Tag: Lili Taylor

On the Run Pt 2 (The Scorch Trials, 2015)

Maze_Runner_Scorch_PosterAfter escaping the Maze, Thomas and his group of Gladers find themselves trying to escape the clutches of WCKD. They rush headlong into the Scorch…the world outside burned by the sun and filled with disease.

They come into contact with a group of freedom fighters who want to help get the uninfected kids to a safe zone and far away from WCKD. But they find that not all the Gladers can be trusted.

The Scorch Trials changes up their monsters.  The Infection (called the Flare) turns people into zombie like creatures that mindlessly attack and destroy anyone in their path.  The film builds a dramatic chase in which Thomas and freedom fighter Brenda try and escape these monsters. There is a great reveal in sewers and an exciting chase through a broken down skyscraper.

I really liked the new characters.  Brenda and Jorge seem sketchy at first, seemingly just out for themselves, but prove themselves trustworthy. Alan Tudyk has a brief but memorable role as a rather scummy informant Jorge deals with.

The film ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but also a note of hope.  The Scorch Trials is a good second act for the Maze Runner series.  It is exciting and has interesting characters.

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Home Repairs (The Conjuring, 2013)

the_Conjuring_PosterEd and Lorraine Warren are semi-famous paranormal investigators.  They are devout Catholics and very serious about their work.  But they were most prominent in the 70’s and 80’s. Ed actually passed away in 2006, but his wife has carried on their work.  They were one of many investigators of the home of Amityville Horror fame.  James Wan thought their work would make for an interesting horror film.

The Conjuring is based on the case of the Perron Family.  They moved into a home in Rhode Island, only to find themselves facing something very dark.  The Warrens come in to investigate and discover the family is being tormented by a demonic force, specifically the spirit of a long dead witch.  Lorraine has visions of the dead, while Ed and his crew of investigators observe the house.

The Conjuring is very moody and stylized.  You feel compassion for this family in the grips of true horror.  The Warrens are kind and gentle with the family, but firm with the spirits of the house.  Of course, the film versions of Ed and Lorraine are a bit more glamorous, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.  And frankly, they seem a little less…unhinged, than the real Ed and Lorraine do in some of the video footage I have seen.

The atmosphere is truly creepy, with many scares throughout the film.  But the reason it is so effective in it’s tension is how engaging all the performers are.  Wan has produced a solid thriller with the Conjuring.  It is interesting to see Wan move from the gore soaked slasher territory of Saw to the more spiritual based (and largely traditional) approach to horror. While the visuals are modern, they manage to evoke the old school haunted house horror films of a bygone era.

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Let’s Visit Texas, Part 8 (Leatherface, 2017)

Leatherface_2017_PosterLike 2013’s Texas Chainsaw 3D, this film sets itself within the universe of the original film.  This time around, we are learning the origins of Leatherface.  We meet young Jed with the creepy Sawyer clan on his birthday.  As a right of passage, the family wants the young boy (eight to ten years old?) to kill a man they believe has stolen some of their pigs.  It turns out Jed does not have the guts for this, at least, not yet.  I mean, we know he eventually will.

Not long after, his brothers (cousins) kill a young woman, who just happens to be the daughter of the local Sheriff.  They cannot prove it was murder, but the Sheriff is able to have Jed institutionalized to protect him from his family.  His mother tries to visit repeatedly, but is blocked at every turn.  When Jed and a couple other patients kidnap a young nurse and go on the run, things get very bloody.

The film actually sets it up so that you have no idea who Jed is. He is older, and none of the escapees are named Jed because apparently they changed his name in an attempt to disassociate him from his family. Meanwhile, there is a romance brewing between the terrified nurse and one of the patients, while others just want to kill her and go on their murder spree to Mexico.

They are tracked by the Sheriff who put Jed away, and he is seeking vengeance for his daughter.  This is a prequel, so you know things won’t end well for him.

When it comes down to it, this film reveals nothing we could not put together ourselves from simply watching the first film.  I mean, he grew up in an isolated and depraved family.  It is not a stretch to figure out how he became a chainsaw wielding murderer.

The film also suffers the same issues as the 2013 film.  It makes Leatherface incredibly sympathetic.  Yeah, you get why the Sheriff is obsessed with vengeance against the Sawyer clan, but he is so cruel and and willing to bend the law, he gets other people killed. Jed was forcefully institutionalized by a cruel doctor who indulged brutal treatments and allowed guards to be rough with the prisoners.  He also bends the law. Leatherface is a brutal killer and should not have the audience rooting for his success, and yet this film casts him as a victim of people who seem even more terrible than he.

What we are left with is a film that works against the purpose of giving a terrifying background to a horror icon.  We do not need insight into the psychotic killer, no more than we already had and this film adds nothing of value to the canon.

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