A schizophrenic military man, Martin, with heavy PTSD is holed-up in his family’s cabin when his brother and sister eventually come to have an intervention for him. Foil on the windows and constant talk of a pod and military experiment on him as well as others only convinces his brother further that he needs help now while his sister is starting to take his side and believe him. As Martin talks of having the pod trapped in the basement, things escalate quickly.
There’s having a hobby and then there’s having an obsession. One of the two can be very dangerous and eventually sink us in to a land of delusion that can affect the people around us. Ken and his girlfriend are at odds with one another after Ken agrees to meet with her parents for dinner. Unfortunately Ken is glued to watching one of his favorite zombie movies for the thousandth time, testing her patience.
One of my top ten films of 2013, it’s so refreshing to see indie filmmakers actually try to challenge the conventions of not just horror but of fiction altogether. A film like “Resolution” would easily be a terrible effort in the wrong hands, but the combined genius of Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead make it a success on every conceivable level. This is a more cerebral take on 2012’s “Cabin in the Woods,” where in the world visited by the viewer is very self-aware. In fact, “Resolution” is so much more aware of the audience and yet it still comes out a winner in the end.
If you needed any clarification of what the end result of “Contracted” was, then “Phase II” pretty much shows all of its cards for its audience. That may either be a plus for the audience returning to see how the narrative unfolds, or a major missed opportunity for folks that appreciate some ambiguity. True, both films are in essence body horror movies, but they also transform in to brutally creepy and unique zombie films that rely on the grotesque nature of transforming in to the undead. Basically, “Contracted” builds on a more morbid and damaging form of disease transferred through bodily fluids that begin to take massive tolls on its victims.
Gloria, a single mom with a simple life, meets Michel and they go out for dinner during which he begins a con on her. After a one-night stand, she lends him money to help keep his business afloat. Little does she know, he spends it at a bar as she goes looking for him. She finds him and convinces him to keep her around. Together, they con women out of their money by seducing them as a brother and sister duo. Gloria’s jealous soon rears its ugly head and turns to violence and murder. The two then continue their romance and their evolution towards total chaos.
I think if it weren’t so obsessed with its own self-indulgent pseudo-spiritualism and didn’t stop to tell four different stories simultaneously, “Martyrs” may have been a decent film. It begins as a solid revenge picture, but then devolves in to an absurd campaign in torture and pain. It’s a grueling sadistically boring horror drama with a narrative so convoluted I stopped caring about what was unfolding after the first half hour. “Martyrs” loves to pretend it’s this transcendent statement about our questioning of the afterlife, but in reality it’s just misogynist torture porn painted as art house dribble that will make you feel dirty.
I don’t go in to movies wanting to dislike them, which pleases me when a movie manages to surprise me the way “All Hallows’ Eve 2” did. It’s still a mixed bag of horror, but when you get down to it, it’s still a solid anthology film that corrects a lot of the original film’s errors. Plus the mascot is just so much more appealing this time around. I won’t say “All Hallows’ Eve 2” is a masterpiece, but it’s strong enough to recommend to horror fans looking for a good time. Director Jessie Baget recruits a group of really interesting indie filmmakers to lend their shorts for this sequel, and while some of them are mere tricks, others are absolutely wonderful treats.