More Doghouse!

Last Thursday, I sounded off on the upcoming Jake West flick Doghouse. There WAS a trailer, but it seems to have disappeared from the Internets. While I was searching for a new link though, I learned some more about it and DAMN if I can't wait for this thing to drop. Check out these conceptual drawings!

And the crazy thing is, these are just three of the almost TWENTY creature designs that will be in the film. Check out the rest here. Not since Dark Castle's Thirteen Ghosts remake have there been so many elaborate and dinstinct creations in one film. I also see that Emily Booth (who starred in Jake West's previous romp Evil Aliens) is also on board for this, playing the above cringe-inducing character dubbed The Snipper. Bonus!

I am SOOOO in.

Can You Survive The Outbreak?

I discovered this cool link today over at Bloody Disgusting for a web project called The Outbreak. You remember those old Choose Your Own Adventure books that you (or at least people born before 1980) used to read as a kid? Well, The Outbreak is the latest evolution of that experience. Way back in December, I reviewed the Blu-ray edition of Return To House On Haunted Hill, which also came with CYOA functionality. It was a fun ride and the added element of choice made a mediocre movie a little more enjoyable. I'm glad this type of interactivity is catching on because I think it makes for a great hybrid of movie watching and video gaming.

The Outbreak is such an awesome website idea and the fact that it is a short, rather than a full length feature like Return was, also enhances the accessibility. I believe the full running time - with all possible branches included - is less than twenty minutes. That's the length of a coffee break! I tried it out and it's pretty cool. On my first try I died pretty quickly because I ditched simple horror movie logic to get away from the annoying chick with the baseball bat.

So, what are you waiting for? Check it out here. Good luck!

On The Shelf

The realm of straight-to-DVD genre films is a minefield. The good is so disproportionate to the crap that the question ‘why bother?’ is a valid one. There is risk involved in every trip to the video store or – more conveniently – online renting site. I’ve mentioned before about how putting obscure unknown titles on my rental queue can be quite dubious at times. I would seriously pay money to have the abysmal Reflections Of Evil wiped from my memory.

A while back, I showcased a few STDVD titles to either check out or pass on, but I want to make a more regular thing of it. Today, I’m introducing a new feature here called On The Shelf. Every few weeks, I will talk about a straight-to-DVD title that I think either deserves your attention, or should be avoided at all costs.

To start off, I’m going to throw out a few titles that all share the distinction of being made for almost NO money, but still manage to succeed where so many others fail. Productions like these are already at a disadvantage because they almost always have no stars or flash, making their chances of being discovered even slimmer than usual. Luckily, this environment often breeds creativity and originality. Like Raimi and Romero before them, these filmmakers had to work around their limited funds and brought forth efforts that I think are much more significant than most of Hollywood’s current output of cookie cutter remakes and sequels. Here is a quartet of such micro-budget movies.

Blood Car – This one about a guy who invents a car that runs on blood is even more poignant these days. I’m still not sure how they managed to pull this one off. The bare bones approach somehow comes off as charming and its darkly comic nature elevates what could have easily seemed like just another elongated short film. A grown up Anna Chlumsky (of My Girl fame) also appears. For my original review from last May, click here.

The Other Side – I had zero expectations for this one and it ended up blowing me away, mainly because it is extremely ambitious and does things that movies of this budget never do. It has dozens of extras, a ton of locations, car chases, elaborate stunts, multiple gore setups and a grandiose storyline that is (gasp) actually interesting. When I found out later that it only cost fifteen grand, I literally fell out of my chair!

Broken – Based on the first fifteen minutes, it would be easy to dismiss this is as a cheap Saw clone, but stay with it and you’ll see that crazy Brits Simon Boyes and Adam Mason go further into darkness than that long-running franchise has ever gone. With great gore, good performances and an ugliness that is hard to turn away from, Broken is right at home on the Dimension Extreme label.

Undead – Getting this movie made was certainly far from easy for these two brothers from Australia. The Spierigs endured sluggish computers, a broken down van and the inability to shoot more than two takes on any scene. This is a fun over-the-top zombie gorefest that nestles in nicely with the canon of recent Peter Jackson-influenced splatstick like Evil Aliens and Black Sheep. For my original DVDWolf review from 2003, click here.

So, there's some homework for you. Check back in a few weeks to see what else is waiting for you On The Shelf.

Two Things

Just a couple of things of interest that came down the wire in the last few days...

First, Jake West's (of Evil Aliens fame) next project Doghouse is now finished and ready to be unleashed. Here's the trailer.



Danny Dyer (Severance), Stephen Graham (Snatch, This Is England) AND Mickey from Doctor Who in a movie that looks playfully rooted in a Shaun Of The Dead-like universe? Sign me up!

Also, this pretty cool poster for the new virus flick Splinter dropped yesterday. Take a gander.

I'm cooking up something new for Friday, so be sure to check back then.

Back To The Well

I got nothing in terms of a theme for this installment of Coverbox Wednesday, so time to dip into my Queen Video archives once again. Here are some more titles from Her Majesty's Secret shelves -- and by secret I mean, in a rack, shoved down a hallway back by the porn section.

Sweet, Sweet Candy.

I think you may have figured out by now that I adore Asian chicks that kick ass. So, that being said, it would be uncharacteristic of me not to mention the awesomeness of the Midnight Madness closer Chocolate. Oh boy, did we all have a fantastic time last night.

This screening of Chocolate was Prachya Pinkaew's triumphant return to Toronto after premiering his film Ong Bak here in 2003. While Ong Bak introduced us to Tony Jaa, Chocolate gave us a first look at new Muay Thai master Jija Yanin. Yanin was unfortunately not able to attend, but did introduce the film via a pre-recorded video. It is safe to say that I was crushin' on her pretty huge almost immediately. Cute, and deadly. What a combination! Like Tony Jaa before her, Yanin is a revelation. At only twenty-three, she already performs like a seasoned martial arts pro. Seeing her cut through waves of baddies is like watching poetry in motion. She may not have the brute force of Tony Jaa, but her grace and speed more than make up for it.

Pinkaew's down and dirty style has not left him, as evidenced in the end credits outtake reel - which included an accidental kick to the head that split Yanin's eyelid. This production was an exercise in hard knocks, with each sequence more elaborate and culminating in a huge chase up and down the side of a four-story building. Man, just typing this makes me want to see it again!

Director Prachya Pinkaew.

Chocolate is a rip-roaring time, filled with amazing fight set pieces that are so engaging, that the movie's end seems to come in the blink of an eye. But don't just take my word for it, check out the trailer below.

Oh. My. God. I just thought of the ensuing mushroom cloud of bliss that would happen if Pinkaew ever managed to get Jaa and Yanin in the same movie together. Fingers crossed.

Victim Or Martyr?

Coming out of the Cannes film market last May was talk of a new horror tour de force called Martyrs. A few months later, these trailers appeared.





Then, it was revealed that the French censors were slapping Martyrs with an 18+ (France’s equivalent of an X), the first genre film to ever receive such a stamp. Lining up beforehand, it kind of felt like we were awaiting the gallows. There was a high level of anticipation in the air, and the beach ball that appeared before the nerve shredding screening of Inside last year, was in attendance again. On Wednesday night, I finally bore witness to Martyrs.

One day, a half-naked and beaten young girl is found wandering the French countryside. While in hospital, Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) forms a bond with fellow resident Anna (Morjana Alaoui). Fifteen years later, Lucie is on a mission to kill all those who wronged her, with Anna in tow to make sure she doesn’t destroy herself in the process.

I find it hard to say that I enjoyed Martyrs, considering that the tail end of it is a really tough watch. It is certainly intriguing, but I’m left wondering ‘What IS going on in France that is breeding this dark, dark, shit?' Martyrs is thematically split into two halves. The first is filled with extreme gore and grotesque nightmares, but the second is something even more ugly. It goes somewhere none have yet. I was surprised that out of all the possible routes I thought this movie would go, none of them ended up being correct. On the technical side, the gore effects are phenomenal. There are countless elaborate setups, which just further emphasized the crazy world I had stepped into.

As you know, extreme horror cinema has been coming out from France for several years now, but Martyrs is in a class by itself. Where films like High Tension, Frontiers and Inside still - even as gory and violent as they were – fell within the realm of entertainment, such a distinction cannot be made with Martyrs. The last act is awfully unpleasant and the viewer has no choice, but to witness the bare brutality of it. The violence is not over-the-top and there are no Eli Roth style comic beats. It is just there in front of you. Martyrs is more of a punishing experiment than anything else. However, through all of this, it pulls itself back from the brink of blatant exploitation with an actual point. Where I’d always had a problem with the gratuitous nature of Inside’s final moments, Martyrs’ subject matter was redeemed when its overall theme was revealed.

Watching this reminded me of my experience with Gaspar Noe’s gut-puncher Irreversible. While I don’t think Martyrs has as much artistic value as that film does, it has that similar aura of realism and cruelty.

At the Q&A afterwards, director Pascal Laugier introduced both leads Mylène Jampanoï & Morjana Alaoui, maybe just to show that they were both okay. Jampanoï, when asked about her thoughts, went so far as to say that she was not happy with it, but was converted somewhat after seeing that there was an audience willing to receive it. Laugier himself was extremely well spoken and remained fully composed when some pretentious douche bag in the audience called him and his film vile and disgusting.

Director Pascal Laugier and stars Morjana Alaoui & Mylène Jampanoï.

Martyrs has merit, but that doesn’t make it any less hard to ingest. If you are expecting cheap thrills, you might be shocked to find you get more than you bargained for.