Category: Narrative

By Joe Bendel. For the Occupy crowd and their allies in Congress, “I like it, I’ll forcibly take it” is an economic policy. In South Korea, it is the stuff of horror movies, or at least one very dark thriller. Violent and intrusive squatting has tormented the residents of a shabby tenement, but the terror is about to move on up George Jefferson-style in Huh Jung’s Hide and Seek, which just released on DVD from RAM Releasing, Film Movement’s relatively new genre division.

Baek Sung-soo has a lovely wife, two small children, and a mild case of germ-o-phobia. He also has an older brother Sung-chul, who has apparently gone missing. They were never very close, particularly after Baek inherited their parents’ entire estate, even though he was the adopted one. Of course, there is a good reason for that.

Visiting his brother’s dilapidated building, Baek learns that the tenants have been terrified by a peeping tom, who has a knack for invasive snooping. We also know from the prologue that at least one murder has been committed there. Brother clearly suspects brother, as Baek Sung-chul’s backstory is revealed, but whoever that motorcycle helmet wearing freak might be, he has followed the Baek family home to their tony Seoul high-rise condo.

Granted, most of the second act business is pretty straight forward woman-and-children-in-jeopardy stuff and the big third act revelation stretches credibility to the breaking point. However, it is Huh’s attention to creepy details that really elevates Hide. Shrewdly, he never overplays Baek’s OCD, using it for character development rather than as a major plot device. He also fully establishes the two very different housing complexes as distinct, physical locations, while steadily cranking up the sense of paranoia.

Son Hyun-joo’s Baek always looks appropriately haggard, as if he were constantly in desperate need of an aspirin—even if he does just sort of plod along grimly. Although his wife Min-ji initially comes across as a sort of ice queen-trophy accessory, Jeon Mi-sun brings out the mother’s fierce protectiveness quite powerfully. Yet, perhaps the most effective performance comes from young Kim Ji-young, as little Pyeong-hwa, a neighbor of Sung-chul, who always turns up during especially dramatic and dangerous times.

Frankly, anyone down with the so-called “Occupy” movement has no grounds to protest the villainy afoot in Hide and Seek, beyond the aesthetic (“kill less and smile more, because it looks better”). It is a tense and unsettling depiction of a family’s sudden vulnerability to a predator, ironically cloaked by its fringe outsider status. It also gives us a vivid idea of what follows when bourgeoisie principles of property rights and the sanctity of life are thrown by the wayside. Recommended for fans of dark psychological thrillers and k-horror, Hide and Seek is now available on DVD from RAM releasing.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on June 12th, 2014 at 6:12pm.

By Joe Bendel. You have to feel for the publishers of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s light novel and manga, All You Need is Kill. They had a recognizable property with one of the coolest titles ever, but the studio changed the title of their live action adaptation to something sounding like a soap opera or an Edgar Cayce tract—and then they wonder why their tracking is soft. It is a shame, because the eternally recurring battle against alien invaders is rather snappily executed in Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, which opened Friday nationwide.

The so-called “Mimics” (because they are so blasted adaptable in battle) have overrun continental Europe, but somehow mankind held them off at Verdun. Victory was partly attributed to the development of their Iron Man-like exo-war “jackets” and partly to the leadership of warrior-extraordinaire Rita Vrataski, the “Angel of Verdun” (or “Full Metal Bitch” in the source novel). Embolden by humanity’s first battlefield success, General Brigham is poised to launch a D-Day-like counter-invasion of France. It will not go well, as soon to be ex-Major William Cage (formerly green recruit Keiji Kiriya) experiences over and over again.

Deservedly busted down to private for his incredibly stupid comments to Gen. Brigham, the military PR officer is now amongst the first wave of ground troops set to hit the beaches. Unfortunately, the Mimics know they are coming. Cage is indeed killed in rather short order, as are most of his new comrades, but not before he takes out an unusually large “Alpha” Mimic. Eventually, he learns he has been contaminated by their time altering power through its blood. Each time he dies, his incredibly un-fun day starts afresh. It has to be a clean death though. A transfusion will wash out his Mimic connection, whereas incapacitation would be the worst possible scenario.

Even though it is easy to recognize plenty of familiar military science fiction elements, Liman cobbles them together quite sure-handedly, adding the Groundhog Day twist. The action sequences are intense and brutally honest to the realities of any war. Frankly, there are a handful of moments of 3D shock and awe, but it is mostly unnecessary (as you probably already guessed). The battery of screenwriters also convey as decent sense of the soldier’s perspective and attitude. Yet, the film is relatively circumspect drawing D-Day parallels, notwithstanding the June 6th release date.

Younger readers might be interested to know Tom Cruise was once one of the biggest box office stars in the world, before he started handing out flowers at the airport, or whatever. This is the sort of role that used to be his bread-and-butter in the 1980s: the callow hotshot forced to mature thanks to the help of a more experienced woman. It might be a familiar arc for him, but he does not slack on the energy level. Yet, it is Emily Blunt who really delivers the grit and action cred as Vrataski. Science fiction fans will also enjoy watching Bill Paxton play with and against his Aliens persona as the hard-charging Master Sergeant Farrell Bartolome.

There are a handful of moments in Edge that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Unfortunately, the ending feels like a tacked on exercise in Hollywood gooeyness, almost undoing the in-your-face integrity of everything that came before. Nevertheless, there is more than enough amped-up genre action and time paradox-tripping to satisfy high concept, big budget science fiction fans. Recommended accordingly, Edge of Tomorrow opened Friday across the country, including the AMC Empire in New York.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on June 12th, 2014 at 12:54pm.

By Joe Bendel. With the release of ScarJo’s Lucy looming, we can expect the publicity campaign to wax rhapsodic about the significance of a female action hero. Of course, Michelle Yeoh has been kicking butt and carrying action films for decades. So has Angela Mao. Cheng Pei-pei also did it before Johansson and did it far better in King Hu’s Shaw Brothers classic, Come Drink with Me, which screens during BAM Cinématek’s retrospective, All Hail the King: the Films of King Hu.

Drink would be Hu’s definitive film for legendary producer Run Run Shaw, but also his last. Furthermore, it introduces the first of Hu’s many strong woman protagonists: Golden Swallow, the daughter of the scrupulously just provincial governor. A gang of outlaws has abducted her brother, expecting to exchange her for a colleague due to be executed for his crimes. Instead, the old man dispatches Golden Swallow to recover her brother and dispense some justice.

Kind of-sort of disguised as a man, Golden Swallow marches into the bandit’s favorite tavern, looking for trouble. They try to oblige, but she far outclasses mere henchmen. Needless to say, they vow to return, with their boss, Jade-Faced Tiger to continue the “negotiations.” To make things fairer, she will make a secret ally in Drunken Cat, the local lush, who is considerably more dangerous than his easygoing façade would suggest.

Come Drink is hardly the most complex wuxia story ever filmed, but it delivers several striking action sequences. Indeed, the fight scenes are vintage Hu, as deeply influenced by ballet as martial arts. It is not hard to gather why Golden Swallow’s exploits are often identified as a forerunner to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is also easy to see how it launched Cheng Pei-pei to overnight superstardom. She has poise, presence, and all kind of moves. (It is hard to fathom mistaking her for a man, but that is a genre convention we just have to go along with.) Even though he sings and clowns as Drunken Cat, Yueh Hua more than holds up his end, bringing to mind Donnie Yen with his earnestly likable badassery.

In fact, there is something appealing about Golden Sparrow being her family’s designated action figure. She is impressive, but not super-heroic. Both she and Drunken Cat have their physical and emotional vulnerabilities, but they demonstrate humanist virtues as well.

Thanks to Hu’s mystical trappings and striking backdrops, Come Drink With Me easily ranks amongst the higher end of Shaw Brothers productions. Nor can anyone argue with Cheng’s iconic work as Golden Swallow. A briskly paced tale of good versus the corrupt, Come Drink With Me is a film all wuxia connoisseurs should catch up with eventually. Highly recommended, it screens this today (6/8) at BAM as part of their King Hu retrospective.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 8th, 2014 at 12:08pm.

By Joe Bendel. They are not exactly the Garson Kanin & Ruth Gordon of horror movies. Frankly, the one thing two would-be screenwriting partners lack more than talent is inspiration. However, a quick stay at an artists’ resort will provide the latter, in the worst way possible. The bodies pile up, as well they should, in Steve Kopera’s slasher-spoof The Cabining which screened during the seventeenth Dances With Films.

Bruce is the hopelessly irresponsible one, while Todd is the earnest sad sack. Neither can crank out a halfway watchable scene, even by slasher movie standards. On the plus side, they have a tentative investor lined up for their first film, but if they cannot produce anything reasonably filmable, Todd’s uncle will put his money in a cousin’s heavy metal recording instead. After having their egos handed to them by their writing group, Todd reluctantly agrees to Bruce’s plan, regrouping for a few days at the Shangri-La retreat.

Right, so Shangri-La is a luxury cabin deep in the woods. You know what happens next, except for the surprisingly spirited courtship between Todd and the sarcastic Mindy, a real literary-grade writer also staying at the retreat. Meanwhile, guests act suspicious and/or dead, while Bruce recklessly pursues the disinterested but not completely unwilling Celeste.

There is no getting around the fact Cabining is a meathead movie, but it is an oddly ambitious one. Kopera and co-writer David Silverman get a lot of mileage out of approaching the brink of shopworn horror clichés, but doing a 180º at the last moment. As a result, there is quite a respectable balance of smart and dumb laughs.

Kopera’s brother and co-producer Mike demonstrates solid timing and an easy likability as Todd. He also develops some appealing chemistry with the scene-stealing Angela Relucio’s Mindy. The film really hums when they are bantering. Conversely, Bo Keister’s Bruce is all about clumsy shtick, but Richard Riehle brings some on-target lunacy as Todd’s uncle, Sarge.

Admittedly, Cabining is no Blythe Spirit, but if you have seen your share of crap-goes-down-in-the-woods movies than you will find it consistently entertaining. It’s a scruffy indie, but it’s funny. Recommended for midnight movie patrons, The Cabining screened Friday night as part of this year’s Dances With Films, in Hollywood, CA.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on June 8th, 2014 at 12:02pm.

By Joe Bendel. As a Pope Francis kind of priest, young Father McCready is uncomfortable with traditional ideas of demons and exorcisms. In contrast, his headmaster, Father Jenkins, is an old school Benedict XVI kind of clergyman. Unfortunately, the senior priest’s diagnosis will prove correct for one of their students. Things get Exorcistic in Tom Lewis’s The Periphery, which screened during the seventeenth Dances With Films.

Essentially, Cassie Stevens died and came back to life. Unfortunately, the young girl her drunken goth friends ran over was not so fortunate. Frankly, her second lease on life turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing. Not only must she endure the public shame and survivor’s guilt resulting from her accident, something sinister has apparently followed her from the other side. Initially, she can only see it vaguely out of the corner of her eye, but it steadily gets closer and more belligerent.

They say in the film: “evil hides in the periphery,” which sounds heavy. More importantly, it prevents Lewis from over-exposing the malevolent entity, forcing him to suggest rather than show, which is always a winning horror movie strategy. His instincts are not always so on target, particularly the opening narration (“I’m Cassie Stevens and I see blurry androgynous figures”) that makes it sound like a television pilot. The general tone is also surprisingly dour and downbeat.

However, like Blatty and Friedkin, Lewis addresses his themes of good, evil, and redemption with scrupulous seriousness. He also establishes an effective dichotomy between the secular reason of Stevens’ psychiatrist, Dr. Switzer, and the faith of Father Jenkins. In fact, the best things going for Periphery are the distinctive supporting turns from Larrs Jackson (with his incredible radio voice) and executive producer Myron Natwick as Dr. Switzer and Fr. Jenkins, respectively. The young kids just don’t have the presence of the veteran cats.

True, Periphery is simply nowhere near the Exorcist’s level, but Lewis (an attorney specializing in film production work in his other life) nicely handles some third act revelations and maintains a menacing vibe throughout. It is also compelling to watch the re-assertion of Fr. McCready’s flagging faith, at least for the bad stuff. (Still, you have to wonder where Stevens’ supposedly concerned parents are constantly disappearing to in the middle of the night.) While certainly a B-movie, it is considerably better than you would expect. Worth checking out for die-hard horror fans, The Periphery screened during this year’s Dances With Films in Hollywood proper.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on June 6th, 2014 at 10:24am.

Styria Trailer from Styria on Vimeo.

By Joe Bendel. The Austrian state of Styria was once home to jazz musician Wolfgang Muthspiel and disappointing former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was also where the vampire Carmilla Karnstein haunted her victims in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic classic. The fictional Communist era Hungarian hamlet of Styria will also fall prey the undead seductress. It is a shift that works rather well, adding an additional layer of menace to Mauricio Chernovetzky & Mark Devendorf’s The Curse of Styria, which screens during the seventeenth edition of Dances With Films.

Something terrible happened to Laura Hill’s’ mother at an early age, but her art historian father refuses to speak of it. It is just her and him now, but he is mostly wrapped up in his work. Dr. Hill has dragged her to a remote Hungarian castle to remove a series of culturally significant murals. However, the clock is ticking. As a symbol of class exploitation and imperialism, the government will soon demolish the creaky old fortress, regardless of what national treasures it might contain. As Dr. Hill races to finish his work, his government liaison, General Spiegel, regularly drops by to be unhelpful and intimidating.

One day, Mme. Hill witnesses a young woman flee Spiegel’s custody, following a car accident and an altercation. That would be Carmilla. She will also start visiting the castle frequently, but only at night. Initially, Lara is delighted to have a companion, but Carmilla exerts an unhealthy influence over her, physically and mentally. There seems to be a lot of that going around, given the recent wave of suicides amongst Styria’s teenage girls.

Unlike previous adaptations, Styria does not leeringly exploit Carmilla’s lesbian overtones. Instead, Chernovetzky & Devendorf concentrate first and foremost on atmosphere, which is not such a bad strategy for a supernatural film. The late 1980s Communist setting also heightens the foreboding vibe. Granted, they could have just moved the story a few feet over the Slovenian border, but that might have complicated the viewing experience with inadvertent Balkan baggage.

Polish actor Jacek Lenartowicz (seen briefly in Wajda’s masterwork, Katyn) is gleefully evil as Spiegel, clearly portraying a self-aware agent of oppression, who realizes his time may soon be up. Always reliable, Stephen Rea is consistently credible as the concerned but deeply flawed father, especially compared to the sort of clueless parents typically encountered in horror movies. Unfortunately, Eleanor Tomlinson is a bit colorless as Laura Hill, but it is easy to believe her self-destructive slightly goth-ish teen would be highly susceptible to Carmilla’s supernatural overtures. Likewise, Julia Pietrucha is certainly no Ingrid Pitt, but she conveys a respectable air of danger.

In truth, Styria is better described as a gothic film than a horror or vampire movie. Grzegorz Bartoszewicz’s cinematography is appropriately moody. Likewise, the evocative work of production designer Jim Dow and art director Ian Dow is somewhat in the Hammer period tradition, but more austere. Smarter and more refined than most genre films, but bloodier than BBC productions of Wilkie Collins, The Curse of Styria is recommended for literate vampire fans when it screens Sunday night (6/1) at this year’s Dances With Films.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on May 30th, 2014 at 9:08pm.