Strong female characters in a Neil Marshall film are never in short supply, and with “Centurion” even thought it’s primarily a testosterone laden gladiator film of the highest order, Marshall stamps his trademark style on to it with sheer grit, a noticeable blue hue that makes even the gladiator action feel steeped in grindhouse, and of course he offers up a small array of female warriors in a world where men dominate and do battle in the woods. Marshall is up to the challenge to give his fans a rare entertaining gladiator film that’s not only very traditional in the way of “Spartacus” but features some of the most gruesome action sequences and dazzling performances in years.
Tag Archives: C
The Crazies (2010)
Breck Eisner’s high tension remake of the practically obscure George Romero horror film is much less biological horror film and much more Southern fried “28 Days Later,” with a small town being taken siege by an ambiguous and horrifying infection that turns people in to crazy people. What makes “The Crazies” such an entertaining slice of horror escapism is that it’s about as politically important as the “Dawn” remake was, but still manages to make an impression by being an awfully uneasy horror thriller. The disease that feeds upon the seemingly mild mannered people of Ogden Marsh is spontaneous, confusing, and almost completely unexplained. We never get a full idea of what the disease entails and when it can start to show signs and this allows for two elements among the story. It guarantees the element of surprise and mystery, while also allowing the writers to pop monsters up whenever they please chalking it up to the erratic effects of this disease.
Catfish (2010)
The big hook for “Catfish” has been the tagline “Don’t let anyone tell you what it is,” and this has had audiences providing theories since the trailer was released what the big hook is to the story. What is the big surprise in the climax? I won’t spoil it for you. At least I’ll try not to. I’ll leave it up to you. Nevertheless, “Catfish” is not a movie that you will expect going in and leaving and it will assuredly have you re-thinking your life and your overall view on personal relationships.
Curiosity (2009)
While initially I feared the ending would be a fake out or a “Gotcha!” I was very pleased to find that Toby Spanton’s horror thriller short is really just a straight forward horror film with a take on the “Curiosity killed the cat” adage that means more than anything to two young folks living in a flat. Golden Globe winning actress Emily Blunt stars with Tom Riley as a young couple catching up with their elderly neighbor gossiping about the rash of disappearances around the neighborhood and she insists they must meet her nephew.
Candy. (2010)
If you’re willing to buy that the beautiful Sage Hall somewhere likely in her early thirties is the mother of a man also in his early thirties, then “Candy” might just tickle your funny bone as something of a creepy and unusual horror short film. The appeal of “Candy” is Hall’s directorial style in which she enlists her experience as a video artist to paint a vivid and often uneasy little portrait of a family celebrating Halloween. Hall plays Candy, the curvaceous but coddling mother to her son who experiences jealousy and resentment when he brings home his girlfriend to get in on the festivities.
Circle (2010)
I held out almost little hope for Michael W. Watkins crime thriller slasher film about a Greek mythology obsessed serial killer who has a penchant for gathering and murdering his victims on the basis of fulfilling some need within him to manifest some Greek legend, but “Circle” gradually proved me wrong as it progressed. While it’s not a masterpiece by any definition, it definitely is a solid horror film with some roots in the formula cop sub-genre in which we’re following two mismatched hard boiled cops on the track of the vicious Bennett, a mastermind and genius psychopath who manages to break free from his asylum after ritualistically killing off a group therapy session he was engaging in.
Case 39 (2009)
Floundering in movie purgatory for a few years, “Case 39” is a supernatural thriller that has managed to be not only an indicator of its star status and how far its performers have come, but it’s also a statement that sometimes, just sometimes, studios can be on to something when they shelve or keep movies back in production. Held back for four years only released in the UK and now just being introduced to American theaters (maybe due to Bradley Cooper’s rising star status), “Case 39” is about as horrible a movie as you can imagine. It’s a movie that should have just been given a DVD release instead of a theatrical release as a movie starring Cooper pre-“The Hangover” fame. Hint: During filming he clearly wasn’t a big enough star to live through the whole movie.