Recently in Horror Category

Genuinely creepy, genuinely disturbing, genuinely unappreciated. The Ruins has everything you want in a horror movie, and as usual, it fails to get the respect it deserves.

It's a real shame that The Ruins is fairing miserably at the box office this weekend. It's one of the rare horror movies that's really well thought out, well acted, and well executed. Not that I'm not a fan of the genre - I enjoy most horror films but even I can admit most are lacking in the substance category. This one however has more than its' share.

The Ruins follows a group of vapid twenty something Americans on vacation in Mexico. They've been spending the whole time getting drunk and soaking up the sun, but on the second to last day of their trip, they get an offer they can't refuse...the chance to visit some long-forgotten ruins off the beaten path. The invitation comes from a German dude whose brother took off for the ruins a few days back with some cute archaeologist and has yet to return. So, they find the place only to be greeted by a bunch of Mayans who are none too happy to see them but force them up on the ruins and won't let em leave. At first, the kids are stunned but soon start to peace the whole story together...they're some sort of a sacrifice. But to who? Or what? The shit really starts to hit the fan pretty quickly and the real psychological tension begins.

This movie is, like I said before, really well done...and extremely creepy. From the opening scene (which shows an attractive woman screaming for her soon to be extinguished life at the bottom of an archeologic dig  within the ruins) the movie sets a nice grim tone. They really touch on all aspects of fear, from the classic "jump" scares to searing psychological horror to supernatural fear. This movie really goes all out and is absolutely successful.

It's no surprise however that the ruins centers on such a well crafted story. It's based on the novel of the same name by Scott B. Smith who also gave us the novel A Simple Plan and then adapted it for the big screen (if you haven't seen A Simple Plan you should go right now and rent it...it's amazing and as a bonus, it's directed by Sam Raimi). Smith also adapted The Ruins again showing his talents as a screenwriter and novelist (often the two don't go together).

If this movie has a weak point it's in its' underdevelopment of the characters. There's really no time given early in the movie for us to get to know em and invest any interest in them so consequently there's little emotional connection to the four leads. This doesn't end up being too big a problem since what they're going through is enough to freak anyone out, but the experience could have been intensified if the film had taken an extra ten or fifteen minutes to set them all up thoroughly.

That being said, all four of the leads give strong performances and are beautiful in the process. The standout is the always entertaining Jenna Malone in yet another well chosen role. She's yet to be in a bad movie (OK so maybe that's debatable, but look at her filmography: The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Saved!, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys). The rest of the cast is also strong . None have had quite the career that Malone has, but all are recognizable from their prior work. Jonathan Tucker has been seen in the series, The Black Donnellys and the recent film In the Valley of Elah. Shawn Ashmore has been seen in the X-Men films as Iceman and Laura Ramsey has been in The Covenent and She's The Man.

The movie is directed by Carter Smith who's a relative newcomer having only directed one movie previously: 2006's gay-horror film Bugcrush. He's skilled in directing in this genre and has a good sense of how to convey fear and dread and anxiety and all the other emotions required here.

Overall, this movie is a winner. Like I said, my only complaint is the lack of character development although this movie didn't really suffer from it, it just could have been made scarier if we'd known and identified with the leads a little more. This movie is gonna appeal to horror fans and maybe even bring more fans to the genre with its up and coming and pretty cast. I really hope people go see this movie - even if they are going for the hot girls and guys. It's too good to have the kind of box office showing it's having this weekend.

To say that there was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Cloverfield is an understatement.  The trailer for the move debuted in front of Transformers this past summer and since then, there's been a pretty extensive (and really mysterious) viral campaign on the web that's been drawing people in ever since. 

The movie follows a group of twenty-somethings who are throwing a going away party for one of their friends (the viral marketing played a significant role in the back story here).  During this party, the unthinkable happens:  a freakin' huge (and unbelievably cool looking) monster attacks New York City.  The movie then follows this ever whittling group of friends as they try to make their way across Manhattan to save a trapped friend and then off of the island.  Throw in a few chills, jumps, and a little comic relief and that's pretty much it.

OK, so a lot of people didn't like the way this film was shot.  Those people are wrong!  The whole thing is filmed with a home video camera a la The Blair Witch Project - and it works beautifully!  The perspective they got with the handi-cam made every experience so interesting and personal and at times terrifying.  Sure, the camera movement was jerky at times and peoples heads weren't always in the frame, but hey, that's the way home movies end up lots of times. 

This movie is really intense.  Aside from the first 20 minutes which are spent introducing the characters, etc (which was done rather cleverly considering the "home movie" style), the film is non-stop.  Basically, there are moments to catch your breath once or twice between the big action sequences, but aside from that, you'll be gripping the armrests like there's no tomorrow.  Seriously!

The monster in this movie is unlike any that you'll find in other monster movies. This thing is totally gnarly (wow, that's a completely under-used word). 

So, a word on the viral marketing.  There's so much to sift through to get the entire gist of the viral stuff, but here are the basics:  this guy Rob has gotten a job as a VP at a company called Slusho which is a frozen drink that has a really bizarre website (trust me, bizarre).  They are a subsidiary of a company called Tagruato which also has some deep sea oil rigs/drills.  One of these rigs gets attacked by something on the open ocean and is totally destroyed.  It's all pretty cool, but didn't really help you understand anything in the movie.  It was however successful at getting folks hyped about the movie (at least the internet/movie blog community).

Now, questions, questions everywhere, and not an answer to be found.  The thing that people will find most troubling about this movie is that it asks more than it answers.  You never find out what in the hell this monster is or where it came from for instance.  Then there's the scene at the end of the movie (a flashback of sorts) where something can be seen plummeting into the water off of Coney Island in the background.  Is this our mysterious monster?  Did it come from space?  Who the hell knows?!  And what's more, who cares?  Just go with it - it's a giant monster of unknown origin beating the hell out of New York City - and it's really cool.  There's also supposedly a small clip of audio at the end of the credits that when played backwards (really, who has time to capture the audio then play it backwards) says "Its' still alive".  That obviously leaves things open to a sequel or is it just the filmmakers giving the fanboys something to argue and muse over?  I guess only time will tell.

This movie is bad-ass!  Get over the motion sickness thing and take some dramamine before you go if you have to, but this movie is really entertaining and totally worth the cost of admission.  It definitely lives up to the hype and is destined to be a classic monster movie.

Questions. More questions. Even more questions. No answers. The end. This, is Cloverfield.

A godzilla-esque story about the destruction of New York (as seen through the limited vantage point of a small group of friends) the movie not only leaves you hanging in every conceivable way, but leaves you spinning, too.

The latter stems mostly from the way the filmmakers unabashedly serve up images of 9/11 as a sky-scraper high reptile ravages the city. Our first real hint of the destruction is a familiar scene: a building collapses under its own weight, sending plumes of smoke hurtling through the streets of Manhattan.

Pushing all that aside, you're left with a thinly-plotted film that reveals next to nothing. Where did the monster come from? Was it ever defeated? Which characters lived? Which characters died? You can't really be sure. But still, one thing is clear from the beginning: the ending isn't happy, seeing how you're told that you're watching highly classified camcorder footage that was recovered from the area "formerly known as Central Park."

On some levels, the unanswered questions do serve to heighten the tension. You see only what one of the characters sees as he totes a camcorder through the city, giving just hints of things like the military response as he and his friends manage to stumble into the monster's path. The story is claustrophobic, operating in a maddening vacuum that, if it doesn't leave you disappointed, will make you ill at ease.

And that's Cloverfield's genius. This constricted style could've been disastrous, but the filmmakers played it fairly smart throughout; the hints at the broader story are usually enough to satiate. And when it comes down to the really important stuff, like the monster, they give you enough. By the end, you've seen so much of its undulating jaws and flailing tentacles that you're begging for a reprieve that doesn't come.

Still, a little more disclosure wouldn't have killed them or their movie, especially where the main characters are concerned. Not knowing can be scary... it can also be aggravating. While Cloverfield is an obvious top draw on its opening weekend, its shelf-life is going to drop quickly as word about its unanswered questions spread.