A Dark Rome – 2014 – A Black Comedy from Italy

To be frank, my first impression of this was “what kind of amateurish crap is this?”. But then I started to watch it and I realized that what I initially thought was amateurish, was indeed part of the black humor. It has about as much presence of realism as a British drama, which is to say a lot. I believe in the characters in some weird sort of way. They are all exaggerated but still on the spot. It’s really nicely acted when you get it. Hopefully you will “get it” faster than I did. It took me three times before I really understood what I was looking at.

Don’t misunderstand me now. This is a good thing! I love it when I don’t understand the concept of a movie the first time. The experience of being “outsmarted” by the movie itself is just a measure of how well written it is. Some movies that you get right away might be very entertaining, but when they’re over, they’re just over. There’s nothing more to think about. Here it’s more like “what the heck did I just see?”. A very rare and pleasant feeling.

Part of what’s confusing me is that the story isn’t told in a conventional way. It’s more or less fragmented and skips in time back and forth. But on the other hand, this is way more common these days than it was a couple of decades ago. So this might be more conventional than I realize. Anyway, the story itself is about this guy who is hunted by the ghost of his murdered friend. I think this should symbolize the inner dialog; conscious of guilt and so on. They guy is involved to some extent in the death of his friend and is torn between doing the right thing, morally or what benefits him as a person the most. That’s my interpretation anyway.

By the end of the day, I find this a thoughtful piece of what’s morally right. It might not be very entertaining at first but it grows on you and if you dare to use your brain and think for yourself, you’ll see that this is by far more interesting than most of the mainsteam blockbusters out there.

I like it!

7/10

Trailer

The Perfect Husband – 2014 – Witty and disturbing!

What goes on in a deranged mind? I don’t know and I guess that no one without a deranged mind would either. Having that said I just declared myself sane, which might or might not be a lie… In either case, we get to follow a couple with a broken background when they try to find peace with each other and themselves during a country trip.

It’s obvious that neither of them feels very well. The reason is obvious if you keep your eyes open. And even if you don’t you’ll get the message later on. They have lost a child, a new born child. We get glimpses of a birth and a stillborn child. Nothing can be more horrifying in this world than to give birth to a non-breathing baby. This couple quickly gets my deepest sympathy.

It’s kind of a low paced story, almost too low paced at times but it does get really bloody and violent as it goes along. It’s really terrifying what a broken couple might do to each other in the moment of their worst anxiety. We aren’t spared any of it either. There’s a lot of violence that almost makes me want to turn my head away. That’s very unusual but there are a couple of things I feel very uncomfortable seeing. I can’t stand mutilation of hands and eyes for example.

It’s also pretty well acted which is a great asset when it comes to suspense. It’s a pretty exciting movie actually. It’s terrifying and suspenseful at the same time. It’s rather unusual I think, that a film as bloody as this one also manages to keep the audience in such suspense. As I watch it I’m curious on what s going to happen, and who is going to snap first. I mean really go over the edge. It’s obvious that it is going to happen, just not when. And I’m not disappointed at the final breakdown, I can tell you that. There might be one or two twists too many in the story but that’s not such a big deal. This is a great movie, no doubt about it!

8/10

Creeper – 2014 – a dualism, a contradiction, an oxymoron, a paradox

It was a few day since I watched this now. Some movies need that extra time to sink in before thought can be formed into words. I wasn’t sure what to think to begin with. There are parts that are really really gruesome and I wish they had been explored further. This could have been one of the most horrifying experiences all year, but it wasn’t. That doesn’t mean that it’s not good, because it is! It’s just not all horror, which I’d hoped for. There are also some in depth character visualization. We get to see what the main character (the killer) sees from time to time. It’s obvious that he doesn’t view reality in the same way as a “normal” person does. That’s good I think.

I was a bit disappointed with the movies length. It's about 54 minutes long and that means you are not given enough time with the story to really let it get to you. Once the bottom line starts to unravel it just… ends.

The acting in kind of uneven I think. Sometimes it’s just glorious and in the next scene it’s horrible. So my feelings about this are eclectic to say the least. Some parts are really very good and nicely made, whilst some parts are plain boring and badly acted/directed.

What about the main story? Well, it’s about this bloke who kidnaps young girls, keeps them in his cellar and tortures them. Its’ very painful torture by the looks of it too. There are saws and pliers involved, that’s all I can say. The only setback is that we don’t get to see that much. I guess the films budget stopped the development of special makeup effects. If it had the effects of a master or at least dared to show off a little it’d be beautiful.

I guess the story is inspired by real serial killers. I don’t know exactly who the most famous ones pop up in my head. It seems that this killer is based on the likes of Ted Bundy (his charm) and on others that are more gruesome in their killing methods. I like the character created here. It’s kind of a dualism, a contradiction, an oxymoron, a paradox.

The bottom line then? Well, as stated above I find it a bit uneven. It's still very watchable though, despite its short length.

7/10