RAMPAGE (2009)

Watched: 1/1/2010

I first saw this at Fantastic Fest in 2009 and had been meaning to re-watch it. Some people were talking about in on the Twitter (a fellow GATW writer had just watched it for the first time and was blown away) so I decided to spin it up via the Netflix Instant magic thingy. I still think this is Uwe Boll’s most accomplished film but by its very nature is definitely not his most “entertaining”. The ad-libbing is frequently obvious, occasionally fantastically done and the killing spree (every minute of it) is tense and visceral. I don’t care to think too much about the meaning of it all. That begs the question: Why do I watch it at all? I don’t know. I like to be affected by cinema and this film certainly does that for better or worse. Brendan Fletcher should be a bigger star, he makes this movie work more than any other element.

Buy RAMPAGE on DVD here!

• 2011 New: 2
• 2011 Re-see: 1
• 2010 TOTAL: 3

 

 

MIRACLE MILE (1988)

Watched: 1/1/2011

This was my first movie of the new year, one that several suggested be my last of 2010 (that ended up being STANDING OVATION, FYI). I had a pretty decent idea of what this movie was about – Anthony Edwards answers a payphone and learns that nuclear war has started and L.A. will be hit in about an hour. What I wasn’t prepared for was the weird tone, everything felt goofily B-movie-ish, more so than most of these ’80s type action-thrillers. Once I settled into it, though, I loved it. Character interactions and the decisions people make seemed bizarre and silly sometimes, but that’s okay, it was all in service of a truly thrilling plot. Loved the element of the unknown – was the call legit? Things spiral out of control beautifully. A great way to start 2011 for sure!

Buy MIRACLE MILE on DVD here!

• 2011 New: 1
• 2011 Re-see: 0
• 2010 TOTAL: 1

DOLLS (1987)

Watched: 10/31/2010

Stuart Gordon directs my worst nightmare. I’m deathly afraid of dolls and I wanted to challenge myself and get a good scare on Halloween. It worked as usual. This super dark fairytale clocks in at a brisk 77 minutes, every single of them oozing with atmosphere and incredible doll effects. Makes my skin crawl!

Buy DOLLS on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 325
• 2010 Re-see: 133
• 2010 TOTAL: 458

RETARDEAD (2008)

Watched: 10/30/2010

It was years ago that we watched MONSTURD at Horror Movie Night and actually had quite a blast. I remember rumors that the makers were making a new movie called RETARDEAD but forgot about it… Until now. The movie is actually a sequel to MONSTURD and is actually pretty fun. You have to have a certain type of fortitude to stomach this micro-budget stuff but if you do, this is one of the better ones. The evil Dr. from MONSTURD wants to make a group of mentally challenged people smart with some serum and it turns them into zombies. It’s “Flowers for Algernon” for the horror crowd.

Buy RETARDEAD on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 325
• 2010 Re-see: 132
• 2010 TOTAL: 457

THE HORSEMAN (2008)

Watched: 10/11/2010

A straightforward and impressive revenge flick, this Aussie film is one of many recently that have shown that cinema from down under still has plenty of kick and, in some ways, is the best of its class in certain genres. This film sees a father out to get revenge on the people that were responsible for his daughter’s death. Along the way he befriends a wayward young woman who accompanies him on part of his journey.

The scenes of violence are so raw it’s hard to watch at times. That’s a pretty powerful thing especially when genre fans like me have spent our lives reveling in this kind of violence in films. When something can affect us in such a way, it’s worth paying attention to. It only works because of the performance of Peter Marshall as Christian. He doesn’t come across as evil, but he certainly wrestles with the fact that he might be. The dynamic between him and Alice is also another key component. Instead of relying solely on flashbacks of a character dead since the beginning, we get a sense of Christian’s compassion as a father as he can’t help but have sympathy for Alice in the midst of his bloody journey. Really great character work combined with the brutal payoff these sorts of tales should deliver make this a top-notch revenge thriller worth your money!

Buy THE HORSEMAN on DVD here! Or on Blu-ray here!

• 2010 New: 307
• 2010 Re-see: 128
• 2010 TOTAL: 435

THE BURROWERS (2008)

Watched: 9/18/2010

To get into the mood for Fantastic Fest 2010 I wanted to watch something from Fantastic Fest 2009. When I remembered that J.T. Petty’s THE BURROWERS was on Instant Netflix, it became a no-brainer. Combing two of my favorite genres, Westerns and Horror, this film hits all the right notes with me. It’s about a rescue party that sets out to find a family that has disappeared. They suspect they were captured by natives but it turns out the real captors are far more savage. After a super creepy opening scene, THE BURROWERS goes into Western mode for almost all of the first act as the group joins together and sets off into the wilderness. There’s a lot going on here with Wild West politics and tensions between the cowboys and Indians. When things kick into gear and the Burrowers themselves begin attacking, the scenes are well staged and sometimes quite horrific. Love this movie.

Buy THE BURROWERS on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 276
• 2010 Re-see: 124
• 2010 TOTAL: 400

WILDERNESS (2006)

Watched: 9/12/2010

A group of boys in prison for various crimes ranging from petty theft to murder (why are they all in the same dormitory?) bully two of the weaker inmates until one of the poor kids kills himself. The warden decides to send the lot of the them to a remote island designed to teach the kids teamwork and respect. Things go horribly wrong when it turns out there’s someone on the island with a crossbow and a pack of bloodthirsty dogs.

This is a low budget shocker from England that brings nothing (at all) new to the genre but sails by at an entertaining speed with above average performances and some fantastic gore gags. The identity of the killer is never that much of a mystery and is actually more of a plot point in act II. Once you figure out what is going on, the movie really settles into a mode of run and kill that doesn’t leave you much time to really think about the muddled and shifting morals it is presenting. I struggled to pick a “hero” of the story.

The performances, as mentioned, included two of my favorite British actors Sean Pertwee (DOG SOLDIERS, EQUILIBRIUM) and Toby Kebbell (DEAD MAN’S SHOES, ROCKNROLLA). None of the other actors are particularly bad, either. The biggest weakness is the cliche-ridden script. Director Michael Bassett does a great job working on a low budget making the forest setting seem far more interesting than it is. Some great practical effects are used augment by minimal and unobtrusive CG. In other woods, the way it should be. Definitely worth a watch at some point.

Buy WILDERNESS on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 272
• 2010 Re-see: 122
• 2010 TOTAL: 394

RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR (2006)

Watched: 9/6/2010

Write-ups will be rushed (and probably full of typos!) as I’m desperately trying to catch up! Sorry!!

This is my kind of movie! Small, simple, effective, thrilling. It’s the story of a dirty bomb attack on LA. Brad is at home alone when he starts hearing of the attacks. His wife, Lexi, works downtown, the epic center of the attacks. When he learns the bombs are dirty and he should seal the house he does as he’s instructed but has some doubts when his wife returns, begging to be let inside…

This was a fun watch. The initial buildup, as Brad begins to learn about what’s going on, it truly suspenseful and when Lexi returns and the two of them struggle to understand each others positions on how to proceed in their predicament there’s some pretty raw emotion. It seems the majority of the choices Brad makes through the film are realistic, I could see myself making most of the same ones (there’s 1 or 2 wonky moments, but for the most part there’s not a lot of need for suspension of disbelief). Everything is filmed very well and while there’s no need for flash special effects, the dangers of the dirty part of the bomb are expressed well. My only complaint is the end but it doesn’t completely ruin the movie. Just not the way I would have liked to see it end, seemed unnecessary.

Buy RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 268
• 2010 Re-see: 117
• 2010 TOTAL: 385

SPECIAL EFFECTS (1984)

Watched: 9/4/2010

Write-ups will be rushed (and probably full of typos!) as I’m desperately trying to catch up! Sorry!!

I’ve been meaning to fill in some Larry Cohen gaps as he’s one of my favorite directors and there’s several of his films I’ve just not taken the time to seek out. SPECIAL EFFECTS was floating around on Instant Netflix and seemed like a great choice for a lazy Saturday morning. Andrea Wilcox (Zoe Lund) is a young actress, filled with dreams of making it big (as they all are), she thinks she’s doing the right thing by engaging in a torrid affair with director Chris Neville (Eric Bogosian) but instead she ends up dead. Obsessed with the real footage he’s captured of her death, Neville sets out to make a film about the incident using the dead actresses husband as the main star and a dead ringer for Andrea as the victim. Can Andrea’s husband convince the cops of Neville’s guilt before someone else is killed?

This is Cohen film through and through. And while it’s a lesser film (not everything totally “works”) it’s quite entertaining and there’s a few moments of genius. The play film-within-a-film stuff teeters the meta-line in some rather fun ways. The direction and cinematography here are a huge leap for Cohen. The real standout, though, is Zoe Lund who puts in a truly superb performance as not only Andrea but… well, no spoilers. Each of her scenes is fantastic. I know it’s quite unlikely, but I’d like to think some of Lund’s performance influenced Naomi Watts in MULHOLLAND DR. Definitely worth watching!

Buy SPECIAL EFFECTS on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 264
• 2010 Re-see: 116
• 2010 TOTAL: 380

INALIENABLE (2008)

Watched: 8/30/2010

Write-ups will be rushed (and probably full of typos!) as I’m desperately trying to catch up! Sorry!!

This was to be a SciFi Squad Movie Club pick but I don’t think that ever happened. Oh well, it was on Instant Netflix, the timing was right and I was bored. So… in it went. In this odd little film, Richard Hatch is grieving over the loss of his family and is starting to move on by way of sleeping with a co-worker (who is WAY out of his league). Later… after coming in contact with an alien organism and having sex with previously mentioned co-worker, Dr. Norris (Hatch) finds out he’s man pregnant. He eventually gives birth, learns to love his alien-baby, gets captured by evil scientists and fights a lengthy court battle to secure American citizen rights for his baby.

The first half of this movie is glorious. I honestly could not tell most of the time if it was taking itself seriously. It’s a RIDICULOUS premise but it’s played mostly straight. And that makes for a fantastic combination. However, the 2nd half becomes a 2nd rate courtroom bore for the most part. The initial cleverness of the illegal alien parallels wears off as soon as you realize this court case is going to play out in its entirety. Just in the nick of time a silly finale comes to save the film from being a total loss. It’s an interesting curiosity for sure.

Buy INALIENABLE on DVD here!

• 2010 New: 260
• 2010 Re-see: 115
• 2010 TOTAL: 375