Day 232: Hollow Man

Hollow Man

Is that Jason Vorhees? Michael Myers? Ken Dryden?

Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy. Everyone knows these classic monsters from the Golden Era of horror movies. They have had countless adaptations, remakes, and re-imaginings. One monster, though, has been looked over more than the Creature From The Black Lagoon. I'm talking about the Invisible Man. Perhaps it's because the Invisible Man is, well, a man or maybe he is not as visually appealing as the other monsters, but for whatever reason, the Invisible Man is just not very popular. Maybe a modern take on the story would breathe new life into the character just like The Mummy series with Brendan Frasier. Having Kevin Bacon involved is a good start.

Hollow Man is a 2000 science-fiction horror movie inspired by the H.G. Wells story, The Invisible Man. The movie stars Kevin Bacon (Tremors, Apollo 13) as Dr. Sebastian Caine and Elisabeth Shue (Adventures In Babysitting, The Karate Kid) as Dr. Linda McKay. They are part of a team of scientists, including Dr. Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin, No Country For Old Men, W.), working on an invisibility serum for the Pentagon. They test their serum on animals and are capable of turning them invisible, but cannot return them to their visible state. Sebastian has a breakthrough and injects an invisible gorilla with the new serum, making it visible again. When asked by his government superiors about his progress, Sebastian does not tell them about the breakthrough. He believes that in order to keep control of his work he must test the serum on himself. Sebastian asks Matt and Linda to lie to the rest of the team for him in order to convince them to test the serum himself. Unbeknownst to him, Matt and Linda are secretly seeing each other romantically. With his group's help, Sebastian, through a great deal of physical pain and psychological stress, becomes invisible. Unfortunately, they are unable to turn him back, and the added power of being able to go anywhere undetected affects Sebastian's already fragile mental stability. Sebastian begins to harass his co-workers and people out in public, even molesting Linda in her sleep. When Linda and Matt tell their superior, Dr. Kramer, about what has happened, Sebastian drowns him in a pool. With his sanity slipping, Sebastian begins killing the members of his team one by one. How will Linda and Matt be able to stop someone they can't even see?

Six degrees of Kevin Bacon looking like a Jack O'Lantern

Most incarnations of the Invisible Man suffer from a lack of visuals. They show nothing and we just have to take their word for it that someone is there. They have to rely on bandages and clothing to show the Invisible Man, even thought there is no real point for him to have clothes on. Hollow Man uses modern special effects to actually make that weakness into it's greatest strength. The effects used throughout the movie look great, from highly detailed muscles and nervous systems to Kevin Bacon's transparent eyes when he wears synthetic skin. Special effects can only go so far, though. The movie starts out promising with good character development and a believable basis in science. The movie slows down once Sebastian becomes invisible, exactly where the movie should speed up. It takes too long for things to happen and when they finally do, it's very predictable. This is also around the same time that the movie goes from interesting and suspenseful to typical horror movie, complete with a race against time to stop an explosion. The movie poses interesting questions about absolute power corrupting absolutely and then just kind of forgets about them.

Director Paul Verhoeven is no stranger to science fiction/action movies with a resume including Total Recall, Starship Troopers, and Robocop. The action isn't the issue as there is plenty of it, with a good amount of blood and violence. The science fiction is fine, but not great as the movie loses it's direction in favor of action and special effects. It doesn't help that the movie is at least 20 minutes too long for no particular reason. The horror is pretty straightforward, which is unfortunate, because the Invisible Man has the potential to be scary in a cerebral way. Why not have him whisper in someone's ear rather than just charge at them with a weapon? That's just lazy writing. Kevin Bacon makes for a very good villian as the he is able to capture the egomaniacal nature and rage of Sebastian. Elisabeth Shue is good as well, pulling off the vulnerable yet confident Linda. Josh Borlin is fine, though he is just kind of “there” throughout the movie. 

"You spilled my cranberry juice! I'll kill you!"

It's always nice to see a horror movie use a classic character, especially one that doesn't receive much attention. Hollow Man gives the Invisible Man a modern spin, basing it in the modern world and giving it a heavy dose of science. The special effects are fantastic, even 12 years later. The violence is good and there is enough action to keep things interesting. The movie is a bit too long and tends to slow down in the middle. There are some missed opportunities for good scares as the movie goes for a more straightforward horror feel. The acting is good, but the story laves something to be desired. The movie did very well at the box office, and I can see the appeal. It's a good popcorn flick, but it is missing that something special to make it memorable.

6/10

Day 154: Tremors

Tremors

"Jaws? Never heard of 'em!"

I remember watching this movie when I was little. I wasn't a fan of horror movies when I was younger because like most (read: normal) kids, they scared me. It was bad enough thinking there's monsters under your bed and vampires in your closet, I sure didn't need to watch scary movies. Freddy Kruger was particularly terrifying to little kids and with good reason. There were certain movies, though, despite being horror, that didn't strike fear into a young me and allowed me to enjoy the movie for what it was. One of those movies was Tremors.

Tremors is a 1990 horror comedy starring Kevin Bacon (Footloose, Apollo 13) as Valentine “Val” McKee and Fred Ward (Naked Gun 33 1/3, Road Trip) as Earl Basset. They word odd jobs around the miniscule Nevada town of Perfection. They meet a graduate student conducting seismology tests named Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter, Ghosts of Mississippi, As The World Turns). Rhonda tells them that her machines have been picking up some odd seismic activity, but they don't know anything about it. Fed up with Perfection, Val and Earl decide to head to Bixby, a bigger town about 40 miles away. On the road, they notice a local man holding onto an electrical tower. Val goes to check on him and is shocked to find him dead. The local doctor says that the man died of dehydration, meaning he had to have been scared of something so bad that he stayed on the tower for days. Val and Earl try to leave again, but come across another dead local, this time only finding his severed head. They try to flee, but something is holding their truck. Val floors it and they finally break free. When they arrive in town, the phone lines are down and the only road to Bixby is now blocked because of a rock slide. They discover a hideous dead snake creature had wrapped itself around their axle. The next day, Val and Earl leave by horseback to get help, but the horses are attacked by more snake creatures. The snakes are actually tentacles that shoot out of the mouth of a much larger burrowing sandworm creature. They make a run for it and dive into a concrete aqueduct. The sandworm slams into the concrete and kills itself. Rhonda appears and determines that there are three more creatures based on her seismic readings. They also discover that the creatures sense their prey through vibrations in the ground They make it back to Perfection, where the creatures, renamed Graboids by the package store owner Walter, now have the town trapped. Everyone gets on their roofs to avoid making sound of vibrations. The Graboids start to knock down the buildings and Val and Earl come up with an idea; make it to the local mountains where they can't be followed. Will the entire town be able to make the journey or will they become a lunch for these subterranean monsters?

"Hi! Can I interest you folks in some band candy?"

I loved this movie when I was young and I love it as an adult. The movie does have it's moments of horror and action, but it's biggest strength is it's humor. When I say humor, I don't want you to think I mean something like Family Guy or Two and a Half Men. I mean writing that is actually clever, well-thought act, and perfectly executed. The writing is really solid and is totally believable thanks to the great performances and chemistry between Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. Tremors is practically a buddy movie with some horrible man-eating worms thrown in to the mix. Finn Carter also has really good chemistry with the two actors. Even the various townspeople play their parts well, particularly Michael Gross (the dad from Family Ties) and Reba McEntire (yes, the country music star) whole play survivalist gun nuts. The great writing and acting make for a thoroughly fun watch from beginning to end. It's not easy to make a monster/horror movie fun, but they managed to do it.

The Graboids, though hidden for most of the movie, look pretty good. They do draw a considerable amount of fear, mostly thanks to some good effects and clever camera shots. Director Ron Underwood gets the most out of his cast and the desert surroundings. It's such a shame that he was involved in the disastrous The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Despite being a horror movie about giant sandworm creatures, it's still very believable. The movie employs fast camera work along the ground shots, similar to those used in Evil Dead. The movie has plenty of action with most of the blood coming from the monsters themselves. There are a few good scenes of people being attacked and some creative deaths.

"If lassos don't work, I give up"

Simply put, Tremors is a fun horror movie. With the thousands of horror movies out there, it's hard to find one that is legitimately fun and funny with a good mixture of action and a few scares. The acting is great and the writing is spot-on. The dialogue is natural and nothing feels forced. The monsters look convincingly scary. There's a good reason that the movie spawned 3 sequels and a television show in 2003. Do yourself a favor and check out Tremors. You won't be disappointed.

9/10