Genre: Zombies, Psychological Director: Ben Wagner Country: USA Availability: Netflix Streaming
If the zombie apocalypse came and you had a safe place to stay, would you ever leave? My reply, given from the comfortable, naive cocoon of normalcy, is fuck yes. In fact, this isn't really a question for me. I can barely stand to be at home with the curtains drawn, let alone be holed up in a cabin and literally not taking a step outside in six months. Zombies be damned, that's no way to live. I'll take my chances with the biters. I'll sleep on the rooftops and bloody my hands with the slaughter, but goddamn don't you cage me.
Dead Within takes place entirely inside a two room cabin with two people. We see their daily routines, how they've held on to the small niceties of life like cleaning the house and getting dressed up for dinner. And we also see how things have changed as they go to bed fully dressed with their shoes on, weapons at their fingertips. Mike leaves Kim during the day to look for supplies. Kim finger paints the walls and talks to a painting of her cat.
There are very few zombies in this zombie movie, mostly because they aren't really the point. The movie is more about isolation and what that can start doing to a person over time. The two actors in Dead Within are terrific. They are believably melancholy, morose, hopeful and hopeless, scared, paranoid, and tender. The score here is also really great. There's this ominous dread that builds with the music but not just during the suspenseful times, it plays over the mundane scenes as well, adding tension to the entire atmosphere that sustains itself throughout every scene. They really did a lot with very little for this movie and it reminded me of a play I saw last year. Proving that talented actors and a good story will make any production a powerful one.
Genre: Demons Director: Fede Alvarez Country: USA Availability: Still in theaters
As I sit here and write this review the original 1981 The Evil Dead plays in the background. Having just seen the Evil Dead remake not four hours ago, I wanted to make some general comparisons while everything is still fresh in my mind, and my eyes are still recovering from the absolute horror I've recently witnessed. (she says with affection)
First off, the Evil Dead remake is more of a re-imagining than anything else. We've got the general outline that is the same - five people go to a cabin in the middle of the woods, they find a book, read some evil words aloud (like fucking idiots), and then demons start to inhabit their bodies. They'll eventually wise up and try to leave but won't be able to. Most of them will die. Some of them will fight. Blood will be spilled - oh my god, so much blood. There are some nice homages here and there, some you'll probably only catch if you're very familiar with the original, while others are so visually recognizable you'll spot them right away.
Otherwise the movies are pretty different. In the original Evil Dead there is no real character development. These people simply exist with no past, no history, nothing but a blank slate and the present. The remake attempts to infuse their characters with a bit more life. The success of this "character development" is questionable. As with most horror movies these character storylines serve a very one dimensional purpose, which is usually simply to inform us of the reasons our characters are a.) all together b.) in this particular place c.) having conflict so that later in the movie it can be resolved right before one of them dies so we feel extra special sadness d.) all of the above.
If you're not busy being pissed that The Evil Dead was remade, or busy spending every moment comparing every scene and noting all of the differences, the Evil Dead remake is a pretty riveting horror movie. It has incredible atmosphere, genuine creepiness, and once the gore starts happening... omg. People are shot, stabbed, slashed, sliced, hacked, bludgeoned, burnt, bitten, cut, punctured, penetrated, broken and vomited on. Relentlessly.
However, there are a few glaring shortcomings that stop this fun, stylized, polished, gory horror flick from being truly great. A few of them are somewhat forgivable - like the standard tropes of Chekhov's gun, or characters being generally idiotic in unrealistic ways. But the few that aren't forgivable are the film's downfalls - like hiring a completely boring and lackluster actor to fill the role of Bruce Campbell's character, and most notably - SPOILER ALERT -reverting to the Final Girl trope instead of sticking with a lone male survivor like in the original. Oh god, I almost yawned while typing that, that's how boring and predictable the Final Girl has become in horror movies. And sadly just another example of how a promising horror movie can rely too heavily on the horror movie staples and miss their opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
With that said, the remake got one major thing right - spirit. When the original The Evil Dead was made, sure it was low budget and cheesy, but it was cinematically creative and incredibly gory for its time. And while it's hard to believe when you rewatch it today, but it actually took itself quite seriously. It tried to be scary and horrifying and sinister and to one degree or another, it succeeded. And in that way the remake succeeded as well by keeping the spirit of the original and applying it to today's standards. The result is a fresh and captivating horror movie that, despite this reviewers nitpicky opinions, manages to terrify and impress its audience in a genre that is currently drowning itself in the unremarkable and the forgettable.
Genre: Slasher Director: Eric England Country: USA Availability: Redbox; Amazon On Demand
Madison County has all the fixin's of a mediocre yet enjoyable slasher hick movie. There's the group of beautiful young friends who are fun and in love! There's the road trip to the middle of nowhere. There's the lack of cell phone signal. The creepy locals. A killer with a fucked up mask. A dirty half naked girl who's been captive for days. And the woods. And yet somewhere down the road Madison County goes from potentially good, to unremarkable. I'm not sure if it's a lack of truly interesting characters or a lack of creative or gruesome kills. Maybe it's because the movie takes place in complete daylight, a brave decision for a horror movie but not really an effective one. Either way, the story is too straightforward to standout among its countless peers, and although I enjoyed Madison County for what it was, I'm pretty sure it's going to fall into that forgettable horror movie abyss that hides in the recess of my mind.
Genre: Slasher Director:David Schmoeller Country: USA Availability: DVD; Amazon On Demand
"God help those who get caught, in the Tourist Trap!"
The Tourist Trap was an obscure, strange little horror movie that slipped under the radar when it was first released in '79. It wasn't until frequent showings on cable in the '80s that it gained any notoriety. Now, more than 30 years later, it's regarded as a classic. And rightly so. The score alone, written by Italian composer Pino Donaggio - the man who wrote the score for Carrie and Piranha, and has worked with Dario Argento - is enough to put this one on the map. Its eccentric opening features whistles and wooden blocks and breathy female whispers. It's the kind of song that would be right at home in a twisted carnival. But I suppose Tourist Trap is a bit of a twisted carnival. There are unbelievable tricks to mystify the mind and creepy mannequins that seem to come to life. It's a ride that you don't want to take and that you might not come back from.
The art direction and props in this movie is fantastic. I mean, we're not looking at Oscar performances here. Nor is the script very creative or the characters very interesting. So the rest of the movie has to work for all of the parts its lacking. Luckily, Robert A. Burns, the same man who did art direction in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (brilliant art direction), came to the rescue. The mannequins used here, tricked out with a ventriloquist-style hinged jaw and breathy cries, are enough to give you nightmares for the week. Not to mention death by face plastic. Ouch.
Tourist Trap is one of those movies that reminds you of a dozen movies and yet it's still uniquely its own. Here we have elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (hulking man wearing creepy humanesque faces), Carrie (weird elements of telekinesis), House of Wax (wax museum setup and crazy brother element), and every slasher movie you've ever seen with sexy teens going on a road trip.
But like I said, Tourist Trap is its own beast. A completely bizarre horror movie that skimps on the gore but deals you other terrors in spades.
I'm actually not going to post a trailer for this one. When the trailer hit online a few months ago I watched about half of it, until shit started looking peculiar and intriguing, then I was afraid of learning too much and I shut it off. After seeing Cabin last night and watching the whole trailer today I'm thankful that I never watched the whole thing prior to the movie. It gives away too many of the surprising twists that, while may not be meaningful without context, you still go in expecting to see those scenes.I think the less you know about The Cabin in the Woods, the better. Which is why this review will be very short. And no spoilers, I promise!
The Cabin in the Woods is probably the best horror movie I've seen in a very long time. It's well written, for starters. Its smart and funny dialog does not hide the fact that Cabin was co-written by Joss Whedon. It's got great characters that we actually don't want to die. It's got Thor. THOR! That man IS a god. It's got one of my favorite horror movie elements - beautiful teens pile into a vehicle and go on a road trip! And then suddenly their cell phones don't work! And there's a creepy gas station they have to stop at! It's also got gore galore. It's insanely creative. And the end... well, I was like a kid in a candy store. SO MUCH FUCKING FUN! (And it's getting 92% on Rotten Tomatoes!)
Of course what makes this movie really unique is the commentary that it makes on horror movies. In the beginning it gives us the cliches in spades but it's not without purpose. We're forced to examine the exploitation that horror lovers expect and want to see. And then it all turns itself on its head and you start wondering about the genre as a whole. Is it a fuck you to the horror genre, or what it's become? Perhaps. But it's the finest middle finger I've ever seen.
I am going to go out on a limb and say that even if you don't like horror movies, you should see THIS movie. It's spectacular. It's phenomenal. It's... wait. Am I building the hype too much? Now you're going to be disappointed, aren't you? Well, I take it all back. This movie blows. It's overrated. It's abysmal. But go see it anyways. If you like things that suck, you'll probably like this.
