Odd Thomas (2013)

Odd Thomas - Trailer

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Liked It) 

Netflix Synopsis:  In a California desert town, a short order cook with clairvoyant abilities encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.

The Peeps: Stephen Sommers  (writer, director); Dean Koontz (adapted from his novel); Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe, Addison Timlin

Quick Run Down: Cliche Dialogue but Energetic, Fun, and Entertaining

Worth the Watch: Just sit back and enjoy!

Odd Thomas - not a nickname - lives in a small town in CA called Pico Mundo (translates to "peak world").  He's gotta job in a diner kitchen, a hot girlfriend with a hippy name: Stormy, and a 'sixth sense' that allows him to tell when tragedy has happened or will happen.  Using this sense, Odd goes on the hunt when dead people show up on his doorstep or when he gets hunches that something might be up.  This leads him down a rabbit hole of strangeness that usually results in the resolution of some unsolved murder. One day, though, an unusually weird guy shows up in town and puts Odd's extra sense threat level on 'severe'.  Creepy creatures start emerging as a sure sign of to-ensue carnage, and our main character begins to unravel a mystery full of more strangeness than he's ever encountered before!

Stephen Sommers, the writer and director of Odd Thomas, isn't great.  He glosses over small details and uses cliches in the slower parts of his films.  This is him mostly being a PG-13 action movie director.  He's going for the entertainment factor and hoping or assuming viewers will not dwell on the overlooked things. And he usually gets his way.  If you've seen The Mummy, Van Helsing, or G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra - all helmed by Sommers, you'll remember parts that were really cliche or just didn't add up at times, but the flicks are entertaining and well directed enough that you don't think much about it.  You shrug off the stuff that doesn't add up and just sit back to enjoy the show.  This pretty much sums up Odd. There are moments that don't make sense, ranging from unrealistic to questionable, and others that are cheesy. In fact, some of the dialogue in the film - namely, the relationship's - will make you throw up a little in your mouth. It's easy to swallow down though because Sommers and his crew are having fun.  The camera is going nuts, swooping and panning and dollying all over the place, and the script has a LOT of stuff in it.  (I imagine this is because Sommers was trying to cram as much of Koontz's material into an 1 hr and 40 minutes.  Not sure though, as I haven't read the book.)  Also, there's a ton of CGI, almost all of which is surprisingly well done, and the acting is really good.  Yelchin (Thomas) carries his role confidently and Dafoe (Police Chief Porter) is a natural, making even the most mundane line work.  Addison Timlin (Stormy) isn't great, but she works for the character and as young-adult eye candy, which is fitting for the film.  The biggest complaint that I have - save the overall lack of depth - is that the tone of the movie often changes abruptly.  There are sudden scenes of emotion tossed into segments of tension and action that make the film feel inconsistent and uneven.  Still, all of the good things wind up coming together to make what is a largely a teen action thriller good for adults.  I'm thinking if you take The Mummy and bump it down a notch in intelligence and intrigue,you've got Odd Thomas. Maybe not the best equation for a good film but decent entertainment, nonetheless.

So, if you want to watch a fun and energetic teen action thriller that works its chops enough to be a good time for adults, I'd take a look at Odd Thomas.  It's a good Friday night with the family movie, even if there are some severed fingers and creepy creatures in it.  Check it out - it's on Netflix! 

      

"I may see dead people but, at least, by God, I do something about it."

The Tortured (2010)

The Tortured - trailer

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Liked It) 

Netflix* Synopsis:  After their young son is abducted and murdered by a psychopath, a well-heeled couple kidnap the killer and torture him.

The Peeps:  Robert Lieberman (director); Marek Posival (writer); Erika Christensen, Jesse Metcalfe, Bill Moseley

Quick Run Down:  Well-Directed, Occasionally Vicious, Good Way To Kill A Friday Night

Worth the Watch: Yeah

The Tortured wastes no time.  It opens on a hysterical Craig Landry, standing on a bridge in the middle of traffic, screaming into a cell phone that his son has been kidnapped.  Then, we move to the Landry home, where the mother - Elise - arrives from work and hears the news.  Soon, 'Where's Benjamin Landry?' is the phrase coming from everyone's sob-choked throats.  Cut to the home of John Kozlowski, who is sitting in front of a mirror, listening to kid lullabies on record, while little Benji cries for his mommy in the background. Kozlowski is a wacko with a history of dressing up like a little girl and playing daddy and daughter all rolled into one before mutilating kids that's he's abducted.  But he doesn't get away with this one, and the police catch him.  Accordingly, he stands trial and gets sentenced to 25 to life. This isn't enough for Craig and Elise, though, and they decide to capture Kozlowki from police custody and dish out their own form of justice.

This is a movie that has good to really good parts that help make up for the bad ones.  The opening is quick and to the point; the entire first act doesn't beat around the bush; and, once Craig and Elise (Metcalfe and Christensen, respectively) get their hands on Kozlowski (Moseley), there are some good bits about personal justice, torture, and the effects - and maybe morality - of vengeance.  The whole film is well directed and well edited, and the music is really good.  Jeff Rona, the composer, does some unique things that give the film a heightened sense of tension and mystery. Plus, the film just looks good - some moody use of dark blues and angle shots that keep the film from being exploitative and give it a certain artistic appeal alongside being a torture flick. As for the acting, it's fair enough.  Christensen has an annoying voice and her reactions are questionable sometimes, but, in the situation of being a mother whose 6 year old son has been murdered, I can't really say what I would expect her reactions to be.  So, she does a decent job.  Metcalfe looks mostly constipated through the whole flick, with his dark, bushy brows furrowed low over his eyes, and almost all of his acting is done in an angry, hand-slapping-the desk-or-any-hard-surface-nearby kind of way.  He sells his role, though, and keeps us invested.  Moseley is his normal, lanky and creepy self with some really good body acting when we get to the torture scenes.  In fact, this is probably the best acting of the whole movie and amounts to the best parts too.  The thing that makes The Tortured difficult to really like is the story.  There are some pieces - namely, a large chunk of the middle and the very end - that will have people pondering plausibility and considering plot holes.  The idea of a young yuppie couple STEALING a child molester from the hands of the authorities is ridiculous, and the way the action transpires in the film requires a lot of writer's privilege and audience suspension of disbelief.  It's a horror movie so I'll give you that, but, when considering the ending, well... it's mostly unnecessary, kind of silly, and creates problems within the story.  Enough so that, when you start thinking about, you realize that it might be largely ridiculous.  But, it's just a small part.  If you can get past it, I think you'll like the movie as a whole.

Something that I found myself thinking about as the film went on was - just what are the benefits of vengeance?  Isn't it, mostly, just a widening of the rabbit hole of despair created by the initial tragedy?  Does anything good come from revenge?  These questions are briefly touched on in the latter parts of the film but never addressed.  I definitely think the film's approach to these deeper ideas was well-executed but the ending could have been much better and further drove home those said ideas with some kind of highlighting dilemma or final action.  Instead, Lieberman (director) and Posival (writer) chose a silly, modern cop-out that detracts from any kind of deeper questioning and, ultimately, the movie as a whole.  If it'd been better set up from the beginning of the film, I might have been less critical, but I don't think it works in the way that it's finally delivered.

So, if you wanna see a well put together movie with some questionable actions in the middle and an unnecessary ending, check out The Tortured.  It'd be a good way to kill a Friday night.  If you don't believe me, look at it for yourself.  It's on Netflix!

"How do you derive pleasure from other people's pain?"

___
*Disclaimer: Netflix is TM and copyrighted; all rights reserved.  Any material used or stemming from the site is theirs, exclusively.  This site is not, in any way, affiliated with Netflix.  It's only a horror hound's effort to help consumers find the best (and worse) horror movies available on the website. Happy watching!

Jug Face (2013)

Jug Face -
I'd watch this over the movie

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Hated It) 

Netflix Synopsis: A pregnant teen tries to flee her backwoods community when she learns she's to be sacrificed to a monstrous beast that lives in a pit near her town.

The Peeps: Chad Crawford Kinkle (writer, director); Lauren Ashley Carter, Sean Bridgers

Quick Run Down:  Impotent, Kinda Laughable, Mundane 

Worth the Watch: Not At All

Ada's a young girl in a troubled world.  She's got a man hard for her all the time, a mute grandpa whose brain don't work like the rest, and her momma checks her out each month to make sure she's drippin' like she should be cuz if she ain't it means someone's been fooling 'round in and where they shouldn't've been.  So, what's a girl to do?  Well, she's gonna let that man - boy, really - get up in her so to ease that hurtin' erection and then accidentally get pregnant then try to hide it.  But in Ada's world - a reclusive community in Backwoods, America - you can't just hide things.  That's because there's this Pit, see.  A gaping, ugly omnipotent Pit in the ground with bubbling, brown water in the bottom of It, and It watches over the people in the community and sends out a big, hideous creature to right wrongs when things don't go as It - the Pit - planned.  And there's definitely a plan. The Pit telepathically tells a mentally challenged member of the group who is the next person to be sacrificed to It - It needs sacrifices to stay happy - and the man makes a jug with the person's face on it and whose ever face matches the face on the jug (ah - Jug Face!) gets laid down on a stump and sacrificed like all good Pit loving folks should.  When Ada sees her OWN face on the next jug, though, she hides it so no one will know cuz she don't wanna die. But this pisses the Pit off.  It can't have no foul ups in Its master plan, so It sends a big ugly creature out to bring the wrath upon any victim it can get its dirty hands on!

The Pit - bow down in Gratitude and Terror.

I can usually find something to like in movies, but I came up with pretty much nothing in Jug Face.  It's a pointless, impotent film that makes you question why it was even made.  It's kind of like watching a wet rag hang on the edge of a sink and slowly, slowly slide off. Then fall. That's Jug Face.  There's no tension, no emotion, and no zeal.  It's just a slow series of events that show an unfathomably selfish girl keep ridiculous secrets and continually loop the noose for her own hanging.  There aren't any characters worth talking about, and the villain - a possessed or blessed or something Pit - might be the worst antagonist ever.  It's just a big hole in the ground with water in the bottom, and the creature it supposedly releases you never actually see. It's just portrayed through a moving-through-the-woods-then-spotting-someone POV shot.  Plus, the murders it commits are shot in cheesy, shaky, jaundiced colored segments that come off largely laughable.  Even the one ghost part - some kid that was killed long ago by the Pit and haunts the trees - isn't scary.  It's not even presented as scary; it's there to help. So, thinking about it, there's NOTHING scary in this film.  It's almost like Kinkle (writer, director) forget he was making a horror movie, and maybe he wasn't.  Maybe there's some kind of social commentary going on that I don't realize, but I'm not digging through the Pit muck to find out.  It's not worth it.

Alright - I feel pervy for saying it but Carter gets topless in the first ten minutes.  There.  Turn it off afterwards.

So, if you want to watch a movie that I would compare to watching a porno starring an impotent, 70 year old blind man and a Japanese virgin, I'd recommend Jug Face.  It's not any good, but you be the judge.  It's on Netflix!

This is the... no one cares.

"And I thank the Pit with all my heart for making it so."

The Den (2013)

The Den - Trailer,
but I'd say don't watch it.
Just go for the movie.

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Really Liked It) 

Netflix Synopsis: While investigating webcam chat habits, a young woman witnesses a gruesome murder online.  Now she and those she loves are being pursued by the killer.

The Peeps:  Zachary Donohue (director, co-writer); Lauren Thompson (co-writer); Melanie Papalia, David Schlactenhaufen, Adam Shapiro

Quick Run Down:  Tense, Scary, Good

Worth the Watch: Hell Yeah!

Liz is a research student - apparently, at least; it's really not explained - that is applying for a grant to study the new way we communicate with people across the world - through facetime... or interfacing... or web-chatting... or whatever it's called.  Regardless, her idea is to record the innumerable chats she plans to have over a chat website called 'The Den' and use the collected info to explain why we are chatting across the globe to complete strangers but also, and more importantly, WHO we are chatting to.  As she says in the film, "The question still remains - who's out there?", but, as Liz begins her study, she finds that who is on the other end of her cam is not at all the friendly, chatty face she was hoping for.  It's someone much worse.

I really liked The Den, and there are several reasons why.  Barely going a full 80 minutes, the flick is filmed almost entirely through web interfacing, with a little bit of security camera type footage thrown in towards the end.  I initially thought this would be annoying, but I found myself really intrigued 10 or so minutes in because of the dynamics of what was happening on-camera.  You have emails being checked and read, multiple people saying hello or signing off, and others video calling. When these video calls are answered, you are watching two people, of course, but there are often scenes where the two people wind up doing two different things - one has to answer a phone call; another quickly responds to an email.  There's a multitasking element present in the fiction that closely relates to our everyday reality, and, while getting too close to home can sometimes suck the fun out of entertainment, this element in the movie works really well. It provides a constant back and forth for our entertainment/preoccupation hungry minds, and it also sets up a double layer of tension - one for one camera, one for the other.  This only works because the movie doesn't revolve around the 'there's someone behind you and only I can see him!' trope.  (Young as it is, the tactic's already a trope.) Instead, again, you have the multitasking element. Thompson and Donohue (writers) are pumping focus points in from both ends, and you find yourself pulled between two moments of tension or, at least, intrigue. Plus, the unique use of the interface template allows for screens to decrease or increase in size, for multiple screens to pop up, and for POV's to change, all effects that often happen suddenly in the film.  It's a technique that's never been used to this degree before (the entire length of the film) but manages to be really successful in grabbing attention and raising hairs.  There are times when the switching from one person's interface to another's or from one person's, say, laptop interface to their cell phone is disorienting, but this works to the film's advantage because often we, the viewer, find ourselves up against the task of finding our place in the movie - who are we with now? what device are we on? - while also just WAITING for that thing, whatever it might be, to happen to the person we are watching.  It sounds exhausting on the viewer's part, but it's really effective.

'Can I borrow some sugar?'

Another thing that really works for The Den is the antagonist.  He doesn't pussyfoot around; he goes for the jugular. He's not interested in scaring or messing with or confusing - he wants to track, torment, torture, and terminate.  He's sharp too because he hacks - a point that I think works beautifully when married with the dual vision interface commented on above.  So, he's smart, quick, and more interested in hurting than scaring.  It's a villain we haven't seen in a while and its nice to know he's still out there!  But it's also good to know that there are smart protagonists left in horror flicks, as well.  Most of the time, we have to tell ourselves not to question what a character does or we will lose all credibility for them because of their lack of common sense.  In Den, though, Liz makes good, if not - daresay? - logical decisions.  She even does logical THINGS through the course of the film, and this combo makes her struggle much more believable and her peril all the more real.  There are some moments that you have to turn a cataract-covered eye to, but you are willing to forgive them because you still feel for the character, you fear the antagonist, and you are interested in just who and what the hell are going on in 'The Den'.  I will say that, once you get an idea of that 'who' and 'what' towards the end of the film, the tension dials back and things become a more predictable/formulaic.  The first 3/4's of the movie is easily the better part, but the end still carries us through with some good moments.

Finally, some general notes about The Den - there's not a lot of blood but, when you do get some, it's good and vicious.  There are two or three jump scenes but they are only quick scares.  The good horror comes from the tension that Donohue builds and builds through plot, minute events, and Liz's character.  Papalia, as Liz, does a good job too. I've never seen her in anything else, but she holds her own here.  The others in the film are rote but serve their purpose faithfully.  And, lastly, there are some random conversations that pop up during Liz's online chats that get annoying, but I think they are there to make a point - no one's really trying to communicate or reach across the globe for a good conversation via the internet.  Instead, online chatting has just increased the number of opportunities we have to be jackasses in front of other people.  Just my thoughts.

So, if you want to watch a well made, interestingly and tightly put together horror flick that is tense and scary, I'd strongly suggest The Den.  I thought it was really good, and I'm still debating if I should change 'Really Liked It' to 'Loved It!' in my ratings.  But what does my vote matter?  You can make your own decision because the movie's on Netflix!

'Damn - I can't see fuckin' shit outta this thing.'

"Don't open up attachments from strangers.  Ever."

Vamp (1986)

Vamp - the Trailer!

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Didn't Like It) 

Netflix Synopsis: Fraternity pledges seeking a good strip joint check out the After Dark Club, unaware that the bar's luscious dancers are bloodthirsty vampires. 

The Peeps:  Richard Wenk (writer, director); Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler, Grace Jones

Quick Run Down: Confusing, Awkward, Strangely Paced 

Worth the Watch: No

Keith and AJ are college buds wanting to get into a fraternity, but, in order to do so, they have to round up a stripper for a party the frat's throwing that evening.  So, they call around, strike no oil, and decide to venture into the city, where they plan to visit a strip club and acquire services in person.  To accomplish this, though, they need a car, so they have to borrow one from a wealthy reject student that will only lend them wheels if they take him along with them.  The two guys begrudgingly agree, and all three head for town and ultimately, the After Dark Club.  But things aren't as they appear at the ADC - the shady, seedy strip joint and its seemingly harmless employees bite harder than the kids realize!

'5 W's and How' 

Vamp is not a good movie.  It has a few good parts but not near enough to make the whole worth much for watching. What IS good - an elevator scene; two death scenes; a constant array of half naked chicks; random funny moments - gets caught up in the confusing plot movements, poorly executed sequences, and strange to the point of uncomfortable pacing that litters the film.  For example, our three college guys get into the city, and they are all looking around at the shops and malls and people and cars.  Then, the driver - AJ (Robert Rusler) - runs a red light and has to swerve to avoid hitting a car.  The camera spins around and around within the cab of the car, and the guys inside shout and scream, etc.  Then, when the car finally stops, the camera shows us a long shot of the car sitting still in the middle of the road, and the whole city has changed. The thriving shops are gone, places are boarded it up, newspapers flap by in the wind, and there's no one in sight.  Oh, and it's suddenly dark too.  Keith (Chris Makepeace... not war) says some throw away line, there's an awkward pause, and then the kids drive off. And that's that.  Er... what the hell just happened?  Did the car spin into an alternate universe?  Did the kids jump in time to some sort of post-apocalyptic city?  Are they high, and this is their imagination?  Did I miss something?  These kinds of things happen all throughout the movie.  Granted, none are as bad as the example given, but most still leave you asking the '5 W's and How' - what, when, why, where, who, and how.  Still, I want to say that the movie might have been enjoyable if the plot added up, but I don't think I can go that far.  The main actors do a decent job, but the background guys are just terrible.  Random faces in a titty bar looking uninspired and pointless.  Grace Jones (I only know her from Conan The Destroyer and Boomerang, but, after looking her up, I see she's done a ton of stuff, namely music) doesn't say a word, but she manages to have a little bit of an effect through make-up and just looking like her strange, angular self. Her costumes are pretty ridiculous though.  In fact, most of the production design and the like are boring.  You've got a run down city, a dark smoky uninteresting bar, and a lot of alley ways; that's about it.  The DP tried to give this drab scenery some life by lathering everything in green and pink, but it still isn't much to look it, though it does manage to create some creepiness and increase the tension some.  Speaking of tension, there's mostly none.  Three scenes come to mind where I felt myself getting into what was happening, but that's it.  The rest is just feels so lazily put together that nothing comes through but motions and words.  It sucks, too, because I really wanted to get into this.  I root for 80's horror flicks because they are good-bad and usually the underdog in winning people's attention, but this one just couldn't pull me over to its side.

Something I noticed in the flick is that it is pretty similar to From Dusk Til Dawn. The premises are very very closely related - vampire-ridden nudie bar with patrons as dinner/snacks/treats - and the make-up kind of looks the same.  The latter might be a stretch at times, but the plot connections aren't a stretch at all.  In fact, there are elements that match up kinda uncannily.  None of this matters, though, for two reasons: 1) the films wind up doing entirely different things; and 2) From Dusk Til Dawn is TOO much better than Vamp for it to make any difference.  The comparisons are still interesting to note.

Vamp

From Dusk Til Dawn

So, I'd say skip it, but if you wanna watch an awkward and strangely paced movie that raises more questions than intrigue or hairs, check out Vamp.  It's got some good scenes, but they are few and far between.  Whatever you decide, you know where to avoid it or find it - Netflix!  

"Hey, baby - what time do you get off?"

"2.30."

"Can I watch?"