Kids Today...

It appears that the Mexico may be experiencing a genre renaissance of late. Seemingly sparked by Jorge Michel Grau's 2010 cannibal family flick We Are What We Are, we now have two more horror films about creepy kiddies from down south.

After two young children return from being lost in some nearby hills overnight, their mother starts to suspect there is something not quite right with them.

Here Comes the Devil is a solid genre piece. It is extremely straightforward in presentation, but after some of the more surreal genre pieces I have experienced over the last week, that was kind of refreshing. It plays out much like 1975's Picnic At Hanging Rock, but with none of the ambiguity, which again, I appreciated.

Director Adrián García Bogliano begins his movie with perhaps the best way to get my attention (lesbians!) and goes from there. The performances were good and I felt the stress of the domestic unit under the pressure of the situation far more than I did with the similarly-themed recent Hollywood release The Possession.

Director Adrián García Bogliano (left), actor Laura Caro, producer Andrea Quiroz (?)  and actor Francisco Barreiro.

The film is built on atmosphere and punctuated with moments of extreme gore, which made sure to keep the audience on its toes. For the most part, the filmmaking was sound, although the almost comical overuse of shock zooms was a little perplexing. It reminded me of some of Mario Bava's works, specifically Kill, Baby, Kill where it was like a kid playing with a new toy.

The other film was Come Out And Play from mysterious Russian director Makinov.

A couple vacationing in Mexico take a day trip to a remote island village, only to find that all of its adult inhabitants have been murdered. It doesn't take them long to realize that the children are responsible and they're next.

If the synopsis sounds familiar, it is because it is actually a remake of the 1976 Spanish film Who Can Kill A Child? In fact, it is an almost shot-for-shot redo, as even some of the sets, are almost exact recreations of their original counterparts. There is very little deviation from the source material, so I'm not exactly sure on what the intent was here. I feel the director would've been better served to take the idea and make it his own, much like Brit Tom Shankland did with his 2009 film The Children. Of course, I'm not sure anyone knows the motivations of this single monikered filmmaker. Oh wait, that's not true, we were shown his “manifesto” before the film.

The lead actors Ebon-Moss Bachrach and Vinessa Shaw (playing a similar character as her role in 2006's The Hills Have Eyes remake) are both serviceable, powering through their characters' more bone-headed decisions. The child actors are all suitably menacing, but at the same time, it's not really difficult to make a child look creepy.

Makinov wore many hats (or should I say masks?) on this production, serving as director, cinematographer, editor, production designer and composer. It is the latter I want to give him full credit for, as the score on this film is spectacular. It reminded me of the moody compositions from François Eudes, and others from the French New Wave of the aughts.

So, there you have it. Here's hoping there are many more horror films to come from our Mexican compatriots.

Makinov footage courtesy of YouBringAHorseForMe?

Zombie 2.0

Likely the biggest draw at Midnight Madness this year, was Rob Zombie's newest The Lords of Salem.

After a late-night DJ (Sheri Moon Zombie) listens to a mysterious record that arrives in the mail, she starts having nightmarish hallucinations that may be tied to a coven of witches executed several hundred years ago.

I was cautiously optimistic going into this film. Even though I have really only liked one of his previous works – 2005's The Devil's Rejects – I wasn't ready to give up on him. It turns out that was a good thing, as I think The Lords of Salem is a huge leap forward for him artistically. The white trash caricatures, profuse swearing and MTV editing that usually populates his work has now been replaced with deliberate pacing and wall-to-wall atmosphere. This is helped along with a great score by Rob Zombie bandmate John 5 – including the droning, trance-inducing centerpiece – and the breathtaking cinematography by Brandon Trost. The latter cannot be stressed enough, as it recalls such classic horror films as The Shining, Rosemary's Baby and The Devils. Hopefully, you can now tell Zombie is striving for more than what he usually gives us.

What still remains is Zombie's penchant for casting veteral genre actors though, as they appear here in droves. They include the likes of Ken Foree, Meg Foster, Dee Wallace and Patricia Quinn and are a joy to watch. There were apparently many others that didn't make it into the film like Daniel Roebuck and the late Richard Lynch, so here's hoping those scenes are included on a future DVD release.

While it is true the narrative is paper-thin, it is clear that atmosphere was the priority on this project. To defend myself from sounding like a hypocrite, after basically condemning Berberian Sound Studio for the same thing, all I can say is I felt The Lords of Salem had intent and direction. Zombie's conclusion may not have the punch I was hoping for, but at least he made a clear choice. There were several points where it felt a little fragmented and unfinished, but I was always transfixed by the stunning visuals.

Director Rob Zombie (left), actors Sheri Moon Zombie & Jeffrey Daniel Phillips and DP Brandon Trost.

I know a lot of people like to harp on Sheri Moon – even I had a hard time sitting through her portrayal of Baby in House of 1000 Corpses – but I thought she gave a solid performance here. Far from her usual shrill and abrasive demeanor, Heidi is much more restrained and unassuming, and it suited her.

Though I may have liked The Lords of Salem more for what it wasn't, than what it was, this is a step in the right direction for Rob Zombie. I am now kind of excited to see what he does with his next project, the seventies hockey flick, Broad Street Bullies.

The Sound Of The Surreal.

Yet another film in the TIFF Vanguard program I was chomping at the bit to see was Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio.

A soft-spoken sound engineer (Toby Jones) gets more than he bargained for when he travels to Italy to work on an film directed by eccentric director Gianfranco Santini (Antonio Mancino).

The director's intent with this film was to merge art house with exploitation, but it's definitely the former that is the predominant force here. The emphasis on using sound to tell the story – at least for the first two acts anyway – was a very bold decision, but Strickland handles it beautifully. I was pulled in by the inner workings of sound engineering and the attention to detail was almost overwhelming. Jones does a great job portraying a man out of his element, both geographically and artistically, and the colourful characters around him – which include Cosimo Fusco as the detestable Francesco and future Bond girl Tonia Sotiropoulou as the acerbic receptionist Vera – do nothing to dissuade his unease.

Katalin Ladik in Berberian Sound Studio.

Unfortunately, by the hour mark, Berberian's narrative cracks start to show. Its unflinching ambiguity is its downfall, though I imagine the art house crowd will likely feel the opposite. I had a similar problem with 2009's Amer, but at least that was an anthology of sorts, so there were storytelling shifts by design. I don't mind the esoteric and I can forego narrative, but you have to either eventually go somewhere with your story or give me something that captures my imagination. Take David Lynch, for example, who I feel always knows what he's doing. His work comes from dream logic, so it's just a matter of deciphering symbols and non-linear constructs. I don't feel Strickland had a clear-cut conclusion for this film, and that frustrates me. I suppose I could just interpret the last act as an overworked man's fever dream, but that is incredibly clichéd and would sell the film short.

Director Peter Strickland.

The other thing I found myself thinking during the film was that I'd rather be watching the picture they were editing. The credit sequence and audio violence depicted in The Equestrian Vortex were the stuff that would make the likes of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci proud. It reminded me of my experience with 2009's The Hills Run Red, where the trailer shown up front was infinitely more interesting than the movie wrapped around it.

I'm sad to say I was disappointed with Berberian Sound Studio. It was chock full of the strange and surreal, with sound design that was to die for, but by the end I was left wanting.

Giving Satan The Middle Finger.

Next up, was two-time Midnight alumni JT Petty's exorcism horror comedy Hellbenders.

When an ancient demon plans to open a portal to hell, a group of ex-communicated priests working as exorcists-for-hire may be the world's only hope.

Petty has shown that he is a versatile director. Over the last decade, he has given us a creature feautre with Mimic: Sentinel, a chilling faux doc with S&Man, and the period western The Burrowers. Hellbenders is his stab at the horror comedy.

This was a reasonably good time, but as a film it's pretty uneven. The tone seemed fragmented throughout, which put the direction in question at points. This wasn't helped by the weird “talking head” interview segments that pop up from time to time. I get the random demonic possession bits, as they had to do with a contest run through Bloody Disgusting, but the interviews didn't really gel with the rest of the narrative at all.

The film's strong points were its concept and cast. The idea of a group of rogue exorcists that actively live a life of sin – if they cannot exorcise a demon, they'll invite the demon into their worthy vessel and take them both the hell after committing suicide – is pretty ingenious. It was the first half of this movie, where we saw their day-to-day, that was the most enjoyable. In fact, I don't think this movie would've worked at all if it didn't look like the cast was having so much fun. Clancy Brown was fantastic as Angus, spewing more vitreol and “cocksuckers” than an episode of Deadwood. The “moral” center of the group, played by Clifton Collins Jr. was also great, with some of the best lines of the piece. I'd also like to say that the effects work was well done, as the various demonic designs looked great and translated well onscreen.

Actor Clancy Brown (left), TIFF programmer Colin Geddes, Director JT Petty & actor Don Fogler.

As well as the 3D looked in Hellbenders, I don't think it was really necessary. It didn't particularly enhance the movie experience – certainly not like it did with Dredd 3D, which I saw a few days earlier. Of course, it didn't help that the glasses they hand out at the Ryerson Theatre were some of the most uncomfortable I've ever worn.

Hellbenders had its moments, but lacked the substance I was expecting from such a juicy premise.

My Kind Of Vamps.

One of the films I was most looking forward to at TIFF this year was Neil Jordan's newest Byzantium.

Two-hundred year old vampire “sisters” Clara (Gemma Arterton) & Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) flee to an English seaside town to start over, after a particular messy kill. However, it isn't long before their past catches up with them.

From that synopsis, you can imagine that this was an easy sell for me, but even I wasn't expecting to like it this much. There wasn't one facet of this film that didn't work for me. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, as Jordan has already given us two solid “monster” genre pictures in the past with Interview With The Vampire and The Company of Wolves.

Perhaps it is just the sheer skill involved that left me reeling. Byzantium has moments of action and flashes of extreme gore, but at its core remains a dense dual character piece that juggles two time periods. The film smartly skirts several of the more exuberant tropes of the vampire genre, which immediately distinguishes it from the more commercial fare that we've been seeing over the last few years.  It also doesn't hurt that the film is absolutely gorgeous, finding beauty in even the most drab of locations. There are so many frames of this movie that still stick out in my mind.

Case in point.

Ronan & Arterton are fantastic in this film as polar opposites. Ronan expands on a character similar to that of her title role in last year's Hanna, and continues to be able to emote more with just a stare than most actresses can with a full scene of dialogue. I did see shades of Let The Right One In here, but what's tremendous is that section is but one sliver of this delicious cinematic pie. As for Arterton, you can see that she loves playing this character and relishes Clara's more villainous attributes. When her and Ronan are together onscreen, you can see their history. They bicker fervently, their accents becoming more pronounced – which only further proves how well realized these characters are – yet they are the only thing they truly have in this world.

Actors Gemma Arterton (left), Saoirse Ronan, Caleb Landry Jones & Director Neil Jordan.

And if that wasn't enough, all the music in the film is elegantly arranged. Byzantium is bathed in classical and choral music that perfectly accentuates that these characters have been around a long time. Ronan reportedly spent three months learning the Beethoven piece she performs in the film. It is this attention to detail that put the film over the top for me. It is like a symphony where all of its parts work together in perfect harmony.

When the credits were rolling on Byzantium, I was really curious to know where this story came from. It had to be from some existing source material, as I couldn't believe that this was written directly for the screen. It turns out that it was adapted by Moira Buffini from her play A Vampire Story. I tip my hat to her for mining so much fresh and interesting material from a stale genre. Byzantium was dense, vibrant and I loved it.

There's Always A Bigger Fish.

I'll start my long list of festival reviews with Ryuhei Kitamura's No One Lives.

When a gang of criminals (headed by Oz's Lee Tergeson) run a couple off the road and steal their car, they later discover a kidnapped heiress (Adelaide Clemens) in the trunk. She quickly explains that her captor (Luke Evans) is a dangerous psychopath who will kill them all. Sure enough, he soon comes calling.

No One Lives is a strange balancing act. It has a very intriguing setup and premise, but there were several things I thought worked against it. I found the dialogue was really clunky, and some of the performances suffered because of it. Though the idea was sound, I felt the relationship between Clemens and Evans a little muddied. They were both solid in their roles, especially Evans as Driver, the stoic killer, despite the fact that his almost superhuman abilities were never really explained. These are all things that, singularly, could've been overlooked, but all together added up to a degree I could not ignore.

Driver (Luke Evans) brings the pain.

However, the two people responsible for keeping this from being a painfully average B-movie are Kitamura and makeup effects artist Robert Hall. Hall's gore work is always exceptional, so it was not surprising that when the film peaks, it is usually due to something he has splashed onscreen. No One Lives shares several similarities to Hall's own film series Laid To Rest, although this movie is nowhere near as mean spirited. Kitamura's wonderful eye is again on display here, with inspired camerawork and a gritty aesthetic that fits the setting well.

Director Ryuhei Kitamura (left) & writer David Cohen.

While evaluating No One Lives, I was initially confused as to why I did not enjoy this as much as I should have. On paper, it has all the staples of something I would be on board with, as well as a delicious little twist on convention, so what gives? After thinking about it some more I came to the conclusion that had to do with tone. Kitamura has a very over-the-top style which I find better suited to his more supernatural outings like Versus and Midnight Meat Train. Though No One Lives inhabits a more heightened reality than your average slasher, it is still reality and it took me a long time to clock into the ridiculousness of the piece.

In the end, No One Lives is a fun gorefest, but you have to make a conscious decision to just “go with it”. I do think that Kitamura is a good fit for WWE Studios though, as he brings copious amounts of skill and class to the table.

TIFF Ahoy!

The 37th edition of The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off today, and so does my rammed schedule.  I'm not sure when my reviews will start appearing here, but rest assured you'll be the first to know, so stay tuned.