10/9
14) THE INNKEEPERS
(2011, USA. Dir: Ti West)
Ti West has been making a name for himself with his slow-burn brand of indie horror. The House of the Devil may have taken a little too long to get the flame going for some tastes, but its undeniably eerie atmosphere and 70's-throwback style was a successful hit among genre fans. West's other films (The Roost, Cabin Fever 2) don't fare as well, but they all have something charming that makes them unique.
The Innkeepers is another snail-paced supernatural offering from West. Claire (Sara Paxton - Enter Nowhere, Last House on the Left '09) and Luke (Pat Healy) are a pair of slacker hotel clerks charged with staffing the final weekend of the struggling Yankee Pedlar before it permanently closes. When they aren't sleeping in shifts, Claire and Luke are occupied with taking EVPs instead of watching the desk, which is fine because there aren't any patrons. That is until a former TV-actress-turned-psychic played by freakin' Kelly McGillis (who is gaining major horror cred between this and her knock-out performance in Stake Land--grande dame guignol making a comeback?!) books a room and gets more than a little bitchy with clueless Claire. But kooky Kelly will come in handy, as Chapter Two (yes, this tale unravels in chapter format) reveals a horrible tragedy that occurred in the inn that piques the supernatural interest of the bored clerks.
Many will argue that The Innkeepers is way too long and poorly paced. The supernatural angle is mostly unsatisfying, and perhaps West is guilty of revealing too much. That said, West does succeed in creating tension and atmosphere that should send chills down the spine of classic ghost story fans. The biggest trick up West's sleeve is that he knows how to create quirky, irresistibly likable characters--especially female characters (remember Greta Gerwig's Megan in The House of the Devil? Who wouldn't want to be her BFF?). The story is ultimately Claire's, and it's easy to relate to her fla. She's the type of character you root for (instead of rooting for her demise), and as the sense of dread builds, you find yourself swept-up in her situation. The content may be nothing original, the payoff may not be so incredible, but The Innkeepers is delivered in an effectively scary way. What else ya got for us, Ti?
10/10
15) LOVELY MOLLY
(2011, USA. Dir: Eduardo Sánchez)
Over the last ten years, I've followed the career of The Blair Witch Project director duo a little closer than necessary in hopes that either one of them will make another masterful fright flick. While all of their films have been average horrors with enough unique qualities to make them passable fare, I tend prefer Eduardo Sanchéz's work over the equally prolific Daniel Myrick, if only because his movies have a bit of a higher creep-out factor. Lovely Molly is Sanchéz's latest, and it did get under my skin.
Former addict Molly (newcomer Gretchen Lodge) and her hubby Tim (the late Johnny Lewis) move-in to her childhood home, and finds herself haunted by a past that she isn't able to completely piece together. When she starts to hear crying, groaning, and singing throughout the house, she starts to record the incidents to prove she's not relapsing or going bonkers. Much has been made of the use of found footage within this otherwise traditionally structured movie, but these scenes are mostly forgettable. The real horror in Lovely Molly plays on recognizing powerlessness in escaping your fears. The young, financially struggling couple literally has nowhere else to go other than the possibly haunted house they've inherited. Lodge gives a fearless, heart-wrenching performance that's almost difficult to watch at times. She harkens back to classic 60s characters (Mia Farrow's Rosemary, Catherine Deneuve's Carol), but with a more modern, desperately sordid slant.
My Rating: 6/10 (ftv)
16) ROSEWOOD LANE
(2011, USA. Dir: Victor Salva)
Damn, another movie about a young lady with a disturbing past who is forced to move into her childhood home for whatever reason. I swear I didn't pair this up with Lovely Molly intentionally! It seems to be a pretty common theme lately. But before I get into it, let me get this out of the way. Rose McGowan, you have always been a one-of-a-kind beauty. So whose face is THIS?
WHY? I've dug McGowan since her Araki days, and always found her to be a welcome, unique presence in Hollywood. Heck, after seeing her performances in Grindhouse, I was convinced that she was becoming the closest thing modern audiences would ever have to a 50s/60s style matinee idol. That's not to say weird choice in cosmetic surgery would make that impossible...but headlining dreck like Rosewood Lane just might.
Now let me get THIS out of the way. This is a movie about a killer paperboy who terrorizes Rose McGowan and her neighbors. He may be a disturbed teen, he may be a demon, all I know is the actor who plays the paper"boy" looks about thirty. If I were a thirty-something paperboy, I'd probably terrorize my customers too. TV actors who deserve better show up as the bumbling detective (Ray Wise) and the flirty (and obviously doomed from the start) lesbian pal (Lauren Veléz). There's also a strange reference to Misery--Rose knows that the evil paperboy has been in her house because her porcelain figurines are slightly askew. And an unsettling moment where the characters show up at a hospital called "St. Victor's," presumably named for the creeper director. Just a few examples of how ridiculous this is. Boo, Rose!
My Rating: 3/10 (ftv)
10/17
17) ISLAND OF LOST SOULS
(1932, USA. Erle C. Kenton)
I think it's funny that the advertisements for this film focused on THE PANTHER WOMAN (the stunning Kathleen Burke, who hailed from the exotic far reaches of, uh, Indiana) because there really isn't anything panther-like about the character Lota. Island of Lost Souls is by far the best (and most disturbing) adaptation of Dr. Moreau that I've seen. Charles Laughton's Moreau is one of the more unsettling "mad scientist" portrayals in the genre. The story focuses more on Lota's sexuality than I anticipated--what happens when she, the perfectly created woman, sees a non-mutant/non-threatening man for the first time? Moreau wants to prove his creation is a "complete" woman capable of love, defined here as mating and having offspring. It makes you wonder where horror would have gone in the 30s and 40s if the Hays Code was never implemented.
My Rating: 8/10 (ftv)
18) THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
(1932, USA. Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack)
"The Most Dangerous Game" story has had countless film adaptations, and has influenced even more, including The Hunger Games. I remember reading Richard Connell's story in junior high and being totally side-swiped by the "rich dude hunting humans for novelty" plot, which I had never encountered up until that point. It's fascinating that it has become such a commonplace narrative. I don't think The Most Dangerous Game, the first film adaptation of the story, packs as much of a punch as the story. There are some interesting elements--the boat explosion in the beginning is startling, Noble Johnson's Ivan is perfect, and there's a seriously freaky mural in the manor. But the agonizing suspense that is so present in the story is absent in this film version. Also, it would have been interesting to see this film without the added Eve character, even though Fay Wray does a decent job with the throwaway role.
My Rating: 6/10 (ftv)
19) THE LOVED ONES
(2009, Australia. Sean Byrne)
I have a penchant for Australian horror, and I love horror movies about misfit girls. Of course, The Loved Ones is what my friends would call a total "Stever Movie." Not just that, it's one of the best horror movies to come out of the Lucky Country yet.
Brent (Xavier Samuel, who looks like Kristen Stewart, with even dirtier hair) is an angsty, self-injuring teen metalhead who is detached from his mother and friends due to feeling responsible for his father's death in an auto-accident during which he was driving. One day in the school hall a mousy classmate named Lola (Robin McLeavy) timidly asks him to a dance. He politely declines her invite, indicating he is already going with his girlfriend. Lola stands there after being rejected, staring blankly and standing totally still, and you can't help but feel the poor thing's pain. Sean Byrne really knows how to tug on the heart-strings. In the next scene, Brent is sitting alone at a cliff with his dog, pondering his mistakes, generally hating his life as teenagers do. Suddenly, he's kidnapped by a man he doesn't know. While we don't see the dog get stabbed, the next scene takes place hours later and shows the bloody pup crawling up to Brent's mother's doorstep.
It's soon apparent that Lola is pretty fucking crazy, and her equally insane Daddy will do anything to make sure she has one hell of a homecoming. After buying her the perfect pink dress, he brings Lola her date for her special dance. Extreme violence, gore (both visual and verbal), and general fucked-up-ness ensues, and it all almost seems campy at first; however, The Loved Ones is too smart to descend into camp. The macabre is edited with Brent's teen peers' storylines: Mia, a goth rocker chick who has completely detached from her parents, while mourning the death of her brother with alcohol; Jamie, Mia's date and Brent's best friend, who has no idea how to react to the trauma his pals have endured; Holly, Brent's girlfriend who is removed from her own mother who lives in another country. While Lola may be disturbing close to Daddy, Brent's relationship with his mom has dissolved after his father's death.
Much has been made of the Pretty in Pink meets TCM vibe of The Loved Ones. Its monstrous family is obviously influenced by TCM, and there is an obvious play on various themes popularized by the John Hughes canon. But The Loved Ones is it's own unique monster that really taps into teenage isolation and detachment in a way that Hughes never captured. Both Samuel and McLeavy are phenomenal in their roles, and haven't gone unnoticed by Hollywood--Samuel went on to do Twilight movies, and McLeavy is now on Hell on Wheels. Good on 'em, but hopefully Sean Byrne won't succumb to Hollywood's call and continue to bring us more horror from the heart of Australia.
My Rating: 8/10 (ftv)
20) DEADLY BLESSING
(1981, USA. Wes Craven)
This may be the only Wes Craven movie I have never seen. Somehow I didn't catch it on TV as a kid like all of his other 80's offerings. Thanks to Netflix streaming adding this, I was finally able to catch it, and it's one of Uncle Wes's more bizarre horror films.
The opening credits feature stills and music that would not be out of place on "Little House on the Prairie." We're first introduced to a crazy farmhand, played by none other than Michael Berryman, who attacks young Faith (Lisa Hartman). After her batty mother (the fabulously crazed Lois Nettleton) intervenes, she chastizes Faith for painting, tells her she should do "girl" activities, and then acts lasciviously toward Farmer John.
John is a reformed Hittite, the dominant religion in the small farming community. While they may seem Amish, the film is quick to differentiate as to not offend: "Hittite's make Amish look like swingers!" says one character. So, John managed to escape and go to college, where he met Martha (Maren Jensen). They returned to the community, despite John no longer wishing to be affiliated with the religion, much to the dismay of his father (played by Ernest Borgnine, who garnered a Razzie nom for his performance--why the hate?!), who refers to Martha as the incubus. Wouldn't she be a succubus? Anyway, it doesn't matter. John gets run over by a tractor, and for whatever reason Martha decides to stay on the farm and invites her L.A. gal pals (Sharon Stone in an early role and Susan Bruckner) to help her cope with her loss.
The movie drags at this point...and drags. There's thirty minutes in the middle where nothing really happens but characters running into fields. All of the kill sequences are slow-motion paired with a melodramatic score, and it just feels goofy. Nettleton's zany performance as Faith's crazy mom is what saves Deadly Blessing from being totally unwatchable, with her wacky delivery of dialogue like, "My man made me hate the whole breed!" and "If Faith had been born a boy, I'da' stuck her in the river like a sack o' kittens!" She's a hoot. Surprisingly, her bizarre ramblings actually figure in to the weird Hittites versus non-Hittites plot in a way that I never saw coming. That coupled with Martha's strange fate lend to Deadly Blessing being a watchable effort, and ultimately an oddball entry in Craven's early filmography and early 80s horror.
My Rating: 4/10 (ftv)
21) INKUBUS
(2011, USA. Glenn Ciano)
And speaking of incubus!
Freddy Krueger, a 90's boyband member, and one of the dudes from Weekend at Bernie's all walk into a police station...
I wish this was a joke. At least there's a demon baby.
Actual quote from the titular character: "I like the inverted K--it keeps me separate from the other incubi."
Jesus.
My Rating: 2/10 (ftv)
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