Cops and Demons (Deliver Us From Evil, 2014)

Opening in Iraq, some soldiers discover a strange cave. Inside they encounter something unnatural. The film then picks up with Ralph Sarchie a few years later. He is giving mouth to mouth to what is revealed to be an infant…unsuccessfully.

Sarchie is a man dealing with facing a very dark world that has tested his faith and left him feeling hopeless and empty. His partner (Community’s Joel McHale) takes a lighter view of life and his wife would like him to open up and be a part of their life.

When Sarchie find himself facing a set of crimes with seemingly impossible to explain aspects, he gets connected to Father Mendoza. The Priest is familiar with one of their suspects, Jane. He becomes Sarchie’s educator in the spiritual world.

Like the Conjuring films, Deliver Us From Evil is based on the stories of a real guy. Ralph Sarchie is now retired, but became a Catholic Demonologist. Not unlike Ed and Lorraine Warren, it is pretty hard not to believe that their stories are a bit…exaggerated. And I have no doubt that Derrickson and screenwriter Paul Harris Boardman take liberties.

Sean Harris makes for a freaky victim of possession and I am a fan of Eric Bana who gives Sarchie a rough and weary edge.McHale brings some comedy, but he also proves himself capable in the drama. Olivia Munn does not get a ton to do, but she has a nice scene with Bana where he pours out his sense of futility about the world…sharing all the thinks he has kept bottle up inside to protect her.

Yeah, the films finale gets a little crazy, but Derrickson knows what he is aiming for (a horror movie with a tale of redemption) and mostly hits the mark with a dramatic and entertaining film.

October 16, 2018 0

Petals Off the Rose (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 2005)

Inspired by a real life trial from the 1970’s, The Exorcism of Emily Rose tells the story of an exorcism that resulted in the death of the possessed young woman and the priest on trial for her death.

Unlike a lot of Exorcism related films, director Scott Derrickson (making his second appearance this month) makes the heaviest focus the courtroom drama. The exorcism is done more to give us background on Emily and her situation as it pertains to the charges against Father Moore.

He is defended by agnostic lawyer Erin Bruner, who finds herself having to question if she needs to believe in God to provide the defense. Can she accept the idea that Emily’s was a spiritual affliction?

Jennifer Carpenter gives a great performance and was able to contort her body in ways to make the exorcism sequences especially harrowing. Derrickson noted that he abandoned plans for a lot of digital effects because Carpenter was able to do so much herself.

The cast is pretty stellar for a small court room drama horror film. Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson are especially good as Lawyer and defendant.

The resolution seems a little pat, but then, I believe this is how the original trial that inspires the film also resolved itself.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a strong film, with a unique focus for an exorcism film. It is not about the power of evil, but rather the questions of faith and accountability. At the same time, while the questions are asked, Derrickson is not telling you where you must come down on the answers.

October 16, 2018 0

Sweet Suffering Pt 5 (Hellraiser: Inferno, 2000)

Helmed by director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister and Marvel’s Doctor Strange), in some ways, the Hellraiser: Inferno is both a departure and return to the ideas of the first film.

Homicide Detective Joseph Thorne is investigating a serial killer, but he is also dealing with his own vices, drawing him further and further away from his wife and daughter.

After finding the Lament Configuration puzzlebox at the scene of a crime involving one of Thorne’s informants, people in his life start to turn up mutilated. Add to this hallucinations of strange bondage geared demons, Thorne finds the lines of reality becoming blurred.

I referenced that this film is both a departure and return to the early films of the franchise. The focus is unique, Inferno is about Thorne and his corrupt nature. The Cenobites seem almost incidental. And, in a way, they are. Inferno was a screenplay that Dimension films owned that was outside the franchise. It was not a Hellraiser film. The studio decided to turn it into a Hellraiser movie, thus requiring a script rewrite that added in Pinhead and his cenobites. This actually works in the films favor, as Pinhead is back into his role as an impartial executor of someone else’s rules.

Bradley gives the role of Pinhead that other worldly regal ton, making this one of the better films of the post 2000 entries.

October 6, 2018 0

Something Strange Going On That Wasn’t Here Before (Doctor Strange, 2016)

Every now and then, Marvel Studios opts for a riskier venture for their tent-pole pictures. In some cases, such as Thor, the risk is levied by the Avenger’s Connection. But sometimes, that connection is much thinner. Guardians of the Galaxy and now Doctor Strange.

And what we have here is another Guardians of the Galaxy result. Doctor Strange is an exciting, emotional, funny trip of a film. Benedict Cumberbatch carries an arrogance early on in the film. Stephen Strange is a truly prideful man, but he has very carefully crafted an image. When that is all taken away, at the end of his rope, he finds a man that had, similarly faced bodily destruction and appeared to have fully recovered. He is pointed towards Katmandu and a place called Kamar-Taj. There he encounters the Ancient One who, with her followers Mordo and Wong, begin to train Strange.

Meanwhile, the rebel Kaecilius and his disciples are trying to for ever alter reality. Doctor Strange finds himself in the “New York Branch” which leads to battles with Kaecilius and his minions. With Strange Mordo and Wong coming to a final fight with Kaecilius.

The movie manages to skirt the line of seriousness, but an undercurrent of humor. The humor is dryer than other Marvel films, but it works, as often Strange finds his attempts at humor falling flat with Wong. There is a fun payoff with that one.

It is hard to ignore the impressive visuals. Early trailers made things look like it was ripping off Inception. But Derrickson and his team actually gave us much more. The film brings to life those trippy multidimensional visuals that Steve Ditko drew in the 60’s with a beautiful and lush feel.

There has been a lot of controversy over the issue of Tilda Swinton playing the Asian One. In the comics the character was Asian. And yeah, it was a pretty blatant “Mystical Asian” stereotype. Which is what resulted in the choice to cast Swinton. The film does overcome this. But as written? They easily could have cast and Asian actor in the role. There are not a ton of major roles for Asian actors. Avoiding stereotypes is done in the script and performance. And I believe this film would have successfully avoided the stereotype, without making one less role for Asian actors. I do not believe racism was at Derrickson and his casting teams heart. I suspect it was an attempt to avoid the very issue of racism. I think they made a choice I would not. But Swinton is entertaining in the film.

Doctor Strange is one of Marvel’s strongest entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is certainly yet another origin story, but it is handled so very well. It also has no requirement that you be familiar with the character. You can enter the film with zero knowledge of the character and fully enjoy this film.

November 5, 2016 0

Sinister Times (Sinister, 2012)

Last year, a movie called Insidious was released. Director Scott Derrickson saw that and set about discussing ideas with the guys who produced Insidious. What Derrickson and his team have produced is Sinister. What exactly is it?

Ethan Hawke is Ellison, a real crime writer who hit it big with his first novel (partially because it helped expose shoddy police work and free an innocent man) but has seen decline in the years that followed. This is hot home in that the only book people ask him to sign in the film is that first book. He believes that if he can just find that one story for a new book…he can return to that former glory.

To this end, he moves his family into a home where the previous family was murdered and one of the children disappeared. Ellison hopes to crack the mystery, maybe even help find out what became of the missing child. To make this possible, he moves his family into the very home where the previous family was killed. When setting up his office, he goes into the attic, and discovers an old box marked Home Movies.

In the box, Ellison finds a set of super eight films and a projector. This discovery sets in motion a series of events that leads to a most inevitable ending. As he watches each film and starts to research what he sees, he finds the story growing and growing into something…terrifying.

As thrillers and horror films go, Sinister is a strong story. It uses some risky devices, and in a lot of hands, this might have become a Hostel style gore-fest. Instead, Derrickson will often shy from graphic violence in favor of unnerving the viewer. In one scene, we are focused on Hawke- causing the screen behind him to be blurry-we know what’s happening, but Hawke’s horror is telling us what we need to know. And another nicely shot reflects a portion of the screen in Ellison’s glasses. The film quickly will cut away from possible gore, yet not hide from the horror.

The audio of the film really absorbs the viewer. It is hard to tell where sound effects and musical queues are ending or beginning. Music will be punctuated with a sound that relates to the (silent) super 8 image (such as a lawn mower). You will hear woven into the music the sound of the super 8 projector. The sound department and composer Christopher Young provide support to Derrickson’s story that pull you inside the story. There are musical moments still worming through and haunting my brain.

Derrickson, his cinematographer Chris Norr and film editor Frédéric Thoraval create an incredibly strong visual sense. The repeated choppy shots of Hawke splicing film or threading film through the projector creates a frenetic sense of urgency and he works his way through each horrifying film reel. There is a wonderful shot of Hawke falling asleep on his couch and the scene going from night to day.

Throughout the film, Hawke’s Ellison talks about his legacy, his desire to have one more shot. His wife struggles to reach through that to get him to see his family should be his center. The problem is, he thinks that is exactly what is driving his desire to break down the wall of success. It’s for his family. We get to see footage of a younger Ellison being interviewed where he argues bringing justice trumps any feelings of fame and the importance of family over fortunes…we see he has lost his way these things…or maybe he never believed them in his heart.

Along with Ellison’s struggles between the hope of fame and his family, there are metaphysical questions regarding spiritual things, media and how it changes the nature of human kind.

In light of the various themes, the film’s final spoken line is both tragic, chilling and apropos.

Sinister is a powerful experience. Along with the visuals and audio, Hawke is compelling in his role as a man unraveling. He is grasping for a hand to grab hold of, but he’s being dragged further into a despairing abyss. I would have to say this is probably the best serious horror experience I have had this year.

Also, a movie monster that is a snappy dresser. Love those.

October 11, 2015 0

He’s Gonna Be So Mad(Sinister 2, 2015)

A couple things.

Firstly, I really liked Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s 2012 Sinister. It was eerie and ended strongly (with real tragedy). It was a challenge to the pursuit of selfish glory and especially at the expense of the needs of your loved ones.

Secondly, I have been spelling Bughuul wrong for the past three years. I am so embarrassed.

Sinister 2 appears to pick up a couple years after the original film. Deputy So & So (James Ransone) is now Ex-Deputy So & So (EDS&S from here on out). He is actively working to stop the spread of Bughuul’s evil, though he clearly is missing some of the information that Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) and Professor Jonas (Vincent D’Onofrio) discovered in the first film. Conveniently for the story, Jonas is now missing.

EDS&S has tracked the last Bughuul styled murder (all cases feature a horribly murdered family, a missing child and mysterious painted symbols) to a remote farmhouse with an old church. He goes to burn it down before anyone else can move in and continue the cycle. But he arrives to late and discovers there is a mother (Shannyn Sossamon) hiding with her two young sons Dylan and Zach. She is trying to keep her sons from the hands of her abusive husband, Unfortunately, Bughuul has reached out to her quiet and youngest (Dylan, played with gentleness by Robert Daniel Sloan).

The film has amped up the presence of the ghost children. In the first film, they quietly haunted Ellison, but we did not see them speaking much. Here they are very talkative, mostly appearing only to the young boys until the end when they become active poltergeists.

It also has changed the film projector from the first film a bit, inexplicably adding a turntable to play creepy music as the boys watch the films. The creepy snuff films are back. While the audience knows Bughuul’s goals and the way he works, EDS&S has to figure it out all over again, which includes a ham radio. I appreciate the attempt to show how Bughuul has used various forms of media (both films show an idea that art and mediums used for art allow him to move through the world)…but the first film suggested that Bughuul now was released into the internet. It is a bit of a shame that this was not really followed up on.

Honestly, the focus on EDS&S trying to figure out how Bughuul does it slows things down. The film does have some well done moments. EDS&S has a good connection with Dylan. And the idea that Dylan has a history of abuse becomes interesting as you see Bughuul’s ghost children try and use that to fire up a desire for cruelty. When one of the children mention his mother, Dylan snaps back that his mother did not do anything. The Ghost child coldly replies, “Exactly.”

There is a nice twist. And the film tries a very different ending, but it does not work on multiple levels. Parts convenience (getting certain characters out of the way) and parts troubling (making the central villain to take out a young boy is fairly problematic). It is hard to root for EDS&S to aggressively stop a child with physical violence (especially when you have involved themes of child and spousal abuse into the story). The creators kind of wrote themselves in a corner and are left finding another way to end the villainous kid while avoid having EDS&S be a killer of children.

The film has a final “horror movie” moment that felt like the creators were at a loss of how to end it and wanted a scare. So they repeat the same gag from the first film.

I feel Sinister 2 is better than some critics have said, but it still fails to deliver on what we got from it’s predecessor.

August 30, 2015 0