Post-Halloween Post

OK, I plan to update more often than that, so apologies to the two, maybe one person who checks this blog (you know who you are). I just didn't have anything interesting in my life to talk about and until such time will simply review comics and whatever. And since it was Halloween, I thought I should review the films I watched for Halloween, which were all pretty good. So in no particular order:

The Crazies

I watched this film last, but in retrospect I sort of wish I watched it first simply because it is the least scary. In fact, this isn't so much a horror film as it is a really depressing and violent drama (in my opinion). But that's not to say that it is a bad film, it just didn't feel as Halloween appropriate as the other films I watched this year.

The premise of this 1973 George Romero picture is that a small town is quarantined after a biological weapon is accidentally released into the water supply. The weapon is a virus that causes people to become insane, often violently so, and is highly contagious. The town is put under martial law as the government sends soldiers in containment suits and gasmasks to round up civilians and force them into the high school gymnasium to make sure they don't get out, inadvertently creating a dangerous powder keg. Meanwhile, a firefighter, his pregnant fiance and three others try to make their way out of the city, unsure if it is safe to remain in the city.

This is one of those films that people will point out is "still relevant today," mostly because it is about the US government's extremely poor handling of a dangerous and volatile situation (this film having been made during that whole Vietnam thing). In this film, the government basically forces one of the creators of the virus onto a plane into the town without any real resources, despite his argument that he would accomplish very little just by being on the scene. The meanwhile, the sergeant on the scene knows that he really doesn't know how to handle the situation but tries doing the best he can after being thrown into a frustrating situation. He realizes that the government completely screwed up the situation and that his presence accomplishes very little. The government (represented by a room of generals and scientists) in a detached, bored and uncaring manner discuss simply destroying the town while eating sandwiches and oranges. The films satire is definitely not subtle but it gets the point across that its easier for a government to completely blunder something if they allow themselves to be so far removed from the event.

This was all well and good, but the aspect of the film that I really liked was the story of the group of five trying to escape as they slowly go insane. One thing I notice when George A Romero films are reviewed is that no one comments on his well crafted characters. Frankly there always people I would find very uninteresting in a normal situation but in the face of tragedy and death are compelling. For example, I loved the characters in the Dawn of the Dead because they were normal people deciding what to do in a world where there was no more normalcy. The scene where a dying man asks his friend to kill him if he turns (both to save themselves and out of fear of becoming "one of those things) is powerful engaging stuff. This film is no different: a father notices that his daughter is the first in the group to go crazy, though it seems to be a sad gentle sort of crazy. She the only thing left in his world after his wife dies and he still wants to protect her, even if she is a threat to the rest of the group. The father soon starts going insane and confusing his paternal feelings for her with romantic ones. Then there's the man who realizes that he's going insane and is trying his hardest to keep his head together in the face of violent urges (although it seems he might have been a violent gun nut before his insanity kicked in). I just like the fact that Romero can add some genuine emotion in what could have just been a thriller about a town of crazy people. It really makes you care what happens to the characters.

The Crazies is a very 70's movie. It's also a compelling look into what people do in a completely doomed situation. It's interesting that despite the title, the crazies don't show up that often in the film (though we see almost everyone is crazy by the end) and the main threat for out heroes are the usually faceless soldiers who themselves don't really understand the situation except to shoot or capture "the crazies." The fact that their in white containment suit with gasmasks give the soldiers an appropriately ominous (and anonymous) look to them. We get the feeling that these guys don't really know what their doing and that the situation is driving them a little nutty too (we see that a either several soldiers or one recurring one are/is stealing other people's property as they raid houses) and that the whole damned situation is insane. While this film isn't nearly as strong as Dawn of the Dead, it's still an often ignored gem worth checking out.

My Little Eye

I've seen this in Blockbuster before but I assumed it would be simply another forgettable direct-to-video thriller. But last year My Little Eye was a film that was featured on a film prof's Halloween marathon that Aiden and I attended (though we only saw the first two films). While there are countless variations on the idea of thrillers involving reality TV (I'm actually more sick of the commentary than reality TV itself), there was something about this one that sounded really interesting. Five people are get on a reality webcast in which they can each win a million dollars as long as they all stay within a house four six months strait. They may exit the house but they cannot leave the property and must be in before curfew. There are also camera's everywhere, so there isn't much they can do that isn't scene on camera. Every week they are given packages containing food and supplies and they have a few luxuries (video games, books) from home, but no access to TV, the internet or telephones.

Time goes by and everyone gets along rather well (even with Rex, the usual "jerk" that ends up on these shows), but on day the weekly package arrives carrying only bricks and a small letter. It states that the grandfather of one of the residents has died and a funeral will take place in a few days. The other residents argue over whether they should convince him to stay or not and if they do how can they convince him. Soon, other things start happening that make the players think that all is not right with the game. The furnace stops working (in the dead of winter), a package is received containing a gun and five bullets and the characters suspect that there is someone waiting on the outside property at night. Even stranger, it seems that some of these things allude to some of the more unpleasant aspects of the residents' histories. While some think that this is simply an attempt by the company to spice things up. But when a man comes in from the cold claiming that he's never heard of them, they get concerned. At first they think maybe it's just that the internet is a big place and they're easy to miss, but they soon begin to wonder who exactly is watching them... and why.

This is one of those films you might think has a big twist at the end, but it doesn't. The answer is given right before the final act and while it isn't surprising, it is satisfying and intriguing and makes the characters realize the situation their in. They characters themselves aren't that interesting, but it is interesting to watch their situation progress as they are put under progressively increasing duress. Rex shows that he is more than just the jerk and seems to realize before anyone else that something is wrong, but convinces others to stay. I also get the impression that Rex really needs that money but there is really never an explanation given as too why (though, apparently, the test screening version was 4 hours, so maybe that explain some things).

Some plot elements didn't really work for me (Rex hoarding food and cigarettes, the thankless and forgettable character of Danny and generally anything he did), but the real strength of the film is the sense of isolation and paranoia. Even when the characters aren't paranoid, there's a generally uneasy feeling from the camera's POV that occurs throughout much of the film. We hear lots of whirring and what sound like scrambled staticy voices (a need DVD extra is that you can watch the film with the voices unscrambled, which gives viewers a better idea of what happened when, and make the continuity feel a bit more well constructed). And as I said, while the ending isn't surprising, it is still fairly good, and there is one nice twist that I didn't see coming separate from the revelation of what the game really is.

I'm a sucker for horror and suspense films that deal with isolated characters: John Carpenter's The Thing, Duel (I'm counting lonely empty highways), and Cube. I prefer my thrillers to have a small tightly knit cast, so that when someone dies, it means something. Too many horror films where characters are fodder for the big bad, I like films where the characters are in situations in which they need to rely on wits, and trust in order to face the threat. Also, when you focus on a small cast, the audience is given a chance to see them fleshed out more and how they handle a seemingly impossible situation.

My Little Eye is a great thriller despite using a reality show as a plot device. The pace is decent and the progression and end are satisfying, making this a fun and creepy little horror flick.

Creepshow

This is probably the film I enjoyed the most of the three, despite the fact that it's not really as good as the other two. Some of the stories are not that strong and can be quite predictable, but what it lacks in brains, it makes up for in heart.

Sure, you might not think a horror anthology called Creepshow might not have a heart, but it does, albeit a warped on. The film is a loving homage to EC Comics, a horror comics company in the fifties that was known for it's great art and literate (if formulaic) stories. The most popular comics include Tales from the Crypt (later turned into the acclaimed TV series), Haunt of Fear and Mad (later changed into Mad Magazine. Yep, that Mad Magazine). The company was pretty much destroyed, unfortunately by McCarthyism and the dreaded Comics Code. Basically Frederic Wertham wrote a book called Seduction of the Innocent (which sounds like a direct-to-video erotic thriller) in which he claims comics are corrupting America's Youth.

With comics under fire and targeted by the House of Un-American Activities, several comic companies teamed up to create the Comics Code (which was enforced by the government), which would regulate all comics and comic companies. EC bravely said no, so the other companies put them out of business with silly rules such as saying that crime can never pay or be made to look enjoyable, that the undead cannot appear in any comics and that the words like "horror" cannot be used in the title. EC tanked and DC ended up buying Mad, which was republished as Mad Magazine (magazines don't have to worry about the Comic's code). Still, though there were around for about only 10 years, EC comics had a huge effect on writers and artists of the time.

Creepshow is an anthology directed by George Romero (him again) and written by Stephen King that pays homage to the great horror comics of yesteryear. The film begins as a father yells at his son and slaps him for reading "shit," namely a comic book called Creepshow. He throws the comic in the trash and we are shown the stories within:

The first story is Father's Day, which is the weakest of the lot. Basically an old murdered father wakes up 7 years after his death to reclaim his Father's Day cake that was denied to him on the day of his death. Clearly, he's an incompetent zombie because he mistakes his bickering nieces head for a cake and pouts frosting and candles on it. According to one article, Stephen King admitted that Creepshow was supposed to be an anthology with stories that were about 5 minutes each, rather than 15-25 minutes like they are in the film. His description was "Dad comes from the grave, chases his bickering family around, kills them, the end." Not much really changed, except it's longer than it needed to be and isn't really too interesting.

The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrell is a much better story and is surprisingly funny at times (and keep in mind all of these stories are pretty tongue in cheek), mostly because of the bearable and somewhat funny performance of writer Stephen King as a backwoods hick. Said hick finds a meteor in his backyard and decides to sell it to the university (which leads into a humourous dream sequence in which he takes it to the Dept. Of Meteors at the university and gets a whopping $200 dollars for it!) but when he tries to cool it down it breaks in two. Jordy, deciding that the university wouldn't pay for a broken meteor tries to fix it, only to get a mysterious ooze on his hands. He tries to wash it off, but a few hours later a strange grass-like substance starts to grow on his hands. This one is grimly funny and somewhat madcap and while not perfect is still fun.

Something to Tide You Over... is, in my opinion, the best segment thanks to both the writing and the performance of Leslie Nelson as the despicable villain. A rich man named Richard(Nelson)'s wife is cheating on him so Richard visits the other man(Ted Danson). The other man apologizes but the Richard doesn't care about that, but rather that someone took something that was "his" and now they both must pay. Richard concocts a ghoulish plan to make them pay but Richard soon finds that he's about to get a taste of his own medicine.

The Crate is a fairly standard monster story in which a university professor discovers that a monster hidden in a crate might be the best way to deal with his drunk domineering wife (played by Adrianne Barbeau).

And They're Creeping Up on You finds E.G. Marshal as an evil tycoon (is there any other kind) in a sterile, germfree apartment who finds that his apartment is under attack by cockroaches.

In the end, we see a couple of garbage men examining the comic and notice that someone sent away for a free voodoo doll...

This was such a fun movie, even though it has a lot of problems. But the sheer enthusiasm of the film for it's material more than make up for it. Many scenes have a crazy comic book style to them (including some scenes made to look like comic panels) and an intentionally goofy feel that captures the spirit of the old comics well. It also follows (for the most part) the basic formula: bad things happening to bad people. What I love about the old comics is there sense of poetic justice in which we see a horrible person (usually pretty normal but still evil) facing a cruel and unusual punishment. There is a sense of karma in those books and in the end, the bad guys get what they deserve. Admittedly, some get worse than they deserve (such as Jordy Verrel and the Drunk Wife), but man is it satisfying and relieving to see Leslie Nelson and E.G. Marshal get what they deserve.

Creepshow is far from perfect, but it was clearly made with a lot of love and it was just so much fun I can forgive it's misgivings. Good show.


There, so from now on I'll try to post more often, OK?