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Keyser Soze-17
Reviews
Darkness (2002)
So close, but not quite there.
I had never heard of Jaume Balagueró, but when I heard of yet another ghost movie, this time starring the always great Anna Paquin, I gave Darkness a chance, and even as I write this now, I'm not sure if I should recommend it or not. This film has some of the best cinematography I've ever seen in a haunted house movie, period. The pace was good, the acting, better. Of course the story is cliched and brings absolutely nothing new to the table, but what else can be done with such a tired idea? I don't know why people are comparing it to The Others, as though The Others was the only good haunted house movie to feature the same plot formulas. I don't see much of a connection there, but I do see a lot of The Shining and The Amityville Horror in Darkness, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is bad however is how tense the actors seem in one scene, and suddenly go distractingly calm in the next, as though they've forgotten their lines. Either they seem to have only put their hearts into certain scenes, or we got a few editing problems here. Another horrible distraction is the use of the "jump scene noise" every time something happens. I don't know about you, but having a character stand alone in the dark with rain heard pounding on the windows and the camera moves back to reveal an ominous shadow walk by does NOT need a "CLANG!" sound, I think scenes like that would be more effective if it was silent, as was the case in a few moments, like the swings in the rain, as well as the missing...thing in the picture. And without going into specifics, another thing I didn't like is the seemingly rushed ending, which leaves you wondering what the hell just happened. OK in the Amityville Horror and The Shining, you pretty much understand why the feces has totally hit the fan in the final moments, but in this one, everything seemed so organized when described by another character beforehand, and then when the events unfold, everything seems so off the wall, you have to wonder if what happens just before the credits roll was the design all along, or if the director just wanted one last chance to surprise the audience. Even though I didn't feel cheated, I'd still like an explanation or a longer version. Most people will no doubt be bored by this movie, but that wasn't the case with me. While it's far from being a truly great horror film, there's no big reason to condemn it.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
An unpleasant ride
Possible spoilers Lie Within...
OK first thing's first, this is a bad movie, but had the potential to be great. To say this is a blueprint for The Blair Witch Project is a joke. Blair Witch's filmmakers were innocent people exploring a legend and it was just about them and their psychological rollercoaster ride through the woods. Cannibal Holocaust's filmmakers are as savage as the cannibal's they're out to exploit and get what they deserve, and the movie makes a half assed attempt to exploit THEM as figures of how corrupt our society is. And most important, there is nothing psychological going on in this film, it was said best by another reviewer, all that's going on here is just the film pushing the violence as far as it can go in 90 minutes. It also disturbs me to read that the animal deaths in this movie were real. It wasn't so much watching the deaths themselves that troubled me, but that there's so much of it, and for what, a stupid movie? I was also impressed by how realistic they made the human death scenes seem, and even the cheesy stock footage music added to the horror, giving it a "Faces of Death" feel to it. I recommend this movie to no one, since you'll probably have to go out of your way to find it, and it's really not worth it. It is definately entertaining in its own morbid way, and the violence doesn't disappoint at all. I'm just waiting for a film to come along to combine the violence of Cannibal Holocaust and the psychological terror of The Blair Witch Project. Now THAT would be something.
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Disappointment (Spoilers)
I was so hyped for this one, after liking the book a lot. The first half is very faithful to the book, and everything goes perfect. Once you hit the second half though, you have to wonder how they dropped the ball so bad. It turns into nothing more than a cheap looking cgi-fest. The aliens look retarded, the worms looked even worse, even the helicopters looked extremely fake. Another bad thing was that there was too much material to cover from the novel to actually spend more time with the characters. Freeman and Sizemore are completely wasted, and arent even given a good final scene together. Jason Lee seems to be sleepwalking through his role. Thomas Jane is good as usual, and Timothy Olyphant does a great job with what little he has to work with, but the only real good acting job was Damian Lewis, but even his goofy performance wasn't enough. And what was with the death scenes? OK Beav's death was pretty much the way it happened in the novel, fine. But Pete's death? COME ON. They could have spent a lot less money on cgi and had a more disturbing death just by using what was there in the novel.
Where was all the fun stuff with Mr. Gray enjoying being human? Where was the civilian uprising destroying the camp? Why in gods name did they make Duddits an ALIEN?!
Overall, huge disappointment, but entertaining I guess.
The Haunted (1991)
excellent tv movie
The Haunted is probably the only tv movie that wasn't terrible. In fact, it's one of my favourite movies, period. The plot is simple (and TRUE). The Smurl family movies into a duplex on chase street, and strange things start happening (a hammer disappears, dripping water, whispering etc.), and the family disregards it as nothing. And it is nothing compared to what happens later on. The main focus of the haunting activity is Janet (played by Sally Kirkland), who is looked at funny after she voices her theory that there may be ghosts in the house. Once they learn (from demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren) that 3 spirits and a demon infest their house, that's when the real terror begins, and at the risk of revealing too much, I'll stop there. I first saw this movie when it came out in 1991, and it scared the hell out of me (I was only 10 at the time), but for years I was waiting for it to come back on tv. when it finally did, I still loved it. This is a movie I wish they'd air on tv more often, and I still can't wait till it comes on again. Don't be expecting a big budget House on Haunted Hill or The Haunting remake with this one though, it moves more along the lines of The Changeling, The Blair Witch Project, and the original The Haunting. By that i mean, you rarely 'see' the visitors, but just mostly the things they do. This is an effective horror method that's hardly used, but believe me, it works. Unless you're into garbage like Urban Legend, you should find The Haunted an excellent movie, with good acting, and great scares.