“The Diary” plays out a lot like a story from “Creepshow”. It’s short, to the point, but also very creepy, and much like “Evil Dead” there’s your monsters, hapless victims, and a cabin in the middle of the woods. “The Diary” is a very creepy and taut zombie horror film with two narratives about one plot element that takes a toll on our characters with the same inevitabilities. Being a hardcore horror fan since before I could walk, I love to see what indie filmmakers can offer, and “The Diary” is an offering for any horror fan to see. It’s recommended.
Tag Archives: Mystery
Grizzly Man (2005)
I’ve constantly heard “Grizzly Man” in contrast with a train wreck. It’s miserable, but you just have to keep watching for some odd reason, and that’s a dead on summarizing of this film. It’s a train wreck, but a compelling one. Director Werner Herzog explores wildlife enthusiast Timothy Treadwell through much footage of his exploration of woods and commuting with his favorite animals, the bears. All of the clips are morbid reflections of a man content with his surroundings and desperately attempting to unify with nature. The film is morbid because it explores tapes from Treadwell leading up to his inevitable death (Tim’s friend even recalls when he discovered the mangled bodies, or what was left of them). He and his girlfriend were mauled to death and eaten by the same grizzlies he’d grown to love, and though Herzog doesn’t show the deaths, it’s still compelling to watch this man implode.
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
A couple of months before I was able to grab a hold of a copy of “Were-rabbit”, I was able to catch on television the three shorts of the adventures of “Wallace and Gromit”. They’re three claymation shorts that earned a massive cult following. Usually, it’s very hip to say that anything nominated for an Oscar isn’t that good, but “Wallace and Gromit” is one of those Oscar properties that really did get the praise it deserved. Trust when I say this, Wallace and Gromit is far from overrated.
Cry_Wolf (2005)
The crime “Cry_Wolf” commits is that its safe, it’s completely void of scares, any risks, and it’s completely dry if you catch my drift. It attempts to be taken as a slasher film but it’s not a slasher whatsoever, it’s a gigantic tease. It starts off as a mystery, then forms in to a slasher, and then a mystery yet again. With great writing, and very good directing, the constantly shifting themes could have served for a brilliant and utterly engrossing horror entry, but with hackneyed writing and utterly broad characterization, “Cry_Wolf” goes limp. Like having a vasectomy and contemplating sex, it seems fun, but in the end it does nothing but fire off blanks. It wants to be the murder mystery of the computer age, but it comes off more like a lame-brained “Scream” and that’s not saying much, I can tell you that.
Four Brothers (2005)
I was surprised to discover how much I really enjoyed “Four Brothers.” Even for a remake. “Four Brothers” is a worthy successor to the original film, and with a dose of cheese every so often it really accomplishes the slight camp from the original film. What made it a more enjoyable experience is that Singleton and the writers turn this in to a modern western. Gladly, this is a modern western in every sense of the word with some great elements from the genre, and some of Singleton’s style thrown in for good measure. Like a cowboy on horseback, Wahlberg’s character Bobby makes his entrance in to the inner-city of Detroit with old school soul playing in the background. Wahlberg becomes the basic drive here (the replacement for John Wayne) who enters back in to his stomping grounds from a life of business to mourn the loss of his foster mother who was killed viciously in a store robbery.
Shallow Ground (2004)
So, a young naked boy covered in blood emerges from the woods and stumbles upon a sheriff’s office. No, this isn’t the start of a potentially funny riddle, but the opening of the lackluster and misfired “Shallow Ground” a film that though graced with an original concept, is completely botched from beginning to end. “Shallow Ground” consists of a very loud and irritating score that basically follows wooden acting, forgettable performances, and interchangeable characters I knew nothing about, and had no interest in knowing. At first, the set-up for “Shallow Ground” resembles basically any other horror film, but writer-director Sheldon Wilson attempts to become more esoteric and lays out the ground work for a more meaningful horror flick that tries too hard.
Ringu (Ring) (1998)
Hideo Nakata influenced many a people, from the directors in Asia whom created all sorts of ghost films deriving from “Ringu’s” element with ghosts that are able to come in to our world through electronic devices, to what’s become the norm for Japanese ghosts: the pale girl with long damp black hair. I’m not as big a fan as others when it comes to Japanese horror, but I appreciate half of what we’re introduced to, and “Ringu” is one of those films I appreciate. I just had to see this, basically since I ended up really liking the remake, “The Ring”. Yes, I’m one of those few who enjoyed it. Either way, Nakata’s direction is something that I found to be the most impressive aspect of “Ringu” because the man knows how to mount tension and then alleviate it with a stunning shot to the arm that works.