http://www.variedcelluloid.net Varied Celluloid is dedicated to bringing you the very best in genre cinema, Asian film and cult movies! No genre is off limits! Wed, 22 May 2013 18:15:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/suitable-children/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/suitable-children/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 18:15:49 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12599

	Not Suitable for Children (2012)

Director:	Peter Templeman
Writers:	Michael Lucas and Peter Templeman
Starring:	Ryan Kwanten, Sarah Snook, Ryan Corr, and Bojana Novakovic

The Plot: Jonah (Ryan Kwanten) is an average 20-something. He parties with his friends every weekend, has a complicated relationship with his on/off girlfriend, and is very sexually active. His life is turned upside down, however, when in the process of having a one-night-stand with a random girl at one of his parties, she notices he has a lump on his testicles. Very quickly, Jonah discovers that the lump is a tumor and he does indeed have testicular cancer. The doctors want to immediately schedule surgery to remove one of his testes, but when they take a sample of his sperm, it indicates that his ejaculate will not endure the freezing process needed to sustain his DNA. So, Jonah, who has never thought much about having kids, finds himself in a rush to spread his seed. Jonah has only one month to find a woman who will have a child with him, and with his reputation, that is going to prove to be quite difficult.

	The Review

Although I haven’t kept up with it regularly over the years, I was a pretty big fan of the first two seasons of True Blood. What I generally liked about the show was that it delivered familiar genre archetypes in a different enough way that it continually felt fresh. While the show did frequently delve into some rather embarrassing melodrama, overall the show was so entertaining that it became a part of my regular routine over the first two years of its running. Compiling a crafty story along with some truly compelling performances, True Blood certainly earned the reputation that it has. Throughout the years, True Blood has introduced a laundry list of new talent to the world, and many of them are now pressing forward into even bigger ventures. Among these talents is Ryan Kwanten, the hunk of those first few seasons. Carrying a six-pack of abs and boy-next-door-good-looks, the guy was guaranteed to capture some attention. Despite his charming Southern accent on the show, it turns out he is actually a young Australian actor. Not Suitable for Children finds the actor donning his natural accent and taking on a role that lends itself to any twenty-something who spends their nights wondering whether or not they’re wasting their youth. The film acts as a vehicle for both Kwanten and his female castmate Sarah Snook, as these two actors put in performances that should turn the head of any person who gives this quaint drama-comedy a chance.

The first ten minutes of Not Suitable for Children sets an incredibly strong tone for the remainder of the film. With very quick secession, we see a man have his entire life turned upside down. The audience lives vicariously through the Jonah character (again, played by Ryan Kwanten), and it gives us an idea of how completely earth shattering it must be to hear such devastating news. In one scene, Jonah is shown as a bumbling party animal that takes joy in the simple pleasures of life, but in the very next he’s forced to realize how much of his life has been wasted. We see a grown man forced to deal with a level of maturity that he is wholly unprepared for. While sitting in the doctor’s office, the blank facial expression on Jonah as he tries to absorb this situation is in direct opposition to the matter-of-fact immediacy that his doctor displays. The physician treats this revelation as if it is a bandaid that needs only to be quickly pulled off, but Jonah’s face reveals only shock. With the clinical and detached approach of modern medicine, the doctor drops this bombshell on both Jonah as well as the audience. This quick jumble of scenes, which comprises the first ten minutes of the film, shows Jonah floating through this situation with a slack-jawed look of surprise and horror. The audience is forced into a situation that is very similar. The film introduces itself with humor and a party atmosphere, but quickly devolves into quick drama. We are as unprepared for this situation as Jonah is. While this may come across as discombobulating, there is no doubt that the effect was absolutely intentional.

For any of its negatives, Not Suitable For Children captures the paranoia and fear that many twenty-somethings go through. As many of us pass into our thirties, there’s a fear of being the last of our kind. For those of us who did not have children right out of highschool and have continued to play the singles game for more than a little while, there is an understandable fear that lays dormant in our minds. There are many who are content with not having children or simply placing it on the backburner for as long as possible, but for some of us, there’s a feeling of inadequacy within our lives. With every wedding or baby shower that passes, there’s a nagging question, “Have we done enough?” While we try to present ourselves as more than predatory mammals, there’s still something inside many of us that drives us towards the need to procreate. The need to see our genetics prolong is something very innate within the human condition, and what Not Suitable For Children does is amplify these urges by ten. By placing a deadline on the last chance to ever procreate, the urges seem as if they completely consume Jonah. While it seems as if he is being rushed into this situation for all of the wrong reasons, this hard-partying guy is quickly shown to be human and put in a situation that many of us can empathize with. While the beats of the story may at first seem to be rather elementary, there is a potent amount of drama to be found in this tight knit story.

When it comes to picking out negatives, and all films do have them, it probably has to do with the formulaic twists within the plot. There are a few very fairly predictable turns within the story, but hammering on this only seems like nitpicking to me. The movie has its fair share of recognizable elements, but these moments do also take the movie in directions that are very unexpected. For every predictable moment, there comes a slight kink in the chain that creates a unique perspective within the story. Without being too overtly saccharine, the movie works because of how incredibly touching it becomes. If one were expecting a pure comedy from this film, then chances are they might not pick up on what the film is trying to say, but when approached with an open mind, Not Suitable for Children is surprisingly heart warming. Moreso than the majority of audience members are likely to expect. While it has the appearance of being a silly comedy that might be as shallow as Jonah is initially shown to be, there is a very real and very tangible element within the film that makes it something much more than just a goof.

	The Conclusion

With very strong performances from the main cast, as well as a tinge of varied humor that runs throughout the film, Not Suitable for Children is a very strong offering. Not all viewers will react the same way, but if the audience is receptive, they’re bound to find something to relate to within the film. Not Suitable for Children receives a four out of five.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/suitable-children/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/bohachi-bushido/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/bohachi-bushido/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 03:31:54 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12464

	Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight (1973)

Director:	Teruo Ishii
Writers:	San Kaji (screenplay), Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima (manga)
Starring:	Tetsuro Tanba, Yuriko Hishimi, Goro Ibuki, and Kyoichi Sato.

The Plot: Bohachi Bushido tells a heartwarming story about forced prostitution, extreme violence, and cult activities. It begins in the Edo period where we find The Bohachi, a group that lives by a very distasteful code. They regularly track down women and then molest them until they no longer have regular desires or emotions. The group uses these brainwashed women for both financial and political gain, and when they save the wandering assassin Shino (Tetsuro Tanba), they assume that they now have the muscle needed in order to bring their group to a higher level. However, Shino is a man who takes orders from no one. When this group presses him to join their ranks, they quickly develop an enemy that they are unprepared for.

	The Review

I had actually heard of Bohachi Bushido years ago, back when I first began to dig into the catalog of filmmaker Teruo Ishii. This notorious director helmed his fair share of sleazy/dark material, but in recent years Bohachi Bushido has developed a reputation that far exceeds some of his other work. Recently, the movie has picked up a very vocal, albeit still incredibly niche, group of fans that continually heap heavy adoration upon it. So, for certain, I found myself a bit late to the party when it comes to this particular film. Expectations were high, as Ishii is well known for his contributions to the world of ero guro (erotic grotesque, a style within Japanese manga/film focusing on a blend between eroticism and things that are unnatural/malformed), but Bohachi Bushido is actually a fairly typical vehicle for this filmmaker. While not reflective of his more grotesque work, it certainly does resemble his work on Female Yakuza Tale, which was coincidentally released in the same year as Bohachi Bushido. So, for those in the audience who are expecting wall-to-wall nudity and some very “out there” content, this will certainly be the film for you. However, as an exploitation movie from this era, it might not have the teeth that some audience members could be hoping for.

Opening in an extreme fashion, the movie immediately sets itself up as a case of pure style over substance. While that may seem like a negative attribute, such films often have their own merit. Ishii has worked great as a stylist before, and he plays that hand phenomenally well here. Being based upon a manga, the visually-focused narrative should come as no surprise. During the seventies, it seems as if a filmmaker had one of two options when it came to bringing a manga to life. They could have went for a more mature and muted tone, or they could have concentrated heavily on bringing to life the animated feel of whatever comic was in question. There’s no doubt that Bohachi Bushido is certainly one of the more stylish efforts out there, and because of this it falls more into the latter category. Ishii is of course well known for his visual excesses. One look at Blind Woman’s Curse will tell a viewer a great deal about this unusual and talented filmmaker. As is expected, in Bohachi Bushido Ishii fills the screen with vibrant colors and impeccable trick photography.

While the movie is stunning to look at, for some viewers these visual characteristics may not prove to be the first thing they gravitate to. There is no question about it, Bohachi Bushido begins its runtime by being mercilessly misogynistic, and it rarely relents from this ideology. As we meet the Bohachi, we see that they are completely over-the-top in their longing to subjugate all females. Kidnapping women, torturing them, then raping them until they are effectively brainwashed, these Bohachi men are more than just a little nasty. What is more peculiar is how Ishii paints these morally-retarded men in a way that almost seems to be understanding with a tiny bit of awe. Despite their immoral and awful ways, these men are also wholly dedicated to their “craft.” They have intricate philosophies and symbolism behind all of their actions. Even the kanji of their motto has a deep four-part message behind it. While it might be argued that the Bohachi only use women in order to appease their political goals, it does not do anything to quell the “misogynist” taunts that this movie might receive. However, there is still a story to be told here, and Ishii brings it to the forefront as best he can.

Bohachi Bushido may have a deeper meaning than I am aware, but for the most part it is unmitigated sleaze and excess. Although the gore is a bit toned down in comparison to the Lone Wolf & Cub series (which was also based upon a manga written by Kazuo Koike), it still manages to feature a handful of violent deaths that are sure to capture the attention of audiences. The excesses do not stop there, the sex appeal within this period piece is what is most likely to turn heads. Filled to the brim with sex and nudity, Bohachi Bushido certainly rivals the previously mentioned Female Yakuza Tale. During one of the most visually compelling shots in the movie, and one that I wish I could have posted a screencap of (it would be totally against the terms of service of my webhost), Ishii lines a shot with nude women on both the left and right hand sides of the screen. This scene takes place in a room full of mirrors, so the two vertical lines seem to go on in an endless series of naked females. In shots like this, women do seem heavily objectified, but I suppose that is entirely the point for this Bohachi cult.

	The Conclusion

There are some tremendous visual flourishes within Bohachi Bushido, and there’s no questioning the “out there” nature of this movie, but overall it has its dead spots. After a while, the movie starts to feel a lot like an ordinary yakuza tale – but with more nudity and rape. This is the greatest weakness of the movie. Yet, if you are looking for an above average title that tries its best to be naughty, then this is probably the movie for you. I give it a solid three out of five.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/bohachi-bushido/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/four-the/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/four-the/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 19:10:52 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12564

	The Four (2012)

Director:	Gordon Chan and Janet Chun
Writers:	Gordon Chan, Maria Wong, and Frankie Tam
Starring:	Deng Chao, Liu Yifei, Collin Chou, Anthony Wong

The Plot: The Four is a period tale that focuses on a town that is being threatened by counterfeit money. There are two units that are initially tasked with finding the culprits behind this illegal operation. The two groups, The Divine Constabulary and Department Six, are completely different from one another in every way. Department Six is a very covert unit that works within the shadows and they are much more in tune with the general bureaucracy found in government. The Divine Constabulary, however, is much more ethical in general. This group is very special, and not just because they have a nice sense of social ethics, but all members seem to have mastered their martial art to such a degree that they now harness supernatural powers. Reading minds and shooting projectiles are simply everyday activities within the Divine Constabulary clubhouse. Lengxue (Deng Chao) is a member of Department Six, but he is asked by their leader to go undercover within the Divine Constabulary. After a very public firing, Lengxue is eventually welcomed into The Divine Constabulary, and he befriends all who are involved. As you have maybe guessed, he will have a very difficult decision to make in the near future (which side will he choose!?), but along the way he must help take down this counterfeiting operation and bring justice to those who would fight against it.

	The Review

There have been some changes within Chinese cinema over the past few years. Changes that have, unfortunately, left many oldschool Hong Kong movie fans feeling rather cold. Although there are still some fun titles popping, the mainland has certainly produced a noticeable change in what used to be the dominant Hong Kong style. The HK film industry of the nineties is now so far away from the contemporary world of Chinese cinema, that the two markets can no longer truly be compared. The Chinese market is all about high budgeted spectacles that more-often-than-not produce a great deal of patriotism and cinematic chest beating. In comparison to the Hong Kong style, which was without budget but always free wheeling and blunt, this new style can be seen as a bit… well, boring. Hong Kong movie fans of the past usually became diehards due to their love for the strange sensibilities that this burgeoning marketplace produced. Indeed, with 90 minute movies nearly going the way of the dodo within contemporary Chinese cinema, recent films from this area have had trouble connecting with cult film audiences. Yet, due to their higher budgetary standards, these films have been pushing their way into the mainstream. Well Go USA!, who are responsible for many of these new Western releases, are carried regularly in Walmart stores across the United States. While these movies are, hopefully, making a profit here in the west, can Hong Kong film fans be swayed back to the motherland? With releases like Tai Chi Zero, Tai Chi Hero, and arguably even Wu Dang, there has been a decent amount of hope found in the scene. Sure, the movies are still long, and the budgets make them seem very Hollywood, but these films show that genre cinema is not dead within China. While The Four can be a bit of a mixed bag, it too shows some promise for fans of the Hong Kong film market.

The Four has regularly been accused of unrepentantly borrowing from Hollywood cinema. Indeed, there is a certain connection that the movie has with Marvel Comics’ X-Men, but it’s a tenuous link at best. The Marvel universe isn’t the only area where superheroes can be found, and in this movie there’s no discussions of genetic mutations being the explanation for the special powers held by the main cast. Yet, despite this, any lack of originality that the film has isn’t ultimately its greatest threat. Doing the whole “supernatural powers via kung fu” thing isn’t a bad idea at all, to be honest. When it is presented in as broad a fashion as it is here, it showcases something that is rarely seen in Chinese film. No, the biggest detriment to The Four is something much more common to the marketplace. It’s the convoluted plot and the very relaxed pacing of the film. If this were an exact duplicate of the Hollywood superhero genre, then one would hope that the filmmakers would try to borrow from their action-ever-ten-minutes aesthetic. In a Marvel movie, if the film warrants a two hour running time, then chances are it is going to be a global affair that warrants the long running time. Yet, the Four doesn’t precisely live up to similar expectations. Instead, we’ve got a very localized story that is padded with extraneous material that doesn’t add much to the overall feel of the movie. This could have been shave by thirty minutes, with several plot strands simplified, and it would have been an action spectacle.

Despite issues with both the plot and the pace, The Four is nothing if not stylish. The overall glamor and visual brilliance of the project is almost worth the price of admission alone. There are some very serious negatives that can be leveled at the film, but it’s hard to not take its stylish approach to action cinema fairly serious. From that opening shot, that has the appearance of a massive one-take crane sequence (helped by some decent CGI, of course), to the various charming visual cues that are thrown in throughout the movie, the movie comes across as a very slick piece of cinematic entertainment. A favorite sequence of mine is a quick shot that has the camera placed under a glass cage while we watch a character step through various puddles of water on the opposite side of this glass wall. The camera pans with him as he walks along, with more water pouring down, and it’s clear that this little sequence adds very little to any complexities within the film – but instead it’s simply meant to be cool. In that context, it sure does work. Such shots are not anything that can be considered as new, but within this action genre, that is lifted by a multitude of special effects, it creates a stylish world that manages to inject a slight dose of originality into this project.

While I dare not attempt to try and present myself as an expert on the films of Gordon Chan, I can say that he is a rather complex figure in the world of Chinese cinema. Directing genre greats like Fist of Legend (probably my favorite kung fu film of the 90s) and Beast Cops, he cemented his name in film history long ago. However, he is a filmmaker who has managed to stay pretty busy throughout the years. So, while consistently adding to his filmography on a yearly basis, there’s bound to be a few stinkers in there as well. While I would not say that The Four is a lesser work from him, it of course does not manage to catch up with the best work within his library. Instead, it shows Chan adapting to the new world of Chinese cinema. It is another step for him into this Eastern Hollywood market, and for what it is, it’s one of the more entertaining ventures that I have recently seen coming from this region.

	The Conclusion

Destined for a sequel, The Four has enough going for it to warrant a recommendation. However, there’s no doubting that it could have done well to shave thirty minutes off of its runtime. As it is, this is surely the most interesting cloak-and-dagger-martial-arts-superhero-period film that you will see this year! It gets a three out of five.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/four-the/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/deadball/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/deadball/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:23:50 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12539

	Deadball (2011)

Director:	Yudai Yamaguchi
Writers:	Keita Tokaji
Starring:	Tak Sakaguchi, Mari Hoshino, Miho Ninagawa, and Ryosei Tayama

The Plot: Deadball focuses on a young man named Jubeh (played by Tak Sakaguchi) who has a very traumatic experience as a child. While playing catch with his father, young Jubeh throws his hardest pitch (in which he floats hundreds of feet into the air in order to build maximum momentum) and explodes his father into a bloody mess. Jubeh and his little brother Musashi try to move on, but both find it difficult to leave violence outside of their lives. Musashi becomes a delinquent, while Jubeh goes on a kill-crazy rampage that leaves 50 dead. When Jubeh is picked up by the authorities, he is sent to Pterodactyl Juvenile Reformatory in order to wait for his trial date. This juvenile detention center happens to be run by a collection of Nazis who specialize in putting together sadistic baseball games. The Nazi warden quickly attempts to lull Jubeh onto their baseball team. It takes some real convincing, but when Jubeh does eventually sign up, the type of baseball that this team will have to play is a bit outside of the MLB rule set.

	The Review

Before there was the current age of Sushi Typhoon titles and the random splatter films that were inspired by The Machine Girl, there was Battlefield Baseball. Starring Tak Sakaguchi, who at this point was still floating off of the hype he had from Ryuhei Kitamura’s Versus, the film became a bit of a cult item. Showcasing a splatterific version of baseball that delivered on as many crazy ideas as could possibly be shoved into a ninety minute movie, Battlefield Baseball had its moment in the spotlight but was eventually forgotten by the many newcomers to Asian cinema. Director Yudai Yamaguchi didn’t stop there though, he went on to direct other gruesome genre titles (notably Meatball Machine and Yakuza Weapon), but it seems that Deadball is the closest we will ever see to a Battlefield Baseball sequel. Although it isn’t touted as a proper sequel, and the plot is drastically different from the previously mentioned film, both the tone of the film and the baseball-centric splatter is guaranteed to ensure many apt comparisons.

For those that are unaware, Sushi Typhoon is a production arm of Nikkatsu studio. It was essentially created in response to the overwhelming international popularity of films like The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. Their main goal is to create low budget genre films that can be marketed towards international audiences who are willing to eat up any “quirky” Japanese splatter films that appear on the scene. Although there are exceptions, such as Sion Sono’s beautiful Cold Fish, the majority of these movies are over-the-top gory spectacles that are less concerned with being “good” and more concerned with being zany. With that said, I myself am a total mark for the majority of these films. As stupid as they may be, you can’t say they aren’t creative. Deadball is very typical of this new breed of Japanese exploitation. For those of you who are familiar with films like Samurai Princess (not Sushi Typhoon, but very similar in content) or Robo Geisha, you should know what you are getting into. If you like films of this variety, then this should be of interest to you. If not, this is not one that will change your mind.

Although baseball does play an integral part of out story, it’s really just a background feature within a plot that isn’t afraid to run all over the place. The true narrative has to deal with Jubeh and his being undercover within this very sordid reform school. It takes nearly forty minutes before any actual baseball takes place within the movie. The movie up until that point is a series of excessively rude bits and very random content. If you go into Deadball expecting to see tons of baseball-related carnage the whole way through, you’re probably going to be left scratching your head. However, it’s the little things that keep audiences coming back. This isn’t a movie with any big messages built into its framework. This is all about being shocking and being… well, stupid. I don’t think anyone involved in the movie dared to take it the tiniest bit serious, and this attitude is reflected in every facet of the film’s creation. This isn’t a sports movie, it’s a very dark and very peculiar comedy.

Deadball is essentially a collection of otherworldly ideas that have all been crammed into one film with no actual subtlety. Granted, there are a lot of films coming out of Japan that are doing this, so, that leaves one question, is there anything that separates Deadball from the rest of the pack? The answer is a definitive yes. While Deadball is no instant classic, it precisely delivers everything that this genre needs in order to reach full potential. Yamaguchi strips down all of the unnecessary attachments that these new splatter movies often have, then he delivers a raucous and offensive piece of braindead splatter cinema that does its best to entertain in any way possible. Going through the movie and picking out every ridiculous scene is too difficult a task because almost every shot in the movie contains something preposterous. This movie has it all. Robots, Nazis, robot Nazis, a girl who is for no-real-reason cast as a young boy, a J-Pop idol group named “poo poo,” a school named St. Black Dahlia High, a school named Pterodactyl Juvenile Reformatory, tons of gore, and there’s even a spoof of James Cameron’s Avatar that comes from out of nowhere. While the humor here may not be witty, if you share a similar goofy sensibility, there is a LOT of fun to be had.

	The Conclusion

Although I feel somewhat guilty giving the movie as high of a rating as I am, I can’t deny on my own feelings. Deadball is a title that I see myself revisiting multiple times in the future. Not because it is a great piece of cinema, but solely due to the fun that it provides. This is goofy entertainment in its most outrageous form, turn off your expectations and enjoy the ride. It gets a very solid four out of five.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/deadball/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/vampire-lovers/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/vampire-lovers/#comments Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:09:42 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12541

	The Vampire Lovers (1970)

Director:	Roy Ward Baker
Writers:	Harry Fine, Tudor Gates, and Michael Style
Starring:	Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Kate O’Mara, and Peter Cushing

The Plot: The Vampire Lovers tells the slightly episodic story of a powerful female vampire (Ingrid Pitt) who wanders into the homes of affluent families along the Styria countryside. We are first introduced to this stunning young woman when she assumes the name Marcilla and moves into the home of General von Spielsdorf (played by genre great Peter Cushing). Unknown to those surrounding her, Marcilla is sneaking away during most nights and is siphening the life away from the General’s daughter. Although Spielsdorf does eventually try to get his daughter some help, he proves to be too late and Marcilla kills the girl before vanishing into the night. We quickly catch back up with Marcilla and find that she has assumed a new identity, that of a young woman named Carmilla. After manipulating the destruction of her carriage, Carmilla presses her way into the Morton household. Once again, this is an affluent family that has another young daughter named Emma (played by Madeline Smith) who begins to show the same symptoms that afflicted the Spielsdorf girl. Mr. Morton is a bit more proactive, however, and starts searching for anyone who can help him discover what plague is causing his daughter’s illness. Will he be able to stop Carmilla before it is too late?

	The Review

While not a film studio that I am an expert on, I wholly respect the Hammer horror tradition. With the films that I have seen, I have felt within them a sense of obvious respect for the genre that has long been missing from the cinematic landscape. Unpretentious, dedicated to legitimate scares, and involved in all traditional facets of horror cinema, Hammer horror movies can be delightfully refreshing despite their “retro” status. Even in a relatively late-era Hammer title like The Vampire Lovers, which splashes the screen with eroticism and gore, the film is still one that perpetuates the traditional mythos of vampire lore. At the time that it was made, it becomes easy to imagine some viewers may have felt that these traditions needed to be spiced up and perhaps hoped that traditional vampire stories could have been told in a way that might seem more fresh. Yet, in our modern era, where vampires have become sparkling creatures who bare little resemblance to the creepy monsters of old, contemporary viewers might be swayed more to a vision of these creatures that is more in tune with the work of Bram Stoker. While The Vampire Lovers, which was made in conjunction with the notable exploitation studio American International Pictures, may be a bit sensational at times, it captures all of the perfect elements from the period that it was made. This is a post-Wild Bunch horror film that doesn’t shy away from the gore, but the horror genre hasn’t forgotten its “spooky” intentions. In this regard, the movie plays like a breath of fresh air.

With a title like The Vampire Lovers, and being based upon the famed novella Carmilla, audiences are apt to expect a great deal of eroticism being put on display within the film. Amongst the Hammer library, it (along with its Karnstein Trilogy compatriots Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil) is well known for its pervasive sexuality. Dealing with lesbian erotica in a subdued-but-obvious fashion, the movie is rather daring for what it does show onscreen. The Hammer studio was well known for its casting of voluptuous and beautiful women, but the films were always shot with a level of prestige that stopped short of being mere cinematic cheesecake. The Vampire Lovers isn’t filled to the brim with sex, but there is an air of sexuality that can be felt throughout the movie. Taking the heightened sexuality found in many vampire stories, Vampire Lovers finds the tipping point between general horror and pure eroticism, and then dances upon it with glee. Famed Hammer doll Ingrid Pitt is the main deliverer of tantalization, but she isn’t alone in scorching the screen. Pippa Steel, Madeline Smith, and Kirsten Lindholm all get some time to tease the audience, each woman showing varying degrees of skin. Yet, after everything is said and done, it is Pitt who manages to ravish the screen with her smoldering sexuality in what was certainly a career-defining role.

The strength of The Vampire Lovers is partly its weakness. While its traditionalist view of horror and scares can be quite appealing, some viewers will be turned off by the familiarity of the plot. Indeed, the Carmilla story has been brought to the screen numerous times throughout the years. The Blood Splattered Bride is only one example of this story being adapted for the silver screen, but The Vampire Lovers has to be one of the most successful adaptations of this particular novella. Yet, with its episodic plot and familiar seduce-then-kill narrative, it is easy to see how some modern audiences will find the story lacking a certain… dare I say it… bite (yes, I went there). This is a legitimate issue within the film and one that might hold some viewers back. However, I am rather familiar with the film and have seen it a few times throughout the years. Yet, seeing it on this latest Blu-ray from Shout! Factory, I was reminded of just how much I do enjoy the film. Capturing both the innocence of a classic horror story, but mixing in the new exploitative elements that were becoming popularized during the seventies, The Vampire Lovers provides a unique viewing experience that I can’t help but adore.

The strongest moments within The Vampire Lovers comes near its end. As the tensions begin to rise and Carmilla begins to take over the household, it’s easy to find yourself wrapped up in the events happening onscreen. The sequences following Carmilla’s attempts to remove the garlic and crucifixes from Emma’s room are some of the best in the film. Director Roy Ward Baker and his editor do a great job in building an incredible amount of suspense during this sequence. With a horseman traveling through the woods, on an express mission to make it to the castle where Carmilla is apparently nearing her goal of hurting Emma, the movie becomes a high risk game to see who will reach their goal first. Despite the fact that viewers may have a vague inclination that ultimately good will assuredly triumph over evil, there’s a vague hint of ambiguity within the film. After all, with this being a Hammer film that features bloody decapitations and more nudity than the average… What rule is there to say that Carmilla won’t kill off the young Emma before her reign of evil is shut down? It is a film that capitalizes on its old and new aesthetics, and it works brilliantly because of it.

	The Conclusion

While bordering upon being trashy, The Vampire Lovers retains that same alluring Hammer prestige. It is beautiful to look at and delivers all of the beats that anyone would expect from the famed studio, and then some! There are numerous things to be said about the sexual dynamics within the film, but even taking it at face-value as a mere horror title: The Vampire Lovers stands up. I give it a honorable four out of five. I think it should be a welcome addition to the collection of any horror fan. The special features on the Blu-ray are enough to ensure that. With select readings by Ingrid Pitt from the original Carmilla novel and a very intriguing interview with Madeline Smith, this one isn’t to be passed by.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/vampire-lovers/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/woochi-demon-slayer/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/woochi-demon-slayer/#comments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 03:04:58 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12507

	Woochi: The Demon Slayer (2009)

Director:	Choi Dong-Hoon
Writers:	Choi Dong-Hoon
Starring:	Kang Dong-won, Kim Yun-seok, Lim Su-jeong, Ju Jin-mo, and Im Soo-jung

The Plot: Woochi: The Demon Slayer is a story that tends to jump between the present and the past, all focusing on a young rebellious taoist wizard by the name of Woochi (Kang Dong-won). During Woochi’s era, things fall into disarray after Woochi is mistakenly accused of his master’s death. For this he is imprisoned within a painting for five hundred years. Woochi is only awoken from this magical prison when two goblins start to reek havoc on modern Korea. When Woochi is brought back, he becomes infatuated with the 21st century. As he travels around Seoul, he finds a beautiful young woman who is identical to the young woman (played by Im Soo-jung) who Woochi left behind in the past. Will Woochi become the hero that the world needs, or will he instead focus on his unrequited love life?

	The Review

Korean science fiction films have been hit or miss as of late. It isn’t a genre that South Korea is highly experienced with, but there have been some standout titles in recent years. The Host is probably the biggest and best example, but recently Doomsday Book is a title that has certainly grabbed some attention recently. The overuse of special FX in modern Asian blockbusters can be a bit disconcerting to those of us who fell in love with Asian cinema because of its stripped down and realistic depiction of life, but sometimes cinema is only supposed to be fun. The movie we’re looking at today combines all of these elements into one. It’s a science fiction title that does feature a ton of special FX work, but it mainly deals in fun. Honestly, if Woochi has two things working for it, it’s both the fun and originality that it brings to the screen. Granted, at its heart, there are many elements within the story that recalls your average “fish out of water” plot device. Yet, before any of that, Woochi delivers an intriguing and bizarre set of twists that keeps the movie feeling fresh amidst some of its more familiar genre beats. In essence, Woochi is a superhero movie told through the perspective of a modern South Korean audience. It blends together the rich history of Korea along with the fantastical style and polish that modern South Korean cinema is able to provide. Sure, some of the CGI within the movie is bound to be a bit on the silly side, but there are numerous sequences that come off very well. There is a bit where Woochi actually clones himself in order to fight the two lead villains of the film, and the sequence plays better than most of the duplicated Mr. Smith bits found in the Matrix sequels. This is due to the use of traditional filmmaking devices, such as standins and trick photography instead of relying solely on CGI. So, once again we’re looking at a broad mix of traditional stripped-down filmmaking along with a modern style that makes room for plenty of goofy fun.

Like many South Korean films, there is a very distinctive and very different style of plot progression found within the film. Often, South Korean cinema carries around the stigma of being overly bloated. Although I do love this region, I must regretfully agree with the assessment. Many films from SK are exceptionally long for the stories that they tell> However, looking at the bright side, they often go into some very intriguing areas because of their long runtimes. Woochi is a very solid example of the wild ideas that this country often produces due to their affection for 2 hour + films. Woochi is a supernatural action comedy through and through, but if you break it down by the subplots that take over during the course of the movie, the first half of the film is completely different than the second. The first hour takes place primarily in a period setting and introduces the Woochi character at home in ancient Korea. The second half, however, turns into a time travel comedy that puts this country-boy-taoist-monk into the bustling world of modern Seoul. While the connection between the two halves of the film are tenuous at best, as they almost seem like two entirely different movies, there can be a positive overall effect on the movie. While it’s hard to disagree with anyone who says that the majority of these introductory scenes could have been made into a ten minute montage, there is still a very quaint feeling to this section of the movie. It presents a very different tone than the second half, and ultimately it gives the Woochi character some momentum. Throughout this sequence we are introduced to his childish ways and it does give more punch to his character arch. While this sequence within the movie could have easily been trimmed down, it serves a purpose in developing the humor and attitude that the rest of the movie will execute.

Woochi, despite everything, remains ridiculously watchable from its very start. The movie always seems to exude an aura of confidence – similar to the character of Woochi. These filmmakers take the audience by the hand and make it very obvious that this will be a very big and very loud story, but during the opening moments of the film the uninitiated members of the audience are likely to have no idea of how grand the scale for this movie will be. It isn’t until the second half starts to really ramp up that the movie finally takes up its title as a true South Korean superhero movie. Packed with exciting action sequences and innovative special effects for this region, director Choi Dong-Hoon has quickly insured his name as one of the most reliable blockbuster filmmakers in all of Asia. While his movies are not entirely complex in their subtext, he has demonstrated within both Woochi and The Thieves that he is an incredibly strong director capable of taking very basic genre tales and building them into elaborate and entertaining spectacles. With this film, he shows this with even more panache than he did with The Thieves. This is his gigantic special FX laden epic, and in a nation that gets some flak for making fairly poor movies within this genre (with some notable exceptions, of course), Choi Dong-Hoon does an awesome job in establishing his name in this field. While the FX work and the vastness of the story are always ever-present during the movie, ultimately the greatest strength of Woochi is its ensemble cast.

Featuring many notable cast members from Choi Dong-Hoon’s other work, Woochi shows off numerous strong supporting actors. However, the main star Kang Dong-won probably deserves the majority of the attention. Being the star in a movie like this, where every secondary character is fairly memorable or outrageous, seems like it would be a daunting task for any actor, but Kang Dong-won manages to take that challenge and shine brightly in the lead. Playing the overtly cocky and snide Woochi, Dong-won shows the character as both arrogant and extremely naive, depending on what the film calls for. His confident swagger is often juxtaposed with his blatant ignorance, giving the character a boyish charm that is hard to deny. Granted, his growth as a character is determined from the outset of the movie, and no audience will have any difficulty judging that this character will inevitably become a honest and moral figure by the climax of the film, but the energy and enthusiasm of both Kang Dong-won and the overall film make this very easy to forgive. As I’ve hinted at already, the rest of the supporting cast all hit it out of the park as well. From the masterful Yoo Hae-jin (The Chaser, The Yellow Sea, and The Thieves) who plays the arch villain that is menacing but still somehow relatable, to Yoo Hae-jin, who plays Woochi’s partner that happens to be a dog-in-human-form (seriously), the actors are all perfect in their roles here. Without my forgetting it, Im Soo-jung, who plays the main love interest, is also very well cast. She has the girl-next-door appeal to her, but she is playfully flirtatious with Woochi and comes across as very sympathetic to the audience. Although she is extremely beautiful in the film, she garners the attention of the audience via the strong personality of her character. Ultimately, she comes across as a very strong link within a very strong cast.

	The Conclusion

I would be out of my mind to recommend Woochi without a little trepidation. The first half of the movie might move a bit too slow for some audiences, I am aware of this. However, if you stick with it, you will be rewarded heavily. Woochi is clever and made with genuine craftsmanship, but most of all: it is fun. Lots and lots of fun. Pick it up on Bluray from Shout! Factory. The release date is April 9th, and I’d certainly recommend scooping it up. Both for the feature presentation as well as the awesome allotment of special features.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/woochi-demon-slayer/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/tormented/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/tormented/#comments Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:02:53 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12492

	Tormented (2011)

Director:	Takashi Shimizu
Writers:	Sotaro Hayashi, Daisuke Hosaka, Takashi Shimizu
Starring:	Hikari Mitsushima, Takeru Shibuya, and Teruyuki KagawaC

The Plot: Tormented begins with a relatively disturbing sight: a young boy stares down at a rabbit that appears to be terminally injured. As the rabbit breaths profusely while bleeding out, the boy, instead of being disgusted or sad, nonchalantly takes a large brick and brings it crashing down on the little creature. This little boy is Daigo (Takeru Shibuya), the little brother of our main protagonist Kiriko (Hikari Mitsushima). Kiriko, who has been mute since her childhood, is worried for her brother, but she finds herself unable to draw her father’s attention to the problem. After going to the movies and watching a 3D horror movie, Daigo sees a strange vision within the theater. He sees a stuffed rabbit floating down from the screen, and from this point onward he is continually assaulted in his dreams by a large rabbit. The rabbit keeps pointing Daigo towards a hospital, but the young boy can not understand what the creature wants. Will he and Kiriko figure out this monster’s secret before it is too late?

	The Review

To be perfectly honest, I do not have a lot of history with Takashi Shimizu’s work and I’ve never felt a great deal of passion for the work of his that I have seen. I don’t hold anything against the man, but his films have always been relatively problematic in my opinion. From the low budget feel of Ju-on and forward, his work has never grabbed me and made me into an immediate fan. However, there’s no arguing that in the past he has proven his ability as a director that has won the respect and admiration of many. So, going into Tormented with the mindset: “where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire,” I sat through Tormented searching for something that might grab my attention. With Christopher Doyle (arguably one of the best cinematographers to come from Asia) providing the photography and a plot synopsis that refers to characters being “tormented” by a plush bunny rabbit… well, I honestly didn’t have to look very far. While Tormented is a genre movie through-and-through, there’s a surreal vein going through the movie that makes it worth watching.

Dealing with the content that Tormented does, it’s not surprising that the movie takes on a meta-twist. In one of the more obvious sequences to point out, we see our two leads watching scenes from Shimizu’s previous film Shock Corridor while visiting a movie theater. They do this while wearing 3D glasses no less, during a sequence that was likely the ultimate display of that technology within this film. No doubt, the 3D element is a big part of what makes this movie the spectacle that it is. It was Christopher Doyle’s first 3D film, which is by itself enough to grab many members of the film geek community, and it isn’t often that Westerners get to experience something like this from Japan. 3D Japanese films are a rarity, and with this being a title that fits into the still-semi-lucrative Japanese horror genre it was only a matter of time before it hit our shores. This 3D sequence is both meta, hokey, and contains a winking eye to the audience that is missing throughout the majority of the film. While I’m no big fan of the technology (those glasses really start to hurt my eyes), I do enjoy the way that it was incorporated into Tormented. Partly an ode to the campiness found in horror cinema within the past and partly effective in its spookiness, Tormented doesn’t shy away from putting 3D objects directly in the camera’s lens.

The unfortunate problem with Asian horror post-boom is that the genre has become spoofed and parodied so much at this point that it nearly seems ludicrous to imagine a filmmaker using the visual motif of a scary child or a woman with long black hair flowing in front of her face – yet, many films are still doing it. Even The Tormented does on occasion. This makes it hard for some audiences to check their critical minds at the door, because they have been programmed at this point to not take this one visual cue as something serious or threatening. Yet, despite the fact that there are some very obvious Japanese “ghosts” within the movie, Tormented specializes in its otherworldly imagery. The movie bounces back and forth between the very placid reality that our characters live within and a abstract and surreal child’s nightmare. Shimizu, despite any conventional material used here, makes solid use of some very bizarre ideas. Using the rabbit from Shock Corridor, there are some nightmarish sequences revolving around what appears to be a grown man in a bunny costume. However, when its eyes are revealed to be blinking, and we see numerous dead animal mascots hanging from trees in the background, a stark and nightmarish conversion of worlds takes place on the screen. Tormented could be accused of many things, but it seems difficult for me to call it formulaic. Although it certainly has some elements that scream “Japanese horror,” the movie manages to borrow from numerous other areas aside from just the Ringu franchise. Instead, Shimizu’s film is a surreal nightmare that starts off tempting formula and then slowly deviates into psychological terror. Yet, the nightmarish dreams within our story, the ones that showcase the previously mentioned monstrous rabbit, are the true bread and butter of the movie. Unfortunately, this rabbit is likely to be divisive for some audience members. Afterall, there’s no questioning the fact that a fluffy, walking, blinking bunny rabbit is a pretty silly horror movie villain. Yet, the peculiar atmosphere within the film and the dreamlogic that takes hold seems to be enough to actually make this all work on some level. In a project that should have, for all intents and purposes, been a “director for hire” gig, Shimizu and his team gather a lot of creative energy for this one. While it sure isn’t great, it is morbid and bizarre enough to make it an infatuating watch.

	The Conclusion

Tormented isn’t going to set the cinematic world on fire, but it is surprisingly good for this type of subject matter. Still, it has some problems. There are some twists and turns within the story that seem a bit hackneyed, and some of the general plot points are predictable, but overall this is a fun slice of horror that is easily recommended. It gets a solid three out of five.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/tormented/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/storage-24/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/storage-24/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:48:41 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12483

	Storage 24 (2012)

Director:	Johannes Roberts
Writers:	Noel Clarke, Davie Fairbanks, and Marc Small
Starring:	Noel Clarke, Colin O’Donoghue, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, and Laura Haddock.

The Plot: Charlie (Noel Clarke) is a poor sap having to deal with one of life’s most difficult hardships: being dumped. After Charlie’s lady leaves him, it seems as if the relationship is all that he is capable of talking about, much to the chagrin of his pal Mark who is completely sick of hearing about it. While Charlie is in the midst of his personal crisis, it seems as if London is in the midst of its own crisis. Apparently there has been a “plane crash” in the center of London, but we will soon find out that this crash is much more surreal than what the news agencies are capable of reporting. Charlie, still being extremely upset, decides to visit his now-ex girlfriend to find out what has went wrong within their relationship. Charlie and Mark track her down to a storage building where she is currently splitting up her material possessions, and of course a bitter argument ensues. It turns out that this bitter dispute will not be the worst thing to happen to Charlie this week. It seems that this plane crash in the center of London has dropped its cargo all over the city. Amongst this cargo, we find a massive alien creature who is looking to find his way off of our planet – and it’s willing to shred anything that stands in it’s way.

	The Review

Recent history has personally proven to me the cyclical nature of horror cinema. We have seen numerous hot spots pop up throughout the years, whether it is Asia, France, Germany, or even Hollywood, ideas spread like a virus and select subgenres become hot commodities for brief periods. Although the progress has been slow, in comparison to the Asian cinema boom of the early 2000s, the UK has really put a mark on the horror genre within the past ten years. Within the past ten or so years, we have seen titles like 28 Day Later, Shaun of the Dead, The Descent, and recently even Attack the Block, all of which are British films that have managed to make a rather large impact upon the genre. While the British boom hasn’t been as quick in succession as some other markets, it does point to a market that might thrive for a longer period of time due to a lack of creative burnout. While I am not going to say that Storage 24 will have the impact that the previous films mentioned have had, I must commend it for being another solid genre effort from the UK. While that may be a “spoiler” for this review, that I did enjoy myself while watching, I must say that this is one of the more conflicted horror efforts that I have seen coming from this area within recent years. A genre title that is in love with its tropes, when it is on top it is focusing less on death scenes and more on character building.

Straight from the jump, the movie does not look like a cheap low budget horror title. Packed with lots of interesting visual texture, the movie does well in mixing its urban landscape with a surprisingly vibrant use of color. Aside from a bit of less-than-stellar CGI used for select shots that paint the landscape of London, the movie looks utterly spectacular. They seem to be a necessary evil in order to give the movie some scale and thankfully they do not detract from the overall product. Yet, the look of the movie isn’t entirely what draws me to the project. Although this is a title that gives in to nearly every conceivable cliche that audiences might expect of it, the script appears to have a general love for these characters. The film takes a stripped down approach to the casting. Unlike many slasher films, Storage 24 doesn’t throw a litany of annoying teens onscreen who serve only as cannon fodder for a ruthless murderer. While that might arguably work well for the Friday the 13th series, and that is something that is open for debate when it comes to the later sequels, but it doesn’t work nearly as well in the modern era when audiences have become so desensitized to genre archetypes. Storage 24 does borrow many of these archetypes, but when it comes to our main cast, most of the characters are well developed and seem to have genuine drama working in their favor.

Storage 24 starts off interestingly enough. Mileage is sure to vary, but due to the intriguing performances of the cast, the love triangle that develops between our main characters is actually quite engaging. The melodrama develops at a decent pace and the twists and turns of it are also played quite well against all of the genre conventions that seem to pop up. While we get to know these characters and see how their stories develop, there’s also a horror movie that brews and peaks at all of the right moments. This “background horror movie” that develops, which soon overtakes the main plot, is undoubtedly marred by stale genre conventions. Characters split up and search in opposite directions, characters leave behind allies due to vendettas (putting them in danger of being killed by our monstrosity), and just about every possible trope that this genre could have to offer is brought up. While the twists and turns of the love triangle aren’t always easy to see coming, unfortunately, the “spooky” bits are.

Storage 24 does ultimately have a positive for nearly every negative that it racks up. Despite the fact that it starts off moving in a strong slasher-movie direction, as mentioned before, this is not a body count movie. It is nowhere near defined by the number of deaths that pile up over its runtime. It’s actually refreshing to find that the film moves away from that area and instead focuses on the human drama. Now, granted, many audiences are going to find that the movie goes a bit too far in this direction, but I think most can agree that this is slightly more unique than your average “count the number of bodies that stack up” take on the genre. For all of the genre cliches and dramatic tension, ultimately the burden of the entire project rests upon the shoulders of the cast that is assembled. This is where the film earns most of its stripes. Featuring some very convincing and strong performances, particularly by writer and lead Noel Clarke, the characters come across as far more fleshed out than one ever expects from a alien-killing-people-in-a-storage-locker movie.

	The Conclusion

There are numerous ups and downs in Storage 24, but overall there is a great deal of entertainment to be found here. While it’s far from adventurous, the movie hits all of the expected notes with excitement. If I were to give half stars though, this would be a three-and-a-half, but as it is, I’m leaning towards a four. The good often overshadows the bad and this is something that is fun to throw on when friends are over and looking for a decent horror flick to clown through. Available through Magnet Releasing, the DVD isn’t hard to find, so give it a look if it comes to a Redbox near you.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/storage-24/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/bangkok-revenge/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/bangkok-revenge/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:22:15 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12468

	Bangkok Revenge (2011)

Director:	Jean-Marc Minéo
Writers:	Jean-Marc Minéo
Starring:	Jon Foo, Caroline Ducey, and Michaël Cohen

The Plot: Bangkok Revenge opens with a disturbing sequence involving the attempted murder of a police officer’s entire family. The mother and father are both instantly killed, but their young child manages to survive even after having a bullet put in his head. The murderers continue to track the boy, named Manit (Jon Foo), because he happened to see the face of his father’s killer. However, Manit is quickly saved from their retribution by a nurse who brings the young boy to a remote Thai village. Although he did manage to retain all of his motor functions after the gunshot, due to damage within his brain the boy must learn to live without emotion for the rest of his life. After he is settled in within his new home, the boy is trained in martial arts by his new master who encourages him to harden his body and mind. After several years, Manit is a young man who may not be able to verbalize his anger or fear, but he will most assuredly express it whenever he tracks down those responsible for the death of his parents.

	The Review

Ong Bak. Honestly, you can’t review any East Asian action film without bringing up Tony Jaa and the movement that he and Prachya Pinkaew lit the fuse upon. They inspired filmmakers throughout this region to go balls out, and they also inspired the rest of the world to try and emulate their sense of hard-hitting action. Although many may try and duplicate their success, those who can actually do the genre justice are few and far between. Honestly, even Thai cinema has been struggling within recent years. Tony Jaa went insane on the set of the Ong Bak sequels, and the only other viable draw has been JeeJa Yanin (Chocolate), but her output has been both mixed and sporadic. So, with no huge names regularly making movies within the region, Gareth Evans was able to step up to the plate and bring the Western world The Raid: Redemption. Although Evans is far from just attempting to cash in on the hard work of others, his inspirations are very obvious when watching his films. The same could be said about the movie we are discussing today: Bangkok Revenge. Similar in spirit to Evans’ work, this too is another East Asian action movie directed by a Western filmmaker, however, I do not believe Mike Shinoda will be scoring this soundtrack and I wouldn’t say that a sequel to Bangkok Revenge is a guaranteed thing. While not a bad film, Bangkok Revenge probably won’t find a huge audience within the West, but it serves its purpose in providing decent entertainment with a very peculiar background.

The movie, from its very beginning, has the craftsmanship of a 90s-era low budget action vehicle. Although it is obviously a better made movie, it has the feel of an early Jean Claude Van Damme production or even something made by Steven Seagal. A young boy sees his family murdered and is raised in a rural area with martial arts training, the concept is certainly a traditional martial arts set-up, but the vibe of the movie isn’t nearly as celebratory of its narrative as something one might see from the Shaw Bros. studio. No, this is down and dirty action cinema. The only purpose that this story serves is to move us from one principle action sequence to the next. From the speed of the plot to some of the cheap gimmicks, such as a comedic bit where Manit’s master has hundreds of lessons that he calls out during fights (“lesson 956!”), the movie does indeed reek of silly martial arts bullshido. In the first fifteen minutes there is even a classical bar fight that seems far removed from the concept of martial arts purely as a form of discipline and self defense. If this wasn’t a film targeted towards North American movie fans, then the filmmakers certainly were inspired by some of the conventions of this genre. Because although they may share martial art disciplines, the cinematic work of Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, and Jean Claude Van Damme are drastically different from what a person will find within the history of Asian martial arts cinema.

Jon Foo stars as our lead, Manit, and acquits himself fairly well in the role. This character, thanks to the damage caused by a bullet to the head, expresses little or no emotional expression. Whether or not Foo has a tremendous range as an actor, I do not know, but I do realize that this role would be a blessing for many martial artists who are trying to transition into the acting game. Foo is very serviceable as the lead. He plays it cool with his role and he’s more than proficient when it comes to the action. His accent, however, is very peculiar in context of the film. Seemingly a mix of English and American, maybe with a little Australian in the mix too, Foo hardly seems to fit the role of a young man raised to speak the English language by a gentleman who mumbles his dialogue with a very thick Thai speech pattern. Yet, viewed in the context of a low budget piece of action trash, it only makes sense that everyone speaks perfect English. The secondary cast, including the French hottie who Foo pairs up with, the Thai guy who somehow wanders into the plot speaking very poor English, and the random folks Foo runs into on the street – they all combine to point out a very “straight-to-video”-esque logic.

At first glance, I realize that this title might appear to be another film in the Ong Bak tradition, but Bangkok Revenge is far from that. Missing is the cultural relevance of those true Thai actioners, and gone is the ode to traditional Hong Kong action that can be seen in many other East Asian action films coming out these days. Instead, this is a pure exploitation film trying its best to dress up in very different clothing. By the time we see our main protagonist being chased through the streets of Bangkok by a group of hookers dressed like schoolgirls, with at least one transvestite in the group, along with a group of kung fu students, a series of random thugs, a swat team, as well as one wandering Frenchman… it should become wholly apparent that this isn’t a movie that is too overtly concerned with realism. Still, just because an action movie becomes zany does not mean that it is necessarily all that great. Unfortunately, although Bangkok Revenge might have the right attitude, it does not have the right abilities. The lack of professional actors, the number of performers reading their lines phonetically, and the campy writing that doesn’t try to include the audience in on the joke – it all add up to a movie that had promise, but couldn’t deliver.

	The Conclusion

Bangkok Revenge is a movie that you probably wouldn’t shut off if it happened to come on The Movie Channel during the wee hours of the night. Sure, there might be better things to watch, but at least this one offers something different. While I hate to give it a poor rating, there simply isn’t a great deal here to warrant a high recommendation. Overall, it gets a two out of five.




]]> http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/bangkok-revenge/feed/ 0 http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/cold-prey-2/ http://www.variedcelluloid.net/archives/cold-prey-2/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:33:02 +0000 Josh Samford http://www.variedcelluloid.net/?p=12486

	Cold Prey II (2008)

Director:	Mats Stenberg
Writers:	Thomas Moldestad, Roar Uthaug, and Martin Sundland
Starring:	Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik, and Kim Wifladt

The Plot: Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) is the only survivor after the events of the first Cold Prey, and in this sequel we first find her wandering aimlessly around a snowy Norweigan rural area. The police pick her up and bring her back to the local hospital where she meets local nurse Camilla who tries to discover just what poor Jannicke has been through. The police, meanwhile, head back to the hotel where Jannicke was attacked and they discover multiple bodies. Among them, the mountain man from the first movie. They bring the bodies back to the morgue, but it seems that the mountain man may not be completely out of the game yet. Much to the dismay of Jannicke, the mountain man is brought back to life and his reign of carnage continues yet again.

	The Review

Horror cinema, above all other genres, moves in very cyclical patters. Every several years the world is introduced to a new sub-genre or a new territory that apparently “captures” horror within its time or its culture. During the eighties, America had the slasher film. The nineties brought us the ironic and self-referential view of the genre. And the two thousands, despite the fans who feel that the genre has been dying (a bold statement that is claimed every year), have brought the world numerous hotspots and reinventions of this popular genre. The late nineties and early two thousands brought back the ghost/haunting genre in a big way, and this was in no small part thanks to Japanese cinema of the time. Then, when that genre seemed to be dead, the world was introduced to the supposed “torture porn” genre. Around this same time, diehard cult-horror fans found solace not in the Hollywood gore films of Eli Roth, but in the genre-bending gorefests coming out of Europe. My opinion of these films has been that they are very hit or miss, but it’s hard not to acknowledge how intriguing the change of scenery/culture within these films can be. Even though I have my issues with some of the better known French horror titles that I have seen, I am still infatuated with this particular movement and I appreciate the polish and style used in these films. Cold Prey II is a title that sits very well on any shelf with titles such as Haute Tension, Frontieres, or even Martyrs. While its individual merits may not be as highly regarded as the previously mentioned films, it certainly brings to the table everything taht horror fans look forward to in these films.

The movie operates in the traditional way that most slashers do. Isolated residence, a few love interests, a psychotic killer, and a multitude of violence waiting to be unleashed for the viewing pleasure of a bloodthirsty audience. While I would like to say that our movie today uses this precipice as a jumping-off point where it intends to break free of the mold and head off into some daring directions that deftly maneuver the genre into new and unexplored territories… that is not the case. For the most part, this is as conventional as the genre tends to get. Taking its setting from Halloween 2 and featuring a killer who is just as mysterious as Michael Myers was, Cold Prey II won’t be winning many awards due to its stark originality. Yet, the one thing that the movie has going for it is the talent of the filmmakers involved. Although the material isn’t going to change the lives of most viewers, that doesn’t prevent the filmmakers from doing their best to make as polished and as impressive a slasher movie as they could. Looking as good as this genre will allow, Cold Prey II has some fairly brilliant photography within it. Featuring a muted color palette and an assortment of camera styles, there is a certain level of prestige that follows the movie. Making excellent use of both handheld and static camera setups, the film has a gritty edge while still holding a very traditional cinematic vision. The movie may not be loud in its style, but it is fantastic to look at.

If there are weaknesses to be found in Cold Prey II, it of course comes from these roots that it has in tradition. While the movie does its best to be shocking and taut, there’s hardly ever a moment in the film where you won’t be aware that you are watching a new-era slasher movie. Viewers may still thank their lucky stars that at least this title doesn’t feature an assortment of annoying teenagers being killed in various states of undress (well, the undressed part wouldn’t be so bad), there are plenty of other genre elements at play in the movie. We have the knowledgeable and experienced veteran who survived the first film (see the Scream franchise or the aforementioned Halloween sequel), we have the sweet young girl who joins up with the grizzled vet (serving as the virginal “final girl” in this sequel), there is of course the mysterious killer who defies all physical possibilities, and there’s also the supernatural slant when we discover our main villain is apparently incapable of dying. The “Mountain Man” is ultimately a Norwegian Jason Voorhees. Do all of these things stack up to make a bad movie? Not at all, but viewers should know precisely what they are getting into with this one. You won’t be blown away and it’s doubtful that it will be at the top of your favorite film list, but when Cold Prey II gets something right: it’s usually done absurdly well.

While I’ve said that the movie never allows the viewer to forget that it’s a part of a broad formula, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get into. If it has a strongsuit, it comes from the conviction felt within its story and the way that the plot stays committed to our characters. Cold Prey II isn’t a genre film that simply jumps to the gore and bodycount. Instead, the movie focuses a great deal on our two female leads and their individual subplots. The first half of the movie builds these characters and it isn’t implausible for the audience to become invested in their drama. By the end of the movie, it’s hard to imagine any viewer truly wanting to see anything bad happen to these characters. The protagonists are given ample time to engage with the audience, and the first half of the film really helps solidify this connection. By putting the carnage off for nearly an hour, the film daringly committs to a plot – and I liked that about the movie. While it may ultimately be a simplistic genre film, the talent behind the script at least tried to focus on building a foundation for the film.

	The Conclusion

Cold Prey II has issues, there’s no denying that. However, amongst the European slashers that I have seen from the modern era, this is actually one of the better ones. I write this review as someone who has not seen the original film, so there’s a good chance that this is a step down in quality. If that turns out to be the case, then the original Cold Prey could very well be something to search out immediately. As far as this sequel goes, it earns a respectable three out of five.




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