DiscoViolento Reviews

The Babadook (2014)

A bulldozer of tension

[10/10 · 17 November 2014]

There is one thing you need to know about The Babadook: It is terrifying.

There are many other things to say about the film, of course; the level of craftsmanship is visible throughout. The atmosphere is heavy and tense, camera and light well accompanied by an intense piece of sound design. The acting is superb; Essie Davis' performance in the lead role is explosive. The artwork deserves nothing but praise. The story if absolutely fantastic, twists and turns always feel earned.

I could probably tell you more about the film and what it is actually about, but that doesn't really matter, does it? All that matters is that if you really want to see a horror flick, this will give you everything that you want. It will torment you until you are begging it to stop. This is horror, pure and simple.

Jennifer Kent has done something outstanding here, by creating a film that is actually frightening. She scared the hell out of me, and I much appreciate it.

So bring some friends. Turn out the lights. Cover yourself in blankets. Turn up the sound. But don't let in The Babadook.

Blood River (2009)

meh.

[3/10 · 26 October 2014]

A couple driving through the desert crashes their car due to a blowout and are left stranded. They decide to head for a nearby town called Blood Creek to search for help and meet a mysterious stranger who calls himself Joseph.

The film is directed by Adam Mason, a man whose greatest skill is creating great looking films for very little money, and the film does indeed look great. Unfortunately, it lacks the creative touch that was very apparent in his previous work The Devil's Chair (which I gave a very high score). Indeed, the film feels uninspired and watching it is a bit like going through the motions.

This is a shame, because there is a glimpse of something great hiding within the religious angle that the film takes. I wish that this had been explored in more depth, but instead this is covered by clichés that border on parody.

By far, the worst part of Blood Creek is the characterization of the two leads; the man is aggressive and loud, the woman is passive and dripping with tears. This is the case from the get-go and only gets worse as the film goes on. I assume that this is somewhat intentional, but it crosses the line between believable human flaws and annoying caricature.

The best part is the performance of Andrew Howard as the mysterious traveler Joseph. While he does have the best material to work with, it is pretty clear that he is the one with the acting chops and he pretty much carries the film single-handedly.

Despite the good craftsmanship (cinematography and sound is great), I would recommend watching something else. While Blood Creek is not offensively bad, it presents a handful of moments of annoyance and leaves no lasting impression.

Bis nichts mehr bleibt (2010 TV Movie)

Scientology - a history of abuse and control

[8/10 · 4 December 2010]

Frank Reiners' life isn't going too well. He is torn between taking care of his daughter while his wife Gine is working and his architecture studies. On top of that, Gine's parents have high expectations of their daughter's life and in their eyes, Frank is a bit of a loser.

But when Frank discovers Scientology everything changes.

In Bis nichts mehr bleibt we follow the story from two different points in time. One is a court scenario where Frank is fighting for custody of his daughter; the other tells the story from the beginning.

Even though this film is based on a specific case, the scenario in itself isn't specific at all. Thousands of people have gone through this personal bankruptcy and disconnection from their loved ones. In Germany the fight has been long between government and the "church" and it wasn't a surprise that the org opposed the release of this film, claiming it's intolerant.

I strongly recommend this emotional journey through what used to be known as a cult. Watch this film and ask yourselves - can we allow this to happen over and over again?

I, Psychopath (2009 TV Movie)

The most interesting documentary you will ever see.

[7/10 · 31 October 2010]

OK, so the title might be a big statement. I haven't seen all documentaries ever made and I bet a lot of people will disagree with me.

Note, I never said this was the BEST documentary. But in its simplicity, there is something incredibly interesting and also quite groundbreaking. And here is why:

Sam Vaknin is a self-declared expert on Narcissistic personality disorder and is perhaps most famous for the book "Malignant self-love" which he wrote together with his wife Lydia. Successful businessman turned eco-criminal, Sam is now a doctor of psychology who suffers from all 10 traits of Narcissistic Personality disorder as well as psychopathic traits. Another man who had all 10 traits was Brian Blackwell, who beat both of his parents to death just to cover up the lies he'd told his girlfriend.

In other words, if all this is true, Sam is a very dangerous man.

Ian Walker follows Sam as he undergoes tests that will confirm whether he is indeed a psychopath or not. As the film goes on we get to follow both Sam and the tests he takes as well as Ian himself, describing his relationship with his subject. Ian also interviews Lydia, Sam's wife. As the testing process becomes more in-depth, the story of their journey becomes more complex and in the end they paint a very insightful portrait of what being a psychopath really means.

Though it might be a quite scary revelation, this movie asks some very interesting questions:

Can a psychopath ever be self aware?

If so, can that person control their behavior?

And if we can teach a psychopath to control their behavior before they do something dangerous, what would that mean for society?

And for those who say that this is just one person basking in his own glory - that's exactly what it is. And that's why it is so interesting.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

pretty much a non-film

[1/10 · 11 October 2010]

Human centipede is a mix between the good old mad scientist premise with a bit of hostel type torture porn thrown in. While I'm not a fan of the torture porn genre, I very much love mad scientists and so I sat down to watch The Human Centipede, knowing that it would probably be quite disappointing.

So now, a good hour and a half later, I'm sitting here confused and bewildered.

I have seen a lot of film, but never before have I seen a film completely missing a script. It seems like the director came up with the idea and then told the actors to make it up as they went. Most of the dialog is made up by "stop" and "please - first in English, then in Japanese - and I'm not sure switching languages is enough of a variation to qualify for a script. The Human Centipede has less of a plot than a music video.

The acting is a mixed bowl of good, decent and bad, but as this is a horror flick, great acting is not something you'd expect anyway. The locations are actually pretty great and the special effects are pretty good. But in the end, it doesn't matter what concept you have, what actors you have or how great of a house you've found for your shoot. If your film doesn't have a script, it's probably not a film worth making. And if it's not worth making, it's not worth watching.

In conclusion: If you want to watch a great horror film, watch something else. If you want to watch an awful horror film, well... watch something else.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Delightful

[8/10 · 22 June 2010]

Much like "A nightmare before Christmas" "Trick 'r Treat" invites you to take part in the spirit of Halloween, showing you what lurks around the corners of a small town completely engulfed in the holiday.

This film takes everything Halloween and stuffs it into this 80 minute feature and while that might seem like a big task, it really works. It borrows from many other films and stories and while some might scream "rip-off" I didn't feel like that at all. Think of it as more of a goody- bag where you have small bits of all your favourites.

The cinematography is fantastic and the way that all the stories are tied together works really well. The fact that you get to see some scenes played out twice but from different perspectives was a very clever way of making you feel like you were right there in the middle of all the "festivities".

With "Trick 'r Treat" what you see is what you get - no trying-to-be-clever plot twists, no deep message. This is a throwback to "Tales of the crypt" type horror where you might not be scared but you're excited nonetheless.

By no means is this the best film ever made but it knows what its purpose is and it serves it very well. All in all, a delightful treat for Halloween!

The Man Who Loved Yngve (2008)

Close but not close enough

[6/10 · 25 July 2009]

Mannen som elsket Yngve is a book that I've been very fond of and read many times, so when I saw they were making a movie based on it, I was both excited and absolutely terrified. Adding to the excitement was the fact that Kaada was making the soundtrack. I've been a big fan of his for a long time, so hearing some of his music is always a joy.

We follow Jarle, a regular teenager with a band, friends and a girlfriend who he is very much in love with. But when he meets Yngve, everything changes and he finds himself neglecting everything and everyone around him. Everything but Yngve, that is.

The movie manages to keep the plot going and the actors are absolutely brilliant, but as always when it comes to adaption, something is missing. Unfortunately what is missing is very much key and what made me love the book in the first place. It's like they didn't have enough time in the end and tied everything together as quickly as they could. Despite this, Mannen som elsket yngve is a film that I like. Sadly, unlike when it comes to the book, it's not a film I love.

This movie was so close. But it was another 15 minutes away from being great.

The Devil's Chair (II) (2007)

Reality is what you make it

[8/10 · 2 May 2009]

This narrative story follows Nick, a troubled man who has been accused of killing his girlfriend. With no body to be found and only Nick's stories about a supernatural chair to go on, he is put in an asylum, where he spends a good four years. That is, until a prying doctor decides to take Nick back to the location, along with a team, to perhaps find some answers to what really happened that day.

Some people might watch this, expecting just any horror, but it's not what you get. In fact, this is more like the horror genres take on the absolutely brilliant "Funny Games", which plays with the audience's perception of what is real and what is not.

To me, the horror genre has been infiltrated by vile money-maker horror lately, and I haven't been excited about a new horror movie in quite a while. This one, however, really got my attention.

This movie isn't polished. It's messy and choppy, with some strange narrating and random jumps back and forth in time. This is also what makes this movie so brilliant.

Don't expect anything out of this movie. You will definitely get your reward in the end.

The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007)

A for effort

[6/10 · 30 December 2007]

I heard, before I saw this movie, that it was supposedly very much like Dark City. This alone made me actually see it, as Dark City is one of my favourite movies and, in my opinion, not known enough considering how many have borrowed from it aftwerwards.

The idea seemed interesting - One man dies over and over again, only to wake up in a new life. Screams DarkCity right there, but I will have to say that I don't think that's a bad thing.

The first 15 minutes, or so, had me at the edge of my seat, and yes, the first half of the movie is quite brilliant. But when our hero started to figure things out (with a little help from Michael Feast, who always is a joy to watch) the plot started to blur and I found myself playing "spot the movie" instead of paying too much attention to whether poor Ian would make it or not. Because Dario Piana has borrowed a lot. Not that I'm actually bothered by it. In fact, if he had managed to tie it all together in the end, it would have been a beautiful lovechild of Dark City and Jacob's Ladder (and other movies).

But sadly, in the end, the swan became a duckling again, ad it's a shame as this movie had so much potential to be something that I personally would have really enjoyed.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad movie, and there are some quite disturbing scenes. It simply feels like they had a lot of grand ideas that they, had no idea what to do with when the clock started to count down towards the end credits.

Even so, The Deaths of Ian Stone is a good second movie from Piara and I'm excited to see what he'll come up with in the future.

Rose Red (2002)

At least it's a nice house

[3/10 · 27 December 2007]

A group of people with psychic powers go to wake up a so-called "dead cell", a haunted house, led by a somewhat obsessed teacher. Yes, the plot sounded promising and so did the fact that it was a Stephen King screenplay. Unfortunately, that didn't help this time.

The biggest problem is the characters. The only one that really clicked was Emery; a sloppy and selfish man who can see things that has happened in the past (usually not that pleasant). While he is not the most likable of people, he is nicely developed and acted. Other characters are either not well established before it kicks off or get too little screen time to actually make an impact. Thus, there is no "anchor" that keeps our interest, and in the end, I found myself thinking that I couldn't care less if they died or not.

The whole question "can a house become mad if the people living in it are?" reminded me a lot of "house of usher" by Edgar A. Poe. I must say that I liked that aspect of this story. It's intriguing and a good ground for a scare. However, it becomes less scary when being told in a Tales from the Crypt-version. While I appreciate that too, the two just don't go together, and unfortunately, the puppets ruin the atmosphere big time. Watching it, I almost felt like Craig R Baxley did it on purpose. He took away the ghost story and brought forward the ghosts. Not too scary ghosts.

But in the end, I don't think it would have made any difference.

240 minutes is a long time for character development, and not succeeding in that area is somewhat of a merit, I suppose. Not even a few good scares could have saved this movie when it lacks in this area so brutally.

The three stars is for the rooms of this house, which are quite nice. But unless you're into interior design, don't waste your time.

Hard (1998)

Dahmer on a road trip

[9/10 · 27 December 2007]

Being a new detective can be hard. And surrounded by a group of narrow-minded, homophobic cops, Detective Raymond Vates finds it even harder. Deciding to keep it a secret to his fellow men, he and his new partner Tom Ellis starts to investigate the murder of a young boy. Pretty soon it becomes clear that they have a serial killer on their hands.

Hard portrays one of the most realistic serial killers I've ever seen in a movie. There's no doubt that they borrowed a lot from Jeffrey Dahmer (especially one scene in a car is very similar to something Dahmer did), because Malcolm Moorman's Jack is intriguing, manipulative and extremely self-centered. Sure, he doesn't run around with a chainsaw or build enormous killing machines. No, Jack is just like any other guy, which makes it even more frightening.

The mere fact that we get to see so much of the killer lends a new perspective to the story where one has to admire his manipulative games. The acting for this side of the story is very impressive. Moorman is fantastic and Michael Waite is very convincing as the insecure man who lets Jack into his family's home, and his bed.

While these characters are very well developed and easy to relate to in one way or the other, I do feel something is lacking in the police department, so to speak. The gay detective, played by Noel Palomaria, is somewhat hard to relate to and even though he's going through, basically, all the circles of hell there is, you don't really feel that bad for him.

Even so, this is a brilliant movie that any fan of thriller and drama should watch. It's not predictable, it's very interesting and never boring. It has been labeled a gay movie, and while there's a lot of just that, this is by no means close to anything coming from the gay-cinema movement. It's not a gay movie. It's a thriller. And, quite frankly, one of the best and most interesting I've come across so far.

Madhouse (2004)

Everything doesn't have to be difficult

[7/10 · 3 November 2007]

The reason why this movie got into my hands was simply me having to buy for a certain amount of money to get my hands on another movie. New horror has continued to disappoint me, so, naturally, I thought this one would as well. I have to say that I was wrong.

Clark Stevens is the name of our hero, doing his practice at at Cunningham Hill, a mental hospital which seems more like a place to keep the insane instead of helping them. This is, at least, what Clark thinks and he's more than eager to change things. A murder, a mysterious boy and an equally mysterious patient later, making changes in hospital policy becomes a secondary problem.

You probably get the idea, this is a classic plot, classic character and all the classic twists and turns. And no, it doesn't make this film worse, it makes it better. Because for some reason, I get an old-school vibe watching this history unfold. There are scares. There is some blood. And there's actually some frightening scenes (especially a dream-sequence).

In these Saw-horror days, it's really refreshing to see a movie that doesn't try to be something it's not. This movie doesn't try to outsmart you. You can probably figure out the end pretty quickly, but that doesn't keep you from wanting to see what happens. In other words; this is a good, plain horror movie. Well worth the 3, or so, dollars I spent buying it.

Cemetery Man (1994)

Probably the best movie of all times

[10/10 · 3 November 2007]

Dellamorte Dellamore is, according to me, probably the best movie that's ever been made. Acted out in a setting that looks like it could have been stolen from a low-budget Tim Burton project, it tells the story of a man who's sick of his monotonous life; burying and re-burying the dead. Death has become Francesco Dellamorte's life and is up until the day that he meets her and falls in love.

People who watch this and expect a no-brain (no pun intended) zombie flick will most likely be disappointed. The zombie-plot is secondary at most, but a nice touch to the surreal-factor of the movie. In some ways, it has more in common with Lynch-flicks like Lost Highway and Mullholland Dr. One of the similarities is that you should probably watch this movie at least twice.

The best description I could come up with for this movie is probably "bizarre". And I mean that in the nicest of ways. You might think the guy getting buried with his motorbike and the woman who can only love an impotent man are over the top. And they are. Until you reach the end and you realize that this movie is nothing but perfect.

Masters of Horror: Imprint (2006) Season 1, Episode 13

Miike and the rubber duckies...

[3/10 · 28 September 2007]

There has always been something that has been bothering me about this director and I never really understood why until I saw this episode. Because "Imprint" is really a good summary of Miike's flaws.

See, if there's one thing this director knows, it's torture. He knows it and does it very well. Even the build-up is nice and if you can get past his weird view on women (which is pretty obvious in most of his movies), you have a really scary story developing in front of you. Because people can be cruel. And Miike likes to tell you just how cruel they can be.

...And then comes the rubber ducks.

There are two ways to ruin a perfectly good story about human cruelty. One is by adding too many elements of confusion. The other is to place a talking piece of latex on top of someone's head.

Miike manages to do both. I could forgive the lack of conclusion since the torture scenes are brutal and very well made. But no, I can't forgive the talking hand that adds an unwanted element of "tales from the crypt" to the story. It worked in "Ichi the killer" as it is not the most serious movie around, but he should have kept his hands away from the play dough for this one.

sadly, he doesn't. and this episode of Masters of Horror turns into the worst executed one.

Fixing Frank (2002)

a brilliant shade of gray

[8/10 · 12 July 2007]

First of all, I have to admit that I am a sucker for movies that have a stage-feeling to them. 'Suicide Kings' is a great example and 'Fixing Frank' is another brilliant movie to add to the family.

Frank is a writer who is working on an article about a psychologist who is trying to 'cure' people from homosexuality. This, of course, is not Frank's own idea, but his boyfriend's; another psychologist who is more than involved with anything having to do with gay-rights. Trying to be the "good fag", Frank is on a mission to bring this psychologist down, but as time passes he begins to doubt himself as well as his relationship with his boyfriend.

Needless to say, the subject is delicate and the fact that the movie's standpoint is pretty much neutral will probably strike a sensitive nerve within a lot of people. Personally, I couldn't have seen the subject being approached in any other way. Because handling a political and ethical subject such as this without preaching is hard. I'd say they did a pretty damn good job.

Some people say that the main character, Frank, is plain, neutral and terribly underwritten and yes, it's all true. But I do believe that was intentional. Having a fully developed character would make it too personal which would somehow spoil the whole purpose because this is not really about this person we know as Frank; it could be about anyone.

I love the theatrical dialog and the actor playing the gay-curing psychologist is brilliant.

If you watch this movie, thinking it will be another gay-movie, you will probably be disappointed. Because even though it concerns a gay-issue, this is more of a movie debating what's ethical versus personal choice. And yes, it's highly recommended.

Breaking the Cycle (2002 Video)

about as passionate as a sex-ed movie...

[2/10 · 29 June 2007]

I have never been as confused about the purpose of a movie as I was when I had watched this one. On one hand, it wants to be a little soft-porn. On the other hand, it wants to be deep, romantic and have some kind of message.

The acting is surprisingly good and the scenes where the two male-leads just converse is very convincing as it doesn't seem very acted at all. Unfortunately, that's the only good thing I can say about this movie.

It's not the lame sex-scenes in the movie that bothers me, but the fat that it feels very Christian. If there's an organization for non-promiscuous sex behind this movie, I want to know, because it does feel very educating and the "moral" of the story i way too spelled out for its own good.

Because, honestly, this movie is nothing but empty rhetoric.

and if you manage not to gag during the "..but you know in your heart that I'm right", i applaud you. Because this movie crosses the line for bad movie as well as the one for so- bad-it's-good and in the end it's just...bad.

it gets two stars only for the delivery of "didn't i tell you? i'm straight!" which is brilliant.

Saw III (2006)

Better than both Saw 1 and 2, but...

[4/10 · 4 March 2007]

During the time I was watching this movie, I was fidgeting in my seat almost the whole time.

Because it was scary? No. Because of the five billion ways of torture that is visualized. Not really.

To me, Saw has become a series that walks back and forth in its own footsteps; trying so desperately to shock that it fails. This time it's ten times the gore and ten times the pain and somehow I feel that it overshadows the good part of this movie - the parts that makes it a bit different from the other two.

The movie starts with the usual "hey ho, Jigsaw's killing again" where different kinds of funky ways to kill a person are displayed. This is basically just a gore fest which doesn't bring anything to the movie except for being simply that. Gore.

This time, Jigsaw (with help from Amanda) kidnaps a nurse, who is meant to help him survive while he's helping some other poor, lost soul finding meaning in life. Truth is, I enjoyed watching the conversation between the three of them far more than the actual process of the game. Most of the time I was simply wishing for the movie to speed up a little because watching a man deciding what he should do for several minutes is hardly entertaining; at least not in this kind of movie.

I won't say it's all bad. In fact, it's better than both the first and second one. Why? First of all it has character development. An important element which was slightly forgotten in Saw 1 and, mainly, Saw 2. Secondly, the plot is better. People's reasons for doing certain things are more logical and they put in a couple of unexpected twists which makes it a whole lot more interesting. The third reason is that the actors are better. Saw 2 was, in my opinion, a disaster in that area and thankfully they seemed to pick their actors more wisely this time.

Despite all the efforts to make the characters human, this movie bored me. Most of the time it felt like nothing really happened, despite the makes of the movie actually moving the concept up a notch.

The problem with Saw is that the unexpected becomes expected and when a movie depends upon it as much as this movie does, it just ends up being boring and predictable.

But if you can get through the first 20 minutes of utter blah, you have an interesting movie that, unfortunately, is slightly ruined by the fact that it is too similar to the older, less good, ones.