I had seen 5 of the moves from last year (Meet the Hamiltons - GREAT, Penny Dreadful - GREAT, Abandoned - Good, Dark Ride - OK, Reincarnation - GREAT). THIS year, my boyfriend and I got the ALL ACCESS PASS... And while only
three of them were good, those three were SPECTACULAR.
I actually already did a rundown of the 8 of them in the "LAST SEEN MOVIE" thread, but I will put them all here, in case you are interested. If not, then please disregard.
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1. Unearthed
This movie doesn't try to do anything novel; Monster movie ripping off Alien 3. Yes, Alien
3. Didn't bother ripping off either of the good ones... The script was poor, the direction horrible (the director made up for lack of budget by over-using the shaky cam), and the special effects were pathetic. I consider this movie essentially Alien 3 with slightly better CGI but in the desert on an Indian Reservation...
It's a B Grade monster movie. Nothing more, nothing less.
I give it 2 stars out of 5.
2. The Deaths of Ian Stone
The Matrix meets Dark City meets Groundhog Day... But not in a
good way. At first glance, the concept seems intriguing and well thought-out. The scares are fantastic. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the first 2/3 of the movie was possibly some of the best horror film bits that I have seen...
ever. The last 1/3 however... The movie seems to tack on inconsistent Hollywood themes as well as HORRIBLY written exposition. Considering how great the beginning of the movie was, the end was just... Terrible to take.
I give it 2.5 stars, but
only because the beginning was incredible. Otherwise, it would barely even get 1.
3. Borderland
Wow. Seriously. Wow. I am actually going to add this to the "Incredibly Gory F*cked Up Movies" thread. Borderland is slow-going at first because it did not fit in with the previous two frenetic monster movies. It is the branch of horror that treads the waters of investigative noir with some elements of torture porn and revenge.
My boyfriend takes issue with this film being classified as a horror movie as it definitely leans into the broken detective fighting his own personal demons plus investigative revenge epic plus drug cartel/cultish themes. With a little bit of lost Spring Breakers thrown into the mix.
Ok... Maybe that description doesn't really
sell the film... The honest truth about the film is that it's gritty, honest, and truly horrifying. Spring Breakers run across a creepy cult who are part of a drug cartel. There are various questions between what is real and what is supernatural. Throughout the entire film, I wasn't sure where it was going, but I was excited to get there.
It was definitely slow going at first, but now that I know the purpose of the film, I would definitely own it.
Part of the horror of the film is the feeling of alienation and isolation (Spring Breakers across the Border in a world with a language and cultural barrier). Not an original theme, but done really well there.
Also, I wanted to clarify the "supernatural" aspect that I spoke of... I don't think that I was particularly clear... What I meant was that it's not really clear whether or not the
assailants are supernatural entities or not, and that's definitely part of the purpose. Good juxtaposition to different cultural themes.
I honestly recommend this film. Just keep in mind: It starts slow with an increeeeeeeeeeedibly cliched set up: But, oh, it gets good. REALLY good. I give it 4.5 out of 5.
4. Lake Dead
I mean, with a
quality title such as this, how can this movie
possibly be bad?!
...
So three sisters find out that the grandfather that they
thought was already dead,
wasn't until, well, he
actually died and left them a motel in a remote location. They travel up to the motel for the weekend... And are hunted down with such poor direction that there is no suspense, horror, or slashing at all...
Bad writing, TERRIBLE direction, and a really horrible poorly executed storyline. D-
5.
Mulberry Street
By far my second favorite film of the Festival so far (I've seen 6 out of 8 films). Mulberry Street is another modern variance of the monster/zombie infection formula. Very obviously influenced by 28 Days Later, this film uses gritty filtering and a well-directed shaky cam to create believable suspense and paranoia. Mulberry Street takes place primarily in a New York City neighborhood and follows the tenants in an apartment building as they strive to survive a spreading
mysterious infection. The writing is smooth, the acting fantastic (the characters believable and charming), the special effects and make-up are truly horrifying. Definitely a successful chapter in the increasingly growing zombie mythos.
Loved it and plan on owning it.
A must for zombie/monster movie fans.A-/A
6. Tooth and Nail
So the Earth has suffered through the apocalypse; fuel has been completely depleted and for some reason, the world's population is decreased by 2/3 in a matter of, oh,
three years...
yeah... So a group of local tools (seriously -
tools; if you survive an apocalypse, I'd imagine that you'd be pretty badass... But not in Tooth and Nail) hole up in a hospital and are targeted by a gang of cannibalistic rogues.
SUCH good themes:
Post-apocalypse
Society vs. Anarchy/Cannibalism
But... Yet... So... Bad... I find it difficult to believe that the Earth would be cut down by 2/3 in a matter of 3 - 5 years and that the survivors were pathetic cultish victims (there are
possibilities in here!)... Michael Madsen had a very,
very small role... But not enough to keep this thing interesting... The only thing to keep this movie above LAKE DEAD was the fact that it had some pretty great action scenes... The rogue cannibals adorned themselves in viking gear and yielded delightfully pointy objects (spiked clubs and that whatnot)... They definitely tear through the hospital and turned this movie into a siege film... But not a
good siege film.
D. Stay away.
7. Nightmare Man
There's B-Grade horror and then there's
b-grade horror. This film is about a woman who receives a creepy mask and then thinks she's haunted by the Nightmare man, a demon that comes to her in her dreams... And then it comes to her reality...
I honestly have no issue with monster/slasher films, but the production value of this film was so incredibly low that everyone in the theater couldn't help but give way to laughter. The demon's mask was absolutely pathetic, and attempts to catch the victim were just... poorly choreographed... The dialogue was stereotypically bad, but not so bad as to be self-conscious parody...
Just an all around bad movie. As in,
I want that hour and a half back. WOW. D-
8.
Crazy Eights
Session 9 meets The Grudge. In a good way.
A ghost story involving 7 old friends, an old found box, and an old building. The present is confronted by the mistakes and shortfalls of the past. Definitely not a novel concept, but the execution was so incredibly clean that it left me digging my nails into my poor boyfriend's hand throughout the entire film. Crazy Eights takes a similar setting as Session 9 with the cast dealing with ghosts of their past (both metaphorical and literal) and couples it with the slow, methodical, hauntingly creepy suspenseful direction similar to Takashi Shimizu and other Japanese directors (the ghost aspect also follows similar themes). The writing and acting were incredibly vivid and captivating.
This was
definitely the scariest film of the entire festival and a must-see for horror fans. A/A+