Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop  Yet more streaming;
ONE CUT OF THE DEAD – I didn’t really think I did ‘heartwarming’ horror, but OCOTD stands as proof that apparently, I do. It starts of as a clever meta-whatever in its depiction of a zombie film shoot spiralling into the chaos of an ‘actual’ undeathly onslaught – then steps sideways through a Russian Doll narrative which sees the nasty stuff replayed as the nice stuff. Sounds like an incomprehensible mess, but it’s actually fiendishly well structured; if that isn’t enough to put a smile on your face, then the winningly zany ending might be.
GRAND PIANO – With Elijah Wood as a concert pianist in the clutches of arch-criminal John Cusack. It’s a classic one-set thriller really, with an added layer of preposterousness that I quite like – it all plays out in the ‘real time’ of the piano performance, with Cusack calling the shots over Wood’s mobile as he sits tinkling the ivory. Might have amped things up a bit, taken its obvious artifice in an even more baroque direction, but a solid enough effort as it stands.
DON’T KNOCK TWICE – Pleasantly surprised by ‘Don’t Knock Twice’, which has all the external markings of a £3 Asda DVD special as-was. That wouldn't be an entirely inaccurate assessment, but a preoccupation with visual stylisation and a weirdly dreamy sense of discord raise it above ‘by the numbers’, in its first half at least. It ultimately settles down to something more mundane in its unfolding of the tale of a mother / estranged daughter reconciliation beset by the supernatural, but worth checking out nonetheless.
DEF BY TEMPTATION – This is more like it; eighties / nineties rock-video aesthetic overkill, right up my alley. You could backlight some dry ice and show it to me for hours and I’d be happy as a pig in shit. DBT has more going for it than good looks. It might not quite be the measure of its weighty theme of spiritual crisis, but it has a nightmarish atmosphere in places that goes beyond the classic VHS horror-type moments, of which there are many. Def-initely recommended.
MAYHEM – Today’s corporate resentment is low hanging fruit for the makers of ‘Mayhem’. It’s set in a high-rise office complex where a virus is running riot and causing the people to, well, run riot in classic ‘fast zombie’ style. Except not quite, for despite all the violent outbursts, sufferers can still cogitate and pause to relate for the convenience of plot contrivance, an aspect that might have made for a more interesting movie had it been explored differently. It’s not the only flaw of ‘Mayhem’, a well-made successor to the likes of ‘The Belko Experiment’ etc, which ends up a moderately entertaining but hollow corporate revenge fantasy.
Z – Errant imaginary playmate challenges young suburban family in ‘Z’, a stab at atmospheric horror which seems to have half an eye on ‘The Babadook’. It’s not the equal of that latter film, but I quite liked its initial reliance on ‘off’ vibes rather than obvious jumps, though there are a couple of those. Pursues quite a doom-laden course by the end. Worth a look.
ANYTHING FOR JACKSON – The reincarnation of a lost grandchild is the endless obsession of an elderly couple, who must descend to the stygian depths of ritual sacrifice to bring it all back home. AFJ has a nice line in dark humour that is not overplayed, and other than that does well with a creeping atmosphere and schlocky fun with the supernatural. Another solid flick. |