Hello all. Mark here.
The MFF podcast is back and we are talking 21st century horror films! You can stream the pod on Blog Talk Radio or head over to Itunes so you can download it and tell the world how great it is via ratings and reviews (Thanks!).
Sidenote: There were a few technical issues due to wonky hotel wifi. As the pod progresses the sound quality improves.
It all started with a post I wrote about 21st century horror films. I sorted through hundreds of movies, collected data on 160 and broke down the numbers in order to determine averages. Here are the four categories I researched.
- The Top 20 Critically rated 21st Century horror films averaged from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic critic scores.
- The Top 20 Audience rated 21st century horror films from IMDb, RT Audience and Metacritic Users.
- The Top 25 Critical and Audience rated 21st Century Horror Films from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and Metacritic.
- Data from renowned horror websites Shock Till You Drop, Bloody Disgusting,Bloody Good Horror, Dread Central and Fangoria.
I expected that people would appreciate the post but I didn’t expect that it would be shared on The AV Club and go on to collect 10,000 views, 3,000 votes and thousands of FB likes in two days. The post hit lightning in a bottle and I loved reading the comments and discussions that were sparked by ranking 21st century horror films.
One day we will get a Merman movie.
In order to give you more insight into the collection of films and data the MFF crew read half of the article and grilled me about the data analysis and what exactly is a “horror” film (we also talk about Kurt Russell). It is a spirited discussion that covers all the bases while still managing to discuss why you should never order Bloody Mary’s in dark and loud bars.
If you get a chance check out the article and vote for your favorite 21st century horror films! I’d love to know what you think. Please subscribe, rate and share the pod. It is much appreciated!
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Ex Machina is the rare “intelligent” film that is actually intelligent. It is a fantastic science fiction film that works wonders with a $15 million budget (AKA Avengers craft service budget) and is performed to perfection. Director and writer Alex Garland (The Beach, Sunshine, 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go, Dredd) continues his hot streak and proves he is one of the best in the business.
Ex Machina revolves around two humans, one very special A.I. creation and a whole lot of booze. It is a character heavy film that feels like a chess match played by three people. It is rare that we get these kind of movies and I love that it is getting Academy Award rumbles. The reason I am writing about it now is I want to get Ex-Machina in front of more eyes and spotlight Alex Garland.
Director/Writer Alex Garland is very good at making material fresh. He and Danny Boyle rocked the zombie world with 28 Days Later and his screenplay for Dredd was pure white-collar violence. He understands that characters need to be likable/relatable/believable and more often than not his films revolve around a journey into violence. There are Colonel Kurtz types characters, bonkers imagery and out of left field final acts throughout Garland’s scripts. Most importantly, Garland films always feature iconic imagery that become burnt in your memory.
I love what Garland had to say about writing in an AV Club article.
I really, really love cinema. And I personally think that one of the downsides of auteur theory has been too much emphasis put on the deification of directing, and some of the other roles have been dismissed—and sometimes, within the production, almost treated with contempt. Now, in particular, because I perceive myself as a writer, I notice that about writing. It’s like a math teacher who thinks math is the most important subject in school or something.
I think film has lost track of how important screenplays are. And the consequence of that is really amazing writers in the visual art form have moved to television. And since The Sopranos—this is a general truth, it’s not a perfect truth—broadly speaking, the best adult drama has been on television. And we used to get Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and Apocalypse Now and The Godfather and you just keep going. The parallax would be all these interesting adult dramas that could be also quite mainstream. And they exist now, but they’re Breaking Bad and The Wire and Mad Men and even Game Of Thrones or whatever. I just regret that.
When looking at Garland’s original scripts and book adaptations it is easy to see the Hollywood opposite.
- Sunshine – Armageddon
- 28 Days later – Dawn of the Dead remake
- Ex-Machina – I, Robot
- Never Let Me Go – The Island
- Dredd- Judge Dredd
I appreciate that there is somebody out there with the intention of bringing mature themes back to cinema. His films/scripts have gone off the rails but he has made comic book characters and attempts to reignite the sun somewhat sophisticated. His films must be an actor’s dream because they get a script that was written with care. Ex-Machina is a perfect example of great script meets A-list talent.
Ex-Machina is aided by the inclusion of Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Issac and Alicia Vikander. You will soon see Gleeson (About Time, Calvary) and Issac (Inside Llewyn Davis, A Most Violent Year) in the new Star War movies and Vikander will be in everything. It is the rare combination of three peaking actors taking solid material and making it better. I loved Issac’s bro-genius and his time alone has made him insulated and cocky. He boxes to detox himself but he drinks a lot which means he hits the heavy bag often. He can’t see anyway he could be foiled and it makes him vulnerable. When you’ve been God for so long you kinda believe it and I love how Issac underestimates his companions.
There is a hynoptic vibe to Ex-Machina and I love how a film predominately about people talking has you 100% engaged. A big part of the cinematic engagement belongs to Vikander. I had never seen her in a film before so there was no familiarity. Vikander is wide-eyed yet aware and she uses every opportunity to work her end game.
Ex-Machina isn’t all pretentious talk and chess matches. It has a wicked sense of humor and humanity that has sparked copious online debates about its content. Ex-Machina should be applauded for trying something new and I totally recommend that you check it out and learn some dance moves.
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Hello all. Mark here.
I watched A Royal Affair last night and it proved to be a fantastic romance involving politics, Enlightenment and Mads Mikkelsen . It got me thinking about other Mads Mikkelsen’s movies/television shows. I started looking around on Netflix and Amazon and I found five really solid Mads films/television shows that show off his wide range of roles. The dude will kill you, teach you and use a bird of prey to do his bidding. He has an eclectic filmography that ranges from Art house (After the Wedding) to Blockbuster (Clash of the Titans, Three Musketeers) and you never know where he will show up or if he will cry blood.
Never play Mads in poker
Roger Ebert summed up Mikkelsen’s penchant for villainy and look perfectly.
Mads Mikkelsen’s face suggests weathered, weary iciness: slit-like eyes, thin lips, skin pulled tightly across high cheekbones. Perhaps that’s why the Danish actor — who is best known to American audiences as the bad guy in “Casino Royale,” and currently plays Hannibal Lecter on NBC’s “Hannibal” — is so often typecast as a villain.
Without further ado here are five Mads starring productions you should check out on Netflix/Amazon.
Hannibal (Amazon)
Hannibal is an expensive, beautifully filmed and well-acted show that has no peer on network television. I am constantly amazed at the depravity, gore and human filled dinners. Hannibal might be the best looking television show ever filmed and your jaw will drop as you watch Hannibal cook, kill and dress himself in expensive tailored clothes.
Here is how the three seasons have gone down. A bunch of smart people are constantly stymied by the even smarter Hannibal (It gets a little old until season three changes it up). The supporting cast (Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Gillian Anderson) is fantastic and you will savor every moment of the weirdness.
Sidenote: Gillian Anderson is pretty much the best.
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King Arthur (Netflix)
Before they were sitting at a dinner table they were the knights of the round table!
Ok, hear me out. The reason I added this is because it features Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy as badass knights. King Arthur may be a bunch of hooey but it features some solid violence and a game cast. You kinda need to watch a movie that features Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Joel Edgerton, Hugh Dancy, Ray Winstone, Ray Stevenson, Keira Knightley (with amazing prison eyebrows), Stellan Skarsgard, Til Schweiger and Stephen Dillane.
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The Hunt
Nominated for the 2014 foreign language Academy Award The Hunt will put your emotions in a blender then put them in another blender. Mads tones down his murderous shtick and plays a kind man who is falsely accused of doing a terrible thing. The ending will linger in your memory and I guarantee you will not leave uplifted. The Hunt is drama at its finest and does a fine job of telling a crushing human story.
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A Royal Affair (Netflix)
If you are into period romance films you will love this movie. It is sumptuously (I love using that word) filmed and Vikander and Mads give it enough spice to rise it above the standard well dressed people in love fare. It tells the story of pre-Enlightment Denmark and actually gives insight into why the French Revolution was fought. The movie belongs to Vikander. She was wonderful in Ex-Machina and here she gives a sly performance that is well beyond her years.
Valhalla Rising (Netflix)
If you like Drive and dislike Only God Forgives you will not be a fan of Valhalla Rising. Valhalla Rising is a fever dream loaded with violence, insanity and beautiful vistas. Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives, Bronson) is a maestro of mayhem and has a way of creating glorious violence. Mads plays a guy named One Eye who travels around the world and kills many people while saying nothing. This film will leave you exhausted, exhilarated and wanting to pillage a small lake town.
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What is the Best Horror Movie of the 21st Century? An In-Depth Look Into Critical and Audience Ratings
Hello all. Mark here.
If you’ve been reading MFF for sometime you know that we love writing and podcasting about horror (we recorded a podcast specifically for this post where I break down the research and talk about Kurt Russell. You can listen to it on Itunes or Blog Talk Radio). We’ve written and talked about horror wardrobes, tank tops, survivors, villains, monsters, gore, zombie survivors, trolls, 1999 horror and the best moments. I recently wrote an article about the exciting horror hybrids that have been unleashed in the last several years. When I finished up the article I saw a fantastically researched Reddit post where somebody combined the Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Metacritic scores to reevaluate the Top 245 Films of all time. It got me thinking about a 21st century horror ranking system involving critics AND audiences.
It is an exciting time to be a horror fan and I am going back to 2000 in order to figure out what is the best “horror” film of this century. The reason I put horror in quotation marks is because the genre covers an all expansive collection of blood, dark humor and gore. For instance, my top five of the century are:
- The Descent
- Drag Me To Hell
- I Saw the Devil
- 28 Days Later
- Thirst
Gotta love those subterranean killing machines.
It is an odd collection of hybrids that fall into the “horror” genre via themes of serial killers, rampaging demon goats and soul sucking vampires. Roger Ebert summed up the Thirst director perfectly with this quote:
Park Chan-wook of South Korea is today’s most successful director of horror films, perhaps because there’s always more than horror to them.
If you are worried about the data analysis, my data wrangling cousin and I once compiled fourteen years of action movie posters (256 total) and analyzed if explosions on movie posters mattered or not (not really, but it was cool). I also examined Jason Statham posters and have a pretty good idea of when his movies will be good judging by the poster.
If an effort to collect a varied collection of films I sorted through hundreds of movies and pulled together 160 “horror” films and broke down the data for each (click the link to see my data in glorious PDF form). Below you will find four categories comprised of accumulative, critic, audience and horror aficionado ratings.
These rating work differently from the one on reddit because I’ve added Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic audience scores. Horror is such a cult genre I felt it was important to add horror specific sites and audience ratings to the mix. I gave the same weight to critic and user ratings despite there being more users. Critics can push the agenda so their fewer ratings get equal weight. Also, the Reddit post out kept out films with under 75,000 votes on IMDb. Since this is about 21st century horror films I didn’t take the number of ratings into account.
If you are interested in watching any of these films I searched through Amazon/Netflix and put together a list of films available for streaming.
Top 20 Critically Rated Horror films according to Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic Critics
- Pans Labyrinth (96.5)
- The Babadook (92)
- Let the Right One In (90)
- It Follows (89.5)
- A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (88.5)
- The Host (88.5)
- Drag Me To Hell (87.5)
- Housebound (86.5)
- Trick r’ Treat (86)
- What We Do in the Shadows (85.5)
- The Devil’s Backbone (85)
- Shaun of the Dead (84)
- Let Me In (83.5)
- Battle Royale (83.5)
- Black Swan (83)
- The Guest (83)
- Only Lovers Left Alive (82.5)
- Attack the Block (82.5)
- Hellboy 2 (82)
- Zombieland (81.5)
21-50
Under the Skin, Cabin in the Woods, Berberian Sound Studio, Wake Wood, Mulholland Drive, Excision, The Orphanage, The Gift, Grindhouse, 28 Days Later, House of the Devil, Ginger Snaps, Spring, Juan of the Dead, We Are Still Here, We Are What We Are, The Descent, Slither, Thirst, The Conjuring, Sightseers, Hellboy, Cheap Thrills, Shadow of a Vampire, The Skin I Live In, Paranormal Activity, This is the End, Infection, Absentia, A Tale of Two Sisters
The award for best burlap sack costume goes to Sam.
[Rec] (96%), Creep (93%), Inside (83%) Rogue (100%) , Eden Lake (83%), The Loved Ones (98%), Livid, (88%) and Three Extremes (84%) did not have Metacritic scores. They are pretty awesome though.
Top 20 Audience Rated Horror films according to IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes Audience Scores and Metacritc Users
- Pans Labyrinth (86.6)
- Shaun of the Dead (86.3)
- Let the Right One In (86)
- The Gift (85.3)
- The Devil’s Backbone (84.3)
- What We Do in the Shadows (82.3)
- American Psycho (82.3)
- Zombieland (82)
- Black Swan (81.6)
- Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (81)
- I Saw the Devil (81)
- Grindhouse (80.6)
- The Others (80)
- The Skin I Live In (80)
- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (80)
- Frailty (80)
- A Tale of Two Sisters (79.6)
- Mulholland Drive (79.3)
- The Orphanage (80.5)
- Saw (79.3)
21-50
The Conjuring, 28 Days Later, Ginger Snaps, Ichi the Killer, [Rec], Bubba Ho-Tep, The Descent, Dawn of the Dead, Let Me In, The Loved Ones, Shadow of a Vampire, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Three Extremes, Shutter, The Babadook, Housebound, Only Lovers Left Alive, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Constantine, Cabin in the Woods, Thirst, Joyride, Inside, Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead, Spring, Hellboy 2, Devil’s Rejects, A Field in England, Attack the Block, Troll Hunter
Top 25 Rated horror films from Rotten Tomatoes Critics, RT Audience Score , Metacrtic, Metacritic User Score and IMDb Users
I consider these to be the highest rated “horror” films of the 21st century! It is a combination of critic and user scores which gives us a solid representation of the multiple scores.
- Pans Labyrinth (90.4)
- Let the Right One In (87.6)
- Shaun of the Dead (85.4)
- Devils Backbone (84.6)
- [REC] (84) – Did not have Metacritic score
- What We Do in the Shadows (83.6)
- The Gift (2015) (83.2)
- The Loved Ones (82.25) – Did not have Metacritic score
- Black Swan (82.2)
- Zombieland (81.8)
- The Babadook (81.4)
- Grindhouse (80.4)
- Mulholand Drive (80)
- Let Me In (79.8)
- The Orphanage (79.8)
- A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (79.4)
- The Others (79.2)
- 28 Days Later (79)
- Ginger Snaps (79)
- Housebound (78.4)
- Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (78.2)
- The Conjuring (78.2)
- The Skin I Live In (78)
- I Saw the Devil (77.8)
- A Tale of Two Sisters (77.8)
- The Descent (77.8)
- Only Lovers Left Alive (77.4)
27-75 Below
The Host, Cabin in the Woods, Shadow of a Vampire, Inside, Hellboy 2, Attack the Block, American Psycho, Frailty, The Guest, Creep, Spring, Thirst, Drag Me To Hell, Bubba Ho-Tep, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Joyride, Dawn of the Dead, Hellboys, Cheap Thrills, Dead Snow: Red Vs. Dead, This is the End, Rogue, Troll Hunter, 28 Weeks Later, House of the Devil, Eden Lake, The Snowtown Murders, Sightseers, Ichi the Killer, Livid, Berberian Sound Studio, Under the Skin, Juan of the Dead, Battle Royale, We Are Still Here, Cloverfield, Shutter, Pulse, Orphan, Excision, Stoker, The Mist, You’re Next, Kill List, The Gift, Paranormal Activity, Session 9, Slither, Back Country.
Quick note: There were some neat surprises in here. Joy Ride, Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, Attack the Block, Spring, Drag Me To Hell and Frailty all did really well! Frailty needs more love and I hope more college kids start killing themselves in a T&D sequel.
The list below doesn’t affect the rankings above. I just wanted to know what the top horror websites thought were the best 21st century horror films. The Top 10 rated according to Shocktillyoudrop, Dread Central, Fangoria (with info from the chainsaw awards), Bloody Disgusting and Bloody Good Horror
Sidenote: Four of the sites had “Best of the 00” Lists. Some featured 25 films while others featured 15 or 10. So, I picked the top 10 of each list. Then, I went through their 2010-2014 “Best of” lists and took the number one film from the list. Fangoria was a little trickier. I picked from from their 25 Greatest Horror Post then I went through their Golden chainsaw awards on IMDB. The following has the movies that were featured the most on the lists.
- Let the Right One In
- Shaun of the Dead
- The Babadook
- The Descent
- The Mist
- Dawn of the Dead remake
- Cabin in the Woods
- 28 Days Later
- Maniac, Inside, Attack the Block, Saw, I Saw the Devil, The Ring
- You’re Next, Piranha 3D, Housebouend, Conjuring, Evil Dead, May, Ginger Snaps, Devil’s Rejects, Shadow of a Vampire, Paranormal Activity, American Psycho, [Rec], Excision, Session 9.
Sidenote: Empire magazine did a massive 2011 “best of” horror list that was voted on by readers and only four films that were released after 2000 cracked the top 50. The Mist (48), The Descent (39), Let the Right One In (34) and 28 Days Later (25).
Now that you’ve checked out the top rated “Horror” films I want you to vote for the best of the 21 century. This is a mixture of the top ten and other favorites that got left out. Vote and let me know who should win.
The polls are closed. Thank you for voting! Here are the top 21 horror films of the 21st century! Enjoy!
You get three votes! Use them wisely! . I will announce the winner on our Facebook page next week.
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John’s Horror Corner: Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), a crime thriller about a dirty cop, the Puzzle Box and The Engineer.
MY CALL: My least favorite of the first five Hellraisers, but it still has a story to tell that adds a minor little something to the franchise. MOVIES LIKE Hellraiser: Inferno: Be sure to see Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) first, of course. Then maybe Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth (1992) and Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996).
The folks from @DeadAsHellHP referred to Hellraiser 5 as the “Bad Lieutenant” of the franchise in their podcast on the series (http://www.deadashellhp.com/2015/07/24/dead-as-hell-scarlet-gospels-hellraiser-special-part-ii/).
Directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil), this fifth installment to the Hellraiser franchise continues to follow the pleasant trend of presenting a new infernal chapter in yet a different style from its predecessors; never does a sequel feel like a rehashed facsimile. Hellraiser was a dark chamber thriller fueled by lustful desire, Hellbound more of a curious exploration of Barker’s Hell-ish Labyrinth and his Cenobites, Hell on Earth was a troped-up action/horror movie chronicling Pinhead’s own escape from Hell, Bloodline an anthology story illustrating the creation and lineage of the Puzzle Box, and now we find a crime thriller neatly packaged in the dark trappings of the Puzzle Box. There may be an admittedly significant drop in quality in the third and fourth films from the original two, and yet another such drop for this fifth and direct-to-video installment, but it remains comforting that we never seem to find the same story recycled and retold with different victims.
Our latest story revolves around Detective Thorne (Craig Sheffer; Nightbreed), who is perhaps the least likable protagonist of the series so far as a drug-using adulterer who neglects his family and frames his partner. Thorne discovers the Puzzle Box and some macabre clues at a murder scene where the victim was apparently torn apart in his luxurious home, decorated and candlelit for an occult ritual. Thorne solves the Puzzle Box and encounters some Cenobites, but is neither shredded and taken to Hell nor forced to bargain for his soul. Instead he wakes up (as if from a dream) and is occasionally haunted by Cenobites. Well this is a strange and welcome change…
The franchise continues to expand the Hellraiser mythology, although with less impact here than before. Whereas parts 1-4 revolve around the Box or Pinhead (Doug Bradley), this chapter is illustrative of what experiences befall those damned souls who open the Box. As a result, we see much less of Pinhead and focus more on our curious and potentially damned soul. Thorne’s journey begins as a rational investigation, shifts to something supernatural, and ultimately steers us into what feels like a surreal dreamscape of his life.
We question if it is a dream, a temptation or trick, or reality when Thorne sees The Pillar of Souls.
This film opens with the scoring, lighting, style and plot of a Skinemax softcore porn. It didn’t quite grasp the noir-ish detective film tone for which I think it was reaching and I was almost embarrassed to be watching it. Thankfully, it shifted more to the point (and story) about halfway through and the sleazy feeling washed away. A major fault of Hell on Earth and Bloodline was the nuisance of over-exposition. I didn’t find that to be a problem here. Although some strange things certainly happen that make me question the quality of the writing and direction at times…to that end, I’ll just say three words: “Ninja Cowboy Cenobites.” Clearly, this concept has no place in any Hellraiser movie ever. LOL.
These ninja cowboys are among some new Cenobites. The gore (while toned down here in part 5) is well done, the effects satisfactory, and the Cenobite make-up is cool. One Cenobite resembles the head and arms of Chatterbox (without legs or even the rest of its torso), menacingly hand-walking around like a Silent Hill monster. There is a pair of twin female faceless BDSM Cenobites with long tongues involved in a macabrely sexualized scene with hands rubbing “under” Thorne’s skin. And, of course, there’s Pinhead.
We are re-introduced to The Engineer. In Hellraiser, The Engineer was the dweller of the halls of the Labyrinth who is never given a name in the film. Back then it was a monstrous aberration of uncertain purpose. Having heard nothing of this character in parts 2-4, we now find The Engineer wandering Los Angeles, assuming the role of a murderous pimp. How this character fits into the story is revealed in due time, along with how Thorne truly fits beyond the capacity of solving his case.
This was The Engineer from part 1.
Parts 1-3 of this franchise should be watched in order. After seeing them, there seems to be no consequence to seeing part 5 before part 4 outside of the fact that Bloodline is much better. This film is nothing special, nor is it even a “good” Hellraiser story. But I take it for what it is and appreciate of it what I can. I didn’t regret watching it, and this is the first in the franchise that I don’t recommend seeing.
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Road Hard tells the story of a former television star going back on the road to provide for his family. He is living in the guest house outside his Los Angeles home because he is divorced and refuses to leave the valuable property that he pays the taxes on. His wife has remarried and his daughter has chosen the $60,000 a year USC. Thus, he is a stranger in his own home (he can’t come in it) yet he pays all the bills.
The road has made him a pessimistic turd who still has the jokes but his demeanor is beyond sour. He constantly sabotages his chances and has no filter when around stupidity. In more successful times I bet he would keep his mouth shut but as frustration mounts he lowers himself to humiliating situations. You can also tell his annoyance in the way he delivers his jokes. They revolve around the frustration of the road and even small things like hotel key cards elicit five minute rants about the little cards that can be destroyed by cell phones.
Adam Carolla imbues Road Hard with his observations and a lot of it feels like one long bit. However, he has an amicable screen presence and after The Hammer (a better film) he seems more comfortable on screen. He wanted complete freedom so he raised over 1.5 million on fundanything.com and went to town. There were no studio notes, tampering or editing issues. Carolla put in what he wanted and there is a weird purity to that. The movie lives and dies on his shoulders and I think he is proving there are other avenues for distribution.
It does shift tonally from satire to romantic comedy but it never becomes jarring. Road Hard is a singular vision by a very opinionated and funny man. He is blue-collar through and through and I like a different perspective about Hollywood. Road Hard is a film meant for his fans and I love how he still manages to complain about meeting his contributors and bemoans certain descriptions of his film. Carolla isn’t meant for Hollywood.
I’ve enjoyed watching the influx of crowd funded films. One thing I’ve realized is that they are very hard to review. They are meant for a select audience who forked over their cash to watch people they like do something they like. It can come across as fan service but isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about? The people who paid for Road Hard did not want a semi-hard road. They wanted Carolla doing his thing which includes complaining about dogs on airplanes and spreading his justifiable hatred of Hollywood.
If you get a chance check out The Hammer and let me know what you think!
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MY CALL: After the well-executed opening act, this possession film offers little more than illustrating some skills (and some limitations) of a fledgling director. MORE MOVIES LIKE In the Dark: In terms of possession movies, I’d instead recommend The Quiet Ones (2014), Case 39 (2009), The Last Exorcism (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Oculus (2014). They all offer very different “flavors” of possession with less conventional settings.
Right out of the gates this is beautifully scored with a thought-provoking opening credits sequence hinting at a dark ancient Biblical fable as art student Bethany paints something…something dark. Immediately we find unsubtle cues of a supernatural presence, followed readily by a…”disturbance.”
Meanwhile a skeptical graduate student (Veronica) studying parapsychology interviews paranormal researcher Lois about her “verified” cases, the most interesting of which involves possession and exorcism. Lois is not one to desperately grasp at straws to evidence claims of the otherworldly, rather she is known as the “miracle killer” for debunking 197 of 200 cases.
The acting (all actors being of little experience) is not great, but the director stages his story well. In one scene, Veronica reviews the 5 stages of a haunting to her boyfriend as she expresses doubt in all things paranormal. I like this as it gives us (the audience) a way to “measure” the seriousness of the situation.
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Hearing footsteps, feelings of being watched, cold spots, noises, odors.
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Whispers, laughs, moans, shrieking, moving shadows.
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Lights and electrical devices turning on and off, unseen hands touching, writings, open/close doors.
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The appearance of apparitions, disappearance of objects, breaking mirrors and glass.
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Manifestations of violence.
Lois (with the intention of helping eradicate a supernatural problem) and Veronica (with the intention to debunk the case) visit the troubled Bethany and her mother, who claim to have a paranormal disturbance in their home that’s after Bethany, who shows signs of possession. She speaks in a voice that couldn’t possibly be hers, vomits a 5″ nail and gradually becomes more physically disheveled. As Bethany’s “symptoms” advance, her behavior and appearance become more overt.
At this point in the film, I feel some credibility is lost during this transition—and, subsequently, more credibility is later lost. The contortion scene failed to capture my attention and Bethany’s episodes of violence feel more than a bit forced. What’s more is that her behavior is straight out of the “possession movie playbook” with no inklings of clever nuance to make these possession scenes stand out. We aren’t really offered any different “versions” of the classic symptoms we’ve seen a dozen times before. There is little gore (not that gore is important here), limited to vomiting black bile and a stabbing. The make-up is decent and special attention was paid to Bethany’s corrupted skin and teeth.
Lois strongly suspects possession whereas Veronica questions an overworked abusive mother or Bethany’s past head trauma to be the cause of their problems. Of course, the supernatural element becomes increasingly undeniable as we move towards confronting the “Gehenna demons” controlling her.
The dialogue falls into the trap of over-exposition, explaining every detail in the dialogue of the demon(s) and characters to such length that it feels like a chore to listen. Early in the film this was of negligible consequence as the dialogue felt more natural. But as the film progresses it begins to wear on me. I take that back, it’s becoming significantly annoying. Even in a world in which demonic possession exists, I find this level of gross over-explanation implausible. The demon characer is the worst of all. “This is what I am, this is what I don’t like, this is what I want, and this is how I’ll get it.” Basically the words of the demon summarized. Later the demon’s dialogue shifts to pure melodrama–even for a possession film. This is unfortunate. Show me, don’t tell me. When you tell me too much it informs me that you perhaps don’t know how to show me. This dialogue is all too often explained instead of shown in context.
I also didn’t feel that the characters were responding appropriately (i.e., reasonably or credibly) to what they were seeing and experiencing. Their emotions typically didn’t match the scene, the lines or the urgency–except for the mother, she was emotionally on point. Overall, the writing just wasn’t there and things really fell apart approaching and during the exorcism.
Written and directed by horror newcomer David Spaltro, this film’s first act showed the signs of a promising director. Spaltro stages things well with a good premise (i.e., debunking the paranormal goes wrong), creating anticipation and mood when weighing the opening credit sequence, the first paranormal events and Veronica’s skepticism. Introducing the “5 stages of a haunting” may appear to some to be formulaic, but when Veronica explained it to her boyfriend it felt as if it arose organically. I was being primed for something great and I enjoyed the delivery. But the second half of this film is indicative that this director would better serve his audience with a more experienced writer penning the script. Sorry, it had to be said.
I’d like to see what David Spaltro could do with his vision if handed a script–or, perhaps, if he had more freedom. Ultimately, I didn’t get anything great here. However, I feel that Spaltro’s proven skills have greatness in them. He just needs the right script and I am left to wonder if my perceived writing flaws weren’t the hand of a writer/director whose hand was forced by his producers. And someone give this guy a budget to play around with. He staged some creepy atmosphere in the early scenes. I’d love to see what more he can do.
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Late Phases: The Old Man and the Werewolf
Late Phases tells the age-old story of a blind Vietnam veteran battling werewolves that are terrorizing a retirement community. The independent horror film is refreshingly heavy on practical effects and creates a neat atmosphere of paranoia, crankiness and suspense. I love that there is never any doubt about the werewolves (aside from the dumb cops) and the film plays out like Grumpy Old Men met Gran Torino and The Wolfman happened.
What I appreciate most about Late Phases is how straight forward it is. A cranky widower named Ambrose (Nick Damici) is moved into a retirement community by his harried son and his overbearing wife (stereotypical turds). A werewolf kills his seeing eye dog and the cops think it is a wild animal attack (of course). The threat of mauling via demonic creature inspires him to start working out, finding silver bullets and prepping himself for the next attack.
What follows is a tidy 90-minutes that introduces several compelling characters and builds to a blind battle royale between man and beast. Ambrose figures the werewolf attacks are from a local so he goes about getting to know his neighbors and local church goers. It is fun to watch as this old man practices sharp stick work in his front yard Roadhouse style while the elderly inhabitants watch on in confusion. He isn’t the nicest fellow and is prone to pulling guns and sassing women but I’m not a blind Vietnam vet who lost his dog so I can’t really blame him.
Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano does a good job with the werewolf carnage but the majority of the human interactions never feel real because most of the characters are archetypes. Damici carries the film on his surprisingly ripped old man shoulders and his blind acting comes across naturally and not forced. Damici was very good in Stakeland and his scripts for We Are What We Are, Cold in July and Stakeland are better than they have any right to be. Late Phases is a horror film made by people who love horror. It may miss on several levels but there is an independent pureness and the new story is welcome.
The werewolf design is funky as the werewolves look like a Gremlin mated with a Critter then got splashed with water and became a Werelim. Robert Kurtzman (From Dusk Til Dawn, Faculty, Tusk, Evil Dead 2) relished the opportunity to create something new and he turned a familiar creature into something different.
We here at MFF love Werewolf films and we’ve covered a ridiculous amount of the furry cinematic carnage. If you want to check out reviews for Dog Soldiers, Wolfman (remake), An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, Wer and Wolfcop please do!
Late Phases is a welcome addition to the Werewolf genre because it proves that practical effects and new stories aren’t dead.
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NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW
This article is rich with images you do not want your boss to see when he’s looking over your shoulder at work. View at your own risk.
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MY CALL: This would probably be more fun if watched as a drinking game. But for a smutty, shoestring budgeted, semi-exploitation film, it tried really hard with the creature effects. Good for them. I was entertained. MOVIES LIKE Bio Slime: Tentacle and goo monster movies come in all forms. The good include The Thing (1982, 2011), The Blob (1988), Grabbers (2012), The Raft (segment from Creepshow 2; 1987), Slither (2006) and The Kindred (1987). The “good bad” include The Boogens (1981) and The Stuff (1985). The really bad include Night of the Tentacles (2013) and Street Trash (1987).
This is one of those movies that I had never heard of until Amazon randomly recommended it based on some of my purchases of more questionable taste. I’m guessing Night of the Tentacles (2013) triggered this. LOL. I went in hoping for an indie Splice (2009) meets The Thing (1982, 2011). Instead I got something originating from deeper in the Abyss. It turns out this movie stars and was made by people involved in loads of other horror films of the kind I specifically try to avoid; the kind with so much nudity and/or sex that they feel like softcore porn. Oh well, here we go…
Within 30 seconds of starting this film I fear I’ve made a mistake. The acting is bad and the editing is even worse. Immediately I shift gears and consider this more of a student film that may have some merits hidden deep within. Right now that hidden merit seems to be the opening credits. But wait, perhaps this isn’t actually so awful. Yes. The acting is bad…and much of the camerawork…and the writing. But this “bad” was packaged like this deliberately. Among deliberately bad horror movies this is surely not of the caliber of Zombeavers (2014) or Love in the Time of Monsters (2014)–or anything else that I’d actually recommend to anyone. But should you accidently wander into viewing this with an open mind and a good sense of humor you’ll survive the encounter with at least a smirk on your face.
A criminal (Tai Chan Ngo; Killjoy Goes to Hell) meets another man of questionable moral fiber in a dark alley to exchange a brief case. Its contents? Apparently some kind of tentacle monster the result of secret government experimentation. The case ends up in an apartment building inhabited by friendly but shady people and, in no time at all, a drunk (Vinnie Bilancio; Blood Gnome) comes across it and “activates” something by turning a key that compromises the integrity of the container and something that looks like a block of spoiled tofu from Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods bites his hand.
Then someone else comes in contact with this now pulsating blob of goo in the case, and they become infected. Infection by this parasitic slime seems nonspecific, happening by the goo injecting itself into one’s blood stream, engulfing them like the blob (but in a boring way) or jamming itself down one’s throat. Although sometimes it’s just trying to kill you rather than infect you. There’s really no rhyme or reason to it.
The classlessness of this film is readily apparent and deliberate as various characters are in the porn industry (and played by adult film stars) for no other reason than to have our protagonists walk in on scenes being filmed and to have otherwise mundane conversations with totally naked women suddenly being “normal.” It also means the victims may be naked (and several of them are).
The kills and the effects were all pretty poor…or are they pretty entertaining?!?!? It all comes down to your frame of mind and expectations when viewing a film like this. After all, what would you expect from a $50,000 budget and loads of gratuitous nudity? Perhaps the highlight of the special effects was a fleshy trilobite of a monster that looks like a slimy, warty STD. But this turns out to be an ectoparasitic organism that lives on the “main monster.” Our first glimps of the monster looks a lot like a squid-sludge monster or a Grabber with a toothy maw. Other effects include a couple naked porn stars transforming into a naked slimy succubus with tentacles…and one gets cut in half…and then she attacks. LOL.
We eventually meet the central hivemind of this creature, a quasi-humanoid sludge beast that speaks and has some understanding of its identity. It captures a woman, apparently strips her of her clothes, and entraps her in slimy ivy like an incubating host in Aliens. It knows it’s very old and comprised of all victims that are absorbed into its sensual communion. After something of a tentacle sex scene between them (nothing terribly graphic other than the nudity itself), it smacks of a live-action Hentai Cthulhu. But even more striking is how similar the creature is to Phantoms (1998).
This film starts out horrible, but finds its way to something tolerable…as far as sleazy, low budget horror goes. The first 30 minutes were honestly quite painful, but the action becomes much more frequent as the film proceeds, along with more on-screen (rather than off) activity and we begin to see quite a lot of creature effects considering the budget. I think I might actually be impressed. Our hero may be an alcoholic, out-of-work painter with a samurai sword who can make an EMP device out of a biohazard containment unit, but I ultimately found myself not caring.
This film is horrible and yet the second half is also a pleasant surprise of abundant creature effects. Watch at your own risk and be mindful of the sleaziness if you have company.
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Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation: The Blockbuster of Summer
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is the sequel perfected. It is lean, mean and features chase scenes that will leave you breathless. It starts fast, never slows down and oft makes you laugh. You have to love a movie where the bad guys are fodder for well-dressed people to conquer via motorcycles, airplane grip strength, computer hacking and odd couple pairings.
Mahalo y’all
In true Mission: Impossible fashion the plot revolves around some European bad guys looking to kill a bunch of people. They are secretive, deadly and if Chris Klein from Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li was in the film he would say they “walk through raindrops.” Eventually, they piss off Tom Cruise and his now disbanded Impossible Mission Force risk treasonous death in order to bring down the bad guys.
Joining Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) are returning members Benji (Simon Pegg), Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Luther (Ving Rhames). The four core members have an easy chemistry that has been built from film to film. I would pay to watch a spin-off where Rhames and Renner drive around in a 4X4 all day and talk smack to each other. This may sound insane but I would love a Mission: Impossible/Spy hybrid where Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne and crew team up with the IMF and battle some European villains who dress like dolphin trainers.
The IMF may not be joined by an insane Jason Statham but they do pick up an occasional double/triple/quadruple crossing British agent Lisa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Faust switches alliances more often than tailored outfits and finally gives Cruise a suitable spy love interest/foil (think Mr. & Mrs. Smith after they know each others identities). Ferguson does a solid job of holding her own in action scenes and is believable as a female Ethan Hunt who can do everything Ethan can but in high heels.
Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarie (The underrated Jack Reacher) have dedicated themselves to giving the audience a good time. The set pieces are things of orchestrated beauty as we get fantastic opera house fights and a showstopping motorcycle chase in which you feel the speed. You feel the giddy joy they have in creating bonkers action set pieces and the insanity of the missions feels organic because we are watching an Impossible Mission Force.
There is zero pretentiousness to the proceedings and it appreciates telling a good joke amidst vehicular carnage (You had to rent the slow 4×4!). Mission joins the Fast series in its appreciation of global locals and outrageous set pieces. The stunts may be bonkers but they are well-thought out and become iconic because you feel the danger. Having Tom Cruise around is a bonus because you sense that he puts his body on the line no matter what the danger. There is scene in Rogue Nation where Cruise scrapes his knee while going 200 MPH on a motorcycle. I don’t know if that was planned or not but it kept me interested in the moment. It all may be perfectly safe but there is a sense of danger whenever a new and outrageous stunt happens. The only stock moments are when we get are the obligatory shirtless Cruise and at least 149 Rebecca Ferguson glory shots.
Ving Rhames needs a version of this poster.
If you are looking for a great time in the cinema it doesn’t get any better than Rogue Nation. It knows what it is and excels in creating likable characters, well-thought out fights and a whole lot of fun. Watch it and let me know what you think!
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