Brazil - 1985 - Terry Gilliams Fanatastic Nightmarish Flick

I actually didn't see this before. I'm glad I finally did. Watch the ckip below to find out what I really thought about it.

Painkiller – 2014 – a truly gruesome little piece!

It’s not often movies really give me the creeps but this one do! The story revolves around two scientists that try to create the ultimate painkiller. It’s an organic organism really and it’s inserted into the test subject’s body. It attaches itself on the spinal core with the idea to absorb all pain the person feels. Sounds good if not even great in theory doesn’t it? Well of course it goes wrong and the organism integrates with the person and requires pain to continue living. And if this painkiller doesn’t receive enough pain the person dies ultimately.

It’s truly gruesome piece which indeed shocks me. I can’t take it when people gets inflicted with more and more pain and actually enjoys it. When it’s, in fact, is imperative for their very existence.

Just as TheMinions, also directed by JeremiahKipp, I wish this was a feature film. It would have been interesting to see how it would hold up over a bit longer time than just 15 minutes. I’m not if I could take it! It’s not that it’s a very gory film and that might be the strength about it. Less is so often more. That doesn’t mean it’s totally without gory effects either. If you’re into August Underground Mordum you might be disappointed but if you’re just after the discomfort this film brings you, it should hit the spot!

8/10

Sci-Fi (ish) Flick Review: Way Down in Chinatown - 2013

Way Down in Chinatown

Director: Eric Michael Kockmer

2013

Sci-Fi

To be honest with you I can’t really say what this flick is about. And I’ve seen it twice already! The main characters seem to be a play writer and his wife. At first they appear to be setting up a show but I don’t think they’ll ever get to it. The audition a bunch of people but that’s it! They get disturbed by something; I think it may be Armageddon actually. There are a lot of very odd characters but I don’t know what their purpose is or if they’re a metaphor for something. They seem to talk with each other as they were from another dimension or another world or something, I don’t know. They might as well be doomsday angels. Not that they look like angels though. Everything seems to spiral down into total decadence! I kind of reminds me of the feel in Dark City, strange characters running around with all the truths but hiding it from the masses!

The makeup is splendid! It looks just like it’s made as homage to the early German expressionism, i.e. Fritz Lang and Robert Weine. It’s not as stylish as Tim Burtons might have done it (nor as expensive) but the dark shadows under the eyes and so on are very entertaining for me! Then add the fact that it’s filmed in black and white and you realize of course that it’s a very artistic film after all. And as such the storyline might not be as important. I’m fully content with it being “weird”.

When I watched the opening credits there was one name that made me keeping attention. Most of the names are mere strangers to me but I know Lisa Loring! I mean, I don’t know her but I most certainly know who she is! I paid close attention to see if I could actually recognize little Wednesday Addams from the original Addams Family series. I mean, how old was she there? Five? I had to rewind the film and cheat a bit, luckily the credits roll in order of appearance, to recognize her but when I finally laid my eyes on her knowing it was her I could see some resemblance!

But once again, what is this movie about? Is it really about the end of the world? Could it be that this couple has marital problems? Are they dying? I really like the possibilities even if I can’t really figure them out!

So, we have the strangeness. We have fantastic makeup; together with the black and white that makes it a bit noir-ish. And we have… the acting! It may not be a realistic movie, far from it, but there’s a charisma among the actors that makes them interesting. Even the really small parts actually. For me it looks sort of like it was a theatre play and not a movie. I think this is quite deliberate as the main characters are in that business. I’m not totally overwhelmed by the editing but if the impression of a play, rather than film, is intended it’s very successful. Otherwise there’s too many fade outs for my liking. It has a bit too much scene for scene feeling to it and lacks the natural flow of a general movie.

6/10

Review: Cell Count - 2012

Cell Count

Director: Todd E. Freeman

2012

Horror/Sci-Fi

If you get the decease you’re as good as dead. Russell’s wife Sarah’s got it and she has no chance of surviving what so ever… except for the chance Dr. Brandt offers Russell. He has the choice of seeing his wife suffocate by her own blood and vomit and to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the hospital costs or join in with his wife in a little experiment. Dr. Brandt is very convincing and promises that Sarah will be free of the decease within weeks. But Dr. Brandt fails to inform them of the side effects. Maybe the decease itself isn’t so bad after all, maybe the curse is worse?

I get the feeling that this is set somewhere in the near future but it could very well be told as a present time story as well. It’s not really important just as long as you don’t expect space traveling and serious futuristic technology. All in all it seems pretty realistic actually. Apart from a few details as the decease for instance. The cure is kind of out of this world as well but that’s not very important. What is important is the suspense and the experiment itself! What’s it all for and what results and conclusions are Dr. Brandt hoping to find?

The film doesn’t give you too much information, which is a good thing; just enough to keep it interesting. The pace might be a bit slow to begin with but after half the movie or so that’s no problem anymore. The suspense takes over and the questions that the movie has accumulated begins to really take over you mind!

We get some answers of course, otherwise it would not have been such a great movie I think, but there are still unanswered stuff at the end. That bothers me a bit since I feel like the missing bits and pieces are very important! They might very well turn the whole purpose of the film upside down depending on the truth. The entire timeline might get different if the answer is told in a different way. Maybe this is an intentional move but the director to make us think about it after the film has ended. After all, some of the most interesting films I’ve seen leaves something for the viewer to think about.

If we were to talk about the acting and makeup effects for a while I wouldn’t have much to say. I have absolutely nothing to complain about. I think all of the actors portray their rolls trustworthy. And the makeup effects are done the same way. It might not be pretty but it’s always realistic!

It is a love story about a man who gives everything up for the woman he loves. But it’s also a story about a sadistic doctor when seeks a cure for an incurable decease. Why he does this is one of the remaining questions. I don’t think its money, possible fame but not probable. I wish that the ending scenes would have given one more clue. But it’s still a great movie and it will be graded as one!

8/10

Review: Excreamer - 2002

Excreamer

Director: Shane Mather

2002

Comedy/Horror

Aliens, hostile toilets, a lunatic scientist and a rampage contagion that reminds of classic zombie symptoms. This is only some of the things this movie contains. The background is that NASA sent up a secret spaceship, full of toilets, into space in 1971. The reasons for this is still commonly unknown except for those who occupies the most influential positions in the power structures hierarchy Many years later when the spaceship reappears on earth, an alien species has taken control of the toilets and sets about to make use of them in their own demented plans Suddenly, people all around the globe start behaving like they’re crazy and turns into perverted maniacs.

Is it really possible not to like a film with all these elements? It seems to be as good as it gets as long as the twisted plot is concerned. At least that’s the feeling I got from reading the storyline. I would, however, have liked some more contexts. It feels a bit like there are some scenes that are put together just for the heck of it, and for the sole purpose to put it out on DVD. Naturally there’s mitigating circumstances as the movie itself had absolutely no budget, and you more or less have to enjoy the good parts of it rather than disliking the bad.

This is absurdity combined with splatter and the most important thing about it isn’t the skills of the actors. They simply don’t have to meet the award winning standards for their contribution in a production of this kind. Also, there’s no point in getting irritated by the films lack of logic, the absurdities just have to speak for themselves. That’s part of, if not the entire point of, the humour itself.

As far as I’m concerned, I felt that there was a little too much poop in the movie. The zombie-like decease is namely spread though shit - through the mouth that is. How this came to be is uncertain since there is no distinctive coprophagy to fall back on. My own theory is that the toilet seats contaminate humans through regular use, through the intestines and through the mouth. I honestly wish that more time were spent visualizing of how the toilets chase the humans, since there since some of these scenes are just hilarious to watch!

The movie itself is just about 63 minutes long, but it’s enough. It feels as if you don’t need to se any more of the special effects by that time. It’s noticeable that the Mather brothers doesn’t master the effects in full and in some cases the blood looks more like beetroot juice than blood that I’m happy with. In this area they’ve done a lot better job with the poop effects. There is also some CGI involved, which gives the film a kind of an amateurish sci-fi feel (that I like). But this technique has, luckily enough, not been used whenever the violence is concerned and its use is limited to the environment and things like that.

Review: I am Number Four - 2011

I Am Number Four

Director: D.J. Caruso

2011

Action/Sci-fi/Thriller

John Does everything he can to blend in, that’s at least what his guardian would like him to do. Because John isn’t an ordinary person, he’s not even from this planet. He has remarkable and powerful gifts and has to move from location to location to avoid being detected by his enemies. They want to destroy him, they’ve already destroyed three like him, and he’s number four…

I like this movie even if the story is kind of weak, the whole thing smells a bit like the Twilight Saga but I don’t consider that a problem. There’s a youthful love story in it but in which American small town aren’t there one? But, on the other hand, this isn’t a story you see for the depth of the plot, you should be happy with what you get really. The story is simple, very black and white; the evil humanoids want to wipe out the good ones. It’s very well made and it good very good; the experience on blu-ray is tremendous!

Obviously you should see a film just for the sake of the effects but in this case I’m almost ready to pronounce an exception from that rule. The story isn’t very complex but the stuff that’s in there makes it interesting anyway. Not because you can’t figure out what’s going to happen in the end but the conflict between John and the most popular guy in school (at least according to himself) drives the plot somewhat forward.

                                                               

It’s hard to get a grip about the background story though. The circumstances on the annihilation of John home planet are dealt with but it's done in a very simple matter. It feels like it’s told just a little beside the point and it’s not at all important and them ignore it and empathizes on action sequences instead. And there’s plenty of action and it look great. There’s quite a few computer generated effects which I normally don’t like very much, here they fit in and looks great though.

But there are too many questions. Why are there nine aliens on our planet, why do they need protection, what’s in the box, why do they have to be annihilated in number sequence? You can choose to ignore these things of course but if the ambition is to create a film with some afterthought you need to put some more focus on the story. I still like the move since it so nice looking, I don’t have anything against movies produced by Michael Bay, but there’s usually not so much afterthought. But it's entertaining and has a lot of brain dead action!

Images: © DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC

Review: 5ive Days to Midnight - 2004

This is a miniseries about a collage professor. He finds a mysterious briefcase with detailed evidence from a murder investigation. There’s just one thing – HE is the victim and he’s not dead yet. Upon examination he finds that he has five days to figure out what’s going on and to prevent his own murder. It’s a lot harder than you would think! Most of the people around him has a motive and are therefore suspects. Furthermore, destiny might not be willing to change easily! Things destined to happen does in fact happen. At least that’s what the physics genius Carl claims. And his beliefs that all things are connects and that the world will suffer severely if professor Neumeyer survives, makes him to one of the prime suspects! But where does the briefcase come from? It’s constructed in an unknown material. Is it one of Neumeyers friends that’s pulling his leg? It might be from the future? But if that’s the case, who sent it? Will he succeed in preventing his own death? There’s a lot of questions to be answered! Anyway, I liked it quite a lot and I find it pretty suspenseful at times even if some parts are pretty easy to figure out.

7/10