UHF Reviews

Fear X (2003)

Don't give Refn the benefit of the doubt

[22 April 2004]

This is film has all the elements of a suspense thriller without anything in between to join them. I found it to be quite effective and genuinely intriguing up until halfway, then it became gradually apparent that there really was no cogent story. We are give the pieces of a puzzle only to find that they never fit together anyway.

Lots of people seem to be reading too much into the story, that's probably what Refn wanted. Personally I think he really couldn't put together a good thriller and this is a total cop out. Don't waste your time trying to make sense of something senseless, there is nothing in there to bring this together and reading anything into it is entirely in your own mind.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Fun but forgettable

[11 April 2004]

Great to see Pegg gets to do a Zombie film, I remember reading a while back that 'Dawn of the Dead' was one of his favourites.

It has enough to please British audiences and fans of 'Spaced' will enjoy seeing a rehash of the Tim and Mike friendship. The film's essential cynical premise seems to be that living in Britain is like living amongst Zombies anyway. It starts very promisingly and has some great key scenes like fighting off a pair of Zombies using a record collection, critically sorting and choosing which records.

Once all the characters get together though, the film starts to sag. The humour thins out and the plot seems to give up going anywhere. Good intelligent dialogue that 'Spaced' fans might be expecting is replaced by characters yelling and swearing. The film's budget is understandably tight but I would have hoped that Wright and Pegg could have had more fun with the genre. Other than Shaun and Ed, the rest of the characters have little opportunity for development, with Moran's character - David being set up for predictable dispatch near the end.

A great first film perhaps.

eXistenZ (1999)

Videodrome for the Playstation

[28 May 2003]

Deservedly one of Cronenberg's worst. The fantastic cast are wasted in a confused storyline that is basically Videodrome all over again but for the Playstation generation. The question as to whether the plot is confusing due to poor editing or an attempt at making it seem profound is quickly forgotten as you leave the cinema feeling ripped-off. Watch it on tv if you must.

The Hole (2001)

A straight-to-tv drama, that eneded up on film.

[27 May 2003]

My total impression of this film was that it was a feature length tv drama that some how ended up as a film.

Not having been to an exclusive mixed private school like the one portrayed, I can't comment on it's feasibility but it looked like an unlikely fabrication. Thora Birch (who seems to have no parents) is unnecessarily cast as an English pupil and is lumbered with carrying the entire weight of this amateurish, predictable and unoriginal production. She deserves far better than this.

There are two versions of what happens to the four pupils enjoying a weekend away in a stinking, dusty (but fully plumbed and serviced) bunker. This confused me and I couldn't see how the first related to the rest of the story. The strong five main characters are let down by flimsy one dimension police types, drawn from the serfeit of dull UK tv police dramas and may as well have been cardboard. In addition, the Director laughingly attempts cliched visual manipulations as an after-thought that add nothing.

Watching this is a let down and as much as I hate to say it being British, I think it would have been better made by and in the US.

Phase IV (1974)

Overlooked film from the Master of film credits

[23 May 2003]

Phase IV is an incredible full length feature film by Saul Bass who is most acclaimed as a graphic designer who's work can be seen as the opening credits from The Seven Year Itch, Vertigo, West Side Story to Alien, Broadcast News and Casino. Phase IV is a much overlooked film that is very much in the style of The Andromeda Strain. What it perhaps lacks in story, it gains in the photography of the millions of ants - the film's additional cast.