In the early 1970's, there was a massive explosion of Italian horror films known as Giallo. Building on the work of great Italian horror director's like Mario Bava, these films were a combination of horror and crime thriller that were very unique and a joy to watch. In Gialli, the visuals were more important than anything. Story was secondary. Casting was secondary. Getting good actors didn't even matter because all films were dubbed over (poorly) anyway. Gialli tried to find the most beautiful way to murder people, and the single-minded focus to that bizarre desire is what makes the films so interesting to watch today.
No film exemplified these qualities better than Dario Argento's Suspiria, which was odd because Suspiria isn't really a Giallo at all. It didn't have the mystery element that was a hallmark of the Genre. What it did have was the extreme focus on visuals over everything else. It had the same slick style. It certainly had all of the same problem's the other gialli did, right down to a pretty poor dub job. Yet it wasn't a Giallo. In many ways, Suspiria is a hard film to classify.
When I decided to count down the best
horror films of the decade, I ran into a problem ranking #1. Should I
do the scariest movie of the decade, which would probably be Inside?
Or would it be better to do the best movie in the horror genre, which
is Pan's Labyrinth. Eventually, I decided on a compromise: The #1
movie would be the most flawlessly made terrifying horror movie. That
honor goes to Rec.
Rec is a simple story, well told.
Angela Vidal (Manuela Vascal), a reporting, is recording for her show
in a local fire station, when the firemen get an emergency call.
They head out to an apartment complex to help an injured woman, only
to be attacked by her. She turns out to be a zombie The complex is
quarantined, and Angela and her cameraman are trapped in with the
rest of the residents. At first, they try to document everything that
is going on, to show the people on the outside just how unjust the
quarantine was, but as the zombie virus begins to spread they start
becoming more and more concerned for there own safety.
This film is a found footage film, and
it really utilizes the style. The film opens at the fire station,
with Angela interviewing the rest of the cast. She is completely
adorable in these scenes, and it really helps build her character and
the audience's sympathies towards her. Then, after the initial
excitement happens, she takes time out to interview everyone. This
slows the film down, which sets us up to be even more shocked by the
next big scares, while giving us an opportunity to meet everyone else
in the apartment complex. They are all interesting, and it is quite
funny watching them awkwardly try not to look stupid on camera. It
makes them all feel like real people.
This makes it all the harder to deal
with them all becoming zombies. That is one thing I can appreciate
about the 28 day's later fast moving zombies: if one zombie is a
credible threat, then you are a lot more open to make a film with a
small cast of character's that turn into zombies. Sacrificing the
scope of the zombie attack actually increases the tragedy, because
the only people affected happen to be the only people we care about.
The film's final act is perfect. The
character's manage to escape the immediate danger of the zombie
attack by hiding in the supposedly abandoned penthouse apartment. It
quickly becomes apparent that the penthouse was quite recently
occupied. They slowly search each room, coming up with more and more
disturbing things each time, until eventually they stumble upon
patient zero. She is corpse-thin, decrepit, and absolutely
terrifying. It is one of the most pulse-pounding climaxes to a film I
have ever seen.
Rec is a film that should not be
missed. The director's, Paco Plaza and Jaume Belaguero, have earned
my respect and admiration with this film. Unlike most found footage
films, where the camera feels like a hindrance, this film feels
perfect. The story they are telling is small enough to be told with a
single camera, the demands for pacing work with the narrative, which
only work with the single camera. It all fits together perfectly. I
dont understand why the things that don't work in other film's are so
spectacularly successful here, but I know that they do. Rec is a film
that can't be missed.
French actress
Béatrice
Dalle scares
me. Of all of the slasher film serial killers, she plays the most
terrifying one, the nameless antagonist of Inside. She breaks into an
extremely pregnant women's house and tries to steal her unborn baby.
The whole time, she is freaking out worse than the protagonist is.
Her drive is insane, she wants to steal the baby for reasons that are
completely unfathomable to anyone else but her. She is convincingly
unstable and constantly unnerving.
The
main character of Inside is Sara Scarangelo (Alyson Paradis), the
aforementioned pregnant women. She is still mourning the death of her
husband, and she isn't ready to take care of a baby on her own. That
is basically the entirety of her character. She is the perfect
helpless victim. While there isn't a whole lot to her character,
Alyson Paradis plays her quite well.
There
are basically no other character's in the film. People keep going
into the house to wish the mother well, and they keep getting
murdered. For the most part, they are your standard slasher fare.
Nothing too remarkable here. They all die incredibly brutal ways.
One
of the first things people here about Inside is how gory the film is,
but that isn't quite accurate. The film is gory, yes, but not as much
as a film like Cabin Fever or Hostel. The reason the film feels so
much worse is how the director, Julien Maury, handles the gore. He
gives each injury a lot of weight, so even scenes that aren't that
gory feel like the nastiest thing you have ever seen. Part of it is
the way he shoots it, part of it is that we actually care about the
protagonist.
From
a story perspective, the film is completely unremarkable. The main
character spends about two-thirds of the film's running time locked
in her bathroom, and the villain spends most of the time trying to
break through the door. People come in, people die. Rinse and repeat.
It is the basic slasher setup done insanely well. People who enjoy
horror movies with strong narratives need not apply.
No,
Inside really only does one thing well: terrifying the audience. For
horror movies, that is one of the trickiest things to pull off, and
probably the most important. Between Beatrice Dalle's absolutely
insane performance and the way the killings are handled, the film
does a great job of creating a sense of fear. There is not a single
moment where you feel safe, even when our hero breaks out of the
bathroom and starts kicking ass. It doesn't have the same vibe as the
final girl showdown does in other slasher's: there is a real sense of
desperation, made all the more striking when you realize that the
final girl's in other slasher's are fighting seven foot tall hockey
mask wearing immortals, and Sara is fighting Beatrice Dalle, a women
barely as tall as her.
This
film is probably the scariest film of the decade.
American remakes of foreign films are
usually terrible. They are the most sleazy kind of cash grab, taking
a great movie that isn't widely seen in America and trying to make
lightning strike twice. The people assigned to make the movies are
usually poorly equipped for the job, people who don't understand what
made the original so unique in the first place. So, when I heard that
the director of Cloverfield made an American remake of the incredible
Swedish vamprie romance Let The Right One In, I immediately wrote it
off as one of “those films” and didn't bother going to see it in
theaters. That was a mistake.
Both films are amazing. They both tell
the same incredible tale well, in their own unique styles. The
director of the remake, Matt Reeves, stunned me with his great
directing. He kept in nearly everything that made the original unique
while presenting it in his own unique style.. Let Me In has humbled
me.
Both films star a 12 year old boy who
is constantly bullied and dreams of revenge. He manages to be both
endearing and creepy, a tragic character. In time he befriends a
young girl who moves in next door, who is also endearing and creepy.
And a vampire, as it turns out. In time, they grow closer and closer,
until they eventually fall in love.
But this isn't like the teen vampire
romance stories that are popular right now. The inherently disturbing
aspects the concept, the things the other films shy away from, are
embraced in this film. The vampire character is eternally 12 years
old, rather than 19. She comes off as alien and creepy, possibly even
manipulative. The vampire rules she has to follow are portrayed as
mysterious and dangerous. We don't really know anything about her for
sure by the end of it. But you still like her.
That is what this film does so well, it
pits you against yourself. Intellectually, you might know that the
She is dangerous and bad for our main character, but watching the two
of them together makes you hope that they work out. The main
character's might creep you out in one scene, but in the next you try
to forget about that as you watch their story unfold. You wish for a
happy ending when you know no happy ending is possible.
The main differences between the two
versions are stylistic, while the plot and dialogue is nearly
identical in both versions. The new version, Let Me In, does shy away
from a few plot points the original mentioned, while emphasizing
others. But they are minor points in the grand scheme of the film.
The real differences come in with the camerawork. Let Me In's camera
is hyper-focused. It really shows you the world from one character's
perspective, and it is extremely effective. You feel like you are
right there with the character's as they go about their day. The
directing of Tomas Alfredson is more traditional. It was competent
but unremarkable. In the end, if you really despise subtitles, you
can watch Let Me In without missing out on much. If you can stand
subtitles, however, then I would recommend that you watch the
original.
Then watch the new one afterward.
They're worth it.
Brief Aside: Ironically, the freedom Matt Reese had
in this film allowed him to make the film even more claustrophobic
and personal than his last film, Cloverfield, even though that film
was shot in first person perspective (which really makes me question
why found footage films exist in the first place)
The spiritual sequel to The Devil's
Backbone, Pan's labyrinth is even better than its predecessor. Taking
place after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the film focuses on
Ofelia (Ivana Barquero), a young girl using her imagination to escape
the bleak world around her. Her mother married a terrible man,
Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), and is sick with his baby. Ofelia sneaks
around, constantly hearing whispers of the big nasty world around
her, but being unable to do anything to help.
So Ofelia makes her own world. She goes
and visits with faeries and fauns. She is a hero, who can do anything
that is required of her. She is a princess, working to win back her
throne and escape her life forever. In her world, anything is
possible. When her mother is sick, she can heal her. She is in
control there. The tale is told from Ofelia's perspective, so it is
often jarring to see her behavior from the perspective of one of the
adult's. In Ofelia's head, it all makes sense. Objectively, it is
absolutely bizarre.
Just as The Devil's Backbone was about
helplessness, Pan's Labyrinth was about hopelessness. The war was
already over. The “freedom fighters” fight for vengeance, not
freedom. Every death was unnecessary, all the suffering was for
nothing. If The Captain died, he would be replaced by a different
captain. That is what struck me the most about this movie; there was
nothing worth fighting for anymore, but people kept fighting and
dying for nothing. No wonder Ofelia dreamed of a better world.
The Captain is another one of Guillermo
Del Toro's trademark scummy villains. He is obsessed with honor and
the family name above all else. He desires order and obedience from
his servants and family members, and nothing else. He is cold and
uncaring towards his wife, and he only seems interested in his son to
keep up his legacy. He has no feelings towards Ofelia at all, unless
she misbehaves. Add on to that that he is a war criminal working for
a fascist regime, and you have a great bad guy.
But the true star of the show is
Ofelia. She is perfectly acted. You feel her earnestness and her
innocence. You see her happiness and her desperation. She loves her
baby brother and is scared for her mother. You want to protect her,
but it is clear that no protection is possible. One by one, the
people who are supposed to keep her safe fail her.
Pan's Labyrinth is probably the darkest
fairy tale you will ever see. Even Ofelia's imaginary world isn't
nice, with nasty beasts waiting, hungry and anxious. It really
hammers home that there is nowhere safe.
Between the eerie Faun and the
monstrous child eating Pale Man, Ofelia's world is a reflection of
her surroundings.
After watching the film, I am tempted
to imagine just as she did. I want to believe that what she saw was
real. That magic exists, and she escaped the mortal world to live
forever as a princess. I wish I could believe it.
I'm not sure I have ever described a
horror film as delightful before, but Trick R Treat is absolutely
delightful. A horror anthology in the vein of Creepshow, focusing on
the best night of the year, October 31st. It combines a
sense of fright with a sense of fun. This film channels the spirit
of Halloween effortlessly. Its like the horror A Chrismas Story.
In the world of Trick R treat, everyone
has a dark secret, and nothing is what it seems. All of the customs
we observe for Halloween aren't just for fun, but are also for
survival. Creatures stalk the night, and if you break the rules you
will fall prey to them. The film is almost reverent of Halloween. It
has a lot of respect for the holiday and it's history, the old
tradition's and what makes it still popular today.
The film is excellently plotted. Rather
than being a traditional anthology, all of the stories are
connected to the others in some way. It gives the world a sense of
discovery, seeing references to the other stories, and having
character's from both stories cross. Some of them are extremely
subtle, to the point where you only notice them after repeated
viewings. The stories are all connected through a central character,
Sam, the spirit of the holiday. Sam watches everyone as they go about their business. As long as they uphold the tenants of Halloween, they are free to do whatever else they want.
All of the stories focus on common
themes, but shift dramatically in tone. The first, the tale of a
sadistic principal who kills people with poisoned Halloween candy, is
darkly comic throughout. A lot of the Principal's action's are over
the top to the point of hilarity. The next story is genuinely creepy.
It is the tale of a group of kid's visiting an allegedly haunted
quarry. A flashback sequence features kids in the most inexplicably
terrifying costumes I've ever seen. The third story is interspersed
between the others. It's the tale of a group of teenage girls going
to a party and having fun, and trying to get their friend laid. They
leave her alone to find a date, and she is stalked by a mysterious
stranger. The final story is the tale of an old, bitter man who is
does not respect the Holiday. He is haunted by Sam, who turns into a
genuinely disturbing villain in this story. All of the main
character's in these stories have dark secrets, and watching them all
twist and turn around each other is an absolute blast.
This film is an absolute joy to look
at. The special effects are all unusually good for a direct-to-DVD
film. One transformation sequence in particular is probably my
favorite transformation sequence of all time. The final scene with
Sam is incredibly engaging. Sam fills staircases with candy. Marbles,
and glass. He writes creepy messages on the walls, fills the yard
with jack-o-lanterns. It is really beautiful. Even the more grounded
stories are well-directed.
It takes everything that is great about
the holiday and encapsulates it. Watching this film makes it feel
like Halloween. It touches the slightly demented child in all of us.
Is it scary? Not really. And yet, that doesn't matter. Sliding this
DVD into my player is a Halloween tradition for me, just as much as
passing out candy and carving jack-o-lanterns.
The Others has one of the best horror
premises for a horror movie I've ever heard. Nicole Kidman plays
Grace Steward, an extremely strict and protective mother of two
children. The children in question suffer from a severe allergy to
sunlight, so they must be kept in near complete darkness all the
time. They cannot leave their house, and an incredibly complex series
of rules is maintained to keep them in near perfect darkness at all
times. The children are worried that their mother is going mad, and
the mother is worried as well. Meanwhile, the house is being haunted,
and they can't leave.
This is the greatest setup I have ever
seen. There is huge conflict from without and within. There is the
question of what is and isn't real. The classic problem of film's
being scariest in the dark when the vast majority of people's time
spent awake is during the day: Solved. The eternal question “why
not just leave the house if it is being haunted?”: Answered. It
would take a considerable amount of time and work to make a film like
this bad, and the people who made the film used that time to make it
amazing instead.
Nicole Kidman's character is really put
through the wringer in this movie. Her husband had just died in the
war, and now she keeps hearing things in their house. The new
servants she hired seem to be up to something, but she had no
evidence but her sneaking suspicions. She has no one to talk to, she
can't leave her children alone. They even seem scared of her, because
she lost her temper with them once or twice. She can't hide behind
her rigid facade forever, something has to give.
This really is a film all about its
main character. Yes, there are sneaky servants and nasty ghosts, but
it is Grace's reaction to these events that make the movie. Her
melancholy infects the rest of the film, giving it a grimness that it
would not otherwise have had. Strip it of all its supernatural
elements, and you have the story of a mother who has to take care of
children even when she can't take care of herself. That is as
compelling and unpleasant as the ghosts themselves.
When the film finally get's going, it
goes off in a completely unexpected direction. When they finally give
an explanation for all of the supernatural goings-on, it is not at
all what you expect. But it is the perfect twist: shocking yet
inevitable. After having seen it, I could not imagine the film ending
any other way. This film manages to be even more powerful each time
you watch it, and a lot of that comes down to the ending it has.
The Others took a great premise and
went off in a completely different direction. A character driven
ghost story, light on frills and thrills. A spellbinding look into a
state of mind most people would rather not see. A meditation on duty
and dependence. A slow-burning, creepy, dread-filled, tragic,
subdued, and, most of all, smart supernatural thriller.
