Destroy The Brain’s LATE NITE GRINDHOUSE program returns to the Hi-Pointe on June 3rd and 4th with the St. Louis Premiere of the exploitation, 80′s genre film tribute, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN!

This entry into complete cinematic anarchy will inhabit the Hi-Pointe for two nights only. Don’t dare watch this film on your computer or on-demand, see it with an audience as it was intended! Arrive by 11:30pm for their special, one of a kind preshow that includes vintage trailers and other zany videos displayed on the big screen. Also, DTB will be hosting the theatrical premiere of the trailers for Wicked Pixel Cinema’s Ratline and the locally made The Bloodfest Club.

Friday, June 3rd and Saturday, June 4th
Preshow starts at 11:30pm & the film starts at Midnight.

RSVP for Friday Night’s Show on Facebook
RSVP for Saturday Night’s Show on Facebook

Stellan Skarsgård stars as Ulrik, a man who is recently released from prison after serving a 12 year (!) sentence for murder. While he seems like he just wants to live the rest of his life in peace, his past connections have abandoned him.  Ulrik’s wife has left him and his son, who is now an adult who is married, has pretty much wiped all existence because of the 12 year absense in prison.  The only person that seems to still care about him is his small-time mob boss, Rune, who is trying to give some drive to Ulrik and find the person that ratted him out to the cops which resulted in Ulrik’s imprisonment.

That first paragraph might make you think this is a action packed film, but let me assure you it is not.  It is a very quiet and subdued film that plays off as a dark comedy of a man who is trying to establish an honest, normal life.  He gets a job at a garage and gets a roof over his head, yet because of Skarsgård’s superb acting, we all know that something is bound to interrupt this plan.  The audience is treated to some hilariously uncomfortable scenes between his landlord who brings down dinner for him and continues to sit on a crickety bed and watches tv with Ulrik.

Ulrik is trying to turn over a new leaf and wants to try and rekindle a relationship with his son.  While his son doesn’t initially take an interest, it becomes to blossom in a way a dirty secret would as Ulrik’s son, Geir, doesn’t want to tell his wife about his father’s history and has previously told his wife that Ulrik was dead.  Instead of owning up to the false story, Geir tells his wife that Ulrik is his uncle.  While Ulrik is a little hurt by this, he understands why and appreciates that there is at least some attempt in trying to get to know each other.

All the performers are spot on and with some subtle yet effective direction by Hans Petter Moland (ABERDEEN from 2000), we know that no matter how funny some of the situations Ulrik is getting himself into that the final result may result in violence.  The whole film can be looked at as simply a tale or yarn, but I saw it as asking the question of if someone who spends time behind bars for over 10 years, are they really better off released into a world that has moved forward without said person?

A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN is a touching look at one man who tries his hardest to return to normalcy. Yet, due to preconceived notions from his society, is pigeonholed into someone who can be used and or should be feared.  It is a must see for foreign film lovers for Skarsgård’s performance alone.

This review was originally published on November 25, 2010 during the 19th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival.

Stellan Skarsgård stars as Ulrik, a man who is recently released from prison after serving a 12 year (!) sentence for murder. While he seems like he just wants to live the rest of his life in peace, his past connections have abandoned him.  Ulrik’s wife has left him and his son, who is now an adult who is married, has pretty much wiped all existence because of the 12 year absense in prison.  The only person that seems to still care about him is his small-time mob boss, Rune, who is trying to give some drive to Ulrik and find the person that ratted him out to the cops which resulted in Ulrik’s imprisonment.

That first paragraph might make you think this is a action packed film, but let me assure you it is not.  It is a very quiet and subdued film that plays off as a dark comedy of a man who is trying to establish an honest, normal life.  He gets a job at a garage and gets a roof over his head, yet because of Skarsgård’s superb acting, we all know that something is bound to interrupt this plan.  The audience is treated to some hilariously uncomfortable scenes between his landlord who brings down dinner for him and continues to sit on a crickety bed and watches tv with Ulrik.

Ulrik is trying to turn over a new leaf and wants to try and rekindle a relationship with his son.  While his son doesn’t initially take an interest, it becomes to blossom in a way a dirty secret would as Ulrik’s son, Geir, doesn’t want to tell his wife about his father’s history and has previously told his wife that Ulrik was dead.  Instead of owning up to the false story, Geir tells his wife that Ulrik is his uncle.  While Ulrik is a little hurt by this, he understands why and appreciates that there is at least some attempt in trying to get to know each other.

All the performers are spot on and with some subtle yet effective direction by Hans Petter Moland (ABERDEEN from 2000), we know that no matter how funny some of the situations Ulrik is getting himself into that the final result may result in violence.  The whole film can be looked at as simply a tale or yarn, but I saw it as asking the question of if someone who spends time behind bars for over 10 years, are they really better off released into a world that has moved forward without said person?

A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN is a touching look at one man who tries his hardest to return to normalcy. Yet, due to preconceived notions from his society, is pigeonholed into someone who can be used and or should be feared.  It is a must see for foreign film lovers for Skarsgård’s performance alone.

A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN will play during the 19th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival on Monday, November 15th at 7:00 pm and Tuesday, November 16th at 4:15 pm at Plaza Frontenac.

Todd Phillips helmed one of the funniest movies of last year, THE HANGOVER.  The film was a monster hit and helped launch careers, or at least put them in more of a mainstream light, of some of the actors.  One of those actors is Zach Galifianakis.  Team him up with a more mainstream stable comedic actor like Robert Downey Jr. and you should have a hit on your hands.

When “actor” Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) gets himself and Peter Highman (Downey), a husband with a child expecting wife who is home in L.A., kicked off a plane bound for Los Angeles, Peter is forced to ride with Tremblay from Atlanta to his home via rental car due to Peter leaving his wallet on the plane.  Peter’s wife is expecting their first born child very soon and without any money or ID, he is essentially at Ethan’s will.

As you can expect, the road trip isn’t a simple one.  It has plenty of funny detours and hijinks, otherwise, there wouldn’t be a movie.  A lot of which comes from the zany and off-kilter Galifianakis and our normal, level headed Downey.

While I enjoyed DUE DATE and laughed at it a few times, it did seem stale.  Galifianakis is essentially playing the same character he did in THE HANGOVER and Downey is playing the levity role.  There are a few cameos in the film by Jamie Foxx, Danny McBride, RZA (in probably the worst cameo in a while), and Juliette Lewis – however, most of these are spoiled by the trailers.  Essentially, since THE HANGOVER was such a success, Warner Bros. felt the need to really promote DUE DATE with over 10 different TV Spots that include different scenes.  If you have seen the TV Spots and trailers, then you have seen the film without profanity.

There is nothing too outrageously vulgar in this film – the closest it gets involves a particular activity that Ethan and his dog share and even that is shown, edited, in a recent TV Spot.

While I think the chemistry between Downey and Galifianakis is good, it isn’t really the best.  The film seems to be going through the motions and I think it really highlights the fact that Galifianakis might be a one-trick pony when it comes to mainstream comedy films.

All in all, DUE DATE isn’t the worst comedy out there, but it feels more like a film you should rent, more than it is a film to see in the theater.

[This review was cross-posted from DESTROY THE BRAIN as Andy is a contributor to WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS and is the creator of DESTROY THE BRAIN.]

Last year, a relatively independent film called PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was released due to an aggressive and smart “You Demand It” campaign via Eventful. For hardcore horror fans, most of us heard about the film when it premiered at Screamfest in October 2007 then showed at Slamdance 3 months later. There was talk that once Paramount picked up the film that they were going to remake it, instead they did the smart thing and released the original. While PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 might seem more of a product like the Saw franchise that it is trying to edge out, there is actually a story that compliments the first film here. The question is, what, if anything, does this new entry bring to the table.

I will do my best to not spoil the film, but keep in mind that there might be some things you might not want to know and I suggest going into the film pretty cold. However, if you weren’t the hugest fan of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and the last time you saw it was in the theater last year, you might want to read on to lay some of the story groundwork prior to viewing the new entry.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 follows a family consisting of a husband, his 2nd wife (this is important), a teenager and their newborn child, Hunter. The film begins when the parents bring home Hunter then seems to skip ahead a bit, yet the film doesn’t really clarify this, it just happens. Later (like half way through the movie), slowly but surely, some things start to happen that could be attributed to the paranormal. Or, it could just be pans falling off and electronic devices acting up. After experiencing more of these incidents, the ladies of the house start to grow concerned that there is something happening beyond their control. Someone decides to break out the Ouija board in order to get to the bottom of what is happening.
Of course, when weird stuff happens in a house, it is time to break out the Ouija board and use it as an investigative tool. Usually, the Ouija board is mocked and I’m sure it gets its feelings hurt and asks for demonic back up to give an “I told you so” response to the inhabitants of the house. Ok, maybe I’m making light out of a bad situation, but it is exactly how it went down in the first one as well and anytime Ouija boards are used in film, we know it is a gateway to the “bad people”. I guess this family doesn’t watch a lot of horror movies like I do.

I wasn’t a fan of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and I’m here to say that if you didn’t enjoy the previous entry, this one doesn’t bring anything new as far as structure or visual. It turns out that PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 is a pseudo prequel that by the end catches up to the same night that the prior entry ended on. All of this takes place in 2006 and the last time I checked HD camcorders were not really available in the small, compact consumer forms that they are in this film. Hell, when you look at PARANORMAL ACTIVITY – and footage from the original is in this one – you can tell that this entry has better quality from its handheld cameras than the main one used in the first one.

All technical believability aside, this new film actually does improve on some things that I had a problem with from the previous film. First off, I felt that in the first film there was a lack of intrigue. When you do faux “found footage” film, it is tough to get dramatically involved with the characters – especially in the original film – because you have a disconnected, voyeuristic view of the events. With a film like The Blair Witch Project, I think the majority of audiences could relate to the characters, even have emotions towards them. I just didn’t care about the characters in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, I actually somewhat was annoyed with them. This time around, the family is very relatable and likeable. The scares are a bit more effective as well as they seem to be happening throughout the house as opposed to just the bedroom. By doing this, we know that the house, as a whole, could not have one safe place inside. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 almost feels like a “found footage” version of Hooper’s Poltergeist, but like a 4th generation VHS copy version of it.

I felt like there are some missed opportunities in this film. It dives into the mythology of the setup of why this is happening to this family – turns out that the stepmother is related to Katie from the first film and could be the cause of this. I like that they introduce some instability to this film by introducing an infant to this scenario. However, I feel like the filmmakers stuck to what worked for the majority of audiences the last time and didn’t want to deviate from that formula. The structure is exactly the same and, with the audience I watched it with, it got stale. After the formal introductions to the family, you feel like pressing the fast forward button past the day scenes just to get to the juicy night stuff. Even then, some of night scenes are a tease and do not offer anything.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 improves on some my issues I had with the previous entry, but ultimately feels like a product as opposed to a continuation to any story introduced. To the people who enjoyed the first one, you may or may not like this one – I only say this because of the crowd reaction I heard coming out of the screening. I can say for certain that if you didn’t like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, you won’t really find anything new in its latest entry. There are some scares that got me in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 unlike its predecessor, but still walked away with that familiar sense of the absence of fulfillment.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

[Andy is the creator of DESTROY THE BRAIN's LATE NITE GRINDHOUSE and is also a contributor to WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS]

It’s October and everyone is in the mood to watch some scary flicks.  How about a cult classic shown on the big screen right here in St. Louis?  Well, this weekend you can check out EVIL DEAD 2 in St. Louis!  Read on for more…

Come catch a screening of EVIL DEAD 2 on the big screen at The Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave) on October 22 & 23, 2010 for $5!

If you have never seen EVIL DEAD 2 (WHAT?!), come check it out at a cheap price with a great audience.  LATE NITE GRINDHOUSE started back in May of this year and always promises a personal experience to attendees of the late night program.

You can RSVP on Facebook to show your support and let everyone know that you are attending one of the best horror comedies of all time.

RSVP for Friday’s Midnight Show here
RSVP for Saturday’s Midnight Show here

Note: Both Facebook events start at 11:30p, this was done to not confuse people.  The show starts promptly at Midnight.

Hope to see you all there!

DESTROY THE BRAIN’s LATE NITE GRINDHOUSE presents
EVIL DEAD 2
directed by: Sam Raimi
October 22 & 23rd at Midnight (11:59p for you smartypants)
at
THE HI-POINTE THEATRE
1005 McCausland Ave
Saint Louis, MO 63117
Admission: $5 ($4 if you show in costume on 10/23)

When a director from horror’s heyday comes back to visit the genre he helped shape, most horror fans will show interest in their new entry.  My Soul To Take is Wes Craven’s latest entry.  The first film that he has written and directed since New Nightmare – one of my favorite Freddy flicks.  While most of you might have been driven away from the trailers are out, I’m here to tell you to ignore that and hear me out.

My Soul To Take deals with a group of teens called “The Riverton Seven” who all share the same birthday.  Their birthday shares the same day with the date of disappearance of the local boogeyman named The Riverton Ripper.  Legend goes like this: Every year on the aforementioned date, since the Riverton Seven have been able, they will send one of their own to go into the river to keep the Ripper away from the town and away from the group.  As I’m sure you guessed by now, this year doesn’t work out as planned and some bad juju is placed upon our main character Bug (Max Thieriot) because he didn’t complete the challenge.  Poor Bug.  Before you know it the kids are being taken out one by one and it is up to Bug and his friend Alex (John Magaro) to try to figure out if they are dealing with something supernatural or if it someone else who is killing off their peers.

I went into the film with very low expectations – honestly, I thought the film was going to be terrible.  The advertisements I have seen on the film depict the film as a paint by numbers slasher-mystery with teenagers.  Imagine my surprise when that was really just the backdrop to what has to be one of the most unique, off-kilter genre films I have seen come out of Hollywood in a while.

Craven really gets the best out of his actors in this film.  It is a very unconventional script when dealing with dialogue so I can only imagine the young actors looking at this film on the page and questioning what the hell they are doing in here.  Most viewers – as evidenced in the public screening I attended – will see the film as a bit of a mess.  I can somewhat agree with this statement.  It seems the writing is a little clunky but, to me, it works with the film’s nature.  The start of the film really sets the tone for the film as we are dealing with a character who has a pseudo combination of schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder.  The way the film’s opening scene is edited coincides with these multiple personalities.  While disorienting at first, I believe it works once you get used to it and it definitely holds a visual presence that demands your attention.

You will hear a lot of people talk about the dialogue of the film.  There are some batshit crazy lines in this film like ”Now, where’s your bitch?” and “If it gets too hot, turn on the prayer conditioning.” will always stand out.  Not all of the dialogue works as I found myself getting lost in some of the terminology of the punches that the jock figure distributes – “Give him an 8.”  Some of the dialogue seems like Craven was trying to relate to an audience in the same way Diablo Cody spits out some dialogue.  Not all of the lines are like this, but some are.

Like I said earlier, the actors are what excels the script.  Max Thieriot as Bug does a phenominal job with not only having the audience relate to him but also spitting out and mimicing lines of other characters.  Another highlight of the film is – what I call the comic relief – the character of Penelope.  Essentially she is the religious factor of Carrie’s mom from DePalma’s Carrie personified in a teenage body – she is also the sole owner of that Prayer Conditioning quote.

Craven’s signature is all over this film.  Luckily, I don’t remember seeing that hand coming out of the wall scene you see in the trailer in the film.  However, there is a scene in a boiler room that is almost surreal in seeing in a film that is not part of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

I honestly have no clue why this film is in 3D.  It is obviously a move to garner more money from patrons and I believe it hurts the film.  General audiences still think that 3D is supposed to “pop-out” at you.  It isn’t.  However, these audiences see 3D mixed in with a horror film and it is the first conclusion they jump to.

I will be the first to admit that this film is not for everyone.  The crowd reaction when I walked out was leaning towards the negative.   The dark humor of the film doesn’t hit most general patrons over the head with it,s o I think it went over their head – not trying to talk down, but I think it’s true.  At the very least, the film is not mediocre and I am thankful for that.  My colleagues may give me some crap for this, but myself and two other writers of the site were all on the same page when we walked out.  If you get a chance, try to see this in 2D though as I think the post-converted 3D hinders the film quite a bit.

My Soul To Take is a refreshingly unique and off-kilter genre entry that breathes some fresh air into the slasher/teen mystery archetype, even if it is batshit crazy at times.

Vampires.  They have been a hot topic (no pun intended) the past few years.  With the unfortunate popularity of the Twilight film adaptations and television adaptation of the Sookie Stackhouse books from Charlene Harris in the HBO show True Blood, vampires seem to be the new popular villain – like zombies a few years back. Two years ago, I saw a Swedish film called Let the Right One In at the local film festival and fell in love with its rather subdued nature.  It was story about friendship and touched on the coming of age subject of love and interest in the opposite sex.  It was also a story about a young person needing blood to survive.  After the success of Let the Right One In, it was inevitable to remake the film for American audiences.  When I initially heard about the remake, I was up in arms.  I was mad.  I loved the original and new that the tone would more than likely not be duplicated.  However, Matt Reeves does bring some interesting things to the table.

If you are not familiar with the novel or its previous adaptation by director Tomas Alfredson, it is pretty by much the same in this American remake except the names have changed.  We are introduced to a socially awkward child named Owen (previously named Oskar) who is constantly bullied by his male classmates.  Shortly after the introduction of Owen, a young girl named Abby (previously named Eli) moves next door to Owen and a friendship forms.  Meanwhile, murders are occurring and one of them happened to be a former classmate – which is how Owen becomes aware to it.o  It is then learned that Abby needs blood to live and that these murders seem to have begun as soon as Abby and her father figure, played by Richard Jenkins, move in.

People who admire the quiet delivery of the previous adaptation might be put off by this film’s loud delivery.  However, I’m happy to say that the performances from the children in this remake and the direction by Matt Reeves are exceptional. There is one scene in the film that will have most movie geeks and maybe even general audiences talking about it after it is over.

Let Me In opens introduces a character, a detective, that was not in the original novel or it’s Swedish adaptation by director Tomas Alfredson who is played by Elias Koteas. My only issue with this was the fact the majority of this remake highlights and focuses on the children. Granted., that is the way it should be.  However, with this new version, you do not receive the same tragic feeling you received with the caretaker of the Abby character.  That is where the book and the original adaptation excel ahead of this film.  Koteas’ character is just there, just like Jenkins’ character which is unfortunate, but not that damaging to the overall film, as this is a story about Abby and Owen.

The film is beautifully shot and the direction is top notch.  The performances by Kodi Smit-McPhee & Chloe Moretz are what really carry the film.  Many people will mention the – soon to be infamous – car sequence, but don’t get the wrong idea that the film is full of visual gimmicks.  The drama is still there.  If you never saw Let the Right One In, this film is for you.  If you have seen it before, just know that you may or may not like this version better.  I saw it divide some fans at Fantastic Fest this year.

Oh Sweet Baby Jesus!  Being a horror fan comes with its stereotypes.  I wanted to start off this review with a personal note.

When we received this film for review, Travis – our head honcho – contacted me because the plot deals with Aleister Crowley.  If you don’t know, Aleister Crowley was an esoteric individual who dealed with the occult and founded a religious philosophy call Thelema.  People still practice in this belief today.  Travis figured that with the name Crowley popping up in the plot, which is usually entangled and mentioned with the occult and horror films, that this would be a film up my alley, or at least, I would be interested in reviewing it.

The plot, which is beat into your head as actual events, chronicles Crowley’s life shortly after WWI when he was a painter.  From there, he becomes sexually entangled with a few of his models that he used for his paintings.  One of them, Leah, becomes pregnant with Crowley’s child.  The other, Ninette, becomes possessive over Crowley and becomes obsessed with Crowley’s religious beliefs as Crowley tries to create a house for his followers – The Abbey of Thelema.

Quite honestly, I might not be giving the plot that much justice but on the same token, the film doesn’t give Crowley much justice either.  The very little I do know about the actual Aleister Crowley is that a lot of his beliefs influenced filmmakers and artists world wide – mainly in England.  This film essentially feels like using the history of Crowley’s sexual escapades to give the main actor a reason to make out with girls that probably wouldn’t give him the time of day.

The film’s production values are amateurish, the writing is horrendous and the execution of the whole film is just god awful.  I have seen better films made in 24 hours than this piece.  Oh, Ron Jeremy…he is in the film for about 5 minutes or so and his scenes as a priest – which I thought was funny on paper – really don’t add to the story plus they were obviously filmed in a cheap hotel room in order to use Jeremy’s name to sell copies.

Even if a film is bad, I can usually find good qualities about it.  Sometimes, bad movies can be a laugh riot (Look at TROLL 2).  However, this is a bad movie that is also boring and painful to look at.

Overall Rating: 0 out of 5.  If a copy comes near you, burn it!

P.S. The music is credited as by “THE DEVIL”.  I really was hoping the dude would have been a better composer.

DESTROY THE BRAIN’s LATE NITE GRINDHOUSE is proud to bring [REC]2 to The Hi-Pointe Theatre for a St. Louis Premiere! [REC]2 was released in theatres in the US on July 7th. However, as most St. Louis horror fans know, we never get any independent horror films until months later. Not any longer. This booking is very important as we need to show the studios that St. Louis is full of genre fans and that horror films need to make… a stop here even though St. Louis isn’t a major market.

[REC]2 is showing July 30th & 31st at Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave). Show starts at MIDNIGHT!

In the acclaimed 2007 Spanish horror film [REC], remade as Quarantine in the U.S., a television reporter and her cameraman, covering the night shift in one of Barcelona’s local fire stations for a documentary TV series, respond to an emergency in which an old woman is reported to be trapped in an apartment building. But the TV crew becomes trapped itself—along with fire fighters and police officers—when the police and military seal off the building due to a virulent disease that is infecting people, causing them to turn into bloodthirsty savages. In [REC] 2, only a few minutes have passed since the authorities lost contact with the people trapped inside the quarantined building. Nobody knows exactly what’s going on inside. Outside, chaos reigns. For the Special Operations Unit this is a seemingly straightforward mission—to enter the building and analyse the situation. But as we know, appearances can be deceiving… Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza return to direct [REC] 2, exploring new ways to expand the horror genre. (Spanish language with English Subtitles)

RSVP on FACEBOOK for Friday Night’s Show here

RSVP on FACEBOOK for Saturday Night’s Show here

Hope to see everyone out for this one. Sorry for the short notice, we are already working on the August show.

CONTEST: Wanna attend for free??? DESTROY THE BRAIN is giving away a ADMIT TWO pass to either Friday or Saturday night’s show. The Catch? You must follow DTB on Twitter (@destroythebrain) and retweet the following:

St. Louis Premiere of [REC] 2 July 30 & 31 @ Midnight. Info – http://bit.ly/c7e6iE Follow @destroythebrain #lngh

The Contest will end on July 29th at 11:59pm CDT.

I grew up renting out VHS’s from his local video store’s horror section around the age of 10. Most of the time I would rent 6 VHS tapes each Saturday night specifically out of the horror section.  So, I have seen a lot of horror.  While the beginning of this video renting period, the first movies I rented were the classics.  Then, I moved on to the eye catching covers.  Then, it was the awesomely named titles and films that had ultra cool tag lines.

I’ve always been a slasher/supernatural guy myself.  Monsters are always tons of fun, but to me, if it ain’t a Krite – monsters from the film CRITTERS – it didn’t scare me.  Something about those teeth always got to me.  I remember passing by TROLL as a kid with some trepidation.  It wasn’t because I was scared to rent it, it was because it looked silly and childish.  It just looked like a kids movie.  As a pre-teen looking to progress in his horror film history, I didn’t want to take a step backwards.I actually didn’t end up seeing TROLL until I was 19 years old.  At that point of time, I had seen a lot of horror flicks.  A lot of those films were bad, cheesy horror films.  Some had their novelties, but most of them didn’t fulfill the promises they made on the cover. 

As a video renting rule, I usually didn’t see any sequels if they were based on a movie I didn’t like.  Therefore, I didn’t give TROLL 2 a chance.  While the tagline “THE ORIGINAL BOOGEYMAN IS BACK” and it’s green misty cover tempted me, the fact that there was what looked to be a treasure troll, which were popular at the time the movie came out, and a shadowy monster figure that always reminded me of Gossamer from Bugs Bunny with an axe, horns and glowing eyes…well, that description should tell you why I didn’t pick this one up immediately.

When I heard about BEST WORST MOVIE a couple of years back and knowing it was based on TROLL 2, I decided it was time to go and rent the damn flick.  At the stage of my life now, and not the pessimistic teenager I was in the past, I know when a flick is bad, but entertaining.  In fact, there are few bad films, in the true sense of the word.  A bad film to me is one that has no value whatsoever.  It was so bad, that I wanted to either:

A) Slice my damn wrists open.
B) Destroy the DVD or VHS copy so this evil entity cannot tarnish another person’s time.
C) Systematically hunt the filmmakers down and question them endlessly on why they made the film.

I digress.  BEST WORST MOVIE is a documentary that is made by the child star of TROLL 2, Michael Paul Stephenson.  It follows George Hardy, who played the father of Michael Paul Stephenson’s character Joshua, as he encounters friends, family and total strangers via phone calls, emails or Myspace messages that know about his only film role in TROLL 2.  Since he saw the film on VHS, which seems to be how all the crew saw it – not even knowing that the film was out – he just wanted to forget about it.  He knew it was a bad film and that there was no benefit to it at all for him.  However, as time progresses and more people contact him, he learns of the cult following of TROLL 2.  Other cast members chime in about the film and how TROLL 2 has been a black mark on their acting resumes.  Most of the cast has moved away from acting.  Hardy was practicing dentistry when he starred in TROLL 2 (What is the damn tie-in with dentists & bad movies by the way??), so his life wasn’t as affected by it – with the exception of friends calling him to say they had seen him on HBO late at night.

We mainly follow Hardy as he is flown out to late night screenings across the US celebrating the bad movie known as TROLL 2.  It starts to become a fun thing for Hardy.  Soon, after getting some recognition, you can see it start to plant a seed in his brain that maybe he should get into acting again.

Hardy is a very charasmatic guy.  He is funny, cheerful, and talks with a fun loving Alabama accent.  He is looked highly up to by his town for the charity work he has been involved in and just his personality.  Honestly, while watching the film, he will put a smile on your face – he is that damn charming.

After following Hardy and the sold out midnight shows, we travel back to Utah where the film was made and meet the man who played a crazy storekeeper and realize that he really wasn’t acting much at all.  We also meet the mother character of the film and realize that she isn’t all mentally there as well.  These are interesting follow-ups to these people because TROLL 2 didn’t have professional actors.  They casted local people.

One of the most unusual characters of BEST WORST MOVIE is the director, Claudio Fragasso.  Fragasso genuinely thinks he made a good movie about family and the struggles they go through.  If you don’t know the plot of TROLL 2, it sums up like this:

Joshua and his family go on a road trip to the town of NILBOG which is inhabited by goblins (not Trolls.  Yeah, that’s in the documentary) who turn humans into vegetables to eat them.  With the help of his dead (!) grandpa via apparitions, Joshua does everything he can to save his family from this veggie-cum-carnivore carnage.

Yeah…..

For the most part the documentary is a lot of fun.  You will laugh frequently, even if you haven’t seen TROLL 2 (which can be rectified at the bottom of this post).  There are also some cringe worthy scenes with the cast and even Hardy himself.  Stephenson may not be a great actor, but he spins a cohesive tale about the cult following of TROLL 2 which can also doubles as a tale on how some films gather a cult following.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

St. Louis, TROLL 2 is showing at the Tivoli Theater at midnight on July 16th & 17th and BEST WORST MOVIE is also playing at the Tivoli for one week only starting today!

For those of you that can’t make the TROLL 2 screening this weekend, you can view it via Hulu.com for free.  I have embeded it below…enjoy.

Terrorist attacks, biological infection, parental irresponsibility – all of those fears lie in this film.

After being dropped off by her father, Jodie (Linzey Cocker) arrives early at her estranged mother’s home to spend Christmas Eve with her. Unfortunately, due to what her mother Beth (Neve McIntosh) is doing instead causes Jodie to storm out of the house in a fit of anger. As an audience, we get a character shift to what looked like was going to be a story from the daughter’s perspective to the mother’s. Shortly after this incident, Beth, the mother, along with the whole neighborhood goes into a state of lock down as military black ops personal invade the British cul-de-sac to eradicate a threat. While the threat is unknown, residents are forced into their homes and are shutoff from all communications.

While the scenario sounds like Déjà vu, director Lawrence Gough actually puts a different spin on it. Not only is Beth trying to repair the relationship of her daughter, now they are separated and thrown into this unlikely situation. Beth and her companion try to escape the clutches of this ruthless militia force who seem to be more interested in containing the problem by killing everyone in the neighborhood. What is unknown is what the threat is. Honestly, I’m still a little confused as a viewer. The opening scene of the film will confuse many because in context, the first thing that audiences will think is that we are watching an infection film. Later, there are scenes when it is indicated that it is a monster-on-the-loose film. We even see glimpses, dark glimpses, of a monster. I’m still not sure if this was maybe a mutation film or what, but either way…it is a tense flick.

Salvage is mainly carried by actress Neve McIntosh. McIntosh’s Beth could easily be a character that an audience wouldn’t mind if her life was shortened based on the way the opening scene where her and her daughter see each other, or the way her character’s actions are handled. However, we care about her and how she will get to her daughter and get out of this situation. There is also enough blood and gore in here to appease the average horror fan. Salvage is an above average infection/monster (seriously…was it a monster or an infection?!) that makes it worth a rental.

Visit the film’s official website at http://www.salvagethefilm.com/

DESTROY THE BRAIN in association with GRINDHOUSE RELEASING is proud to bring Lucio Fulci’s masterpiece THE BEYOND to the Hi-Pointe Theatre as the second entry into DESTROY THE BRAIN presents LATE NITE GRINDHOUSE. Showing in 35mm, experience a hellish, surrealistic nightmare that only the Italian master of gore could bring you.

Originally released in 1983 under a heavily censored title of Seven Doors of Death, Fulci’s second entry in his unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy was unleashed on drive-in screens and grindhouses in the US for a brief period of time. Over time, bootlegs emerged of the film in its uncut form, mainly sourced from an uncensored Japanese laserdisc.

Finally in 1998, Bob Murawski and Sage Stallone completely re-mastered the film and got Quentin Tarantino to endorse the release through Miramax. The film gathered over $1 Million during its midnight show run.

For fans of the director Lucio Fulci (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, ZOMBIE), this is a film that must be seen on the big screen. If you are unfamiliar with Fulci, this movie is a great one of his to start out with.

THE BEYOND will be showing at 11:30pm at THE HI-POINTE THEATRE (1005 McCausland Ave. St. Louis, MO) on Friday, June 25th and Saturday, June 26th.Follow DESTROY THE BRAIN on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/destroythebrain
Follow DESTROY THE BRAIN on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/destroythebrain

http://www.destroythebrain.com
http://www.hi-pointetheatre.com

With games like RED DEAD REDEMPTION out on game consoles, westerns seem to be the new black within the movie geek community.  JONAH HEX seems properly timed, but is it any good?

JONAH HEX stars Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox and Michael Fassbender in a supernatural western yarn based on the DC Comics character.  The character is not as well known as someone like Batman or Spider-Man but has been around for 30 plus years.  Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is an antihero drifter who acts as a bounty hunter to get by.  When word that his presumably dead enemy Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) is  in fact still alive, Hex goes on the hunt to find and seek vengeance on Turnbull who murdered his family in retaliation for Hex betraying his squad and killing Quentin Turnbull’s son, Jeb – who happened to be Hex’s best friend.  Lilah (Megan Fox), is Hex’s closest friend and slight love interest in the whole film.  When Hex learns that Turnbull has acquired a Nation-killing weapon, Hex decides to do the right thing and stop him from executing Turnbull’s diabolical plan to destroy the nation – muhahahahaha.

The whole film is a mess.  Whether the blame is to lie with director Jimmy Hayward, the CRANK screenwriting duo Neveldine/Taylor or Warner Brothers themselves, no one knows.  The film has been plagued by re-shoots, the studio changing composers and forcing progressive-rock group Mastodon into creating a new outlook to the score the utilizes Mastodon-esque riffs as opposed to what Mastodon was originally wanting and agreed to do, to editing this film down to a measly 80 minutes – including the 5 minute (or more) animated introduction and the 8 minute credits.  This thing definitely reeks of studio interference.

Honestly, I never read the comics, but I know that this character could have been pretty damn cool.  Unfortunately, those efforts were not made.  JONAH HEX results in a lifeless adaptation with Malkovich phoning in his performance and Megan Fox or her character shouldn’t have even been in the 15 minutes of this movie that she was in.  While you will read the reviews that Fox is horrible in the film, I will say that it is an unfair judgment because, like I said, she was maybe in this film for 15 minutes, tops.  Will Arnett is incredibly underused and will make you question why he is even in the film.  Brolin is decent as our antihero and definitely fits in a western film.  It’s a damn shame he wasn’t given a more powerful script.  Watching this limp, but short, film made me wish that Neveldine and Taylor directed it.  While I wasn’t a fan of GAMER, their previous film, I think they would have injected some adrenaline that this film needed.

While the end result is abysmal, if a director’s cut of this film hits the shelves with a substantial amount of footage added in, I would revisit it to see what was cut out as it is pretty apparent that this was meant to be an R-rated film but was hacked to pieces to fit the PG-13 summer blockbuster archetype.

Overall Rating: 1.5 out 5

Universal Pictures will unleash THE THING on April 29, 2011.  The reboot/prequel based on John Carpenter’s classic will star Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD”) and Joel Edgerton (“ANIMAL KINGDOM”). Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Dennis Storhøi. The action takes place in a remote Antarctica outpost, an alien spaceship is discovered far beneath the ice. When a group of ambitious scientists decide to thaw out one of the creatures inside, they’re in for the terrifying fight of their lives.

Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, the thriller is produced by Strike Entertainment’s Marc Abraham and Eric Newman (Dawn of the Dead).

Source: EPK.tv

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

Sarah Polley’s character Elsa poses this question a couple times throughout the film at moments when the audience knows that the question will be answered.  Usually with consequences.

The film stars Canadian superstar Sarah Polley and Academy Award winner Adrian Brody play Clive and Elsa – get it? – as scientists who are creating a new species.  However, a lot rides on these two to make sure that their new creatures survive their birth.  Elsa wants to see if they can bring a new lifeform into full term with Clive disapproving of this due to the morality aspect but more so, it seems, to not lose their jobs.  Obviously the experiment goes awry and Elsa sort of get what she wants.  As the movie goes on their new creature, named DREN – let’s see if any of you get it before you see the film, matures at a rapid rate.  Once it hits that age, things get a little…um….freaky.

Mostly known for directing of the most important Canadian genre films of the past 20 years, CUBE, Vincenzo Natali’s newest entry in film goes back to those roots that made him famous.  This time, a major studio is backing him.  On a personal level, I have always dug his work.  CUBE was one of those great films that benefits from a low budget, interesting characters and good acting.  Fans of that film will recognize Natali’s acting cohort David Hewlitt – who has been in practically every feature film that Natali has directed.

SPLICE is effectively directed and features amazing creature design, even if it is a bit suggestive.  On the surface, the story sounds a lot like SPECIES – please, lets not compare it to that piece – and you no doubt will hear the term “Modern day FRANKENSTEIN tale” in a million reviews you read – but what brings SPLICE from the murky waters of typical B-movie mediocrity is the fact that you have a really great cast.

As the resident horror dude here at WAMG, I do want to warn/inform you that I do not see this as a horror film.   Yes, I know, it has horror elements, but this is really a dramatic morality tale peppered with horror.  The fact that Warner Bros. seems to be marketing this as action horror could be the biggest downfall of the film as an end result of any viewers.  The film addresses the moral issues you would expect out of a film like this while actually hitting your ”awwww, that thing is kind of cute at first” strings at the beginning.  What precedes after the intial post birth/fabrication process is a crash course of early childhood to puberty.  Yes, it gets messed up and freaky at times folks.  However, this is what makes the film unique.  It will divide audiences due to the last 20 minutes of the film as it seems like SPLICE was its own beast.  It didn’t really fit any genre because it blended something from everything.  Then the last 20 minutes of the film seem like everyone working on it said “Oh crap.  We need to put a genre on this thing so we can get it sold.”  Unfortunately, this results in a clichéd monster-on-the-loose ending.  It does throw in one last shock towards the end which also results in a somewhat predictable ending that leaves us with that famous quote “What’s the worst that can happen?”

SPLICE is still a breath of fresh air amongst 3D gimmick filled films, adaptations of comic strips and endless sequelization.  It is a film that I think most genre fans should check out, even if I still struggle with calling it a horror film.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Ah yes, another remake.  The celluloid regurgitating factory known as Platinum Dunes has made the final turn – I hope – in remaking the classic characters owned by New Line Cinema.  Fans could smell the fumes running high on the money making highway when you could purchase Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger on keychains and other child like trinkets.  While Leatherface never really got to an iconic status due to a short run of sequels, Jason and Freddy have been fighting over the hearts of fiends for 20 plus years.  Last year, Platinum Dunes released the remake of FRIDAY THE 13TH.  While it fell short to expectations, there is not a lot you can do with the character of Jason that hasn’t been done already.  Freddy on the other hand could have an interesting story to tell.  That is why, I was somewhat excited for this remake.

I have been hooked on this damn train since there were talks about an Elm Street prequel that would explore the back-story – the one you don’t see in the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET – of Fred Krueger and why the parents burned him alive.  I always felt that the back-story alone would make a great film and could be an interesting direction.  The closest that some might say it got was with EXORCIST III where the film was it’s own thing but connected to the EXORCIST universe towards the finale.

Sadly, we just get the same old stuff we have seen in the previous Platinum Dunes remakes of these horror icons.  Glossy, over-saturated scenes. Vapid teenagers that evoke no emotion from the audience and, lets not forget, lens flares.  I swear to god, after the remakes of FRIDAY THE 13TH, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE one would think that the damn lens flares would get a cast credit.  I wonder if Michael Bay demands this…

…Ok, I’m getting off topic.  If you haven’t seen the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET it breaks down like this:

Teenagers are having nightmares of the same man who threatens and stalks them in their sleep state.  After a death of one of the teens, they realize that there might be something rotten in Denmark and this guy that they are all dreaming about might be behind it. If you get cut in your dream, you get cut for real.  Get it? Good.

Samuel Bayer is making his feature directorial debut here after making music videos (are you really surprised?) for years.  However, what Sammy has a looser grip on than his Platinum Dunes buddy Marcus Nispel (the guy that directed the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE & FRIDAY THE 13TH remake) is story, tension, intrigue.  Basically, the things that make a movie.  Visually, the film is tiresome because we have seen it all before.  The actors who play the teenagers and the parents are given one dimensional characters that show no personal traits.  This makes the audience really only care for Freddy.  He is the only interesting character and the whole movie becomes a guessing game on how they are going to remake iconic scenes or how the filmmakers will approach something differently.  The problem with this is that the movie carries on as if it is a mystery if Freddy was an innocent man or not so when the reveal happens, it falls flat.

However, most horror fans and fans of the series probably expected some of this.  So, the main question is…How is Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger?  I’ll be the first to tell you that I couldn’t think of another actor on the radar to play the character.  I thought he was a perfect choice and so did a lot of other people – partially due to his performance in LITTLE CHILDREN.  It is with regret that I tell you that Haley doesn’t really make this character his own.  In fact, the whole logic – and this is not at fault of Haley – of Freddy’s drive to haunt the teens in their dreams isn’t consistent throughout the whole film.  Haley’s Krueger delivers some cheeky one-liners, but instead of it being creepy, most of them got a laugh from the audience I saw it with.

Albeit from a couple of decent scenes, stay away from this one – at least until it shows up on cable. Because the scariest thing about NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2010 is that if you dose off during this comatose inducing film, that when you wake up, your wallet will be lighter than it was before you entered the theater.

Overall Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

I have always been a fan of Frank Langella.   He was in one of my guilty pleasures as a horror fan, BRAINSCAN.   Go ahead, judge me.

From the Variety article:

Frank Langella has been set to star with Liam Neeson, January Jones and Diane Kruger in UNKNOWN WHITE MALE, the Dark Castle thriller.

Neeson plays a man who awakens from a coma to find somebody else has assumed his identity. Langella plays Cole, who comes forward as the coma guy’s colleague and gets involved as he tries to reclaim his identity.

Shooting starts January in Berlin, with Warner Bros. distributing. Joel Silver produces with Leonard Goldberg and Andrew Rona. Steve Richards, Sarah Meyer and Peter McAleese are exec producers.

One thing that the article doesn’t mention is that Jaume Collet-Serra (ORPHAN & HOUSE OF WAX) will be directing his third film for Dark Castle Films.

Dark Castle produced films have been a mixed bag for me.   It is no secret that they tend to lean towards trying to get prestigious actors and actresses to star in their films shortly after getting some Oscar recognition.   However, I believe it has only worked for Geoffrey Rush (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL’) and ….well that is it.   It definitely didn’t work for Hillary Swank (THE REAPING) or Halle Berry (GOTHIKA).   Let us cross our fingers and hope better things for this one.