Hi readers. Hope everyone had a spooky but safe Halloween. How did you celebrate? What did you watch? As I have mentioned on this blog in the past I have something of a ritual on the night of October 31st of having a little mini horror marathon, to enter into the creepy spirit. I normally choose what to watch myself but this year I held a poll over on our Facebook group page (do check it out and join us by the way... "join usss"). Anyway the 3 winners of the vote to decide which films I'd watch and write about, as you may have guessed from the picture above, were [•REC], The Cabin in the Woods and John Carpenter's original Halloween.
What follows is a spoiler-y discussion about these 3 movies. It's not a summary and won't take you through every inch of the films, but if you haven't seen them and don't want to be spoiled at all then don't say I didn't warn you, and please watch these films. They are all most definitely worth your time. Now, to the movies.
[•REC]
This one I don't want to get too in depth about as Mr Butterscotch and I had a discussion as to whether this film or it's sequel is better which we're hoping to have pieces about up on the site soon. What I will say is that the movie is great but didn't hold up as well as I'd hoped or remembered. That said, this is probably the fourth or fifth time I have watched this movie and I put the DVD in at around 3 in the afternoon whilst it was still a bright and glorious day outside so the atmosphere was hardly conducive to horror.
The positives are still very much present, however. The movie maintains it's central conceit of the found-footage trope/genre extremely well, even coming up with the clever reason of needing the camera light to explain it's continued usage at the film's end and thus leading to one of the most iconic images of modern horror as the protagonist, bathed in green night-vision, is dragged off screen into the darkness.
I would also commend any foreign language horror film for even getting noticed in our English speaking countries. It is also, remarkably, a very fresh take on the zombie genre, inventing a fascinating and clever reason for their existence which seems wholly original despite it's heritage potentially being traceable back to the "when there's no more room in Hell..." speech in George A. Romero's original Night of the Living Dead. The sense of claustrophobia and dread is palpable, achieved by a combination of the set design, plot devices like literally sealing us in and the aforementioned fact that we are viewing everything through one camera. It does place the viewer in the thick of the action without release, but all good found-footage movies should.
And now, the negatives. Unfortunately the characters, outside of our protagonists Angela and Pablo, can be quite hard to follow. I genuinely found myself not knowing when certain people had been bitten or had turned and become zombies. The cavalier attitude to killing these people with a savvy awareness that they are no longer human or salvageable does also betray that this is a movie a little too jarringly to be fully effective. The film becomes a little jumbled in it's hectic middle section and at only 75 mins long could perhaps have used a few minutes to better establish characters and events here. The breakneck pace racing to the film's climax would still be something that I'd keep though, as it's a great tension builder before the appearance of perhaps the most terrifying creature I've seen on film, as the protagonists, and we, work our way to that ending in the dark.
***1/2 (3.5/5)
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
I love this film. I suppose I was pre-disposed to love it given that it is produced and co-written by Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly etc). As such it has all the whip-smart sassy dialogue that I love (but which could easily come off as smart-ass and annoying to others, I appreciate that). More than that however the film is an absolute horror geek's treat and a solid commentary and deconstruction of the genre.
"Society is binding. Right? It's filling in the cracks with concrete. Everything's filed or reported, logged, right? Chips in our kids heads so they won't get lost. Society needs to crumble. We're all just too chicken shit to let it.... You will come to see things my way." ' -
Marty
I really dig it when a movie sneaks it's central plot and ending into an early line of dialogue that goes completely unnoticed at first. It's done to great effect in Shaun of the Dead and the dialogue above shows that this movie does the same. By the end the film's protagonist and potentially the audience will indeed agree with Marty.
The film starts out showing the odd clash of worlds that will inhabit it as we watch a scene of what seems like office banter which leads abruptly into a clever and unique jump scare, which only shows the title. Lol indeed. Next we set up our teen archetypes (whore, jock, scholar, fool and "virgin"/final girl). It's only through the course of the movie that we learn that the characters have been forced (via drugs, mind control etc) into these archetypes.
Pretty soon our teens have to stop in a lonely, desolate gas station to meet the stereotypical creepy old man with a warning. This is also brought to our attention in dialogue as this "Harbinger" calls the office that we are following, which acts as both a filmmakers and audience substitute, and he is told:
"Well, you're doing a great job out there. By the numbers, man. You got us started off just right..."
This cleverly draws attention to this trope but then subverts it with a very post-modern bit of humour:
"Cleanse them, cleanse the world of their ignorance and sin. Bathe in the crimson of .... am I on speaker phone?"
You either hate this subversive humour or love it, and I love it. We then see the teens develop into their roles as the office workers behind their eventual sacrifice explain the limits of their power, again channeling the horror screenwriter:
"If they don't transgress..."
"...they can't be punished."
The film then explicitly draws a comparison between the office drones watching events play out and the horror film viewer. They watch intently but unfeelingly as a girl shows her breasts, even remarking that they aren't the only ones watching when someone displays disgust at this (referring to their demonic masters AND the horror audience). They then continue to watch, totally desensitized, as the girl, Jules, is brutally offed by a zombie, despite Marty's post-modern protests that they should not have read the Latin in a book they found in the cellar (Evil Dead fans will appreciate this). The cellar, the betting board and the cages seen later are a wealth of geek thrills with references to the monsters eventually seen here, as well as multiple other horror films (I especially noticed the puzzle sphere and demon being a nod to Hellraiser but there are multiple easter eggs).
I also love that the teens are initially forced into making the poor decisions of stereotypical horror characters, such as using mind-altering gas to lead them to think it's a good idea to split up. The direction too, I find, enhances the post-modern connections, I noticed at one point that the director made a scene change by the camera going through/into a TV screen.
I don't want to go into too much detail about the film's final act, because it should really be experienced rather than spoiled. Suffice to say there are a lot of monster cameos and a final great one by an appropriate horror actress.
The only negative I could personally give the film is that I don't truly appreciate the nihilistic ending. I realise it is the central points personified but it's just such a bummer and a little too weird for me.
****1/2 (4.5/5)
HALLOWEEN (1978)
What's left to say about John Carpenter's seminal classic? It's a masterpiece, a perfect film to watch on dark, spooky nights. It arguably kick-started the slasher genre (though I'm aware that Psycho, Peeping Tom and Black Christmas all came before but I'd argue were less successful). It has a sense of atmospheric dread that's never been bettered, and it created our very first Scream Queen in Jamie Lee Curtis (who continues to play up this role in the appropriately titled Scream Queens TV show).
The film opens with a minimalist but extremely effective opening credits sequence. This sets the mood beautifully with just a Jack-O-Lantern, orange text and the iconic and exceptional musical theme. This still gives me chills and evokes so much in me so perfectly. In the films opening scene Carpenter deftly employs an early pov shot to place the audience in the mask of the killer and continue bringing the horror closer whilst showing very little of Michael Myers' murder of his sister Judith.
The film then builds up tension brilliantly as our final girl heroine, Laurie, increasingly sees "The Shape" (as Myers is described brilliantly in the end credits) behind bushes, in the corner of her eyes, small but shockingly scary in fleeting frames. The boiler suit and William Shatner mask here just add to the other-worldly menace and fear.
We hear throughout the film as Doctor Loomis uses dialogue to dehumanise Myers, something which the mask and costume also achieve. He is evil incarnate, the "boogeyman" of our irrational nightmares.
And this leads me to the only flaw in this near perfect film as we briefly see Laurie unmask Myers and reveal the person beneath. Sure, he looks dead-eyed but it's a bit like when Darth Vader took off his helmet to reveal a pasty old white guy. Not knowing what's under the mask is scarier.
This is a small niggle though, as Carpenter expertly uses the camera, sets and even the shadows to make the masked killer so effectively, chillingly scary.
I adore this film. It has a mass appeal (even my mum loves it), and just feels eerie and compelling at the same time. Aptly enough the film is perfect for dark Halloween nights. And it's led me to discover and finally order the sequel.
***** (5/5)
MM
