I just wasn’t a fan of “House on Haunted Hill.” William Castle’s utter masterpiece was turned into a Nine Inch Nails video with rapid fire editing, goofy atmosphere, CGI overload, and terrible acting even from Geoffrey Rush. “Return to House on Haunted Hill” was something I really wanted to give a chance. Thankfully, this is not a sequel in name only. This new installment takes place shortly after the ending of the first film where Sara’s (Ali Larter) sister Ariel discovers she’s killed herself after a mental breakdown, and learns of the house where Stephen Price held his party and allegedly went on a murder spree. Cue plot catalyst. Ariel discovers by a professor that there’s an ancient statue of a satanic cult somewhere in the hill house and he wants it. Lo and behold we have a rival group of relic hunters who also want it and will kill anyone for it.
Tag Archives: R
Random Lunacy: Videos from the Road Less Traveled (2007)
Very few people in life have the ability to drop everything, be rid of all sorts of city life vices, and go on the road to live the life they want to. Very few people actually have the courage to do so, and risk losing their family in the process. Poppa Neutrino is one of those people. He’s a man who isn’t rich or famous, or even that well known, but at the end of the day he can tell us that he’s lived his life how he’s wanted to, and no one can take that away from him. This is the subject of the latest documentary from the directing team of Victor Zimet and Stephanie Silber.
Right At Your Door (2006)
We live in alarmist times. We live in times where we’re constantly in fear of terrorism, terrorist activities and are influenced to be xenophobic to a certain extent. We are a people de-sensitized with violence, a people who always fear death at our door, and ultimately have an unspoken paralyzing fear of the apocalypse entering into our windows, and it’s reflected in our culture and pop culture. Be it through zombies, a plague or what have you, we’re in times where our fear of Armageddon is difficult to ignore, and that’s due to increasingly violent circumstances involving the realistic likelihood of some sort of bomb or toxin entering into our neighborhood and destroying everything we love.
Renaissance (2006) (DVD)
Almost simultaneously released alongside Richard Linklater’s equally high concept animated film “A Scanner Darkly,” Volckman’s “Renaissance” is a little bit of George Orwell and Phillip K. Dick with the same neo-noir atmosphere of Frank Miller with a Dystopian twist, and it composes itself as an equally high concept animated science fiction installment that focuses on a society that’s not too much in the distant future from ours. The world is ruled by vanity and the search for eternal youth, and this is all spearheaded by an ominous corporation called Avalon that markets on society’s youth obsession and rules over all of society. Ads pop up from thin air, follow pedestrians, and always seem much more omnipresent than they should.
Rosario Tijeras (2005)
Flora Martinez, aside from being absolutely beautiful and incredibly sexy, also provides a very good performance for “Rosario Tijeras” as the tragic and sometimes despicable Rosario who objectifies men the way she was objectified all of her life. She’s a being incapable of genuine love, and also seems incapable of finding true love. She’s someone who is used for her body, and carried around like a trophy, thus leads her own downfall in the face of her diminishing personal welfare. Her constant manipulation of her male counterparts is often achieved through her irresistible sex appeal, and this will often leave male audiences at a crossroads. The surefire draw should have been the lovely and vivacious Flora Martinez, who is an interesting choice for the lead of this snake of a woman. But then, at the end of it, I was pretty anxious to shut it off and move on.
Rocky Balboa (2006)
“Rocky Balboa” would work better if seen after “Rocky.” This man at the top of his game earns the love of his life, to which we turn to “Rocky Balboa” where this man is now a wash out, with no family, and the love of his life dead. It would make much more of an impact. What occurs is Rocky not trying to reclaim his fame, but prove he can have one last go around before he properly fades away into the darkness to live out the rest of his life and die. What Stallone also tackles is the rampant ageism in America. Can a man in his late fifties still do what he did in his early thirties? Can a man be robbed of what he wants because of his age?
The Roost (2004)
What are bats? Flying rats who shit on you while flying off. What is “The Roost”? A flying piece of shit. Same difference, don’t you think? Actually, when I finished “The Roost,” I think watching seventy minutes of stock footage with bats would have been much more thrilling than Ti West’s horror indie. I can just imagine the brain storming for this junk with West trying to sell it:
Producer: So, what’s it about?
West: Four people on the road…
Producer: Oh god.
West: Discover an abandoned farm house.
Producer: Oh geez.
West: Will you let me finish?
Producer: Fine.
West: They discover an abandoned farm house, and are attacked by ravenous bats!
Producer: Okay…?
West: And they flutter, and tear your face apart! Gah!
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