Two New Reviews at Best Horror Movie List

A little behind on updating here, which is, sadly, par for the course. I've had two new reviews posted at http://www.besthorrormovielist.com/reviews/ in the last week - one for As Above, So Below and another for A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night.

 As Above, So Below is an interesting film - with lots to recommend it on the surface - but it fails to hold together as a coherent whole. I briefly touched on this in the review, but I seriously think this could have been a much better film if they had eschewed the entire found-footage idea and shot it as a straightforward horror movie. The limitations of found-footage are such that exposition is super problematic - you can't just have people talking for huge chunks for time as the whole point of a found-footage setup is a sense of immediacy. You're supposed to feel like you're seeing exactly what transpired and people - especially people in a difficult and stressful situation - just don't sit around spouting facts and explanations. A film like this, whose entire last third depends on an understanding of alchemical history and esoterica, is faced with losing its verisimilitude and momentum or becoming incoherent. Unfortunately, As Above opted for the latter, and the film suffers terribly because of it.

"If you mixed Indiana Jones with The Descent and shot it as a found-footage movie it might feel a little like As Above, So Below..." [more]

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is one of those films that invites a lot of analysis. There are deliberate holes in the narrative, spaces in which any reviewer can simply deposit their own biases and interests. The gap between the intent of the creator and the understanding of the viewer is large at the best of times, but with a film like this it becomes an absolute chasm. Is it a feminist take on life in Iran? Is it a commentary on lost youth? What if it's really all about innocence lost, as represented by the 57 Thunderbird. What does the cat mean? Sometimes I watch a film like this, all art-school pretension and film-school virtuosity and have to quote Big Trouble In Little China, "Is it me or are we just stroking ourselves heavily?"

Not to say it's an empty vessel - there's plenty of good stuff going on in the film. I just sometimes feel like it was trying to be 'important' for its own sake, and not as part of any real message.

"In Bad City, where the citizens dump their inconvenient corpses in dry riverbeds and rusty oil pumpjacks creak on the horizon day and night, there is something sinister moving in the dim streets...." [more]

The Beyond - Fear Flashback Review at Best Horror Movie List

In the absence of a new assignment from Best Horror Movie List I decided to review one of my favorite Italian horror movies. I'd just picked up the Grindhouse Releasing Blu-ray of The Beyond and it's well worth picking up, especially if you don't have a previous release. (I've also got the Arrow Blu-ray, but I'm happy to have double-dipped, as there are some great new extras and the picture quality is - IMHO - a tick higher on the Grindhouse disc.)

I've got a new assignment for BHML for next week (As Above, So Below), but will hopefully still review older films on occasion.

"The plot of your standard Fulci film is usually a thin excuse for random imagery and gory set pieces at the best of times..." [more]

Dead Snow 2: Red vs Dead - New review at Best Horror Movie List

I've got a new review on The Best Horror Movie List. I was surprised (in a good way) by the first Dead Snow film and in some ways I think the sequel is even better - certainly it's more consistent in tone. They really chose to go all-out with the comedy/gore and the horror aspect is downplayed.

This is the first time I've really noticed the editing of my reviews. God knows I need editing - actually, I think everyone knows I need editing - and I accept that as part of the process of writing, particularly for publication. There were some edits on this review that I wondered about, though. There are some new exclamation points in there and the last paragraph in particular seems chopped up. (My original paragraph had some egregious typos, to be fair.) The line about 'in my opinion' in particular seems weird - people know that a review is an opinion, right?

Not a big deal, but like I said - the first time I noticed it in a way that nagged me. Probably I'm too attached to the original wording - and I don't want to be that writer who thinks their excrement isn't aromatic - but I asked for a small edit. Figured it couldn't hurt! (Although it occurs to me that if they do agree then this post will make no sense. So... situation normal, I guess.)

Onwards!

"The Nazi zombies of 2009 Norwegian horror-comedy Dead Snow are back in a Dead Snow 2: Red vs Dead.  A film that is bigger, badder, and gorier than the original. And that goes for the jokes, too..." [more]

It Follows, new review at Best Horror Movie List

My review of It Follows is now up on The Best Horror Movie List. It's weird, I keep thinking about this movie. I ramble (as per usual) in the review, but I even tormented my wife with talking it last night. It's just that kind of film - whether intended or not there are lots of avenues for interpretation and discussion.

For instance - and I mentioned this in passing in the review - but there's a distinct absence of parental/adult affect in the movie. They're there - briefly - but I'm not sure any of them even have a line of dialogue. And the behavior of the 'kids' (most all of college age, really) isn't really affected by them in any way. Their presence is - at best - tangential. The kids exist in a world where they and their problems are really the only things of importance, the only things that affect them are they choices they make and the problems they have. No obstacles or help is forthcoming from the adult world.

That's certainly how I felt when I was a teenager. Like I was in a completely different sphere of reality from adults. I dunno - does it mean anything? Is it important? I have no idea - but it was another one of those layers, another thing about the movie that stuck in my head and made me think about it much later.

Anyway...

"It Follows is a nightmare. It looks like a nightmare, it feels like a nightmare, and it has that disconnected sort of dream logic where nothing you do seems to make a difference. You run and you run and no matter how far you go or how fast you go..." [more]

New Review at The Best Horror Movie List

Well, I answered an open call for review writers and it looks like I'll be doing the occasional horror movie review at The Best Horror Movie List! Maybe that will get me back into doing stuff for the blog as well - weirder things have happened. You can see my first review here:

http://www.besthorrormovielist.com/reviews/rec-4-apocalypse-review/

"The fourth (and supposedly final) entry in the [REC] series finally arrives, providing a serviceable if uninspired conclusion to the story of Ángela Vidal and the demonic virus first released in 2007’s [REC]." more...