Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh. Since its October we have decided to dedicate the month to horror movies. We start our month this week with Romero zombie movies. George A. Romero was the first person to put Zombies to film, and he is the best in my opinion. He is a champion of practical effects as well. All of the movies we watched had spectacular effects which makes it far more viscerally disturbing when a horde of zombies rip a dude apart while he yells "choke on it!" then when you can tell a guy is just CGI'd into a scene. Anyway, to the list!
1: Night of the Living Dead
This is the first zombie movie ever made. Almost all of the zombie tropes you are used to seeing came from this movie. Romero's zombies aren't as brainless as one would see in a lot of other zombie movies. In all of the Romero directed movies his zombies use tools to try to get into tasty human hiding spots, which actually comes up in our last movie of this week. This movie focuses on a small group of survivors hiding in a farm house after a zombies begin to roam the land. The effects in this movie are pretty minimal, though well done. Bosco Chocolate syrup was used for the blood, and it works well. This is a low budget movie shot in black and white so ham being used for fake flesh and syrup being used for blood looks real enough to be disturbing. All of the characters are good, even the shitty people. They all represent how people would respond to this type of situation. Barbra has a complete breakdown after seeing her brother killed, Ben stays clam and tries to do what he can to stay alive. Mr. Cooper is an asshole who feels like he needs to be in control to remain safe, and assumes that all of the other characters are going to get him killed if they get a say. I love the camera work in this movie, shots are often done at strange angles to emphasize how fucked up a situation is (either because of zombie hordes or people acting selfishly) and it adds to the overall tension of the film. This movie is good, and should be watched by any fan of the zombie genre.
Eshi: Zombies are a weird thing for me. On one hand a well done zombie movie, like these ones, is a fucking joy. On the other hand we need to fucking stop it. Not everything needs to have zombies attached. That said, fuck yeah Night of the Living Dead. The birth pang of the Zombie Horror genre is the perfect mix of campy, disturbing and balls out. Its not the best movie, but it is one of the most complete descriptors of the genre.
2: Dawn of the Dead
I want to get this out of the way: the 1978 version of this movie (my favorite of all of Romero's films) was not available for us to watch so we watched the remake. That being said for a remake it does some good stuff. A much more action oriented film, its about a group of survivors holed up in a shopping mall. The actors are decent (Ving Rhames is the fucking man) and there are a couple surprisingly funny moments. The action is tense and well shot. DotD focuses less on the zombies and more on how people go about dealing with the end of the world in a stable-ish environment. All of the bad shit that happens stems from a breakdown in a system because of the character flaws of certain individuals. As with so many apocalypse stories cowardice and control issues are a bigger threat then shambling corpses. Shows like the Walking Dead try to focus on this stuff as well but because it is a series they need to stretch all of the drama out for entire seasons which just makes the show tiring. In this, all of the drama is solved relatively quickly (usually by bad-ass, zombie related deaths) and then people move on. Its a good movie, I still prefer the original but as I said, its my favorite.
Eshi: I think this is the best all-around movie this week. Good action, strong characters (if a little fucking cliche), and some really cathartic violence. Having heard Brian talk about it I'm kinda pissed that we couldn't find the '78 version. I mean, not much, this one was really good, but still. Andy kicks all the ass and Ving Rhames is, indeed, the fucking man. Watch this one and let us know if you find some where to watch the original.
3: Day of the Dead
I found out after watching this movie that there was also a remake of it, but I have not seen it. This is the 1985 version. This movie, like Dawn, deals with people dealing with the end of the world, but has a larger focus on examining the zombie itself. The group this time isn't a bunch of random people in a mall, but a bunch of scientists and military types in a bunker trying to find a cure. One scientist in particular is studying the behavior of the zombies, and through this finds out that they have some ability to remember things from life, especially narratively relevant things. The military personnel, angry with how slow progress is and how many lives the research has cost, decide to bully the civilians. Of course shit goes tits up when they start this, and then begins the breakdown of the system. All of these movies deal with this kind of entropic breakdown of systems. In this movie (and a lot of zombie movies in general) humans are fucked up because they make the choice to be evil, while zombies aren't really evil because they act on instinct (which is changeable with training). The acting was ok, overacting was a big problem, but this movie also represents some of the best practical special effects I have seen in a long time. Its a good movie, watch it.
Eshi: Oh my fucking god, practical effects in the 80's. Day of the Dead revels in all the horrible 80's movie tropes and does so spectacularly. Half the fucking cast is just straight up crazy, as is 80's thriller tradition, and the casual racism grants just the kind of highly nuanced social commentary you'd expect. And I'll just say again, fuck yeah practical effects in the 80's.
Showing posts with label Horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horror. Show all posts
Friday, October 9, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
Weekly Cinemeh
Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh, this week our theme was horror movies. Both of us here love to watch horror, so this week was good. We have talked about how the bulk of horror movies are done poorly so this week we found three horror movies that had some good reviews from horror movie websites. It was a (mostly) good week so without further ado: to the list!
1: You're Next
I heard murmurs about this movie when it was released but never actually saw it. This, I believe, was a grave mistake. This movie takes the classic formula of psychos try to butcher a family in a house in the woods and adds a character that fights back realistically. The character is a former survivalist, so they have the skills to fight back. They basically play a horror movie audience surrogate. You know when you watch a movie and you always get mad at somebody for doing something? How you wish that they would just stab the bad guys? This is that in movie form. Its great. That being said, I have never seen a group of people more detestable. I think they made the family fucked up so you wouldn't feel as bad when they get butchered, but still. The acting was good, which is odd for most horror movies these days, but very nice to see. The movie is great at building tension because the hero is skilled but not invincible, so you are never sure if they will live through a scene. This a good twist on a trope, and any fan of horror will enjoy it.
Eshi: I've gone back and forth on whether I wanted to watch this one for a while. I feel bad about my hesitation. You're Next makes me giddy. Its not particularly scary, leaning on the gore as many tales of human evil do, but where scary comes up short brutality surpasses expectation. Most of the violence is pretty realistic and equally casual and upsetting. The protagonist kicks heaps of ass whilst getting agonizingly punished by both the intruders and to a lesser extent the universe. You're Next was fucking joyous to me, and you can save your judgement for after you've seen it.
2: Here Comes The Devil
This movie is kinda bad, but also kinda good. Its a Mexican film about a family in Tijuana who go on an outing. The family's two kids climb a mountain and get possessed while the parents fondle each others parts while talking about their first (fucking creepy) sexual experiences. The kids go missing and after they are found the family goes home and the possession movie fun begins. There are some odd tonal shifts in this movie. It alternates between softcore porn and horror a little too often. I get why people put tits in horror movies, but this movie goes out of its way to do so, and its a little shocking. The acting was ok, and the story itself was a little easy to guess what was going on. If you take the movie as it represents itself its a little tired, however there is an underlying tone that the kids aren't possessed by the devil, but actually old ones, using human flesh as a way of moving about the world. So that's kinda cool. Its an ok movie, so watch it at your discretion.
Eshi: I'm not entirely sure what to say about this movie. The idea isn't terrible, not super unique but it can be fun. On the other hand, there is a scene where a grown ass woman breathily describes her first summer camp mouth fucking to her husband while he gives her a good old fashioned fingerbang. What I'm saying is that everything about Here Comes the Devil is awkward. From the almost boldly unerotic sex scenes to the camerawork to why the fuck in general any of this is going on: awkward. Not bad, but certainly a two drink minimum.
3: The Taking of Deborah Logan
This movie was also a possession movie, like HCTD, but unlike it was competent. This movie uses Alzheimer's as a way of explaining away the behavior of a possessed person. The basic premise of the movie is that some students are doing a documentary about Alzheimer's and spend some time filming an old lady and her daughter. I had two major issues with this movie. One is that it relies too much on the jump scare, and two, like most of the found footage films the camera is worked into most scenes which takes me out of the movie every once in a while when they make up bullshit to jam it into the scene. That being said, its a good film that builds some good tension. I also love that this movie has one person just say "Fuck this, I'm leaving" and leave the movie. Its a good film that would be good for any fan of horror.
Eshi: Debby Logs is kind of a fucked up story. It uses Alzheimer's to painful effect, simultaneously playing on how disturbing it is to watch that particular struggle and building an honestly upsetting monster. By the time any of the characters start to feel like there might be some sinister shit going on it is entirely too late, which as Brian pointed out leads to the very gratifying "fuck all this noise" from one of the students. The camera is somewhat disappointing, but far from the worst I've seen, and the jump scares were largely unnecessary, though once again easily not the worst I've seen. Give this one a shot some Sunday afternoon.
1: You're Next
I heard murmurs about this movie when it was released but never actually saw it. This, I believe, was a grave mistake. This movie takes the classic formula of psychos try to butcher a family in a house in the woods and adds a character that fights back realistically. The character is a former survivalist, so they have the skills to fight back. They basically play a horror movie audience surrogate. You know when you watch a movie and you always get mad at somebody for doing something? How you wish that they would just stab the bad guys? This is that in movie form. Its great. That being said, I have never seen a group of people more detestable. I think they made the family fucked up so you wouldn't feel as bad when they get butchered, but still. The acting was good, which is odd for most horror movies these days, but very nice to see. The movie is great at building tension because the hero is skilled but not invincible, so you are never sure if they will live through a scene. This a good twist on a trope, and any fan of horror will enjoy it.
Eshi: I've gone back and forth on whether I wanted to watch this one for a while. I feel bad about my hesitation. You're Next makes me giddy. Its not particularly scary, leaning on the gore as many tales of human evil do, but where scary comes up short brutality surpasses expectation. Most of the violence is pretty realistic and equally casual and upsetting. The protagonist kicks heaps of ass whilst getting agonizingly punished by both the intruders and to a lesser extent the universe. You're Next was fucking joyous to me, and you can save your judgement for after you've seen it.
2: Here Comes The Devil
This movie is kinda bad, but also kinda good. Its a Mexican film about a family in Tijuana who go on an outing. The family's two kids climb a mountain and get possessed while the parents fondle each others parts while talking about their first (fucking creepy) sexual experiences. The kids go missing and after they are found the family goes home and the possession movie fun begins. There are some odd tonal shifts in this movie. It alternates between softcore porn and horror a little too often. I get why people put tits in horror movies, but this movie goes out of its way to do so, and its a little shocking. The acting was ok, and the story itself was a little easy to guess what was going on. If you take the movie as it represents itself its a little tired, however there is an underlying tone that the kids aren't possessed by the devil, but actually old ones, using human flesh as a way of moving about the world. So that's kinda cool. Its an ok movie, so watch it at your discretion.
Eshi: I'm not entirely sure what to say about this movie. The idea isn't terrible, not super unique but it can be fun. On the other hand, there is a scene where a grown ass woman breathily describes her first summer camp mouth fucking to her husband while he gives her a good old fashioned fingerbang. What I'm saying is that everything about Here Comes the Devil is awkward. From the almost boldly unerotic sex scenes to the camerawork to why the fuck in general any of this is going on: awkward. Not bad, but certainly a two drink minimum.
3: The Taking of Deborah Logan
This movie was also a possession movie, like HCTD, but unlike it was competent. This movie uses Alzheimer's as a way of explaining away the behavior of a possessed person. The basic premise of the movie is that some students are doing a documentary about Alzheimer's and spend some time filming an old lady and her daughter. I had two major issues with this movie. One is that it relies too much on the jump scare, and two, like most of the found footage films the camera is worked into most scenes which takes me out of the movie every once in a while when they make up bullshit to jam it into the scene. That being said, its a good film that builds some good tension. I also love that this movie has one person just say "Fuck this, I'm leaving" and leave the movie. Its a good film that would be good for any fan of horror.
Eshi: Debby Logs is kind of a fucked up story. It uses Alzheimer's to painful effect, simultaneously playing on how disturbing it is to watch that particular struggle and building an honestly upsetting monster. By the time any of the characters start to feel like there might be some sinister shit going on it is entirely too late, which as Brian pointed out leads to the very gratifying "fuck all this noise" from one of the students. The camera is somewhat disappointing, but far from the worst I've seen, and the jump scares were largely unnecessary, though once again easily not the worst I've seen. Give this one a shot some Sunday afternoon.
Friday, July 31, 2015
Weekly Cinemeh
Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh, where this weeks theme was monster movies. I have loved monsters since I was a kid, and monster movies have always been some of my favorite, be it supernatural or Kaiju or something in between. We had a lot of fun this week, so without further ado, to the list!
1: Trollhunter
This is a great Norwegian film about a bunch of college students filming a documentary about bear poachers. Along the way they start to follow a suspected poacher only to find out that he is actually a troll hunter. After this revelation, the group follows him to learn about trolls and get the word out about them. This movie is fantastic. I love the idea behind it, and the mythology they set up is super fun. The acting is good, and the trolls are well designed. The only problem I have with it is the shaky cam thing that all of the mockumentary monster/horror movies use for realism. Its not bad enough to make the movie unwatchable, it just makes a couple scenes odd, though they also do some fun stuff with it. I would go into that, but I don't want to spoil the movie. Watch it, its great.
Eshi: Trollhunter is everything I like to see in a monster movie. I dig that the trolls have always been a thing, people just don't believe in them. I enjoy the complexity of the world environment and the individuality of the trolls. I agree with Brian that the shaky cam shit is annoying but I've certainly seen worse. There are also some really beautiful shots of the Norwegian countryside, some of which are made metal as fuck by giant rampaging fucking monsters.
2: Thale
Another Norwegian film, though this one was shot for almost nothing. For a movie made for only $10,000 it is amazing, and even without knowing about the budget it was a good movie. Its a movie about a couple guys who clean houses after people die in them. The two main characters get called to a house out in the wilderness and start to clean it out when they stumble across a secret basement with a strange naked girl in a bathtub named Thale. Slowly they start to realize that she is not normal. The woman in the movie is a Hulder, a mythological being from Norwegian folk tales. I don't know a lot about the folklore behind the Hulder, so I can't speak to that, but the rest of the movie is cool. It feels like the setup to something bigger, as there is some underground organization hunting Thale, but it doesn't go to far into it. I found out that they are making a sequel, and I am looking forward to it. This isn't the best movie ever made, the dialog feels a little forced at times and switches gears very quickly from one topic to a completely different topic for like no reason. Other than that, its a good movie, and I hope that the sequel continues what this movie started.
Eshi: I was originally drawn to Thale because of my love for mythology, its pretty fucking difficult to find a good folklore based movie sometimes and Thale came in the midst of a dry spell for me. It delivered exceptionally. There are some pretty ham-fisted cliches but they manage to not actively detract from the film. I'm a bit giddy for the sequel.
3: The Host
This movie is a Korean movie about why industrial pollution in water is bad. It revolves around a mutated fish-monster that starts rampaging around the Han river in Seoul killing and capturing people. During its initial rampage it kidnaps a kid and apparently releases a virus that starts to contaminate the populous. The father of the girl it kidnaps starts to look for her along with her grandfather, aunt and uncle so that they can rescue her before the monster kills her. This movie shifts in tone a lot. It goes from silly to tense very quickly. I have a strange love for Korean movies. I don't think I have ever seen one that isn't a little sad in the end, and that's okay. This movie falls into that as well, but it wasn't bad. The Host was fun and tense and well worth watching. A couple bits of the story seemed a little odd, especially surrounding the story of the virus, but other than that it was a good movie. Watch it.
Eshi: This is the story of a starry-eyed giant fish-monkey trying to get by in a crazy, messed up world after being mutated by formaldehyde. There are very few actually serious moments in this film, and yet still no one can be happy. The prologue is pretty ridiculous, but not really that far out of tone from the rest of the movie. Also, the design for the monster is fucking bad ass, which is always high marks for a monster movie.
1: Trollhunter
This is a great Norwegian film about a bunch of college students filming a documentary about bear poachers. Along the way they start to follow a suspected poacher only to find out that he is actually a troll hunter. After this revelation, the group follows him to learn about trolls and get the word out about them. This movie is fantastic. I love the idea behind it, and the mythology they set up is super fun. The acting is good, and the trolls are well designed. The only problem I have with it is the shaky cam thing that all of the mockumentary monster/horror movies use for realism. Its not bad enough to make the movie unwatchable, it just makes a couple scenes odd, though they also do some fun stuff with it. I would go into that, but I don't want to spoil the movie. Watch it, its great.
Eshi: Trollhunter is everything I like to see in a monster movie. I dig that the trolls have always been a thing, people just don't believe in them. I enjoy the complexity of the world environment and the individuality of the trolls. I agree with Brian that the shaky cam shit is annoying but I've certainly seen worse. There are also some really beautiful shots of the Norwegian countryside, some of which are made metal as fuck by giant rampaging fucking monsters.
2: Thale
Another Norwegian film, though this one was shot for almost nothing. For a movie made for only $10,000 it is amazing, and even without knowing about the budget it was a good movie. Its a movie about a couple guys who clean houses after people die in them. The two main characters get called to a house out in the wilderness and start to clean it out when they stumble across a secret basement with a strange naked girl in a bathtub named Thale. Slowly they start to realize that she is not normal. The woman in the movie is a Hulder, a mythological being from Norwegian folk tales. I don't know a lot about the folklore behind the Hulder, so I can't speak to that, but the rest of the movie is cool. It feels like the setup to something bigger, as there is some underground organization hunting Thale, but it doesn't go to far into it. I found out that they are making a sequel, and I am looking forward to it. This isn't the best movie ever made, the dialog feels a little forced at times and switches gears very quickly from one topic to a completely different topic for like no reason. Other than that, its a good movie, and I hope that the sequel continues what this movie started.
Eshi: I was originally drawn to Thale because of my love for mythology, its pretty fucking difficult to find a good folklore based movie sometimes and Thale came in the midst of a dry spell for me. It delivered exceptionally. There are some pretty ham-fisted cliches but they manage to not actively detract from the film. I'm a bit giddy for the sequel.
3: The Host
This movie is a Korean movie about why industrial pollution in water is bad. It revolves around a mutated fish-monster that starts rampaging around the Han river in Seoul killing and capturing people. During its initial rampage it kidnaps a kid and apparently releases a virus that starts to contaminate the populous. The father of the girl it kidnaps starts to look for her along with her grandfather, aunt and uncle so that they can rescue her before the monster kills her. This movie shifts in tone a lot. It goes from silly to tense very quickly. I have a strange love for Korean movies. I don't think I have ever seen one that isn't a little sad in the end, and that's okay. This movie falls into that as well, but it wasn't bad. The Host was fun and tense and well worth watching. A couple bits of the story seemed a little odd, especially surrounding the story of the virus, but other than that it was a good movie. Watch it.
Eshi: This is the story of a starry-eyed giant fish-monkey trying to get by in a crazy, messed up world after being mutated by formaldehyde. There are very few actually serious moments in this film, and yet still no one can be happy. The prologue is pretty ridiculous, but not really that far out of tone from the rest of the movie. Also, the design for the monster is fucking bad ass, which is always high marks for a monster movie.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Weekly Cinemeh
Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh, our weekly movie review post where two buddies talk about the movies they watched in the past week. This week's theme was horror movies and there were some goodies.
1: What We Do In The Shadows
I loved this movie. So much. Its about a bunch of vampires living in a house together in New Zealand. The movie is shot reality television style and plays on the format very well. It was written and directed by Taika Waititi, who also wrote Eagle vs Shark, and Jemaine Clement from Flight of The Conchords. I loved both of their other projects that I have seen, and this movie only makes me want to see more. This movie had it all: It was funny, heartwarming, and tragic. The cast is great, and have good chemistry. Also, I love Rhys Darby and wish he got more work. Definitely watch this with some friends and have a great time.
Eshi: We watched this movie twice in twenty four hours and I'm still craving it. Jemaine is fucking fantastic, Taika Waititi delightfully offbeat and the whole tone of the film is just grand. There are no words for how much I love this movie.
2: The Babadook
This was an odd movie. It starts out feeling like a movie about a Damien style kid, then turns into a possession movie where the mom is a bad guy, and ends as a monster movie. Usually I like a more coherent movie than this, but I might need to change my tune on that. The constantly shifting antagonist added to the uneasiness that accompanies horror movies. This movie also has a novel way of dealing with the monster, which you don't see that often, and was impressive to me. So many movies try to kill off the monster whenever they get the chance, but this one fucks with that trope in a nice way that fits with the interesting mythology it sets up. I loved watching Essie Davis playing the mother. She has an arc that forces her to change up the tone of her character a lot, and she handles the shifts very well. It also loves to Chekov's Gun the shit out of stuff and not deliver. I think this happens to set up more of the uneasiness that comes from the constant reevaluation of reality. All in all a good film, if not a classic. Watch it if you feel like seeing a movie about the dangers of reading.
Eshi: The Babadook plays a lot of cards very quickly, and it does it pretty well. The only non-shitty people in this whole film are an old lady and a horny nurse, and weirdly that helps. You aren't really supposed to like anyone for most of the story and that lends a layer of catharsis when the shit goes down, as well as a layer of disquiet when characters start evolving. Its pretty good at keeping you on your toes, and I really enjoy that.
3: Nightbreed
This movie was brought to my attention by Eshi when he saw it a little while ago. We watched it this week on his recommendation and I was kind of surprised. I am not really a fan of Clive Barker's work, but the setup in this movie was interesting. It feels like the beginning of a long series, and as some minor research showed, was. Nightbreed was supposed to be the first in a trilogy adapting Clive Barker's book Cabal. Unfortunately it was a flop, though Barker claims this is because they tried to market it as a slasher instead of a dark fantasy epic. We watched the latest cut of the film, and not the cut from the theaters, and it wasn't bad. David Cronenburg was kind of a surprise for me, I could not remember having ever seen him act. I am aware of his horror background though, and his acting fit the movie well. The oddest thing about this was the romance between the leading lady and man. Lori (Anne Bobby) seems consistently hostile towards Boone (Craig Sheffer) and it feels like they are in an abusive relationship, with Boone being manipulated emotionally by Lori. I am definitely going to go find the novella this is based on, just to see more about the world. Its an interesting movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see a movie that depicts movie monsters as people.
Eshi: The most engaging part of Nightbreed is the mythos, which is both great for immersion and almost entirely unexamined. I can easily see why this movie flopped if they tried to sell it as a slasher. That said, taking it on its own terms, Nightbreed is very good. The social commentary is by no means subtle and the structure is pretty disjointed, but those both serve to make it a more complete and evocative experience. As Brian says, the primary romance is super fucking manipulative, crossing well over into the realm of emotional/psychological abuse, and I'm not certain how to feel about that without the context of the rest of the goddamn story. Honestly the only legitimate complaint I can muster on this one is that we don't get to see the rest of it.
1: What We Do In The Shadows
I loved this movie. So much. Its about a bunch of vampires living in a house together in New Zealand. The movie is shot reality television style and plays on the format very well. It was written and directed by Taika Waititi, who also wrote Eagle vs Shark, and Jemaine Clement from Flight of The Conchords. I loved both of their other projects that I have seen, and this movie only makes me want to see more. This movie had it all: It was funny, heartwarming, and tragic. The cast is great, and have good chemistry. Also, I love Rhys Darby and wish he got more work. Definitely watch this with some friends and have a great time.
Eshi: We watched this movie twice in twenty four hours and I'm still craving it. Jemaine is fucking fantastic, Taika Waititi delightfully offbeat and the whole tone of the film is just grand. There are no words for how much I love this movie.
2: The Babadook
This was an odd movie. It starts out feeling like a movie about a Damien style kid, then turns into a possession movie where the mom is a bad guy, and ends as a monster movie. Usually I like a more coherent movie than this, but I might need to change my tune on that. The constantly shifting antagonist added to the uneasiness that accompanies horror movies. This movie also has a novel way of dealing with the monster, which you don't see that often, and was impressive to me. So many movies try to kill off the monster whenever they get the chance, but this one fucks with that trope in a nice way that fits with the interesting mythology it sets up. I loved watching Essie Davis playing the mother. She has an arc that forces her to change up the tone of her character a lot, and she handles the shifts very well. It also loves to Chekov's Gun the shit out of stuff and not deliver. I think this happens to set up more of the uneasiness that comes from the constant reevaluation of reality. All in all a good film, if not a classic. Watch it if you feel like seeing a movie about the dangers of reading.
Eshi: The Babadook plays a lot of cards very quickly, and it does it pretty well. The only non-shitty people in this whole film are an old lady and a horny nurse, and weirdly that helps. You aren't really supposed to like anyone for most of the story and that lends a layer of catharsis when the shit goes down, as well as a layer of disquiet when characters start evolving. Its pretty good at keeping you on your toes, and I really enjoy that.
3: Nightbreed
This movie was brought to my attention by Eshi when he saw it a little while ago. We watched it this week on his recommendation and I was kind of surprised. I am not really a fan of Clive Barker's work, but the setup in this movie was interesting. It feels like the beginning of a long series, and as some minor research showed, was. Nightbreed was supposed to be the first in a trilogy adapting Clive Barker's book Cabal. Unfortunately it was a flop, though Barker claims this is because they tried to market it as a slasher instead of a dark fantasy epic. We watched the latest cut of the film, and not the cut from the theaters, and it wasn't bad. David Cronenburg was kind of a surprise for me, I could not remember having ever seen him act. I am aware of his horror background though, and his acting fit the movie well. The oddest thing about this was the romance between the leading lady and man. Lori (Anne Bobby) seems consistently hostile towards Boone (Craig Sheffer) and it feels like they are in an abusive relationship, with Boone being manipulated emotionally by Lori. I am definitely going to go find the novella this is based on, just to see more about the world. Its an interesting movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to see a movie that depicts movie monsters as people.
Eshi: The most engaging part of Nightbreed is the mythos, which is both great for immersion and almost entirely unexamined. I can easily see why this movie flopped if they tried to sell it as a slasher. That said, taking it on its own terms, Nightbreed is very good. The social commentary is by no means subtle and the structure is pretty disjointed, but those both serve to make it a more complete and evocative experience. As Brian says, the primary romance is super fucking manipulative, crossing well over into the realm of emotional/psychological abuse, and I'm not certain how to feel about that without the context of the rest of the goddamn story. Honestly the only legitimate complaint I can muster on this one is that we don't get to see the rest of it.
Friday, September 26, 2014
The Pros and Cons of "Found Footage" Films
I have a strange relationship with found footage style films. Some of the best horror I have seen comes in the form of found footage films, but also some of the worst. For those of you who do not know, a found footage film is a movie that takes place entirely from the perspective of a camera that exists in the environment of the film. These may be handheld cameras wielded by the characters or security cameras as the plot/setting demand. Also, it seems that the only genre that this type of film is acceptable in is horror, though I would love to see someone make an experimental film in another genre as found footage. So I decided to make this post pointing out a couple of the more major pros and cons of making a found footage film as a way of explaining my love/hate relationship with the sub-genre.
Pro: It is tailor made for horror.
As mentioned in my introduction, I don't think i have ever seen a non-horror film done as a found footage film. There are several reasons why this doesn't work for other genres. Found footage, due to the nature of fixed or semi fixed camera angles, feels claustrophobic since you can only look at what the camera person is looking at. This sensation wouldn't do much for a romance or action movie, but for a horror film, it enhances the experience by taking the audience into the scene. The cinematography is tricky in these films because you have to deal with cheap cameras (most of the time anyway), and thus, bad video quality. Pictures will often be blurry or distorted since the camera person is not supposed to be a professional, so framing is done poorly and sometimes a lot of action takes place away from the view of the audience. Once again, this adds to the uncomfortable feeling that can enhance horror by poking people in the "fear of the unknown" part of the psyche.
Con: Cinematography.
I know, I know, I just said that the distorted images and hard to see, claustrophobia inducing, messy shots can enhance the experience; but its insanely difficult to pull-off well. Its a hard balancing act. You have to be able to see enough action to keep the audience interested, but not distort the picture so much as to make the film unwatchable.
Pro: Costs go way down.
There are a lot of ways that shooting a found footage film can lower your necessary budget for a movie. You don't have to buy state of the art cameras, which can cost a small fortune. You don't need to pay for someone to score your movie, as a found footage film with a soundtrack edited in would kill immersion. You can also cut down on special effect costs by not always showing the monster or ghost or whatever.
Con: They have been nightmarishly overdone.
As the costs are lower more and more filmmakers have been making this kind of movie, and as such, the market is saturated with them. Sure, sometimes the moves are great (watch afflicted or V/H/S!) but most of the time you will get imitators (as with any popular style of movie) and people who didn't put any thought into the movie they were making. This means that the overwhelming majority of movies in this vein are fucking terrible.
Pro: Taking advantage of the saturated market.
Using the stereotype generated by dozens of found footage films to mess with the genre and take it to new places is one of the things that makes some of these movies so good. This is something that is hard to do prior to the sub-genre becoming big as there are little or no expectations, but as the number of films of this type grew, clever filmmakers did/are doing more to mess with some heads by doing things in a new and innovative way.
Con: Why is there a camera here in the first place!
This is a major problem for me. When you make a found footage film you have to give the characters a reason to be holding the camera. Sometimes this fits in well with the plot (see Afflicted, Grave Encounters, and Paranormal Activity 2), but most of the time the audience is left wondering "Why the fuck is that person still holding the camera! Why don't they stop filming the monsters and just run the fuck away!" This can kill the immersion that good horror tries to cultivate worse than any bad line of dialog (for me at least).
It is a hard thing to do found footage right. There are many ways found footage movies can fuck up, but if you get the right balance of story, realistic camerawork, and atmosphere down you should be able to make something good. So, go watch some horror movies, after all Halloween is coming up! I would suggest Troll Hunter, V/H/S, Paranormal Activity 1 and 2, Afflicted, and Grave Encounters. They may not be the best movies ever, but they are definitely worth of the watch.
Pro: It is tailor made for horror.
As mentioned in my introduction, I don't think i have ever seen a non-horror film done as a found footage film. There are several reasons why this doesn't work for other genres. Found footage, due to the nature of fixed or semi fixed camera angles, feels claustrophobic since you can only look at what the camera person is looking at. This sensation wouldn't do much for a romance or action movie, but for a horror film, it enhances the experience by taking the audience into the scene. The cinematography is tricky in these films because you have to deal with cheap cameras (most of the time anyway), and thus, bad video quality. Pictures will often be blurry or distorted since the camera person is not supposed to be a professional, so framing is done poorly and sometimes a lot of action takes place away from the view of the audience. Once again, this adds to the uncomfortable feeling that can enhance horror by poking people in the "fear of the unknown" part of the psyche.
Con: Cinematography.
I know, I know, I just said that the distorted images and hard to see, claustrophobia inducing, messy shots can enhance the experience; but its insanely difficult to pull-off well. Its a hard balancing act. You have to be able to see enough action to keep the audience interested, but not distort the picture so much as to make the film unwatchable.
Pro: Costs go way down.
There are a lot of ways that shooting a found footage film can lower your necessary budget for a movie. You don't have to buy state of the art cameras, which can cost a small fortune. You don't need to pay for someone to score your movie, as a found footage film with a soundtrack edited in would kill immersion. You can also cut down on special effect costs by not always showing the monster or ghost or whatever.
Con: They have been nightmarishly overdone.
As the costs are lower more and more filmmakers have been making this kind of movie, and as such, the market is saturated with them. Sure, sometimes the moves are great (watch afflicted or V/H/S!) but most of the time you will get imitators (as with any popular style of movie) and people who didn't put any thought into the movie they were making. This means that the overwhelming majority of movies in this vein are fucking terrible.
Pro: Taking advantage of the saturated market.
Using the stereotype generated by dozens of found footage films to mess with the genre and take it to new places is one of the things that makes some of these movies so good. This is something that is hard to do prior to the sub-genre becoming big as there are little or no expectations, but as the number of films of this type grew, clever filmmakers did/are doing more to mess with some heads by doing things in a new and innovative way.
Con: Why is there a camera here in the first place!
This is a major problem for me. When you make a found footage film you have to give the characters a reason to be holding the camera. Sometimes this fits in well with the plot (see Afflicted, Grave Encounters, and Paranormal Activity 2), but most of the time the audience is left wondering "Why the fuck is that person still holding the camera! Why don't they stop filming the monsters and just run the fuck away!" This can kill the immersion that good horror tries to cultivate worse than any bad line of dialog (for me at least).
It is a hard thing to do found footage right. There are many ways found footage movies can fuck up, but if you get the right balance of story, realistic camerawork, and atmosphere down you should be able to make something good. So, go watch some horror movies, after all Halloween is coming up! I would suggest Troll Hunter, V/H/S, Paranormal Activity 1 and 2, Afflicted, and Grave Encounters. They may not be the best movies ever, but they are definitely worth of the watch.
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