…OK, I do admire the creativity though, in-camera live face replacement in the late 70s! 
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Went to see Evil Dead Burn, and came away with mixed thoughts, which is a little surprising given that it ticks all of the boxes I want from an Evil Dead movie: plenty of gratuitous violence, dispensed gleefully; Deadites that manage to be both unsettling and charismatic; creative and frenetic cinematography and some well-timed humour.
This will contain spoilers, read on at your own risk.
The cast is universally excellent, in particular Erroll Shand, who’s imposing presence and physicality lend his scenes a palpable sense of threat; and Luciane Buchanan, who steals the middle portion of the movie entirely with a performance that really leans into the Deadites’ joy in the suffering they inflict.
Likewise the cinematography is on point, with some wonderful shots – the fight scene involving a clever mirror trick is particularly great, as is a very long shot featuring Alice crawling to safety as various characters are thrown around in a slapstick fashion at the edge of the frame. The entire film has a sense of claustrophobia, drawn out with lots of extreme close shots, and fights set in extremely restrictive environments, from inside cars to locked bathrooms. There’s also the progression of colour, from the opening with a completely washed-out grey tone to everything, through the dirty brown and burnt black hues of the middle to the obligatory blood red climax.
The effects are great, with some spectacular gore – the car headrest is, naturally, a highlight, as is the eventual use for Chekov’s pen. I’m not sure I really buy the comparisons to French New Extremity here: the violence is certainly visceral and shocking, but even in it’s bleakest moments the film gives its lead a sense of defiance and purpose that’s in contrast to the nihilism and despair so common to that movement*, and there’s a constant streak of (admittedly pretty dark) humour throughout.
The final reveal of the ultimate antagonist is a little disappointing, with some passable but obvious CGI that works for the tone of the character but doesn’t have the same impact or shock as the violence seen previously, Still, given the dreamlike nature the film takes on at this point it’s not entirely out of place.
What’s a little more difficult to handle is the character dynamics, with the majority of the characters wildly unlikeable and unpleasant to watch. It’s not that this is necessarily a bad thing, with the clashing personalities leading to a spectacularly tense scene around the dinner table, and of course giving plenty of reason to cheer once the Deadites finally arrive, but it does make the opening section of the film quite challenging to sit through. Lacking any characters to really root for besides Alice also does lessen the stakes: the director’s previous film Infested handled this better to my taste, with characters who could be similarly antagonistic to one another, but in a way that felt more nuanced and natural**.
There’s also the overarching theme of domestic abuse, which is certainly a loaded choice for a franchise known for the joy it takes in violence, although to my surprise I found it was handled mostly well (if unsubtly, but if you’re watching an Evil Dead movie for subtlety frankly that’s on you). It grants the lead agency over her abuser, allowing her over the course of the film to utterly reject his family’s justifications for and denial of his behaviour, and his assertion that his love for her makes it OK.
But then, at the very last moment, the film insists on showing that Alice too is suffering from possession from the Deadites, which felt like it really undercut Alice’s growth. Charitably this could perhaps be written off – throughout the film we’re shown that Alice and the other characters are able to resist the Deadites, so maybe she’ll continue to do so? – but to me at least it felt more like a rote and unnecessary last-minute twist than something that really served the plot of characters.
Still, complaints aside this was more or less exactly what I was looking for today, and a strong entry into the franchise that leaves me optimistic for where it goes with Wrath, and keen to see what Sébastien Vaniček is working on next!
*Not to disparage French New Extremity – been a while since I watched anything from that movement, but I absolutely have enjoyed them in the past, it’s just a very different tone. That said I never want to watch Martyrs again because fuck that movie is a difficult watch.
**Also, go watch Infested, it’s great and a much better spider movie than Sting from the same year!
For odd reasons I recently watched Deep Impact, for some reason my brain had decided it was the other disaster film where they send miners into space. It’s honestly a pretty fun watch.
Also watched Gattaca, not sure what happened but my brain thought it was a different film. I really enjoyed this one, it’s somewhat surprising to me that this was a somewhat negative view on eugenics from the era it was made. Whereas even these days a lot of people seem really into eugenics, which is just beyond terrifying to me. The ending to me is also really beautiful in the pain it is set in.
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Saw The Odyssey. It is excellent.
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It stayed with me for several days. Nolan is very hit or miss for me, but this was definitely one of his more effective films.
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I unfortunately didn’t like The Odyssey 
Had some pretty great scenes, and the Ithaca parts were overall great, but the odyssey itself left me disappointed
Thankfully, in terms of a modern adaptation of The Odyssey that makes some very bold choices in changing the original text, I still have Epic The Musical
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Very much off topic here, but in terms of modern adaptations of The Odyssey my vote would be More News From Nowhere
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Hey pups, its been a while, finally got a desktop setup again and wanted to be more active in the forum again as well. So why not start here. Thought I summarize some highlights (good and bad) I’ve watched:
Wolfwalker: One of the most beautiful animated Movie I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen an at style quite like this. Well except in The secret of Kells of course.
Gamera: I’ve watched all three 90s Gamera Movies. Godzilla has a special place in my heart but I liked these Movies. Really fantastic practical effects.
28 Day later: The last time I’ve seen this movie is ages ago. I did not expect to like this movie so much. So many great things about this, of course the visual style, but also the balance of the family bonding and the horror elements. The line “I promised them women” is so fucking horrifying.
Dog City: Jim Henson Dog Muppets Noir Thriller. Its only 45min and on Youtube. Just watch it.
Backrooms: Astonishing great production. The backrooms feel 100% real. I also really like the integration of the themes. The plot itself just feel a little empty.
Jackass Number Two: After years of having some kind of intellectual obsession with Jack Ass I finally watched my first JA movie. Well I enjoyed it on a much more rudimentary level then I expected. It was just fun, what can I say. Also something that surprised me is, that this is somehow less offensive, then 90% of mainstream comedies from that time period.
Rebecca: Absolutely fantastic movie. A ghost movie without a ghost.
Avatar Aang: Eh, some of the animation was nice to look at, tho not in the fight scenes. I want to keep things short, so I just say that this was disappointing on many levels.
Resurrection: Even in my Letterboxd I still haven’t found words to describe the experience of watching this film. Transcendent. If possible only watch it in cinema.
Moonstruck: I get why this is one of my moms favourite movies. Such a charming and funny script brought to life by a perfect cast.
Lucky: This resonated with me deeply. Its nice to have once philosophy represented in art. Also David Lynch play a character who is deeply sad about his pet tortoise running away.
Soo, these are some of the highlights, could name so many more, but I want to keep this at a reasonable length.
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Considering this was supposed to be just one the vignettes of Chungking Express Im really glad Wong Kar-Wai made a separate out of this, cause I think I enjoy Fallen Angels even more.
I somehow had never watched Rocky Horror Picture Show, so it was time to correct that
I’m not even mad thinking that watching that when i was a teen would’ve changed my life, cuz even in ny thirties it still did
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Not going to comment on it in any great detail as want to take some time to sit with it, but saw Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma today and adored it. It’s absolutely gorgeous throughout (especially love the painted backdrops), there’s so much chemistry and intimacy between the characters, and the climax (pun absolutely intended) is inspired.
Highly recommend!
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I will watch it this Wednesday and I am so excited!
I’ve watched We’re all going to the Worlds Fair a couple of days ago. Such a seemingly simple, but actually very layered story. The depiction of the internet is something I’ve rarely seen done so realistically and so is the portray of the teenage main character. I highly recommend it!
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I adored it! Feels like a long time since I watched it though, will have to revisit at some stage
I Saw The TV Glow definitely one of my favourite films of the decade too!
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Watched Resident Evil, and twice during the movie a heavy storm caused a blackout in the cinema, interrupting the movie. It was kinda funny everyone trying to scream at the person on the projector to point where the movie was at when the lights came back, but not an ideal cinematic experience.
Still, very fun movie. Stupid funny, with some very gory moments, but overall a comedy horror.
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I wasn’t really interested, but now that I’m hearing so many good things. Probably should check it out. I mean I’ve watched like every live action RE movie 2 years ago, so..
Resident Evil (Zach’s Version) is the 3rd on my top 3 movies this year.
I had a lot of fun with this movie. It’s nothing like any of the other RE movies. For one, it’s actually good, there are some genuinely funny moments and some genuinely heartbreaking ones.
It doesn’t really do the “cram this full of video game referecnes” thing and that’s why it is so good.
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Finally saw Resident Evil and had a great time! Very funny throughout, with excellent pacing and some delightfully over-the-top gore.
I found, most importantly, that it felt like a really strong adaptation, telling a unique story but maintaining the aspects that really identify Resident Evil as a franchise, especially the campy b-movie tone, the grotesque mutations, and the structure - slow, tense beginnings, with escalating violence and action leading to the obligatory secret lab and final boss (albeit with a fun twist to the latter part!).
The first act, to me at least, is by far the strongest section of the film (one could charitably argue that this is also an homage to the games lol). Absolutely loved the slapstick humour here, but even with the comedy there’s a tension and genuine threat that the film never quite manages to reach again.
Austin Abrams is fantastic throughout, managing to nail the physical comedy but also provide a real emotional connection with the character. The monologue in the parking lot was genuinely touching, and delivered perfectly.
Cregger has apparently mentioned in interviews that a lot of jokes were cut because audiences found it “too funny” - I’m curious what that original cut would have been like, as the one thing I really felt was missing given the comedic tone of the film was some Leon-style one-liners.
I’d respectfully argue that it’s absolutely full of them! In fairness though they’re pretty unobtrusive, and some are more a matter of tonal matches than direct references. Here’s the ones I caught:
- Dog!
- 2 health spray items in the barn by the window
- Typewriter in the office in the house
- Green herbs in the cars in the tunnels
- Constant ammo checks
- Lead character calls out the ridiculous number of locks
- Final objective is the 28th floor of hospital, as a reference to No Mercy campaign from Left 4 Dead, itself a reference to 28 Days Later (OK I might be reaching with this one but I really think it’s intentional lol)
- Obligatory sewer level
- Weapon unlock order: pistol, shotgun, sub-machine gun
- Voice notes!
- William Birkin eye shoulder mutation
I’d love to know your top two! Number one for me thus far has to be Teenage Sex and Death and Camp Miasma, but I’ll admit I’ve not seen a lot this year and could use some recs!
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My top 3 is…
- Project Hail Mary
- Backrooms
- Resident Evil
and i saw a movie nearly every week this year
But yeah, my point with the references is that it’s not pointing them out. they’re only there if you know them. it’s not like “a man off camera says ‘You were almost a Jill Sandwich’, camera pans to him, it’s Barry Burton dressed in the Video Game outfit and he winks at the camera” that we often got in the Paul WS Anderson ones.
This one was subtle about being a video game movie, which is rare for video game movies.
EDIT: I did see Teenage Sex and Violence at Camp Miasma and, while i liked it it did not quite have the sauce for me. It’s in A-tier instead of S-Tier as a result.
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I’d say the film is as much a L4D movie as it is an RE movie. There’s even a Spitter!
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Saw Digger today and i can’t really discuss it or why i loved it without spoiling it and the reveal is fantastic.
1th movie of the year so far.
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