Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3011 Halftime Report

When it's Halloween, I can't think of a better way to fill your quota of treats and tricks than watching five days' worth of horror and cult films at the Night Visions festival. This year, the festival has grown enournmously large, and with me having 20 tickets to films, I have a lot of films to blog about. So hopefully I'm ready with this weekday report before I'll be taken up by the main night's Plan 9. It's going to be a longer movie binge that I've ever attempted before, so if I don't make it, take these words as a warning.


Opening Film:
The Thing (USA, 2011)
Director: Matthijs van Hejiningen

For all the bad words spurred at it by horror fans, this prequel/remake of John Carpenter's 1982 re-imagining of a 50's B-film/classic survival horror film isn't that bad. It's just ultimately futile, as there isn't any need to upgrade anything. Everything in the original film, from Ennio Morricone's score to Rob Bottin's amazing special effects to Carpenter's confident direction still work. But the end result is still one of the better re-imaginings of horror films of late. The makers of the remake respect Carpenter's vision so much that rather than going out their way to replicate every character and scene, they rather choose to do their own narrative. I wish more remakers would be as considerate.

Taking place before the events of Carpenter's film, The New Thing takes place in 1982 at a Norwegian outpost in the Antarctica. They discover an ancient spaceship on ice, and call a handful of American researchers to study it, including grad student Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). The creature they discover turns up to be very much alive, and capable of both killing off the entire crew, as well as inhabiting their bodies, creating perfect replicas.

Director Matthijs van Hejiningen, Jr. uses considerable time to build up tension and characters before they start to fight for their lives. Again, it really isn't that necessary as everyone who's seen the original knows how this will end for them, but it is nevertheless a nice gesture. There are too many characters to keep track of, but some that do grow a little close, so when they die, one isn't totally indifferent. Kate herself is a nice strong female character, if one doesn't actually expect that to mean her to be a multidimensional character as well. Winstead still does her best in the role.

As for the creature itself, it is now made primarily with (of course) CGI effects. And they aren't as scary, either, but still rather impressive-looking at least. Also his behavior isn't very logical, but that may be because he's just been thawed. The sense of paranoia is back, but of course this works the best in scenes that are almost carbon-copies of Carpenter's scenes.

I wouldn't go as far as to recommend this, but it does have several scenes that work and it really makes me want to see The Thing again. So as an appetizer or a companion piece, this gets a pass.

★★ 1/2

Revenge – A Love Story (Fuk sau che chi sei, Hong Kong 2010)
Director: Ching-Po Wong

While I saw The Thing beforehand, the real opening film of the festival for me was this return of the violent Hongkong CAT III-rated thrillers. The complicated plot of the film begins as pregnant women are murdered by a serial killer, and the police force close in on their main suspect. We then jump back to see the killer Kit (Juno Mak) start out as a mistreated grocery salesman. He falls madly in love with his client Wing (Sola Aoi), but the evil of the world as well as the corruption of the police force ruins their planned life together. Kit is actually performing an elaborate revenge scheme to get back at the police.

Indeed, while the film moves so fast that all of its plot-twists are hard to keep track of, it certainly succeeds in blurring the line between its heroes and villains. The police in this are some of the most rotten apples on the force I've witnessed on the big screen. But for all its name as a love story, it is a very masculine picture, where women are treated as MacGuffins. In fact, the lead lady Wing can't even talk, yet represents an otherworldly goodness. The central revenge plot would be more fascinating if she were fleshed out a little as a character. The film is also extremely violent, but also quite inventive in all its gore. There are a few really memorable kills, some of which Christopher Nolan probably wishes he would've come up with for The Dark Knight.

★★★

The Finlandia gala film: 
Merkitty (Finland, 1984)
Director: Ismo Sajakorpi

Finland has tended to be an unbelievably repressive country in regard of genre films. Previously I thought that all of out country's horror films could be counted with the fingers of one hand, but as some real gems have been found from the past, I'm now confident to say you'd need your other hand's fingers as well. Back in the early 1980's, when Western Europe's toughest cencorship still reigned in Finland, and there was no horror culture in the country to speak of, one man has an idea. He would do a six-part series for television, each of which would be an independent horror story, in the vein of Tales From The Crypt or The Twilight Zone. The man was Ismo Sajakorpi, but he was only allowed to shoot the first part of his Yöjuttu series before the TV channel pulled the plug on the project. That episode is the 50-minute Merkitty (which means Marked).

Ex-prostiture Irma Auer (Satu Silvo) attempts to escape her past and is engaged to marriage. She and her new fiancée are both interested in the occult, taking part of spiritist sessions. One night, Irma's pimp appears and wants her back on the force. He wrecks Irma's new life so beyond repair that the young woman commits suicide. But to the amazemant of her doctor (Eero Melasniemi) and her mortician (Matti Pellonpää), Irma soon walks out of the cooler, alive again. The lady soon escapes to Porvoo to live with her relative. But her life is haunted by the Grim Reaper and some twisted otherworldly visions he brings with him.

This being a TV production from the 80's, there's bound to be some campy acting and scenes in the film. That being said, I felt guilty for chuckling and for the audience for not appreciating the power of this piece. Sajakorpi knows how to create a creepy athmosphere and has the visual knack to pull off some truly horrifying visions. It's a real pity that he couldn't finish his proposed series, or never attempted to direct a real feature-length film. The film's plot moves brisk and has perhaps a few too many characters. Some famous finnish actors have tiny cameos and Silvo turned out to be a major star after that. But the central story is the tragedy of a woman between life and death and that is dealt with the necessary gravita. All props to Silvo, who is great as a scream-queen, and manages to run pretty fast in high heels at the pebbly pavements of Porvoo.

★★★★

Another Earth (USA, 2011)
Director: Mike Cahill

Ponderous sci-fi films belong among the more outrageous horrors at Night Visions festival, but I'm still glad that this year their time slot has been earlier. Still, the dreamlike quality and the slow approach of this new indie lulled me to sleep for a while. So forgive me if I've missed something of big importance.

Rhoda (Brit Marling) is a soon-to-be MIT student, reckless and loving life. One night, while driving in her car she hears a radio broadcast that a planet much like Earth has been found and is coming nearer and nearer to us. The distracted Rhoda crashes the car to the Family Sedan of the composer John Burroughs (William Mapother). John loses his wife and daughter in the accident, while Rhoda gets a prison sentence. Years after, she hasn't still gotten rid of the guilt. Nervous and anxious, she isn't qualified for anything other than cleaning a school. An expedition is to be made on Earth II, and Rhoda decides to apply, wanting to leave her dead-end life. She also decides to apologize to John, but can't do it at his door, instead lying about being from a cleaning service. The pair start to develop a friendship, and perhaps something more, but Rhoda still carries the guilt in her heart.

As you would guess, the sci-fi elements are in a pretty small role in this film. And they work in an allegory fashion, the film being about forgiveness and about getting another chance. Brit Marling is wonderfully low-key in her role, and it's hard not to feel sympathy for a troubled twenty-something that wrecked her life just because of one accident. Yet the film moves slow and doesn't really have that many surprises at its sleeve, story-wise or cinematically. Still, it is directed with confidence and one should always welcome another ponderous sci-fi film to the world with open arms. Cahill may yet amount to something big.

★★★

Loputon Gehennan liekki (Finland, 2011)
Director: Sami Kettunen



Black Metal is truly one of the most controversial genres of music, because many artists have strong connections to neo nazism, satanic rituals and, especially in Norway, arsony. Being a very metal country, Finland of couse also has a very "healthy" scene of bands, many of them popular around BM circles around the world. For the world premiere of the documentary film dealing with the subject, the whole movie theatre Maxim was packed to the rafters with anxious fans, shouting out to the director and eagerly wanting to see the film. Based on a trailer, Sami Kettunen's documentary seemed to be both a giant warehouse filled with one-liners, and a fascinating look at a subculture, where many of the members border on insane criminals.

But to this punk rocker's view of the 50-minute documentary, it only delivers on one of the aspects. Kettunen has truly found an impressive arsenal of metalheads to interview, and they do share some pretty interesting stories with him openly. But as an introduction to the subculture, the film is seriously lacking. For one thing, the film has very little actual music. The budget has been minimal, so to avoid paying for the rights, most of the screentime is given to the interviews. Kettunen also has problems with pacing, halting the film for excruciatingly long to shoot a boring satanic ritual where some weirdos only chant gibberish from Necronomicon. He also fails to question any of the questionable choices of black metallists, be it from their Extreme Rightist ideology, misogynism or hatred for all institutions in the society. There isn't much pondering of what makes young men turn into the dark side.

It does deliver some good laughs from the outrageous black metallist comments, but in the end one is left wanting more out of the subject. Maybe Kettunen is too engulfed into the subculture himself, and someone a little outside the circles would treat the idea with more criticism and approach it from a more interesting angle.

★★1/2

Trick or Treat (USA, 1986)
Director: Charles Martin Smith

It seems silly now, but hard rock was really music for the outcasts back in the early-to-mid 80's. Moralists who had nothing better to do were preaching against the devil music on TV, and in school you might be bullied for just being a headbanger. During my childhood, the tougher you were on the playground, the heavier music you listened to, and moralists had already found video games to pick on. But Trick or Treat is a fun time travel to the days where nerdy metal heads were wishing they could kick the asses of everyone who wronged them.

So is also Eddie Weinbauer (Marc Price), an outcast who gets picked on for being weird at school (!) and who worships the Alice Cooper-like shock rocker Sammi Curr (Tony Fields). Near Halloween, it is reported that Curr has died in a hotel fire. The grieving Weinbauer gets Curr's last LP's Demo from a local DJ, and finds that it contains backward messages. Curr communicates with Weinbauer through the record, and allows for him to get revenge on his bullies. But then Curr gets thirsty for blood and demands for Weinbauer to kill.

The film has the right attitude, and boasts with cameos from Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne (as a right-wing televangelist!). So, it's a little disappointing that the film is a little basful in its violence. A lot of people get electrocuted to death, but instead of smoking skeletons, they only vanish into air by smoke. An odd rape monster appears in one scene but is never seen again. The film does have a pair of boobies or two, and the hilariously awful hair metal soundtrack is provided by the band Fastway. The film has funny enough high school hijinks, and some inventive physical comedy. It also rips good fun at the scare caused by heavy metal and its influence on kids. However, it does run out of steam near the end, and the final showdown is a bit underwhelming. Still, this is one to recommend if you have heavy opinions about rock 'n roll. Just be sure to see it with like-minded friends.

The film's title is stupid and doesn't fit the film at all, but even more hilariously un-descriptive is the film's finnish title Henki vaarassa (Life in danger).

★★★ 1/2

Deep Red (Profondo Rosso, Italy 1975)
Director: Dario Argento

The band Goblin, known for the soundtracks of numerous classic Italian horror films (most of them directed by Dario Argento), played a rare gig at Helsinki about a month ago. Since that unforgettable night, all of the attendees have been anxious to see their favorite giallos again and again. Luckily Night Visions recognized this urge and screened my very favorite giallo, Profondo Rosso to the big screen of Maxim. Goblin provided a video greeting to be screened in front of the film. Suffice to say, I was thrilled.

And time hasn't eaten away any of the appeal of Argento's greatest masterpiece. The film copy was from the superior and shorter American cut of the film that leaves much of the film's jarring humour, but still doesn't make the film overly serious. The film's plot has an American pianist and my haircut-sharing lookalike Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) witnessing a brutal murder of a clairvoyant in Rome. He gets entangled in a mystery, that goes back to one murder at Christmastime 20 years before. The sadistic killer always plays a creepy children's song before attacking. With Daly trying to crack the case are an Italian journalist and generally tough chick Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), Carlo, a drunkard (Gabriele Lavia) and the Roman Inspector Calcabrini (Eros Pagni).

Argento perfecteted his cinematic style with this film. His camera swoops, follows and focuses on close-ups. The film has been a real pioneer in horror cinema, which were never the same after this. For example, Halloween gets the credit for using the killer's point-of-view, but this was used to some extent already in here. Argento pays close attention to faucets, dolls, mirrors, children's drawings etc., giving them an almost mythological totem power. The kill scenes are made with faster cuts, but they still hold immense power with their icky violence and the extensive use of blood. The drowning in boiling water is one of the most horrifying kills ever to me as a horror film aficianado. The film's plot isn't really that important, and it has a number of holes and flaws, but who cares about that when everything else is so perfected? The hallucinatory colors of this film on a big screen are among the most perfect cinematic experiences I've had this year.

★★★★★

The Whisperer in Darkness (USA, 2011)
Director: Sean Branney

Sean Branney and Andrew Leman are massive H.P. Lovecraft fans, having made the cool silent fan film The Call of Cthulhu (2005) before. Now, they have co-written, while Branney has directed and Leman has produced, another Lovecraft tale, The Whisperer in Darkness to make their first feature-length film. As the original story has been written in 1931, Branney has decided to make the film as if it were from the 30's as well.

Albert Wilmarth (Matt Foyer) is a folklorist, interested in finding the facts behind the legends. When he hears about sightings of strange creatures in Vermont, he would like to arrange an expedition. But he is still having trouble getting other scientists to believe there might be otherworldly aliens lurking in the woods. He starts to exchange letters with the local Vermont man, Henry Akeley (Barry Lynch), who insists that the sightings and the monsters are real. But someone doesn't want Akeley to reveal all his information, and he and his son soon get into trouble. Wilmarth decides to travel to Vermont to solve the case once and for all.

I am not a big Lovecraft fan, altough I admit that some of his scenarios and ideas are pretty creepy. A straight adaptation into cinema would rarely work, as Branney, present at the screening imself admitted. The orginal Whisperer story would have been about two guys reading their mail if adapted straight from the pages. Yet the ending they tacked on doesn't feel as sophisticated and ever-growing horrors as Lovecraft imagined. It feels like the climax of a bad Will Smith movie. Otherwise, the story is slow and long-wided, padding up the twenty-page story as much as possible. It is easy to get bored. In Call of Cthulhu, the film was saved by the cute stop-motion Cthulhu, which makes it sad that the monsters here are crappy CGI creatures who couldn't scare Scooby-Doo. There are some really good scenes, such as the discussions with brains in a jar, but mostly the film was just dire.

★★

1990: Bronx Warriors (Italy, 1982)
Director: Enzo G. Castellari

The legendary Italian exploitation director Enzo G. Castellari was this year's biggest guest of honor, so naturally the festival had to show one of his post-apocalyptic biker films. Taking it's cue from The Warriors, Escape From New York and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Castellari managed to blend his subjects into a film that was also highly original and massively popular. The film was in fact the sixth most popular film in the US on the year it was made.

A beautiful young girl, Ann (Stefania Girolami Goodwin) escapes from Manhattan into the Bronx, which has by 1990 been restricted from other New York and is a violent playground for various biker gangs. Ann is chased by the gang The Zombies by Trash (Mark Gregory), the leader of a gang called The Riders. It is revealed that she is the daughter of a powerful industrialist and due to become the CEO of the company, a fate which Ann seeks to avoid. But the Manhattan fat cats won't let her escape so easily. They send out the ruthless Hammer (Vic Morrow) after her. Hammer is an expert of war, knowing how to play the weak spots of various bikers and how to get the gangs and gang members to fight each other. Hammer is also a big sadist, taking maniacal pleasure on bloodshed.

Impressively, Castellari has actually filmed the outdoor shots in real Bronx, and the underground shots in real catacombs in Italy. Thus the film already seems like a lot more plausible than some of his other postapocalyptic films which have been shot on a gravel mount. The acting ranges from ludicrouslu wooden-faced (Gregory), to über-coolness (Fred Williams), to the kind of manic just-having-fun craziness, the kind that Raul Julia sported on Street Fighter (Vic Morrow). Like any good exploitation film, the film is violent, inventive, more than a little childish, and more fun than a barrell of monkeys. Castellari claimed after the screening that he meant the film to be serious, but he is the sort of tongue-in-cheek type that I wouldn't be sure of that. As of now, it is pure campy, trashy fun.

★★★★

So here's the first set, hopefully I'll be back for more soon. If I don't make it tonight carry on rocking!

The Horrible 00's, Part Deux

More Best Horror Films of the 2000s – The Cursed Number 15 in our ongoing series that just won't stay dead!

 I'm not often dissatisfied with my list type blog posts, but I did have the feeling that last years Best Horror Films of the 2000s was somewhat lacking. Never to back away from a challenge, I did realize there were a lot of other very fine horror films made in the last decade that deserved to be mentioned.

Tonight, Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3011 kicks off at Helsinki. So, to celebrate that and the upcoming Halloween, let me present to you the further top 10 of recent horror flicks:

[REC] (Spain, 2007)
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza



Found footage horror flicks would've just be forgotten gimmicks in period pieces such as The Blair Witch Project and Cannibal Holocaust if it weren't for this highly innovative film. A spanish news crew happens to be with the fire departement as they are called in on a block of flats. Some rage-infusing disease is spreading among the inhabitants. Soon the entire area is quarantined, leaving the crew stuck inside the building with blood-thirsty monsters. For a modern zombie film, there isn't any tongue-in-cheek humour, just fighting for survival. This sort of film works best in the cinema, because it allows you to feel dropped in the middle of the critcal situation yourself and start to feel the panic. It's a real roller-coaster ride, fast and unrelentless with scares coming in thick.

To be fair, I saw the film's American remake Quarantine first and I kind of like it more, because it allows us to spend a little more time with the characters before everything goes to hell and doesn't have as clear reason for all of the things to happen. If you haven't seen either one, pick that, but if you've seen [REC] alreaady, don't bother. It recreates most of the film in a shot-by-shot fashion.


American Psycho (USA, 2000)
Director: Mary Harron



Bret Easton Ellis' masterpiece novel of the same name must've been one of the most difficult books ever to turn into a film. The novel's first 150 pages follow the sleazy rich yuppie businessman Patrick Bateman as he goes through business lunches in high-end restaurants with his obscenely rich "friends" who he secretly loathes. Bateman notices all the luxury product brands around him and gets insanely jealous if someone's wearing something more expensive than he is. After excruciatingly long scenes of upper-class assholism, it is revealed that Bateman is also a blood-thirsty psychpath, bent on torturing and killing (especially women) in a most violent way possible.

The film, of course, makes this revealation much sooner. It does feel like a quick run-through of the novel's events, but it does manage to reveal the obscenity of having it all. Christian Bale made his first truly iconic performance as Bateman, a guy who can go from charming to petty to a douchebag to a dangerous lunatic in seconds. The violence is also toned down from the novel, but director Harron allows much of it happen off-screen, making the viewer's imagination make the worst out of the scenes. Bateman's paranoia of getting caught is increased, but really the world around him isn't interested in his blood work, and sees no difference in his victims. The possibility of it all happening inside his head is also open. Like the novel, the film offers no exit when the credits start to roll.

Antichrist (Denmark/Germany/Poland/France/Sweden/Italy, 2009)
Director: Lars von Trier



Leave it to Lars von Trier to transcend genre lines. Horror is what this film mostly resembles, even though it really doesn't belong to any genre. It's just pure Trier. I don't necessarily think this is his very best film (altough a number of reasonable people would also argue so), but at least it is his most raw, most powerful and most shocking work. It is a manifesto of his own depression and the feelings of inadequacy, guilt and gloom, and the dismissal of trying to alnalyze them rationally and cold. See, you get a lot more out of this than your generic slasher flick.

A couple (Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe) have suffered the death of their firstborn child. They were having steamy hot sex while he jumped out the window. Later on, the couple retreats on a distant cabin to find redemption in their devastating feelings. But when the civilized way to look at the thing runs against the sher forces of nature itself, things are bound to get messy.

Trier's symbolism is a little on the nose here, a little inpenetrable there. Like in many of his work, it's impossible to decide whether he's pulling the collective leg of his entire audience. Yet the odd little film is like none other and its devastating athmosphere more horrifying than in any other film of last decade. The film also needs a little time to grow on the viewer. At first viewing I was disappointed in it, but it has grown on me. Mostly because its haunting imagery will never leave the viewer alone.

Eden Lake (United Kingdom, 2008)
Director: James Watkins

Seemingly normal people, not possessed by any kind of demons or rabies etc. are often the most frightening antagonists in horror films. In this film we have teenage hooligans who have been so spoiled that they grow ever more blood-thirsty when they don't get what they want. A young couple (Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly) take off to a romantic weekend in the British countryside but run into these sorts of little beasts. Refusing to allow the obnoxious, loud ruffians to spoil their weekend, they resort to threats, which the teens respond ever more harshly. The teens start to dare each other to step over lines, which leads to real brutalities, while the adults respond the same way. Soon both sides have blood on their hands.

The film's subject is handled with some weightm, as the problem isn't solely with the youth, but in their parents' empty lifestyles and disinterest in their doings as well. In this world, the nice die first. The community doesn't care much for the weak and the wounded, but a dog's death brings great sorrow. The movie's violence is really sadistic, but it can also be really pressuring, not just disgusting. The film is also the first annual Night Visions Audience Award Winner.

House of the Devil (USA, 2009)
Director: Ti West

In the 80's, there was a wide-spred scare that Satanic cults thirsting on innocent blood may hide in any neighbourhood without a trace to the outside. Ti West's film works great as a tribute to both that era's panic-driven news items and the good old-fashioned horror films. College student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) opts to become a babysitter to an odd family living in the middle of nowhere. She and her sassy friend Greta Gerwig (Megan) are no fools and the girls take off to the house together to avoid any psychopath shenanigans. Yet as it turns out, there is foul play going on and the girls are soon separated and scared.

Unlike many other nostalgic horror directors, West hasn't chosen the campiest and silliest aspects of the 70's and 80's to replicate. The setting, the music and clothing do bring back those times, but not in an in-you-face or over-the-top style. Instead, the film is a welcome return of the kind of horror films that play on having a disturbing mood to them and are constantly one-upping the feeling of paranoia shared by the main characters as well as the audience. The film is created with seemingly small resources, as you don't really need more than a small scratch or a moving shadow to scare the audience if it's played right. So good is the first part of the film that the ending is a clear let-down of panicky running around. It's not that bad per se, as the most obvious clichés are avoided, yet still feels too conventional for a movie that started this good. But as a whole, it is a really spine-tingling work that doesn't explain everything in it through and through.

Open Water (USA, 2003)
Director: Chris Kentis

This minimalistic horror film really divided the audiences. I happened to love it. A scuba-diving couple (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) are left in the middle of the ocean, when their boat has sailed off. So they just have to float around the ocean, figuring out what there is to do about their situation. And then the sharks come around. When they only need to survive the ordeal, they start to realize how little the daily woes in their rat race life actually matter.

I really like the kind of horror films where the situation is plausible, but you couldn't figure out how you would save yourself in the same situation. This whole scenario scares the living shit out of me, and knowing it's based on actual events makes it all the more horrible. There isn't a single special effect used on this film and its shows in unrelenting realism. Of course, this sort of film is pulled off by the actors and their characters and I must say that I could hope for a little more convincing performances from the main pair. But as a bickering married couple in a jam, blaming each other, they are believable enough. One cares about what's going to happen to them. The stylish ending doesn't spell it out for us viewers, altough there really was no escape at any point anyway.

The Others (USA(Spain/France/Italy 2001)
Director: Alejandro Amenábar



Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) lives with her two children, who are sensitive to light, in a large mantion. The Second World War is about to end and Grace is waiting for her husband to return home from the front. He has strict rules for her children, in fear that they hurt themselves by coming in contact with the sunlight. But it seems the house is also inhabitetd by malicious others, who attempt to break those rules, apparently to drive the family out.

The Others is easy to dismiss on these sorts of lists because the sort of filmmaking it represents was farmed to death in the early 2000s and seems like it has run  its course by now. But nevertheless it is a powerful piece of cinema that left an impression me on the only time I've seen it. It is spooky and its mysteriousness tingles the imagination.

Shadow of the Vampire (USA/UK/Luxembourg 2000)
Director: E. Elias Merhige

Horror films are often about other horror films. But rarely do they go as far into that field as here. This is seemingly a drama about the time F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich) shot his classic silent horror film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des grauens (1922). Murnau is a true perfectionist, wanting to create the ultimate horror film. That's why he has hired Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) in the lead role. Schreck is, after all, an actual vampire. The death and disappearance of multiple crew members doesn't worry Murnau at all, as long as he gets everything he wants on film. But what to do when Schreck sets his eyes on the lead actress when there is still a lot of film to be shot?

The film's plot is, of course, utter baloney, as Schreck was already an acclaimed stage actor when he was cast in Murnau's film in the real life. But that hardly matters. What matters is that it's plausible. Schreck's vampire is one of the most terrifying in the history of cinema, because it has been shot so it moves unnaturally. It doesn't matter that his make up looks ridiculous by today's standards. The film does a good job depicting the spiralling madness concerning ambitious cinema auteurs. Malkovich and Dafoe make a good lead pair, almost as much at each other's throats as Kinski and Herzog. The film is actually pretty light on actual horrors, but as a mind game, it is quite swell.

Slither (Canada/USA 2006)
Director: James Gunn

If horror films of the 70's and 80's are hard to emulate on the modern day, even harder are the B-movies of the 1950's. But even that wouldn't be difficult enough for director-screenwriter James Gunn. No, he emulates the kind of outrageous B-movie parodies they had in the 80's (as well as work from such horror maestros as Romero or Carpenter in the 70's and 80's). So the end result's a sort of double-parody. No wonder it tanked at the box office. But that was just the fault of the movie-going public, because Gunn's film is actually both extremely creepy and pretty darn funny.

A meteor hits the outskirts of a small American town. It contains parasitic worms that can take over people or turn them into gruesome monsters. Cool B-list actors such as Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks try to salvage the town from the alien rampage and possible taking over the world. As one can witness from the film's awesome poster, there is a strong sexual sense in the penile aliens, and the R this movie got was well justified. But it works as well to parody the sex-hungriness and boozehoundiness of the American midlands. Of course, this doesn't reach the lofty qualities of Cronenberg's Shivers, which has been a major influence, but it is one of the best horror comedies of the last decade that too few people have actually seen.


Wolf Creek (Australia, 2005)

Director: Greg McLean

Horror genre also likes to play with stupid gimmicks time and time again. It's no wonder the Australian Greg McLean's stripped first feature film was hailed exceptionally good by horror experts around the globe. Seemingly, it's a really back-to-basics horror film. Three young backpackers go on a trip to a middle of nowhere. Their car has trouble. A friendly-seeming stranger offers them help and towes their car to his far-away ranch. You can see how it plays out. But, at the risk of SPOILING the film for those who haven't seen it, the real strength of the film is in the end. McLean refuses to play out to the genre's convictions any more. So whenever we think that a strong, pure heroine is emerging that will survive the whole ordeal, our hopes are shattered. The serial killer Mick Taylor (the wonderful John Jarratt) is so relentless, ruthless and merciless that he will use any chance to off them. People don't do moronic horror movie mistakes in this, they only come unprepared to what Taylor has in his bag. There isn't going to be a purifying catharsis in the end of this film and that's why it feels all the more harrowing.

McLean shoots everything in a matter-of fact way. He doesn't build a threatening athmosphere but rather gives out some magnificent postcard views of the Australian Outback. It doesn't seethe with evil, but all it needs is one apple rotten to the core that can hide very easily in the middle of nowhere.


Bubbling Under: The Devil's Rejects, Dog Soldiers, Hierro, The Human Centipede, Session 9

To Be Seen: Hard Candy, Hatchet, May, A Tale of Two Sisters, Them

Have a Happy Halloween and if you're coming to Night Visions, I'll see you there!

A Tale of Three Tintins

 
For all of us who have grown up with the Tintin comic books, it's an exciting time. Steven Spielberg has been attempting to adapt the classic Belgian comic book series into a movie since the 80's, and finally his vision is ready. The new Tintin film utilizes modern motion-capture technology to create somewhat realistic animation where the facial expressions and bodily movements of actual actors are used. But this is not by far the first time Tintin has been on the big screen. Indeed, there has been two French live-action films of the adventures of Tintin. I take a look at the new blockbuster and its two predecessors.

The original cast of Hergé's comic book.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn 3D (USA, 2011)
Director: Steven Spielberg

There really was no need to worry that Tintin's world would be sanitized for American audiences. Spielberg's Tintin is a funny, exciting and tremendously entertaining adventure movie. For all the fear of the uncanny valley on the character's faces, the caricaturic features are actually quite vivid and the viewer gets used to them after a while. No one complains that Pixar's characters look creepy, and altough they may have realistic skin an details, the characters here are clearly cartoonish in a way that doesn't emulate real people too intensily. The world feels like the one Hergé drew. Indeed the movie starts off with Hergé's CGI alter ego drawing a portrait of our young hero at a scrap meet.

Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a young reporter who happens to buy a beautiful model ship (of a vessel called The Unicorn) from a scrap meet. As his purchase arouses all sorts of hubbub from shady people, the curious newspaperman starts to investigate further, believing that there's a good story behind the mystery. When he gets shanghai'd to a ship run by smugglers', he meets the ship's captive Captain, Archibald Haddock (Andy Serkis). Haddock's a pure-hearted old drunk, who has lost all control over the shady business going on at his ship. He also has information on a great treasure, told as a legend in his family for generations. He just needs to get sober enough to remember it.

The adventure takes the pair to the Atlantic, Sahara, Morocco and finally back home. Like any good buddy picture, the characters don't get along at first, but learn to like and respect each other by the end. True to the comics, Tintin himself doesn't really have any strong characteristics. So it stands to reason that the film's minor characters steal the film again and again. Captain Haddock's alcoholism may not be suitable for the younger children, but it provides some of the film's most hilarious jokes. Almost as funny are Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as bumbling Interpol detectives Thompson and Thomson. Familiar faces from the comics pop up now and then, but don't overcrowd the film. The focus is still on the main characters.

Tintin lives in an unmentioned European city that could be Brussels, London or any other one that has a sea port, really. The film is based on two comic books, The Secret of the Unicorn and The Crab with the Golden Claws, that came out in the 1940's. Thus the world also seems to be stuck during the olden times, judging by the car models, carter ships, aeroplanes and such. However, the strength of Tintin is that it works in any possible part of the world, any possible time and by any possible reader. It's an adventure for all ages.

The film deals a lot with reflections, mirages and daydreams. Many times something important is spotted through a reflection in a glass. It is after all, fitting, seeing as Spielberg is covering his actors with non-existent features, attempting to recreate visuals from a comic book. The film is a real dream within a dream within a dream. So it's funny that none of Hergé's patented surrealistic dream sequences show up. The same quality can, however be seen in the Catch Me If You Can-esque animated opening sequence that gives out nods to nearly every one of the Tintin books. These easter eggs are confidently spread in the film as well.

Even the film's 3D isn't just a distraction, as Spielberg has truly gone off his way to make use for the technology. Action scenes are shot with a long single shot, where the camera goes around to wild angles. There's a strong sense of being in on the action and forgetting you even are wearing a pair of painful glasses. The film takes a while to pick off steam at first, but after that the action varies from pirate battles to crane fights. The most outstanding scene is the motorcycle chase near the end, which would give Indiana Jones a run for his money.

The film's story is faithful to the comic book, and thus ends promising more. I hope there will be, because I was willing to follow Tintin and Haddock on new adventures straight away! I'd say it's among the best, the most innovative comic-book films with Sin City and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The film is excellent escapism from the dreary day-to-day life. It actually managed to do something very few films do, and made me happy, smiling for the rest of the day. Good Show!

★★★★

Tintin and the Golden Fleece (Tintin et le mystére de la Toison d'Or, France/Belgium 1961)
Director: Jean-Jacques Vierne

If you're wondering why I didn't use a chronological order to discuss these movies, the reason is simple. Americans aren't too familiar with Tintin, and thus Spielberg's film works well as an introduction to the character and his world. The two films produced in the 60's already assume that the viewer is familiar with the characters and thus doesn't attempt to introduce them one bit. You're whisked into their world straight away.

French fits into these character's mouths a lot better than English. So I'm about to use the French names of the characters and places as well. Captain Haddock is spending his life peacefully at the Moulinsart Castle. When his old friend passes away and leaves a ship for him in his will, he reclutantly agrees to accompany Tintin and Professor Tournesol (Calculus) to Istanbul, Turkey. It is revealed that Haddock's new ship, The Golden Fleece is a worthless piece of old junk, yet it brings about buyout bids from shady businessmen. The sentimental Haddock refuses to sell because of his loyalty to his old friend, but it soon brings Tintin and himself in mortal peril.

This film is clearly aimed at children, which explains the colorful imagery and the easygoing athmosphere. The central mystery is a lot more stupid and simple than it was on the comic book The Secret Of The Unicorn, which it more or less replicates. But the look and the sound of the characters is maintained pretty accuratelly. Georges Wilson in particular is a perfect Haddock, grumpy and hot-headed by surface, but sentimental, loyal and good-hearted by nature. It helps that he can swear as well, too. Jean-Pierre Talbot is an OK Tintin, but seems a bit creepily old. He seems more like a scout-master than a boy scout. The film's jokes are no match for Hergé, but as we'll soon see, they could be a lot worse. There's money in the budget for gadgets, gizmos and animnal extras. Even Tintin's dog Milou (Snowy) seems to be well-trained and for once, he actually has something to do in the film. The film's pace is leisurely, but it works well as entertainment for a sunday afternoon. 

★★★

Tintin and the Blue Oranges (Tintin et les oranges bleues, France/Spain 1964)
Director: Philippe Condroyer

Once the swingin' 60's got really rolling, we got some far-out stories for even our children's entertainment. Pity the premise is clearly the best thing about the next (and so far, last) live action Tintin movie. Professor Tournesol's colleague Professor Zalamea sends him a package which contains weird, blue oranges. Before the Professor has a chance to study them (or Haddock has the chance to eat them), a burglar steals them. Tournesol, Haddock, Tintin and Milou decide to go to Valencia, Spain to meet the Professor in person. But little do they know that he's been kidnapped, and the same fate awaits also Tournesol (really, when isn't he kidnapped?). Tintin must get to the bottom of the mystery.

I do love how oranges bleues sounds in French. Luckily it's repeated all the time.

While the previous Tintin at least attempted to do a film for all ages, The Blue Oranges is merely for children, and is almost unbearable for an adult. More than Tintin or Haddock, the film's heroes are a group of violent Spanish children, brandishing bludgeoning weapons. They start out by beating Haddock and in the end save Tintin with violence. Way to teach the kids not to beat each other up, Tintin. Talbot (as Tintin again) has grown even more creepily old, while Haddock has been replaced with Jean Bouise, who brandishes an unconvincing fake beard and acts like a total idiot or a douchebag the whole time. This isn't my beloved Captain!

The film has little action (altough the few scenes are kind of okay). Moreover, it has plenty of attempts to comedy, which are, simply put, dreadful. Captain Haddock's dancing and even the bumbling antics of Dupond and Dupont (Thompson and Thomson) only manage to raise shame in the viewer. Unbelievably the comic book genius René Goscinny himself was one of the film's four writers. None of the magnificent wit from Asterix, Iznogoud or Lucky Luke is apparent on the screen. The film moves at a glacier pace and doesn't really go anywhere. The bad guy is just the kind of racial stereotype the real Hergé attempted to avoid (but didn't always succeed). To top it off, the film has a horrible, repetitive Spanish soundtrack. This is the Hercules in New York of Tintin movies!

★★