Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop  DER TODESENGEL – I think this was Andreas Bethmann’s first film, or one of his first. I haven’t seen much of his stuff, maybe three or four, because they’re not all that easy to come by these days. Did I just say ‘come by’? Because ooh la la of course we’re in Bethmann horror porn territory, so there’s a lot of skin and hardcore action, which is what it is, I guess. Many have commented on the general ugliness of the people in Bethmann’s films. I’m quite intrigued by this aspect, and maybe it’s not too misogynistic to mention it, because it extends to every gender involved. Anyway, this plays out a basic rape-revenge scenario and throws in some gore and a dominatrix to dish out bits of S&M in amongst the skanky goings on. It doesn’t mess about (apart from in the obvious ways, which sleaze lovers will dig).
RAZE – Got this on the strength of MTDS’s review, and I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint at all. It really did feel like a latter day exploitation flick – not in a “grindhouse-recapturing attempt to do seventies throwback with added print damage” sense, but by ‘virtue’ of its raw and pretty nihilistic atmosphere. A group of women are captured and forced to fight one another to the death in a bleak, institution-type set up. There’s a kind of hypnotic greyness about it, and a viciousness – the filmmakers get a lot of milage out of the same brutal scenario being played out repeatedly, against never changing empty prison walls. Highly recommended for fans of depressing nasties.
WITHER – Interestingly, the cover of the UK DVD release of this looks pretty similar to that of ‘The Evil Dead’ remake. Maybe just the colour scheme, but I could certainly see what they were getting at. ‘Wither’ is basically the Swedish ‘Evil Dead’, and, to be clear on one aspect, has none of the warped delirium of the original – I’ll still defend Raimi’s vision as being genuinely off kilter and surreal, at least as far as the first one goes. But, to be fair to ‘Wither’, I enjoyed it a lot more than the aforementioned remake, which I quite liked on first viewing, then quickly grew tired of on second. The plot is – well, guess. A bunch of cleanish-cut teens in a house with some demon possession and some gore. Reasonably fast paced after it gets going – whether the not-too-over-the-top-anyway-really gore elevates it or just seems a bit ‘meh’ is down to personal taste. For myself, I liked the occasional melancholy intervals when it seemed to rain a lot and people just trudged around looking a bit gloomy. |