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harrisonflyboy
Reviews
Reeker (2005)
F-in Great!
F-in Great!
I saw two midnight movies at the Tribeca Film Festival, "Reeker," the first, and by far the best, was a welcome surprise in a world of tired horror retreads. What we have here is something that is not so much new (the story is in the great tradition of "kids stuck in the middle of nowhere") as done right to such an extent that it elevated the material beyond my wildest expectations. Not only was I totally sucked into the mystery, but I was caught up in the plights of the characters (all superbly fleshed out), AND scared out of my seat. In addition to jumping and almost making a pass at the dude next to me (don't ask), I laughed so hard on at least half a dozen occasions that I missed entire scenes... This movie is FUN.
Kids get stuck, something's not right, a rank odor follows them around... they start getting killed. You'll never forget the blond in the outhouse.
The production is compact filmed mostly at one desert gas station/motel with some scenes on the road and in Los Angeles. The music is spot on. If you're a music lover, the smart placement of several songs is well worth the price of admission. The gore fx and computer fx are great, especially for an independent movie. The whole affair has a very "classic horror movie" feel.
There is a twist end. These types of endings only bother me when they don't work. In this case, this is one of the reasons this movie is so clever. With the reveal you learn that all the mayhem you've just witnessed actually was working on many levels. It's a puzzle that may leave some scratching their heads. My advice PAY ATTENTION!
"Reeker" avoids the standard run of the mill slasher pitfalls, creates a new monster/killer that's so original it's almost not (You wonder why no ones thought of this villain before). If you don't take your horror too seriously, want a change of pace from your J-horror fetish, get in line and catch "Reeker" the day it opens.
Haute tension (2003)
Blood splattered chrome, stainless steel and polished glass
Welcome to the modern slasher film. This flick has nads the size of basketballs yet they don't get in the way of the cool legs that hold this movie up. The story is at once simple and worn - students take a weekend at a rural and creepy farm to do some studying. We meet a creepy hillbilly type (I'm sure there are better words to describe a oily dude in a rusty armored tank of a truck pleasuring himself with a decapitated head, but the words escape me...). Of course this very head raping hillbilly happens to be lurking near the farm. The sun sets. The lights go out. The killing spree begins.
What ultimately becomes a lesbian Fatal Attraction w/ a Sybil twist actually works. Because the movie is just light enough and simple enough never really get under the skin. The scares and joys are visceral and work on the surface. If it dug much deeper, the reveal may actually be a disappointment, but here, it's all just fun. What else are you going to do at the end of these films these days? I for one appreciate the movies that try something new. The up the ante just once. This isn't one of those go back and try to make sense of it all after the twist is revealed, because that won't work. Our narrator is unreliable, and much of the story is told thru her point of view. There is illogic to the logic. Nothing is pretty or fits together like a puzzle, and that's what make this little french movie so perfectly "European." It's an arty slasher film. One wonders if this was made in America if this type of loose twist would ever fly??
Alien Avengers II (1997)
Monty Python on crystal meth.
Caught this one on cable. Sometimes you start watching these movies you've never heard of and you cross your fingers and hope for the best. More often that not, you're let down. This one starts slow, is a mishmash of genres, but if you stick to it you'll realize that the film makers made this one with tongue firmly in cheek, and it's hilarious. Julie Brown and George Wendt give charming, scenery chewing performances as vigilante aliens who become sheriffs of a small western town. It's not too often you can see a German foreign exchange student getting his rocks off while spying on a black guy having sex with an alien in the same movie where a hillbilly is torn limb from limb between two cop cars as punishment for driving drunk. There's a sense of playfulness and over the top twisted humor that's been absent from feature films since the heyday of Monty Python.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
QT - write your own melody.
Like a DJ who samples movies instead of music, this one is way too Vanilla Ice of a rip off. Sure he added one extra note to the "bass line". But it's not enough of an original. For a fan who knows the movies from which he "pays homage to," there is a nice feeling of nostalgia. A few winks here and there. But this effort lacks soul. Let's hope that "The Fifth Film by..." looks forward and not back.