Extreme Flick Week: Snuff 102 - 2007

A translation of a review I wrote a few years in Swedish.

Snuff 102
Director: Mariano Peralta
2007
Extreme

A Young reporter gets interested in extreme violence and starts to explore the myths of snuff. She didn’t expect to get into the middle of things when her investigations began but now she’s in a world of torture, rape and domination, you can also add a little humiliation to it. Come to think of it, it’s not such a small amount of humiliation either. After all, the tormenter and/or the buyer of the taped deeds should get what they pay for – in full!

The definition of snuff that is used here are quite far from my personal opinion of it. It’s quite enough that someone gets killed on camera, the commercial business and the thesis that snuff must contain some sort of storyline where the killings are a natural part are not present at all. Hence this film is about making a film with murder and torture with no real plot. It’s mostly in black and white and from Argentina. I think it look pretty authentic.

The quality of the picture is quite bad though, I expect it to be that if it were a real snuff film so I guess that’s realistic! It’s pretty hard to see anything though, to see if it’s faked or not. Obviously this is not the real deal, you don’t have to be a genius to figure that out and there are moments when even the poor quality can’t hide the bad faked effects. At some point the perpetrator hits the female victim several times in the face with his fist and each time he’s supposed to hit her, the picture goes black for an instant. And it’s obvious that the punches don’t hit her at all! But there are also really grim and rough scenes that looks truly genuine. At some point the tormentor cuts off all the fingers of his victim with some kind of gardening scissors which looks pretty gruesome and realistic!

There is also a scene with a pregnant woman lying on the floor on her back and the perpetrator stomps her stomach time after time. This might very well be the roughest scene in the entire movie by the way! And the cruelties should be endless really. The imagination of a sexually deviated tormenter should be about limitless. But that is not necessarily the case here. As a whole, this is pretty stale after all. That doesn’t mean that those who aren’t used to extreme violence in movies won’t get shocked, because I think that’s just what’s going to happen! It wasn’t so strong of an experience for me though and those who have seen a few extreme flicks probably won’t get very excited over this, but that’s just what I think.

But this is not a movie with just loads of torture in it after all. There are also some moral to the story, a deeper sense if you wish. I don’t think it’s obvious and I don’t think it’s really effective either. But as I see it there’s also a story about why you choose to see such a film about death. The film asks questions about how the organization to such a distribution would look like. There´s also the matter of if the possible buyer of this kind of material gets turned on by the fact that it’s for real or buy the torture which causes the death of the victims. Is a violent death more arousing than a less tormented one? If the latter is the truth I see these as a failure, the quality of the violent deaths are so poor that you hardly can make out what’s happening. If I were into this hit I would pay extra money so that I actually could see what was going on prior to the victims’ death, if that’s what I was after. And what is the main purpose, to hurt other in a painful manner or to humiliate and degrade them? I realize that this might be almost the same thing at times of course, and that both deviances can exist without the other. It’s just a thought.

There is a comment in the movie which kind of speaks for itself. It is claimed that a video with a child being tormented, rapes and finally murdered in front of the cameras are more expensive for the buyer than it is to actually purchase the child on the market. I’m really not surprised and the reality of this is such a shocking thought that it’s almost impossible to comprehend.

I hoped that the torture in this movie would be very strong and really shock me but that wasn’t the case. There are scenes where the tormentor’s own body is in the way, so that you can’t see anything. An easy way to fake thing perhaps but not very realistic (who what’s to buy a death tape where you can’t see what’s going on?)! There’s also very little real connection to the victims and I think about something that was stated in a film called King of the Kickboxers. You need to get to know the victim to some extent to feel sorry for him/her.

I had a hard time with the annoying camera work, the annoying music and the dimly lit events. It’s the technical aspect of the movie that’s most painful to watch and what makes it pretty boring to watch. I think that it shouldn’t have to be this way in a  movie of this kind but on the other hand the creators may have been forced to do it depending on money problems. As good as it gets compared to the budget in other words!

And finally I feel like I have to defend the movie a bit. After all, I’ve been pretty harsh to it. It’s quite intelligent and it aims at being more than just a torture flick. There’s some thought put into it that perhaps the budget wouldn’t allow to get executed and there are some points in it. But I don’t think I’ll ever bring myself to watch it again anyway.

Review: Sick Girl - 2007

Sick Girl

Director: Eben McGarr

2007

Drama/Horror

Izzy is a young girl with some serious issues. She misses her older brother who joined up with the Marine Corps with whom she wanted to raise their little brother as their child. She’s overprotective about him and she stops at noting to teach bullies a lesson. She also kidnapped a schoolgirl and some dude who was unfortunate enough to pick her up when she was hitchhiking. And oh… She pissed a nun in the face…

I heard a lot about this movie and all of it was good too! This means that I got a little disappointed when I saw it just now. It’s always like that; you build up you expectations in your mind and the film comes out short. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gruesome film that’s for sure, but the acting is less than good too much of the time. When they – and the girl who plays Izzy especially – act out emotions it’s just fine, but when it comes to deliver trustworthy dialog it’s an entirely different thing. But the dialog is quite bad too so I guess that evens it up a bit.

The weird stuff starts right away with Izzy pissing a nun in the face but after that it kind of slows down a bit. The story is told with several flashback and you need to stay alert to really understand what’s going on. There’s a lot of character building and it’s quite boring to watch if I’m honest. It doesn’t get interesting again until we get to see what Izzy keeps in the barn. And we gets to realize just how fucked up she really is!

Gradually the movie now gets more interesting even if the pace is on the slow side. When it comes to torture I think this movie falls short compared to other more explicit movies, but it’s so deranged that you can help but think what’s going on inside this girls mind! She keeps a straight face throughout the movie and that adds to the frightening feeling that this could be just anybody anywhere. You just can’t know what other people are thinking and what their most inner desires are. And once you realize it, it just might be too late!

6/10

Review: Consumption - 2007

Consumption

Director: Richard Powell

2007

Horror/Short

What seems to begin with a romantic dinner for two, soon changes into something more macabre. Something way beyond ordinary peoples frames of references. Professor George Klubbard and Claudia are fully aware of their commitments and will stop at nothing to complete the experiment. Empirical research that emphasises on unknown states of mind and experiences of flesh few can brag about.

It’s all too hard to review this movie in any other way than to reveal certain details of it. The following text may therefore include spoilers. Read at your own risk!

This is a short, no longer than thirty minutes long. These have a kind of dramaturgy not comparable to that of the feature films. It’s a more intense way of telling the story and you don’t have as much time to develop characters and so forth. To create a situation is however possible but to get the depth from longer productions is just not easily obtained. It also has a limited budget so no extraordinary details nor production values is neither possible. But it does not have to contain those things anyway! The tone of the movie is certainly amateurish, but still there is both a feeling of voyeurism and real ambition, underlying values of moral and it’s fascinating at the same time as it’s provoking and really gets under your skin.

I can’t get a total grip of the actors though, at first they’re really bad and the feeling that anyone could have done this at home with a camcorder is apparent. The initial events also seems to be unnecessary trivial. But then something happens! Not really that the acting improves, but as the plot thickens and evolve into a really unpleasant story when the cannibalistic ingredients comes along the production gets more intense altogether. I would compare this, at least plot wise to films like Marain Doras Cannibal based on the true events of German cannibal case of Armin Meiwes. Not that there any homosexual eroticism, or heterosexual either for that matter, but the romantic dinner and the victims willingness to the whole arrangement could easily be compared with that movie.

Instead of the sexuality there’s lots and lots of black humour in the story. Perhaps of the kind that goes unnoticeable the first time but still its present. It’s a pretty clever dialog, but even if it’s apparent where the storyline is going it’s still a bit of a chock when it’s revealed for us. You get overwhelmed by the obvious, so to speak. It’s macabre and totally disgusting (in the most positive sense of the word) and it’s flavoured with some really good and shocking gore effects. The blood might be a little thin but as a whole it doesn’t really matter, the whole point is not to shock with these effects and I’ve seen it done a lot worse in big budgeted movies too.

                                          

So… I like this, regardless of the amateurish production values. I see it as a must for those who are interested in nihilistic, cannibalistic and repulsive flicks. It manages to stay right on the egde and does not get tasteless just for the sake of it and leaves the viewer with a feeling and hopelessness and moral values!

Review: Fantaside - 2007

Fantaside

Director: Shane Mather

2007

Comedy/Horror

The leader of a Nazi-sect collaborates with a psychotic madman in the search of a relic spoken of in myth. It gives its owner a legendary power which they’re both after. They are not the only ones, however, who wants the ancient spear. It’s a cruel struggle of power where the contestants won’t back down from killing each other in the most bestialised ways. A reporter has, at the same time, witnessed a ritual killing and hires a private detective to solve the mystery. But time is not on their side and they have to hurry before they become victims of the Nazi sect.

As in Exreamer, the music is something you notice right away. It sounds totally wrong, but at the same time it sets the humorous and paradox tone for the movie. It proves once and for all that all splatter movies don’t need to have a heavy- or death metal soundtrack to work.

The movie is also pretty politically incorrect and it makes of point of being just that. It goes all the way and doesn’t seem to be embarrassed over that fact either. It makes use of sarcasm and irony over the society of today, primarily through the movies visualization of broadcasts and newsflashes. Absurd allegations about society and the government in particular are grounded enough in reality to be perfectly understood without any doubt though. This is one of the movie absolute best virtues if you ask me!

But what would a true underground film of this kind be without some morbid and rather innovative sequences of murder where the blood splats quite a bit? I think that’s the main attraction to the masses for this kind of movies and I can report that this is looking quite good in that department, a lot better than in Exreamer! Norwegian Bread & Circus comes to mind, at least when the violence is concerned, absurd and humorous just like it’s supposed to be!

But some things I didn’t have to see. The, according to me, extremely tasteless presentation of animal sex, with a cat that gets executed and then eaten right after the act. Luckily for me, this is just a movie, but I can’t honestly say that that scene didn’t affect me in a negative way. That there’s “regular” rape a couple of times didn’t concern me in the same manner, it’s strange what kind of values you hold dearly, isn’t it? These are, of course, fictive too and there’s no problem in seeing through the falseness of it. Penetration should be rather impossible in that position if the male isn’t equipped like John Holmes himself!

                                 

Further more, the Nazis, or at least their leader (what a terrible actor he is) represents a rather pathetic transvestite. That alone is certainly absurd enough to fit right into the production, but I wouldn’t say that it’s realty that politically incorrect! To redicule the Nazis is one of the few ways, possibly the only, to exploit the Nazis. Don’t misunderstand me; it’s totally clear that every opportunity to mock them, if it’s by deviant sexuality, that doesn’t quite ring true with the thoughts of elitism associated with the Nazis, or something else, should be taken. But to put it in a movie that’s supposed to be politically incorrect seems to me to be a bit of a paradox.

All in all a watchable movie, it would however not hurt to cut it down a bit, Since a more average running time of 90 minutes would give it a much better flow.

Review: The Gray Man - 2007

The Gray Man

Director: Scott Flynn

2007

Thriller

Albert Fish is a grey old man whose harmless appearance fools a whole society. In fact he’s a bloodthirsty serial killer and cannibal. He finds pleasure in pain both done to himself and to others. In 1928 he takes ten year old Grace Budd to a party. She’s never seen again and Fish disappears into thin air and can’t be found. However a stubborn detective refuses to let go of the case. Several years later he finally able to track down Fish, prove his guilt and have him convicted.

I think most people would refer to Albert Fish as a depraved son of a bitch if they got the chance. But I don’t think that he’s as widely known as some of the other serial killers and wackos out there. There’s a ton of movies about Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy but only one about Albert Fish as far as I know. I think it’s very strange considering this man’s mental state. It might have something to do with his crimes; they are of course taboos since they include killing and eating children. That’s something you can’t exploit in just any way. The fact that his victims were fairly few compared to some of the more widely known serial killers might also have something to do with it.

I think that Patrick Bauchau does a marvelous job in the role as Fish. He’s perfect and keeps it interesting at all times even when the camera wanders off and refuses us to see what’s really happening with the victims. And since there’s not a single scene where there’s any true visualizing of the murders, that’s well needed. He can turn from being a lovable old man to a total bastard in a heartbeat and it’s very nicely portrayed. The other parts a fine to but not in comparison with the title role.

I think it’s too bad that the film is really two films in one. We have the story about Fish, which is fine even if I would have liked a little more excitement and suspense in the story. We also have the other half of the film, told fragmented at the same time, about the detective working with lost persons and ultimately catches Fish in the end. These parts are so noir-esque that they disturb the flow of the movie. It doesn’t quite fit together with the main story I think. I wouldn’t have minded it if it wasn’t so noir all the time.

So as a whole I’m disappointed. I think there should be a more revolting film about Fish and that it wouldn’t be very hard to do considering his crimes. I need denser storytelling and a psychological depth analysis of his mind, but I guess this’ll have to do for now…

Review: When Evil Calls – 2007

Ok, the DVD cover looks really cheap and I never understood why some people find clowns so frightening. The actors are pretty awful at first sight but after a while I don’t even notice it anymore. I don’t think they get any better but the story is told in such short fragments that you hardly have the time to get under their skin. In short terms the film shows various results of wishes, not unlike that of the Wishmaster films. If you wish for something you should be really careful not to phrase the wish wrong or it will backfire on you. If you ask for never to see a certain person ever again you might find yourself without eyes.

The result of the wishes is fairly easy to figure out immediately after they’ve been stated and it gets quite repetitive after a few scenes. Everything is presented by a janitor whom we first encounter before the first case. He’s portrayed by Sean Pertwee and I must say it’s more or less brilliant! But returning to the story, each one of the scenes, because it’s merely scenes put together, is preceded by a menu with scenes title and the number of the scene we’re about to see. That’s part of what make this such repetitive film but all the wishes is also very much the same.

The film is saved by Sean Pertwee and the story he’s telling between the scenes. That’s where the real tension lies and what’s making this watchable. But on the other hand, if you demands aren’t too high you might find the wishes/results quite entertaining in a humorous way. Oh, and the very end is actually really scary!

6/10

Review: Lipstick & Bullets

Lipstick & Bullets

Short film compilation

www.renderyard.com

Red Princess Blues

Director: Alex Ferrari

2010

A young girl is lured into the bar tent of a carnival by some sleazy dude. He wants more from her than she’s willing to give him and suddenly she’s in deep trouble. She is however saved by a knife throwing woman – Princess. That’s more or less what it is to it. The storyline is very simple and the film is mostly one scene – and about 11 minutes long. It’s pretty intense, well acted and nicely casted. I adore the mise-en-scène and I think it would have made a great intro to a feature film! There is some action involved that’s really nice. Ok, there are a few mistakes there but nothing that’s really alarming and draws the attention from the good aspects. I really enjoyed this one!

Red Princess Blues: Genesis

Director: Alex Ferrari, Dan Cregan

2011

This is a prequel of sorts to the above film. It’s animated and tells the background story to the character of the princess. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the live short but the story seems very important for understanding the knife throwers persona. I see this as a bonus but not so much more really.

Broken

Director: Alex Ferrari

2005

I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of this before but this is actually THE movie by Alex Ferrari! This is what the critics praised and this is what won a whole bunch of prizes at film festivals around the world. I think it’s an interesting piece and it has some philosophical point to it as well. Most of it is more like a thriller/action though and it’s said to have cost about $8000 to make. It seems like a lot to me if you take in consideration what you get for the money. It’s a debut short – yes, and the actor is ok, put there’s no real point to it. You more or less get a scene that could be placed inside a feature film and nothing more. Ok, there is and end but not necessarily a beginning to the storyline but it are very vague and aren’t explored enough.

The picture quality in this one is less perfect than in the other shorts, but this is also the oldest part and there may not be a way to refresh the material past a certain point. I can’t really grasp the technical aspect of it. As a whole I enjoyed this short but I would waste any vast amount on money on it.

Cyn

Director: Alex Ferrari

2007

The last entry on this blu-ray is a five minute short called Cyn, it kind of goes in the lines of the other shorts on this compilation. It’s about captivity and revenge; of pacifism and violence. It’s a cool little scene and there are some twists to it that’s interesting. Not all the answers are given but I don’t know if that’s really intended or if it’s just coincidence. It takes some effort to ask the questions in the first place too.

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The button line of this compilation BD is that all the shorts are above average but are also pointless of sorts. They are well crafted but there is little or no soul in them. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what I mean and I think that’s about as close as I can get. As a whole I think that the extra material is what makes most sense here. There is loads of it and if you’re an ambitious filmmaker you can surely pick up an advice or two from the interviews and making of documentaries. 

Buy it HERE

Review: 7eventy 5ive - 2007

7eventy 5ive

Director(s): Brian Hooks, Deon Taylor

2007

Horror

The semester is over on the university and a time of constant party and sex is coming up. The coolest gang of them all – The Crew, gets invited to a gigantic party at a rich classmate’s parents mansion. There will be all of the above, sex, alchohol and party 24/7. At least that’s what they think. An innocent game soon gets out of control. The point is to call a random number and fool the receiver 75 seconds without being caught in the act. When they call the “wrong” number they end up talking to a complete maniac who traces their call back to the mansion and only has one goal in sight – to kill them all with his sharp  axe!

This is one of the most interesting slashers that I’ve seen in a couple of years. It doesn’t hide behind too much annoying humour even if there are some comical clichés here and there. It’s also very well acted and that’s not something we see every day when it comes to slasher kind movies. It almost takes us back to the golden eighties and it’s quite brutal too! By that I don’t necisarily mean that you get to see everything I detail and that the film is gore soaked, but there’s plenty to satify the gorehounds too I think.

                           

It’s also suspensefull! It can be compare to the greatest movies in the genre and it has a masked killer running about. Well, he has a winter jacket with a hood over his head. It’s kind of strange since al the others are just wearing t-shirts. In other words – it’s not very cold.

                                               

You luckily don’t see this kind of movie for the logic because there are a few thing I could mention besides the winter jacket. But I won’t, the brutality and close up violence outweigh the logic flaws anyway. It might not be amazingly inventive but it’s entertaining enough! Most of the time the axe is the murder weapon. I hope I didn’t give anything away there…

The reason I got this movie in the first place is the fact the Rutger Hauer is a part of it. He’s an investigator who can’t let go of a previous murder spree with the same modus operandi. He does a great job but this part also means that the rest of the film loses pace and that might not attract others than die hard Hauer fans. On the other hand, this part of the movie might be necessary for the end twist. I don’t know, I should have been possible to solve it in other ways as well. But for me it’s nice to watch Hauser doing his job, even if he can do a part like this in his sleep.

As a neo-slasher it’s really good!