Thomas Rigby
Junior Woodchuck
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TR + Kayako = Tag Team of the Century
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Post by Thomas Rigby on Oct 5, 2009 9:43:55 GMT -5
I saw Zombieland last night, I thought it was awesome and one of the best zombie movies I've ever seen, and Woody was awesome. on a unrelated note I made this quiz on sporcle and no one has played it www.sporcle.com/games/OctoKing/puppetmaster_puppetssome one please play it I played it. I got 9/13 and feel slightly ashamed, although I SHOULD have gotten Decapitron (which is misspelled in your quiz), the Oriental Puppet (as I merely put "Oriental" into the type), and the Goblin (I put "Goblin Puppet").
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thelesserevil
Super Trooper
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Thinks RKO is A-OK
Splat
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Post by thelesserevil on Oct 5, 2009 10:27:20 GMT -5
I saw Zombieland last night, I thought it was awesome and one of the best zombie movies I've ever seen, and Woody was awesome. on a unrelated note I made this quiz on sporcle and no one has played it www.sporcle.com/games/OctoKing/puppetmaster_puppetssome one please play it I played it. I got 9/13 and feel slightly ashamed, although I SHOULD have gotten Decapitron (which is misspelled in your quiz), the Oriental Puppet (as I merely put "Oriental" into the type), and the Goblin (I put "Goblin Puppet"). I'll fix those mistakes, thanks for playing it at least ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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Post by Deadpool is Insane on Oct 5, 2009 23:20:07 GMT -5
TLE you got a Sporcle acct? My name is... wait for it... Deadpool up there.
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thelesserevil
Super Trooper
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Thinks RKO is A-OK
Splat
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Post by thelesserevil on Oct 6, 2009 10:09:40 GMT -5
TLE you got a Sporcle acct? My name is... wait for it... Deadpool up there. Holy.....S***! NO WAY! Deadpool!? for serious? that's your name on there? Mine is wait for this bombshell, thelesserevil also I made another, OctoKing, I'm a shameful quiz hog.
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Post by rorschach on Oct 8, 2009 15:46:57 GMT -5
![](http://www.musingcontinuum.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/trick-r-treat.jpg) TRICK R TREAT (2008) STARRING: Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, and Anna Paquin Take a movie that is at once an homage to CREEPSHOW, PULP FICTION, and TALES FROM THE CRYPT, set it squarely on All Hallow's Eve, and throw in some downright great acting, and what do you get? You get director Michael Dougherty's TRICK R TREAT, which is in my opinion, one of the best horror anthologies, and the single best love letter to the season to come along in the last ten years. TRICK R TREAT is essentially four intertwining tails set on Halloween night in a small town where, several years ago, something very bad went down. To say anymore than that about the central plot cog would be to ruin the surprise and shock of one of the film's key moments. Suffice to say that we get (in no particular order here, but in a definite order in the film): Dylan Baker as a grade school teacher with a sinister secret; a group of kids out to tempt fate and spit in the eye of a horrible accident by going to where it happened and playing a prank; Anna Paquin in a twisted sort of take on Little Red Riding Hood; and the always excellent Brian Cox as an old man who faces down the very spirit of Halloween in what was, in my opinion, the film's best segment. Folks, let me tell you; TRICK R TREAT is NOT to be missed. This is a film with something to satisfy everyone, and if you loved the original CREEPSHOW, you are going to love this film. When I found out that Warner's had been sitting on this gem of a movie since late 2007....I was and still am, very upset. Why is it that EXCELLENT movies like this one, and (from what I have heard) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY have to struggle to find distribution, but the AWFUL crap like SORORITY ROW and the latest horrid SAW movie play in every theater in town? Anyway, like I said, there's not a whole lot of gore to this film, but what there IS plenty of is fun, excitement, and energy, and you know what? There's a ton of heart, soul, and original thought in this film as well. Half the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I was totally in the dark about what was going to happen next. It's that unpredictable, and considering the dearth of star power, you never DO know who's getting offed next. It's AWESOME to feel that in a horror movie for a change. ***** out of ***** from me. Check it out.
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Thomas Rigby
Junior Woodchuck
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TR + Kayako = Tag Team of the Century
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Post by Thomas Rigby on Oct 8, 2009 23:06:23 GMT -5
![](http://www.musingcontinuum.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/trick-r-treat.jpg) TRICK R TREAT (2008) STARRING: Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, and Anna Paquin Take a movie that is at once an homage to CREEPSHOW, PULP FICTION, and TALES FROM THE CRYPT, set it squarely on All Hallow's Eve, and throw in some downright great acting, and what do you get? You get director Michael Dougherty's TRICK R TREAT, which is in my opinion, one of the best horror anthologies, and the single best love letter to the season to come along in the last ten years. TRICK R TREAT is essentially four intertwining tails set on Halloween night in a small town where, several years ago, something very bad went down. To say anymore than that about the central plot cog would be to ruin the surprise and shock of one of the film's key moments. Suffice to say that we get (in no particular order here, but in a definite order in the film): Dylan Baker as a grade school teacher with a sinister secret; a group of kids out to tempt fate and spit in the eye of a horrible accident by going to where it happened and playing a prank; Anna Paquin in a twisted sort of take on Little Red Riding Hood; and the always excellent Brian Cox as an old man who faces down the very spirit of Halloween in what was, in my opinion, the film's best segment. Folks, let me tell you; TRICK R TREAT is NOT to be missed. This is a film with something to satisfy everyone, and if you loved the original CREEPSHOW, you are going to love this film. When I found out that Warner's had been sitting on this gem of a movie since late 2007....I was and still am, very upset. Why is it that EXCELLENT movies like this one, and (from what I have heard) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY have to struggle to find distribution, but the AWFUL crap like SORORITY ROW and the latest horrid SAW movie play in every theater in town? Anyway, like I said, there's not a whole lot of gore to this film, but what there IS plenty of is fun, excitement, and energy, and you know what? There's a ton of heart, soul, and original thought in this film as well. Half the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I was totally in the dark about what was going to happen next. It's that unpredictable, and considering the dearth of star power, you never DO know who's getting offed next. It's AWESOME to feel that in a horror movie for a change. ***** out of ***** from me. Check it out. Well, I know what's going in my Amazon cart. It's ironic that you mention Tales From the Crypt, because I haven't been watching ANY horror movies this Halloween season; instead, I just picked up the complete series of TFTC on DVD and I've been obsessively watching those.
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Post by rorschach on Oct 9, 2009 0:25:22 GMT -5
Here's another review from me (this time a blast from the past that I just rewatched again) ![](http://articlet.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/The-Exorcism-of-Emily-Rose.jpg) THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE (2005) Directed by Scott Derrickson Starring: Tom Wilkinson, Laura Linney and Jennifer Carpenter There is something wrong with Emily Rose (Carpenter, in a role she ought to have won an Oscar for). Ever since she went off to college in the city, something hasn't been right. She's not been eating, or sleeping, and she's been seeing things....things that would drive ANYONE mad. Her doctors think it's schizophrenia....but Emily and her priest (Wilkinson) think otherwise. They think Emily needs divine help, and so with the permission of the archdiocese, the priest performs an exorcism...an exorcism that fails, utterly and completely resulting in Emily's death. Now the priest, Father Richard Moore, stands accused of her murder, and only a hotshot Defense Attorney named Erin Bruner (Linney, who also gives a sterling performance) can possibly save him from an unjust charge of murder. This film is NOT an outright horror film, people. It is A FEW GOOD MEN meets THE EXORCIST and let me tell you, it is effective. It will not sicken, or shock you, really. But what it will do is get under your skin and make you think like few other movies in our genre can. It raises questions of the existence of good and evil, and what it really MEANS to have an exorcism performed. In other words, it touches on these formerly outlandish concepts in a very real, very unnerving way. As Erin Bruner struggles with her own faith, and Father Moore remains unshaken in his, we the viewer are left on our own to decide, almost as if we were a member of that jury, if what Moore did was right, wrong, or simply if it even HAD to be done at all. This film is based on a true story, the case of Anneliese Michel, which can be found by searching Google ( I found a VERY graphic link that I will NOT be providing here). Suffice to say, in casting Carpenter, who did most of the spine cracking, body contorting physical stunts herself, the producers got an almost spitting image of Anneliese. The story of Emily Rose is frightening enough on it's own, and disturbing enough to keep you awake for long after it's running time is over, mulling the questions the film raises. **** out of *****. Check it out.
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Thomas Rigby
Junior Woodchuck
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TR + Kayako = Tag Team of the Century
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Post by Thomas Rigby on Oct 9, 2009 14:08:47 GMT -5
I rented The Exorcism of Emily Rose when it was first released on video, but wasn't paying attention too closely when I watched it. Looks like I need to seek out that DVD and give it another watch, since it will essentailly be new to me.
I also remember Tehboobz once telling me that he disliked the Omen remake because it took viewers away from this movie. ;D
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Post by rorschach on Oct 9, 2009 14:15:55 GMT -5
I rented The Exorcism of Emily Rose when it was first released on video, but wasn't paying attention too closely when I watched it. Looks like I need to seek out that DVD and give it another watch, since it will essentailly be new to me. I also remember Tehboobz once telling me that he disliked the Omen remake because it took viewers away from this movie. ;D That's another good point. The disappointing OMEN remake drew attention away from EMILY ROSE, and worse, made people think this was going to be along the same lines. Even worse (in my opinion) was the EXORCIST prequel, which despite a strong performance by Stellan Skaarsgaard, descended into almost self parody, and since it was released a year before EMILY ROSE, really, really hurt the latter's chances at the box office when it failed to live up to expectations.
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Post by Shovelman on Oct 9, 2009 14:44:48 GMT -5
I rented The Exorcism of Emily Rose when it was first released on video, but wasn't paying attention too closely when I watched it. Looks like I need to seek out that DVD and give it another watch, since it will essentailly be new to me. I also remember Tehboobz once telling me that he disliked the Omen remake because it took viewers away from this movie. ;D That's another good point. The disappointing OMEN remake drew attention away from EMILY ROSE, and worse, made people think this was going to be along the same lines. Even worse (in my opinion) was the EXORCIST prequel, which despite a strong performance by Stellan Skaarsgaard, descended into almost self parody, and since it was released a year before EMILY ROSE, really, really hurt the latter's chances at the box office when it failed to live up to expectations. Uh R, you and Tehboobz do know Emily Rose easily outgrossed the Omen remake and the Exorcist prequel in America right? I mean a movie that made $75 million while the other two struggled to make $40 million must surely be a failure right?
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Post by rorschach on Oct 11, 2009 14:00:46 GMT -5
That's another good point. The disappointing OMEN remake drew attention away from EMILY ROSE, and worse, made people think this was going to be along the same lines. Even worse (in my opinion) was the EXORCIST prequel, which despite a strong performance by Stellan Skaarsgaard, descended into almost self parody, and since it was released a year before EMILY ROSE, really, really hurt the latter's chances at the box office when it failed to live up to expectations. Uh R, you and Tehboobz do know Emily Rose easily outgrossed the Omen remake and the Exorcist prequel in America right? I mean a movie that made $75 million while the other two struggled to make $40 million must surely be a failure right? Are you sure? I could have sworn it was the other way around...that the OMEN remake did HUGE numbers while EMILY ROSE was largely forgotten by an American audience that's been trained to crap on movies without copious amounts of blood and explosions. At any rate....time for another review! THE CHILDREN (2008) ![](http://www.horror-movies.ca/albums/userpics/poster_thechildren.jpg) Directed by Tom Shankland Starring: Eva Birthistle, Hannah Tointon, and Stephen Campbell Moore. It's the Christmas season, and two families are getting together to spend some quality time with each other. One of the families, consisting of a mother named Elaine (Birthistle), father Jonah (Campbell Moore, who turns in enough of the whipped, frustrated and dog damn tired role to ring eerily true), sulking, prosti-tot in-training teenage daughter Casey (Tointon, who gets the bulk of the movie's physicality turned her way and excels for it), and two young children Miranda and Paulie, are on their way to visit Elaine's sister Chloe, her husband Robbie and their two children Leah and Nicky. But upon arriving at Chloe and Robbie's sprawling hillside estate, Elaine is distressed to find that Paulie seems to be ill. He is surly, throwing up, and refuses to speak. Chalking it up to simple carsickness, Elaine cleans him up and sends him to play with the other children while she and the other adults, plus a pouting Casey, socialize in the dining room over wine, whiskey and champagne. Here is where Shankland's directing in THE CHILDREN really hits it's stride, and the acting is strong across the board. Each adult, and come to think of it, several of the children, are given distinct personalities, and this scene really drives home the dynamic between them. Jonah is really excited about his recent medical work he had been doing in China, and all he wants to do is talk about that...but the ladies are bored to tears by his jargon-heavy talk and switch subjects on him, creating an air of resentment in the room a foot thick. Of course, the tension between the adults pleases Casey, since she (like any normal tennager) is trying to play her mother against her dad in order to go party with some teenage friends in the hills. If this sounds like the movie is a slow burn, and has a lot of build to it, it does. We really do spend time getting to know these characters, learning their quirks and tics while the movie's core plot builds steam, and sick little Paulie begins to first get worse, and then spread his illness to the other children. This is when the movie really kicks into gear. See, the illness almost acts like a child targeting version of the Rage virus from 28 DAYS LATER, in that it totally amps the aggression of it's host, and turns them from normal humans into murderous, black hearted little creatures hellbent on killing every adult they encounter. Only, unlike the Rage virus, this bug leaves it's host's brain intact, so the kids act almost like a rabid wolf-pack, co-ordinating attacks, and luring unsuspecting parents in for the kill. And when the kills do start happening, the action never lets up, so that the tension that was building up so nicely is released in one long blast of excitement. If there's one movie that will make you consider having your tubes tied, or getting a vasectomy, it's THE CHILDREN. This shocking little film from the Ghost House imprint delivers a hell of a fun ride, with some quality acting, a great story, and some of the most evil kids this side of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. **** out of *****. Check it out.
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Post by Shovelman on Oct 11, 2009 15:14:15 GMT -5
Uh R, you and Tehboobz do know Emily Rose easily outgrossed the Omen remake and the Exorcist prequel in America right? I mean a movie that made $75 million while the other two struggled to make $40 million must surely be a failure right? Are you sure? I could have sworn it was the other way around...that the OMEN remake did HUGE numbers while EMILY ROSE was largely forgotten by an American audience that's been trained to crap on movies without copious amounts of blood and explosions. Yes I'm sure and here's some links to prove how right I am and how wrong you are. But I was wrong about the Omen remake's gross, it made almost $55 million instead of $40 million that I thought. It still wasn't as successful as Emily Rose Emily Rose - www.the-numbers.com/movies/2005/EXOAM.phpExorcist: The Beginning - www.the-numbers.com/movies/2006/OMEN6.phpOmen remake - www.the-numbers.com/movies/2006/OMEN6.php
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Post by rorschach on Nov 5, 2009 3:59:46 GMT -5
ORPHAN (2009) Directed By: Jaume Collet-Serra Starring: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, CCH Pounder and Isabelle Fuhrman ![](http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2009/03/16/orphan-poster.jpg) The tagline for this film was " There's Something Wrong With Esther" and boy, let me tell you is there EVER. But before I get into that (and I will be as sparing as possible, because I don't want to ruin what is a dynamite and original plot twist) I need to back up and give you a little background on ORPHAN. Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard play John and Kate (heh heh heh...have to wonder if THAT was intentional or not) Coleman. We're introduced to them via a hellacious, absolutely unforgiving nightmare Kate is having about the loss of their third child, Jessica. In the nightmare, Kate makes it to the hospital while in labor, and loses Jessica en route to the ER, where we get a horrible, nasty scene of the doctors and nurses telling her that her baby is dead, with all the passion of someone telling another person their milk is expired. As Kate is going insane on hearing the news, we see John step around her and film the suctioning out of their dead baby, as if he were a proud papa welcoming the kid into the world. YEESH. And all this sets an eerie, haunted tone that lasts for the rest of the film's runtime. After waking from the nightmare, it is revealed to us that the Colemans, who already have two children, Danny (the eldest) and Maxine (who is deaf/mute), but are looking to adopt one more child to round out their family and "recieve all the love we would have given baby Jessica". See, after losing the baby things did not go well for the Colemans. He turned to another woman and she turned to the bottle, both things which will be touched on later in the film, but which we are lead to believe have been overcome. She's sober and he's repented his sins of the flesh, and so they head off to St. Marina's orphanage in search of an older child to add to the family. Why they didn't want an infant is left unsaid, but I just assumed that after the loss of baby Jessica, they really just readjusted their goals and aimed for an older child. Anyway, the first child that John interacts with is 9 year old Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman, who absolutely NAILS this role and impressed the HELL out of me....she's going to be one to watch, trust me), who seems to be the perfect little package for the Colemans: she's sweet, innocent, and dresses like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her raven hair pulled back and her big black eyes full of wonder, she charms the Colemans right out of their socks and wins their hearts with ease. One quick interview later, and we fast forward through the three week waiting period and Esther is now a part of the family. At first, all goes well, though Danny is resentful of all the attention that his father is foisting on the new girl, and little Maxine is a bit shy around this strange new sister her parents brought home. One HAS to feel for little Maxine, and the actress playing her conveys such fragility and innocence that we the audience immediately feel concerned for her wellbeing. She's the defenseless baby bird fallen out of the nest, and there's a dangerous fox lurking in the bushes. Seriously, this film has some of the best child actors I have yet seen onscreen. Between Fuhrman and Aryana Engineer (who plays Maxine), we get two perfect little tokens of darkness and light, and we are pulled between them expertly by the smart script and the beautiful direction of Serra. But I digress. It isn't long before Esther has her first run in with the bitchy little girls at her new school, and here is where ORPHAN begins to excel, spinning it's yarn with a Hitchcockian grace as we see Esther gaze with icy coolness at her tormentors, marking them with eyes full of a dangerous, harmful intent. We slowly are shown that there's more to Esther than we could ever have thought...but ORPHAN is at that point barely getting into the hideously psychotic things that Esther is capable of, many of which you've already seen if you've seen the trailer. This is a little girl who makes Macauley Culkin's turn in THE GOOD SON seem damn angelic by comparison. Esther is beyond creepy...she's downright frightening as she systematically eliminates any and ALL who dare to screw with her or her plans on attaining the perfect family. The rest of the film almost flows like THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, except whereas it was Rebecca DeMornay's psychotic nanny looking to steal a family, in this case it is Esther, who turns out to be not at ALL what we think, and are lead to believe she is. And a hint...it's not a creepy ghost story you're dealing with here. Think real world, it COULD happen type stuff. . We end up getting a whole dose of paranoia, and a really neat, "Who's telling the truth" angle between Kate, Esther, and John, and all those little things that were alluded to earlier are paid off in full as the film hits it's huge finale, with a twist ending that had me clapping in glee at it's huge originality and utter success in catching me off guard. To say anymore would be criminal, but I will close with the following: I usually roll my eyes at "homicidal tot" movies, since I usually get no sense of menace from them, because in most of them, their young leads are given material far beyond their ability to convey. And besides, one on one, any adult could take a kid. It's when you get whole troops of them (Cronenberg's THE BROOD), or as in the case of Esther here, a particularly skilled psychopathic child that the fear kicks in. And as I said earlier, much, much credit goes to Fuhrman, who carries this movie on her shoulders, going from china-doll cutesy to cold blooded assassin and back again with a grace most actresses thrice her age cannot muster when asked to do so. ORPHAN should sit atop your Netflix list, or heck, you should go out and buy it. I did, as I feel this is one that will see many, many replays in my circle of friends. ***** out of *****. Check this baby out.
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Post by rorschach on Nov 28, 2009 19:46:06 GMT -5
Review time again, folks! This time, it's a heapin' helpin' of killer baby madness called IT'S ALIVE! ![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1Gg13220T7w/SmjqYVLq1fI/AAAAAAAAAks/mJ7qPZcmLmg/s400/itsalive.gif) IT'S ALIVE (2008) Directed by: Josef Rusnak Starring: Bijou Phillips, James Murray, and Owen Teale I'm sure everyone here is familiar with (if they don't remember it outright) the original 1974 version of IT'S ALIVE directed by Larry Cohen, with Sharon Farrell and John P. Ryan in the roles of the parents of a genetic monstrosity which gets loose in the hospital and wreaks unbelievable carnage on any and everyone who frightens or threatens it. In this new millennium update by director Josef Rusnak, we get the very lovely (and very willing to get naked) Bijou Phillips in the role of Lenore Harker. See, Lenore is a perky college student whose fling with an older architect named Frank Davis (James Murry) has left her pregnant and about to drop out of school to give birth. She plans on starting a new, perfect life with Frank, and returning to school as soon as her baby is old enough to allow her to do so. Right away we see that there's tension between Lenore and her roommate, who is not at all happy that Lenore has chosen to keep the baby and quit school, especially since Lenore is so close to getting her degree, graduating, AND getting a dissertation published. You know, girlfriend kinda DOES have a point. But I digress. Anyway, before you know it, Lenore has her things packed, and is arriving at Frank's house (which we're told that he built himself, a plot thread the film never does ANYTHING with, really). The hugely pregnant Lenore complains that she needs to freshen up after the long drive, and we get a shower scene where the movie's editors give us an unintentionally funny gaffe. See, when she had clothes on, Bijou Philips looked about to explode, she was so big. Nude and in the shower, she (or more than likely, her body double) looks MUCH less pregnant. We get alternating cuts of Bijou's breasts (which are indeed VERY nice to look at) and then shots of the stand in's belly...which goes on just long enough to be a continuity error before Lenore goes into early labor, and we're on our way to the hospital. Once there, it's not long before we get another pregnancy-themed movie cliche', that of the mother who knows something isn't right, yet whose doctors act as if she's not even talking to them. With the amount of times this gets used in pregnancy-themed horror films, you'd think most of these hospitals would be sued out of existence. Ah well. Lenore tries to tell the doctors that she feels something is wrong with the baby, and that they should stop her contractions...but they brush her aside and deliver the baby via C-section anyway. Big mistake, as little Daniel (that's the name that Lenore gives the monstrous little beast) comes into the world carrying a sack full of whoop ass that he unleashes on the entire delivery room. We don't see the slaughter, but after an intern drops by to check on how the delivery is going, we see the aftermath, and here is where either the movie is going to engage you, or lose you completely. See, the delivery room looks WORSE than the Nostromo did after the Alien went berserk and slaughtered everyone. Blood literally paints the observation windows, and is flooding the floor of the delivery room, and the only things alive on the other side of the door from the intern are Lenore and her baby. This newborn infant, at only MINUTES old, killed five adults in spectacularly bloody fashion, spraying gouts of claret onto every surface, and then had the strength to climb back onto his mother's belly and curl up like a little kitten. Hoooo-kay. But, since I knew what I was getting into with this film, I'm not going to crap on that aspect of the movie. You gotta suspend your disbelief and roll with the silly crap here, folks. And there's where the wheels come off. See, in this version of the film, things are played so straight, and for such dramatic effect, that the inherent silly nature of this movie clashes badly with the dour tone. I mean, you have a killer INFANT. The absurdity of that alone ought to be enough to tell you you have to inject some levity in there somewhere. Contrast this with Paul Solet's excellent GRACE, which had a baby that craved human flesh and blood, and whose MOTHER had to provide that somehow...and you see the stark difference. GRACE was a film that needed, and had, a serious tone. The baby wasn't stalking people, crawling around and killing. It was a film about how, much like old Fred Gwynne admonished us so many years ago, "sometimes dead is better". In IT'S ALIVE, we have the opposite side of that same coin. This is a movie that needed a comedic side a mile wide, and a sense of humor to match it's silly premise. Lacking that, we get scenes of Bijou Philips trying, and failing, to pull off Lifetime Network Movie of the Week levels of Postpartum Depression Mom character, and James Murray playing Oblivious Dad who hasn't clue one that his wife has...deteriorated mentally. See, it's not long after the Montana Delivery Room Massacre that Lenore and Frank bring baby Daniel home to meet his new uncle (Frank's brother Chris, a twelve year old who is an invalid after surviving a fire that claimed HIS family, and who lives with Frank.....FEEL THE FORESHADOWING!) and see his new home...and bizarre things start happening with the baby. For example, rats, birds and other wildlife (including the family cat) come up missing, and Chris gets skeeved out just looking at Lenore holding the baby. Which turns out to be all she really wants to do, for some reason. No one else can come near Daniel without Lenore becoming paranoid and upset, and she angrily shoos Chris away when he tries to peek in Daniel's crib to get a look at the baby. The film keeps Daniel's face hidden for most of the film until the climax, which I thought strange since we get a clear shot of this normal looking baby in the hospital scene. So again, it's a gaffe on the movie's part when we see the mutated, monstrous Daniel at the end and he looks NOTHING like the baby we saw in Lenore's arms at the hospital. You'd think someone might have noticed that in post production, eh? Anyway, as the film goes on (it's only 85 minutes, but it felt a lot longer to me) the officer investigating the Montana Delivery Room Massacre name Sgt. Perkins (played well by Owen Teale) targets Lenore since she's the only living witness to the crime that can testify what happened. He thinks (correctly) that she knows more than she's letting on. He wants to have her hypnotized so she can be properly questioned about the events of that day. Needless to say, Lenore has no desire to divulge what she knows. She doesn't want her freak of a baby taken away, and so she stonewalls Sgt. Perkins, and withdraws even more deeply into her own misery. The police's hypnotist decides at that point to make a private house call on Lenore, and he ends up meeting a grisly end at Daniel's tiny hands. Now, instead of a cat carcass, or a dead rat or bird, Lenore has a full grown dead human being on her hands to dispose of, which she does pretty readily, and without much obvious distress. Things aren't so easy when that same roommate from college named Marnie (and her boyfriend) show up on Lenore's doorstep. Marnie demands to know why calls, letters, and emails from not only her, but the Dean of the college are going unanswered. Lenore explodes on her friend, telling her off and kicking her out of the house. Marnie heads back to her car, and notices her boyfriend is not there waiting on her as he was told to do. By the way, I'm using the generic term "Boyfriend" because, really,he isn't a character, he's pretty much cannon fodder. Seems he went poking around back behind the house, and Daniel was lying in wait in the bed of an old pickup, buried under some tree branches. Again, the movie goes into over the top ridiculousness, and Daniel, despite being only weeks old, is strong enough to kill a full grown man, and THEN drag the carcass into the truck bed and bury it underneath the heavy branches. Anyways, eye-rolling aside, Marnie too investigates this truck, which is now covered in blood, and she too falls victim to the Toddling Terror in a spray of blood not seen since MACHINE GIRL. Lenore hears Marnie's scream this time, and runs outside to find the scene of absolute nastiness Daniel has created. So now she has two more bodies to dispose of, and this time they belong to her former friends. But she still won't go to the authorities with what she knows. Deeper into madness, depression, and despair she goes, until one night she confesses to Frank, in a fit of tears, that she tried to abort the baby early in her pregnancy, but the pills she ordered from the Internet (with roommate Marnie egging her on) didn't work, and only made her violently sick, after which time she decided to keep the baby. Two things here: 1) WOW. Your Baby-B-Gone that you ordered from the Internet DIDN'T work? ![:o](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/shocked.png) Color me shocked. Girls this stupid really...really ought to be kept away from computers. I mean, I know it's not that far fetched to think that a girl who is young, scared, and pregnant might order some shady s*** from the net...but one that's about to graduate COLLEGE, and has taken medical courses? Come the hell on now. 2) So we're now supposed to believe that this woman who was not at all hesitant to chemically poison her unborn kid to death, having failed that, is averse to getting an actual abortion? Ummm....no. And beyond that, she was OK with having not KILLED this child, but potentially crippling/retarding/disfiguring it was jim dandy with her? See, this makes the Lenore character either totally despicable and irredeemable (as if her eagerness to cover up her son's murders hadn't already done that), or flat out stupid herself. YEESH. IT'S ALIVE had a lot of potential to be a campy, cheesy redux of a horror movie long forgotten. But that potential is squandered in an attempt to play it straight that fails miserably. This movie ends with a house fire that kills both the little Frankenstein, and his crazy ass momma. After watching this film, I sort of wish they would have thrown it in the burning house too, and started from scratch with a sense of humor firmly in tow. ** (And the second star is for Bijou's nude shower scene. You earned that star for that one, girl. Too bad it wasn't a part of a better movie, or a more fun one.)
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Post by rorschach on Dec 15, 2009 3:45:29 GMT -5
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