Day 326: Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby

Hit me, baby, one more time

Right off the bat, I have to say, “Fuck Roman Polanski”. He is a statutory rapist who ran away to avoid sentencing. Glad to get that out of the way just in case there was any confusion. I probably wouldn't watched today's movie if it wasn't for a slip in my memory that he directed it. On the one hand, I have wanted to see Rosemary's Baby for a long time as it is considered a horror classic. On the other hand, Roman Polanski is a scumbag who committed a crime and has never been punished. It does bring up an interesting and difficult point, though. Can you separate the art from the artist? People love T.S. Elliot but he was anti-semitic. William S. Burroughs was convicted of manslaughter. Some people are able to disassociate the real-life trouble that these artists get into from their art. I have rarely been able to do that, but for you, I'll give it a try.

Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 psychological horror movie based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin. The movie stars Mia Farrow (The Great Gatsby, Alice) as Rosemary Woodhouse and John Cassavetes (The Dirty Dozen, Capone) as her husband Guy Woodhouse. Rosemary and Guy, a struggling actor, move into an old apartment building called the Bramford. Their old friend Hutch (Maurice Evans, Planet Of The Apes, Bewitched) warns them that the Bramford has a famous and strange history with witches and satanists, but they move in anyway. Rosemary befriends a young woman named Terry who lives in the building with her neighbors, Roman and Minnie Castevet. She is shocked when Terry, who was supposedly a happy woman on the road to recovery from drug addiction, killed herself. Rosemary befriends the eccentric Castevets. Minnie even gives Rosemary a good luck necklace containing something called tannis root. Guy is cast in a role after the man who originally got it suddenly went blind. Rosemary and Guy decide to try to have a baby and on that night, Minnie gives the couple homemade chocolate mousse to go with their dinner. Rosemary insists it has an undertaste and disposes of most of it. She becomes dizzy and passes out on the bed. She dreams that she is surrounded by naked people from the apartment and is raped by a demon. She wakes up with scratches on her back as Guy apologizes for being to rough with her. Soon, Rosemary is pregnant and the Castevet's tell her to go see their friend, Dr. Abraham Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy, The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday). He prescribes that Rosemary forgoes any vitamins in favor of a natural drink made by Minnie. Rosemary begins to lose weight and has terrible pains. On the day Hutch plans to see her, he falls into a deep coma. He soon dies and leaves Rosemary with a book on witches, leaving a cryptic message, “the name is an anagram”. She is able to deduce that Roman Castevet is actually Steven Marcato, the son of a famous witch and devil worshiper. She suspects that her neighbors are part of a satanic cult and becomes paranoid about all those around her, including Guy. Is Rosemary's baby really the product of a satanic cult and what will happen to her?

Satan has the dreamiest eyes

Rosemary's Baby is an intense, engrossing psychological horror film that wraps around the audience and doesn't let go. You're never quite sure if there really is a cult or if Rosemary is paranoid. This tension becomes unbearable as the audience wants to scream for her to run for her life. Thrills and suspense rage throughout most of the film and is quite exhausting by the end. The beginning of the film starts off slow and quite normal. Minnie Castevet is so wacky, the film might be mistaken for a situational comedy at certain points. For the first half hour, nothing really happens. The horror doesn't begin until the conception where the movie practically flips and switch and sends the audience into a tailspin of fear. We never fully see the demon, just hands and eyes, which I found disappointing. We didn't have to see everything in detail, but I think a little more could have sent the mind reeling.

The biggest reason why the movie succeeds is because of Mia Farrow. She is fantastic in the movie with her emotions laid bare and projected onto the audience. Her line “This is not a dream! This is actually happening” sticks in your brain and makes you feel supremely uncomfortable. She makes the character and the film itself far more believable than one would suspect from a satanic baby film. The supporting cast is equally as good and truly create a sense of horror and dread as the movie progresses. The ending is very good and ends on an uncomfortable down-note. The beginning and ending “la-la-la” music is great, but sparingly used, which is a shame because it could have been as iconic as the music from Halloween and Friday The 13^th. While I still hate Roman Polanski, I have to say that his direction helped create a dark atmosphere that hangs like a fog over the entire movie. If I have any complaints about the movie, it's that it is way too long. The 2-plus hour run time could have been cut down in certain scenes for a neater overall package.

Who wants pie?

I was able to separate the artist from the art in order to watch Rosemary's Baby and I'm glad I did. Rosemary's Baby is a scary, uncomfortable horror movie that sticks with you long after the credits have rolled. While overly long, the story is believable while still being supernatural. There is a lot of suspense and thrills with plenty of scares. Mia Farrow is great and gets a lot of help from a solid supporting cast. As I said before, I still hate Roman Polanski and wish to never watch another one of his movies again, but Rosemary's Baby is highly enjoyable.

8.5/10

Day 307: 30 Days Of Night

30 Days Of Night

They could reuse this poster for the Red Dawn remake

Comic book movie adaptations are all the rage nowadays. Thanks to the success of movies like Spider-Man, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, and X-Men, you can barely go two months without another comic book movie popping up. Flying under the radar, though, are movies based on horror comic books. While not as popular as they were in the EC comics days, there is a steady stream of horror-centric comic books. At the forefront of these stories is Steve Niles, whose work I've previously reviewed in “Remains”. Niles has come out with a string of enjoyable comic books, most notable Criminal Macabre, Bad Planet, and his most famous mini-series, 30 Days Of Night. 30 Days Of Night proved to be so popular that it was only a matter of time before it made it to the big screen.

30 Days Of Night is a vampire movie based on the comic book of the same name written by Steve Niles. The movie stars Josh Hartnett (The Faculty, Pearl Harbor) as Sheriff Eben Oleson and Melissa George (Turistas, The Amityville Horror) as his estranged wife Stella. Eben is the sheriff of the small Alaskan town of Barrow, famous for having no sunlight for a full 30 days. As the town prepares for the month of darkness, a stranger (Ben Foster, 3:10 To Yuma, Pandorum) arrives via boat and begins sabotaging the town's phones and power supply. Eben receives a call from Stella, asking for him to pick her up after she misses the final plane to Anchorage. Still angry at her for their pending divorce, Eben sends his deputy Billy (Manu Bennett, The Marine, The Condemned) to get her while he investigates a call about sled dogs being killed. Eventually, Eben comes across the stranger in the town diner and arrests him. In jail, the stranger taunts Eben and Stella, telling them that death is coming. Just then, the power goes out and a group of unknown creatures viciously attack people around town. The assailants are vampires that have come to Barrow to feast during the month of darkness. Led by Marlow (Danny Huston, The Constant Gardener, Clash Of The Titans), the feral vampires cut a bloody swath through town, using both the brains and brawn to feed. Eben and Stella hold up in an attic with a few other survivors, trying to figure out what they can do. Weeks pass and still they cannot come up with a solution. With food running low and time running out, how will Eben and Stella kill the vampires before it is too late?

The dreaded "Circle of Vampires and Flames" death match

The biggest thing 30 Days Of Night has going for it is the fairly original idea of the setting. The unique combination of frozen tundra and seemingly never-ending darkness makes for a fun and interesting background that most other vampire movies lack. The vast emptiness and the black abyss create a hopeless atmosphere which feeds into the overall despair and helplessness from the vampire attack. These are not your weepy, sparkly vampire either. These vampires are shown as vicious, remorseless blood-thirsty animals, complete with extra sharp teeth. They speak in their own vampiric language, which is a fun touch, though the sounds they make do get a little grating. There was one scene where a little vampire girl spoke in perfect English, which I found strange, considering the movie went to great lengths showing these vampires didn't really speak it. They even make it a point to mention that the girl isn't from the town. It's a very minor point, so it doesn't really matter, it just kind of bugged me. If anyone has an explanation, please let me know. The vampires look very similar to the illustrations in the comic book and I give the filmmakers credit for trying to stay true to the comic.

The story itself follows the comic fairly well with some changes here and there. There is plenty of action and lots and lots of blood and gore. The camerawork during the action is all over the place and while it does help increase the frantic nature of the violence, it does become nauseating. Certain action sequences, like when a vampire jumps onto Eben's truck, looks very cartoonish. That would have been fine if the movie went in that direction, but that wasn't the case. After the initial attack, the movie loses it's direction and can't seem to find itself until the last 15 minutes or so. Part of the problem is that the movie runs just a little too long for no particular reason. Both Josh Hartnett and Melissa George play their parts well, but Ben Foster steals the show with his excellent performance as the stranger. Without even saying a word, Foster is able to convey a sense of discomfort and fear in the audience. Despite having a relatively small role, Foster makes it incredibly entertaining.

Oh, (neck) snap!

30 Days Of Night is a good horror movie and a good comic book movie. The story is fairly unique and the action is fast-paced. There is plenty of blood and enough gory scenes to satiate the true horror fan. The movie slows down after the initial excitement and has trouble finding it's footing. It's a little too long and doesn't know how to bring everything together. The camerawork is all over the place, causing the action to be hard to focus on. The acting is good with Ben Foster putting in the best performance. You don't have to know the comic book or even like comics to enjoy 30 Days Of Night. It's a fun horror movie with great action, good suspense, and a few scares.

7.5/10

Day 306: The Mothman Prophecies

The Mothman Prophecies

Na na na na na na na na na Mothman!

I hope everyone had a good Halloween. Mine involved wearing a Luchadore mask, a suit, and getting cheap burritos. Sadly, the fun ended this morning when I saw that the entire side of my car had been keyed. Fucking assholes. If only I had some precognition or idea that it was going to happen, maybe I could have prevented it (with my fists of course). We've all had hunches or certain feelings that something bad is going to happen. Is it just a coincidence, a sixth sense, or something more supernatural? We've seen a few horror movies explore the ideas and repercussions of seeing the future, such as The Eye and Final Destination. Those movies tended to be a little abstract in the nature of their foresight, but today's movie goes in a different, more tangible direction.

The Mothman Prophecies is a 2001 psychological/supernatural horror movie, based on the book of the same name by John Keel. The movie stars Richard Gere (Pretty Woman, Primal Fear) as Washington Post reporter John Klein. One night, John and his wife Mary (Debra Messing, Will & Grace, Along Came Polly) get into a car accident after she apparently sees something with glowing red eyes in the road. The accident reveals that Mary actually has a brain tumor and dies shortly thereafter. John discovers pictures that Mary had drawn, showing a dark figure with glowing red eyes. Two years later, John is driving to Richmond, Virginia when he gets lost and ends up in the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, near the Ohio border. His car breaks down and when he goes to a house to see if he can use their phone, the owner, Gordon Smallwood (Will Patton, The Punisher, Brooklyn's Finest) pulls a gun on him. Gordon claims that John has been appearing at his house for the past few days at the exact same time. Local police officer Connie Mills (Laura Linney, Mystic River, The Truman Show) diffuses the situation, and John stays in town to get his car fixed. Connie reveals that strange things have been happening in town and John begins to investigate. Gordon reveals that he is hearing voices, including one warning him about something involving “99” and “Denver”. Soon, a tragedy strikes when a plane crashes in Denver, killing all 99 passengers. The next night, Gordon explains that he met the person behind the voices, revealing his name is Indrid Cold, the fabled Mothman. Indrid Cold contacts John, revealing that he has both precognition and some sort of omnipotence. He warns John of a future tragedy involving the Ohio River and the number 37. Will John be able to prevent the tragedy and what exactly is this Indrid Cold?

Life inside the Kool-Aid Man

I had never heard of the Mothman urban legends prior to seeing the movie and was generally interested in learning about it. Apparently there were actual events in the 1960's involving some sort of Mothman, so it has some basis as an urban legend. Sadly, The Mothman Prophecies fails to even scratch the surface in regards to explaining just what the Mothman is or was. The first 45 minutes or so are genuinely interesting as events begin to unfold and we finally hear from Indrid Cold for the first time. The scene where he speaks to John Klein is quite creepy, almost like a supernatural “When A Stranger Calls”. From there, the movie begins a slow, agonizing death march for another hour. Just when things started to get interesting, the film puts on the brakes. The movie becomes meandering and unfocused, losing any and all potential for horror and excitement. Too much focus is given on the prophecies and not on the mothman itself. The prophecies weren't the fun part of the movie, the scary sounding monster that sees and knows everything is. That's like focusing on the nature of dreams instead of Freddy Krueger.

Another issue with the movie is the large amount of missed opportunities. We never actually see Indrid Cold, which was a huge disappointment. I wanted to know what this thing looked like and we barely get a hint. Why not have a showdown with the main character? And to make things even more confusing, it's not clear if Indrid Cold and the Mothman are the same thing or separate. The relationship between John and Connie feels completely forced and lacks any sense of genuine interest. The acting is fine, it's just their relationship that doesn't work. The movie does have some very good suspense in the beginning, but it loses steam about halfway through the almost two-hour long run time. There really isn't much in the way of action with no blood or gore. Much like the suspense, there is horror in the beginning, but it doesn't last long. The directing and camerawork is all over the place, quickly switching from scene to scene with all sorts of wacky angles and establishing shots.

That's his "Why am I in this movie?" look

The Mothman Prophecies had a lot of potential, but was bogged down by a confusing and muddled script that didn't know where it was going. The movie is way too long for it's own good and kills all interest. I would have really liked to know more about the Mothman and would have loved to see it. Other than a creepy voice and some poor CGI effects, we get nothing. The acting is fine, but the direction just doesn't work. Any potential interest I had in learning about the Mothman legend is now gone. The legend of Richard Gere and the gerbil still remains.

4/10

Day 304: Creature From The Black Lagoon

Creature From The Black Lagoon

Apparently, the lagoon gives you soft, pouty lips

Dracula. The Wolfman, Frankenstein's monster (Frankenstein is the name of the doctor, people). The Mummy. These classic movie monsters receive lots of love and attention and rightfully so. They've had countless remakes and adaptations, appeared in video games, comic books, and products. To this day, people still get dressed up as these monsters for Halloween. There is one classic monster that always seems to be left out: The Creature from the Black Lagoon. What is it about the creature that doesn't put it on the same level as the others? Is it because the creature doesn't really come from a well-known novel? Is it a lack of sequels and remakes? Is it because it doesn't actually have a name? It's certainly not because the movie is bad.

Creature From The Black Lagoon is a 1954 monster movie starring Richard Carlson (It Came From Outer Space, The Magnetic Monster) as Dr. David Reed and Julie Adams (The Rifleman, Maverick) as his girlfriend, Kay Lawrence. While on an expedition in the Amazon, Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno, The Searchers, The Spanish Dancer) discovers the skeletal remains of an arm that appears to have a webbed hand. Maia is able to convince his friend Dr. David Reed, an icthyologist, to aid him in the excavation of the skeleton. They are joined by David's girlfriend Kay and Dr. Mark Williams, who funds the expedition. The take the steamer Rita down the Amazon to the camp site, where they find Maia's team brutally murdered by some sort of animal. Unknown to the group, the killer was actually an amphibious humanoid, the same species as the skeleton that Dr. Maia discovered. The group travels into the nearby black lagoon in hopes of finding more of the skeletal remains. The creature, or Gill-man, watches the expedition as the search the lagoon and becomes infatuated with Kay. It eventually kills two of the crew members on the ship. They poison the water and are able to capture the creature for a short time, but it escapes. Will they be able to capture this creature before it takes Kay?

"Has anyone seen my chapstick? I'm feeling chappy."

In classic monster movie fashion, Creature From The Black Lagoon has an equal mixture of mystery, action, romance, and traditional scares. While the movie may be almost 60 years old, it still manages to be quite entertaining. The action starts out almost immediately despite not showing the creature right away. We only see it's amphibious webbed hand, but it's enough to whet the audience's appetite and send imagination's soaring. Gill-man is essentially a man in a rubber suit (technically two different men, one for land shots and one for swimming), it looks far better than other monsters from the same era. Strong detail is given to the suit with authentic looking skin and fins. The face does have some motion to it and actually appears to be breathing when out of water. Many of the underwater scenes look very good, thanks to being shot in a studio rather than an actually body of water.

Originally filmed in 3D, the movie doesn't have the usual hallmarks you see in modern 3D films. There are no blatant scenes where someone is specifically pointing something at the screen for 3D purposes. The horror of the film is helped along thanks to the music in the film, which consisted mostly of blaring trumpets. It serves it's purpose, but tends to be a little grating by the end. Director Jack Arnold has a good eye for capturing both the action and terror in the movie. The acting is good, especially considering the creature is just a guy in a suit. Julie Adams doesn't play the straight damsel in distress role, giving the character more depth. There are just enough characters involved to kill off a few without diluting the story. The movie has a good amount of action, but since it's from the 1950's, of course there is no blood. C'mon, there are kids watching!

"Attica! Attica! Attica!"

Creature From The Black Lagoon is a fun monster movie from an era where a man in a rubber suit was still terrifying. The story movies quickly and has a good amount of action for the time period. The underwater scenes look great and the makeup used for the monster is spot-on. The combination of good acting and directing helps elevate the movie to a better level than other contemporary monster movies. The movie doesn't have the built-in story that other classic monster movies do, but it still manages to be entertaining. Why Gill-man doesn't get as much attention as it deserves, it's still a classic monster from a classic movie. Maybe you should dress up like Gill-man for Halloween tomorrow.

8/10

Day 294: The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man

From the makers of The Chia Pet

I never understood the saying “You need some of that old-time religion.” What exactly does that mean? If the speaker is referencing Jesus or Christianity, then they're way off. If you want to talk about “old-time religion” you better be referencing the god of the harvest a while wearing goat leggings and singing a jig in a long-dead language. The term pagan is thrown around a lot nowadays in reference to many different things, but it's important to remember that there are people still to this day that actually practice the “old-time religion”.

The Wicker Man is a 1973 British horror film starring Edward Woodward as Sergeant Neil Howie (Hot Fuzz, King David) and Christopher Lee (Lord Of The Rings, Dracula) as Lord Summerisle. Sergeant Howie receives an anonymous letter requesting his assistance in the case of a missing girl on the tiny isle of Summerisle. Howie must travel by small plane to get to the island and can only get to shore by rowboat. He begins asking the town people about the girl he is searching for, Rowan Morrison, but the all claim to never have heard of her. The people of the island have a strange way about them and it makes Howie, a devout Christian, incredibly uncomfortable. The sing songs about the harvest, have sex in open fields, discuss the importance of the phallic nature of the maypole, and use old forms of medicine. Howie stays at a local inn while continuing his investigation and notices photographs from the island's yearly harvest. Last year's photo is missing and he is told that someone accidentally broke it. At night, Howie is tempted by the innkeeper's daughter Willow (Britt Ekland, The Man With The Golden Gun, Satan's Mistress), but he refuses, explaining that he is a virgin and doesn't believe in sex before marriage. He travels to the school, where he discovers more evidence that Rowan Morrison did, in fact, live on the island. Howie speaks with the leader of the island, Lord Summerisle, about his investigation. Summerisle tells Howie of the islands history, explaining that his grandfather came to the island and developed a new strain of fruit that he believed could thrive in their climate. He instilled in the population the idea that if they prayed to the old gods, that the crops would grow and they would thrive. With the old ways also came sacrifices to the gods to ensure good crops. Howie discovers Rowan's grave and unearths her coffin only to discover a dead rabbit inside. He also finds that Rowan is in the missing picture of last year's harvest, standing amongst a poor crop. He believes that she will be sacrificed on May Day, which is tomorrow. Will Sergeant Howie be able to save her and is everything on Summerisle as it appears to be?

"As you can see, the Wicker Man is quite roomy and has a lovely view."

Ignore everything you heard about the horrendous remake of The Wicker Man that came out a few years ago starring Nicholas Cage. That movie is an abomination. Thankfully, the original Wicker Man is highly enjoyable thanks to it's great acting, solid writing, and fun mystery. The movie doesn't start out suspenseful, allowing the fear and anxiety to grow over time. Some movies are all suspense all the time and it wears out the audience. The Wicker Man takes it's time while still having an appropriate pace and surprises the audience without resorting to quick “jump at you” moments or gory violence. The audience gets sucked into the mystery of Rowan Morrison and follows along with Sergeant Howie as he traverses this strange island. The story is really, really good, never tipping it's hand until the final act when the movie truly becomes horror. The scene where Howie finally “meets” the wicker man is both terrifying and deflating as we know his fate.

While the story is very good, it's the acting in the movie that really makes it great. Edward Woodward represents the Christian world and, to a lesser extent, the audience. He epitomizes the term “stiff upper lip” trying to keep his composure in a a land full of strange customs and acts. Christopher Lee is equally great Lord Summerisle. While he and the rest of the people are technically the villagers, the conduct themselves with a smile, something that most horror movies do not do. This makes the movie very unnerving the horror that much scarier. They are true believers, committing acts that others would deem barbaric all in the hopes of having a good life. Throughout the movie, we hear various pagan songs from the people and admittedly they are very catchy. Christopher Lee is actually a classically-trained singer and his iconic voice sounds great in the movie. He actually released a symphonic metal metal album and a heavy metal album a few years back. It's not bad, but you have to watch this ridiculous music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvKRbi2ovDY.

Touchdown!

The Wicker Man is occult horror without the flaming pentagrams and shouts to the devil. The movie doesn't require blood and gore or jump at you moments in order to be scary. The story has a great mixture of mystery and suspense that keeps the audience wanting to see more. The ending is fantastic and comes as quite a shock to the system without having to relying on a major twist. The acting is great with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward putting in fantastic performances. The movie does bring up the power of religion and beliefs, but you can interpret that in however way you like. Wicker Man is a classic for a reason, but be sure to skip the remake. A “spiritual” sequel was released in 2011 and there is work on a third film entitled The Wrath Of The Gods. If you're thinking of checking those out, be sure to start with the original.

9/10

Day 282: The Innkeepers

The Innkeepers

Cloudy with a chance of evil spirits

It's my favorite month of the year, October. The days are getting shorter, the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing, pumpkin pie is plentiful, and horror rules. It's the time of ghouls, monsters, and especially ghost stories. What is it about a ghost story that scares us so much? Is it a fear of the unknown? Perhaps a secret desire of an afterlife? A love of sheets with holes in them? Whatever the reason, ghost stories are as old as time, being passed down from generation to generation. There are countless ghost tours, haunted hayrides and other attractions for fans of horror and the paranormal. The United States has no shortage of haunted places, be it houses, cemeteries, or in the case of today's movie, a hotel.

The Innkeepers is a 2001 ghost-centric horror movie written and directed by Ti West (The House Of The Devil, V/H/S). The movie stars Sara Paxton (Shark Night, Superhero Movie) as Claire, an employee at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, a formerly grand hotel that is now in its final week of operation. The only other employee is Luke (Pat Healy, Six Feet Under, Ghost World) who created a website about the supposed paranormal events that take place in the hotel. Both are amateur ghost hunters trying to find the spirit of Madeline O'Malley, a bride from the 1800's who hanged herself in the hotel after her husband left her on their honeymoon. It was also rumored that her body was hidden in the basement by the hotel owners at the time. The hotel receives a new guest, former actress Leanne Rease-Jones (Kelly McGillis, Top Gun, Witness) who claims to be in town for an actor's convention. That night, Claire uses Luke's ghost-hunting equipment to record various strange sounds in the hotel. She picks up the sound of faint voices and music and even sees the piano playing by itself. She runs into Leanne and explains what she heard. Leanne reveals that she is actually a medium and is in town to meet with other psychics. She also warns Claire to stay away from the basement. The next morning, Claire awakens to see an apparition of Madeline O'Malley sitting in her bed. Later that day, a strange old man asks to check into a honeymoon suite on the third floor, even though it has already been stripped of furniture. Luke and Claire decide to investigate the basement where Madeline's body is supposedly buried, ignoring Leanne's warning. Luke freaks out and flees, leaving Claire alone in the hotel. Panicked, Claire wakes Leanne who goes down into the basement to contact the spirit. She tells Claire that she is in great danger and must leave the hotel now. How is the old man connected to the events in the hotel and will Claire survive?

Did you have that dream about being Reese Witherspoon again, honey?

Many people say that writer/director Ti West is the new master of the “slow burn” in horror. I think it's more accurate to say that Ti West is the mast of the 10 minute horror movie. Of course, that's a problem when the movie is over 100 minutes long. Much like his other movie “The House Of The Devil” the majority of The Innkeepers teases the horror out almost to the point where he risks the audience leaving before things happen. Besides the one scene where the ghost appears in Claire's bed, almost nothing of importance happens until the final twenty minutes. There are a few creepy scenes here and there when Claire is listening to the ghost-hunting machine, but it's not heavy-duty horror. It's like West enjoys forcing the audience to sit through most of his movies bored in hopes of getting a few big scares in at the end. Unfortunately, the scares at the end of The Innkeepers weren't particularly frightening. The final events in The House Of The Devil was far more unsettling than The Innkeepers. I actually had a countdown during this movie to whens something was going to happen. “There's an hour left, something better happen. There's 45 minutes left, something better happen. There's 30 minutes left, something better happen.” Forcing your audience to be bored for most of the movie just to have a “thrilling” ending is never a good idea. It makes the movie feel like a chore instead of a form of entertainment.

That being said, everything else in the movie is very good. The acting is solid with it's small, but competent cast. The conversations feel very fluid and natural, though they're not always pertinent to the story itself. It sometimes feels as if West is trying to channel his inner Quentin Tarantino, having his characters have full conversations and witty rapport rather than advancing the story. Most of the movie comes off almost as a comedy between Luke's dorkish slackerism and Claire's awkwardness and wacky Jim Carrey-style flailing. Sara Paxton does a fine job, thanks in part to her gigantic eyes conveying fear, and Pat Healy was a good foil for her. Ti West is unquestionably a good director as he has an eye for great shots, both close up and far away. There is good character development throughout, almost too much to be honest. There is an actual Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut and parts of the movie were shot there. I felt that that was a nice touch, going above and beyond what was needed to give the movie an authentic feel. 

This movie is authentic, right down to the boredom we share with the characters

The Innkeepers is essentially two movies: The first is a cutesy and occasionally funny exploration into a few oddball characters. The second is an average ghost-tale with a few jumps and decent makeup. The main problem is that this “second” movie is about twenty minutes long and if you're going into this movie hoping for horror, you'll be sorely disappointed. The film moves at a snail's pace and will truly try the patience of people looking to be scared. It's not that the movie is bad, because it really isn't, it's just not what it promises to be. If you're thinking of seeing The Innkeepers, you should, because thanks to good acting and direction, the non-horror parts are well done. It's the story itself that is the true problem as nothing of particular interest occurs until the very end. If you're looking for scares, you can probably skip the first hour of the movie. That's never a good thing to say in a horror movie.

4.5/10

Day 280: When A Stranger Calls

When A Stranger Calls

Please don't call me, maybe

Certain movies are forever defined by one great scene. Even if you've never seen certain movies, specific scenes are easily recognizable. Whether it's clip shows or spoofs or references, you know exactly what movie it comes from. Some good examples are when Sissy Spacek is covered in blood at the prom in Carrie, the eye-torture scene in A Clockwork Orange, and Jack Nicholson chopping down the door in The Shining. Of course, these movies have a lot more going for them than just their iconic scenes. How would another movie fair when the iconic scene in the movie is the most exciting part?

When A Stranger Calls is a 1979 psychological horror movie starring Charles Durning (O, Brother Where Art Thou?, To Be Or Not To Be) as Officer John Clifford. Jill Johnson (Carol Kane, Seinfeld, Annie Hall) is babysitting two young children for Dr. and Mrs. Mandrakis when she starts to receive disturbing phone calls from an anonymous man. The voice repeatedly asks her if she has checked on the children. Frightened, she calls the police who offer to trace the phone calls in hopes of finding the culprit. It is revealed that the calls are coming from inside the house and Jill flees. The caller, a mentally disturbed British man named Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley, Doctor Who, The Italian Job), brutally murdered the two children with his bare hands and is placed in an asylum. Seven years later, Duncan escapes the asylum and Dr. Mandrakis hires John Clifford, the former police officer who investigated the case, to find and kill Duncan. Duncan is a vagrant in the city and is constantly pursuing a woman named Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf?, Caligula) who constantly rebuffs his advances. Clifford becomes increasingly aggressive and obsessed with finding Duncan before he kills again. He manages to find Duncan and a chase ensues, but Duncan escapes. Duncan eventually sees a newspaper with a now-adult Jill Johnson's picture in it. Will Clifford be able to stop him before he returns to murder Jill?

Yes kids, that's what a phone used to look like

The first twenty minutes of When A Stranger Calls may be the most suspenseful opening of any horror movie. The scene is has reached an iconic status, landing the movie on many Top scary movie lists. The scene is laid out perfectly with the proper amount of timing and pacing. Carol Kane does a great job as the audience is essentially living through her, sharing her fear and terror. It's is quite impressive considering that Kane is essentially acting by herself with just voices on a telephone working with her. The music is fantastic in the scene, creating an eerie atmosphere and swelling at just the right moments. It's just such a shame that a majority of the movie is nothing like those first twenty minutes.

Most of the movie follows John Clifford, who was on the scene the night of the murders. I'm a little confused as to why he took the case so personally. I mean, I understand the horrible trauma of the murders, but it's not like Clifford had been chasing Duncan before or after the incident. He just kind of waltzed into the crime scene with a bunch of other police officers. All the suspense and fear in the first 20 minutes completely disappear as the movie focuses on Duncan and Tracy for some reason. Why bother focusing on Tracy at all? The movie would have been better served following Jill as she was the one who actually endured the horror of that fateful night. It's a huge missed opportunity that could have led to more scenes of suspense and horror. Why not show how she has managed to make a life, but is still traumatized? We eventually get to that in the last twenty minutes, but what is the point when most of the movie essentially forgot about her? This shift in the story slows to a crawl, making for a boring watch. The acting is fine, though I question the choice of Tony Beckley as the killer from a physical standpoint. His voice is great, but he is a rather slight man and it's hard to believe he could brutally eviscerate people, albeit children, with his bare hands. 

 Cake or pie? Why not both?

When A Stranger Calls is a boring police story book-ended by two great scenes of horror and suspense. The beginning is iconic for a reason and should be shown to all aspiring film-makers. The end similarly has good suspense thanks to proper timing and music. Unfortunately, a majority of the movie plays out slowly and devoid of all suspense. It's really a shame because the movie's missed opportunities seem like common sense ideas. It's like they worked so hard on the beginning and end that they were just too tired to come up with anything in the middle. If you've never seen When a Stranger Calls, my advice is to watch the first twenty minutes and the last twenty minutes. Everything else is just filler.

5/10

Day 275: Frailty

Frailty

Matthew McConaughey is made out of birds! I knew it!

It's not often that a horror movie can make you question your ideas of right and wrong. Heck, it's not often any movie can do this. Horror movies aren't always known as though-provoking or emotional. The average person thinks of horror as a violence-fueled orgy of corruption that is ruining our youth. We all know that's not true (well, for most movies), but we horror fans can sometimes be hard-pressed to produce examples of movies that have a profound effect on a wide audience. I think I may have found one.

Frailty is a 2001 psychological horror movie directed by and starring Bill Paxton (Apollo 13, U-571) as Mr. Meiks and Matthew McConaughey (A Time To Kill, We Are Marshall) as Fenton Meiks. On a dark and stormy night, Fenton Meiks enters the Dallas FBI office and tells Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe, Deadwood, 24) that his brother Adam is the God's Hand serial killer. Fenton explains that he is coming forward now because Adam recently killed himself. Doyle is initially skeptical and Fenton tells him of their childhood. One night, their father (Bill Paxton) told them God had spoken to him and given him the task of rooting out demons and killing them. Mr. Meiks uses an axe that he was led to by a shaft of light and employs his sons Fenton and Adam in finding and killing these “demons”. They bury their first victim, a young woman, in the rose garden next to their house. Adam readily believes his father while Fenton is extremely skeptical. He is scared of his father, but tries to stop him numerous times. Angered at his insolence, Mr. Meiks forces Fenton to dig a large hole in the yard and then places a shed over the hole, using it as a type of prison. Fenton finally goes to the town sheriff who doesn't believe his story. When he arrives at the Meiks' home, Mr Meiks kills the sheriff and puts Fenton underneath the shed. Fenton is kept in the makeshift prison for a week and nears starvation until his father finally releases him when he has a vision of God. Are these the visions of a mad men or could they actually be true and is Fenton Meiks really who he says he is?

The family that slays together stays together

There are a lot of risks taken in Frailty that most other horror movies would have shied away from. This is Bill Paxton's directorial debut and he does a great job. It's always iffy when an actor decides to get behind the camera, but Paxton is able to weave an interesting and complex movie. The horror in Frailty is more psychological and internal than your average horror movie. That's not to say there isn't a few jumps and some violence, but those are just the bloody icing on the terror cake. (I'm trademarking the term “Terror Cake” right now.) It's not scary in the traditional sense with more of the fear coming from anxiety and tension. The movie is fairly low-budget but manages to tell a good story with what it has. It surprises me that I've never heard of this movie, but I can see how it would fly under the radar with it's lack of explosions and monsters.

The character development is slow and steady, complimented by very good performances from Paxton, McConaughey, and Boothe. The two young actors who played young Fenton and young Adam, Matt O'Leary (Brick, Live Free Or Die Hard) and Jeremy Sumpter (Friday Night Lights, Peter Pan) both shine in this movie as they give their characters a sense of realism not felt in a lot of horror. Frailty succeeds because it manages to question one's feelings and beliefs. What is good and what is evil? What is right and what is wrong? You think you know how the movie is going to play out and are then legitimately surprised when things are finally revealed. I thought I had everything figured out in Frailty and was almost proven right until the moral rug was pulled out from under me. The movie does run a bit too long and is slow at times. Frailty probably could have ended about 10 minutes sooner and left more to the audience's imagination.

He died doing what he loved: holding his crotch

Frailty isn't your typical horror movie. There is some action and bloody violence, but it's the implications and suspense that really make the movie frightening. Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey both put in very good performances while the two child actors make the movie. The movie manages to make the audience both think and feel, not an easy accomplishment for a genre known for it's gore and special effects. If you prefer your horror with lots of gore and over-the-top creatures, Frailty isn't for you. If you like slow, creeping anxiety and good twists, it's worth digging to find this hidden horror.

8/10

Day 270: The Faculty

The Faculty

School's out for summer

Public high school is a pretty scary experience. You're stuck in a place for hours, forced to take classes you have no interest in with people you hate, and on top of that, the food is terrible. Sure, public school builds character and prepares you for the real world far better than a private school, but it's still one of the circles of Hell. With cold, sterile lifeless buildings, it's no surprise that so many horror movies involve high school students.

The Faculty is a 1998 science fiction horror movie directed by Robert Rodriguez (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn) and starring Elijah Wood (Lord Of The Rings, Sin city) as as high school student Casey Connor. At Herrington High School in Ohio, the faculty begins to act strangely, starting with football coach Joe Willis (Robert Patrick, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Marine). A slug-like alien dependent on water, takes over the coach, turning him into an aggressive, emotionless drone. The coach then begins to turn other members of the faculty into alien drones. Casey finds one of the aliens on the football field and brings it to his science teacher, Mr. Furlong (Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, Half Baked). When water accidentally spills on the alien, it revives and is able to self-replicate. Along with Casey, only a few students notice the weird changes that are going on: the popular Delilah (Jordana Brewster, The Fast & The Furious, Chuck), goth outsider Stokely (Clea DuVall, Carnivale, The Grudge), former quarterback Stan (Shawn Hatosy, John Q, Dexter), drug-dealing loner Zeke (Josh Hartnett, 30 Days Of Night, Pearl Harbor), and new girl Marybeth (Laura Harris, Dead Like Me, 24). Casey and Delilah sneak into the teacher's lounge to see if they can find any clues. They hide in a closet and watch as Nurse Harper (Salma Hayek, From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado) is attacked by the coach and transformed by the alien. At the same time, Casey and Delilah discover the dead body of one of their older teachers in the closet. They flee and when Casey returns with his parents and police in tow, all the evidence is gone. With the police now under alien control and the teachers now infecting students, the group gathers in the science room to get the alien Casey found only to discover it's gone. An infected Mr. Furlong attacks the group and is only stopped when Zeke stabs him in the eye with his homemade drug, a diuretic called Scat. The group flees to Zeke's house where he studies on of the aliens and determines that they constantly need water to live. Stokely hypothesises that killing the queen alien will turn everyone back to normal. Unsure if anyone in the group is an alien, Zeke has everyone snort the drug, revealing that Delilah is, in fact, infected. The rest of the group head back towards the school to find and kill the queen alien whom they believe is their principal. To their surprise, killing their principal does not cure everyone. Who is the alien queen and how will the group be able to stop her?

Who wants spaghetti for dinner?

I admittedly have a soft spot for The Faculty in my heart because I watched it a lot growing up. It's your quintessential teen horror movie, complete with a ragtag motley crew of characters that many teens can identify with. A lot of movies, not just horror, involving high school students tend to come off as disingenuous. That's not a problem in The Faculty with it's smart script and good direction. Writer Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) does a good job of crafting enjoyable, though cliché, characters with believable dialogue. It also helps that the actors portraying high schoolers actually look like they are still in school. I mean, Elijah Wood still looks like he could be in high school over ten years later. What makes the movie work so well is the fast pace and good acting. The cast is downright massive with talented actors who later went on to bigger careers. The movie has a good amount of suspense that blends well with the action later in the movie. The special effects are decent for the time and the alien queen looks very good in her true form. The soundtrack is late 90's awesomeness, with songs by Stabbing Westward, Garbage, The Offspring and Class of '99, which consisted of Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine and the late Layne Staley from Alice In Chains and Mad Season.

Some may notice the movies striking resemblance to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, even going so far as to call The Faculty a direct ripoff. In the movie, they actually acknowledge how their scenario is similar to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, so I think it's unfair to label the movie as a ripoff. They're openly acknowledging that the movie exists, so if anything, The Faculty should be viewed as either a re-imagining or a tribute since the movies are similar, but not entirely the same. A theme of the movie is that everyone in the group wants to change who they are. It's certainly a true sentiment for a lot of high school students which helps add an air of authenticity to the characters. My only issue with this is at the end when some in the group completely change who they used to be. Stokely, for example, was a goth loner who now wears bright girly clothes and changed her hair. The drug-dealing slacker Zeke is now on the football team. It's a good message to change for the better, but I didn't like the total 180 turns they did, implying that completely changing yourself will mean your happy. 

"I'm not Tobey Maguire!"

The Faculty is a fun sci-fi horror movie that can be enjoyed by teens and adults alike. There is plenty of suspense and action to keep things interesting and entertaining. The ragtag group of students is a bit cliché, but it allows people to identify with a certain character or characters. The cast is very impressive in terms of star power and acting ability. Robert Rodriguez does a good job of capturing the thrills and horror of the movie while writer Kevin Williamson crafts likable, if flawed, characters and dialogue. While it's not entirely original, The Faculty is still highly entertaining to this day.

8.5/10

Day 268: Cujo

Cujo

Nothing says "killer dog" like a white fence with red paint on it...

I love dogs. I mean, I love just about all animals, but dogs hold a special place in my heart. Their love and loyalty is second only to humans. Sorry cat-lovers, but it's true. I can't remember the last time a cat was really excited to see me. It's because of this love that I despise animal cruelty. It boils my blood to read about someone abusing an animal. Even if it's just in the world of movies, it still bothers me a little bit. It's under these general feelings that I watched a movie I had been putting off for a long time.

Cujo is a 1983 horror movie based off the novel of the same name by Stephen King (The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption). The movie stars Dee Wallace (Exit Humanity, The Howling) as Donna Trenton and Danny Pintauro (Who's The Boss?, As The World Turns) as her son Tad. A large St. Bernard named Cujo is bitten by a bat and contracts rabies. Cujo's behavior changes go unnoticed by it's owner, mechanic Joe Camber (Ed Lauter, Not Another Teen Movie, Youngblood). Donna's husband, Vic (Daniel Hugh Kelly, Ryan's Hope, Memphis Beat) rightfully suspects that Donna is cheating on him. When a work crisis forces him to take a long business trip, Donna takes her car to Joe to be fixed. Unknown to Donna, Cujo has succumbed to rabies, attacking and killing Joe and his friend. When she arrives, they are viciously attacked by Cujo, who smashed the car's windows and damages the exterior. They try to drive away, but the car will no longer start. The dog waits outside and repeatedly attacks every time Donna tries to get out of the car. Donna and Tad are forced to sit in the car for days, enduring intense heat and dehydration. Vic finally returns home from his trip to find his house vandalized and his wife and son missing. He calls the police, blaming the man Donna had an affair with for their kidnapping. A local sheriff is sent to Joe Camber's house and is attacked by Cujo. With no more help coming and death all around her, how will Donna be able to escape with her son?

"Hello, we'd like you to have this flower from the Church of Consciousness!"

If that description of a movie seems slim, don't blame me. Not much really happens in Cujo as the first half of the movie is just filler to kill time until Cujo attacks the car. Of course, the other problem is that the second half of the movie is essential just two people sitting in a car. We know Stephen King can write horror and suspense, so the source material isn't the problem. The story plods along with nothing particularly interesting happening for long stretches of time. The first few minutes of Cujo attacking Donna's car are actually frightening, but the movie gets stuck in the same gear from that point on. The true horror of a story like Cujo lies in suspense and psychological torture. It's the waiting that should be scary, the knowledge that going outside of the car means death, but staying inside the car also means death. That's pretty scary, especially in written form, when it's done correctly. Unfortunately, it's not done that way in Cujo and comes off as just boring. It's not entertaining to watch essentially the same scene over and over for half a movie.

As I mentioned above, I don't like seeing animals hurt. Cujo's transformation is quite heartbreaking, especially because it was due mostly to neglect by his owners. Selfishness is a big theme in the movie, between Cujo being ignored and Donna cheating on her husband. The entire adultery story didn't work for me as it was never portrayed as a particularly important part of the story. It didn't really change all that much or effect anyone's decisions or motivations. If anything, it just made me hate Donna and not care about her well-being. On top of that, Tad falls into the all-to-common trap of children in horror movies being incredibly annoying. I don't blame Danny Pintauro, I blame lazy writers and directors that just had him scream and cry for 45 minutes. Horror movie writers and directors, I beg you, please stop making kids in horror movies annoying or stupid. It makes me want to cheer for the bad guy to get them just so I don't have to hear or see them anymore.

Director Lewis Teague (Navy SEALs, Cat's Eye) manages to suck the life out of the few action scenes in the movie with some questionable shots. There is one scene where Donna and Tad are stuck in the car where the camera continuously swings around 360 degrees. It wasn't creative, it was just nauseating and unnecessary. He's forced to stretch out scenes far longer than they could manage and it kills what suspense the movie could muster. The acting is passable with just about hovering around my annoyance tolerance level. I don't normally pick up on a lot of errors in movies, but there is one scene in Cujo that I couldn't believe made it out of editing. On the first night of Cujo's attack, a phone ringing inside Joe's house causes Cujo to jump through the window. Before the dog leaves the house, we clearly see the trainer's hand reach up and pull the dog down. How can you miss something like that? It's not even like it was a quick flash of a hand and then a cut away. You clearly see an arm shoot up and pull the dog down. What a screw up!

"Give me all your Pupperonis!"

I like Stephen King's work and have enjoyed a good amount of the movies based his stories. While Cujo is a well-known story, I just don't think it had enough to create a complete movie. Like another King adaptation, Graveyard Shift, Cujo essentially has one important scene and nothing else going for it. Scenes feel too stretched-out and all the emotion from the characters feels drained and pointless. The adultery storyline never really goes anywhere and just feels like unnecessary filler material. By making Donna a cheater, I felt less inclined to cheer for her survival. Throw in an annoying child and I was practically cheering for Cujo to finish them off. I didn't like seeing the dog's transformation, but it wasn't gruesome or particularly harsh. Cujo has a few good moments and a scare or two, but it's just not enough to make the movie good.

5/10

Day 264: The Resurrected

The Resurrected

Is this a horror movie or an antacid advertisement?

H.P. Lovecraft is one of my favorite writers. His ability to craft creative horror and science fiction that is still scary almost 100 years later is second to none. For whatever reason, almost every adaptation of his work on the big screen is terrible. Some movies draw strongly from the source material and some use the basic premise, but the end result is usually the same: horrendous movies. It's also not uncommon for a movie to use Lovecraft's name and his titles only to trick people into watching their celluloid bowel movement. The Tomb is a perfect example of this act. I'll never understand why it's so difficult to make a good movie based on H.P. Lovecraft's work. Maybe it's because I have such high expectations and I'm setting myself up for disappointment. What better way to explore this theory than by watching a movie I didn't initially know was a Lovecraft adaptation?

The Resurrected is a 1992 direct-to-video horror movie adapted from the H.P. Lovecraft short story “The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward”. Directed by Dan O'Bannon (Alien, The Return Of The Living Dead), the movie stars John Terry (Full Metal Jacket, 24) as private investigator John Marsh. The movie is told mostly in flashback from Marsh's recollection. John is hired by Claire Ward (Jane Sibbett, Friends, The Second Arrival) to look into the increasingly strange behavior of her husband, Charles Dexter Ward (Chris Sarandon, Dog Day Afternoon, Child's Play). Charles has moved from his spacious house in Providence, Rhode Island to a small bungalow in the rural Pawtuxet Valley region. He receives deliveries of long, wooden crates at all hours of the night and is very secretive of it's contents. The deliveries are followed by the overpowering stench of rotting meat or animal carcasses. Charles also begins to surround himself with undesirables, including the mysterious Dr. Ashe. Claire tells John that Charles had recently inherited the belongings of a long-dead relative named Joseph Curwen. Curwen was a shipping magnate and alchemist in the 1700's, eventually earning the reputation as a grave robber. Through his research, Curwen was able to unlock the secrets of immortality with the usage of “essential saltes” and fresh corpses. Charles' personality has changed so much that he now speaks in an antiquated style and is eventually committed to an insane asylum. John, along with Claire and his partner Lonnie, break into the bungalow and discover and underground laboratory which is filled with the ashes of other known occultists and alchemists. It is revealed that Curwen has in fact come back to life as Dr. Ashe and intends to bring back others. Along with the lab, there are a series of tunnels and the group encounter hideous half-human monsters and abominations, including one that kills Lonnie. How will John be able to stop the resurrected Curwen and is it too late to save the true Charles Dexter Ward?

Today's weather: Partly cloudy with a chance of grease

Initially, I didn't know The Resurrected was going to be an H.P. Lovecraft story. It became pretty obvious once the story took place in Rhode Island (a Lovecraft staple) and the name “Charles Ward” was mentioned. Of course, this raises the question, “Why did they not just named the movie 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'?” I, along with other Lovecraft fans, would have discovered this movie much sooner if the connection was more obvious. The title “The Resurrected” is fine, but it's so generic that it could be about anything. I mean, “The Resurrected” is probably the name of a local metal band. Or hardcore band. Or punk band. See what I mean? As far as Lovecraft adaptations go, this movie actually fairs better than most other attempts. It's updated to the early 90's (which is apparent in the furniture, clothes, and greasy “professional” mullets) with some extra characters and situations added, but it's essentially the same story. Lovecraft himself didn't like the story and it was published posthumously, but I enjoy it immensely. The original story has a good mixture of mystery and suspense with a healthy dose of old-fashioned horror. The film version fairs well-enough in trying to incorporate all of these elements into a cohesive film. One funny thing I noticed in the movie is when John tells someone that he drove two hours to get from Providence to Pawtuxet Valley. In reality, it's about a 15 minute drive and the area is neither rustic nor remote. When Lovecraft wrote the story, that might have been more true, but today it's a silly mistake. It was also disappointing to see that the movie was actually filmed in British Columbia and not actually in Rhode Island.

Despite having an obviously low budget, The Resurrected manages to use some pretty good special effects and makeup. I was actually surprised at how good some of the monsters looked in the movie as the prosthetics look quite scary. There is also a good amount of blood and gore which was completely unexpected. Despite writing scary stories, Lovecraft's work was never particularly gruesome or graphic. The problem is that these scenes are too few and far between. The movie is about 20 minutes too long and tends to drag in the beginning. For this type of story, a fast, steady pace would have been better than the slow drips we got. The acting is decent, but some of the dialogue is too cheesy for me to handle. Chris Sarandon puts on the best performance in The Resurrected, but not until about halfway through when his personality changes. It's a whole lot of scenery chewing, but in a fun way, and fits in well with the new character. I do question why they set the movie in modern times when they competently show flashbacks to pre-Revolutionary times. I think the movie would have had a more authentic horror feel if it had taken place in the early 1900's instead of the 1990s.

"Does my throat look red? It feels sore."

The Resurrected is a decent adaptation from a lesser-known H.P. Lovecraft story. While it may not be the first Lovecraft movie that deserves a shot at the big screen, it is a fun and exciting story, that in the right hands, could have been great. The movie has some good moments, mostly from gory violence and good prosthetic work. The pacing is a little slow and the movie runs about 20 minutes too long. Chris Sarandon is great with the rest of the cast pulling up the rear. If you're a Lovecraft fan, you'll enjoy the references and effort, but may be disappointed in the end product. Still, The Resurrected isn't a bad watch and some may enjoy it as a starting point to get into Lovecraft's work.

6/10

Day 262: Mirrors

Mirrors

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the Kieferiest of them all?

Using a mirror in a horror movie is one of the oldest tricks in the book. They're always good for a quick scare and fun special effect. Some say that mirrors are a window into the soul. Personally, I think they're just a shiny surface that occasionally get covered in toothpaste when you don't close your mouth during brushing. Either way, the mirror is a useful horror tool, whether it was in Prince Of Darkness or A Nightmare On Elm Street or Stir of Echoes or The Ring. One can even say that the use of mirrors in horror is a cliché. Would an entire horror movie based on mirrors fit or break the mold?

Mirrors is a 2008 horror movie, based off ideas from the South Korean movie Into The Mirror, starring Kiefer Sutherland (24, Phone Booth) as former NYPD Detective Ben Carson. After an accidental shooting, Ben was suspended from the police force and fell into a downward spiral of alcohol and depression. His wife Amy (Paula Patton, Precious, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) left him and tries to limit his visits with their children Daisy and Michael. Ben is reduced to living in an apartment with his sister, Angela (Amy Smart, Road Trip, Crank) and has to take a job as a night security guard. His post is at Mayflower, a luxury department store that was gutted by a fire which killed many people. Unknown to Ben, the previous guard, Gary Lewis, was killed by supernatural means after his own reflection cut his throat. On his first night of guard duty, Ben sees all the mirrors in the building covered with hand prints, but the prints are on the reflected side of the glass facing out. Over time, he begins to see and feel visions of people on fire and begging for help. Ben actually receives a package sent from Gary, the now dead guard, with newspaper clippings about the fire and how a previous guard murdered his family, blaming their deaths on something in mirrors. As Ben begins to research the incident, Angela is viciously killed when her reflection rips pulls her jaw apart. In a fit of rage, Ben tries to break the mirrors in Mayflower, but they cannot be damaged. He asks the mirror what is wants and the name “Esseker” appears on the mirror's surface. By using his detective skills, Ben discovers that the department store was built on top of St. Matthews Hospital which housed a room full over mirrors used to treat mental patients. The name Esseker belonged to a young schizophrenic patient named Anna Esseker who had escaped a mass suicide at the hospital before it closed. Ben is able to find Anna who has since become a nun. She explains that she was not schizophrenic, but had some sort of demon inside her that escaped into the mirrors. With his family in terrible danger, with Ben and Anna be able to stop the mirrors in time?

And you think you had a bad day

I don't know if I've ever seen another movie that started out so strong and ended with such a thud. The first twenty-five or so minutes of Mirrors is a great mixture of suspense, mystery, and horror. The story is set up properly, giving us a bit of action in the very beginning and then filling in all the details of Ben's personal life. His story plays out like the typical “fired cop” character, complete with alcohol problem and shattered family life. It's so clichéd that I half-expected him to report to an irate chief and work with a partner that's “too old for this shit”. The beginning of the movie has a great horror atmosphere with the burned-out department store as the perfect setting. Everything is broken and burnt except for the immaculate mirrors. The special effects used to show the spirits in the department store look very good and Amy Smart's death scene is incredibly violent and disturbing. The inclusion of the evil being able to reach his loved ones was quite smart as it forced Ben to solve the problem. Many horror movies are lazy and keep characters in a haunted spot with no good reason not to leave. It's when the movie is taken out of the department store that things begin to fall apart.

The movie focuses too much on uncovering the mystery and gets far too complicated for it's own good. The addition of the hospital, a demon and Anna Esseker takes the story into a strange and unnecessary direction. One would think that the spirits (or demon, whatever it is) inside the mirrors were trapped souls looking for some measure of peace or something along those lines. It's far easier and entertaining to just have Ben looking for the real culprit of the fire than sending him on a wild goose chase. The department store was such a good setting that taking him out of it takes away from the horror of the movie. It doesn't help that the movie spends a good 20 minutes focused on Amy trying to save her kids while Ben tries to convince Anna to help him. These scenes just drag on for way too long and force the movie into a run-time of 111 minutes. That's unnecessary and it brings down the entire movie. Kiefer Sutherland is good, channeling a healthy dose of his Jack Bauer character from 24. Paula Patton does well enough, but like a lot of horror movies, the children are just too annoying for me to handle. Director Alexandre Aja (Piranha, The Hills Have Eyes) has some good moments, but doesn't get the most out of what should have been easy scares.

"I'm sorry, I got lost in my handsomness for a second."

Mirrors is a convoluted story that fizzled far quicker than it should have. What started out as a promising and fun horror movie became a complicated and boring supernatural mystery that was neither exciting nor thrilling. There are a few good scenes of violence and gore, but not enough to sustain the extra long run-time. It makes you wonder, if they're capable of showing extreme violence, why only settle for one or two scenes? The acting is decent and certainly helps make the movie more tolerable than if it were done by less-skilled actors. It's a shame that the movie turned out the way it did, because it really had a lot of potential, but potential can only take you so far.

4.5/10