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. 

Film Review: CALVAIRE (aka THE ORDEAL) (2004)

Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) is but a simple entertainer who is trying to get to his next gig when his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and thus begins Calvaire (2004) or Marc’s ordeal.  In this French horror film Marc finds solace in the home of Bartel (Jackie Berroyer) who offers to help him fix his car so he can get on his way.  Warned not to stray too far close to town, Marc takes a walk to pass the time and inevitable comes himself in that very town except there are no women anywhere.  When Marc finds Bartel taking apart his car instead of fixing it he finds himself trapped by a man who believes he is his wife that walked out on him years earlier.  No Bartel will stop at nothing to keep Marc “his wife” with him and away from the rest of the townsfolk even if it means beating her/him into submission.

Marc soon finds himself in an ordeal that he can’t easily find a way out of as he is tortured and abused by the deranged Bartel but he knows that if he can’t find a way out then he may not find a way to survive.

Part of the extreme new wave of French horror cinema that categorized the early ‘00s (other films include High Tension, Martyrs, La Horde, Inside, Ils, Sheitan, and Malefique, to name a few), Calvaire is not necessarily for everyone but it is a great film as director Fabrice du Welz (who also wrote the screenplay with Romain Protat).  The film is atmospheric and suspenseful due to the fact that Lucas is so good as the tortured Marc that you empathize with his situation and the terror that he is put in.  This film is definitely not for thus unfamiliar with French horror films but it is definitely one of the best that was produced during that decade.

Film Review: MADISON COUNTY (2011)

It’s hard to describe the film Madison County (2011) without also describing a whole lot of other films just like it.  A group of college kids travel to an old mountain community called Madison County in search of the truth about a killer based on the account of a writer from the town.  The moment they arrive they realize that the town is a place they would rather keep their secrets secret as they have no idea who the writer the kids are looking for is and they claim that there never were any killer or murders.  What they do get is a warning to get out of town as soon as possible.

The group don’t heed the warning and upon further investigating they soon come across a killer wearing a pig’s head who starts to knock them off one by one (or capturing them for later).  There is a subplot involving the writer who has to bring sacrifices for the pig killer but little really makes much sense in this film that strives to give a little more plot to the tire “Wrong Turn” story yet never actually accomplishing it.  The death are pretty gruesome and effective and the film is well filmed but there isn’t anything that really differentiates it from the countless (and endless) Wrong Turn sequels and its brethren.  The characters are not at all that interesting and neither is the killer for that matter.  It’s a pretty dull affair from beginning to end.

Written and directed by Eric England the film tries to bring something new to the backwoods killer film but fails to deliver on the goods.

Film Review: SUMMER SCHOOL (2006)

Anthology films are very hit or miss, but more often than not they are miss.  The same can be said for the film Summer School (2006) which suffers from being an anthology with a unique premise that is destroyed by subpar acting and production values and weak and uninspired direction (from all the directors).

It’s the first day of summer school and Charles (Simon Wallace) just wants to get through the day without any problems because he just spent last night watching a lot of B-level horror films.  Today will be anything but normal as Charles soon discovers that he is living a nightmare within a nightmare of different style horror films.  The only way of escape is when he dies at the end of the nightmare and wakes up but what is a nightmare and what is the real world?

The film has a great concept behind it as the short films contained within are from different genres from a vampire film to a mutant infestation film to a hillbilly “Wrong Turn” like film to more.  This is an excellent idea for a horror film but the overall film is hampered by a weak lead in with Wallace who cannot carry the film and seems out of place in many of the shorts (his performance is very inconsistent).  His co-stars all seem to be having more fun as each short has the same actors portraying different characters from one story to the next.

Most of the direction is pedestrian and lacks imagination and causes the film to drag especially when you’re stuck in scenes with just Wallace.  The low budget (or no budget as it looks) aesthetics of the film hamper it at every turn leaving nothing in the film to actually enjoy.  This is a shame since the film’s concept is its driving force and allure.  This is one of those independent films that could do with a remake that had a budget to do the story justice.

Film Review: WRONG TURN VI: LAST RESORT (2014)

The Wrong Turn franchise is now one of longest running modern horror franchises since the 2003 original.  It thrives as straight to DVD/BD/Digital entertainment mixing gore horror with your typical teen slasher aesthetics.  Wrong Turn VI: Last Resort (2014) is the latest in the franchise.

Inbred-hillbilly family of Saw Tooth, One Eye and Three Finger return to menace a new group of people that happen to cross their paths in their forest.  The family now find themselves at a holiday retreat that’s famous for its warm springs and healing abilities and which also holds secrets that are directly associated with the family.  At the same time Danny and his girlfriend Toni (Anthony Ilott and Aqueela Zoll, respectfully) arrive just after Danny discovers that he has inherited the hotel.  With a group of his friends, Danny decides that he really needs to return to the retreat in order to learn who his real family was.  With a new location to hide in One Eye and his brothers have a whole new playground of playmates and new ways to kill.

If you’ve seen any of the previous Wrong Turn films then you know what you’re in for.  The only difference is that the focus has now turned to One Eye and his brothers and extended family as we learn more about their history and where they came from.  Written by Frank H. Woodward and directed by Valeri Milev this film is an improvement over the previous film but still suffers from what’s been plaguing the last few films which is uninspired death scenes (for the diehard gore fans) and the fact that there is no suspense to be had in the film because of the predictability.  To enjoy this film you have to want to know more about One Eye and his family.

The Wrong Turn franchise has run its course but by the way this film ends it is just beginning as the future of the franchise lies in focusing on the hillbilly killing family.