Monthly Archives: October 2015

October Horror Showzen 2

Movies

Dark Skies

I liked this alien abduction movie a lot, glad I found this happy surprise. A suburban family’s life gets turned inside out when their youngest son starts having nightmares of “The Sandman” visiting him. Then the weird things around the house start happening. Smart direction with great escalation of weirdness into panic inducing events to a great finale. Really liked the cast, Keri Russell is the stand out as usual. Perfect spooky PG-13 alien flick.

V/H/S: Viral

I’m a fan of the V/H/S series, I’ve written reviews for the first two movies. The stories in the first two movies range from good to high fives all around awesome. I have no idea WTF happened with this one (OK, I have some ideas). The found footage angle made things way too complicated for the filmmakers of Viral to handle. Very little works the way they wanted it to. The main piece that “stitches” the other stories into the movie is a departure for the series and is a complete waste. It makes little sense and is boring (it’s where “Viral” fits into the title). The non-stop artificial artifacting and tape distortion is incredibly irritating. All the short stories completely miss the mark. None of them come close to being scary or suspenseful. The magician story is an interesting idea but I think it would work better if it was used for a novella collection like Stephen King’s Four Past Midnight. It just doesn’t fit what the V/H/S is supposed to do. The alternate dimension door story is ruined by a god awful hand puppet. The skater story has some neat looking skeleton guys sometimes. I think that can count as praise. Besides that, it’s stupid and edited so bad it’s unwatchable. They all look super cheap with terrible CG effects. A merciful 80 minutes long is the only highlight of this pile of disappointment.

Rosemary’s Baby

It’s taken me awhile to get this horror classic. As with any movie from the 60’s (and each decade really) it shows off a standard of filmmaking this simply isn’t done today. It’s much slower in every regard. Long(er) opening credits, the first act takes a while to spool up and the editing is much slower and deliberate. You’re eased into the movie and left to digest each scene. Once you get it down, the next bit comes at you. So, Rosemary and her husband Guy move into a nice apartment in NYC where their neighbors are a bit eccentric. Things progress slowly and rather uneventfully until Rosemary and Guy decide to start a family. The night they have planned for themselves, Rosemary falls ill, has a super messed up dream and in the morning finds out that her husband decided to go for it despite her being passed out. A red flag if there ever was one. Mia Farrow as Rosemary is far and away the best part of the movie. She holds the whole movie together and is a hell of a leading actress. I can see how this was scary 50 years ago, but today just about all of that is lost. It’s very dated and doesn’t stand up to the likes of The Exorcist (released 6 years later). At 135 minutes, it takes forever to really get going. I get setting things up and this is really from the perspective of someone used to more modern filmmaking (the last 30 years or so), but good lord does this movie draw things out. I think you could easily cut out 15 minutes and not miss a thing. While the beginning makes you suspicious of some people, it isn’t until that crazy night that the movie actually gets engaging. Her getting sick and being told what to do is disturbing and then the growing paranoia (which is also drawn out) as she puts things together add the next much-needed layer. Things really come together in the last 25 minutes or so. I think you can watch Rosemary’s Baby and appreciate it significant a piece of movie history, but it’ll bore the vast majority of people today. It just didn’t age well.

October Horror Showzen

Movies

babadook

Going to start this post off with the clean winner of the pack.

The Babadook

Knocked my socks off. A truly scary movie that’s a throw back to what makes horror movies so great. A single mother is struggling to raise her young son after her husband dies. He’s terrified of monsters lurking in the house, which makes him a difficult kid. One night, her son pulls a book off the shelf for them to read before bedtime: Mister Babadook. Its red cover holds a sinister presence that begins to seep off the page and into their home. Awesome idea and a visual presentation that simply needs to be seen. So many amazing set ups and gorgeous cinematography. The sound design really sells this thing, the monster just comes alive because of it (a point off for using the Jurassic Park raptor scream that’s really out of place). A forboding figure, he’s at his worst when you can’t see him. I think this is one of the coolest monster movies ever made. I think it’s closest to a mix of Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist in terms of tone and story. Very low on gore and violence, so it sells its scares by the creep factor. Really impressed by writer/director Jennifer Kent, sign me up for whatever she does next.

Tusk

Sticking to the WTF category of filmmaking, writer/director Kevin Smith drops another horror tale on his fans. Tusk, born from the ideas gestated in a podcast with fellow friend/producer Scott Mosier, we watch a mad man turn another man into a walrus in the shady edges of Canada! Super weird, often creepy and surprisingly beautiful. Kevin Smith landed a great cast and crew (Michael Parks and Johnny Depp doing wonders) to make this crazy idea actually work. Production design is great and the monster effect is really impressive. They got every dime of the $3 million production budget up on screen. Two gripes: the terrible choice to do a fast zoom out on the man-walrus really cheapens the reveal and I think they made a mistake anatomically with the front legs. With how Howard Howe prepared Wallace for the transformation, I don’t understand how he could be so ambulatory with his arms. Sure there might be some kind of explanation you could come up with, but if you are trying to sell body horror (which they do really well otherwise) you gotta do it all the way.

Tremors 5: Bloodlines

I’m always surprised to see a new Tremors movie. I hold the original 1990 monster movie a classic and none of the direct to video series ever match up. Spaced many years apart, they all come off as rather cheap, adding new types of “graboids” and never match the fun and tension of the original. Bloodlines is one of the better entries, bringing series mainstay Burt Gummer to Africa on a graboid hunt. Jamie Kennedy plays a major part as Travis Welker and holds it down as Burt’s opportunistic sidekick. The main worm graboid worm and the “ass blaster” variant are the creatures run amok. All the moving creatures are done in CG and in low lighting look really good. The death count is low and with a PG-13 rating, not much is shown (this series was never about gore though). While there are splashes of blood here and there, it’s clear a lot of on-screen action was avoided (even holes in the ground) to save on budget to use on CG scenes of worm jumping out of the ground like an orca at SeaWorld. Bloodlines falls short on the physicality and weight of the original making it more dull and incomplete than it should be. While disappointing, I did enjoyed watching it.

Life After Beth

A fun romantic comedy take on the zombie genre. Aubrey Plaza stars as Beth who dies from a snake bite when she goes hiking alone. Her boyfriend, Zach (Dane DeHaan) and her parents are obviously distaught over her premature death. Zach hangs around her parents for the next few days when suddenly they start ignoring him. Checking to see what’s up, he sees Beth walking around the house! Clever movie that’s both sad and funny. It’s got some cool ideas along with smart execution (really liked the end). Impressive work for an  indie budget too. Stacked cast with Paul Reiser, John C Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines and Anna Kendrick.

Quick Hits

Movies, TV

Taken is one of Luc Besson’s biggest hits and with part 3, I think it’s his biggest franchise. When the original came out, it took a lot of people by surprise and did serious business. It even made Liam Neeson a straight up action star. So the achievement with Taken 3 is that they came up with a good and plausible reason for Bryan Mills to punch and shoot his way through another movie. This one never leaves California, which was another surprise to me. It’s a much milder movie though and the action scenes do have their fair share of “yeah, ok” moments. The worst is the direction and editing. Spastic direction and ultra fast cuts ruin a lot of the action. It’s just irritating to watch and not know wtf is going on. I got worried for the action scenes after watching how the kitchen scene with Bryan and his ex-wife  Lenore was put together. They’re talking at a damn kitchen table and the camera is all over the damn place with needless close ups of their hands. At least it’s better than Lucy.

My guilty cop show pleasure, Hawaii 5-0 is back. For as dumb as this show can get, I still tune in every week.

Sleepy Hollow returns just in time for Halloween. With things wrapped up last season, Pandora glides into town with her box of horrors. It’s been monster-of-the-week type stuff so far, but Mills and Crane are starting to put things together so I’m hoping it will pick up more soon.

Face Off is at the finale! I thought for sure Scott was going to make it. Could go to any of the final 3, I think it’s going to come down to whoever can handle the pressure he best (the short creature movie is a fantastic idea to end the show).

If I saw it right, Ink Master had voting open to determine the final 2 contestants for all of 2 minutes. That was crap. I didn’t like the “live” tattoo being a factor at all. What’s the point of having them all do a 36 hour back piece when only 2 will get looked at? As much as I think Chris is the right choice over Kruzman, Matt was the guy to win.

I don’t think anyone thought FX’s Fargo would be as good as it is. The first season was a treat from start to finish and Season 2 started this week with a brand new cast (they landed some serious talent again) and crime. It’s still early, but the premiere was really promising. If the can make it even close to as good as last year, it’ll be one of the best shows on TV.

Finished With

TV

The Sopranos Season 3

If I remember right, this is the fan favorite season of the series. A ton of great stuff goes down. Livia dies of a stroke sending things off on a different course (she originally had a big role in this season, but it obviously had to change). The feds start getting aggressive with their case by bugging Tony’s house. Christoper gets made. but he’s still driven up walls by Paulie. Richie is a complete nightmare and Jackie Jr. doesn’t listen to Tony’s warnings. That ties into Meadow’s continued presence of being an obnoxious brat (and AJ is just a dummy, I wish they made him a more interesting character). Carmela has her ups and downs, interesting seeing her go to therapy with Tony and sneaking off on her own. Despite everything she knows and chooses to ignore, it’s more or less her fear of God that keeps her next to her husband. Tony lands himself another lunatic mistress and fights her threats back with his own. This is the season with the infamous “Pine Barrons” episode where Christopher and Paulie run around the woods with a Russian. As I’ve mentioned before, these two are the greatest and this whole ordeal is genius and so well acted. Michael Imperioli has so many great lines and reactions he needs a life-size trophy of Christopher wearing the outfit in this scene to immortalize his achievement. David Chase still gets a lot of crap for making the Russian just disappear and for good reason. It’s a loose thread that could have and should have been avoided (simply having them find their car after Tony and Bobby find them would have solved it. And it’s such a ripe angle to go into for season 4 if he did make it out).

Spartacus

Watched the entire series in about a month, just as good as I remember it. With 39 episodes of tight plotting, I never got bored. One of the most intense (and dramatic) shows around, it’s some ride. They successfully made it through a major actor change from Andy Whitfield to Liam McIntyre and bring something new and interesting to each season. More sex, violence and betrayal than you can shake a stick at, Spartacus is like few other shows.  The final season, War of the Damned, is much bigger in scope than the previous 3 seasons combined. “War” is putting it mildly, no one gets out unscathed. WotD does get carried away with itself sometimes. Off putting direction choices with “Matrix” like spins and awkward cutting mar the usual outstanding fight choreography and stunt work. Overuse of slow motion where regular speed would have worked just fine. The amount of battle cries also borders on the absurd, I’m thinking Manu Bennett got paid extra for it. One big change I noticed is Vengence and especially War of the Damned use a lot less CG blood. It’s mostly old school throat appliances with fire extinguisher like geysers of corn syrup and food coloring. It was a lot of fun coming back to this series, I’ll do it again in a few years.

The Bastard Executioner

I’m tapping out. I started watching the latest episode and turned it off about 20 minutes in. It’s just not keeping me interested, so I’m going to move on.

Gothumbsup!

TV

Just 3 episodes into Season 2 and Gotham has significantly stepped up its game and series mythos with “The Last Laugh.” Jerome has been revealed, through death, to be the prot0-Joker.

A legend left to grow in the cracks of Gotham city has been left behind in a rather brilliant way. Theo Galavan pulled off a long con setting up Jerome as the terror of Gotham only to swoop in to take him out and become the city’s hero. Jerome’s shocked response and final pose perfectly foreshadowing his impact on the city and Bruce Wayne’s future.

Easily the best episode of the series, let’s hope they can keep the momentum going.

The Strain <> Season 2

TV

thestrain

You  can always rely on The Strain to hook you up in the mean and nasty vampire department. The Master rooted himself into NYC like the nasty parasite he is despite all of Abraham and company’s hard work (where is that damn Lumen!?).

Lots of fun stuff this made it a treat to watch each week. The cast is rather large, but everyone got to play a part. The pull of Eldritch on The Master to get the respect he so desperately thought he was due. Eph and Nora’s work to make a bioweapon against the vamps along with Fet and Dutch’s help in beating back the vampire hordes. I think Fet and Dutch are my favorite characters, they were often given the best material. I like them as a couple, they’re good when they apart and I even liked the love triangle (poor Dutch, she just can’t pick ’em). Her kidnapping was probably the most intense and suspenseful part of the whole season. Really cool segment with some of the strongest direction of the season.

While Gus has always been more of a side (yet important) character, I liked how he was interwoven throughout and not only got a great friend to roll with but came in strong at the end. The battle with The Master and The Ancients got some good back story and exposure — along with Abe and Eichorst. Speaking of Eichorst, my number 2 behind Fet, he’s such an intimidating character. Love Richard Sammel’s work, I think he can give Christoph Waltz a run for his money. He had a lot of setbacks this season, despite throwing his weight around a lot. His confrontations with Vaun (what’s up, Blade), The Master skipping him in favor of a young nobody. That was a major slight, which I think will come up again.

I even came around to Zach as he smartened up after undead mom showed up at HQ, but he had to ruin that in the finale. His dumb ass made for a tragic end, but the writers figured out how to make it pretty bad ass.

Overall, a great season and the set ups for next year are really strong. Now the wait begins for Season 3!

Fear The Walking Dead <> Season 1

TV

FTWD

Chalk one up on the board for a successful spin-off show! The Walking Dead has never been more popular so when I first heard about Fear, it sounded rather greedy. The intent was to look at the outbreak from a different angle, which I think was largely accomplished.

With the new Los Angeles settings and resetting the clock to the beginning of the outbreak, the show feels quite a bit different from its mother program. The main cast is average people, no apparent heroes who know how to use a gun or sweep a room right off the bat. I think the most skilled in emergency situations is Liza, who is almost a nurse. Family is a big part of the show and thankfully none of the kids are obnoxious or stupid. Everyone is in the dark about what’s happening, so there’s a lot of “what’s going on?” and parents hiding the truth the best they can. The only character I didn’t like is Victor Strand who is more or less a mystery. They cram him in there near the end and set him up as a smooth talker with a weird speech pattern. He feels like the biggest show “character” out of everyone.

I like the angle of the show, how it handles the outbreak in a city setting. It’s not immediate chaos, but a slower build. Certain professions (cops and healthcare) know something weird is going first. Then, public disturbances occur. With cell phones all over the place, footage hits the net and it looks like police brutality. The public spin kicks into full effect with internet chatter sweeping over everything. The fear comes from the unknown, seeing something wrong but not knowing what it is. Is the public being told what’s really going on? Is there more to be worried about? Mobs start hitting the street and then military occupation rolls in. The Walking Dead is more about the threat of a person than a shambling monster, which is explored very well in Fear.

I like having 6 episodes of this leading up to the new season of TWD. It’s a good companion piece, a refreshing perspective that is different enough to warrant its existence. I wonder if having many more episodes at a time would diminish it. Keep the arc tight to 6-8 episodes to avoid any stretches to kill time and make it feel more urgent. I think the best way to end Fear would be to get surviving cast members into TWD sometime in the future. Not sure how they’d do that as TWD is something like 3 years into the outbreak, but it would be a cool link if done right.