Friday
German Angst.
A three film anthology from three German film-makers including Jorg Buttgereit. Its weird that Jorg's entry is not the most f*** up. His film comes first and deals with a disturbed young woman who begins discussing her guinea pigs before moving on to torture and castrate a man she has tied up. It might be all in her head, possibly she might be abused. It leaves a lot to the audience to figure out but still packs quite a punch. The second film is where it really gets dark as a young deaf-mute couple explore Germany only to get set upon by a group of neo-nazis. The boyfriend has a charm that allows people to swap bodies and his girlfriend activates it so he swaps with the main skin head. This one made me feel really uncomfortable but that seems to be the point as its exploring one of the darker chapters of German history. Really f**** difficult though. The third and final film goes all lovecraftian as a heartbroken photographer arranges to meet a girl online and ends up getting dragged into a weird supernatural sex cult. This is a great segment as well that manages to be very dark and moody while still feeling like light relief after the last story.
Overall a great anthology and one I'll be picking up!
Scream
Shown as tribute to the late, great Wes Craven its hard to believe this is coming up to 20 years old. I remember sneaking in to see it on its release at the old local flea-pit before I was 18! It gets a lot of shit from horror fans but in fairness its a well executed, fairly tense slasher that came at a point when Horror was mostly absent from cinemas and had been for a long time. Its very easy to be dismissive but the film actually holds up well and the fact that it proved to Hollywood that there was still a market for Horror is still something to applaud it for. Perhaps People under the stairs might have been a better choice but it was good to revisit this film and I may have to dig out my DVD's and watch them again.
Landmine goes click
I'm going to say right from the get go that I f*****g loved this film. I also need to stress that the less I say will be better for anyone reading as going into this blind really helps. Basically its about three Americans out hiking in Georgia when one of them stands on a landmine, it then proceeds from there into really nasty territory before delivering a really harsh critique on the morality of revenge and things escalating beyond peoples intentions.
Check it out!
He never died
From on terrific film to another, He never died features Henry Rollins as a cannibal battling his addiction while getting to know the daughter he never knew he had and dealing with some gangsters intent on abducting him.
Essentially a dialogue heavy character study of Rollins character this one works for a number of reasons. Firstly Rollins is absolutely brilliant and really carries the film. Secondly the dialogue is genuinely funny and well written, it had me in stitches in places in a good way. Essentially laughing with the film not at it. Thirdly, when the gore comes its well done, shocking but funny at the same time. This is another must see and one I hope hits blu-ray.
Cherry tree
It was.....ok. Perhaps it was due to the fact that it came right after two genuinely great films but Cherry Tree was a little disappointing. The script seems to be the main issue, packed with cliche and unconvincing character development. There are some nice visuals to be had and some sexy witches but this was an underwhelming experience...
Turbo Kid
This is more like it! Possibly the most straight up enjoyable film I've seen all year. Essentially a parody/tribute to post apocalyptic movies, BMX, Anime and comic books. Its about a kid living alone in the wasteland, scavenging stuff while out on his BMX. He meets a weird pink haired stalker girl and ends up running afoul of Michael Ironsides gang who are turning people into water. This one is both hilariously fun, spectacularly gory and made by people who really love what they are doing.
The Hive.
Had to leave early and missed it. However word of mouth wasn't great.
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