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Matt-294
Reviews
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
At least my toaster can shock.
Reading through the comments here confirms my opinion that all things are not equal. Some people hated this movie with their entire body, some people loved it & called it the best ever. Further just to add to the madness, one or two even said it was ok, but that's all. I can't take it. > Oh, so gosh, what did I think...rehash, formulaic, stereotype saturated, a strangely disturbing film but not for any of the reasons the makers would have you believe. Disturbing for the way films like this try to tell us what high school America is like: an increasingly shallow, sinister and dangerous place. Now I ain't never been to the USA, and I suspect that what's being rammed down my throat here is utter bilge, but what are these film-makers trying to do to you? I left the theatre a little worried...
Oh the film, jeez the script could have been written by a computer, I wondered maybe if some of the cast were robots, and the plot? Plot? The plot was about as predictable as a toaster. Oh so mildly Goth Rachel & her friend just don't fit in with the hip & cool crowd of sluty cheerleaders & the football jocks who bang them & keep score in a book. And that would be fine if only they'd leave 'em be. The friend kills herself after learning she lost her virginity for 4 points. One of the jocks (smooth looking nice guy dog saving Jack London) becomes disillusioned with his crude buddies, yearns for something more ya know? I mean maybe there's a girl who's nice or something that I can bang instead? Takes Rachel's dog to the vet after it gets hit by a truck. Real love occurs. Cheerleaders & jocks are not pleased, become confused about life, meaning of attraction, & sexuality. Decide to humiliate Rachel ala Carrie, what happens? She unleashes her telekinetic fury and kills them all in fiery rage. (No! Really?). Nice guy boyfriend arrives too late, and professes love for psychic queen, (Script writers: "What shall we do?" "I know let's let them be cool & live happy in the sun." "Nah, freaks shouldn't live, that's how it is.") but she dies in the fire.
Wait, did anybody see that? A goth gets persecuted by jocks & cool people, and then kills them all. What is wrong with this film?
Damn why can't Hollywood 'horror' come up with anything, anything at all, that's original and even slightly atmospheric? Hello? ATMOSPHERE. Carrie 2 had as much atmosphere as the Moon. Oh wait what am I complaining about, we've got modern classics like 'Lake Placid' and 'I know what you did last summer again'.
This is a low. I can't take it. Single moment of good bad taste humour: Friend lies dead after jumping of building & smashing into parked car, geeky-video camera carrying dudes rushes to scene: "Whoa! ...whose car is this?" That was all folks, the rest is the comfortably familiar crud we've been conditioned to expect and swallow.
Hurlyburly (1998)
Curly
I just saw Hurlyburly, I can't understand why some of the reviewers here hated it so much. The acting is great, (though Paquin looked a little out of her depth at times). Penn and Spacey are giants. Maybe just a little too long though.
Redneck Zombies (1989)
Zombie triumph
When a film begins with a mental patient in a hospital putting out a cigarette on an already very scarred forearm (his own), you know you've got a twisted film on your hands. This is certainly a gore splatter, but the nastiness and quality of the gore push it beyond another sad blood fest. Loaded with humour and revolting stuff. There's a very weird acid freak out scene when the first rednecks become zombies, and later a guy on acid freaks out while performing an autopsy. The tobacco man is hilarious (a tobacco salesman who has to cover his head with a blood strained sack as his face is so hideous from years of chewing tabacco). There's also some great imagery, and at times even threatens to create some atmosphere! Miles ahead of anything else the Troma team has come up with.
On a strange note, I've rented this film twice, at two different flats, & watched it with two different flatmates. They both fell asleep half way through. Inexplicable.
Brazil (1985)
Genius
I've seen Brazil three or four times, it's easily in my top three favourite films. It's a thrill and a pleasure to watch every time. I agree, it's very Kafka-esque. A bureaucratic nightmare getting closer and closer to western society today. (Our hero's superior's hand starts shaking uncontrollably every time he has to sign something). A beautiful classic. It must be seen.
Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
C'mon, you loved it.
Manos was playing at the 'strange film festival' here just last week, (the pure, 'no bots' version). After reading the comments here I seriously considered giving it a miss as I felt concerned I may do myself some kind of psychological damage. But I'm glad my curiosity overcame this wimpyness. Manos was so bad that it remained entertaining throughout.
What I want to know is: why? What on Earth was the vision the director had here? Also what is Torgo? The best scene is where we first see him standing on the porch of the house, he just jiggles about in his funny way with his groovy walking stick for what seems like ages. We never find out what the god Manos is all about, what the Master's reason for being is, what happens to poor Torgo after the master sentences him to death by gentle slapping but he escapes into the night less one flaming hand, and what is the purpose of the recurring scene with the kissing couple in the car being harassed by the cops?
Hilarious. Hopefully these questions and more will be answered in the David Lynch sequel.