info-347-916579 Reviews

Insidious (I) (2010)

Insidious gets so much right that I can't seem to understand why I'm finding it so hard to look past it's flaws...

[7/10 · 18 April 2012]

oh Insidious...my mother tried to warn me about you.... You smooth talking little pg-13 number. I had my guard up too.. I wasn't about to let your first and second acts woo me into a false sense of security. After all, this is'nt my first rodeo you know. I know better than this.. I really do. You came on strong and told me everything that I wanted to hear... You provided an easy to follow plot with plenty of tension and well acting. You had me all figured out. A couple of drinks later and i'm naked in a truck stop bathroom, trying to find my cell phone and the faint hint of ether still hangs in the air.. I thought you loved me... OK... Now that I've been to group and have the emotional tool sets to cope, lemme give you my real insidious review. Hold on... What I meant to say is, " let me preface my Insidious review." I am in the business of horror movies. I have seen the good, the bad, the weird and the batshit intolerable ones. An homage to me at this point is useless. Most modern horror films are already homages, minus the self awareness that makes them endearing. ( see my Scream 4 review) Thus now beginneth the odyssey that is my mixed feelings on Insidious. Insidious gets so much right that I can't seem to understand why I'm finding it so hard to look past it's flaws. Insidious opens with such an oppressive heavy feeling of dread that it's hard not to be affected by the tone of this picture. It is the tone of Insidious that automatically Draws you into it. It establishes a universe that is easy to believe and easy to live in for the duration of the film. It is a universe very much like our own with a couple who could easily be your next door neighbors. They are unspectacular and ordinary in all the right ways and add to the general believability that is one of insidious's many strengths.

Make no mistake, Insidious works.. It works so well on so many different levels that it feels like little more then a cheap shot when i start to point out it's weaknesses. I love the paranormal. For all it's nerdy chicanery, the world of the paranormal is still a fun and provocative place. Maybe it is my decade long inundation of this world that ultimately starts to pull me out of the Insidious universe. You see, I am more of a journey than a destination guy. Endings rarely give me the kind of gratification that getting there does (don't let this disuade you from trying ladies.. Ziiiiing!!!!). "The Further"' the mystical Pangea that connects our world to another for those unluckiest of astral travelers who reach it, works better as an unseen threat. The moment we enter The Further, we enter into a navigable world with rules, guidelines and limitations. It is here that Insidious's creep factor starts to drop off sharply. One of the good things about Insidious is that it has come out in a time where the horror genre is so steeped in pointless torture porn clones that even when it comes dangerously close to ripping off some of it's predecessors (again, sometimes an homage in all it's flattery can still seem unnecessary when the plot device mimicked is a central crux to the story) it is almost welcome.

In all sincerity there are many, many good things about insidious including all of the fine performances turned in from Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and the rest of the cast, including Barbara Hershey. It is Lin Shaye that does a pretty good Zelda Rubinstein and makes her part one of the most memorable (sad it is though I will always remember her from the farrely's brothers' Kingpin - "what is it about good sex that always makes me have to crap?" Insidious's score is really the trump card here. Joseph Bishara has brought the heebyjeebies and his A-game giving every moment of the film a lush texture of anxiety and fear. For those of you that miss the film's finer visual points, it's hard to knock this soundtrack, one of the better I've heard from a horror offering in years. Insidious is memorable, even if some of those memories may seem a little "borrowed". Recommended

Stake Land (2010)

a nice gory backdrop to a really nice, memorable character study...

[6/10 · 18 April 2012]

Jim Mickle's Stake Land proves two things: 1. Successful horror movies not only realize their own limitations, but are able to play off of them effectively, making them work towards the story instead of against it and... 2. In Stake Land, only rednecks can hear you scream... oh yeah... apparently when the vampire apocalypse comes the only things left besides the cockroaches are the Duke boys.... **SPOILERS AHEAD** Following the cross country exploits of Mister ( Nick Demici) and his helper Martin (Connor Paolo) as they battle their way through a vampire ravaged America after Martins's family is savagely murdered..err...eaten...

Stake Land takes itself just seriously enough that the action, when it comes, never feels tired or old hat... just necessary. That is probably one of the stronger aspects of the film, and one that, in the end, makes it so successful. Stake Land manages to introduce a very large idea without making it bloated or a parody of itself. It hits the notes exactly as it should, and although it slows down a little towards the end of the second act, it keeps us interested by filling it with characters, even those that are only brief in the appearances. Don't get me wrong when I nitpick for a bit of a lag. The boys and new recruit Belle (Danielle Harris) have plenty to do between saving nuns, escaping religious zealots and ultimately going head to head with holy roller turned uber vamp, the head of "the brotherhood".

The threats in Stake Land are all very real and add to the idea that the solidarity and safety of this country hangs tenuously by some very flimsy threads. It is in fact, the socio-political messages that people might find a little preachy here. They are ever present and definitely reinforce the overall dissent that gas prices and the war on terror have brought upon American's citizens.

OK, OK... let's get to the the meat of the matter... how are the vampires? The great thing about Stake Land is that in the strength of its characters we are able to see the vampires for exactly what the filmmakers intended them to be... a nice gory backdrop to a really nice, memorable character study. HOWEVER, in case you feel that was a bit of a cop out.... the vampires don't waste any time in Stake Land. They are animals, they are a sickness and they are EXTREMELY aggressive. We don't get bogged down in the science of it, but there is enough exposition to tell us that there are different kinds, some harder to kill than others, and, like most viruses, the plague has the ability to mutate.

Oh... yeah, you get plenty of Deliverance extras here.. enough to shake your banjo, webbed feet and prehensile tails at. We do get the sense though that the better part of the country has been turned into Flint, MI, so it doesn't seem like a reach. Being a mid-west native, I had a few flashbacks and even found myself errantly praying to the patron saint of pig squealing man-love, Ned Beatty.

Stake Land has gained a lot of acclaim in the horror community and it shows a self awareness that although might seem heavy on the message, is definitely welcomed in an industry that is increasingly mired in reboots, remakes and and endless direct to video sequels. Mickle is definitely a fresh voice and one to keep our eyes on. Recommended.

We Are the Night (2010)

We Are the Night is actually very much about despondency and loneliness...

[7/10 · 18 April 2012]

I was going to start this review out with a little dissertation on how women are crazy even when they are undead... and then I thought better of it... Eastern European women are crazy even when they're undead. Now that I've alienated half my audience... We Are the Night is not about the crazy undead of the female variety, although it might appear that way on the surface. In fact, much unlike its English dubbed trailer leads you to believe, We Are the Night is actually very much about despondency and loneliness... OK, it might also be about schmokin hot lesbian vampires too... and thank God, right?!?!? All that loneliness gets a little depressing unless you throw in a little Transylvanian girl-on-girl!!! Woot!!! Dat's wat I's sayin!!! Ahem... We Are the Night might be misinterpreted as a movie that panders to the club going, sexually experimental, feminist ravers that, for the most part, are the cardboard cut out vamps of a lot of b-movie fare as of late. If that is all you take away with you, then you have missed one of the better vampire films to come out. One that I feel falls in the same arena as Let The Right One In, Near Dark, and their deserving contemporaries.

Lena (Karoline Herfurth) lives a life dominated by running from the police, pickpocketing and navigating the German underground. Her life seems pointless, without substance, and more importantly without a sense of hope. Through her somewhat less than noble lifestyle Lena meets an overzealous adrenaline junkie cop, Tom (Max Riemelt) and three energetic, rebellious, glamorous and dangerous club goers: Louise, Charlotte and Nora.

**SPOILERS** Ringleader of the three enigmatic, Louise (Nina Hoss), takes an instant liking to Lena's fiery spirit and inducts her into the supernatural world of the vampire. Tom continues to search for Lena whose free spirit has interested him as well and a very untraditional love triangle follows.

The story here is simple enough and the conflict is as tired as the premise of most vampire movies to date. Lena rejects her new vampire habits, condemns her peers for their blood-lust and seeks to pursue Tom's affections. Again, I said simple and tired, right? C'mon... I can still have self awareness and like this movie... Don't hate!!! It is director Dennis Gansel that takes the tale and gives it life that reaches beyond the story. Gansel's vampires are struggling to hold on to anything that gives them humanity, and, in doing this, makes them somewhat more human than they're breathing counterparts. They are tragic, they are hopeless, and their animosity allows them to stave their misgivings, losing themselves in indulgences, creating each moment with enough intensity to erase those before it. We get the feeling that this is cheap band-aid psychological reparations and each vampire in the original core three is slowly losing themselves to their own despair. Louise has created a war on men, both alive and undead, almost singlehandedly wiping out the male population of bloodsuckers. Charlotte is lost in her bygone days of the roaring twenties, never giving up the grief that she felt for her loved ones, while Nora is living the life of a spoiled teenager, looking for the affections of men that she is doomed to destroy. They are sisters in bondage and Lena starts a chain of events that leads each to greater examine their immortality.

It is Louise that struggles to create a world where she can no longer cling to humanity, finding companionship so strong and eternal that no world, living or undead has to matter anymore. Lena represents her golden ticket and it ultimately, is her undoing.

German language with English subtitles, We Are the Night is heavy on atmosphere, not so much on dialogue and allows the actors to emote with more than just their words. Karoline Herfurth takes full advantage of this and allows it to flesh out a character that at times the script neglects to do. Max Riemelt feels the stiffest here, but slides easily into the love interest role and doesn't distract from the real star here which is Torsten Breuer's cinematography. Shot for shot, this is a gorgeous film. Breuer and Gansel manage to submerge their nocturnal shots in brilliant, saturated color while keeping our daytime in We Are the Night monochromatic and cold. The movie's pace is just right for its content and the conclusion is a torrent of roller-coaster camera theatrics. We Are the Night might not satisfy the most critical of vampire enthusiasts, but it holds its own enough to warrant repeat viewings and a place side by side some of the sub-genre's best offerings. Highly Recommended.

The Corridor (I) (2010)

The real terror in The Corridor is more subversive than the obvious antagonist...

[9/10 · 17 April 2012]

The Corridor is an interesting film as horror films go. Even as a small film it is undeniable that it is a creature of ambitious efforts. Fortunately, these efforts pay off to the tune of delivering the audience a disturbing and rare portrayal of what happens when the extraordinary brings out the unusual and ultimately the worst in a group of friends whose circle is dangerously close to splintering from very real pressures of the earthly kind.

The Corridor follows 5 men whose boyhood friendships have persisted into adulthood and who individually are still struggling to find their places in the grown-up world. Their roles are further questioned when a member of the group, Tyler (Stephen Chambers), loses his mother under suspicious circumstances that leaves Chris (David Patrick Fleming) injured and questioning the sanity of his life-long friend.

In an effort to reconnect and help Tyler in the emotionally grueling process of laying his mother's ashes to rest, the 5 men decide to plan a boys' retreat to the cabin they spent so much time in in their youths. Tyler, grappling with his dementia (an aftershock of the ordeal with his mother) makes a discovery in the woods that will threaten the sanity and the lives of the rest of the group.

The real terror in The Corridor is more subversive than the obvious antagonist and the depth of the film's themes skirt on the edges of such cult favorites as Fight Club, Donnie Darko and some of Lynch's more surreal efforts. The threat isn't so much the enigmatic force in the woods as it is the enigma that is silently killing the group from the inside: Who are you when you lack purpose? How do we define ourselves in a world that denies us definition? It is the the corridor itself that empowers the group and seems only to magnify their own personal problems into full blown psychosis.

Although this might seem a little heady for the casual watcher, TC speaks to those of us who saw our role models revealed as villains, saw our fathers too humanized to remain out heroes and ultimately left us in a world without warrior poets looking forward to jobs we despise and positions in life that rarely treat us with any real moments of fulfillment. It is this alarmingly emotional character study of the group that elevates the Corridor to a film that actually surpasses its intent. For the horror fan The Corridor delivers some truly disturbing scenes of torture and madness driven degradation that sticks with you long after the credits begin to roll. It is in these moments that we see a group of actors that have struck their rhythm and deliver on all levels of the script, from the intense loss and longing to the stark insanity that characterizes the latter half of the picture. Director Evan Kelly has hit the ground running and I for one am eagerly looking forward to his next effort.

Highly recommended.