Crawl Or Die

Crawl Or Die

Crawl or Die opens amidst chaos on a group fighting and on the run from an evil force and wastes no time letting you know what you're in for: a dark and dizzying and hectic ride. And what a ride it is. It's endlessly claustrophobic, very dark and borderline hopeless, full of heart, and enormously entertaining.

The plot is simple: a special forces unit is to capture the last fertile woman alive on planet Earth who hasn't been infected by a deadly virus. They are to then transport her to Earth 2 where civilization will start over. But really it's not that simple. The team is trapped in an endless maze of underground tunnels and are being chased and hunted by a deadly alien creature.

The movie creates suspense and tension in several effective ways. The tunnels and spaces are so claustrophobic that it feels like the characters are crawling through their own coffins from an enemy that could lay just beyond the edge of the darkness. Every shadow caused by their flashlights could be the movement of the creature on the attack. And when the creature does attack, the viewer is treated to a lack of music as the whirring screech of the monster takes over and the sounds of struggle and death and feeding are enhanced. These are startling moments that I thoroughly enjoyed. The movie itself uses sound very smartly. There are constant creaks and tappings and wind and growlings, some close by, some in the distance and all the noises seem to add to a constant hum the movie has. It's a hum that reminds the viewer that something is out there and nowhere is safe.

The acting is solid all around but rests primarily on the shoulders of Nicole Alonso. She will face inevitable comparisons to Ripley from Alien, and that is a compliment in itself. But Alonso isn't merely an actress here, she isn't only a character, she is a full on force that has taken on a life of it's own. It's an exhausting, gritty, and determined performance that by the end left me breathless.

Crawl or Die is supposed to expand into a trilogy and if that's the case then sign me up for parts two and three. It would be a pure pleasure to see Nicole Alonso further develop in a Crawl or Die trilogy and to see what else writer/director/editor Oklahoma Ward can do in this world he so brilliantly created.

Crawl or Die is a little movie with big ambitions. It uses small spaces to create big suspense and discomfort. It uses little dialogue to create a powerful feel of urgency and isolationism and little lighting to create an atmosphere of fear of what lies in the dark. It also shows how far we'll go to survive and how hard people will fight for their lives. Crawl Or Die is independent film at it's best and I can't recommend it high enough. Don't crawl, run to this one.

Killer Mermaid

Killer Mermaid

Killer Mermaid opens with a quote from Moby Dick warning of the dangers and mysteries of the sea and then we see a couple having fun on vacation in a home movie style presentation with tropical tinged dance music playing over the scenes. We now see the couple having a playful and flirty conversation by the sea. A strange fisherman shows up and the scene ends with the girl killed with a hook through her neck. It's a cool kill and a cool opening sequence that sets a fun, danger-is-lurking-in-the-shadows tone. It's too bad the movie goes slightly downhill from there, although it is not a total loss.

Now that a back story has been established and the killing introduced, we cut to the story and see two girls, Kelly (Kristina Klebe), and Lucy (Natalie Burn), arriving on vacation. The two leads have a good chemistry and hold the first half of the movie together. Within the first 10 minutes it is obvious that the movie takes itself seriously and is not a comedy horror or goofy or campy in any way. I appreciated that about Killer Mermaid: it wants to be a true tale of horror and presents it's characters as real people living in the real world.. The acting is solid, especially Kristina Klebe who seems to have a natural depth to her, she is a very talented actress

A problem the film suffers from is there are continuous shots that unnecessarily pan slowly over the female bodies and this seems distracting from the serious tone the movie is striving for. It plays as an adult horror movie but relies on juvenile gimmicks like this and it seems to conflict with itself. Another juvenile gimmick is an awkward dance segment in the living room of a house after the girls meet up with a couple other friends. It would have played better in a club setting but instead it seemed tacked on to include the obligatory “we're on vacation and having fun” dance segment.

The four friends then travel by boat to check out an abandoned military base on a small island. Here we see the same strange fisherman from the beginning that killed the girl with the hook. When he is seen dumping “food” down a well on the abandoned military base, the group knows something is wrong. The fisherman begins to chase the group and at this point the movie has a real slasher feel to it. As they run underneath the military base from the killer through mazes of dark tunnels, a nice claustrophobic atmosphere is created and it's the strongest sequence in the film.

Unfortunately the movie really holds back on the gore here. After the great first kill in the beginning, there is no thought to the kills that follow and they seemed watered down. There are loud ominous horns playing during the kills but the images on the screen can't match the music to back it up.

We finally see the killer mermaid with 28 minutes left, a major fault of the film. It is not built up enough to pull off this long wait.

Overall I did not love Killer Mermaid, but I didn't hate it either. I admired the film for sticking to it's serious tone and trying to create an original horror idea. However, it couldn't help but slip into some obligatory horror tropes that left me feeling like the film and story didn't have confidence in itself. As of right now it's on Netflix streaming and is worth checking out if you're home one night with not much to do. A major plus in the movie is Kristina Klebe, I look forward to seeing her in other things.

The Canal

The Canal

Every now and then after sitting through disappointments, mediocre, or just plain awful movies, you come across a brilliant horror movie that reminds you why you love the genre so much. That is the case with The Canal, a movie from Ireland that, as of this writing, is available to stream on Netflix. Don't be fooled by the generic, cheap looking cover, The Canal is a great film of high quality.
The story revolves around David (Rupert Evans) who, after the death of his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra), believes that an evil spirit killed her and is now following him in his everyday life. David fears for the safety of himself and his young son and slowly descends into a quiet madness and deep paranoia. The acting here is fantastic and it's easy to portray paranoia in an over the top way but Rupert Evans portrays the character's anxiety and suspicion so naturally and subtly that he gets the viewer's sympathy right away. Some scenes after the death of his wife are heartbreakingly played and he does an all around excellent job. David's colleague and partner Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is there to support David and try to be there for him and get him through this difficult time. When hearing David talk about an evil spirit haunting him, Campbell-Hughes is very sincere and caring in her portrayal of Claire and makes the best of her somewhat limited role. We also get great performances from Steve Oram as a cranky cop on the case of Alice's death and Kelly Byrne as the nanny who looks after David's son.
The film has a very stylish feel, we get some repeated quick cut sequences that set a repetitious tone and some great shots throughout the whole film. Writer/director Ivan Kavanagh did not waste a single scene in the movie, it is packed with great music that experiments with sound in a way that reminded me of Berbarian Sound Studio, an ever growing creepy atmosphere that built the tension with more and more eerie happenings, and a compelling character study of a man losing touch with reality. It is a psychological thriller of the highest order that creates an eerie and uneasy atmosphere reminiscent of a Poe or Lovecraft story. The camera catches subtle shadows or movements, scenes open on things or people that shouldn't be there to startling effect, and throughout the entire film the viewer is wondering what is around the next corner. It's a tense and expertly made movie.
Overall The Canal may borrow from The Ring and The Amityville Horror but it never copies them. It creates it's own story and it's own unsettling world that is strengthened by strong performances and excellent story telling. The creepiness and eerie ghost story of the film is powerful and the bigger scares are frightening. The pace feels fast but the story unfolds slowly, like the descent into madness itself. Do not pass this one up, it's one of the best true horror films I've seen in the past few years.    

Vendetta

Vendetta
 

Vendetta is the second film the Twisted Twins Jen and Sylvia Soska have directed for WWE Studios after last year's See No Evil 2. It's about a cop, Mason Danvers (Dean Cain) who puts away a major criminal, Victor Abbot (The Big Show) who walks due to a disappeared witness. When the criminal kills the cop's wife, the cop murders the criminal's brother to get sent to jail as well so he can get revenge. It's a straight up action revenge story.

Dean Cain may have been good 'ol boy enough to play Clark Kent and all American enough to play Superman but that Dean Cain is not to be found in Vendetta. Cain is a relentless and determined force in this movie and he completely kicks ass. It was awesome to see this, he truly is an underrated actor. What's even better is that Cain still has that charm to make you care about him and immediately root for him.

WWE superstar The Big Show also does a great job as the villain of the movie. He just oozes evil and you want him to get what's coming to him. Him and Cain have a great chemistry in the movie and this is very important to the success of the film. It's one against the other in a good old fashioned revenge story and the viewer must believe the toxic relationship between the two and the actors deliver on this.

Vendetta is a very slick looking film and it moves at a brisk pace. The characters are introduced, the story kicks off, and the hell in a cell begins. The music in the movie has a simmering, tribal and industrial feel to it that adds to the building tension of the situation. The Soska Sisters also don't disappoint with the blood. Every gunshot and every knife attack and fistfight is met with nice spurts of blood and oozing cuts. There's a great scene where Mason kills a fellow inmate with brass knuckles. He holds a pillow over the inmates face and as he pounds it over and over again, the white pillow quickly turns red.

There are plenty of fight scenes in the movie and bravo to the Soska Sisters for effectively filming them. There are no blurred shaky-cam sequences with several nonsensical cuts that hide a lot of the action. Instead we get coherent and well choreographed fights that are a blast to watch. A highlight is when Mason Danvers fights a group of inmates in a laundry facility and uses a towel as a weapon. It's Dean Cain doing his best Jackie Chan and it's freaking awesome to watch.

Mason's cop instincts also play a part in the prison as he uncovers that things may not be as they seem with the warden and his relationship with Victor Abbot.

Vendetta is a wild ride, an action packed revenge story in a prison full of hardened criminals and corrupt officials. It's gritty yet slick and simple yet engaging. And it's entertaining as hell.

Dead Hooker in a Trunk (Classic Review)

Dead Hooker in a Trunk (Classic Review!)

I usually will only review new movies but today I am reviewing Dead Hooker in a Trunk from 2009 from the Twisted Twins, writer/directors Jen and Sylvia Soska. It's both to celebrate their new movie, Vendetta coming out June 12^th, and because Dead Hooker in a Trunk is the first movie That One Review is calling a classic and it's first Classic Review!

The opening shot sets the stage for the character Badass (Sylvia Soska) as the camera follows her as she walks through a club surrounded by people and a band playing loud music. The character name 'Badass' is earned right away with this shot as she struts through the crowd with a confident I-don't-give-a-fuck swagger. There are a few other shots in the movie like this and I can confidently say that nobody walks like Sylvia Soska.

The film focuses on 4 friends who are running a mundane, everyday errand when they discover they have a dead hooker in the trunk of their car. From here they try to dispose of the body and are on the run from a “Street Walker Killer” and a pimp who wants his hooker back. The discovery of the hooker scene is capped off with Geek (Jen Soska) exclaiming, “there's a dead hooker in a trunk,” and that's what this movie is: fun, in your face, outrageous, and self aware.

It's in your face because the gore is heavy when it's called for, the blood splatters like a Jackson Pollack painting, and the violence is relentless. The music adds to the violence and creates moods that either intensify the scenes (like piano playing over a woman being beaten with a bat) or confuse your senses to oddly enjoy the mayhem and bloodshed, like playing Japanese pop/punk over people getting shot.

It's outrageous because we have a myriad of strange characters that populate the movie and a handful of scenes that throw logic out the window. We see sleazy cops, a motel manager who is very close to his sheep, and the “Street Walker Killer” has a secret that sticks a fork in his cocky demeanor. There is a scene where one of the friends, Goody Two-Shoes sews the arm back on the other friend, Junkie, after it's ripped off in a car accident.

All of this sounds outrageous because it is, and it all works in this movie because most importantly it is fun as hell. The Soska sisters are fans of the genre and they know what they can get away with in movies because they understand the fans who watch their product. They are fans themselves and their fantastic debut reflects this. It's bloody, violent, loud, fast, and funny. Geek is especially funny, her straight face delivery and physical humor had me laughing out loud.

The Soskas know how to let the camera capture a scene to make it the most effective it can be. There is a great shot that follows Badass (another kickass walking scene) as she walks up to the trucker that ripped her friends arm off with his truck, punches him, grabs the arm, and walks back to her car. She is the authority of the group and this shot tells us that. Another effective shot is towards the end when Badass is kidnapped and the viewer can feel the fear and the struggle as the camera lingers and slowly moves back and slightly from side to side as if wanting to help but being too afraid. It's great stuff that lends itself well to multiple viewings.

Finally, the film is very self aware with comments like, “I can't believe there are no repercussions for anything we did,” at the end of their dead hooker journey. There is also a little audience acknowledgment from Badass at the last second as she looks quick at the camera as if to imply she knew we were watching all along. This 'in on the secret' feeling has defined the relationship between the Soska Sisters and their fans throughout their career since their breakout cult hit. They always acknowledge their fans and their fans are severely loyal in return. It also helps to create loyal fans when you put out quality work like Dead Hooker in a Trunk. Go watch this one and become a fan.

And it has a pug.

Model Hunger

Model Hunger

If there exists a dream choice to direct a low budget horror film, someone who has seen how the genre operates, knows the ins and outs of filming on the cheap, and has the talent and ability to demand solid acting performances, that dream choice is Debbie Rochon. If you were to watch one movie a week that had Debbie Rochon in it, you would have a movie every week for the next 4 and a half years. Rochon knows her stuff and she has become a legend for a reason. Now with Model Hunger she has her first credit as director to her name. And what a fantastic job she does.
Model Hunger stars Lynn Lowry as Ginny, a jaded former model/pin-up girl who now lives in a small town and preys on young, pretty girls as a form of revenge against her rejection from the modeling industry. When her new neighbors move in, Debbie and Sal (Tiffany Shepis and Carmine Capobianco), Debbie suspects some strange things happening next door and that Ginny is not the sweet old lady that she pretends to be.
If there is one factor in Model Hunger that could make or break the movie, it's the character of Ginny. Casting Lynn Lowry in the role was nothing short of a horror epiphany. She absolutely owns the role and is so good that I could not take my eyes off of her. She is both frightening and beautiful, at once a cannibalistic madwoman and sultry seductress who somehow manages to elicit a hint of sympathy from the viewer. It's a role that demanded a lot, a role that virtually had the weight of the movie on it's shoulders, and Lowry gives a mesmerizing performance.
Tiffany Shepis as Debbie gives another strong performance in the movie. Shepis is such a natural actress, she has the ability to make the viewer feel alone with her on screen as if we are not watching her through a camera but rather with our own eyes. She exudes an aura of sadness as the depressed, Rear Window playing Debbie and also a natural funniness that made her perfect for the part. An excellent cast was assembled for Model Hunger and with all the uphill battles faced by a low budget horror production that's a major hurdled cleared right there.    
The movie has a lot to say about image and the pressure on women to look a certain way. It works as a social commentary on the modeling industry and the unhealthy expectation it puts on women to be "tall and skinny," as one young character describes beauty in the movie. Model Hunger is a movie of extremes: inner beauty or outer beauty and the seeming struggle for the two to coexist. The TV show within the movie, "Suzi's Secret", promotes plus size lingerie and inner beauty and feeling beautiful no matter what is one extreme. It focuses on their very plus size model (convincingly played by Babette Bombshell) who is continuously dancing and constantly eating and destroying her body through gluttony. The other extreme is the beautiful Ginny who is so deranged and broken and ugly inside that she literally puts beautiful young girls inside her by killing and eating them. The Ginny character encompasses the danger of the modeling industry itself, as it consumed her life and ruined it as a young woman, she now ironically consumes young, beautiful girls.
The film itself looks great, it has a very sharp and colorful appearance to match the emphasis it puts on image. It's briskly paced and smartly blends the disturbing elements with the playful and is damn fun to watch. There's also a nice touch to start with a little blood and gore and then show more and more as the movie moves along and the tension builds up, like a cut itself that refuses to clot. And Rochon does not shy away from the gore, she shows the pain and blood and cuts and as your toes curl, toes literally curl onscreen as well.
One choice I absolutely loved was Harry Manfredini doing the score for Model Hunger. It has a subtle recall to Friday the 13th which I thought was brilliant as Lynn Lowry's sinister Ginny took her revenge out on these young girls just as Betsy Palmer as Jason's mom did to the teens at Crystal Lake. It was a nice observation that had me smiling.
 Rochon is the dream choice to direct a low budget horror movie because she knows the world behind closed doors, she understands the darkness of the mind and what's in the shadows that surround us in the light of everyday life. She sees the danger in the details of things ignored, like the prolonged creaking in Ginny's front door as it opens to her house of horrors. She knows that violence knows no boundaries as Ginny pummels a girl with a tire iron on the side of a peaceful country road. Most importantly, Rochon as a director knows how to capture all of that and I was impressed as hell with her effort here.

Zombeavers

Zombeavers

Horror is the only genre that can poke fun at itself and not be called a parody or a spoof. The horror-comedy is a genre all it's own at this point but it is not easy to pull off, one must know the genre well and have solid timing on the comedy and know when to play up the horror. The filmmakers behind Zombeavers definitely know both comedy and horror and they execute these forms perfectly and the end result is one hell of a fun film.
Zombeavers starts off with a hilarious set up to create the zombie beavers (I won't spoil it here) and is followed by a fantastic opening credit sequence that mixes live action shots with animation and it's one of the coolest openings I've seen in a long time. It's the perfect set-up for the film that follows. We are then introduced to 3 girls on their way for a weekend of fun at a lake house out in the country. The trio are very likeable and come across as real girls instead of just characters to be chased and killed. They are naive without being dumb and have a playful chemistry amongst them. The dialogue is well written and sounds like real language and I was invested from the beginning. Rachel Melvin is probably the standout amongst them, she has a real "girl next door" quality and Cortney Palm has a fantastic comedic delivery.
A bit later in the movie boys inevitably show up to crash the girls' weekend getaway. While not as well developed, the guys are just as funny as their lady counterparts and also bring some extra storylines into the development of the group's history as friends. I thought the little extra effort taken to establish some character depth and show how the group ties together as a whole and as friends was great to see. This isn't always the case with horror as we often are thrown a handful of stock characters that we don't care about. The character relationships help make the characters that much more real amidst the seemingly impossible surroundings of zombie beavers.
Obviously the zombie beavers are an extremely important element in the film, and their appearance and technical execution could make or break the production. If they are lousy CGI will they be believable and accepted? What do zombie beavers even sound like? How do they move? Luckily, the filmmakers created the perfect zombie beaver for the film. Everything about the world of the movie is ultimately believable, except the zombie beavers, of course. There are no over the top crazy backwood hillbillies and there is no wild life expert in the group who knows just what to do. So would a slow lurking, quietly gurgling, bloody zombie beaver stand out much? No. There's a saying that says if you're going to lie, lie big. If Zombie beavers can't really exist, then lie big to make them real! These practical effect zombie beavers are bug eyed, crazed, fast moving, screeching, relentless terrors and they elicit real fear from our group of doomed protagonists. That is the main reason why this film works so much: it sets up the real world and when the reality of zombie beavers is introduced into it they are so absurd and over the top and are met with serious fear from the characters that the audience buys into it. If the characters take them seriously, so will the audience.
The music in the movie also helps create the humor filled yet serious tone as well. It quietly plays in the background and seems overly dramatic during touching or dramatic moments and turns serious during frightening moments and it helps create that hint of something over the top lurking just around the corner. From the visual to the writing to the audio, nothing was missed by the production team and it all comes together for a fantastic humor filled horror story. I definitely recommend Zombeavers, you won't be disappointed!
Also, stick around for the Sinatra-esque Zombeavers song that plays over the closing credits. Classic.