Quite a Few Films to View, If You Want
"The Hatred"
starring: Sarah Davenport, Andrew Divoff, Darby Walker, Nina Siemaszko, Shae Smolik, Gabrielle Bourne, Bayley Corman, Alisha Wainwright, David Naughton, Amanda Wyss
written and directed by: Michael G. Kehoe
Everything that could be cliche about horror movies seems to have been the M.O. for this filmmaker when he was writing and directing this one. Forget about the whole "mystery" of why someone would keep a Nazi relic in their house, all the shit that goes down from that opening scene on is one big horror film cliche after another. You've got a house full of attractive girls, who all happen to be friends, staying at one of their professor's house, as they are all tapped to be babysitters for the professor's little girl who is staying alone in the house for the first time with these girls that she may or may not have even met prior to this set up.
The Hatred opens in 1968, where we see a family tending to their orchard. Father Samuel, who is a former Nazi officer, receives an ancient relic in the mail which he conceals in the wall. This artifact apparently creates violent feelings in those within the vicinity, as Samuel soon kills his daughter, Alice (Darby Walker), and he, in turn, is killed by his wife, Miriam (Nina Siemaszko). The story then jumps ahead to the present, where Regan (Sarah Davenport) arrives at the orchard to babysit her niece, Irene (Shae Smolik). Accompanied by her friends, Layan (Gabrielle Bourne), Samantha (Bayley Corman), and Betaine (Alisha Wainwright), Regan tries to comfort the girl, who is spending her first night in the house while her parents are away. (?!) As night falls, strange things begin to happen around the house, and it becomes apparent that something sinister is afoot.
For a horror film, the story is filled with holes and extremely vague, as the filmmaker seems to just be finding ways to scare the audience, but even those scares are not jump- or cringe-worthy. The characters are not very well written or fleshed out, so that we actually care about them or what happens to them. Their relationships amongst each other are very flawed and superficial, at best. Unfortunately, this film failed on all levels and will probably just be filed under the C-list actresses "I wish I had't made this" at some point in their careers.
.......................................................................
"The River Thief"
starring: Joel Courtney, Paul Johansson, Bas Rutten, Raleigh Cain
written and directed by: N.D. Wilson
Joel Courtney was one of the boys from "Super 8" and now he's grown up, or at least a teenager, in this film. He plays the title character, the river thief- a reckless teenage drifter who takes his thieving act to a small river town. While there, he quickly falls for the strong-willed waitress (played perfectly by a newcomer Raleigh Cain, last seen in "Longmire," who does a great job making her character anything but the manic pixie dream girl to Joel Courtney's character).
Courtney's thief ends up robbing the right people AND the wrong people, and their pursuit of him and the stolen goods is what drives the film. It's a decent indie film about connections and not just about filling in the gaps with action. This is where indie films do things right. And, I think it helps that the novelist, whose book the film is based on, also wrote and directed the film, allowing his vision to stay intact.
.........................................................................
"ARQ"
starring: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson, Gray Powell, Jacob Neayem, Adam Butcher, Tantoo Cardinal
written and directed by: Tony Elliott
Remember what I said about Netflix producing "Original" work? Yeah, well, here's yet another seemingly "original" film with an expansive plotline that doesn't really do much, while also making you feel that sensation of been-there-done-that. They have the rom-com Groundhog Day, so why not attempt a more scientifically based Groundhog Day type of film?
After so many times of reliving the same day, though, the film loses its audience because there's just so much added and holes attempted to be filled each time, that you get too lost and thus do not enjoy what you are watching and you are begging for it to end soon.
........................................................................
"Cabin Fever"
starring: Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis, Nadine Crocker, Dustin Ingram, Randy Shulman, George Griffith, Tim Zajaros, Aaron Trainer, Louise Linton
written by: Randy Pearlstein (Eli Roth, original)
directed by: Travis Zariwny
Low-budget horror films have always seemed to come as a dime a dozen. Some are done well, with what they have, in terms of what they offer. They offer pretty much the same thing every time: 1) the archetype characters 2) this is where they go and 3) this is how they die. The good ones have a decent energy. The original "Cabin Fever" brought to us by Eli Roth did everything it was supposed, because he took what he learned studying the films that came before his own and made his own almost paying homage in the same way that his film buddy Tarantino does with each of his own films.
That being said, did we need a remake of his film? No.
For those who’ve yet to see Roth’s original film, director Travis Zariwny’s remake keeps the larger story elements virtually the same. The plot follows five friends who venture out to a remote town for vacation. At first, they drink, laugh, and have fun, but when an uninvited guest shows up covered in blood and carrying a deadly disease, the friends discover their surroundings may not be as getaway-friendly as they initially assumed. Zariwny’s update is merely a formal downgrade of Roth’s cult classic, prompting one to wonder why Roth even bothered to produce this new film, let alone co-write it. In the decade since his initial success, Roth has been moving further away from the gleeful pastiche that characterized his debut. Almost every film he’s involved with is shot digitally, resulting in crisp, clean images. While I’m far from an opponent of the shift to digital filmmaking, the way Roth and his cohorts employ it in telling their stories is discordant with the types of narratives they are invested in. Roth’s Cabin Fever had softer images, all of which were dominated by a reddish hue as though the celluloid had been dipped in a bucket of blood. The formal rigor was attuned to the story being told, and they complemented one another quite effectively.
What makes Eli Roth a good filmmaker is his sense of humor and attention to detail, like he knows what he's doing could be seen as mundane, but he adds a flair to it that makes you accept it, for what it is. Like he is in on his joke. All of what makes Roth and his films good is lost in translation when remade.
I was nervous when I heard about "The Evil Dead" remake, because that is just an absolute classic B-horror movie, but the remake was done well, even though we did not necessarily neeeeeeeeed a remake.
This one fails from the onset.
............................................................................
"Cash Only"
starring: Nikola Shreli, Brandon Trammer, Stivi Paskoski, Danijela Stajnfeld, Malik Bader, Herion Mustafaraj, Ele Bardha
written by: Nikola Shreli
directed by: Malik Bader
Here is the indie film's answer to Liam Neeson's "Taken" franchise, all rolled into one compact, perfectly paced film that concludes and you feel a sense of relief and not like you need a few sequels to feel better. The fact that it takes place in Detroit is equally a bit shocking and well understood, given the economic hardship its faced as a whole for the past couple of decades- which definitely make it seem like an Eastern European city of desolation, at least as a location in this film and story.
starring: Sarah Davenport, Andrew Divoff, Darby Walker, Nina Siemaszko, Shae Smolik, Gabrielle Bourne, Bayley Corman, Alisha Wainwright, David Naughton, Amanda Wyss
written and directed by: Michael G. Kehoe
Everything that could be cliche about horror movies seems to have been the M.O. for this filmmaker when he was writing and directing this one. Forget about the whole "mystery" of why someone would keep a Nazi relic in their house, all the shit that goes down from that opening scene on is one big horror film cliche after another. You've got a house full of attractive girls, who all happen to be friends, staying at one of their professor's house, as they are all tapped to be babysitters for the professor's little girl who is staying alone in the house for the first time with these girls that she may or may not have even met prior to this set up.
The Hatred opens in 1968, where we see a family tending to their orchard. Father Samuel, who is a former Nazi officer, receives an ancient relic in the mail which he conceals in the wall. This artifact apparently creates violent feelings in those within the vicinity, as Samuel soon kills his daughter, Alice (Darby Walker), and he, in turn, is killed by his wife, Miriam (Nina Siemaszko). The story then jumps ahead to the present, where Regan (Sarah Davenport) arrives at the orchard to babysit her niece, Irene (Shae Smolik). Accompanied by her friends, Layan (Gabrielle Bourne), Samantha (Bayley Corman), and Betaine (Alisha Wainwright), Regan tries to comfort the girl, who is spending her first night in the house while her parents are away. (?!) As night falls, strange things begin to happen around the house, and it becomes apparent that something sinister is afoot.
For a horror film, the story is filled with holes and extremely vague, as the filmmaker seems to just be finding ways to scare the audience, but even those scares are not jump- or cringe-worthy. The characters are not very well written or fleshed out, so that we actually care about them or what happens to them. Their relationships amongst each other are very flawed and superficial, at best. Unfortunately, this film failed on all levels and will probably just be filed under the C-list actresses "I wish I had't made this" at some point in their careers.
.......................................................................
"The River Thief"
starring: Joel Courtney, Paul Johansson, Bas Rutten, Raleigh Cain
written and directed by: N.D. Wilson
Joel Courtney was one of the boys from "Super 8" and now he's grown up, or at least a teenager, in this film. He plays the title character, the river thief- a reckless teenage drifter who takes his thieving act to a small river town. While there, he quickly falls for the strong-willed waitress (played perfectly by a newcomer Raleigh Cain, last seen in "Longmire," who does a great job making her character anything but the manic pixie dream girl to Joel Courtney's character).
Courtney's thief ends up robbing the right people AND the wrong people, and their pursuit of him and the stolen goods is what drives the film. It's a decent indie film about connections and not just about filling in the gaps with action. This is where indie films do things right. And, I think it helps that the novelist, whose book the film is based on, also wrote and directed the film, allowing his vision to stay intact.
.........................................................................
"ARQ"
starring: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson, Gray Powell, Jacob Neayem, Adam Butcher, Tantoo Cardinal
written and directed by: Tony Elliott
Remember what I said about Netflix producing "Original" work? Yeah, well, here's yet another seemingly "original" film with an expansive plotline that doesn't really do much, while also making you feel that sensation of been-there-done-that. They have the rom-com Groundhog Day, so why not attempt a more scientifically based Groundhog Day type of film?
A Groundhog Day scenario in which the hero's not the only one who learns he's in a time loop, Tony Elliott's ARQ pits the (accidental) inventor of a time machine against multiple players who want to steal it before they even know what it does.
Following soon after Elliot's writing work on Orphan Black, this low-budget offering has some built-in fanboy appeal; but its knottily plotted action is involving enough to attract sci-fi fans with no knowledge of Elliott's small-screen credits.
Despite being set in a possibly endless loop, the film wastes no time, starting off as Renton (Robbie Amell) awakens from what he thinks is a nightmare, only to be kidnapped by three men wearing gas masks. Soon the woman sleeping beside him is taken also; they're bound and threatened; Renton tries to escape; he's killed. And then he wakes up, remembering everything that just happened, and tries again.
Early scenes play like Edge of Tomorrow, with Renton using lessons learned in one iteration — about both his captors and the long-lost lover, Hannah (Rachael Taylor of Jessica Jones), he was just reunited with — in an effort to win his freedom the next time around. Suffice to say that multiple characters aren't what they seem to be, some having confused allegiances to the two factions — a tyrannical megacorp called Torus; a rebellion known as The Block — waging war in the near-apocalyptic world outside Renton's bunker-like home. Renton, who (perhaps unwillingly) once worked for Torus, has invented what may be a perpetual-motion machine, the ARQ, which has shorted out and is causing the same three hours or so to repeat ad infinitum.Despite being set in a possibly endless loop, the film wastes no time, starting off as Renton (Robbie Amell) awakens from what he thinks is a nightmare, only to be kidnapped by three men wearing gas masks. Soon the woman sleeping beside him is taken also; they're bound and threatened; Renton tries to escape; he's killed. And then he wakes up, remembering everything that just happened, and tries again.
After so many times of reliving the same day, though, the film loses its audience because there's just so much added and holes attempted to be filled each time, that you get too lost and thus do not enjoy what you are watching and you are begging for it to end soon.
........................................................................
"Cabin Fever"
starring: Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis, Nadine Crocker, Dustin Ingram, Randy Shulman, George Griffith, Tim Zajaros, Aaron Trainer, Louise Linton
written by: Randy Pearlstein (Eli Roth, original)
directed by: Travis Zariwny
Low-budget horror films have always seemed to come as a dime a dozen. Some are done well, with what they have, in terms of what they offer. They offer pretty much the same thing every time: 1) the archetype characters 2) this is where they go and 3) this is how they die. The good ones have a decent energy. The original "Cabin Fever" brought to us by Eli Roth did everything it was supposed, because he took what he learned studying the films that came before his own and made his own almost paying homage in the same way that his film buddy Tarantino does with each of his own films.
That being said, did we need a remake of his film? No.
For those who’ve yet to see Roth’s original film, director Travis Zariwny’s remake keeps the larger story elements virtually the same. The plot follows five friends who venture out to a remote town for vacation. At first, they drink, laugh, and have fun, but when an uninvited guest shows up covered in blood and carrying a deadly disease, the friends discover their surroundings may not be as getaway-friendly as they initially assumed. Zariwny’s update is merely a formal downgrade of Roth’s cult classic, prompting one to wonder why Roth even bothered to produce this new film, let alone co-write it. In the decade since his initial success, Roth has been moving further away from the gleeful pastiche that characterized his debut. Almost every film he’s involved with is shot digitally, resulting in crisp, clean images. While I’m far from an opponent of the shift to digital filmmaking, the way Roth and his cohorts employ it in telling their stories is discordant with the types of narratives they are invested in. Roth’s Cabin Fever had softer images, all of which were dominated by a reddish hue as though the celluloid had been dipped in a bucket of blood. The formal rigor was attuned to the story being told, and they complemented one another quite effectively.
What makes Eli Roth a good filmmaker is his sense of humor and attention to detail, like he knows what he's doing could be seen as mundane, but he adds a flair to it that makes you accept it, for what it is. Like he is in on his joke. All of what makes Roth and his films good is lost in translation when remade.
I was nervous when I heard about "The Evil Dead" remake, because that is just an absolute classic B-horror movie, but the remake was done well, even though we did not necessarily neeeeeeeeed a remake.
This one fails from the onset.
............................................................................
"Cash Only"
starring: Nikola Shreli, Brandon Trammer, Stivi Paskoski, Danijela Stajnfeld, Malik Bader, Herion Mustafaraj, Ele Bardha
written by: Nikola Shreli
directed by: Malik Bader
Here is the indie film's answer to Liam Neeson's "Taken" franchise, all rolled into one compact, perfectly paced film that concludes and you feel a sense of relief and not like you need a few sequels to feel better. The fact that it takes place in Detroit is equally a bit shocking and well understood, given the economic hardship its faced as a whole for the past couple of decades- which definitely make it seem like an Eastern European city of desolation, at least as a location in this film and story.
After the death of his wife in a botched arson, Elvis Martini (Shreli) stays in the close-knit Albanian community of Hamtramck (a small, working-class city surrounded by Detroit). He’s become a negligent landlord, with an apartment building in foreclosure, and a haphazard father to precocious nine-year-old Lena (Ava Simony).
Despite everything, Elvis views himself as basically decent, and Shreli locates that moral certainty at the intersection of the character’s contradictions. This zealously lapsed Catholic still sends Lena to parochial school, and while he may complain that his tenants take advantage of him, he’s more than willing to accept sex or drugs (director Bader plays a brilliantly loopy marijuana grower) in lieu of full payment. He could always hustle, but when the sadistic Dino (a terrifying Stivi Paskoski) kidnaps Lena, Shreli goes full Neeson, methodically upping Elvis’s capacity for criminality and violence.
This was a great film that makes you feel uncomfortable at many turns and sequences, with its raw energy and strong sense of place and urgency. This Detroit is bleak and unforgiving, but at the same time, vividly and defiantly alive, even in the masque of night.
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