The Official Blog of Daniel S. Duvall

Shallow Ground

2011-10-08T04:07:00.002-04:00

SHALLOW GROUND

A film from 2004 that layers one question atop another over and over until the viewer wonders how all the threads can ultimately tie together into a cohesive plot, Shallow Ground tells the tale of a police officer named Jack in an isolated rural community whose day gets seriously weird after an uncommunicative naked boy coated in blood wanders out of the woods. With the help of two other cops (Stuart and Laura), Jack attempts to figure out who the boy is. That something supernatural is happening becomes apparent when writing in blood appears on a door while the mysterious teen is handcuffed on the other side of the room. As day becomes night, the viewer gradually learns the nature of the boy and how he relates to past disappearances and murders in the area. I can’t say more about the plot without spoiling the many narrative mysteries for anyone out there who wants to seek out this project on DVD.

Written and directed by Sheldon Wilson, Shallow Ground has a unique story but not an especially well-told one. Once I learned who the boy was and what he wanted, I wondered why he didn’t just go directly to the individuals he really had business with. Some characters who touch the blood have flashbacks and visions that seem confusing for a very long time (though ultimately every image is explained). The main character ends up at the home of a townie who is central to the plot almost by chance (he needs to borrow a car) rather than through detective work that reveals this person’s connection to everything that’s been going on. Reputedly shot on a budget of about $72,000, Shallow Ground deserves accolades for its singular plot. I just wish the story unfolded in a more satisfying way.

A Horrible Way to Die

2011-10-06T02:07:00.002-04:00

A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE

A non-linear film with a glacial pace and snooze-inducing dialogue, A Horrible Way to Die tells the tale of Sarah (a recovering alcoholic who works in a dentist’s office) as she fumbles through the early stages of a relationship with her new boyfriend. Her ex (Garrick) turned out to be a serial killer, so she’s understandably gun-shy about rushing headlong into intimacy. Garrick escapes from captivity and makes his way across the country (leaving freshly-killed victims in his wake). Garrick and Sarah cross paths in the final scenes, though not in the way one might expect.

A Horrible Way to Die left me scratching my head primarily because Sarah seemed oblivious to the fact that Garrick was on the loose despite massive media coverage about the manhunt to locate him. Surely the authorities would contact Sarah as soon as Garrick escaped and fill her in. The project features lots of shaky hand-held camera work that kept jolting me out of the story. The tale runs about 83 minutes before the end credits roll, but the whole plot could probably have unfolded in an hour with proper editing (lots of shots linger and overstay their welcome). A Horrible Way to Die feels cold and soulless. I didn’t enjoy any aspect of it.

Fear of the Dark

2011-10-02T02:58:00.002-04:00

FEAR OF THE DARK

A spooky PG-13 film from 2003, Fear of the Dark might appeal more to young teens than to grown-ups (though some of the imagery it contains will evoke chills in any age group). The plot follows a 12-year-old boy named Ryan who suffers from a debilitating clinical fear of the dark. One night while he and his older brother are home alone, the power goes out during a thunderstorm. The bulk of the movie follows the siblings as they wander about the house with flashlights investigating strange noises as Dale (the older brother) tries to assure Ryan that “there’s nothing there in the dark that’s not there in the light” while Ryan attempts to convince Dale that there are in fact unpleasant creatures lurking in the shadows.

Fear of the Dark is not a bad film, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I could have seen it when I was like 14 years old. I’m not really in the right demographic for this project. The monsters that Ryan glimpses resemble the “gentlemen” from Hush (a fourth-season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). If you know a young adult in search of a creepy little tale, you could do worse than to recommend Fear of the Dark. Anyone older than 15 might find it tame. Fear of the Dark taps into the universal anxiety that there might be something nasty lurking under your bed waiting to grab an ankle that slips out from under the covers. It’s a fine scary diversion for kids, but I would not recommend it if you’re looking for more mature fare.

Wind Chill

2011-10-01T02:07:00.002-04:00

WIND CHILL

A 2007 film with lead characters known only as Girl and Guy, Wind Chill is a unique ghost story that takes place almost entirely in and around a car that has crashed into a snowdrift off of an isolated road. Two college students en route to Delaware for winter break survive their initial car accident only to gradually discover that spirits haunt this stretch of road where decades earlier a rogue cop killed assorted motorists. The girl and guy strive to survive until morning in the hope that someone will happen upon them before the cold (or worse) kills them.

The filmmakers behind Wind Chill (screenwriters Joe Gangemi & Steven Katz and director Gregory Jacobs) have crafted a tale that kept me glued to the screen eager to find out exactly what was going on and what would happen next. This project is an excellent study in how to maintain the interest of one’s audience even with long stretches of scenes with just two characters in a confined location. The final five minutes are a wee bit confusing, but the journey to the end is quite interesting and full of spooky moments. If you’re in search of a high-quality singular ghost story, check out Wind Chill.

The Dark

2011-09-30T02:43:00.002-04:00

THE DARK

Very loosely based on a book called Sheep by novelist Simon Maginn, The Dark (a 2005 film that was directed by John Fawcett of Ginger Snaps fame) boasts a haunting and stellar third act that is preceded by two acts full of clumsily-delivered exposition. The plot follows a mother named Adelle who (with her daughter Sarah) visits her kid’s father (James) in Wales. Shortly after Sarah drowns, Adelle encounters a young girl named Ebril near the home of James. The viewer gradually learns that Ebril died several decades earlier and was brought back from “Annwn” (the land of the dead in Welsh mythology) by her shepherd father only to die again. Somehow the death of Sarah has enabled Ebril to come back again (the phrase “one of the living for one of the dead” pops up in the course of the story). Adelle decides she can bring Sarah back to life if she trades Ebril, so Adelle grabs Ebril and leaps off a cliff into the ocean at the end of act two. Adelle finds herself in Annwn, and from this point to the finale the tale becomes utterly engrossing and terrifying. I won’t spoil how the plot unfolds in act three.

If you seek out this film, be patient and know that the final twenty-three minutes or so are incredible. The scenes leading up to the climax are sometimes boring, but the movie never veers so far off course that one wants to shut it off and watch something else instead. There’s a lot to like in acts one and two: the gorgeous Wales locations and the music alone are worth experiencing. The actors turn in solid performances even if the script sometimes has their characters making odd choices (when her daughter goes missing and is presumed dead, Adelle decides to go explore a building where sheep were once slaughtered). I’m glad I checked out The Dark on DVD and recommend it heartily with the warning that the plot does not kick into high gear until the last quarter.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007 version)

2011-09-29T03:39:00.002-04:00

THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 (2007 version)

Written by Wes Craven & Jonathan Craven, this sequel to the remake of The Hills Have Eyes follows a group of U.S. National Guard trainees as they bumble about a section of New Mexico desert that’s inhabited by mutant cannibals. When the natives kidnap one of the female trainees and drag her into an old abandoned mine, her comrades attempt a rescue mission.

The “good guys” in this film are incompetent, unsympathetic, and not very bright (almost as if the screenwriters wanted the audience to root for the mutants). When the commanding officer of the trainees gets killed by friendly fire, the troops decide that their top priority is getting his corpse back to their base camp (even though by this point in the story they are aware that homicidal enemies lurk around them). You may want to check out this movie if you really dig the 2006 version of The Hills Have Eyes and must know what happens next. The sequel is not quite the horrible waste of ninety minutes that I was expecting after reading a few reviews, but it’s nowhere near as engaging as the 2006 film.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006 version)

2011-09-25T01:26:00.000-04:00

THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006 version)

A slick and polished remake, the 2006 version of The Hills Have Eyes follows the spine of the original 1977 movie quite closely (especially for the first half) with a few narrative detours here and there. The violence is more graphic and the antagonists more gruesome. The plot once again follows the Carters (an extended family that ends up stranded in the desert after a car crash). In this version, the crash is not an accident but the result of a trap set by the savage mutants who dwell in the hills. At the midpoint, the Carters find themselves under siege by some of the bad guys (who in this version exist due to nuclear weapon testing decades earlier). Much carnage ensues, and the mutants kidnap a baby. A good portion of the second half follows the efforts of Doug (the infant’s father) to recover his child. Ultimately Doug and two other survivors gather with the rescued baby and a dog (a family pet). The final image suggests that their ordeal may have only just begun.

The characters that make up the Carter family are (like in the original version) a bit bland and thinly-drawn while the fierce antagonists are far more interesting. I’m partial to quirky and memorable characters, and the Carters don’t qualify. Despite this shortcoming, I enjoyed the remake of The Hills Have Eyes and (perhaps to the horror of die-hard fans of the 1977 original) would recommend this version over the older iteration of the Carter family’s tale. Fans of home video extras should be delighted with the Blu-ray, which includes two commentary tracks. Check out The Hills Have Eyes remake this Halloween season for a story about ordinary people battling hideous mutants in the desert. It’s an entertaining flick about primal survival.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977 version)

2011-09-24T03:00:00.000-04:00

THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977 version)

An auteur film (written and directed by Wes Craven) about a family (the Carters) from Cleveland whose car (pulling a camping trailer) crashes in the middle of nowhere en route to Los Angeles, the 1977 version of The Hills Have Eyes has a slow first half balanced by a flurry of violent action in the final forty-five minutes. The Carters find themselves under attack by a savage family that dwells in the hills near the car crash site. There are bloody casualties on both sides before the ordeal ends. To go into much more detail would be to spoil some of the movie’s finer surprises.

My main complaint about this project is the abrupt ending that leaves the viewer in the dark about how the survivors ultimately return to civilization (or if they do so at all). The first half borders on being boring, but the pace really picks up after the midpoint. Gritty and realistic, the original version of The Hills Have Eyes may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed the journey to the finale even though the members of the Carter family are somewhat bland and unmemorable. The antagonists, on the other hand, are fascinating and terrifying (at one point, they plan to devour a baby they’ve kidnapped from the Carters). If you’re looking for a decent chilling tale about primal survival against difficult odds, spend ninety minutes with The Hills Have Eyes.

Children of the Corn: Genesis

2011-09-22T02:17:00.000-04:00

CHILDREN OF THE CORN: GENESIS

The eighth film in the Children of the Corn series (or the ninth if you count the 2009 made-for-TV remake of the original), Genesis follows a couple (Tim and Allie) stranded in a California desert due to car trouble. Tim and Allie find a small isolated house and persuade the inhabitants (a creepy older fellow called Preacher and his mail-order bride Helen) to let them call a towing service only to learn that they’ll essentially be stranded until the next morning (the nearest garage is closed on Sundays). Preacher lays down some ground rules (basically don’t snoop around) that Allie promptly breaks. After using the outhouse, Allie wanders around the property and discovers a locked shed that seems to imprison a child. She tells Tim about the kid. The plot then becomes increasingly incoherent with the efforts of Tim and Allie to get away thwarted by a supernatural force that keeps the doors and windows impenetrable. Preacher gushes some exposition about how he comes from Gatlin (the small Nebraska town of the first film) and would have been slaughtered there along with all the other adults had he not been away at the time the mass-murder happened. Allie has a dream about being assaulted and crucified by children in a corn field. The narrative spirals deeper into incomprehensibility as Helen gets killed by the kid who dwells in the shed, Tim and Allie drive away in a car left behind by a cop who showed up during the night thanks to a 9-1-1 call, there’s a horrible accident on the freeway that kills Tim, and Allie ends up back at Preacher’s place.

Though the short story by Stephen King that spawned this franchise is worth a read, the films in the series range from barely watchable (the first entry) to flat-out awful (part 6: Isaac’s Return). Genesis falls somewhere between these two extremes. The best moment is the fate of the cop who shows up after the call to 9-1-1 (Tim and Allie watch through a window as the policeman gets yanked up into the night sky by some unseen force). Children of the Corn: Genesis is the latest nonsensical entry in a mediocre film series that somehow goes on and on. Avoid.

The Crazies (1973 version)

2011-09-21T01:02:00.002-04:00

THE CRAZIES (1973 version)

Even though this original version of The Crazies (not to be confused with the 2010 remake) is never terribly suspenseful or gripping, it does feature an engaging core concept and some horrific imagery of government operatives invading homes and rounding up small-town citizens (some of whom may be infected by an experimental bio-weapon known as Trixie that accidentally got into the local water supply). The plot follows a volunteer fireman named David, his pregnant wife Judy, and their friend Clank as they struggle to escape from the martial law that has been imposed on their community in the wake of the outbreak of a virus that induces permanent insanity and sometimes death in those infected. David and his allies make their way from one location to another (a country club, a house, etc) and gather food as they head toward the edge of town while dodging (and sometimes killing) soldiers. Trouble arises as it becomes increasingly apparent that Clank is slowly going mad and must be infected. After a soldier kills Clank, David and Judy nearly escape but ultimately fail (a crazed townie shoots Judy, and the military captures David). A bleak ending suggests that the virus may have already spread beyond the quarantined area.

I really dug the 2010 remake of this project and was curious to see the source material that inspired the more recent version. While the 1973 incarnation of The Crazies is not a horror film in the traditional sense, it does posit horrific questions. What if the Army accidentally unleashed a madness-inducing virus within the continental United States? What if the President seriously considered nuking the impacted community? What if your pregnant wife died in your arms? The original Crazies (directed by George A. Romero) is entertaining and haunting in its own way. I’m glad I finally got around to checking this cult classic out.

The Dark Hours

2011-09-20T00:32:00.000-04:00

THE DARK HOURS

A thought-provoking thriller from 2005, The Dark Hours follows a doctor named Samantha as she visits her husband David and sister Melody at an isolated cabin where David is working on a book. One of Samantha’s patients (a psychotic rapist named Harlan) shows up with an accomplice (Adrian) and takes the three “good guys” hostage. Harlan forces his captives to play some nerve-rattling games. Samantha manages to kill Adrian before Harlan retakes control of the situation. A twist ending forces the viewer to rethink and reframe all of the scenes that have come before.

The Dark Hours boasts marvelous nuanced performances and a tense plot that keeps one hooked to the screen wondering what will happen next. I’m still not sure I understand what “really” happens in the story, but the journey to the end is a thrilling ride well-worth taking. I can’t say more about that twist ending without spoiling key narrative details, but the finale practically demands a second viewing of the whole film. I’ll check this one out again.

The Howling parts 1 and 2

2011-09-16T00:42:00.002-04:00

THE HOWLING

Based on a 1979 novel that I’ve never read, the 1981 film The Howling (which The BFI Companion to Horror describes as a “hip horror parody”) tells the tale of a broadcast news anchor named Karen who takes the advice of her mental health care doctor and ventures with her husband to an isolated getaway known as “the colony” to recuperate after her traumatic encounter with a serial killer named Eddie. Unfortunately for Karen, the denizens of the colony are secretly a pack of werewolves who can change form at will. After Karen realizes the danger she’s in, she escapes from the colony (with the assistance of a co-worker), but not before she’s infected and turned into a werewolf too. Karen transforms into a wolf creature during a live television broadcast in an effort to warn the public at large of the monsters in the world.

The plot of The Howling hinges on one huge coincidence (Eddie the serial killer is a werewolf who belongs to the colony that Karen’s doctor oversees). The movie boasts some horrific imagery (Eddie’s transformation into a wolf in front of Karen looks exceptionally real) but suffers from having a terribly passive protagonist. Karen likely would have died at the hands of the wolf pack if her co-worker had not shown up with a rifle and a bunch of silver bullets at just the right time. Widely considered a seminal werewolf film, The Howling seems overrated (especially considering that the first full-on werewolf attack doesn’t occur until forty-two minutes after the story begins, and that scene involves Karen’s husband just getting scratched on the arm). I don’t dig this flick too much, but it does have its share of rabid fans.

THE HOWLING 2: YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF

An astonishingly-awful waste of ninety minutes, The Howling 2 follows a fellow named Ben (the brother of newscaster Karen from the first film) as he travels to Transylvania with an occult investigator named Stefan (played by Christopher Lee, who must have been in dire need of a paycheck when he agreed to appear in this project) to hunt and kill a werewolf queen called Stirba.

Cheesy electronic mid-eighties music saturates the soundtrack of The Howling 2. I’ve seen more convincing werewolf costumes on kids parading up and down suburban streets in search of candy on Halloween. The plot features characters behaving in maddening ways (upon their arrival in Transylvania, the intrepid werewolf hunters quite logically split up and enjoy a street fair). Essentially there’s so much to dislike about this movie that I’m stunned it was never used as fodder for snarky riffing on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Do not expose your senses to the sights and sounds of The Howling 2. I regret taking this DVD out of the shrink wrap.

Stake Land

2011-09-15T03:21:00.000-04:00

STAKE LAND

A 2010 film in which a teen named Martin takes a road trip with a vampire hunter called Mister through what remains of the United States after undead bloodsuckers have decimated the population, Stake Land contains many gripping scenes and horrifying moments but suffers from an emotionally-unfulfilling ending. In a prologue, a vampire kills Martin’s parents and baby sibling, and Mister swoops in and rescues Martin. The two head north in the hope of finding a place known as “New Eden” (reputed to be a safe haven, much like Sanctuary in Logan’s Run). Along the way, they pick up a couple of traveling companions including a pregnant young woman named Belle. They survive assorted encounters with vampires and fanatical human cult members until Belle dies around the end of the second act. After Mister and Martin meet a girl about Martin’s age, Mister inexplicably abandons Martin and vanishes to parts unknown. Martin and the girl continue north until a road sign notifies them that they have allegedly arrived at New Eden.

I very much wanted to see New Eden (if it actually existed) and find out how exactly the denizens thereof were safe from vampires. The story ends before Martin actually experiences the place, which left me feeling cheated out of a proper denouement. The journey to the end is worth experiencing, though. The vampires in this world are brutal feral creatures (unlike the kind found in Anne Rice novels) and quite disturbing to see in action as they hunt and feed. A couple of moments left me scratching my head (like the scene in which a religious cult drops vampires from a helicopter into the midst of the heroes – I wondered how exactly the cultists captured these monsters and wrangled them into an aircraft), but I still recommend checking this project out. If you dig home video extras, the Blu-ray includes two commentary tracks. Stake Land is a flawed but engaging movie.

Satan's Triangle

2011-09-14T09:50:00.003-04:00

SATAN’S TRIANGLE

A superb 1975 made-for-TV movie, Satan’s Triangle takes place almost entirely on a boat. A Coast Guard rescuer named Haig boards the vessel from which a distress signal originates. There he finds three corpses (including a priest hanging upside down from a mast) and one survivor (a traumatized woman named Eva). Haig’s Coast Guard partner takes the helicopter back to base (citing engine trouble and low fuel). Haig listens to Eva tell the tale of what happened on the boat, and the story unfolds through a series of flashback scenes. Essentially the members of a fishing expedition spot the priest adrift on the wing of a plane and rescue him from the ocean, at which point a mysterious storm arises and unusual accidents claim the lives of everyone but Eva (who attributes the deaths to the fact that the boat was in the middle of the Devil’s Triangle). Haig provides a rational explanation for each death, and at dawn the Coast Guard returns to rescue Haig and Eva. A spectacular twist ending (the nature of which I will not spoil here) then turns the story on its ear.

Absolutely deserving of an official DVD release and a big-screen remake, Satan’s Triangle features atmospheric music and a plot that layers one narrative question atop another until the viewer is dying to know what’s going on. The whole project is a lesson in superior creative storytelling. This is one made-for-TV tale well-worth seeking out.

The Bone Snatcher

2011-09-13T00:46:00.000-04:00

THE BONE SNATCHER

A 2003 film about a scientist named Zack on an expedition to locate three missing miners in an African desert, The Bone Snatcher features a singular monster in a largely boring (and periodically hard to follow) story. Zack and his allies (including a potential love interest named Mikki and her ex-boyfriend Karl) locate the miners’ truck and find two bodies that have been mostly stripped of flesh. Assuming incorrectly that the third miner killed the other two, the heroes follow a set of tracks through the desert. They ultimately encounter a creature of sorts: a vast army of insects that use bones to take the form of a single large organism. Zack, Mikki, and Karl deduce that the insects are developing a fresh colony in an abandoned mine and set out to destroy the nest.

The Bone Snatcher features some excellent creepy imagery (at one point the monster wears the face of one victim like a mask), but the story plods along at an uneven pace. There are a couple of moments when one wonders just why the protagonist takes certain actions, like when he prevents Karl from shooting at the monster. The tale takes a couple of weird turns. At one point, Zack and Mikki and Karl spot the creature near their camp at night. It seems to rush at them, and then suddenly there’s a scene the next morning with everyone alive and well with no trace of the insect-beast around. Life’s too short to waste ninety minutes on this little movie.

The Crazies (2010 version)

2011-09-12T00:39:00.000-04:00

THE CRAZIES (2010 version)

A remake of a 1973 film, the 2010 incarnation of The Crazies is a gripping tale that follows a small-town sheriff (David) as he and his pregnant wife (Judy) strive to escape from their community after the outbreak of an illness that induces murderous behavior in those infected. David gradually pieces together that the epidemic stems from a contaminated water supply (a military plane carrying an experimental bio-weapon crashed in a body of water nearby). David and Judy must deal with not only their newly-psychotic neighbors but also the military troops that have been sent in to contain the outbreak.

The Crazies is filled with numerous excellent sequences in which it seems time and again that there’s no chance for the protagonist and his wife to escape. Two nearly back-to-back scenes (one in the nursery in David and Judy’s house and another in a car wash) stand out as being among the most harrowing circumstances I’ve ever seen a cinematic hero overcome. If you’re in the mood for a thrilling story about a struggle for survival against overwhelming odds, spend one hundred minutes enjoying the 2010 version of The Crazies.

Bloody Birthday

2011-09-09T01:11:00.000-04:00

BLOODY BIRTHDAY

A 1981 film in which three ten-year-old kids go on a murder spree, Bloody Birthday features a couple shots (of teen girls walking and talking on a suburban street) that seem like an homage to John Carpenter’s Halloween, but this project unfortunately lacks the soul and tension of that masterpiece. The ostensible protagonist of Bloody Birthday is a young lady named Joyce who spends much time searching for and babysitting her little brother. Joyce is a non-traditional hero insofar as she has no clear goal that drives the story. She mostly goes about her day-by-day existence (aside from one scene in which she is nearly run over by a car in a junkyard) until the final ten minutes or so (when she and her little brother realize that three of the neighborhood children are actively trying to murder them).

The film opens with the near-simultaneous birth of the three killer kids during an eclipse in 1970. Joyce later spouts some exposition about astrology and how someone born during an eclipse might have some key personality elements missing. The bulk of the movie takes place in 1980 and includes the tenth birthday of the antagonists (and despite the title, I don’t recall any murders actually occurring at the birthday party).

Bloody Birthday never evokes true chills (a major shortcoming for an alleged horror film). The kill scenes are relatively tame (three of the victims are shot with a gun) aside from one bit that involves a peephole and a bow & arrow. There’s no mystery about the identity of the killers after the first few minutes. There’s never a sense of dread. I’m not sure how three youngsters manage to outwit the local police force and get away with murder after murder. Bloody Birthday runs less than ninety minutes but even so feels too long. I don’t recommend wasting any time on this film.

Pale Blood

2011-09-08T00:21:00.003-04:00

PALE BLOOD

A decent little vampire flick from 1990, Pale Blood follows an undead bloodsucker named Michael Fury who arrives in Los Angeles from Europe to search for a serial killer whose victims are drained of blood via two puncture wounds on the neck. A young woman named Lori (who works for a detective agency) assists Fury in his hunt.

Pale Blood stars Pamela Ludwig (who plays the love interest in the exceptional 1979 coming-of-age teen rebellion film Over the Edge) as Lori, and her presence is the reason I sought out this vampire film on VHS (it unfortunately has not yet been issued on DVD). The plot of Pale Blood suffers from what a screenwriter named Blake Snyder refers to in a book called Save the Cat as “double mumbo-jumbo.” Snyder posits that “audiences will only accept one piece of magic per movie.” In Pale Blood, vampires are real. The second “piece of magic” that is shoehorned into the story is that Lori attempts to contact the spirits of the victims for information about the killer, but for some reason the visions from the spirits go to Fury instead of Lori.

Pale Blood’s core concept of a real vampire investigating vampire-like murders is intriguing, but the tale doesn’t unfold in a very engaging way. I would have liked Fury and Lori to piece together clues and ultimately track down the murderer, but instead the killer actually seeks out and sets a trap for Fury. The film’s saving grace is a wicked twist ending that blindsided me.

Pale Blood runs about ninety minutes long and is worth checking out (despite its narrative flaws) for fans of vampire pictures. The three main characters (Fury, Lori, and the killer) are distinctive and memorable. It’s not a brilliant film, but it is singular.

Knife Edge

2010-10-30T02:51:00.002-04:00

KNIFE EDGE

A slow-paced and boring haunted house film from 2010, Knife Edge follows a woman named Emma who moves into a sprawling country home in England with her five-year-old son (Thomas) and husband (Henri). Thomas develops a relationship with an “imaginary” friend called Tobias, and Emma has strange visions involving acts of violence in the house. Meanwhile, Henri’s photography business crumbles, and he plots a way to gain control of his wife’s family’s trust money. Emma’s sister researches the house and discovers that two people were murdered there three decades earlier. The plot becomes increasingly convoluted until the final twist reveals an unexpected villain among Emma’s associates.

Knife Edge features characters who behave in ways that seem to lack motivation. When Emma and Henri first arrive at their new house, they inexplicably instruct Thomas to wait by the car while they go inside (thereby allowing Thomas to wander outside and get into mischief). At one point Emma seems to hear strange noises upstairs, then before investigating them she takes a detour outside and for no apparent reason reaches into a hole at the base of a tree trunk. Thomas falls asleep in the middle of a conversation. The sum total of all this odd behavior is a sense that one is watching a poorly-told tale.

The movie’s strong points are its original music (composed by Guy Farley) and fine locations. The house has great atmosphere, particularly when the power goes out during a storm. Atmosphere and music are not enough to balance out a crummy plot, though, and Knife Edge sadly is poorly-paced and has a rather passive protagonist with no clear goal. I’m a sucker for good ghost stories, but this one’s forgettable.

Fragile

2010-10-18T00:44:00.000-04:00

FRAGILE

A 2005 film that was only recently released on DVD in the USA, Fragile follows a night nurse named Amy in a hospital that’s on the verge of being shut down. Most of the patients have been transferred to another facility, and only a few children remain. When unexplained ghostly happenings occur, Amy grows to believe that the hospital is haunted. Some of the kids report seeing a “mechanical girl” named Charlotte. Amy gradually pieces together information about the hospital’s history (and the mysterious long-shut-down second floor) that seems to reveal who the ghost could be and what she wants. There’s a twist surprise I won’t spoil here about the nature of the haunting. The film ends on a mildly depressing note.

Fragile has decent atmosphere and a couple of good frightening scenes, but the protagonist is a generic and forgettable character who stumbles upon fountains of exposition at just the right moments to keep the plot moving forward. If you’re in the mood for an original ghost tale, Fragile will pass the time but won’t necessarily stun you with brilliant storytelling.

Madman

2010-10-11T23:50:00.002-04:00

MADMAN

A slasher film from 1982, Madman features a simple tale that seems to be missing a third act. The narrative ends abruptly with a brief epilogue after the final murder with no resolution about the fate of “Madman Marz” (the killer of the piece). The project opens with some camp counselors and their charges sitting around a campfire. Max, the head of the camp, tells a story about the former inhabitant of a nearby dilapidated house. Seems the fellow went mad one day and killed his family with an ax. A lynch mob tried to hang him, but his body was missing the next day when they went to cut him down. Legend has it that if you say his name above a whisper, he’ll find and kill you.

Naturally one of the campers bellows “Madman Marz” and throws a rock through the window of the “abandoned” house. The rest of the film consists of a handful of kill scenes strung together by typical “life at camp” moments (counselors having sex and such) as Madman Marz goes on a murderous rampage and picks off some victims one by one. At the end, one counselor (Betsy) gets all the campers (except for one who has been wandering in the woods all night) onto a bus and sends them to the police station while she stays behind to check for survivors. Check out the final minutes of this movie if you must know what happens next.

The Overlook Film Encyclopedia of Horror describes Madman as “well-photographed, reasonably suspenseful, and boasting good special effects.” That’s a fair assessment. I don’t know if the abrupt ending was meant as a setup for a sequel. The actress who played Betsy has a unique face and eyes. The concept of a killer in the woods stalking camp counselors is not unique, but Madman has a certain charm as a representative slasher from the early eighties. Some of the deaths are unique (one counselor is decapitated by the hood of her vehicle as she checks the engine), and the special effects are indeed above average for a low-budget piece. Madman does not demand repeat viewings, but it’s worth a look on a chilly October night.

The Final

2010-10-03T12:27:00.000-04:00

THE FINAL

A ballsy project in this post-Columbine environment, The Final is a harrowing and haunting film from 2010 in which a group of outcasts trick all the bullies from their high school into attending a costume party at an isolated house and then drug and torture them.

Many of the actors playing the outcasts give outstanding nuanced performances (Lindsay Seidel as Emily is particularly good). Judging from reviews and comments at The Internet Movie Database, I seem to be in the minority when I assert that this project has a smart script and clever directorial choices. The early scenes depict realistic examples of the cruelty some teens inflict on others, and the later scenes show the dire consequences that such bullying can evoke. The movie’s narrative builds at a steady pace and hooks the viewer with anticipation as soon as one realizes that the outcasts are plotting some form of revenge.

“There are more like us out there,” the final outcast tells police moments before he shoots himself. Indeed, I fear that this tale is a reflection not only of events that have already transpired in our society but also of things yet to come.

Pontypool

2010-09-28T23:39:00.000-04:00

PONTYPOOL

A 2008 film that has many vocal fans and supporters on the message boards of The Internet Movie Database, Pontypool is a zombie film of sorts that takes place almost entirely within a small-town radio station while something anomalous occurs in the community. The tale follows a morning-shift disc jockey (Grant Mazzy) and his producer (Sydney Briar) and an assistant (Laurel-Ann) as they go about what begins as a routine day getting local news and traffic reports on the air. Soon eyewitnesses begin contacting the station to report some sort of mob event outside the office of one Dr. Mendez. A correspondent for the station gives a harrowing account of seeing the mob pulling two people out of a vehicle – and then biting them. Dr. Mendez himself shows up at the station, realizes that Laurel-Ann is “infected,” and ushers Sydney into the soundproof broadcasting booth with Mazzy. He explains that Laurel-Ann is now “hunting,” and indeed she slams herself into the booth’s windows repeatedly in an apparent effort to get at those inside. Mendez says something about how the infection spreads through language, and thus they should probably stop talking. Zombies swarm into the station. Mazzy distracts them by looping an audio recording on a speaker over the station’s front door. When it begins to appear that Sydney may be infected, Mazzy somehow cures her by repeating “kill is kiss” over and over (thus short-circuiting the language-based infection). The story ends with apparent military intervention and what may or may not be the destruction of the radio station.

Pontypool begins quite well. The actor playing Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) has a marvelous voice and was totally believable as a disc jockey, and the early scenes establishing the group dynamics between Mazzy and his producer and the assistant had me hooked. Somewhere around the middle (and more so toward the end), the story lost me. The narrative grows confusing as Dr. Mendez presents what should be clear exposition about the nature of the zombie infection. The zombies never seem like an actual threat to Mazzy and his producer (except for one moment when an infected child lunges forward after the two leave the safety of the booth). I also wanted more sense of narrative resolution: what sparked the outbreak? Was Dr. Mendez involved in causing the initial infections? What happens in the world outside the radio station? None of these questions are answered. Pontypool is an interesting attempt at a unique zombie story in a confined setting, but it left me more frustrated than scared and awed.

Dark Remains

2010-09-25T00:54:00.000-04:00

DARK REMAINS

Four syllables spring to mind as I reflect on the experience of watching the 2005 film Dark Remains on DVD: bland characters. If either or both of the leads had been even remotely quirky or distinctive in any way, I might have been able to overlook the semi-coherent plot and the ending that makes no sense. The story follows a married couple (Julie & Allen Pyke) whose daughter is murdered. To make a fresh start, the two relocate from a city to a remote cabin on a mountain. Julie takes photographs while Allen (a technical writer) pounds away at his laptop computer. Their nearest neighbor is a recluse named Jim. Julie becomes fixated on an abandoned prison near the cabin and obsessively photographs its interior after she thinks she sees her dead daughter in one print. Two friends of the Pykes stop by for a visit, and one sees a ghost during the night. Allen learns that the last couple to inhabit the cabin committed suicide. He goes to the library to research local history and finds that a lot of mysterious deaths occur in the area on or around May 22 every year. Neighbor Jim (who it turns out discovered his mother’s corpse when he was a young lad) murders the sheriff for no good reason. Jim then attempts to kill the Pykes, but Julie shoots him. Allen spouts some nonsense about how Jim was somehow responsible for causing all the hauntings in the area. I realize it makes little sense, but that’s the plot in a nutshell. I did appreciate the musical score.

Steer clear of this half-baked ghost story. The imagery is periodically creepy, though Brian Avenet-Bradley (the auteur behind the project) overuses the trick of having something spooky (like a quick glimpse of a ghost) appear in the background unnoticed by the characters in the foreground. I wasted an hour and a half of my life following this tale. Don’t make the same mistake. Avoid.

The Skeptic

2010-09-21T00:32:00.001-04:00

THE SKEPTIC

A 2009 auteur film (written and directed by Tennyson Bardwell) about a lawyer named Bryan who moves into a house that may or may not be haunted, The Skeptic features fresh and humorous dialogue (mostly banter between Bryan and his friend Sully) that balances out some disturbing and truly creepy scenes. Bryan inherits (or at least thinks he does) the house from his estranged aunt. He later learns that her will states that she has left the property to an academic program headed by a Dr. Warren Koven. Bryan (who is separated from his wife and child) goes to meet the professor and finds that he is a parapsychologist. Bryan experiences increasingly frightening occurrences in the house (starting with hearing eerie whispering while he’s in bed) but refuses to believe in ghosts. With the help of a shrink, a psychic named Cassie, and Dr. Koven, Bryan sets out to discover if something’s wrong with his mental health or if he will have to alter his belief system to include the supernatural. The movie’s ending is slightly ambiguous (on purpose) but emotionally satisfying.

There has not been a truly great haunted house film since 2001’s The Others, but The Skeptic comes close to deserving the same level of critical praise bestowed upon that Nicole Kidman vehicle. I thoroughly enjoyed the bold choice to make Bryan a strongly-opinionated (to the point of being nearly unsympathetic) fellow who takes no guff from anyone (including his wife). He is a singular and memorable protagonist. The project’s tempo is just fast enough to keep the viewer hooked into the mystery of what’s going on in the house. Add a fine score composed by Brett Rosenberg over an assortment of apparently ghostly happenings in a sprawling old house and you’ve got a recipe for a top-notch horror film. I suspect that The Skeptic will hold up to repeat viewings, and I intend to test that hypothesis by watching it again before Halloween.

The Last House on the Left (2009 remake)

2010-09-16T23:00:00.004-04:00

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009 version)

I won’t compare and contrast this project with the original 1972 version, as I don’t remember that one too well (I’ve only seen it once, and that was eight years ago). On its own terms, the 2009 incarnation of The Last House on the Left is chock full of suspense & tension and follows a sympathetic family through a night of hell.

In the first half, a 17-year-old swimmer named Mari heads to an isolated vacation home with her parents (John and Emma). Once there, Mari takes the family’s vehicle into town to meet up with her friend Paige, who works in a general store. A customer there overhears Paige ask Mari if she still smokes pot. The customer (Justin) mentions that he has some high-quality marijuana back at his motel room. The girls end up smoking with him back at the room, where they are caught by Justin’s father (a dangerous criminal named Krug), Justin’s uncle (Francis), and a woman named Sadie whose relation to the others I did not glean. The three adults (who weren’t supposed to return to the motel so soon) are upset because there’s a story on the front page about how Krug escaped from police custody. Mari and Paige offer to leave without telling anyone anything, but Krug and his gang want to take no chances, so they kidnap the girls and steal Mari’s car. Mari and Paige make a concerted effort to escape from the moving vehicle, which results in Krug crashing the car deep in the woods. Krug and his gang (without the assistance of Justin) stab Paige, and then Krug rapes Mari in what I perceive as the most brutal assault sequence ever put to film. Mari hits Krug in the head with a rock and sprints to a lake, where she swims for her life. Krug shoots Mari, and one bullet catches her.

In the second half, Mari’s parents become the proactive characters. They hear a knocking at their door and find Krug, Justin, Sadie, and Francis outside. The criminals pose as a family out on a fishing trip that had an auto accident. John and Emma unknowingly welcome in those who just brutalized their daughter and killed Paige. I’ll say no more lest I spoil the taut and effective final fifty minutes or so of this well-constructed and convincingly-acted project.

The unique structure of this tale impressed me: few stories can switch protagonists midstream and work well. There’s an unsettling realness to the whole affair – when John and Emma realize that Mari has been raped, for example, they react in a psychologically-believable way. Hats off to the entire creative team behind the 2009 version of The Last House on the Left – they have achieved that rarest of feats, crafting a remake that is more effective than the original.