I watched an interview where he came across as being really embarrassed by that film (before it was out). He went as far as to say that he didn't even want to see it released.

Ti West has done a lot of really awesome stuff. House of the Devil is great and The Sacrament is super solid. Few of his other ones aren't so good, like that one about the hotel that came off as a romantic comedy for parts of it, and I haven't seen Cabin Fever 2. But he's a young director and he's got shitloads of potential.

Funny thing is people said the same thing about Eli Roth. I can't say much about Ti West beyond The Sacrament and his ABC's of Death segment, The Sacrament is passable although most of it's potential is really squandered by idiotic protagonists, and M for Miscarriage is one of the weakest and mediocre entries of ABC's of Death.

I love House of the Devil and I adore The Innkeepers. The Sacrament was fine, not up to the standard of the former two, and Cabin Fever 2, even with all the producer-mandated recuts, was pretty good, easily better than the dumpster fire that was the first movie. And yes, his segment in The ABCs of Death was the lamest of everything in that movie. Same with his segment in V/H/S.

Thing I watched tonight: Kidnapped.

Spanish home invasion flick that was actually really good and very violent. It doesn't rely on the violence for all its shocks, though, as this is a tension machine of a movie if ever there was one. The ending is an absolute gut punch as well. Easy 8.5/10 for me. That makes two awesome new horror viewings this week after Goodnight Mommy on Sunday. Hopefully the streak stays alive for a while.

The Invitation did sustain tension quite well, and I never exactly knew what was going to happen next, but it really doesn't have many striking ideas or images, which is what makes it "good but not great." What innovation it brings to the genre is small and subtle.



I didn't like House of the Devil too much. I really enjoyed the first act where we get to know all the characters. Between this film and his V/H/S short, I think West really has a knack for subtle but compelling characterization. I understand the film's ambition in creating a tense, slow burn horror movie. However, there's such a long stretch with absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happening. I would have enjoyed it more if he had sprinkled in more peculiar but not necessarily supernatural things like the clots of hair in the shower--little events that add to the creepiness and mystery. You have to provide something to carry the tension along, even just a few small occurrences. Otherwise, the tension doesn't build, it dies. In contrast, The Invitation did a good job in this area with the flashbacks and with some strange statements made by certain characters.

So I saw Suicide Squad last night.

So, I can see why it's getting hammered by critics but at the same time, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. DeadShot, Harley Quinn and The Joker were all great for the most part. The actual "enemy" was dumb and goofy in that comic book-ass way, and even though this shit ran a little over 2 hours, it still felt like it was missing crucial stuff.

I would've loved for them to do a eight to 10 minute short series on each character in the Suicide Squad on their backstory leading up to the movie, and maybe keep only the absolutely relevant stuff in the movie, and then replace that stuff with a little more camaraderie so the whole "family" thing at the end feels a little more earned.

The action scenes were shoddily shot for some reason. I get the Batman and DeadShot exchanged some blows in an alley, but I swear it just looked like body parts flying in random directions. Also, there's some really incredible slo-mo parts with Katana slicing through heads that look really awesome.

Ultimately, the script for this movie needed more time in the cooker, and with it hopefully the visual style would've come forth for them to lock in and stick to that.

So conclusively, I enjoyed it though I totally see all the problems with it. DeadShot, Harley Quinn and The Joker were all great, but nothing felt fleshed out enough. The only way to full-proof the "fleshed out" feeling is to have one or two movies before we get to this one. Great ideas, not necessarily a great execution.

Really enjoyed Sausage Party. There's a scene that parodies 'Saving Private Ryan' that could've gone on the whole movie.

I did watch House of the Devil, and I have incredibly low standards when it comes to horror (probably my genre of choice), but I was so pissed about the existence of Cabin Fever 2 I just disregarded it totally, so it's probably in need of reappraisal. Cabin Fever 2 is just, ugh (and not in a good way), don't put yourself through it. It's just another lame, plotless, faceless horror movie readily available in my local Tesco. I think I've got The Sacrament on DVD too somewhere.

Yeah, but Eli Roth sucks. West has at least two good movies, plus his VHS segment was a lot of fun. That's more than enough for me to say he has potential to make even better stuff later. We'll see if he does I suppose.

Yes, SPL 2 is excellent. Best action film of the year so far, but there hasn't been much competition.

I'm lighter on Cabin Fever 2 than most are, but I took it as an absurd Troma-style comedy. The animated ending had me rolling.

Among the latest stuff I've watched and liked:

Braveheart 1995 - Shameful, but I've never watched it before. I happened upon it, while searching for something resembling "Troy". Very thrilling, epic movie, possible one of the greatest within this genre, even if modern technologies allow to create much more bombastic stuff. But the Celtic vibe is down-right perfect, battle scenes live up to this day and actors do well, especially the guy, playing king of England/main villain, Gibson is great as a protagonist.

The Master 2012 - Very controversial stuff, some view this as a masterpiece, for others it's a pile of garbage. But what it handles well is giving off a mind-fucking atmosphere, which surounds everything, occuring inside a religious/spiritual sect. The movie gets even more psychotic, when Joaquin Phoenix's character, a deranged, depressed ex-WW2 combatant, enters this sect and builds up strange warm relationship with its charismatic leader. There is no plot twist to this movie, no mystical undertones (the leader is shown as a charlatan from the very beginning, even though he is a good psychologist). The only thing, that it teaches, maybe, is that every person at a certain period of life needs someone to assist/inspire him/her and this may occur in the most unusual, morbid circumstances.

Irrational man 2015 - Another film with Joaquin Phoenix, directed by Woody Allen. Easy-watching, getting darker at the end. A nice interpretation of Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment"

Game of Thrones 2011-15 - Not into series very much, but it is great. Some see only a bloody mess in it, but it has a spectacular acting and philosophical value in some of the dialogues. Yes, it's based on the book series, but it sure took some work to pull off Martin's ideas with this level of quality and impression

I think the lesson really was bad people are sometimes beyond salvation and will inevitably burn all their bridges and that no amount of good will influence them.

I really liked The Master, and it sounds pretentious, but I don't think it was really "about" anything in the traditional sense. If anything, it was just about these two weird characters who forge a weird friendship - but it was also about fringe cults in general and the kind of people they attract. They're very different from mainstream religions, which are often part-and-parcel with mainstream society. Instead they effectively cater to people who can't get what they want from mainstream religion - outcasts, outsiders, misfits, and people who don't find mainstream religion convincing but still want that comfort.

Also that shit was fucking GORGEOUS.

I haven't really liked any PT Anderson movies since Hard Eight, but if there's one thing that guy knows how to do, it's to make his movies look goddamn amazing. Virtually every shot in every movie he's made could be displayed in a museum. The Master was, I think, shot on 70mm, which is all but unheard of today with the advent of digital tech. I think the last major movie to use it was Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and that was from the mid/late nineties.

Paul Thomas Anderson is very hit-or-miss with me. Inherent Vice has been on cable for months, but I haven't gotten around to watching it because I might end up loathing it the way I loathe Magnolia.

I liked Inherent Vice, but since people compare it a lot to The Big Lebowski, which I've never seen, I have a feeling you might be better off with the latter.

That is an utterly fantastic name for a movie.

Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2 (2016)
What a fucking mess of a movie this shit is.

The original SLC Punk, while not a great film, at least carries itself with a sense of urgency and conviction that helped it become endeared by a good-sized audience. Inspired by events in the youth of writer/director James Merendino, it could be viewed as either a celebration or critique of the '80s punk scene and ethos, particularly with the obvious love on display in Matthew Lillard's turn as Stevo, chronicling two punks as they wander through their aimless lives in their early 20's in, of course, Salt Lake City. A killer soundtrack helped the tone and Stevo's constant breaking of the fourth wall aided in the general feel of reverent mockery, simultaneously praising the '80s punk scene while displaying the reason it could never have lasted.

The sequel takes place 20 years after the original, with Ross (Ben Schnetzer), the son of the late Heroin Bob (Michael A. Goorjian) and head shop owner Trish (Sarah Clarke), absconding with punk friends Penny and Crash (Hannah Marks and rapper Machine Gun Kelly, respectively) following his break-up with Lillith (Emma Pace) after finding her in the process of cheating on him. While he is MIA, Trish is contacted by old friends Sean (Devon Sawa), John the Mod (James Duval), and Eddie (Adam Pascal) as they return to each other's lives in order to help find him.

Where to begin...

This movie is an absolute fucking mess. It attempts to jump between the elements that made the first one work - the breaking of the fourth wall (this time via the ghost of Heroin Bob), a not-entirely-linear plot, and "mature" takes on what punk means - but fails due to not retaining any sort of actual focus. If its predecessor played like a classic punk album, this one is a poor attempt at an older band to recapture the magic of their youth. Merendino's direction has actually deteriorated over the years and its story meanders about until it reaches an unsatisfying conclusion. This is the millenial version of SLC Punk, as dictated by an aging has-been: its moments are never earned, its soundtrack pales in comparison to the original, and its pointlessness comes across as fourth-rate.

The most offensive part, though, is that there easily could have been a decent movie in this mess. The idea of a younger generation who never truly knew their elders falling in love with the same passions (in this case, naturally, punk rock) is ripe for a storytelling idea, as is the coming-of-age road trip feel of Ross/Crash/Penny traveling from SLC to the punk festival that is their destination only to be forced to confront their own issues in addition to each other's. That an "artist" as terrible as MGK could provide one of the more believable performances as Crash is almost proof that there were elements in the script worth latching on to. For instance, Penny refuses to let Crash or Ross help with repairs to her car, and a scene where her abusive father tries to drag her home against her will shows why (the classic "car = freedom" analogy), but it's introduced and then forgotten in the past just as quickly. Ross, straight edge but not a part of the sXe punk movement (he's described by his own mother as a modern goth/death rocker, often called Lord Byron with derision by others), choosing to drink and try mushrooms for the first time in his life provides some minor amusement but matters little to anything at all.

In the end, maybe that's the point. Maybe the point was that this movie exists for no reason and that the proverbial toothpaste cannot be put back into the tube. The closing scene is of Heroin Bob's ghost walking into the blinding light from a window behind him shortly after saying (paraphrased) "in the end, what does it all matter, because I'm still dead." Its symbolism is worn proudly on its sleeve, but its poor execution undercuts it all, leaving the viewer with nothing but disappointment. 3.5/10

The Hateful Eight says hello.

Just watched The Shallows. It's pretty much exactly what I expected it to be. It's not something I would watch a second time but I was entertained with it.



Good flick but don't expect anything completely mind-blowing.

Heh, well I meant the last major movie before The Master, but that's interesting. Still don't think I could even be payed to watch that movie from start to finish.

Well if you were watching it in genuine 70mm (as opposed to the standard digital-projection release) it would be over three hours long, so you'd be suffering even more

Rewatched The Collector/The Collection and the first is definitely the better movie. The second was too much carnival of horrors in it's approach that it felt ridiculously over-the-top, in a badly unreal way.
The house in the first with it's confined spaces and tight angles worked well. But that score with the guy moaning and being all Johnathan Davis was atrocious and cringe inducing, some impressive camera angles but the editing in parts was some ADHD level shit. Overall watch THE COLLECTOR if you want a tense, needlessly violent yet entertaining popcorn horror film. Skip the sequel.

I couldn't stand either one at all. Hated the both of them pretty much universally. I couldn't suspend my disbelief that that whole elaborate setup worked even for a second - insanely over the top and ludicrous. The main character, Arkin, was just such an insufferable douche too - I just didn't like him at all. Both of them just seemed like thin excuses for a bunch of gore torture porn garbage, even worse than the lamest SAW and Hostel sequels. I just don't care for that stuff at all I guess.

Ben Hur was horrible. Felt too rushed and most of the actors were really bad, with the exception of the lead and God.

I love The Collector. I thought Arkin was actually a great lead and more layered than your typical horror protagonist. He was there to do something bad (steal a bunch of shit) for a good reason (pay off his wife's debt) and couldn't let the girl his daughter's age meet the same fate as her parents. The movie was so claustrophobic and the tension just continued to mount, making it comparable (to me) to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre: just when you think things are going to lighten up they get way worse.

The second one is a big pile of shit only notable for that opening kill. It was too grand in scope and felt overly rushed, upping the level of fodder and the elaborateness of the traps to the detriment of tone and pacing.

Agreed. Arkin did what the thinking man would do and that's more than can be said for 90% of most horror movie protagonists. I wouldn't necessarily say it's like TCM but certainly the tension is high and the geography feels coherent and tightly wound. I think it's leagues better than the Saw movies sans the first, the idea of the killer and his tactics is fresh and earned and I would cite "The Collector" as a new Freddy or Jason, just a richly told interesting iconic killer, the story flows well with far less convolution than any Saw sequel - it's coherent and doesn't try to coincidence every little aspect like they do. Only in violence would I say it's similarity to the Saw movies could be comparable and that's hardly a defining factor of trash horror.

I like the theory that The Collector/Collection is 10000x better if you watch it pretending it's a sequel to Home Alone where Kevin McCallister went crazy and started murdering people with his Home Alone traps.

I didn't think it was richly told at all - he was a pretty boring, lame killer and I never bought the elaboration that had to go into him putting those traps everywhere in the house. It wasn't as convoluted plot-wise as a later Saw movie, but the fact that it started out on the first film already on its way there was pretty laughable to me. Arkin's whole romanticized thief with a heart of gold character, and the whole plot that leads him to go steal in the first place, just came off as such hack work garbage. So trite. I never bought that either.

On a different note, I watched The Invitation. It was decent, certainly better than expected with that boring car accident opening which served little purpose and is cliche 101. The pace was just quick enough to never get tedious with the flashback/character building, and I enjoyed the protagonist's questioning and general stern and unconvinced attitude. 7.5 out of 10.

Negatives: Could have used a tighter edit (trimmed certain scenes) and some integral characters weren't fleshed out enough.

Absolutely. A friend and I like to watch b/c/etc. movies and come up with alternate plots to them (Judgment Night is just Denis Leary drunk and trying to kill his co-stars with no script, Predator 2 is a Lethal Weapon prequel, etc.), and it makes lower quality flicks much more interesting. Have you seen the short that Macaulay Culkin starred in where he was supposed to be Kevin all grown up and with severe mental issues?

His unblinking stare, hiding in plain sight, and the almost sexual gratification from his traps working as intended were boring? Granted he doesn't break the mold, but this was sleazy and dirty and works because of it.

I'll actually agree to this one, especially since The Collector started as a planned Saw sequel that didn't go anywhere and was turned into its own property. There's something disturbing on a visceral level though, at least to me, about walking familiar terrain and then having it loaded with death at every turn after going away for a few hours. That somebody finds it personally entertaining to sit back and watch convoluted Goldberg machines brutally thin out the herd (be it the killer or the audience), that they've meticulously thought out every detail so any hope you have can be ripped from you in seconds, is what sticks with me. In that sense, the Collector is actually fairly unique as a villain, especially when you consider that most traps in horror movies are set up on home turf and not somebody else's.

And yet it got him in there and made him a sympathetic figure in a genre where most protagonists are fucking idiots. Go figure.

I like how your take on horror leans towards building the mood and mine is more about the guttural shock from the norm. It makes for interesting conversation.


It alludes to the rest of the movie, though.


Right after viewing, I'd agree with you on adding depth to the secondary characters, but letting it gestate for a bit leads me to agree with the movie's choice. The only thing I would've really preferred would be if that finishing stretch was longer.

To take this in another direction, I found out (via the Bloody Good Horror podcast) that Jeremy Saulnier, he of Green Room and Blue Ruin acclaim, also made the way-better-than-it-should-have-been Murder Party. If you can find it then see it. It's different in overall tone from his more well-known movies, a bit more tongue-in-cheek, but it's insanely quotable ("fuck the scene, everybody dies") and one hell of a fun ride.

Sold.

Yeah. That could've worked. It wouldn't have set an immediate tone, but it probably would have worked better off this way.

Rings, sequel to Ring, remake of Ringu, where people die after 7 days if they watch a videotape, blah blah blah...



taking it to the new age, with online videos, in-flight entertainment, etc. is an interesting development that could go all sorts of ways...

it also made me wanna watch this one again:





also, the Russian Avengers:


I'm still waiting for the NightWatch/DayWatch sequel...

Wasn't there a Ring 2 (American) anyway? Or is this the sequel to that?

there are three Japanese and two American ones afaik, not sure where this one sits exactly...

Greatest scene ever put to film.

Not the newest of new news, but nice news nonetheless.

http://www.inquisitr.com/3234484/what-w ... uel-video/