December 2009 - Horrorphile

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Horrorphile - December 2009

HORRORPHILE'S BLOODY BEST OF 2009

December 28th 2009 03:50

With so many film festivals around the world and DVD/Blu-ray a distribution force to be reckoned with, a movie's release date becomes more and more of a grey area. Let the Right One In was my favourite movie of 2008, after seeing it at the Sydney Film Festival in June. It was released theatrically in Australia earlier this year. One of my other favourites, Los Cronoscrimines (Timecrimes) which also played the 2008 Sydney Film Festival, hit the video store shelves this week. Paranormal Activity first played Screamfest in 2007, then Slamdance the following year, and finally an on-demand US release from September this year.

So after much deliberation and indecision I finally realised the only way to come to a satisfying Best Of list this year was to include movies that had had a premiere festival screening, or been released theatrically and/or on DVD in Australia during 2009. This meant including movies that may have been released overseas in cinemas in 2008, but arrived in Australia for the first time on DVD in 2009, or played in Film Festivals in Australia in 2008 and 2009 but did not receive a theatrical release, or went straight to DVD bypassing a theatrical release altogether, or – as in the case of Wake in Fright – enjoyed a re-release after thirty years of gathering dust.

I ended up with a large list, and decided to break it in half; a top ten and another ten or so that were very well made for the most part, but were missing some crucial element, and/or sported an uneven tone, and/or had a questionable ending, but still deserved mentioning. When I look at the overall list of all twenty movies the selection is actually very impressive. There were a few movies I really wanted to see, but they simply weren't available (such as Thirst and Grace). Perhaps they'll make next year's Bloody Best Of.

So without further justification here is Horrorphile’s Bloody Best of 2009:

1. The Broken
France/UK | Directed by Sean Ellis
Haunting, beautiful, poetic, and sublimely nightmarish.
Australian premiere at A Night of Horror international film festival, Sydney.

2. Wake in Fright
AKA Outback | Australia/USA | Directed by Ted Kotcheff
Raw, gritty, metaphoric, and historic, and probably my favourite Australian movie of all time.
Re-released theatrically.

3. District 9
New Zealand/USA | Directed by Neill Blomkamp
I’ve not yet seen Avatar, so this is the most sophisticated sf-actioner since Aliens, and along with Moon, the best sf movie in years.
Released theatrically.

4. Paranormal Activity
USA | Directed by Oren Peli
I was lucky enough to see this with a packed Sydney Film Festival audience knowing next to nothing about the movie.
Released theatrically.

5. Linkeroever
Left Bank | Belgium | Directed by Pieter Van Hees
Moody, beautiful, nightmarish, and supernaturally sublime.
Australian premiere at A Night of Horror international film festival.

6. Martyrs
France/Canada | Directed by Pascal Laugier
Harrowing, beautiful, nightmarish, and morbidly sublime.
Australian premiere at Melbourne Film Festival.

7. Splinter
USA | Directed by Toby Wilkins
Clever and inventive, grotesque and outlandish.
Australian premiere at A Night of Horror international film festival.

8. Drag Me to Hell
USA | Directed by Sam Riami
A return to form, thank God!
Released theatrically.

9. Monsters vs. Aliens
USA | Directed by Rob Letterman & Conrad Vernon
Tickled my sci-fi comedic fancy something wicked.
Released theatrically.

10. Antichrist
Denmark/Germany/France/Sweden /Italy/Poland | Directed by Lars Von Trier
Haunting, beautiful, nightmarish, and sublimely expressionist.
Released theatrically.

Antichrist Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe

Seems the supernatural reigned supreme. And here are the close contenders:
The Midnight Meat Train, Lake Mungo, Eden Lake, Acolytes, Coraline, Orphan, Storage, Van Diemen’s Land, The Uninvited, and Zombieland.

And the worst movies? Remakes, sequels, supertrash, and a spoof: My Bloody Valentine (2009), Friday the 13th (2009), Saw VI, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, The Unborn, and Lesbian Vampire Killers.

NB: I am on a New Year’s hiatus, and will return to the Darkness on Monday, January 11th

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MERRY BLOODY XMAS!

December 23rd 2009 22:47

It’s hotter than hell right now, and it’s not even 9.30am! I’ve got a fan blowing directly on me and I’m wearing next to nothing. The wicked will forever sweat it out.

Here’s my Christmas post: a short B-movie about sweet flora revenge against the wrath of non-conservationists and the greed of the wealthy middle classes. It’s a Yuletide vengeance is mine tale told from the point of view of the pine Christmas trees, infused with a coal black sense of humour, and sporting some inventive special effects.

Written and directed by Canadian Jason Eisner, Treevenge (2008) has won several international awards including Best Short Film at this year's A Night of Horror film festival. Fill your goblet with mulled wine and enjoy!

Merry Xmas fellow horrorphiles! I’ll be back on Monday 28th to post my Horrorphile’s Bloody Best of 2009!

Treevenge (part 1):

Treevenge (part 2):

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Zombieland

December 23rd 2009 03:50

I’d heard mixed reports about Zombieland (2009), and I almost made the decision to catch up with on DVD, but I realised that was very lazy of me. In order to compile my year’s best nightmare movies I would have to see it before the DVD came out, no excuses.

Zombie and vampire movies are a dime a dozen these days; America, UK, Europe, Australia, every man and his undead dog are making a gutmuncher or fangbarer flick. So, it’s inevitable that there’ll be more dross than decency. I’ll always one to call a spade a spade, and I’m not about to take any prisoners here; Zombieland disappointed me. I was enjoying it, and then as the movie progressed I became more and more critical. By the end I had more problems with it than highlights.

Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee

That’s not to say it doesn’t have its moments. It’s not a bad movie; it’s just not an especially good one. It sets out to be a cult classic; you can sense it straight up with geek loser Colombus (Jesse Eisenberg) laying out the rules for surviving in the United States of Zombieland - complete with stylish graphics - but not long after Colombus first meets up with self-styled zombie slayer Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), and then with survivalists Wichita (Emma Stone) and her younger sister Little Rock (Abagail Breslin), the comedy tone established right at the beginning and maintained fluidly through the first half and hour becomes less and less consistent.

Jesse Eisenberg as Colombus

Soon enough that dreadful Hollywood habit of injecting schmaltz where it’s so not needed rears its ugly head, then characters begin to behave stupidly and soon enough the rather cool movie that first kicked ass has fallen on the wayside to be replaced by a very silly comedy that’s not nearly as funny as it thought it was. Director Ruben Fleischer claims he was inspired to make his own zombie comedy after watching Shaun of the Dead (2004). More on the comparison later.

Emma Stone as Wichita

Bill Murray’s cameo starts out amusingly enough, but then utter indifference smothers the sequence. One got the impression they were overjoyed at meeting Bill, so how come they couldn’t really care less when they kill him accidentally? That’s bad writing courtesy of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The same kind that has the so-called savvy girls manage to turn all the power on at the amusement park, somehow enjoy the banana boat joyride without anyone operating the controls, then strap themselves into the rocket joyride in an utterly dumb attempt to escape the marauding zombies, only to shoot out the controls in an effort to save themselves, and then be rescued by Colombus who operates the controls that were supposedly blown apart.

Abigail Breslin as Little Rock

That’s not to forget the really annoying Ghostbusters scene. What the hell was that about? Same movie producers?? Regardless of Bill Murray the scene still left me confounded at its indulgent inclusion.

Zombieland Jesse Eisenberg and Amber Heard

Colombus finds his neighbour, 406 (Amber Heard) more insane, than insanely hot

Shaun of the Dead still has the bar raised high; a superb example of consistent comedic writing whilst staying true to the genre its paroding. Its tagline is “rom-com … with zombies”. Zombieland’s is “This place is so dead.” Shaun of the Dead manages to balance the romance brilliantly with the horror and the comedy, Zombieland is uneven and corny. The zombie element is left behind for a good portion during the second half, only to re-emerge again as a token appearance near the end.

Zombieland Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone

Little Rock and Wichita choose the wrong ride ...

There are things to enjoy though; the acting is solid, with Woody Harrelson giving his most entertaining performance in years, uber-sexy Amber Heard’s cameo as (room) 406 at movie’s start is great fun (and it’s probably my favourite sequence of the movie), and Emma Stone is also notable as the disgruntled, eye-shadow-laden Wichita. But as for Bill Murray - and I’ll get harangued for it I know - I just don’t get the cult of personality that surrounds him.

... and have to keep the undead at bay

The special effects are good, with some choice gory moments (even if there’s a heavy reliance on CGI, which I noticed extended to window smashing and assorted other effects which in the past would’ve been executed on set). Gone it seems are the days of actors actually getting their hands dirty. Some of the dialogue is genuinely funny, but nowhere near as clever as Shaun of the Dead.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge horror-comedy fan, so for me to be impressed the movie has to be spot on, straight up, and consistent from start to finish. Innocent Blood (1992), Re-animator (1985), The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Teeth (2007), Braindead (1991), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Ginger Snaps (2000), and Man Bites Dog (1992); these are some of the horror comedies that deliver consistently in tone and style. Zombieland could have, and should have, been a lot better than it was.

Oh, and special note to the old skool zombie purists ... they run.

Here's the teaser trailer:

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THE DELICATE AND EXQUISITE ART OF TORTURE - revisited

December 23rd 2009 01:03

I did a post nearly three years ago about the art of torture and execution devices, but my blog colleague Natalina over at Extraordinary Intelligence has posted a more comprehensive, and most delectably heinous array of medieval torture contraptions and devices that will have even the most hardened sadists salivating and champing at the bit!

These wood and metal inventions are enough to fuel a thousand nightmares of cruelty and agony. Click here to view Natalina’s witty and informative post, and exquisite (read: appallingly inhumane) collection of medieval torture/execution devices

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Deadgirl

December 18th 2009 03:32

I really wanted to like Deadgirl (2008), but it ended up leaving a sour taste in my mouth, not because I was offended by it, but because I went in rather enjoying the first half an hour, but it quickly began to disappoint me, then it began to annoy me, and finally it had almost wholly let me down. I had high expectations I’ll admit, as I’d been seduced by the title and poster design and from a couple of reports saying the movie was strange and subversive.

Strange, yes. Subversive, yeah. But these elements are outweighed by an inherent trashiness and silliness that rears its ugly head less than half-way into the movie, not long after an element of absurdist humour also springs forth; dark, yes, but altogether incongruous in tone. It made sense when I discovered that the screenwriter, Trent Haaga, worked for the Troma production company. I don’t like the Troma style (except for Street Trash

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Satanás

December 16th 2009 23:35

Satanás (which in Spanish means Satan) is a co-production between Colombia and Mexico, written for the screen and directed by Andrés Baiz. It’s based on the book by Mario Mendoza, which in turn was inspired by the true crime events which occurred in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, in 1986. Known as the Pozzetto Massacre, a Vietnam veteran, Campo Elias Delgado, murdered 29 people including his mother and his teenage English student before shooting dead twenty diners at local restaurant Pozzetto.

In Baiz’s version of events three parallel stories are interwoven; the central narrative follows Eliseo (Damián Alcázar), a lonely, embittered ex-solider in his 40s who still lives with his cranky mother (Teresa Gutiérrez). He visits the library and reads voraciously, his favourite being Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He tutors English to pretty teenaged Natalia (Martina García) and has developed a crush on her

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Vinyan

December 16th 2009 04:47

Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz who directed Calvaire (aka The Ordeal, 2004) turns his attention from the dark forests of Belgium to the sweltering jungles of Burma, but remains entrenched in the savagery of human nature. Vinyan (2008) is a desperate and vivid account of a couple’s descent into madness as they search in vain for their lost son.

Six months after losing their young son in the Southeast Asia tsunami of 2005 Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) and Paul Bellmer (Rufus Sewell) are still living in Phuket, struggling to move on. Their plight is aggravated and their relationship tested when at a special screening of a documentary about jungle orphans Jeanne is convinced she’s seen young Joshua (Borhan Du Welz), and insists they embark on a search

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ZOMBIE WARS

December 15th 2009 01:28

My good mate, Captain, over at the Sci-Fi Channel gave me the (severed) heads up on a post he’d done featuring the artwork of Matt Busch. In a hilarious zombification of the seminal George Lucas saga the original poster art for all six movies have been given the undead makeover and a suitably putrid title adjustment.

Seems all you need to do is peel back the gums, flash a little a bone, glaze over the eyes, and wahey! Zombie Star Wars! I always thought Mark Hamill and Ewan McGregor were wooden actors, in these re-envisionings their performances will be utterly inspired

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Q&A with FAMILY DEMONS writer/director URSULA DABROWSKY

December 14th 2009 04:07

The low-budget horror feature is alive and well in independent Australian cinema, if Ursula Dabrowsky’s Family Demons is anything to go by. Made of the coppery smell of a bloodied rag Family Demons is the tale of a long-suffering teenage girl and her bitch of a mother. There’s no burying the hatchet here, it’s one long battle that cuts deep into the psyche of domestic violence, abuse, and the spectre of familial demons that haunt through generations.

Cassandra Kane as Billie

With a minimal cast and locations (basically one house, a hospital room, and a couple of backyards) Family Demons centres on the relationship (or lack of) between shy, retiring Billie (Cassandra Kane) and her drunken, abusive mother (Kerry Reid). The only other notable speaking parts belong to Billie’s boyfriend (Alex Rafalowicz) and the mother’s lover (Tommy Darwin

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THE WOLFMAN LOOKS LIKE A HOWLIN' GOOD HORROR!

December 10th 2009 00:22

Apart from Wilderness by debut director Scooter Downey, and Jennifer Lynch’s Hissss, the other flick I’m hotly anticipating for release in the New Year is The Wolfman remake (originally made in 1941, and not to be confused as a remake of the 1961 Hammer movie The Curse of the Werewolf which was known as The Wolfman in the U.S.). The remake is directed by Joe Johnston, with a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) and David Self, and special effects make-up by the legendary Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London). The movie is scheduled for release in the U.S. on February 12.

A nobleman, Lawrence Talbot, returns to the family estate in Victorian-era Blackmoor on the request of his brother’s distraught fiancée Gwen to help look for his missing brother. A suspicious Scotland Yard inspector joins the search. The movie stars Benicio Del Toro as Talbot, Anthony Hopkins as his estranged father, Emily Blunt as Gwen, Hugo Weaving as Inspector Alberline, and also features Geraldine Chaplin. Now, that’s a cast

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: bait

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FOR THE CRITICS AND THOSE THAT DON'T LIKE PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

December 7th 2009 23:22

Paranormal Activity Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat

By now if you live in the Northern Hemisphere you’ll probably have seen Paranormal Activity (2009), and if you live in Australasia where the movie has only recently opened then you’ll either have just seen it or are planning to, or will have decided to catch up with it on DVD after all the hype has died down, or maybe, just maybe, you’re avoiding it because you’re concerned you’ll be genuinely terrified. Don’t listen to the cynical types and don’t watch the trailer, just go see the movie with a packed audience.

It was inevitable that the movie would receive mixed reviews. Fair enough, the acting isn’t anything amazing, there’s a grain of salt that has to be consumed (that Micah continues to video long after anyone in their right mind would do so) for such a movie to work, but for what it sets out to do it does it very, very well. I’m disappointed with Australian film critics who have slammed the movie for reasons unwarranted. David Stratton (ABC’s At the Movies) gave the movie 1-and-a-half stars and called it “extremely unthrilling, very obvious, and very clichéd”, Sandra Hall (Sydney Morning Herald) gave it 1 star and described it as a lame Hollywood con job, and Tom Ryan (The Sun-Herald) gave it 3/10 in a vacuous spit, except to wonder “… I guess it worked for somebody

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: vitriol

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Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are

December 3rd 2009 01:16

Where the Wild Things Are and other Maurice Sendak stories DVD cover art

I grew up with Maurice Sendak’s books. I recently bought a copy of Where the Wild Things Are for my own kids (when I have them), as my mama still owns the copy I grew up with. It’s a superb tale, ingeniously structured, simply written, with a compelling rhythm to the words, and a mesmerising series of illustrations. It was first published in 1963, and, of course, has just been released as a live action feature directed by Spike Jonze. However it was originally turned into an animated six-minute short in 1973 as an American-Czech co-production, adapted and directed by Gene Deitch, which followed Sendak’s original drawings religiously, with artwork recreations courtesy of Rudolf Holan.

Set to a delightful clarinet-driven score composed by Peter Schickle (who provided the narration for a 1988 re-release), it follows young Max in his wonderful white wolf suit, who is sent to bed without his supper. In his sulk he dreams up an alternate reality where a private sailing boat (named Max, of course) takes him across the ocean for a year and a day to where the wild things are. It is here that Max hypnotises the beasts by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once. The wild things immediately crown Max King of the Wild Things, and Max responds by ordering for the wild rumpus to begin!

Maurice Sendak originally called the story Where the Wild Horses Are, until he discovered he couldn’t draw horses, and so went through various other creatures until settling on “things”, as that way he could conjure – and more importantly, illustrate – whatever he fancied. In this case he based his wild things on his uncles and aunts whom he saw as monsters when he was a young boy, with their bloodshot eyes, big noses, bad teeth, grabbing him by the cheek and pummeling him, saying “You look so good we could eat you up

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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The Ninth Gate

December 1st 2009 22:42

Roman Polanski is one of my very favourite directors. I’ve seen almost every one of his seventeen features, most of them I consider superb examples of cinema, and several are personal favourites (Cul-de-Sac, Macbeth, The Tenant, Bitter Moon). He is one of a handful of directors who crafts his films with pure cinematic storytelling and imbues them with the richness of literature, time and time again (although to be brutally honest Death and the Maiden leaves me cold, and I have no interest in seeing Pirates, but hey, no director is perfect).

Johnny Depp as Corso

The Ninth Gate (1999) is a rough diamond; fantastic premise and mood, great production values and casting, some excellent set-pieces, but dramatically flawed, with a flat, dissipated denounement. A shame considering the source material is so potent. Based on the novel El Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte and screen-written by John Brownjohn, Enrique Urbizu, and Roman Polanski the story describes the earnest endeavours and misadventures of Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), a rare books-dealer with questionable ethics.

Emmanuelle Seigner as The Girl

Corso is hired by a very rich book collector, Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), to validate his recently purchased copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th century author Aristide Torchia, one of only three copies that exist in the world, a book that contains nine coded engravings which are supposed to summon the Devil. Balkan claims the book may be a forgery, and hires Corso to travel to Europe to locate and acquire the other two copies

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