This
is a French horror movie from way back in 2003. It's finally come to
the US theatres, even though an unrated DVD can be bought online for
years now. Lions Gate saw it, liked it and put it out here.
Unfortunately, it had to be cut a bit to get an R rating, but more on
that later. The plot follows two girls who are traveling to one of
their parents’ farm home for a break from their hectic lives. Things
are going great until the night they arrive because that is when a
mysterious man arrives and the killing starts. And actually that is
when the fun starts. Ok, this movie is really well made. I had no
complaints about that. The acting is great and the death scenes are
really fuckin' nasty. Unfortunately, the MPAA (douchebags) demanded cuts
be made and now a minute of gore is missing, but trust me, what is here
is gross.
There is a slit throat, which may be the most
hideous onscreen throat slashing ever. You can even see where the
inside of the neck moves when the victim tries to breathe. There is
also an axe to the chest, some stabbings, a strange partial
decapitation, child murder, and a barbed wire attack that shames the one
at the end of ‘Backwoods’! And it’s all topped off with a hideous
circular saw attack on a car which literally paints the car red. Damn!
Further investigation revealed the man behind this carnage to be none
other than Gianetto De Rossi, special effects wizard on a million
Italian gore fests of years past (‘Zombi 2’, ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’,
etc.). So yeah, the gore is good and there is even a female
masturbation scene and a blowjob scene that had a few people fleeing the
theatre, never to return.
The
word tension is in the title and I wish there had actually been a little
bit more of it, since all scares and fright exits the picture after the
action leaves the farmhouse. And it has, for sure, one of the worst
endings ever. In fact, it's so implausibly stupid that it contradicts
half the shit that you just watched, most of which would have been
impossible if we are to believe what we are presented with. So yeah,
the gore and sleaze are all over the place, probably in amounts we wont
see in normal theatres too often. Hell, the first half in the farm
house is so well done that there actually was some good scare scenes and
"tension", but the ending is enough to ruin the proceedings and it left
me only able to give this movie a B-. (Edward Black)
Everything
about this flick feels like a lost late sixties/early seventies film, even
the opening credits. The feel is like a cross between experimental film and
pure exploitation, like Alexandro Jodorowsky directing ‘The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre’. The grainy 16mm photography and low budget gore effects further
add to the feeling that this is a lost film from the era it depicts, with
only a modern day subplot spoiling the illusion. For all the effort
Hollywood has gone to in recent films like ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ and
‘Cabin Fever’ to replicate the feel of the classic transgressive drive-in
horror films of a bygone era, they haven’t come close to the authenticity of
‘The Manson Family’.
With that out of the way, let’s
get to the meat of the matter. ‘The Manson Family’, as its name implies,
isn’t so much about Charlie as it is about his disciples. You know, the
ones who actually committed the murders. It’s a series of interviews with
and flashbacks by the principals that shows how these lost souls came under
the influences of Manson to the point they were willing to kill for him.
With the early portion of the film heavily focused on the sex and drugs
aspects of the story, it almost feels like a hippie sexploitation film (ala
‘Mondo Mod’ or ‘The Hippie Revolt’) at first. But as the film nears its
conclusion things take a much darker turn.
Is this a
historically accurate version of events? Frankly I haven’t read enough to
know, and I don’t really care. It’s nice when movies based on “true
stories” stick to the facts, but I’m more interested in how the film plays
on its own merits. And for what it strives to achieve, ‘The Manson Family’
plays quite well. It’s definitely not going to appeal to everyone, but if
you like the counterculture films of the sixties and seventies, chances are
you’ll like ‘The Manson Family’. Everything about this film is raw and
naturalistic, and if you like polished Hollywood fare this ain’t for you.
If you demand a film that follows a straight linear plot, you won’t care
much for Van Bebber’s almost collage like style. And if you like movies
that respect the boundaries of good taste, this isn’t for you, either. Nor
will this movie give you much real insight into why Manson’s followers fell
under his spell and did what they did. That said, though, I still highly
recommend this for those with a strong stomach and an interest in films that
push the boundaries. (Bob Ignizio)
The Suicide Girls are
sort of an alternative erotica troupe, offering their own modern twist
on the age old pastime of looking at pretty naked girls. They started
out as a website, got a feature on HBO’s ‘Real Sex’ series, put together
a stage show, and have now documented their first tour on this DVD. If
you like classic fifties cheesecake and burlesque and also appreciate
punk/goth girls, you’ll be in heaven watching this DVD.
There’s nothing crass or
exploitative about what the Suicide Girls do. Only the most uptight
prude or a feminist from the Andrea Dworkin branch would get upset over
this. Basically, the disc is divided into chapters on individual girls,
offering interviews, segments from their portion of the stage show, and
a taped photo shoot for each. There’s also fun on the road segments in
between. Everything is filmed well and the girls all appear to be
having a good time, so what’s not to like?
About my only complaint is
how what the Suicide Girls do is presented as being somehow different
from traditional cheesecake stuff. Yeah, the girls are pierced and
tattooed and some of them have funny hair colors, but otherwise this is
pretty typical striptease erotica with a fetishistic bent. The girls
are all in perfect physical shape, and for the most part white. I don’t
want to sound like “Mr. Politically Correct”, but seeing as the Suicide
Girls bill themselves as an alternative to mainstream erotica (and
considering the wide variety of girls on the website), a little more
diversity in this vid would have been nice. There is a black girl on
tour who’s seen in some of the “on the road” footage, but she doesn’t
get featured, so I can’t really count that.
My minor whining aside, this
is a fun video for classy erotica enthusiasts. At an hour and 45
minutes, it’s perhaps a bit long, but I don’t know if I’d really call
that a complaint. In addition to the feature film, the DVD also
includes outtakes, behind the scenes footage, and a Probot video for the
song “Shake Your Blood”. If this is your cup of tea, it’s well worth
the money. (Bob Ignizio)
Aside
from the lame and gutless ending, I found 'War of the Worlds' reasonably
entertaining. The movie treats the whole invasion idea pretty seriously
with an awful lot of onscreen death and destruction. For the most part,
this mayhem is presented in a manner intended to create horror rather
than be a rollercoaster ride, although Spielberg can't help but have a
few "action movie" moments. You know, the kind of moments where the main
characters are running/driving from some danger and everything behind
them is blowing up. Does that shit still work for people after all the
times we've seen it? But as I said, not too much of that.
There are really only 4 characters in the whole
film: Tom Cruise, his two kids, and Tim Robbins. The Robbins character
is the only one that's remotely interesting, but he's not in the movie
that much. As with the H.G. Wells book (which Spielberg follows more
closely than the fifties film adaptation), the main character (Cruise)
is simply a helpless observer, and the movie is a series of set pieces
depicting different stages of the invasion as he tries to keep himself
and his family alive. Cruise was okay in his role, but then he really
doesn't have much to do other than run for most of the movie. The
special effects, while clearly better than the fifties version, are also
not as memorable as the flying saucers (and the sounds they made) in the
original film.
As with Romero's 'Land of the Dead', I think
there's some very intentional post 9-11 commentary going on here. I
think that because the word "terrorists" is used several times early in
the film, just to make sure we get it. 9-11 is also evoked in scenes of
walls covered with posters for people searching for lost loved ones. And
there also seems to be some anti Iraq war commentary from the Tim
Robbins character (he says something along the lines of "an occupying
army can never win"). H.G. Wells intended his Martians to be an allegory
for British imperialism, so giving the subtext an update seems
reasonable. I'm not 100% clear, however, whether Spielberg and
screenwriter David Koep's aliens are supposed to represent terrorists,
American imperialism, or somehow do double duty as both.
Bottom line: 'War of the Worlds' is slightly
above average summer film fare. It's well acted and well directed, but
ultimately fails to give us any truly memorable scenes. It also
undermines its own serious tone with an improbable and typically
Spielbergian ending. Will it find an indelible place in my memories
alongside the original 1953 version? No. Will it provide a decent 2
hours worth of summer movie entertainment? I think for most people it
will. (Bob Ignizio)
This
is a French horror movie from way back in 2003. It's finally come to
the US theatres, even though an unrated DVD can be bought online for
years now. Lions Gate saw it, liked it and put it out here.
Unfortunately, it had to be cut a bit to get an R rating, but more on
that later. The plot follows two girls who are traveling to one of
their parents’ farm home for a break from their hectic lives. Things
are going great until the night they arrive because that is when a
mysterious man arrives and the killing starts. And actually that is
when the fun starts. Ok, this movie is really well made. I had no
complaints about that. The acting is great and the death scenes are
really fuckin' nasty. Unfortunately, the MPAA (douchebags) demanded cuts
be made and now a minute of gore is missing, but trust me, what is here
is gross. 
Everything
about this flick feels like a lost late sixties/early seventies film, even
the opening credits. The feel is like a cross between experimental film and
pure exploitation, like Alexandro Jodorowsky directing ‘The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre’. The grainy 16mm photography and low budget gore effects further
add to the feeling that this is a lost film from the era it depicts, with
only a modern day subplot spoiling the illusion. For all the effort
Hollywood has gone to in recent films like ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ and
‘Cabin Fever’ to replicate the feel of the classic transgressive drive-in
horror films of a bygone era, they haven’t come close to the authenticity of
‘The Manson Family’. 
The Suicide Girls are
sort of an alternative erotica troupe, offering their own modern twist
on the age old pastime of looking at pretty naked girls. They started
out as a website, got a feature on HBO’s ‘Real Sex’ series, put together
a stage show, and have now documented their first tour on this DVD. If
you like classic fifties cheesecake and burlesque and also appreciate
punk/goth girls, you’ll be in heaven watching this DVD. 
Aside
from the lame and gutless ending, I found 'War of the Worlds' reasonably
entertaining. The movie treats the whole invasion idea pretty seriously
with an awful lot of onscreen death and destruction. For the most part,
this mayhem is presented in a manner intended to create horror rather
than be a rollercoaster ride, although Spielberg can't help but have a
few "action movie" moments. You know, the kind of moments where the main
characters are running/driving from some danger and everything behind
them is blowing up. Does that shit still work for people after all the
times we've seen it? But as I said, not too much of that. 