Parasites
Parasites is about a group of 3 friends who
take a wrong turn in a seedy section of Los Angeles and encounter an
angry and violent gang of homeless vagrants. It becomes a bloody and
gritty fight for survival as one of the friends escapes and attempts
to outrun the roving gang and their leader.
Parasites starts out strong and strikes a
familiar chord as it feels like a cross between Wrong Turn and Escape
From New York, minus the hillbillies and futuristic world and
swapping the backwoods for the concrete jungle. The filmmakers did an
excellent job of making the worst parts of a modern city look like a
lawless nightmare and backing it with a Carpenter-esque score that
gave it an extra flare of credibility with this horror fan.
The violent, rag tag group of filthy street
dwellers with chains and shovels and rusty knives for weapons are
dressed in shoddy clothing and have a group-think mentality like a
group of blood thirsty zombies. They have their lifestyle and their
inner group rankings and seek out the escaped trespasser with a
crazed dedication. It's a well realized vision for the group that
injects extra grit and fear into the story.
Robert Miano as Wilco, the leader of the
gang, plays his role with the perfect mix of subtle craziness and
unhinged anger. The character could have easily been cartoonish and
laughable but Miano owns the role with an assured mad glint in his
eye and complete believibility.
Sean Samuels is also very strong in his role
as Marshall Colter, the lone friend on the run from the homeless
gang. Some interesting and unique characters pop up throughout the
film, most notably is Silvia Spross as Mona, a prostitute living on
the streets.
The film is visually impressive and we'll
acted with an intriguing yet simple set up. The biggest issue with
Parasites is that it didn't have enough going on to make it exciting
or to hold my attention thoroughly throughout the film. There's a lot
of running and chasing and wandering as music plays that serves as
the bulk of the action, but it's just not very compelling. It feels
like a short film puffed up and filled out to feature length. And I'm
not saying Parasites is a bad film, there just isn't a lot of meat on
the bone here.
And I just have to say, screenwriters have
got to come up with something better than, "I have no signal"
when addressing why a character can't just call for help with their
cell phone. In the middle of the mountains or woods? Ok, I'll buy
that. But when you're a few miles away from downtown Los Angeles it
just doesn't fly.
Parasites is gritty and dirty and mean. It
created a nightmare landscape that is hidden in the darkest parts of
our big cities and the film shows a lot of promise for writer and
director Chad Ferrin. I just wish it had more to it to justify its
run time because although Parasites had some killer, it was mostly
filler.
The Blackburn Asylum
The Blackburn Asylum (simply titled
Blackburn in Canada) is about a group of five college friends who get
caught between a rock and a hard place while on a camping trip when a
rock slide and a fire close the road at separate places with the
group caught in between.
The opening scene of The Blackburn Asylum
immediately raises some red flags when a family enters an old,
abandoned mine with a new born baby. Why did they enter the mine? To
see where the father would be working and he was going to get some
work done while they were there. Why anyone would bring a baby into
such a dusty and dangerous environment was beyond my comprehension
and had me almost turning off the film. It's a blatant plot device
that obviously serves a purpose later in the film, but it's a tough
pill to swallow.
As
far as the cast goes, Emilie Ullerup is perfect as the self centered
Chelsea and I was pleasantly surprised to find the banter among the
friends in the beginning to be pretty realistic and natural sounding.
And I'll always appreciate a good Single White Female reference. It's
downhill from there as far as the characters are concerned.
"We're not hunters, we're college
students." This pretty much sums up the bratty, privileged group
in a nutshell as this line is delivered in a better than thou tone.
It's almost embarrassing to watch them wander around the backwoods
and abandoned mine engaging in soap opera like antics and constantly
whining about their phones dying. These are not the happy go lucky
super horny teens from the tried and true slasher formula a la Friday
the 13th. No, this bunch is a group of spoiled know nothings who
think they know everything because they're "college students".
So seeing them suffer and die was actually a relief, and if that was
the intention then mission accomplished. But damn was it difficult to
sit through and watch these unlikable American Eagle draped brats.
Having absolutely no one to root for certainly left The Blackburn
Asylum void of any tension whatsoever.
Also,
as a rule of thumb, if anyone in a group ever says, "we should
split up," while in an abandoned mine, they should probably be
forced to go out on their own while the rest of the group stays
together.
The
film does have it's redeeming qualities. For example, the set design
is pretty damn good and expertly sets a dirty and dread filled tone
with foggy landscapes, shadow filled mines, and cluttered, run down
gas stations off a dark and desolate road. The crazed killers lurking
in the shadows of the mine are effectively creepy, and when it's
called for the filmmakers do not shy away from the red stuff.
Some of the circumstances that arise as the
story unfolds are a bit hard to buy into, but The Blackburn Asylum
definitely improves as it progresses. The last third of the film is
nothing short of a living nightmare with some horrific happenings and
much needed raised stakes for one of the characters. It's just a
shame the first hour of the film is so forgettable.
The
Blackburn Asylum is an overall bland but harmless film that is
slightly redeemed by a fun, haunted house/hayride like atmosphere and
some decent acting from Sarah Lind. If you like dirty inbred killers
wreaking havoc on pretty people than The Blackburn Asylum is worth a
watch. Just don't have hopes for anything more than a mediocre film
at best.
Beyond the Gates
When two brothers reunite to clean out their
father's video store several months after he goes missing, they
discover a VCR board game called 'Beyond the Gates'. When the
brothers decide to play it they discover a sinister host who may hold
the key to their father's disappearance with potentially deadly
consequences.
Beyond the Gates starts with a wonderful and
loving opening sequence that shows the inner workings of VHS player
technology while a time appropriate synth pop score plays over the
credits. This detailed opening sets the tone for what's to come: a
nostalgic tribute to a bygone era that plays as smooth as a brand new
VHS tape. After the tracking adjusts, of course.
When John, (one of the brothers played by
Chase Williamson), says of the video store in the beginning, “I
don't remember this place feeling so big,” I found the line to be
absolutely wonderful. People usually say the opposite as they grow
older, that places from their childhood seem smaller. The line made
me reflect on the magic that was the Video Store and how it felt
being surrounded by seemingly endless movie titles. Standing among
all those shelves and rows of video tapes must feel pretty daunting
as compared to the digital browsing of titles we do today on our
Smart TVs.
Graham Skipper and Chase Williamson as the
two brothers are fantastic in this. The characters they play are very
opposite of each other but there is enough in the writing and
portrayals to see that they also have a lot in common. Skipper and
Williamson have a great chemistry together and it was easy for me to
believe that they had a history as brothers and had that family bond
between them.
Barbara Crampton is simply stunning as the
sinister host of the board game. I loved the scenes where she was
waiting for the players of the game to follow her instructions; it's
an eerie feeling of her watching them as opposed to the other way
around and an early sign that something isn't quite right with this
board game, Beyond the Gates. Crampton's unblinking gaze and
measured, chilly vocals create a phenomenal character and she hands
down steals the show. Her performance and ability coupled with
Stephen Scarlata and director Jackson Stewart's script is yet more
proof that the horror genre provides women with strong roles and
interesting characters. I also need to mention that Brea Grant and
Jesse Merlin also give great performances.
A surprising theme I noticed was the lost
feeling that runs throughout Beyond the Gates, a sense of time
passed. The lost era of VHS stores, the seemingly lost feeling in the
lives of the brothers, the vanishing of the father, a case of
sleepwalking, vintage/antique shops, and the snowy static of a TV
screen with no analog signal. Even the deep and dark and steely eyes
of Barbara Crampton made me feel lost as the viewer and brought me
into the world of the film.
This sense of loss holds the entire film
together and is a brilliant technique that raises the stakes and puts
constant awareness and intrigue on the VCR game that shares the title
of the film. As the characters play the game and the story unfolds,
a parallel narrative is told and it is the idea that all is not lost
and that you just have to listen to the clues and know where to look.
With a brilliant script and spot on direction, Beyond the Gates is
damn near perfect.
Roll the dice and play Beyond the Gates,
it's a fun thriller filled with horror and adventure and it's one of
my favorite films of the year.
Party Night
After deciding to ditch their after prom
party, six high school friends find themselves prey to a sadistic
killer when they have their own party at a secluded lake house in the
woods.
Party Night doesn't set out to reinvent the
slasher film or break new ground in a sub genre that has played by
the rules it created for itself over 35 years ago. It instead is a
loving tribute to all those teenage kill fests with a homicidal
maniac on the loose that featured eye catching VHS art that we all
couldn't stop glancing at during those trips to the video store as
kids (or adults) back in the day. Writer and director Troy Escamilla
demonstrates in Party Night that he is clearly well acquainted with
these films.
First and foremost I have to give major
recognition to the cast. All 6 of the high school friends have that
all American boys and girls feel participating in an all American
tradition: the high school prom. I loved watching this group
onscreen, the chemistry between them was spot on and they all
demonstrated impressive acting ability. Laurel Toupal as Amy and Drew
Shotwell as Nelson are stand outs and have a real natural ability.
But the real star is Laurel Toupal. Her performance is a remarkable
mix of Jamie Lee Curtis and Amy Steel. She's simply incredible in
this and is an absolute star in the making. Keep an eye on her.
There's a scene early on that shows the 3
girls walking down the street after school and it has a fantastic
Halloween vibe to it. This scene is an example of how the rest of the
film plays out as the group of 6 doomed high schoolers head to the
lake house after prom. It's an entertaining and fun time that
successfully captures the feel of those old “cheesy” slasher
flicks, as one of the characters playfully refers to them.
There's lots of spilled blood and
wonderfully done makeup effects by Heather Benson. Her effects and
talent are on full display in Party Night and she does a fantastic
job as all the kills look high quality and impressive. The picture
looks timeless and slightly soft and faded to resemble the heyday of
the slasher genre and the music is a wonderful fit for the youthful
energy and carnage that mixes onscreen.
The one disappointment I had with the film
was the look of the killer. I found the light jacket he wore to be a
bit anticlimactic. The white and blue two tone of it seemed to be an
odd choice and didn't quite mesh well with his actions. Perhaps it's
a picky observation, but it's one that distracted me enough to
mention it.
Kudos to first time writer and director Troy
Escamilla for crafting a fun and bloody homage to the slasher flicks
of the 1980's and assembling a great technical cast and group of
actors. Party Night is good old fashioned horror fun and introduces
fans to a number of new potential stars and filmmaker. Grab some
beers at midnight and check out Party Night, it's a good time and a
lot of fun. Just like those old cheesy VHS slasher flicks from the
80's.
The Monster
The Monster tells the story about a mother
and her young daughter who must confront a terrifying monster when
they break down on a deserted road.
That's the basic set up for The Monster and
it's incredible what an impactful and layered story comes out of that
simple premise. The Monster is scary on multiple levels both human
and unexplainable in nature. The story hinges on fear of things
unknown and known and combines life and death in an emotionally
startling way that puts the human condition front and center. All of
this with a monster on the lose on a dark and stormy night.
The two lead actresses, Zoe Kazan and Ella
Ballentine, are nothing short of phenomenal. The relationship between
the two is critical to the overall impact of the film and I was blown
away by the talent that these two actresses displayed. The result is
touching and powerful and the performance of Ella Ballentine as the
daughter is a small miracle that deserves recognition. Her
performance is as eye opening and star making as Danielle Harris in
Halloween 4. Zoe Kazan turns in an absolutely heartbreaking character
who both angers us and earns our sympathy as the desperate mother
battling alcoholism. The horror genre consistently provides women
with strong roles and opportunities to show their skills and it's
time the Academy and other award entities pay attention.
In addition to the top notch acting, The
Monster offers a wonderful script and solid direction to present it
with. Woven into the scenes of their struggle to survive the monster
are flashbacks showing the troubled relationship between the mother
and daughter. Most of the scenes are troubling, some are touching,
and all demonstrate the fractured love between the two. You can see
that the mother deeply loves her daughter and the daughter is
desperate to feel that love from her mother.
The alcoholism of the mother is the other
monster in this film and it's just as deadly as the beast that is
hunting them on that dark and desolate road. The film tells us that
monsters are real and they come in many different forms; some come
after you in the woods or the dark and others reside within us all
and it's up to us to fight them and protect the ones we love. This is
beautifully shown as the instinct to fight for survival may be the
first time in the mother's life where she cherishes being alive and
this realization is passed on to her daughter and there is hope that
she can fulfill her own potential in life as well as her mother's
lost promise. It really is a beautiful horror story.
The Monster is a smart, layered, and
emotionally engaging story that should be seen by not only horror
fans but fans of film in general. The film has just as much heart as
it does scares and contains two of the best performances I've seen
all year. The Monster is of those films that proves the horror genre
should be taken seriously and deserves more recognition for what it
can accomplish.
House of Purgatory
House of
Purgatory is from first time writer/director Tyler Christensen and
revolves around four teenagers who go looking for a fabled haunted
house on Halloween night. Once found, they slowly realize that the
house knows each of their deepest secrets. One-by-one the house uses
these secrets against the terrified teens that find themselves in a
battle to save not only their lives, but also their very souls.
House of
Purgatory is another fun and very entertaining film to add to your
Halloween season rotation. It has a distinct and spot on 1990's feel
as rock/pop music plays over early scenes of high school football
games and hallway interactions between the characters. It's a movie
that sets up the cocky/know it all yet oblivious and care-free
existence of life in high school. This first act of setting up the
characters this way makes the events to come that much more
effective. Because House of Purgatory is set up like a cruel
Halloween trick: bite into the sweetness of this apple and you're
going to hit a razor blade.
Once the four
teens leave a Halloween party to track down this haunted house with
urban legend status, the tone of the film shifts gears into a
masterful blend of 1950's haunted house spookfests fused with an 80's
vibe and 90's look. It's frightful fun as they discover the haunted
attraction and begin to walk through it.
But Halloween
fun turns into a living nightmare as deep secrets of the characters
work their way into the displays they encounter and it's clear that
this is not a regular haunted house. Some scenes become blurred and
washed out, confusing reality with nightmares to the point where the
two realms become indecipherable. House of Purgatory becomes a scary
story beyond simple ghosts and goblins as the story line progresses.
It was
refreshing that the characters felt normal and act normal. Anne
Leighton as Melanie should be a star, she's wonderful on screen and
she was nominated for Best Actress in a feature at the Fear Fete
Horror Film Festival for good reason. Aaron Galvin as Nate also puts
in a solid performance. The strong acting all around really benefited
the film as the characters became more and more distraught and scared
as scenarios became more hellish.
Fears, guilt,
and secrets terrorize the characters as a really smart script
connects scenarios from each character in intelligent ways. It's a
psychological thriller, a drama, and a horror story all in one. House
of Purgatory makes two things clear: haunted attraction films are the
new haunted house movies and people are their own haunted houses
filled with ghosts they've created.
Check out House
of Purgatory if you're looking for a new Halloween movie to watch,
it's tailor made for this time of year and it hits the nail on the
head. With solid acting, good looking Halloween set pieces, and a
clever script that seamlessly shifts in tone from fun to scary, the
film is a great midnight watch in the dark. And if you have surround
sound all the better, it'll sound great!
The Id
The
Id tells the story of Meredith (Amanda Wyss), a lonely woman caring
for her domineering father (Patrick Peduto) who is pushed to the
brink when a figure from her past re-enters her life.
The Id is an impressive psychological horror
drama that is propelled by the performances of Patrick Peduto and
Amanda Wyss. The film is a study in the descent of the mind into a
repressed madness that can no longer be ignored. The Id is not an
easy film to watch. It features many moments that are uncomfortable
and explores themes that are difficult to see. A fractured
father/daughter relationship with severe verbal abuse and simmering
hatred about to come to a boil is shown without holding back, and I
give kudos to the filmmakers and the cast for their willingness to be
so open with a distressing subject.
Very touching and thoughtful music matches
the touching and thoughtful performance from Amanda Wyss. She
radiates pure and constrained emotion in this film that doesn't just
let the viewer know of her pain but let's them feel it as well. This
film belongs to Wyss, and the journey of her character Meredith
becomes the journey of the viewer along with her, even as she begins
to crumble to the situation and lose touch with reality. Her
performance combined with the observant and lingering direction of
Thommy Hutson made The Id and engrossing and powerful film.
Meredith is set apart almost immediately when a
delivery girl named Tricia (Jamye Grant) comes to the door in the
beginning of the movie and the stark contrast is immediately
apparent. Tricia is very animated and happy, has her hair done with
make up on and stylish clothes with accessories while Meredith is
standing still in the doorway simply dressed and isn't allowed to
wear makeup in the house. Another scene shows Meredith watching her
favorite show on TV and we see how desperate she is to avoid her life
while the show is on. Her hyperbolic response to the sitcom makes it
clear this show is one of the few things she has to look forward to.
The only flaw the film has is the script
runs a bit thin in parts towards the last third of it's run time as
there is a change in Meredith that causes events to escalate. After
the appearance of an old high school love, I felt the actions the
character takes weren't completely earned and seemed rushed in
execution and didn't quite convey the tension that I was expecting to
feel. There is certainly a steady growth of madness taking place, but
to get from Meredith in the beginning to Meredith at the end, I felt
a noticeable disconnect of that journey somewhere in the middle. The
saving grace is Wyss' performance and the unpredictability of
Meredith and watching to see just how far her mind has slipped as she
becomes more and more detached and semi hallucinatory.
The Id goes for broke in showing abuse,
repression, regrets, and madness up close and for the most part the
film succeeds. It's a difficult and bleak yet fascinating watch with
strong performances from the entire cast. The film reminded me of Sun
Choke starring Barbara Crampton that came out earlier this year, the
two are similar in tone. If there was any justice in the world of
movies, Amanda Wyss would be in discussion for an Academy Award for
this. And that is reality.
