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Ted Bundy: A Legacy of Evil |
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Written by Sameerah
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Friday, 26 June 2009 |
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Ted Bundy is a name still a name that inspires fear, horror and fascination over 25 years after his death. As a serial killer nerd, and recovering true crime junkie ( well barely recovering true crime junkie ) Ted Bundy is still one of the more fascinating killers to ever grab a headline or bash a skull. Ted is the archetype, the poster boy for the charming serial killer. As a Ted fan I went into this film a bit of a skeptic and curiosity. Wondering if I would learn anything new from this film. Or would it be another that was heavy on gore yet paid no attention to fact? After all there have been dozens of films made on Bundy through the years, and this one will hardly be the last. The question is will this be one of the great Bundy films or a waste of time.
This film doesn't tell people anything new about Bundy or his crimes that anyone doesn't already know. Nor does it do a particularly good job at re- enacting some of the crimes and events. The one thing that is does do well is examine the two relationship that may be the most responsible for sending Teddy on such a dark path. Specifically his relationship with his mom and his college sweetheart. The family scenes are a bit hyper in their melodrama, but I suppose making these parts as sad and sappy as humanly possible is the only way you can garner a wee bit of sympathy for Ted. But even then it doesn't really work.
One of the films highlights though is there showing Ted wooing his college sweetie, only to turn around and dump her when she falls for him again. Those scenes were brilliant and did a great job of showing just how cold and vindictive of a person he really was. Absolutely flawless work there. One place where the film really falls flat is with its portrayal on Bundy himself. Corin Nemec does a wonderful job of capturing the anger, the evil, the pure bat shit insanity that was Ted Bundy. Yet misses his mark when trying to show the sweet charming side of him. The side that made it possible for him to be such a successful serial killer to begin with. Even when hes trying to win back his lady love there is always something about him that just oozes evil. Corin is just all evil all the time and its his dedication to the evil that was Bundy that hurts his performance. The only spot in the film where he comes close to capturing the Bundy's sweet sinister nature, is towards the end. When Bundy is on trial. The comes a time where Bundy is cross examining one of the detectives about the crime scene. He asks the detective to describe the horror he created in extreme detail. Corin is good at showing Bundy's undoing as he relives his crimes via the testimony. He plays it with an accuracy that gave me chills. If you're big Ted fan, there are a few things in this film that you may find disappointing, but it does have just enough going for it to keep it interesting. I mean it is Ted Bundy after all. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Thursday, 25 June 2009 |
Ghost Month is a interesting supernatural thriller that attempts to blend elements of Chinese folklore with the American ghost story. So think the love child of The Grudge and A Haunting inConnecticut . That should give you a feel for where this film is coming from.
Fleeing her stalker ex boyfriend in the city, Alyssa takes a job as a housekeeper for the Wu family on their mountain side estate. Unfortunately for Alyssa shes arrived during Ghost Month. A time when the gates of Hell are opened and the dead are allowed to roam the earth. Now not only does Alyssa have a massive house to clean and a stalker to dodge. She has to follow the rules of ghost month to keep the dead from dragging her soul back to hell.
Ghost Month isn't the best thing to ever flicker across the screen but its still entertaining. They use a lot of the same special effects that we have come to expect from Asian influenced horror films of late. Lots of liquid, free flowing shadow forms for the ghost effects. There is a bit of a twist as they opt to use more zombie inspired faces and skulls instead of creepy children and animal figures.
There are a few plot devices that don't flow as smooth as they could have and some red herrings the film could have done without. But the stalker boyfriend makes it all worth it. His epic freak out where he screams into the phone "You're nothing but a whore just like my mother" and composes himself within second with a sweet smooth "I'm sorry I didn't mean it, please call me" This guy chews the scene and spits it out in a way that would do WilliamShatner proud! He was so funny that I think I watched that bit at least four times before moving onto the rest of the film. It really is a tourde force in craptacular performances! Still while Ghost Month may be lacking in a few spots, its a well shot and entertaining film with some decent performances.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Saturday, 13 June 2009 |
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Goth Kill has finally arrived and I am stoked as hell. I've been hearing good things about this little bit of B-Movie fantastic-ness. A film that promises witches, fire and murder has got to be a good thing even if it is bad. I was hoping for something awesomely bad in the vein ofRepo! the Genetic Opera or Poultrygiest: Night of the Chicken Dead. What I got instead was something that left me feeling confused. Goth Kill is the story of Nick Dred, a Monk who sold his soul to Satan while he was being burned at the stake during the Inquisition. His deal with the Devil promises him his own kingdom in Hell once he collects 100,000 souls. But like most pacts with Satan things don't go as planned and Nick has a kingdom of nothing to rule over. Undeterred Drake takes his evil to the streets of NYC. Bringing havoc to band of wanna be vampire hipsters in one of the cities hottest Goth clubs. I went into this film knowing that it was going to be a horror satire of the whole Goth scene. And those uber pretentious douche bags who take their vampires and other such gothy delights a little bit too seriously. We've all seen them and probably wished them dead at one point or another. And with that in mind I was hoping for Goth Kill to really rip into those people. Burn them in effigy for me, but that's not what happened. What I got instead of a bunch of weak kills and goths so uninteresting that they didn't even put up a fight. As disappointing as some bits were Goth Kill does have a few shining moment where I couldn't help but laugh out loud. There is something funny about a chubby guy in white face paint and drawn onchola eyebrows I must admit. Still Goth Kill left me leaving a bit flat. At least until I got to some of the extras and watched some bits of the live screenings. The live bits didn't really do much to change my opinion of the film over all, but I did get an appreciation for why so many people fall in love with it live. At the live screenings there are fire eaters, people in costume chanting "death" along with the movie. As well asthe occasional appearance fromFlambeaux doing his fire eater thing. Giving the whole affair a kind of Rocky Horror vibe. So now trying to find a Goth Kill screening on my next trip to NYC is in order, this is the kind of film that is better appreciated in the flesh.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Riff Trax: Night og the Living Dead |
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Written by Sameerah
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Friday, 22 May 2009 |
If you were a fan of Mystery Science 3000 back in the 90's You'll have a good time with the Riff Trax series. A series of DVD's that give classic camp a bit of the MST3K treatment. The first up in the series if the George Romero classic Night of the Living Dead. While its been awhile since the writers from MST3K have worked together its good to see that they haven't lost their touch. They throw out some great one liners and point out some things about the film that may have gone unnoticed.
While die hard Romero fans will probably get a bit miffed at people cracking jokes on their beloved zombie classic, sane people will find it refreshing. Night of the Living Dead is one of those films that is put on such a pedestal by its fans and has been remade so many times, that's its been dissected to death. Sure its a great film and is responsible for bringing the problem of a zombie uprising to the forefront of human consciousness. But its to the point where we have spent so much time analyzing it and not enough time enjoying it for what it is. A fun film and a good blue print on how to deal with the undead. And Riff Trax helps to put all of that back into perspective.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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Written by Sameerah
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Friday, 22 May 2009 |
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I was having a chat with Waterlaso's singer/ songwriter Michael C where he declared Crispin Glover to be the most evil man in film. His comment caused me to think a bit. I mean Mr. Glover may be the strangest man in film, hell maybe even the meanest. But surely not the most evil. I felt that such a dubious title should go to someone time TomSelleck, Tom Skerritt or Burt Reynolds. Someone whose massive mustache makes you feel uncomfortable. Because you know when its host goes to sleep it slips away and eats the souls of children. But after watching Glover in Simon Says, I am rethinking my position on his most evil status. About 30 minutes into the film I started to think that the studio should have renamed this film 1001 ways a hillbilly can murder you with a pick axe. In Simon Says you get pick axe cannons, pick axe encrusted rolling logs and not to mention all of the times a person is swinging, throwing or being impaled on a rusty piece of mining equipment. There are so many of the things in this film that they lose their fear factor and become a running gag. But its that gag coupled with Glover hamming it up in a duel roles as the films psycho that make this interesting. Take them away and this is just another film about pretty kids being killed in the woods. Yet its not the string of axe murders that make me reconsider Glover's evil. No, the scene in which he proceeds to stomp a puppy to death that does that! Granted, its a fake puppy ( well at least I hope it was a fake puppy ) but still what kind of evil bastard stomps on a puppy?! Someone whose very soul is scarred by evil that's who. As if the puppy stomping wasn't bad enough he lights a guy on fire with a joint! And its just plain wrong to waste pot like that. Watching it I found myself screaming at the TV "C'mon man you just killed a puppy! why must you ruin the weed too?" With Simon Says you have another brilliant, albeit evil, actor doing yet another campy horror film to pay the bills. And while Simon Says isn't all bad, it isn't exactly good either.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 November -1 )
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