Day 344: The Bleeding House

The Bleeding House

House Party 5

“Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Blanche DuBois' famous line from A Streetcar Named Desire is still commonly referenced over 60 years later. It's funny to think about because in today's society, we are explicitly taught to never speak to strangers, never pick up hitchhikers, and to never let a stranger into your house. Kids today even have “stranger danger” yells. I'm not saying it's wrong, it's just the way things are. As we've seen from many horror movies, that hitchhiker wants to wear your skin as a coat and that stranger at your front door wants to eat your face. Despite this knowledge, some people (and movies) never learn.

The Bleeding House is a 2011 horror movie staring Alexandra Chando (The Lying Game, As The World Turns) as Gloria Smith and Patrick Breen (Galaxy Quest, Whole Day Down) as Nick. In a rundown home in small town America, the bizarre Gloria lives in a constant state of tension with her family. Her father Matt (Richard Bekins, One Life To Live, Limitless) is desperately trying to get his job back with a law firm while her mother Marilyn (Law & Order, Margaret) tries to maintain some sense of order and family. Gloria's older brother Quentin (Charlie Hewson, Awake, White Collar) is considering leaving home with his secret girlfriend Lynne (Nina Lisandrello, Beauty and the Beast, Nurse Jackie). A violent tragedy befell the family in the past which caused them to fall apart and be shunned from the town, but it is unclear at first. One night, a stranger named Nick arrives at the door asking if he can stay the night since his car broke down. At first, they refuse, but after some though, Marilyn allows him to stay. He is a soft-spoken Southern gentleman who manages to charm the family. He notices the tension between Gloria and her mother and believes that both he and Gloria are very similar. The tension between mother and daughter boils over when a bird that Gloria had been keeping escapes from it's box. When Marilyn asks her to hand over the bird, Gloria kills it and leaves. While she is gone, Nick reveals his true nature, knocking out both parents and hooking them up to a strange machine. The machine starts to drain the blood from Matt as Nick begins to question Marilyn about the violent incident. Marilyn says that she was having an affair with another man and accidentally started a fire in his house, killing his family. Nick reveals that he has been traveling do different towns, dispensing a type of religious justice to those who have sinned. Quentin and Lynne home and Nick slits his throat while Lynne and Gloria escape towards town. They are picked up by police and brought back to the house where Nick kills both policemen. What does Nick have planned for Gloria and was Marilyn's confession just a cover for something more sinister?

"Life is pain. Take me to Hot Topic."

The Bleeding House isn't your typical horror movie. It manages to be completely focused on the story it wants to tell while remaining rather directionless in purpose. It starts out relatively interesting with the broken family and the seemingly-pleasant stranger. Even when the killing began, I remained interested in what was happening, but the story became muddled and confused when questions began to receive answers. It was never entirely clear just why Nick was at their house specifically other than something about going into town and hearing people speak badly about the family. So, what, does he just go around the country waiting to hear people shit talk families that have done something wrong? We're supposed to believe he's a methodical professional serial killer, but we seen him make plenty of mistakes, leaving his finger prints everywhere, and having trouble killing a teenage girl. Granted, we learn that she's just as bad as he is, but it's a bit too much to believe. There are too many twists and turns and most fail to surprise. When Gloria's true nature is revealed, it left me with a feeling of “So what?” It makes it incredibly hard to cheer for her and hope she survives when all is revealed. Combine that with her relatively unlikable family and I end up cheering for Nick instead. Her character's secret was very similar to the daughter in the Kevin Costner's film “Mr. Brooks” which came out 4 years prior to The Bleeding House.

If there's one thing that the movie does right, it's atmosphere. The movie has a constant uncomfortable and eerie atmosphere to it that helps increase interest when the story fails to do so. There are a few jolts and maybe a scare or two, but not much. Like I said, it's not your typical horror movie. I was half-expecting Nick to be some sort of demon or vengeful spirit or something deeper than just a guy going from town to town killing people. I figured the title of the movie might mean that the house itself would bleed. That would have been much cooler. In terms of blood, yes there is a lot of it, but not in the way you expect. Nick drains Matt and Marilyn, filling up jugs with their blood. There's also some typical slashing and stabbing, but there's not much gore coming from those scenes. Patrick Breen is good in his charming, but murderous role. Alexandra Chando spends most of the movie with her hair in her eyes, looking angsty and weird. The dialogue in the movie feels very self-serving as every line tries to be deep and important, but fails to stick. It feels like writer/director Philip Gelatt was writing with one hand and fondling himself with the other, mumbling “I'm so great. I'm so great.”

"I must have a case of the vapors!"

The Bleeding House starts with a moderately decent mystery that eventually leads to nothing. The story itself is rather pedestrian and reminds me of “Mr. Brooks” which is not good because that movie was terrible. The acting is decent, but I am not a fan of the verbal masturbation that is the dialogue. There's violence and plenty of blood, but the movie isn't really a slasher. There's a serious lack of excitement, even during the more active scenes. Nick's motivation for killing is somewhat unclear and it's hard to believe he hasn't been caught yet considering all of his mistakes. I wasn't really expecting a lot from The Bleeding House, but I was expecting more than what I got. The lesson in The Bleeding House is to never let strangers in and never let your child be a murderous psycho. The end.

4.5/10

Day 310: The Last Exorcism

The Last Exorcism

Twister: Satanic Edition

There have been possession/exorcism movies before and after but none come close to the sheer terror and quality of The Exorcist. It is the alpha and the omega of possession horror. Many have tried to emulate it and many have failed. It's almost unfair to compare other movies to The Exorcist. It is a movie unto itself. All that being said, it's hard not to do so because the themes that run through that movie are identical to all others. The heavy religious imagery, religious commentary, the questioning of faith, and some scary violence. Those things could describe countless possession movies. Because of this, newer movies are required to come up with new ideas, new twists, and new gimmicks to differentiate themselves from the standard bearer of exorcisms in horror. One of those gimmicks is my old “favorite,” found footage.

The Last Exorcism is a 2010 found footage-style exorcism movie starring Patrick Fabian (Bad Ass, Providence) as Reverend Cotton Marcus. Cotton is followed be a small documentary crew to expose exorcism as a fraud. He has performed exorcisms in the past, but does not believe in demons or possessed individuals. Along with the crew, Cotton travels to a small town in Louisiana after receiving a letter asking for his help in performing an exorcism. The letter is written by Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum, True Blood, JAG) claiming that his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell, The Day, United States Of Tara) is possessed. After meeting with Nell, Cotton tells her father that she is possessed by a demon called Abalam. Cotton uses a myriad of tricks and props to make it appear that he is casting a demon out of Nell, to the satisfaction of her father. That night, Nell randomly appears in Marcus's hotel room in a disheveled state. They take her to a hospital to get checked out and everything comes back normal. Cotton visits the Sweetzer's former pastor, Joseph Manley (Tony Bentley, Cadillac Records, From The Rough), who explains that he hasn't been in contact with the family in a few years. After his wife's death, Louis became ultra religious and pulled his family out of the church and homeschooled his children. Nell inexplicably cuts her brother's face and Louis chains her to her bed. Cotton and the film crew free her, but her strange actions continue. A doctor from the hospital leaves a message, stating that Nell is in fact pregnant. Convinced that Louis raped her, Cotton and the crew wait for him to come home. Tempers flare and Nell attacks Cotton. He agrees to perform another exorcism, but things are not what they same. Is Nell really possessed or is there something else going on and how is Pastor Manley involved?

Power slide!

As with every other exorcism movie, religion does play a large part of the movie, but not in the typical way. The Last Exorcism puts a twist on the “loss of faith” theme. The movie doesn't focus on Cotton's return to faith and allows the movie to progress. The movie doesn't feel too preachy and doesn't rely heavily on Christian imagery. That was quite a relief as other movies tend to bash the audience over the head with crosses and Jesuses (Jesusi?). By not being as straight-forward as other exorcism movies, The Last Exorcism is free to craft better characters without having to force cliches and stereotypes. Both Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell put in good performances, making both of their characters likable and believable. This likability is important because it makes the audience care about what is going on. The story itself is on the fairly mundane side with a few twists and turns that didn't really work for me. Things felt rushed and convenient with the express purpose of getting to the “shocking” ending with about 3 minutes left in the film. The movie lacked the proper amount of foreshadowing to be believable and felt too random. The final few seconds were straight out of the Blair Witch Project and I hated that movie.

The main gimmick of this movie is the use of found footage. As I've said in other reviews, I'm not really a fan of this style. It does allow for quicker scares, but it really isn't necessary for a movie like The Last Exorcism. Beyond the fast jolts, there really aren't many scary things about the film. I can't stand the shakiness of the camera and the phony focusing that occurs. Personally, I think a few quick scares are not a good tradeoff for a good story. There is a bit violence, though most is directed at a cat, which I didn't care for. The movie is rated PG-13 which blows my mind. Why would you handcuff your movie and take out the necessary and desired violence from the horror crowd? Do you really want a 14 year old to see a movie talking about rape and incest and demonic possession? By going soft on the violence and language, the movie becomes watered-down and generic. It doesn't have to be a splatterfest, but a few more scenes of violence and some real-life dialogue would have improved the movie immensely.

All the kids are doing the "Possessed" at the dance clubs

The Last Exorcism has a few good things going for it, but it tends to blend in with all the other exorcism movies. The story is fairly mediocre and the twists are too convenient and not very surprising. The ending feels very rushed and a lack of foreshadowing made it appear to come out of nowhere. The found footage may appeal to some, but I found it unnecessary and occasionally nauseating. The acting in the movie is good and there is solid character development. I truly think the PG-13 rating held the movie back and made it too bland for your average horror fan. While it's not a terrible movie, there were just too many thing in it that I didn't like.

5.5/10

Day 292: Session 9

Session 9

Number 9. Number 9. Number 9

Insane asylums/mental hospitals are the perfect setting for horror movies. They're better than morgues, better than graveyards, better than public school on picture day. There is just something inherently terrifying about these asylums. Maybe it's because of their well-known violent past. Maybe it's because countless numbers of people died inside them. Or maybe it's our own personal fear of losing control and being doomed to a life of pills and padded walls. Whatever reason it may be, no other building, structure or institution fits the world of horror better then an insane asylum. The fear exists before the movie even starts.

Session 9 is a 2001 psychological horror movie starring David Caruso (CSI: Miami, NYPD Blue) as Phil and Peter Mullan (War Horse, Trainspotting) as Gordon Fleming. Gordon owns the Hazmat Elimination Company and has just gotten the contract to remove the asbestos from the abandoned Danvers State Hospital. The old insane asylum is quite large and while Phil says it should take three weeks to clean, Gordon tells the owner they'll clean it in one. Gordon and Phil's team includes the irresponsible Hank (Josh Lucas, Hulk, Poseidon) who stole Phil's girlfriend, law school dropout Mike (Stephen Gevedon, War Of The Worlds, Devil You Know) and Gordon's nephew Jeff (Brendon Sexton III, Empire Records, Boys Don't Cry). While cleaning, Mike discovers nine taped sessions with a former patient named Mary Hobbes. The tapes describe Mary suffering from multiple personality disorder. Her other personalities include a little girl called The Princess, a young boy named Billy, and someone named Simon, whom the doctor cannot speak with yet. The incident has been blocked out and the doctor desperately tries to get Mary to remember. As the week wears on, Hank discovers a cache of silver coins and other valuable items in a tunnel underneath the hospital and leaves the job to head to Las Vegas. At the same time, Gordon begins to unravel, revealing to Phil that he hit his wife. Mike, who has become engrossed with the taped sessions, learns that a some sort of mysterious incident occurred to Mary on Christmas in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1951. Jeff sees Hank at the hospital, despite supposedly leaving for Las Vegas, and the rest of the group gives chase. The generator, which provides light to the hospital, runs out of fuel and the building goes dark. One by one, each member of the group is attacked. Who is the one behind the attacks and how does Mary's sessions fit in to everything?

It's clearly haunted, but look at those windows!

For a movie with a pretty low budget, Session 9 manages to create a fantastically eerie atmosphere. You're never sure what is going to happen next and where the movie is going. The music is one contributing factor to the atmosphere. Light playing of piano notes makes scenes that would normally be benign seem important and sinister. Scenes in the movie were shot at the actual Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts, which certainly gave the movie a real sense of reality. The building is quite amazing to behold, especially when you know that Danvers was supposedly the birthplace of the pre-frontal lobotomy. Another factor was the sessions that Mike was listening to. It really felt like they were plucked out of a real mental hospital. The sessions hold a gripping story with a good amount of suspense in regards to what happened and how it relates to the current events. While the sessions are a good parallel for what is happening in the movie, I was disappointed that they didn't actually affect anything. They're still creepy, no question, but I was expecting a ghost or something along those lines. The story does get intentionally confusing towards the end in hopes of having a big surprise ending. Unfortunately, it wasn't particularly shocking and made the previous confusion unnecessary. The payoff should have been a lot better than what we got.

The acting is good throughout the movie with Caruso and Mullan putting in the best performances. There are a few scenes of bloody violence towards the end, but probably not enough for the typical horror fan. The majority of the story is a little too slow for my liking, but the Mary sessions kept me interested. Writer/director Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Fringe) does a really good job on a small budget, crafting a dark movie that leaves the audience guessing. There are some really good horror scenes, including one with an ice pick and one with Jeff running down a hallway with the lights going out behind him. The movie is heavy on mood and a little light in terms of narrative.

Devo: The Later Years

Session 9 has a decent story, but great atmosphere. The setting is authentic and spooky, far better than something one a Hollywood set. The taped sessions are probably the best part of the movie as they are quite unsettling. Sadly, the movie doesn't have the payoff I was expecting. The ending is fairly predictable, despite having a confusing lead-up. There is some decent violence and blood, but that only comes at the end. The acting is good and the direction is very good. Session 9 has it's moments and had the potential for greatness. It just didn't reach the heights that it was going for. It's a decent watch with some good scenes, so if you're looking for something different, give Session 9 a shot.

7/10

Day 291: Sleepaway Camp

Sleepaway Camp

Yeah, stabbing a shoe makes complete sense

The term “cult classic” is given to many horror movies, perhaps more than any other genre of film. It's important to remember that just because a movie is a cult classic, that doesn't mean that it is classic. It's cult for a reason. Sometimes it's because the movie is obscure or too strange or eccentric for the mainstream. Other times it's because the movie is utterly terrible and people like to laugh at it. Then there are those few films that gain cult status due to one or two memorable scenes. These scenes are so shocking that just uttering the name of the movie will cause be to go, “Oh, that's the movie where...”. Sleepaway Camp is one of those movies.

Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 slasher horror movie starring Felissa Rose (Return To Sleepaway Camp, Satan's Playground) as Angela Baker. Angela's father and brother Peter, were killed in a boating accident and she was sent to live with her eccentric aunt and cousin, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten, Return To Sleepaway Camp, The Perfect House). After the accident, Angela has become introverted and rarely speaks. Ricky and Angela are sent to Camp Arawak for the summer. Due to her shy nature, Angela is bullied by some of the campers and her counselor, Meg. Ricky tries to protect Angela and actually saves her from the head cook Artie who tries to molest her. While Artie is boiling water, and unseen person knocks him off a chair, sending boiling water all over his body. The teasing continues and Ricky, along with his friend Paul, get into a fight with some other boys. Angela begins to open up to Paul and a relationship slowly starts to build between the two. Meg continues to torment Angela, asking why she refuses to shower with the other girls and why she never goes swimming. At the same time, the body count beings to rise around camp, although they all appear to be accidents. Mel, who runs the camp, suspects that it's Ricky behind all the “accidents” and is determined to catch him. Who is really behind the murders and is Angela really who she says she is?

"I left the oven on! My pies will burn!"

This movie came out during the slasher heyday of the early 1980's, but it's general concept was nothing new. By 1983, we already had multiple “youth at a camp” slashers including the far-more popular Friday The 13^th, The Burning, and Madman. I will give Sleepaway Camp credit in focusing more on the actual campers than the counselors, which does make the killings more disturbing. This would have been a great chance for the movie to really separate itself from the “camp site” slasher pack, but unfortunately, nothing of real interest occurs. It's not that the movie directly ripped-off previous slashers, it's just kind of lazy. The kills are actually creative and fun to watch, but when Sleepaway Camp focuses on anything else, the movie comes to a grinding halt. We get that Angela is bullied, we don't need to see it for an hour. Her relationship with Paul is barely-there and just serves to get to the shock ending. The acting is pretty bad and some of the character's motivations are questionable.

Now, I normally don't like to give away major twists, but I feel it's necessary to discuss in order to properly review the movie. While most know what it is, if you've never seen Sleepaway Camp, I suggest you skip over this paragraph. Needless to say, SPOILER ALERT. The big twist ending is that Angela is in fact, Peter, who we previously thought was killed in the boating accident. For whatever reason, her aunt decided to raise her as a girl. Other than being nuts, there's no real reason given as to why she did this and why Angela went along with it. I guess we can chalk it up to being traumatized, but come on. While that information is fairly surprising, it's how we learn that Angela is actually a boy: a full-frontal naked shot of a blood-covered Angela, penis and all. To top that all off, the final scene has a naked Angela with an insane look on her face that lasts an unnaturally long time. Seriously, look at that picture below. Keep looking at it for at least 15 seconds. That's the end of the movie which was incredibly unsettling. Weird and pointless, but unsettling. The twist is quite shocking, though it doesn't really add that much to the story itself. Why does Angela go on a killing spree now? Has she killed anyone before? Why bother exposing herself now after hiding for so long? I don't know, I'm probably thinking too much on a movie who's main purpose is to shock the audience by showing a wang.

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Welcome back, those of you who wanted to keep the ending a secret. Sleepaway Camp is a fairly mundane slasher film with a real mediocre story. There are a lot of holes in the story and the poor acting is hard to ignore. You're better off watching several other “camp site” horror movies. There are some interesting kills, though the movie lacked the blood and gore that was prevalent in other slashers from the same time. The movie has gained cult status thanks to it's truly shocking ending, having been immortalized in multiple songs and even parodied in the stop-motion show Robot Chicken. Just because something is cult status doesn't mean it's good. There's no real need to see the entire movie since the last 5 minutes are the only interesting and disturbing part.

4/10

Day 205: Farm House

Farm House

Well, it's better than the Out House

As someone who has done a decent amount of driving over the years, I know how easy it is for your mind to wander. You think about all that dangers that may befall you during your travels. You can get a flat, your muffler can fall off, your hose can go. All sorts of things can go wrong. You think you'll be alright because you have a cell phone, but once you get out of the populated areas, you can forget about having service. We've all heard stories about people breaking down and then going to a farmhouse to use their phone. Some of those stories are good (sexy daughter), but most end up with limbs being cut off by a deranged, and possibly deformed, farm family. It's a great setting for horror because the scenario a legitimate, if slightly weird, fear.

Farm House is a 2008 horror movie starring Jamie Anna Allman (The Killing, The Notebook) as Scarlet and William Scott Lee (Pearl Harbor, The Butterfly Effect) at her husband Chad. Chad and Scarlet are trying to make a new life for themselves after the death of the special needs infant son. While driving through the Mid-West, Chad falls asleep and crashes their car. They walk to a local farmhouse, where they meet the owner, Samael (Steven Weber, Single White Female, Wings), his wife Lilith (Kelly Hu, X2, The Scorpion King) and his helper, a deaf boy named Alal. Scarlet tries to use the phone, but the lines are down, caused by their accident. Chad and Scarlet agree to spend the night at the farmhouse. It turns out to be a bad decision as Samael and Lilith kidnap and torture them. It is revealed that Chad had a large gambling debt, and despite telling Scarlet he had paid it off, Samael and Lilith say he owes more. Scarlet is able to escape with the help of Alal, but Samael is able to capture him. He cuts out Alal's eye in hopes of drawing Scarlet out. When that doesn't work, he slits Alal's throat and finds Scarlet. As the torture goes on, it comes to light that Chad was planning to kill himself so Scarlet could get his life insurance policy and pay off his debt. Scarlet convinces him that it is best to kill their son as they could always have more children later. They are able to kill Samael and Lilith and make their escape, but things are not what they seem. How did they end up at this farmhouse and who are Samael and Lilith?

I only have demonic eyes for you

Farm House starts off as your typical “people tortured in the country” horror movie. The story is broken up with bits from Scarlet and Chad's past, telling us all about his debt and their son's medical problems. While that's helpful to explain their motivations, it really kills the movie's momentum. It comes in little drips, but they're not exciting cliff hangers, and come off as more annoying that interesting. It would have been better off telling most of the debt portion of the movie first, with the big reveal that they killed their son closer to the end. I am not one for torture movies, but thankfully the movie isn't just a vehicle for various means of hurting people. That's not to say there aren't some gruesome scenes, it's just not the entire movie. There was one scene where Lilith use a grater on Scarlet's knee that actually made me feel a little queasy. There is a small amount of blood and gore in the movie, but not as much as you'd expect from a movie based around kidnapping and torture.

The movie falls off the rails and crashes into a mountain made of crazy in the last 15 minutes. The movie has a big twist which comes out of nowhere. It's not that it doesn't make sense, it's just never really hinted at beyond the character's names. Foreshadowing is important when doing a movie with a clever twist, but Farmhouse never really gets around to it. Steven Weber and Kelly Hu carry the movie with their fun, twisted performances. They make good villains and almost had me cheering for them, especially after we learn that Scarlet and Chad are murdering scumbags. I don't know if it was his performance or just terrible writing, but William Scott Lee is incredibly annoying. I understand that he's supposed to be a coward, but he doesn't have to be a whiny douche on top of everything. He reminds me of Denny from The Room.

Oh, word?

Farm House is a mediocre torture movie that goes off in an expected at the end. The story itself isn't anything special and the main characters are more annoying than they should be. You can kind of see where things are going and while the twist isn't great, it didn't bother me. There is some decent action and blood, but not as much as you'd think. I could have actually used more if you can believe it. Steven Weber and Kelly Hu are both very good in their roles and should play villains in more movies. While there is a certain creepiness to some scenes, the movie is not scary, which is a shame because it could have been. While it wasn't bad, Farm House is nothing special and could easily be confused for countless other horror movies flooding the market today.

4.5/10