The Shallows

Title: The Shallows

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Released: 2016

Starring: Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge, Angelo Jose Lozano Corzo, Jose Manuel Trujillo, Pablo Calva, Diego Espejel, Janelle Bailey

Plot: Struggling to deal with the loss of her mother to cancer medical student Nancy (Lively) travels to the same secluded beach in Mexico her mother had visited. However when she is attacked by a large great white shark, she finds herself stranded 200 yards from the shore while being stalked by the relentless shark.

Review: Director Jaume Collet-Serra really is a director whose work its hard to place as while he’s given us films such as “Orphan” and “Non-Stop” he’s also the same director responsible for giving us the likes of “Goal 2: Living The Dream” and the “House of Wax” remake which so memorably was sold on the prospect of seeing Paris Hilton die. As such your never really sure what your going to get from him and while the concept and trailer for the film really gave it all the potential of being another disposable summer release this film thankfully really isn’t.

Stripping the film down to its key elements here Collet-Serra really crafts something surprisingly special as he seemingly knows that the real heart of the film lies in the battle between Nancy and the shark currently standing between her and the shore... and that’s essentially it. This is also what appealed to Lively who was drawn to the project when she saw the similarities between this film and her husband Ryan Reynolds “Buried”.

True it might be a big shark which continually torments Nancy but this at the same time this isn’t some gigantic creature with super intelligence, which makes this already miles better than the countless shark movies which have continually attempted and failed to top what Steven Spielberg achieved with “Jaws”. The shark here instead is designed with a much more natural behaviour for the most part with Collet-Serra really only letting it off the leash in the build up to the finale. As such the shark only attacks Nancy initially when she stumbles into its hunting ground, while her injuries only serve to maintain its interest in her.

Despite the fact that Blake Lively has hardly set my world on fire with her previous performances which always felt that she was getting by on just being the token pretty girl rather than anything resembling dramatic talent and yet she is fantastic here, especially when its a role that requires her to act by herself for about 90% of the film though she does get a seagull (nicknamed Steven Seagull by Lively) to chat with. While this sounds like kind of a drag here it actually works as we get scenes such as Nancy treating any time she has to perform first aid on herself like she is treating a patient, which sees her talking her way through each procedure which largely consist of short term solutions she can cobble together on the fly.

Seeing how Nancy only has her wet suit, jewellery and a strap from her obliterated surfboard to help her, its fascinating to see how she deals with a situation which only continues to get worse for her especially with the clock continually ticking down to high tide. This of course means we do get some cringy moments such as her pinning a leg wound together using earrings and her necklace and it surprised me to see how willing Lively was to play a character who is essentially brutalised by the elements for the film, especially when she does all her own stunt work here outside of the few moment of surfing which were handled by pro surfer Isabella Nichols who also taught Lively some of the surfing basics such as how to Wax the board and attach a leg rope to give it more of an air of authenticity.

Outside of the survival aspect of the story we also get brief asides to her family as her father questions her decision to drop out of medical school after her mothers death, while her younger sister only further cements the impression we get of her home life. We also get passing interactions with a pair of fellow surfers and her local guide which while they serve to provide potential saviours for her its soon clear that its going to fall to Nancy to get herself out of the situation.

By keeping the shark for the most part for the final quarter it really helps build a sense of creeping dread throughout the film. At the same time while it might be a CGI shark it is still miles ahead of the phoney looking CGI that the Asylum / Sci-fi have been lumbering their productions with and it makes for an effective threat by the production not skimping on this element, especially as we all know how a cheap effect can quickly deflate a production of any tension gained in its build up.

One of the big surprises of the 2016 release schedule this is a film certainly worth seeking out, especially for Shark movie fans left craving the same kind of thrills that “Deep Blue Sea” delivered. At the same time its tight plotting and brief run time stop it outstaying its welcome or becoming too outlandish.

Blue Ruin

Title: Blue Ruin

Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Released: 2013

Starring: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves, Kevin Kolack, Eve Plumb, David W. Thompson, Brent Werzner, Stacy Rock

Plot: Dwight (Blair) is a drifter currently living out of his car when not scavenging for food and money. However his life living off the grid is interrupted when he finds out the man who killed his parents is set to be released from prison so he begins to formulate a plan to take his revenge, only to soon find that its far from straight forward.

 

Review: The career path of director Jeremy Saulnier has certainly been funny one for while he made his directing debut with the 2007 black comedy “Murder Party” a film largely overlooked by most it meant that most people wondered where he had come from when he released this film while the established fans got the a completely different kind of movie than what they'd expected from him. Its also a film which despite its limited theatrical release still went on to be one of the most talked about movies of late with his follow up film “Green Room” only furthering the interest in this film and creating a perhaps unintentional one two punch as audiences often find themselves watching one and quickly seeking out the other.

Shot on a modest budget of $35,000 raised through Kickstarter and his own funds here Saulnier crafts a simple yet effective tale which not only brings to mind the Coen Brothers debut “Blood Simple” but also the equally overlooked "Big Bad Wolves" all while bringing its own unique spin to the revenge genre. While the more traditional approach to this kind of film would see the wronged party spending most of the film plotting their revenge, here Saulnier instead mixes things up by giving Dwight his revenge in the first twenty minutes with Saulnier more interested in the fallout from this situation especially when the family of the man he killed come seeking revenge on him.

Reuniting with his long time collaborator Macon Blair who here plays the unlikely angel of vengeance and who when we first meet him is an almost mute heavily bearded drifter scavenging for food and cashing in cans for money. Right from the start though its clear that Dwight is out of his depth as we see his failed attempts to get a gun only to break it thanks to his attempts to break the security lock. Its almost painfully obvious as we follow Dwight that here we have a man who is using what he’s seen in movies as a guide rather than having any kind of training, a fact that only becomes the more obvious during this first quarter to the film in the lead up to Dwight fatally stabbing the man he believes to be his parents killer in a dive bar toilet.

While this first quarter might give us a mini revenge movie of sorts its really the fallout from his actions that make up the real meat of the story here. The mild mannored Dwight soon finding himself increasingly out of his depth as he’s now hunted by the killer family who have zero qualms about dishing out their own vigilante justice as we discover when they come looking for him at his sisters house. Needless to say the real fun of the film is seeing how he handles the situation which constantly threatens to consume him.

It should be noted that while Dwight’s path of revenge might be a twisting one Saulnier maintains a very black and white world view with the members of the Cleland clan being all grimy and morally devoid compared to Dwight who now is shown as the clean shaven every man who has been thrown into this situation he now having to handle himself, knowing full well that to go to the cops would only lead to him incriminating himself in the process. This inturn gives us such great scenes as Dwight attempting to revolve a crossbow bolt from his leg and his confrontation with Teddy (Kolack) one of the Cleland brothers who he ends up holding hostage in the trunk of his car.

While the violence throughout the film is frequently bloody and graphic Saulnier still shows incredible restraint in when he unleashes such imagery which only serves to maximise its effect when it does happen such as the bathroom stabbing or during the final confrontation. At the same time his characters are not immune to the effects of the violence around them, especially Dwight who constantly struggles to deal with the consequences of his actions bringing a real sense of reality to the film rather than have him just be another emotionless vigilante.

Unquestionably this is Blair’s film as he convincingly plays out Dwight’s journey so that you can believe in the choices he makes. At the same time he also recives strong support from Amy Hargreaves as Dwight’s sister and one of the few pillars of support he has with the other coming from his childhood friend played with a perfect almost deadpan ton by Devin Ratray whose appearance while perhaps more brief than I would have liked still like so many of the characters featured throughout leaves a memorable impression.

This really is a film best seen with as little expectation as possible and while it starts off perhaps alittle slow once it gets rolling it grabs hold of you and refuses to relinquish its grip till its played out its grim finale. Between this film and “Green Room” Saulnier really marks himself out as a talent worth watching and I’m now excited to see where he goes from here.

From Beyond

Title:  From Beyond

Director:  Stuart Gordon
Released:  1986
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree, Ted Sorel, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon

Plot: Dr. Edward Pretorius (Sorel) has created “The Resonator”, a machine which allows people to see beyond normal perceptible reality. However when the initial test run goes wrong leaving Pretorius decapitated and his assistant Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) committed to a psych ward. Now released into the custody of Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Crampton) she sets out to find out more about the experiment they were running.

 

Review:  Why is it that Stuart Gordon never seems to receive the same amount of respect as his “Masters of Horror” counterparts? It’s something that has constantly confused me especially when he was responsible for giving the world “Re-Animator”. A film which in turn would become the first of his “H.P. Lovecraft” adaptations for whom he has remained a source of constant obsession for the director, with this film once again being based on a Lovecraft short story, originally published in “The Fantasy Fan” in 1934.

Shot back to back with “Dolls” in Italy and with an Italian crew as part of a cost cutting measure which Gordon has stated helped him keep the film under budget as what would have cost fifteen million dollars ended up costing around two and a half million instead. Still its a simple enough “Horrors of Science” story with “The Resonator” enables those in its field to enter into an alternative dimension and of course this being based on a Lovecraft tale means that monsters are very much the order of the day. What makes this film standout though is the approach that Gordon chooses to take with the material which is strange to say the least.
 

Opening with Crawford switching on the machine for the first time and soon discovering the first of the creatures on the other side taking the form of a flying moray eel, which almost immediately attacks him, which honestly would be enough for most folks to call it a day. However Pretorius has other ideas as he insists on a second test which soon goes horribly wrong, while more humorously incurring the wrath of their neighbour who ventures over in her rollers to shout at them some more and get her dog back which for some reason or another feels the need to run over there. What only adds to this opening is when she runs in terror from their house seemingly in slow motion, that is until you see Crawford barrelling down the stairs behind her and you realise that she’s just in fact that slow. As great as this opening is it does have the downside of essentially giving the mystery away and means that we pretty much know what the group is going to encounter when they return to the house.

Gordon really works the potential of the short story (a whopping seven pages) with some interesting additions of his own, let alone bringing the story into the present day. That being said it’s the plotting of this film which were the film falls apart as how he chooses to play the story is frequently quite baffling with the opening being the major one for myself seeing how it effectively kills any mystery the film has within its opening ten minutes, so that when Crawford returns to the house / lab with Katherine we already know to an extent what they are in for. For some reason we also get an S&M element added to the story with Pretorius having his own dungeon and which seems to only have been included so that Gordon had an excuse for Katherine to dress up randomly in some sexy leather gear, when suddenly appears to be possessed. I suppose Gordon does try and balance things out by giving us Ken Foree running around in the smallest pair of pants ever.

As I’ve mentioned already, the other side which “The Resonator” opens the door to comes with a host of intresting monsters and which thanks to the work of four different special effects teams and effects created by John Carl Buechler who here comes close to besting those designed by Rob Bottin for “The Thing” which still remains the benchmark for practical effects. That being said there the effects on show here are still extremely impressive as Buechler combines practical effects with elements of stop motion all of which still look great especially with the more gooey effects.  The centrepiece here though is Pretorius who returns in a heavily mutated form and one which continues to change as the film progresses as he unleashes a variety of interesting mutated appendages. As well as Pretorius who provides a suitably demented villain we also get a giant worm thing in the basement which keeps things fun when you have Crawford and Bubba (Foree) battling it with Bubba in just those lovely underpants no less.
 

While this film might not be in the same league as “Re-Animator” its still fun enough to balance out the negatives such as the aforementioned horrible plotting which at times doesn’t seem to know which way to take the film, especially when logic and plausibility are seemingly afterthoughts here. That being said if you’re in the mood for slimy monsters and strange mutations then this one delivers in spades while making you wonder why Gordon remains so overlooked when it comes essential horror directors.

Jawbreaker

Title:  Jawbreaker

Director: Darren Stein
Released: 1999
Starring: Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, Judy Greer, Ethan Erickson, Carol Kane, Pam Grier, Charlotte Ayanna, Chad Christ, Marilyn Manson

Plot: The Flawless Four” are the most popular and beautiful girls at Reagan High School, but when their leader Liz (Ayanna) is accidently killed by her fellow group members, the group are forced to recruit outcast Fern (Greer) after she stumbles across their attempts to cover up the murder. However it’s not long before their simple plan soon starts to spiral out of control.

 

Review: Another film from that golden year for cinema 1999, which it seems was also a golden year for teen comedies aswell, with American Pie, Go and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut all being released the same year as this film which didn’t get a big release on these rain soaked shores, but at the same time watching it now does comes with that lovely wave of nostalgia that 90’s movies tend to come with, while generally reminding me of how badly teen comedies tend to suck these days.

A black comedy in a similar vein as “Heathers” and one whose tone is established within the opening ten minutes as a seemingly harmless kidnapping prank goes horribly wrong, while at the same time making you question if it is possible to actually swallow a jawbreaker which it would seem that director Darren Stein believes to be possible judging by how Liz is left comically looking like a snake trying to swallow an ostrich egg. This dark humour though is truly carried by McGowan who is queen bitch duties as the ruthless Courtney while being constantly supported by her right hand girl Marcie (Benz) who shares Courtney’s believe that power and respect is gained via maintaining via terrorising their fellow students.

While the film would have worked well enough as a dark comedic thriller with the remaining three members of the flawless four covering up their murder of their fourth member. More so when group member Julie (Gayheart) breaks away from the guilt she feels from her part in Liz’s death, an angle which could have been further worked with her being paranoid that Courtney and Marcie might attempt to silence her. However instead we get her trying to change sides and integrating herself into the general student populous when prior to murdering one of her best friends she couldn’t have cared less about them, but hey this is nothing that a new dull as dishwater boyfriend with a Hanson haircut can’t solve, a role played here by Zack (Christ) who would be more forgettable if he wasn’t being forced on us like Stein felt this character was more likable than he is.
 

Stein at the same time clearly felt that the murder cover up plot wasn’t enough to hold the audiences interest and as such attempts to cram in the second plot line of Fern being brought into the group and remodelled in their image as they rebrand her as exchange student Vylette only to soon find their creation going rogue on them as her new found status goes to her head. It’s a plotline which doesn’t really do anything for the most part bar the occasional bit of amusing correction from Courtney and Marcie.

Another aspect which helps the murder cover up part of the story is Pam Grier’s appearance as the investigating detective, even if she randomly disappeared from the film a lot sooner than I would have like. On the positive side she manages to show her usual kickass side with a great monologue about jawbreakers, which she also uses as her weapon of intimidation while trying to extract information from the almost unflappable Courtney, who ultimately provides the downfall moment for Grier’s character who until this point had been shown as a tough and take no nonsense, yet she believes unquestionably the ropey story that Courtney spins her which leads to the arrest of a seemingly innocent man (here played by an unrecognisable Marilyn Manson).

My main gripe though with the film is that we never get any punishment for any member of the guilty party, even though it would seem at the finale that Courtney has been marked to take the fall for the trio, but even she doesn’t get arrested when the school find out what she did in possibly the most cliché way possible. Still the only punishment she seems to receive is to be bombarded with corsages and abuse. That’s right folks she committed murder and her punishment is to have flowers thrown at her! As such this leaves you with the general feeling that getting away with murder is fine as long as you have the right scapegoat.

A flawed film but one that still makes for a fun watch as long as you’re not questioning some of the plot mechanics, while Rose McGowan’s delightfully dark performance alone makes this a worthwhile experience especially when she is seemingly willing to do anything to get away with what she has done regardless of who gets burned in her way and perhaps for that fact alone this makes this film yet another great addition to the golden cinema year of 1999.

Phase IV

Title: Phase IV

Director: Saul Bass

Released: 1974

Starring: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton

Plot: A cosmic event has the effect of mysteriously evolving ants which leads to them developing a hive mind. Now scientists James Lesko (Murphy) and Ernest Hubbs (Davenport) have set up a lab in the Arizona desert to study the ants who threaten to take over the local area.

 

Review: February might be “Women in Horror Month” but equally important is that it also sees my good friend and occasional podcast co-host Emily over at “The Deadly Doll’s House of Horror Nonsense” celebrating her 5^th Annual shortening. A cross blogging event celebrating all that is vertically challenged, so what better excuse could I really need to revisit this film.

Originally I saw this film back was I was a kid as part of a double bill which also included the equally surreal “Fantastic Planet”. This of course was more down to TV scheduling than my parents being the kind of free thinkers who took their kids to surrealist film double features, even if it was my dad who being was responsible for taping the films in the first place. Since that original viewing there was unquestionably something which stuck with me about it, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I revisited it here on the blog.

The sole film to be directed by the acclaimed designer of countless film title sequences and posters, it remains a curiosity to say the least as director Bass teamed up with wildlife photographer Ken Middleham who previously handled the insect sequences for the documentary “The Hellstrom Chronicle” to produce a film which is probably unlike any of the other Wildlife gone rouge movies which came before or which certainly followed and certainly worlds apart from the other ant movies such as "Them!" and "Kingdom of the Ants".

Unlike so many of the Wildlife gone rouge movies this film plays things very smart from the start as it opens with some trippy visuals of the solar event listed as the first of the “Phases” as we soon see the ants coming together in a mini Ant United Nations to put aside whatever differences it is that ants have and start working together, forming huge columns in the desert and hunting the animals which would normally prey on them, as seen with a swarm of ants descending on a spider. All the ant sequences Middleham shot using real ants, making it only all the more remarkable some of the footage that he captures here as he gives the ants a personality let alone has them performing in some remarkable sequences which I’m still stumped as to how he pulled them off.

Setting up their dome shaped lab in the desert the two scientists have very different approaches to the work with Lesko trying to adapt his methods for communicating with whales in an attempt to establish a communication with the ant’s hive mind, using messages coded in mathematics, which generally translates to a lot of constant chattering noise from the ants, while Lesko spends his time looking at various screens of wavy lines or print outs of shapes which he takes to be the ants attempting to communicate. Hubbs meanwhile constantly feels himself being pressurised to deliver results from his superiors frequently leading him to take more direct action against the ant colony in an attempt to stir up more of a reaction, because we all know how well that tends to end up. Things for Hubbs also take an Ahab style turn after he gets bitted by one of the ants, causing his arm to grotesquely swell up while sending him into an ever more delusional and irrational state.

The ants meanwhile prove to be frequently resourceful bunch capable of adapting to any situation the scientists throw at them, even rapidly evolving to become immune to the pesterside sprayed around the lab. At the same time their superior numbers see them tackling anything they consider a threat in skin crawling swarms which could not be truer than when it comes to the demise of one of the characters here which proved to provide the same sense of ill-ease that it did when I first watched and most likely to be the one which sticks with you after the film ends even despite it being filled with so many beautifully shot sequences which really benefit from Bass’s visuals focused style.

While this might not be the most action packed of films, it does have a number of great set pieces such as the ants getting past petrol filled trenches via the use of a log raft or lining up their dead like a world war one field hospital following the collapse of their towers at the hands of Hubbs. At the same time the film is visually stunning despite the spare location which see’s Kenya standing in for the Arizona desert, though why Base choose to shoot here is unclear. The barren desert shots and space ace style dome lab really project a sense of isolation and claustrophobia especially when the ants start to build towers around the lab to increase the temprature or by infiltrating the lab and starting to sabotage the lab equipment. This tension is only added to by the rapidly crumbling mental state of Hubbs so that you truly get the feeling that your part of the situation. Ironically the titular phase IV would end up on the editing room floor leaving us with a rather open ending, rather than the more trippy and fantastical ending that was originally planned seeing the surviving characters being altered to form the next evolutionary step between humans and insects. Shots for this scene would appear in the trailer but even without this ending the film still ends pretty satisfactory if maybe slightly more sudden than you would like.

The film might be low on gore and action but this is still a highly watchable film and one which deserves its cult status, especially when other animals gone rogue movies leaned toward the more preposterous. Here Bass shows that with you can still keep things grounded in a sense of reality without the film being any less effective.

Dead Hooker In A Trunk

Title: Dead Hooker In A Trunk

Director: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska

Released: 2009

Starring: Rikki Gagne, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, C.J. Wallis, Loyd Bateman, Farley M. Gagne, Tasha Moth, Carlos Gallardo, John Tench

Plot: Four friends The badass (Sylvia Soska), her sister the geek (Jen Soska) and their friends the junkie (Gagne) and the goody two shoes (Walis) find their world thrown into chaos when they discover the body of a dead hooker (Moth) in their trunk. Soon their plans to dispose of the body suffer further complications when they soon find themselves targeted by chainsaw welding triads, a cowboy pimp and a brutal serial killer as it seems that the troubles for the group are only just beginning.

Review: While the Soska sisters might now be best known for “American Mary” and their most recent film “See No Evil 2” but this rough and ready debut still makes for an intriguing watch, let alone another reminder of what a pair of hungry film makers can produce even with the most limited of resources. Infact had it not been for their less than stellar film school withdrawing their funding for their final short film then the twins might not have set out to make their own project, which it would seem is as much a fuck you to their former film school as it is their embodiment of the love for genre cinema.

Shot on a budget of $2500, with half the budget being used for effects the girls really faced an uphill struggle from the beginning for anyone whose attempted to venture into the world of film making will tell you that it can easily turn into an expensive venture. Still with a copy of Robert Rodriguez’s “Rebel without a Film Crew” to guide them they managed against all odds to get the film made. True the results might be grimy in quality let alone in content but it’s hard to deny that the film has that spark of raw talent that was only further highlighted once the Twins were given a proper budget for the films which followed, while they pay tribute to Rodriguez’s influence by casting the star of his debut “El Mariachi” Carlos Gallardo who here makes a fun cameo as God.

An eclectic mixture of characters make up the group followed here with each living up to their name, while the fun is seeing how this grisly misadventure changes them over the course of the film, which thanks to the sisters and their love of gruesome effects ensures that it’s both a physical as well as mental change. Each of these characters tend to live by their namesake which frustratingly is largely as far things mainly go in terms of characterisation with Sylvia handling most of the heavy lifting in terms of acting, especially when it comes to the action scenes were her character truly lives up to her name and something made only the more impressive when you consider that the girls here do all their own stunt work….alongside writing, directing producing and acting in the film. This multi-tasking due to budget limitation would equally stretch to Walis who was handling a large amount of the technical aspects of the film only to be brought in for the role of the goody two shoes after the original actor dropped out after the first two days of filming, leading to hasty re-writes and a sex change for Walis’s character who’d originally been female aswell and which I can’t help would have added to what I assume started as a throwback to the girl gang films of the 70’s.

The plotting feels much like the characterisation largely minimalistic as set pieces are strung together with the minimal amount of plot development, which does leave the film at time feeling like it is floundering over what way to take the plot next. However the strength of the set pieces such as a brutal triad attack and badass’s brawl with a cowboy pimp (complete with lasso and horse) do go a large away to covering for such flaws as when the film works it’s a lot of fun and only makes you wish that the sisters had a larger shooting budget. Still what it might lack in plot direction it certainly makes up for in inventiveness as geek loses an eye leading her to create a makeshift gaffa tape patch to cover the now empty socket while junkie loses an arm both injuries which would be serious to any regular character but here seems to be more of an inconvenience to these girls. There is also an attempt at working in a romance angle between goody two shoes and geek but for the most part it came of kind of flat, due to no real chemistry between Jen and Walis combined with it being pushed to the background in favour of another gory sequence.

While the budget might have been limited, the gore effects are still pretty effective not to mention ambitious as seen with the chainsaw attack sequence let alone the disembowelled drug dealer whose insides are being gleefully teased by a triad. Needless to say when it comes to gore the twins don’t like to hold back as surfaces and characters faces are frequently covered in huge gushes of blood and gore, while such sequences are shot with such high energy and gleeful voyeurism that perhaps at times it does feel perhaps alittle OTT.

True this might be a zero budget film, but unlike so many debuts from aspiring those aspiring film makers who shun film school and pumps their fees into their debut film, this film has an element of polish to it, while managing to sidestep the usual pitfalls which tend to befall these films and while it might not be perfect it’s nice to see how they used the film as a learning experience for their superior “American Mary. At the same time its neo-grindhouse charm makes this a fun movie to watch with like-minded friends and an open non-judgemental mind set.

Bad Lieutenant

Title: Bad Lieutenant

Director: Abel Ferrara

Released: 1992

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Leonard L. Thomas, Robin Burrows, Frankie Thorn, Victoria Bastel

Plot: An unnamed police Lieutenant (Keitel) is tasked with investigating the rape of a nun as he tries to battle his own demons as his drug and gambling addictions threaten to consume him.  

Review: Back in the late 90’s when I was first seriously getting into film, beyond the surface level enjoyment I already got from my movie watching, Channel 4 here in the UK used to show Extreme cinema; a genre pretty much dead these days with society on a whole becoming harder to shock it would seem. Back then these films were truly seen as pushing boundaries of taste and would be shown as part of their late night schedule on a Friday night. It was from these seasons of films that I was exposed to films such as Greg Araki’s “The Doom Generation” and necrophilia romance “Kissed” which shocked me almost as much as they held a strange fascination for me, knowing that I was watching something which certainly fell outside of the cinematic mainstream, especially with their frequently graphic depicatations of sex, drugs, nudity and any number of taboo subjects. It would also be through these late night movie watching sessions that I would first see this film, which while I might not have followed it fully back then, still proved to be a memorable experience while kick-starting a lifelong fascination with the films of Abel Ferrara whom I mention in my review of “The King of New York” is my director of choice when I feel like watching something truly grimy and once again here it’s what he truly delivers.

As always with Ferrara it is a suitably grimy vision of New York that he once again gives us here, especially with the Lieutenant frequently seeming to take us on a guided tour of its most seediest parts as he hangs out with drug dealers and trades drugs he steals from evidence, while at the same time adding to his own habit. It’s a habit which when combined with his frequent drinking, often finds him in some more than questionable situations as he frequents with prostitutes often in some form of stupor which also gives us one of the more memorable scenes from the film as a naked Keitel staggers around a room wailing into the night as he looks barely capable of functioning in any form. The other talked about scene sees him pulling over a couple of young girls and forcing them to perform for him as he masturbates and curses beside their car.

As well as these two vices and the constant pursuit of them, the Lieutenant also finds himself in a rapidly increasing spiral of gambling debts, as he continues to back the Dodgers as they face off against the Mets over a series of games, while Baseball player Darryl Strawberry seems to be the only hint at any human connection that he has with anyone with the sporadic interactions he has with his family either erupting in volatile outbursts or general neglect as he often appears to be distant even when surrounded by his family. This self-imposed isolation only increasing over the course of the film as he gambles himself into further debts, while his addictions run wild, ultimately coming to ahead as he suffers a breakdown in a church, memorably grovelling and howling for forgiveness to a vision of a post crucified Jesus.

Unquestionably this is not an easy film to view, but despite the frequently graphic nature and crude tone the film takes, Ferrara clearly isn’t aiming to just shock his audience but instead punch them square in the face as he blurs the lines of gritty reality with frequently grotesque imagery. At the same time it is a powerhouse combination that we get from the potent combination of Ferrara’s direction and a bold and fearless performance by Keitel who despite committing numerous hideous and depraved acts still remains grimly watchable.

Similar in many ways to “Taxi Driver” the film views humanity at its darkest, perhaps making it all the more fitting that a nun is chosen as the victim of rape, as here even a symbol of purity and light is not beyond being soiled. At the same time the nun’s refusal to participate in the investigation of her attackers, furthers Ferrara’s own reoccurring ideals of finding forgiveness and compassion even when surrounded by a society fuelled on violence and hatred.

Unquestionably though thi is not the sort of film which is watched for enjoyment in the traditional sense, but this is still a griping if bleak experience and one truly carried by Keitel, whose performance Nicolas Cage would attempt to replicate with perhaps more overacted results in the unrelated, let alone Ferrara despised “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”. However if you’re looking for a companion piece to “Taxi Driver” it’s safe to say that this film delivers the goods and more.

Elwood's Essential's #8: Requiem For A Dream

Title: Requiem For A Dream

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Released: 2000

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Mark Margolis, Keith David, Seasn Gullette, Hubert Selby, Jr.

Plot: Charting four Coney Island residents and their pursuit of their own vision of happiness, only to soon find their individual addictions leading them into a nightmarish downward spiral.

 

Review: I first saw this film back when I was in college, which is also really where I first seriously started studying film. It was around this same time that having turned 18 I spent most of that birthday joining every video library I could to further my cinematic tastes, beyond the films I was taping off late night TV let alone my already established lusts for Godzilla and Asian cinema which I’d been steadily building on since I first figured out how to use my parents video player. It was amongst these early jaunts into less mainstream cinema that I came across this film which I think I rented along with Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” in what would certainly turnout to be an eye opening double bill.

Since that original viewing though this film has always held a strange fascination with me a power which has yet to wain even after numerous viewings. At the same time this power that the film holds is very much a double edged sword as this film is easily one of the most grim films I have in my collection, so much so that I tend to view it once a year, while it usually takes the remainder of the year to get over the experience. Still with this being “Aprilofsky” I knew that it was kind of inevitable that at some point this month I would inevitably find myself revisiting it.

Based on the book by Hubert Selby, Jr. (who also makes a cameo as a laughing prison guard) the film follows the three intertwining stories of low level drug dealers Harry (Leto) and his best friend Tyrone (Wayans), Harry’s girlfriend and aspiring fashion designer Marion (Connelly) and Sara, Harry’s TV addled mother who dreams of being on television. For of you familiar with Selby, Jr.’s bleak world outlook you will no doubt already know that nothing is going to end up well for this foursome, but it is the journey they each take towards an inevitable downward spiral which Aronofsky perfectly captures and draws you in with, so that by the time you realise the path the characters are on, you are already too drawn into the story to turn back.

Arguably Aronofsky’s strongest film, I know that personally I was glad that I started with this film, rather than with his black and white debut “Pi” which gave the indication that it felt it was smarter than it was, while confusing things further with mathematical theory and mantra style repetition of its lead characters childhood recollection which only made it harder film to follow. Here though he would challenge those who didn’t get his debut as he perfects his use of repetition while heavily working his bag of visual tricks which includes the extensive use of quick cuts which total over 2,000 which only comes into perspective when you consider that most films only contain between 600 to 700 cuts.

The casting here really is spot on while equally risky at the time of the film’s release with Connelly being best known for most us for playing Sarah in “Labyrinth”, Leto aswell was better known for playing a teen heartthrob on “My So Called Life” despite having the snot beaten out of him as Angelface in “Fight Club” while Wayans was (and still is) known for his comedic roles with this film marking one of rare dramatic roles. It should be equally noted that the cast were equally brave for signing up for the film, after all this is hardly a film were any of the characters are going to walk away unscathed by the end credits, a fact which certainly didn’t escape Burstyn who was reportedly horrified by the script and only accepted the role after she saw Aronofsky’s debut “Pi”. Personally I would have placed money on her only wanting to further distance herself from the film, but guess like so many of you that she saw something in that film which I didn’t.

Needless to say each of the cast fully embody their individual characters, fully committing to their roles which was always going to be an essential element to the film as we find ourselves truly caring what happens to these characters, hoping that they will eventually find a way out of their downward spiral. I mean can you think of a time were you have been left feeling unclean and strangely horrified watching a gratuitous sex scene? Even with our drug dealing duo who are slowly being destroyed by a combination of their own habit and a drug dealer turf war drying out their supply chain you still want to see come out of this ordeal relatively unscathed. The most crushing though is the slowly deteriating mental state of Sara who loneliness is only broken up by the self help infomercial which seemingly plays on a continuous loop  and her dream of fitting in her red dress. It really is a tour-de-force performance that Burstyn brings to the role and who through the help of prosthetics and fat suits takes on one of the most startling transformations over the course of the film especially when she is a nervous shell to start with it is utterly heart breaking to see her slow decline over the course of the film as her diet pill abuse only becomes increasingly worse and her grip on reality continues to weaken.

The supporting cast are equally great here, while at the same time never to the point were they distract our attention away from the main foursome. At the same time when it comes to Christopher McDonald and Keith David, they are on such memorable form, that now I instantly associated themselves as being either being a power house self-help guru (McDonald) or a charming drug dealer / pimp (David). These characters though are not there to offer false salvation, but rather existing to simply provide the final push.

Another key element of the film is the killer combination of Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet whose soundtrack really adds a whole new level to the film and even though the “Lux Aeterna” has been overused on countless film trailers, Video games, talent shows and essentially any other event looking for a memorable piece of music. This of course is only one of the memorable tracks on the soundtrack as it perfectly frames numerous moments of the film from drug haze euphoria the playful days of summers, while taking on a more frantic and nightmarish qualities as the characters suffer through withdrawal and ultimately hit their individual rock bottoms.  The soundtrack here though truly highlights how powerful an effect it can be when the soundtrack is working in perfect conjunction with the images on screen.

An unquestionably powerful film, yet not the sort of film you pick up as a casual watch and like "Schindler's list" it is best approached with some pre-warning and a stack of cartoons to help you deal with the aftermath, as this one is unquestionably brutal. At the same time it marked Aronofsky out as major talent on the indie film making scene an while he has yet to top this high bench mark he set for the films to come, it served as a taste of what would follow. 

The Purge

Title: The Purge

Director: James DeMonaco
Released: 2013
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Tony Oller, Rhys Wakefield, Arija Bareikis, Chris Mulkey

Plot: In the year 2022, America has become a nation reborn under the New Founding Fathers of America and while the country enjoys an all-time low for crime and unemployment rates, this new government has also instituted an annual 12-hour period called “The Purge”. During this period all criminal activity is legal and a period which security salesmen James (Hawke) and his family choose to hide out in their heavily fortified home. However when James son Charlie (Burkholder) lets a bloodied stranger (Hodge) into the house, the family soon find themselves the target of a group of masked killers eager to claim the stranger for Purging.  

Review: Once again I find myself throwing my hands up in despair as I’m faced once again with the conundrum over if it is truly possible to have a horror film which perfectly balances style and substance, especially as I’m now in the same position I was after I watched “The Strangers”. A film much like this one in that both are essentially stylised but ultimately hollow home invasion thrillers, let alone the fact that both featured being killers in memorable masks.

Taking a break from remaking classic horror films this film is one of the rarer original projects to come out of Michael Bay’s “Platinum Dunes” production company let alone one with an intriguing premise, one perfectly outlined in the government broadcast announcing the start of the 12-hour purging period, were crime from murder and theft through to more shockingly rape is all legal. Despite the illusion of a crime free for all this projects, the government brief is equally keen to stress that Government officials cannot be targeted much like the usage of weapons above class 4 which I guess is to ensure that you don’t get some looney with a nuclear device running around. Much like the “Battle Royale Act” which was used to control the out of control youth. The Purge is used by the government as a way for society to resolve its overwhelming issues, which in this case is the need to vent frustrations and deviant behaviours, with the belief being that by providing this release only helps this new society grow stronger, though at the same time it is hinted that it is also a way of weeding out the poor and those who could be seen as causing a burden on the economy and resources, especially when unlike the rich they are not able to hide out this period.

Meanwhile on the other end of the scale James and his wife Mary (Headey) might not have to worry about the Purge as they hide away behind the illusion of security provided by the steel covers and security cameras, they are instead left to ponder over the moralistic questions their children pose them over their choice of choosing not to Purge, let alone the wealth which their father has amassed selling security systems to the rich to protect them from being potentially purged. Needless to say these questions being posed by the children are the least of their worries seeing how both of these irritating kids mange to spearhead most of the major issues the family have to face, with the eldest child Zoey (Kane) smuggling her boyfriend into the house before lockdown, while their son Henry (Oller) is easily the most irritating character in the film, while easily to blame for causing most of the families issues, seeing how he is also responsible for letting the stranger into the house.

This terrible twosome are easily the biggest frustration about this film and frequently had me wondering what the law was concerning purging your own family members? So with this never being a possibility, we are left instead with the increasingly moronic decision that their actions frequently lead to, much more when they frequently have a habit of disappearing at the worse possible moments. Needless to say this film would certainly have been greatly improved without these characters or perhaps by getting better child actors.

The main threat the family have to contend with though is the group of masked purger’s whose masks have already become an iconic image of the film, which is especially true of their nominated leader, known solely as Polite Leader (Wakefield). As per his name this leader remains calm and polite throughout, even shooting one of his followers when they suffer an outburst. Needless to say despite his insistence that the family won’t be harmed if they give up the stranger seeking refuge in their house, Wakefiled plays the role with such a sinister edge your never sure how true his promises are, let alone the fact that he manages to come off even more creepy without his mask. One of the stronger parts of the film, Wakefield’s character is sadly underused and left to mainly threaten the family through the shutters and never really gets chance to really do much beyond this.

While the costuming is unquestionably memorable, especially with the Polite Leader’s group with their almost uniform styling, this ultimately is all surface gloss as the film plays out like a less tense version of the far superior “Panic Room” combined with a few scattered moments of home invasion horror throughout, though none played with any kind of tension or horror, even though getting to see Hawke finally going postal on the home invaders is fun if frustratingly cut too short when it just gets going. Despite its setup promising unbridled chaos and anarchy these home invasion moments and the selection of CCTV footage which makes up the opening credits, though honestly this wouldn’t matter much if there was any kind of real suspense to hold your attention, which sadly there really isn’t and what scattered moments you do get are essentially stomped over by the antics of one of the kids.

Despite a great concept it sadly is never used to full potential, but seeing how movie goers are attracted to cool visuals it has meant that a sequel is already heading our way soon, while baring more of a wiff of similarity to the plot of “The Warriors” it would seem. Could this be Bay’s way of secretly pushing through his ideas for his long mooted remake of the cult classic…I guess we will have to wait and see, though hopefully it will learn from the mistakes of this film and give us something alittle more substantial than a fancy shell.

Easy A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Easy A

Director: Will Cluck

Released: 2010

Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michlka

Plot: Clean cut student Olive (Stone) lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Michalka) about going on a date to get out of a camping trip, which soon escalates to her lying aswell about losing her virginity to a college guy. However when her lie is overheard by the strictly religious Marianne (Bynes), it soon starts to spread around the school while also leading to a surprising new business for Olive

Review: Okay it’s safe to say that when I was working out what to watch this for my review, things weren’t going so great seeing how I been drenched by two jerks driving through puddles beside me on the way home, as well as the stupid blinds falling down again….needless to say it wasn’t the best of times. So hence I decided to finally watching while angry punching the buttons on the Sky+ in hopes of finding something fun and carefree. It is only all the more of a bonus that it also happened to feature Emma Stone

Following in the footsteps of Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You and Cruel Intentions, this film sees Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlett Letter” also getting the high school remake treatment in what was originally intended to be the first part of an interlinking trilogy of films and one which would have seen both “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” also being given a similar treatment. As of the time of writing this is still to happen and sadly currently seems unlikely to either. Still as a standalone film this still stands well on its own as Olive not so much reworks the story of Hester Prynne, but instead draws comparison between Hester’s life and her own as their situation especially as both are thrown into turmoil by the rumour of sexual promiscuity.

One big difference here though is that Olive unlike Hester refuses to let her new found reputation as the school tramp persecute her, as she not only starts playing up her fake reputation by dressing more provocatively and proudly displaying a red A (the old symbol adulaters as well as the symbol Hester was branded with) on her clothes as she works it for the added popularity and increase social status it gives her, especially when she helps her gay friend Brandon (Byrd) convince the rest of the school is straight by pretending to sleep with him, an event which soon has her offering a similar service to boys at her school that are hopeless in love to help improve their own social status’s in exchange for money and gifts though while this starts well with her friend Brandon the quality of gifts soon sharply decline in quality, which only makes it all the more amusing to see Olive working her own pricing structure in regards to what a hardware gift card gets someone.
 

Sadly while the film plays out it’s Scarlett Letter inspired plot well, it sadly throws it away in the last quarter with an unneeded romance between Olive and the school mascot “Woodchuck” Todd played here with grating smugness by Penn Badgley, who I can only guess director Cluck felt came across more hip than he does. It is equally frustrating that the film in places descends into an John Hughes homage, especially with the ending which goes for the grand crescendo of combining elements of The Breakfast Club, Say Anything and Can’t Buy Me Love to nauseating effect and the overwhelming feeling that Cluck couldn’t think of any other way to end it, especially when it doesn’t flow as well as an earlier nod to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. Still these references only continue to baffle further when you consider that she is supposed to be a current 17 year old and honestly I don’t know many kids born in the 90’s / 00’s who really care about these movies held in such high regard by the kids of my own generation who mostly grew up with them, while those playing catch up like myself usually struggle to see what the fuss is about. True Olive is played as being mature for her age, especially as she confidently references the key points of the “The Scarlett Letter” something I doubt most students her age could, let alone will have watched both film versions, even if her comparison and dismissal of the Demi Moore version is great.

Of course the real strength of this film lies with the confident lead performance by Emma Stone, who is every bit the feisty redhead with an equally sharp and witty tongue, which only makes Olive more fun to be around. It is also equally an advantage that Stone is more than capable of providing a frequently humorous narration (something deceptively harder than it seems as Keira Knightly proved as she snarled her way through “Domino”) as she regales the tale of her current situation via webcast complete with handwritten title cards. Equally fun is the support from the more established actors like Thomas Haden Church who appears as a cliché spouting teacher, while Lisa Kudrow takes a break from playing her usual dumb blondes and psycho bitches to instead give us a more neurotic and frantic character as the school guidance councillor who also seems to be frequently justifying her role within the school, as she references one after school session for a student who brought a butter knife to school as she proclaims “It’s a gateway knife”. Both are so much fun here it makes me wonder why they are not seen more.
 

Sadly such strong support doesn’t extend to her fellow students who are a mixed bag to say the least with Bynes’s fanatical Christian being so over the top that it regularly becomes farcial, but considering how Bynes’s suffered a breakdown which saw her retire from acting after this film it is hard to tell with this knowledge how much of this was planned. Equally unbelievable is Michalka as Olive’s supposive best friend Rhiannon, but never at one point does their friendship seem believable which is only made the more worrying when they are supposed to be best friends which never seems to come across at any point, as instead we are left with a feeling that Rhiannon is someone who has just claimed friendship with Olive rather than anything closer.

It is purely on the strength of Stone’s abilities as an actress that this film is as strong as it is, especially with its artistic licence regarding students and patching supporting cast, let alone the fact she pretty much carries it on her own performance which ultimately makes this a fun and breezy watch and certainly put me in better mood, but then considering how fun Olive is to be around its hardly surprising and the type of role we will see Stone playing more in the future, especially as who doesn’t love a feisty redhead?

Alpha Dog

Title: Alpha Dog
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Released: 2006
Staring: Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Dominique Swain, Bruce Willis, Shawn Hatosy, Olivia Wilde, Sharon Stone, Ben Foster, Amanda Seyfried, Anton Yelchin

Plot: Johnny Truelove (Hirsch) a young drug dealer and son of underworld figure Sonny Truelove (Willis) orchestrates an impulsive kidnapping of Zach Mazursky (Yelchin), hoping that it will force his older brother Jake (Foster) to pay up his debts, but things soon things begin to spiral quickly out of control.



Review: Based on the events in August 2000 which lead to the murder of Nicholas Markowitz, with the film changing the names of those involved, as well as being set a year earlier, which puts the setting for the film on November 1999, which is an unusual move for a biopic but certainly not unheard of especially after “Domino” (2005), which so proudly proclaimed that it was based “on the truth and the lies” and it’s seemingly expected that the decision to make such changes to allow for the more fictional elements of the film to help link together the events which lead to Markowitz’s murder, without receiving criticism for fabrication of the facts. Still what director Cassavetes has unwittingly also created is possibly the most raw and and realistic portrayal of youth culture since Larry Clarke’s highly controversial debut “Kids” (1995) while also being equally comparable to Clarke’s own stab at the same genre with his equally controversial “Bully” (2001) a film which it is essentially the easiest to compare to, as both feature over sexed, drug fuelled suburban teens, making rash criminal choices and being forced to face the consequences of such actions.

Opening with Truelove and his crew working out while tossing about gangsta style slang and tough guy bravado, it would be hard believe that these characters have not escaped from one of Clarke’s films, especially as these are the sort of characters he tends to favour, especially with every other word seeming being a dererative of the word f**k or some other curse word, but then these are young men in their early twenties and it’s allot more realistic than the smart ass, pop culture reference heavy dialogue which usually accompanies most movie teens these days. Still these are rich kids with nothing better to do than, further their gangster fantasies as they pop pills and snort their away through adolescence, with Truelove playing ringleader to this circus of fools, all buying into the lifestyle that Truelove and his followers are trying to emulate, with Truelove in particular seemingly trying to follow in the criminal footsteps of his father, while hiding his own cowardly ways behind his tough guy bravado, a fact known all to well by the short fused Jake, whose own conflict with Truelove leads to Truelove grabbing Jake’s younger and more naive brother Zack. Interestingly this portrayal of Truelove is almost the opposite of his real life counter part, who was not only the youngest man to ever make the FBI's most wanted list, but also demonstrated high levels of intelligence which helped him elude the FBI for a number of years after the murder.

It’s once the group have grabbed Zack that things take very “Kids” esq turn, for Zack isn’t taped up to a chair for the duration of the film while being continuously tormented by his kidnappers, but instead left in the care of Frankie (Timberlake), who in turn brings him inside the groups inner circle, soon seeing Zack being caught up in the faux glamour of their world, while happily drinking, smoking weed and engaging in swimming pool threesome’s, all things his mother has seemingly worked so hard to shelter him from, especially with his older brother being now deemed a loss cause. It’s Zack's journey into faux adulthood that makes the film distinctly different from most crime dramas and did make me forget what sort of film I was watching which in a way makes the actual murder all the more shocking when it happens, especially after being lead on this hedonistic journey only for it too all come suddenly crashing to a close. Still it was these scenes which took me the most by surprise, especially having put off watching the film, expecting another teens making very bad choices movie and really not wanting to see another film trying to emulate Larry Clarke’s work, something which the British film industry has been frequently responsible for adding to and a cinematic crime that Noel Clarke has been especially guilty of adding to with trash like “Kidulthood” and it’s much unwanted sequel “Adulthood”, but here director Cassavetes has certainly managed to find his own unique voice for his characters, so that they are all individual even if they frequently seem to share the same voice.

Despite upon the films release the critics were keen to comment on the fact that Timberlake could actually act, especially as this film added to his then radical attempts to move away from his teenie bobber status and true he is very good in this film, as he was also in the much underrated “Southland Tales” (2006), here providing the moral voice of the group, as he frequently questions the situation the group have found them in, to the point were he even offers Zack an open invitation to escape, while later accepting Zack as part of the group which makes Zack’s eventual demise all the more wrenching to watch, knowing that his protector has ultimately betrayed them. Still the true standout performance here is an honour that instead belongs to Foster, who is best remembered as the nerdy love interest of Claire Fisher on “Six Feet Under” a role he is truly a polar opposite of here, were he is a 100% badass while demonstrating fighting skills I never knew he had, as demonstrated by a house party beat down, were he single handily batters numerous opponents with ease.

In terms of star power amongst the cast it is limited to Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone, with the cast at the time being comprised of largely unknown actors, despite many going on to larger roles, but both of these established actors put in strong performances, while being limited to strictly supporting with role, with Stone later donning a fat suit for her characters current day appearance as a woman truly broken by the death of her sun, while putting in a performance which is certainly one of her best in a long time, as woman who has truly lost everything, especially during the final scenes which prove to be the most emotionally powerful.

While some might grumble that the film takes liberties with the fact, with the case notes frequently being pushed into the background and largely limited to on screen notes highlighting and numbering witnesses to the case, while certainly not playing as fast and loose with the facts as “Domino” (2005) as memorably did to help cram in another shoot out and thankfully not the case here with director Cassavetes, not trading in the focus to work in more teenage flesh. Still viewed as either a youth in revolt movie or as a crime biopic, it's still a great film and one that dares to look at the darker side of popularity.

Donkey Punch

Title: Donkey Punch
Director: Oliver Blackburn
Released: 2008
Staring: Robert Boulter, Sian Breckin, Nichola Burley, Tom Burke, Julian Morris, Jaime Winstone, Jay Taylor, Nichola Burley

Plot: Lisa (Breckin), Kim (Winstone) and Tammi (Burley) are three friends on holiday in Mallorca, helping Kim get over a recent break up. A chance encounter with four young men, who in turn invite them back to their yacht to party. Once they get out to sea, a combination of drink, drugs and casual sex, lead to one of the girls being killed by a risqué sex act called the “Donkey Punch”. In the ensuing panic the boys quickly plot to cover up the event, as the surviving girls now find themselves fighting for survival.



Review: Film4 has in the past been responsible for producing some great films in the past few years including “Series 7: The Contenders” (2001), Buffalo Soldiers (2001) and “Shaun of the Dead” (2004), this however is not one of those films.

Plot wise it's one that is far from original and one we have seen more than a few times before and certainly handled better than it is here, were a group find themselves in a tricky situation which only gets worse the more they attempt to get themselves out of it, usually because of bad choices and questionable morality. Here once more those same things are all present only with Director Blackburn attempting to give proceedings a Larry Clarke esq twist, by including gratuitous sex, drugs and nudity only without none of the improvised indie charm which Clarke brings to his films, as Blackburn attempts to build a film on the controversy of death by sexual misadventure, via the titular “Donkey Punch” a risqué sex move involving punching a girl in the back of the neck prior to ejaculation (don’t ask me how people come up with these things) to maximise male pleasure.

It takes record time for the film to setup it’s premise as we are barely fifteen minutes into the film, before the girls are convinced into joining the boys they have just met on a private yacht, were they have been crewing and currently left to look after for the owner and even less time before the girls are busy popping pills and smoking crack with these same guys who they have just met, while Lisa and Tammi are even sooner demonstrating just how loose their personal morals are in a group sex session, which in turn leads to the trigger point of the groups troubles. Now normally from this point you’d expect things to speedily escalate, especially with the guys being worryingly quick in their plotting to cover things up, in a bid to save their personal reputations, while bizarrely confident that they can convince Tammi and Kim to go along with their story, after all they did only just kill their best friend but what hell right? Well from this point things tend to go the opposite way, with the speedy escalation of issues not happening as the film proceeds to grind almost to a halt as Blackburn seems to be almost trying to convince the audience that the girls might possibly go along with such a random plan. Thankfully things get back on track with the girls trying to escape from the increasingly psychotic guys, who in turn begin to fall out between themselves as each begins to question the motives of the other, but even after their first attempt to escape the girls still sit down to a meal with their now captives, rather than attempting to plot another escape plan, while the cover up plan only continues to grow all the more ludicrous the longer the film goes on.

None of the characters are particularly likable with the guys all being for the most part indistinguishable from each other, with the only exception being the knuckle dragging buffoon Bluey (Burke) who is largely responsible for one of the guys attempting to follow up on his boasts of performing the “Donkey Punch”, played here by Tom Burke who is clearly a graduate of the Danny Dyer school of acting, as he mumbles his way through the film and irritated the hell out of me every time he appeared on the screen, to point were his death really could not come quick enough. The rest of the cast outside of Jaime Winstone (Daughter of Ray “The Daddy” Winstone) are all unknowns, though it is hard to say if this is the reason for the performances being so bland or just the lack of characterisation which the script gives them, which seemingly only extends to their libidos and general self preservation.

The soundtrack is honestly one of the most boring things I have heard in awhile and comprises of either chic indie bands, popular dance tracks or the questionable score by François Eudes, who aims for a soundtrack similar to John Carpenters “Halloween Theme”, with a similar repeating rift, only this one goes nowhere and sounds like the cd has got stuck, rather than adding anything to the already minimal tension.

Gore wise things are surprisingly light, especially when Blackburn seems to be quite happy to be as explicit as possibly when it comes to sex and drugs, but seemingly onscreen violence is were he draws the line, with most of the deaths fails to have their money shot, in particular the highly original deaths by flare and outboard motor, both of which fall painfully flat here, especially with the later having no real pay off, especially for the death which was highlighted so frequently in the promotion materials for the film. Still seeing how the film budget didn’t apparently stretch to lighting it makes it pretty hard to see what is going on half the time

“Donkey Punch” is a heavily flawed film, suffering from major flaws such as uninteresting and indistinguishable characterization as well as some truly horrible pacing throughout which only makes what is a relatively short run time an incredibly tedious experience to sit through as despite the curious title, this film is seriously lacking any kind of punch.