The Invoking (2013)

Unfortunately, despite its just-at-feature-length 80 minutes, this was a real chore to sit through. Yet it's also one of those cases where--especially after watching the making-of documentary--I feel bad posting a negative review (but not bad enough, obviously). Making a movie is no easy task, which is contrary to the way big-budget films have conditioned the perception and expectations of audiences, and the zero-budget film The Invoking (AKA Sader Ridge) is no exception. In fact, it seems that the most notable thing about this film are its behind-the-scenes limitations and consequential efforts. This type of production is valuable in some cases, as we shall see--but in the case of an average viewer and horror fan like me, it just didn't work.

I Am a Ghost (2012)

Had it not been for a recent perusal of The Jaded Reviewer (in my usual fashion, however, I did not read the review before watching the movie; just sought out the title), there's no telling when I would've finally caught wind of I Am a Ghost. At first I was disappointed because it appeared too old to be a candidate for this year's top DVD releases, but then I saw that the non-film festival USA release date on IMDB says March 1, 2014, so I'm going with that data to justify this flick's 2014 candidacy (mostly because I loved the film and want it to appear on one of my end-of-year lists). Still, as technology progresses, my "DVD release" list is quickly becoming a bit of a misnomer, as I technically watched this on a VOD platform (VuDu). But I'll sort out semantics later. For now, allow me to share a few words about a film that seemed tailored for me, and urge you to check it out too.

The Baby (1973)

Like most off-the-wall movies (Hausu, for one), this gem of modern cinema came to my attention from one of the end-of-year awards posted on Horror Movie a Day--with the ridiculous wealth of dross BC has waded through over the years, I respect his opinion when he calls a movie bananas! But the first thing that struck me about the movie was its PG rating in the face of its disturbing premise: a grown man held captive as a baby in a house with lascivious sisters and a domineering mother. How could this stay within the bounds of PG without being a slapstick comedy? Well, aside from the incredulity one feels when approaching a movie with a plot like this (not to mention the unintended cheesiness of most 70s movies), the movie actually takes itself fairly seriously and delivers an entertaining and somewhat plausible psychological aspect.

Carrie (2013)

Review forthcoming.

Pieta (2012)

I am a fan of Korean film, but this film had an edge that did not appeal to me.

Stoker (2013)

The execution of this story requires a special kind of viewer; I'm glad I'm that kind!

John Dies at the End (2012)

I've started and stopped the movie three times now, and the jury is still out.

Girls Against Boys (2012)

Boring and difficult to take seriously.

Excision (2012)

Review forthcoming.

Rating: 3/5

Rosewood Lane (2011)

Review forthcoming.

Rating: 2/5

The Barrens (2012)

Review forthcoming.

Rating: 2/5

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Beyond the Black Rainbow arrived just in time to be added as the second movie in a Friday Night Double Feature, following The Tall Man.  As usual, I knew nothing about this movie, save for the facts that it was sci-fi, an 80s throwback, and mind-bending--tags added by Netflix.  Thus I expected something trippy and oldschool, but I didn't expect an above-average arthouse-style mind-explosion!

What I took away in terms of the story was that there's a girl who has been held captive in a 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque facility her entire life, and there's her psychiatrist who has been doing some really far-out stuff with her.  That's all one needs to know for the plot, and I think the Netflix envelope says as much.  All of the plot's complexities and subplots and twists will steadily make their appearances, enveloped within a panoply of cerebral, dreamlike effects.  It's safe to say this is a movie most will agree that one must be in the right frame of mind to watch.

The visual elements of this movie are incredible.  Absolutely incredible!  Rich colors à la early Argento--Suspiria, for example.  During sequences of artistic mastery, the pacing is slowed way down, and we are subjected to stunning, stupor-inducing visuals.  At times, you will mutter what the...? but your bafflement, your questioning will trail off because you will be sitting on the edge of the couch, wide-eyed, unblinking, taken hostage by the meticulously edited effects.  There are even a few righteous scenes of bloodspraying that aptly pay that 80s homage.  Even if there wasn't a plot, I would've loved this movie just for the experience it delivers.

The acting is phenomenal.  The cast is minimal: really just the psychiatrist (Michael Rogers) and the patient/captive (Eva Allan).  From start to finish, Rogers shines, albeit blackly, as an obsessive maniac with a violent bent, and Allan shines as the tender, beautiful innocence upon which the former character is subjecting his demented plans (wait till you see the sketches!).  The initial counseling session is properly paced to establish the tense emotions of the two characters that will soon burst forth and send the movie spiraling into a myriad directions.

Overall, Beyond the Black Rainbow is a great movie.  Very well put together; and a great experience for the viewer.  It is, however, one of those movies one must be in the mood for.  I can see it being relegated to boring, confusing, or even pretentious by those not in the right mood--and I don't (necessarily) mean dropping acid.  When you have time and you're not sleepy (because some of the sequences are drawn out in the manner of a Ti West film) and you're in the mood for an artistic, psychological, visually-stunning cinematic experience, just pop this little treat in and enjoy!

Rating: 4/5

Sauna (2008)

Thanks to some articles I read the other day, written by none other than BC of Horror Movie a Day, I have the pleasure of experiencing horror from two countries I've never seen any movies out of, let alone horror: Finland--in the case of Sauna--and Israel (Rabies), which I look forward to next week.  My knowledge of Scandinavian horror films is quite limited (Frostbitten, Let the Right One In, Troll Hunter, Hidden, and Dead Snow), so Sauna was more than welcome.  As a bonus, the film was more than good; it was great.  I've said repeatedly on this blog that my favorite horror movie is the psychological slow-burn with careful attention to mood and tone.  Well, direct from Finland comes the perfect psychological slow-burn with careful attention to mood and tone!

The atmosphere and pacing remind me of an H. P. Lovecraft story.  Even in the case of his shorter pieces, such as "From Beyond," each sentence is meticulously crafted with attention to building extreme feelings of mystery, ambiguity, and uncanny.  ("From Beyond," by the way, was adapted by Stuart Gordon for the 1986 movie of the same name.)  Consider also "The Festival," wherein Lovecraft is able to effect a single simile that reinforces the atmosphere of dread: "...black gravestones stuck ghoulishly through the snow like the decayed fingernails of a gigantic corpse" (now that's just superb imagery).  All of these little devices culminate, in most of his pieces, in a quick, cutting ending, an ending that seems almost truncated, leaving the reader unsettled and the horror fiend within the reader satisfied, yearning to come back again and again to the murky, shadowy dreamworld of Lovecraft.  Such is the format of Sauna, with its creeping sensation that patiently unravels until the visually stunning ending that left me dying for the chance to watch the film again.

Now, don't confuse my description of the movie's patience and atmosphere with the trademarks of Ti West.  The two are in a similar category, but what I'm getting at is something of a different flavor.  At its core, the effect of the film is somewhat ineffable, but you'll know it when you see it.  It would, however, be interesting to watch The House of the Devil and Sauna back-to-back and note the differences and similarities (not in terms of story, obviously).  For example: the period settings of the 1980s and the 16th century, respectively.  When it comes to suspense-building and atmosphere, nothing ruins it, for me, worse than modern technology.  This is the reason why so many horror novels are devoid of periods during which the home computer or cell phone was proliferated.  Because without these familiar objects there is immediately a literal and, concomitantly, psychological disconnectedness.  Some writers, if settings a story in the present day, take pains to remove these familiar fear-limiting obstacles (obstacles not only due to familiarity, but also because they place help a few clicks away).  This is why cars break down, gas tanks are purged, and cell phone can't get reception.  In Stephen King's Bag of Bones, the main character begins inexplicably fainting and throwing up, and otherwise reacting violently, to his computer.  Thus, he cannot use it; and thus we are stripped of the objects of comfort that keep us from the stillness, the abyss that we so fear.

Unlike a babysitter stuck in a beautiful Victorian house far from town, with a mysterious unseen character somewhere upstairs, and without a cell phone or computer (though there is a standard phone mounted on the wall with a coiled cord that brought back memories of unraveling those wretched things!), Sauna gives us the northern forests of sixteenth-century Scandinavia/Russia.  This monotonous setting used to bother me, but filmmakers have stepped it up a lot and have even found ways of making a movie that takes place entirely inside a coffin intense and entertaining.  The cinematography and composition of Sauna keep the viewer unaware of the monotony of the locale.  The proverbial sauna, situated in the water, in the middle of the woods is beautifully captured.  There are a few key shots of the sauna that would've been much more visually sensational had I been able to forgo subtitles.  But it's not that bad, and don't even think of switching from the original audio track--it would be ridiculous with dubbing.  Anyway, the water slowly lapping against the bizarre structure and the black abyss of the only opening in the building are just a few examples of the film's pleasing aesthetics.

On top of all this, we get a perfectly matched score and chilling horror sequences, especially the finale.  Interestingly, some of the horror bits (the apparition following Knut) tended to remind me of the myriad Japanese revenge films (The Eye, The Ring, etc.) both in story and execution, and I kept waiting for the movie to allow some goofy jump-scare or such nonsense to ruin the mood.  Luckily, the movie measured out the scares commensurately to the collective film.  And aside from all the elements that went into making the movie enjoyable for nearly any film fan, Sauna boasts the proper story for any film with a cerebral/psychological bent.  It's not one of those films that appears to purposely derail its viewers and obscure details (Skew), but it's not a film with an in-your-face twist either (High Tension).  Sauna, simply put, is a well rounded movie ready to invigorate any serious horror fan.

Skew (2011)

Probably one of the more confusing movies I seen, Skew's greatest obstacle is its apparently lofty aims of cerebral profundity.  Or perhaps this is one of the better indie films.  I just can't decide because, for every negative of the movie I find a positive, and for that reason I'm simply left unsettled, without any closure.  One thing I can say with certainty: this movie begs for a re-watch, and I honestly wouldn't mind sitting through it again.

That I'm considering a re-watch is amusing to me now because within the first half hour I found myself thinking, I will never suffer through this again.  Within another ten minutes I was thinking, What is the real plot here?  My expectations were heightened by the film's opening quote.  Most of these films open with a quote from a more familiar figure (to most of the demographic), like, say, Poe or Lovecraft.  But Skew opens on a quote from none other than the 19th century French literary titan Honoré de Balzac.  A student of literature, familiar with French titans such as Balzac, Rimbaud, Rabelais, Verlaine, et al., this impressed me.  It said to me that this write was deeper than most, influenced by more profound literature.  Later I would find that the writer/director is the Canadian Sevé Schelenz.  (I would also find that the film was 6 years in the making, mostly due to the FX and budgeting.)

Then we're introduced to a trio of some of the most annoying characters I've ever encountered.  I couldn't em/sympathize with any of them at any time throughout the duration of the film.  Whiny, flimsy, volatile, frustrating characters, they are.  It only takes about fifteen minutes to realize what's going on between two of the characters, so I'm not sure if the filmmaker intended for it to be that way or not.  Either way, it's a subplot that permeates the movie and appears to be an intentionally mysterious element to keep the audience engaged.  I imagine a group of people sitting in a room with this script, debating on whether it's too subtle or not, and finally leaning toward the more obvious approach.  The final product is an insult to the audience's intelligence.  Or is it a plot device that is used to distract us from that more important clues?

The mockumentary style, brought to popularity by The Blair Witch Project, is growing old, so it's always interesting to see how certain things will be explained.  I can't remember exactly why our videographer, Simon, has the camera or why he's shooting (other than for fun), but it's a simple little recorder without a flipscreen (as we're specifically told in the film).  Simon also establishes that he does not care to be on camera, and the film sticks with that (except for a brief moment on a police station security camera, and even then we don't see Simon's face).  And with the established constraint that we're going to stay in  the camera's/Simon's perspective, the filmmakers have the obstacle of explaining underlying plot points while dealing with how to get the explanations on film for the audience.  No easy feat.  But Skew has the answer: the camera turns itself on.

And now for a few words about the "main" plot, or what we can think of as the marketed plot.  For this, the film borrows from Final Destination and The Ring, and the end product isn't moving in the least.  There's no creative factor, and there's no mystery (for all of Final Destination's failures, it has always prided itself on inventive deaths and intense buildups).  This plot does, however, setup three of the more unusual scenes in the movie, all involving people who have recently been killed.  These little scares were a mixed bag because (a) they were completely unexpected and inexplicable; and (b) they were completely outside of the scope of the mockumentary subgenre.  Then again, perhaps this is the change-up we're looking for to breathe new life into the genre?  Whatever the explanation for these choices, I don't think the marketed plot is the one the film spent its efforts to develop.

The ending is one of the strangest and most confusing endings I've ever seen.  Or is it the most brilliant ending that begs the viewer to watch the movie again?  (I'll update this post once I've re-watched the film, and let you know!)  Suddenly the film becomes a psychological breakdown that raises a myriad questions.  The whole "what's real" thing starts going on.  At the same time, though, there is no great epiphany.  There is no a-ha! moment.  Just before the movie ends, with several unresolved points that are still driving me crazy, the film is rewound (not for the first time) to moments that occurred before the point at which the movie started.  At first, I was delighted, and I sat up in my chair so as to really take in what they were going to unfold.  The film had me completely engrossed.  Unfortunately, the film only "revealed" explanations I'd ascertained in the first part of the movie.  And not content with leaving me completely disappointed, the film gives one final shot that is rewound a couple times and played back the last time with the slow-step function so as to show an image that I must assume is the key to this movie.

My review seems quite negative.  The only hope is that re-watching the film unlocks the secret of its greatness.  Based on the final confusing shot, I must assume that the movie has subtle clues scattered throughout, clues which the viewer overlooks the first time for their subtlety.  The other explanation is that it's one of these films that prides itself on its inexplicability, which I don't usually favor unless its done strikingly well.  To me that screams of someone who is intelligent and does not want to be able to be explained (forced profundity).  Then again, I'm a huge fan of David Lynch, so, Skew, you'd better have something  to show me this second time around!

La Casa Muda (The Silent House) (2010)

Now here's a great, creepy little flick that has stuck with me for about a week now.  I'm dying to watch it again.  Wonderfully subtle, this is the type of horror movie I thoroughly enjoy.  Watch this before the American remake, which I'm sure will add too much to retain the beauty of this piece.

The Woman (2011)

Think Halfway through I thought to myself, This seems like something Jack Ketchum would write. Well, it is; it's based on the novel by Mr. Ketchum and Lucky McKee. Admittedly, I've fallen out of touch with the publications from Dorchester (Leisure Books)--especially since I've read everything in print by Richard Laymon (including those that I had to order from the UK publisher, Headline Books). The Woman definitely has that Girl Next Door vibe and the cinematography is very similar to the aforementioned, Red, The Lost, and the nauseating Header. Of all the Ketchum adaptations, this one has the most to love. No real revelations or game-changer moments, but it's a solid movie with well-balanced black humor, steadily building tension, and eerie moments akin to those of Deadgirl.

The Ward (2011)

This could've been a great movie. I'm all for the exhausted confused-girl-in-a-ward plot if the filmmakers are willing to do something new and exciting. And sure, the set design--lighting, colors, composition, etc.--was great. But the technical aspects of a veteran director weren't enough to save the film. It was terribly formulaic and rigidly acted (every character was a parody) thus blunting the ending's epiphany. Taking this one into account with Craven's recent My Soul to Take, I feel sure that these iconic directors are stuck in an earlier era.

YellowBrickRoad (2010)

It's a slow burn, and about an hour in it goes in a million bizarre directions. The acting and dialogue become laughable. The lead looks amusingly similar to Dane Cook at times. The ending did not have the payoff the preceding 90 minutes required. I'm bored and hungry.

The Ceremony (2008)

Rating: A
Experience Vitals: Netflix Instant on Wii.

Movie Spotlight! Has anyone else heard of this one? I looked around and can't find many reviews. Just like yesterday's movie, The Perfect Witness, this is one I never would've found without Netflix. And it was a hit! I love these slow-burn psychological/supernatural thrillers. The slow-burn structure typically yields more character development/sympathy/empathy and intensifies the creepiness of the subtle horror. I admit that this one, like Lake Mungo, was able to creep me out without overdoing anything--indeed, because of not overdoing it! If you liked The House of the Devil and Paranormal Activity (I recently took a liking to PA, so don't be misled by the old review), you'll like this one. The lead deftly carries the movie through the banal, the creepy, the absurd, and a messed up ending. This one is to be watched late at night, alone, with the lights out.

The Perfect Witness (2007)

Rating: B+
Experience Vitals: Netflix Instant for Wii.

The Perfect Witness is a small treasure I probably would have overlooked without Netflix's help, and by help I mean the fact that, for a year now, this movie has been shoved in my face every time I log into my account. So, finally, I took the bait, and I'm glad I did because Netflix was absolutely right on this suggestion. This is exactly the type of movie I like: psychological, but also smart (the two don't always seem to go together). It is a palatable execution of philosophical ideas without pretentiously eluding the viewer. Witness never tries to unnecessarily transcend itself. The tension steadily rises and the plot spirals out of control, all culminating in a superb ending. My attention never once waned. If for no other reason, watch The Perfect Witness to savor the performances of Wes Bentley and Mark Borkowski. Great suggestion, Netflix!