The Dark

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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.