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Kermit's Swamp Years (2002)
A lukewarm experience.
Kermit's Swamp Years was something my 5 year old nephew enjoyed, but really didn't pay much attention to it. Having bought a series of Muppets movies the same day as this one (Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets in Space) and having seen those before this one in that week, I was a bit disappointed at the quality drop. The human actors in this movie are terrible, terrible. Overacting and completely 2 dimensional, more so than the Muppets themselves.
I enjoyed the behind the scenes with the Armadillo more than the actual movie, as well as the blooper reels and the end credits with more bloopers. But there is something gone in the post-Henson Muppet productions. There is a kind of innocence lost and some of the jokes mentioning poop are not what I would expect in a Muppet movie. There are also some tongue in cheek moments which do not add to the experience.
There is a moment when scalpels are used in a kind of sword fight, and it doesn't seem very appropriate. especially for a kid's movie.
Overall, a fun experience for the young children, but I have seen a lot deeper and much better stories from previous Muppet movies. This one feels watered down.
Hellraiser: Prophecy (2006)
A Tribute to low-budget Fanfilms.
In this short film Hellraiser: Prophecy, one of the first real Hellraiser-based serious fan-film to be released, written and directed by Jonathan Kui, a nightmarish concept takes shape: a Second Rebellion is taking place in the porphyrogene gates of Heaven, as the Archangel Gabriel leads a faction of dissenting Angels against their Maker. They mean to strip Mankind of their very essence: their Souls, seeking a return to a time when they didn't have to compete with what they believe to be inferior creatures, for God's love. In their way, defending the Word, stand the Archangel Michael and the rest of the Angelic Host.
Paradoxically, Lucifer must choose to side against this Second Rebellion for reasons of his own. For this he must contact stronger forces beyond the reach of anyone without a Soul. Powers that rely on Order, and Discipline, which might help Lucifer maintain the status quo. The Order of the Gash, explorers in the further regions of Experience who serve Leviathan, may be such a force. But their dimension is off-limits to Lucifer.
This is where Natasha (Lori Pyzocha) comes in...
I'd say the strongest point of this movie is its story, a powerful and original screenplay written by Johnathan Kui. The dialogue is dramatic and rich, directly contributing for the progression of the narrative, delivered by amateur actors who nevertheless manage to achieve a handful of rather intense moments.
Jeremy Yost as Lucifer has, of course, some of the best lines of the script, and manages to incarnate a scornful Lucifer, with a persistent smile on the corner of his mouth, yet dead serious when he must press his point.
Monica Dus as the treacherous and serpentine Angelique also has some beautiful lines as she coaxes and seduces her despairing victims into the grasp of her God Leviathan.
Allison Blum as Lydia portrays a completely lost woman, driven to violence and thrown into a state of despair and confusion.
A word of praise for the Cenobite troop Costume Design is in order, designed and realized by Christie Bialowas.
The story does a well thought-out expansiveness to the mythology of Hellraiser that I enjoyed, incorporating Angels, Demons & Cenobites as a part of the same multi-dimensional Space. We are also given a new insight on what it takes to open the Lemarchand Lament Configuration.
Chains galore in the final act, as well as some well-achieved chainings. The special effects in the chaining sequences are believable enough (Trivia: using fake blood actually bought from 2 Hours in the Dark).
Of course, as a low-budget short, some details are to be taken with a grain of salt, especially in the make-up department. The Cenobites, as highly modified creatures, necessitate a good amount of work to achieve verisimilitude, and there are some details that must be forgiven for the sake of general enjoyment of the story. Our minds have a magic tendency to fill in the gaps and put perfection or close, where some may be lacking.
Other prop difficulties are also still being worked upon. The CGI special effects in my screening copy, though as yet incomplete, were also very believable, and I have no problem accepting them as is; they work perfectly, if you keep an open mind. I was particularly fond of Lucifer's eye-opening scene, very accomplished and disturbing. I first saw this in the teaser trailer.
When engrossed in the story, our suspension of disbelief can do wonders. Allow yourself to be transported and take any faults as the growing pains of a new director working with an amateur, yet hard-working crew.
The finished DVD will also include some great Bonus Material like a Gag Reel (I laughed my head off at some of the basic bloopers the crew and cast faced during the shoots - you will be amused to see how many takes nervous laughter can spoil!) as well as some very interesting surprises for hard-core Hellraiser fans. Keep on the lookout for the final DVD version.
I am eagerly awaiting the finished package, which will be free, to include in my Hellraiser collection.
It's my belief that Hellraiser fans will be generally pleased by this addition to the growing deck of fan-based films. I for one am looking forward for Jonathan Kui's upcoming work.
The Hellraiser Chronicles: A Question of Faith (2005)
A beautiful addition to the deck of Hellraiser fan films.
This is R. N. Millward's first chapter of The Hellraiser Chronicles, an estimated £2500 budget short, written by Kieron Hazel (there were 13 earlier treatments, some actually containing Pinhead or some other character from the Hellraiser series) and starring Rob Leetham as Father Farrell, Adrian Palmer as the mysterious Cenobite, and Sinead Maffei as the unfortunate house-seller. Technically the movie sets itself apart from most fan-made movies. The sets, make-up and CGI are impressive. The film is presented in Original Aspect Ratio (OAR) of 4:3.
On to the movie then:
A Question of Faith opens with a stop-motion animation sequence by James Eastope, which for some reason, harmless as it might seem to watch a clay head being stuck with nails, I actually found disturbing. Maybe it was the blood that appeared to flow from it, that heightened the reality (trivia: the animated opening sequence was supposed at one time to have some animated bird skeletons added in --- pity it didn't make it to the final cut).
The house was a great location, and a lot of attention was paid to detail (like the 6 months worth of junk mail slipped under the door to give the illusion of an abandoned house). The flashback sequences also try to use the same kind of white flashes as the ones in Hellraiser, when Frank is telling Julia about the Cenobites; the cenobite's appearance also relies on the same kind of gimmick used in the first Hellraiser: lightning bolts of energy materializing the creature into our Reality.
Father Farrell (Rob Leetham) is the tormented priest haunted by his hedonistic past of Devil-worshiping, that cost him his friend, his love and almost his life. Now he has returned to the place where strange and horrible events have taken place, sanctioned by a higher power in the religious hierarchy to make piece with his phantoms, and find an answer to one of the Vatican's unsolved mysteries, at the same time.
The flashback of the cenobite-summoning scene is moody and well-lit, the fight between Collin and Farrell is very dynamic and well-cut featuring some reverse shots very effective in giving a killer getting up, an eerie appearance, almost as if possessed. Only weak spot in this scene: Danny 'Mullet' Blackstock's wig. Sorry, it just looks weird.
There were a lot of difficulties throughout the production, but watching the movie, almost none of this is apparent. Despite some technical problems in the final scenes, which aren't as crisp as the rest, the film is a very entertaining piece, based on some very interesting storyline premises.
The mythology relies a lot on the writer's imagination to expand on some topics like Leviathan and Catholic Religion, two topics that for more hard-core fans, at first glance might appear to be antagonist concepts, but which work in their dichotomy to some extent, confronting on one hand the repressed sexuality and lust of Catholicism, and on the other hand the unconstrained amoral exploration of Experience that is represented by the Cenobites and Leviathan.
Some very effective directing tricks are used when shooting Father Lombardo's chaining, shot in reverse.
The editing by Antonio Meitin (basic editing completed in the summer of 2005), who also stars in the final scenes of the movie as the Prospective House Buyer, is top notch, disguising some shots like the ripping of the boarded nails from the basement door with a crowbar, (which weren't really nailed to the door, but stuck to it with tape --- kept falling off in the outtakes) in a rather sneaky way to make believe that the boards are actually being ripped from the wood, which might make also you jump in your seat at the same time.
The CGI and animation is also nearly flawless, very convincing and a strong point in the movie, despite the director's choice not to show too much of it.
The best composed shot is, I think a shot depicting a convent in Florence. I had a hard time believing that convent wasn't actually there! Andy Dingley's (Circus of Horrors) special effects were really wonderful. The gore is there, but it serves a purpose. The pulsating, blood-spurting slashed throat looked chilling.
However, the past sequence has its flaws, in the acting department. The characters use an accent one might identify as not very Italian, rather more like an Eastern European accent. A word or two in Italian might have added to the illusion, but anyway it served its purpose. The set for this scene could also have benefited of a better location. Nuns and priests were known to live in reclusion in rather spare rooms, but a basement does look a bit too much, contrasting with the brand new wooden bed that looks straight out of IKEA. But still, one must remember that it's a good and honest effort, and budget constraints will always show through. Like the Cenobite's costume. Despite having some killer make-up on his face and a really interesting design for his headpiece, it appears that all the budget went for the make-up and not enough into his costume. The leather jacket he wears and the black cloth tied around his waist could have, with a few tweaks here and there, have worked better: some cutting and tying (corset-style) in the back of the jacket would have made it less baggy and tighter to the actor's torso, for instance. But still he looks menacing enough. A lost soul who recovers his forgotten humanity in the end.
Matthew Nellis' cinematography looks vivid and crisp throughout most of the movie, the images captured with a lot of vividness. And of course, the music by James Eastope and :Grover also helps create a lot of the mood in those scary scenes.
Another great addition to the Hellraiser community's list of (I hope) ever-growing fan films!
22.04.2006
Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
Deader than Dead
This movie, the 6th sequel in the series, shows that the series steady decline has shown some improvement. Too bad its probably the last chapter worth watching, as I'm sure the self-referential, tongue in cheek upcoming Hellraiser VIII (!):"Hellworld" will make sure the remaining 1986 Hellraiser fans (are there any others out there?) who have accompanied the series, are completely alienated once and for all.
First of all: Bota makes for it technically, the movie is beautiful visually, the photography of Vivi Dragan Vasile is crisp, clear and filled with vibrant color. But...
...I was disappointed to a great extent with the story.
Based on a script "Deader" by Neal Marshall Stevens, Tim Day did his best to re-write it, including Hellraiser elements into a story at first completely alien to that concept. And... it shows.
The confusion settles in when the main character, Amy Klein opens the Lament Configuration she finds in an apartment, from the hands of a dead woman. Or is she? The plot gimmick used in Hellraiser V and VI is used again, much to the chagrin of fans: the old 'it was only a dream' thing, again and again, introducing cheap thrills only to have the main character open her eyes and suddenly she's someplace else. This happens 2 or three times in the movie, and quite frankly I didn't like it.
The Visual and Special Effects are very good Jamison Goei is looking at another award for sure.
The plot goes around trying to make us believe that it makes sense, but unfortunately it barely manages to introduce some semblance of coherence before splitting apart at the seams if analyzed in closer scrutiny.
I had the privilege of discussing it with Tim Day, and I have since understood it better, but frankly the necessary elements have to be in the movie, not out of it. The explanations he gave me could have been introduced to an extent into the script.
The ending is also a let down, I honestly felt it was somewhat anti-climactic; the cenobites apart from Pinhead are nothing but furniture, they barely move from their marks due to latex masks which are basically sensory deprivation devices. Pinhead delivers a few lines and it's Greek tragedy as the cenobites are the 'Deus ex machina' who enter the stage to do the sweep up and conclusion.
Funny how Pinhead now claims 'Hell' is HIS domain, as older fans might remember that in the second movie a great Deity was introduced: Leviathan, lord of the Labyrinth, created by Clive Barker and Peter Atkins, only to fall into obscurity after Rock'n'Roll Pinhead fans made him a global Icon for head bangers, (Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth). Even Barker joined the fun, shooting a video of his friend Doug Bradley in the Pinhead suit appearing alongside Lemmy Killmister, famous Motörhead leader.
'The Hellbound Heart' fans might find some lines taken from the novella.
All in all, an honorable addition to the series, but the story could be better. In my opinion, the weak story dragged it down. Visually very good. I give it a 6/10.