Director Adam Green’s concept for a throwback to slashers has always been a good idea. In theory. Sadly Dark Sky Films has taken a one note concept for a serviceable slasher film and turned it in to a three film series that really didn’t need anymore than one movie. I’m still not in the thought process that the “Hatchet” films are the second coming of the slasher sub-genre, because while they have their audiences, slasher films are still pretty much just a sub-genre reserved for indie filmmakers at the moment. “Hatchet” has been a consistently repetitive and tedious series that really offers nothing new. Even with the casting of Danielle Harris as a replacement for the original lead, “Hatchet” still manages to be loud, redundant, and lacking in any genuine scares.
Tag Archives: Revenge
Crank: High Voltage (2009)
I’m hesitant to bash anything Jason Statham is in, because I truly hope he continues delivering in solid adult action and thriller vehicles, and doesn’t resort to starring as a disgruntled babysitter in a family vehicle alongside some Disney moppet. In either case, while Statham is always a scene stealer, “Crank: High Voltage” is garbage. And not entertaining garbage like the first film, but garbage that should never have existed.
The Retirement of Joe Corduroy (2013)
Director Mike P. Nelson’s “The Retirement of Joe Corduroy” is a fantastic throwback to the revenge films of the seventies, mixing “Death Wish” with a dash of “Taxi Driver” for good measure. I didn’t think Director Nelson could really offer anything new for a plot about a middle aged avenger, but lo and behold I gazed in awe in the final minutes of the film that were immensely trippy in the grand tradition of the seventies.
The Killers (1964)
There aren’t many films in the ilk as Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers.” Though I’ve yet to see the Burt Lancaster original from 1946, “The Killers” is never without its assortment of merits and high points. You want cool? You turn to Clu Galagher. You want power, you turn to Lee Marvin, and lo and behold, “The Killers” teams both actors together to form a B grade thriller that’s stylish and entertaining. The duo Siegel’s film centers on are a searing team of hit men. Clu Galagher is bad ass, and Lee Marvin is just great. I can see why Quentin Tarantino would be inspired by this for his own characters Vinnie Vega and Jules Winfield.
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
John Carpenter is perhaps one of my favorite task masters of the cinematic realm. He’s a man who can change form and tone on a dime, and loves film so much he creates his own tribute to certain genre tropes without relying on them as a crutch. Much as I love Quentin Tarantino, he can force much of his inspiration for his films down audiences throats. Carpenter has always been so much more subtle in his love for the classic films he adored. He never quite had the budget to make westerns nor the studio backing, so he opted to make his own Westerns but in their contemporary settings. Hence, Snake Plissken. John Carpenter is the type of director I’d love to be should I ever lens a film someday. His films garner a style all their own and deliver in action and entertainment.
Alone in the Dark (1982)
Jack Sholder’s 1982 horror film “Alone in the Dark” suffers from undeserved obscurity; it’s a morbid and utterly mind bending little thriller that taps popular films, but still ends up a truly great little horror flick when all is said and done. “Alone in the Dark” is its own breed of the revenge film mixed with a Monster in the House film, ending with a mish mash of genre tropes audiences will appreciate when the dust has settled. Jack Sholder’s horror film has a surefire unique style of its own with some scenes that are just outright surreal.
Rolling Thunder (1977) [Blu-Ray]
It’s pretty funny that Tommy Lee Jones and William Devane who star in “Rolling Thunder” do their best to prevent talking about the elephant in the room for the extras in the “Rolling Thunder” Blu-Ray from Shout! Factory. “Rolling Thunder” is one in a line of post-Vietnam films about the defeat of the war and its effects on its veterans. “Rolling Thunder” is a bleak revenge film about a soldier that went to war for nothing, only to come home to nothing. DeVane gives a compelling performance as Major Charles Rane, a man who was imprisoned in a POW camp for seven years with a few other soldiers. Finally freed, he and the group return home to Texas to receive a grand welcome, but they’re unsure how to respond. They’ve lived like savages for almost a decade, and, as Rane admits, he gained something of a Stockholm effect. Not just for his captors, but for the torture inflicted on him and his men every single day.