It (2017) Review

The Goonies on Elm Street

Released : September 8th 2017

Certificate : 15

Director : Andrés Muschietti

Cast : Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs,  Bill Skarsgård

Plot : Set in the 1980’s in a little town called Derry, a group of six children, who refer to themselves as ‘The Losers’ Club’, are terrorised by a shape-shifting monster called Pennywise ‘The Dancing Clown.

In keeping with the legend of It, twenty seven years on from the original mini-series, we have the return of The Losers’ Club and Pennywise. Directed by Andrés Muschietti whose only previous experience is the moderate successful horror flick Mama, the story of Stephen Kings It has been redone and updated. This film tells the story of what is commonly referred to as Chapter 1, while the book doesn’t make such a clean distinction, in which the characters face Pennywise for the first time as children. An actor yet to become as well-known as his brothers and father, Bill Skarsgård, plays the evil clown.

As scary as the clown might seem on paper and how horrific the story sounds, this film is far more a horror-adventure rather than a straight up horror. The quest that the children go on to defeat the demon is much more alike The Goonies and Super 8 than any horror flick. The film bleeds the nostalgia for the other 80’s set children adventures, much in the same vain as Stranger Things. This atmosphere and the coming of age aspect of the story brings real warmth to a film that holds no punches when it comes to the darker monster elements. The opening scene of the film is of course the iconic scene from the book and miniseries of Pennywise meeting Georgie while he races his paper boat. From this opening scene it is instantly clear that this is a more brutal and faithful adaption of the source material than the miniseries. Audience that were hoping for clever, suspenseful and inventive scares may be disappointed by the blunt and unrelenting use of ghost and ghouls in this film.

The abundance of monsters is in-keeping with Andrés Muschietti previous film Mama. The horror sequences become so frequent that at times they become slightly trivial, but after a point the quality of the scares and the thrilling pace they add to the film wins you over. With a run time of two hours and fifteen minute’s there is barely a moment to breathe, giving the film a brilliantly relentless pace. Certain set horror pieces, such as a confrontation with Pennywise halfway through, is visually brilliant and really is the stuff of high quality creature-feature work. The CGI that is worked into and around Pennywise is handled very well to create a clown that looks just real enough. But what shines through is how Muschietti deals with the other half of the tale, surrounding the kid’s drama and their development which is the real success of the film.

The cast are across the board good with the standouts of The Losers’ Club being lead Jaeden Lieberher, who is fast becoming a child star, and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard who really elevates the film with his comedic talent. As for Bill Skarsgård work, it is as good if not better than Tim Curry’s work with the character. While Curry’s performance was more calm and collected, ironically, Skarsgard makes the character noticeable more manic. The vocals in particular give the character a more unhinged and insane vibe, making him fair less comical and ironic than Curry’s rendition. This is matched well with the CGI decision to have his eyes just off kilter from one another.

It is a million miles better than the miniseries and falls among the better Stephen King adaptions. While the horror aspects are more thrilling and exciting than they are actually unsettling, there are plenty of moments to gasp at. What makes It one of the stronger Stephen King adaptions is that it’s as much about the characters as it is about the monsters. Effective in many areas, from laughter, excitement and character development, this is the better side of mainstream horror films.

Verdict : Both The Losers’ Club and Pennywise are brilliantly brought to life in this fast paced horror adventure which is big on characters and scares.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “If you’ll come with me, you’ll float too.”

Re-Animator DVD Review

The Evil Undead

Released : May 24th 1985

Certificate : 18

Director : Stuart Gordon

Cast : Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott

Plot : A medical student (Abbott) takes in a new room mate who has just moved to study medicine alongside him, and continue his secret work on his death defying serum.

In the 80’s, there were milestones of horror films made, and the genre in itself evolving. With the new practical effects available, there was the ability to make some hilariously violent films, on a shoe string budget. Re-animator, was alike The Evil Dead movies, one of these stand outs of the 80’s. For all manner of reasons you have some of most iconic horror films ever made, such as The Shinning, Poltergeist, The Thing and An American Werewolf in London. Stuart Gordon, made his one hit wonder film here based loosely on the writings of infamous early literature writer H.P Lovecraft.

As with some of the horror films that were made during this time, they became famous for their practical effects and gore, rather than for their craft of cinema. The first Evil Dead film introduced this style to the decade, and Re-animator raised the bar. So as with many gory horrors of the time, the makeup department surpass the importance of the writing and acting of the film by many a mile. With acting that would rival Halloween in its infamous quality, Re-animator is able to bring laughs even without the gore. As the acting alone, with the leading performance of Jeffrey Combs, bring the film well into the realm of so bad its brilliant. And this quality is head across the board, with all but one stars being aptly awful. Whether the acting choices of the film are intentional or not doesn’t really matter, as the spectacle is still as entertaining whichever is true.

And the serial nature of the plot is to match. The film has gaping plot holes that you could walk through, cliches that match the dialogue, and due to the budget the film has about 6 settings for the entire film. The film is 1 hour and 44 mins long and is a combination of the over the top gory violence, poor acting and outright jaw dropping terrible features all around. The vibe of the film is perfectly captured by its original tag line, “He has a good head on his shoulders… and another one on the table”. As what this film is infamous for is that of its villain that carries his own head around for the majority of the film. As for flaws for the film that actually matter, they revolve around the highlight of the film, which is the special effects. For some audience it would be acceptable to gain very little pleasure from this film. For each year the practical effects become more and more dated, and there are plenty of other terrible horror films with a better level of gore. Hence the original shock factor that made the film famous disappears, so does maybe its laughability. For some might not find the dated nature of the practical effects as hilariously over the top as others.

Re-animator is a little know gem, as it deserves nothing else than that (it was lucky to snag a mention in the ‘stoned’ dialogue of American Beauty). But while of the majority of today’s horror film turn out quality just a low, unintentionally, with the promise of genuine scares, this film is a refreshing awful look at the early days of the genre. While it isn’t quiet on the level of Evil Dead 2, it did come before that film, and its style and structure may have well influenced ED2. A film that you watch for the lack of quality across the board and for the special effects, a brilliant comedy horror cult film.

Verdict : A key film in the genre of; it’s so bad and over the top, that its quiet brilliant.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “I was busy pushing bodies around as you well know and what would a note say, Dan? “Cat dead, details later”?”

Modern Horror Series : It Follows

It’s Behind You

Released : February 27th 2015

Certificate : 15

Director : David Robert Mitchell

Cast : Maika Monroe, Daniel Zovatto, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary, Lili Sepe, Olivia Luccardi

Plot : After an innocent sexual encounter, teenager Jay (Monroe) is told by her partner that he has passed on to her an odd curse, in which she will be followed by an entity.

2014 was a big year for modern horror, with three standouts gaining big critical (although not box office) success. Those being, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, It Follows and The Babadook. It is rare, given the amount that fly under the radar, for a horror film to be praised by critics, and each of these films was for very different reasons. It Follows got noticed for both its indie vibe as well as its retro feel and setting, with homage paid to both the set design of the classic 1970’s slasher horror film as well as the style of filming. Directed and written by David Robert Mitchell (a filmmaker famous for little else) made a unique film, not only for the reasons listed, but also for the ‘monster’ of the film as well as the imagery that is used.

It Follow is full of imagery and style the reference many classic films, Halloween being a standout. While the directing is unique from Mitchell, the music score, the 70’s setting, the blonde and other aspects all reminisce of the classic horror film. From just this alone, it becomes clear that some a lot of thought has gone into the film from Mitchell’s end. Just as Carpenter in Halloween introduced the use of in depth and out of depth and movement in the corner of the frame into the horror genre, Mitchell plays with it both in his directing as well as pure nature of his monster (an anonymous being that audiences scan the frame to spot in scenes). The way the film has a close nit set of friends who are young and deal with the issue also brings in elements of many 70’s and 80’s classics. The imagery that Mitchell uses as well, although may be obvious and clear in meaning, are enjoyable to have present as it is rare that a director in this genre takes the time with such qualities. What all this amounts to, and is clear from the very opening sequence of the film, is that Mitchell is very skilled director who has thought out this little project of his very well.

Due to such skill, It Follows was able to create genuine scares without the use of much blood or a monster as such. This is a very rare feature of horror films, where the way in which a scene is presented, rather than what is being presented create more of the scares in the film. It was a quality achieved in Halloween, as it was just a man in a mask, and is again done so here, as it just a person following you. So above all else, It Follows was elevated to the level of prestige that it was due to its directing. As to the storyline, which the imagery suggests, there is a theme of innocence, and the loss of it that come with growing older. While the film doesn’t attempt to make a bold point about this topic, in horror films this is something that is repeated. In the slasher films revolving around teenagers, the sexually active ones are killed off first, and It Follows seems to play off this convention as its main theme.

It Follows isn’t a horror film for everyone for the following reasons. Not every horror film fan will appreciate the directional choices such as the imagery and the intertextuality that takes place. Also the story structure, which is basic on dialogue and characters, and could be labelled as repetitive at times as that characters continuously run away from ‘the following’, may result in a bore for some. But for people who appreciate the artistic craft and execution over a flasher ‘fun’ blood feast, they will have a very special time.

Verdict : A very unique horror film which has a great level of freshness to both its story and directing, providing genuine scares and a great atmosphere throughout.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “It could look like someone you know or it could be a stranger in a crowd. Whatever helps it get close to you.”

Modern Horror Series : Howl (2015)

British Werewolf on a British Train

Released : October 16th 2015

Certificate : 18

Director : Paul Hyett

Cast : Ed Speleers, Holly Weston, Elliot Cowan, Sam Gittins

Plot : A late-night train breaks down in a wood, where a werewolf circles.

This is one of the most conventional horror films around in recent years, a straight to DVD film about people being eaten by werewolves on a train. These films have always been the bottom of the pile for the horror genre, but it recent years especially there has been a huge surge in the amount of moderate budget horror created. Most of which doesn’t make it to cinemas and is lucky if it gets a spot-on television. But out of this vast abyss of corny horror films, Howl managed to scrape a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, miles ahead of most of ‘these’ film types.

First off, as with these generic horror films, they are extremely predictable and Howl is no exception. You can guess the people which will die early on within seconds of them being on screen. The biggest reveal this film has to offer is the surprise that there is more than one werewolf. Also, these films rarely have imagination to the direction, with the age-old point of view shots from the creature’s looking at the victims through the woods. Howl fits with this as well, with Hyett (Howl being his most famous picture) using his fair share of the troops. The acting as well will be often, terrible, Howl manages to maintain a mostly acceptable level across the board. And the writing could have been done by anyone, with characters making the poorest decisions and character archetypes of the genre being used fully. But surprisingly Howl manages to be an entertaining film, as when a film fits these conventions like a glove to a well-executed standard, and has enough budget in the special effects department, it can be irresistible.

The horror genre is one of the most successful genre at creating bad films, which make a good time. The film’s enjoyment can be mirrored by the style behind of special effects. When you finally see the beast, it is so over the top and borderline laughable, that you simply suspend all rational thoughts other than to just be entertained by the carnage. There is something extremely entertaining about a film which executes this style with fair levels of skill, harking back to the genre’s early years such as Friday the 13th. Films which knew that the sole pleasure that they offered was the thrills, chills and laughs and watching one character at a time being gruesomely dismembered. This is exactly what is offered by Howl, and the only aspect that makes it work is plenty of action and predictability and solid special effects department. The reveal scene of the first werewolf in all its glory comes unfortunately late in the film, but as you can see when you google the film, is such an odd spectacle that it’s just enjoyable.

It’s very easy to be critical of films like this, and any criticism that are made could be just as easy applied to any straight to DVD horror film that came out in the last 10 years. The only unique criticism that could be thrown at Howl is that the werewolves, don’t look like wolves. But this film can serve as a great guilty pleasure film, if the mood is right you can relish the violence and the cliché nature of the film type. So, Howl manages to separate itself from ‘the rest’ by the following. All the clichés are meet, which would usually be a drag but when they are done in such a (overall) visually well executed manor, with a great batch of monster to boot it offers great fun. Most likely the film isn’t worth by many people’s standards the price stage of the Blue-ray copy, but it’s a good bonus as well.

Verdict : Have fun in watching an classic style of horror film executed just as badly as all the rest. But with a lot of blood and hilarious monsters it’s a fun guilty pleasure.

Verdict : 3/5

Quote : “Bear’s don’t Howl”

Modern Horror Series : We Are What We Are (2013)

Dinner Time

Released : October 25th 2013

Certificate : 18

Director :  Jim Mickle

Cast : Julia Garner, Ambyr Childers, Bill Sage, Michael Parks

Plot : A family with an ancestral tradition find their rituals threatened when the mother dies of an unexplained cause. This leaves the daughter (Childers) with the duty of performing the family’s yearly acts.

We Are What We Are became noticed via its appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, it was up for a minor directorial nomination. The film was since meet with across the board positive critical success. Director Jim Mickle has gone on to have similar small film critical success with the equally dark and violent thriller Cold In July (2014). The film’s most abstract plot is that of a family with a cannibalistic ritual living in a secluded American town. The advertisement campaign didn’t boast this feature too much, and rightly so, as to label the film a straight out cannibal horror would be wrong.

For horror fans that are hoping to see a full blown flesh eating riot, they will be disappointed. As while this film is definitely horrific in parts, the film is more alike a family drama with sharp gothic atmosphere and horror sequences. The spends most of its time with the relationship between the children of the family, and their relationship with the father. Behind this is a slight religious aspect as the father believes the family has gained a level of purity from their rituals. So this is worlds away from a The Hills Have Eyes type cannibal film. This makes for a unique experience that for the whole works very well and provides some edge of the seat sequences, however pacing does become an issue. The highlights of this film is the two lead characters, the daughters, Rose (Garner) and Iris (Childers). These teenage actors bring a heightened level or performance that carries the film, and it’s the most impactful aspect. They carry the film in the sense that for a horror that devotes much of its time to drama, these performances needed to be solid in order to make the film work. The themes the children deal with in this film such as innocence and duty are gripping as well, equally to that of the violent sequences. These performances also balance out what is at times an over the top performance from the father figure (Sage).

Other positive aspects are that of the atmosphere that the film builds. There film as a strong gothic feel to it, which while is achieved with recognisable tropes, it is executed very well. This may be a flaw for some audience, as with the ‘scares’ being few and far between, some might understandable not be hooked by the atmosphere and the acting alone. Which is the man flaw in the film, is that it does drag in parts. This is mostly the price that the film pays for being tasteful with the cannibalistic side of the film, and focusing on something more character driven. The film takes time with its atmosphere building and character setup, which does mean the first act of the film fairly weak and the dialogue isn’t gripping enough to keep you totally engaged. By the second act it is worth it though as the film picks up, from both a character drama viewpoint and a straight out horror one. But the film doesn’t quiet manage to shake off the tropes of the gothic genre that it uses throughout, and when you combine this with the fact the film doesn’t use many conventional horror sequences (e.g. violent flesh eating and murdering), it can be easy to see how this horror is acquired taste which does require a patient cinema goer.

We Are What We Are is a bold piece of horror filmmaking which although uses conventional tropes, it is very refreshing to see a film of this genre that focuses more on characters and their arcs, rather than just resorting to blood and guts. The film does also have a couple of twists and turns to keep the narrative interesting, some are predictable, some catch you off guard. And what the film is mostly famous for is its final sequence which is rightfully left out of the trailer and is a more conventional violent treat which will please audience not hooked by the dramatic elements.

Verdict : An unique horror film with a refreshing level of depth and acting, but a script and a few more thrills to match would have helped.

Verdict : 3/5

Quote : “We have kept our tradition in its purity.”

The Gift DVD Review

Couple Retreat 

Released : August 7th 2015

Certificate : 15

Director : Joel Edgerton

Cast : Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman

Plot : Childless married couple, Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall), with a bumpy past move into a lavish new house in a new city for a fresh start. Upon arriving Simon is approached by Gordo (Edgerton), a high school friend of Simon. Gordo’s persistent attempts to become friends is uncomfortable and soon leads to dark waters.

The Gift is first feature length film to be directed by Joel Edgerton, and first written film in the sense that it’s his first feature length film that he hasn’t adapted from other material. Edgerton has had a limited acting career (in the sense of mainstream success), but since his arrival has turned out some critically praised performances, most famous for his lead role in Warrior, and more recently a supporting role in Black Mass. As well as Edgerton going into new water, Bateman is a lead who has the famously comedic runaway star of Arrested Development, how has had limited success with his ventures into drama grounds, with the films being little acknowledge in the mainstream and receiving modest critical praise (the films not Bateman). Hall is most at home within the genre, after her famous turn in The Awakening has proven herself a worthy thriller component. As a writing and directing debut, it gives a good insight into the tone and style the Edgerton could be taking with his future career outside of acting. Here we have a twisting, jarring thriller about one man’s friendly yet sinister relationship with a couple. With a limited cast and restricted setting of story, there’s little to distract from Edgerton three components in this film.

To open by addressing his storyline, it’s a patchy piece of brilliance, with a conflicting amount of falls and success. The film has a mostly fresh and exciting concept, which devolves issue with its deliverance with a slight issue of pacing. Reaching the end of the film, it falls into a bad trap of feeling slightly too long, the reason for which can be spotted easily. The middle act of the film is slightly extending and the plot point aren’t gone through as fast to allow for what is Edgerton directorial padding which has the function of building tension and displaying his acting talent. Some of the sequence could have been without, and the great story premise might have gained better impact if it was delivered more relentlessly. Secondly the issue that fights against the power of the strong story premise are slight issues with predictability. While the overall ending and third act of the film comes as a surprise, there are scenes which set up for later tools of tension and thrill building that you can see being constructed, which will not be named for the sake of spoilers. These two issue due reduce from what is an irrepressibly dark thriller story that has some inventive twist on the generic for an opening stance.

For Edgerton directing, he is stronger than his writing, with ability to build very impressive set pieces of tension for a first directing job. It isn’t a Sam Mendes American Beauty, but it’s the most notable quality of the film for Edgerton and why it’s exciting to see where he will next take his talent. The shot choices did use its share of the generic modern horror effects, but they were few and far between his own directing ingenuity, that they weren’t a bother. From the opening shots that prowl the house the couple are moving into you can tell that Edgerton has thought through the shot choices very well for both meaning and effect. For effect he’s presentation of the house, the camera looming with creeping shots around the house, clever camera trickery to create a really high quality jump scare and fair share of meaningful shots choices such as glass imagery in the beginning to forebode certain plot points. As upon reflection of the story not a huge amount of action or progression is actually present in comparison to modern day thrillers, however the directorial work presents the tense scenes that are effective enough to mostly account for the lack of quantity. Some might find the iconography of toys and gifts for atmosphere not quite as effective as many other Blumhouse production films, but the film tastefully relies on other effect.

For the acting, the performance that surprisingly prove the strongest out of the trio would have to be Jason Bateman for a believable and vivid performance which is the strongest performances outside of the comedy genre ever. Bateman was able to deliver a performance that served the mystery aspect of his and Edgerton characters past well enough to keep the audience entrenched in the enigma of the film, whilst the same time come across as a genuine grounded character. The strongest parts of the performance were generically the ones with the extremist of emotions, particularly within the final act of the film, where he effectively reflected the gravity of the threatening situation. There are faults in the acting, such as the scenes of childish mocking of Edgerton character which seem a little over the top. Edgerton performance in the film seemed slightly stiff, an impression was built that Edgerton was very conscious of his performance as so much was invested in this character. Resulting in a character that didn’t quiet smoothly flow on the screen as most villains do, but it can be forgiven has the first attempt at having such a wide involvement in a films making.

The Gift unfortunately isn’t up there with the greatest writing/directing debuts of actors, so this is no Dances With Wolves, however it did show promise. The initial plot concept was enough engaging the audiences from the start, however as the enigma element becomes more prevalent as the narrative progresses the quality of the film pals. As this side of the story as to the murky past of the Egerton and Batemans character is just not unpredictable enough to render a lapse in the films thriller elements, which the film sets aside for Hall’s character investigation. The directing work is by far Edgerton’s best achievement of this film as a feature length debut, as it has a slightly greater level of originality than the writing did, and only ever featured the generic effects in sprinklings. The overall feel of the film has a great establishment of an all aspects, but the different trio of genres that it attempts to incorporate create for an uneven and patchy arch of the film, not committing to either one enough. However, The Gift is an undoubtedly thrilling experiences while it lasts with a twist ending to catch the majority of audiences off guard, and a maintain atmosphere of unease and threat to provide the best film Blumhouse has made since for a while, but their recent content isn’t much to compete with.

Verdict : Edgerton has enough imagination to keep you on board for his next outing as a writer or director, but not enough talent here to establish his skill in either field, as it can’t quiet shake some aspects of the generic.

Verdict : 3/5

Quote : “You see what happens when you poison other people’s mind with ideas?”

Review: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

Released: 22^nd May

Certificate: 15

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

Screenwriter: Ana Lily Amirpour

Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Mozhan Marnò, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains, Rome Shadanloo

A chador-clad vampire (Sheila Vand) stalks the streets of an Iranian frontier town populated by pimps, princesses and prostitutes, dealing out rough justice and slow dancing to songs by Farah and White Lies. Welcome to Bad City, the fictional town at the centre of Ana Lily Amirpour’s Eastern-inflected Western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Shot in black and white and performed in Farsi by actors from the Iranian-American diaspora, Amirpour’s debut feature is a lithe, sinuous fever-dream of a film, punctuated by vampiric violence and underscored by a pin-drop soundtrack which is both apposite and invigorating.

Arash (Arash Marandi) is a young man struggling to get by despite the debts incurred by his father Hossein (Marshall Manesh), whose appetite for heroin and women have him owing a large amount of money to sadistic Saeed (Dominic Rains), a pimp-cum-drug dealer who routinely deprives Atti (Mozhan Marnò) of her cut of the profits from her work. In the opening scene, the camera follows Arash (iconic in a tight white t-shirt and aviator sunglasses) as he carries a stolen cat (credited as Masuka) through the arid streets and finally over a bridge, panning back to reveal the corpses littering the desiccated riverbed below. Hence Bad City earns its name and a sense of oppression settles over the piercingly bright streets. Lyle Vincent’s cinematography – all negative space and rack focus- captures the story with a choreographic precision, the largely static shots giving the cast space to emote around the sparse script.

Although this sparsity renders it largely a ‘mood piece’, the strength of the cast give A Girl… an appeal beyond its aesthetic sensibilities. Sheila Vand’s uncanny ability to communicate the reticent Girl’s internal dialogue brings (ironically enough) humanity to the inscrutable vampire, while Arash Marandi can play both cool and goofy (during his initial encounter with the Girl he is lost, high, and staring with moth-like wonder at a streetlamp) with equally convincing results. Rains’ turn as Saeed is magnetically repulsive and Mozhan Marnò brings a quiet dignity to the put-upon Atti. A few of the characters do fall by the wayside over the course of the narrative: Arash’s theft of Shaydah’s (Rome Shandaloo) earrings to pay his father’s debt never comes back to haunt him, and the balloon dance of the Rockabilly (Reza Sixo Safai), while mesmerising, is an odd digression unattached to the main action. However, an argument could be made that as dancing figures so centrally in the film- the Girl alone in her apartment, Saeed’s gyrations during his ill-fated attempt at seduction, and Atti’s dance for Hossein- the Rockabilly’s place in the wider symbolism justifies his presence. Speaking of symbolism, several scenes are all but stolen by the otherworldly gaze of Matsuka the cat, who perhaps is a cipher for the Girl’s preternatural awareness of the goings on in Bad City; its wide eyes mirror her own, and people unkind to Matsuka don’t seem to last long thereafter.

Composed of striking images and forceful performances, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is mesmerising, stylish, and feline in its grace.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: facebook.com/AGirlWalksHomeAloneAtNight