Movie Review: Knock Knock

Director: Eli Roth / Starring: Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas, Aaron Burns & Ignacia Allamand / Writer(s):  Michael Ronald Ross(original script), Eli Roth, Nicolás López, Guillermo Amoedo & Anthony Overman

'Knock Knock' is a thriller about a 40-something husband and father who's spending his weekend alone at home while his family is away when two stranded young woman unexpectedly knock on his door for help. What starts out as a good gesture quickly turns to a decision Evan will regret for the rest of his life.

Evan(Reeves) is an architect who lives in a big house in well-to-do suburbia, has two beautiful children and an "exotic" artist wife(Allamand). He seemingly has the perfect life despite one slight flaw: he and his wife aren't having sex. The film starts out offering a bevy of evidence as to why he may or may not deserve everything that he has coming to him, but also all but explicitly says "hey, look at how great this guy's life is, but wait! he's not having sex with his wife? THAT SUCKS... DOESN'T IT?"

It does a decent job of setting things up, but it's heavily leading which isn't exactly bad thing as long as you're not doing it in way that makes sure anybody who's seen enough movies can predict what's gonna happen. And that's exactly what this film does. You could file this under the Chekov's gun principle, but depending on the crowd, it could either be seen as something neat or a plain cop-out. I think what separates those two crowds is 1) what the device is and its overall effect on the plot and 2) whether or not the time between when the Chekov's gun device is presented and when it's used is enthralling enough to make you forget it even if only for a moment. And in this movie said time is partly engaging, but the device(Evan's should injury) is inconsequential so it's definitely a cheap cop-out.

Evan's family goes away to their beach house for the weekend while he stays back to finish some work. When the two lost young women, Genesis(Izzo) & Bel(Armas) show up on Evan's doorstep soaking wet from the rain, he does what a decent human being would do, right? Keenu Reeves is notorious for his kind and solemn nature in real life and genuinely feel that part of him here so it's not a hard sell to believe he'd do something exactly like this in real life. Though, concerning his role solely you can't help but think from that slight twinkle in his eye that he might just be interested in doing more than helping the two young women.

Evan let's Genesis & Bel in, puts their clothes in the dryer and talks to them while waiting for a uber. Genesis & Bel soon try to flatter Evan and begin to casually talk about sex, alternative relationship dynamics and the supposed falsity of monogamy. They talk about sex in general in an idealistic way, which in theory is fine, everybody has their own lifestyle, but they talk about it in a way that's geared to appeal to any whoremongering man so you know this particular rhetoric is coming from these two not because they genuinely believe in it, but are simply using it as a tool of seduction, a way to warm Evan up to the idea of sleeping with them. And you can see he might be susceptible to it by the way perks up when compliment him and pretend to be interested in his djing days.  And sure enough, when he doesn't get the hint they resort stripping down naked, spewing some perfectly generic dirty talk straight out of a porno and he falls for it.

Once the deed is done, Evan wakes up the next day to Genesis & Bel running amok through his house, completely devoid of any maturity they seemed to have the night before. He eventually gets them to leave but things go dark when they return. They tie him up, torture and rape him. It's revealed they're playing at some sick game, punishing him for falling victim to their seduction. "I'm a good person. I made a mistake!" Evan says, decrying acts... adding that he loves his family and he's a good father. "Why didn't you think about your family when you were inside me?" to which he replies "My family had nothing to do with that." Exactly. But sadly, at that point in the film that's where any inkling of intelligence concerning the topic of infidelity stops.

Genesis & Bel are intelligent and resourceful, but their motives are poorly elaborated. It appears Bel's motivation stems from sexual abuse and Genesis' from a sense of resentment she has to the upper class. Solid motives, but not delved into enough to make you care. This could've been remedied with some compelling back and forth between Evan and the girls, but instead Roth opts out for some sequences of thrill that are quickly deflated by all too convenient instances of happenstance and half-hearted dialogue intent on delivering a message that's already overstated in society: cheating is bad. It's ironic that the common complaint about Roth's work is that he's indulgent when it comes to gore because he's surprisingly tame here and it's to the film's detriment.

Lorenza Izzo & Ana de Armas are fine actresses here, the script is just weak. Keanu Reeves plays the repressed family man, framed as the innocent and he does the gentle part of it well, but it's later revealed he's phoning it in when he hams up the scenes where he's upset. This is a film that had good actors, a premise with potential but just doesn't measure up in the end.

Movie Review: Goodnight Mommy

Director(s): Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz / Starring: Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz & Elias Schwarz / Writer(s): Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz. 

Per IMDb, Goodnight Mommy is a German-Language psychological thriller/drama about two twin boys who move into a new home with their mother after she has face changing cosmetic surgery, but under her bandages is someone the children don't recognize. 

The trailer for this film has been spreading through the internet like wildfire for months now. Usually with the adjectives "terrifying" & "horrifying" attached. I was linked to the trailer on twitter and wasn't exactly hyped as everyone else was about it, but it still looked good to me. Now that I've watched I'm here to report that this is not a horror... at least not in a pure sense of the word anyways. And I kind of expected this.

The film starts out with the young boys, Elias & Lukas, roaming the Austrian countryside. The location wasn't specified, but my god is it beautiful. This cinematography in this film is immediately spectacular. The few, and I mean few, films I've seen out of Austria & Germany have been visually bleak but the visuals for this film are vibrant & indulgent. I was in awe of it from beginning to end. The boys play hide-and-seek, frolic through the forest, go swimming, etc. Do things that kids their age do. when you finally meet their mother(Wuest), it's a cold scene. The twins are unforgiving in their reaction the seeing their mother's bandaged face for what seems to be the first time and she misconstrues their being startled for disgust. Tension in the household begins to simmer.

At first it seems like the film is about the mother's disappointment with her self-image. It even seems to be hinted at with the big portraits of distorted female figures strewn throughout the walls of the house. From that I figured her impatience & resent of her children was due to their youth. Those elements are definitely there, but it's not the entire story. You later learn that the true source of her resentment is and what the second purpose of those portraits when the boys start to suspect their mother isn't their mother.

If you got caught up in the "most terrifying/horrifying" hype when the trailer was buzzing then you will be disappointed sitting through the first two acts of the film waiting to be scared by something. There are some slightly disturbing/hard to look at things that happen, some startling cuts in the editing and it has generally disquiet atmosphere, but this is mostly a slow burn... not a pure horror. Goodnight Mommy is a story of emotional & psychological trauma. To be fair, the way the trailer is cut is purposely manipulative in how it portrays it as a horror, but it still shocked me when I seen so many negative reviews for the film.

 It suffers  the same fate as The Babadook & the underrated Silent House remake. People come in with certain expectations of what they think it's supposed to be and miss the point of what it actually is in the process. It's not a horror with contrived plot about two sociopathic boys whose mother has been replaced by an evil witch or something, it's about two boys who are so perplexed by their mother treating them differently they think she's another person entirely. "Our mother would never do that," Elias & Lukas say in unison  when presenting their mother a video of her hitting one of them. 

The human psyche is fragile... even more so when it comes to children. So it's natural for children to lash out when they suddenly experience resentment & bitter embrace from the person who's supposed to love them the most. On the flip-side, this film is presented from a completely biased point of view of the children for most of the runtime. The Schwarz twins are brilliant, you'd think there's not much to what they had to do, but the precise subtlety to performances should not be taken for granted.

When you examine the mother's behavior closer, and look at it from her angle it becomes a completely different film from what you thought you were watching. Imagine you're a recent divorcée, highly insecure about your self-image and in a sensitive state... reeling from a traumatic experience(Susanne Wuest's face is wrapped in bandages for 2/3 of the film, but she still gives a great turn, emitting emotions the way she did with her face covered is no small feat.) Imagine the two people in the world you'd expect to adore you essentially reject you and choose each other's company over yours. Of course that doesn't excuse the abuse, but just imagine the isolation you'd experience seeing them frolic carelessly through the countryside while you're emotionally wrecked. Is that all of the story? No, but I have to reiterate that these elements are there and shouldn't be whisked away by the "twist" that's barely a twist in the first place. These are real-life themes only retrofitted with "horror" tropes. This isn't anything new either. 

In the beginning, most horrors were rooted in real-life phobias, fears & traumatic events. It's just that over the years horror as a genre has become a thing of its own and it has a lot of people thinking  everything that evokes some element of horror is supposed to scare them when that's not necessarily the case. Not the most terrifying film ever, but is one of the most engaging thrillers you'll see in a while.

Movie Review: The Dead Lands

The Dead Lands(2014)
Director: Toa Fraser
Writer: Glenn Standring
Starring: James Rolleston(BOY, The Dark Horse), Lawrence Makoare(LOTR trilogy),Te Kohe Tuhaka

"...Death is not noble. Nor is life."

This came under my radar a few months ago when I seen some blog post with James Cameron & Peter Jackson praising it(or something like that), so I didn't even bother watching a trailer or even reading the post in it's entirety. I just put it on the watchlist. Not that I'm a Cameron or Jackson stan or anything, though Cameron has made some great films I admire. It's just that when I hear high praises for films that sound up my alley, I like going into them without knowing as much as possible.

This film starts out like a horror. A man, obviously scared as hell, is running for his life through the forest and is caught and promptly killed in the most brutal manner by another man who looks as if he's possessed. Then it cuts to a scene with two rival tribes convening to make peace. The old chieftain explains to the visiting tribe that they haven't hunted in the lands they last fought them in since the battle ended long ago and by doing so they've honored the visiting tribe's dead. They allow the standing leader of that tribe, a young man named Wirepa(Tuhaka), to go forth and give their dead a proper burial. The son of the chieftain & our lead, Hongi(Rolleston), follows Wirepa out of curiosity. He trails him to a cave in the forest where the remains of Wirepa's ancestor's out in the open. Wirepa picks up one of the skulls and speaks to it for a moment and then he put it down, turns and takes a dump on it. He literally takes a dump ontop of the skull and then licks it. Not even joking. There's a character in this film who only eats other people's flesh and this guy, to me, is crazier than him. Hongi sees this act and throws a rock at him. Wirepa chases Hongi down then takes him to his father and lies saying that Hongi defiled the remains of his ancestors. The chief offers to kill his son to make it right. Hongi denies having done wrong, but accepts his fate. Wirepa, glory hungry, says there's no remedy for what has happened and that there will be war and then they go their separate ways. Wirepa and his men come back in the night and massacre Hongi's village and take the chief's head.

After that Hongi sets out for the titular Dead Lands in seek of a flesh eating "monster" to help him reap revenge on Wirepa and his men. This is where the film really starts. Hongi finds the "monster"(Makoare), the man from(and only a man), from the beginning of the film and he agrees to help. What follows could easily be a western, in fact, the whole movie could easily be a good revenge western. Rolleston is good here, he plays the young innocent, but rising warrior well. But Makoare absolutely steals the show. He brings depth to a seemingly savage character displaying a deep vulnerability and wide range of other emotions at the drop of a dime. He & Rolleston play off each other very well and would not mind seeing them in a western together. Tuhaka is great as the villain, reminds of a young Dwayne Johnson looks wise with the charisma Johnson has now.

The script is good. Nothing complicated, but it does offer a refreshing take on this type of story with the demythologizing of the warrior's code/honor. I like how it offers good and bad examples of going against that way of thinking. You hear/see the words "gritty" & "dark" a lot today when it comes to action movies, comic book adaptations particularly, but this film genuinely merits those terms with true grit... see what I did there? No? Okay, I'll be moving on. I don't have anything at all against today's CGI-heavy action movies. I actually love a lot of them, but I can say those CGI spectacles can get tiresome. I can't speak for everyone, but as an action junkie sometimes you just wanna see two people hit each other and actually see blood. The fight scenes aren't extensive like The Raid or anything like that, but they're still pretty gory and the choreography is good. I'm not sure it was intentional, but some of the visual language is right out of a classic Kung Fu movie and it's absolutely awesome so if you're into old Wuxias, that's another reason for you to watch. The only problems I had with is the pacing at times, but that's me just wanting to get back into the chase more than anything. And the logic in how some of the fight scenes are staged is questionable, sometimes I'd be sitting wondering "why don't they all just attack at once?" But that's nothing untypical for any action movie that involves a lot of fighting. All in all, this is one of the most visceral action movie's I've seen in a while and it while it may not land it's punch with everyone, I'd recommend it to hardcore action junkies like myself that are looking for an alternative to the sanitized PG-13 action movies that are the norm now.

Movie Review: It Follows

It Follows(2014)

Writer/Director: David Robert Mitchell

Starring: Maika Monroe(The Guest), Keir Gilchrist(It's Kind of A Funny Story), Lilli Sepe, Olivia Luccardi, Jake Weary

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, okay? Someone did this to me too."

Remember the scene in Scream where Randy explains the rules of horror movies? Specifically the bit where he says "You can never have sex!" This film is the concept of that horror convention brought to life. It's no coincidence that that conversation takes place in the middle of them watching John Carpenter's 1978 classic 'Halloween' which 'It Follows' has a ton of nods to, and has drawn of comparisons to Carpenter's work in general. Fun fact: the special make-up effects producer for this is Robert Kurtzman of the legendary KNB EFX Group, who actually worked on a few Carpenter films.

Like any good ol' fashion slasher, which this really isn't, 'It Follows' begins with the first victim. It opens on a frantic young girl in the suburbs running out of her house into the middle of the street wearing something like pajamas with a pair of high-heeled shoes on. I guess this is supposed imply that she's promiscuous or something? I mean I know it's a common trope for a horror, just looks odd here. This is the only part I felt that was unneeded. Not the opening all together, but just those heels. Outside of that one detail, the film really isn't too judgmental. Anyways... after the girl runs out into the street and stares back at her front yard for a beat, she doubles back across the street back into the house and comes back outside to get in her car then drives off. She ends up sitting on the beach crying and apologizing on the phone to her parents, telling them she loves them. In the middle of her apparent goodbye we're suddenly seeing from the girl's POV and same as she did back in her neighborhood, she's stares off in the distance as if someone or "something" is there. It cuts to a shot of the girl's tattered corpse in an odd pose. This is an eerie, graphic opening that sets the tone for the rest of the film. One thing I noticed early, and loved about the film, is that there's no specific time period for which all this takes place in. In the beginning of the film, we see one or two newer cars, but after that there's nothing but cars from the 60s, 70s & 80s. There are TV's, but they're always playing 50s black-and-white horrors. There's no cellphones, but one of the characters has an kindle-like device that looks like a little clamshell. It gives the film a sense of timelessness that it will definitely benefit from in the future.

We're first introduced to our lead girl, Jay(Monro), via voyeuristic far shot of her cleaning her pool then onto a brief introduction to her family and friends, we then see her at the movies on a date with this guy named Hugh(Weaver). The date seems to be going well until the guy gets the spooks and says they have to leave. The second date goes smoother and they end up laying out by a lake. This film doesn't have flashy or particularly amazing cinematography, but here I noticed that most of the exterior shots are right out of a classic horror. I mean duh, when I see Jay and her sister walking through the neighborhood I think Halloween, Michael Myers is just around the corner, but this isn't just David Robert Mitchell employing Carptenter's audiovisual aesthetic. Almost every other shot is framed in a way where it feels like something bad could happen. Yes, I know that's typical of a horror film to have a heavily ominous tone, but when I say I feel like ANYTHING bad could happen I mean that when I see Jay waiting in line at the movies with Hugh, I think Demons(underrated zombie flick right there). When I see Yara(Luccardi) swimming in the water at the beach, I think Jaws. When I see Jay & Hugh sitting by the lake, I think Friday The 13th, any moment Jason could just jump out and drag them away. A better way to say it is that the atmosphere of the film is similar to the likes Scream or The Cabin In The Woods, but it's not as blatantly meta as those films. There's such a nonchalantness to the characters about the ever-present dangers looming around them that leads me to believe they are aware of this world, a reality that's drenched in the conventions of horror films and just don't care. That could just be my imagination being overactive, but if it's intentional it's brilliant.

Things go awry during Jay & Hugh's second date after they have sex... Hugh chloroforms her and ties her to a wheelchair. When she wakes up he explains that when they had sex he passed "something" onto her and that "It" will follow and kill her then come back and kill him unless she "gets rid of it" by passing it along someone else the same way someone else did to him. "I'm doing this to help you... just so you know it's real" he says as they sit and wait for it to come. Yeah... this guy's a dick. The rules are: It can be anywhere or anyone. Don't go into places without more than one exit and never let it get close enough to touch you. The monster, creature, whatever It is, is hard to explain outside of how terrifying it is. All that can be said is that it's some kind of entity(possibly supernatural, I really dunno) that exist on our physical plain with only select people being able to see it. It's really slow, but it's relentless and if it gets ahold of you it's a wrap.

After Hugh drops Jay off in front of her house half-naked and peels off, the rest of the movie is what can be described as a long, terrifying steady-paced chase scene. Jay, her sister & their friends are going from place to place avoiding It and just when you think you've got this film all figured out the characters end up enacting one of the dumbest/boldest confrontations I've seen in a horror movie recently. It seems a lot of people have been confused by the themes of the film. It isn't hard to pin down if you try not to think too hard about it, but I what I did find a bit confusing is how Hugh explains to Jay how he got "It" and what it does. Like, how could you know all of that and still be alive? And even if someone else told him, how'd they find out? Best not to labor over details like that when it comes to horror, though. Hugh explaining the mechanics of "It" does reinforce my belief that this is cautionary tale about the dangers of unprotected sex despite write/director David Robert Mitchell saying using contraception won't stop It from being passed onto you. And we never did seen anyone use protection, plus he also says that he intentionally left the subtext vague so there's all of that that. I spoke a little on the semi-vintage feel of the film and how it maintains the atmosphere and some conventions of classic horrors. It does do all of that, but it also subverts those conventions and makes it's own rules. It's unique and a lot more cerebral than most horrors coming out todau. Not only does it offer something new to be afraid of for a whole new generation of horror fans, it also makes you reflect on what you're afraid of and why you're afraid of it. While I have expressed my own opinion as to what this film is about, I can completely see how it can defer from someone else's interpretation. Fear takes on many shapes depending on the person. It's a scary prospect, but also an intriguing thing to think "what/who would follow me?" Whether you're interested in that question or not, I highly recommend this film.

Movie Review: The Big Bad F*cking WolfCop

WolfCop(2014)

Writer/Director: Lowell Dean

Starring: Leo Fafard, Jonathan Cherry & Sarah Lind

"...I'm the fuzz."

I liked this movie, but probably more than I should have. There are plenty of flaws that just beg for me to consider this movie as bad, but I just found it to be too awesome. Let's start with how cool of a concept this is. It's about an alcoholic cop who's suddenly turned into a werewolf then decides to go around and use his new abilities to eradicate crime. Well, sort of. But when you sum it up in that respect, it could've easily been a superhero movie. In fact, if this had the budget like one of those big superhero movies, with the story it has, it could've been a great one. Though, it probably wouldn't have all the things that make it cool like ripping people's faces and arms off. That's one of the main things that contribute to me liking this film; the vintage practical effects. Lou's(Fafard) first transformation is the high point of the film for me and rivals that of the eye-popping classic one in 1981's The Howling . And speaking of "eye-popping" there's a scene where a guy literally gets stabbed in the eye by one of the film's villains and it's absolutely glorious in all it's gore and exaggerated sound design.

The movie is pretty short clocking in at 78 minutes so it kicks off fairly fast. It opens up with an alcoholic Lou falling out of bed dragging his hungover body out the door to his job at the sheriff's department which he's regularly late for. As Lou cruises through his schlocky small town, we're made aware of current mayoral election going on and are introduced to front-runners; the longstanding incumbent, Mayor Bradley & an up-and-comer, Terry Wallace. We also quickly get a feel for how much Lou cares for his job or at least a picture of just how non-relevant local law enforcement is to the townspeople. This is made even more clear when Lou pulls up to the station and the front of the building has a busted door and is vandalized with the word "PIGS" (one of the many wolf-related puns in the movie.) Lou walks in trying to duck everyone, but is immediately grilled by his coworker/supercop, Tina(Matysio.) & his Chief who claims that Lou's father would be disappointed in him. Lou doesn't seem to care about that much which points me to an element of the film that I consider quality & a flaw: the overall casualness of the movie.

It's quality because it doesn't take itself too seriously, but it's a flaw because that overall casualness about it dampens some important scenes concerning the story with apathy. The perfect example is the scene after Lou's cursed and has his first transformation where kills a bunch of bad guys at a bar... the next day he comes back and the bartender says to him that he wasn't himself when he did what he did, but he saved her. The exchange is just so drab that the scene feels like a throwaway. It's not that I feel she should've been freaking out or anything, it just that even with a black comedy, scenes like that should at least make an effort to mount some kind of tension or suspense when there's a mystery at play. And there is definitely one at play, but the overall casualness that I mention doesn't allow for you to feel it enough to care that there is. It instead leaves you waiting for the next wolf-up, scene of carnage or whatever campy craziness you expect coming into this. And it does deliver on those expectations, but not enough for you to say "story be damned, this is great." Like  I said, the story is actually pretty good, but due to it being poorly handled I wish the filmmakers would've scaled back on the story and focused more action. Luckily there's a sequel on the way so I know there'll be plenty of fun to be had now that they've gotten this out of the way. 

Hot Fuzz does everything tried here better even the horror stuff, but I still liked this for what it was. Campy genre fare that fails to balance elements of Mystery-Cop & Black-Comedy Horror movies, but entertains anyways. Especially worth watching if you're a die-hard genre fan like me.