This is
by the director of ‘Ringu’, the movie recently remade in the U.S. as ‘The
Ring’. ‘Ringu’ was in my opinion one of the best horror movies to come down
the pike in a long time. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna’ want to watch a
watered down (literally) rehash like this, however. Again we have the ghost
of a little girl who died a horrible lonely death haunting a living mother
and child. In this case the child is a girl, one of the few differences
between this movie and ‘Ringu’. Although director Nakata does manage to
deliver a few creepy moments, there’s nothing in ‘Dark Water’ to compare
with the creepiness of Sadako’s impressive entrance in ‘Ringu’. And as for
the dramatic portion of the story, it’s just not very compelling. The
ending sucks, too. Simply put this is just an unnecessary film.
Technically it’s well made, and the performances are good, but the plot is
nothing but a mediocre copy of something I’ve already seen. If I wanted
that, I’d spend my time watching Hollywood movies. (Bob Ignizio)
The
films of Jesus “Jess” Franco are definitely an acquired taste. He’s heavily
influenced by jazz, and often takes a somewhat improvisational approach to
directing. He’ll intentionally shoot some scenes out of focus to create a
certain feel. In the middle of a horror film he might decide to dwell on a
shot of a seagull flying or a band playing. Almost all of his movies have a
nightclub striptease scene (this one being no exception) that involves some
sort of unusual scenario. He’s a surrealist with a penchant for pop culture
and the darker side of eroticism who made a lot of movies he didn’t really
care about simply because he loves the process of making movies. On those
rare occasions where Franco both cared about the film he was making and had
a decent budget, cast, and screenplay the results are exceptional. ‘Eugenie
De Sade’ is one of those rare films.
As the title implies, this is an adaptation of a story
by the infamous Marquis. Although Franco has changed some of the specifics
and updated the story he captures its spirit quite well. The tale is told
in flashback by the gravely wounded Eugenie (Soledad Miranda). Her mother
died shortly after giving birth to her, leaving her in the care of her
stepfather Albert (Paul Muller), a writer of controversial books including one called “The Necronomicon”. When her father is away, Eugenie secretly browses through
his library of erotica. One day Albert catches Eugenie. When he finds out she
likes what she’s read, the two wind up becoming lovers and eventually
strengthen their bond by killing a few girls together. Only a literary
critic (Franco himself) suspects them of anything, but rather than turn them
in he begins following them and chronicling their misdeeds. Eventually
Eugenie’s stepfather comes up with a plan for a particularly mean-spirited
crime. Since this is being told from Eugenie’s hospital bed, you can pretty
much assume something goes wrong.
In my opinion, the late sixties and early seventies saw
Franco in his prime. Once hardcore came onto the scene in the mid
seventies, there wasn’t as much of a market for the type of films he
excelled at and his output became increasingly sloppy and workmanlike.
That’s not the case here. Franco also stays pretty firmly focused on the
story with few of his trademark digressions and he keeps the camera in focus
98% of the time. So with most of the usual complaints leveled against
Franco groundless and the added bonus of this being one of a handful of
films featuring the lovely and tragic Soledad Miranda, the only thing that
might stop anyone from appreciating ‘Eugenie De Sade’ is an aversion to the
subject matter. Like De Sade’s work itself, though, ‘Eugenie De Sade’
isn’t a movie about kinky sex. It’s about power games and what really goes
on in the minds of those who consider themselves amongst the elite. It’s
about the dark impulses most of us try to deny, and what happens to those
who don’t. (Bob Ignizio)
This is
an interesting, somewhat avant garde black & white film about a group of
mentally and emotionally challenged people (referred to as townies by the
"normal" residents) living in the drab suburban town of Shclarb, Ohio
(actually Ravenna). Although based on director Harold’s personal
experiences with mainstreamed mental patients and the like, I have
encountered similar types when living in Cuyahoga Falls. Many were
outpatients at the Fallsview facility, and some lived in a special needs
apartment building near the one time Rex Humbard Cathedral of Tomorrow (now
Ernest Angely’s HQ), so I can relate.
Dickie (Tony Radloff ) is a dumpster diving recluse who
takes a corpse home for company when his friend Crazy Connie (Michelle
Sibits) spurns his awkward attempts at romance. Caduceus (Shane Koltnow),
an intense townie with a bald head, is almost run over by Kelly (Shanna
McNamara) who thinks it’s pretty funny. By the end of the movie she’s not
laughing, though. Pricey (Lori Scarlett) is a mute girl who walks around
clutching a baby doll. A compassionate woman (Traci Marks) sort of looks
out for her, and Pricey enjoys playing with the woman’s young song Jeffy
(Eddie Brown). When Pricey loses her doll, she decides to take the young
boy in its place. There’s also a whole bunch of townies living in a group
home, including The Clapper (P. Craig Russel), William (Jay Geldhoff), and
The Licker (Jeremy Maes) who as his name implies has a bit of an oral
fixation. Kelly’s boyfriend Thad (Sean Woolf) and his friend Billy (Phil
Schmeidel) pop in to all the stories except Pricey’s. They hassle several
of the Townies but eventually learn the hard way this isn’t always such a
good idea.
Director Harold, best known for making the ‘Killer
Nerd’ and ‘Bride of Killer Nerd’ (which starred Tony Radloff as the titular
character) for the most part appears to be on the side of the outsiders. In
the commentary he does admit to having had some fun at the expense of the
real life inspirations for these characters when younger, so maybe this is
his penance. The film is both touching and disturbing, sometimes
simultaneously as with Dickie’s storyline. On a technical level this is
pretty solid filmmaking, especially considering the budget. 'Townies' is
more like a collection of character studies than a straightforward
narrative. Although there is some intersection between the different
plot threads, each of the four storylines has it's own conclusion. All in
all 'Townies' is quite a worthwhile viewing experience, and a definite step
up from the fun but cheesy 'Killer Nerd' movies Harold started out with.
The DVD from Tempe also includes a commentary track (somewhat difficult to
hear), outtakes, “behind the scenes” documentaries, interviews, and more.
(Bob Ignizio)
Bryan
Singer’s ‘X-Men’ was perhaps the first comic book to film adaptation to
really get it right. And what do you know, not only did the hard core comic
book geeks love it, so did the mainstream movie going audience. Now comes
the sequel, and believe it or not it’s as good if not better. That’s due
in part to the fact that it’s source material probably lends itself to a
continuing saga better than just about any other superhero comic. If you’ve
ever read X-Men, then you know it’s essentially a soap opera with mutants,
and the storylines focus just as much on the interpersonal relationships of
the characters as they do on battles. That comes across especially well in
the film version with the love triangle between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman),
Jean Grey (Famke Jensen) and Cyclops (James Marseden). But don’t worry,
there’s still plenty of action.
This time around, the story involves a mutant hating
military man named Stryker (Brian Cox). After a demonic looking mutant
named Kurt aka Nightcrawler makes an assassination attempt on the president,
Stryker gets authorization to raid Professor Xavier’s (Patrick Stewart)
“School for Gifted Youngsters”, actually the HQ of the X-Men. While
Professor X sends Jean Grey and Storm (Halle Berry) off to find Nightcrawler,
Wolverine returns from a failed attempt to discover the secrets of his
past. Professor X takes advantage of Wolverine’s return, asking him to
watch over the school while he and Cyclops pay a visit to Magneto (Ian
McKellen), still imprisoned for his misdeeds in the first film. When
Stryker sends his team into the school, Wolverine gets most of the young
students off to safety, and eventually flees himself along with Rouge (Anna
Paquin), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), and a new character named Pyro (Aaron
Stanford). Mystique (Rebecca Romjin Stamos) also returns from the first
film, and when she breaks into the office of Stryker’s mysterious assistant
Yuriko (Kelly Hu) she discovers the full extent of what Stryker has planned
for mutant kind. This leads to the X-Men, Magneto, and Mystique forming an
uneasy alliance against their mutual enemy. Got all that?
The major complaint most critics have leveled against
this movie is that there’s too many characters to keep track of. I
disagree. There’s really only 4 or 5 new characters that play any sort of
major role in the story, and since about the same number of characters
present in the first film are absent here (the rest of Magneto’s
“Brotherhood of Mutants”), it doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me.
Singer also gives each of the main characters a more evenly balanced amount
of screen time. Wolverine is still obviously his favorite, but Storm and
Jean Grey especially get to step out and show what they can do this time
around. And there’s a well handled romantic subplot involving Iceman (seen
briefly in the first film) and Rouge. Cyclops still hasn’t been used to his
full potential, but I have a feeling he’ll come more to the forefront next
time out. Anyone who’s read the comics will have a good idea where the next
installment of this franchise is going. Here’s a hint: think mythological
birds.
This is
by the director of ‘Ringu’, the movie recently remade in the U.S. as ‘The
Ring’. ‘Ringu’ was in my opinion one of the best horror movies to come down
the pike in a long time. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna’ want to watch a
watered down (literally) rehash like this, however. Again we have the ghost
of a little girl who died a horrible lonely death haunting a living mother
and child. In this case the child is a girl, one of the few differences
between this movie and ‘Ringu’. Although director Nakata does manage to
deliver a few creepy moments, there’s nothing in ‘Dark Water’ to compare
with the creepiness of Sadako’s impressive entrance in ‘Ringu’. And as for
the dramatic portion of the story, it’s just not very compelling. The
ending sucks, too. Simply put this is just an unnecessary film.
Technically it’s well made, and the performances are good, but the plot is
nothing but a mediocre copy of something I’ve already seen. If I wanted
that, I’d spend my time watching Hollywood movies. (Bob Ignizio)
The
films of Jesus “Jess” Franco are definitely an acquired taste. He’s heavily
influenced by jazz, and often takes a somewhat improvisational approach to
directing. He’ll intentionally shoot some scenes out of focus to create a
certain feel. In the middle of a horror film he might decide to dwell on a
shot of a seagull flying or a band playing. Almost all of his movies have a
nightclub striptease scene (this one being no exception) that involves some
sort of unusual scenario. He’s a surrealist with a penchant for pop culture
and the darker side of eroticism who made a lot of movies he didn’t really
care about simply because he loves the process of making movies. On those
rare occasions where Franco both cared about the film he was making and had
a decent budget, cast, and screenplay the results are exceptional. ‘Eugenie
De Sade’ is one of those rare films. 
This is
an interesting, somewhat avant garde black & white film about a group of
mentally and emotionally challenged people (referred to as townies by the
"normal" residents) living in the drab suburban town of Shclarb, Ohio
(actually Ravenna). Although based on director Harold’s personal
experiences with mainstreamed mental patients and the like, I have
encountered similar types when living in Cuyahoga Falls. Many were
outpatients at the Fallsview facility, and some lived in a special needs
apartment building near the one time Rex Humbard Cathedral of Tomorrow (now
Ernest Angely’s HQ), so I can relate.
Bryan
Singer’s ‘X-Men’ was perhaps the first comic book to film adaptation to
really get it right. And what do you know, not only did the hard core comic
book geeks love it, so did the mainstream movie going audience. Now comes
the sequel, and believe it or not it’s as good if not better. That’s due
in part to the fact that it’s source material probably lends itself to a
continuing saga better than just about any other superhero comic. If you’ve
ever read X-Men, then you know it’s essentially a soap opera with mutants,
and the storylines focus just as much on the interpersonal relationships of
the characters as they do on battles. That comes across especially well in
the film version with the love triangle between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman),
Jean Grey (Famke Jensen) and Cyclops (James Marseden). But don’t worry,
there’s still plenty of action. 