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Juego de brujas (2023)
Why no reviews so far? I'll gladly be the first person to review then...
Our main (female) protagonist seems to be into video games but also into VR games. While I have no VR gaming experience myself I instantly knew this movie picks up an interesting direction in horror movies by combining horror, knowing that cameras are recording this movie, witchcraft and a VR video game. If you early on and instantly recognize magnificent potential in a movie this is already a good thing, but does the movie deliver as much as it seems to flower?
Some moments make it seem like cheap production is going on but in my opinion those are only hiccups and nothing major or too affecting. Besides that I believed everything that happened, be it on the "real" or the "VR" plane. I just love how those different "realities" transition into each other so well and giving sense to what's taking place in general.
It's not a hollywood movie but geesh have I and my friends been spell-bound to my living room couch? Oh yes we have been. And has this movie reminded us of good old classics from the 80ies and 90ies while still retaining, actually clamining its own style and spell-craft? Oh yes, we absolutely have.
I don't know why this movie is (currently) only rated at a 5.5 and since there are no reviews yet, it seems to stay a mystery for now. Although movies like lawnmower man already touched the movie landscape in a similar way I think that this movie comes with its own, but quite original touch.
So for now all that is left to say is that me and my friends enjoyed this piece of art A LOT! 100% recommendation for anyone who is into horror and loves exploring movie writer's hunger for getting in touch with alternative realities. I am absolutely happy to have stumbled across this piece that is an 8 out of 10 for me :)
Ach du Scheisse! (2022)
Is this a Lovecraftian movie?
None of the happenings seemed like actually really happenings to me, at least from my personal point of view.
Especially the bavarian spoken moments really added it up for me to believe this is not a real world the main character more or less lives in. Despite of the beginning where you have to endure lots of waking up, realizing what is going on and trying to get out of a single metal rod - all of it in this movie seemed lovecraftian to me... Did anything that ever took place in this movie really happen?
And while this movie takes place in actually one single place only, it does a good job at doing that. I expected a bit more, to be honest. But none the less, in any way it's worth being given a shot but don't make it your saturday evening with all your friends on the couch movie, unless you want to discuss it after all.
Glorious (2022)
"We will be so happy Nellie"
Including the company animations in the very beginning of the movie it took me until about minute 1:30 to be 100% sure the night I watched the movie is going to be a Lovecraftian night. (Those who have seen In the Mouth of Madness know why)
A couple of days later I had to rewatch the movie because I did not clearly remember why I liked the movie so much. No surprise: There's lots of (important!) conversation going on that is packed with details all over while the scene basically never changes.
For my taste the bit of humor going on is ok and shouldn't be overdone (which the movie doesn't) in a lovecraftian based story. Lovecraft fans are fed well here, being handed over a whole bunch of what actually defines cosmic horror in the world of humans.
And let's be honest: I love how, in scenes with conversation, the movie draws all of your attention and then rips you out of that comfort zone to go wild with the tension. It's a constant back and forth of action events that aren't action events but damn, do they make you sit tight in your movie couch there.
So here's my take on what I think is actually going on in that movie. If you read this review, already marked as "contains spoilers", up this far, the following section WILL definitely contain spoilers:
Wes, clear to see in the beginning of the movie, is worried deeply about something. He has visions during the day while driving a car, not good. But, as a matter of fact, at this point we already know that Wes isn't where or when he used to be before. In my opinion only comfirmed by "We will be so happy Nellie" playing on the radio before the movie title rolls in.
In bad shape Wes arrives at a rest house and it seems our main character is desperately lost in love after a break-up. Since he tries to call his ex girlfriend, known as Brenda, and get in touch with her it seems she got enough of him and called it a time out which Wes has a hard time digesting. Later we meet the cosmic god Ghatanotoah sitting in the toilet cabin, asking for dialogue who does 3 things:
A) He explains to the viewer what the lovecraftian universe is about in full featurette which also includes the power of playing with your mind, causing madness, denial, pain, showing you things you can't imagine, how to pronounce names of cosmic deities as far as humanly possible, visualization (eg paintings) and all that.
B) Due to the complex nature a humand mind couldn't handle he tries to explain to Wes what situation he is in and what all of that is actually about. Of course, since such complexity can't be described, Wes ends up with not understanding the situation at all.
C) He always gives hints.
So how does this puzzle all together?
The woman in the beginning is simply a "gate keeper". Someone who knows about those powers but wise enough to feed from them while maintaining a certain distance to the cosmic powers. Besides making sure the "guests" find to the "event" safely, she is also the one who announces what the upcoming show is about: "You know some things seem broken, but it usually means you stopped trying". What this means we'll get to later.
Ghat, being the firstborn child of Cthulhu, explains multiple times that some things are beyond human capacity and tries to simplify things in order to make it easier for Wes to get through the process ("I suppose in some mythologies you could say demigod, titan would be more accurate but those are human constructs limiting the form understanding of what I truly am"). Not only is Ghat respectful and well-mannered pretty much most of the time, he also fills in Wes right at the beginning "I'm sure you are forgetting the most important things here - the two of us". This tells us who the gladiators in the arena are. Just Wes and Ghat.
Ghat also mentions a couple of times that he hasn't spoken to anyone in a long time and that he is a very lonely and very old god. Adding that he usually resides on the ether and that destiny brought both of them to this "place". This raises the question of how both got to this kind of private meeting when saying "destiny". Especially when Ghat makes statements like "Unfortunately I am not in charge of maintaining this establishment" and "Some things are beyond my control". I think we are also given answers here.
My core part assumption:
At the end we see it's Wes' girlfriend finding a red box while Wes looks caught off guard and holding a towel. After Brenda looks at photos of women in pain Wes is holding a knife, followed by a scene of them two standing in front of each other, Brenda crictically wounded and Wes holding a glass shard in his hand.
First: Yes, Wes is absolutely desperate about Brenda and deeply in love with her. The I-can't-live-without-her syndrome.
With all the cards on the table Wes has 2 problems:
1) He's got a mental illness, which is explained by his behaviour, in example being obsessed about Brenda and how he goes totally banana crazy in front of the rest house. Also, Wes early on kind of introduces himself without being asked with a "Hihihi - nice little statement of my life" where the giggle means to refer to his life being a joke, going crazy all the time.
It is unclear if Wes killed Brenda because she discovered something she shouldn't have discovered or because he had to feed his need to kill again. Sure is Wes' mental illness received a big shock as being desperate about Brenda is mixed with Brenda being dead makes things for Wes even worse. A fundamental part of Wes' illness is also that he is unable to deal with emotions.
B) The 2nd problem comes in: Ghat. He validates Wes being mentally ill by saying "Full of feelings you've never felt before, looking for a way to make them all go away. No one is coming to help you, you're all alone. Just like you preferred."
In this statement from Ghat lies another statement: Wes wanted to be alone anyways. Maybe he feels like he doesn't deserve this life, which might be indicated by the answer "I stopped feeling a long time" when Ghat asks "Don't you at least want to feel good about something in your life?". Also, this statement is a clear reference that Wes has not yet found his purpose in this existence of his. In another situation Wes watches part of the cosmic universe outside and seems to like it, to which Ghat comments that he (Wes) is now feeling something and this is something that makes him afraid.
As Ghat is a cosmic deity he enjoys the torture. He could quickly kill Wes just like he killed Gary, but Gary is not the "object of interest" for Ghat. Gary joined the scene only to demonstrate, as Ghat said, what his current form is capable of, to help visualize the cruel fear that is unleashed and that Ghat has the ability to freeze people looking at him on the spot. Wes is of interest to Ghat as he happened to sacrifice 12 women to Ghat (Ghat briefly asks if Wes wants him to name them, in alphabetical or chronological order) and therefore receives a special gift. A gift Ghat reasons with him and Wes are only here to bring destruction, both should not exist, which is why both have to go.
And when Ghat said "Tell me about that knot in the pit of your stomach", Wes memorizes Brenda asking "What did you do Wes?", unexpectedly having a short flow of tears coming down Wes' face, showing that Ghat was very close getting inside Wes' head. To try fight that, Wes tries to flee into memories, to which Ghat soon after also denies access to. Ghat eventually takes everything away from Wes that means to him. How else would Wes open up and stand for his actions he hid deep down in his subconscious mind instead of blaming the universe? Because until Wes doesn't consciously understand he killed 12 women he won't go free. Free by death in this case.
To crack Wes open Ghat does the following things:
A) Taking away Brenda from Wes' memories
B) Taking away the chance that even with Wes' death any memory about Brenda will still exist in this world
C) The total anihilation of the world. With Ghat's transformation complete he would turn everything into nothing
D) The fact that Brenda is among the sacrifices in posession of Ghat now. Inidcated by Ghat saying "She was hurt, she was heart-broken. She trusted you, (Brenda in Wes' memory: "I love you Wes"), and you broke that trust, you devasted her, you broke her heart, you felt that pain and you cannot stop feeling it" as well as "She's so tied to your misery that she's practically here with us now".
So letting Ghat into Wes' mind entirely allows Ghat to explain to Wes what he is responsible for. The tentacle is just a visual link, the liver is just a symbolic link to where Wes most probably stabbed the women he killed and the glass shard Wes has to cut himself open with another symbolic link for (again most probably) the knife he used to kill the women with. So when Ghat does all this cosmic interaction with Wes, he finishes the ritual of "It's broken? I won't stop trying to fix it" (remember the lady in front of the rest house) and let's Wes go afterwards while Ghat disappears into the ether again, probably hiding until he receives new sacrfices in a set of 12.
In case you wonder how it is possible for someone like Gary to hear and see what's going on although there is some stealth dome or something like that: For one Ghat mentioned that some things are beyond his control. As his interest is towards Wes only, there is no need for him to have control over anyone else.
In case you wonder why sometimes the rest house is at the parking lot and sometimes somewhere in space: The deeper Wes is in the process of "therapy", the nearer he is to the cosmic universe. Because this is what it is: A therapy that Ghat performs. For that he needs bait, such as "my father will find me".
In my opinion: Great idea, well made movie and I love how it puts the lovecraftian universe onto the screen. It's not "a (John) Carpenter", but this movie is definitely showing off. Can only recommend.
Entergalactic (2022)
An experience on it's on, but ...
Wow, the trailer got me. Few days later I took the chance to put this up on the canvas called TV and was curious to see what it's about.
At first I got distracted by what seems to be jerky movement but I think it's the art style of that movie to have some frame-missing-between-the-animations-movement going on. As a matter of fact not long after this "jerkiness" didn't really matter much anymore and it all seemed as smooth as where the movie is about to take you.
Picture impression, picture composition, lights, sounds, music, camera, perfect - they all are wow and really help get immersed in an instant. Music especially, just hitting the right spots at each time.
The reason why I pust this under spoiler - and actually I don't think I could write anything in regards of this without a spoiler and still not reveal anything of this scale:
The trailer in my opinion shows everything that is happening in this movie. The full movie "just" shows how the 2 main persons are getting there. In short: You saw the trailer, you know the movie already. If you want to know how they get there: Watch the movie.
A 6/10 from me because I felt left behind empty at the end of the movie, expecting both of the mains to fully dive off into a cosmic and eternal adventure of their own instead.
Studio 666 (2022)
I enjoyed it but the mixed up elements got me lost
This movie is fun, absolutely.
Gory, goofy, splattery and fun. You don't even need to be a foo fighters fan for that, a horror comedy fun movie fan is enough to like it.
First of all: When I saw "Music: John Carpenter" I was surprised to see that and wondered "Why music?" followed by "Let Carpenter's name appear in the openeing credits for one more time on something important to the movie's production and I know this is more than just a horror fun movie".
Here's the thing and why I put this into a spoiler:
#1) When Dave went down the basement for the first time and I saw the.racoon with the blood dripping down and soon later to see an audio recording is found and played in an, what everyone who is fond of lovecraftian stories, style, knows I was hooked at that point. Especially with all surreal things usual for the lovecraftian universe.
#2) My major turn off was right towards the end where the necronomicon (or what seemed to be a close version of it) was shown to contain excorcism rituals ... and let's be serious ... calls to the christian god and for help purifying the pools water. Wai, wai, wait right there. You do NOT mix lovecraftian universe with devil and god stuff. 100% no go.
Loved John Carpenter's cameo, really loved it but it seemed it shouldn't be more than a cameo and responsibility for some of the movie's music. Besides: Music in this movie was awesome and don't let me be misunderstood: I like the movie, especially because of the music and how perfect and yet goofy but fitting the acting put in there is. I just don't like the movie for what Dave Grohl (probably someone who also loves HP Lovecraft stories as well as excorcism, devlish and gory/splattery movie stuff) thought of it should be in its entirety. The end with the "kids" or whatever they are supposed to be I did not get at all. The manager and estate lady twist I did not expect.
To me it feels like Evil Dead 2 meets The Excorcism meets. Braindead/Dead Alive. I can recommend the movie but only if respecting other genre universes already established doesn't matter to one. I think a 6/10 is fair.
Lung foo moon (2006)
Simply awesome!
I have to admit I did not really get the relation between the main plot (brother/brother/kung fu school and what I call the endboss. To me this endboss came out of nowhere like "Hey, who's up for a fight because I am!"
Besides that I can only - and fully - second what others before me said: "Donnie Yen has arrived"! If you liked the Ip Man series a lot you definately going to get more than that here. What I personally enjoyed a lot is the use of - well let's say - dragonballz style. Fighters can have super power but still they are realistic.
And if that isn't enough already, here is what I enjoy the very most: Comprehensible action sequences! Here you get anything else than 10-20 punches but only seeing them in blurry style or in fast foward. Here it is on-spot action with every beat of a beat I get to see, feel and hear the beat of the beat.
In my opinion a flick that deserves to be more than a sunday evening choice :)
Bai she chuan shuo (2011)
Wow, what was I experiencing here?! oO
Put aside the CGI stuff, put aside a "regular" storyline, put aside all you want but let me put this one thing right on: Hardly any other movie moved me and moved me to tears like this one did.
While I clearly felt the relations to the chinese ghost story movies I had no idea about how romantic and deeply moving this is going to be. Before watching this movie I'd said it's not possible to put emotion this much into 90 minutes - well, you'll know by the moment "he" is being saved in the water. And if that is enough you'll know by a 2nd water scene. Although so many eastern movies feature intense emotional attention this one goes ahead on step for me: Emotional scenes come off real, with a real meaning, going deep down, not many words needed.
I do not remember seeing any other the other character besides Jet Li in other movies so I have no relation to them, having an easy time saying the played their roles very well I never had a moment of disbelieve. Jet Li - who I have gotten to enjoy in other movies - only helps feeling confident about my opinion for this movie: I bought the role of a die-hard demon hunter with difficulty to accept alternative perspectives.
Certainly I'm missing out on most of the brilliant aspects of the movie which is always a difficult thing to do as a non-pro reviewer. I see it as a good thing rather than a downside so you get to experience this beauty yourself.
Also big props to whoever is responsible for this: The "addition" of animals in the movie. Loved the turtle, the mouse and the rabbit. Adds up so much with the entire lovely piece!
I rate this a clear 9 (NINE!) for reasons stated above + ones I could not put into words. One of the best 90 minutes of movie life I got to enjoy <3
November Criminals (2017)
What a surprise, gladly!
Up front I have to admit I was turned down a bit by the low rating and the negative reviews here on imdb but I'm more than glad to give this movie a chance.
To be clear for everyone who might be interested in the movie in general: It is not a crime movie at all. It is not an investigative Liam Neeson movie either. However I would not go as far as calling it a drama overall.
What this movie is though could be placed in the genre of Romance but - let's be honest here - it's a lot more than that. Some reviewers here have pointed out already to how well the two lead characters make up a perfect team to which I like to add that certain sequences in this movie where "this magic" happened pulled me right in, they got me on spot, touched me with every blink of an eye of either Chloe or Ansel.
Whoever of you who like to lose yourself in movies, lose yourself to the subtle, in-between-the-lines emotional movies you are right where you want to be. Those who seek out for a crime or thriller movie won't find their entertainment package with this one.
From me, really enjoying this piece of almost art, I give it a 7 thumbs up and say thank you to everyone who took care of putting the sensitive note into this flick I'm glad watching :)