Film Review - Clouds Of Sils Maria (2014)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Curzon Film World
Release Date:
15th May 2015 (UK)
Rating: 15
Director:
Olivier Assayas
Cast:
Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jo-Ann Ellis
Olivier Assayas writes and directs Clouds of Sils Maria, an ambitious character study examining the lines between fiction and reality, and the effects this plays on all involved. As well as an intricate narrative filled with compelling themes, Clouds of Sils Maria features career best performances from stars Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart.

Internationally acclaimed actress Maria Enders (Binoche) has been asked to star in a revival of Maloja Snake, the play (and later film) that made her a household name. However, Enders is not wanted to reprise her role of Sigrid (the young and suggestive woman who toys with her employer), but for the role of her vulnerable, manipulated employer that is ultimately driven to suicide, Helena. After reluctance Enders accepts the part and ventures to Switzerland with her assistant, Valentine (Stewart), where they rehearse the play - unaware that they both falling into the respective roles.

Assayas has crafted a complex piece that examines the blurring lines between prose and reality. Whilst Maria and Valentine rehearse they do not mirror the exact characteristics of Helena and Sigrid, but the relationship dynamic between the pair begins to imitate that from Maloja Snake. Lines of dialogue read between the pair fuse seamlessly with their real life conversation - with viewers having to adapt, questioning whether the pair are rehearsing or conversing. This becomes more relevant as the tension between the actress and assistant builds - and both adopt further traits of their fictional counterparts.

Assayas fascinatingly examines how the actor (or those involved with the acting process e.g. Valentine) is influenced by the process of the roles they play. We see Maria confront the concept of ageing head-on, by taking the role of the 'unloved' older woman, a role which she fictionally scorned herself in a prior adaptation. Maria now has a previously unseen sympathy for the role of Helena, since she has become the older actress working alongside current box office star Jo-Ann Ellis (taking on the role of Sigrid). There is also a playful satire on the concept of the star - particularly the young tabloid celebrity, with some of the film's most darkly amusing moments coming when Maria is swept up the media frenzy surrounding Jo-Ann. A particular highlight sees Maria googling the young star, horrified of the trashy tabloid smarm that she finds.

Clouds of Sils Maria is spearheaded by dramatically sound and subtly complex performances from the divine Juliette Binoche and the outstanding Kristen Stewart. Binoche is outstanding in her reflection of a woman concerned by regret and fear, one that is essentially longing for and resenting her lost youth. Stewart excels in her representation of an unheard youth, bringing a magnetism and charm to the fold as the headstrong assistant. Both actresses shine on screen together with the bond between the pair surpassing that of star and assistant, feeling authentic and dramatically well-pitched.

Praise should also go to the astounding visuals - with cinematographer Yorick Le Saux capturing the beauty and isolation of the enigmatic Swiss Alps setting.

Clouds of Sils Maria is ambitious, thoughtful, and performed with a heartfelt authenticity. Binoche and Stewart are simply magnificent here, whilst Assayas has crafted a compelling and gorgeously-pitched character piece.

★★★★★
Andrew McArthur

This review was originally posted on our main site at The Peoples Movies

Top Ten Wartime Romances

The backdrop of war has often provided an epic setting for some of the greatest romances in cinematic history, as audiences’ appetite for tragic love stories shows no sign of abating. To celebrate the release of Testament of Youth, out now on digital platform and on Blu-ray and DVD from 25th May 2015, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment, we take a look at some of the greatest wartime romances to hit the screen... tissues at the ready!

Testament of Youth (2014)

Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander), irrepressible, intelligent and free-minded, overcomes the prejudices of her family and hometown to win a scholarship to Oxford. With everything to live for, she falls in love with her brother’s close friend Roland Leighton (Kit Harington) as they go to University to pursue their literary dreams. But the First World War is looming and as the boys leave for the front Vera realises she cannot sit idly by as her peers fight for their country, so volunteers as a nurse. Both Vikander and Harington bring a wonderful playfulness to their initial courtship (with brilliant comedic support from Joanna Scanlan as their chaperone), and as the war separates them evolve this chemistry into something utterly moving.

Cold Mountain (2003)

This critically acclaimed wartime epic tells the story of Confederate soldier Inman (Jude Law) who undertakes a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, in order to reunite with his sweetheart, Ada (Nicole Kidman), the woman he left behind to fight in the Civil War. Along the way, he meets a long line of interesting characters, all the while avoiding the soldiers tasked with hunting deserters. Parallel to his story is Ada’s, as she struggles to learn the ropes of managing her deceased father's farm with help from the scatty, no-nonsense Ruby (an Oscar-winning turn from Renée Zellweger), all the while fantasising about the return of her lost love. Kidman and Law spend hardly any screen time together, yet their brilliant, yearning performances more than make up for this to illustrate their desperation and longing to reunite.

Birdsong (2012)

This BBC mini-series based on Sebastian Faulk’s novel recounts the life and times of Stephen Wraysford (Eddie Redmayne). An English soldier fighting in the trenches of Northern France during WWI, he is continually haunted by the memories of the French Isabelle (Clémence Poésy), a married woman he had an affair with 6 years previously. Redmayne and Poésy are perfectly cast as the impetuous lovers, while the backdrop of a balmy summer in provincial France perfectly captures the claustrophobia and repression of their predicament.

Atonement (2007)

This heartbreaking wartime drama based on Ian McEwan’s bestselling novel boasts a stellar cast, including Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saiorse Ronan, Benedict Cumberbatch and Vanessa Redgrave. When the budding romance between Cecilia Tallis (Knightley) and Robbie Turner (McAvoy) is cut brutally short following a lie told by Bryony Tallis (Ronan), the repercussions span several decades. After choosing the army over prison, Robbie is stationed at Dunkirk, while Cecilia takes a role as a nurse in London. Knightley provides a masterfully reserved turn as the stoic Cecilia, while McAvoy’s take on the morally upstanding, innocent and fundamentally kind Robbie is completely heartbreaking – and special mention must be given to Wright’s masterful tackling of the novel’s twist ending.

Casablanca (1942)

This classic WWII drama, starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart as former lovers Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund, takes place in unoccupied Casablanca and is responsible for one of the most mis-quoted movie lines of all time. When the Nazi Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) arrives in Casablanca, the sycophantic police Captain Renault (Claude Rains) goes above and beyond to appease him- including detaining Czechoslovak underground leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Lazslo’s partner is Ilsa, who ran out on Blaine in Paris and left him completely embittered. But when it transpires that her reasons were honourable, the pair hatch a plan to run off together again, and pick up where they left off...

The English Patient (1996)

Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this multi-award winning epic based on Michael Ondaatje's novel about a doomed romance set against the backdrop of WWII. In a field hospital in Italy, nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) is caring for a pilot who was horribly burned in a plane wreck. Hana determines mid evacuation that the patient shouldn't be moved far due to his fragile condition, so the two are left in a monastery to be picked up later. Slowly, she begins to piece together the patient's story told in flashbacks. She discovers that her charge is in fact the Hungarian Count Laszlo Almásy (Ralph Fiennes) –who while mapping unchartered territory in North Africa, was thrown together with English couple Geoffrey (Colin Firth) and Katherine Clifton (Kristin Scott-Thomas) resulting in an affair which lead him to betray not only his friend, but his country.

The End of the Affair (1955)

Adapted by Lenore Coffee from Graham Greene’s novel, this classic stars Van Johnson as Maurice Bendrix, the clandestine lover of married Sarah Miles (Deborah Kerr). When Maurice disappears during the London blitz, Sarah is overwhelmed with guilt, feeling that her unfaithfulness has led to Maurice to be placed in danger. In a fit of desperation she prays for his safe return, promising to end the affair if only his life is spared... and the rest is in the title. Featuring wonderfully emotionally complex performances from all the leads, the film is also notable for a standout performance from John Mills, as the private detective hired by Sarah’s husband Henry (Peter Cushing) to keep tabs on her whereabouts. 

Gone with the Wind (1939)

One of the most beloved movies of all time, and winner of ten Academy Awards, including for Hattie McDaniel’s and Vivien Leigh’s performances, Gone with the Wind follows the life of spoiled, pampered Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh). After discovering a former beau is engaged, Scarlett’s behaviour leads her straight into the arms of the wayward Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), the black sheep of a wealthy Charleston family, who is instantly fascinated by the spirited, self-absorbed Scarlett. The movie’s action continues, through the American Civil War, the burning of Atlanta, Scarlett’s journey from riches to poverty, and three marriages, all the way to the now-classic closing line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Life is Beautiful (1997)

This stunning tragicomedy was directed by Roberto Benigni and also garnered him a best leading actor Academy Award. Set in 1939, Benigni plays Jewish-Italian Guido Orefice working as a waiter to fund his plans to open a bookshop. When he meets a school teacher named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), his effervescent humour ultimately sweeps her off her feet. On the fifth birthday of their son Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini), World War II is in full force, and since they are Jewish, the Germans take away Guido and Giosué to a labour camp. Wanting to be with her family, Dora insists she goes too, but is taken to the women's side of the camp. In an attempt to protect Giosué from the horror of their situation and ensure they are not separated, Guido tells him that they are playing a game, in which he can win points by staying out of sight of the guards. The first to win 1000 points wins a real tank. Guido's primary goal is to keep Giosué safe at all cost, while he desperately tries to find out a way to get his family out of the camp and keep the Germans at bay before they discover Giosué.

Shining Through (1992)

David Seltzer's adaptation of Susan Issacs' novel is set during WWII, and stars Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas as work colleagues who ultimately become lovers. When Linda Voss (Griffith) applies for a job with international lawyer Ed Leland (Douglas), he hires her immediately upon discovering she is fluent in German. He’s an undercover OSS officer in need of a German translator, but when America enters the war, he abandons his practice to become a full-time spy. Meanwhile Linda travels to Berlin to infiltrate the Nazis and find out more about "a bomb that can fly by itself" ... as well as desperately searching for the whereabouts of her Jewish relatives.

Testament of Youth is available now  on digital platforms  and on Blu-ray and DVD from 25th May 2015, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Adam Driver Unravels The 'Dark Side' To Protect A Child In Hungry Hearts

Before he heads to a Galaxy far far away Adam Driver has a small matter of an indie Psychological Thriller Hungry Hearts where he'll explore a different 'dark side'. The film is set for a limited release next month IFC Films have released the official trailer reveals a father love to protect his child from his wife's paranoia.


Hungry Hearts tales the story of New York City newlyweds Jude (Adam Driver) and Mina (I Am Love's Alba Rohrwacher) have a seemingly perfect relationship. But things take an unsettling turn with the birth of their son. Convinced that the baby must be kept free of all contaminants, Mina develops fanatical obsessions with veganism, cleanliness, and purity that may kill the child unless Jude can stop her. With stunning performances from Driver and Rohrwacher, this intense psychological drama suggests that sometimes a parent’s love can be the scariest thing of all.

Since it's world premiere at Toronto Film Festival last year the film has been getting some good reviews that good luck followed it to London too. Whilst some are promoting this as a romantic drama however it's more a thriller with dark and sinister undertones, them been the mental health of Rohrwacher's character. It's good to see a film underline the awareness of first time mums and how sometimes under the joy of been a mother for first times we forget the question "how are you mum?".

Hungry Hearts gets an US 5th June limited/VOD release, co-starring Jake Weber, Roberta Maxwell, and David Aaron Baker.

The Bullied Rise In International Trailer For Young Adult FilmFaeryville

This Autumn the king(or Queen) of the Young Adult films The Hunger Games will be ending so we'll then see many wannabes fighting for that crown. YA films are not just Hollywood based Singapore have Dystopian Young Adult film Faeryville is on the verge of a release in it's native Singapore and we have a look at the film's official trailer.

It was 8 years in the making but the long road for filmmaker Tzang Merwyn Tong the end is nearly in sight for his indie produced film is weeks away from it's official cinematic release. A film that inspires the bullied to stand up what they stand for whilst they might be afraid of what they fight for...

Poe and his friends are pranksters in Faeryville College, often bullied by the oppressive fraternity. To protect themselves, they form a clique calling themselves The Nobodies. Enter Laer, a new transfer student who joins The Nobodies, inspiring them to move from stink bombs to homemade explosives. Youthful idealism soon becomes an excuse for all-out anarchy.

Faeryville doesn't have a UK release however back in January the film made it's international premiere in USA leaving with some fantastic reviews. The above trailer is the films 'international version' so they are expecting for the film to be released globally. Faeryville will be released cinematically in Singapore 26th May.

The film stars Lyon Sim, Aaron Samuel Yong, Tanya Graham, Jae Leung, Farid Assalam, Kris Moller.

source:Twitch

Dead by Dawn 2015 - Amnesia

Genre:
Thriller
Screened:
Dead By Dawn 2015
Rating:15
Director:
Nini Bull Robsahm
Cast:
Pia Tjelta, Christian Rubeck
Amnesia, the second directing credit from Norwegian filmmaker Nini Bull Robsahm, is a slow but often jolting consideration of domestic abuse. A couple travel to their beautiful remote island getaway for a week of writing and romance. Both are authors, but Kathrine (Pia Tjelta) is perfecting her first novel in the hope she can become as successful as her domineering partner, Thomas (Christian Rubeck). After a fight leaves Thomas with serious memory loss, Katherine jumps on the opportunity to live with the man she really loves.

It’s a great idea for a horror film, but Robsahm seems ultra-cautious of letting her film become just that. Placid colouring and wide shots take a dark seedy story and try to pull its trousers up. If this had been grimier, it could have been a Nordic exploitation film, instead, its an emotionally troubling but visually dull attempt at reconciling with the aggressive male superego. Even with a run time of 80 minutes, Amnesia feels tired and somewhat irritating by its finale: a lack of drive in any real direction keeps the film from ever really impressing or- worse- finishing comfortably. But then that is, perhaps, the point: dreamy fatigued visuals project the purgatory of Kathrine’s constant struggle, whilst the lack of catharsis seems oddly fitting in a film plagued by disastrous moments of aggression.

Though brutally realistic and unrelenting in its studied portrait of abuse, Amnesia seems content to show us high-tension confrontations, but skimps on much of the between-space. Considering the film covers a week, and it’s a pretty interesting week, Amnesia can be identified by its long stretches of nothing before its few staunch moments of anguish. Though, Rubeck makes a terrifying psychopath, an amalgam of nightmarish men; controlling, cold, fierce, and, arguably worst, entitled. His performance consistently punches out from the drabness to keep the film on course.

Sadly, Amnesia is rarely gripping and infuriatingly anti-cathartic. It is however, a sincere look at what people really are and what we would like them to be.

★★
Scott Clark

Win Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead On DVD

It’s Mad Max meets Dawn of the Dead as the apocalypse goes down under in the year’s darkest, most hilarious zombie splatter-fest!

It’s a zombie movie with a twist, as Barry (Jay Gallagher) tools up for a mission to save his sister from a mad scientist – and battle hordes of the undead in the Australian bush!

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is available to own on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download from 11th May. Courtesy of StudioCanal we have a DVD copy to give away.

A post-apocalyptic zombie invasion turns personal for Aussie mechanic Barry (Gallagher) when a team of sinister gas-masked soldiers abducts his sister Brooke (Bradey) for a mad scientist’s flesh-eating experiments.

Teaming up with fellow apocalypse survivor Benny (Burchill), Barry must lock and load to battle through the undead and save Brooke!

To Win your copy of Wyrmwood: Road The Dead on DVD please answer the following question...

Q.What classic zombie movie from 1970s was set on a tropical island directed by Lucio Fulci?

Deadline is Sunday 31st May 2015 (23:59pm),If you haven’t done already Like us and stay with us at our Facebook page (if you are already liking us just share this post on twitter and facebook). Must be 18  or older to enter.

1.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies,Studiocanal. All Rights Reserved Pictures.18 years or older to enter 3.Failure to include any information required to enter could result in your entry been void.  4.automated entries are not allowed and will be disqualified, which could result you been banned, DO NOT INCLUDE telephone numbers as for security reason your entry will be deleted.5.If you are friend or like us at facebook for every competition you enter you get double entry, but you must stay friend/like us all the time,or future entries maybe considered one entry if you are liking us share the post on facebook and re-tweet the post.6.The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes 7.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain 8.The winning entries will be picked at random and contacted by email for postal details and will be announced via facebook, sometimes we are unable to confirm winners. Uk & Irish entries only

UK Competitions and Prize Draws at UKwins
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Dead by Dawn 2015 - Musaranas (2015)

Genre:
Horror, Thriller
Screened:
Dead By Dawn 2015
Rating: 15
Director:
Juanfer Andrés, Esteban Roel
Cast:
Macarena Gómez, Hugo Silva, Luis Tosar ,Tomás del Estal
Winning the audience award for best feature at Dead by Dawn is no small feat. The Edinburgh horror festival has a tight group of in-depth genre fanatics who know their stuff and get exposed to the newest and best once a year. Juanfer Andres and Esteban Roel’s Musaranas (AKA Shrew’s Nest) is a beautiful powerhouse of dysfunctional family gothic not to be missed.

Montse (Macarena Gomez) is an agoraphobic dressmaker, confined to the cosy but isolated dwellings of her childhood home many years after her parents’ deaths. Hermana (Nadia de Santiago), Montse’s beautiful younger sister, has just turned 18 and is beginning to take her first steps into adult life. After finding a man unconscious with a broken leg in her stairwell, Montse makes a decision that sees her delicate world begin to unravel.

Sure Musaranas shares its lonely spinster story with Misery, but that’s about the only parallel. Andres and Roel have, impressively, left all vestiges of similar thematic endeavours out in the cold by making sure Musaranas is 100% its own beast. Everything about the story, characters, events, and even locations is distinctly infused with clean-cut insanity and dilute garishness. Misery is winter gothic, bound to the isolation of the Colorado Mountains, where Musaranas is equally reliant on the vibrant social atmosphere of its small town.

Musaranas is wise not to operate beyond its brief. It doesn’t push itself so far that the weight of its finely tuned black humour crushes the horror aspect, or vice versa. Andres and Roel know exactly when they want us to laugh, cover our eyes, and sit right on the precipice of our seats just waiting to see where this domestic nightmare will turn next.

Macarena Gomez steals the show, there’s no way around it. Her particular brand of matriarchal madness is an absolutely arresting delight. Thankfully Gomez understands that insanity is a difficult sell: often silly when handled incorrectly. But in Musaranas her portrayal of the delicate Montse is somewhere between prim and perverted, a pitch-perfect horror character with as much depth and heart as any of the genre’s best villains. Luis Tosar (Sleep Tight) appears as the girls’ fierce father, every bit the bad guy but touchingly subject to his own foul demons. It’s a hard thing to pull off a guy like this whilst enabling the audience some window into his mind, but its executed wonderfully.

An incredible piece of work for a debut feature; tightly edited and written, expertly cast, and sporting a slew of finely tuned comic, horror, and family themes in such a concise way it’s impossible not to enjoy. Musaranas is a perfect vignette, a peek into the bubbling hive of anxiety that is family.

★★★★
Scott Clark

Dead by Dawn 2015 - What You Make It

Every year, Dead by Dawn wows with its collection of feature premiers, but it also lays a sturdy framework for the showcasing of varied horror-related shorts in its What You Make It programme. 2015 was as intriguing a collection as ever.

Father/Son by Bryan Reisberg 2012

A young man brings his girlfriend on a hunter trip to introduce her to his father. Its simple but not laden with the kinds of anxious frivolity you’d expect, there’s a definite edge to proceedings, a palpable doom on the air. A lack of scoring leaves much of the film feeling like an exposé, which it is, in a boisterous kind of way. In 11 minutes, Reisberg manages to succinctly address a tight group of themes in a few perfect images, proving a succinct distaste for the traditional view of male/female relationships. Yul Vazquez is an immense source of charm and creepiness in equal measure, playing on a set of nightmares reserved for the male subconscious.

Narratively the film pulls a neat, fitting, and truly barbarous twist after a seemingly long and uncomfortable stretch of cross-generational grooming. Father/Son is nothing if not a warning against patriarchal structures but it’s also a serenely played mockumentary on what happens under them. A truly graceful turn in grotesquery from Reisberg.

My Shadow Mocks Me by Jack McGinity 2014

Amidst a long list of editorial credits lies My Shadow Mocks Me, the sole directorial duty of Jack McGinity. It’s a pretty perfect little macabre story about a dog seemingly pushing a child to do awful things. It’s not situational though, the story is told through long exposure to eerie images, the crushing waves of the sea, a desolate beach, paw prints in the sand, everything is evoked through the nice marriage of narration, image, and Andy Stewart’s uncomfortable void sounds.

McGinity’s choice of images are ominous in an old-fashioned way but totally menacing. Old portraits and stark black and white landscapes tell much of the story, whilst the child’s voiceover ramps up the creepiness. Kudos to McGinity for being bold and getting an infant to say ‘gorge on our innards’, but some of this is perhaps trying too hard to be creepy. Even then, some of the images and dialogue are so uncomfortably funny that they manage a chill nonetheless.

Out of Order by David Renton 2014

The only animated film to be found wandering outside the 2D & Deranged Short Animation Programme, Out of Order is a likeable venture into odd psychotropic surrealism. A bearded man returns to his home with the week’s food shopping, only to be confronted by the vestiges of last week’s treats.

Obviously, Dead by Dawn has a long, colourful, and varied relationship with horror and death. Out of Order isn’t exactly a horror piece, but it’s definitely got a strange alienating vibe, one that leaves us uncomfortable as much as it has us smirking at its silliness. Starting off in crisp playful black and white, the film takes a nose-dive into crazy-territory that proves a vibrant feast. The bright schizophrenic colouring, along with Naz Malik’s decrepit sound makes an arresting spectacle from the monotony of food-storage. Renton deserves some kind of trophy for his vengeful Pure Imagination-warbling moustachioed bagel, an equally arresting piece of cabaret in and of itself. Silliness isn’t necessarily bad, especially in horror where the visuals and themes are often so densely macabre that a break in tension is a must-need. Renton’s Out of Order is a short, imaginative, funny, and sickly treat.

In Passing by Alan Miller 2013

A man jumps from a very high building only to meet the love of his life on the way down. It’s some feat, a short film that follows two people on their way down the side of a romantically lit skyscraper. Miller deserves some recognition not just for the technically impressive scope of his short, but the effortless way he manages to pull off the suicide tale without an ounce of horror, grotesquery, or gore.

If anything, Miller’s film is as hopeful, romantic, and endearing a horror short as one could hope to see, but I can’t help feeling a splat would have been lovely. Ignoring the inevitable end of this innately violent venture is wise and daring because it genuinely tries to look for love in the least expected places. It’s a genuinely charming and oddly optimistic tale. Add that this is Miller’s Graduate Thesis Film and you can see why he’s talent to look out for.

Interior. Familia. By Gerard Quinto, Esteve Soler, David Torras, written by Esteve Soler 2014

A mother and father wake their son urgently in the night to confess some long held truths. Quinto, Soler, and Torras deliver a cathartic (for parents) nightmare from the twisted logic of family honesty, love, and truth. Francesc Orella and Rosa Cadafalch, seem to be having a hoot terrorizing their son with their icky and vaguely aggressive admissions. Blatant honesty is orchestrated with all the heart and subtly of a news report: being told you are the product of a failed ‘coitus interuptus’ can’t be easy, especially when it’s being said so blasé. Shit. That’s some horrific and brain melting stuff to hear at half four in the morning from your aging parents.

More hilarious than Orella’s subtle discomfort at some of his wife’s admissions is Adria Diaz’ utter shock, horror, and ultimate sorrow at his parents indifferent affections. The second parent-related horror of What You Make It, Interior. Familia. is laugh-out-loud horror from a situation you never want to find yourself in.

Rat Pack Rat by Todd Rohal 2014

Winning the Special Jury Prize for ‘Originality of Vision’ at Sundance 2014, Rat Pack Rat also won the audience award for Best Short at Dead by Dawn 2015. Rohal is an inconsistent talent, conceptually ambitious and worrying visions, paired with often lame humour, make him an odd but interesting talent. His entry for ABC’s of Death 2, P-P-P-P Scary! was easily the worst of the bunch, showing little consideration or tact in a warbled mess of stuttering japes and silly execution. But here, Rohal proves a far more consistent writer/director.

In Rat Pack Rat, a Sammy Davis Jr. impersonator is hired to perform for a bedridden Rat Pack fan, but the performance turns into one of the least glamourous of his career. Basically, if you want to watch Rohal vent some kind of deep-seated issue with impersonators through a gross lens, then this is your film. 19 minutes of sickly Milky Way oddity, heart-maggots, prostitution, and genuinely charming vocal performance leave Rat Pack Rat an odd, distasteful, but totally watchable little nightmare. Rat Pack Rat has that blatant lack of taste in P-P-P-P Scary, but in a more directed way. It feels like pseudo John Waters with less tact, there’s a slice of Lynch in there somewhere too, but overall it’s a unique experience in the realm of shock well-worth a look. 

Scott Clark

Dead by Dawn 2015 - Cub

Genre:
Horror
Distributor:
Altitude Film Distribution
Rating: 18
Screened:
Dead By Dawn 2015
DVD Release Date:
July/August 2015 (UK)
Director:
Jonas Govaerts
Cast:
Maurice Luijten, Evelien Bosmans, Titus De Voogdt
At the screening of Jonas Govaerts’ Cub, Dead by Dawn festival director Adele Hartley voiced her belief that the Belgians are making some of the most fucked up films out there. Cub isn't exactly an argument against that. Where De Poel took a quietly-mounting thriller route, Cub takes the camping sub-genre on a comparatively bombastic journey of adventurous violence, proving that the woods are not quite done as a horror locale.

In it, a group of young scouts are taken deep into the woods by their three adolescent councilors. A lonely boy named Sam (Maurice Luijten) does his best to join in but finds the mystery of Kai, a local monster, far more intriguing.

After a sharp and excellently played intro the film goes on to tell one of the most enjoyable and inventive woods-related horrors in years. Cub stands out because it exploits a growing trend of violence towards children, making the violence far weightier but ensuring the children are more substantial characters. An interesting network of power plays between adults and children enforce the disturbing notion of cyclical violence to an often horrific finale.

Another key strength in the film is its eye for great images, the giant wicker wasps’ nest Kai calls home is an incredible sight, as is the filthy underground network of tunnels which come into play for the finale. Cub is a film about forgotten children and it makes its point with equally forgotten places. The dense underground is clearly an adult’s den, where the dream-like hive is almost defiantly a child’s. The camp has its own dangerous boundaries, ones that spell doom for those who cross them, but also those who live by them.

Jon Watts Clown surprised me with its graphic violence towards children, but Cub reserves its right until the perfect moment, when Govaerts orchestrates a moment of horror so casually you wonder if you missed something. But that’s the case with much of the film: information is drip-fed so that the audience is left to join up some of the dots, a rare trick in contemporary slashers, but a welcome one nonetheless. Sure the film wobbles in its last act, seemingly just to prove a labored point, but there’s enough treats here to make it worth your while.

Jonas Govaerts manages to craft a sharp and original take on the woods-slasher in his impressive debut feature. Great kills, power plays, and a terrific performance from Luijten keep Cub on edge from start to finish.

★★★★
Scott Clark

Dead by Dawn 2015 review - De Poel

Genre:
Horror
Screened:
Dead By Dawn 2015
Rating:15
Director:
Chris W.Mitchell
Cast:
Katja Herbers, Alex Hendrickx, Gijs Scholten van Aschat,

Easily one of Dead by Dawn 2015’s stand-out films, De Poel is a finely tuned masterclass in mounting tension. Director Chris W. Mitchell’s debut feature is an impressive piece of work on all counts, engaging Horror’s age-old love affair with woodland terror in a consistently intriguing objectiveness.

The story is simple: two families set up camp next to a beautiful pond only to fall prey to its sadistic memories. Horror has a long history of haunted places rubbing off on innocent people, pulling their discretions to the forefront and charging them individually for a lifetime of sin. If When Animals Dream is this year’s abstract monster story, then Chris W. Mitchell’s De Poel is by all means an abstract witch story. Yet, films like De Poel are instantly suffused with intrigue because they don’t care about the how and why, relegating the possible witch-drowning origin to a brief flashback. Instead, Mitchell focuses on the slowly growing animosity in the two holidaying families; picking out flirtations, old disputes, and underlying anxiety to exploit further down the line.

                De Poel is about family first and foremost, about expectation and trust so, naturally, it leads to madness and murder. An excellent cast support the film, but Carine Crutzen and Gijs Sholten van Aschat steal the show as a middle aged couple finally pushed to confront their crumbling marriage. Aschat proves an incredible force in the feature propelling it forward with his tactile portrait of a man in the throes of sinister forces, his writing credit on the film can only have helped. Mitchell’s tight scripting is performed to perfection so that it feels like we’re watching a gothic holiday drama gone to hell as opposed to an out-and-out horror film.  There’s something vaguely transcendent about De Poel, in genre terms.

Make no mistake though, there is plenty to be scared of. With apparent ease De Poel achieves an eeriness often skipped in contemporary horror films, ramping up the tension to nightmarish degrees. Careful investigation leant Mitchel’s script a great collection of folk fairy tale iconography. Organic manipulation of the intimate scenario leaves room for plenty great horror images. Rotting food, peripheral glimpses, visitors in the night, it all reeks of death and quickly becomes a distressing atmosphere possessed of dread. De Poel is a diabolic entity, unrelenting and merciless, its idyllic origins made murky by proximity to human evil, its finale proves a surprising but bold transformation from other like films.

A concise and organic horror film that feels fresh and, most importantly, unsettling. Chris W Mitchell’s debut feature is a joyous celebration of horror without getting caught up in dull iconography. Fantastic filmmaking.

★★★★
Scott Clark