When his younger sister is hit by a car during a drug infused meltdown, Jim and his other sitter Jena (Jeremy Castaldo and Ashley Pierce Davis, respectfully) hold a party in Morningside Park with a few close friends.  Unbeknownst to them, a religious zealot known to the locals as The Cook (Wade Blevins) is on his own crusade to rid the area of sinners wherever he may find them.   For those he deems worthy, he subjects them to an ordeal where death may be the only way out.  As Jim’s friends slowly disappear through the night, he comes to a personal dilemma of his own which involves his career as an actor in a successful TV soap opera and a possible new love interest Imogen (Amber Tranum), whom Jena does not take an immediate liking to.

 

People are sliced and diced in every direction and in increasingly gory ways (which should appeal to the gore aficionados) as The Cook makes his way through everyone he comes into contact with especially Jena and Imogen, who he takes a liking to and must ultimately see if they are worthy of his attention.  Jim may be the only one that can help them.

 

Now the film starts off with great potential as it has some really amazing cinematography at the beginning to simulate drug induced psychosis which plays into the theme later with The Cook who is suffering some type of PTSD from the way in which he was raised in a religious cult  that uses snake handling as a means to communicate with their God.  The Cook just uses what he learned in his upbringing in more morbid ways to decide who is worthy of his God’s attention.  This artificial psychedelic state is used throughout the film not only to show the mindset of characters (either induced via drug, alcohol, or religious means) but also to create suspense and unease in editing throughout the film.  At times, this works extremely well whereas when it has no purpose it makes the film fall flat.  This is most evident in the scenes when it is used while none of the characters are experiencing mental or psychological instability and when the POV of the video camera (or still camera or security camera) is used when none of that is within the scene; this type of artificial style takes away from the film as it seems out of place and just there for style instead of substance.  There is also an over reliance on over exposed daylight scenes which seem out of place (unless used as a POV for The Cook). 

 

The characters are not uniquely drawn as the required group of backwoods hillbillies and stock slasher film fodder are very present but what does stand out is the well-executed makeup FX which will appease gore fans to no end.  There is a love for ‘80s horror films that is very present here which should entertain the hardcore horror fans and either leave you loving the film or hating it for all its apparent mistakes. 

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "WHO LOVES FOUND FOOTAGE FILMS?"

The found footage genre took off with a bang with the original release of The Blair Witch Project (1999) but then became the sub-genre that allowed no and low budget films and filmmakers to thrive with most of the results less than exemplary.  Now, for general audiences (and most horror fans) found footage films are a lost cause whose time has passed with most people thinking the genre never really achieved anything great passed the Blair Witch but I’m here to say that there have been plenty of great found footage films and there still continues to be great films produced.  Now, the conventions which were originated with the Blair Witch have become cliché but that does not mean that there is not still enough fuel left in the genre’s fire.

 

Many may not be aware of this but the first, and still the most harrowing, found footage film was Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which jump started the cannibal genre instead of an early version of the found footage.  It is more infamous for real animal cruelty and controversy than it is for being a film about a professor who is task with going over the found footage of a documentary crew.  It is an aesthetic that would later show up in Welcome to the Jungle (2007) and the non-found footage film The Green Inferno (2013).   Another early classic was Man Bites Dog (1992), one of my personal favorites that gained greater appreciation after the genre became popular.

 

Before the Blair Witch Project there was the similar film The Last Broadcast (1998) but that film was less successful due to many issues one of which was less interesting characters and bad editing.  For the next several years there were no films of note as the genre was quickly forgotten and Blair Witch, by many, had been seen as a one hit wonder.  Then 2005 hit and the rest of the ‘00s became littered with found footage films.  The next major found footage hit with mainstream audiences was Cloverfield (2008) but before that you had some small screen success stories with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) (one of my personal favorites) but there was also [REC] (2007) and its American remake Quarantine (2008), American Zombie (2007), and  Brutal Massacre: A Comedy (2008) not to mention the fact that celebrated zombie director George A. Romero unleashed his Diary of the Dead (2007).  The rest of the ‘00s saw the release of The Fourth Kind (2009), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) (depending upon when you were able to get a bootleg of this film) and the true king of the found footage genre Paranormal Activity (2007).  This film crossed over to audiences of all ages scaring up $193 million worldwide.  This was not as much as The Blair Witch Project (which managed $248.6 million worldwide) but it spawned an entire franchise, something that never caught on with the Blair Witch.

 

To date there are seven films in the franchise!  Included are Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015), and the Japanese spin-off Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010).  There is also an untitled new film in the works!  I actually like most of the films in this series and thought Part 4 was the weakest and Part 3 and The Marked Ones being my favorites but the thing that makes this franchise successful is the fact that they all inter connect and feed into each other and the larger story and universe (something the SAW franchise also did extremely well).  A lot of found footage films fail because the characters are not interesting, and neither is the story being told but this franchise manages to keep audiences engaged and connected to the characters throughout each instalment.

 

The ‘10s were a mixed bag of releases as this is when the genre really began to stretch itself way to thin not only in terms of stories to mine but also believability.  There are some true clunkers like Chernobyl Diaries (2012), The Pyramid (2014), Phoenix Forgotten (2017), The Frankenstein Theory (2013), Devil’s Due (2014), and The Devil Inside (2012), to name but a few, but there are also some gems like As Above, So Below (2014), Trollhunter (2010), Creep (2014), Creep 2 (2017), The Bay (2012), The Sacrament (2013), Digging Up the Marrow (2014), The Visit (2015), and The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014).  Some of my personal favorites were What We Do in the Shadows (2014), The Last Exorcism (2010), Grave Encounters (2011) and its sequel (2012), Frankenstein’s Army (2013), Apollo 18 (2011), Europa Report (2013), and the entire [REC] franchise.  Some of the films I enjoyed but seem to have split audiences were The Gallows (2015), Willow Creek (2013), Exists (2014), The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), and the eventual sequel Blair Witch (2016), to name a few.

 

I was happy to see the found footage genre take on the anthology format most successfully with V/H/S (2012) and its sequels V/H/S/2 (2013) and V/H/S: Viral (2014).  This was at the height of the found footage popularity with horror fans but by this time general audiences had tired of the genre.  Films like Devil’s Due ($36 million worldwide), The Gallows ($42 million worldwide) , The Devil Inside ($101 million worldwide), As Above, So Below ($41.8 million worldwide) and others were all amazingly successful at the Box Office due to low budgets and huge returns.  The problem is that the aesthetics of the genre were becoming too predictable and frankly most audiences hated the abrupt endings to the films due to the fact that the person holding the camera dies and that’s the end of the film.

 

The genre needed to redefine itself and that is where the film Unfriended (2014) comes in.  It uses computer technology and social media such as the ability to group chat to spin an otherwise typical ghost story among friends.  This was huge final success bringing in over $62.8 million worldwide on a budget of about $1 million!  It quickly spanned (in my opinion) a better sequel in Unfriended: Dark Web (2018) which was still successful but did only a fraction that the original did with $16.02 million worldwide (on a $1 million budget).  The genre also got self-referential (i.e. Scream) with the entertaining but polarizing film Found Footage 3D (2016), which acknowledges all the faults of the genre as it shows a film crew trying to make a found footage film.  One of the more recent films that I enjoyed was the South Korean film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018) as it is always nice to see how other countries and cultures take on the found footage genre.

 

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a different type of found footage film which gives new meaning and themes to play with which is exemplified in the film Host (2020), where a group on friends forced to social distance decide to do a group activity together which is a séance to talk to the dead.  Needless to say, that the séance does not go as planned and people start to die.  I really enjoyed this film as it had something new to say especially in the current times that we all find ourselves in.

 

Like any sub-genre of horror there will be lots of films that just don’t make the grade and it is unfortunate that since many filmmakers saw this genre as an easy way to make a film (i.e. no name actors, limited camera, low budget, easy to edit, etc.) but they forgot that the most important thing is that you need compelling characters with an interesting story and journey that needs to be told.  Telling a convincing and compelling found footage film is just as hard, if not harder, than telling a conventional film story in a conventional manner.  There are some amazing found footage films and I have to agree that the ratio of bad to good is pretty damn high (for every single film I’ve mentioned there are at least 10 really bad ones that I’ve seen that I didn’t mention).  I watch found footage films because I love the genre and I’ve managed to find those diamonds in the rough and I hope that horror fans take a look at some of the films I’ve mentioned above and give the genre another look and another chance as it is a shame to dismiss the entire genre just because you happen to have seen a handful that were just not that good.

 

The ‘80s and ‘90s were littered with extremely bad slasher films and the same can be said of the found footage genre in the ‘00s and ‘10s, or for that matter any horror genre that helped define a decade or a time in horror history.

 

 

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - "Disney For the Mass Hysteria"

For this return to "Rants & Ravings About Horror" I decided to tackle instead my misgivings about the Disney Corporation but be on the look out for new and exciting "rants" coming throughout the rest of 2020 and beyond!

Most people know I’m generally not a fan of the Disney Corporation.  I’m not going to lie.  I didn’t grow up on Disney animation and I generally have no fondness for most their films post Beauty & The Beast (1991) which I still think is their last great masterpiece.  I’m an animation lover and studied animation from all over the world in college and therefore I’ve eventually watched most of what Disney has produced but their films just aren’t really all that good either for children nor “family” audiences.   They generally appeal to all audiences while at the same time never appealing to any one audience.  This is not the main reason why I just don’t care for Disney product.  This is just one of the many reasons and it came up recently (again)in conversation that I just “hate” on Disney which isn’t entirely true but I thought it would be a great time (again) to give a voice to my opinion.

First off, the Disney Corporation is an amazing corporation that engulfs hundreds of different and diverse companies that keep artist and creatives with steady jobs, fair wages, and places of advancement.  While in college (and when I was studying animation) I even wanted to apply to the Disney Animation internship program in California that fosters the future of animation and where most of the interns end up with a job at the studio.  I didn’t turn my application in but I still have it (stuffed in some box somewhere).  If you’re a hard worker and dedicated I’ve heard that it is a place that keeps people employed but like all corporations it really cares about the bottom line which is maximizing profits.

There is nothing wrong with maximizing profits.  It’s the way of all big businesses and the rule of capitalism so you can’t fault anyone for that.  But what you can fault them is the way they flaunt this to the world and how they want to protect their “family” image at the cost of everything else.  They hide their dirty secrets under red tape or subsidiaries or they bury them altogether and never acknowledge their existence.  It is no secret that the Miramax owned company refused to release David Cronenberg’s film Crash (1996) because the director refused to make the necessary cuts to get to an R-Rating.  Instead the company dumps the film in limited release (meaning specialty theaters) as if it never existed with a rating of NC-17 (the dreaded rating).  Also, for the longest time the Disney Company refused to release their WWII propaganda animated films to the public as it would hurt their “family friendly” image.  These films were a testament to the time in which they were made and every major studio was producing these types of films to boost morale at home and abroad.  Just look at the “Why We Fight” film series that had such a luminary visionary like Frank Capra (director of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life) at the forefront.  You also will never see Disney give an official release for Song of the South (1946), the less said about the history of this debacle the better.  This is a small sampling of the films Disney has buried.

This brings me to Studio Ghibli which for a time the company distributed in the US (and some other territories).  Studio Ghibli is one of the premiere animation studios in the world producing some of the best films that don’t rely on anthropomorphized characters, musical numbers, and CGI animation and technology.  They create brilliant works of animation that rely on original stories with captivating characters in unique worlds of wonder and imagination.  Everything that the Disney studio lacks.  Studio Ghibli being a major competitor, Disney bought up the distribution rights and released their films in limited capacity even after dubbing them all in English and never giving them the due respect they earned.  I was lucky enough to have seen most all of the Disney released Studio Ghibli films in art-house theaters.  These are films that have garnered awards throughout the entire world yet here in the US were treated as the bothersome stepson.  I was glad when the rights were sold to GKIDS in 2011 (when Disney was pretty much done with them) and they’ve given all the films in the library substantial re-releases that continue to this day.

Now I could also go into the huge Pixar/Disney debacle which is more closer to home for most Americans but for the longest time Pixar films were only distributed by Disney until the two corporations came to a mutually beneficial agreement whereby Pixar is a subsidiary of Disney and that Pixar is now obligated to produce two sequels in their catalog of films for every one original film.  This has cheapened the brand whereby Pixar used to produce one film every few years and each film was simply amazing but now for every Brave (2012) you get a Monsters University (2013) and Cars 2 (2011) or for every Coco (2017) there is a Incredibles 2 (2018) and Toy Story 4 (2019).  Now some of these sequels are good but to be honest, did we really need a Toy Story 4 after the amazing way Toy Story 3 (2010) ended and the less said about Cars 3 (2017) the better.  Pixar has produced some genuine masterpieces in Toy Story (1995), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and Finding Nemo (2003) but pretty much everything else is meh.

Disney’s biggest live action competitor was probably 20^th Century Fox’s Star Wars franchise which they never released a film against at the Box Office (except for maybe an animated film as counter programming which works in a business sense).  When George Lucas sold Disney all of Lucasarts (and its subsidiaries) it was like Christmas forever for the company!  One of their chief competitors at the Box Office was gone and now in their own hands.  And the first thing that came to Disney’s mind is to franchise.  Let’s make a new sequel trilogy, spin-off movies, television series, new toys, and of course a Baby Yoda!  Now, there have been questions from fans about just how good the last five films released by Disney actually are.  I loved The Force Awakens (2015) and enjoyed the hell out of Solo (2018) but there wasn’t anything original, captivating, or awe inspiring in any of them as they borrowed so heavily from other films in the franchise.  They had better actors, better CGI, and better action but they all were kind of “hollow” which is what happens when you try to appeal to everyone while appealing to no one.  There is a sense that these films need only to merely engage and entertain while presenting nothing new other than introducing lens flare to the universe.  Now the one thing I did love about the franchise is how inclusive the films have been to all races, genders, etc. and as an African American I can appreciate that as the original trilogy pretty much only had Billy Dee Williams.  Unfortunately, I haven’t bothered with The Mandalorian as when I heard mention of a Baby Yoda the only thought I had was of Ewoks and Gungans and I said, “No thank you.”

The same can be said in regards to the MCU.  If these films had come out in the ‘90s I probably would have taken to them more but I’ve not read a Marvel or DC comic in almost thirty years and therefore I have an image in my brain of what I remember what these characters were and not how much they’ve been re-invented in the last three decades.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved The Avengers (2012), Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) & Captain America: Civil War (2016), Captain Marvel (2019), and both Guardians of the Galaxy films (which are the best in the entire franchise) but pretty much everything else is meh.  I hate the Iron Man and Thor films (although the 3^rd Thor film is very fun), Doctor Strange was visually stunning but hollow, Black Panther had one of the greatest ensemble casts of all the films but it’s over reliance on CGI killed it for me (although it has one of the best openings of any of the MCU films), Homecoming was inspired but man did I hate Far From Home and let’s be honest – did we really need yet another reboot of Spider-Man this soon?  Ant Man was completely forgettable except for Michael Pena who makes the film work although Ant Man & Wasp was a great recovery film.  I know there was a Hulk film somewhere but I remember nothing about it.  The greatest thing about the MCU franchise is the Agent Carter show which I loved and all the Netflix shows in The Defenders universe (which Kevin Feige wants to claim are no longer in the same universe any more).  The MCU is now like a one-stop shopping for candy-colored, delicious confections whose taste lasts for but a few moments before leaving  you hollow afterwards.  Infinity War and Endgame were not that bad but that’s because of Josh Brolin.  The one thing I have to give it to Disney in regards to the MCU is the inclusivity of the entire franchise but I also blame them (and Feige) for cancelling all the Hulu, Freeform, and Netflix shows as they weren’t created by Feige so therefore don’t belong in his MCU.

Now that I’ve touched on Disney’s handling of Pixar, propaganda films, MCU, Star Wars, and Studio Ghibli, I could go into more but I think you’re seeing the picture.  This hasn’t even touched the 20^th Century Studios acquisitions which has both good and bad vibes.  For MCU fans they love the fact that The X-Men and Fantastic Four and other Fox properties can now be incorporated into the MCU.  But what does that mean for the hugely successful Deadpool franchise which was Rated-R and other properties like the Alien and Predator franchises which don’t fit into the Family Friendly Disney image; I guess there is always Hulu.  For comic fans, what will happen to Boom! Studios (which Disney has a minority stake in) and will that be incorporated into Marvel comics and/or will Feige try to incorporate those characters into MCU as well or simply ignore them altogether? Will 20^th Century Animation and Blue Sky Studios be integrated into Walt Disney Animation Studios or shuttered altogether?  How will FX Networks be integrated into Disney/ABC/A&E or will its contents be dumped to Hulu (which is majority owned by Disney now)?  Will National Geographic Partners become part of Disney Nature and/or be re-branded?  The only thing that seems safe and untouchable is ESPN Inc. and everything included with that.   I’m not going to even touch the music and media publishing accounts.  What Disney sees as competition they either acquire or they destroy or sometimes both.  The danger is that the more assets that Disney acquires the less diversified the product for the consumer to choose from.

It’s like a town that has no Mom & Pop stores but only a Super Walmart and a Super Target.  You have two chooses to choose from that give you the same exact products with no variety but at a cheap cost so everyone can afford them.  Great cost!  Low prices! Cheap products!  Maximum profits!

Now, still, there is nothing inherently wrong with this as that’s what the consumer sometimes wants and they don’t mind paying for the same thing each year as long as it’s dressed up in a new pretty color.  If this is all that you have in your town then that’s all you ever want but you have to acknowledge that that is not all you NEED.  You need a choice.  You need variety.  You need diversification.  What we don’t need is the appearance of something we need which is a hollow and insincere gesture, which is what the Disney Corporation provides.  What we need is a genuine offering that is honest and truthful.

Right now, people are claiming they want this through our politics, a transparent police department in every city, a genuine health care plan that actually works for the people, the end of racism, ageism, and sexism.  These are the things people need.  People don’t need Disney, which encompasses almost every facet of our daily lives in some form or fashion, to continue slamming the same trash time and time again down our throats through their business practices, their politics, and their treatment of their employees (because they aren’t transparent when it comes to their own internal systematic racism, sexism, ageism, etc.); they’re just better at covering it up like candy-colored, delicious confections.

Now none of this minimizes the fact that the Disney Corporation is the most successful film studio in the world (probably cruise line and theme parks as well, just to name a few) but this shouldn’t blind you to everything else that they do as well behind closed doors and hostile take-overs.

***

Now getting back to my original opening whereas I mentioned I didn’t grow up on Disney.  That’s not entirely true.  We had the Disney channel in our home because my parents (like most parents) thought they needed to have it because of the four children in our house hold.  My siblings and I could care less about watching Disney, so my parents stopped paying for it.  I actually got much of my animation culture from public television and HBO (back in the day when they acquired content to distribute).  I grew up on the more profound animated films of Animal Farm (1954), Charlotte’s Web (1973), The Camel Boy (1974), Dot & the Kangaroo (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Hobbit (1977), The Snowman (1982), and many, many more.  HBO had some of the most diversified animation available as they acquired stuff from all over the world and being a military brat I was also exposed to the Black & White Speed Racer and AstroBoy (which played on every public television everywhere on base) so that was my early exposure to Japanese anime.  I didn’t grow up with the musicality of Disney animation and therefore don’t believe I really missed out on anything.  I’ve seen maybe 85% of all the Disney/Pixar animated films and still believe this as I just think other countries were more diversified in their offerings then and especially now.

Now, I don’t expect anyone to go out there and stop watching Disney product or boycott their films (as I’m sure they are doing right now with the live action Mulan film - #BoycottMulan) but if I’ve informed just one person about Disney practices and or made one person understand my thoughts on the whole thing than it will have been worth it.

In fact, I’m looking forward to an X-Men Vs Avengers film and think that if Disney can find a way to do a sequel to Aliens that doesn’t involve the Ripley character and isn’t a remake/reboot then I’m there!