Halloween reviews: The Silence of the Lambs

Hey, don't forget to check out my review of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and my non-horror movie reviews of The Master and End of Watch on my other blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, bur eight now, I review one of the most disturbing, creepy, thrilling, interesting, and complex horror-thrillers ever created. The adaptation of Thomas Harris' crime novel: The Silence of the Lambs. (Moderate Spoilers.)

The Silence of the Lambs:
Clarice Starling, a young, determined trainee for the FBI, is assigned by her elderly boss, Jack Crawford, to interview Dr. Hannibal Lector in a mental institution, to get possible information on new serial killer "Buffalo Bill", who skins women for unknown reasons. She begins interrogating him, and begins to fall under a strange, psychological spell. Meanwhile, the FBI hunt down Buffalo Bill, who proves a more strange, complex, and elusive figure than they possibly imagined. The cast are incredible. Jodie Foster (who just was coming off her role in The Accused) is phenomenal as Starling. She comes off as independent, smart, sweet, but serious, but alos inexperienced and gullible to Hannibal's games. Speaking of which, Anthony Hopkins completely steals the show as Lector. he is so strange, smart, witty, quick, cunning, and brutal, it's unsettling. How his burning questions about life and your psyche burrow under your skin is unsettling, because once Lector's in your head, you can't get him out. Hopkins won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, for a performance that covers just 17 minutes of screen time, that's the smallest ammount of screen time ever awarded that Oscar. Scott Glenn is good as Jack Crawford, albeit not as good as Harvey Ketiel in 2002's Red Dragon (a remake of 1986's Manhunter). Ted Levine (who would later play the tuck-driving killer in the stupid slasher film Joy Ride) is good as Jame Gumb, aka Buffalo Bill. He is a quiet, strange, distubred man with a psychotic fixation on moths, and an even bigger fixation on getting a sex change, which he ensures through his crimes. Anthony Heald plays the sleazy, slimy Dr. Chilton, the corrupt owner of the asylum Hannibal is commited to. He seems like just an idiot at first, but when he scams Hannibal and tries to make a quick buck of the press, he's obviously just a douche in a position of moderate power, who abuses his position.  Frankie Faison plays Barney Matthews, Hannibal's personal caretaker. He's a sweet, kind man, and one of the few people Hannibal respects and considers decent. Faison would later plays Barney in Red Dragon and Hannibal, and even had a previous role as a security guard in Manhunter, a Hannibal film starring Brian Cox instead of Hopkins. Faison is definitely tied to this series. Diane Baker plays Ruth Martin, a senator who's daughter is kidnapped by Buffalo Bill. She starts to become a real bitch and start to almos tuse the FBI as pawns in the finding of he rdaughter, and almost doesn't care about the other girls Bill has slain. Brooke Smith plays Catherine, the senator's daughter. She appears as a somewhat likeable girl when kidnapped, so her screams of absolute terror in Buffalo Bill's basement of horrors are bone chilling. Roger Corman (famous B-movie producer known for his super-cheaply made movies, for those of you who don't know) even makesa cameo as the FBI director named Hayden Burke. The music is haunting, almost like a creepy lullaby tune at times. The film not only got controversy due to the graphic content, but also because many people thoguht the character of Buffalo Bill was anti-transgender. Ironically, Lambs director Jonathan Demme's next film, Philadelphia, showed the GLBT community as heroes, fighting oppression and AIDS. Back on the film, The Silence of the Lambs is a deeply disturbing, shcoking, gruesome, and psycholigically provoking horror-thriller, which will haunt you forever. 5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Insidious

Today I look at a great modern horror film, James Wan and Leigh Whannel's (creators of Saw) hit horror film Insidious...

Insidious:
Young boy Dalton has moved into a new home with his family, and decides to explore the creepy attic. He falls off a ladder, and goes into a coma. Three months later, strange sights and sounds surround his mother and his unconscious body. The family moves into a new house, believing the old home to be haunted. But, the strange sights and sounds get more extreme and frightening, so the mother enlists the help of some parapsychiatrists (paranormal psychiatrists), who deduce that Dalton is not in a coma, but in fact his spirit has wandered away from his body and become trapped in "The Further", kidnapped by a demon and his ghostly minions, and when his father realizes he has the power to "astral project" like his son, and goes into the Further to save his son. Similar to "Little Girl Lost" from The Twilight Zone, and, more famously, Poltergeist, Insidious is a new animal entirely, well, not entirely, but mostly. The performances are very believable. Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, Hard Candy, Little Kids) and Rose Byrne (28 Weeks Later, X-Men:First Class, Bridesmaids),both from superhero and horror films, are fantastic as the parents, giving very believable and heartfelt performances. They truly look terrified and shocked in many scenes, and Wilson's reaction to his son's disappearance into The Further is well played. The writing is good as well. Wan and Whanell really know how to make an excellent horror film, and this is one of the few modern PG-13 horror films I can actually, genuinely recommend to people. The music and creature effects are marvelous. The music by Joseph Bishara (who plays the creepy demon in the film) is amazing, sounding like clanging metal and screeching violins, and adds to the bizarre and surreal atmosphere of the Further. The freaky old woman and terrifying demon are truly underrated movie monsters, and the Further's suspense builds so steeply, your sitting almost uncomfortably in your seat. Insidious may be PG-13, but it is so terrifying and suspenseful, I recommend it to any horror fan. (The film is also produced by Paranromal Activity director Oren Peli.) 3.5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: The Devil's Rejects

Don't forget to read my review of Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses on mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, but now, I review the second of Rob Zombie's Firefly family movies.

The Devil's Rejects:
Zombie took a completely different turn. It doesn't acknowledge Dr. Satan, or the previous film, and changes Otis from an albino to a regular skinned man. He completely turned and made it a realistic and brutal grindhouse movie. The killers are on the run from the cops, led by a vengeful sheriff who's brother was murdered by them. They kill a band, and are later captured by the police. But the sheriff has his own dark plans for the killers, no matter what the law says... As always, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, and Sheri Moon steal the show as the psychotic killers, enough said there. But another crazy character is William Forsythe as Sheriff John Quincey Wydell. He shows an unstable side when he outbursts at an interviewee, and totally shows his psycho side at the film's climax. (I also recommend you check out Cinemassacre's review of this film.) Tyler Mane (from Rob Zombie's Halloween) is re-cast as Rufus. Matthew McGrory returns as the giant, deformed Tiny. Leslie Easterbrook plays Mother Firefly, as a fringed, psychotic woman who is held in a cell in police HQ. Danny Trejo plays bounty hunter Rondo, and horror vet Ken Forree (Dawn of the Dead) plays Charlie, Spaulding's half-brother and ally, who's a pimp. The writing and shocking moments are truly disturbing and brilliant. The music is far more interesting, Zombie's use of Lynyrd Skynyrd and southern rock fits the "western" theme of this film more than death metal, which made the previous film feel like a music video. As much as I love Corpses, The Devil's Rejects is the superior horror film. Enough said. 5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: American Psycho

I am not going to review Screams 3-4, simply because Welshy of bliptv. did such a good retrospective, that I won't touch anything other than the first two. My review of Scream 2 is on mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, to coincide with the 2-movies-a-day for October. Today I look at Mary Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' dark psycholgocial satire novel: American Psycho, which mocks 1980's yuppie Wall Street culture. The film is both a brilliant satire, and brilliant psychological horror film. Well, let's take a look at this cult hit based off a cult novel. (Some Mild Spoilers!!)

American Psycho:
Patrick Bateman is a rich, multi-billionaire, self-absorbed yuppie businessman in 1987, surrounded by self-absorbed yuppied billionaire friends. He begins to take a hobby in serial killing to take out his anger and resentment for his own life and high society. But, his views of the world become warped, and he begins to loose his grip on reality. Is Bateman really committing these grisly murders, or is he overly enwrapped in his twisted fantasy life? The film plays brilliantly, with surreal and creepy sequences, which are elevted by the pitch-perfect performance by Christian Bale as Bateman. Being a method actor, Bale saw the character as Ellis and director Mary Harron did, and went through months of physical and mental training to, in essence, become Bateman. This is a truly brilliant performance, Bateman's inner monolgue is twisted and shows what he truly thinks about high society. Bale plays even the most strange and odd scenes straight, and, on a whim, switches mentally from high society asshole, to suave Bond-like figure, to hapless drunkard, to goofy jokester, to unstable psychotic serial killer. The supporting cast are great as well. Willem Dafoe (Boondock Saints, Spiderman) plays an FBI investigator, Donald Kimball. While his role is minor, he comes off with this oura of strangeness to him, that makes him memorable. In fact, the world Bateman inhabits is so strange, he, the psycho killer, is the most relatable. The film centers around him, everyone else being strange little figments of his world. Reese Witherspoon plays Bateman's ditzy fiancee, Evelyn Williams. Chloe Sevigny plays Jean, Bateman's secretary, and the most non-shallow person in his life. Jared Leto (fresh off his brilliant role in Requiem for a Dream) plays Paul Allen, the richest, most stuck-up douchebag in the business world, and one who Bateman both admires, and despises, one he wants to murder, but aspires to be like. Bateman's jealousy and rage towards Allen prompts him to kill him in the infamous axe murder scene. The rest of the cast are great, but Bateman's performance is without a doubt the most powerful. (That's strange, I should have wrote Bale's performance, not Bateman's, that's how good it is, you forget he's acting, you really think he is a psycho killer.) The writing and direction are amazing, and the ending has confused many. I won't give it away, but it lets you decide what to believe, even though the director and writer clearly state what it's supposed to mean. Overall, if you want a trippy, well-acted, sophisticated, satirical, dark horror-thriller with a brilliant lead performance, see American Psycho. 5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Scream

Here's my look at master horror director Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Red Eye, Last House on the Left, Hills Have Eyes, New Nightmare) and writer Kevin Williamson's masterful spoof/homage/slasher film phenomenon: Scream, which turned the dying slasher genre on it's head, and caused a new wave of horror films, the "teen horror film", which is funny, as Scream almost garnered the infamous NC-17 (adults only) rating.

Scream:
Originally titled "Scary Movie" (which would become the name of the spoof of this film), which was changed by marketing at the last minute, and based slightly on the true story of the Gainesville Ripper, this film is an affectionate homage to the slasher genre and murder mystery films. Sidney Prescott, her boyfriend Billy Loomis, and their friends: Stu Macher, Randy Meeks, and Tatum Riley are regular high-school kids from Woodsborrow, California. Until Casey Becker, a local girl, is brutally gutted and hanged and her boyfriend mutilated by a masked killer wearing a Halloween costume. Later, the killer calls Sidney and begins to stalk her. Sidney, alreay being familiar with killers, (her mother was brutally raped and murdered the previous year) Sidney and her friends try to solve this mystery. But, when everyone seems to be conviniently placed around each crime, everyone's a suspect. The premise of Scream is clever, having a slasher film centered around character familiar with the genre. And they don't reference fake slasher films, either. No, they know about Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, all the great horror icons. The brilliance in the writing by Williamson, and how he makes you care for these characters is what ties the film and the series together. It also has the mystery aspect, as everyone Sidney knows are somewhere around the crime right after it takes place, leaving her suspicous of even her closest friends. The cast are fantastic in their parts. Neve Campbell is perfect as Sidney. You really believe her in the part, and she initially thinks the killer is just some random creep, but realizes he is closer to her than she thinks. David Arquette is also great as Dwight "Dewey" Riley, a bumbling police officer in the town, who tries to solve the case, and prove himself a worthy member of the police force. He is mostly comic relief, but has his really good and sometimes touching moments. Courtney Cox plays the vindictive and bitchy reporter Gale Weathers, who manipulates everyone around her to get the sotry at any cost. She becomes Dewey's love interest in a few ways, but mostly manipulates him. She a somewhat likeable bitch, who moves on to be a much more caring character as the film series progresses (but that's another story). Jamie Kennedy is perfect as film geek Randy Meeks, who has had a secret crush on Sidney for years, and doesn't like her punk-ass boyfriend Billy. He is funny, energetic, and entertainign to watch, and he can quote any movie, especially a horror movie, word-for-word. Roger L. Jackson (voice of Mojo-Jojo) lets his inner demons loose as the voice of Ghostface, the killer. He says his lines with sadistic glee, and has this smooth, awesome voice that's threatening, but very cool. Skeet Ulrich plays Billy Loomis, a dark, troubled young man who dates Sidney. He's cool, at first, but becomes more suspicous as the film progresses. Mathew Lillard plays Stu, Randy and Billy's friend who's energetic, but can also cool down a bit, whereas Randy's always energetic. Rose McGowna plays Tatum, Dewey's little sister and Stu's girlfriend. She's Sidney's best friend, and supports her friend when she's scared of Ghostface. Drew Barrymore plays Casey Becker, and was featured prominently in the marketing campaign. This was a smart move, like Psycho, using a major star to market the film, only to kill her off, brutally, very early on. In fact, the opening kill scene with Barrymore is infamous for the fact it happens before the title appears. She is good in the role for the 5 minutes she has on screen, because her screams are so realistic and shocking, it lets you know this killer means business. Henry Winkler appears in a borderline cameo role as the principal of the school, and even does his Fonzie pose in a mirror. With great characters, writing, and acting, you need great scares, and Wes Craven delivers. The pacing and shock scenes are great, but the film never lets this kind of fun feeling get away, or lets the dark moments over-take the light-hearted ones. With it's great writing, great acting, good horror and mystery elements, great direction, and fantastic ending, Scream is a reovlutionary horror film that should be seen by all. Craven also throws in a cameo by Robert Englund in a Freddy Krueger reference. 5/5 stars. (Also, go to bliptv. ot thatguywiththeglasses.com and check out reviewer Welshy's Scream retrospective videos, and his other great reviews, they're fantastic, and check out his crossover reviews with Film-Brain.)

October and Halloween reviews

Hello, if you read my other blog: mattcottermovies.blogspot.com, you would have seen this announcement already, but what the hell, I'll make it again. For this October, I'll be reviewing two movies every day, one on mattcottermovies, one on this blog. Also: check ou James Rolfe's website Cinemassacre, home of the "Angry Video Game Nerd" and the annual "Monster Madness", which started in 2007, where he reviews a horror film every day in October. Also, chekc out the Bravo specials "100 Scariest Movie Moments" and "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments" online. Different parts on differents sites, but, how many different actors, comedians, models, directors, and writers they gathered together to talk about scary movies is remarkable. (Don't use Google to search, use Bing or Yahoo.) BTW: This year, Cinemassacre's only doing one every other day in October. Check those two  out! Happy Halloween...

The Possession review

Here's my review of the new horror film The Possession. Here we go.

The Possession:

The story follows a separated family. Every weekend the dad takes his two daughters to his house. They come across a yard sale, and the youngest daughter, Emily (or "Em") insists on picking up an old wooden box full of trinkets. They purchase the box and strange, disturbing things happen: weird insects invade the house, Em becomes incredibly unstable and violent, and prevents anyone from touching her special box. The father discovers it is a haunted box, containing an ancient Jewish demon known as a Dibbuk. This particular Dibbuk is a child-stealer, whom can only be contained inside that one box. A race begins, either get the Dibbuk get inside the box, or let it consume Em's life and soul energy. This movie has some surprisingly good acting. Jeffrey Dean Morgan (who played the unsympathetic Comedian in Watchmen) is believable as the concerned, loving father who wants nothing more than the safety of his family. He obviously still loves his wife, even if she dismisses him. Kyra Sedgwick (of The Closer) plays the mother, who is sort of bitchy, but she is still somewhat believable. Natasha Calis is very good as Em, the disturbed little girl. There are some over-the-top moments, but some moments are played very well. Madison Davenport plays Hannah, the bitchy, pre-teen older sister. She's concerned for her sister, but is still pretty annoying. Grant Show plays the mother's boyfriend, Brett. He's a good-enough guy, but he feels like an arrogant douche. Matisyahu plays Tzadok, the Jewish priest who helps the father get rid of the demon. He's pretty cool. Jay Brazeau plays the history professor, in an unintentionally funny sequence. Speaking of which, me and my friends were cackling in the movie theater while everyone else were pissing themselves. We just couldn't stop laughing. Also, it treads on the same ground as The Exorcist, even being based off the same real-life event. It has a similar poster, similar sequences, but never gets to the level of the original, because of it's PG13 rating, it can never go to the level of disturbing that film did. It's a semi-remake. The special effects are pretty cool, especially in the MRI sequence. Even after the funny moments and sometimes over-the-top scenes, The Possession delivers a fun, scary good time. 3/5 stars.
(Editorial note, April 14, 2013: After much consideration, and a reviewing, I've decided this film is a 2 star rating. Look at my mini-review of it in my TOP 10 WORST MOVIES list on mattcottermovies.blogspot.com)