Disfigurator Reviews

The Mist (2017)

King's bad luck with screening his work

[5/10 · 7 September 2017]

From first 20min it was forbiddingly clear - it's not up to par with the 2007 Mist by Darabont.

Here we have altered premise (no problems, I encourage artistic freedom), altered setting (no problems), altered and dumbed-down cast- which I have major problems with.

Came for the 90's Horror feel, which I kind of caught, and stayed for the same reason, dealing with the traditional TV dumbness - stupid and counter-productive actions by characters, a football player that's no stronger than a faggot despite obvious body types and masses, characters that are, well, brainless even before the Mist came...

This TV series continue the King's seemingly bad luck with screening of his works, and I can only think one: How can you take such a body of work from which Silent Hill arose, and dumb it down to such a miserable TV levels?

By comparison - 2007 Mist feels like a masterpiece! Well, soon we'll have continuation of Stranger Things - which, being a mere love letter to authors of 90's - like King and Koontz, still do far, far better job of doing it right.

Uninspired and quite a lot missing here. But, to be fair, this Mist has some pleasurable moments here and there.

A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness (2013)

A different kind of Black Metal documentary

[7/10 · 29 June 2014]

First of all, let's get one thing clear: this movie is not about Scandinavian Doom Metal as the previous reviewer puts it. Hell, even I'm not sure exactly what this film is exactly about - but what I know - the last half an hour consists of pretty decent Shoegazing kind of Raw Black Metal.

Not the satanic stuff, mind you. Yes, there are healthy dosage of different themes explored in Black Metal, besides the traditional anti-religious stuff.

So, that being said, the only giveaway of this later section of this enjoyable film is the title font and the end of the movie itself. Other than that the movie hides it's Black Metal and portrays a mellow lifestyle that's somewhat slow, somewhat woody and somewhat butt-plugged. Yeah. Somewhat even Hippy. And yes, here they are - terms "Hippy" and "Black Metal" put together in one review, in a complimentary sense.

This movie will be shown at an open-air cinema festival in Latvia. And I'm wondering - how many clueless people will soil their pants at the end of the movie? How many people will just walk away from the las 45-or so minutes of the film? How many people will feel that they bought tickets for the wrong film?

And how many people will just head-bang the living crap out of their necks, when the tremolo picking and blast-beats kick in? A fun pieces of thought to entertain.

Overall - this is a different kind of documentary that deals with themes common in Black Metal (except the lively Hippy stuff). It's very slow, deliberate and in times - funny as the concept of Hell itself.

It depicts various things.

It depicts a group of people living in a friendly and philosophical community. It depicts some gorgeous forest scenes in those slow and moody scenes.

And it depicts a man that lives in this community, that enjoys the woods somewhat more that the average person does, and this man happens to play in a Black Metal band. You can't go wrong with this combo!

An interesting combination of elements, and therefore an interesting film to watch.

7/10 easily.

Digging for the Truth: Machu Picchu: Lost City of the Inca (2007) Season 3, Episode 6

Indiana Jones treating us like a bunch of idiots

[6/10 · 24 January 2010]

GOD, how I hate this kind of storytelling - as if our host is the first one to discover all the things - but these "questions" and "found" "answers" had been answered a long time ago - so why does even this style of documentary exist? To feed upon brainless wallets? To entertain the fools? I'm no friggin interested in building a crappy bridge just to follow in someones footsteps (I want information about the site and object, not some useless side stories), but unfortunately our host does this in order just to do what "first" discoverer, but in the next scenes our expert on topic miraculously awaits us on place of interest and later we are taking a helicopter and exploring stuff. Just plain stupidity. Why couldn't he (jost) just pick up the damn book in the first place and tell the whole story instead of being a uselessly hiking douche-bag, with fake questions and answers, which have yet to be "discovered".

I hate this style!

REC (2007)

Pathetic

[1/10 · 25 July 2009]

This film has four good things in it: protagonists breast; last antagonist; visual aesthetics of the last place; the end credits.

The rest is made of idiocy in style of Blair Witch Project: endless brainless (they even managed to ruin this aspect of undead flicks) screaming; worthless story, a scenario without the presence of intellect; this fictional operator without any ability to hold the camera straight and without the ability to film (which is illogical - having in mind his profession), tons of factual errors (one on top of another - idiocy over the stupidity and vice-versa), etc.

The film has no good story, no intellect in script, no good characters and no good acting. It is a lame pseudo-documental material, which wants to create terror using this approach (think of tag line: "Inspired by true events"), but merely creates a nightmare and lunacy and in this case it IS NOT a compliment! Cinema should be a form of art, not the pseudo-realistic regurgitation of surprisingly weakly constructed reality.

1/10 and only for those four good things.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Brilliant story and cinematography

[8/10 · 28 October 2008]

In four words: I am blown away!

In few sentences: I saw this movie about a week ago and it has not leaved my mind yet – still I remember that sense of humor packed in this masterpiece titled A Clockwork Orange, as well as English + Russian jargon and brilliant work of Kubrick and the story too, of course.

In fact, I have only seen two of Kubrick’s films – first one was The Shining and I immediately fell in love how this master treats the lighting, camera angles, camera in general, actors and crew – pure eye-candy! An as well as in Shining – here we have brilliant story packed with Kubrik’s talent – deadly orgasmic combination of pleasures of cinematography and story-telling. In fact – the only thing that reminded me about the age of this film was the outfit of characters and sound design. But in all of the rest planes – one with classicism in heart could create this movie just yesterday.

This movie sure does generate the urge to see more films from Kubrick, if not all of them. Also it generates the urge to read the novel!

Very beautiful movie, will seek the moment to watch it again!

Fatal Frame (2001 Video Game)

Pure essence of J-Horror

[9/10 · 24 September 2008]

I picked this game up about a year ago and completed it for the first time precisely on 07.10.2007. I remember how scared I was during game-play and I do remember how I fell in love in this original masterpiece as well.

From the very start this game delivers to the player concentrated product, dripping of pure J-Horror – from the very first cut scene till the credits - everlasting Horror. And I do prefer J-Horror (Silent Hill), not American way of horror (Evil Dead, Resident Evil, n-stuff) – so, this game delivered for me all the beauty of J-Horror I wanted. Up to this point I haven’t played much of J-Horror games – except Silent Hill series (my favorite), which just creeped me out with its unpredictability, complex story, lots of unexpected events, environments, etc. But then I started to play this game and I was creeped out EVEN MORE, although this game is more linear in terms of story and various events. But this doesn’t make Fatal Frame a bad game. In fact – this game is just brilliant (see my given score) – it kept on the edge of my seat for all the game-play time and those cut scenes just blew me straight down on my knees, he he. Pure essence of Horror – delivered in interactive manner straight to the nerves of player. Due the fact of interactivity I find playing J-Horror much more scarier than watching it (although Gin gwai is a Asian Horror killer machine - recommended). I love this game because of the story to – its complex and twisted enough to make you solve this puzzle-like story – one of the beautiful aspects of Survival Horror genre (my favorite, again, he he). And I love this game because of the intense atmosphere, sound and graphic design, because of the game-play and pitch-black darkness, experienced throughout this game. And design, sounds and appearance of those ghosts, stories behind them (told in ghost list and various documents/notes), combined elements of Japanese mythology, legends, horror stories within the story of this game + the beautiful translation of these aspects into the game medium – wow, this just rocks and kicks those cutely shaped asses of Survival Horror and J-Horror fans, indeed!

Recently I completed this game for the second time (09.13.2008) and again I was scared so nicely and so much – awesome experience which can be improved, if the player plays this game in proper condition – alone in dark room, some lit candles (brings the game closer, because the only lighting in this game comes from in-game candles and moonlight), 5.1 equipment – volume turned up. This is universal recipe for Survival Horror gaming, which shall be obeyed!

And for me – there is only one flaw in this game - those long and annoying dying scenes. Some may consider the backtracking to be a flaw too, but in my opinion – this is just the structure of this game, which works very, very well!

Brilliant, beautiful, dark, mature, and amazingly scary game, which spawned a whole pentalogy (Fatal Frame 1, 2, 3, sequel on that Wii-sh** and game on Japanese 3D-enabled mobile phones where phone camera is the Camera Obscura - how cool is that?!). Sadly that this Wii-sequel isn’t on PlayStation 2. But maybe this is just a matter of time, maybe there will be a port to home-console – PlayStation 2. And I hope that this series will continue on PlayStation 3, 4, 5…

>Originally written for gamespot.com<

A Haunting (2005– )

TRUE haunting in your nightmares

[7/10 · 18 September 2008]

I am huge fan of Horror films and Horror gaming and roots for such addiction lies deep into my psyche.

I was watching this show when it was aired in Discovery and this show immediately caught my attention for good amount of episodes. I have seen pretty much Horror movies and played most Horror-soaked games like Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Forbidden Siren.

To think - I must redefine my statement, that Horror gaming is the scariest form of entertainment and that no movie can deliver equal scariness. But this show CAN. It features some nice narration, tales from witnesses and Para physics. But the thing that made me stand up all night is that these are REAL ghost stories, depicted in realistic way in the taste of Discovery. Such a combination (true ghost story + nice narrative + good cinematography) is the nuclear weapon of Horror.

This show indeed made me stand up all night or delivered some troubles to get sleep, because these stories manifested into myself and my fantasy and this combo just scared me sh**less – and wouldn't’t let me go to sleep properly, really. Experience, which is quite rare for me - equally I was scared in my childhood due to the acts of Hellraiser, later - due to some ghost-Horror movies, recently - due to Silent Hill and Fatal Frame game-play. This show lines in between Ghost Horror movies and game-play periods. I think, that A Haunting was the last drop in the glass, titled "Please fill this glass and make the owner a HUGE horror-addict".

The Eye 2 (2004)

Pretty nice and big, but little bit flawed dose of Asian Horror

[7/10 · 17 September 2008]

I picked up this release together with the first part about three weeks ago, but I watched the Gin gwai 2 just yesterday and I was well frightened and entertained.

The good things about this movie are the original story (average quality of the story was the only flaw in the first part), qualities of cinematography and sound-tech guys and overall atmosphere and the prime sense of Asian horror, delivered by the filmmakers of this title.

But this film suffers from some fatal flaws in story line and the following depiction of this probably undeveloped or lazy developed story. I spotted about four or three of such flaws – but, if you are able to ignore these mistakes or acts of laziness, you can extract the rest of the beauty, lying in the storyline, sound and work of Pang brothers. I really enjoyed the way in which the horror was delivered in unpredictable (sometimes predictable, though) ways (horror can be experienced in daylight). I really enjoyed the work of actors and the rest of the crew.

But, the best enjoyment for me was the dripping of Asian Horror of this title. I experienced some WANTED and expected loads of pure creeps and fears. In this plane this movie just VERY seriously kicks my J-Horror-addicted butt! But I wish that they hadn’t included some American way of lightly complicated story telling near the end – this just tends to ruin the way of intellectual Asian Horror in general. But I put this in the following way - another passable flaw of this movie.

So, if you can get past these flaws and concentrate on the story (which managed to be intellectual too) and cinematography in general (nice work), you can experience lots of horror and drama from this good-done title.

Shadow of Destiny (2001 Video Game)

Shadow Of Memories - avant-garde experience of storytelling

[9/10 · 10 September 2008]

Up to this point I was completely Visual Novel-virgin and I still am quite a RPG-virgin (one of closest genres). But I surely am not Adventure and Puzzle-virgin. Considering this, I was quite pleased that I felt familiar with this genre, which I played for the first time.

Game-play: In general, game-play of this game consists of elements from Adventure (walking around beautiful areas, streets, buildings from middle ages, finding items, pathways, etc), RPG (talking to non-playable characters, gathering of information, help, items, etc) and Puzzle (puzzle solving, of course) genres and these elements are melded together in excellent manner and pace, and the result feels naturally flowing and enjoyable in the field of game-play, which is pretty easy in terms of difficulty. I didn’t stuck in any part of the game. Also, one can see the Trial-and-error game-play mechanics here. Yes, there are these elements, but they will be accessed only if you wont manage to solve your puzzle in the first time, which was quite rare occasion for me (happened once, near the end of the game, where I replayed one puzzle for some 3 times, until I solved it correctly). So, game-play is very easy here and even the gamers, who are not familiar with aforementioned genres, could beat this game without much trouble, in my opinion. I managed to complete this game yesterday and it took about 4 beautifully spend hours from my life.

Story: The storyline and plot here is easily the strongest part of this game. I caught myself often laughing, feeling for the characters, even for the non-playable. And I caught myself often thinking about the depth of this story too. This is a truly beautiful, twisted and gorgeous story about man, who gets the opportunity to defy his fate and Death itself. Multiple times. A story, where Death teaches the way to live, where Death is the guide through life. A story with many beautiful and twisting side-stories, dealing with love, philosophy, history, film-making and other interesting things. Ahh, even now I do long for this absolutely well done story – after all I have 5 more endings to achieve!

So, if we combine the before discussed way of game play with such well done storyline, we will manage to extract from this title a quite unique experience – like interactive book or story-based avant-garde film with stylish visuals! This was a superbly enjoyable experience for horror fan like me.

True piece of art. Well done, Konami!

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>originally written for uk.gamespot.com<

The Eye (2002)

Surprisingly good amount of true horror

[8/10 · 8 September 2008]

I picked up this release from Asia due to claims, that this can be considered as Psychological Horror. I already had Kansen which I liked (good story) and thus I decided to get my hands on this film.

I do have a reasonable dose of fear from supernatural and this movie was just my cup of ectoplasm, because that's what I like in Horror - to fear. I really enjoyed the work of writer and actors, and cinematography in general, as well as music, which were some kind of unusual for a horror title, and that is good, in my opinion (enhances the weirdness of Asian horror). The story is with some kind of used aroma (seen before here and there), but the cinematography really enhanced this story and the creatures/characters gave a pretty BIG dose of horror to me - great!

I do not categorize this movie to be a Psychological Horror in general, but there are some pieces in this title, that may lead to such classification, and these scenes were done just beautifully and very nicely scary.

A surprisingly nice and BIG slice of horror and chills for all fans of Asian horror (J-Horror), which reminded me some Silent Hill and Fatal Frame concepts. Good movie, really good, I loved it from start to finish.

Silent Hill (2006)

Pure enjoyment for SIlent Hill fans and viewers with brains

[8/10 · 8 September 2008]

I have just read some bad reviews about this movie and marked them as "not useful", because ALL of them have one thing in common - all the reviewers which gave bad ratings didn’t have any idea of what are they dealing with - they haven’t understand the movie and story IN GENERAL. And how can a misunderstood opinion be useful?

I'm a big fan of Silent Hill universe due to the rich depth and symbolism and music as well + due to mysterious-industrial-artistic look and scariness in general. I have played all the video games from this franchise and I must say, that the first part is my favourite. And this movie is based upon 1st and 3rd part of the game series.

In movie we have absolutely brilliantly done visuals and cinematography, which are held so closely to the original. Looking at this makes me to confirm that the Cristophe is a true fan of the Silent Hill game and a very talented director! This is a combination that serves as a good salmiakki for me - I cannot imagine greater pleasure.

I do find this movie to be a brilliant adaptation of amazingly brilliant video-game series under the same name, of course. In this movie all the key elements are kept true and alive. We do have multiple mirrored realities, we do have a brilliant story, which is like a puzzle itself, we do have some meaningful creatures (monsters) and we do have all the aesthetic values of the game franchise. Everything is done right. But it is not some kind of rip-off. We do have here some experimentation and interpretation from the movie crew. And even these off-roads are kept true to the aura and sense of Silent Hill. AND WE DO HAVE CREEPS AND SCARES AND THE TRUE SPIRIT OF SILENT HILL.

But if all the key elements are kept here, why do some people gave (and will give) extremely bad ratings and reviews? I think that it’s because that they did not see the depth of the story, didn't see the symbolism of creatures and actions (in story) in the movie. But, if they did see some of these elements - they didn’t understand them.

And you just cannot appreciate and enjoy the things, which you haven’t noticed or understand (with exceptions). So, if you do have negative opinion of this movie, I suggest you to open your mind, to be symbolism-tolerant, to run away from your stereotypes (it's OK that the main protagonist is a female - it doesn't affect the storyline) and to be open and able to think and accept the interpretations done by the Cristophe and writer, especially, if you are a fan of the Silent Hill games.

Be open-minded and try to accept those few well-done innovations and turns, and explanations.

Silent Hill is a form of art, which can be enjoyed at its best, when completely understood. And YOU MUST use your brain to achieve the complete understanding. Believe me - there are no holes or gaps in the story, there are plenty of hidden clues instead, given to you to create your own interpretation. This isn't a cheap Teen Slash where you get the story from 5 minutes. This is a puzzle, which may take multiple view-times to combine all the hidden clues and hints. And this is the spirit, transformed directly from game to movie. Excellent job!!!

Masterpiece, which will make you to use your brain – if you have any!

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (2003 Video Game)

You just can't be scared more

[10/10 · 12 June 2008]

I have played all games from this trilogy in order of their dates of creation: 1-3.

I have to say, that only Silent Hill itself managed to scare me equally as Fatal Frame did. And you know what - Fatal Frame scares you even more - I mean, to the maximum. I guess Fatal Frame has reached the maximum - video games or movies just can't scare you more, especially if you have phasmophobia or healthy dose of fear from ghosts. I have the healthy dose of fear from ghosts, but Fatal Frame made me shout "holy sh**" and "OMG", even "aaaaa" all of the game-play time. And this is just AMAZING - I love when video-games manage to scare me so much. Unforgettable. Fatal Frame can scare you so much, that you will even feel sick or exhausted because of the fear! And the ending - OH, such a fantastic beauty which simply cannot be put into words to share. You must see and enjoy it by yourself.

Not recommended to play in dark? Fu**, no. I played entire trilogy in complete darkness, with some candles lit and in night + volume turned way up, of course. And I managed to survive this pure caviar of fear.

Survival Horror should be played in the right way, to extract all the beauty within it. The recipe is, as I mentioned before, as follows:

1) You MUST be alone; 2) You MUST play in darkness (nighttime is preferred); 3) You MUST play loud (5.1 equipment preferred); 4) You MUST be with clear mind - no alcohol, please.

Only if you follow this recipe, you will manage to extract all the power out of the Survival Horror genre.

And Fatal Frame - well, it is the most powerful game of the genre - I can guaranty that. You just can not go wrong with sepia, Japanese setting, past, archaic photo cameras as weapon, ambient sounds, ghosts and fears in general. Combine all these aforementioned elements with the essence of Survival Horror genre, like the darkness itself, mystery, feeling of abandonment and isolation, need to survive and find the answers, feeling of pursue, limited ammo and supplies and you will get the raw formula of Fatal Frame, which is made into a perfection by the creators of game.

Pure set of emotions, pure set of mystery and pain, even larger and purest set of fears, extra large dose of love and trust and Japanese setting on top of it all - this beauty just flows on you, while you play this masterpiece.

Recommended for all strong-nerve based Survival Horror fans out there, especially for those seeking alternative Survival Horror, you know - without those mind-and-flesh-blowing weapons and stuff found in Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, etc.

You shall love this peace of art.