Sleepy Hollow

I know the way the show is being promoted it makes it look like it wants to be Grimm, but you need to give it a chance. While it's not as horror based as American Horror Story and has a large does of fantasy that comes with it , the show is rather engaging once you get half way into the first episode. How much of the Headless Horseman is their really to tell, that Tim Burton or Disney Cartoon's haven't already touched upon?

Sleepy Hollow is much like Haven or Sunnydale ,where its a city that the supernatural is drawn to. In Sleepy Hollow's case witches have been attracted to it , as well as those people who happen to keep slipping through time. The Headless Horseman is also one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. So far in the first five episodes,this ground has been covered. Some episodes have that Supernatural monster of the week feel, others are more character driven and the Ichabod Crane as a man out of time, now playing as the buddy cop to the shows other protagonist.

Hopefully the bad witches angle will be delved into deeper as there has only been one episode to focus on that. That witch served as the monster of the week sort of thing, just as the folk lore of the Sandman, not Neil Gaiman's version, was explored. The effects on the show are some of the best for something I feel Fox had originally green lit as a shot in the dark, not sure if they wanted their own version of Once Upon a Time or Supernatural.

Sure it might not be the darkest thing on television ,as there are now shows that have raised that bar retty high, however it is a lot of fun and kicks back into episodes again September 4th, I'm not sure why the network is skipping out on halloween week for an episode, it doesn't make sense , but it gave me a chance to get caught up.

The End of Dexter

The final season of Dexter up until the final episode "Remember the Monsters" might not have been as good as say the Trinity Season, but it was pretty solid keeping the tension coiled pretty tightly , and using the fact this was the final season to put more weight behind its punch.  Earlier in the season it carried over from the previous season the feeling that Dexter was losing control. Bringing Harrison in the car to find Deb, seemed to make it look as if he was following a downward spiral of the typical serial who gets careless and more explosive until he gets caught. Ever character who was introduced seemed to gain possible leverage to Dexter being caught.

Then when Hannah resurfaced it looked like Dexter pulled it all together and put the life he could have with her and Harrison as a priority, saying that he didn't care what happened to Saxon as long as someone killed him, he was ok with Miami Metro taking Saxon in. Then Deb got shot and the storm came a combination of events that brought that to a halt. So when Dexter went back for Deb is where thing stopped being as thought out so meticulously as they normally are.

Deb gets a blood clot and goes from bad to worse. Dexter goes after Saxon who is taken into police custody , while I can make sense of this if Dexter was making a better case for himself , then he would have made it look like that Saxon was more of the aggressor than he did, but he was supposed to be overcome with grief about Deb. I can even deal with that after Quinn and Angel watched the security footage with him.

Even going back to finish Deb, I can make sense of , but they way her rolled her body out of the hospital seemed a little over dramatic, seems like he would have at least stolen a hospital uniform, rather than in his kill room brown.  Dumping her body over the side of the boat reached the further limits of the character as it would seem like he would want more for his sister than dumping her where all the other bodies of his victims were. But deciding to fake his own death to get out of the lives of his son and Hannah seems out of character, particularly after his final memories of Deb  centered on Harrison's birth. Deb's final words for Dexter were for him to go be happy in his life with Hannah and Harrison. So this means that

A- Dexter decided to  just become selfish and ignore Deb's last request, which seems odd he would honor her memory in that way and

B - the change that occurred when Dexter came a father was undone in the span of the final twenty minutes. If Dexter was going to live it doesn't make sense he would do so at peril of the relationship between he and his son. I'm a parent and this does not compute. I can understand faking his death even if we want to take a long shot to throw everyone of his tail once and for all in case other evidence in his murders ever came up but not going to get his son is out of character for what we had established for him up to this point and there wasn't enough hot water for him to be in to justify this . So the writers should have ran this about maybe actual parents and seen how unlikely that decision was.

They did seem intent on making sure the series had an unhappy ending and hinted the only ways this could occur was to get caught or die, though going into hiding was on the table , it seems like doing so with another killer who is also wanted makes the most sense if you are not making sense because if someone doesn't identify you they might identify her but made sense for the character who was blind to that side of her. It didn't ruin the show for me but made the sting of the series finale a little harder to swallow and a sour note to end on. But I'll keep telling myself it's just a show , which I did not do with Buffy or  Smallville .
  

Frankenstein's Army

Director Richard Raaphorst is no stranger to the business having worked as a conceptual artist for films like Dagon and Beyond Re-animator, so the concepts for the monster experiments in this film are well realized. The movie works off the found footage angle, as it's being shot on film that looks grainy but pretty good to be taken in the 1940's, as a Russian Platoon stumbles over  the workshop belonging one of the many heir's to the Frankenstein legacy.

For me the pacing works better than most, especially the other Frankenstein found footage film the Frankenstein Syndrome which played out like a poor man's Troll Hunter. This movie is like a walk through a haunted house, with creatures popping out from claustrophobic corridors to mangle their victims , which it is a horror movie so we know is going to be the soldiers whose eyes we are seeing this from. 

The quality of the gore effects could be better , it comes across as 70's Grindhouse, not as intentional campy in most parts as Hobo with a Shotgun or Dear God No, when a helmets is pulled off of a head and takes the brain with it, the effect is close to comedic. 

Where this movie works is in the monsters, though some could have used a little more love from the make up department, but when they are almost more robotic in nature, they succeed in looking like Nazi was machines, one even has a propeller for a head which as you can imagine make for good chopping, but highly combustible. 

The acting despite the variance in accents , is pretty convincing considering the budget being worked with though one of the main characters reminds me of Buster from Arrested Development and I can always appreciate an original take on the Frankenstein myth, though if you are hoping for a Boris Karloff clone in a nazi uniform, guess again  ,nor does this go for the same feel as say Inglorious Bastards or Dead Snow, in capturing the time period. I was entertained despite the budget constraints of gore and hope some one makes action figures of those monsters.       

Dexter Season 8 Premiere

Showtime is not making it a secret this is the last season of Dexter in fact they are being heavy handed  in promoting the season that way. Normally the show sees a late September launch, this year it got pushed up to July , meaning less production time. The quality though has yet to show signs that it has been rushed.

It starts off six months after  LaGuerta's death. Dexter is reviewing how he has moved on with his life but we later see things might not be as intact as the picture he tries to paint in his narrative.  His relationship with Deb has deteriorated and she has maintained contact with Quinn but not her brother, as the episode builds we see how this effects Dexter.

The first major new character we see is Charlotte Rampling playing Evelyn Vogel an expert on psychopaths, who comes into consult on a case. She appears at first to be implied as a foil for Dexter, which is another zinger the writers seem to be teasing you with is who will catch Dexter. Will it be Deb who tells her brother she shot the wrong person or Angel who becomes obsessed with Maria's death and rejoins the force?  I think its safe to take Quinn out of the equation as he is too embroiled in drama with Angel's sister , though it's teased in promotional footage that Deb is confessing to him.

Last season they really began to work in the angle of Dexter losing control and getting sloppy as a precursor to his downfall. This season that is amped way up, almost to the point of where it seems to be out of character an made me wonder if their aim is to make him less likeable as a character so viewers will cheer against him , like someone turning heel in professional wrestling. I would think the show has tried to maintain some creative integrity and would go about this with more grace, but things like Dexter losing his temper with Harrison and later putting him in harms way felt like clues thats this was the direction being taken.

While we don't see anyone on Dexter's table aside from the intro where this is only hinted at he does kill someone, though in a less controlled and calculated manner than usual. The new serial killer which has become like a monster of the month element on the show, doesn't start off with a vulgar display like the Ice Truck Killer or Doomsday, but then Trinity didn't either. To the show's credit this season while somewhat melodramatic in its start was much enjoyed and has me chomping at the bit for the next episode, the elements that bothered me was due to the deconstruction of a character I find to be relatable and has come a big part of three months of my life for the past seven years so my grieving has begun.

True Blood Season 6

So we are back with a new season of True Blood that premiered last night.  I had not been looking forward to this season as much as I had past ones even though I enjoyed last season. Six season is a long time to hang tough and the show  had some episodes which have gotten bogged down in the multiple story lines, with Sookie not being directly involved in many of them. This season picks up right where we left off from last , with Billith on a rampage. This starts off feeling very horror as Sookie and Eric try to escape. Later the season arc foreshadows its self when Eric see an interview with the Mayor of Louisiana who wants to take the day back and wages a war of sorts on vamps.

Sookie seems confused most of the episode but when she stakes the uber power upped Bill she seems pretty confident in her choice. Her brother is now obsessed with finding their parents Killer. The episode did flow really well, the Mayor character fills the place of a Russell Edgington type character, though not as in your face big bad , he is more the man pulling strings and making deals behind the scenes. When his people go to shut down Fangtasia they appear to be armed with the fire power to put vampires down and it didn't appear to be wooden bullets so maybe some sort of sliver nitrate.

Jessica , my favorite character for aesthetic reasons, if very comfortable being uncomfortable in her own undead skin and when Bill has her under her sway he sides with him against Eric's contingent in a very watchdog manner.  Sam isn't in the episode much, he does take on a big responsibility. Lafayette is pretty much just hiding out at the bar in one scene, so his role is waaay scaled back.  There are fey babies who grow up rather quickly to Andy's chagrin.

Pam is conflicted to say the least o find out about Eric's sister and we see more of the strained dynamics of their 100 year relationship which Tara finds out how resentful Pam is about her place in his life. The were-wolves are celebrating Alcide as their new pack master, there is a new were-wolf girl who is pretty decent eye candy, so that means if you know my taste she is on the curvy side. So i hope to see more of her as the skinny red neck thing most of the woman have going on gets old.

Overall I look forward to seeing where they go from here so will be tuning in. I think when the show takes a more serious turn it lends itself to being horror so lets hope they push it further in that direction.    

Maniac

This is a remake of the 1980 film, which while I enjoyed the original I'm not so attached to it that despite my remake burn out was able to go into this film with an open mind. To say at 5'6" Elijah Wood strikes a less imposing figure than the 5'11" Joe Spinell from the original who did such a good job in the role that John Wayne Gacy wanted him to portray him on screen. So the biggest suspension of disbelief here is how Wood can over power some of these women who are not much smaller than he is. Wood however is a convincing enough crazy but he comes across like a cross between a mewling Norman Bates and Gullom.

P2 director Franck Khalfoun works well with the actors, all the performances are very natural to help maintain the gritty realism. A large majority of the movie is shot from Wood's point of view , not unlike a found footage film, with POV close ups on the killing, most of the gore is just scalping. I commend the movie from not bulking at the tone of the source film in trying to be more politically correct in toning down the violence towards women that many of the movies do these days , it keeps the women objectified though a little more dimensional than in the original film. The fact Wood's take on the character is so fittingly demasculinized , I think reflects on culturally where audiences are these days with emo vampires coming out of the coffins , a more sensitive serial while hearkening back to Norman Bates is nothing new, it does seem to flourish in todays over therapized mommy issue culture. But even with this element it think is more of a testament to what works in this movie because it was entertaining.

Sure we get the flash black elements , and these sequences remind me of the Heart is Deceitful Above all Things, with the coke whore mom, but these dont weigh the movie down and later when his ghost come back to haunt him, give those things a little more weight. Wood plays his character sympathetically enough to create an awkward tension where you feel the character can not help it and half the suspense much like Dexter is in the Man vs himself waiting for the other shoe to drop.

If you know the original then the mannequin elements are still intact and there are even certain iconic shoots that are recaptured down to the frame as needed. I think this is the way to do a remake, the different slant of the grainy cinematography still manages to invoke the dirty big city where a coat of crazy lurks under the sleaze. I think this movie is going to slip into the crack and be shamefully overlooked as the tortured serial killer crop of today could learn a lot from this film, it's the more painful awkwardness that Dexter lost after a few seasons combined with a darker and more depraved frosting that makes this work, I think it's the duty of horror films to make us squirm and feel uncomfortable more than just saying boo and this film succeeds where too many film makers over look it , leaving it for films like Enter the Void.

Hemlock Grove

The Netflix series leads off with tits out to let you know they are trying to be more True Blood than Vampire Diaries though it I suppose it might appeal to both, just for the first episode you hope it doesn't get mired down in its own pretentious mythology like the Vamp Diaries do. The Cinematography comes of as more impressive than either show and it's apparent there is some cash sunk into this. But both comparisons are more about content than tone, this being a show about were-wolves who have only good and their own four paws to mixed success on the often cheesier than to Teen-wolf.

The big question for horror no matter then medium is ...Is the Scary? The answer is ...No. Pretty...yes. Pretty people well there are other genre shows that have this one outclassed here, I can see a few subplots which might distance themselves from their peers and that's really what this show needs to do. Say werewolves these days and the first thing people under thirty say to me is...Twilight. Not the Wolf-man, the Howling or Sliver Bullet. These werewolves if you are wondering are big wolves , not my favorite, I have to admit I like even the hybrid element of Teen Wolf better than just a big wolf. My least favorite incarnation , my favorite set to screen in some time is actually Van Helsing , which is all that movie had going for it. But they are going for a tad more realism here despite the more fantastical metamorphosis.

The acting is on the better side of decent. The high school elements don't drag the show down. There is the rich entitled kid and the stereotypical loner who is a bad boy hybrid of a hipster and a hippie who says that an uninverted pentagram is metal, so there are poseurs about in the writing department. Theis show is based on the debut Novel by Brian Mcgreevy which was released march of last year, so the source material has hardly stood any test of time and I would think something like Antia Blake would beg to be brought to life before a year old debut novel. Eli Roth directs the pilot episode and his the shows executive producer so the show hs that going for it.

With Famke Jammson holding down the big name role, she plays the role of a rich British governess like Lady Lannister. I'm am not sure how calculated of a move this is. One of the many acting Skarsgaard boys holds down another role as well. I do want to give the rest of the seasons a chance, though I'm a little suspect as to how this is not going to turn into the Hardy boys meet the wolf man. The gore while present doesn't pose much of a threat to Hannibal which looks to be leading the pack in terms of horror on t.v at least until American Horror Story kicks back up in the fall.

I do think it's intresting Netflix choose to take a stab at horror when casting their hat into the ring, to compete. I think this says something for the genres health on the small screen, granted this fall more under urban fantasy than horror at this point it has atleast shown its not paranormal romance like teen wolf. The initial cinematography has my attention and plays a large part in my continued viewership.