BACKWOODS MASSACRE – Some really quite unlikeable post-uni kids get iced by a guy in a reptile monster mask in this disposable microbudgeter. There's a back story about them meeting in the wake of their friend's suicide – but don't expect 'The Big Chill', this one's strictly about knobheads being vile, running around in some woods then getting their guts pulled before the ugly irruption of a risible twist. All fine, in principal. I was hoping for something like that CL fave from a few years back, 'The Goatman Murders' – remember it? 'Backwoods Massacre' looks much glossier and HD, but is unfortunately not crazy enough to massacre a school bus full of blind kids. There is some gore, lots of it in fact, although somehow it all seemed neither repulsive nor thrilling and I probably won't watch it ever again. But anyway.
EAT – Interesting. A past-it model / actress finds that she takes bites out of her own arms whenever she freaks out, which is reasonably often as she's quite the diva . Her friend is a militant misandrist who shoots two would-be rapists in the bollocks after a forced make-out in a car-park. Things seem to go right for once when past-it model meets a nice young doctor, or maybe the whole thing will end in blood and tears, what do you think? 'Eat' is mysterious and stylised and clearly doesn't give a f*ck about making much sense, although its particular aesthetic grated on me a bit in a way I can't quite define (cos I can't remember, I watched it last week and it's already half gone). It looks quite gaudy, I remember that much. The central performer does OK and evokes irritation and sympathy in one neat package, but will you care when the blood starts to flow? Actually, it has its moments, despite not quite being the gorefest promised on the box. There are other things to enjoy about it though, not least the whole sense of “Why is this happening? Why? Why?” Because personally I like the unexplained. I recommend checking it out although it's not in the same league as its vague antecedent, 'Dans Ma Peau'.
PIGGY BANKS – This one was quite a nice surprise as I really wasn't expecting much , it being a two quid pick up I made to fill out an Amazon order. The cover is fairly misleading in that it seems to promise serial killing gore. That's not accurate, although the movie IS about serial killers, two brothers in fact, who basically go around breaking into houses and relieving them of their legal occupants. It's the way they get by without having to work, pay taxes, invest – they're not terribly sadistic or hung up on killing for its own sake. It's all just a transaction, although admittedly one-sided and a bit unfair. Anyway, without going into too much detail, one of the brothers goes off and tracks down his (unacquainted) half sister and ends up shagging her. The movie then charts the relationship that develops between the two before wrapping things up with a bleak conclusion. I was really quite impressed with 'Piggy Banks'. I think those expecting a slasher or even something more like a thriller will be put off, and, judging by what I've read on-line, it does tend to divide people. But it's really an indie relationships drama with horror trappings, and the genre or 'sensational' bits resound enough to lend an interesting and odd flavour to what's essentially lots of scenes of people talking and angsting (and occasionally semi-incestuously shagging) in rooms. I sense I'm not selling it all that well, but, for me, it seemed dark, absorbing, cool and really well done. Seems way obscure, and should not be. Definitely a recommend.
DEADLY FRIEND – Wes Craven's effort from 1986 or thereabouts. You wouldn't think he'd made a genre transforming epic just a year or two before. I say 'epic', but I'm never that convinced. Anyway, back to 'Deadly Friend'. There's a new kid in the neighbourhood and, right, he's a cutting edge neuroscientist because why wouldn't he be? His robot companion amuses his teenage neighbours until something goes wrong and its consciousness chip ends up transplanted into the dead brain of one of his new pals after her abusive dad pushes her down some stairs and kills her. Dead friend then becomes 'Deadly Friend' – yep, she's a cyborg killer, who wouldn't be after all that bollocks? A tragic situation, but one which works out quite well from an entertainment point of view, at least in theory. We get to see high velocity basket-ball hurling leading to exploding heads and Kirsty Swanson doing a frankly poor impression of a droid on the rampage etc etc. 'Deadly Friend' could've used quite a bit more of that kind of stuff however, and the more fun parts feel a bit crammed into the last half hour. But there's still something to be said for the build up, which is enlivened by the dead crass transition between eighties teen-tech schmalz, moribund abuse drama and tacky sci-fi horror. If only it could've taken that to more of an extreme, or gone the other way and been more serious about things. Well you can't have everything, and 'Deadly Friend' remains a tidy bit of trash and an enjoyable enough diversion.
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