scott | Rtm - Part 17

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night seventeen: slither. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-31 • In scott • 1 min read

“Well, now that is some fucked up shit.”

This was an unexpected replacement for another film. It’s a long story, but with the recent trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, it makes sense to return to my first James Gunn film.

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Slither is a crazy, comedic, gross-out monster feature. The goal at every turn is to be as gross as possible. Gunn, along with a great cast, makes it work. Also, you get Fillion dropping F-bombs, which is rare since he is usually appearing on network television, and is always fun.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? It will be a while, but I bet I’ll revisit it a third time.

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night sixteen: they look like people. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-31 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, invasion/visitation movies, movies, scott • 1 min read

“Even before you were one of the blessed who could sense them, you knew they were out there. Suddenly they were right next to you. That is not a soldier with a gun, that is evil. That is not your coworker, that is a demon. That is not a human, not a neighbor, not a friend, not a lover, a brother, a mother, a father, a wife… that is a monster. That is your enemy, and what you must be willing to destroy.”

More than I realized going into it, the non-vampire half of this year’s HMF is full of super low budget fare. I didn’t officially plan it, but I’m more than fine with it. The budget limitations also usually mean complete creative control for the filmmakers, and so often, the limitations actually bring out the best in good artists. Even a big budget movie like Jaws was much better because they mechanical shark wouldn’t work and they had to include it less than planned.

With a giant special effects budget and studio interference, who knows, maybe writer/director Perry Blackshear would have been tempted to get bigger, to show more. Instead, They Look Like People is lean and concise.

It works so well. These characters felt whole and real, the chemistry felt genuine, the stakes felt personal.

Like many other films on the list, I can’t say much, because spoilers.

I will just say that I really enjoyed this one, and recommend it.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Chances are high.

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night fifteen: attack the block. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-30 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, invasion/visitation movies, movies, scott • 1 min read

“Allow it.”

I love this movie. The acting, the writing, the direction, the visuals… everything about the execution of this movie is great.

It’s dark and honest, but so full of energy and joy. It’s just infectious. It’s one of those movies that I can’t watch without immediately wanting to rewatch it again.

It’s a love letter to the sort of place where writer/director Joe Cornish grew up, and you feel that complicated love in every frame. He knows this place, these kids, the rhythm and attitude of this part of London. In the special features the little kids who play Probs and Mayhem ask Cornish where he got the idea for the movie, and he said that he loved Signs when it came out, and it made him think that if aliens attacked the neighborhood where he grew up, the troubled kids who roamed the sidewalks, who most everyone was afraid of, would become the first line of defense against the invaders. It’s the kind of story idea that many people get from time to time, but it’s rare to see someone do what Cornish did and execute the story to perfection.

When John Boyega was cast in Star Wars, I was so excited because of my undying love for this movie.

I still really wish that there was a sequel, where we get to see the continued adventures of Moses as he leads humanity in the fight against “big alien gorilla wolf motherfuckers.” However, I would settle for Joe Cornish directing anything else. I’m also so sad that we never got to see the true Edgar Wright version of Ant-Man that Cornish helped him write.

There should be more movies like Attack the Block.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Most definitely. This wasn’t the first time or the last time. Believe it.

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night fourteen: we are still here. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-30 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, movies, scott • 1 min read

“You’re not leaving here. You stay, you satisfy the darkness.”

A low budget evil house story that is solid and fun.

It makes up for the things that don’t work (and there are definitely plenty of things that don’t work) with really creepy atmosphere, and by just going all out crazytown in the over-the-top third act.

I certainly have my complaints, but when a film can be effectively spooky, hilariously gross, and reorganize familiar elements in an interesting way, it’s usually worth the price of admission… especially when there is no price of admission.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Probably not, but it was definitely worth the first viewing.

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night thirteen: a tale of two sisters. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-30 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, movies, scott • 1 min read

“Do know what’s really scary? You want to forget something. Totally wipe it off your mind. But you never can. It can’t go away, you see. And… and it follows you around like a ghost.”

With the exception of the inexplicable detour where he did an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie in America, director Kim Jee-Woon has an impeccable track record. If you’re ever looking for an insane, enjoyable way to spend an evening, you should watch his frenetic take on the Western, The Good, the Bad, the Weird (bonus, Song Kang-ho is in it).

With A Tale of Two Sisters, Kim’s weird sensibilities and inventive visual style are put to great use in the K-Horror genre. It’s strange, disorienting, and enjoyably creepy throughout. It’s weird and disturbing, but actually pretty tame by K-Horror standards.

There were plenty of things I wasn’t into. For one, the Japanese and Korean horror trope of eerily contorted ghost girls with long black hair covering their faces is certainly subject to diminishing returns. Kim does it really well, but it’s still a bit tired at this point, and would have already been a bit tired all the way back in 2003 when this movie came out. Also, when a filmmaker is working really hard to keep the audience off-balance and unaware of what’s happening, there is always a fine line between tricking the audience and lying to the audience, or merely pulling twists out of thin air, which is something A Tale of Two Sisters doesn’t always get right. Also, some of the reveals were a bit cliche in the milieu of the late 90’s and early 00’s.

Still, even with the weaknesses this was still a great way to get your ghost film or K-Horror fix.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? I’d say it’s 50/50.

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night twelve: kill list. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-30 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, movies, scott • 1 min read

“Difficult for a man to know where he stands these days.”

It doesn’t really get more genre-defying than Kill List. Part hitman film, part family drama, part… well, you should see it for yourself, because I don’t want to give anything else away.

Kill List is great. It’s so ambitious and unexpected, so even when it fails, which it certainly does at times, it’s easy to forgive because it’s just trying something so different and weird and interesting.

Ben Wheatley also has a really competent and interesting visual style, so even when story elements aren’t working, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun to look at.

I can’t really say more than that without spoiling this story and world.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Yes. It’ll be fun to go back to see what I might notice with repeat viewings.

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night eleven: pontypool. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-29 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, movies, scott, zombies • 1 min read

“Oh, God. You’re gonna eat me soon, aren’t you?”

Goodbye vampires, hello to the rest of HMF. It’s been fun bloodsuckers, but it’s time to move on to all the other tricks and treats Halloween has to offer.

First, one of my very favorite HMF films of all time: Pontypool. I wasn’t sure I would watch it this year, but Emily had never seen it and was finally willing to give it a go, and there was no chance I was going to let that opportunity pass by.

I’m not entirely sure what else to say about this one that I haven’t said the other times it was included in previous Halloween Movie Fests. Like here, and here.

With genre and sub-genre, it’s so exciting to see someone do a good job of taking old tropes and conventions and shift them in unexpected ways. Pontypool is the epitome of that for me. In every respect, this film works better than you’d expect it to if I just laid out the concept for you.

If I made a HMF canon, this would be an automatic entry. Also, that’s a great idea. I need to canonize my favorite HMF films of all time.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Again, and again, and again.

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night ten: nosferatu the vampyre. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-29 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, movies, scott, vampires • 2 min read

“Time is an abyss, profound as a thousand nights. Centuries come and go.
To be unable to grow old is terrible. Death is not the worst…
Can you imagine enduring centuries, experiencing each day the same futilities?”

All these years as a film lover, and this is the first Werner Herzog film I’ve ever seen.

Herzog believes, along with many others, that the greatest film to come out of Germany was Nosferatu, which is basically an expressionist rendering of Dracula, but with the names and a few story elements changed in an attempt to avoid issues getting the rights from Bram Stoker’s widow. It didn’t work, because it was obviously Dracula, and they attempted to destroy all copies of Nosferatu at one point. Fortunately, they failed, and once the story came to be public domain, the surviving copies were released on a larger scale. Anyway, Herzog’s love for the film is why he decided to pay homage with an update.

The thing that grabbed me right away about Herzog’s directing is that the man certainly knows how to find places to shoot, then shoots the hell out of them. From the opening credits over the real life mummified remains at El Museo de las Momias to the haunting natural landscapes traversed by Jonathan Harker on his way to visit Dracula, every shot added to the haunting scope of the film. This is a beautiful movie. The places were big and timeless, the city life eerie and lonely, filmed to capture the essence of how small we are in the face of eternity, which is obviously perfect for a vampire film.

Even during a fantastical story of immortal monsters, Herzog’s naturalistic way of shooting characters and dialogue makes it easy to see that this is a filmmaker who is also a celebrated documentarian. At least, it’s naturalistic in early scenes. Eventually the film takes on different visual tone.

There are some slow, awkward moments in the film’s early-going, but they fall away as the film’s hypnotic pace takes hold.

Fun fact: To avoid dubbing for American audiences, they actually shot this film in two languages at the same time. They would shoot the scenes in German and then in English, so two versions of the film exist. I watched the first third in English and then switched to German with subtitles, which I enjoyed much more.

My biggest takeaway from this one is that Klaus Kinski is my absolute favorite Dracula of all time. Such a sad and lonely monster, but a monster all the same. “I no longer attach any importance to sunshine or the glittering fountains that youth is so fond of. I love the darkness and the shadows.”

Just a supercut of all Kinski’s scenes would be worth the price of admission, but Nosferatu the Vampyre has much more to offer than that. This is a beautiful, haunting, mesmerizing film.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Yes, this one deserves revisiting.

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night nine: trouble every day. [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-29 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, movies, scott, vampires • 1 min read

“You were in love with her?”
“It’s not the right word for it.”

This one is disturbing, even by HMF standards.

It’s a slow burn. A very quiet film with long spans shot with no dialogue, and characters who aren’t particularly verbose even when they do speak.

The muted quality makes the scenes of violence that much more jarring. The bloody scenes are themselves still somewhat muted, the camera forces us to watch when we’d rather get a cut or a new angle, anything to give us some distance from the ordinariness of the horror.

Even the film’s quietest scenes are full of menace and danger. The is a movie colored with tones of insanity, desire, isolation, compulsion, power, and violence.

Rape is usually a subtext in vampire stories. However a given mythology works in a particular vampire world, there is almost always the inclusion of the forcible and violent penetration of another against their will. Clare Denis captured that violence to horrifying effect in this film.

These are stories about killing someone for their blood. It’s not that Trouble Every Day is the only film where this inherent violence is dealt with head on, but it definitely got under my skin more than most others.

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When the film came out it received a fair amount of hate. But while Trouble Every Day isn’t perfect, the reaction against it was undeserved. As with a film like Peeping Tom, the negative response might just underscore how intentionally troubling the film is. As years have passed, the film has found its audience and appreciators, making the recent Fandor list of 20 greatest films directed by women, based on responses from 50 critics and cinephiles.

Will I Ever Watch It Again? Give me some time to think about that. I’m not sure I can go back into this world again.

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night eight: dracula (a.k.a. the horror of dracula). [halloween movie fest, 2016.]

By Scott • On 2016-10-29 • In another day. another movie., hmf16, scott, vampires • 2 min read

“If you look over there you can see the sun coming up.”

Hammer Films was a London-based film studio that dominated the international horror landscape for decades. They had big hits that weren’t vampire related, but it was their series of gothic, increasingly sexualized vampire movies that had the biggest impact on pop culture. Their films didn’t just influence future vampire movies, but future films in general, especially horror (unsurprisingly).

One large influence was that Hammer continually pushed the envelope in terms of what sorts of things were shown on the big screen. They found ways to show you what was happening, instead of merely implying it through reaction shots to the more violent moments.

For example, my favorite moment in Dracula… **I’m going to say spoiler alert, just in case, but this particular part of Dracula probably shouldn’t be a surprise.**

Still with me? Okay, my favorite moment was Dracula’s death by exposure to sunlight. It was impressively explicit for its time.

Dracula was the first of their vampire series, retitled The Horror of Dracula in the US because of the fear that Americans are kind of dumb and would confuse the new film with the Bela Lugosi version released 27 years earlier.

This movie certainly has its silly bits, oh so many silly bits. Many of the bad bits were a product of the time the movie was made, but they were nonetheless distracting for me. To name a few: awkward or ham-fisted acting by many of the supporting cast, wooden blocking, and way too many moments where the story was moved forward by having a character sit and write thoughtfully while narrating their own thoughts through voiceover… we get it, the book was epistolary, that doesn’t mean I need to see your actors writing or reading letters or journals for 3 minutes at a time in the film version.

Overall, the winning moments outweigh the considerable weaknesses, especially in terms of legacy. There are so many iconic images and moments that still reverberate through horror films today, especially vampire films. If you’re making a vampire movie in general, or a Dracula movie in particular, you have to decide how you are going to interact with the legacy of these films. They’re that significant.

The most important aspect of that legacy is Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, roles they would go on revisit again and again. When Hammer Films decided to reinvent the franchise by moving it forward to present day, they even had Cushing play a descendent of Van Helsing to keep him around (which should be noted by current moviegoers who act like silly plot devices like that were created in the 80’s just in time to bring about the death of cinema).

Will I Ever Watch It Again? If there comes a time for a larger vampire movie festival, I would watch a string of Hammer vampire movies, starting with a rewatch of this one.