You would think a survivalist horror film about a group of campers fighting off monsters born from stagnant infected lake water would be material for a gripping and intense horror film. But you’d be wrong. In fact, most of “Primal” is quite tedious and rote. I wanted to be choked with tension throughout most of “Primal” and just found myself basically yawning and zoning out for the most part. I wish I could attribute it to being high, but I’m not one to get high. In either case, “Primal” is pretty derivative of Bava’s “Demons,” where anyone who ingests the tainted water find themselves transforming in to demonic beings in an instant.
Tag Archives: Foreign
Truth or Die (2012) (DVD)
Director Robert Heath creates a horror film that starts out like “Slaughter High” and ends like “Saw.” Basically, “Truth or Die” is a revenge film of the twisted kind where no one is truly just. In the end, it’s about despicable people hurting despicable people. As is the trend with most modern revenge tales, “Truth or Die” is about the destruction of revenge and how nothing is ever as it seems.
0, 1, 2, 3, 1, 0 [Diligo Victum] (2010)
Director Dick Jane is really succeeding in distinguishing himself from other indie filmmakers, and slowly he’s turning in to a filmmaker I’m looking for most times. While he’s not always a home run cinematically, he does opt for daring. And it comes through. With “Kiddy Kiddy Bang Bang” that was a film guaranteed to turn heads and even incense some people. His first short film “0, 1, 2, 3, 1, 0” is a short Bergman-esque meditation on a woman struggling with suicide.
Ichi (2008)
I guess you can refer to “Ichi” as part of the official Zatoichi canon since the story of Ichi is one the reflects the effect Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman had on the people of Japan during his travels. Though not a remake or a reboot of the Zatoichi series, “Ichi” is an unofficial spin off that takes from the film series and creates its own branch off of an epic story about a beautiful young Goze who is taking a journey to find her savior before finally lying down to die. Haruka Ayase is incredibly beautiful and fierce as the Goze Ichi who spends most of her life wandering around from village to village trying to survive one more day while on a search for something in her life that’s kept her motivated to fight ever since she was a child.
The Raid: Redemption (2012)
I said goddamn. If action movie buffs were concerned that the action genre was dying on its bed, then director Gareth Evans just stabbed it in the heart with adrenaline and revived it for a new audience. “The Raid Redemption” courtesy of Indonesia is one of the most frantic and ballistic action films I’ve ever seen, and director Gareth Evans delivers an action movie buffet of kicks, punches, and gashes that will leave audiences pumping their fists anxiously from beginning to end.
Albert & Juliet (2012)
I don’t know exactly what the intended meaning behind “Albert & Juliet” was originally, but the entire time I sat through Nic Barker’s gut wrenching short film, all I could think of was “This is a film about a mom and her child.” I mean it would be a bit overbearing in dramatic weight to feature a mom with a newborn baby being relentlessly tortured by everyone around her, but in a sense I felt as if “Albert & Juliet” was symbolic of a single mom and her baby.
Yarasa adam – Bedmen (Turkish Batman & Robin) (1973)
For readers unaware, the Turkish film industry has a long and hilarious history of taking Hollywood films and remaking them sans copyrights and approval from creators. Cult film lovers know of Turkish films and their many knock offs but to see them for yourself is an experience. The Turkish film industry has created their own low budget versions of films like “Superman,” “Star Wars,” “The Exorcist,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “ET,” and of course “Batman.” These films can only be found by bootleg dealers and online sources as they’re so illegal and ripe with potential for lawsuits, the chances of seeing deluxe editions is laughable.