Day 285: Paranormal Activity (2007) - Rank 3.5/5

It should be obvious by many of my reviews that I like low-budget horror. So when I hear that a film that cost $15,000 to make is receiving a national release, I can't help but indulge. The film features a lot of entertaining, yet effective "spookshow" elements to advance the plot and heighten the suspense. The general gist of the story is that a young couple believes that their house is haunted and so they decide that they shall tape every aspect of their days, including their nights in bed, in the hopes of capturing proof that something is amiss. A lot of the tricks that are used, from doors slowly creaking shut to odd bangs on the wall are unnerving. On more than one occasion, Katie (the girl who seems to be the target of the haunting demon's aggressions) arises from bed in the middle of the night and stares at her boyfriend, Micah, for hours on end, practically unmoving. She also seems to go into moments of mild possession where she will carry out acts that she does not remember later and artifacts from her childhood reappear with no logical reason as to how or why.

Unfortunately, writer/director Olen Peri gets very greedy at more than one point in the film. There's one scene featuring a Ouija board that is operated by an unseen hand shortly before it bursts into flame. Another shot features footprints appearing on the floor. Regardless of the "real-life circumstances," this is footage that, if real, would have had the attention of every paranormal investigator in the nation. So why Katie and Micah see these things occur and still take the events in stride is beyond plausibility. Furthermore, there seems to be a legitimate push to explain what is happening to the audience, with even a discovery of a website where another woman went through Katie's experiences, went crazy, blah, blah, blah.

I'm a firm believer of the "less is more" theory, because what is unknown is more frightening than what is defined, for that is the point that your imagination can run amok. It's merely indicative of our culture, for American audiences demand explanations and want to see everything. Speaking from ten years experience at a movie theatre, I can attest that films that feature ambiguous resolutions that are open to interpretation do not appeal to the average filmgoer. So the need to rationalize everything is a chronic problem that ruins too many films with great potential. However, "The Blair Witch Project" is not only reminiscent of "Paranormal Activity" in terms of plot devices and production, but it also features a highly indefinite finale, and it was a high grossing film. So with successful predecessors, it's saddening that "Paranormal Activity" went for the easy out. Kudos to the film though, for making the first night of going to sleep alone after viewing it a little uneasy.

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Day 284: All the Colors of the Dark (1972) - Rank 4/5

Like the greatest of giallo, "All the Colors of the Dark" (aka "They're Coming to Get You") is convoluted beyond compare. It features more red herrings than a fish market and any notion of a conventional plot is thrown out the window. And yet, the film is a lot of fun because it embraces the absurd, almost becoming self-parody, and it features great cinematography to boot. The best synopsis of the plot I can extrapolate is the film's heroine, Jane, is having bizarre nightmares, allegedly brought on by repressed trauma from her mother's death and a miscarriage. Everyone around her has solutions to her problems - her husband suggests pills, her sister suggests psychoanalysis and hypnosis and her neighbor suggests Satanic ritual (Satanic rituals? What won't they cure?)

Pretty soon Jane's nightmares take form in reality as she becomes an integral member of the cult. Are the cult followers vampires or ghouls? Is Jane crazy or is she a victim of a crazy plot? If she is going mad, who is pushing her to the limits of her sanity? Even after you complete the film, the answers to these questions will be a tad fuzzy. However, you don't watch Argento or Fulci films for coherence either; you watch their films for fun, tits and gore, and those are three fronts on which this film delivers.


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Day 283: The Great Buck Howard (2009) - Rank 4/5

This is possibly the best John Malkovich vehicle since "Being John Malkovich." Rather than playing himself, the eccentric actor is a hammy, washed-up mentalist who spends his days in the limelight of backwoods towns, performing for crowds of dozens. However, when he manages to hypnotize an entire lobby of people in the absnence of any cameras, the rumor mill exaggerates the act and soon he's back on top. Malkovich is endearingly quirky as Howard, greeting fans with aggressive handshakes and bombastically declaring "I love this town!" at every new venue.

The main crux of the story, though, is not that of Buck Howard but of Troy Gable (Colin Hanks). Gable drops out of law school to take on the demeaning job as Buck's attache, much to his father's disapproval (played by Big Daddy Hanks - I'm guessing Colin roped him in for the star power angle to help rope in curious viewers). Troy's story has been done before, so it doesn't leave as much of an impression as John Malkovich's performance. In fact, had Malkovich been absent from the film, the result would have been mediocre at best, though there is a fun supporting cast, featuring the likes of Ricky Jay and Steve Zahn. I recall that this broke Louisville at the Village Eight during its transition period and as a result, very few people saw it. Pity. I feel like had this film opened at Baxter, it would have generated decent enough word of mouth to keep it running for a while (a la "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" or "Little Miss Sunshine"). Instead, it shall undoubtedly find a modest following on DVD.

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Day 282: Harakiri (1962) - Rank 5/5

The first twenty minutes sets the scene for this epic film set in 17th century Japan. Noble samurai Hanshiro arrives at the palace of Lord Saito, hoping that the lord will allow him to commit seppaku on his grounds (for he deems it an honorable place to do so). Saito is skeptical, explaining to Hanshiro that the land has many wandering transients claiming to be samurai who wish to perform seppaku in the hopes that the feudal lords will placate their grief and poverty with money, rather than allowing them to kill themselves. Saito makes it known that he is not like those other lords and that Hanshiro will be forced to kill himself if he claims that is his wish. Saito recounts a tale of the last samurai that came to his palace, a man whom he deemed a fraud because the ronin had a sword and dagger made of bamboo. That man was forced to kill himself, very slowly and painfully, with the flimsy bamboo dagger. Hanshiro insists that his wishes are genuine and later, before the ceremony begins, Hanshiro requests a special second to assist him with the ceremony. While the requested guard is sought, Hanshiro essentially says, "Now let me tell you a story. You recall that samurai you mentioned earlier? I knew him - he was like a son to me."

From that moment, I was hooked. Hanshiro casually recounts the tale as to how his foster son ended up in the predicament he did, and along the way, we come to learn that a great deal of revenge has been enacted upon Lord Saito already, unbeknownst to the nefarious host. The film features spectacular sword battles, including a finale fight that was undoubtedly the inspiration behind the Bride's battle with the Crazy Eighty-Eight at the end of "Kill Bill Vol. 1." Quite simply, this was one of the most impressive revenge stories I've seen in a good, long while.

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Day 281: Slither (2006) - Rank 4/5

This is yet another film I wish I'd caught in theatres, while mildly intoxicated in the company of friends. With practical effects gore abound and a schlocky plot, it screams "drive-in fare." Pity is was originally released in the cold barrens of March. The story is reminiscent of Fred Dekker's "Night of the Creeps." When I first saw the trailers for the film, I assumed it was a rip-off of the 1986 B-film and never caught it as a result. The film does borrow elements from "Night of the Creeps," but it snags aspects of a half dozen other 1980's horror films. So I suppose judging the film as a remake/rip-off would be as logical as deeming every one of Tarantino's films, especially the "Kill Bill" films as a rip-off as well.

The story does center around alien slugs that turn humans into zombies, just as "Night of the Creeps" did. However, while fraternity douchebags seemed to be the target of Dekker's piece, "Slither" sets its sights on South Carolina rednecks. Actually, I'll stop there, because to reduce a review to a comparison between the two is about as frivolous and belittling to the film as is a high school essay detailing the differences between the novel "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and the film adaptation ("Aw, man...they totally changed the ending. Bummer"). Simply put, the movie's a hell of a lot of fun, especially with half-man, half slug Michael Rooker pitted against Nathan Fillon. I'd liken it to drinking a forty of King Cobra - it won't make you more intelligent and it's certainly far from classy, but if you're with friends, it's a great way to kill a night...and I can't believe I just made that analogy work.

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Day 280: Tokyo! (2009) - Rank 4/5

The film is a spectacle of an anthology featuring the directorial work of Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Human Nature"), Leox Carax ("Lovers on the Bridge") and Bong Joon-ho ("The Host"). Each half-hour vignette was theoretically created with the intent of capturing the spirit of the Japanese city, similar to the way that "Paris, Je T'aime" did the European highlight. However, I never felt like the stories immersed me into Japanese culture. I've always found that "Lost in Translation" did so successfully from an American point of view, capturing the sense of isolation and curiosity that emerges when one is a visitor to a foreign land. With the three tales within "Tokyo!" I felt that they could have been set within any major metropolis and still worked.

Gondry's story focuses on a girl who is slowly alienated by her peers and begins to turn into a chair. Joon-ho's tale centers around an obsessive-compulsive shut in that seemingly finds love in a strange, possibly post-apocalyptic future. The theme behind both is centered around the loss of identity and loneliness that comes from living in a major city. The most entertaining of the trio, Carax's "Merde," is the story of a feral, unkempt man who resides in Tokyo's sewers, eats chrysanthemums and periodically terrorizes residents with grenade attacks. When captured, he's put on trial in what is clearly an allegory for Western reaction and treatment of middle-east terrorists. There are even moments that mirror the final days of Saddam Hussein. The story calls to question the motivation behind such individuals and the aspects of hypocrisy that arise in determining punishment for them. However, as I mentioned before, I never felt like there was some unifying theme that tied the trio together and made the Tokyo setting imperative. Perhaps choosing three non-Japanese directors was the problem, but at least those three are excellent enough in their work to generate an intriguing piece.

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Day 279: Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973) - Rank 3.5/5

The last of the Frankenstein installments out of Hammer studios is still fun fare. This time, Cushing returns once more as the infamous Baron Frankenstein, only Frankenstein is absolutely daft. Imprisoned in an insane asylum, Frankenstein soon rises to power over the director though blackmailing means. There he uses his power to eliminate patients who possess desirable body parts for repairing his monster. A loony violinist provides supple hands for the monster, while the brain of a mad genius gives the monster new noggin meat.

Frankenstein is assisted by a doctor who was imprisoned for crimes similar to his own. Together the two bring new life to the monster, at which point it promptly and predictably runs amok. The story would feel overtired were it not for the presence of Cushing, who adds an amazing air of credibility to the notorious baron. David Prowse also has an early role as the monster itself, and Terence Fisher, the man behind some of the studio's better works, is behind the camera once more. The storyline scarcely surpasses its predecessors (especially the supremely smashing "Revenge of Frankenstein") but it is worth the watch for those fans of Cushing's horror work.

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