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The Siren (2019)
One of the best little indies I've seen recently
I'm glad I found this unexpected gem. The texture and feel of the film is consistent and perfect. The acting is very good, with minimal dialogue. The fear is there and the scares are there, made all the more real by the gentleness and emotional weight. Especially startling is how the composition of filming, lighting and sound made the girl blend perfectly with the water she inhabited. There are some very chilling scenes, and this is a movie that will stay with me in a good way for a long time.
The music is beautiful, too.
Theresa & Allison (2019)
Real, Raw, and Wonderful
Vampire stories are tough to manage. are they sparkling troubled teens? Are they Byronic decadents? Are they brutal meat monster killing machines? It all depends on what you want, or really what the creator of the book or movie want them to be. Of course this movie is not an exception to the rule. The writers and director made choices and followed them. And it works. It really, really does.
The worldview is brought into focus by Miranda, played with low key sincerity by Alyson Danielczuk. She is a kind of narrator and chorus who with a sweet, nerdy simplicity describes the chamber of horrors Theresa has been thrust into. And it is a gory, red, and raw world indeed. In the beginning I worried that the movie would take a road into camp. Theresa sits at a desk and is blandly introduced to the vampire world via a nearly Kafkaesque beurocrat. But soon she meets Allison, and the game really begins.
All the principle acting in this mostly female cast is well done. Arielle Hope (Theresa) and Sarah Schoofs (Allison) give their all to their roles and shine. And they are such real and natural looking women that seeing them naked in bed with each other feels warm and true and honest. We see real women in an unreal place and it is intense. That pays off later when things really get rolling.
Charles Lincoln plays Tony, and his performance is true and solid as well. Sure, some of the minor players are pretty weak, even groan-inducing at times. The character Paisley is never really brought to life. Ah well.
The low budget movie is shot well and the visuals are very nice, with attention to composition and style. There is a great scene with a naked and blood covered Theresa talking on the phone that is filmed just right, and I felt all the gravity of the moment.
I'm a horror fan, so let me assure you this has all the gore and bare flesh you want. But all of it, and I mean every bare body and drop of blood is used to ideal effect and enhances the story. In key scenes Theresa needs to be naked for the purity of verisimilitude, and it works. If she were clothed there would be safety, or sanity. It is not a mistake that Miranda is never seen nude, and dresses simply and conservatively.
Watch this movie. You'll like it.
Lizzie (2018)
Well made, atmospheric movie.
This movie has been on my list to see for a long time and it was worth it. I think you should see it, too. The cinematography is wonderful. The use of light and darkness in the house - surely a close approximation of what it was like in the Borden residence - adds to the feel of menace and dread in the air all around the characters.
Not to spoil anything, but I've read this theory of the crime before and I think it is a very solid one. Of the Borden murders films and TV shows this one is by far my favorite now.
Chloe Sevigny has said she was putting a proto-feminist spin to Lizzie and the the story, and that certainly is here. Her take on it feels strong and real and not forced at all. The slow, deliberate pace of the film brings out all the patriarchal oppression smothering and consuming Lizzie, and the housemaid Bridgett.
But for all that there is darkness in Lizzie to begin with. Who she is and what she does and why offer up enough ambiguity to to carry the story along.
Kristen Stewart's performance is honest and painful and very believable. Bridgett Sullivan here is a sad young woman with few opportunities, too easily exploited by her betters, and is made isolated and alone.
If you watch it you will like it, but I think it deserves a wider audience than what it can get from Shudder.
Well done.
Heiress, '69 (2018)
Honest and Thoughtful Short Film
I gave this short film five stars because I really don't know how the star ratings should apply with feature films and small pieces like this in the same place. So...
I was looking for some video of Manson and the Family after reading a book on the crimes through the week. On my way I found this little short film.
I like it. I really do. The dialogue between the the teacher and her students was clunky as all get out, but the moving monologue offered to flesh out Ms. Folger was moving, sincere and thoughtful. Abigail is forgotten, really. She is the other dead woman in a chamber of horrors populated by stars. I've wondered about her over the years, and even tried to buy an oil painting of her once. There is such sadness in her loss that is hard to explain sometimes. I think her life is one of those touchstones in my mind I can go to if I want to turn my thoughts in a certain direction. Ms. Verdugo made me see Abigail just long enough to wonder at a life that could have been.
This short film is very honest. No, it's no work of art, and perhaps its creator will revisit the person and the themes of her work in some larger way. I hope she does. I cannot help but wonder what Ms. Verdugo can do with indie films outside of a small classroom in a church. And I want to find out.
You will like the fifteen minutes you have to give to this movie. I did.
Braid (2018)
Worth Watching. A Vivid Dreamscape.
Watch on Amazon Prime.
This movie is a treat to watch. I'm not really sure what I was looking at sometimes, or exactly what was happening. But I think that is the intent of the creator and I was with her all the way.
Know this: the cinematography is really good. Wonderful. There are plenty of creative uses of the camera and setting. The use of color filters added to the movie and I think sets this apart from conventional psycho-thrillers.
The story is frank and disturbing and hard to follow. The acting is solid and for the most part honest. The set pieces are beautifully designed. The three women sleeping in the bathtub among mirror balls is a good example. The little girl slumber party. The foot-worshipping conductor. The dark hall of doors. You'll like it. Yes you will.
And I think it's gutsy not to offer an explanation of what is "really" happening. We have a solid idea going in: two women need money and decide to exploit a crazy friends insanity to get it. From there you fall into the whole thing.
I like movies just like this one. I like creativity and artistic flair. I like brazen, non-linear filmmaking. I like movies with dangerous, sexy, damaged people. I like a heady mix of erotic attraction and repulsion.
The plot is not messy or nonsensical. Instead, I see it as a story told from deep in the minds of the participants. But which one and when is not clear all the time.
I liked it and I think you will, too.
31 (2016)
Terrible, as Usual
I like Rob Zombie's visual style. He has the potential to make a good movie. Let me be clear: Rob Zombie has never made a good movie. I love visceral horror. I'm no stranger to the genre. Zombie has never once put his directing skills to use on a story worth watching. He is a massive disappointment and a squandered talent.
And Sheri Moon Zombie cannot act, and is simply toxic on screen.
A complete waste of time, talent and opportunity.
Avoid.
Lilith's Awakening (2016)
Good Arthouse Horror
I really like how this movie was shot. She took full advantage of the slow pace to build a compelling, sad tale. To be honest, once I was within the film and feeling it I honestly wanted something "bad" to happen to Lucy, if only to stop what was happening to her already, all day and every day, in her life. I don't think this is a feminist retelling of Dracula. I think it embraces elements of Dracula too much at times.
Sophia Woodward gives a raw, sad performance. I believed in her, and that's what made the movie for me. I'm not dropping a single spoiler, and the movie as a whole might not be your thing, but I can tell you that you will be rewarded with some authentic chills more than once.
The stark black and white is used to great effect throughout the film.
Please check this out and support small cinema.
The Love Witch (2016)
Very Good Movie - A Secret Gem
I expected a lot of snarky reviews of this movie, owing to the idea that few people would "get it". I was dead wrong and I'm happy about it. I didn't know this movie was lauded by critics and had so many enthusiastic fans. Somehow I feel validated. But enough of poor old me.
The Love Witch is cleverly composed and beautifully filmed. The colors have the bright, rich feel you never get in movies anymore. Anna Biller took great pains in making this homage to exploitation films, and really every frame shows. The acting is well paced and clever in that everyone captures the stilted awkwardness so common in these movies.
I think the movie works because it is a clever horror story delivered in an old school style, but still a good story.
I'm glad there are people willing to get out there and make movies like this.
Samantha Robinson is beautiful through and though in this movie. I have to note that.
My only problem with the journey this artful throwback took me on was the long ending. It could have been more succinct without losing a thing, and really it shold have.
Well done.