I'm not sure how factual this is, although it claims to be 'based on a true story' as well as a novel by the Japanese writer, Masahiko Shimada. The source material seems to be a bit of a mystery, but however, "The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy" is a pretty powerful exploration into the depths of human suffering from a self-inflicted viewpoint.
In the beginning, it's explained that a hunter came across a small hut containing the mummified remains of a unknown man with a diary next to him. The writings detail the first hand struggle of the man who commited suicide, via self-induced starvation.
"The Sound of Insects" consist of no actual characters or storyline, instead just showing quiet nature shots (trees, bugs, sky, rainfall, etc.) accompanied by voice over narration of the daily diary entries. There are also shots of people walking around a train station, an opera singer and some random "artsy" black and white segments, which all gives way to a very forlorn, disconsolate ambience. Because of this, I'd safely say this film isn't for everyone, as it is basically just a comprehensive account of what it's like to starve to death over the course of 62 days.
So, if you can appreciate hypnotic and highly depressing films, I would definitely recommend "The Sound of Insects". I found it rather fascinating and would really like to know who this was actually based on, if it was, in fact, based on an actual man.
When the original "Joy Ride" came out, I never really figured they would franchise this concept into a straight-to-DVD slasher saga while, with each one, grooming Rusty Nail into an unmysterious, Jigsaw-like horror villain. I guess I should've seen that coming. I always liked the original "Joy Ride". It was definitely one of those 'pleasant surprise' kinda flicks for me, at a time when decent shit actually hit the mainstream and sent a bit of a buzz around the horror scene. The first one was a pretty solid suspense flick that took the psychotic trucker concept to new lengths. As much as I do enjoy "Duel" and "Breakdown", "Joy Ride" owned it. The second installment pretty much marked the ever-so fashionable 'slasherization' down-grade of the first film. And, the third one waters it down even further...
A race car crew (consisting of young-and-hip looking no-name actors) is transporting their car through the desert. While on an open stretch of road that just so happens to have a reputation for dead motorists turning up, they decide to open up the racer and see if it's fast enough or whatever. In the process, however, they stupidly cut off Rusty Nail's rig at high speeds, which, as you could probably guess, pisses him right the fuck off leading to the usual, deadly cat-and-mouse game along the desolate back roads.
To be perfectly honest, "Joy Ride 3: Roadkill" wasn't as bad as I thought, considering it's the third movie in a series based on a movie that never should've had a sequel. Now I know there are literally TONS of movies you could say that for, but here's the reason "Joy Ride" should never have had a sequel: because after the first movie, you would really have no choice but to expand upon and demystify Rusty Nail's character. In the first movie he was basically just a deep voice and an 18-wheeler. His face and body are shown no more than 3 times toward the end in brief and obscured 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' moments. It was done very well and any more than that ruins the enigmatic character. Then, in the second movie they start showing way too much of him and here they show his face every few fucking minutes. Hell, they show him right on the back of the fucking DVD case! I guarantee more of these "Joy Ride" sequels will come out in the next few years and I'll bet my left nut that by the fifth one they'll have Rusty Nail be a disfigured, Jason Voorhees-like zombie killer with a full back story.
I do realize I said earlier that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It IS actually well shot and contains a few decent kill scenes. We also get hot, blond junkie tits for about the first 8 minutes of the movie. Needless to say, it opened strong. Unfortunately, the characters are painfully bland and there is absolutely no suspense whatsoever. Don't bother with it if you can help it.
Since the massive school shooting at Columbine high school in 1999, a number of varying films have been released based on the delicate subject of teenage oppression leading to campus rampages. Films like Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" that took the 'arthouse' approach that still manages to ooze of exploitation once shots are eventually fired, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and, of course, the outrageous (and arguably 'too soon') satire from indie jailbird film makers William Hellfire and Joey Smack, "Duck! The Carbine High Massacre". Then you have "Zero Day", which obviously falls into the 'found footage' category of this string of Columbine-based films. I know I've made an abundance of declarations insisting that I have sworn off FF flicks, but I'm a fickle motherfucker and I actually really dug "Zero Day". I might even go so far as to call it one of my favorites of the faux-doc variety.
The two Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold representations, reverentially renamed Andre and Cal, are keeping a video diary highlighting their preparation leading up to a monumental massacre throughout their high school. The boys follow each other around with the camcorder, stating their motives with eerily rational articulation, practicing their assault weapon skills on Bambi plush toys, fashioning firearms into more concealable forms and constructing explosives. Their hate-fueled labors eventually lead up to the much anticipated "zero day" in which they storm the school.
"Zero Day" is an incredibly believable POV enactment of a pair of defective teens gearing up for a blaze-of-glory rampage, much like the home movies of Eric and Dylan - just with more detail, of course. Everything is realistic and natural without a huge amateurish quality brought on by over-acting non-actors. These kids pull off their roles very well. And the big conclusion works well - shown through school security-cam footage as a 911 operator expounds on the violence, via telephone, while pleading with the boys to stop, but, obviously, to no avail.
The overall rationale of this film seems to be in sending the message that those who feel compelled to follow through on mass murder sprees throughout their schools (or anywhere, for that matter) are typically disturbed beyond an average person's sense of understanding or reasoning. At one point, the kids in "Zero Day" make a very direct and felicitous assertion that they are, in no way, influenced by popular culture and even go so far as to demonstrate this affirmation by expeditiously destroying their worldly possessions (DVDs, video games, etc.) on camera. They also explain to their loved ones through their video manifesto that they truly believe that they are helpless and completely passed the point of no return in the devising and follow-through of their "mission". I definitely find this consideration quite apt in referring back to the Columbine calamity, as well as many other young psychopaths whose interests in movies, music and video games were taken into account heavily in the media's probing for probable motivation in the wake of bloodshed. I personally don't think these things typically hold the relevance that people like to figure in determining a fathomable reason behind a sudden outburst of violence. I'd certainly say this film handled this form of reasoning in a well done, nicely candid manner.
"Zero Day" is one of the best movies I've seen on the topic of a school shooting and is a well acted and realistically shot 'found footage' flick. Highly recommended.
Goddamn, this was some weak-ass shit! Just as formulaic as a creature movie can possibly be with a nice dose of BLAND thrown in to complete this boring hunk of fecal-caked retardation.
So, you got a bunch of your standard, uninteresting characters coming together at a storage facility - focusing primarily on a guy who suspects his girlfriend of cheating on him. She is. And she's hanging out with a few friends in a storage locker when he shows up with his pretty-boy friend. Turns out that his girlfriend is, in fact, cheating on him with the VERY friend that he came there with, which is pretty awkward and... Oh, also something from the sky crashed into the building and the lights keep going on and off. But, now back to this episode of Melrose Place: Storage Wars Edition. Well, the friend ends up fucking his buddy's below-average girlfriend when he's not around while her much hotter blonde friend and the cocky douchebag character (who is, of course, the first one to bitch out, run away in a panic and get killed off, stupidly) go to the restroom and find a candy machine. And, I guess there's a vicious alien lurking about. But THEN the guy finds out that his friend is fucking his girlfriend and soap opera drama ensues! Oh, it's a fucking thrill ride!
To sum it up, it takes about 65 minutes of this 87 minute movie for something of significance involving the creature to take place. As far as the look of the alien, it's a dopey potato-headed insect-ish thing that looks like Pumpkinhead and Predator's butt-baby. It's not terrible looking, but it's pretty forgettable. There's one or two scenes of strong gore, but the rest is padded out with meandering scenes of these people rummaging through boxes for weapons and having relationship woes. Dull, dull, DULL.
I just can't seem to get 'into' anything that Don Coscarelli has done/is doing outside of the "Phantasm" franchise. That "Bubba Ho-Tep" flick annoyed the piss out of me and I will never understand the 'cult' appeal it has garnered. I just don't think Don is as funny as he thinks he is and all he seems to want to do is make one of these half-baked horror comedies every ten years, i.e. "John Dies at the End". Now, I know this is based on a book that I have not read, nor was I aware of it's existence prior to this long awaited adaptation so no comparisons can be made on MY part.
Here's a nutshell rundown on the plot of this thing from what I could make out: a guy is explaining to Paul Giamatti the experiences he and his buddy had while taking a new drug called "Soy Sauce". It grants the user wild extrasensory abilities, as well as ceaseless hallucinations.
That's really all that can be said on the plot of this flick. Everything wrapped around that basic concept is a non-stop clusterfuck medley of shear randomness and absurdity. I don't even really know what to say about it, other than that I didn't get it and it really got boring for me around the halfway mark when it became evident that nothing was going to come together and make sense. I don't know if any of this shit worked in the book, but on-screen it was merely a frustrating, pretentious heap of nonsense and forced douchebag humor. Even the back of the case has a quote that states: "A punk-rock 'Ghostbusters'... Has enough trippy and original ideas for ten movies". I agree with this, though I don't see this aspect as a 'positive' as far as this movie is concerned. It's like "Ghostbusters" for about 10 minutes, then it just keeps angling off into shit involving alien slugs, a black detective, a Jamaican guy, a talking dog, Angus Scrimm as a demonic priest, a wigger full of bugs, an infomercial ghost slayer, flying mustaches, etc. All leading up to a confusing climax with a giant tentacled blob creature. If there was at least ONE coherent element or just something memorable that happened I think I would have been able to absorb the weirdness with some semblance of acceptance or appreciation for bizarre story structures and possibly even enjoy it, somewhat, as a "bad acid trip" type of film. It was just too fucking stupid, boring, confusing for the sake of confusing and the humor didn't appeal to me. I'm just hoping Coscarelli redeems himself with his upcoming "Phantasm: Ravager".
Heard a few reviews and recommendations about this one being a bit on the "unusual" side so I finally got around to checking it out recently. I will say, "Excision" definitely fit that bill, in terms of it's offbeat nature and it actually turned out a bit different than I expected.
A freaky 18-year old girl who seems to have a hard time getting along with everyone, especially her bitchy, strict mother, is obsessed with performing surgery and losing her virginity while on her period. This fixation seems to stem from frequent dreams she has involving gruesome operations, abortion and necrophilia. Her younger sister is suffering from Cystic Fibrosis and her father is a spineless, hen-pecked lump who has been successfully beaten down by the oppressive presence of the mother. However, the ongoing defiance and hastening mental deterioration of the eldest daughter adds to extra strain on the household and it all ramps up to a pretty obvious, but still nicely fucked up conclusion.
Wasn't really expecting such a full-on comedy outta this one, but I actually found that kinda cool. All of the performances are pretty sound - specifically the main teen character and the mom. Though AnnaLynne McCord does a pretty noteworthy job in the lead role, I really couldn't get onboard with her character, seeing as how she was just so over-the-top unlikable. She did it very well, I just couldn't get behind anything she was doing and just couldn't help but think there would have been a tad more... 'vitality' in her character had she been given a little more of a sympathetic characteristic. She's really just flat-out nasty, bitchy and one-dimensional. I'd say, however, that Traci Lords really steals the show more since her role as the exasperated mother shows significantly more depth due to the fact that her character is actually going through something arduous; having to juggle a sick younger daughter and a truly hateable older, psychotic daughter. I guess that would be my one actual gripe concerning "Excision". In terms of crazy broads, she didn't reach the ranks of "May" or that psycho bitch from "The Loved Ones", to name only a few. And if I were to pick one other minor thing to nit-pick, the cameos from Malcolm McDowell, John Waters and Ray Wise were incredibly brief and unnecessary. Aside from that, I really dug the 'style' of a few key moments, especially the dream sequences, which are all pretty bizarre and bloody. Most of this stuff doesn't really seem to go anywhere, in terms of furthering the plot, but the plot itself is basically just this teenage girl's descent into madness, fueled by her antisocial behavior and surgical obsession, so you pretty much just gotta roll with it.
In all, "Excision" is a pretty unique flick. Much more than a lot of new horror films I've seen recently. Check it out.
