In 2009, the horror fiction website Creepypasta helped create one of the more popular modern boogey men of horror. While many people expected the newest boogeyman would be born on film or television, aptly enough he was born on the internet. Much to the surprise of everyone, the Slenderman (an enigmatic fictional monster whose ability to lure children in to the woods and collect them for nefarious purposes) became much more than a simple meme. He was a pop culture sensation, and out of him spread a cult of loyal fanatics. One of the most infamous cases involved the incident of two twelve year old girls who lured their best friend out in to the woods and attempted to stab her to death as a means of appeasing the slenderman.
Author Archives: Felix Vasquez
Hotel Coolgardie (2017) [Slamdance Film Festival 2017]
I’m pretty surprised at how entertaining and compelling Pete Gleeson’s documentary “Hotel Coolgardie” ends up being. It has such a weird and odd premise that threatens to be so dull and monotonous. But by the end of the movie I was more than thrown in to this surreal situation and cared about the two focal points of the movie Lina and Steph. It doesn’t have a huge social message or political aspirations but is a pleasantly engrossing tale about two foreigners in a new land, both of whom struggle to adapt amidst a large lifestyle of sexism, xenophobia and alienation. You’d think a premise for a documentary of this ilk would be reserved for art house movie fodder, but the fact it has happened for years is so fascinating and makes you wonder who else has walked in to Hotel Coolgardie.
Suck it Up (2017) [Slamdance Film Festival 2017]
I’ve always been a fan of movies that examine how deaths can affect the ones we love and how it can create a pretty significant ripple. “Suck It Up” is a bit of “Garden State,” and “Ordinary People” mixed with mumblecore here and there. While I appreciate director Jordan Canning’s efforts to create this drama about how the death of one of the more important people in their lives affected them drastically, the script from Julia Hoff seems to be almost bereft of drama to the point where scenes just stretch out in to nothingness. There are a lot of really drawn out moments where almost nothing happens. In brief scenes where Canning tackles the dynamic between our characters Ronnie and Faye, “Suck It Up” presents only slight glimmers of an emotional character study.
XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
Yes, believe it or not, the “XXX” movies now have a mythology. And a back story. And supporting characters. Now that America has officially found the “Jason Bourne” series a bit worn, Vin Diesel makes his return with his clunky and ridiculous “XXX” movie series, reprising his role as the rebellious, bald, smart ass anti-hero Xander Cage. This is a break from playing the rebellious, bald, smart ass anti-hero Dominic Torreto, and the rebellious, bald, smart ass anti-hero Riddick, and–the rebellious, bald, smart ass anti-hero in “Babylon A.D.” After the unwatchable dumpster fire that was “XXX: State of the Union” the studio brings Diesel back to prop up a light reboot and sequel of “XXX” that also opens up a world for more movies of this ilk.
Fucking Bunnies (2016) [Sundance Film Festival 2017]
Director Teemu Niukkanen’s is a dark and demented comedy about living in a place where pretty much anyone can move in next door and how we can rush to judgment too often and brush off some pretty nice people. Thought it’s only a short film, “Fucking Bunnies” could work as a hilarious and twisted feature film about the uneasy friendship between two very different men. Raimo is a middle-aged Finnish man living in the suburbs in an apartment complex in Helsinki. He’s a very settled and tightly wound man who lives his day of monotony joyfully. One day when the new neighbors move in next door, he learns that they are a cult of Satanists that indulge in orgies, and sadism.
The Neon Demon (2016)
Whether or not you like Nicholas Winding Refn, there’s no doubt that he makes art that gets people talking. Surely, his movies are hit or miss, but they are art that spawn emotions that not many directors can incite. Much like Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” Winding Refn’s newest masterpiece is a statement about the ills of fame and how Los Angeles can consume innocence and naiveté. Winding Refn makes a statement about how the modeling industry is literally cut throat, while seemingly drawing inspirations from films like “Suspiria.” The women here are assuredly predators intent on committing a devious scheme that revolves around the idea of vanity and self preservation.
Fists of Fury (2017)
The beautiful but deadly Cynthia Rothrock is back with another of Full Moon’s great compilations entitled “Fists of Fury.” At a little over a hundred minutes, “Fists of Fury” features clips to a ton of famous and infamous martial arts films that tackle all kinds of topics far and wide. There’s “Female Fighters,” the funny but awkward “Brucesploitation,” and “Deadliest Weapons,” movies with some of the most unusual and dead weapons in all of action cinema.