Author Topic: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017  (Read 42410 times)

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #170 on: October 20, 2017, 12:22:51 AM »
If you're curious, my favorite Godzilla movie from Japan is Godzilla: Final Wars. The non-Kaiju action is as good as the monster battle and all the big monster stars are present. There's also a battle between Toho's Godzilla and the one from the terrible American film.

oldkid

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #171 on: October 20, 2017, 02:22:55 AM »
If you're curious, my favorite Godzilla movie from Japan is Godzilla: Final Wars. The non-Kaiju action is as good as the monster battle and all the big monster stars are present. There's also a battle between Toho's Godzilla and the one from the terrible American film.

It looks like there's a healthy dose of Power Rangers via the Matrix universe thrown in there, too.  Looks like a must-see.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

smirnoff

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #172 on: October 20, 2017, 03:39:29 AM »
Who's that Don Frye looking mofo? Wait, that IS Don Frye!

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #173 on: October 20, 2017, 04:20:07 AM »
How many of these insane movies do the Japanese make every year? I feel like with the size of their industry there should be more blockbusters making their way to us.
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1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #174 on: October 21, 2017, 12:46:04 AM »

Dracula Untold (2014)

Universal can't stop trying to reboot their classic monsters and maybe one day they will figure out how to make it work. I'm not even sure if this is part of the failed relaunch that includes The Wolfman or the one that includes Victor Frankenstein, which came out after I, Frankenstein. I really can't keep it all straight.

This one has hyper-stylized moments that remind me of Bran Stoker's Dracula, and much that seems visually uninspired, like night vision that looks like... well military night vision mixed with Pitch Black, and a tornado of bats which always looks more like a black whirlpool pulled from the computer hard drive than biological. The big clash-y/smash-y set pieces are shot like they were aiming for Game of Thrones but realized they were falling short so they decided to cover it up with needlessly shaky camera. The writing makes simplistic ideas needlessly complicated. Luke Evans may be a movie star one day, but he still needs more charisma.
Rating: * *

- Safe for Sandy



Exam (2009)

Escape room plot with eight diverse people trying to solve the riddle of "the one question that only requires a single answer," in order to win a sought-after job. Mostly entertaining and intelligent enough, though I'm not sure the solution works because it kind of required certain people to unknowingly do very specific things right on schedule. (If I was making the film I would have eight friends simulate the exam for real to see where human behavior would demand script revisions.) The acting is pretty good at times, but also feels like its still in the rehearsal process in some scenes. 
Rating: * * ˝

- Safe for Sandy



Cooties (2014)

Unhealthy chicken nuggets cause a zombie outbreak at a public school. With Elijah Wood, Alison Pill, Rainn Wilson, Jack McBrayer and Jorge Garcia in the cast, I have to believe the film read funny. Among the three writers is Leigh Whannell (Saw and Insidious films). So why is the film so unfunny and stupid and the horror so unscary and stupid? I have to lay the blame on the directors. A bad movie and the cast is bad in it.
Rating: * ˝

- Comic gore. Much like the rest of the film it misses the comic and just ends up needlessly gross

pixote

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #175 on: October 21, 2017, 01:16:19 AM »


The Girl with All the Gifts  (Colm McCarthy, 2016)

An interest amalgam of the young action fiction spirit of The Hunger Games and the tropes and cinematic style of 28 Days Later and Eye in the Sky. The latter was especially on my mind throughout The Girl with All the Gifts, to the point where I misremembered Glenn Close being in the earlier film as well, instead of Helen Mirren. Both movies seem emblematic of a stylistic trend of modern British filmmaking that seems to derive from television rather than the other way around. (Under the Shadow somewhat fits into this trend as well.) It's a very arid style; the dramatic version of a dry wit. At times, The Girl with All the Gifts felt like a continual series of plan américain shots designed to downplay the story's stakes and atmosphere, as if close-ups and artful compositions were avoided for fear of seeming self-indulgent. Even the musical score seems to be saying, "Please move along, there's nothing to see here, mind the gap." I don't understand it.

Anyway. The Girl with All the Gifts film hovers between being good and just alright. Young Sennia Nanua does a remarkable job of carrying the film with a combination of endearingly sweet precociousness and tragic inhumanity. She's surrounded by an interesting cast that includes Glenn Close, Paddy Considine, Anamaria Marinca (I failed to recognize the former Filmspot winner!), and a couple of disposable black dudes because this is a horror movie after all. The script lays it on thick with Considine's character early on and I was dreading having to spend a full two hours with him, but he won me after all awhile, navigating his predictable arc with aplomb. I enjoyed how dark some of the turns were — darker than the lilt of Nanua's voice would suggest possible — but the finale didn't really feel right to me, sort of just, "That's cool, I suppose, but wait, what?" Thematically it works, though, and the line "Then why should it be us who die for you?" is worthy of Filmspot consideration.

One other note: The rules of the story seemed pretty murky. She's like, no, it's cool, I'm full from that cat, and they're like, oh, okay then, no probs. I don't think the film would survive a rewatch.

Grade: B-

pixote
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Bondo

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #176 on: October 21, 2017, 07:03:42 AM »
Gerald's Game (2017) and The Woodsman (2004)

Watching Gerald's Game, about which I have very little to say, it inspired me to rewatch The Woodsman for a very obvious reason. In this, probably my fifth viewing of The Woodsman, I feel like the cracks become more visible. I still think the central Kevin Bacon performance is great, but so many of the supporting characters feel phoned in.

I think the parts where the film is most effective, when it puts you most in Walter's mindset, feeling his impulses and watching him fight them, is also the most that plays like a horror film. It is horror in that obviously the idea of a sex offender is considered a horror to society, but there is also the horror experienced by Walter in not knowing if he will be able contain himself. It would be problematic if the film took this too far and became exploitation cinema, but this was the first time I really saw a better, more tonally focused film that could have been made from this.

P.S. I feel like Gerald's Game is more exploitative and problematic in its handling of sexual abuse.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #177 on: October 22, 2017, 12:51:25 AM »

Spring (2014)

That is not a representative screenshot, but it's Shocktober and if any image that is more truthful about the film would look like Before Sunrise with two unfamiliar actors. I don't want to get into how this relationship drama belongs in Horror because that balance is its main charm. I wish there was more charm between the two leads. Lou Taylor Pucci is alright, but Nadia Hilker is given a character who's only seen in terms of what she can do for the man. Even her secret is less about something she has to live with and more something he can accept, which will make him just a great person. This is enhanced by the opening section, which is very "Bro!" Unfortunately, it's also the most energetic section of the film, due to actors like Jeremy Gardner (The Battery) and the directors comfort with scenes of men teasing each other.
Rating: * * ˝

- Safe for Sandy




Kiss of the Damned (2012)

I've been interested in this one largely because of it's cool poster, cool title and cool French lead actresses. This vampire film broods with such style it's like Interview With the Vampire directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. I wish director Xan Cassavetes (cool name) had found something personal to focus on and explore. Instead, this is largely a tribute to Eurotrash horror of the 1970s, with everything condensed so that the plot is never allowed to develop. It plods from one touchstone scene to the next - might've been nice if the male lead took even a moment to consider the consequences of becoming a vampire - ending up as an artful and empty attempt to amp up the sexual danger of vampires.
Rating: * *

- Not scary but there are moments of intense sex and violence

smirnoff

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #178 on: October 22, 2017, 02:48:24 AM »
The Girl with All the Gifts  (Colm McCarthy, 2016)

Hey, great review man. It's one of the only films I've seen in this thread so far, but what you said really hits the nail on the head. A rewatch isn't in the cards for me either I don't think.

1SO

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Re: Shocktober Group Marathon 2017
« Reply #179 on: October 22, 2017, 11:55:51 PM »

Afflicted (2013)

Filmmakers Clif Prowse and Derek Lee play best friends Clif and Derek, who plan to document their year long trip around the world. Derek is diagnosed with a rare brain disorder which puts the trip in jeopardy, but for Derek that makes it even more important that he see the world before his life is cut short. Early in their adventure, something happens that may be related to the illness or possibly a woman Derek hooked up with. Whatever it is, Derek's body is starting to change in ways both good and bad.

Obviously made on a low budget, Clif and Derek deserve a lot of credit for what they have created. Their work both in front of and behind the camera show creativity, ingenuity and real talent. The years spent as close friends making short films pays off nicely in this debut feature. Their on screen personas walk a line, never being obnoxious bros nor overly sensitive, which would strain credibility. They're out to get the most out of life, but there's an underlying sweetness and a genuine affection for each other.

It's unusual for a horror film about transformation to spend equal time going over the positives such new abilities bring. Still, it is a horror film and when it gets bad it gets scary bad. Sometimes shocking bad. The found footage gimmick has a reason to it, putting Afflicted in with Chronicle and [REC] as one where the technique makes the film better. A couple of scenes reminded me in a bad way of Hardcore Harry, but most of the trick shots are incredibly clever. One of my favorite shots of the year has Derek's skin reacting to the bring sunlight. The camera keeps panning away to another witness and every time it returns, the makeup on Derek has intensified.

Afflicted won Best Picture, Director and Screenplay at Austin's Fantastic Fest, but there are a fair number of negative reviews balancing that out. I can see the problem with some scenes not working and others will simply never like found footage no matter what. There are a few scenes where you think anyone else would stop filming or be more insistent about seeking medical attention. I will admit to these problems, but they didn't damper my enjoyment of the film and the achievement of Prowse and Lee, who I hope get to make more films soon. A Discovery!
Rating: * * * - Good


- Scary