He’s a skilled serial killer, a slasher along the lines of Jason, and, oh yeah, he’s a self-promoting sensationalist who wants to become a famous slasher of all things teen. Leslie Vernon lives in a world filled with monsters. He lives in a world where Jason, Freddy, and even Michael Myers wreak havoc on innocent victims and young teenagers. And what does Leslie Vernon want? He wants to be like them. And he’ll go through any lengths to live up to their legacies. And wouldn’t you know it? Director Scott Glosserman is about eighty percent of the way there.
Tag Archives: Dark Comedy
Cecil B. DeMented (2000)
You think you’ve seen and heard it all in your life. And then you realize that the homicidal cult of psychotic movie freaks who are intended to be the twisted villains of this John Waters pic, are people you tend to agree with. I agreed with everything these psychos screamed from beginning to end, and that’s frightening. I admit that. Now lock me up before I do something rash in the name of good filmmaking. I’ve not always been a fan of John Waters films, particularly his dark comedies, but with “Cecil B. Demented” I was surprised to see that not only did he concoct a damn fine movie, but he also manages to convey obsession for the film medium that’s amped thirty percent into the sociopathic circle (Look for Maggie Gyllenhaal in a funny performance as a sadistic goth).
Undead (2005)
Small town, hapless folks, average day, and a comet. All of which are the menu for a brutally satirical zombie film known by horror fans as “Undead.” The low budget Aussie production has become renowned among horror fans as one of the better zombie films to come around in years, and they’d be right. Aside from the masterpiece “Shaun of the Dead,” The Spierig Brother’s film manages to be both creepy, and utterly twisted a concept hard to accomplish with zombie fare now an utterly tired genre. What occurs in “Undead” is the typical, yet unpredictable. A bunch of comets crash in a small town, and now all the residents have become brain eating zombies—don’t you hate when that happens? Now, the remaining survivors, a bunch of officers, a model, a pregnant nurse, and a bayou hunter, have to find their way out and figure out how to stop the epidemic.
A Day Without a Mexican (2004)
What if American’s Mexicans suddenly disappeared one day? Well, in effect, what if America’s “laziest race” disappeared one day? Well, then we’d have a nation of lazy Caucasians, wouldn’t we? And we’d have an actual group of people, whom are Americans who will not work. And we’d be at war with one another. And we’d be calling each other sub-human, wouldn’t we? “A Day without a Mexican” is not just a satire on the Mexican sub-culture, but an indictment on America on the Hispanic sub-culture. But I’m trying to figure out what the hell was going through the writers minds when making this.
Evil Aliens (2005)
About five minutes into Jake West’s “Evil Aliens”, I was already sinking low into my seat wondering what I was watching. It begins as a simple horror film. Two people are having sex. And they’re abducted. The man then experiences one hell of a violent anal probe that tops off the sick fuck fest known as “Evil Aliens”, and I was having fun. Led by an utterly vivacious news reporter (Emily Booth), a group of cameramen and reporters head out into the countryside to investigate a case of abduction, and alien pregnancy they suspect is bogus, that will essentially lead to one hell of a bloody skirmish that makes up most of “Evil Aliens”.
Match Point (2005)
I wish I can say that Woody Allen’s venture in to new territory was great—had he actually explored new territory, mind you. And I wish I could proclaim this a giant rip-off of Allen’s style, had Allen not directed it. Fact is, though, Allen’s involvement in the film doesn’t deter the idea that “Match Point” feels like imitation Woody Allen. It’s often been described as “the serious sub-plot of “Crimes and Misdemeanors” extended in to a film”, and that’s an apt description. However, when all is said and done, I’d describe this as a remake of “Crimes and MisDemeanors” with footnotes of “A Place in the Sun” thrown in for good measure.
Jarhead (2005)
Most of Anthony Swafford’s war time spent was on a war that never happened. Swafford recollects in an issue of Entertainment Weekly, that most of the time spent in the military was his superiors yelling fire in a crowded auditorium, spending time training, and bulking up, and training for nothing. “Jarhead” is one of the closest modern depictions of Don Quixote we can ever really see. A film about warriors training for a war that would never come, facing an enemy that may not have been there to begin with. But, Swafford’s story is depicted through a memoir that can be dictated through different eyes. For some it’s an anti-war message, for others it’s just a non-biased portrait of a man who never went to war despite being in the military during war time.