The Hills Have Eyes + The Blair Witch Project
The premise and story line are catchy right from the get-go. The cheesy-ness of the climbing scenes are somewhat distracting, as is the Liam Neeson doppelganger.
Based on the summary, you already know that the little girl is a ticking time bomb, but the suspense generated by not knowing is intriguing at least.
The in-the-box scene reminds me of Hellraiser and Brake, and plays off the natural claustrophobia in all of us.
The extra parties that fall victim to the "bad guys" are distracting. There are other ways to show the blatant disregard for human life.
The inability for trained hunters with high-powered rifles to hit a girl no more than 100 feet away is a joke. I get that it builds suspense, but at least have it realistic. The one time they actually hit anything after that many rounds is the guy with the decoy that gets them nowhere.
Also, like many other movies in this wonderful realm we call B-Movies, the jump scenes lack sufficient build-up and setup.
"What if we came along and trampled onto a delicate situation?" What if you actually built out the plot instead of explaining it through cheap dialog?
When all the action starts happening, it helps to forget the so-so first half of the movie, until you get to the oddly abrupt ending.
It leaves you wanting more, not because you love it, but because you never got what you thought was coming. Classic B-Movie move.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
Dirty Teacher
Easy A + Disturbia
Typical intro. Ominous music as the teacher checks out future victims. Needy students. People in power with bad intentions and Freud problems. This creates a social vacuum for the inevitable to happen.
If the teacher is so hip with technology, why would she not just text her address? The bar napkin number is just over done.
Although I fail to see the logic in cheating, and the fact that it is with a teacher is unethical; the girlfriend is being a major stalker, and she's dumb for staying with her cheating boyfriend.
By halfway through the movie there is a major lack of anything unique.
And just before an hour in, action hits! Quite literally actually when the teacher ran over the boy. It was an "Oh, shit just got real!" moment.
The "jump scenes" lacked structure and buildup. Alternatively, the more the cover-up developed, the more planned out it seemed to be. For $2000 I would totally change a jeep grill. The parts can't be much.
The scariest part of the movie is the bad acting by the teacher.
Typical intro. Ominous music as the teacher checks out future victims. Needy students. People in power with bad intentions and Freud problems. This creates a social vacuum for the inevitable to happen.
If the teacher is so hip with technology, why would she not just text her address? The bar napkin number is just over done.
Although I fail to see the logic in cheating, and the fact that it is with a teacher is unethical; the girlfriend is being a major stalker, and she's dumb for staying with her cheating boyfriend.
By halfway through the movie there is a major lack of anything unique.
And just before an hour in, action hits! Quite literally actually when the teacher ran over the boy. It was an "Oh, shit just got real!" moment.
The "jump scenes" lacked structure and buildup. Alternatively, the more the cover-up developed, the more planned out it seemed to be. For $2000 I would totally change a jeep grill. The parts can't be much.
The scariest part of the movie is the bad acting by the teacher.
Deliver Us From Evil
Exit Through The Giftshop + The Da Vinci Code
Slow start, but intriguing nonetheless once they get into the core of the movie. It is interesting to get an insiders view on topics that just seemed to pass through the news, but was never really personal.
I can see the potential members of the Catholic church might have to think this is negative light on the church as a whole. But like any organization, there are a few who will abuse power.
As disgusting of a topic as it is, it's good that it is being addressed so people know what to look out for, and how to avoid future situations.
The problem that this presents is that without required change, and an easy "absolution" process, offenders will not change their behavior. This is the flaw in this particular ideology.
On the other hand, the documentary as a whole is shot and composed well. The combination of live footage and stills of documents helps to pull all the pieces together. It would have been a lot of work for the person in charge of collection all of this media.
"He picked power and glory over the children." Hundreds of victims?! It's incredible someone has not done anything about the situation. It is simply a cop-out for him to claim that he had any type of mental illness. We see the same pattern in the court system over and over again, and it is just as much of a fallacy in this situation.
The only real case of mental illness is the spiral of silence caused by the indoctrination in the upbringing of these kids.
The letters he sends out is just a late reminder of the terrible things that happened to these kids. The last thing these victims need is to meet with him again.
Finally, the explanation at the end, although is not an excuse, does help to shed light on the psychological reasoning behind this behavior.
It's about time for a feel-good movie after this one.
Slow start, but intriguing nonetheless once they get into the core of the movie. It is interesting to get an insiders view on topics that just seemed to pass through the news, but was never really personal.
I can see the potential members of the Catholic church might have to think this is negative light on the church as a whole. But like any organization, there are a few who will abuse power.
As disgusting of a topic as it is, it's good that it is being addressed so people know what to look out for, and how to avoid future situations.
The problem that this presents is that without required change, and an easy "absolution" process, offenders will not change their behavior. This is the flaw in this particular ideology.
On the other hand, the documentary as a whole is shot and composed well. The combination of live footage and stills of documents helps to pull all the pieces together. It would have been a lot of work for the person in charge of collection all of this media.
"He picked power and glory over the children." Hundreds of victims?! It's incredible someone has not done anything about the situation. It is simply a cop-out for him to claim that he had any type of mental illness. We see the same pattern in the court system over and over again, and it is just as much of a fallacy in this situation.
The only real case of mental illness is the spiral of silence caused by the indoctrination in the upbringing of these kids.
The letters he sends out is just a late reminder of the terrible things that happened to these kids. The last thing these victims need is to meet with him again.
Finally, the explanation at the end, although is not an excuse, does help to shed light on the psychological reasoning behind this behavior.
It's about time for a feel-good movie after this one.
Attack the Block
Alien + Boyz 'N the Hood
The premise of bad things happening to bad people is exactly what we want to see. We love karma. But how dumb can people be? A furry, fanged, devil beast falls from space through a car, and you pick a fight with it?!
Why is it that none of the kids think through the mother dear theory? If there is small aliens, there is bound to be a larger/mother alien close by. However cheesy though, I do enjoy the glowing fang effect.
The onset of gore is rather abrupt, but is a major plus to the B-Movie aspect.
The small, almost overlooked, detail that the main woman is a nurse, and is stuck in "the block" with the injured boy is too much of a coincidence. The one person who should most be against the boys turns out to be the one who has to help them to save herself.
The peephole jump scene got me, I'll admit. Unrealistic as it may be, it got me. The drugs-guns-monsters argument that they were government planted was sly, but very black-agenda sounding.
The intentionally late presentation of the reason behind all the madness was worth the wait. A fresh alternative to all the easy-outs used in other movies.
After 3-4 sittings I finally got through the movie. I was somewhat excited to see it was over.
The premise of bad things happening to bad people is exactly what we want to see. We love karma. But how dumb can people be? A furry, fanged, devil beast falls from space through a car, and you pick a fight with it?!
Why is it that none of the kids think through the mother dear theory? If there is small aliens, there is bound to be a larger/mother alien close by. However cheesy though, I do enjoy the glowing fang effect.
The onset of gore is rather abrupt, but is a major plus to the B-Movie aspect.
The small, almost overlooked, detail that the main woman is a nurse, and is stuck in "the block" with the injured boy is too much of a coincidence. The one person who should most be against the boys turns out to be the one who has to help them to save herself.
The peephole jump scene got me, I'll admit. Unrealistic as it may be, it got me. The drugs-guns-monsters argument that they were government planted was sly, but very black-agenda sounding.
The intentionally late presentation of the reason behind all the madness was worth the wait. A fresh alternative to all the easy-outs used in other movies.
After 3-4 sittings I finally got through the movie. I was somewhat excited to see it was over.
Monday, March 3, 2014
VHS 2
The Ring + Inception
The cult turning zombie seems to be like a simple dish with too many spices in it. Simplicity usually works best for thrillers. I would have appreciated seeing the story of how the footage was actually recovered as well. It seems unlikely that the hidden camera shots hidden in their shirts would always face not only in the right direction, but right side up as well.
Finally, the paranormal shit at the end just got weird. It does add "sleeping bag under water" to my list of phobias, so I suppose it's doing its just as a scary movie if that's the case.
The dog was the best cameraman in the movie. That or the shirt in the dashboard.
VHS2 is simply a sequence of shorts that lack solid background information and setup. If I used a scale it wouldn't necessarily be on the bad end of the scale, but it lacks the content to be a home run type of movie.
It's a scary movie within a scary movie. (...inside a taco bell, inside a KFC, etc.) There isn't anything super unique about the devices used in this movie. People where there wasn't people moments ago, the closing medicine cabinet reflection, the motive to self harm, and the limited view from the first-person angle. They also like to give you the hey-whats-on-this-camera-I-just-found feel and leave you hanging. Kind of like Blair Witch.
In comparison to the first movie, the only similarity is that they both involve watching VHS cassette movies recorded by deranged people, or of deranged people.
Why do they shoot on Go-Pros but watch on VHS? I'd much rather have the second installment of the movie be called "DVD" and be accurate instead of imagining some ass hole with far too much time converting an HD digital video onto an old VHS tape just for title accuracy. Believe me, given the right content, a DVD can be just as scary as a VHS tape.
Okay, the GoPro on a zombie transformation has me back on track. This is the contemporary incorporation I look for in modern thrillers. Although I highly doubt the system would still be running up until the randoms find a stashed body, it's still brilliant.
Zombie theory is always fun too. It would make sense that with minimized intelligence they would tend to heard up. Much like animals that feed together tend to travel together.
The snuff film attempt has been done before. A lot. So a new film either needs to forgot Hollyweird and go way out there; or they need to make it movie theater fun. VHS 2 kind of hits on the dead zone right between the two.
The cult turning zombie seems to be like a simple dish with too many spices in it. Simplicity usually works best for thrillers. I would have appreciated seeing the story of how the footage was actually recovered as well. It seems unlikely that the hidden camera shots hidden in their shirts would always face not only in the right direction, but right side up as well.
Finally, the paranormal shit at the end just got weird. It does add "sleeping bag under water" to my list of phobias, so I suppose it's doing its just as a scary movie if that's the case.
The dog was the best cameraman in the movie. That or the shirt in the dashboard.
VHS2 is simply a sequence of shorts that lack solid background information and setup. If I used a scale it wouldn't necessarily be on the bad end of the scale, but it lacks the content to be a home run type of movie.
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