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RhunDraco
Reviews
The Ghouls (2003)
From a Zombie/Monster Movie Fan . . .
To be fair, there was a lot of potential in the story. I am a major fan of zombie movies, and I thought that this was a zombie movie from how the description on the box read (I know, I know, never read those. I'm slowly learning that lesson). But, be warned, it is not a zombie film, and I feel that the box text and artwork suggested it was.
Trimmed down and streamlined, the story would have been much better. There was just too much focus on the negative aspects of the protagonist's personality. Half of the movie seemed to be invested in telling us that the guy is a slime-ball with major personal issues. Again, too much time devoted to this.
This movie had one of the worst, and by that I mean Bad, soundtracks that I have ever heard. The music did not enhance the story at all, it sabotaged the tension. Better music would have improved this film greatly. Plus, the inner dialog of the main character at some points was too faint, which I think would have been more effectively done as monologue.
The camera work was not horrible, and it had a live, COPS-like or Blair Witch style to it. Whether that is good or bad is up to the viewer. I found the bouncy, running-with-the-camera-pointing-at-the-ground shots to be disorienting and distracting. Plus, I do understand that it takes practice to understand placement and lighting for film, but this film was just too light. The atmosphere was truly hampered by this. The scenes that needed shadowy gloom simply did not have it.
Probably worst of all was that I felt no sympathy for or connection with the main character. If the director's intention was to show that cynical, apathetic, soulless people can sometimes decide to do good deeds for humanity without much motivation (despite some supposed life-changing revelations that were so clichéd I think that I actually moaned when I saw it), then he succeeded. I just found myself wishing for the movie to end so that I could do something else.
All in all, I believe that the director has a lot of potential, and this is just a stepping stone to greater projects. I could nitpick (I really, really could), but I won't. Just be wary. If you want to critique it as an example of low budget horror, then go ahead, but if you are looking to be entertained and feel that your time and money should not be spent on something amateur, avoid this film.
Brave New World (1998)
Extremely Disappointing
Brave New World was a wonderful book, and this cinematic version utterly missed the point. Important scenes were left out (I'll not give details: read the book!), and as a previous reviewer stated, it had no character, no spirit. This film is an insult to the creativity and future vision of Huxley.