Movie Review : "Leatherface"

It makes me happy that there is more worth writing about in horror over the course of the past month. This gives me hope that I might not be sitting here staring at a blank page when it comes to making an end of the year list. Reboots, and Prequels are normally not worth a shit. This movie however was fun, well-written and did not re-spin the same shit some of the other Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies have. We have even been done somewhat of an origin story before with the re-make. I think this movie falls in line with the established mythology of the character and doesn’t try to to give it any kind of a spin or shove some modern message down your throat. They gave just enough of the perverse twist this movie needed without trying to hard or playing it too Hollywood. It holds up to my no survivors rule when it comes to horror. Horror needs to be hopeless and the tension is waiting for the other shoe to drop. They fake you out in terms of who you think is going to become Leather Face until the film’s third act. The fake out is pretty heavy handed , but well done.

The gore is well done. Perhaps even more for gore hounds than not , as sometime in the original movie the violence was more implied where things get pretty graphic here. I think the ruthless nature of this film is what helps keeping this in perspective and helps with the story that they are trying to tell. While I like torture porn, I don’t feel this falls into that sub-genre, though it is firmly a slasher. The only obvious thing about the movie to me is that it feels a lot like “the Devil’s Rejects”. Granted those Rob Zombie movies were heavily influenced by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, it feels like those albums where Black Sabbath was trying to sound like Alice in Chains .Even to the point of having a bad ass demented female Anti- Hero like Baby.  This did not diminish my appreciation of the film.

The damsel in distress,who is the film’s by definition protagonist.Can be a mixed bag when you are sorting through how and when you want her to die. I think her fate could have held a little more impact in regards to the psychological journey of becoming Leatherface. I can always judge how effective the flow of a movie is based on how fast I get through it when watching it casually at home and I plowed through this in two sitting. I think some of the menace could have been increased in regards to what the protagonist endures and that she should have been broken down on more levels , but that is just my wishful thinking, the reality is I don’t have any major complaints with this movie and think it does what it set out to do very well.

Film Review : "Raw"

Here is the problem I run into when prospecting horror movies. I read something that says people are passing out at film festivals and being carted off in ambulances because it is so gruesome and then when I go to watch it the movie is border line horror more of a dark independent film. So what I have to remind myself is that the people who go to film festivals like Cannes to begin with would not know a horror movie unless it fucked them up the ass and are such goddamn pussies they could sit through the first Human Centipede. So needless to say my hopes and dreams in regards to “Raw” were very high. The French film was well made. The acting was above average even for art house fare. It would be hard to call this a horror movie if it were not for the subject matter . Cannibalism.

It is really more of a coming of age film. The liberal veterinary college they go to is filled with all of the people I detest in southern Europe. Lots of pretense. They make terrorism seem like a good way to thin the herd. So they are fodder fit to be eaten. I am not sure if this was the point of the movie, but it was one of my take aways. I need horror to be scary. Sometimes this comes by way of tension. There is a tension to the movie. Sometimes they hyper realism, adds to this and makes you feel a little uncomfortable at times. So it is hard for me to say this is a bad movie, though it does drag at points, but it does illict that feeling from you so it that way it certainly succeeds when not being full of it self in the way you almost expect french films to be.

With that French atmosphere comes a sexual element. Here the blood is almost a lubricant for the complicated social circles these two sisters have . There is a love hate relationship with these two sisters and the fight they eventually get it feels like a little bit of a release. We have seen cannibalism portrayed on screen in various ways, but not in this same way. To compare it to the Green Inferno, would be absurd though both movies have cannibals . so a movie like “We Are What We Are” might be more fitting though the latter is more of a horror film. 2017 has been more sparse in terms of horror. I was not able to even cobble together much of a top ten list last year, but might have more hope this year, so you take what you can get. It depends on how much you like French Films and what you want from horror when it comes to asking if this film will give you what you want. I am glad I did not pay 11 dollars to see if ,but it was not a bad movie, just not the kind of movie I was hoping for.

Movie Review : "It"

Friday night my daughter and were talking about what her mom was going to do I told her she was going to go see “It”.Because 7 year olds know everything My daughter replied “No she is going to see a movie about a scary clown. I then tried to explain to her what the title of said scary clown movie was . But if you are wanting to see a movie about scary clowns you might be better off with the current season of American Horror Story. As “it’ doesn’t limit itself to just being about a scary clown and the bigger more sinister picture is well painted . itself among the some of the better Stephen King adaptations to film, this movie falls short of the Shining or the Mist in terms of scares , but has a lot of heart.This is only the first chapter so if you go in wanting to for them to return to Derry as adults then you better stock up on pop-corn and wait for the next movie. Generally speaking I think the director nailed the personalities of kids. This was the studio putting a ton of faith in a director whose other work “Momma” was luke warm. This film does a better job than the Tim Curry tele-vision miniseries. The big question you are really going to ask here is how does Pennywise stack up?

So you are asking Bill Skarsgard to stuck up against Tim Curry. If you strip away any cgi that was augmenting Skarsgard’s performance and kept it do who delivered their lines better than Curry would win.This also outline’s one of the movie strengths that blows the nostalgia horror fans are known for hanging onto out of the water. That is no saying we need to re-make “The Exorcist” of “the Shining” with today’s effects. In fact since this was originally a made for television mini-series and not a full length theatrical release then technically it’s not a remake. So it’s 2017 and has a bigger budget than the televised version, so it looks better. This is not just from a effects perspective there are some well placed shots, most of these you have seen in the trailer. Though a few like right before Pennywise starts dancing in his lair, so effective.

Pennywise never goes full out bug in this version, just like we are once again not shown the kids giving it to Beverly in sewer, I think that is something you can only see in Second Life. The sexual tension was more present. Not just with the kids, but a few of the townspeople and her father. Much like the lesson Joss Whedon taught us in Buffy that highschool is a terrifying place. The early adolescent world of these kids is just as scary as anything they encounter in the sewers. So it is much truer to King’s vision in this regard. I think the maniacal head shaking charge we see repeated by Pennywise was the only part of the movie I did not like, though the inclusion of the Wolf-man the protagonist sees in the book would have been a nice touch but perhaps Universal had too tight a reins on those rights. I haven’t read the book since it’s release in 1986. But the impact the book had still made me able to weigh it against the film and able to chant”he thrusts his fist against the posts, and still insists he sees the ghosts” which could have been given a little more context. So even the overblown drama of the Hollywood moments was not able to diminish the films entertainment value. If you are a horror fan you might find it lacking in the scares department, but it’s still a fun ride for Stephen King Fans.

Movie Review : Split

Not too far removed from "Silence of the Lambs" in terms of the depth of horror. It is a much more intense character study than the Hannibal films. The intent is unclear where Hannibal is more calculated and some of this uncertainty is what makes the movie more unnerving.   M. Night Shyamalan comes pretty close to breaking away from the Rubix cube like formula we find in most of his films and finally delivers a horror movie. He got scary with "the 6th Sense" but takes it in a more disturbing direction that could have easily gone the way of torture porn, which at times I hoped for. It was very reserved when it comes to the violence. In truth the movie really hangs upon James McAvoy's career defining performance that has changed the game as to how you will see him going forward. Insanity is a key component to his character who has a multiple personality disorder . We mainly see the more dominant ones.

Until the end he really doesn't use much in the way of make up to change personalities, in fact he might wear a woman's clothes , but it is all in how he uses the nuances of her personality to transform him self. He captures the energy and innocence of a child and really makes you forget about Professor X or any other of his roles. They get right to the dirty work and prove you don't have to waste too much time trying to make you sympathetic to the victims in order to make you feel the danger. Even the more don't go in the basement escape moments are fluid and make sense given the protagonists are mainly teenager's aside from his therapist.

One thing I feel separates great horror movies from mediocre is the ability to make the most out of beautiful shots and create something more compelling than a blood bath.  Shyamalan proves that "the 6th Sense" was not a fluke, and despite the movies pg-13 rating creates something that draws you in visually as well as emotionally. Sure it was a little cheesy to tie it into "Unbreakable". Some times the over the top transformations McAvoy makes are even a little funny though it is disarming to the character in the story being told. If you like the more suspenseful side of horror , I think this movie will be dark enough for you and if you like "psycho" characters then this is a must see.

the Top 10 Horror Movies of 2016

Here are my top 10 horror movies of 2016. This year the terror was much more human. Also there is some hope for the genre as last year was not able to scrape together enough movies to even make a list, so while the small screen is still more dominant there might be some hope for the years to come.

10 - 31

This movie was fun , which is much more than you can say for "Lords of Salem". I sat and watched this all in one sitting and like the fact the ending did not play by the rules. Rob Zombie was starting to get his groove back, so here was his take on the Purge or Saw type films. 

9- Hush

The only thing I didn't like about this movie was how the maniac's motives were so unclear. Otherwise it took the home invasion trope and did some interesting things with it. Think it worked better for me than "Intruders". 

8- Jeruzalem- 

I liked how this movie updated the whole found footage thing. Sure some of the CGI needed some work when it came to the monsters. In many ways it owed more to "Hostel" than other horror movies , but some how it all kept me watching , which says more than the other horror movies I slept through this year. 

7- Under the Shadow

While nothing like "It Follows" it did follow the path that things are not going to work out so well for every one and created a looming sense of unease and dread, that went much further than some of the pop fare that worked out CGI and jump scares. 

6-Holidays

When this anthology worked it really knocked it out of the ball park, Christmas, Easter and St Patrick's day all earned it this place on the list. Halloween was one of the more disappointing moments. But overall it earned multiple feelings of discomfort which is what I want from Horror. 

5- Neon Demon 

If David Lynch had decided to re-make "Black Swan" with a few changes like, turning the ballet dancers to models in Hollywood, then I am sure the results would have been very similar. If you are getting compared to David Lynch you are doing something right. It didn't get into the more typical horror moods until the 3rd act, but earned it's spot here. 

4-the Purge : Election Year

This could have been a worse political statement. Instead it worked off what made 'Anarchy" work without trying to hard to re-create it or shove "Black Lives Matter" down your throat. It was hinted at , but despite the title handled in a very tasteful way. 

3- What We Become

The sole zombie movie on here, as predicted the zombie genre is pretty much dead in theaters with the Walking Dead as the only real source for that. This film did manged to breathe a little life into the genre and did something that we have not seen done to death. 

2- Southbound

This anthology was not done in the manner we saw in the VHS films. They tied it together much like "Pulp Fiction" . Sure the specter things could have been better , but all the other elements brought together the dread in a very creative manner. 

1- The Witch 

There was no contest here, this wasn't just the best horror movie , but the best movie. It measured up against anything I saw and could be more deserving of an Oscar than any of the movies we saw at the Golden Globes. Black Phillip was tremendous and better than most of the actors in Hollywood. 

Review : 31

Rob Zombie's track records with movies has so far been hit or miss, with more in the win column. The main problem with the movie is in the screen play. There are some good ideas at work. Zombie works best when emulating the acid crazed world depicted in his band's old music videos. The over grown Riff Raff that is Death and the more Harley Quinn inspired Sex. I have heard complaints that you do not care for the characters because they are scum bags, and I think that this just plays off of the whole, don't have sex in woods moral that is behind most of the slasher films that are post- Psycho.  The antagonists in this movie are more of a problem than the victims and I think this is partially due to how they are written.

First we have the midget Nazi who is ironically Hispanic. That formula is funny, but is the aim of the movie be funny or scary? The chainsaw wielding clowns are alright and I like the girl mummified in the sex doll. It was at this point in the movie that it was clear they characters were just going to make the same don't go in basement mistakes conventionally horror movies are filled with. Going into this I hoped for more technicolored spectacle that Zombie is know for rather than the warehouse this was shot it. Sure it gave it grit, but I am not sure that it gave it the best ambiance as we have seen that type of environment already in the Saw movies and changing it up would have helped contrast it and set it aside as of right now Saw would be one of the movies this will get compared to.

The gore was almost Tokyo Gore Police at times. In many cases the violence was handled more tastefully than expected, there were many things that worked about this movie and the I was able to watch it all in one sitting with out getting bored says something too, I think Zombie should bring writers to help him. I would not call this movie torture porn as no actual torture occurs. I think it's a survival film that falls short of Battle Royal standards, but beats the hell out of the Hunger Games.

The Exorcist- Tv Show

This is impressive for Fox. Some of the story lines get a little muddle in their attempt to tell the back story in a more maze like manner. The emphasis is on the Priest, who begins having visions of an exorcism in Mexico. Geena Davis plays the concerns mother who is afraid something is brewing in her home. With the movie Reagan was the focal point so you got to see more of what she was like. Here they throw you a curve ball, so when the big reveal is made as to who is actually possessed then it just seems like a conniving big bad.

I think the scene at the end when this possessed person is looking out the window is pretty creepy and effective because the demon is mocking the priest. I hope they don't default to all the contortions and typical things we have already seen from all the movies that took inspiration from the original movie. I think the most effective thing they have done is when the mom comes into the attic to see what is going on the possessed person just acts normal and says the Priest just killed a rat. This can in turn create tension between the Priest and the family who would want him to talk to the most obvious problem child. Plus it seems like the demon is smarter than just throwing hellish temper tantrums and by hiding like this can do more damage.

It doesn't seem to me that this is a re-boot or remake and it's only using the title and theme song to help draw people in. Granted we are dealing with a similar theme, but hopefully the glimpses of what seem to be new elements introduced in this horror sub-genre will devolves into the same old same old we have gotten from Hollywood over the course of the past decade. Geena Davis is really selling me on her concerned mother role? The mentally challenged father could be a dark horse, and he is a former "Farris Bueller" alumni. The demon has some contact or influence with him, I think it was oppressing the house at the beginning, but the end seem to ellude to the fact it's now found a home and ready to let the games begin. The first episode is worth checking out and has me hopeful, though on FOX I can't expect for no survivors and a grim ending.