HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: CLOWN (2014)

CLOWN (2014)

(Clicking the highlighted links brings you to corresponding reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)

Eli Roth produced horror tells the ill-fated story of realtor Kent McCoy (Andy Powers) whose son Jack (Christian Distefano) is having a birthday. The clown scheduled to appear cancels at the last minute, leaving Kent in a bind. But as luck would have it, Kent finds an old clown suit in one of the homes he’s showing and saves the party. Unfortunately, it’s bad luck, as the suit is not a suit, but the skin of an ancient Nordic demon called a Cloyne. This creature of legend is the genesis of the modern clown, but instead of entertaining children, it lured them to it’s lair and ate them. Now Kent is facing a horrific nightmare as the ‘suit’ won’t come off and his son and wife Meg (Laura Allen) watch him slowly turn into a monster…one that sees Jack as a potential meal.

As silly as this horror sounds, it is actually portrayed very seriously by co-writer…with Christopher D. Ford…and director, Jon Watts. Watts takes what could have been a spoof and makes an effective little horror film out of it by avoiding milking the clown clichés and treating his film more like a werewolf flick, with a likable subject reluctantly turning into a vicious monster…one that eats children. Watts gives his horror a strong atmosphere of dread and is not afraid to graphically show Kent/the Cloyne’s hunger being sated on some unfortunate youths. The pace of the film is actually moderate and while it could have used a bit more energy at times, there are some very effective sequences and the serious take on the story does not come without having a little fun with the subject matter, such as a gruesome yet amusing scene at a Chuck E Cheese. The gore is plentiful and well executed, the film can be creepy and intense at times and we even get Peter Stormare as the suit’s previous owner/wearer, Karlsson, who has some grim news about how the ‘suit’ can be removed and the demon stopped. A solid little horror for a potentially comical premise.

As for the cast, Andy Powers plays Kent as the bland family man he is and then as both sympathetic victim and vicious monster. He works in the role well, though could have had a bit stronger presence. Laura Allen is very effective as the hot mom forced to deal with the living nightmare of watching the man she loves turn into monster and having to make some terrible choices to deal with it and protect her son. As the son, Distefano is effective and never strays into the annoying child zone and is quite sympathetic as Jack. Stomare is fun as Karlsson. He provides the Cloyne background and details and tries to assist Meg in stopping, or saving, her husband and acts as a sort of Van Helsing character with his experience with the fiend being very personal.

Flick isn’t perfect. A little more character development with the McCoy family could have strengthened their characters and the moderate pace sometimes works against it. Otherwise this was a solid and effective little horror flick, despite what is a very silly premise. Director Jon Watts takes the subject matter seriously and crafts a pretty good horror movie out of it, without drowning it in the clown clichés…though they aren’t completely avoided either. Definitely an an entertaining little flick with a novel twist on the scary clown movie.

-MonsterZero NJ

3 ill-fated realtors.

 

 

 

 

HORROR YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: DARK SUMMER (2015)

DARK SUMMER (2015)

(Clicking the highlighted links brings you to corresponding reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)

MINOR SPOILER WARNING: To discuss certain aspects of the film, I had to go into details which may be considered spoiler-ish, though I tried to remain as vague as possible.

Dark Summer tells the story of Daniel (Keir Gilchrist), a teen who is put under house arrest after cyber-stalking classmate Mona Wilson (Grace Phipps). Alone in the house with his mother away and his parole office (Peter Stormare) keeping a close eye on him, his incarceration looks to quickly become a living hell. A living hell indeed, as Mona phones him online, one night, only to commit suicide right in front of him. Soon after, it appears there is a malevolent presence in the house with him and it might be her. Fearing she is with him in the house to exact some sort of revenge, Daniel enlists the help of his best friends Kevin (Maestro Harrell) and Abby (Stella Maeve) to help him put a stop to it. The more they investigate Mona, though…and a way of ridding the house of her dark presence…the more they realize Daniel’s object of affection was not who they though she was…and he may truly be in grave danger.

There were things I liked about this teen-centric horror and things I didn’t. On the negative side, there are some clichés that we’ve seen time and time again that could have been used more inventively, such as the usual levitations and the Scooby-Doo-ish investigations by sleuthing teens. The biggest problem for me was that Daniel comes across as not only as a creep for cyber-stalking the girl, but a real jerk for the way he callously blows off Abby, who really cares about him. True, there are certain revelations later on that might explain some of this, but for a good hour, he remains unsympathetic to us, despite what is happening to him. If you don’t sympathize with the victim, the film looses impact. The positive is that director Paul Solet (Grace) does manage some creepy moments from Mike Le’s script and I will say the last act had some fun reveals and the film wraps up on a very disturbing note. So, you take the good with the bad and overall it’s a moderately entertaining low budget flick that ends effectively. I would have liked to have seen Stomare’s parole officer be more than just a creepy cop, but at slightly over 80 minutes, such character development is not given enough time and when you think his Stokes is about to become more interesting to the plot, the film ends. Solet’s 2009 Grace was a disturbing flick, so he knows what he is doing. Maybe he works better with his own scripts.

The cast are all adequate, but nothing to grab our attention. Gilchrist is fine, but the way Daniel is written, we never really come to like him or feel bad for him much. Even after all is revealed, we still don’t feel all that sympathetic towards him. Suburgatory’s Harrell has little to do, but look concerned, as the film focuses more on the efforts of the long-suffering Abby. It is Stella Maeve as Abby that generates the most sympathy and does the strongest work as a girl who has fallen for someone who doesn’t see her that way…and that same boy is currently haunted by a malevolent spirit of the girl he stalked. That sucks for Abby. Stormare is a veteran, but here just seems to be punching a clock as the creep of a parole office. Not even sure what overall purpose the character served other than the situation warranted he be there.

Overall, Dark Summer was a decent enough watch with some effective moments and a last act with some nice surprises and a disturbing final scene (part of which comes after the credits). Not everything worked and sometimes the clichés just got silly and it was the unlikability of the leading character that lends to detachment from sympathizing with his plight. Even though there were supernaturally extenuating circumstances, he still acted like a jerk on enough levels to not feel bad when faced with supernatural payback. Worth a look and has some spooky moments, but don’t expect too much.

-MonsterZero NJ

2 and 1/2 laptops that should never be used to stalk you classmates.

 

 

 

 

BARE BONES: A.C.O.D., IN A WORLD…, BAD MILO and CBGB

A.C.O.D. (2013)

Not bad, but, not overly good either. Comedy takes a look at the now grown-up first generation raised on the effects of widespread divorce and it might have been more fun if it actually went somewhere and leading man Adam Scott wasn’t so annoying a character and dull an actor. There is a talented cast, such as Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Catherine O’Hara and with such talent you just expect more then we get in this mediocre comedy.

IN A WORLD… (2013)

Lake Bell makes her directorial debut in this mildly amusing story of a voice coach (director, Bell) who wants to follow in her father’s (Fred Melamed) footsteps and enter the male dominated movie trailer narration business. There are some nice moments, a few solid laughs and Bell gives a spunky performance but, the story ultimately doesn’t really go anywhere and the film’s tone is rather flat and needed more energy to get us really involved. Original plot idea, though, I’ll give it that.

Bad Milo (2013)

Absolutely awful horror “comedy”  written and directed by Jacob Vaughn about a small creature living in a man’s (Ken Marino) colon that is a product of his subconscious rage and comes out to savagely murder anyone who causes him stress. Really!… that’s what it’s about! Crude, vulgar and completely unfunny. Also Peter Stormare and stars Community’s Gillian Jacobs. Pure crap but, at least the make-up FX guys come off with some of their reputations intact.

CBGB (2013)

How can you take the story of such an iconic place and turn it into such a pretentious and dull movie? Tries so hard to be hip and cool, that it forgets to simply be good… or that the story of this legendary club pretty much tells itself without all the self-indulgent ‘look what I learned in film school’ hocus-pocus. Worse of all, it succeeds in making the great Alan Rickman seem boring. At least there is a cool soundtrack and I still have my memories of actually being there which, I’m not sure co-writer director Randall Miller ever was. If he was, he completely missed the point of the place by making such a pretentious film about it and it’s infamous founder/owner Hilly Kristal.

REVIEW: HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS (2013)

HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS (2013)

Hansel and Gretel: WItch Hunters is released on blu-ray and DVD today so, I thought I’d post my review of this comedy/horror!

When you go to see a movie called Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters, obviously you don’t go in expecting Shakespeare but, I did expect it to have a bit more of the giddy fun that Tommy Wirkola brought to his gory zombie blast, Dead Snow. And while I was amused and entertained by H&G, it actually took itself a little too seriously for a film about fairy tale characters grown up to be vengeful witch hunters. With an outlandish story like this, I can appreciate giving the material some respect and not making a joke out of it but, to really make it work you have to give it a bit more over the top like Wirkola did so well with Dead Snow. H&G has action that is bloody and fast moving but, the film needed a bit more of a sense of humor then a few curse laden quips and breaking the same person’s nose, twice. This story of the fairy tale siblings coming up against a very powerful witch (Famke Janssen) with a devious plot to free her kind from the dangers of fire resembles the far more ridiculous Van Helsing to a degree but, could have used a bit of that flick’s over the top energy, just not as out of control (though that does make VH a ‘so bad it’s good’ treat). The film is well done and uses a lot more practical effects then expected and the minimal use of CGI was very refreshing. The cast handles their parts very well with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton having a good time as the badass witch killers and they played their roles with a serious approach but, not without a quick wink every now and then to let you know they are having a good time. Famke Janssen plays her part as the formidable witch with some over the top relish and that made a nice contrast to her stoic adversaries. Rounding out the cast Peter Stormare isn’t given much to do as the town sheriff who is not happy that H&G have come to do his job but, he is more lively here then in The Last Stand. The film looks great. The sets and costumes are really nicely designed as are the various witches and their Troll, Edward (Derek Mears). The cinematography is lush and the locations beautiful. Visually this is a really cool flick. But, as said, Wirkola gives us a fast pace and some nice gory action scenes to entertain us but, he just needed to inject a little more fun in the proceedings to make this a real standout treat. Overall I did enjoy it but, it could have been so much more of a blast if Wirkola wasn’t trying a bit too hard to not turn the material into a joke. There is a fine line to making a movie like this and Dead Snow proves he can walk it just fine. So why didn’t he? An amusing and entertaining enough viewing but, kinda forgettable when all is said and done.

3 bitchy witches  as the lush visuals and design, plus Gemma Arterton’s fine butt in leather, earn it a few extra points.

REVIEW: THE LAST STAND (2013)

THE LAST STAND (2013)

Last Stand arrives on blu-ray today so, I thought I’d post my review of Arnold’s return to leading man status!

I’ll start off by saying it was fun seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger back in action and I liked the fact that he didn’t try to hide that he is in his 60s and isn’t quite John Matrix anymore. The film surrounds him with a likable cast such as his fellow officers “Figgy” and Sarah (Luis Guzman and Jaime Alexander) and a goofy local who collects historical firearms (Johnny Knoxville). The story however is quite generic and cliche. An escaped cartel drug lord (Eduardo Noriega) is going to try to make for the Mexican border right through Sheriff Ray Owens’ (Arnold) rural little town and his band of thugs are going to make sure he succeeds. Owens and Co. have other plans. Director Jee-woon Kim who directed the mesmerizing “I Saw The Devil” gives us a nice pace and some fun and furious action but, sadly the script is weak and the villains are extremely bland. Even the usually unsettling Peter Stormare is dull as main thug Burrell and Noriega’s cartel lord is equally bland and right out of an old Miami Vice episode. And to make a film like this really work, you have to have strong villains for our hero to face and it’s only their sheer numbers that make them a threat. And let’s not forget Forrest Whitaker who seems bored as an FBI agent who let’s drug lord Cortez escape on his watch. Despite the energetic action, overall the film would be quite forgettable if a lesser leading man was cast. It’s great to see Arnold blasting and beating up bad guys again but, once the credits roll the film doesn’t leave any more of an impression then seeing the Austrian Oak back on the screen in a lead role again. And coming from one of the greatest action icons ever and the director of one of the most intense and disturbing thrillers in recent years, it’s a bit of a let down after all is said and done.

2 and 1/2 bullets