THE KILLER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/24/10

 

I wasn't that impressed with THE KILLER (1989) the first time I saw it back in the 90s. Then again, I was watching a choppy pan-and-scan VHS copy that was badly-dubbed and looked awful. Plus, I'd just been blown away by HARD BOILED (still my favorite John Woo film), and THE KILLER seemed rather tame in comparison with that insanely action-packed epic. But with the new 2-disc Ultimate Edition of THE KILLER on the Dragon Dynasty label, I'm finally getting to see it in all its uncut pictorial glory and appreciate it as one of the finest action films ever made.

I think it was an episode of the great TV series "The Incredibly Strange Film Show" that first got me interested in the films of John Woo, Tsui Hark, and other hot Hong Kong directors. I found the innovative and extremely rapid-fire editing in the film clips to be a new and exhilarating visual experience. Just as the Beatles interpreted American rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues and played it back to us in exciting new ways, Hong Kong cinema was assimilating the methods of Sam Peckinpah and others and using this as a starting point for creating a super-charged cinematic style that would, in turn, have an overwhelming effect on the future of American action cinema.

Woo himself credits many influences, among them French director Jean-Pierre Melville, certain Japanese films, and classical American cinema. Unsurprisingly, Sam Peckinpah and Martin Scorcese are key figures in the development of his film style, in addition to the old Hollywood musicals. Woo calls THE KILLER an "action-musical", and it's easy to see how his shoot-em-up sequences are often inspired by the spirit of that genre's more dazzling and dynamic production numbers. (I'm guessing Woo is an admirer of Gene Kelly and films such as SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and ON THE TOWN.)


There's even a little bit of Charlie Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS, I think, in the relationship between ace hitman Ah Jong (the great Chow Yun-Fat) and Jennie (Sally Yeh), the pretty young cabaret singer who was blinded during one of his hits. The guilt-ridden Ah Jong befriends Jennie with the hope of helping her regain her eyesight with a cornea transplant, but to pay for the operation he will have to postpone his plans to retire and perform one last hit. Complicating matters is the fact that the evil Triad boss for whom he works has just put out the order for Ah Jong himself to be eliminated.

Meanwhile, Inspector Li Ying (Danny Lee), a renegade cop who has the same "hate-hate" relationship with his boss as countless other renegade cops before him, is hot on Ah Jong's trail and has traced him to Jennie. In a strange turn of events, cop and hitman become grudging allies as Li Ying sympathizes with Ah Jong's desire to help Jennie and decides to back him up when the Triad kill squad comes a-callin'. This leads to a blazing shoot-out in a church with the fate of our unlikely heroes in the balance.

Unlike the usual stoic, repressed action figure, Chow Yun Fat's character is a man of deep feelings whose code of killing only bad guys is compromised not only by Jennie's injury but by the shooting of a little girl during an exciting escape from the police. Ah Jong risks his freedom to race the girl to a hospital, where he and Li Ying have one of many Mexican standoffs (Woo really loves these) just a few feet away from where doctors are struggling to save the girl's life.

Here, and in Ah Jong's scenes with Jennie, Woo's penchant for melodrama and sentimentality come to the fore. Such unrestrained romanticism may be off-putting to more hardcore action fans who prefer their mayhem untainted by mush. Although it gets a little thick at times, I think this gives an interesting added dimension to Woo's passages of gun-blazing carnage, as does the underlying religious tone (Woo describes himself as a Christian) which makes Ah Jong such a conflicted character seeking redemption.


Also interesting is the fact that Li Ying begins to identify with and even admire him for his honorable qualities--Woo points out their similarities in a nice parallel-image sequence--as their mutual concern for Jennie has them pretending to be and eventually becoming friends. Woo's humor comes to the fore when they initially hold each other at gunpoint while assuring the blind Jenny that all is well, even giving each other affectionate nicknames "Small B" and "Shrimp Head" (or "Mickey Mouse" and "Dumbo" in the English dub). By the end of the movie, they're as close as brothers and willing to die for each other.

More than anything else, however, THE KILLER is a feast for action connoisseurs as Woo stages one astounding shoot-out after another. His trademarks are all here, from the rapid-fire two-gun approach (his heroes never seem to run out of bullets) which has since been adopted by, well, everybody, to the sliding-backward-on-the-floor-while firing method, to everything else in-between. Innovations abound, with Woo's distinctive use of slow-motion and freeze-frames mixed with the regular action as his artistic sensibility sees fit, all creatively edited into a barrage of explosive images that bombard the viewer in waves of kinetic visual sensation.

Some of the action borders on the surreal, with scores of bad guys swarming non-stop into the line of fire only to be mowed down in twisting, jerking, blood-spewing (yet strangely balletic) death throes. Echoes of the famous shoot-outs from Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH pervade the climactic battle in the church, while the melodrama of the story weaves its way through the hail of bullets and fiery explosions toward a starkly emotional conclusion. It bears noting that Woo improvised much of the story and dialogue on-set, shooting from a treatment rather than a finished script, yet considers this to be one of his most "complete" films.


The Dragon Dynasty DVD is in the original widescreen with Dolby Digital sound. Languages are Cantonese and dubbed English, both mono, with English and Spanish subtitles. The second disc includes an intimate interview with John Woo, two audience Q & A's with Woo which accompanied screenings of THE KILLER and HARD BOILED, a look at the locations of THE KILLER then and now, and a John Woo trailer gallery. Missing in action is a commentary track.

Whether you're a long-time fan or just seeing it for the first time, Dragon Dynasty's Ultimate Edition of THE KILLER is a great way to experience this dazzling Hong Kong action classic.

THE KILLER -- DVD Review by Porfle

EDEN LAKE -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/7/09

 

There's a grand tradition of movies in which happy-go-lucky city folk venture into some rural setting and wind up being terrorized by psychotic locals. Most of these movies, unfortunately, aren't nearly as good as, say, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE or DELIVERANCE, and the formula more often than not results in just another inept, forgettable piece of cinematic flotsam with people running around in the woods screaming for an hour-and-a-half.

Not so, however, in the case of EDEN LAKE (2008), one of the most harrowing, painfully suspenseful, and relentlessly downbeat horror thrillers I've ever seen.

It's a pretty simple set-up: Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) drive to the country to camp out on the shore of a beautiful, secluded lake, where Steve plans to pick just the right moment to whip out an engagement ring and pop the question.

But their romantic sunbathing reverie is marred by a motley group of punk teens who blast their boom box, ogle the bikini-clad Jenny, and allow their scary-looking Rottweiler to menace her while Steve is taking a dip.

Well, Steve, of course, must do his "guy duty" and confront the surly bunch. Led by the older and considerably meaner Brett (Jack O'Connell), the kids steal Steve's land rover and go for a joyride. When Steve tries to wrestle the keys away from them, Brett's beloved dog is accidentally killed, which sparks Brett into a murderous rage.

Steve and Jenny are forced to flee for their lives, but fate conspires against them at every turn, and they both end up tortured and brutalized beyond anything they could have imagined.

When EDEN LAKE was over, I felt as though I'd just awoken from an extremely vivid and disturbing nightmare. Everything that could possibly go wrong for Steve and Jenny does go wrong as they descend quickly and inexorably into hell. Much of the film is hard to watch--not because it's especially gory, but because the situations are so intense and realistic.

When Steve is captured and bound with barbed wire and Brett bullies the others into taking turns slashing him with knives and box cutters, it's effective on a realistic level because the violence isn't being committed by monsters like Leatherface or over-the-top caricatures of inbred hillbillies. These are just ordinary kids--on bicycles no less--giving in to their darkest impulses in a way that happens far too often in real life, stripping the story of the usual comforting veneer of fantasy that has us laughing along with Rob Zombie's cartoonish maniacs or wondering what cool method of execution Jason will use on his next faceless victim.

Jenny fares no better as she finds herself lost in the woods with no way to call for help and little chance of escape. Naturally, a metal spike goes through her foot at one point and she spends a lot of time crawling through mud and slime, reduced to the level of a terrified animal.

One scene in which she locks herself in a shack with the injured Steve and tries desperately to tend to his grievous wounds, unable to stop the gouts of blood pouring from deep cuts, is difficult to endure simply because of the crushing sadness and despair that it evokes. And because the killers are still closing in and there's nothing she can do about it.

It gets worse. Eventually EDEN LAKE begins to resemble a twisted version of THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS with its nonstop series of horrors heaped one right after the other upon the hapless couple. Some instances, such as Jenny being forced to hide in a filthy dumpster and emerging with a coating of the most rancid slime imaginable, took me out of the movie for a bit as I thought, "Sheesh, what next?" But these moments actually help the film, serving to give us a breather from all the tension before sucking us right back in and ramping up the suspense again.

The cast does a good job of selling it all. Kelly Reilly (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) is outstanding and entirely believable as sweet-tempered preschool teacher Jenny, while Michael Fassbender (300, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) is likable as Steve even when he isn't leaving well enough alone. All of the teen castmembers are good, especially Jack O'Connell as the monstrous Brett.

First-time director James Watkins does a very surehanded job working from his own screenplay and the cinematography is way above average. David Julyan, who has scored films such as MEMENTO, THE DESCENT, and OUTLAW, avoids horror cliches and emphasizes the emotional devastation of the lead characters instead. This is especially true in the final minutes, when the last grimly-ironic pieces fall into place with a sickening thud and the music becomes heartbreakingly mournful.

It's in this last act that the hopelessness running through the rest of the story is finally driven home in the most downbeat manner possible. You won't often see a scene this powerful and bleak. The situation is so nightmarishly awful that violence and gore are no longer even necessary here--by this time, writer-director Watkins has so thoroughly woven a web of tragedy and despair that we're left stunned and haunted by it all, which is his intention.

In 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound, the DVD looks and sounds good. Extras consist of a brief "making of" featurette and a trailer.

A highly-effective and skillfully manipulative piece of filmmaking, EDEN LAKE effortlessly rises above most other films of its ilk. It's hardly the usual horror flick that relies on shock cuts to make you jump or clever gore effects to make you say "Cool!" Instead, it batters the viewer with nonstop dread and ultimately becomes a deeply depressing experience. I was relieved when it was over, as though I'd finally woken up from the nightmare, but I still can't get it out of my mind.

EDEN LAKE -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE COMPANY MEN -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 5/23/11

 

If you've ever been laid off from your $130,000-a-year job and had to sell your Porsche just to pay your golf club dues, you'll really identify with Ben Affleck's character in THE COMPANY MEN (2010).  If, however, you don't quite fall within that particular poverty bracket, then this film serves as a mildly entertaining look at how the other half fails.

Hot-shot young exec Bobby Walker (Affleck) gets pink-slipped along with hundreds of other chumps when his high-profile company GTX downsizes in order to make greedy CEO James Salinger (old fave Craig T. Nelson, POLTERGEIST) even richer.  Trouble is, Bobby's having trouble gearing down his extravagant lifestyle (big house, sports car, etc.) even though it's suddenly sucking him dry of every last precious cent. 

His loyal wife Maggie (Rosemarie DeWitt) and sensitive son Drew try to help him learn to be more frugal while he searches fruitlessly for another job, but Bobby's pride is at stake.  It's actually a bit hard to feel sorry for him since he's such a dope, an aspect of the character which Affleck plays very well.  (Okay, that was a cheap shot.)

Also kicked off the gravy train is 30-year company vet Phil, whom we do feel sorry for because Chris Cooper is just so darn good, and because it's even harder for him to find another job because of his age (in a deleted scene that recalls Albert Brooks' LOST IN AMERICA, he's reduced to applying as a pizza delivery man).  Cooper's fun to watch and THE COMPANY MEN is most effective when his character is onscreen being heartrendingly pathetic.
  


Rounding out this roster of rejects is Tommy Lee Jones as Gene McClary, Salinger's long-time partner, whose main failing is that he has a heart.  Yearning for the old days when employees were treated with respect, Gene's vocal opposition to rampant downsizing gets him into hot water with the big cheese and finally lands him on the street as well.  Jones brings his usual hang-dog style to the role and is even more laidback here than in the MEN IN BLACK flicks.  MILF-tastic Maria Bello plays GTX's hatchet woman who is also having an affair with Gene, which places his sense of values in even further conflict. 

The story, which ambles along in a rather dry style that rarely hits any really interesting peaks, is a steady succession of "fail" for its main characters as their once-lofty station in life sinks into a morass of chronic unemployment and reality-check job interviews.  Bobby's desperation finally leads him to accept a job helping his blue-collar brother-in-law Jack (a laconic Kevin Coster) install drywall, giving me a chance to identify with him for once as he gets his first taste of manual labor.  Wait, did I say "identify with"?  I meant "laugh at."



From glancing at the trailer, I got the impression that these guys were going to start their own upstart company and take on the big boys at their own game, but nothing this upbeat or fanciful occurs.  Which, to writer-director John Wells' credit, makes for a more realistic story. Nevertheless, it isn't a lot of fun to watch unless you enjoy seeing some once-successful shlubs scraping bottom.

The DVD from Anchor Bay and the Weinstein Company is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Extras include a director's commentary, an alternate ending, deleted scenes, and the featurette "Making 'The Company Men.'"

Affleck is well-cast as a shallow jerk who must learn that there's no shame in not being a gold-plated success.  Cooper, as the film's most hopeless casualty, and DeWitt, as Bobby's wise, supportive wife, give the story most of its heart.  Jones, with his comfortable-old-shoe persona, gives us hope that not every corporate executive is a misanthropic creep.  THE COMPANY MEN offers us a dispiriting (save for a final dash of optimism), intermittently interesting, but rarely all that involving look at some guys who get knocked off their perch and tumble downhill reaching for something to grab onto, lest they end up way down here with the rest of us. 

THE COMPANY MEN -- DVD Review by Porfle

FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/7/08

 

I didn't see FEAST, but that doesn't matter because FEAST II (2008) just picks up where the first one left off and plunges ahead with more reckless abandon than Rosie O'Donnell fighting over the last Ring-Ding. And I haven't had this much fun watching a gore-drenched, insanely irreverent, and just plain demented horror comedy since FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.

We quickly pick up enough info to know that in the first film, a remote desert bar was attacked by horrendous man-eating monsters. A cycle dyke named Harley Mom was killed by a sleazy guy named Bozo. The bartender (Clu Gulager) and a ditzy chick named Honey Pie (Jenny Wade) survived. And when Harley Mom's twin sister Biker Queen (Diane Goldner again) shows up at the start of this movie, she grabs the bartender and motors toward the nearest town seething with a lust for revenge against Bozo.

Unfortunately, that town is crawling with the same monsters and it's about half past dinnertime. Biker Queen rolls in with her gang of hot-bad cycle chicks who soon find themselves holed up in a garage with the motliest assortment of characters this side of FREAKS. People are ripped apart, disembowled, eaten alive, shot full of holes, smashed with ball-peen hammers, impaled through the head by pipes, and slowly melted by internal monster juices. Human and monster bodily fluids fly. A cat is raped. A midget is shot out of a catapult. And aside from all that, some of what happens is really over the top.

FEAST II is probably one of the few horror films you'll ever see in which Mexican midget wrestling is integral to the plot. It's also, as far as I know, the first sequel to a "Project: Greenlight" flick. Director John Gulager lets his imagination go wild and gives us a picture that snaps, crackles, pops, and bleeds all over the place, with the help of Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan's cartoonishly splat-stick screenplay. With his dad Clu (one of my all-time favorite actors), brother Tom (memorable as the cowardly "Greg Swank"), wife Diane Goldner, and infant nephew Clu, Junior on board, it's truly a dysfunctional family affair.

The talented cast is so large that I can't list everyone, but Carl Anthony Payne is hilarious as Slasher, a used car dealer who "slashes" prices, and so are Hanna Putnam as his wife "Secrets" (who's having an affair with fellow car salesman Greg Swank), Jenny Wade as Honey Pie, and little people Martin Klebba and Juan Longoria García as Thunder and Lightning, the midget wrestlers who also run the town's key shop, which figures importantly in the plot.

Special mention must go not only to Goldner as the macho bike-dyke Biker Queen, but also to her crew of gorgeous cycle chix who, in grand exploitation style, end up stark naked before the movie's over because their clothes are somehow required in the construction of the midget catapult. And the fact that I was able to write that sentence just now is one of the reasons I like this movie so much.

The budget isn't huge here but the director and his crew make the most of both their resources and their location, the small town of Plain Dealing, Louisiana. The monster suits are great and the gore effects well executed. Yes, I noticed the use of green screen in several of the rooftop scenes, but it's tolerable. The showstopper has got to be the dissection scene, in which Greg Swank thinks they can learn more about the creatures by examining a dead specimen's inner workings. This results in one of the most horrendously gross sequences I've ever witnessed, in which the dead monster manages to drench everyone in the room with gallons of vile bodily fluids of all varieties, to which they all respond by vomiting their guts out. It's practically indescribable, but it's also screamingly funny.

The DVD is widescreen with Dolby sound and English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include an intimate cast and crew commentary and two fun featurettes entitled "Scared Half to Death Twice: The Making of Feast II" and "Meet the Gulagers."

Nothing is sacred in FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS, and many viewers will be offended. Some scenes, in fact, may have certain viewers ripping the DVD out of the player, stomping on it, smashing it to pieces, and setting it on fire. Others, however, will simply laugh with glee, sing "That's Entertainment!", and enjoy every minute of it. The abrupt ending, unfortunately, leaves us hanging until the inevitable third film in the trilogy. In my mind, I'm already there.

FEAST II: SLOPPY SECONDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

PULSE 3 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/19/08

 

I missed the first installment in what is now the PULSE trilogy, but I did catch the second one and found it entertaining enough to look forward to part three. And here it is-- PULSE 3 (2008), the final segment in the saga of a global apocalypse that occurs when a freak technological discovery opens up a portal between the world of the living and the dark, terrifying dimension of the dead.

The last movie ended with a newly-orphaned little girl named Justine (Karley Scott Collins) boarding a bus which would take her to an isolated refugee colony in West Texas, far from any visual communications devices or internet connections through which the soul-sucking ghosts enter our world. Now seventeen and chafing from the confines of her near-primitive lifestyle, Justine (the winsome Brittany Renee Finamore) runs away from her foster parents and heads for Houston after discovering a working laptop computer and making friends with an unseen IM buddy named Adam.

After barely surviving a harrowing encounter with a lonesome cotton farmer along the way, Justine reaches the ruined city to find it inhabited only by baleful ghosts. Her search for Adam leads her right into the clutches of an old acquaintance from the previous film, The Man With A Plan (Todd Giebenhain). Holed up in his red-lined loft (the color red repels the ghosts), this psychotic yet highly-intelligent wacko has been developing a plan to foil the spirit invasion in conjunction with the military. The main drawback is that his plan involves lots of nuclear weapons. Locked in a red room with a captive ghost, Justine must find a way to escape and make contact with Adam--if he's even still alive.

PULSE 3 never builds up much of a head of steam and isn't quite the finale I'd expected, but it's still an entertaining and well-made grade B horror flick. Like the previous film, much of it is done with green-screen, both in exterior and interior shots, which might prove distracting or even off-putting for some viewers. Still, the photography is good and the film is technically superior to a lot of equally low-budget efforts I've seen. Director Joel Soisson's script offers an intriguing mystery concerning Adam's character, along with several imaginative vignettes along the way.

First off is the cool opening sequence which shows college student Adam (Rider Strong) carrying on a long-distance romance with an Egyptian girl named Salwa (Noureen DeWulf) via several monitor screens situated in the various rooms of their respective apartments. They chat, watch movies, have dinner together--everything short of actual physical contact. When the spirit invasion begins, Adam must witness Salwa's demise through her cell phone camera as she wanders onto a fire escape in a trancelike daze and jumps off.

My favorite sequence is when Justine, tired from her long journey toward Houston, spends a night with the lonesome cotton farmer, Wilkie (Thomas Merdis in a very good performance). At first she fears that the outwardly-nice but sorta creepy Wilkie may try to make sexual advances toward her, but his true intentions are even more terrifying and result in the film's goriest and most disturbing segment. Also quite entertaining is Justine's encounter with The Man With A Plan in his gadget-filled loft, which was filmed in an abandoned YMCA's indoor running track. Todd Giebenhain's performance is a hoot as he paces around the track, manically spouting reams of dialogue about his plan for wiping out the ghosts using the EMP from several airborn nuclear blasts.

The ghosts themselves aren't employed as effectively here as in the previous film, but there are some unnerving scenes and a few good shock cuts here and there. The filmmakers do a good job of depicting Houston as a ruined, empty city, and the scenes of Justine's shantytown home in the middle of nowhere are equally well designed and atmospheric.

The DVD is in matted widescreen format with good image and sound quality. Special features include a nice, low-key commentary with writer/director Soisson, Producer Mike Leahy, editor Kirk Morri, and star Brittany Finamore, plus a brief making-of featurette and some trailers.

How much you like or dislike PULSE 3 will have a lot to do with your expectations. As the conclusion to a trilogy, it falls far short of its potential and doesn't satisfy the anticipation the second chapter left me with. It's episodic, underpopulated, and sparsely plotted. But as a minor horror flick done by imaginative filmmakers on a low budget, I found it fairly entertaining and fun.

 

PULSE 3 -- DVD Review by Porfle

PULSE 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/30/08

 

2006's PULSE, based on the Japanese horror film KAIRO, began what will be a trilogy about an apocalyptic invasion by supernatural entities after a freak technological glitch inadvertently bridges the gulf between the living and the dead. PULSE 2 (2008) gets right on with the story and pretty much assumes that those of us who didn't see the first film will catch up, giving us just enough exposition along the way to keep the slowly-unfolding mystery intriguing while maintaining a high creep factor.

The afterlife, it turns out, is a dark and lonely dimension. So when a portal to the world of the living is opened up, ghosts begin to pop up all over the place--via computers, cell phones, and televisions--and suck the will to live from anyone they touch. These victims, in turn, either commit suicide or die from a horrible disease that quickly turns them to carbon dust. When divorced mother Michelle (Georgina Rylance) wakes up in her apartment amidst a cloud of this dust and finds that her young daughter Justine is missing, she fears the worst. But things are much darker and more sinister than even she suspects.

Meanwhile, Michelle's ex-husband Stephen (Jamie Bamber, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and daughter Justine (Karley Scott Collins) are hiding out in a cabin in the woods, where they hope to remain isolated from the plague that is spreading everywhere. Stephen's insufferable girlfriend Marta (Boti Bliss) shows up and, after accidentally turning on his laptop, they discover that he's receiving dozens of email messages reading "Help Me" over and over--from a dead person. Their location now exposed by this Internet connection, Stephen and Justine are then forced to flee cross-country in search of a safe zone beyond the reach of technology, with malevolent spirits hot on their trail.

For a sequel, PULSE 2 is a fairly stand-alone story that had me in suspense throughout. While the open ending left me anticipating part three, there was enough of a resolution to keep it from feeling as wide open as the middle entries in other trilogies often are.

Much of the early part of the film has an eerie "Twilight Zone" feel as we try to figure out what's going on. The ghosts look like old, flickering black-and-white video images, which is a pretty cool idea. Writer-director Joel Soisson does a good job of staging the scary stuff, giving us some mildly effective shock cuts while establishing an overall atmosphere of dread.

There isn't a lot of gore, although an extreme BCM (Bad Cat Moment) may have cat lovers hitting the fast forward button. Here, Michelle's Aunt Carmen (veteran actress Lee Garlington) and Uncle Pete are on either side of a locked bedroom door, and one of them is a ghost. Later, a delightfully nasty scene has an infected woman seducing a fat guy and then literally being reduced to black goo beneath his heaving body as they make out on the floor. Other instances of violent suicide and hostile ghost attacks help to keep things interesting.

As it's hard to depict the end of the world on a low budget, a large amount of PULSE 2 is done with green screen. Granted, this is some pretty good green screen--I've definitely seen a lot worse. But while you don't notice it as much in a futuristic or fantasy setting, it's pretty obvious when used for everyday backgrounds like houses, city streets, forests, deserts, etc. I got used to this after awhile and it didn't bother me, but for viewers with a less willing suspension of disbelief this element will probably prove a major drawback.

Karley Scott Collins handles the crucial role of Justine very convincingly for such a young actress. Jamie Bamber and Georgina Rylance are also good as her parents, Stephen and Michelle, whose custody battle over Justine really gets serious when one of them joins the ranks of the living dead. The rest of the cast is fine, particularly the ever-reliable Lee Garlington as Aunt Carmen and Boti Bliss (who looks like she could be Ashton Kutcher's sister) as the sexy but unstable Marta. Special mention goes to Todd Giebenhain as Ziegler, a sarcastic, wrapped-in-red computer geek (the color red repels ghosts) who holds Justine hostage until Stephen ventures into a haunted warehouse to fetch him a particular electronic component. It's a good bet we'll see him again in part three.

The DVD is in matted widescreen format with Dolby 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include a group commentary track, two deleted scenes (an unfinished one shows the actors performing in front of the green screen), and a preview of PULSE 3.

After sneaking a peek at the IMDb page for this movie, I notice that so far it isn't exactly taking the world by storm. For me, it was consistently entertaining, with a certain Dean Koontz vibe that I found appealing. PULSE 2 isn't a classic, and there's that little matter of the ubiquitous green screen, but for a low-budget, direct-to-video apocalyptic horror flick I'd say it's well worth checking out.

 

PULSE 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/29/08

 

Mixing a dash of truth with heaping helpings of fiction, the UK-Australian film DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET (2008) finds legendary escapologist Harry Houdini in Edinburgh, Scotland during his final 1926 European tour (truth), where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful con woman named Mary McGarvie who claims she can help him contact the spirit of his dear, departed mother (fiction). The result is a handsomely-mounted romantic fantasy with an intriguing "what if?" premise and some interesting performances.

Mary and her young tomboyish daughter, Benji, live in an impossibly cozy shack in a cemetery and earn a living performing in a local music hall as "the tantalizing Princess Kali and her dusky disciple." This gives Catherine Zeta-Jones a chance to look fabulous in a skimpy harem costume while she and a brown-faced Benji wow the rubes with their fake psychic act. When Houdini triumphantly enters the city to an ecstatic reception, his standing offer of $10,000 to anyone who can prove their psychic veracity by reciting his mother's dying words to him is an irresistible opportunity for the mother-daughter team.

They set about trying to dig up personal information on Houdini to aid in their deception, and in the process Harry and Mary begin to fall for each other. This unusual romance, and how it effects both a jealous Benji and Harry's doting manager-slash-keeper Mr. Sugarman (Timothy Spall), keeps the story moving until the moment of truth in which Mary is expected to wield her psychic powers before an expectant Houdini and a horde of eager reporters.

Guy Pearce plays Houdini as a gruff but friendly egotist with an imposing personality and boundless energy. The usually rail-thin Pearce comes as a shock in his first shirtless scene--with his new muscular frame he hardly looks like the same person we saw in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, MEMENTO, or THE TIME MACHINE. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a more restrained presence, but her Mary is just as strong-willed as Houdini and rejects his amorous advances until she's sure he regards her as more than a casual fling. As it turns out, Harry's interest in her is based in large part on her uncanny resemblance to his mother, which gives the story an added element of--well, weirdness.

The most interesting performance comes from 14-year-old Saoirse Ronan as Benji. She's a remarkably skilled, thoughtful actress who pretty much steals every scene she's in while doing so in a subtle and natural manner. Her Benji narrates the film, which we see mainly from her viewpoint and experience through her character. Much of the story's emotional resonance comes from the conflict between her devotion to her mother and her hero-worship of Houdini, who is, after all, the object of their deceptive scheme.

Director Gillian Armstrong (MY BRILLIANT CAREER, LITTLE WOMEN) handles the action well and gives the film a hazy, golden-hued, nostalgic look. Lush period detail fills the frame in every scene. The main titles display Armstrong's sometimes quirky visual sense--we see a strait-jacketed Pearce enter the water from below the surface and then drift into closeup, where he floats motionless and calmly holds his breath in one long, unbroken take until the credits are done. It looks like a SPFX shot but it isn't, and Pearce's breath control is the result of training with a professional.

We don't see much of Houdini's performance magic after that, although his famous water torture escape is very nicely duplicated early on. Armstrong imaginatively uses this device as a means for mystical floating visions to appear to whoever is inside it. Houdini sees a ghostly image of his mother, complete with pennies over her eyes; Benji, after accidentally falling in, sees a red-haired angelic harbinger of Houdini's death.

For me, the highlight is the sequence in which Mary is expected to channel the spirit of Houdini's mother before the assembled press and reveal her last words to him. It doesn't go off as expected, and there's a startling twist in which the boundary between fakery and actual spiritualism is apparently blurred. Surprisingly, it's Saoirse Ronan's performance in this scene which is the most impressive.

The widescreen picture and sound are good. The commentary track is just the kind I like--both continuous and well-balanced between being scene-specific and generally informative. It's also amusing the way director Armstrong keeps up a constant monologue while producer Marian Macgowan, who has a better memory for details, inserts various names and other factual data almost seamlessly into the pauses. Additional features consist of a "making-of" featurette and a trailer. There are no deleted scenes because, as Armstrong tells us, the script by Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward was so tight that it didn't require any trimming after it was filmed.

Not quite a remarkable film, DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET is still an involving and visually satisfying historical fiction that benefits from its lead performances, imaginative story, and fine period setting. The rather peculiar romance between Harry and Mary is far more intriguing and adult than the usual Harlequin nonsense, while the mystical elements give it a nice dark tone and are left tantalizingly unresolved.

 

DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET -- DVD Review by Porfle

BOY A -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/4/08

 

Over the years, I've occasionally seen movies that are so sad that they make me feel bad for days. This usually means that it's a good movie that has accomplished what it set out to do, which is to make me sad. BOY A (2007) is one of those movies, and boy, did it ever.

"Boy A" is the designation used during a sensational murder trial to refer to one of two young boys charged with the murder of a little girl. Now, years later, the older Jack (Andrew Garfield) is finally being paroled after growing up in captivity, and faces the world with a new name and a new chance at life. With the help of a caring parole officer-slash-social worker named Terry (Peter Mullan), Jack begins to settle into his job and make friends, and even form a tentative romantic relationship with pretty co-worker Michelle (Katie Lyons).

Eager to do well in his new life and wide-eyed with wonder at the world around him, Jack is likable from the start. But we worry that he may harbor violent tendencies that could emerge at any time, especially when he jumps in to fight off some thugs who attack his new friend Chris (Shaun Evans) during a drunken night out clubbing. However, an unexpected event crops up--one which seems contrived at first, but is played very well--which gives us a whole new concern. When Jack and Chris happen upon an auto accident and save the life of a little girl, they're thrust into the limelight, where Jack now runs the risk of being recognized by an unforgiving public who still perceive him as a monster.

Andrew Garfield is terrific as Jack, with an acting style that's totally natural and unforced--he's able to gain our empathy from the first scene and hold it for the rest of the movie. The realism and understatement of his performance make an already well-written screenplay even more effective. Since he's basically a boy in a man's body, his efforts to make friends and his first fumbling love scenes with Michelle are almost painful to watch, and we're happy for him every time he makes a breakthrough and inches closer to achieving a normal life.

As Jack's parole officer Terry, Peter Mullan (TRAINSPOTTING, BRAVEHEART) does a fine job of conveying compassion and concern for Jack, which, we'll discover later, is partly an effort to make up for a failed relationship with his own son. And in the flashback scenes which show us what led up to the initial crime, Taylor Doherty is outstanding as Phillip, an abused and very troubled boy whose friendship and influence over the young Jack prove disastrous.

Everything in Mark O'Rowe's screenplay is so deftly underplayed and effective that there's no need for big, showy scenes to reach out and grab us. John Crowley's direction is similarly restrained yet creative, brimming with imaginative compositions and impeccable photography. The score by Paddy Cunneen is similarly artful and evocative.

The DVD is in 1.85:1 widescreen format with Dolby 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles. There aren't any extras, but after the last shot of this movie, I was too stunned to care.

BOY A has no showstopper ending filled with histrionic acting and heart-tugging melodrama, yet it's as emotionally devastating as anything I've seen. Some very talented filmmakers have given us a story that's deeply moving, involving, and worthwhile, but make no mistake--they want us to feel bad. Boy, do they ever. And when Jack's wonderful new life comes crashing down around him like a house of cards, it's like one of those nightmares that won't let go even after you wake up.

 

BOY A -- DVD Review by Porfle

DEAD IN 3 DAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/4/09

 

At first, the Austrian horror film DEAD IN 3 DAYS, aka In 3 Tagen bist du tot (2006), seems to have all the makings of yet another forgettable teen slasher flick. But it quickly proves to be a sober, atmospheric murder mystery-thriller with believable characters and a suspenseful story that held my interest till the very end.

A close-knit group of childhood friends celebrating their graduation from school each start getting a text message on their cell phones that reads: "Dead in 3 days." When one of them disappears from a dance, the others report it to the police but aren't taken seriously until his body is found floating in a nearby lake, bound and weighed down by an anchor. Then, when Nina (Sabrina Reiter) is abducted from her home and barely escapes alive from the hooded killer's lair, it becomes clear that the group of friends have been marked for death. So they have three days to figure out who's after them and why.

An early incident in which they run over a small deer on an isolated road and are forced to club the suffering animal to death brings the inferior I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER to mind, but fortunately this merely hints at a more extreme occurrence in their past that binds them together and will soon come back to haunt them. (Which was a relief since I wasn't all that interested in watching a horror movie about a deer avenger.) This establishes a tone of shared guilt that will increase as the story progresses. With the first murder, which is shown in agonizing detail from the victim's point of view, it's clear that no one is safe and that anything can happen.

The teens, thank goodness, are fairly well-developed characters and not just cardboard cutouts. They work at part-time jobs, argue with their parents, have unstable home lives, etc. and aren't always entirely likable. Even when they have sex, it's unexploitive and not simply to get us stoked up for their slaughter by-the-numbers. The fact that we care about them creates genuine tension instead of just the usual build-up to the next jump scare.

That said, this is a pretty scary movie at times, with touches of old-school graphic violence. The "fish tank" scene is well-staged and harkens back to 80s films like HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE and SILENT PARTNER--as soon as Clemens (Michael Steinocher) notices the tank's dangerously sharp edge while filling it with fish, it's pretty obvious that somebody's eventually going to have a bad throat day.

While these instances of gory violence are shocking, they're not really what the movie is about. Ultimately it's the mounting tension and a heavy atmosphere of suspense and dread that drive the story and keep us on the edge of our seats. Directors Andreas Prochaska and Stewart St. John involve the viewer with unique camera angles (especially a good use of overhead and POV shots) and consistently compelling photography. This is a very visual movie, with muted colors--even the daylight scenes have a hazy look--and the deliberate pace gives us time to be immersed in the mood.

Certain dramatic moments are emphasized by switching to slow-motion and/or silence. When the first victim's body is found, there's no dialogue for several minutes, with only the images telling the story and conveying the emotions. It's a reminder of how effective silent movies could be at times, without all the noise and chatter. At other times there's even a Dario Argento-like quality in the use of interiors and exteriors to help build an overall sense of unease. In some shots you might almost think it was Argento's camera lingering over eerie windswept trees or prowling down shadowy hallways. All of this is bound together by a recurring water motif, the reason for which becomes clear at the end.

The DVD is in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound and your choice of English dub or original German soundtrack with subtitles. There are no bonus features.

Once the surviving members of the original group figure out what's going on and who's after them, they decide to sneak away from police protection and take on the killer themselves. Incredibly dumb, yes, but it does lead to a bloody, intense finale that left me with that special glow that comes from having just watched a really good horror movie. For its rich, inventive visual style alone, DEAD IN 3 DAYS is well worth watching.

 

DEAD IN 3 DAYS -- DVD Review by Porfle

APOLLO 18 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/13/11

 

I love a good "found-footage" mockumentary if it's done right, as it was with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (the grandaddy of FFMs) or the recent ATROCIOUS.  And as an avid fan of the USA space program during the 60s, I was sucked right into APOLLO 18 (2011) from the very start and stayed there till the classic "film running out of the projector" ending. 

The film is supposedly edited together from several hours of classified NASA footage of a secret moon shot which took place after the official "final" moon mission, Apollo 17.  Lt. Col. John Grey (Ryan Robbins) orbits the moon in the command capsule while Commander Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen) and Captain Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie) settle onto the lunar surface and start collecting moon rocks.  But first, they have to set up and activate a mysterious device--whose ostensible purpose is to track Soviet missile activity--at the behest of the Department of Defense.



All of this is presented via extremely convincing simulations of the aged, sometimes ragged film footage we've all seen of early NASA missions (along with simulated 8mm home movies of the astronauts and their families), which match almost seamlessly with generous stock footage of the real thing.  Close views of the moon suspended against a black void create an eerie, baleful mood early on and we begin to get a sense of the astronauts' total isolation.  This is heightened when Nate and Ben sit on the moon's surface in their cramped lander, as alone and vulnerable as two people can be, or explore a realistically-rendered lunar landscape strewn with pitch black shadows.

Director Gonzalo López-Gallego, aided by a cast of actors who are very adept at acting natural and unscripted, recreates the sort of light banter and good-natured antics we used to see from real astronauts when they knew the whole world was watching them.  Knowing that APOLLO 18 is a space horror film, however, and that the DOD doo-dad they've just set up must somehow bode ill, gives us a growing unease as little things begin to happen that alter the casual mood of the mission to one of severe apprehension.  And since the world is unaware of this particular moon shot, these guys are really on their own when they begin to suspect that they've been set up.

López-Gallego uses many clever visual tricks to create a spooky mood or, in some cases, a genuine jump-scare.  An astronaut takes photos in a dark crater until one flash suddenly reveals something terrifying; a seemingly random static shot of the moonscape or LEM interior seems harmless until we think we see movement in the periphery. 

The setting is especially effective because when these guys hear a mysterious noise or spot something moving around, it isn't rats in the woodwork and it sure ain't the wind.  As the unexplained and seemingly impossible events begin to escalate, so does the sense of claustrophobia and paranoia within the astronauts' fragile haven of life support.



I've tried to avoid giving anything away because not knowing is a major part of the fun with this movie.  I will say that Nate and Ben make some gut-wrenching discoveries on the moon (some of them quite queasily horrific) which force them to question everything they believe about the space program in general and their own increasingly doomed mission in particular.  Rarely does a story get to present a situation in which two guys are so utterly screwed, and I was with them all the way--vicariously, thank goodness--until the haunting final images. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay, Dimension, and the Weinsteins is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Extras include a very informative director and editor commentary, deleted and alternate scenes, and four alternate endings.  The film comes as a Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo--this review is for the DVD only. 

As I understand, the majority of reviews for APOLLO 18 have not been favorable, with words such as "boring" and "suspense-free" popping up here and there.  I found the film riveting from beginning to end--it reminds me of the kind of stuff Joseph Stefano used to write back when "The Outer Limits" was in its heyday, an uneasy mix of both "sense of wonder" and hopeless dread.

APOLLO 18 -- DVD Review by Porfle

"PROJECT RUNWAY 4" -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/8/08

 

I detest the concept of "fashion", and skinny supermodels clomping around on a runway in freaky clothes don't do much for me. So why did I enjoy PROJECT RUNWAY 4 so much? Maybe it's because I'm a science-fiction fan, and watching these people and what they do holds the same giddy fascination as watching a STAR WARS prequel, with the added bonus that it's all strangely real.

In this fourth season DVD set of the popular reality show, fifteen aspiring fashion designers assemble to compete in a series of assignments that test their creativity, skill, and speed. Their tasks can be anything from designing a new look for some guest celebrity (such as Sara Jessica Parker or football star Tiki Barber) to fabricating a wearable ensemble out of candy wrappers, to outfitting a bunch of nitpicky teenage girls for their prom. In one outlandish segment, they even get to design costumes for a group of WWE Divas. Their ultimate goal? To outlast the competition during the elimination rounds and break into the fashion industry.

With each episode comes a new fashion challenge. First, there's a mad dash to buy fabric on a limited budget and then, using all the resourcefulness and improvisational skills they can muster, construct whatever they've dreamed up and stick it onto a model. When their time's up, they have to present whatever they've come up with to the judges, ready or not, and face their painfully blunt criticism. Each episode's winner gets immunity in the next challenge, while the person with the worst design gets an "auf wiedersehen" from host Heidi Klum.

Here, unlike a lot of other reality shows, you don't have to worry about who's voting who off and who has alliances or whatever. And the challenges aren't a bunch of made-up playground games as on SURVIVOR--it's all directly related to who the contestants are and what they want to do with their lives. Thus, the drama and the intense feelings are all real, and the tension level is almost nonstop.

Big-time fashion guru Tim Gunn serves as "mentor" to the contestants, wandering through their workroom and offering observations such as "Ricky doesn't look good...Ricky looks a little panicky" and "This worries me." Tim comes off as impenetrable drollness on wheels at first but reveals himself as a big teddy bear later on. The judges, various well-known designers and fashion critics along with Heidi herself, watch what's presented to them on the runway with either measured approval or naked disdain. After a while we begin to get used to such straightfaced assessments as "Where's the 'wow'?" and "This looks so sad. You made us very sad." During one judges' conference, Heidi brandishes the shears: "I guess they all thought they were better than they really are."

What really makes PROJECT RUNWAY 4 fun to watch, though, is the odd assortment of contestants. They're a great mix of personalities and it doesn't take long to become familiar with them all and start to choose favorites. My favorite didn't win, but did make it into the final four. In the last episode, the three remaining designers each get to present their line of clothing in an honest-to-goodness big-time fashion show during the Super Bowl of fashion in New York. It's a tough choice for the judges and the viewer, but I agreed with the final winner.

The 4-disc, 14-episode DVD set is presented in standard format with Dolby Digital sound. Picture and sound for this well-produced show are both good. Extras include a brief featurette on the winner's post-show activities, including a photo shoot for Elle magazine (don't look at the extras menu first because it gives away the winner), and "From the Runway to Your Way", which offers some makeup tips. Episode 12 feels like a bonus feature because it's a reunion/recap episode in which both the contestants and judges get to loosen up and reflect on the show.

Even after watching PROJECT RUNWAY 4, I still don't give a hoot in hell about fashion. But I do have a better understanding of the artistic and creative elements that go into it, and an empathy for the people who dream of fashion design as a way of life. So whether or not you get the whole "fashion" thing, I can strongly recommend this DVD set simply for its irresistible entertainment value.

 

 

"PROJECT RUNWAY 4" -- DVD Review by Porfle

W.E. -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/27/12

 

With Madonna directing her first big-budget feature (after a more modest debut with 2008's "Filth and Wisdom") I can imagine the two main reactions were her fans hoping that she would succeed and her detractors gleefully waiting for her to fall on her face.  For those of us in the middle, however, her film W.E. (2011) is just a dull, plodding, and, despite all the bells and whistles, rather ordinary affair. 

Those most disappointed will probably be viewers interested in seeing a movie about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, namely the former King Edward VIII and American divorcee Mrs. Wallis Simpson, for whom he abdicated the throne.  Their story (told with much more feeling despite much less screen time in THE KING'S SPEECH) is merely a backdrop for the modern-day tale of Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish), an unhappily married woman obsessed with what she sees as the famous couple's storybook romance. 

While haunting a major memorabilia auction at Sotherby's, Wally meets and is courted by handsome Russian immigrant Evgeni (Oscar Isaac) who works security.  When her turbulent relationship with husband William (Richard Coyle) turns violent, Evgeni is there to pick up the pieces.  Meanwhile, Wally's search for information about "W.E." (Wallis and Edward) leads to some personal letters which reveal that even a storybook romance has its downside and that poor Mrs. Simpson had to sacrifice much more than Edward did for their love.  (Not sure why, but that's what Madonna says and so that's the way it is.)

What these two stories have to do with each other is tentative at best, and at worst they don't really compliment each other at all.  The modern-day scenes have the air of an opulently-mounted Lifetime TV-movie which tends to be either maudlin or romance-novel unreal.  They also stop whatever forward momentum the "W.E." scenes manage to generate dead in its tracks just as we start to get mildly interested in what Eddie and Wallis are up to during their intermittent screen time. 

We never get a sense of why this celebrated couple were so irresistible to each other--when they meet at a royal to-do, she's not all that dynamic and he's hardly the most dashing man in the room.  In fact, as played by James D'Arcy, Edward seems neither distinguished nor charismatic.  As Wallis, Andrea Riseborough looks the part yet never convinces us that she's fascinating enough to give up a kingdom for.  An early scene in which Edward discovers that Wallis reads books and follows politics is about all it takes for him to go bananas over her.

Once we realize that Wally is the film's main focus and that "W.E." are merely there as a counterpoint to her story, the main question is "why?"  Wally's fixation on the Windsors, her problems with an impotent and possibly unfaithful husband who doesn't want kids like she does, and her budding romance with Evgeni are like unflavored yogurt with a few raisins mixed in.  And even the raisins taste a little funny. 

When Wally pops up in some of the period flashbacks to observe history firsthand, Wallis catches sight of her and barks "Get a life!"  Wally also starts seeing and conversing with the Duchess in the modern-day scenes the way Christian Slater conjures up Elvis in TRUE ROMANCE and Woody Allen consults with a ghostly Bogart in PLAY IT AGAIN , SAM.  Saying that such quirks take us out of the movie is putting it mildly.  Another thing that had me wondering was when Wally's doctor husband explains his absence the night before by saying that he was called in to the emergency room at the hospital.  This would be fine, except he's supposed to be a child psychologist.

With Madonna both helming and co-scripting, the men are all either handsome princes, evil bastards, or wimps (after meeting Edward, Wallis dumps her current hubby like a used Kleenex and the poor slob dutifully crawls off into oblivion), while the women are self-sacrificing and "strong" yet oppressed and unfulfilled.  Madge herself fulfills the directing imperative like a kid rummaging around in a toybox, greeting each new scene as an opportunity to be overly-creative and "expressive" with a non-stop barrage of music-video editing, unnecessarily busy camera movements, and a hyperactive musical score which at one point even has Mrs. Simpson bopping to the Sex Pistols.
 
Even late in this rather long film, Wally's visit to Paris to view the Simpson letters is padded with an extended montage of her roaming the streets while the camera makes sweeping circles around her. Interesting moments such as Wallis inadvertently calling Edward "David" (a name reserved for his lovers and family) in front of his then-girlfriend during a dinner party are few and far between. 

The DVD (also available as a 3-disc Blu-Ray/DVD+Digital Copy set) from Anchor Bay and the Weinsteins is in 2.35:1 widescreen with 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  The sole extra is a 23-minute "making of" featurette.

With period flashbacks that come off as a "greatest hits" package with little or no depth, and a contemporary story that overwhelms the proceedings with its resolute blandness, W.E. is hardly the major historical romance one might have expected.  Thus, Madonna's leap over to the other side of the camera after years of unsuccessfully courting movie stardom is best described as a perversely interesting misfire.

W.E. -- DVD Review by Porfle

SCREAM 4 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 9/25/11

 

I really don't remember all that much about the first three movies in the "SCREAM" franchise except that they were pretty fun and, at times, pretty scary.  Now that I've seen SCREAM 4 (2011), I think that it may be my favorite one in the entire series.  Of course, this may simply be due to the fact that it's the freshest in my mind at the moment, but it's still a whole lot of scary fun.

Wes Craven (LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, THE HILLS HAVE EYES) directs with his usual sure hand, and most of the surviving cast are back along with several key crewmembers, giving this new installment the feeling of a genuine homecoming.  Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, the series' perennial "final girl", also returns home to the town of Woodsboro to promote a book she's written about her experiences, setting off a whole new series of bloody murders by the most recent psycho (or psychos) to don the Ghostface mask.

Things start off with a bang as a pretitles scare-a-thon teases us with a string of movie-within-a-movie fakeouts (complete with the usual surprise guest stars) before ending with an actual double-murder.  This gets Sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and his wife Gale Weathers-Riley (Courtney Cox) back into their old form as bumbling cop and abrasive newshound.  Sidney, meanwhile, is staying with relatives Kate Roberts (Mary McDonnell) and teenaged cousin Jill (Emma Roberts), who becomes Ghostface's new main target.
 

SCREAM creator Kevin Williamson's script deftly balances generous amounts of humor with several well-crafted suspense sequences that create sustained tension before erupting into panic, screaming, and death.  The fact that the killer could be anyone--Jill's stalkerish ex-boyfriend Trevor (Nico Tortorella), Dewey's smitten deputy Judy (a lovable Marley Shelton), or even the school's resident Cinema Club nerds Robbie and Charlie (Eric Knudsen, Rory Culkin)--keeps us guessing as sudden attack can come anytime or anywhere.  The fact that everyone in town is aware of what's going on, and practically know that they're in a horror movie, gives the whole thing a fun, edgy Halloween feeling.

The first SCREAM established the series' self-referential attitude (an influence still being felt in slasher-flick land) and this sequel continues that coy wink-wink stuff to the point of being aware of its own self-awareness.  Robbie and Charlie reintroduce "the rules" that dictate basic slasher film behavior during a Cinema Club meeting, but it turns out that they've changed with the times and are less rigid and predictable--hinting that anything can happen here as well.  Still, when Sidney's flaky press agent finds herself alone in a dark parking garage at night, and when two cops guarding Sidney's house start talking about how cops guarding houses in movies always get killed, we know exactly what's going to happen and the movie knows we know.

The two film geeks also make some funny-but-true comments about "shriekquels" and "scream-makes" while observing that "the unexpected is the new cliche'."  Horror film fans should appreciate all this while also noting the ton of references to classic genre titles throughout the movie.  Even Hayden Panettiere's petite good-girl character Kirby (one of the few who eluded my suspicion during the movie) reels off trivia about yesterday's splatter flicks like a true-blue gorehound.

Admittedly, the first half of SCREAM 4 was breezy and enjoyable but not all that noteworthy, and I found myself thinking it would be yet another case of a sequel too far.  Things begin to pick up, however, as the mystery deepens and Ghostface's attacks get more brazen and hair-raisingly suspenseful.  The final act is riveting, containing a pretty startling reveal and lots of action that kept me on the edge of my seat during both the first climax and the surprising epilogue. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay and Dimension Films is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Extras include a ten-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted and alternate scenes (including an alternate opening and extended ending), a gag reel, and a chummy commentary with Wes Craven, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, and (via telephone) Neve Campbell.

I thought the third film would be the last word in the series and was, in fact, stretching the premise a bit thin.  But SCREAM 4 is a solid, satisfying, entertaining new chapter, one of the best films of its kind I've seen in years.  Is it the saga's final capper, or will Craven and Williamson scream again?

SCREAM 4 -- DVD Review by Porfle

PROTEGE -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/20/09

 

If you saw DONNIE BRASCO (or better yet, read the riveting book by Joe Pistone, who lived it), you'll already have an idea of the conflicting loyalties and constant fear of discovery experienced by undercover cop Nick (Daniel Wu) in the offbeat Hong Kong cop thriller PROTEGE, aka "Moon To" (2007).

For years Nick has been living as the trusted protege to Lin Quin (a makeup-aged Andy Lau), an ailing heroin kingpin who wishes to make a last big score so that his family will be set for life when he dies. Not the usual cartoon villain, Lau portrays Quin as a practical businessman who loves his family and rationalizes that his drugs only ruin the lives of weak-willed lowlifes. But when a botched drug raid indicates a rat within the organization with Nick as a suspect, Quin displays his ruthless and lethal side in a tense interrogation scene.

As Donnie Brasco developed warm feelings for his aging mob mentor Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero over the years, so Nick finds himself caring for the dying Quin and his unsuspecting family. But the pain and suffering caused by Quin's heroin is brought home when Nick meets Fan (Zhang Jing Chu), a single mother living in his apartment building with her adorable three-year-old daughter. Fan is a wretched addict hiding from the abusive husband (Louis Koo) who got her hooked and who uses their own daughter to help him smuggle drugs. As Nick becomes more involved with Fan, trying his best to help her and her daughter, his inner conflicts slowly begin to reach a breaking point.

PROTEGE isn't your typical Hong Kong actioner--there isn't a single chop, kick, or really outlandish stunt--but the human drama is pretty intense. Just as you start to think it's going to be all about police vs. bad guys, the story goes in unexpected directions as Nick's relationships with Quin and Fan keep him in constant emotional turmoil.

The very first scene gives a good indication that we're in for something unusual. With brilliantly sunlit clouds swirling past outside, Fan shoots up in her crumbling apartment, then slowly sinks onto the couch, dead to the world. As harsh light shines through paper-patched windows and ragged curtains drift in the breeze, a bright red doll carriage rolls into the frame. Fan's daughter approaches her mother tentatively, plucks the needle from her arm, toddles over to the wastebasket, and daintily drops it in, as though she's done this countless times before. The scene is both horrible yet somehow dreamily ethereal, and a provocative way to start a movie.

Former Shaw Brothers actor Derek Yee's direction is sharp and imaginative yet remarkably unflamboyant, allowing him to emphasize certain scenes using only subtle stylistic changes. When he slowly rocks his camera from side to side during Nick and Fan's disturbing sex scene (Nick is awakened on the couch by a heroin-addled Fan and then frightened by her ecstatic convulsions during intercourse) it isn't merely to make the visuals more kinetic but to convey her disorientation from reality and his own confused feelings.

Certain moments related to Fan's shocking deterioration seem right out of a horror movie, while time-lapse shots of roiling clouds speeding past her slumlike apartment building (Yee photographs this location and its slovenly interiors beautifully) are unsettlingly surreal. Conversely, the film assumes a colorful travelogue look when Quin takes Nick to Thailand to meet the main man in the heroin chain. Beautiful country settings with hazy blue mountains and dazzling poppy fields serve as a stark contrast to the dark, miserable end result of such an endeavor.

Yee's screenplay is intended to enlighten us about the various aspects and consequences of heroin trafficking, and from this pastoral starting point (which sometimes has the bland instructional tone of an educational film) we're shown how the raw materials are refined in Quin's warehouse "kitchen" and turned into bricks of almost pure heroin for distribution. Early on, a mixup of ingredients that threatens to ruin an entire batch leads to a tense montage with Quin and his employees scrambling to salvage it. Yee and editor Kong Chi-Leung speed things up here and almost have us rooting for the bad guys to succeed, which gives us an idea of what Nick's daily life must be like.

The one really riveting action sequence in the film comes when a group of Customs officers, unaware that Nick is an undercover agent, apprehend him after he leaves the kitchen and brutally beat him until he leads them back to it. Suddenly all hell breaks loose as Quin's "cooks" dash to destroy the evidence while the Customs officers break down the steel door. Their leader is played by Liu Kai Chi, who was a renegade cop in 2005's KILL ZONE (aka "Saat po long") and is even more wonderfully out-of-control here. Graphic violence ensues, and a harrowing escape attempt from a window to a balcony below leads to one of the most realistic high-fall death scenes ever filmed. This sequence definitely got my heart pounding for awhile.

Daniel Wu brings a quiet strength and intensity to his role--we can see how Nick cares not only for Fan and her child but for the devastation Quin's family will endure when his crimes are exposed. Andy Lau is so likable as Quin that we can almost sympathize with him until he expresses his contemptuous disregard for the misery he causes. As Fan, Zhang Jing Chu does a remarkable job conveying a delicate waiflike quality one moment and then transforming into a mindless degenerate the next. (Described as a "cunning linguist" in Bey Logan's commentary, she had to learn Cantonese for the part.) Louis Koo comes off as a bit of a caricature as her no-good husband, yet he's interesting to watch and his eventual fate is nicely-played. Director Yee himself appears as Nick's boss on the police force. As for Liu Kai Chi, well, he's a wild man. I love the guy.

In 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital sound, the DVD looks and sounds fine. While this Dragon Dynasty release contains only one disc, there are the usual substantive extras, including the highly-informed and enthusiastic commentary we've come to expect from Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan. There's a well-produced "making of" featurette that lasts almost half an hour, followed by low-key, thoughtful interviews with Daniel Wu, Zhang Jing Chu, and producer Peter Chan. These indicate the depth of interest in the subject by all involved and how much research was done, particularly in talking to actual addicts and trying to discern what leads them to pursue heroin use at the cost of their own lives. The theatrical trailer is included, and the film can be watched in either the original Cantonese or the English dub with subtitles for the hard-of-hearing.

PROTEGE is that rare thriller that is so emotionally involving that it doesn't need to keep the viewer's interest stoked with a succession of fights and stunts. Rapid-fire editing and flashy camerawork are used sparingly (and are all the more effective for it in certain scenes), with the emphasis placed instead on rich characterizations, gripping suspense, and some images that are genuinely haunting. "Why do people take drugs?" Nick keeps asking himself throughout the story, and at the end, he finds out the hard way.

 

PROTEGE -- DVD review by porfle

SHAOLIN MANTIS -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 11/9/10

 

Another one of those Shaw Brothers gems from the 70s, SHAOLIN MANTIS (1978) is an absorbing story with some nice atmosphere and lots of furious fight action from director Chia-Liang Liu of the 36TH CHAMBER series. 

An elder scholar presents his son, Wei Feng (David Chiang, THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN), to the Qian dynasty emperor but lives to regret it when Wei is enlisted in the emperor's plan to infiltrate a rebel clan working to overthrow him.  Wei is given a three-part deadline for returning with evidence against the Tian clan: in three months, his father will lose his title; in six months, his family will be imprisoned; and in one year, they'll be executed.  Real peach of a guy, this emperor. 

Wei manages to enter the Tian household by becoming a teacher to the cute but extremely spoiled Zhizhi (Huang Hsing-hsiu), granddaughter to the Old Master (Chia Yung Liu).  Zhizhi falls in love with Wei and they marry, but he isn't allowed to leave the house after Old Master discovers that he's a Qian spy.  After finding some evidence which the emperor needs to arrest the Tians, Wei must then fight his way out by confronting Zhizhi's uncles in battle and finally facing the Old Master himself. 

The first action scene comes early on as the Qian emperor demands a demonstration of Wei's abilities.  He first defeats a Mongol warrior, then a monk played by Chia Hui Liu, aka Gordon Liu (RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER, KILL BILL), in a lively sequence with plenty of action. Later, when Wei begins teaching the unruly Zhizhi, the story gears down and becomes a romantic comedy for awhile as the young girl flirts with her handsome tutor and begins to fall for him.  The relationship is light and fun, carrying us through a mostly uneventful stretch as we wait for the other shoe to drop.
 

Things get serious again around the halfway point when Wei and Zhizhi decide to defy the Old Master and leave the house, at which point the film becomes an almost non-stop series of deadly battles.  Making their way from one room to the next, Wei and Zhizhi team up to fight her three uncles in turn (Huang Hsing-hsiu is impressive) as a myriad of exotic weaponry comes into play.  Each has a different fighting style which proves difficult to overcome.  Last in their gauntlet of foes is the Old Master himself, using his invincible Shadow style which brings the escape attempt to a disastrous conclusion for the young rebels. 

This middle section of the film is a feast for old-style martial arts fans, thanks in large part to Chia-Liang Liu's no-frills directing style which consists mainly of long, carefully-choreographed takes punctuated by a minimum of flashy directorial touches and quick editing.  The familiar whiplash pans and zooms are there but are unobtrusive, while the use of slow-motion is kept to a bare minimum.

After Wei's escape from Five Sun Manor comes my favorite part of the film, in which Wei inadvertently invents the Mantis fighting style while hiding out in the forest.  While toying with a fiesty preying mantis one day, he notices the grace and dexterity of its movements and begins to adapt them to his own fighting technique, which seems to be just the thing for combatting Old Master's seemingly unbeatable Shadow style.
 

There are some really beautiful shots of both Wei and the mantis sharing the frame as he prods it with his finger, observing its movements as it defends itself.  More amazing closeup shots of the mantis make it appear as though, like a wise old mentor, it is actually teaching Wei its moves as he imitates them.  This exquisitely shot-and-edited sequence is wonderfully captivating and unlike anything I've ever seen in this kind of film. 

Returning to Five Sun Manor, Wei plunges through the gauntlet with a renewed determination and skill in another series of bouts that culminates with a decisive Mantis-versus-Shadow rematch against the Old Master.  Chia-Liang Liu builds excitement and suspense with increasingly innovative moves which keep the long sequence from becoming monotonous.  Once again the scene is loaded with lengthy takes involving intricate choreography that is expertly performed. 

The DVD from Vivendi's Dragon Dynasty label is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Mandarin and English mono soundtracks.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  There are no extras.

SHAOLIN MANTIS is an involving story which invests us in the characters before thrusting them into a maelstrom of furious and thrilling martial arts battles.  I found it thoroughly enjoyable right up to its startling ending, which comes from right out of left field.  If you're like me, the final freeze-frame will leave you knee-deep in "WTF?"  

SHAOLIN MANTIS -- DVD review by porfle