21 July 2014
20 July 2014
19 July 2014
16 July 2014
EIFF 2014 Review : Honeymoon (2014)
Genre:
Horror
Distributor:
Arrow Films
Rating: 15
Screened:
27,28 June 2014 (EIFF)
12th September 2014 (UK Cinema)
Running Time:
87 Minutes
Director:
Leigh Jeniak
Cast:
Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Ben Huber, Hanna Brown
For the most part, Leigh Janiak’s debut feature is a romantic melodrama in which its newlywed couple grapple with the overwhelming concept of what marriage really is. It’s not long before things begin to go wrong; thin slivers of doubt creep in and the whole film’s central relationship seems hopelessly stranded on the shores of an isolated lake retreat. Of course none of this means anything unless we care, and thanks to the fantastic pacing of the mystery and the intimate portrayal of the couple, we are very much drawn into the atmosphere of romance way before any kind of horror catches our attention.
Even then, the horror of Honeymoon is creeping and quiet, lies and secrets pervade an initially honest portrayal of love. Janiak’s genius is in her ability to juggle the possible effects and sources of this doubt and anxiety. You’re never sure who’s flipped their lid since both of the sickeningly sweet lovers shows signs of stress. Bea (Rose Leslie) seems to feel the strain of marriage first, slipping into schizophrenia, whilst Paul’s attempts to hold things together reveal an uncomfortable and desperate love for his wife. Both are dangerous to some extent but neither see the real crunch coming. Maybe that’s why the last act seems to lose grip on that tension: the answer will never be as interesting as the mystery. The actual reveal is pretty well done, but still feels like a lesser answer to a far more intriguing set of questions. If the film had stayed on the straight and narrow, maintained a more psychological slant, then this would have maintained its air of disturbia right up until the bitter end.
In the end Honeymoon proves itself a despairingly pessimistic essay on the alienating effects of marriage. Janiak executes her horror drama with impressive gusto, orchestrating the collapse of this marriage with tension and terror. Placid camera work, startling night-time sequences, and two fantastic lead performances make this an incredibly uncomfortable yet totally impressive feature debut.
★★★★
Scott Clark
11 July 2014
EIFF 2014 Film Review : Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case (2013)
Genre:
Documentary
Rating: 15
Running Time:
87 minutes
Screened:
24, 27th June 2014 (EIFF)
Director:
Andreas Johnsen
Cast:
Andreas Johnsen, Ai Weiwei
Last year I was lucky enough to catch the tale-end of a Toronto exhibit of Ai Weiwei’s work. It was the first time I’d laid eyes on the renowned Chinese artist’s stuff but even then you can see the acidic commentary on the Chinese government clean off the bat. Andreas Johnsen’s insightful documentary proves an educational look at the inspirational man behind the work, but most of all a disturbing glimpse into what fuels his message.
From the beginning of The Fake Case, Weiwei is a picture of composure: dignified, friendly, wise, considerate, a family man. It is unsettling then to learn of his incarceration at the hands of a totalitarian government who kept him isolated for 80 days in a blank room with 3 guards, then released him unceremoniously to continue persecuting him. The intended message is clear: no one fucks with the Chinese government.
Yet, Weiwei does.
Struggling against the titanic force of a 1984 caricature, a party so villainous it’s a real life version of Orwell’s dystopian nightmare, Weiwei remains zen and considerate, even mischievous, finding a few opportunities to stand defiant in front of his persecutors. Johnsen’s camera shows much of the enigmatic artist, his family, his life post-prison, the ominous control the government still exerts on Weiwei and his supporters, but the overwhelming amount of support he garners from the world and his fellow countrymen alike. The sounds of the Hong Kong cityscape play loud and ominous through distressing segments of the film, most notably during a display of Weiwei’s work at the end of the film.
This is a film that has to be seen, not simply as a fantastic account of Weiwei and his methods, but as a frankly terrifying look at the corruption inherent in an empire and the potential turning of a tide against it.
Scott Clark
EIFF 2014 Review : Aberdeen( Heung gong jai,2014)
Genre:
Drama, World Cinema
Rating: 15
Screened:
20, 22nd June 2014(EIFF)
Director:
Ho-Cheung Pang
Cast:
Miriam Yeung, Louis Koo, Gigi Leung, Eric Tsang, Ng Man-tat, Carrie Ng
Though Pang Ho-cheung’s Aberdeen is very much a Chinese film about Hong Kong, it refuses to alienate its audience by making its focus specific issues of Chinese life. Aberdeen is essentially a film about relationships in the contemporary world told through the parallel and intertwining lives of the people in one family. On each level of the family’s infrastructure the camera picks out key details: a lonesome daughter’s midnight snacks, a father’s gender-centric obsessing, an uncle’s indifferent cheating, and a grandfather’s bliss in later life. Here the family is its own source of anxiety and its own salvation.
Ho-cheung’s Hong Kong is one of colours and life, a buzzing hive of activity where events collide and erupt to produce new scenarios. Here, family life spirals out of control and is ,time and time again wrenched close to some kind of epiphany only for life to inevitably stumble in the way. All of this is shown in a gorgeous Technicolor palate which, along with the fantastic pace of the story, produces an odd travel documentary feel to some of the film. At other points the camera floats through a miniature of Hong Kong shot in hues of purple, red, orange and green, a weird dreamscape where the camera retreats at points of transition. As with most details in the film, even this space plays an important narrative role later in the film. Ho-cheung utilizes a zany sense of fate to keep all events integral to the story at some point or another.
In the end the film proves it has some slightly backwards ideas about its resolution, yet overall it’s a heart-warming story of life, love, and family. Ho-cheung seems to want the audience, like the family, to understand that equilibrium is an impossibility but that’s not a bad thing at all.
A ponderous cross-section of life in contemporary Hong Kong, spinning through the realities of everyday life whilst tackling some hefty ideas on what family means. Aberdeen is clean and colourful, inquisitive, and honest to the end.
Scott Clark
7 July 2014
27 June 2014
EIFF 2014: Cold in July (2014)
Drama, Thriller
Distributor:
Icon Distribution
Rating: 15
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Release Date:
27 June 2014 (UK)
Director:
Jim Mickle
Cast:
Michael C Hall, Sam Sheppard, Don Johnson, Vinessa Shaw, Nick Damici
Jim Mickle is fast proving himself to be a director of particular vision and consistent quality: 2010’s Stakeland and last year’s We Are What We Are both flaunt a gorgeous unity of content and tone. This perfect southern Gothic vibe leaks through into his new feature Cold in July.
The first third is almost a horror film; a stalker tale/home invasion, the second: a weird buddy detective thriller, and the final act a mex-ploitation revenge flick. It’s a strange but pleasing mix of pulpy ideals that seems sort of genius when you consider the technical and creative talent that manages to pull it off. Visually the film is muggy and dark, evoking a similar clamminess to We Are What We Are, but breaking free of that film’s shadow at the points when it successfully combines those post-Drive blues with the Southern Gothic thing. The thick shadows, neon reds, a gorgeous close up of a Cadillac’s bonnet as rain thunders down: it all evokes a fantastic noir sensibility that the film thrives on from start to finish.
Though Hall gives a solid performance, he unfortunately slides aside when sharing the screen with the other two leads. Sheppard gives a tortured performance that captivates with every second he’s on screen, his character even reluctantly becomes the centre piece of the feature. Yet, undoubtedly, it’s Johnston who steals the show leading the bizarre band on their road trip, tearing down the Texas highways accompanied by a cool synth soundtrack. His ballsy, hilarious and tender rendition of the wise-guy investigator maintains audience attention when the story begins a whole new crusade around the 80 minute mark.
Some people will find the film’s final act a strain on the film overall, but if you can appreciate the pulp of it, if you’ve ever read Spillane or Lansdale, then you’ll really appreciate it. Especially when that last act contains so many gorgeous visuals and executes a few raw action sequences that allow the, generally, low-key film to step up to a colourful ultra-violent finale.
Part noir, part seedy 80’s nostalgia, Cold in July is a visually impressive, hot and sticky descent into the West Texas criminal underbelly, led by enthralling performances from Sheppard and Johnson. Highly recommended.
Scott Clark
21 June 2014
20 June 2014
19 June 2014
18 June 2014
14 June 2014
13 June 2014
Film Review - Oculus (2014)
Horror
Distrubutor:
Universal Pictures UK
Rating: 15
Release Date:
13th June 2014 (UK)
Director:
Mike Flanagan
Cast:
Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane
When reviewing a film - or anything for that matter - it's so much easier if it is either brilliant or rubbish. If it's good, you can wax lyrical for several hundred words about how wonderful all those involved are and how enriched the viewer will be having watched it. If it's bad it's equally effortless to go into detail about the reasons why you should avoid it. The most difficult films to critique are those which are middle of the road, neither good nor bad, neither here nor there. Oculus (2013) - the new horror from writer / director Mike Flanagan, who was responsible for the recent Absentia (2013) - is one such film. There is nothing particularly wrong with this lukewarm chiller, heavy though it is with old-fashioned, conservative frights. However neither does it live up to its potential; if, going by the wonderfully bizarre posters which were released to advertise it, you are expecting a suitably gothic grotesquerie, you are likely to be sorely disappointed.
Tim (Brenton Thwaites) is a troubled young man. After witnessing a series of disturbing events which claimed the lives of his parents, he has spent the last eleven years in a mental institution. Now released he plans to start his life anew. Unfortunately his sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan - of Dr Who fame), has other ideas. She is convinced that an antique mirror which their father bought, was in some way responsible for the horrific occurrences that resulted in their parent's deaths. Through the auction house where she and her fiancé work, Kaylie has tracked down the mirror, and has now taken it back to her family's old home where she intends with Tim's help, to exorcise the evil - which she believes possess it - once and for all.
Oculus' main problem - as pointed out earlier - is that there isn't one. Everything about the film - from the acting and direction, to it's 'look' on screen - is executed with competence, in an effective, if somewhat pedestrian manner. The result is the disappointing kind of film increasingly churned out now in the name of horror, but which is unlikely to raise more than an eyebrow amongst audiences beyond the populist fifteen certificate age-group. The other difficulty (if it can be termed as such) is that the crux of the film - the reason behind the mirror's strange power and influence - is never fully explained; at least if it is you probably won't remember, as you'll have been so numbed through sheer disinterest by the end.
In its favour Oculus looks marvellous. The mirror itself exudes a suitably creepy and menacing air of dusty theatricality - the scenes in the auction house storeroom where Kaylie is left alone with it are particularly effective. Even the house where Kaylie and Tim were brought up and where the majority of the drama unfolds, has just the right degree of recognisable suburban affluence and middle American prosperity to make audiences feel at home - before the proceedings are punctuated with occasional, perfunctory old-school frights; what is clearly intended to be one of the climatic shocks is flagged up so far in advance, that the viewer is left spending two thirds of the film asking not if, but when, it's going to happen.
Those who want to see how a haunted mirror story should be done, could do worse than to watch Ealing's Dead of Night (1945) or Amicus' From Beyond the Grave (1974), two classic British terror compendiums which both include stories featuring possessed looking glasses, and which are executed with far superior verve and panache. In comparison Oculus is but a pale reflection.
Cleaver Patterson
9 June 2014
Simon Rumley Joins Shortcuts To Hell 2 Judging Panel
The annual Film 4 Frightfest in London will be upon us very soon which means it's nearly time for the annual Shortcuts To Hell short film competition. This year the contest has a new judge British film director Simon Rumley, who has just completed post production on his first ‘Hollywood’ movie The Last Word, SHORTCUTS TO HELL 2, which is run by FrightFest, Horror Channel, Movie Mogul and Wildseed Studios.
Rumley commented: “'As an arena to experiment, innovate and, ultimately, learn a craft, short film making always will be the lifeblood of film-making. It's great, therefore, to have a competition such as this to give aspiring film-makers an added incentive to try to realise their goal. This is a unique and mind-blowing opportunity”'
He will join Rosie Fletcher, acting editor of Total Film, Horror Channel’s Emily Booth, FrightFest director, Paul McEvoy, Wildseed Studio’s Creative Director, Jesse Cleverly and Movie Mogul’s John Shackleton, who are looking for new filmmakers primed and ready to make their first horror feature film.
The panel will choose three finalists who will then go forward to this year’s FrightFest event at the Vue West End in London, and have their 3-minute films screened before the discerning FrightFest audience. The overall winner will be chosen by public vote and will have their film produced by Movie Mogul and Wildseed Studios, entering production early 2015, with a minimum cash production fund of £20,000. The completed feature film will receive UK digital distribution, its world premiere at FrightFest 2015, and a broadcast premiere on Horror Channel.
All entries have until to Tuesday 22 July to upload their 3 minute films on to YouTube, submitting the link to submissions@shortcutstohell.com by 6pm on 22nd July. Downloadable T&C’s from www.shortcutstohell.com must be adhered to.
Check out www.shortcutstohell.com for more rules and more details.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShortCutsToHell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShortcutsToHell
Last years finalists are available on iTunes
6 June 2014
1 June 2014
22 May 2014
21 May 2014
18 May 2014
16 May 2014
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