Dinoshark - 2010 - Prehistoc shark flick! DUH!

Here me rambling about this creature feature below.

Review: Doll Boy - 2010

Doll Boy

Director: Bloody Bill

2010

Horror/Short

This flick has a very shallow plot possibly not worth mentioning. Well, of course it is! It’s just that it can be describes in just a few words and it feels more appropriate to incorporate it into the text rather than use an entire paragraph in bold letters. The main thing about the flick isn’t really the deep plot anyway. We have all seen films where the main thing is to watch the killer kill his victims rather than a great character development. This is one of them! But the actor is quite nice and the killers mask is very creepy! He has some people locked up in this maze of tunnels that used to be a flea market of some sort. He terrorizes them by chasing them and kills them one at a time. That’s the whole thing really.

But as I said, the acting is good and the murder scenes are not bad either! There are some splats on the wall and things like that which add to the experience of watching it. Small details are often what make a movie like this watchable. You can’t really make an interesting movie with such a shallow plot without adding something. Here both the environment and the killer himself are very cool plus the actors as I already claimed a couple of times. There are also a couple of truly gruesome scenes – not necessarily filled with guts and gore – that makes me feel kind of revolting inside. This happens for the first time in the opening sequence and that’s a good place to start making it interesting for us.

Since the flick is just about half an hour long there’s really not enough time to add any suspense, but it’s still very exciting at times. I would be lying if I’d say it was all the time but as most movies it has its ups and downs. There’s more positive thing than negative thing though and considering that this is “Bloody Bill’s” directional debut I’ll be very forgiving.

I’m not sure if the intro trailers are for real or fake but I must say that I need to see a flick called Mister Fister and is about a lunatic killer obsessed by killing women in a certain particular way. I think you’ll figure out just how by the title! There’s also another one which seems very entertaining about cannibalistic clowns… God, I hope these are for real. That’ll put “Bloody Bill” up with some of the more deranged and sick directors out there! And I mean that in a good way! Just saying!

6/10

Review: The Sweet Hand of the White Rose - 2010

The Sweet Hand of the White Rose

Director: Davide Melini

2010

Short/Horror

I always have some difficulty writing reviews of short films. They don’t work in the same way as proper features and they usually tell the story in a very fast manor. It’s in the nature of them of course. To tell the story in just a few minutes instead of an hour and a half is a totally different thing. You need to be very precise with what you’re telling and there is no time for character development. At least very little time!

I think that writer/director Davide Melini does a fine job here. It’s very clear that the story follows to different individuals and that their paths will cross somewhere. It’s also very clear that the crossing won’t be a pleasant one… The moral of it all is that life is precious and that you should be careful about what you do on the roads. Yes, the story concerns a car accident! I can’t really figure out what the opening sequence has to do with anything though?

But it’s also a horror story! Or at least it has elements of it. The second part of it is very gothic and kind of scary. There’s a lot of inspiration from Asian ghost horror movies even if the themes is nowhere near as confusing as the Asian ghost stories can be. And I must confess that I got kind of fooled by it too. I thought I had it all figured out but I was wrong! I like being wrong! That means that the filmmakers have made a good job with the twists. There’s no point of having twists in a movie if you can smell them a mile away is there?

I liked this and I feel it’s a pretty damn important issue! Don’t drink and drive and don’t text and drive either! It can only end with disaster. This might be an eye opener to some!

7/10

Review: Yakuza Hunters: The Ultimate Battle Royale - 2010

Yakuza Hunters: The Ultimate Battle Royale

Director: Kazushi Nakadaira

2010

Action

Asami, leader of the Girl Gang, is found several years after she’s thought to be dead and brought back to her peers. She’s in poor condition but she hasn’t forgotten who sis it to her. In fact it’s a former member of the gang which once was her friend – Junko. She’s betrayed them all and gone to work with the Yakuza and seems to be totally without empathy for the victims her actions has reaped. Her plan to kill the girls one by one and use their bodies as vessels for smuggling drugs was a heartless one. But she secured her position in the Yakuza and even taken control of the leader by performing sexual favors of a quite perverse kind to him.

At first I thought this reminded me of one of my all time favorite cult movies – Golden Queens Commando. It was certainly the women fighting in the way that they do that gave me this feeling. The two pictures really has anything in common, it was just a quick thought. There’s no prison here and there’s no escape from it. But there is a search after the bad guy and there is a connection in the Girl Gang similar to that of The Three Musketeers – All for one and one for all just like in Golden Queens Commando. They’re also both quite violent movies but this, being the newer and most modern of the two contains more blood, guts and intestines without any doubt.

This is the kind of movie where you invite your friends over, pop some popcorn and drink a few beers. You watch the film and have a few laughs. I don’t think it’s really intended to be taken serious. There are too many silly scenes in it for that. It’s intentionally funny I think. For my own personal preferences I think there’s a bit too much of the splatter effects but I know that there are a lot of people out there who likes them. I feel it’s a little bit silly…

But despite that, this is really a cool flick at least on a sexual level. There are loads of low angel shots almost showing what girls got between their legs. And the girls are hot, they’re beautiful and they’re sexy. They’re dressed in sexy clothes like leather skirts, suspenders and stockings even if it’s far from silk. These are tough girl that’ll stop at nothing when it comes to reaching their goal.

As this is a Yakuza film of sorts there’s plenty of cutting of finger scenes in it. They’re off camera but I still think they’re uncomfortable. There are a few body parts I have trouble seeing getting molested and eyes, feet and hands are among them. Although I cannot help being a bit impressed by strength of will it must take to mutilate your own body. Just the thought of cutting my own fingers off… yuck!

Images: © 2012 Cine du Monde (UK Licence)

Review: Necronos: Tower of Doom - 2010

Recensionen på svenska

Necronos: Tower of Doom

Director: Marc Rohnstock

2010

Horror

The Devil has plans for the earth, to conquer it and to enslave all of mankind. They can’t all be killed since the berserkers need something to eat. His mighty minion – Necronos, comes to earth to find the most precious ingredients to ensure his arrival. Necronos is accompanied by Goran – a blood Golem and a mighty witch that will assist him in identifying the most precious of all – the virgin witch. Her blood ensures the arrival of Satan and Hell will come to earth. Necronos is about to raise an army of demons and rule what’s left side by side with Satan.

First of all we need to establish that this is an independent production with a very low budget. Therefore it cannot be compare to high budget films but I don’t think Marc Rohnstock was aiming for that anyway. Usually when it comes to flicks like this the whole point is to make it very cheap and possible learn something in the process. That is why I commend productions like this; they move the boundaries of what can be done. A small budget forces the filmmakers to innovative solutions which in turn makes the industry richer. There are many high budget films that could never have been done if these productions didn’t pave the way.

Having that said it’s no big surprise that this film has the usual problem independent films have. First of all there’s the acting of course but I actually think that better than usual so I can’t complain about that. The second thing is cinematography, possible because of cheaper equipment. This is the most obvious way to tell if a film have had a shoestring budget or not.

Being a splatter film the effects are our main concern though. Those are what’s important tm us. There are two general points about this I think. It should look believable and over the top at the same time. That’s actually a pretty hard task to accomplish. Most films never come close to this, not even major Hollywood productions. The other thing is inventive use of the gore. Just to pull an arm of without any fun way of doing it isn’t good enough. There need to be a point to it. Why is the arm coming of? Just for the gore of it? Some reason that moves the plot forward? Of course I’m only talking about this as an example here but I think this film pulls it off nicely. The splatter and Gore are quite nice and most of the time there’s a point in having it there.

As it is a German movie its dialog is in German of course. I have a hard time with it. Not because of the language itself but as most of the dialog is spoken through filters to make it feel more demon-ish. It’s slightly better than watching a flick dubbed into German of course but it’s still an ugly language. Fortunately it’s subtitled into English which I understand..

The main plot isn’t very deep. But again, it doesn’t need to be. We are interested in the gore and the nudity of course. There are quite a few full frontal nudity shots and there are boobs throughout the film. I like the way this is done since it’s not only perfect bodies. There are actually real people in it as well, some saggy women and fat men, just like people are. It would be nice to see perfect porn star bodies of course but less realistic. I think it’s done in the right way!

But even if the plot isn’t very deep you get details from the beginning. You are introduced to the characters by several texts and some teaser shots. We start a few hundred years back in time with some fantastic shots. There are some really great torture scenes here. I wish they make a prequel that exploits all this in a more detailed way! Most of the film takes place in the present where the virgin witch is sought for and the torture is kind of lost in the process. I wanted to see more blood running on the women’s naked vaginas rather than intestines in a meat grinder.

Will be released by Swedish Dark Entertainment.

UPDATE:
This just in...
Troma Entertainment will distibute the film for the whole US market within the next month.

Review: A Serbian Film - 2010

A Serbian Film

Aka: Srpski Film

Director: Srdjan Spasojevic

2010

Drama/Thriller

Milos is an former porn actor, the best in the business! He’s even a living legend and if no one else can deliver a hard on, he sure can! He can keep it up forever, or so it seems, but he’s retired now. He has a wife and a son and wants to spend his time with them these days. But he still gets offers from the porn business and one day he gets an offer he can’t refuse. The amount of money he’s offered makes it possible for him and his family to spend the rest of his life in luxury. He’s not given a script and the director claims that the real facial expressions can’t be achieved if he knows too much about the movie in advance. Soon he realizes that he shouldn’t have sign up for the project and want out. Something that’s easier said than done!

I heard very much about this movie before I saw it and my expectations were very high before I viewed it. The rumor about it was that it was the most extreme movie made – ever! And a movie that disturbs it’s viewer with strong emotions is a very good movie in my world. On the other hand isn’t it uncommon that great expectations often lead to even greater disappointments. That’s according to my personal experience of course.

The movie revolves around pornography and that wasn’t too hard to figure out, but that doesn’t make it a porn movie in any way. There is no visual penetration and the nude scenes are fewer than expected. I don’t see anything strange in a movie that covers the porn world but not becoming a porn movie itself. In fact, I think that that’s making the movie better. There’s not just graphical explicit sex just because the hell of it, a lot of the sexual situations are of the kind that you have to create in your own mind. I think that’s preferable in 99% of all cases actually. The imagination of the viewer is usually much more vivid than what filmmakers in general are able to visualize anyway!

But it is a strong and revolting movie? Do I get anxiety when I watch it? Is it as good as the rumor? Well.. No it isn’t! It’s a pretty slow paced movie where the main concerns are Milos fall and decadence. The movie is more about him and his anxiety about what he has to do to the other participants in the porn movie. There are only victims in the movie – no winners, and I think that’s a good way to tell the story. It might be a message to the porn industry but I would have wanted even more helplessness from the participants. They’re all victims, yes, but show us more strong scenes of hopeless decadence and humiliation!

But even if the movie starts out being slow tempo is that certainly not the case when it’s about to end. You get sucked in the movie and there seems to be a point to make the next scene slightly stronger than the one before. You wonder what the final act of humiliation will be and when it comes to ultra perverted sex there’s really no equal to it. The final minutes are some of the most revolting minutes I’ve ever seen and it’s made in a way that keeps the perversions going even after it ends. It glues itself in your mind in a way that shallow but violent movies can’t! You know those kinds of movies that only seek to shock us with its violence.

9/10

Review: Insidious - 2010

According to me James Wan is a true talent! I haven’t seen all the movies he’s directed, and certainly not the early shorts and stuff, but out of those I have seen he has about 100% successful films in his portfolio. He’s a master of suspense and seems to know exactly what the audience is thinking and then doing the opposite. In this one he shows us “the monster” in broad daylight just because we aren’t used to it. He thinks outside the box to find solutions others don’t seem to think about at all. I’m always surprised when I see a film of him! He has gone from making the first episode in the Saw franchise to Dead Silence (I never saw Death Sentence) to this one and all of them are frightening and very inventive story wise. The acting is top notch and they’re very tense when it comes to deliver the story. You should expect the unexpected and even then you will be surprised!

8/10

Review: Eyes Beyond - 2010

Eyes Beyond

Director: Daniel Reininghaus

2010

Horror/Short

Two brothers share the same house. One day they invite their next door neighbors over for a nice dinner. What the neighbors don’t realize is that everything is not right with the brothers and they soon find themselves in a game of ultimate humiliation and degradation. They’re at the mercy of their captors and the only thing that can release them from the nightmare is death – or is it?

I’ve seen my fair share of low budget amateurish films and I’m happy to say that this is not one of them. It might have a shoestring budget but it’s far from being amateurish! I was, in fact, somewhat surprised by it and had not expected it to be so revolting. And I mean that in the good sense of the word. I’m happy to compare this to Funny Games, not because it’s very close quality wise, because it’s not, but the storyline kind of revolves around the same basic plot. Not exactly of course but it’s not hard to see the similarities! The violence is not visually explicit put still present in a way that ought to shock even the toughest viewers. There’s both mutilations and sadistic sexual violence in a way that I’ve seldom seen. I’ve got to say that I’m a bit impressed!

But the movie is not one long orgy of violence and I think that is a good thing too. It’s really a three part piece where the second part of the movie explains why the first happened and the third complicates thing so much that you aren’t exactly sure of what really happened at all. You can’t be sure of anything and the final scene really makes the movie what it is. It takes the movie to a whole different level and puts a serious question mark on part of society. It shows that the movie itself is thought through and not just edited into a shocking piece. This movie, even if it’s short (around 30 minutes) has something to say!

It’s not a perfect movie actor wise though. I really liked Robert Nolan’s performance in Worm but here it’s a bit too much. A few overacted scenes make the movie less believable and I think that’s problem the movie has to deal with. This is most evident in the first part of the movie. To see the next door neighbors’ daughter brutally raped in front of her parents is a very strong scene indeed. But the parents (Robert Nolanand Kelly Marie-Murtha) overact a little too much and the scene suffers from it. The daughter – Abigail (Danielle Barker) is very good though!Daniel Reininghaus – the director of the movie, does perhaps the most important role in the film and manage to be diabolical, misunderstood, fragile and sadistic all at the same time. The movie wouldn’t have worked out as nice without him!

It seems like the movie has received a lot of rewards on the festival circuit and it is, as I first mentioned, quite a big difference between this movie and the typical low budget (amateurish) horror film. Because even if the bottom line might be a little ambivalent it should appeal to both fans of violent cinema and those who like their movies to have a point. And this film most certainly has a point in the social society debate!

Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street - 2010

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Director: Samuel Bayer

2010

Horror

A burned man with a striped sweater, a glove with razor sharp knives and a hat haunts some teenagers in their dreams. The dreams turns out to be more real all the time and if you’re hurt in them, then you’re hurt for real. One by one, the teenagers die violently in their sleep without having an obvious connection between each other. They’re found torn by Freddy Krueger’s knife glove and no one can explain why. The youth’s parents have some of the answers however. They know who the scary man is, why he haunts the kids and what he’s avenging.

                     

I think that the above synopsis is rather unnecessary really. If you read this review you already know what this movie is all about. I think its common knowledge that this is a remake of a classic horror movie from 1984. Very few characters are so iconized as Fred Krueger and its all Robert Englunds doing. And the fact is that even long before this movie was made reality it was rejected by a whole world of horror film communities. All because that Freddy wasn’t portrayed by Robert Englund and that there was no way in hell it would be possible to remake such a classic masterpiece.

I won’t deny that I had my own doubts about it, but I’m so experienced these days that I realize you shouldn’t have preconceptions about these things. You can never know until you’ve actually seen it! To judge a film, or something else for that matter, before you’ve experienced it is plain idiocy! I would place this film in the category of movies that aren’t as bad as everyone who hasn’t seen it claims it to be. I’d say it’s rather good actually! Perhaps comparisons with the original are a stupid thing to do, but some things just can’t be helped. I think that the strength I this movie lies somewhat in the small variations that are made from the original. There are subtle hints to the original that is quite entertaining too.

So it has more strength as a new interpretation of the original story than standalone feature, at least that’s my view about it. Obviously it’s a sign of weakness that you need pre knowledge about it to really enjoy the movie to its fullest, as it’s a sign of weakness that you need to be familiar with short stories and novels to reach an optimal viewing experience. It’s a totally different film than the original films, or at least what the original films came to be after a few sequels. There isn’t very much of the humor from the latter movies of the original series, but there are a few one-liners a couple of times.

The new Freddy, which is played by Jackie Earle Haley (Probably best known from Watchmen), looks rather good through my eyes. There is a difference in makeup but on the other hand it’s more realistic too. It looks as if he was burned and it’s quite creepy actually. There are quite a few surprise effects in it and I for one don’t tend to like them very much. I think they’ve done a great job here though! The effects are nice looking and even if there are some cgi here and there it’s barely noticeable. It looks good more or less. The death scenes are successful and the hints to the original films make it all worthwhile watching. I say films since it’s not all about the first film but about several of them. I think it’s pretty thought through!

Something that I also like about this, something that I not necessarily like when it comes to other remakes (Halloween for example) is that you get a little more background to the story. Freddy isn't just a boogeyman and a killer, you get a little more motivation to the story. What it is that drives him to do what he does and so on. The other characters aren’t very interesting but there’s nothing to distinguish them in a negative way either.

Bottom line is that this was a good and positive acquaintance for me. I wish that all fans of horror could se it without prejudice because if there is something that will ruin it, there you have it! In either case I have a dilemma, I don’t know if I dare to watch the original again, this is so good that I’m worried that my nostalgic memories regarding the original are just that – nostalgic…

Review: 7 Days - 2010

7 Days

Aka: Les 7 Jours Du Talion

Director: Daniel Grau

2010

Thriller/Horror/Drama

Dr. Bruno Hamel and his wife see their 8-year old daughter walking off on her own. That’s the last they see of her, at least while she’s still alive. She’s found a couple of days later raped and murdered! Her parents loose themselves with grief and start to blame each other for the terrible crime. They should have looked after her and they should have done this or that. A few days go by and the police find a person likely to have committed the crime, very likely even. The DNA matches and the trial should be over very quickly. But that’s not enough for Dr. Hamel. He finds a place where he can be undisturbed and hires a couple of thugs to bring him the prime suspect into his little torture chamber…

I’ve heard a few opinions about this French spoken Canadian movie and I decided I’d check it out myself. Most of the comments about it were positive and most of them claimed this to be a very strong movie. It was said to be full of very hard to watch torture scenes and the cover even claims Saw is child’s play in comparison. Well… The theme and context of the movie is truly horrible. I can’t think of anything worse than losing your child and then finding her raped and killed by a crazy pedophile. And the plot emphasizes on the grief and how to get over such a tragedy at first. I felt very strong with the characters and I thought it was very nicely acted and directed.

The movie keeps the dense atmosphere throughout but becomes rather tedious after a while. There’s not enough happening for it to be interesting. Sure, there are a couple of torture scenes that really gets to you but there’s not many and they don’t last but long. Most of the time the pedophile just lay on the blood bleeding without being assaulted at all, in pain of course. But I realize that this film isn’t really about torture and is more or less a portrait of the father, but I would have liked if it was a little stronger torture wise as well. After all it is sort of  a horror movie.

But the descending of the father – Dr. Hamel, into madness is quite interesting but it’s not varies enough. He sits and drinks his beer, or whatever it is he’s drinking all the time, and loses his mind. There’s a lot of philosophy about what’s right and what’s wrong. If killing the perpetrator would bring his daughter back or bring him peace? I don’t think the film brings any answer to the riddle and that it’s up to you and me to find out for ourselves. I like that in a movie. The viewer should be able to make his own mind up about what’s right or wrong.

Of course there’s some classic contrast between rational thinking and emotional feelings. And I think each and every one of us would like to avenge our loved ones emotionally. But most people have blocks preventing this and clichés like “don’t sink down to their lever” or “It’s not worth it” comes to mind. I still wonder if it’s worth it or not. If the satisfaction of vengeance justify having another person’s life on the conscious.

The bottom line is that I found it somewhat entertaining. It was rather nicely portrayed by the actors and the director but it was too slow and not enough variation to it.

Review: The Bunny Game - 2010

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Review: London Zombie Epidemic - 2010

London Zombie Epidemic

Aka: Devil’s Playground

Director: Mark McQueen

2010

Action/Horror

A major medical corporation are about to release a new drug against stress. They take every precaution keeping it safe and do massive testing with 30.000 volunteering test subjects. At first everything seems to be fine but after at few weeks all of the test subjects has evolved damaging side effects – All but one! At first they became aggressive and soon they start attacking other people, spreading the decease even further. Soon almost the entire city of London or the world for all that we know is infected. But one of the test subjects – Angela Mills seems to be immune to the side effects and no one knows why, she doesn’t and the medical company or what’s left of it sure doesn’t. She needs to be found and taken to the medical teams for thorough examination! The path leads through hordes of zombie-like creatures that crave for human flesh.

I’ve seen my fair chair of zombie flicks. Bad ones and good ones, unusual ones, Italian, Irish and even a couple of Chinese ones I think. This one was produced in the UK and it has that British feel to it. It’s hard to explain and I’m not even going to try what it is that makes it feel that way, it just does. It has more of a realistic cinematography and that might be it. It seems like you anticipate in the actual actions instead of just watching the film. That was at rather good explanation after all. I’ll settle with that.

In this zombie film the zombies are raging fast and there’s nothing of the old frightening slow horror zombie in it at all. It’s not very frightening at all; it’s more or less an action film instead. I have no complains about that. It doesn’t state that it’s a horror movie any way. Well, of course it says so on the back of the DVD but I figure they claim it’s a horror film just because there’s zombies in it. I say it’s an action film first anyway!

The most common explanation for why the zombies exist is also abandoned, that is the non explanation as it’s usually not explained at all. They simply exist and there’s or there is to it. Here there is a failed experiment, it’s been dome before to be sure but I’d take that before “there’s no more room in hell” any day! It’s quite well acted and both the action scenes and the gory ones look nice. It’s not a splatter- or a gore movie but there are some scenes where the zombies eat from human victims and so fourth. It looks really nice and the makeup of the zombies looks good too!

Perhaps it’s a little too talky at times. All zombie flicks seem to take place, at one time or another, in a barricaded house of some sorts and the people get on each others nerves, the paranoia takes it’s toll I guess, and those scenes are a little too long in this otherwise fine movie! It’s a little bit different but it’s quite entertaining!

Review: Kill Devil Hill - 2010

Kill Devil Hill

Director: Robert ”Ace” Jordan

2010

Horror

This’ll be a somewhat different review than we normally do here on Fanatisk Film. That’s because that the movie is no longer than around 12 minutes and if I was to dissect the plot into some sort of description there wouldn’t be much left over to surprise you when you see the movie. It’s based upon some bizarre unsolved murders in North Carolina and we’ll leave it at that!

How much of it that is actually true and how much that’s speculation is of course hard to tell and I don’t think it’s a very interesting question anyway? What’s interesting is rather how the movie was made technically. How well it’s put together so to speak and of course, how the story is told. I think it’s successful in all these areas. It’s not just another amateurish flick but a film with quite high production values. There’s good acting, even if the actor doesn’t have that much to work with as it’s a very compressed story. The effects is fabulous even if there’s not that many astonishing things that happens. The changing effect in actors eyes for example is very beautiful.

The story itself has no major problems, but since the movie is so short there’s no time to build up any tension. I’m fully convinced that it would have been possible if the runtime was longer though. This is a competent craftsmanship, both in front of, and behind the camera!

So? What’s more to tell? It feels like I’ve already written all I have to say about this film. Apart from the obvious revolting affect of the victims – the children. It’s still very uncommon for children to be a part of the murder scene, even if the recent years have escalated with a few movies in that direction. It’s still so uncommon that you can’t help yourself from getting a bit shocked. This one is quite brutal in that department and if that’s all that you’re after you won’t be disappointed! The rest of us can enjoy the rest of the movies qualities to!

Review: Beyond the Grave - 2010

Beyond the Grave

Director: Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro

AKA: Porto dos Mortos, Más Allá de la Tumba

2010        

Drama/Thriller/Horror/Western

Set is another time and another place, the story more or less revolves around a cop of sorts who’s searching for a possessed serial killer. But possession is not all there is, there are also zombies and black magic rituals going on throughout the entire plot. It’s kind of incomprehensible most of the time but I really like the cinematography and the image compositions most of the time. There’s a lot of visual clichés going on but they seem to fit the production and makes it interesting.

The script itself confuses me by being too ambivalent there are so many different things going on that it’s hard to separate them. Perhaps this is even hard as the dialog is spoken in Portuguese, at least most of it is. I mean, it’s subtitled in English and that’s no biggie really but there are still things that tend to get lost in any translation. But it is a Brazilian film and it should be in Portuguese or it would seem wrong anyway.

Actor wise I think it works really well and some of the makeup effect are almost brilliant. But the movie is rather slow-paced and that makes I kind of boring anyway. There are some strange characters which I think is designed to make it look more interesting, but this isn’t a film by Alejandro Jodorowsky and it’s not tense enough to make it work. I like the ambition of trying to make something a little different but in my opinion it gets a little too complicated. There’s not enough western to make it a western, it’s not enough post apocalypse to make it post apocalypse and it’s not enough zombies to make it a zombie flick.

The main problem is the script no doubt and maybe the direction could have been better too. I think it would have needed some more nerve to make it as interesting as the plot deserves. As it is I can’t even tell what the bottom line is supposed to be.

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Director: Michael Apted

2010
Fantasy

Lucy and Edmond now lives with their cousin Eustace and his parents. It’s not a pleasant acquaintance for neither the siblings nor Eustace as they keep getting on each other nerves all the time. Lucy and Edmond talks about their adventures in Narnia but their bitter and younger cousin don’t believe a word they say. But wait, all of a sudden a secret passage into the world of Narnia appears. They find themselves in the water next to a great big ship called the Dawn Treader and get rescued from drowning by Prince Caspian himself. The journey goes onward to the unchartered waters in the kingdoms outskirts, towards the land beyond the sea – the land of Aslan.

I don’t think there is anyone who can claim that the first part of the series – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe isn’t the most famous and widely spread story of the all. I say the first sine it was the first to be published even if The Magicians Nephew takes place first. That’s a story I’d be happy to see made in this new context. But this is the third part of this new film series and the third book to be written too actually. Unfortunate I don’t think it hold up to the same standards as the two previous movies, It’s more or less ok, and it’s adequately made and all that put it misses something I just can’t put my finger on. It feels like a “lighter” fantasy adventure than the previous two movies but there was undeniably potential to make it really exciting wit undiscovered unknown world. It could have been compared to the journeys made by Odysseus or the adventure of Jason and the Argonauts. It’s very similar to a Greek story but without the tragedy that usually ends them.

The film itself, or rather the story, holds no big surprises. It’s fairly obvious that the relationship between the cousins are about to take a drastic change on the journey. It’s also obvious why the other two siblings aren’t along for the ride this time – they’ve grown too old for the fantasy land Narnia. It’s a kingdom only available through a child’s open mind for imagination.

There is nothing to complain about as far as the visuals are concerns really, but I guess you’re so spoiled these days, with various Harry Potter films that really try to make the most of it, that you can’t help but feel that something is missing. You could say that the filmmakers make it a little too easy for themselves or perhaps underestimates the audience a bit. At least if the audience is a bit older and have somewhat stricter demands that the inexperience of youth.

It's a nice movie when it comes to entertainment values and it has the right kind of humor to fit the feeling of matinee. It’s a nice family movie that doesn’t complicate things too much. Perhaps there’s somewhat of a religious statement somewhere in the background and as I am totally hooked on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner I can’t see a bird flying around a boat without thinking it's an albatross – a sign of hope and a good sign. But it's probably just med analyzing too much again…

Review: Mammuth - 2010

Mammuth

Director: Gustave de Kervern, Benoît Delépine

Drama/Comedy

2010

Serge Pilardose is retiring from his job but it doesn’t turn out the way he planned to. He feels lost in the world and gets nothing done when he can’t go to work anymore. And even worse, his retirement benefits are not full since his misses some papers from his old jobs. He’s never been sick; he has always worked (since the age of sixteen) and he’s not very good at common chores (like shopping for groceries or fixing things around the house. What can he do? His wife tells him to get the missing papers so he gets on his motorcycle and goes to his old working places to get the necessary papers. On this trip some old memories that should have stayed buried in the past surfaces – bloody memories…

This film tells two main stories, one is very cynical and the other is more sad and heartbreaking. The first, and obvious, story is of course about the retirement. Serge is forced into a world he knows nothing about. Even making a phone call on a cell phone is a big deal. It's not easy to be forced into retirement. He can’t shop for groceries and he is a true Mammuth, an old creature not understanding the world of today. This might be part of the meaning of the title but there’s more later on. In the opening scenes there are loads of brilliant irony and cynicism deluxe. His co-workers give him a puzzle game after worked with him for ten years and every surrounding is brilliantly told. Serge keeps it together though, at least so far. He accepts and tries his best but it doesn’t turn out very good.

The cynicism continues when he doesn’t have the correct paperwork to get the right amount of pension. It's not easy to be used and expired and then thrown away like garbage, which seems to be the films bottom line. Nobody should be treated that way, still that’s the way it is. This social comment has been made many times before, even in very commercial action movies such as First Blood. The Park is Mine also comes to mind, but in both cases it’s a question of war veterans’, not retired butchers. There’s really no difference; the senior citizens of society helped build it and we should be grateful to them – period!

The other story tells the background to why Serge has spend so much time working during his entire life, what he wants to forget or even needs to forget it he’s not going to go under. I felt that it was a little too much of this and I found the obvious story about the gathering testimonials from his former employers or co-workers more entertaining. There’s no need for an in depth analysis of why certain things are like they are. They simply exist as far as I’m concerned.

But all that are minor problems and it doesn’t take away the fact that this, in fact, is a very good movie, an entertaining one with a perfect Gerard Depardieu in the leading role. He’s absolutely awesome and I don’t believe it could be made by anyone else in the same excellent manner.

Review: Primal - 2010

Primal

Director: Josh Reed

2010

Horror

A few students travel far to see some rock painting from 10.000 years ago. When they get there they have to go through a long tunnel to get to the actual site. Once there one of them gets infected by some sort of leaches and transforms into something that is not human. Mel, which is the girl name, become immensely strong and violent and has no problem tossing the others around. She runs of but soon starts to terrorize the others. It turns out that there’s something in the tunnel that she’s feeding. If it’s her former friends or wild animals doesn’t seem to matter to her. Soon it’s just a matter of survival – to kill or be killed!

Actually I expected this to be a pretty cheap splatter film. I’m glad to say that it wasn’t. The acting is quite nice and I don’t know if it’s the fact that it’s an Australian production that makes it more serious. There’s no humor in it which I like. The whole film can easily be taken serious and that’s always (well almost) a good thing. The story might not be the deepest but the characters are believable and nicely portrayed. I even think it’s kind of frightening at times and that’s not too common.

                                   

Although it’s not a splatter film it has plenty of nice gore in it. It’s not over-the-top but kept on a believable level. The transformed/mutated humans have really nice makeup attached to them. Ok, towards the end there are one or two scenes where there might be some overuse of CGI but as a whole I wouldn’t complain about that. There’s great suspense even when you can tell what’s going to happen next.

But there’s also things you know nothing about and my curiosity was running wild. The rock painting actually does tell a story but it’s not that easy to interpret. There’s obviously a presence in the tunnel/cave but what? We get bits and pieces of information but it isn’t until the end that we know for sure what’s there. Or do we? There’s an uncertainty about what’s really happening and even how the movie ends. I guess we’ll have to see if it was a happy or an unhappy ending if there’s ever a Primal 2.

Not that we really need one. I mean, this was good or even great at times but it stands on its own. We don’t really need further explanations to get the basic story. We can manage to live in uncertainty and that’s even a part of the greatness of the whole thing. If you haven’t seen this already, you really should!