The Silence of the Lambs - Lisa's Review

This week I had the pleasure of re-watching one of my all time favourite movies.  I first saw this movie in my late teens and I absolutely adored it from the start.  I fell in love with Jodie Foster and she has remained a girl crush to this very day.  It's just a pity she doesn't do as much in movies these days.  A real shame.  Antony Hopkins is still in my top 3 favourite actors all these years later.  It's a movie that has stayed with me and has never wavered from being right at the top.  I would be completely aghast if anyone reading this (again hello?) hadn't seen the movie, but for young'uns who perhaps haven't, I suppose I should talk about storyline for a bit.

week 162 - The Silence of the Lambs

Reviews / Author Comments due: 28/06/2014
Position on TimeOut list: 58
More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB
DVD: Link

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Night of the Hunter - Guest Review from Chris Cummings

Based on a novel by Davis Grubb and directed by Yorkshire born actor and director Charles Laughton, who appeared in motion pictures such as Spartacus, Captain Kidd and The Paradine Case, The Night of the Hunter is a classic film that both represents its era yet also manages to be ahead of its time in many ways.

Starring the legendary Robert Mitchum in the iconic role of Harry Powell and Shelley Winters as Willa Harper, the film deals with death, religion, family, greed and abuse in ways that are terrifying yet somewhat tame by today’s standard. Mitchum offers up a character that personifies greed and deception, a preacher with darkness behind his gaze yet an ability to manipulate those around him.

The Night of the Hunter - Will's Review

There is a certain something about older films, which I enjoy, but don't somehow quite have the vocabulary to explain. Don't get me wrong; I know a shit ton of words, but there's something about old films that, however hard I try to explain what I like about them, it ends up sounding bad. 

There's a certain pacing to them, which I want to describe as "slow", but somehow it manages (when done well) not to be a bad thing. The truth is that most entertainment changes over the years, adopting new conventions, and it's difficult for many people to appreciate the style of bygone storytelling techniques; even harder to explain them. 

Ringu (Ring) - Will's review

Ringu was many westerners (including my own) introduction to the world of J-Horror; already gaining popularity before the remake, it became a must-see after. Due to it's success both in Japan and abroad, Ringu has become one of Japan's most influential movies. 

The story (taken form Kujo Suzuki's novel of the same name, but switching the gender of the lead character) centres around a journalist researching a cursed videotape; anyone who watches it in exactly 7 days.

The Night of the Hunter - Lisa's Review

So a 1955 movie set in the 1930s... wonderful.  I'm far from a fan of most older movies.  There are a few wonderful exceptions.  Is this movie amongst them?  In a word - no.

The movie follows a nasty, misogynistic preacher, Rev Harry Powell (played by Robert Mitchum) who just happened to be a murderer on the side.  He has managed to live his life so far completely unhindered as his ill deeds had never been discovered.  He was adored by women and revered by men for his god fearing sermons.  He had a real talent of getting people 'on side' and hiding his repugnant, repellent personality.

Week 161 - The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Reviews / Author Comments due: 21/06/2014
Position on TimeOut list: 60
More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB
DVD: Link

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Repulsion - Will's Review

Carol is a nervous young Belgian woman, who lives with her sister in London. When her sister goes on holiday with the married man she is having an affair with, NAME is unable to cope with being left alone, and slowly descends into a mental breakdown. 

Polanski's first English-language feature already has his trademarks in place; a mundane setting, maybe-real-maybe-dream sequences, and some absolutely gorgeous looking shots. 

Sadly though, and I appreciate that this isn't the popular opinion, I often find his work dull; this is no exception. 

Once again, I find myself looking at a critically successful movie (this one scores a staggering 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and being bored to tears. 

Yes, I can see that the film-making is technically excellent (especially in the second half) but I don't expect great movies (and this is supposed to be one of the 100 best horrors remember) to be merely proficient; I expect them to be entertaining. 

If you watch a film to dissect it and be impressed; go for it! You'll love this one. But if, like me, you expect your entertainment to be entertaining, not just beautiful, give this one a wide birth. 

Ringu (Ring) - Lisa's Review

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

This weeks movie leaves me with no confusion or confliction when writing the review.  This movie was my introduction to the wonderful world of Japanese horror.  A colleague told me about the movie as he knew I liked my horror.  He lent me a copy and so it began!

We start the movie with talk of an urban legend of sorts surrounding a strange movie on a VHS tape.  Apparently anyone who watches the movie is supposed to die within 7 days.  Of course anyone who hears the story does the usual poo-pooing and insists on watching it.  This is the case for 4 teenage girls.  Sadly they find out there is more than an element of truth to this legend.

The movie gets properly underway with the introduction of Reiko Asakawa, a young reporter who is investigating the stories about the creepy video.    She discovers there have been unexplained deaths of several teenage girls, who it is claimed watched the video.

I won't go into any further detail about the rest of the story, but what this movie achieves (and in fact is true of most Japanese movies) is managing to scare the bejezus out of you with no need for loads of effects and obviousness.  The movie manages to hold a disturbing, creepy air for the duration.  I can honestly say I was hooked and genuinely scared from 5 minutes in.  This is from someone who had, before the first time I watched Ringu, never watched a Japanese movie.  The movie also included a scene that honestly had me almost shitting my pants!  Seriously frightening!

Following watching this movie, I watched any Japanese horrors I could get my hands on and discovered a wealth of wonderful new movies.  There are a lot of American remakes of these movies, including this one.  I would strongly recommend you watched the Japanese version, rather than the remade American version.  They just don't manage to get under your skin like the originals.

If you didn't already guess, I thoroughly recommend this movie if you haven't seen it.  Even if you've seen the American remake, watch the original, it's a world apart.  Sticking a big, fat 'Recommended' on this one.

Repulsion - Lisa's Review

I have tried to watch this movie over and over.  I finally got to the end after 4 attempts.  So where can I start?  This is a black and white Polanski movie from the mid 60's.   I have watched Polanski movies before and with the exception of 'The Pianist' and 'The 9th Gate', I have never been a big fan.

This movie starts incredibly slowly following a beautiful young woman called Carole who lives and works with her even more attractive (IMHO) sister Helene.   Carole is a very quiet, withdrawn girl, unlike her sister.  She seems to be constantly distracted as if her mind is always somewhere else.  It is clear from quite early on that Carole has issues with integration into society.  She seems to rely heavily on her sister in all areas.  Helene is in a relationship with a man called Michael whom Carole hates with a passion.  She possibly feels he is a threat to her comfy arrangement with her sister.  The simply habit Michael has of putting his toothbrush in Caroles glass in the bathroom, enrages her, rather than a normal reaction you'd expect of irritation.

We see several examples of Caroles difficulties with integration, including her awkwardness and problems with going on a date with a young man who pursues her.  As difficult as she finds life as the movie starts, the more excrutiating things get when her sister goes on holiday with her boyfriend, leaving Carole alone.

Left to her own devices, Carole starts a long descent into madness, paranoia, claustrophobia and agoraphobia.  The latter half of the movie sets to document these from the viewpoint of the sufferer.   I'm probably going to come across as a movie hillbilly here when I say, I don't go in much for art movies and this is exactly what this movie is.  There are some very intense sections in this movie and I'm not thick enough to not understand what they're trying to do and how they're trying to achieve it, but it didn't work for me.

When I saw it didn't work, I don't mean they didn't achieve what they set out to do.  They definately did convey all the feelings I would imagine they set out to.  What they failed to do however was to make the movie interesting and entertaining for a normal viewer.  I'm not in the habit of watching a movie to pull it apart and analyse its imagery or to applaud its complexities.  I watch movies simply to be entertained.  If the movie manages to be clever, high brow and full of hidden meanings and complexities as well, marvelous, but if it doesn't entertain me, then it's a bit of a waste of time for me.

So while the movie may be great to look at and may have the critics singing its praises (100% on Rotten Tomatoes!!! I didn't know that existed!), it didn't do it for me.  I most definately won't watch it again.  Not bad enough to suggest you 'avoid' but I won't be 'recommending' it either.

Week 160 - Ringu

AKA: Ring
Reviews / Author Comments due: 14/06/2014
Position on TimeOut list: 61
More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB
DVD: Link

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Week 159 - Repulsion (1965)

Reviews / Author Comments due: 07/06/2014
Position on TimeOut list: 62
More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB
DVD: Link

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The Sixth Sense - Will's Review

When we first started Video Nasty A Week (the forerunner to this very blog) the idea was that people could watch along at home, then use the comments section as a discussion area... Kind of like a book club, but with less books and more horror movies; our audience was originally intended to comprise of people who had actually seen the movies being discussed.  It never panned out that way, and so many of our reviews are now actual reviews in the more orthodox sense of the word. 

This week though, I feel the movie is old enough and popular enough that chances are good that you've already seen it; further I can't really talk about any of the things I want to talk about /without/ spoiling something. 

So, if you've never seen The Sixth Sense, if you've somehow got this far without learning spoilers; go now. Bookmark this page, go watch the movie, come back later. Seriously. 

The reason I was so keen to get rid of people who haven't seen the movie yet, is that I want to talk about the ending. An ending can make or break a movie, a movie which is perfectly good all the way through can be elevated to greatness, or ruined completely, based on the ending. This is never truer than in the case of a twist ending. 

The trouble is that with a truly great twist ending there should be enough clues throughout the movie that anyone looking for a twist ending should spot the exact twist coming a mile away; it's these moments that make the twist so shocking, providing a feeling that all of the information was there, and leaving you feeling that the twist is completely, obvious, and gels with everything you have seen. 

The Sixth Sense has such an ending. 

If you go in, knowing there is a twist, then it is almost immediately apparent that Willis' character dies in basically the first scene. We never again see him interact with any object when other people are around (he never so much as moves a chair to sit down) and no-one but Cole speaks to, or even looks directly at him, for the entire movie. Cole even tells us that ghosts do not realise that they are dead. 

The fact that all these clues are right there in the open is testament to Shyamalan as both a writer and a director; even if his subsequent films wold never quite recapture that spark, at least from a writing point of view. 

Up until the twist is revealed, the movie is still a good one; child star Haley Joel Osment puts in a star turn, and even Bruce Willis actually acts (another testament to Shyamalan as a director); but it's the ending that makes it a great one. There's some interesting shot choices, including a couple of incredibly long takes. These long takes are superb in their own right (most especially the handheld shot which follows Cole's mother as she moves from the kitchen to the laundry and back again, only to find her cupboards all open) but break the mood of the movie by 'standing out' a little to much (again, most especially the hand-held shot). 

I first saw this movie at the cinema when it came out, the twist suckered me completely, and I loved it. I was wondering how well it would survive a second viewing (even 15 years later) with the twist known; surprisingly well! The moments I mentioned that hint at the twist are interesting second time around, and the main story is, as I've said, still a great one. 

The Sixth Sense - Lisa's Review

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This movie takes me back to when I managed a video store.. yup, before DVDs were the main media.  It was an ideal job for me and indulged my love of movies.  I would have never left it, had I not relocated, but hey, I digress....

I watched this movie when it was first released and I loved it.  I have watched it several times since and watched it again tonight before writing this review.  I still think it's a brilliant movie.  I make no secret of the fact I'm a massive M Night Shyamalan fan.  Granted his work hasn't been as good in latter years, but when this movie was released, he was bang on his game.

I don't want to say too much about this movie as it's one I recommend everyone see if they haven't already.  Giving away much of the plot of the movie would defeat the purpose of me telling you to go out and watch it.  I always feel when it comes to a good movie, you should go into it with no knowledge whatsoever beforehand.  I always enjoy movies more when I do that.

To give you something of an idea of plot, we follow Dr Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis), a highly successful child psychologist who is perhaps devoting more time to his professional life than his life at home with his wife.

Malcom has a patient that commits suicide so feels he has failed him somehow.  When he later comes into contact with a little boy called Cole (Hayley Joel Osment)  he sees similarities between the 2 and wants to help him with his problems.  However, Cole is very different to anyone he has worked with before.  He is very special and exceptionally gifted.  Malcolm initially connects with Cole and seems to understand him better than anyone has before, but as they continue their relationship together, Malcolm realises there is a lot more to Cole than he first thought.  He wonders if he can actually help him and finds that perhaps Cole can help him more.

Throughout the movie, we see how committed Malcolm is to his work and realise how much this is at the expense of his home life and his relationship with his wife.

The movie is shot with quite a muted pallet with occasional introductions of bright red, which is clearly meant to symbolic, as I would imagine are the way certain scenes are shot.  I think it should be down to the individual viewer to decipher, but I would imagine this is a movie of many layers.  It works as a straightforward movie, but also has much more symbolism and arty fartyness for those who like a little bit more to their viewing.

The acting, as you would expect, is great.  Hayley Joel Osment is wonderfully captivating, Toni Colette plays a loving, but distracted single mum to perfection.  Bruce Willis is his usual calming, charming self.

I would highly recommend anyone reading (Hello?) who hasn't seen this movie (where have you been?) watch it immediately!  An easy recommended for me this week.