Got my copy of "Hellbenders" today. I'll be watching it after work. Review to follow.
Coming soon, the movie "Funny Games." The Tabletop RPG "Aberrant", and the other things to follow. Want me to look something over? let me know.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Did we really need this genre? "Ilse She Wolf of the SS."
We all know that film. The one you saw in the video store back in the day. That one you tried to ignore till your friend said. "Dude I got a dime of kind bud and pizza lets get that flick it looks totally fucked up."
Well okay he had the dope and the food and the film was fucked up, but not in that coherent sort of way that makes you buzzed and goofy, but in a very disturbing way that makes you feel the need to take a shower and never speak of this film again. Until you decide to inflict it on another friend just to see if it's as fucked as you remember.
Congratulations this is the experience of Ilse She Wolf of the SS in a nutshell. It's a cultural dare you take with your friends that never really seems to work out as well as you thought. It's an exploitation film with a lot of nudity, plenty of violence and a warped sense of internal morality.
The plot is simple. Ilse runs a concentration camp during world war 2 where she conducts horrible experiments on the prisoners. Mostly to prove her particularly odd theories of female superiority. I'm not saying women are inferior, I'm just saying she has some seriously warped ways of testing her theories. Most of which involve torture and rape.
So as we can clearly see this film has its foot on banana peel next to a serious moral graveyard. While I am usually the last person to use the term "moral" in most contexts, in this case it seems appropriate. The film seems to give us scenes of sex and sexual violence and torture mostly to try and titillate us for more. Which makes you feel a bit dirty when it lacks any sense of fantasy or consent, its harsh, nasty and mean spirited. Not for any artistic sense, mostly just for the sake of being in your face.
Which if this was a morality play like "Funny Games" or "Man Bites Dog" would work and make sense. Here these things exist just to exist not driving a plot, just setting the tone for the camp in question and its commandant.
Now as a plus the female lead Dyanne Thorne looks great in and out of uniform, and you do get to see a lot of her in both states. Which might be one of the films few redeeming qualities.
As a piece of exploitation its odd. It does exploit well, and was responsible for kickstarting a series of Nazipoitation films in the 70's. (Seriously it was a thing, I blame coke.) It titillates but never seems to deliver in a way that's entertaining, more in a way that makes you feel dirty for watching, and sadly not in that good sort of way.
So my advice. Save yourself the time and the trouble and watch Iron Sky. Maybe with nude picks of Dyanne Thorne next to your TV.
Unless of course you have a dime of kind some pizza and a friend who needs to be seriously disturbed. Then roll with it.
Links
The trailer for Ilse (Seriously NSFW)
Wanna be made to feel dirty by a good film? Try this one I'll review it soon.
Well okay he had the dope and the food and the film was fucked up, but not in that coherent sort of way that makes you buzzed and goofy, but in a very disturbing way that makes you feel the need to take a shower and never speak of this film again. Until you decide to inflict it on another friend just to see if it's as fucked as you remember.
Congratulations this is the experience of Ilse She Wolf of the SS in a nutshell. It's a cultural dare you take with your friends that never really seems to work out as well as you thought. It's an exploitation film with a lot of nudity, plenty of violence and a warped sense of internal morality.
The plot is simple. Ilse runs a concentration camp during world war 2 where she conducts horrible experiments on the prisoners. Mostly to prove her particularly odd theories of female superiority. I'm not saying women are inferior, I'm just saying she has some seriously warped ways of testing her theories. Most of which involve torture and rape.
So as we can clearly see this film has its foot on banana peel next to a serious moral graveyard. While I am usually the last person to use the term "moral" in most contexts, in this case it seems appropriate. The film seems to give us scenes of sex and sexual violence and torture mostly to try and titillate us for more. Which makes you feel a bit dirty when it lacks any sense of fantasy or consent, its harsh, nasty and mean spirited. Not for any artistic sense, mostly just for the sake of being in your face.
Which if this was a morality play like "Funny Games" or "Man Bites Dog" would work and make sense. Here these things exist just to exist not driving a plot, just setting the tone for the camp in question and its commandant.
Now as a plus the female lead Dyanne Thorne looks great in and out of uniform, and you do get to see a lot of her in both states. Which might be one of the films few redeeming qualities.
As a piece of exploitation its odd. It does exploit well, and was responsible for kickstarting a series of Nazipoitation films in the 70's. (Seriously it was a thing, I blame coke.) It titillates but never seems to deliver in a way that's entertaining, more in a way that makes you feel dirty for watching, and sadly not in that good sort of way.
So my advice. Save yourself the time and the trouble and watch Iron Sky. Maybe with nude picks of Dyanne Thorne next to your TV.
Unless of course you have a dime of kind some pizza and a friend who needs to be seriously disturbed. Then roll with it.
Links
The trailer for Ilse (Seriously NSFW)
Wanna be made to feel dirty by a good film? Try this one I'll review it soon.
Friday, February 14, 2014
High School Hell. Todd and the book of pure evil.
Let's be honest, sometimes you can't review something without using the phrase "batshit insane" and mean it in the best possible way. When that thing incorporates a town full of satanists, Jason Mewes as a high school janitor, several school parking lot stoner demons, the worlds worst guidance counselor and a heavy metal musical episode. You are definitely looking at TV magic.
Okay so take the basic notion of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". A group of kids trying to save the world from evil. Now replace Buffy with a teen age, stoner, metal head. That's the show right there. Well not entirely.
Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, is a horror comedy series soaked in blood and teen age hormones. With it's main hero Todd, his one armed best friend Curtis, the bitchy popular girl Jenny, and the smart nerdy girl Hannah they form a team of kids who are in search of the book mentioned in the title. Every week it appears and offers some poor teen age kid a solution to their particular problem, and in true Monkeys Paw fashion that solution winds up causing massive amounts of mayhem carnage and destruction.
Seriously this show is chock full of blood, gore and bone. If you're squeemish ya might find it a bit hard to take at first, but as most of this is done in slap stick comic effect it does tend to make it a punchline rather than a shock moment. So much so that the schools janitor (Played by Jason Mewes) asks one of the shows characters for his blood mop as he'll likely need it in about an hour.
The casting of the show is brilliant, but special attention has to be paid to Chris Leavins who plays Atticus Murphy the schools guidance counselor. It's rare to have an actor steal every scene they're in but he does it. Mind you the writers gave him a part where there is no such thing as overacting and he uses it to huge advantage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z8Ke9C9JfQ
Jason Mewes seems fairly restrained in this show, but he does bring a sort of been there done that attitude to his character Jimmy that resonates well. Jimmy is the schools janitor and possibly the only sane person in the whole show. Well sane as compared to everyone else in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAnxt7-hp0c
The series itself is one long series of gags poking fun at teen genres, and has a great time using it's main characters to do so. Fortunately the writing does develop them in the series they start off as elevated character stereotypes but within a few episodes you've grown to like them warts and all.
So long story short, it's crazy, bloody as hell filled full of sophomoric humor, with fun writing and great acting. So of course it only lasted two seasons. Apparently shows that really do rock can only be supported for so long, or find their audience after they've been taken off the air. Thankfully the producers raised enough money through kickstarter for an animated last episode that should be out later this year. So look for it.
Meanwhile both seasons are out on DVD and are available through Netflix. Although if I may beg watch the seasons then buy the discs, the extras are worth it and I have a hope that if it moves enough discs we might get more Todd in our life.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01bMmGPZyh8
What drives the show; http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdultsAreUseless
Okay so take the basic notion of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". A group of kids trying to save the world from evil. Now replace Buffy with a teen age, stoner, metal head. That's the show right there. Well not entirely.
Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, is a horror comedy series soaked in blood and teen age hormones. With it's main hero Todd, his one armed best friend Curtis, the bitchy popular girl Jenny, and the smart nerdy girl Hannah they form a team of kids who are in search of the book mentioned in the title. Every week it appears and offers some poor teen age kid a solution to their particular problem, and in true Monkeys Paw fashion that solution winds up causing massive amounts of mayhem carnage and destruction.
Seriously this show is chock full of blood, gore and bone. If you're squeemish ya might find it a bit hard to take at first, but as most of this is done in slap stick comic effect it does tend to make it a punchline rather than a shock moment. So much so that the schools janitor (Played by Jason Mewes) asks one of the shows characters for his blood mop as he'll likely need it in about an hour.
The casting of the show is brilliant, but special attention has to be paid to Chris Leavins who plays Atticus Murphy the schools guidance counselor. It's rare to have an actor steal every scene they're in but he does it. Mind you the writers gave him a part where there is no such thing as overacting and he uses it to huge advantage.
Jason Mewes seems fairly restrained in this show, but he does bring a sort of been there done that attitude to his character Jimmy that resonates well. Jimmy is the schools janitor and possibly the only sane person in the whole show. Well sane as compared to everyone else in it.
The series itself is one long series of gags poking fun at teen genres, and has a great time using it's main characters to do so. Fortunately the writing does develop them in the series they start off as elevated character stereotypes but within a few episodes you've grown to like them warts and all.
So long story short, it's crazy, bloody as hell filled full of sophomoric humor, with fun writing and great acting. So of course it only lasted two seasons. Apparently shows that really do rock can only be supported for so long, or find their audience after they've been taken off the air. Thankfully the producers raised enough money through kickstarter for an animated last episode that should be out later this year. So look for it.
Meanwhile both seasons are out on DVD and are available through Netflix. Although if I may beg watch the seasons then buy the discs, the extras are worth it and I have a hope that if it moves enough discs we might get more Todd in our life.
What drives the show; http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdultsAreUseless
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
"With friends like these.." A review of Hannibal.
I am reasonably certain I'm not the only person who groaned when I heard that NBC and De Laurentis productions was going to do a TV series prequel of the Thomas Harris Hannibal Lecter novels. In fact I think I heard the whole of the fandom groan and swear to ignore this obvious grab for a few more bucks from the people that owned the rights to the novels.
Then as production got spun up I heard bits of news that gave me hope. The production company was asking Thomas Harris for his input. The casting sounded better every time I looked and the show was being produced and directed by David Slade, who had done "30 days of night." which is one of my favorite films of the last few years.
But still this was big three network television. So I figured they'd find some sort of way to mess this up.
To my utter shock they got it right. Very Very right, Horribly wonderfully right.
Lets start with the casting. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen got the title role and he inhabits it well. His take on lector is a far more subtle one. But then this is the intellectual cannibalistic gourmet chef psychiatrist Hannibal, not the one we saw in the films who had spent long periods locked in a mental hospital. His Hannibal Lecter is dark, quiet, friendly and polite to a fault, we all know the menace underneath but everyone else just sees it as professional detachment.
I should point out there are a lot of scenes of people eating and hints as to what Hannibal is preparing for them. One dinner scene in particular involving a high society dinner that he is hosting is made both interesting by the sub text of the people not knowing what their meal is, and horrifying for seeing Hannibal enjoy the spectacle of all of these people unknowingly enjoying his favorite.
The part of Will Grahm was given to British actor Hugh Dancy, who makes Will a dysfunctional teacher of forensic psychology. The polar opposite of Lecters sociopath Will suffers from far too much empathy, seeing motivations of everyone around him. His efforts to build walls socially is how he survives the day to day world, but as he gets more involved in field work that veneer gets thinner by the moment.
Laurence Fishburn plays Grahms boss Jack Crawford. A seasoned investigator that is willing to push Grahm far past his limits to close a case. Not knowing or perhaps not caring about how he is damaging him or how he might lose his best resource.
The plot of the show begins with a case that is mentioned passingly in the books. A serial murderer in Minnesotta name Gareth Jacob Hobbes. Graham discovers Hobbes is the serial killer and kills him in a tense and terrifying scene of carnage where Hobbes murders his wife and nearly kills his daughter.
It's the daughter Abigail that becomes the center of one of the shows plots. Giving us a front row seat to the manipulations and games of Hannibal Lecter. A chance for the viewer to see how Hannibal molds the young lady after her fathers death into something he thinks more fitting, and in a very scary way he seems to have a genuine affection for her as he does it.
It's that feeling of being on the inside of a situation where you get a glimpse into the mind of Hannibal and his reasons for doing things that gives this show it's wonderful edge. In a sick way these people around him mean the world to Hannibal, and he feels the world needs to be adjusted his personal view of how it really works.
The writing of the show does a very good job of maintaining a meta plot, while at the same time giving us some really warped "Monsters of the week" for Will Graham and Jack Crawford to chase. It also gives all the characters, even the minor supporting ones enough polish to make them feel like real people rather than just supporting parts that need to be there.
The show itself, it has to be said is amazing in the level of violence, blood, torture and other carnage that takes place. It's like they turned up the volume on the level of carnage shown on screen just to show that they could. Several episodes of this show have more blood on the screen then in the whole run of CBS's "Criminal Minds". So if you're a fan of good old fashioned chunky salsa horror you will not be disappointed. The makeup effects are amazing, and the occasional use of CGI for some effects is really only noticeable if you've spent too much time editing video. (Like me.)
Final words. Hannibal was last years biggest and most pleasant surprise for me. Well written, well acted and pretty strong idea of what it is and where it's headed the show bowled me over. Season two begins on february 28th and I can't wait.
Links
Hannibal Season one Trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HW9rtFYsEw
Hannibal season 2 Trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVhl6WgMTGw
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChunkySalsaRule
Then as production got spun up I heard bits of news that gave me hope. The production company was asking Thomas Harris for his input. The casting sounded better every time I looked and the show was being produced and directed by David Slade, who had done "30 days of night." which is one of my favorite films of the last few years.
But still this was big three network television. So I figured they'd find some sort of way to mess this up.
To my utter shock they got it right. Very Very right, Horribly wonderfully right.
Lets start with the casting. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen got the title role and he inhabits it well. His take on lector is a far more subtle one. But then this is the intellectual cannibalistic gourmet chef psychiatrist Hannibal, not the one we saw in the films who had spent long periods locked in a mental hospital. His Hannibal Lecter is dark, quiet, friendly and polite to a fault, we all know the menace underneath but everyone else just sees it as professional detachment.
I should point out there are a lot of scenes of people eating and hints as to what Hannibal is preparing for them. One dinner scene in particular involving a high society dinner that he is hosting is made both interesting by the sub text of the people not knowing what their meal is, and horrifying for seeing Hannibal enjoy the spectacle of all of these people unknowingly enjoying his favorite.
The part of Will Grahm was given to British actor Hugh Dancy, who makes Will a dysfunctional teacher of forensic psychology. The polar opposite of Lecters sociopath Will suffers from far too much empathy, seeing motivations of everyone around him. His efforts to build walls socially is how he survives the day to day world, but as he gets more involved in field work that veneer gets thinner by the moment.
Laurence Fishburn plays Grahms boss Jack Crawford. A seasoned investigator that is willing to push Grahm far past his limits to close a case. Not knowing or perhaps not caring about how he is damaging him or how he might lose his best resource.
The plot of the show begins with a case that is mentioned passingly in the books. A serial murderer in Minnesotta name Gareth Jacob Hobbes. Graham discovers Hobbes is the serial killer and kills him in a tense and terrifying scene of carnage where Hobbes murders his wife and nearly kills his daughter.
It's the daughter Abigail that becomes the center of one of the shows plots. Giving us a front row seat to the manipulations and games of Hannibal Lecter. A chance for the viewer to see how Hannibal molds the young lady after her fathers death into something he thinks more fitting, and in a very scary way he seems to have a genuine affection for her as he does it.
It's that feeling of being on the inside of a situation where you get a glimpse into the mind of Hannibal and his reasons for doing things that gives this show it's wonderful edge. In a sick way these people around him mean the world to Hannibal, and he feels the world needs to be adjusted his personal view of how it really works.
The writing of the show does a very good job of maintaining a meta plot, while at the same time giving us some really warped "Monsters of the week" for Will Graham and Jack Crawford to chase. It also gives all the characters, even the minor supporting ones enough polish to make them feel like real people rather than just supporting parts that need to be there.
The show itself, it has to be said is amazing in the level of violence, blood, torture and other carnage that takes place. It's like they turned up the volume on the level of carnage shown on screen just to show that they could. Several episodes of this show have more blood on the screen then in the whole run of CBS's "Criminal Minds". So if you're a fan of good old fashioned chunky salsa horror you will not be disappointed. The makeup effects are amazing, and the occasional use of CGI for some effects is really only noticeable if you've spent too much time editing video. (Like me.)
Final words. Hannibal was last years biggest and most pleasant surprise for me. Well written, well acted and pretty strong idea of what it is and where it's headed the show bowled me over. Season two begins on february 28th and I can't wait.
Links
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChunkySalsaRule
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
This could be the greatest movie ever.
Seriously I'll watch damn near anything with Clancy Brown in it. Make Clancy a priest in an order that sins constantly to make taking demons back to hell easier? Yeah just mark me down as sold. The DVD comes out the 18th and I've pre ordered. Once it comes in I'll review the shit out of it.
Meanwhile here's the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig3UC0oFfWw
Meanwhile here's the trailer.
A request or a challenge.
So I am always looking for good things that I am missing. Books, games, TV shows, anime, Films etc. So if you want to pass along something to me feel free to send a message. And if I have the time I'll happily watch it, read it, play it or write it.
I will make one quick request though. It has to be good. Not "so bad it's good" I mean good. No having fun torturing me with crap product for the sadistic fun of hearing me scream about what an utter crapfest this thing was. Because if I have to scream and yell about this crapfest, I will trash it, and you in public for all to say. I'll even do my best to be creative. Your mothers name will likely come up.
Now keep in mind there is such a thing as really fun and good direct to video movies in this world. And great books that have yet to find an audience and other things that have for some reason not taken off in a manner would expect.
So if you know of a gem that needs to be unearthed pass it along I'd love to see it and write about it.
I will make one quick request though. It has to be good. Not "so bad it's good" I mean good. No having fun torturing me with crap product for the sadistic fun of hearing me scream about what an utter crapfest this thing was. Because if I have to scream and yell about this crapfest, I will trash it, and you in public for all to say. I'll even do my best to be creative. Your mothers name will likely come up.
Now keep in mind there is such a thing as really fun and good direct to video movies in this world. And great books that have yet to find an audience and other things that have for some reason not taken off in a manner would expect.
So if you know of a gem that needs to be unearthed pass it along I'd love to see it and write about it.
Silent Night, a review
So what does a town's parade of Santa's,
a Sheriff who wants to be in an action film, a few excuses to show
women half dressed, and a guy dressed in a Santa Suit with a really
long naughty list and love of power tools have in common?
They're the center of a fun little
movie called “Silent Night.” The premise is simple, a Wisconsin
town has a parade of Santa's every year. This year though people are
being murdered by a man wearing a Santa costume. So we get a look at
the seamy underside of small town life, see a lot of bloodshed, a few
tits and Malcolm McDowell chewing some scenery. All in all a pretty
good combination for the night when you need some popcorn fun in your
viewing diet.
It feels like someone said
“Hey, lets make a movie like Twin Peaks, except make it a slasher
film.” So they found a genre savvy writer with a sense of humor, (Jayson Rothwell) and
a director willing to have some fun with the material (Stephen C
Miller). Then turned loose a casting director capable of finding
Malcolm McDowell's agent number and off they went.
I'll say right now that film is one of
the most enjoyable pieces of visual junk food I've had in a while. The
bulk of the plot is carried by Jaime King who plays sheriff deputy
Aubrey Bradimore. A young lady with issues with her self confidence
and her confidence in the world. None of which is made any easier for
her by the events of the film. She does a really great job of
anchoring the film. Never really going over the top until it's
needed. Her portrayal feels real to the idea of anyone caught in a situation involving a crazy person, large amounts of blood death and carnage, and of course being surrounded by far too many men in Santa suits.
Speaking of over the top, let's discuss Malcolm McDowell. It's pretty obvious the director told him to act in
a completely different film than everyone else. While everyone is in
a suspenseful slasher flick, he's acting in some sort of Dirty Harry
film. Showing us this small town sheriff who has finally gotten some
of the action he always fantasized about. So he goes from one red
herring to another, all the while loving the chance to bash in a door
or possibly draw his weapon. For a man so well known for his earlier art house work I love that McDowell never feels like he's looking down on the material. It feels like he too is on the joke and loving playing along. The energy he brings is infectious and while it doesn't drive the film per se, it does add to its odd warped humor.
The films direction is quite competent.
Nothing to be overly excited about, Stephen Miller has the good sense
to let the story tell itself, and not get to wrapped up in trying to
create a singular visual style that distracts from the story being
told like some horror directors. (I'm looking at you Rob Zombie!)
Instead he has fun with the genre. Playing up its conventions playing
on it's tropes; like the last girl, and using certain perspective
shots that we're all quite familiar with, and a few that are outside
the usual to keep you guessing.
The effects in the film are well done,
playing to the slasher angle, theres plenty of blood. Most of the
effects are of the practical variety with some CGI thrown in.
Thankfully the CGI isn't too noticeable. The practical effects are
well done, and the blood when it flows, does so copiously.
In the end I have to say Silent Night
was a fun surprise of a horror film. The deaths in it often feel
karmic. (With a couple of exceptions), the writing is true to the
form but smart, and the acting is well above average. If you're in
the mood for a good popcorn film, you could do a lot worse than this.
Links for the Trailer and the related
tropes.
The Final Girl trope in horror films;
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FinalGirl
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