Batten down the hatches and prep for battle - the horror is among us again...
The Hole (2009 - Joe Dante) - Part of me thought this would be a great "first" horror film for my 12 year-old. The characters are likeable, the pace is solid, the gore is minimal and the scares come from empathizing with those characters - not just from random jump scares or loud noises. Having said that, it's pretty disturbing - both within individual key scenes and viewed as an overall concept. A hole in your basement that will bring your deepest darkest fears to life which you must face in order to survive? A hulking zombie-like father who used to beat his family regularly and still keeps track of where they move? Now there's a film that understands something about what can scare a kid...It's pretty entertaining too since they keep the mystery alive long enough and create some engaging moments and dialogue between the two brothers and the girl next door. And you also get Bruce Dern and Dick Miller popping up briefly to lend Dante a hand (which they do with ease). If the payoffs to the stories don't quite hit with force or perfect accuracy, they still hit. It's a shame this 3 year-old film never really got the wider audience it deserved. I'd even go so far as to say that I would be curious to see it in its 3-D incarnation because of Dante's grasp of how to entertain an audience.
Cabin In The Woods (2012 - Drew Goddard) - I guess I've missed the window for any real discussion of this film - since I get the feeling EVERYTHING has already been covered - but even though I greatly enjoyed it (I fall squarely on the "pro-Cabin-In-The-Woods" side of the divide), I don't know how much I would have wanted to add to the conversation. I mean, it knows exactly what it's doing and does so in wholly effective ways. I liked the performances across the board, felt every scene with Jenkins and Whitford was a winner and enjoyed the different uses (and meta-uses) of the horror film conventions - like the brief takes on foreign horror, the calling out of stupid decisions ("no wait, we should split up...") and sudden changes of character to better fit stereotypes. I can certainly see complaints about it not being as clever as it thinks it is, but it sure felt at least as entertaining as it thinks it is. As a bonus, even if this were just a straight-up kids-in-a-cabin-in-the-woods horror film, it would still be a huge cut above many simply because the 5 main actors come across very well, remain interesting and even somewhat sympathetic. And can I just single out Kristen Connolly here for a second? Not just because she is incredibly attractive, but, well, she really is...
Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981 - Graham Baker) - A step down from the previous two Omen films in all kinds of ways, but mostly in tone. Not only does it never quite reach any of the consistent spookiness or dread of numbers 1 and 2, but it seems to waffle between purposely overblown cheese and deadly serious religious conviction. This certainly isn't Sam Neill's finest moment either. I initially thought - at least from my vague memories of its trailer and Neill's mug on the DVD cover - that he was a great casting choice to play the fully adult Damien Thorn (now an ambassador to the U.K. and able to command an audience with the U.S. president). But he lacks the evil confidence and the natural charisma this character should have evolved to by now. There are far too many pauses for expressions and darting of eyes to take him seriously as the spawn of the devil. However, it does manage to hold together - even after some ridiculous astronomical evidence of the looming arrival of The Saviour - as Damien sets his disciples the task of killing all babies born on a certain day in a certain region to ensure that the Christ-child will not get in his way. Meanwhile he must avoid the seven priests trying to kill him using the set of seven daggers that are the only thing on Earth that can harm him. It never quite lives up to its promise though. But I do love that ironing scene...
Chained (2012 - Jennifer Lynch) - As evidenced by each angle, frame, and morsel of information delivered, there's no doubt that Jennifer Lynch has a steady eye behind the camera and full control during the entirety of Chained. For the longest time, though, the real mystery was why she decided to tell this story of a man who, while imprisoning a young boy for almost a decade, picks up single women in his cab and brings them home to be murdered. The dark, disturbing and depressing nature of everything is the obvious attraction for a Lynch family member, but where was this going? The women have everything stripped away from them and are dispatched quite horribly while the boy has no way out. However, it does eventually become apparent that a major theme is how the brutality of fathers towards their own sons can lead to violence against women. An interesting premise, but it doesn't quite fully manifest itself here. I'll admit, it kept my interest because I not only wanted to see what it was trying to say, but was also fully hoping for the escape/revenge of the boy. Not at all an easy recommendation, but certainly effective in creating feelings of unease and vileness. By the way, the secondary mystery of why Vincent D'Onofrio was speaking with that strange accent/impediment/affectation may remain unresolved...
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