Author Topic: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011  (Read 58791 times)

sdedalus

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #250 on: October 26, 2011, 02:51:49 PM »
White Zombie is on TCM sometime in the next few days.  I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to.
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jim brown

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #251 on: October 26, 2011, 04:19:31 PM »
White Zombie on TCM: Sunday October 30, 7:30AM (Eastern).

Set those DVRs!
Kevin: Yes, why does there have to be evil?

Supreme Being: I think it has something to do with free will.

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Bondo

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #252 on: October 26, 2011, 04:36:22 PM »
It is also on Netflix Instant FWIW.

jim brown

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #253 on: October 26, 2011, 05:00:46 PM »
It is also on Netflix Instant FWIW.

Even better!
Kevin: Yes, why does there have to be evil?

Supreme Being: I think it has something to do with free will.

-------------------------------------------------------

Verna: I suppose you think you raised hell.

Tom: Sister, when I've raised hell you'll know it.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #254 on: October 26, 2011, 05:08:43 PM »
It's also on YouTube. In 1 part.

sdedalus

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #255 on: October 26, 2011, 05:51:37 PM »
Pfffft.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #256 on: October 26, 2011, 09:54:43 PM »
Don't Look Now (1973)

Initially, Don’t Look Now presents itself as a fantastic fit for Nicolas Roeg’s follow-up to the provoking and dissonant Walkabout. The dichotomy between the key players and their setting as well as the conflicting imagery of the secular and religious should give Roeg and his editors the opportunity to craft compelling montages that made Walkabout a fascinating feature.

The opening sequence shows these talents in full force, the intercutting of images conveying meaning while also giving a dissonant effect of echoing through the pacing and conjunction of images. It’s every bit as enthralling, provoking and masterful as the finest moments of Walkabout. However, once the opening sequence comes to an end, the film slides downward into a placid and languishing story.

British couple Laura (Julie Christie) and John (Donald Sutherland) Baxter are working in Venice even as they deal with the still fresh trauma of the death of their daughter. After encountering two eldery sisters, Laura believes that they may still be able to communicate with their daughter from beyond the grave while John urges her to move on instead of lingering over the pain.

The core problem with the film is that while the setup between the characters is strong, the film never finds a way to make these characters clash over their fundamental differences in any meaningful way. Instead, it’s more interested in gazing at their lovemaking and capturing Donald Sutherland be particularly stilted and ridged. It’s as if the characters are going through motions even though they are presented with something fantastical and out of the ordinary that should challenge them. On some level, they don’t even seem to recognize their own surroundings.

Venice is the perfect setting for the fish out of water sensation the film hopes to convey. While the narrow, winding streets feel ominous and threatening, the story itself is never able to convey or enhance this element as a foreboding part of the story. I could see Daphne Du Maurier’s original short story working as a provoking piece, but stretched out over this length, it becomes a weary exercise in too little spread across too much time.

This leads to only a couple moments of slight dread in a film that, on the whole, isn’t conveying a persistent mood or able to elicit a sensation of unease. The uncanny is almost nonexistent and if it’s a thriller, it’s one that lacks any memorable thrills. The film’s only moment of suspense leads to an inexplicable moment that is simultaneously hilarious and baffling.

Horror by no means needs to explain or unmask the evil it presents, but if this is indeed a horror film (which it may not be), it fails to fully tap into a horror that makes sense or present a moment that truly feels horrifying. Sure, the ending is shocking, but that’s all it is, a jolt that defies understanding, explanation, reason or coherence. Sometimes, horror can tap into these to make the horror even more unsettling, but horror is rooted in some kind of fear. Don’t Look Now has no clear source of fear.

In execution, Don’t Look Now is a massive failure. There’s a setup for a fantastic film in here and the filmmaking has some admirable moments, but it fails to give the concept any support by building things like dynamic characters, mood, horror, suspense and an idea that can take a solid literal form that makes some kind of sense. Instead, Don’t Look Now comes off as nonsense.

Bondo

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #257 on: October 26, 2011, 10:04:01 PM »
The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

I reckon this is a great second part of a double feature with this morning's viewing of White Zombie. We return to Haiti and the potential of zombies that may or may not be dead. One of the things I noticed is that this was kind of a melding of the zombie concept with Indiana Jones. It isn't much of an action film, but Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) is an Anthropoligist who happens to travel the world looking for exotic compounds that might be used in Western medicine. So he has this nature about him that makes him a survivor and allows him to face off with local tough men.

Perhaps the better description is morbid adventure. And that certainly is a different and refreshing take. Largely due to a hallucinogenic compound he takes early on the film, we are treated to a series of crazy dreams which allow Wes Craven to pump in the horror elements, and they work effectively because you know what they are and can just go along.

Though the film dragged along a bit early, it really ramped up toward the end with really great excitement and rather more craziness. I didn't really know where it was going to take me and I felt real involvement in the character such that I really cared. Solid filmmaking from Craven who, looking back, has really never disappointed me through three Scream films, Red Eye and his Paris Je'Taime segment. I need to dig a bit deeper in his filmography.

4/5
« Last Edit: October 26, 2011, 10:08:39 PM by Bondo »

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Shocktober Group Marathon 2011 - The Unknown (1927)
« Reply #258 on: October 26, 2011, 11:05:18 PM »
I originally had White Zombie as a part of my marathon. Then I watched it, about a month ago. Like most early horror films from this Shocktober there were a couple of interesting ideas, but I didn't like it. Most interesting was the presentation of zombies as controllable slaves and not mindless flesh eaters.

Serpent has some really solid scenes ("I want to hear you scream.") As a warning, digging deeper into Craven's filmography will turn up a handful of films so bad, you won't believe they came from the same director. (Vampire in Brooklyn, The People Under the Stairs, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, Deadly Friend and Cursed.) I didn't include Shocker because as bad as it is, it's a huge guilty pleasure of mine.


Speaking of not watching old horror films, I saw The Unknown (1927), a silent horror film so inept it's laughably bad. The plot is an armless circus performer is hiding from the law because he's actually a murderer who can be identified by the two thumbs he has on one hand. His arms are poorly tucked inside his shirt, yet he fools everyone. This is considered an early classic, but it's terrible beyond a somewhat interesting climax involving a man tied to horses running in opposite directions.
RATING: *


Sam, I disagree with you about Don't Look Now, though I don't fault your reasoning. Every negative you give is true, but it's not seeing the forrest for the trees. The strange and eerie moments create an uneasy landscape into which that shocking ending just sums everything up beautifully. I know doesn't pretend to traffic in dreamlike imagery, more like a hybrid of overly stylized presentation of realistic events. That's why Don't Look Know got under my skin. Your intellectual approach to cinema isn't going to find much joy here.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2012, 08:23:16 PM by 1SO »

verbALs

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2011
« Reply #259 on: October 27, 2011, 02:49:28 AM »
Re- Don't Look Now- All mood piece with the grand guignol tacked onto the end. I might use the red riding hood motif to connect the beginning to the end of the film but this only works as a full fledged film if you forget the plot (or the point) and simply get immersed in the crumbling glory that is Venice. I did.
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