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Fantasy Filmfest Berlin 2008 (Horror, SciFi, Martial Arts, Anime, Suspense, Thriller, etc.)

  
 
Mistoffelees
10:14 / 12.08.08
Tonight starts another exciting festival with only the finest in crime and horror movies (or so the programme wants us to believe). I bought tickets for ten movies and hopefully I´ll overcome my massive inertia and deliver some reviews like I did in 2006. Last year, I was too lazy, sorry about that.

In 2006, I bought way too many tickets and even did not go to all the movies I wanted to see, because sitting for hours in the dark every day actually became too taxing! So this year, I´ll watch one movie a day (with only one exception on saturday).

And this time, I´ll only tell you what movie I´ll see the day I do (to build up more suspense?), with maybe some hints the day before.

Tonight, I´ll start with a British film, Eden Lake. In 2006, Severance was a very pleasant movie surprise from Britain and I have high hopes for this one, too.

I don´t know any of the actors (lead is Kelly Reilly) and it´s also director James Watkins´ first film.

The movie is supposed to be in the same vein as I spit on your grave or Last house on the left. A young couple plans spending a weekend at a lake, and it all goes pearshaped, when the local youth appears and the rich and poor attack each other in a bleak and brutal fashion.

Sounds as if it´s not going to be funny at all as Severance was, but serious horror can work, too.
 
 
Mistoffelees
20:42 / 12.08.08
I´m back from the world premiere of Eden Lake, and it really was a ruthless and brutal movie. The director James Watkins was there and said he wrote the script three years ago and that the recent events of teenagers killing with knives was reflected in his movie. Despite all the graphic violence, this is not something like Saw, for example. Except for one death, where the audience cheered, all the torturing and killing was shown as the senseless and disgusting crimes that they are.

There is the sadistic alpha male who clearly enjoys what he is doing, there is his girlfriend who documents everything with a cell phone and there are his followers who he coerces into some really vile and escalating crimes.

From the description in the programme, I thought this wasn´t supposed to be the usual evil against innocents, but it is. I´m sorry, but just because daddy yells at you and slaps you, doesn´t mean you get a free pass for killing people. And it´s not rich against poor either. The parents have quite a nice home as we see early on. And the victimised couple is not rich, even if they have a jeep.

Also, whenever something bad happens, (insults, theft, threats, coercion, etc.), it is that teenager and his gang that start it. The couple just wants to be left alone at first and later on acts in self-defense. And when the actress starts to get back at the teenagers, I can´t blame her at all, after all that she´s been through.

Of course, there has to be a twist ending. It is a bit obvious, but still believable enough and quite fitting.

Kelly Reilly as the main actress really delivers. Although she has her John McClane moments, her actions still were comprehensible as the acts of someone running for their lives.

The teenagers also were cast very well. They really reminded me of the bullies at school that liked to beat up children outnumbered five to one. Thank God there were no cell phones back then.


Tomorrow, I´ll watch a promising comeback of an eighties action star. Can you guess who it might be?
 
 
grant
15:46 / 13.08.08
Arnold!
 
 
Mistoffelees
21:14 / 13.08.08
Well close, but no, grant. At least, you got the continent right.

Here´s my review:

JCVD

He´s back. And what a return! This is the ultimate comeback of a guy who had it all and went downhill straight into the video bin.

The movie starts with a one take action sequence à la De Palma, with our hero karate chopping and shooting the bad guys en masse, being really dedicated to his work, and it ends with a hilarious snafu and there he stands, talking to a director who just does not care. It´s been a long time since he worked with John Woo.

But it gets worse. There he sits in court fighting for custody over his daughter, his wife´s lawyer pounds his movie DVDs on the table as evidence and his child says, she just wants the other children to stop making fun of her.

Finally he ends up home in Brussels, where the people give him a warm welcome (the dialogue with the taxi driver is so funny and revealing at the same time). But that´s only a short breather because in less than five minutes he ends up a hostage in a post office and the police believe him to be the gangster.

And of course one gangster is a big fan, which will lead to comical and tragical scenes. I won´t tell much more of what´ll happen, but this movie is also a bank robber and hostage movie in its own right. The lead gangster is such a vile and complete asshole, that you don´t have much hope that many will make it out alive. And the police are also not that competent. Meanwhile, a huge crowd has gathered and keeps shouting „Jean-Claude! Jean-Claude! Jean-Claude!“

This movie is such a wonderful surprise. The actors are so well cast and they can switch between drama and comedy so effortlessly and believably it´s just a joy to experience. It´s all in bleached colours, with lots of close ups, and has this gritty visual style which is just ideal for this film.

The heart of this movie is when Jean-Claude is lifted in his seat out of the bank and right through the fourth wall and speaks to the audience. It´s a confession. He talks about his teenage dreams of fame, about the respect he found at the dojo and that he did not get in Hollywood, about his drug addiction, about love and his fear of death and again it´s one take and he bares his soul. Wow.

Do yourself a favour and watch this movie. It works on so many levels, not the least the utterly fascinating complete transformation of Jean-Claude Van Damme from a caricature to a full fledged dramatic actor.
 
 
Mistoffelees
11:33 / 15.08.08
Nothing to lose

This movie from Holland is a thriller and a road trip. Johan, a convicted murderer (he killed his father who molested him as a child), needs his mother to give an exonerating testimony, that he did not kill his little sister, but she can´t be reached. Without his mother´s help he will be institutionalized shortly into a clinic for the criminally insane for the rest of his life. So he breaks out with an accomplice in search of his mother. She´s not at home but the police is, and so the hunt begins. He takes Tessa, a thirteen year old girl, as a hostage and escapes the police.

By and by, Tessa´s fear subsides as she begins to get to know Johan better and they start to trust each other. They travel through Holland and Belgium in search of Johan´s mother. Until they do, the movie is tense but it also has a nice and trusting atmosphere.

But after Johan has talked to his mother, the police are on him again and from there to the end of the movie it all becomes very intense. You never quite know, what might happen next. In one key scene, Johan is trapped by the police in a tunnel and red dots dance on his breast. Will he escape certain death? How? Will Tessa be killed after all, by Johan´s or the police´s guns?

Both Tessa and Johan act very naturally. This is not one boring cliché ladden Hollywood action film. Which makes all the violence so much more in your face. In one scene, you see Johan leave a house, and you don´t know, what he did to the person he visited for dinner and a talk. Essentially he is a nice guy that is also a very disturbed and violent person. He can be kind to Tessa, rescue her from dangerous situations, give her gifts and let her drive the car. And he also puts her in a trunk, holds a gun to her head as a joke and assaults and shoots people in front of her.

Watch for yourself to see what side of Johan will get to the end of the movie and what explanations for his behaviour the uncovering of his past will reveal.


Next: A Prom Night takes an ugly turn. But then the zombies show up.
 
 
Mistoffelees
10:44 / 16.08.08
Dance of the Dead

When there is no more room at the graveyard, the zombies will dance at the Prom. Because that´s just how they roll (out of their graves). Like dolphins they catapult out of the soil and run towards town, thanks to the nuclear power plant, that has been pumping the sewage system with neon green goo. And they even know how to drive a car. They can appreciate some good tunes and just for the fun of it they might eat other zombies, too. There are old zombies and teenage zombies and you have to destroy their brains to stop them. You can do that by ripping the zombie´s arm off and plunge it through hir skull. You can use sickles, shovels, baseballbats with nails. That is if you´re still attending High School. If you´re the coach, you poach your neighbourhood zombies with your machine gun.

All the actors are really into the action and play with gusto, and whenever one of our heroes dies and switches to the other team it´s a real loss. This zombie comedy has its undead heart beating in the right place and is a very welcome new member to this genre.

The picture quality wasn´t all that, it was shot in “digital”. I hope if they make enough money, there will be a reshoot, so it can really shine on the big screen.

“A night at the prom that makes CARRIE look like PRETTY IN PINK (...) Dance of the Dead is the best horror comedy of this or any other year.” Bloody Disgusting


Next: The new Álex de la Iglesia movie! Yes!
 
 
Mistoffelees
20:35 / 16.08.08
The Oxford Murders

So now, Álex de la Iglesia finally made a mainstream movie. Do you know his movies El día de la Bestia and Perdita Durango? Insane, violent and lots of fun. This movie is quite tame compared to the above two, but still quite enjoyable.

The two main actors are John Hurt (Arthur Seldom) and Elijah Wood (Martin), who try to solve a philosophical puzzle and thereby stop a serial killer from haunting the streets of Oxford. Professor Seldom is quite well known and successful, happy with plugging his new novel, in which he states, that no serial killer has ever murdered for simply logical reasons. Now someone seems to want to prove him wrong, leaving bodies and notes with only a symbol (the first being a circle) as a riddle.

Martin and Seldom both arrive at the first crime scene exactly at the same time and from then on do their detective business, talking about Wittgenstein (whom we see sitting amidst the warfare of the trenches writing in a notebook in the opening sequence), Heisenberg, Pythagoras and all the other great thinkers that seem to be important for this quest.

Meanwhile, Martin is busy with two stunningly beautiful women, that fall in love with him the moment they see him, so that about two hours after he arrived in Oxford, he has a date and a jealous neighbour. The women seem to know more than they let on, and also become suspects like most of the cast.

Burn Gorman (from Torchwood fame) guest stars as some crazy doctoral candidate who is bitter, because someone stole his ideas, and is busy rolling his eyes, jumping on tables, kicking over glasses and shouting at people.

For the most part the movie is very tame and there is only one sick sequence that does the name Álex de la Iglesia justice, when a colleague of Seldom slowly loses his mind and ends up living the rest of his life naked with not that many limbs in a hospital bed, scribbling occult symbols without pause.

Despite the top-heavy theme of the movie, there are also action scenes and some clumsy love scenes (Martin slaps freshly cooked spaghetti on his lover´s chest) and it is fun. It reminded me of that Tom Hanks Jesus movie, though this movie stays secular, thank god, and everyone has very materialistic reasons for their deeds despite all the intellectual dialogues.

The Oxford Murders is a step in a new and more commercial direction for Álex de la Iglesia, but he succeeded and you don´t need to have more than the usual shaky half knowledge of philosophy to follow the plot.
 
 
Mistoffelees
16:22 / 17.08.08
The Substitute (Vikaren/Alien Teacher, Denmark 2007)

In this family film, a class of children have to fight a substitute teacher from another planet. The alien´s goal is to learn empathy, something that is unique to humans. In the first lesson, the children already suspect that that blonde woman (pretty much everyone in this film is blonde) is very suspect. One child with a laptop discovers online, that there is no one in Denmark with the name of that teacher (is Denmark a police state?).

One boy sees the teacher create a perfect copy of the minister of health (who tells the worried parents what a distinguished teacher the substitute is) out of thin air and takes cell phone photos from suspicious pictures the alien left unattended. After a visit to the spooky house (really well done, That house was like from a David Fincher movie) of the alien teacher the children know her true nature as they see her eat a living chicken raw. But the parents won´t be convinced, when the children tell them of their discovery. A visit to the house (now looking like an IKEA model home) makes the kids look like fools and a trip to Paris is announced.

But instead the children are taken to the chicken farm, where the alien took over a farmer´s body and it seems as if a mass abduction is imminent.

The movie is fun and fluffy and none of the kids are annoying (maybe it´s just me, but I find child actors often annoying). The alien is the reason to watch this, though. The actress, Paprika Steen, is clearly enjoying herself being evil and shameless mugging is used in the best possible manner. The effects are also very nice, definitely above Doctor Who level.

You might also know the director of this movie, it´s Ole Bornedal, who is also responsible for the wonderful Nightwatch (the original, of course).
 
 
Mistoffelees
08:53 / 19.08.08
Dying Breed

A young woman is searching for the Tasmanian Tiger for her zoological studies. But really, she is looking for what happened to her sister, who drowned in a lake eight years ago. She travels to the lake with her boyfriend, his brother and his girlfriend. The locals act very strange and are the typical horror movie hillbillies. The real horror awaits our protagonists after they enter the wilderness looking for the tiger, though. Here, the descendant of Alexander Pieman Pearce (a cannibal who escaped from a British colony prison) still honours the ways of his grandgranddad.

This movie has some very disgusting moments. A victim´s naked body hanging from a tree, strong hints of rape, pulling teeth, biting and other degrading scenes. The deaths are sudden, bloody and vicious. You really need a strong stomach and interest for this kind of movie to make it through to the credits. The end is especially vile. They also use the Tyler Durden 1/25th second image shenanigans.

The actors playing the locals were very convincing and were carrying the movie. Making the tourists eat meat pies and calling them a local tradition while barely containing their laughter was a nice touch.
The four tourists are just the typical young horror movie cannon fodder. Especially the female lead´s boyfriend was just bland and passive and only ever reacting to situations. At least, his crossbow wielding brother was good for the odd laugh. Also, the four tourists make all the classic horror movie mistakes (leaving their belongings, which are essential for survival, unattended, provoking the locals, walking around alone [“stay here!”] without weapons, walking into traps for no good reason, etc. The worst moment, which had the audience groaning in frustration, was a woman walking into the cannibal´s house alone, without weapons and for no good reason after she just discovered some horrific facts and seeing a local enter the house. The scriptwriter should do his homework before attempting to write his next horror movie, when he can´t even make stealing from other movies work.

There were lots of similarities to the other movies of this genre, Eden Lake, Cabin Fever, Wrong Turn, Hills have eyes, Wolf Creek, etc. and the classic Deliverance even gets mentioned by one of the characters. This movie doesn´t add much to what has been done before.

So, if you like this genre, it´s a rental, but don´t bother with the big screen.

BTW, here´s another synopsis if you care for a 2nd opinion.
 
 
Mistoffelees
20:55 / 20.08.08
Outlander

Short version: This movie got vikings, a badass monster, UFOs and Sophia Myles. Watch it.

Not so short version: Oh, those vily vikings! When will they change their heathen ways? But then, JC comes from the sky above and the vikings promptly fasten him to some wooden contraption. Yes, James Caviezel has returned in this solid mix of science fiction and fantasy as the alien Kainan (no, not Conan). His space ship falls down on Earth 709 AD and with him he brings a monster, the “Dragon” he calls a Moorwen, which kills and maims the vikings by the dozens. Kainan gets blamed but soon the vikings accept him and there is met and bear meat and soon more bloodshed. An enemy tribe shows up, blaming “our” guys for the carnage, until the Moorwen says hi. The forces join together and under Kainan´s design build a trap. Will they catch the dragon?

This movie is a revival of the old-fashioned action movie without all the sarcasm, winking at the audience and product placement. There is a lot of homages (iconic scene from Godfather) or downright copying (the monster´s blood) of other movies, but it´s done to the film´s advantage. Director Howard McCain says he was inspired by “Braveheart, Highlander and Predator”. There is of course lots of parallels to The 13th Warrior, the monster is a mix of other cgi creatures, and the look is like straight from the LOTR Rohan people. That should come as no surprise, since Barrie Osborne of LOTR fame is executive producer and the Rohan guys were viking copies anyway.

The monster works well as a dragon and also as an alien. The look is not innovative, but effective. Sometimes we only see blue or red light in the dark, and in the last thirty minutes lots of creature effects. That was cgi money well spent. And it is not some mindless killing machine but has a very good motive to slaughter people (when we learn about the history of the Moorwen´s home planet). Kainan really is not the hero the princess believes he is.

They actually built a whole viking village and there is a hall similar to the one from the two towers with a huge tree inside it! Nice scenery, contemporary costumes, cool fights with spears, swords and axes with nice death scenes and the monster´s lair is prime property for dragons.

The actors also give respectable performances. Caviezel is the typical dragonslayer with the troubled past, far away from home and with a damsel in distress. John Hurt is the old king archetype, smart, close to the end of his reign and looking for someone to give the sceptre to. Ron Pearlman is a bad ass viking king with tattoos all over his face and an axe in each fist, stomping about the place, crushing skulls and dodging arrows. And Sophia Myles is the king´s proud daughter, smart, beautiful and an expert at swordfights. There is also Jack Huston (who kind of plays the Èomer part), who can hold his own with these crafty actors.

So if you like sword and dragon movies, this film cannot be missed. Skip it only if you can´t stand vikings (what´s wrong with you?).
 
  
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