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Reviews
Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
Loch Mess
What's the point? Hasn't this been done before, better? And again? Why is Werner Herzog wasting his good talents and time with junk like this? Shouldn't he be shooting a movie somewhere--I mean a real movie?
It all felt fake from the beginning. Werner Herzog would never have sought to make a film about the Loch Ness myth--at least not on such a small scale surrounded by losers--so the plot was not believable from the beginning. The actors who are supposed to act like they're not acting were obviously acting. The story was not interesting, the "everyday people" requisite in every mockumentary were invisible, the personalities were stale, the jokes were not funny, the effects were unconvincing and the ending was nowhere to be seen.
I just don't see the point. It's a fake movie about a fake movie. Hah, hah. Perhaps if those who thought up such a movie sought to make one that mocked people who really were out to find a real Nessie, now that could have had some potential. But Herzog is not a believer and never claimed to be. A mockumentary about the cryptozoologist crowd would have had so much more fuel.
It was a miss.
Forever Young, Forever Free (1975)
First Movie I appreciated
I saw this movie as a 13-year-old boy as E' Lollipop. At that time I was wrapped up in Star Wars and other entertainment films. I went to see this film and it was the first time I cried in a movie--I was practically balling, secretly of course so I wouldn't be made fun of. I couldn't help it. This was the first time I actually had an appreciation for filmaking and seeing the deeper meaning a director has worked for. Forever Young has had a profound influence on me and the simple story of two boys sacrificing all for each other in a deep, nonsexual, relationship caused me to re-examine my boyhood friendships in a new light. It is not simple entertainment and carries a very serious message at many levels. Show it with care--it's not a movie to be seen by children by themselves or without any comment afterward; if they are paying attention at all, they will be affected by this powerful story.
The Haunting (1963)
A movie made to feed nightmares.
As a child of about seven or eight, I remember sitting on the floor of my living room alone one Saturday afternoon watching a scary movie. I already had a deep fear of ghosts, planted in me by my four older brothers and sisters. I sat in rapt and horrified attention. I remember that when at last a commercial came on (in those days you could actually watch TV without a commercial breaking in every ten minutes), I ran down the street to where one of my brothers was playing with his friends. "There's the scariest movie ever on TV right now--you have to come see it!" They knew I was a TV freak, however, and I guessed correctly that my words wouldn't carry much weight with them. I begged them to come and see it, for I didn't want to watch any more of it alone. But I seemed drawn back to it despite their dismissal. I ran back to join the show and sat through it alone till the end. Afterward, I knew it wasn't a movie for children to see and I felt guilty for watching it all.
That movie has haunted my dreams ever since. I never knew what the title of the movie was, or if I had just blown it out of proportion, and often wondered what it was I saw--some cheap "B" movie scary enough only for a child? But no, I thought, the scene of the pounding on the door, and the girl saying something was holding her hand, and the statues changing positions were truly terrifying.
It wasn't until I read recently of the re-make in production that I finally knew I had found the film again. I knew instantly that this was the movie that was responsible for so much terror for me. Even now I hesitate to watch it because of the memories it raises. It is truly my most frightening movie experience ever.