Films seen in August
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01. Doomsday (2008,
UK) Neil Marshall -
worth
seeing [C+]
02. Rogue (2007, Australia) Greg Mclean
- 
a must see [B]
03.
Cold Hard Cash (2007, USA) Mike
Pecci [short] -
worth seeing
As far as Tarantino inspired independents are
concerned this one is above average. Pecci uses the anti-Playmates, the Suicide
Girls, to surprising effect -- grindhouse films have always been about transposing
the pinups to the big screen -- and he succeeds in just about every area that
nonsense like Baise Moi failed (pseudo-feminism included). Aptly shot and edited
by Pecci himself, the film’s biggest weakness is that it feels like a
feature-length work that they didn’t have the budget to shoot, and we
are left with a short film that lacks cohesiveness. Still, this guy is on to
something here… here’s hoping a bigger scale project is in his future.
04.
Catacombs (2007, USA) Tomm Coker
& David Elliot -
worthless [F]
I hate…HATE movies that use the digital
medium and then go about their business as if they were celluloid. Deep focus
exteriors reduce actors and scenery to a pixilated shitstorm. Under lit interiors
become a garbled mess. Even though the majority of this film takes place in
a claustrophobic underground corridor (edited like a Requiem for a Dream wet
dream), it’s hard to elicit much fear when your happy framing story is
uglier than your horror.
05. Spaces SSN 1 - Episodes 1-7 (1999,
UK) Edgar Wright - Highly Recommened
At least three of these episodes are brilliant.
Great stuff all around.
06. Trapped Ashes (2006, USA) - 2nd
viewing [last viewing Sept. 06] rating raised slightly * [D]
Ken Russell - segment "The Girl with the Golden Breasts"
- Very cheap and sleazy, but Russell seems to understand the anthology format
and doesn’t go for the mini-movie a la Hellman. The best of the lot. -
***
Sean S. Cunningham - segment "Jibaku" -
Obviously he didn’t get the memo about bad Jap-Horror. Stick to producing…
- zero
John Gaeta - segment "My Twin,
The Worm" - I was fighting to stay awake in Toronto so I
have very little recollection of this segment, and it’s not hard to see
why. Bad. - zero
07.
The Wizard of Gore (2007, USA)
Jeremy Kasten -
has redeeming facet
[D-]
This is more a remake of Cronenberg’s Naked
Lunch than H.G. Lewis’ inept classic, and while it’s hard to
make a film that entirely sucks when you give people like Crispin Glover and
Brad Dourif carte-blanche with their characters, it is not hard to see why the
producers panicked and tried to re-cut this. Kasten has no script, has Kip Pardue
impersonate Peter Weller, lights like Rob Zombie impersonating Argento, frames
like a second-year film major who just saw The Third Man, and has naked
pin-up girls which he somehow manages to come across as un-sexy. This is one
of those bad films that people mistakenly call “surreal.”
08.
Deep Blue Sea (1999, USA) Renny
Harlin -
has redeeming facet
Renny Harlin has his supporters, but I’m
not one of them. This silly film has more to offer in camp value (Samuel L.
Jackson’s ill-timed death for instance) than it does any real cinematic
craftsmanship. Harlin has a way of jacking up the testosterone level of his
characters to a point of extreme, and while this may have worked for his Freddy
Krueger entry, it comes across as obnoxious here… Christ, even the Sharks
are sporting the ‘roid rage.
09.
Penelope (2006, USA) Mark Palansky
-
worth seeing [C-]
Cute? Yes. Anywhere close to the Burton-esque
fairytale that it aspires to be? Hell no.
11.
Hell's Ground (2007, Pakistan)
Omar Khan -
worth seeing [C]
“Pakistan’s first gore film.”
Big friggin’ deal. The first 30 minutes are actually quite something,
as Khan manages to overcome “DV in a car” by exaggerating his exotic
locales through some creative lighting. The results are actually quite attractive,
as are the primitive mud-smeared zombies that appear to have stepped straight
out of a Lucio Fulci film, it’s when the filmmaker decides to abandon
all of this for your standard extended slasher v. girl chase scenario that things
quickly go down hill. Still, you’ve got to give the boys at Mondo Macabro
points for trying.
12.
Island of Lost Souls (1932, USA) Erle C. Kenton
- a must see
13.
Spaced SSN 2 - Ep. 8-14
(2001, UK) Edgar Wright -
even better than SSN 1? Highly recommended
14.
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978, France) Bertrand
Blier -
worth seeing
15.
Son of Rambow (2007, UK) Garth Jennings
-
a must see [B]