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Reviews
Ahí va el diablo (2012)
This one is a killer.
Adrian Garcia Bogliano loves to cite classic 70's filmmakers like Peter Weir and Roman Polanski as some of his favorites, but when I look at his films I see Hitchcock. Bogliano knows that good suspense comes with well thought out character investment, and without that necessary empathy, tension becomes boredom. There's nothing boring at all about his newest and most wrenching effort, Here Comes The Devil, a supernatural shocker that milks the audience's expectations for a horror film. Again and again, Bogliano turns the plot on its head, deliberately playing his hand until the final moments.
The film begins on Felix and Sol, and their children on a family trip near Tijuana. As the day winds down, the son and daughter ask to climb the hill one last time before departure. The parents see this as an opportunity to have some time alone and they tell the children to return shortly. The following scene is crucial to understanding the themes of the film. Felix and Sol, in the late heat of the day, sit in their car and re-count their first sexual experiences to one another. Felix puts his hand down Sol's pants as she tells her story and the sexuality is palpable. The kids do not return. Police are called, arguments had over fault. Felix and Sol are inconsolable.
Then the children return.
Something is different, and Felix and Sol must solve the riddle, lest their children grow up with some unknown trauma. As they play detective they make startling discoveries that lead to extreme actions. To say too much about this film would be a crime. Each scene raises the stakes and furthers the viewer's investment in these characters. It is a joy to watch someone who is truly a master of suspense turn the screws and subvert genre conventions at each turn.
The film bounces from washed out exteriors to blue and green interiors to psychedelic dreamscapes with ease. The design of each scene echoes the looming dread at play and Bogliano never loosens his grip around the throat of the audience. I was taken aback over and over as the film descended in to themes and situations rarely touched in even the darkest horror films. To a horror fan this is bliss, but to a casual viewer it might be too much. That being said, he never exploits the material, allowing the capacity of the story to aptly deliver its intended sense of doom.
Felix and Sol are incredibly believable individuals, offering naturalistic performances, one any parent could readily identify with. Felix is ready to solve these problems with any means he can muster while Sol, is less pragmatic and sees beyond the obvious possibilities. The differences in these approaches create an interesting psychological conflict between the parents. Both Felix and Sol want the issue behind them, but one represents a dark secret better left hidden in the past while the other indicates a horrifying truth lurking near in the future. She is the sun shining light on the truth.
To really discuss the themes without spoiling the text is impossible, and with the film near to release, I couldn't do it. But, I'll say this one goes deep, and goes for the throat with teeth.
Bogliano is on quite a run here from Sudor Frio, Penumbra and now Here Comes The Devil. His films always leave you caring for the doomed. Character driven horror? I love it. Let's see if other filmmakers are taking notes.
Antiviral (2012)
Antiviral is the prescription, your brains are the disease.
Brandon Cronenberg's first feature film, Antiviral, is a stunner. Set in the very near future where celebrity obsession has become paralyzing infection of the populace, a salesman in a virus clinic sees beyond the cloud of asphyxiating distraction and, by virtue of his own addictions and through chance of fate, is drawn into a complex mystery, that only he can solve.
That being said, we'll never get to meet Hannah Geist. Because Hannah Geist died. But we could meet our Hannah. I have a friend who once said he never wanted to meet his heroes because it would humanize them in his mind. That's dead on. Once met in person, these glamorous people become humanized and small. This is key in keeping in perspective the danger celebrity obsession can become.
In Antiviral, all news channels seem to be E! television, an invasive look into the lives of celebrities. It is never explained why these people are famous, but it is surely to allow them to act as proxies of any audience favorites. The lengths these people go to, be closer to these celebrities includes injecting themselves with viruses in an act of biological communion. And the man gets paid off of all of that.
Syd works in one of these virus clinics and sells the sauce to fans, giving them whatever sickness they desire, from whichever superstar they can afford. But Syd is clever and makes money on the side selling stuff from the factory to a steak dealer. Furthermore Syd is not immune to the societal plague, and he constantly injects himself with a variety of sicknesses.
The film works as a drug abuse parable, a cautionary tale about mass obsession, a mystery, and a philosophical gauntlet. Every audience member will come down on the film a little differently and Antiviral acts as carefully calibrated barometer, reflecting shallow obsessions back on the viewer. Whether you read trashy supermarket magazines or work as a paparazzi most people in our media saturated culture will recognize this future as fairly prescient.
Beyond those casual fans, the film comments on that old Cronenbergian horse, the flesh. What newer transformation of the flesh than to have yourself injected with a virus. Antiviral, equates these obsessions with addiction, and as each plot point turns, these themes are blended and blurred for Syd. Even when you think you have every turn and motivation figured out, Cronenberg keeps you guessing until the very end.
The design and sound of this film are engrossing. His use of white as negative space, contrasted with only giant photos of the famous, create an angelic atmosphere, as if in the clinic one could buy heaven with enough money. As the film progresses, we shift to blues and blacks, only to find ourselves in the white of the clinic again by the end. These color shifts are smooth and compliment the story, as Syd's morality shifts again and again. The score is droney and dark, in the best possible way. It looms seamlessly over uncomfortable imagery a slithering force neither condemning nor praising the actions on screen but providing intensity to the text.
I enjoyed this film immensely and hope to see a new trend of body-horror oriented filmmakers come out of this amazingly entertaining whirlpool of a film. I cannot wait to see the next film from Brandon Cronenberg.
Hatchet II (2010)
Hatchet 2: The Best of the Horror Franchises of the Present
Adam Green gets it. Horror movies are fun. Hatchet 2 may be the funnest horror movie of them all, and to it's slight detriment, the film has so much fun, that we forget that people are being viciously murdered. Once again, Green populates the slasher film with a bevy of extremely likable fodder for Hodder. Hatchet nods in the general direction of it's forefathers, the horror franchises of the eighties, before it takes a belt-sander to what is expected from a slasher film. It is a greatest kills marathon, full of kills you have never seen before. The story expands upon and strengthens the first film and leaves you wanting oh so much more Victor Crowley. No CGI gore. No excruciating torture scenes, just lots and lots of body rippin' and mutalatin'. Go see it, but try and come out with all your pieces.
The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
Tom Six, a Horror Master in the Making
I was fortunate enough to experience Human Centipede:First Sequence at Fantastic Fest in Austin, and as the name suggests, it is unlike anything you have ever seen. Now, there are plenty of killer movies, and plenty of monster movies, but as a world, we've really gotten away from the mad scientist movies of the forties and fifties. Cronenberg's early work comes to mind, but it's so much more cerebral than the visceral thrills Mr. Six has in store for us. Not to say much about the plot but, it involves the evil scientist, (the AWESOME Dieter Laser), performing extremely weird and unprecedented surgeries on a group of patients and the bond formed between the patients as a result of the shared experience. Not for anyone but horror fans, or maybe mad scientists, this film gives you what other horror films won't. It never pulls back or flinches, and I challenge even the most seasoned gorehounds not to squirm or wince during the films most challenging sequences. Thank you Tom Six for this (wonderful?) film. I can't wait to see the Full Sequence!