Give Me Liberty

If my posts decrease in regularity over the next few weeks, don’t be alarmed. It’s just that I will be spending the majority of my free time in Liberty City now that Grand Theft Auto IV is finally in my greedy grasp. I’m sure you can understand that typing is fairly difficult when your hands have permanently formed into claws to accommodate a Dualshock controller.

However, preparing for this contingency, I put together something in advance. The newest Grand Theft Auto release is a sequel, which is something we fans of horror are quite familiar with.

So, to celebrate GTA IV’s arrival (and my inevitable hiatus), I present this “Quattro” edition of Coverbox Wednesday.

Micheal T. Weiss is the shit.

Has it been a month already?!

Shane Meadows' Dead Man’s Shoes is a film that played at the Toronto Film Festival in 2004, but I didn’t hear about until much later. It began appearing on some of movie lists online and the more I learned about it, the more it sounded like my cup of tea. It took forever to come out on DVD and even then, I never had any luck finding it. Then, a few months back, I was hanging out at dirtyrobot's (of Filmopia) place and happened to glance at his DVD collection – I say ‘happened to glance’ even though that is basically the first thing film buffs do whenever they enter another’s abode – and what do I see staring back at me?

“Holy crap, you have Dead Man’s Shoes! I’ve been looking for this forever.”
“You wanna borrow it?"
“Fuck yeah I do.”

The only thing better than finally tracking down an elusive title is when it actually delivers on all it promises.



This little indie is superb. There are just so many things about it that set it apart from most other films of this ilk. The lovely locales of the English countryside immediately convey that the antagonists aren’t big city criminals, just a bunch of drug dealing fuck ups that have no idea of the shit that they are in. The minimalist nature of the piece really works in its favour. All the acting is extremely naturalistic, namely Paddy Considine (he also co-wrote the screenplay), who emotes a restrained rage that really makes the character unique. He cares about nothing save for executing a calculated plan of intimidation and mayhem. Dead Man’s Shoes is powerful stuff, especially the last act. There are further reasons to praise the film, as well. It’s beautifully shot, with a great narrative style and music is used to full effect. The song used the opening montage, “Vessel In Vain” by Smog, stayed with me a long time after.

If you can find it, this is well worth your time. Dead Man's Shoes is a shining example of modern British cinema.

We're Here To Help.

My good friend Serena Whitney over at horrormovies.ca posted a great article earlier this week about avoiding terrible straight-to-DVD (or STD’s as she calls them :P) horror titles. I too, have fallen victim to many a video atrocity and I thought I might share a few of them here. Some of these are several years old and are probably lying in a landfill somewhere by now, but just in case… Be warned of these painful duds.

A Crack In The Floor – Serena is right, this title is bottom of the barrel. I don’t know what’s worse, Tracy Scoggins’ opening rape scene, Gary Busey’s cameo speech about fucking chickens or AC Slater being cast as the movie’s hero.

The Item – Don’t let the Toronto Film Festival entry marker fool you, this is one of the most incoherently fucked up messes ever – and not in a good way. Leave this item at the checkout counter.

S.I.C.K. – In a movie, whenever one of the characters utters a line like “that’s some fucked up shit right there”; you know you are in for a stinker. That, and the cast spends HALF the running time aimlessly wandering around a forest. By the way, the acronym stands for Serial Insane Clown Killer. I knew this going in, so I guess I have to take the blame on this one.

Green River Killer – or ANYTHING by Ulli Lommel for that matter. This guy makes Uwe Boll look like Orson Welles. At least Dr. Boll’s movies are entertainingly bad. Lommel is the go-to guy when it comes to making STD serial killer flicks it seems, having vomited forth other titles like BTK and Zodiac Killer. Green River Killer is the only one I’ve had the misfortune of sitting through though.

Death Tunnel – This epileptically edited effort is a total train wreck. Not even the great location and the bevy of beauties can save it. This is one of those titles that takes a plausibly good idea and runs it into the ground by borrowing everything else from better films.

However, on the other side of things, there are – believe it or not – good STD’s out there. Here are a few that I found worth my time.

Abominable – This is an under seen gem in my opinion. It is basically Rear Window meets Bigfoot and it works really well. Though, when you’re using classic Hitchcock formula it is pretty hard to fuck up (even last year’s PG-13 Disturbia was surprisingly solid). Plus, Abominable is the triumphant return of Matt McCoy.

Open Water 2: Adrift – Originally just titled Adrift, Lion’s Gate slapped the OW2 on there for product recognition. It was not needed, as this has nothing to do with the 2003 film. I think Adrift stands on its own merits and is a worthwhile watch.

Brutal – Unfortunately marketed to look like a Hostel clone, this little ditty is actually about a serial killer in a small town. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; it’s a tad rough around the edges at times, but hey! Where else are you going to see Michael Berryman play... a good guy?!

So, that’s my contribution to the cause. Hopefully, Serena and I have made the STD minefield of your local video store a little less treacherous for all you horrorphiles out there.

24. The Mountebank

So, here it is... the fruit of our twenty-four hour labour has finally been posted on the YouTubes. It looks like Darrin tweaked the title and end credits before he threw it up there, but this is essentially the cut that was shown last Wednesday. Enjoy!

Near Dark

One of the great things about the Final Girl Film Club is that we often get to revisit movies from the past that I would never think to watch again otherwise. When discussing bloodsuckers of the eighties, films like The Lost Boys and Fright Night are immediately referenced of course, but if you dig a little deeper, Near Dark will invariably be mentioned. I suspect it is on a good number of film geek’s top vampire movies lists. Much like while watching Scarecrows last month, I was surprised by how much of Near Dark I’d forgotten. I didn’t remember Tim Thomerson was even in it. Christ, it’s been ages since I’ve seen that guy!

Near Dark is just a well done film with all the pieces fitting together nicely. It was the result of a collaboration between Kathryn Bigelow, who has had a fine career directing movies like Point Break and Strange Days, and genre veteran Eric Red. Near Dark has a story that doesn’t get bogged down with the how’s and why’s of undead lore. It just presents the here and now of the existence of a nomadic band of vampires. It is, for the most part, not sensationalized. There is no flying, no fangs and the V word is never uttered. This lack of supernaturalism is what I think makes Near Dark stand out. The ensemble cast is rife with familiar faces. Some of them stayed around like Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli on TV’s Heroes) and some faded away into obscurity like Joshua Miller and Jenny Wright.

An Aliens reunion of sorts.

Before Carrie Anne Moss... there was Jenny Wright. Quintessential 80's babe!

Near Dark is a little dated though. There is no question what decade this was made in. Even the score, provided by Tangerine Dream and heavily channelling Carpenter, further supplants the movie in the eighties. That is not a knock, just an observation. This doesn't extend to the F/X work by Gordon J. Smith however, because that still holds up well.

Near Dark is a solid movie. It might be a little dusty, but there is no disputing its relevance.

No Signal.

I know people who like to illegally download movies off the Internet. I, myself, don’t generally condone such practices and there are two reasons for this. First, you will never convince me that watching a movie on a computer monitor is the same as watching it on your television or in a theatre. The second reason is I am of the generation that is used to ‘purchasing’ a physical product, or at least renting the use of it. Getting something for nothing is a concept that still seems foreign to me. This is not the case with the youth of today, who are growing up in a world where EVERYTHING is at their fingertips. Bit Torrent, the evolution of Peer-to-peer networking sites like Kazaa and Morpheus, makes the transmission of data even faster. But I’m getting off topic here.

Let’s rewind a few months. There was a horror film that premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival called The Signal. It was there that it was picked up by the indie film company Magnolia Pictures. As 2007 went on, The Signal garnered more and more online buzz, receiving a huge push from Bloody-Disgusting.com, which is now probably the biggest horror site on the Web. By the time 2008 rolled around, a February 22nd release had been announced and I had put it at #7 on my most anticipated horror list. If you are a Canadian reader, I bet you can imagine where this is going. February 22nd rolled around with nary a Canadian screening. Ha Ha, fuck you, no Signal for you! Theatre goers in California got to dodge knives (literally) in theatres while we up here in the Great White North were shafted once again. This, ever frustrating, happens all the time. Sometimes they will even do a full on cock tease. I remember actually SEEING a coming soon poster for David Twohy’s 2002 film Below at my local AMC and yet the release date came and went.

Well, guess what? We are not living in an era where we Canucks have to eat shit and like it when great films like Donnie Darko and High Tension are withheld from us. If I want to see the The Signal and it is willfully being kept from me, then I CAN acquire it another way. It is simple supply and demand. I would have gladly forked over my twelve bucks, but you took that option away. Now, there are consequences for such actions. It’s about time you fix this broken system Hollywood, or soon it may be YOU who is left holding the bag.

So, without going into any details, I ‘somehow’ saw The Signal recently. Here are my thoughts.

One day, all forms of media (TV, cell phones etc) are hijacked by a mysterious frequency that causes mass psychosis and hysteria. Mya (Anessa Ramsey) desperately tries to navigate her way out of the city, with her infected husband Lewis (AJ Bowen) and her new lover Ben (Justin Welborn) right on her tail.

The Signal is one bizarre film. I had heard previously that it was one story broken into three acts – called transmissions – done by three separate directors (David Bruckner, Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry), but it still didn’t prepare me for what was to come. The movie starts off with an intro sequence that looks like it came right out of a grindhouse era slasher. I knew that this had to be some sort of false opening ala The Last Horror Movie, but considering the duration of it, I was actually starting to wonder if I had the right flick. Eventually though, the first transmission (the best imo) begins and chaos erupts 28 Days Later style. There is not much new going on here, but this subgenre is my favourite, so it’s pretty hard for me not to enjoy product like this. The shit hits the fan, the survivors grab makeshift weapons and head for the hills.

Then, the second transmission starts. This is where The Signal goes haywire. This director turns the movie into a comedy horror slapstick joint that is COMPLETELY in contrast to the first act. I really can’t decide whether this works or not. It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying the festivities, but at the same time, I was always wishing the movie would get back on track. It was like I was watching one of those shorts they put on in between features on The Movie Network*. The actors are really the only thing (apart from the ubiquitous signal of course) that keep you aware that you are watching the same movie.

Finally, the third act gets going. This one is the more cerebral of the three, focusing mainly on how the signal affects everyone’s minds. I’d say that overall The Signal is fairly average fare. It’s unfortunate, but the unorthodox format is sadly the only thing that makes The Signal stick out from the crowd. It’s a good experiment though and kudos to the filmmakers for being bold enough to try it. Keeping the source of the signal ambiguous was a good choice and they should be proud of what they accomplished with the small budget.

The Signal is worth checking out for curiosity’s sake, but just be aware you will not be getting the intense, action-heavy flick the trailer would have you believe.

* - The Movie Network (or TMN) is the Canadian equivalent of HBO.

24. Part Three

The Film Race screening was last night and it went really well. I can honestly say, being as objective as possible, that our short was definitely in the upper echelon of the twenty-five or so that were shown. There were also four other teams in the programme that didn't make the first deadline, so thankfully we weren't the only ones that fucked up. The event had a good turnout and the crowd seemed receptive to our short. Seeing some of the weaker entries, the care that we took to make sure we had good sound and camerawork was well worth the hassles. Sitting there, watching Melissa & Mike up there on the big screen - the very same one on which I have seen countless films projected - saying lines that I had written just days before was surreal to say the least.

Overall, I'd say our little project was a resounding success. And I even met up with some buds afterwards for the screening of Inside (still as unrelenting as ever) and post carnage beers. A good night I'd say.