Director Samuel B. Ruseell’s short dramedy about trying to fight the rising tide of nature is fantastic. Not just because it plays up its low budget with a purposely low tech aesthetic involving miniature props, and blatant green screen but because of its message.
Director Lowell Dean’s indie horror actioner “Wolfcop” is probably one of my favorite superhero movies of the year. While it’s a loving tribute to horror schlock, it’s also an unabashed superhero movie filled with mythos, a bonafide origin, and even a customized vehicle that our titular wolf cop travels around to maul bad guys in. You’d think wolf puns and a Dirty Harry-esque vigilante with claws would be a complete and utter misfire, but director Dean embraces his premise and offers up a great horror action comedy.
Director Sonny Laguna, and Tommy Wiklund’s “Wither” is about as close as you’re going to get to a foreign remake of “Evil Dead.” The one aspect that redeems the film is that “Wither” has such admirable technical prowess, excellent direction, and top notch acting behind it, you forgive it being an obvious ode to Sam Raimi’s original cabin in the woods horror film. “Wither” has that indie gloss, while also being a very well orchestrated horror splatter film about demons, and one man’s sheer demented quest to survive through the night.
Director BC Furtney’s “Werewolf Rising” might be a decent werewolf horror film if it took its eighty minute run time and trimmed it down to forty five minutes. The rest of the thirty five minutes are nothing but padding, filler, and bad exposition that are meant to compensate for the obvious lack of narrative present. There is so much obvious padding that it actually becomes an endurance test, because while I was irritated at the script treading water, there is still so much here that could have become a great werewolf picture. Unlike most indie werewolf films, there is actually a good portion of werewolf action, with rampaging monsters, and transformations, and a chase through the woods, I just wish we’d seen more of that, and less people getting drunk in bars.
John Leach’s “Witch’s Night Out” is a cute, if crudely drawn, Halloween classic that was long thought obscure for a while. Mill Creek releases the odd animated movie on DVD and suffice it to say in spite of its simplistic style, it’s a fun Halloween adventure. Brother and sister Small and Tender spend their night trick or treating, and find that their Halloween has all but stunk. Angered and disillusioned, they ready for bed with their babysitter Bazooey doting over them. Just then the powerful Witch (as played by Gilda Radner) hears their wishes to be actual ghosts and werewolves for Halloween. She interrupts their wishes, and decides to grant them their hearts desire to become Halloween monsters. Despite Bazooey’s protests, the witch appeals to his child hood dreams, and turns him in to a Frankenstein monster.
I understand why Roald Dahl hates “Willy Wonka.” Surely, it’s nothing like his original novel, and I get why fans would hate that it strays so immensely from the source material (i.e. World War Z) but that doesn’t mean “Willy Wonka” isn’t a good movie. In fact, it’s pretty damn excellent, and manages to evoke a sense of whimsy and menace that’s invigorating and refreshing for a kid’s film. Everything Tim Burton tried so hard to do, director Mel Stuart and Gene Wilder pull off without even trying very hard. With a single gleam of his eye, Wilder pulls off more hints at a devious personality than all Johnny Depp’s white make up, and bad wigs combined.
You have to appreciate the kind of world that “Wreck It Ralph” creates, paying homage to the vintage video games of the gamer culture, and building on that to introduce some very entertaining characters, with some complex issues about self worth, and what defines them. Though very derivative, “Wreck It Ralph” is a fun movie, especially for an ex-gamer like myself, and the director and writers really keep their target audience in view, while also giving some nods to the folks that grew up with the classics, offering endless Easter Eggs that help flesh out this rather unique tale of a bad guy seeking to show that he’s much more than a destructive force.