Category: horror

It’s a Bad Disease (Afflicted, 2014)

AfflictedDerek Lee & Clif Prowse wrote and directed in this film where they play two friends named Derek and Clif.  They are buddies who are going to travel the world and blog about it, posting regular videos and taking suggestions from the blog readers.

Derek has personal reasons for going on this trip beyond it being fun, he is trying to live his life with gusto as he looks to an uncertain future due to a medical condition.  This is a found footage film, using a variety of cameras that give a variety of views, such as first person perspective and so on.  And the film starts off as many films of this type do, the guys are having fun, talking, laughing, hitting on girls.  And for Derek that is where it all goes wrong.  He goes back to his hotel room with a beautiful french woman.  His friends show up shortly and find him lying in bed, beaten, bleeding and alone.  The woman is gone, but she seems to have left her clothes behind.

What follows is a series of events where Derek seems to be getting sicker and sicker…he sleeps all day and cannot keep down his food.  Then one afternoon, while visiting an Italian vineyard, his skin starts to blister until he gets out of the sun.  He finds he is getting stronger and faster.  While that part excites them at first, when they start putting it together, Clif starts getting more concerned.  It becomes real apparent that the strange disease is…well, Derek is a vampire.

I really was engaged by the film.  The leads are likeable.  Derek Lee is very convincing in his motions and facial contortions that are featured in the darker stages of the vampiric transformation.  The camera work is fast and jumps a lot, but without making it confusing as to what is going on.

afflicted_screenThe film hits a point where it feels like we are watching the final scene…and the film suddenly swerves into the revenge action thriller territory.  Luckily, it does work.  In a lot of ways, I actually found myself thinking back to how much I enjoyed the first two [REC] films.

Lee and Prowse have crafted an effective thriller with Afflicted.  While it does not cover new ground (there is nothing added to their take on vampires) they tell the story effectively and the special effects and camera work serve each other very well.  The makeup, when combined with Derek Lee’s physical contortions, has real impact on the viewer.  This film has me curious to check out the various shorts Lee and Prowse have collaborated on.  This is a pretty impressive full length debut.  I look forward to seeing what they do next.

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Ambition, the Blackest of Human Desires (Starry Eyes, 2015)

Starry Eyes is the story of Sarah (Alex Essoe), an aspiring actress.  One day she answers a casting call for a film.  What follows is a bizarre tale of the lengths people will go to succeed.

starry_posterAs she is called back for repeatedly stranger auditions, she starts to unravel ever so slightly.  But when she is asked to meet the Producer (Louis Dezseran) her life is forever changed.  Telling her to kill her old life, one questions if this is metaphor or a true command.

Starry Eyes is  dark exploration of human ambition.  Has Sarah truly sold her soul?  Are her actions real?  Are the dreams her own, or communication from a darker source?

Visually, it is both stunning and horrifying.  The make up showing Sarah’s degeneration is simple, but frightful.  Her transformation has the appearances of disease.  The film is very gruesome once Sarah’s ambitions kick in.  Those who are a bit squeamish should be prepared.

Alex Essoe’s performance as Sarah stands out.  Both in emotional performance and physicality, she does extremely well.  It is a performance that effectively moves from sympathetic to creepy.

The co-directors (and writers) Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmeyer have crafted an effective and dark psychological tale, but not for the faint of heart.   But if you like your films dark and bleak, this is definitely in your corner.

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Chewing Up the Social Justice Warriors

sttarsnaps_eliroth_0So, Eli Roth wanted to sock it to Social Justice Warriors with his new flick the Green Inferno.  He claims the kids in the film represent SJW, whom he characterizes as not actually doing anything other than re-tweeting “this is wrong” or posting memes on Facebook.

This is not an uncommon accusation… SJW are usually lumped in with “Hash Tag Activism”.  The problem is, this criticism is oddly over confident.  It presumes that Eli Roth and other critics know the truth about what people really do.  I think to a certain extent, this is projecting.  People who do not do anything resent being told they should care, and they decide that, like them, the person re-tweeting actually is not doing anything to make the world a better place.

The irony in this of course is that his characters are trying to do something to improve the world.  They are active, not just re-posting stuff on face book.  His movie is about young people trying to do good and then dying horribly for it.  Funny enough, there is probably room for an argument that his film is an indictment of self righteous white imperialism (one of those things SJW like to complain about, amiright?!).  Or white liberal guilt…but the idea that it is condemning people who just re-tweet stuff?  Seems a lot shakier.

The_Green_InfernoI am honestly not sure about this film.  For one, I am not a huge fan of the whole Cannibal Horror Genre to begin with.  And honestly, I am not sure I can see what Eli brings to it that makes it worth sitting through.  This is not a slam on Roth…I cannot really see what can be brought to the genre that is giving us a new option.  But that may not be Eli’s goal.  And it may certainly be I am wrong and the film is an intense and terrifying trip.  I am open to being wrong in my expectations.

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A Father’s Love (Maggie, 2015)

maggie1First time film Director Henry Hobson offers up a film very different than one might expect from a guy who came out of the video game industry.  Maggie is not a flashy film.  It is a quiet tale of a family dealing with the fact that their daughter is becoming a zombie.

Set in a world where becoming a zombie is just an expected possibility in life, Maggie is focused on a young woman (Abigail Breslin) who is suffering from the early stages of, uh, “zombie-ism”.    Her father Wade (Arnold Schwarzeneggar) and mother Caroline (Joely Richardson) are struggling to come to terms with what this means.  Do they send their daughter off to Quarantine?  Do they break the law and keep her until she is to far gone?

Wade struggles especially hard with the idea of what the future holds.  He is continuously trying to keep Maggie connected to the living world, whenever she starts to be consumed by aggression and hunger.

You probably see Schwarzeneggar’s name and assume there must be at least one ridiculous fight scene…but Arnold really does well in this role of heartbroken father at a loss for how to help his daughter.  He barely raises his voice.  He is not an action hero barreling through this film.  He is not a super hero.  He is a good hearted and gentle guy.  The connection between father and daughter is evident throughout the film…both of them knowing the path they are going down.

Maggie-590-02As I said, this is a quiet film, and moves at a fairly mellow pace.  This is not a zombie apocalypse about the world falling apart.  It would not be right to call it a horror movie.  This is a father and daughter drama set within a zombie movie.  Change Maggie’s situation to cancer and you have a heartbreaking family drama.

There are moments where the film seems to wander, but the overall film was effective as a slow burn drama.  It will, not be for everyone, but if you have enjoyed a film like, say, Moon?  This may be right up your alley.

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