Collet-Serra may not have the best track record but he manages to accomplish a lot in “Orphan.” The camera work is often very disturbing and he manages to evoke the true definition of insanity through stunning imagery that always tries to surpass words that can best describe what we’re seeing. From character Esther’s basic psychopathic habits right down to her ability to conceive the darkest of imagery through her paint brush (as we see throughout the film), Collet-Serra leaves almost no stone unturned. Without wanting to ruin the twist, Collet-Serra gives us enough hints sprinkled around the general mystery to keep us guessing and anxious to discover what’s wrong with Esther. Is she the anti-Christ? Is she a demon? Is she the manifestation of the past? Is she Satan? Or is she merely a disturbed child?
Tag Archives: Mystery
Friday the 13th: The Killer Cut (2009) (DVD)
Let’s face it, Platinum Dunes is a remake factory that’s managed to take some of the best horror films of all time and completely butcher them. Take “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for one example, a bastardized MTV version of a damn good dose of indie filmmaking. But surprisingly, “Friday the 13th” isn’t a bad film and Marcus Nispel completely redeems himself. In fact it’s pretty damn good. I know I’ve become the small minority of movie viewers who see the film as a great reboot, but I just clicked with “Friday the 13th” and everything it pushed on audiences including the mean vicious SOB that is Jason Voorhees.
Friday the 13th (2009)
I think the only people who hold grudges more than Jason are the religious and it’s a known fact that Jason is one angry bitter man whose mom is taken down at the first five minutes of the 2009 reboot called simply: “Friday the 13th.” A combination of the first, second and third films in the series, “Friday the 13th” seek to completely redo Jason and start over with a clean slate. This is a great idea especially after desperation from studios forced the masked killer in to deep space and the future of mankind. This is a stripped down reboot that director Marcus Nispel handles with care, because it’s a task liable to be screwed up once he and the writers decide on fitting an origin, a motivation, and the discovery of the hockey mask in only ninety minutes. But he rises to the occasion and actively keeps the story moving with a body count of almost ten people and an admittedly uneven pace. Despite the caveat and probably because of it, Nispel’s treatment of Voorhes makes for the first enjoyable experience at the movies in a long while.
Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) (2008)
There really isn’t much of anything directors can do with the vampire sub-genre anymore and that’s been a given for horror geeks for a long time. I’m repellent to any and all vampire fang films that come to the forefront and I’ve made it a rule to carefully dissect most fang films after constant turkeys passed my way. Thankfully “Let the Right One In” isn’t your average vampire movie. And while it’s trite to make such a declaration the truth remains: “Let the Right One In” is a different vampire film and one I loved with every aching horror geek bone inside me.
Shutter (2008)
Here’s what I learned from watching the remake of “Shutter”:
1. Even purely Asian women look Caucasian only because they should.
2. There are such things as spirit photography magazines.
3. There are experts in spirit photography.
4. Ghosts love a good game of piggyback!
5. And Maya Hazen is a stone cold fox.
The Stepford Wives (1975)
An “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” for the feminist era, novelist Ira Levin’s horror science fiction thriller is an ode to the fear of feminism, the unwelcome reception it received by old fashioned men who grew up in a society predominantly ruled by subservient women and a bit of a paranoid fantasy that takes the best of feminism and matches it with the male ego that ultimately attempts to snuff out the girl power movement enacted by women after the sixties and take it in to an era where women were soon relegated to tools and props as status symbols for men unwilling to submit to a woman who was well spoken, intelligent, and always anxious to give their men hell for making decisions that they didn’t approve with. Sure it’s an anti-male diatribe, but so what? “The Stepford Wives” original as directed by Bryan Forbes is a reflection on a society that wants to have it both ways.
The Odd Squad #1 [of 3]
Devil’s Due’s newest series “The Odd Squad” is like The X-Files is headed by two of the three chicks from “Mean Girls,” and yet in spite of my inherent annoyance with the trite dialogue and cheesy pop culture references, I really enjoyed it.
As a guilty pleasure, “The Odd Squad” is a routine science fiction supernatural comedy series about a bubbly blond and her equally bubbly blonde sister who are asked to head a branch of the Office of Dimensional Defense to investigate the paranormal. Charlotte Springs is a simple college professor who isn’t as dumb as she looks, and she is forced to work with Frank Flood, a local stiff working for the government who has to team with both sisters to explore why the president’s son is turning in to a beast during the night. And by beast, I mean literal bipedal hairy beast.