A horror writer works on a serial using fan letters about paranormal activity in their lives. After receiving a letter about a haunting that rings a bell, she teams up with the student who sent it and they work to uncover where all the paranormal happenings in the area come from.
Tag Archives: Supernatural
La Rage du Démon (2015) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
At the Musée Grévin in Paris, in January 2012, film scholars and filmmakers were invited to a mystery screening by one of the world’s foremost film collector, Edgar A. Wallace. The film shown turns out to be La Rage du Démon, a late 1800s lost film that creates quite a ruckus every time it’s screened. The last screening in New York City ended in tragedy. The Paris screening does not go much better. This documentary explores both what happened at those screenings as well as the film and its history.
Writer/Director Fabian Delage explores the history of horror cinema, of what lead to the making of the short silent film often times attributed to George Mélies who never claimed it as his own. He builds his documentary on interviews with film scholars, filmmakers, researchers, and even a relative of Mélies’. He explores the films of Mélies and of Victor Sicarius, the other potential director of La Rage du Démon, he also explores their lives and what they brought to cinema. Some of the interviews here are with Dave Alexander, Philippe Rouyer, Alexandre Aja, Christophe Gans, and Pauline Mélies amongst many others.
These interviews are very informative creating an educational documentary all genre fans should see. La Rage du Démon may be the main subject here due to the mystery surrounding it, but the whole history of the horror genre pre Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is exposed and explored. Also touched upon is how such films came to be, their inspirations and how they were made. Footage from the late 1800s/early 1900s adds to the subjects discussed and brings visual interest to something that could have been a very dry subject given all the historical facts and anecdotes involved.
Fanian Delage clearly has an eye for good, fascinating documentary subjects as well as has a touch that makes the documentary entertaining and almost mystifying as he chose a subject here that will probably never be fully clarified. La Rage du Démon is relatively short at a run time of just one hour which is definitely a good choice as any longer could have become tedious and boring. The short run time forces things to be tight and well edited, leaving all extraneous footage on the cutting room floor. La Rage du Démon is a must see for both horror fans and film history buffs alike.
Fantasia International Film Festival ran from July 14th until August 3rd, 2016 and will be back in the summer of 2017.
Shelley (2016) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2016]
In a remote house completely off the grid, Louise and her husband Kasper hire a Romanian maid to help with house chores and take care of their chickens. As the bond between Louise and Elena, the maid, grows, Louise asks her to carry a child for her as she cannot do so herself. After careful considerations, Elena accepts. Unfortunately, this is where the honeymoon phase ends and things take a turn for the odd and creepy.
The film is directed by Ali Abbasi who co-wrote with Maren Luise Kaehne. Together they created believable characters in an interesting setting as they live completely off the grid without any technology but make due with what they have. In this film, it’s a choice by the characters and not imposed in any way. The characters have different backgrounds and speak different languages, leading them to speak English to understand each other which is a nice way to get a European film shot in English for a good part of it. The differences in cultures also add nicely to the depth of the characters.
Unfortunately, these characters are given very little to do that is of interest. Even when Elena’s pregnancy takes a turn for the weird, it’s barely enough to keep the attention which is too bad as it could have been great had it been exploited better, a great take on pregnancy horror, a sub-genre we see very little of (Grace, A l’interieur, Rosemary’s Baby), that fell flat without enough happening or strong enough happenings.
The very small cast keeps the film feeling intimate and minimal with three strong lead performances. In the part of Louise, Ellen Dorrit Petersen brings a calm and quiet, yet strong presence. She handles things beautifully when it would have been so easy to go into overacting in a movie with this subject. Together with actress Cosmina Stratan as Elena, they build a visible friendship and bond and then, when things change, they show the strain between them without saying much. Supporting these two performances is Peter Christoffersen as Louise’s husband Kasper. He does well with the smaller part he is given. His emotions feel rawer, less controlled. The rest of the small cast is also talented and believable in their parts.
Shelley is another film with two cinematographers working in tandem where which scene is whose is indistinguishable. Nadim Carlsen and Sturla Brandth Grovlen do this while bringing serenity to the scenes, particularly the outdoors sequences. The film looks peaceful, even once the creep factor is turned up. Many scenes on the lake could be turned into a tourism add for overworked city folks.
Supporting all of this is the music by Martin Dirkov which is subtle yet effective. Some of the scenes when things are going oddly and supernatural elements may be involved, the music bring home the creepiness while not becoming overbearing or telling viewers what to feel.
While Shelley is an interesting take on the pregnancy horror sub-genre, the film is very slow with very little going on, making it less interesting than it had potential for. The less is more approach usually works for this reviewer, however here it was much too little and lead to an expected ending with very little pay off.
Fantasia International Film Festival ran from July 14th until August 3rd, 2016 and will be back in the summer of 2017.
William Castle Horror Collection (2 DVD)
For William Castle buffs, Mill Creek recently offered you the chance to witness some of his best films in the five movie set on DVD. And they have also released these titles in double bills on Blu-Ray. William Castle movie are already fun and novel horror films with some fine gimmicks, watching them in bunches pairs provides a fun experience altogether. William Castle was a one of a kind director and showman and this is a neat collection for horror fanatics. There’s “13 Ghosts” from 1960 starring Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner, and Rosemary DeCamp respectively.
All Girls Weekend (2016)
“All Girls Weekend” isn’t anything that the cool poster promises. It’s an ensemble, is set in winter, and is not really a slasher movie. Lou Simon’s horror movie is actually a film in the vein of “The Descent” and “The Ruins” where a group of young female hikers going away together for a fun weekend end up getting lost in the middle of the woods. Before long their hike turns in to an endless trip in to insanity where the woods are seemingly sentient, and hell bent on driving them mad. What keeps “All Girls Weekend” lackluster and the aforementioned movies white knuckled horror entries is simple: The characters.
While the all female cast seem to do their damndest to pull in great turns (and many of them look like they can potentially dominate horror down the road), the concept of being lost in the woods and going hungry and thirsty never seems to dawn on them. At all. When another of their friends is stabbed in the leg with a branch and is seemingly so wounded she can barely breathe, the friends do nothing but apathetically mock one another. When she dies, it has no punch dramatically and adds nothing. After leaving her corpse behind one of the characters literally asks aloud “Aren’t we all upset?” to which the other replies, “Of course. God I’m thirsty. Anyone have any water?”
Compare that with the devastating claustrophobia and the delirium of running around in a dark cave in “The Descent” and the difference is apparent. What should have been a mind fuck about falling victim to a sentient natural landscape comes off as a mere nuisance to the characters most times. By the time they realize they’re in deep dung, it’s too little, too late. It’s a shame since I really enjoyed Simon’s previous horror outing “HazMat,” and I love her idea of filling these genre entries with more minority characters of great importance to the narrative. Sadly, “All Girls Weekend” is filled with truly vapid and unlikable protagonists, feels stretched thin, and is under developed.
Available on VOD.
Five Reasons Why You Should Buy “In Memorium”
I am proud to say that ever since Amanda Gusack sent Cinema Crazed her found footage film “In Memorium” back in 2006, we’ve been fans and have tried to spread the word about it to everyone who would listen. Amanda Gusack’s found footage horror film is a brutally eerie and creepy take on the sub-genre. I received an email from Ms. Gusack recently that “In Memorium” can now be rented on Amazon. If you’re a fan of “Paranormal Activity” when it was still a creepy ghost movie with an air of mystery and mystique to it before the sequels bogged it all down, “In Memorium” is right up your alley. It’s a creepy, well directed ghost tale and one I still boast about, and these are five reasons you should give it a shot.
The Laundryman (2015) [New York Asian Film Festival 2016]
A hit man who works for a laundry company as a cover up grows a conscience. He’s highly trained and excels at his job, however, for a while now, he is plagued by ghosts and he must find out what they want from him in order to restore some sort of peace to his life. To do this, he enlists the help of a cute but possible clueless clairvoyant. Through all of it, he finds out more about his victims, his boss, and himself.
The Laundryman is a hybrid horror/comedy/action film by director Chung Lee and written by Yu-Hsyun Chen and Chung Lee. The tale built here fills the complex task of mixing multiple genres without going into parody or satire or become a send-off/homage to its genres. Here the mix of the genres works very well and has the story evolves its elements just work. However, the comedy levels are more present in the first third or so of the film and then occasionally throughout the rest of the film. The comedy works because the viewer is not hit over the head with it.
That being said, some of the scenes are completely ridiculous in the best way possible. The horror, mainly from the ghosts and not much blood outside of a few short scenes works here as well. The ghosts here are not meant to scare but they work so well with the story. The first fight sequence is fantastic, the way its written and shot make it really fun. The rest of the fighting is also entertaining. Getting all of these elements together creates a really fun whole.
The casting here feels rather perfect for the story and the style. Hsiao-chuan (Joseph) Chang is an entertaining lead. He has a charisma that helps carry the whole film. His acting is just about perfect for the material. It may not be the top performance seen at New York Asian Film Festival, but it’s still a damn good one. Supporting him is Regina Wan as the clairvoyant and Sonia Sui as the boss, both opposites until the end. Their performances show excellent talent as they both do extremely well. The cast for the ghosts is fantastic too and they manage to keep a straight face through some truly ridiculous situations.
For a partially horror movie, the effects are not super prominent but what we’re given is well done. The CGI is good and blends well in the scenes where it is present. It’s not overly used which avoids it becoming an annoyance. Outside of the effects, the film looks really good, it grabs the attention from the get go with its colorful representation of Taiwan and the life of a man who, by all accounts, could be living a very grim life. Most of the film, besides the flashbacks, feels all so chipper. In general, the film looks very good.
The Laundryman is a really fun, funny, and entertaining film. It may be hard to find for a while being a festival title, however it’s absolutely worth checking out. The story is good, the acting is on point, the fighting “punchy”, and the ending, all the way after the credits, will make you giggle.