There should be a special rung in Hell for those who dismiss the films of Richard Kelly. We do not deserve Richard Kelly. I am sure Richard Kelly never set out to be the cinematic chronicler of America’s mental well being after 9/11, but he seems to have captured the raw nerves of fear, anxiety and trembling in all his films. Of course, this was never one of his goals, but his first film, Donnie Darko was released in the aftermath of that horrific day in 2001. The film developed a much deserved cult following on home video. The film’s cult status paved the way to his much maligned second, but equally brilliant, Southland Tales in 2007. I am of the opinion, if you are going to go down the rabbit hole for Southland Tales, you better be prepared to go all the way in its defense.

I always get dirty looks when I display my admiration and affection for this film. The film captures America in the post-9/11 era better than any film since that fateful day. Kelly ratchets up his obsessions with the end of the world even more so than he did with Donnie Darko. The film comes with all the baggage we expect from Richard Kelly, but we get even more. The film is one of those cinematic love/hate letters to Los Angeles which exists somewhere between Alan Rudolph’s Welcome To L.A. and Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. The film is also a stunning homage to all of the films that influenced Richard Kelly; especially Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly and John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate. I will say that Richard Kelly understands The Manchurian Candidate far better than Jonathan Demme ever did. The film is also a loving tribute to works of Philip K. Dick. Richard Kelly has developed an infectious obsession with the end of the world. He cements this worldview with his third film, The Box, based on Richard Matheson’s short story, “Button, Button”. Richard Matheson and Richard Kelly seem like a good fit. After all, Richard Matheson is the author of “I Am Legend” which has been adapted into film three times. One can only imagine how wild a Richard Kelly adaptation of that story would be.

The desperation of avarice is at the heart of The Box. This avarice leads to chain of events that are unpredictably creepy and absorbing. Richard Kelly’s new film works on a number of levels. It succeeds more than it fails. As with Southland Tales, there is an excess of ideas at work in the film. This is one of his greatest strengths, but also one of his greatest weaknesses, but I would much rather have an overflow of creativity than a shortage of it. The film takes place in the Virginia suburbs in 1976. A suburban family is our vessel into this maddening world of anxieties and desires. Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) and her husband, Arthur, (James Marsden) seem like a relatively happy middle-class couple raising one child, Walter (Sam Oz Stone). Norma teaches at a private high school while Arthur is an engineer at NASA, who is hoping to become an astronaut. According to Norma, we learn they are living paycheck to paycheck; they are living beyond their means. As the film opens, a mysterious early morning knock wakes them from their sleep. A box wrapped in brown paper has been left at their front door. The box has been left by Arlington Steward played to creepily perfection by Frank Langella. His face is disfigured on his left side. The box comes with an offer. The box has a red button on top of it. If they push the button, they will get a payout of one million dollars; but it comes with quite a stipulation. Once the button is pushed, someone they do not know will be killed. Norma does not seem to be that disturbed by this condition. And once she pushes the button, their lives will never be the same again. This is where the film moves wildly away from Matheson’s short story and becomes Kelly’s grand vision. Pushing the button can mean a lot of things. Once you fire a gun, your life will never be the same, but here given Mr. Kelly’s obsession with all kinds of doomsdays—perhaps, pushing the button is a metaphor for the ultimate red button– nuclear war! Once Norma pushes the button, complications become the order of the day. Their lives are thrown into a whirlwind of madness involving the Mars Viking Mission, murdered wives, conspiracies, and some very strange portals. The film’s second half is very familiar ground for Richard Kelly. The Box feels very much like the third film of a trilogy that began with Donnie Darko and continued with Southland Tales. Kelly has definitely established a worldview. He is not so interested in genre so much as he is in creating his own universe. With these three films, he has definitely created his own universe as Kevin Smith has done with his films and as Quentin Tarantino has done with his films. The worldview in this trilogy involves anxiety about impending doom. The characters are not waiting for the end, but figuring out how to live during the end.

Performances are essential to a Richard Kelly film. I am not sure if anyone gives a false performance in Donnie Darko. There are so many standout performances in the film; I am not sure where to begin. Southland Tales may be Dwayne Johnson’s best role to date as his Boxer Santaros seemed to be channeling Ralph Meeker from Kiss Me Deadly and Laurence Harvey from The Manchurian Candidate. There are a string of terrific performances in the film, but his Boxer is the standout.

In The Box, the performances are top notch. While Cameron Diaz certainly has a natural comic sensibility in films such as There’s Something About Mary, My Best Friend’s Wedding, the Charlie’s Angels films, She’s The One and Very Bad Things, it is when she goes serious that she truly shines. Her performance as Lotte in Being John Malkovich was an unexpected step in the right direction. She was better than anyone was willing to give her credit for in Gangs Of New York and she helped make Vanilla Sky into something more than just an exact remake. Yet, In Her Shoes remains one of her best performances. She was perfect as Maggie. Still, not even she or the other A-list talent in front and behind the camera could save My Sister’s Keeper from being stuck in the television movie of the week mode. In hindsight, it might have been wise to have avoided The Sweetest Thing, The Holiday and What Happens In Vegas. In The Box, her performance as Norma may be one of her best as she navigates this new world that Arlington has offered her and Arthur. Yet once she pushes the button, this is a side of Ms. Diaz we have not seen. Going in the serious mode should be a priority for all of her future roles. She has done the comedy and for the most part done it well, but Kelly brings out a vulnerable wickedness once she pushes the button. The resulting money from the act will set them up for the rest of their lives. The morality of her act does not seem to concern her, but it does concern Mr. Steward as we learn later in the film. James Marsden is wonderful as Arthur. Marsden has terrific chemistry with Diaz in this film. I believe that Norma and Arthur serve as a tribute to Mr. Kelly’s real parents. In its own way, this is a wild tribute. James Marsden is best known for playing Cyclops in the X-Men films, but has also appeared in Enchanted, Superman Returns, Hairspray and others, but I actually think this is strongest role since the X-Men films.

It is Frank Langella’s Arlington Steward that is the film’s moral center. His disfigurement is the result of being struck by lightning. It seems that disfigurement is a common motif throughout the film. Whether it is Steward’s face or Norma’s deformed foot, the characters in the film share a common link through physical and mental disfigurements. Throughout the film, I got the feeling that Steward was hoping that Norma or Arthur would not push the button. The red button on this box is presented as an experiment, but it is really a test for humanity– a test that humanity keeps failing as we see throughout the rest of the film. It is an interesting commentary on Kelly’s part that it is the women who are the go-getters in the film. It is Norma who is stressing out about the finances in the film. It is ultimately her decision to push the button. I find this an interesting observation on Kelly’s part that the women in the film are the ones pushing the button. What does this tell us about Kelly’s attitude toward women? This box with the red button is a Pandora’s Box that should never have been opened. The resulting whirlwind changes the lives of the Lewis family forever. Langella’s Steward can be seen as Death or even the Devil in the film, but he may be the only character in the film that has any kind of moral center. Frank Langella plays the part with great ease. He brings the same solemn gravity to the role as he did playing Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon. I am not sure anyone else could have played Steward with the same kind of magnetism. Some of the supporting performances in The Box are very good. Richard Kelly regular, Holmes Osborne, is very good as Norma’s father, Dick Burns. James Rebhorn is very good as Arthur’s NASA supervisor, Norm Cahill. Sam Oz Stone as their son, Walter, gives a touching and vivid performance. Is this how Richard Kelly pictured himself as a youngster?

As with all Richard Kelly films, there is an underlying fatalism that creeps just beneath the surface waiting to burst out. When the fatalism becomes a reality, his films go into a kinetic overdrive. Some have called The Box odd and boring. The odd part is to be expected, but the film is never boring. The Box packs an enormous suspense factor creating an addictive desire to see what comes next. Of all his films, this is most true of The Box because the film, like his others, does wink at other films, but it is the films he has decided to take from that are of most interest. The Box has shades of The Parallax View, Obsession, Blow Out, Lost Highway, The Shining and even a touch of Damien: Omen II for good measure. If I did not know any better, I would have thought David Lynch or Stanley Kubrick had directed The Box. There are some Lynchian touches in the film, but the film has a deliberate Kubrickian style to it as well. Did Stanley Kubrick plant himself in Richard Kelly’s mind somewhere along the way to cinematic Valhalla? At times, it seems that Kelly is channeling Kubrick in this film more than others. While there are certainly some Lynchian touches in all three Kelly films, The Box contains several scenes that just scream David Lynch. Yet, it is the scenes in the motel in the film’s second half that remind me of the hotel sequences in Kubrick’s The Shining. There is a scene where Arthur travels through a portal that echoes Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, but while Kubrick and Lynch are differently on Kelly’s mind, there are two other films that Kelly feels a need to be referenced at all costs. If Southland Tales used Kiss Me Deadly and The Manchurian Candidate as templates, then The Box is using Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View and Brian De Palma’s Blow Out as reference points throughout. I mean this as a compliment. Richard Kelly, along with Quentin Tarantino, is interested in more than homage; it is as though they want to hijack certain sequences and make them their own.

Richard Kelly cannot do it all by himself. Perhaps, he needs someone to help him in the writing department. Richard Kelly never met an idea he did not like and while I am all for an excess of creativity; he still needs a writing partner to help him shave away some of the excess. An overabundance of creativity is better than a scarcity of it. It also helps to have a reliable cinematographer to make your film look as beautifully haunting as it does. Steven Poster has been with him through all three films. Poster’s camera work compliments the Seventies feel that Kelly was aiming for perfectly in The Box. It is a very valuable partnership that pays huge dividends at the end of the day. Their partnership reminds me of that between director, David Gordon Green and cinematographer, Tim Orr– they work very well together, I would hate to see them separate. It is not just look of the film, but equally important, it is the film’s soundtrack that captures the essence of the film. Several members of the band, Arcade Fire, are responsible for the film’s gripping soundtrack– Win Butler, Owen Pallet and Regine Chassagne. The score has a deliberate Bernard Herrmann feel to it, specifically his score to Brian De Palma’s Obsession. It is telling that the members of Arcade Fire have created a truly haunting and riveting film score in the tradition of Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood’s score to There Will Be Blood.

If there should be a special rung in Hell for those that dismiss the films of Richard Kelly than it is only fair there should a special rung for those of us who adore his films. The Box is not perfect, but it is far better than anyone is willing to give it credit for. The film’s greatest fault may be Richard Kelly’s hyper imagination. His imagination is in overdrive. I am amazed at how much he wants to put into each film. I thought that one of the reasons he put so much into Southland Tales was because he thought he may not direct another picture again. He has been given another chance with The Box, but the reception has been mixed to hostile from what I can tell. I feel very passionate about his vision, it is infectious. There are other directors that I feel very passionate about as well, but Richard Kelly is a special case. I believe he has an original worldview and vision. This is a filmmaker I want to grow old with. I hope that there are still many more Richard Kelly films to come. Movies would be poorer without him.

“This is very cruel, Oskar. You’re giving them hope. You shouldn’t do that. *That’s* cruel!”
– Amon Goeth from Schindler’s List

“Shit… charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500. I took the mission. What the hell else was I gonna do?”
– Captain Benjamin J. Willard from Apocalypse Now

David Hackl’s Saw V is fighting a multiple front battle at the box office this weekend. Perhaps, in the oddest clash of the box office titans, Jigsaw may have met his match in the form of Walt Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year. It is no secret that once this teen phenomenon reached the big screen, it was going to be big, so big that not even the gargantuan formulaic torture induced saga was going to be able to stop it from being number one this weekend. After five entries, the Saw franchise has incredible resilience, but in between the release of Saw IV and Saw V several great horror films have been released. The Mist, I Am Legend, Cloverfield and The Ruins have shown that horror films can still frighten and still tell an engaging story. While I am not a big fan of The Strangers, it produces enough genuine thrills in the first half to give it some credibility, but it seemed too much like an unofficial English remake of Them (Ils). In this month of October, two very different kind of horror films have preceded Saw V; may have stolen Saw V’s thunder. The first of these would be John Erick Dowdle’s Quarantine– an effective remake of the Spanish horror film, Rec. Quarantine is the latest film inspired by The Blair Witch Project filmmaking style where the found camcorder footage is used to tell the story. By the way, The Blair Witch Project holds up very well after all these years. This style worked incredibly well in Cloverfield. It even worked somewhat well in George Romero’s heavy handed Diary Of The Dead. And while I think Quarantine has some genuine thrills, it does remind me of Chris Gorak’s far superior, Right At Your Door. Still, Quarantine does some things right and it creates a tense atmosphere. Let it be said that it is not tame at all– something Saw V could actually be accused of by even its hardcore legion of fans.

Jigsaw and his minions have nothing on Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone’s engrossing W. which may turn out to be the best film of the Fall Season. You may want to believe the timing of W.’s release has something to do with the November Presidential Election, but let us be honest, it is a true horror film. What better month to release a horror film than October. Let me be very clear; I appreciate what the horror genre does and when it does it well, it is one of the best rides in town, but reality has a way of unleashing our greatest fears and panics. In W., a country is deceived into going into a poorly planned war where the Vice President openly admits there is no exit strategy– no end in sight. In the film, Richard Dreyfuss’ portrayal of the Vice President is so chilling that one would like to really believe he is some made up boogeyman that exists in the closet of our nightmares. He is based on reality as are the events in the film which make it terrifying. The film is the equivalent of reliving a series of nightmares. Not only did Oliver Stone make an evenhanded and empathetic film, he made a film that is quite terrifying at times. Saw V must also contend with other events in the real world. The film must contend with the daily bad economic news. We live in harrowing and frightening times. The words recession and depression are on everyone’s lips. I remember watching The Grapes Of Wrath in the Seventh Grade and the film’s depiction of the Great Depression scared the hell out of me. Listen to news on any given day; it is downright apocalyptic. Cassandra is working overtime these days. No wonder everyone is rushing to High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

The scariest thing I can say about Saw V is how utterly dull and lifeless it is. While I was never a huge fan of this franchise, I thought the first three (in decreasing ways) tried to do something to keep the story fresh. If the series ever did truly jump the shark with the fans, it would have been with Saw IV, but at least that one had a few moments of interest thanks largely to Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw/John. It becomes very obvious that these films take themselves too seriously. A little humor would not have hurt this franchise at all. That may be the reason I have never been able to get into these films in the first place. If Lionsgate truly is going to release a Saw film every year, they might want inject some humor into them. For films that take themselves so seriously, they became parodies of themselves even before Scary Movie 4 had their way with them. The reason the Final Destination films worked so well was because they do not take themselves too seriously. Seann William Scott was in the first one and that tells you something. Even Eli Roth knew that humor was very important when making Cabin Fever and Hostel. I like the first Hostel film, but the second one just got on my nerves halfway through it– it just rubbed me the wrong way at the time. At least Eli Roth does not take himself too seriously, even in the second one. I would have actually welcomed an Eli Roth directed Saw film. Love him or hate him, his involvement would have made for an interesting film. Even better, I would have loved to have seen Edgar Wright or Takashi Miike take a turn behind the camera. When it comes to Grand Guignol, no one does it quite like Miike. This is wishful thinking on my part and I am not sure how much freedom they would have been allowed, but any breaking of the stagnant formula would have been an improvement. Speaking of Lionsgate, if you are going to give wide releases to this series, the least you could have done is given Ryuhei Kitamura’s The Midnight Meat Train a real release. It would not hurt to beef up the release of Darren Lynn Bousman’s Repo! The Genetic Opera. The Saw films reek of organized fun and could certainly use a Gonzo approach to make them bearable.

The sin of committing terminal blandness at the movies has been prevalent at the box office this Fall Season, but it really stands out in this latest Saw installment. There is a story or I should say storylines going in the film. Jigsaw/John (Tobin Bell) is seen only in flashbacks, but he has a new disciple to carry out his bloody deeds and elaborate torture devices. Costas Mandylor returns as Forensics expert, Mark Hoffman. Hoffman is now doing Jigsaw’s dirty work. He goes on the hunt to protect himself from the likes of Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) who manages to survive one of the torture devices. First of all, you have chosen two of the dullest characters to be the focal points of the film. It plays like a very remedial version of Righteous Kill, which was pretty insipid to begin with. Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas and characters. This is like one of those Star Wars novels or comic books which focus on some obscure character from the films whose claim to fame was a hand job from a hooker in Mos Eisley. Neither one of these actors has much screen presence; Costas Mandylor seems to be doing a really bad Eric Roberts impersonation throughout the entire film. It is here where you miss Tobin Bell’s John. At least, he has some screen presence. Granted Jigsaw always came across as a second rate Dr. Josef Mengele crossed with a second rate Meyer Lansky, but at least it gave the series some weight. His constant recordings on mini audio cassettes where he passes down his moral judgments, remind me more and more of Kevin Spacey’s John Doe from Seven. There is another storyline going on where a group of five strangers find themselves going through the warehouse of horrors and having to make difficult decisions in a Darwinian survival of the fittest mode. Of course, the strangers have something in common. Most notable of these strangers is Brit (Julie Benz). Julie Benz is best known for playing Rita Bennett on Showtime’s incredible series, Dexter. Speaking of serial killers, where is Dexter Morgan when you need him? He could outsmart Agent Hoffman and Jigsaw on his worst day. In the end, I am not sure these two storylines have much to do with each other. I am not sure it even matters as long as long as each new device hacks and rips its next victim to shreds. Even the trademark torture devices of the Twisted Pictures franchise seem leftover and tired from previous installments.

I deeply regret not seeing Wes Craven’s The Serpent And The Rainbow in the theaters on its opening weekend twenty years ago with my fellow classmates. I know I missed out on an incredible communal experience. I say that because the experience of seeing a midnight screening of Cloverfield earlier this year was such an intense and rewarding movie going experience. I remember hearing the people in my senior class go into great detail about Wes Craven’s latest film which was a huge improvement from Deadly Friend. The Cloverfield experience reminded me of what I missed out on in my youth. The Ruins and The Mist have also created memorable movie going experiences, but as bleak as they are, they are still incredibly engaging and thought provoking. They are a mirror of the panics and fears that exist in the real world in the post-9/11 era. For that matter, enduring the five Saw films verges on near sadomasochism as they too are a statement on the images from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. I hate the term “torture porn”, but in their own way, the Saw films serve as a reminder as to what is going on in the real world. The scariest thing is that I truly do see the appeal of a film like High School Musical 3: Senior Year during these turbulent times. Not only is it escapism in its purest sense, it is also a chance to experience high school as fantasy. High school was never like this. The film is the perfect antithesis to Nanette Burstein’s American Teen. Even in American Teen, there is hope. A little hope and humor in the Saw films would go a long way, but I do not see it happening anytime soon. Twisted Pictures could use a huge shock to their rigid and stale crown jewel.

“You’d be surprised, Mr. Conway, age is a limit we impose upon ourselves.”
– Chang from Lost Horizon (1937)

“What say you? What say you? I am Isildur’s heir. Fight for me. And I will hold your oaths fulfilled. What say you?”
– Aragorn from The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
– Dr. Indiana Jones from Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

We live in very interesting times. A year ago, I would never have given any thought to Rob Cohen’s The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor. The first two Mummy films were fun, disposable entertainment that owed more to the Indiana Jones films than to the great Mummy films from Universal Pictures and Hammer Film Productions. No one would call Stephen Sommers a visionary, but he knew how to make decent summer popcorn films loaded with CGI effects and pleasing characters. The best thing to come out of The Mummy Returns was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the Scorpion King. He even got his spin off film the following year– The Scorpion King. If anything, the films showed that The Rock was the rightful heir to the action hero genre. In December of last year, National Treasure: Book Of Secrets came out and that fun film was inspired by the Indiana Jones films as well. It served as a warm up to this summer’s eagerly awaited, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. When the new Indiana Jones film finally opened in May of this year, it was a huge disappointment. The magic was missing for the most part. It never came together; it was incredibly disjointed. The most amazing thing was that given the nineteen year absence, the film felt rushed. The film’s lackluster appeal heightened my interest in two other films that were not high on my radar, The Incredible Hulk and The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor. The Incredible Hulk benefited greatly from the goodwill generated by Iron Man. I am not sure the film would have been received as well had it not been for Iron Man and the very nice Robert Downey Jr. cameo. By default, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor was looking more and more like a late summer winner rather than a desperate attempt to revive a series of recycled films.

Blandness is the order of the day in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor. I hate to say it but this may be the most blatant example of paint by numbers filmmaking I have seen since Simon Wells’ awful remake of The Time Machine in 2002. And while this latest Mummy film is far better than Rob Cohen’s previous film, Stealth, it is still nothing to write home about. They used to punish directors for making bad films. These days one seems to get an extended lease to commit further crimes. Rob Cohen likes to tell a story about how he met Billy Wilder in Musso And Frank’s. Wilder told him how he would love to make a picture again. The tragic thing was that Wilder never made another film after Buddy Buddy (1981). The film was a dud and the studios never let him make another film after that. The truly sad thing is that Wilder lived until 2002; we would have been better off if he was allowed to direct more films. In hindsight, Buddy Buddy is far more watchable than either Cohen’s Stealth or Stephen Sommers’ Van Helsing. At the end of the day there is something very wrong in the world when the man who gave us films such as Some Like It Hot and The Apartment could not make another film for the last 21 years of his life. The sad thing is that Rob Cohen knows how to make a decent summer popcorn film like XXX and The Fast and The Furious, but he instead made this Mummy film.

The Mummy Collector’s Set (The Mummy (1999)/ The Mummy Returns/ The Scorpion King)

I am not sure we needed a third Mummy film– I remembered being mildly entertained by The Mummy Returns, but I was not losing sleep about what a third film would add to my life. It was not as if Universal marketing associates rushed me with questions after seeing it asking me if I was eager to see the further exploits of explorer Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser). Speaking of Brendan Fraser, he was half of what made the first two films work. The other half was Rachel Weisz who played Evelyn O’Connell. She did not come back to reprise her role because she had issues with the screenplay. That is our loss because her presence is sadly missed in this lesser installment. Maria Bello steps into the role as Evelyn. I have no problem with Maria Bello. She was fantastic in A History Of Violence and The Cooler. I think that she is a splendid actress, but here she tries too hard. The result is jarring. Fraser and Weisz had great chemistry onscreen– it helped make these Indiana Jones knock offs so pleasurable to watch. With that element gone, all we have is a series of special effects overkill and a grocery list of scenes taken from other films. I like Brendan Fraser a lot, but he looks like he is phoning in his performance. He seemed more animated and engaged in the recent Journey To The Center Of The Earth film. The funny thing is that given the right role, Fraser can truly thrive. School Ties, Gods and Monsters, Crash and The Quiet American showed a side to him we do not get to see as much as we would like. And as much as I like him in his Indiana Jones/Allan Quatermain mode in the Mummy films, he looks like he would rather be somewhere else than fighting Jet Li’s Emperor Han in this film. He must also deal with his son, Alex (Luke Ford) who is in China digging up mummies when he should be in school. The father/son conflicts that defined the last two Indiana Jones are played out here. It does not ring true because Brendan Fraser is thirty-nine and does not look that much older that Luke Ford in the film. There is only a thirteen year age difference between them in real life. Actually given the post-World War II setting of Tomb Of Dragon Emperor, plus the father/son storyline, the film feels like a direct knock off of Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The other thing that both films have in common is that they are less than memorable once the credits roll up.

The basic story of this installment is more martial arts than Mummy. And yes, it would giving the film way too much credit to say it is in the same league as the 1974 film, The Legend Of The 7 Golden Vampires, which was a joint production between Hammer Films and Hong Kong’s famous Shaw Studio. Rick and Evelyn O’Connell are called out of retirement in 1946 to go to Shanghai– which looks awfully swinging given that this is a year after the War has ended. In Shanghai they are reunited with their son, Alex and Evelyn’s brother, Jonathan (John Hannah). Rick and Evelyn are tricked into helping resurrect a 2,000 year old emperor (Jet Li). His plans to become immortal were foiled many centuries ago by a compassionate sorceress played by Michelle Yeoh. The details of this struggle between Li and Yeoh’s characters are played out in the film’s prologue which is by far the best part of the film. Zi Yuan (Yeoh) placed a curse on him. This curse is accidentally lifted and Emperor Han joins with the rebel Chinese Army to go off to the Himalayas to reach the mythical city of Shangri-La. Once in Shangri-La, Han must dip himself in a pool that promises immortality. It is up to the O’Connell’s to stop him. Sound familiar, not only does this sound like elements of the Indiana Jones films, but it seems that the original Lost Horizon was on everyone’s mind as well. Not just that, Li’s Han already has super powers, he can turn himself into a three headed dragon that looks like a really bad CGI version of King Ghidorah from the Godzill a films. I am sure Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya and Tomoyuki Tanaka are rolling in their graves. Jet Li’s character’s stone appearance and ugly demeanor looks like a reject from the Daimajin films. The sad thing is that Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh are terribly wasted in this film. They, like everyone else, play second fiddle, to the special effects which overrun the film, especially in the film’s cluttered mess of a final battle between skeletons and rusty soldiers. The final battle lifts from everything– the Sinbad films, The Pirates of the Caribbean films, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Henry V and Hero just to name a few. At the end of the day, it is just a mess of pixels.

The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor is the weakest film in the series. There should not be another installment. These films were always seen as lesser Indiana Jones films. The problem is that not even Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull can live in the shadow of the three films that came before it. What hope could a third Mummy film have if its inspiration could not live up to its pedigree? Granted there has been seven years in between the Mummy films as opposed to the nineteen year gap in between the Indiana Jones film, but I think it is time to put both series to rest.

Cloverfield: Fly On The Wall

“The world’s been here for millions of years. Man’s been walking upright for a comparatively short time. Mentally we’re still crawling.”
– Professor Tom Nesbitt from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

“When Man entered the atomic age, he opened a door into a new world. What he eventually finds in that new world, nobody can predict.”
– Dr. Harold Medford from Them!

“Yeah, people are gonna want to know… how it all went down.”
– Hud Platt from Cloverfield

Cloverfield is very effective for what it is. The true pleasure of watching Cloverfield is akin to finding a message in a bottle. In this the case, the bottle is a video camcorder and the message is the content on the videotape. The film is the epitome of the YouTube Generation. The movie’s greatest irony is that watching a videotape on the big screen returns us to the pleasures of a shared communal experience. This is a movie that has to be seen in a crowded theater in order for it to be effective. I truly believe this movie will lose a lot on a small screen and especially watching it on a computer. I am not even sure if it will hold up on repeated viewings. Cloverfield is more an experience than an actual film. This is not a bad thing given the nature of the storytelling devices that director, Matt Reeves, and screenwriter, Drew Goddard, employ. By focusing on the human element aspect of the genre, we are thrown into the action when everything goes down. You want to know what it feels like to be that woman cradling her young children in the original Gojira or dazed and scared as the running crowds like in either version of War Of The Worlds; this movie puts you in the middle of that experience. Reeves accomplishes what John McTiernan claimed he wanted to do in Predator– put you in the middle of action. Reeves does this with incredible ease. Speaking of War Of The Worlds, this movie does an excellent job of creating a level of panic just as Steven Spielberg did with his remake in 2005. I find the first half of that film to be as scary as they come. Spielberg’s version captured the fear very well, just as Frank Darabont did in The Mist last year.

What is Cloverfield? It is a monster movie for the post- 9/11 era. Cloverfield would not be as eerie or as effective without that context. The horrific day haunts the whole film. If I lived in New York City, I am not sure I could watch this film all the way. The movie has a couple of sequences that work all too well– there are several money shots that work very well. The story is told from the point of view of a small group of friends.
As the movie opens, the display on the video screen tells us that this evidence was retrieved from the formation formally known as Central Park. I believe that statement itself is pretty chilling. Something awful must have happened in one of the most beautiful parts of New York City.

The beginning of the tape is background for the main characters in the movie. The tape goes back and forth between the present and recent past of the characters’ lives. This is important, so pay attention. The action really starts at a going away party for Rob Hawkins (Michael David-Stahl). He has gotten a job in Japan. His brother, Jason (Mike Vogel) and their friends are throwing him a surprise going away party. Their friend and constant talker, Hud Platt (T.J. Miller), has been given the task of videotaping everyone and everything at the party. This part of the movie is like an ADD version of Dawson’s Creek. I do not recognize most of the young actors in the movie and this works to the movie’s advantage. The movie puts us in the center of the party; this is the part where being a fly on the wall has very little in the way of perks. Rob has a fight with his girlfriend. She leaves the party with someone else. But just when you think the movie is drowning in a sea of its retarded narcissism, life as these partygoers knows it comes to a thunderous end. The monster could not have gotten here soon enough. The power goes out after a huge blasting shockwave of sound. The power comes back on and the television news comes back on. It seems that an oil tanker as capsized in the harbor near the Statue of Liberty. The partygoers rush up to the rooftop. We see a huge fireball explosion in the center of Manhattan. All bets are off!

At this point of the film, the chaos and confusion of 9/11 comes into full play. This movie plays on the fear of that day and does it quite well. As our band of partygoers exits onto the streets– all hell has broken loose. People are running, buildings are collapsing, dust and debris are everywhere and yes, we see something big and monstrous making its way from though the city. We see everything from Hud’s point of view. Hud has a frat boy mentality and he has knack for saying some pretty stupid things, but he is the viewfinder. We are seeing everything through his eyes. People have no idea what they have seen. One of the pieces of debris is the Statue of Liberty’s head as it comes crashing down on the street. It is a true holy shit moment– a nice wink to Planet of The Apes and Escape From New York. The goal should be to get out of the city, but Rob cannot do this. He has to go back into the city to save his girlfriend who is still in the heart of all this insanity. He wants to make things right. You would have to be insane to go back in that direction. The scene of the evacuations out of the city is intense. The scene of the crowds crossing the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most chilling in the film. It plays on our fears very well.

The monster… no I am not going to even attempt to describe him. Maybe he is Lucifer at his worst. We have seen variations of him in many films. Let me put it this way, Ray Harryhausen will be very proud of what is wreaking havoc in New York City. The monster and his parasites work very well for several reasons. Sound is the most important aspect of the movie. The sound of things being destroyed, screams, noises in the dark, the monster’s roar and just about every noise create a successful thrill ride. Sound is key to this film and also the lack of any music score. There is no soundtrack to the film. I thought at first I would not like this, but it works to the film’s overall success. I am so used to Max Steiner or Akira Ifukube pulsating in the background– I take it for granted. Cloverfield does not need any background music. It would have helped for the American remake of Godzilla directed by Roland Emmerich back in 1998. Cloverfield is a far superior experience to that heinous remake. The absence of music gives the movie the terror factor it is looking to achieve. The technique does owe a lot to 1999’s The Blair Witch Project with the hand held and shaky cam technique. If you get motion sickness, this may not be the movie for you. I like The Blair Witch Project and it was effective for its time. It is hard not to see the influence of the older film on this film. It is there in several scenes.

The last year has been a good year for the revival of the monster movie genre. The Mist and The Host are damn near classics in my book of this genre going back to its roots– using the films as metaphors for fear and environmental concerns. Cloverfield is effective because of its geography. New York City gets a raw deal in this film, I Am Legend and The Day After Tomorrow. In each version of King Kong, Escape From New York, the first two Planet Of the Apes, Independence Day, Deep Impact, Meteor and countless others, New York City is ravaged and beaten. In the latter films, we were awed by what was happening. Whether it was James Franciscus and Linda Harrison wondering through the subway tunnels of post-apocalyptic New York in Beneath The Planet of The Apes or Bruce Cabot going after Fay Wray in the original King Kong, we were in awe of what was going on before us. After 9/11, it is no longer awe, but a new level of fear that unites us in the darkness. We are along for a very chilling ride in Cloverfield. It does remind us of that horrible day when we were all united in front of television screens. Cloverfield would not work as well without that context.

While I think Cloverfield is a great movie going experience, I am not sure how it will hold up on repeated viewings. I doubt the effect will work twice. The film is by no means perfect, but I think J.J. Abrams just wanted to scare the pants off us and get the internet kids back in the movie theaters. It is more of an experience than a film. I hope this not the future of filmmaking. There are no answers in the film as to why this is happening. We never find out where the monster came from or any of the who, what, where or why for that matter. I like the unknown aspects of the film– the unanswered questions leave an interesting legacy. Logic does not enter the picture. How is anyone getting cell phone reception during all of this? How is Hud able to keep filming all of this? That camcorder must have one incredible battery in it. Hud does offer some of his theories for comic relief. There is one thing I do wish J.J. Abrams had not done. While the viral marketing of this film was very effective and went into overload, there was no need for it. All you needed was the trailer in front of Transformers. The film sold itself right then and there. It managed to take some of the thunder from that big summer blockbuster. He did not need to overhype this one. It is a shame because I would have loved to have walked into this film cold. The hype for this movie has been insane, but I do not think you needed it. Although having said that, Cloverfield does its job and does it very well– it is quite the adrenaline rush

“Carol Anne – listen to me. Do NOT go into the light. Stop where you are. Turn away from it. Don’t even look at it.”
– Diane Freeling from Poltergeist

“Now please leave. I am not going back, and I am… I would not be any good to you if I did.”
– Ellen Ripley from Aliens

In 2006, Laura Dern gave a brave performance in David Lynch’s Inland Empire. Regardless of what one thought of the film, Laura Dern’s character was a testament to her willingness to break new, unsettling ground for her old friend. She is the glue that holds Inland Empire together. As much as I admire Julie Christie, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Keri Russell and Tilda Swinton for the great work they did in 2007, it is Belen Rueda who gives the bravest and most gut wrenching performance of last year in Juan Antonio Bayona’s debut film, The Orphanage. It is a wonderful old fashioned ghost story which gets under your skin. It is a chilling Spanish horror story. It is what you do not see that is truly terrifying in Mr. Bayona’s film. As Laura, Belen Rueda is the perfect character for us to latch onto and experience her trials and tribulations. Laura is in almost every scene of the film and she makes her character true in every way. She is as original as they come. Bayona’s greatest triumph, besides having Guillermo Del Toro as a producer, is that he is able to tell a standard horror story and make it fresh and truly frightening. What can be said about Mr. Del Toro is that he knows a good thing when he sees it; he has no interest in putting his name on junk. I expect nothing less from the director of Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone and Hellboy.

Laura is a fascinating protagonist– a woman, who was an adopted orphan, who decides to buy the orphanage she was raised in and convert into a home for disabled children with her husband, Carlos (Fernando Coyo). Their plan is to restore the ex-orphanage and make it home for their son, Simon (Roger Princep). Simon is adopted and HIV positive, but he does not know these two details about himself. He has a very active imagination. He has imaginary friends. Why would she want to buy the very same orphanage she was raised in? This is never made clear, but Mr. Bayona and screenwriter, Sergio G. Sanchez supply enough food for thought throughout the film. In the beginning of the film, we see a young Laura playing a game with the other children outside the orphanage. After the game, she is adopted. What would possess her to come back here of all places? Is it a sense of nostalgia– or is it a deeper sense of guilt? Guilt is one of the film’s strongest emotions? Guilt is a powerful undercurrent throughout the film. Is it guilt that made Laura adopt a child? Was it an obligation on her part to see to it that she return the favor and pay it forward? What else could be her driving motivation to adopt and to want to start a home for disabled children? Returning the home of her childhood is a very Ripley like gesture on her part. Is this any different than Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley returning to battle the monsters of her nightmares in Aliens?

Laura’s guilt manifests itself after the film’s central event. Laura and Carlos are throwing an open house party for children at their new home. Simon has already made new imaginary friends at the orphanage. The orphanage is located near the sea. There is a beach and a cave where mother and son go early on in the film. Simon starts to talk to someone in the cave, but Laura does not see anyone there. It would be easy to say he sees dead people like Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, but this is not the same thing exactly. The Orphanage is a lot of things, but it is not a calling card for one trick pony storytelling. I liked The Sixth Sense, but this is a different story. At the party, the children wear masks. Laura has a nasty encounter with one of them. Somehow during this incident, Simon gets lost. His parents race down to the beach, to the cave, but he is nowhere to found. Simon is presumed dead, but Laura does not believe this at all. Laura is persistent in her search for her son. The second half of the film does play like a missing person’s investigation.

The house itself is an organic being. Like the best horror films and ghost stories, the structure itself is a pulsating and breathing organism. Bayona’s orphanage is not that different from the Bates Motel in Psycho; the horrible house in The Amityville Horror; the house in Burnt Offerings; the Overlook Hotel in The Shining and of course, the Freeling household in Poltergeist. Bayona gives us a complete symphony of dread with enough creaks, door slams and moans to keep us many nights for several lifetimes. Oscar Faura’s cinematography only heightens the mood while Fernando Velazquez’s haunting score does nothing to alleviate our fears. Speaking of Poltergeist, Laura invites a group of paranormal investigators to the house in a last act of desperation. Almost six months have gone by and there is no news about Simon. The investigators are led by Aurora, beautifully played by Geraldine Chaplin. There is someone poetic and perfectly fitting to have her play the part of a Medium. It is inspired casting. Aurora comes equipped with modern technology– CCTV, Oscilloscopes and a vivid night vision display. There is a high tech séance and watching Aurora during this sequence is enthralling and frightening. She is witnessing the ghosts of the past– incidents that happened at the orphanage long ago. How can Aurora help Laura find her son? Are the clues within the house and more importantly are there secrets within the house that could reveal his whereabouts? This part of the film owes a lot to Poltergeist and Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others.

With its high octane female cast, The Orphanage may be the horror film that Pedro Almodovar might have directed. Besides Belen Rueda and Geraldine Chaplin, there is also Mabel Rivera as a police psychologist and Montserrat Carulla as the old and enigmatic social worker, Benigna. This is an estrogen heavy horror story, but do not begin to mistake it for a pathetic Lifetime movie of the week. Bayona has given us an excellent cast of characters to follow in his film. Still, it is Rueda’s Linda who is the primary driving force of the film. Her determination and love for Simon is awe inspiring as she refuses to give up hope. One cannot mistake her love and the bravery she has as she turns the tables at the end of the film. She recreates the orphanage as it was in her childhood. She goes through a lot of work, but it is never too much if it means finding Simon. Her relentless pursuit reminds me of JoBeth Williams’ Diane Freeling in Poltergeist as she goes into the supernatural world to rescue her daughter, Carol Anne. She also reminds me of Ripley going to rescue Newt from the Queen Mother Alien in Aliens. In some way she reminds me of Sally Farnham (Kim Darby) from the 1973 television film, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark– a film that still gives me the creeps. Sally and her husband inherit her Father’s house, a creepy old Victorian mansion. They move in to renovate it. She unlocks her Father’s old study and removes bricks from a fireplace. After doing this, she starts to see small demon like creatures everywhere. Her husband thinks she is neurotic and that she is losing her mind. Laura does remind me in some ways of Sally, Diane Freeling and Ellen Ripley. Laura has a determination within her to find her son, no matter what the cost is to her. At the end of the day, the price will be very high, but under the watchful eye of Juan Antonio Bayona, it is a fresh take on a very old story. Thanks to a knock out performance by Belen Rueda, Laura is one of the bravest and boldest screen heroines in many years.

- Jerry Dennis

“How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?”
– Hudson from Aliens

“Must be a chick thing.”
– Johner from Alien: Resurrection

“So you cooked up a story and dropped the six of us in a meatgrinder?”
– Dutch from Predator

I will always love Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. It is one of those great instances where the sequel towers above the original in many ways. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was nothing to write home about. The trailer for The Empire Strikes Back was the highpoint of that holiday movie going experience back in the Fourth Grade. Sadly, I drank the Kool Aid regarding the latest installment of the Aliens vs. Predator films; Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The trailer promised a much better film than the original one in this combination of classic franchises. The first film, AVP: Aliens vs. Predator was the equivalent of killing two great creations with one stone. Paul W.S. Anderson managed to give his usual dose of cinematic poison to the moving image. The sad thing is that the film was based on a much beloved Dark Horse comic book series– some things are better left on the page and to the imagination. While the first film was very run of the mill and left nothing to the imagination, conventional wisdom suggested that an R-rated sequel might up the stakes. If ever there was a Wrath Of Khan moment, this would be the one. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is not that saving grace; not even close. The sequel is more of the same, but with more gore. This would not be a bad thing, but the film boasts a very mythological lineage which it insults more than compliments. While watching the film, two Van Halen songs come to mind; “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” and “Jamie’s Cryin.” I could not get them out of my head. I must learn to stop riding the trailer bandwagon. If the first film did not kill off both franchises, maybe this film will, but I really doubt it. I am sure an unrated DVD will ensure a third film.

Requiem picks up where the last film left off and you do not need to watch the first film to grasp what is going on in this film. The Predator space ship crashes near a Colorado town after mayhem erupts on the ship. The Aliens and their face huggers are let loose on the surroundings and all hell erupts. This is the film in nutshell. Does that sell it to you? If it does, go out and enjoy the rest of your holiday vacation. All the Predators all killed on the ship. A “Pred-Alien” is the ringleader among the rest of beasties on Earth. Meanwhile, a lone Predator comes to earth after receiving a distress call. Yes, we get to see the Predator home planet. Is there only one Predator on this planet? Where is everyone else? Perhaps, they were watching the Spice Channel or they had better agents. The lone Predator comes to Earth to hunt down and kill all of the Aliens. He has the equivalent of the Arnold Schwarzenegger role from the first Predator film. It is interesting because the film cannibalizes from the first Predator and Aliens greatly. Meanwhile, the townspeople are stuck in the middle of this massive alien species conflict. Humans never fare well in these films, but I will say this. Predators will spare a pregnant woman, but Aliens will not even grant that kind of mercy.

Trouble starts when Steven Pasquale is one of the film’s protagonists. Steven Pasquale plays Dallas (an obvious nod to Tom Skerritt’s Captain Dallas in the first Alien film), an ex-con who comes back home at the wrong time. Pasquale is best known for playing Sean Garrity on one of my favorite shows, Rescue Me. Sean Garrity is the last person in the world I want watching my back. Where is Denis Leary’s Tommy Gavin to save the day? Really, I just kept wishing that his Rescue Me pals would show up and start kicking major ass. I recognize some of the other actors from television and other films. Reiko Aylesworth plays Kelly, an Iraq War Veteran, who has just come home from the war. She plays Kelly as an obvious nod to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley– too much at times. Kelly is concerned with the safety of her young daughter. This is meant to echo the relationship between Ripley and Newt in Aliens. The rest of the cast is your usual stock of genre stereotypes. The teenage melodrama that ensures is half baked CW material at best. I would have felt safer with Chasey Lain from Chasey Saves The World fighting the Aliens. Come to think of it, this film could have used her.

Humans are nothing more than Face Hugger bait in this film. The other thing that bothers me with these two films is that the chest bursting sequences have lost their ability to shock. Dare I say it; it has become run of the mill. H.R Giger’s creations have lost their ability to be the stuff of nightmares; I blame that on the Species films as well. Sure the first one was interesting, but by the second one Michael Madsen looked more than pissed off that his books of poetry were not selling more copies. The lack of true scares may be the film’s ultimate problem. Sure this story sounds great on paper. Fans of both films, especially the Alien films, have been waiting for carnage on Earth for a long time. Sadly, this film and its predecessor are not the right ways to go about it. The same problem can be attributed to the Resident Evil films; the ideas are interesting, but the execution is bland. Those films were based on video games and the video games are far more interesting. AVP: Requiem has the same kind of feel. I felt like I was watching a video game and wished I was at home playing Mass Effect or Bioshock instead of watching this film. A message to directors, Greg and Colin Strause and screenwriter, Shane Salerno, do not play us cheap. There is a Writer’s Strike going on and the Fan films may embarrass you in the long run.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem has a built in audience. I cannot say I am disappointed by the finished product. My cynical nature expects these kinds of results. Sure, the R-rated mayhem is better than the first film, much better, but nothing to write home about in the end. Although, I do have to say shame on you, Walter Hill. You should know better than anyone that this is paint by numbers filmmaking. Walter Hill is an executive producer on this film and a producer for the whole Alien series. He is a fantastic filmmaker in his own right. Surely, the sour production of Supernova could not have infected him so much. I thought the cerebral Deadwood would have made him know the difference between good and bad again. Part of me wishes Walter Hill would have directed this one– at least there would have been lots of broken glass. While I feel the film has some decent moments, it is not enough for it to rise above its mediocre nature. Still, not a complete waste of a Christmas Day. When I was younger, I thought an Alien V and a Predator 3 sounded like great films. The Aliens vs. Predator films make me think it is best to put these ideas behind us.

– Jerry Dennis

“There’s never a cop around when you need one.”

– Robert Neville from The Omega Man

“God didn’t do this. We did!”

– Robert Neville from I Am Legend

Is it possible to like a performance in a film, but be disappointed with the finished product? That is the question I have been asking myself since exiting the latest cinematic version of Richard Matheson’s timeless I Am Legend. Will Smith does a wonderful job in his portrayal of Robert Neville. He does an excellent job of following in Vincent Price’s and Charlton Heston’s footsteps– even improving on their performances. Vincent Price played Dr. Robert Morgan in The Last Man On Earth in 1964. Charlton Heston played Robert Neville in The Omega Man in 1971– the opening scenes of Heston driving on the empty streets of Los Angeles remains one of my favorites. While not a faithful adaptation, I still enjoy this version as it demonstrates for a time that Charlton Heston was the everyman of post-apocalyptic cinema. His roles in The Omega Man, Soylent Green and the first two Planet Of The Apes films cemented this status for me. Will Smith is the film’s centerpiece and main reason the film works at all. His performance is being compared constantly to Tom Hanks character, Chuck Noland in Castaway. The scenes between Smith’s Neville and his loyal German Shepherd, Sam, are being compared to Hanks and his relationship to the ball, Wilson. It is an interesting analogy. To be honest, the relationship evokes memories of the relationship between Max Rockatansky and his dog in the first half of The Road Warrior. The relationship also brings to mind the relationship between Don Johnson’s Vic and the telepathic dog, Blood, in A Boy And His Dog– granted there is no telepathy coming from Sam. Sam is played by Abbey, the greatest cinematic canine since Lassie. Actually, the first two acts of I Am Legend are very strong thanks to this relationship and a series of flashbacks that informs us of what went wrong.

Robert Neville seems to be the last man on earth. He is the lone human survivor of a horrible epidemic that has destroyed the human race. He is immune to the horrible apocalyptic disease. A cure for cancer is the root of this plague. An uncredited Emma Thompson plays the scientist who finds a cure for cancer which mutates into a plague in the film. Talk about the road to Hell being paved with the best intentions. When we meet Neville, he lives in the deserted New York City of 2012. He lives in a spacious Washington Square town house. He spends his day’s deer hunting, gathering fresh corn in Central Park, and hitting golf balls across the Hudson from deck of the aircraft carrier Intrepid. These are some of daylight activities before the Sun comes down. When daylight fades, it is time to seek shelter from them– the plague infected zombies known as the “dark seekers.” The empty streets of New York City are the film’s greatest special effects. The first half of the film is truly haunting. Watching Neville and Sam make their way on their rounds is very chilling. New York city has never been this quiet; the film takes this scenario much farther than Cameron Crowe did with Vanilla Sky. The opening scene of Robert and Sam driving through the empty streets is a nice homage to the opening of The Omega Man. They encounter a herd of wild deer and they decide to hunt them. The idea of wild deer running through the streets of New York City is very effective. As Robert is about to shoot a deer, a lion comes out and kills the deer for its family. It is a nice touch; the world has returned the hunting to the animals. These parts of the film have a lot in common with Geoff Murphy’s 1985 New Zealand film, The Quiet Earth in which a man wakes up to find himself as the last living person on earth.

Through a series of flashbacks and dream sequences we learn about how things came to be. At night, Robert and Sam barricade themselves inside the town house from the zombies. While Robert sleeps, we learn about New York City’s final hours before the city is quarantined. We see what happens to Robert’s wife and child. We see the downfall and decay of human civilization through his eyes. Even after the fall of Man, Robert is diligent in finding a cure to the disease. He is determined to find a cure for the virus. He has a state of the art laboratory set up in his town house. He performs tests and experiments on rats and the zombies he is able to capture. His immunity is his greatest weapon and his greatest curse. Will Smith’s performance is amazing in this very flawed film. He sets a daily routine where he wakes up, works out, and performs daily errands like going to a video store. He goes down to the river to broadcast a message to see if there are any survivors. This routine is important to him. He takes every precaution not to become a zombie– a clear distinction between him and them. Being the last man takes a toll on him. He sets up mannequins in the video store to have some semblance of human interaction. Robert Neville is going mad. I love this element of the film. As long as the film stays on this bleak vision of the future, it works very well. The film collapses in the third act.

If the relationship between Robert and Sam is the film’s greatest asset than the introduction of the zombies is the film’s weakest one. I miss the vampires from the original Richard Matheson story. I even miss the Albino mutants led by Anthony Zerbe’s Matthias in The Omega Man. Once we see the zombies, they are not very effective creatures or villains. I felt 28 Days Later and this year’s sequel, 28 Weeks Later did this sort of thing much better. They are not very scary. In fact, it is their noises the first night we hear them that is far more frightening. I really do not know what the filmmakers have against using the elements of the original story. Vampires are timeless like the story; this would have been better. This is the ultimate one man army against many story. To put it simply, the zombies or dark seekers drain the life from the film.

Will Smith’s performance can only carry the film so far. Will Smith has a knack for even making mediocre films like I, Robot and Hitch bearable. He made The Pursuit of Happyness a very watchable affair. He proved everyone wrong in Ali and he was triumphant in the film. The first half of the film is its strongest part. Director Francis Lawrence and screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman miss the mark in the third act. Francis Lawrence also directed Constantine, another uneven film based on popular source material. The film never regains it momentum with the introduction of several elements that hinder the momentum of the first hour. The ending feels tacked on, almost like an afterthought. They were doing re-shoots on this film recently. Maybe test audiences are not such a good idea. Ridley Scott was attached to this film at one time with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Robert Neville role. I do wish that Ridley Scott had directed this film. It could have used a real director’s touch.

While I Am Legend is based on a Richard Matheson story, it sadly does not feel like one after a while. That honor goes to another film that was met with box office indifference during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. The film I am talking about is Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, The Mist. Stephen King has stated how much of an influence Richard Matheson was on his writing. Matheson’s influence can be felt in a lot of places. His other works such as Duel, Stir Of Echoes, What Dreams May Come, The Incredible Shrinking Man and many others have been adapted for the big and small screen. Frank Darabont’s film is a stunning homage to his work, especially his Twilight Zone episodes. What we owe Richard Matheson is beyond evaluation. Francis Lawrence could learn a thing or two from Frank Darabont. Thanks to Will Smith, I Am Legend has something going for it.

- Jerry Dennis

Saw IV: Machines of Exquisite Pain

“Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It’s really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that’s all.”

– Matt Hooper from Jaws

“I promise that my work will continue.”

– Jigsaw from Saw IV

The original Omen films had some of the most fascinating and gruesome deaths. Each film provided unique ways for each of the victims to be decapitated or mutilated– no technique was left untouched. The turn of the century brought us the Final Destination films which relished new ways for the victims to meet their demise. I always felt these films were a wonderful parody of the Omen films. So much so, that Jonathan Moore’s 2006 remake of The Omen seemed like a rip off of the Final Destination films. But when it comes to unique and painful ways to torture victims, no other series has done it in the way of the Saw films. They are in a class by themselves. Whether that is good or bad, I am not certain that it even matters anymore. David Edelstein coined the term “Torture Porn”. According to him, the Saw and Hostel films belong in this category. This is ridiculous. Give me a break. New York magazine has its share of problems– Edelstein should do something about that ghastly “The Approval Matrix” section. The Saw films have a very loyal following. I have never seen anything like it in the horror genre before. These films were made for high school and college kids to see opening weekend. They rejoice which each outing. Although at the end of yesterday’s film, one kid shouted out there better not be a Saw V. I did not have the heart to tell him that five and six are already in the pipeline.

Speaking of that kid, I have to say the end of the film left me rather cold. The climax is very confusing and that is a waste. Of all the films, this uses a series of flashbacks to give us a fuller picture of Jigsaw/John (Tobin Bell). This is no easy task, given that Jigsaw’s corpse is on the morgue table as the film opens. Right from the start, gore hounds should be in seventh heaven, as Jigsaw’s autopsy is performed. We get the full works: the brain, the stomach and everything else. And to think, I used to be grossed out by Tom Savini as a teenager. The visual effects and make up teams for this film have really outdone themselves. With each film, there is a need to out do the previous film. That makes sense; you want them to come back for more. The idea to give Jigsaw a method to his madness is very clever. In each film, he seems like a cross between Kevin Spacey’s John Doe in Seven and Michael Caine’s Andrew Wyke in Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Sleuth. Jigsaw is a very elaborate master planner—the ultimate puppet master. No wonder James Wan went on to make Dead Silence. Jigsaw thinks of everything and as the film goes on, he has people to carry out his sinister executions. Even in death, his power over the whole film is unnerving. He is the most interesting character this time out. His back story keeps the film interesting up to a certain point. When we find out the why; we get it. This is a vigilante story in the end– plain and simple. Pay attention to the flashbacks and that is what you have. This back story comes out through Agent Hoffman’s (Costas Mandylor) interrogations of Jigsaw’s ex-wife, Jill (Betsy Russell). His ex-wife, Jill is pregnant with his child. At the clinic she runs, she is closing up shop and a drug addict assaults her. She loses the baby. This explains everything. Okay, maybe not. But it did keep my interest this time out.

For me, the Saw films are a mixed bag. I cannot say I get worked up for them with each new release. It has become a fact of life that every October Twisted Pictures and Lions Gate will release a new Saw film. I would not bet against them. Darren Lynn Bouseman stays close to the formula he has used in previous entries. The film has a machine like quality that never strays from the straight and narrow path. People come to see the various death traps that Jigsaw devises– death traps that would make Tomas de Torquemada and others involved in the Spanish Inquisition very envious. I am not going to even describe some of these machinations; they have to be seen to be believed. Besides Jigsaw’s back story, we follow SWAT Commander, Rigg (Lyriq Bent), a minor character from the previous two films. He is abducted and thrown into Jigsaw’s insane game. Rigg has ninety minutes to conquer a series of interconnected death traps. It is a race against time for Rigg and everyone else involved. Can everyone solve the puzzle before time runs out?

Saw IV left me cold. I always go to see these films on a rainy day. It is the perfect condition for seeing this type of film. The films have precision about them that cannot be denied. They work well and do their job. The climax of the film lost me, but seems to make clear that another installment will be here same time, next year. I would not mind seeing someone else at the helm to give it a fresh feel. A veteran or fresh face would be a welcomed change. Better yet, I feel Mr. Bouseman should use his manic energy on a new series. I have never been a big fan of this franchise. My curiosity always leads me to them, but I never get much out of these films. I do not apologize for not being able to get into these films. While I am not a fan of them, please stop with the articles and editorials declaring that the genre is dead. If anything, the genre is alive and well. This film’s fervent fan base is a testament to the genre’s resilience and longevity. After watching the film, I really just wished I could watch Paul Busetti’s Cannibal Cheerleader Camp. It cannot get here soon enough.

Jerry Dennis

30 Days of Night: The Lurking, Endless Fear

“I know I’m human. And if you were all these things, then you’d just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn’t want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. It’ll fight if it has to, but it’s vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it’s won.”

– R.J. Macready from The Thing (1982)

“That cold ain’t the weather, that’s death approaching.”

– The Stranger from 30 Days of Night

As 30 Days Of Night opens, Ben Foster as the Stranger is walking from a large ship docked in the ice. His walk along the icy Alaskan wasteland is a very impressive shot. His destination is the town of Barrow, Alaska– the northernmost city in the United States. From the film’s opening, cinematographer, Jo Willems, and art directors Nigel Churcher and Mark Robins have created a beautiful and ominous looking world. Feelings of dread and unease envelop the audience as Foster surveys the town from a distance. His arrival can only mean something very horrible is about to happen. The town of Barrow is about to go dark for thirty days– no daylight for a whole month. As the film opens, many of the residents are leaving to go south. The beauty of David Slade’s film is that he gets to the action from the beginning. David Slade has given Steven Niles and Ben Templesmith’s graphic novel of the same name a cinematic fury that never lets up. Steven Niles is also one of the film’s screenwriters. David Slade’ previous film was Hard Candy which served as a vivid reminder that maybe meeting people online is not always a good idea. With 30 Days of Night, Slade goes even further. It is very rare to see a horror film that really frightens me these days. The level of fear in the film surpasses most things I have seen in recent years. Only Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later comes close to matching this film. The rapid fire change from human to zombie in that film was down right terrifying. The furious dehumanization of its characters created a real sense of fear. David Slade does that with great ease in this film. Hope exits the film very quickly.

When Sheriff Eben Oleson, played by a very effective Josh Harnett, and his partner discover a large pile of burnt cell phones, it does not bode well for the town of Barrow. All of the sleigh dogs are found slaughtered. Who would do this? Why? But as the audience, we know what is going on. Someone or something does not want you to leave town or be able to seek help. Isolation is the order of the day. The town’s power plant shuts down. With the arrival of The Stranger in the town, something awful is on the horizon. As the long cold winter takes shape, the eternal darkness sets in and it is not just absence of sunlight for thirty days. Ben Foster’s Stranger is the advance man for a gang of vampires who have chosen Barrow as their next feeding ground. The Stranger is like the Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four comic books. He served as the advance man to the planet devouring giant, Galactus. After a run in with Sheriff Eben at the town diner, the Stranger is taken to the jail where he is handcuffed to the cell door. From this position, he forecasts impending doom. Eben and his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George) listen to what the crazy stranger has to say.

2007 is Ben Foster’s year. He stole the show as Charlie Prince in 3:10 To Yuma (Read Review Here). His fiercely loyal David Prince was a throwback to a Peckinpah character. He broke out of Russell Corwin’s shadow, the character he played on Six Feet Under, with such thuggish roles in films like Hostage and Alpha Dog. As the Stranger, he comes across as Elisha Cook Jr. on crack. You see, he keeps saying they did not take me away. He has made a deal with the vampires; he will do everything they ask of him and then make him one of them. The Stranger is as pathetic as he naïve. Foster is perfect in the role– a modern day Renfield who is a miserable pest.

The film could have easily been called The Longest Month. For thirty days, Eben, Melissa, Eben’s brother, Jake (Mark Rendall) and a handful of survivors must figure out ways to endure until sunlight returns. The best thing to do is to hide and figure out how to outlast these super powerful predators. Guerrilla warfare tactics will come into play, but it seems the vampires are always one step ahead of their human prey.

There are some great set pieces and several wonderful uses of foreshadowing early in the film. The vampires are sleek and fast– jumping from houses and using other humans as bait. They are relentless in their pursuit. Guns and bullets do not work on them– they only annoy the hell out of them. A trusty, sharp ax is the best way to deal with these creatures– severing their heads destroys them.

As Eben, Harnett is very good. He was one of the few bright spots in The Black Dahlia, but he seems to shine in this film. For some reason, the audience feels safe with him as the Sheriff. Before the De Palma film, I had not seen him in anything that really grabbed me. The former “It” boy finally does well and lives up to his potential. And like Vacancy earlier this year, the film’s gruesome events serve as a way to save his marriage to Melissa– although this film is way ahead of the Luke Wilson/Kate Beckinsale motel hell frenzy. What works very well in the film is some of the plot devices. Harnett’s character rises the occasion; he is perfect for this genre.

The film’s greatest asset is that it brings fear and anxiety back to the audience. The vampire is something to be feared; our dreams of them are real. It helps that the vampires are led by Danny Huston. As Marlow, he earns his last name just as he did in The Proposition. Huston’s Marlow and his vampire cronies speak in a foreign dialect. We never doubt Huston’s feral nature. His rawness, when dealing with victims and especially when dealing with Ben Foster, does not surprise us, but it instills fear in us. This is not The Little Vampire. Toward the end, Marlow needs to ensure there are no survivors. The need to make sure that the humans only know them as “bad dreams” must remain intact. We believe he has been doing this for centuries. Huston excels at playing these parts. Marlow could easily be the long lost brother of The Proposition’s Arthur Burns.

I feel 30 Days of Night is a chilling and incredibly well done horror film. Horror films do not always succeed in creating a truly scary atmosphere, but this film does it right away. I was not expecting to be as impressed as I was with this film. Truth be told, I do love the genre, but I have burned out on it over the years. Too many remakes and just too many remakes of Asian horror films have soured me, but this film, along with 28 Weeks Later, is bringing me back into the fold. I roll my eyes more than I care to admit while watching the latest horror films. At least the Saw films still mange to make me turn away during their most disgusting parts.
S
lade has created a feeling of isolation and despair that I have not seen since John Carpenter’s The Thing. I could not help thinking of that film which still haunts me. It also reminds me of John Carpenter’s The Fog. The atmosphere is the real star of that film. The mist is a real creepy presence. While I feel Harnett’s Eben is no match for Kurt Russell’s Macready, I still needed to see how he would handle this crisis. While I do like 30 Days of Night, it is not in the same league as those John Carpenter films. Suspense and curiosity make a great team. The unrelenting pulse is key to the film’s appeal– an adrenaline rush of fear. David Slade has created an environment of fear– a horror film that can truly scare me is one worth seeing. As in many horror films, particularly vampires stories, surviving through the night means life and salvation.

Jerry Dennis