I don’t know what exactly was going on with the production in Alexandre Aja’s remake of the 2003 Asian horror film “Geoul sokeuro,” but as it stands, this remake is probably one of the most inadvertently comical horror films of the last five years. The marketing campaign for this film promised one of the most insane genre outings we’ve ever seen, and I knew I was in trouble when I began to chuckle at Kiefer Sutherland screeching at the sight of his deformed doppleganger in his bathroom window. Everything about “Mirrors” has the potential to turn in to a bonafide horror masterpiece, and instead we’re given nothing but fake scares, clunky dialogue, and writing that is just atrocious.
Tag Archives: Supernatural
The Box (2009)
What director Richard Kelly has done is basically taken Richard Matheson’s short story that worked well in the confines of a thirty minute anthology series like “Twilight Zone” and basically stretched it in to nearly two hours. “The Box” by all accounts should have been an instant win, but it’s a short story stretched in to a grueling two hour period. Kelly continues his fall from grace (Southland Tales, I’m looking at you) creatively by helming a miscast and pretty terribly written loose adaptation of Matheson’s original story that features James Marsden and Cameron Diaz as a Virginia married couple facing dead end jobs and unemployment. Conveniently they receive a package one morning housing a box with a red button that presents to them a most tempting offer.
Blessed (2004)
I’ve seen many “Rosemary’s Baby” wannabes since I was a kid, many of them hit the mark, many of them missed the mark, but all aspired to reach the greatness Roman Polanski did in his film about Satanic cults and the woman who becomes prey for their horrific goals at resurrecting satan. “Blessed” seeks to take that concept and run with it and wouldn’t you know it? It misses the mark. It misses it by thousands of miles. “Blessed” is such a confused and unfocused piece of tripe that I feel nothing but sadness for the likes of Heather Graham and James Purefoy who just shamble around looking for a direction and can never seem to find any.
The House of the Devil (2009)
This movie is a big step up for director Ti West whose debut film was like an immature fan boy’s homage to everything schlocky, while his sophomore film was nothing more than a terrible sequel to a rather terrible film. West matures considerably with what is basically a slow boil homage to the seventies that is obviously inspired by the classic “Rosemary’s Baby.” Everything from the marketing campaign to the posters works under the pretense that this is a time capsule of the seventies, an unexplored gem from that decade that many haven’t quite explored yet.
Triangle (2009)
My experience with Christopher Smith has been mixed over the years. I thought “Creep” was a good concept but pretty painful to sit through while “Severance” was an underrated horror comedy that suffered from comparisons to “Shaun of the Dead.” Surely though, Smith is a man whose genre outputs have been quite varied and he seems to be coming in to his own by directing films that benefit the horror genre rather than exploit it. Take “Triangle” a movie that by all accounts should have been given a theatrical release in the states. Sadly it’s basically just a direct-to-DVD release that will get lost in the shuffle. Which is a shame because while “Triangle” is a pretty atmospheric horror film, it’s so much more than that.
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
At this moment and time I’m still not sure what I thought of “Jennifer’s Body.” I mean it has its high points but in the end I was left completely unimpressed and just all around apathetic to what I’d seen. For one thing I enjoyed “Jennifer’s Body” more when it was called “Ginger Snaps.” Director Kusama’s story of two sister-like friends (who find themselves in a supernatural situation that’s bigger than themselves one of whom is a freak while the other friend is a looker) has already been covered and with much more effective storytelling to boot. That being said, “Jennifer’s Body” is definitely not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, it’s just not going to re-invent the wheel.
Boogeyman 2 (2007)
If you recall, the original “Boogeyman” was a steaming pile that seemed to put up so much effort for an end product that would ultimately mean nothing, and this is because of the phenomenally bad writing that took the interesting concept and went nowhere fast. What “Boogeyman 2” does is take the typical route and makes all the obvious moves: It becomes a slasher movie, one that basically follows in continuity with the first without reminding us too much how much it stunk. Call me an apologist, proclaim my taste as being awful, but “Boogeyman 2” isn’t so bad. Sure it’s far from perfect but what it lacks in originality and scares it makes up for in creativity and hitting most of the right chords as a slasher film… and yes some of the performances manage to be pretty decent in the meanwhile.