Panic Button

Title: Panic Button

Director: Chris Crow

Released: 2012

Staring: Scarlett Alice Johnson, Jack Gordon, Michael Jibson, Elen Rhys, Joshua Richards
 

Plot: four strangers a brought together after winning a competition for an all expenses paid trip to New York on fictional social networking site “All2gether.com”. Having given up their mobile phones, the group board their private jet, were they are greeted by a mysterious voice represented by a cartoon Alligator, who appears on the numerous monitors in the plane, who proceeds to invite them all to play a series of games, in a bid to win even more prizes. It’s only once the games begin that the group realise that things might not be what they seem and even more so that they should really have read the terms and conditions.

 

 

Review: It’s safe to say that this era will be defined as the “the social networking” era, especially as it seems the majority of us can’t get through the day without our Facebook / Twitter fix and I know that i’m certainly no exception to this. So what better time could there be for “Panic Button” to come along, the second feature by English writer / director Chris Crow who here supposedly attempts to highlight the dangers of social networking sites, especially with it’s Dan Brown esq title card “Inspired by true stories shared via social networks”.

The group chosen to play the game though small in number are interesting enough from the first impressions we get from them as we have single mum Jo (Johnson), the geeky computer nerd Max (Gordon), the laddish Dave (Jibson) and the bubbly blonde Gwen (Rhys), but it’s once the games start that we truly learn who these characters really are, as their darkest secrets are dredged from their internet histories and social network pages and put on show for the others to see, as director Crow reminds us just how much information we send across the internet on a daily basis and what it can possibly revel about us. Though small in numbers especially when compared to the group numbers in similar films, they still manage to have enough dark secrets to compensate and the claustrophobic setting of the aircraft cabin certainly working to the advantage of such a small number of potential victims.

The cast are all unknowns yet still pull off believable performances, with the anonymity certainly working to their advantage here as no one is viewed with any preconceived notions of what sort of characters any of the group really are. Joshua Richards however seems to be channeling Brian Cox for his portrayal of the mysterious voice known funnily enough only as “Alligator” seeing how he’s represented by surprise! Surprise! of all things a talking alligator. Still this Brian Cox inspired voice acting is a great choice, especially seeing how Cox was so memorable with his own commentary in brutal PS2 game “Manhunt” and it’s a similar switching between playful and taunting that Richards brings to the role, which proves to be one of the stronger parts of the film, especially as he continually gives the impression of being in complete control, even as the group try to fight against the game they are being forced to play.

Premiering at “Horrorfest” it’s premise made this film instantly one of the most talked about films of the festival, with its premier being greeted with much excitement and honestly the first thirty minutes of this movie are really great with the tension slowly being cranked up, as the games start of innocent enough with truths about the groups members being exposed to revel such fun facts as who secretly has a pierced scrotum, only to then suddenly take on a much darker edge, as the once playful voice suddenly becomes a lot more taunting and with the plane in flight it leaves the group with no were to run and zero means of escape, leaving them fully in the hands of this anonymous voice. Sadly it’s around this point that the film soon starts to loose it’s way as the group members are each assigned their own individual tasks causing a serious break in the tension, as the film now starts to feel as if it has no place to really go and is essentially padding out its run time, with this drawn out final game.

The main problem though for the film is that it tries to keep the focus purely on the group, no doubt due to budget restrictions which makes sense to keep the action purely in one setting, though without a second plot thread to keep the film flowing it results in the audience soon growing bored of these characters, especially when we know who they are which results in grinding everything to almost a standstill. A quick glance at similar films to this one only further highlight this issue, for example “Saw” is set largely around the two guys locked in a disused bathroom, but we still have the second plot-line involving Detective Tapp tracking Jigsaw to help keep the action flowing, even “Cube” had it’s series of identical interlinking rooms to throw in a few surprises, were as here it feels that they have written themselves into a corner with the setting and outside of how certain contestants meet their demise, there is very little on offer to surprise the audience once their secrets have been revealed and we know who they really are, with the final big twist almost seemingly anticlimactic once the big revel is given, while when the face behind the mysterious voice is revealed it only results in more questions as to how they managed to orchestrate the whole thing, while the epilogue is certainly undeniably chilling.

Director Crow takes the refreshingly original direction here to keep the film largely gore free, which might be slightly disappointing for those expecting to see “Saw on a plane!” but it certainly doesn’t take anything away from the film by not painting the walls with buckets of gore and amputated limbs, which after seven “Saw” movies is a much needed breath of fresh air for the genre and proving once again that you don’t always need to gross out your audience.

Despite having it’s numerous flaws “Panic Button” is still worth a rental, even if it doesn’t exactly manage to keep up the tension the whole way through, it still plays out well enough to keep your attention, even when it feels like such minimal plotting is being stretched way too thin, while Director Crow show potential for good things, it is still way too early to start categorizing him as the new voice of British horror, he has still managed to pull off an effective film on a minimalist budget which reminds you again that a good films doesn’t always need to have big named stars and a huge budget to achieve it’s effect and perhaps with a little more tweaking this film could have been a better example of this.

Kolobos

Title: Kolobos

Director: Daniel Liatowitsch, David Todd Ocvirk

Released: 1999

Starring: Amy Weber, Donny Terranova, Nichole Pelerine, John Fairlie, Promise LaMarco, Llia Volok

Plot: Five strangers are brought together to spend three months living in a Big Brother style house under the pretence of being part of an anthropology-related experimental film. However soon it becomes clear that not everything is what it seems.

Review: One of those films I have been meaning to watch for the longest time, only to get delayed by other titles taking priority on the viewing pile but more largely because it has hardly the most memorable of titles. Title aside this equally not the most talked about movie out there, with almost minimal reviews and while it might not quite be on the same obscure levels as "The Long Lunch" it is certainly under the radar. Now while 1999 might have been an incredible year for cinema, I can sadly report that now having finally watched this film that this was not one of the better ones to come out that year.

The sole film to be directed by the Swiss duo, before following it with individual features which saw Liatowitsch directing the MMRPG documentary “Avatars Offline” while Ocvirk wrote the DTV zombie movie “Last Rites” both then disappearing from the movie making scene altogether. This film would also invariantly be a forerunner to the more remembered “My Little Eye” which essentially gave us the same film while perhaps taking a more unique approach by being shot from the perspective of the surveillance camera, while here directors Liatowitsch and Ocvirk opt for a more traditional route as the house setup serves more as a reason to bring the characters together than anything else.

Frustratingly the first hour of this film is pretty solid, with the group all being introduced via selection of audition tapes as we meet failing stand up and self-convinced funny man Tom (Terranova), struggling b-movie horror actress Erica (Pelerine), college drop-out Gary (Fairlie) and fast food worker Tina (LaMarco). This group are also joined by artist Kyra (Weber) who is looking to move on from her recent time spent in a halfway house for her increasingly dark visions which she channels into her artwork. All of the main cast are likeable in their roles even if there are a few moments were some of the cast overplay their part, yet at the same time it is hard to not place these moment equally on clunky dialogue. It is equally interesting that this group of fame hungry wannabe’s all looking for their ten minutes of fame would get just that by appearing in this film as none of them would go on to do anything else following its release, with the exception of Weber who fittingly plays the group outsider. Weber perfectly portrays Kyra who spends most of the film unable to tell if Faceless is real or one of her visions, much less if she is responsible for what is happening in the house.

A relatively short film at 90 mins, but boy did that last half hour drag which is even more surprising considering how the tension is slowly cranked up in the first hour, with ghostly visions of a faceless figure around the house, let alone a hand creeping out from under the bed. However once it hits the one hour mark the film suddenly hits a downward spiral from which it never recovers as the house turns into a deadly funhouse of booby traps as the group find themselves being picked off one by one by the faceless killer known simply as Faceless (Volok).

While the final thirty minutes are pretty formulaic I really can’t fault the film makers originality here, which when it comes to the death scenes it really has in spades with the detached head turned into a mirror ball being a particular highlight. Still from flying buzzsaws to an acid shower the death scenes really do for the most part deliver, while an antler impalement feels overly familiar to the infamous splinter sequence from “Zombie Flesh Eaters”. Each of the deaths are handled well even with the limited budget, with the buzzsaw death being especially memorable partly becomes it comes out of nowhere and secondary because of how the victim is left to writhe while the rest of the group believably freak the hell out.

Frustratingly during the final half hour the film dissolves into a standard stalk and slash format and while the deaths might be oozing in originality, there is a sense that the film is being rushed towards its conclusion (not that it moves any quicker trust me) with death scenes becoming increasingly sloppy or rushed. This of course brings me to my next issue and that’s with the ending which makes absolutely no sense as if you’re like myself you find yourself bouncing between two different ideas of what it all means, while also with the sneaking suspicion that the film makers are trying to be smarter than their script allows, much like opting to call the film “Kolobos” (the German word for mutilated) over its alternative and more fitting title “Haunted House”.

Irritating for how it throws away a promising setup, this is one worth more a curious rental than being actively sought and while the duo never choose to follow it up, it remains a tantalising prospect of what they could have achievd with perhaps alittle more focus and a tighter script.
 

Series 7: The Contenders

Title: Series 7: The Contenders
Director: Daniel Minahan
Released: 2001
Staring: Will Arnett, Brooke Smith, Michael Kaycheck, Merrit Wever, Richard Venture, Marylouise Burke, Glenn Fitzgerald, Donna Hanover, Danton Stone

Rating: 4 / 5

Plot: The Contenders is the ultimate reality TV show, were six people are picked at random by a social security number lottery, before being given a gun and forced to hunt each other down, while the cameras follow their every move. Dawn (Smith) is the currently reigning champion, having won two seasons already and only needs to win one more season to be set free, but at eight months pregnant and faced with having to hunt down her high school sweet heart Jeff (Fitzgerald). will she be able to survive this final game.

Review: Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching “The Hills” marathon most of this week on MTV (It’s more to do with there being nothing else on, than watching out of any kind of necessity), which urged me to dig this film out from the collection again, especially seeing how the film is not only shot exactly like a reality TV show, with only the barest of title cards and none of the extensive crew listing which would mark it out as being a film, so it almost feels as if you’ve popped in a pilot taping of a TV show, while the illusion is only added to by having shown in a TV marathon format.
On it’s original release it was over looked, mainly due to reality TV not being as much of a cash cow, with reality TV only in it’s infant stages, which probably explains why I found it to be a much more effective film now than I did when I first watched it, though bizarrely enough, “Series 7” originally started as an idea for TV back in 1998, when director Minaham pitched it as a fake reality TV concept, only for one TV Executive to return to Minaham asking “Can it be more sexy and less violent?”. Still it was the experience gained by working on a reality TV show which inspired Minaham to pen the film in the first place.



The contestants (or contenders as they are known) are a real mixed bunch, who Dawn has standing between her and freedom, including student Lindsey (Wever), retired conspiracy nut Franklin (Venture), ER nurse and possible angel of death Connie (Burke), the cocaine snorting unemployed asbestos remover Anthony (Kaycheck) and of course her high school sweetheart Jeff, who is also dying of testicular cancer.
Each of these contestants are very different from each other and also have their own way of attending to the task they been given, as the film constantly switches between the camera crews following each of them, with Lindsey being driven around by her family values driven parents, giving her pep talks before sending her off to kill, while Dawn takes great delight in driving to the houses of her fellow contenders and taunting them over the phone. The camera crews also acting as a source of confession, as we learn more about each of them, though a mixture of their conversations with their cameraman, creating such great moments as Lindsey talking about her boyfriend buying her a bulletproof vest, with a sense of nievity, as if he’d just bought her flowers almost unaware of the danger she is in, or Connie talking about her work in a busy ER, which constantly alludes to her darker side. These are also added to though the info bursts, which randomly appear accompanied by the dry commentary of the show narrator (Arnett), who also comments on the action, while never allowing himself to show any emotion towards any of the contestants and their actions, almost as if he is passed being shocked by the things he has seen the contenders do to each other.
The fact that all of the contenders are played by unknowns really helps, with the tension and in many cases, provides a number of nasty shocks, especially when contenders you expected to be with the show to the end, suddenly meet a grisly death at the hands of one of their other contenders, much like the general public it would seem with their occasional interactions with the contenders, who take on it would seem a similar level of fame, achieved by reality TV contestants, seen in a brief scene of a maternity nurse asking Dawn to sign her scan photos of Dawn's baby.

Despite all of the contenders being given a standard handgun by the production team, surprisingly enough none of the contenders actually use this weapon, with the deaths seen here all pretty original including a savage beating to death and lethal injection both making an appearance and certainly pushing the film past my expectations, of what I expected to see, having originally expected a film heavy on shootouts, which are absent outside of the pot-shots contenders occasionally take at each other, with several of the deaths even proving quite disturbing to watch, even for a veteran of movie violence like myself, with each death being stripped down to it’s basics with the reality TV style camera work being used, with what your not seeing only adding to the imagery you are seeing. It’s in this perticular aspect that Connie really steps into her own, having been introduced as a timid character, she is soon proving more than willing to do what it takes to get the job done, never quite slipping into a psychotic state but instead reducing her world view into a more black and white state, seeing justification in everything she does and only showing weakness when this new world she has created for herself, is confronted by her duties as a nurse to actually save lives rather than taking them away, but it would seem even this has been infused with her own personal beliefs even before the show started.

The past which Jeff and Dawn share does take over a major part of the film, while also glancing at the issue of euthanasia, seeing how Jeff is using the show as a way to for him to escape his life dominated with fighting his terminal cancer. Still their back story in a way slowed down the film a little to much for me, but that could also be down the to use of “Love will tear us apart” by Joy Division which made this scene kind of drag for me, especially as I’ve never been the biggest fan of that band (New Order were okay though). Still these scenes are not without purpose, adding not only the love interest aspect to the show (something which is certainly a popular reality TV theme) but also helping to drive the story onwards, as you’re confronted with the prospect of Dawn killing her high school sweetheart, who she very clearly still cares for much to the resentment of Jeff’s current wife.

“Series 7” makes for an interesting study of reality TV and what lengths it can be stretched to provide the audience with an ever more real experience and even though, this idea has certainly been done before, with films like “The Running Man” (1987), it still manages to carve out it’s own unique and fresh way of presenting the idea, while clearly showing that the addictive like influence that these shows can have, as it ends with a trailer for series 8, an idea which was thankfully never followed up, leaving this film an undiluted study, even if Minaham choose to return to directing TV rather than features, its almost a teasingly glimpse of someone who could have been the next big visionary director, along side the likes of Gondry and Jonze, instead leaving this as his sole feature credit and no doubt a film which will continue to be looked at, as each new generation of critics and cinema junkies hunt it out.