Viennale 2015 – Day 2: Female Pervert

Posted on November 1, 2015 by cornholio1980

Female PervertFemale Pervert
USA 2015
Written by Jiyoung Lee
Directed by Jiyoung Lee
Watched on 23.10.2015

“Female Pervert” (my first screening of this years Viennale, since I skipped opening night) wasn’t quite what I expected. The short IMDB description makes it sound like writer-director Jiyoung Lee would turn typical gender roles on their head, and thus expose certain double standards of what kind of behavior is acceptable – and maybe even lauded – for men, but not for women. Instead, we get a female sociopath (in the Q&A after the movie, Jiyoung Lee freely admitted that the title “Female Pervert” was a little misleading, in order to gain more attention) who shows behavioral patterns that would be equally – if not even more so – condemned if coming from a man. Thus, this wasn’t quite the clever play with gender roles that I hoped for.

Nevertheless, it was quite amusing – albeit rather short and ultimately nothing special. There definitely were a couple of funny scenes, with the presentation of the marketing campaign a particular highlight. Their solution for the PR-problem of a certain company was just too funny – a typical case of how you can draw totally ridiculous findings from market research. It was absolutely hilarious, and I loved every second of it. However, watching Phoebe breaking one barrier of socially acceptable behavior after another also was quite funny, in a perverse kind of way. I also liked that we get a female sociopath for once. Plus, her misconduct is insofar excusable as it’s obvious that there’s no malice behind it. It’s not that she purposely breaks those rules, but rather that she’s not aware of them. In that regard, she seems very childlike (because children also don’t know any boundaries, as long as we don’t teach them what’s socially acceptable behavior, and what isn’t), and it’s definitely not a coincidence that from everyone in the movie, she seems to feel the most comfortable in the company of her bosses little son. The final noteworthy strength of the movie is Jennifer Kim (who I’ve seen before in “The Blacklist”), who gives a great performance as Phoebe, and manages to walk the fine line between being funny and the appalling. Nevertheless, her appearance is also a major drawback insofar as it only makes the rather amateurish performances of the rest of the cast all the more noticeable. I’m also not sure if it was the right choice to put Phoebe into a range of characters where she repeatedly seems like the sane one, because it didn’t really make her stand out that much (then again, propagating the message that we’re all Phoebe, in a way, might very well have been what Jiyoung Lee was going for here), but which ultimately lessened the movie’s – and Phoebe’s – appeal for me. It’s also a movie without a clear narrative and/or structure, purposelessly meandering from one scene to the next. It’s a stringing together of individual scenes which don’t really build up to anything, and which eventually lead nowhere. The ending as a whole was rather abrupt, and the movie altogether rather short, clocking in at slightly above 60 minutes. And as amusing and entertaining as it might have been occasionally, ultimately it seemed like a movie that didn’t really have anything (meaningful) to say, which made it feel rather pointless. However, if you’re just looking for a shallow and superficial comedy which is about an inappropriately behaving woman for a change (instead of the nth such male), “Female Pervert” should fit the bill just fine.
6/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 11: Clown

Posted on October 22, 2015 by cornholio1980

ClownClown
USA 2014
Written by Jon Watts & Christopher D. Ford
Directed by Jon Watts
Watched on 27.09.2015

“Clown”, which was this years secret supporter screening, wasn’t quite the triumphant goodbye of this years /slash Filmfestival that I hoped for, but it was solid – and thus probably quite a fitting conclusion of this years so-so festival.

The idea behind it actually was quite nice. Instead of “just” delivering another murderous clown, it’s rather some sort of demonic costume that takes possession of its wearer, refuses to be taken off again, and forces his victim to kill five children. That’s quite a dark concept, and the movie itself doesn’t skimp on grimness; however, there’s also a nice strand of very black humor throughout the movie that makes sure that things never get too bleak. Interestingly enough, my favorite part of “Clown” actually wasn’t Kent’s struggle, however, but rather the moral dilemma that his wife Meg faces later on, once the ground rules have been established and also accepted by everyone involved: Will she kill her husband, or rather provide him with the sacrifice that he needs in order to fulfill the curse? That part of the movie gripped me the most. However, I also quite enjoyed Kent’s increasingly desperate tries to get rid of the costume and/or the curse, and to protect his family as well as the children in his vicinity. The actors were all very good, especially Andy Powers as Kent, Laura Allen as his loving wife Meg, and Peter Stormare as Karlsson, who shares a troubled past with that costume. And I really liked that this movie didn’t quite end the way that I expected it to. Nevertheless, apart from a couple of scenes – like Meg’s before-mentioned dilemma – “Clown” unfortunately never really managed to grip me. Since I’m not coulrophobic, I also didn’t find the movie particularly frightening. And for some reason, the “body horror”-aspect – with Kent’s transformation – never really took off with me. Additionally, the movie takes a while to really get going, and the way how things were set into motion felt just a little forced and convoluted. And despite everything that goes on later, it wasn’t quite as tense and engrossing as I would have liked. So overall, while I felt sufficiently entertained while watching it, ultimately I’d argue that as a comedy it wasn’t quite funny, as a drama not quite touching and as a horror flick not quite scary enough. It’s definitely watchable, and a decent enough entry in the ever-growing list of clown-theme horror films, but it didn’t quite have me cheer with delight.
5/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 10: Stung

Posted on October 21, 2015 by cornholio1980

StungStung
Germany 2015
Written by Adam Aresty
Directed by Benni Diez
Watched on 27.09.2015

Originally, Maynard and me decided to skip this one (during the festival, he stayed at my apartment, so leaving together meant that we could split the cab fare) – especially since the festival had been rather disappointing and thus exhausting. But then came “The Pack”, and Maynard found himself wide awake and didn’t really feel like leaving. I was this close to go home anyway, but then I let them talk me into staying – something that I would ultimately regret, since 90 (more) minutes of sleep would have been vastly preferrable to this.

“Stung” wasn’t the self-aware trash fest that I hoped it to be. Instead of taking the “Sharknado”-route, they play it straight. Something that I could have admired if the movie itself would have supported it, but unfortunately, most of the time it seemed to me like Benni Diez didn’t really know what kind of movie he wanted to make – a silly trash fest or a serious creature feature – thus ultimately failing on both accounts. It’s biggest sin is how boring it all is. The entire movie is incredibly dull and totally unforgettable (there is exactly one memorable kill, the rest is run-of-the-mill stuff), the dialogue is bad (“To be a man, you have to be a man.”) but not sufficiently so to make the movie entertaining (intentionally or otherwise), the plot is painfully predictable (like the revelation of who is responsible for all this, as well as the question of who’s going to live and die), tonally it’s all over the place (funny one scene, serious the next), the romance didn’t work for me at all, the characters are completely uninteresting, the editing is absolutely terrible, with no flow to the scenes and no feel for tension or atmosphere (take Paul’s trip outside the house, which is intercut with what happens within, in a way that whenever there was any danger for the movie to actually become suspenseful for a second, they cut away and totally take us out of that moment), and a [SPOILERS!]“Kingdom of the Spiders”[/SPOILERS]-like ending that wasn’t shocking or haunting, but rather unintentionally funny. Its only saving graces are Lance Henriksen (who actually plays a bigger part than I expected beforehand), the old-fashioned, practical creature effects, and – most of all – the nice role reversal during the showdown, where they inverted the typical “damsel in distress”-trope. Ultimately, though, this wasn’t enough to save the movie for me. As long as you’re not allergic, getting stung by a wasp is probably less painful and more enjoyable than watching this crap.
2/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 10: The Pack

Posted on October 20, 2015 by cornholio1980

The PackThe Pack
Australia 2015
Written by Evan Randall Green
Directed by Nick Robertson
Watched on 26.09.2015

Sorry for the short recess, but somehow, I lost all my drive to continue my /slash reviews. As much fun as it can be to bitch and rant about a movie that you didn’t like, if you’re writing one disappointed review after another, it drains you, and can get quite tiresome. Hence it took a while for me to psych myself up again. However, with the Viennale fast approaching, I feel the need to finally wrap up my /slash reviews, so without further ado, lets look at yet another disappointing film of this years festival.

If there’s one thing that I have to hold in “The Pack”‘s favor, it’s that while it is an almost complete failure, it at least is an entertaining failure. There’s some perverse fun to be had with a movie that fails so completely to achieve what it wants to achieve, and that plays it straight without ever noticing how ludicrous it actually is. The /slash-crowd was constantly complaining and/or making fun of the movie, and thus, the screening actually was kinda fun. However, given the fact that all entertainment that I got out of it was totally unintentional, I have a hard time actually crediting the movie and its participants for it. One of its biggest failures is the depiction of the attacking wild dogs. While the movie is called “The Pack” and it’s stated in the movie that they hunt in packs, they actually only do so once, when they attack the policemen. The reason for that is perfectly obvious: If they actually would have hunted as a pack, those bloody humans (especially this inane bunch) wouldn’t have stood a chance. Over and over and over again, the wild dogs have to act against their nature in order for the family to survive. They mostly hunt alone, and very often, they miss a chance to attack their prey in order to lurk about or to bare their teeth instead. Which doesn’t really fit the movie’s depiction of then as wild, bloodthirsty animals.

There are so many scenes where the dogs actually should have made short work of their intended prey. It already starts at the beginning of this fateful night, when Adam runs out of the woods, hunted by them. Since they’re obviously way faster than him, they already would have had the chance to rip him apart, but I guess it was more important for them to frighten him and send him back to his house. Later, one of them prefers to sneak past Carla and her children while they’re standing in the doorway, instead of simply attacking them then and there. And so on. Not that the family is any more intelligent than the wild dogs who are chasing them. For example, in order to get their kids out of harms way, Carla puts them into a cupboard, so that the dogs won’t see them. That the dogs still should be able to smell them seems to slip her mind; then again, she’s only a vet, so why would she know anything about animals, right? (In all fairness, the dogs of “The Pack” actually seem to be devoid of any sense of smell, so I guess she knows more about them than me after all!) Later on, instead of simply closing the door and entrapping one of them in the basement, she prefers to go down there to check it out. And let’s not forget the scene where she lays aside the knife! Other things like the totally unnecessary mortgage-scene at the beginning, “Chekov’s tunnel”, or the unintentionally funny scene of her swinging the torch pale in comparison, but nevertheless add to the overall sense of incompetence and stupidity. Add to that the fact that the ending of the movie was totally predictable (and disappointing), as well as the incredibly clichéd final “It’s not over yet!”-shot, and I have to conclude that “The Pack” is a real dog’s breakfast of a movie.
2/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 10: Gokudou daisensou (Yakuza Apokalypse)

Posted on October 8, 2015 by cornholio1980

Yakuza ApocalypseGokudou daisensou
Japan 2015
Written by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi
Directed by Takashi Miike
Watched on 26.09.2015

While I’ve seen a couple of his movies, I’d definitely not claim to be an expert on all things Miike, and also wouldn’t count myself among his fans. Maybe if you followed his long and illustrious career, you’ll love this. To me, however, it felt like a jumbled mess of the “lets throw everything against the wall and see what sticks”-variety, and even though for a while, it kinda worked, ultimately it mostly fell apart for me.

It all starts off quite nicely. Miike shows is this world that’s controlled by the Yakuza, which in turn is led by Kamiura, who gets an introduction that makes him look like the uber-badass. Shot, stabbed and grievously injured, he nevertheless survives, gets home and even has the stamina to bang his lover. They then go ahead and introduce us to this world, and show us how Kamiura is respected, beloved and feared by the Yakuza, the public and his enemies alike. There are also a couple of funny, original and crazy ideas and scenes, like the knit-club, which – since at first, they are used sparingly, and don’t swamp the movie (yet) – worked quite well for me. Later on, the reason for Kamiura’s resilience is explained: He’s a vampire. However, his enemies (with some help by traitors in his own organization) send a vampire hunter, and Kamiura dies in the arms of his youngest protégé, Kageyama – but not before giving him his vampire-powers. It’s a promising start, followed by a fine middle part, but ultimately, the crazy ideas take over the movie completely.

You’re got the bitten civilians who turn in some sort of zombie-vampires, the vampire hunters, a legendary fighter who turns out to be a man (?) in a frog costume, a woman who constantly loses brain fluid, an attempt to grow civilians by planting them, and ultimately – like the title suggest – it all leads to the end of the world. For a while, this hodgepodge of ideas worked, thanks to an interesting and well-played lead character I was quite invested in, some nice action beats, and my interest in what Miike would come up with next. Sooner rather than later, however, it all was too much, up to the point where nothing could surprise me anymore, since everything – no matter how crazy – seemed possible. It’s further hurt by a rather run-of-the-mill romance that never really grabbed me, a couple of exaggerated characters that I didn’t feel any connection with, and most of all an incredibly disappointing showdown that deteriorates to an unimaginative slapping contest that was boring, pointless, and overlong. And while I can’t condemn it completely, mostly thanks to its strong, promising beginning, some cool action scenes and a couple of crazy-funny ideas, it nevertheless proved to be yet another disappointment at this years /slash Filmfestival.
4/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 9: The Final Girls

Posted on October 7, 2015 by cornholio1980

The Final GirlsThe Final Girls
USA 2015
Written by M.A. Fortin & Joshua John Miller
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Watched on 26.09.2015

“The Final Girls”is a very funny and entertaining movie that produced a lot of laughs, and was quite well-received by the /slash-crowd which still stuck around at 1.00 a.m. Like “Cooties”, it’s definitely one of those horror comedies that put way more emphasis on the comedy- than the horror part, so if you like movies like that a little bit darker and/or scarier, you might not be quite as pleased with it as I was. It’s definitely rather harmless and light, but it was exactly what I needed after “Baskin” almost put me to sleep.

When I watched “The Final Girls”, I actually hadn’t seen the original “Friday the 13th” yet, only “Freddy vs. Jason” and the 2009-remake. An oversight that has been remedied since then, but which didn’t diminish my enjoyment of this parody. However, knowing nothing about the movie other than the title and the cast, I have to say that the overall concept (with them pretty much getting sucked into her mom’s movie) briefly threw me off, since it caught me completely unaware, and it admittedly took me a while to get used to it. Once I accepted it, though, I mostly had a blast with the movie. It’s a great parody of the slasher movies of the 80s in general and the “Friday the 13th”-films in particular, and they also have a lot of fun with typical stylistic movie devices like overlays, flashbacks and slow motion (even though the placing of said sequence, which was incredibly funny, directly after the death of a character was a little unfortunate). There’s also a hint of “Scream” here, with the characters not just being aware of the typical slasher-rules in general, but actually knowing the plot of the movie that they’re stuck in. I also liked the sometimes consciously artificial look of the movie (like the flowers and the oversaturated colors) and the equally conscious clichéd characters that occupy this summer camp.

Despite all the humor, though, “The Final Girls” also has a serious streak that deals with loss and having to let go of a beloved person, which I also quite liked. Thus, I really enjoyed the scenes between Max and Nancy. And kudos to the movie for not taking a turn that I feared it would take for a while. The whole showdown was very strong and at parts also emotional. And even though I called the ending about halfway in, and didn’t like the fact that certain previous developments were nullified, the overall idea was quite clever (and also logical, in a way). The cast is good, with Taissa Farmiga (who already garnered some horror-experience with “American Horror Story”) THE major standout. She’s definitely a very talented young woman worth looking out for. Nina Dobrev and Alia Shawkat were also great, and even though I’m not the biggest fan of Malin Akerman, she gave a decent performance here. My only major complaint was the depiction of the horror geek as extremely bloodthirsty. Granted, there definitely are people like that, but given the fact that “The Final Girls” mostly caters to fans of the genre, and he was pretty much the only horror geek featured here, I found his depiction worrisome and slightly insulting. Couldn’t they’ve at least included a second horror fan who wasn’t quite as hot for violence? I guess that, just like the rest of the movie, it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but I have to admit that it slightly rubbed me the wrong way. Apart from that, though, I had a lot of fun with it.
7/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 9: Baskin

Posted on October 6, 2015 by cornholio1980

BaskinBaskin
Turkey 2015
Written by Can Evrenol, Ogulcan Eren Akay, Cem Ozuduru & Ercin Sadikoglu
Directed by Can Evrenol
Watched on 25.09.2015

“Baskin” generated quite some buzz after it was shown at the TIFF recently. However, I have to say that I don’t really get it. Ok, I admit, it was day 9, and I was starting to get rather fatigued. However, I was wide awake during “The Final Girls”, which was shown afterwards, so I don’t think you can blame my overall weariness for having to fight to stay awake during “Baskin”. Feel free to blame my (bad) taste in films, if you wish. I, however, blame the movie.

Now, I give them that: “Baskin” is visually stunning. There are quite a few beautiful shots, and I especially liked the colorful lightning. The music was quite good, the first scene is incredibly tense and scary, it has a nice, nightmarish feel to it, and there are a couple of nice scenes scattered throughout. Nevertheless, “Baskin” would have almost put me to sleep. It never really managed to grip me, and the overall flow of the story was far too slow to hold my interest beyond my initial curiosity. The individual scenes go on far too long, and there are also a couple of slow motion-scenes thrown in for good (or in this case, rather, bad) measure. Overall, I had no idea where this was going, and also felt that it moved at the speed of the continental shift. I also didn’t get the sense behind some of the scenes and/or conversations. I didn’t really care about any of the characters. And even when they finally reach “hell”, the movie didn’t have much to offer for me. There’s some splatter and gore and crazy shit, but it didn’t really fit with the rest of the movie. Also, in my opinion, it was neither scary, nor shocking… nor anything, really. Add to that a nonsensical final twist that didn’t surprise me all that much, and whose meaning escaped me, and you got another disappointment of this years /slash Filmfestival. However, I freely admit that with atmospheric movies like that, it all comes down to the question if it manages to draw you in, or not. Far too often I’ve been on the side of those who were smitten by a movie, only to hear from others that they found it sleep-inducing (“Lost River” comes to mind). In this case, however, I’m afraid I have to side with the nays.
3/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 9: Tales of Halloween

Posted on October 5, 2015 by cornholio1980

Tales of HalloweenTales of Halloween
USA 2015
Written by Various
Directed by Various
Watched on 25.09.2015

I haven’t seen “Trick ‘r Treat” yet (I know I know… I’m about to remedy that), but I’ve been told that “Tales of Halloween” is cast in the same mould. It sells 10 tales that not only take place at Halloween (as one might have already deducted from the title), but a) on the same halloween night and b) in the same town. Thus, there are a couple of nice overlaps between the individual stories (for example, you’ll see some of the kids who walk around “trick or treat”-ing in multiple segments). As for the stories itself, they’re quite varied in content, style and tone, which probably means that not everyone will love every segment (I know I didn’t) and that different people will like different tales, but also that pretty much everyone should be able to find something that he/she enjoys.

Here’s an overview of all the segments: It starts with “Sweet Tooth”, a nice urban legend-tale about a boy who loves sweets so much that you better leave him some candy on Halloween night, or else…! It’s a nice, old-fashioned scary story, well shot, with a creepy atmosphere and some nice gore. Definitely a nice start of this anthology. “The Night Billy Raised Hell” is an incredibly entertaining little horror comedy about a boy who goes out trick or treating with the devil himself. There’s lots of fun and laughs in this one, at least if you enjoy your humor as black as coffee. Mostly, though, I still can’t quite get over the fact that this, and not the next one, was the one directed by Darren Lynn Bousman – since visually, “Trick”, with its vibrant colors, reminded me a lot of the Bousman-directed “Saw”-sequels. However, rather than him, it had Adam Gierasch at the helm, who also includes one or two quite impressive tracking shots without any cuts. I also loved the setting, the story as well as the twist ending. Overall, it’s probably my favorite segment of this anthology. “The Weak and the Wicked” deals with bullying and stars Grace Phipps, which immediately made me think of “Some Kind of Hate”. It’s well shot and acted, but for whatever reason, the story mostly left me cold. Still, it’s a decent entry. “Grimm Grinning Ghost” is a nice, creepy – albeit run-of-the-mill – ghost horror story with some nice, scary moments and atmospheric shots. It also features Alex Essoe (from “Starry Eyes”) as well as horror’s new go-to elderly woman Lin Shaye. Generic, but quite well done.

“Ding Dong” reunites “The Woman”‘s Lucky McKee and Pollyanna McIntosh. I liked her performance, the general concept and the visual style, but otherwise, it was one of the weaker segments for me. It’s immediately followed by the episode that I liked the least, “This Means War!”. It starts off nice, with this neighbourly war, but it escalates far too much far too quickly. “Friday the 31st” was a fan-favorite of many, and I loved the setup. But once the alien came around, it started to lose me, and then it culminated into this splatter orgy that got tired way too fast. Ultimately, despite the fact that, like the rest, it’s just a short story, it seemed to go on too long for its own good. Things start to look up again with “The Ransom of Rusty Rex”, whose most noteworthy feature is the extended cameo appearance by John Landis. However, I also liked this idea of a kidnapping gone horribly wrong, and the hijackers trying to get rid of their prey. “Tales of Halloween” then goes out with a bang with “Bad Seed”, the only segment where I wished it would have gone on longer, and where I actually wouldn’t mind to see a full-blown movie based on its bonkers premise (even though it pretty much was just an homage to “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”). In the interest of full disclosure, however, I should point out that it was shot by a director that I admire very much, Neil Marshall, so I might be biased. It also featured the most delightful cameo-appearance of this years /slash Filmfestival, and overall, I really liked the cast, the characters, and the (albeit trashy) concept. I just wish that – especially with Neil Marshal at the helm – it would have ventured into complete mayhem, instead of just hinting at it.

Overall, “Tales of Halloween” is a little bit like the mixed bag of sweets that children come home with on Halloween: Not every piece is a treat, but there’s enough good stuff in here to make the trip worthwhile. It’s rich in variety, thus catering for all tastes, and its blend of scares and laughs should make this a great party-movie for this year’s Halloween.
7/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 9: Hellions

Posted on October 4, 2015 by cornholio1980

HellionsHellions
Canada 2015
Written by Pascal Trottier
Directed by Bruce McDonald
Watched on 25.09.2015

During the movie, my predominant thought was “I guess someone discovered digital color grading!”. After the movie, my first thought was: “What a piece of crap.” Any more questions? Then read on…

————— SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD —————

While I can’t even really bring my /slash 2015-mantra “It started off strong”, the first couple of minutes nevertheless were ok. The setup was nice, I liked the Halloween-setting, so overall, while I wouldn’t have called it promising, it was at least a decent start. And then came the bloodmoon, and everything was tinted in this strange pink light, and for 2-3 minutes or so it looked really nice, but then it really started to get old and boring. Every shot looked pretty much the same, and far too soon, it wasn’t interesting any more, but instead got pretty annoying. Ultimately, though, that’s the least of its problems – and that’s saying something. The plot also was a little too bonkers for me. Dora finds out that she’s pregnant, she’s not really prepared to be a mum and thus is not sure if she wants to keep the child, and as soon as she’s home these demonic children start to show up and harass her (why, BTW?), and then we find out that her child is the offspring of the devil, and it grows really fast, and she’s actually going to give birth to it in this night, and I was like… whaaaaat? Seriously? But ok, I mean, its horror, and not every horror flick has to be down-to-earth and about a worldly, mundane threat, so ok. If I can accept zombies, vampires and japanese ghost girls, then I can also deal with an extremely accelerated pregnancy. What I cannot deal with, however, is that said pregnancy seemingly also ate away all of Dora’s brain cells.

Seriously, I thought that Evan’s friend in “Knock Knock” already acted stupid beyond belief, but Dora and her partner in crime Corman (played by Robert Patrick) – really took the cake. So, lemme see. She finds out that salt hurts them. What does she do? Well, obviously, she leaves it behind in the kitchen and instead runs out of the house, where she doesn’t even get into the car to drive away, but instead runs and hides in the shed. What else was she supposed to do? Equally great: Corman tells her “We have to get you out of here”, and then he hears something in the attic, and instead of doing exactly as he said five seconds earlier and grab her and get the fuck outta there, he of course enters the attic to see what’s going on there. Later on, Dora finally recalls that salt seemed to hurt them, so she starts filling the shotgun-shells with salt. As much as I’d love to give her points for effort, I kept asking myself why she even bothers, and doesn’t just simply throw the salt at them. The single worst fucking moment of the movie, however, where I almost couldn’t take it anymore, was when she took the shotgun, ran outside the house, and instead of staying somewhere where she can see them approaching, she freely, inexplicably and causelessly walks through the sheets that hang outside to dry, just so that Bruce McDonald could get a “cool”, “tense” shot of her walking between the sheets while the demonic children surround her. Gimme a fucking break! Later on, there also were two dream sequences that came totally out of the blue and which felt incredibly forced, which had the additional unfavorable effect that afterwards I wasn’t sure anymore what was “real” and what illusion and/or a dream. But to be honest, at that point I didn’t care anymore about what happened anyway. Add to that the fact that this was one more movie where I was able to predict every fucking cheap jump scare, that I found it to be incredibly dull and devoid of any tension, as well as the fact that it began with a scene from the end (a stylistic device that, due to its overuse since the noughties, I came to hate) and you’ve got a total stinker of a movie on your hands. An unwanted pregnancy can’t be even half as unpleasant as this.
2/10


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/slash 2015 – Day 8: Candyman

Posted on October 3, 2015 by cornholio1980

CandymanCandyman
USA 1992
Written by Bernard Rose, based on the story by Clive Barker
Directed by Bernard Rose
Watched on 24.09.2015

Coming rather late to the horror-genre (a couple of exceptions notwithstanding), I never saw “Candyman” when it hit the theatre – or the TV-screen – before. However, I remember seeing either a review about it or the trailer on TV, since the underlying concept of saying Candyman into the mirror five times (something that my friend Maynard actually was brave enough to do) and then dying a horrible death, definitely stuck with me. Despite that, I never got a good opportunity or developed sufficient interest to watch it. With the /slash Filmfestival showing it on the big screen, I now finally got my chance – and thought that it was ok.

This is probably one of these films that you have to see when they’re fresh. While I wouldn’t say that much has been spoiled to me, it nevertheless seems like a product of its times, at least up to a certain point. Actually, one of my favorite things about the movie is the depiction of the projects (who also featured heavily into the groundbreaking tv-show “The Wire”), and how it deals with matters of race. I also think that Helen Lyle was a strong main protagonist (which reminded me a lot of Dana Scully; not just her looks, but also the fact that a sceptic is thrown into this supernatural plot, trying to deal with it), played rather well by Virginia Madsen. Also, Tony Todd, with his booming voice and his commanding presence, was a great choice for the villain. The movie’s shot rather nicely, and for the most part features a nice, eerie atmosphere. There also are a couple of great, disturbing scenes that will stick with me for a while (the bees!). The score by Philip Glass is quite unique, and feeds into the impression that something here’s off somehow. And the ending, while rather clichéd and forseeable, at least comes with a nice little twist that caught me off-guard.

However, I found the whole story of the movie, and the way the plot develops, rather strange. Maybe it’s because I’ve known the general backstory (Candyman, mirror, saying his name 5 times) for so long, but I kinda expected a totally different movie, and I’m torn between being glad that the movie managed to surprise me like that and disappointed because it didn’t really seem to stick with this concept that sounded rather neat. It’s further hurt by the fact that it doesn’t really stick to its own rules, or at least neglects to tell us what those really are. Most of the jump scares were also quite cheap, with very loud sound effects, sometimes coming totally out of the blue, without any buildup. Finally, like with most movies, I again would have preferred a down-to-earth explanation; especially in this case, since it the one that they came up with actually was really clever, neat, and well thought-out, with the empty space behind the mirror. I’m already predisposed to grounded resolutions anyway, and when you then present one that I fall in love with right away, it’s a little disheartening when you don’t stick with it, but turn back to the supernatural instead (even though in this case, I already knew that it had to happen, so at least it didn’t come as a shock). Overall, I’m glad that I’ve finally seen it, but it’s probably not a movie that I’ll revisit anytime soon.
5/10


IMDB

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