MOVIE REVIEW: V/H/S (2012)

"When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn't going to be as easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger than the last."

Partly produced by the site Bloody Disgusting, V/H/S is an anthology of found footage shorts written and directed by a bunch of grass-root filmmakers and horror geniuses (Ti West, Joe Swanberg, Chad Villella, Tyler Gillett, Glenn McQuaid, Adam Wingard, Nicholas Tecosky, Justin Martinez, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Simon Barrett and David Bruckner) with an appetite for brutal inconsistency, mind perversion and lethal suspense.

V/H/S is basically divided into six different sequences, opening with a group of sleazy criminals filming their en route of harassment which includes attacking women and acting like complete jerk-offs. For those who've read some of my previous posts you might be aware of the fact that I loath any sexual brutality or female opressing behaviour. Which made the first couple of minutes of V/H/S intolerable for me. Luckily the storyline changes direction as the gang breaks into a house to steel an important VHS tape. Who ordered this job or why, is never explained (or I just missed that part) but wandering around the house leads them to different tv-monitors and recording devices, from which each of the five found-footage stories play out for the audience. 

Containing nasties as follows, each hand-held horror story has you on the suspense delivering unique turns and surprises as you don't know what each story holds or for how long it will play out. 

OBS! THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!

1. A group of horny guys set out for a night of clubbing wearing a hidden camera in one of their eye-glasses with the purpose of recording whatever sexual action will be achieved. This, however, goes disturbingly wrong as the guys bring back the wrong girl to their motel room.

2. An all-American couple is on a weekend getaway to Grand Canyon, when an anonymous intruder visits their motel room in the middle of the night. Although it sounds like the typical Hostel scene, it's anything but just that. This was my favorite segment of the movie and, directed by Ti West, it offered an unsettling enviroment disturbed by an even more uneasy ending scene, which was cut abruptly and without further explanation. Just the way I like 'em!

3. This segment offers the best visual effects with heavy distortions and blurry serial killers zooning in and out of the forest. A bit unnerving but as the sequence reminds a bit too much of The Blair Witch Project (c'mon, even stealing punch lines from it?) it's not far from lazy-ing back to being a gimmick.

4. During several Skype conversations with her boyfriend, a young woman reports having difficulties sleeping due to some racketing going on in her hallway at night. Her boyfriend guides her in trying to find out who's playing tricks in her apartment, but the man behind the machine turns out to be an unexpected guest. This is Joe Swanberg's 'The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger'.

5. Four party-hungry men drive to an address where there's supposedly a huge Halloween party taking place. Entering the house they realize they've stepped into another form of hell. This is rumoured to be favorite sequence of all the people involved in V/H/S and it is a damn fine and mind wrenching way to end the terror tales. 

 Each installment in V/H/S varies in quality and lenght; with shaky camera work, partly doubtful acting and seemingly incomprehensive plots and storylines. But despite its low-budget effects and low-rent feel it flashes some very sinister images and has some disturbed visual tricks up its sleeve. Truth be told - this is one of the scariest and disturbing movies I've seen for quite some time.

PREVIEW: AMERICAN HOROR STORY: ASYLUM

My most anticipated release, after Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem, this coming fall is FX's American Horror Story: Asylum. Yet again created by Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy, the new season offers a completely new story in a completely new setting. American Horror Story: Asylum takes place in 1964 at the Briarcliff Institution in Boston and is said to involve Nazi's, aliens and a serial killer named Bloody Face, who wears 'a mask made out of his victim's skin along with a black nightie and opera length gloves'. Premiering in the new season are (the oh so hunky) Adam Levine (insert pause to drool), Chloe Sevigny, James Cromwell and Joseph Fiennes. Returning to the series with new characters are Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe and Sarah Paulson. To get a glimpse of the new season's character set up, check out the two trailers below.

 

 

Briarcliff Institution is run by the sadistic Sister Jude, a stern woman with 'a dark past that will resurface'.  Working with her are Dr. Thredson (Zacahary Quinto) a psychiatrist whose forward-thinking inflicts him to go head to head with Sister Jude, and Dr. Arden (James Cromwell) whose behind one of the season's new frights; The Raspers - mutated humans that are the result of Dr. Arden's diabolical experiments on Briarcliff's inmates, and who lurk in the forest outside the institution. Superior to Sister Jude is Monsignor Timothy O'Hare (Joseph Fiennes) who finds himself on the receiving end of her affection, and inferior to her is Sister Eunice (Lily Rabe) who, although she appears a bit dense, might not be the perfect second-in-command.

Adam Levine plays Leo, a newlywed who visits Briarcliff and gains the attention of the 'Big Bad', who will be the Rubber Suit Man of this season. With him he brings his wife Teresa (Jenna Dewan-Tatum). Sarah Paulson portraits the lesbian reporter Lana, who's committed to the asylum by her own girlfriend after she nearly exposes Briarcliff's darkest secrets. Chloe Sevigny plays the ominous but secretive nymphomaniac Shelley and Evan Peters returns as as the good-guy Kit, one of Briarcliff's newest inmates who's committed after being accused of murdering his wife (played by Britne Olford) although he claims she was abducted. And not by humans.

Not much else has been revealed on the new season's setup or synopsis but the twelwe teasers below might give some clues on what to expect. American Horror Story: Asylum premieres on FX, October 17th .

TWO CRAPPY QUICKIES: THE DEVIL INSIDE (2012) & CASSADAGA (2011)

OBS! THE FOLLOWING POST MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!

THE DEVIL INSIDE (2012)
A young American woman, Isabella Rossi, travels to Rome where her mother's been institutionalized for the past 15-20 years after killing three clergy people during what later turns out to be an exorcism. Trying to understand what happened to her mother all those years ago, Isabella brings with her a camera man in the hopes of making a documentary on her mother's case. When attending a seminar on exorcism in the Vatican City, Isabella meets two priests who explain to her that her mother's condition might not be medical, but could well be demonic possession. Together with the priests and the camera man she decides to perform an exorcism on her mother, which obviously goes horribly wrong.

US poster for The Devil Inside (2012)

Seems like a decent synopsis, doesn't it? Well... it isn't. In the range of exorcism movies The Devil Inside could be the worst example in years when it comes to storyline and acting, or rather lack thereof. Fernanda Andrade, who plays Isabella Rossi, is toe-curlingly embrassing in her lack of sensing the fine line of talking directly to the camera during a 'real' documentary and actually reading directly from the cue-cards, which in this case became extremely stilted. The two priests are the epitome of modern bad-acting crusaders; one a heavy American blabber mouth and the other a light weight British stiffness. Apart from some entertaining bone-breaking special effects this movie was just a huge waste of time.

CASSADAGA (2011)

What was time even worse spent was the 113 minutes watching Cassadaga. The deaf college student slash art teacher Lily Morel is devastated when losing her younger sister in a traffic accident. Being an orphan, Lily seeks solace in the spiritualist community of Cassadaga. Distraught by the recent tragedy of her sister's death, Lily visits a local physic together with some friends and her new hunky acquaintance (my long lost True Blood favorite Jesus). The seance is somewhat successful when the psychic manages to contact Lily's sister but also has the side effect of opening a passage for the ghost of a murdered young woman, whose hauntings soon start to jeopardize Lily's sanity and safety. 

Censored poster for Cassadaga (2011)

So far the story seems believable although Kelen Coleman has some difficulties tackling the deaf role. Having placed the spiritualist community of Cassadaga, FL, as the center point of a movie you would think that 'Psychic Capital of the World' would act a stronger foundation for the supernatural events of the movie. But these are suddenly pushed aside to give room for a serial killer plot, and that's how the movie starts go to awry. Although we learn that the ghost of the murdered young woman had fallen victim of a sadistic and sexually confused man who dismembers and reconstructs young women into marionettes, the two stories rather seem like incomplete sidelines than going hand in hand. Had the movie had a clearer sense of direction it might have been able to deliver on the tension it builds, but unfortunately it only left me with the sense that it actually didn't have much to offer.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE TALL MAN (2012)

"In an isolated, slowly dying mining town, children are vanishing without a trace - abducted, the townsfolk whisper, by a mysterious entity known locally as "The Tall Man." Town nurse Julia Denning (Jessica Biel) seems skeptical...until her young David disappears in the middle of night. Frantic to rescue the boy, Julia lives every parent's darkest nightmare in this twisting, shock-around-each-corner thriller from acclaimed director Pascal Laugier called The Tall Man." - Rotten Tomatoes

The small town of Cold Rock, Washington, is struggling with economic hardships and growing class differences as the prospect for the town's recidents is slowly diminishing when the mine that has been the main source of employment has shut down. In the midst of battling poverty and lack of resources, the adults in Cold Rock are one by one experiencing yet another heartbreaking tragedy; the children keep disappearing from their playgrounds, their schools and even from inside their homes.

Rumours surrounding the circumstances of the disappearances are widely spread; some believe it's a local child molester. Some say it's the Devil himself. Some talk about the town's own urban legend figure; The Tall Man - a mysterious man abducting children into the woods, after which they're never seen again.

One who's never fallen for the urban legend is the town nurse Julia Denning (Jessica Biel). Being the only medical practicioner in the area since her (doctor) husband died several years earlier, Julia Denning has become the antithesis of Cold Rock - the heroic baby deliverer, the house warming care taker and the loving mother. Naturally, as a counterpart to the social downward spiral, her son goes missing.

What starts out as a mother giving chase builds up in an intricate and inscrutable pattern, where The Tall Man's mysterious role decreases and the hidden role of nurse Denning slowly increases. The Tall Man is a heart-wrenching, shocking thriller that never fails to turn corners. We learn that the kidnapper is someone far less legendary than The Tall Man and that the urban legend figure himself exists in a whole other way than we are first to believe. The underlying supernatural prescence and the mythical references are soon diminished by the stereotype small town tropes being skillfully demolished into the heartbreaking conclusions of today; how a national economy crises always hits the hardest against small towns. The defiance and suspicion exuding from small town folks towards the outside world. The iron fist of distant and anonomous governments. The brutal consequences of class differences and the limited means of those less fortunate. The Tall Man is a provocative end twister that gives food for thought by putting an edge to the horror genre and leaves the viewer with more than one moral reflection.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

Oh, wow. I haven't really made up my mind about this movie yet. Been digesting it for over a week now and can't seem to make up my mind whether this practical joke has just spun out of its own comfort zone or if it's in fact a master piece in the world of climax within the climax, and story on top of story.

It's safe to say that what starts out, after a thought provoking pre-credit sequence, as your typical teenage weekend getaway (yeah, you have the jock, the slut, the stoner, the virgin, the scholar) crammed up on an outback mountain dirt road with a name-calling, tobacco spittin' loonie stationed at the old gas station. You know the drill 'cause you've seen it before. Only, you haven't. And that's kinda the point.

The Cabin in the Woods is a simple idea executed into a whole different story. It positions itself amongst all previous slasher movies, all character clichés and genre zones just to deconstruct these very components into what can only be described as a wickedly entertaining caricatur and a brutal genre exercise. The rythm of the movie skilfully maneuvers its audience between stereotype assortments and commited actors, from scares to laughs, from hoarder basements to social science labs á la 'DHARMA in space', from hilbilly zombies to canned Silent Hill monsters, from haunted old cabin to futuristic force fields á la The Hunger Games in a surprising transition.

The Cabin in the Woods is a ritual sacrifice that'll require a lot more than just the blood of a virgin; it'll need its movie audience to. Because this is a playground for a completely new set of horror chess. A total game-changer.

PHOTO PREVIEW OF CARRIE REMAKE (2013)

Oh, yes.. keep 'em coming.


Chloe Grace Mortez and Julianne Moore as Carrie and Margaret White. Image borrowed from http://gorestruly.com/

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY