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Piranha 3D – Review (second opinion)

reviewed by Danny
directed by Alexandre Aja, 2010
(to read hallo’s review of Piranha 3D, click here)
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One of the main characters of Piranha 3D is a soft-core porn producer named Derrick Jones (played perfectly by Jerry O’Connell) . The character is clearly based on Girl’s Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, an undeniable sleezeball who finds little support in any corner of society not littered with frat boys or drunken college girls, so it is no surprise to see the film take a number of well-placed shots at his broad target. Unfortunately, the Jones character seems to exist not as a vehicle for parody but simply as a way to justify a boatload (actually, many boatloads) of gratuitous nudity. Still, aside from one over-the-top bit of soft-core ogling, the T&A is pretty standard and accurately reflects what goes on during Spring Break in various sunny destinations. More importantly, the scares and gore that are the real attraction for most horror fans are here in full force.

Piranha 3D is less a remake of the original cult classic as it is another riff on the theme. The film removes the military angle and the local politics and basically avoids wasting screen time on anything that isn’t naked or being eaten. It’s a purity that I appreciate. The opening scene, in which Jaws alum Richard Dreyfuss becomes the first victim of prehistoric piranha released into the lake by an earthquake that has opened up a connection with a large underground lake, is a stunner. It starts the film off right while also getting about 50% of the exposition out of the way quickly.

We get the rest of the exposition in the next few scenes where we meet the local sheriff (played by the extremely likable Elizabeth Shue), her teen son and his younger siblings, and the aforementioned Derrick Jones, his cameraman, and two bathing beauties. When the son takes a job scouting locations for the film crew, he leaves his younger siblings to fend for themselves (which doesn’t go well). Add a romantic subplot between the son and a high school friend that Jones is trying to talk out of her bikini, mix in a school of angry, battle-scarred piranha, shake well, and you have a recipe for a killer monster movie done right.

And, for the most part, it is.  The main set pieces (the collapse of a floating stage, a boat-to-boat rope climb) are done very well.  All the characters we want to die violently do so.  Those that need a heroic send off, get one.  The 3D is used to good effect throughout though it still feels like a gimmick instead of being fully integrated into the cinematography.  The blood and guts level is super high and some of the deaths are just awesome.  Jones especially gets a graphic send off that seems to be exactly what he deserves, and it sent the audience I saw it with into fits of laughter.

For fans of the genre, Piranha 3D is a lot of fun.  It isn’t for everyone—an eight minute long nude synchronized swimming scene involving two of the “wild girls” is ridiculously graphic and unnecessary–but the film is good fun for gore hounds who can handle a bit of gratuitous T&A with their horror.

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The House of the Devil- Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by Ti West, 2009
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Ti West’s camera is smarter than his characters.  Note how, when young Samantha, desperately in need of money for a new apartment, walks past a job-postings board,  the camera stays behind and allows Samantha to move off-screen as it zooms in on the “Babysitter Needed” posting.  It is only the first sign of how sharp the camera is and of just how much dramatic irony West is going to filter this classic horror story through.  Later, the camera will show us a room full of bloody corpses that Samantha won’t find out about until it is way too late.  It is commonplace in a horror film for the audience to be at least slightly more aware of the danger than the protagonist, but in the case of The House of the Devil, we are not only aware that the characters are in a horror film, we know exactly what kind of horror film it is.  And, we know it is going to end badly.

After the creepiest hire in the history of horror films, Samantha has the job and finds herself alone in a large house while the “parents” go off to watch a rare lunar eclipse.  As aware viewers, we know that there is a significance to the lunar eclipse, we know that Tom Noonan is more than a bit creepy, and we know that the best friend that dropped her off isn’t going to be coming back to pick her up.  Samantha only comes by these realizations slowly, and the film allows her to gradually become aware of her situations, to gradually grow more and more tense, and, finally, to become afraid.  The lyrical pacing lets the viewer progress with Samantha, even though we know where the road leads.  In the end, we are frightened for her and with her.

Part of the fallout from the recent success of the “torture porn” sub-genre (Hostel, the Saw films) is that many critics and horror-film lovers are waxing nostalgic for the days when “less was more.”  It is easy to find articles and forum posts discussing how much better horror films were when they chose not to show the viewer every grisly detail.  Well, here is a film for those horror fans.  The House of the Devil is set in the 1980s, but its influences are much older.  Its subject matter is straight out of the 1970s, but its tool set is older still.  Think Val Lewton or Todd Browning or, closer to the period and subject, Rosemary’s Baby.  Up until the absolute crisis moment when Samantha is actually in the hands of those wanting to sacrifice her, West avoids slamming down the gas pedal.  The film stays on cruise control.  Sure, her friend is killed violently on-screen, but the whole scene is less than a minute long.  We see the bodies of the family that really lived in the creepy house, but only for just long enough for us to realize what we are seeing.  The rest of the time we are treated to Samantha wandering about the house, slowly noticing that things aren’t right.  Then, the killers come for her and the film explodes.

Those late scenes where Samantha is fighting for her life, showing toughness and awareness we weren’t prepared for, are gripping.  It has been a long time since I rooted for a horror-film protagonist the way I rooted for Samantha.  Her encounter with the devil/demon is agonizing mostly because we have taken the journey with her and not been pulled out by constant beheadings, slashing of Achilles’ tendons, or buckets of blood.

If the film had ended after the encounter with the devil and his cult, The House of the Devil would easily move in to my short list of must-see horror films.  It doesn’t.  There is an unsatisfying epilogue clearly inspired by the classic films that the film references throughout.  The problem is that those denouements were often the weakest part of the classic films and the same is true here.  Still, even with an ending I could have done without, The House of the Devil is the best new horror film I’ve seen since Let the Right One In, and I recommend it without hesitation to film fans looking for a more lyrical and patient horror film.

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Grace – Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by Paul Solet, 2009
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Grace is the story of a mother who after the baby she is carrying dies late in the pregnancy decides to carry the infant to term and go through with the birth. After the child is born, the midwife leaves the room to give the mother some time with her child. She returns and finds the mother nursing the now-living baby. The rest of the film follows the mother and child as the already unnatural situation devolves into the grotesque. It is a slow film about a painful subject, and it can be a chore to watch. However, unlike so many low-budget horror films that aim no higher than shock and awe, Grace seems to have something to say. Unfortunately, it message is muddled and obscured by unnecessary plot elements and poor execution.

The first thing we notice about Madeline is that after two reported miscarriages, she has embraced alternative health. She is a vegan, a fact that might exist solely as a juxtaposition for her later decidedly carnivorous acts. More importantly, she has decided to forgo the hospital and have a midwife (who happens to be her ex-professor and happens to be in love with her) deliver the child. Though we see this kind of reflexive denial of science in many people who feel the medical establishment has failed them, the cynic in me can’t help but think that the midwife subplot exists solely to have the birth happen out of the way of all those pesky eyeballs and vital-sign monitors of a hospital birthing room. Even if it is sincere, the film does midwifery no public relations favors, certainly. I kind of got the idea that this exchange happened at some point before the events of the film:

Madeline: “Guess what? I’m pregnant!”

Patricia: “Hey, I’ve got a hot tub and some forceps. You should have the baby at my house!”

Soon after getting the child home, Madeline discovers that it isn’t mother’s milk that Grace craves. Only blood will satisfy the baby’s hunger. At first, Madeline gathers the blood by milking it out of raw meat she gets at the grocery. I’ve read of some vegans who interpret the film as an attack on their lifestyle. I can’t be sure of the director’s attitude toward vegans but the images of the freshly drained meat and filthy Styrofoam packaging on the kitchen counter didn’t have me craving a hamburger.

Of course, as tends to happen in horror films, things quickly get worse. Turns out, Grace doesn’t really thrive unless the blood is fresh, very fresh. This leads to scenes where Madeline sacrifices first the evil doctor hired by her mother-in-law (I say evil because he seems to have an antique breast-pump fetish, and that has to come from a dark place)and then the mother-in-law herself.

The film ends with a fairly shocking image of a mauled breast, the result of Grace moving from fresh blood to raw meat. Kids advance quickly these days. Until that shot, the film is not particularly gory. The director seems to be going for a disquieting tone and any over-the-top gore early on would certainly have spoiled that. He makes good use of long, lingering shots of inanimate objects in the David Lynch style. Leave the camera on anything long enough (say a glass of unstrained wheatgrass juice) and it can become gross and scary. With that in mind, I’m not sure if the film-ending money-shot is necessary, but as final images go, it is pretty effective.

Those lingering shots and the film’s lyrical pacing lead me to believe that the surface plot isn’t all the film has going for it. Everything about the film screams that it needs to be read symbolically rather than literally. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that the message comes across clearly. My instincts say that it isn’t about the loss of a child but is, instead, about how having children changes a person. Madeline will do anything for Grace, including violating not only society’s laws but her own moral code. She goes from normal, loving mom to multiple murderer in the course of a few weeks. It reminds me of the conversations that are so prevalent after some heinous crime against a child has made the national news. I hear parent after parent say something like “If that were my child, I’d kill the guy.” Though that is usually just bravado, Grace presents us with the possibility that our moral code is malleable when it comes to protecting our children.

Truly, I can’t speak with any certainty to the message of the film. I can say, though, that, despite its weaknesses and absurdities, Grace rises above the camp and exploitation of a film like It’s Alive, which takes on a similar story in a much more garish way. If the summary elements above interest you at all, the film is worth watching. If you find the whole concept off-putting, I’m afraid there isn’t enough of quality within the film to make it worthwhile.

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The Unborn – Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by David S. Goyer, 2009
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Some films wear their influences on their sleeves;  The Unborn is fairly well clothed in them.  David S. Goyer’s supernatural yarn has scenes lifted from (or, to put it nicely, inspired by) dozens of earlier, better horror films.  Still, the film has some cool horror imagery that would likely be thought highly of if it was it service of a better, more original plot.

Right from the beginning I liked the way the plot got off and running without the background drivel often seen in modern horror.  The film may well be about the sins of the father being revisited  on the son (or, in this case, it is Grandmother/Granddaughter), but The Unborn skips the exposition and gets right to the creepy bits.   Casey (played by the lovely and game Odette Yustman) is jogging along a park road when she notices a single glove in her path.  She turns to see a creepy young boy (imagine Santi from The Devil’s Backbone minus the GGI).  The boy quickly turns into a dog wearing a plain white mask.  Casey follows the dog into the woods, where she finds the mask.  When she tries to pick up the mask, she reveals a jar with a fetus in formaldehyde.  While she is staring at it, the fetus opens its eyes.  Cut.

“So what do you think the dream means?”

It is a good opening.  Stylish.  Creepy.  It establishes a tone that the film manages to hold on to… for about thirty minutes.  The stuff happening around Casey is truly creepy when we have no clue what is going on.  The scene with the young boy, the baby, and the hand mirror is particularly effective even in its brevity.  The problem with the cool imagery is that, eventually, the plot comes along and renders it cliché and overdone.

Soon, we learn that Casey had been a twin and her twin brother had died in the womb after having her umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.  That would probably have been enough, but we are also treated to Nazi experimentation, Jewish mysticism, genetic mosaicism, and a ton of references to myths and folklore.  It all becomes a mess of tropes and cliches familiar to any horror film fan.

Unfortunately, even the visual tone of the film falls apart about the same time the plot unravels.  For the last half of the film nearly every supernatural image is one we have seen before.  I’m not talking obscure movies.  The references here are to films like The Exorcist and Ringu.

By the time the film wrapped up, I had little emotional connection to the characters.  Things had simply become too absurd and unbelievable.  The set up for the exorcism itself is as unbelievable as any element I’ve seen in a horror film in years.  It seems to exist only to provide more bodies for the demon to kill in gruesome ways.  It is also nice to note that you only actually have to read the first and last paragraphs of the exorcism ritual in the presence of the demon.  All of that middle stuff is apparently filler that can be done off screen.  That is going to allow me to cut a lot of useless pages out of my “How to Survive in Horror Film Situations” compendium.

After a strong opening, The Unborn falls apart.  It wastes a good core performance from Yustman and gives the brilliant Gary Oldman nothing interesting to do or say.  Worst, it wastes an excellent opening that led me to expect a much better film than I actually ended up seeing.

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The Girl Next Door – Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by Gregory Wilson, 2007
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Gregory Wilson’s The Girl Next Door is based on the novel by legendary horror writer Jack Ketchum (which was, in turn, based on the true case of Sylvia Likens, a young girl who, in 1965, was brutally raped and murdered at the hands of her aunt and cousins).  It is one of the most disturbing horror films of the past few years.  It is also one of the most difficult to review.  I watched it a few weeks ago, and I have started this review a half-dozen times since then.  Why is it so problematic?  I’m not sure I can say.  Part of the reason is the film seems to expect the viewer to be entertained by the vile acts of a monster of a mother, her children, and many of the children in the film’s fictionalized suburban neighborhood.  Though I, like many horror fans, have no problem with graphic violence and gore, seeing the violence done to the young girl in the movie is vastly more disturbing than watching Jason killing a slutty teenager in some comically exaggerated way.  On top of that, I wonder at the emptiness of the film.  Its only message seems to be that people are capable of some sick stuff, alone or in groups.  I’m not sure that message is original enough or that the execution is good enough to make that a compelling.  Still, I did find the film compelling, specifically because I could not understand the actions of the protagonist who, despite not participating in the torture, rape and murder and actively trying to help the girl escape, might be the film’s true villain.

After a modern day prologue, the film opens with our protagonist, David, cute-meeting Megan while catching “crawdaddies” in the river.  We soon learn that Meg and her younger sister (who is crippled by polio) have moved in with their aunt and his next door neighbor, Ruth.  Ruth’s house is where all the neighborhood boys hang out and drink beer and watch television.  David thinks of her as his cool neighbor, but it is clear from these early scenes that there is something wrong with the relationship between Ruth and the girls.  It isn’t long before we see Ruth abusing Meg and her sister verbally and physically.  There is constantly an sexual undercurrent in her words and actions.  Eventually things escalate and Meg ends up tied to the rafters in the basement where she is tortured by Ruth, her sons, and some of the kids in the neighborhood.

Throughout these events, David tries to help Meg where he can.  He loosens her ropes to make her more comfortable, he acts as the voice of reason when the boys want to jump start the inevitable final acts, he turns away when Ruth has her stripped nude.  In the end, he unties her and attempts to allow her to escape.  The problem is that he never really does anything to stop the torture.  In truth, he seems fascinated by what is going on.  He wouldn’t participate in those kind of acts, but one gets the idea that he might be wrestling with the fact that he is sexually excited by what he sees.  It is not hard to imagine that he is placed in the story to represent us, the viewers of the film.  We are disturbed by what is done to Meg, but we do not turn off the film.  We keep watching.  In this way, the film seems to be exploring similar territory as Funny Games though in a much less self-referential way.

I can’t give The Girl Next Door my whole-hearted recommendation.  The film isn’t boring and, other than some amateurish acting, it is well made for low-budget exploitation fair.  It isn’t, however, likely to be all that enjoyable for the average horror film fan. There just isn’t enough here outside of whatever fascination there is in the David character, and that is certainly a “your mileage will vary” kind of situation.  If you are interested in the psychology of cases like the Likens one this is based on, then the film is interesting.  If not, it is probably one you can afford to avoid.

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The Changeling – Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by Peter Medak, 1980
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One of my earliest horror-related memories was being scared witless by my first viewing of Friedkin’s The Exorcist.  I had been forbidden to watch it by my parents and had to turn the channel on the television anytime I heard footsteps approaching my room (no remote control for me, so I was sitting within arm’s length of the television at all times).  The fear of getting caught mixed with the frightening images on screen left me exhausted but intoxicated by the time the film ended.  This experience made me a fan of the genre for life.  Unfortunately, after years of exposure to and analysis of the genre, it is rare that I find a new horror film frightening.  For that reason, I value those films that scared me back in the day and, more so, the films that creep me out even after repeated viewing.  Peter Medak’s The Changeling is certainly one of those.

The Changeling stars George C. Scott as John Russell, a composer and music professor who has the awful experience of watching his wife and daughter die in a traffic accident.  After a period of mourning, he moves to a new town and begins teaching again.  He soon moves into a large mansion with, we find out later, a mysterious history.   As is pretty traditional in the sub-genre, Russell hears strange noises, sees things in his peripheral vision, and is generally made uncomfortable in his new surroundings.  Eventually, Russell begins to piece together the history of the house.  As you might expect, it is dark and violent.

The Changeling contains many elements that are now standard in the haunted house movie.  Most of them were well-used in the early years of the genre.  We get a séance, see spirit writing, hear mysterious voices that have been recorded on tape but weren’t heard live.  A walled off room is discovered that reveals a dark secret.  Thematically, the sins of a father are re-visited on a son.  None of this is particularly original.  In fact, it is all to be expected in such a film.  The Changeling stands out because of its craftsmanship, its sincerity, and the weight imparted on the events by Scott’s central performance.

Despite the familiar nature of the plot, many of the elements feel fresh and new because of how well they are shot.  The séance that is arranged after Russell begins to believe something supernatural is going on is one of the best ever filmed.  It is supernatural through and through yet somehow very believable.  This quality is seen in nearly every supernatural moment.  There are some great special effects later in the film, but mostly everything is pulled off with simple camera trickery which never comes off as cheesy.

At no point watching The Changeling do we feel the events are anything but real.  The sadness at the heart of the Russell character colors how we see the events.  Clearly still troubled by his loss, he easily could have been one of Poe’s unreliable narrators.  Instead, he is just the opposite.  We believe the events of the story because Russell believes them.

And that belief is so important in a horror film.  By their nature, they can’t be “realistic” in the literary sense, but they must feel real.  The Changeling does and I think that is the core reason I have always found it so scary.

In the end, what we find scary is such a personal concept that I can’t guarantee The Changeling will have the same effect on other viewers as it did on me.  I can guarantee that they will see an amazing central performance and an extremely well-made film.

(Note:  I couldn’t find many details about the films U.S. Theatrical run, so I’m not sure how much of an impact it had here.  However, the film is one of the most successful Canadian films of all time, in terms of both box office and critical acclaim.  The film was nominated for ten Genie awards (basically the Canadian Oscars) and one eight, including Best Motion Picture and Best Foreign Actor– for George C. Scott).

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