Jess Franco’s vampire film genuinely doesn’t live up to the hype it’s garnered with horror and film buffs over the decades since its release. It’s a tedious and often dull affair that manages to numb the sexuality due to its incessant filler. The filler is ever present from the opening shots, and is used to pad the film’s run time, from performances in front of crowds, right down to dream sequences, much of it is used as a tactic to pad a thinly veiled “Dracula” remake.
I imagine the logline for “Infected” was it’s the UK meets “Dawn of the Dead.” Sometimes “Infected” can reach for moments of greatness and almost achieve it, but it’s too concerned with ripping off “The Walking Dead” and Romero to hit that peak. “Infected” is really nothing you haven’t seen before, it’s a movie about the end of the world and zombies taking over the great metropolitan area of the UK. Director Andrew Gilbert follows a trio of characters, all dwindling in size as they struggle to find safety amidst the walking dead.
At a little over an hour long, “Serena” really is a listless twist on “Cinderella.” This time, we meet Cindy, a slave for her stepmother, who beds men every night, while Cindy watches in corners masturbating and trying to get in on the action. There’s not much of an explanation for anything in the movie, as “Serena” seems to excel on being baffling and weird in many instances. Plus, I’m fairly certain most of the cast were high during the filming.
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The reason to see “Sweet & Perverse Milly” is for Milly D’Abbraccio. She’s a mind blowingly sexy, and insanely vivacious woman who dominates the eighty minute movie she headlines with her insanely gorgeous body. Normally foreign erotica can tend to drag, but D’Abbraccio just grabs every bit of attention every time she’s on-screen, and knows exactly what she’s working with, and what she’s doing to the audience. One 7 Movies brings the Milly D’Abbraccio spotlight to the fans with a fine restoration of her 1989 movie.
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In a time where studios aim for shocks over substance, especially with the advent of the found footage sub-genre, it’s great to see a horror movie that’s horrifying and about something. Director Jennifer Kent’s first outing as a horror director is a downright flawless effort that doesn’t just shock audiences, but has a ton of subtext, and undertones that deserve to be examined by literally everyone. It’s not just a movie about a mother and son being terrorized by a monster, but a movie about the mother and son dynamic. More to the point, it’s about the birth of a child, and how blame can often be misplaced on the unborn child for circumstances beyond their control.
If there’s anything more I love than post apocalyptic films, its post apocalyptic films with substance and meaning to them. “The Rover” is a slow boil drama thriller set in Australia where the continent has now economically collapsed. Set ten years after an apparent apocalypse, Australia is the Wild West where law is so corrupt that its citizens have zero respect for those in blue. Director David Michôd thrives on ambiguity by introducing a cast of characters with their own moral codes that conflict with everyone else’s. “The Rover” garners nothing but slime balls and the amoral, but that doesn’t stifle the utterly compelling storyline.
I appreciated “Strippers vs. Werewolves” for being just a good enough movie with a lot of fun moments. Surely, it’s not a flawless film, as it aims mainly for cult appeal with goofy comedy, and a meta-format that breaks the fourth wall on occasion. You have to appreciate how writer Phillip Barron tries to inject an interesting story in a movie where you expect nothing but strippers fighting werewolves. To be honest, the fact that there’s an actual story with twists makes up for the fact that a movie with strippers doesn’t actually feature any bare skin at any point.