Tag Archives: K

King Kong (1976)

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I’m not against contemporizing “King Kong,” but director John Guillermin shows us how to take a very simple concept like “King Kong” and completely botch it from minute one. It’s not like “King Kong” has a complex story. It’s a fairly exciting adventure about a giant monster, the woman he loves, and New York being torn to shreds by this out of place animal. Apart from being utterly abysmal, “King Kong” is also way too long, with a premise retrofitted for the seventies that stretches the limits of suspension of disbelief. For a movie about a giant ape climbing the Twin Towers, it’s sad that the whole plot to get King Kong in to New York is the most far fetched element I had difficulty buying in to.

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Kristy (2014)

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kristyOliver Blackburn’s survival horror film is an engaging and tense thriller with a deceptively simple premise. It is mostly a single setting horror film, but implements its college setting to feel terrifying and completely alien. Even when we’re watching heroine Justine walking around campus with utmost familiarity and soaking in the peace of the usually crammed halls, once the darkness falls, it feels like one of the most terrifying hunting grounds for evil ever depicted. “Kristy” is set during Thanksgiving break, where young Justine is stuck in college. With all of her friends and boyfriend off to see their families, Justine has the campus to herself, along with two random security guards. Haley Bennett is fantastic as young Justine, a seemingly random victim of a group of hooded masked killers.

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Karate Kill (2016) [Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2016]

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karate-kill-posterKenji, a karate master who keeps to himself, learns of his little sister’s disappearance so he flies to the US to find her and kill anyone who gets in his way. Writer/director Kurando Mitsutake builds a crazy fun action film.  His film not a character study and that is perfectly fine.  It’s build like an 80’s action film on steroids which mean the characters are okay, the bad guys are really bad and the good guys are not so numerous.  However, the fight scenes are many and highly entertaining.  The film is built to showcase the fighting and the action, the kidnapping of the little sister is only a reason for the lead to go nuts and fight everyone in his path to get her back.  The film is in both Japanese and English adding an angle to Kenji’s travel to the US as he does not speak English and must rely on other Japanese people for most of his communications.  The cultural differences are there from that but also seem to be exaggerated for the sake of entertainment.

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Knucklebones (2016) [FrightFest 2016]

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knucklebonesYears after a group of people is murdered in a clothing factory, a group of students goes to the warehouse to hunt for ghosts, finding only a box full of knucklebones with which they summon the titular character who proceeds to dispatch them and other visitors to the factory in violently gruesome ways. Writer/director Mitch Wilson creates an interesting, low-budget supernatural slasher with Knucklebones.

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The Killing of America (1981) [FrightFest 2016]

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the-killing-of-americaOriginally released in 1981, The Killing of America is a “documentary of the decline of America.”  The film is a collection of news footage and interviews about violent events that have happened in the United States up until the murder of John Lennon in Manhattan in 1980 and the violence at the gatherings following his death.

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Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016)

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Hey, if Sylvester Stallone can get “Creed” why can’t Jean Claude Van Damme get his own go around? “Kickboxer: Vengeance” is a remake/reboot of the “Kickboxer” series where we’re given essentially the same narrative as the original Van Damme action film, except with a few roles switched here and there. As a bid of respect, Van Damme returns to the series playing the enigmatic Master Durand, a martial arts trainer who manages to train hero Kurt for his fight to avenge his fallen brother. Van Damme’s performance is top notch in “Vengeance” and he manages to get some prime action scenes in the film, including one involving an ambush in his temple by a lone fighter.

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Kidnap Capital (2016) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]

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kidnapPhoenix, Arizona.  A group of kidnap victims are taken in a house like many others.  There they are kept captive, beaten, and forced to contact family and friends for their ransom.  Part of the group is an expecting couple who are split up as they keep the men and women separately.  The father-to-be does everything he can to protect his wife and unborn child.

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