DVD Vault: 28 Days Later (2002)

Director Boyle induces primary fear with zombie-like spectacle

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

ONE of the most terrifying and sinister movies to ever see the light of day is, hands down, Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, a post apocalyptic frenzy of societal mayhem and global exodus that--for lack of better words--scared the shit outta me! Not literally, of course, but it's probably come the closest!

The 2-hour cinematic tour de force starts us off at the Cambridge Primate Research Facility, where disinclined chimpanzees have been deliberately infected with what one scientist referred to as "rage." A PETA-like group of armed protesters barge into the labs to salvage the afflicted beasts, inadvertently allowing the contagion to affect humans for the first time.

We skip forward to a dormant hospital in downtown London, where Jim (Cillian Murphy), a bicycle courier, has just awoken from a coma 28 days after all hell has broke loose. Oblivious to the catastrophic menace that has plagued his homeland, and perhaps the rest of the world, Jim is bewildered by the ominous cityscape that lays absent of human existence.

He finally comes across a pair of vigilantes, Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley), who rescue him from the "infected," ravenous and demonic humans who have been altered to resemble figments of their past selves, preying on the uninfected and relentlessly hunting them down. The first thing that comes to mind would be zombies, but these vicious slaughterers are quicker, stronger and smarter than anything out of a George A. Romero movie.

After Mark succumbs to the terminal virus Jim and Selena find themselves alone in the abandoned metropolis until they befriend Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and Hannah (Megan Burns), a father and daughter remotely surviving within a high rise apartment complex. Together they adhere to their unprecedented circumstance and agree to leave the city for a soldier blockade near Manchester, where a pre-recorded radio transmission promises "the answer to the infection." They stock up on necessary--and some unnecessary--supplies and head for the uncertain army base that offers no guarantees of salvation.

On their arrival at the seemingly desolate concrete siege, Frank is suddenly stricken with the sickness, and before he is able to gorge his own disconcerted daughter, he is shot down by a group of pouncing soldiers, led by Major Henry West (Christopher Eccleston). The gunmen happily take in Jim, Selena and a grief-stricken Hannah, as they all take refuge in a local mansion, set up to allow the soldiers awareness of any unannounced visitors.

But, like the alluring sirens of Greek mythology, the troops have misplaced intentions, fixated on their deprivation of women and sex. Selena and Hannah find themselves the involuntary subjects of the men's carnal urges, while Jim is left for dead, or so they thought. A newfound potency emerges within the destitute Jim, who embarks on a rescue mission of the only two people he has left in his life. One by one, each soldier meets his maker, and the trio of outcasts run for the hills, waiting out the infection in a modest sanctuary located within the tranquil countryside.

Moments of sheer and utter terror run rapid in 28 Days Later, subdued by disheartening compassion, fleeting melancholy, and transient wit, cased within a bleak setting that has been immaculately captured by a director who obviously knows what he's doing (and who has since gone on to helm Slumdog Millionaire). Well-placed imagery and a haunting tone (composed by John Murphy) encompass this stylistic piece of horrific art, telling of a nightmare that tip-toes on conceivability, albeit improbable. There in lies the ultimate fear of Boyle's magnum opus of horror, knowing that a communicable virus could easily signify the collapse of a species such as ours, spreading like wildfire until humankind runs its course. Rent it, borrow it or buy it...whatever you do, see it!

5/5 stars

Epilogue: Couldn't get enough? Luckily for fans of 28 Days Later, a dizzying sequel, 28 Weeks Later, ensued five years later (2007), but Boyle surrendered his director's chair to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and settled in as a co-producer instead. Boyle is apparently in talks to direct the third installment in the spine-chilling series, titled 28 Months Later, though no details have been released yet. SiM will surely keep you posted though!
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DVD Vault: Open Water (2004)

True story almost as entertaining as watching paint dry

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

There are many fascinating tales based on actual events that are worth adapting for the silver screen, and then there's Open Water, a disappointing waste of time that somehow made a hefty profit at worldwide box offices. Mind you, so did Snakes on a Plane!

Seven years after his first feature project, 1997's Grind, director-writer Chris Kentis had only $130,000 to work with, which is very apparent right from the get-go. I could only assume that not a considerable chunk of that budget went towards sound editing, cinematography, or a capable supporting cast.

The monotonous "thriller" recalls the true story of Tom & Eileen Lonergan (Daniel Travis, Blanchard Ryan), a married couple who embarked on a 1998 scuba diving excursion at the Great Barrier Reef only to inadvertently be left behind in the middle of the relentless Pacific ocean.

For nearly the entire 79-minute expose we are left to gaze at the unfortunate pair diving along with the current, and almost nothing else, with the exception of the casual shark spook. Tom eventually succumbs to a shark attack , leaving Eileen to fend for herself until she surrenders to the elements.

We, too, are finally put out of our misery, as Open Water fades to black and the credits (none of which I would care to accept) begin to roll. Save the few bucks it'd cost you to rent this movie from your local Blockbuster, or pick up Jaws instead!

0.5/5 stars

DVD Vault: The Eye (2002)

The Sixth Sense meets Final Destination for creepy escapade in Hong Kong

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

The Eye is a supernatural thriller that has its moments of definite terror, yet others that resemble something out of a sentimental epic, conjoined for a gripping story set to film. If you're able to overlook the movie's atmosphere that feels like we've delved backwards in time, you'll discover that even the most unlikely of foreign nations (in this case, Hong Kong and Singapore) has the ability to intrigue us enough to disregard subtitles, a low budget and an unacquainted cast.

The Pang Brothers' The Eye commences at a hospital in Hong Kong, where 20-year-old classical violinist Mun (Lee Sin-je) is about to undergo a risky cornea transplant, which will allow her to see for the first time since she was two. Shortly after surgery Mun has blurred visions that she can't seem to decipher, visions that ascend into frightening apparitions and deathly prophecies.

Haunted by these ghostly images and eerie hallucinations, Mun seeks the help of her psychologist Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou), who finds himself smitten with his charming patient. The two set out to disentangle Mun's mysterious abnormality, finding themselves in Thailand to learn more about Ling, the donor of Mun's plagued corneas. They discover that Ling had similar visions herself, ones that had her cast as a witch, and that compelled her to take her own life. Once Mun is able to rectify Lin's unresolved issues it seems that all is okay again, until Mun now discovers her ability to forecast fatalities and catastrophes, such as the one that restores her blindness at the film's finale.

High-tech graphics aren't exactly The Eye's big selling point, and some of the acting is delinquent, but as a whole the film was better than I could've imagined, which highlights my own ignorance to Asian cinema. The 98-minute film, which found its way into just over a dozen North American theatres in the summer of '03, was remade by American filmmakers last year (starring Jessica Alba), but critics suggested we avoid it altogether. In my humble opinion, stick with the original and settle in for a competent thriller that doesn't need Hollywood to render it worthy for our accustomed eyes.

3/5 stars

DVD Vault: High Tension (2003)

Thrasher films have plenty of tread left on the tires

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

By the 1970s the horror genre had worn itself thin, barely scrapping by on ideas that had already come and gone. Moviegoers were no longer petrified of Dracula, Frankenstein or psychos who dressed up as their dead mothers. Filmmakers took notice and introduced new concepts, most notably in Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and later in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), which shed a lense on terrorized young women who were stalked by knife--or chainsaw--wielding madmen, and most of whom had to bare a little T&A in between takes. Hense, the thrasher film sub-genre was born!

After a breif period of imaginative comatose during the late-'8os and early-'90s, the thrasher species finally enjoyed an embraced resurgence via hit movies like the Scream trilogy (1996-2000) and a pair of I Know What You Did Last Summer flicks (1997-98). Since then cinema fans have had a steady flow of goretastic blood fests (ie. Saw, Hostel), but seemingly all the tolerable efforts were U.S. bred. That is until France, of all places, dipped their bloody hands in the pot and cooked up some High Tension.

Alexandre Aja's French slasher film starts us off with two college girlfriends, Marie (Pot Luck's Cecile de France) and Alex (The Fifth Element's Maiwenn Le Besco), on a road trip to the latter's family home in the countryside, surrounded by corn fields and nothing more. The two young women settle in for the night, but Marie--in the midst of a masturbation session--is suddenly startled by their barking dog. Alex's father (Andrei Finti) rushes downstairs to answer the door, only to become victim #1 in some lunatic's murderous expedition. The paunchy, greasy psychopath (Philippe Nahon), draped in soiled coveralls, beheads the man of the house before he sets his blade to the family pet and then Alex's mother (Oana Pellea), and finally puts a bullet in her younger brother after he tries to escape through the corn fields.

A chained and gagged Alex is imprisoned in the killer's rusty delivery truck, alongside Marie, who unintentionally ends up by her side while trying to rescue Alex from her imminent demise. After a stop-over at an unfrequented gas station, where Marie breaks free and an incognizant gas attendant becomes victim #4, the man drives Alex off to the secluded woods, where the story really begins to unravel.

To say Aja offers up a surprise twist to sum up High Tension (a.k.a. Switchblade Romance) would be a conspicuous understatement, as the film untangles itself in a stupefying revelation that I'm sure almost no one could have foreseen, if not for a subtle hint in the film's inception. Although satisfying to no end, this bewildering ending leaves some major plot holes that Aja is unable to fill in, such as an opening scene that has the paunchy serial killer, um...pleasuring himself, with a decapitated head! You have to see the movie to understand what I'm referring to. Indiscrepencies aside, High Tension is a thrill ride that is not for the faint of heart, one that revitalized a sub-genre that had taken a wrong turn, perhaps. Who knew that the highway would lead us to France?!

3.5/5 stars

DVD Vault: A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

South Korea delivers a spooky recital of a vintage fable

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

When it comes to horror movies we, as Westerners, have pretty much seen it all, so it's only natural for us to look overseas to our Asian cronies to come up with something a little more authentic than another Michael Myers or Jason Voohries. Hollywood has been eyeing nations like Japan and Korea for years now, borrowing their tales of fear and reinventing them for domestic audiences. In fact, one of the latest remakes was this year's The Uninvited, a story told six years prior in South Korea's most successful horror feature to date, A Tale of Two Sisters.

Directed and scripted by Kim Ji-woon, Two Sisters is not original fiction either, itself based on Joseon Dynasty's folktale "Janghwa Hongreyon-jon," which roughly translates to "Rose Flower, Red Lotus." It tells of Su-mi (played by Im Soo Jung), a young woman haunted by the deaths of her mother and younger sister Su-yeon (Moon Guen Young), which triggers a psychological downward spiral that summits with an abrupt twist that'll catch anyone offguard.

One scene in particular, a two-minute dream sequence set in Su-mi's daylit bedroom, must be amongst the creepiest and most disturbingly buguiling displays in the history of horror movies, evocative of Japan's Ju-on: The Grudge. It sets a nightmarish atmosphere, despite being cast in the light of day, perfectly stirring up long-forgotten fears that have been dorment since they've become immune to the tactics of American cinema. These unnerving scenes are few and far between, but are well-worth sitting through the two hours of subtitled ingenuity, using thought-provoking terror to entice viewers rather than bloodshedding butchery.

I won't give away the ending of Two Sisters, or even the character development for that matter, so that you can go into this foreign excursion incognito, expecting nothing but a riveting tale of love lost, blanketed by uneasy oppression. Its Korean-language format may be a distraction at first, but you'll settle in just fine, that is until you find yourself stricken with the jitters from that aforementioned dream episode. Sleep tight!

4/5 stars

DVD Vault: Wolf Creek (2005)

Some stories just don't need to be told!

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

I don't mind gore or carnage, bloodshed or even the occasional beheading when I sit down to a thrasher movie, but Greg McLean's inaugural feature film, Wolf Creek, was nothing but tasteless exploitation that came off more as a cinematic atrocity than anything else. Thank God for fast-forward buttons!

Supposedly "based on true events," Wolf Creek hinders on the real-life "backpacker murderer" of New South Wales, Ivan Milat, who was convicted of killing seven tourists during the early-'90s. John Jarratt (Australia) dares to embrace the serial killer, or a fictionalized version of him, and comes off rather irritating and insipid, which can also be said of McLean's dreadfully slow script.

Cassandra Magrath (SeaChange), Nathan Phillips (Snakes on a Plane) and Kestie Morassi (The Secret Life of Us) are cast as friends who take a road trip to Wolf Creek, a site that bares a large crater formed decades ago by a meteorite. McLean drags this plotline on for what seemed like hours, before he finally has the trio encounter Mick (Jarratt), who offers his assistance when the travellers' car breaks down in the middle of the "outback."

Let's skip ahead--much like I did with the DVD--and they wind up drugged, tied up, tortured, bla bla bla...nothing original, everything dull and gruesome for the sake of being gruesome. Ridiculous debut for an Aussie director who must've thought bloody abomination would be his first-class ticket to Hollywood. In regards to Wolf Creek, let's hope his green card gets denied!

0.5/ 5 stars

DVD Vault: The Descent (2005)

Director Marshall raises the bar for cinematic fear-mongering

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

I must confess that when I first saw the theatrical trailer for Neil Marshall's The Descent four years ago, I was not sold by any means of the word. In fact, I picture myself rolling my eyes and wondering why these types of movies almost never stray far from the sidewalk that is typical Hollywood thrasher gore. When will I learn not to judge a book by its cover?!

First things first...this ain't your average Hollywood thrasher movie, but rather a British-made thriller-horror set in the unforgiving Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern U.S., where a group of six women gather at a cozy cabin to reminisce about days past, and to congregate over their next extreme adventure together. This comes one year after one of these women, Sarah (The Mutant Chronicles' Shauna Macdonald), lost her young daughter and husband in a cruel car accident while on a whitewater rafting expedition in Scotland.

Sarah, along with Juno (Natalie Mandoza), Beth (Alex Reid), Sam (MyAnna Buring), Rebecca (Saskia Mulder) and Holly (Nora-Jane Noone)--director/screenwriter Marshall insisted on defying movie convention by assembling an all-female cast--catch up on old times the night before they set out to an unchartered--or so they thought--system of underground caves, unbeknown to most of the troupe until they find themselves unable to retrace their footsteps after a minor cave-in swallows their most recent passageway. Coerced to tread forward, the group discover primitive cave paintings and outdated climbing equipment that proves they weren't the first ones here, but they also realize that they're not alone either.

It's Sarah who first catches a glimpse of a pale, human-like creature in the near pitch-black underground, but she's unable to convince her girlfriends that it wasn't just her imagination running amuck. Before they know it these "crawlers" warrant Sarah's suspicions, and begin terrorizing the girls, biting at their flesh and dragging the mutilated bodies to their grave of skeletonized vicitms. The remaining women quickly learn that these reptilian subhumans are blind and hunt by sound, using this to their advantage, just as their survival instincts kick into high gear.

Sarah circumvents the crawlers and their subterranean Venus Flytrap, and I found myself breathing an air of relief just as she does when she pokes her bloody arm through the ground, out into the appeasing daylight. Sarah gasps as she stumbles to her vehicle, throws the keys into the ignition, and drives off to glorious freedom. If you had seen The Descent in American theatres the anxiety ends there, but the Brits don't need happy endings, which is why their version ends alternately!

Although Marshall had rejected other horror-oriented projects following the overseas success of 2002's Dog Soldiers, the England-born director couldn't avoid working on The Descent, helming one of the best samples of the genre I've ever seen. He supplies his audience with prolonged suspense, empathetic terror and unrelenting tension that ceases to obey what our urges beg of it. And like what The Blair Witch Project did for camping, or what Deliverance did for canoe rides, The Descent dares us to even consider stepping foot within a dark, underground cave...for me, at least, it's 100% outta the question!

4.5/ 5 stars

DVD Vault: The Machinist (2004)

Before Batman, Christian Bale bored us in this cerebral "thriller"

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

It may have been because director Brad Anderson (Session 9) helmed most of the film lying in a gurney after suffering from a back injury during filming, or perhaps it was star Christian Bale (as Trevor Reznik) remaining almost at a stand-still with his character's inability to evoke any emotions other than exhaustion and paranoia. Whatever the reason, the Spanish-made psychological thriller The Machinist fell flat, nearly overshadowing its own plot with Bales' unavoidable physique, a mere ghost of himself, shedding a reported 62 pounds and reducing his mass to 120.

Evidently, Bale had planned on dropping yet another 20 pounds, but the filmmakers quickly put a stop to it, concerned over the insistent method actor's health. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not pointing any fingers at Bale (I heard he has a temper!), because I'm sure he forfilled his part to a tee, but Reznik's chronic insomnia nearly put me to sleep. In fact, Bale's sacrificial performance was committedly daunting, reminding me of a recent movie that asked as much from its star Michael Fassbender, who also went on a crash diet for his role in Hunger (2008).

Reznik (a tip of the hat to Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor) is a machinist--go figure--who hasn't been able to fall asleep in about a year. He leads a lonely existance, estranged from his past, scrapping by on the part-time affection of a discerning call girl named Stevie (Single White Female's Jennifer Jason Leigh) and the imagined chit-chat of an airport waitress named Maria (A Walk in the Clouds' Aitana Sanchez-Gijon).

The frail machinist corrodes into a paraniod state of confusion, starving himself for reasons unbeknown to us until...well never, really! I never fully understood the point of Reznik's hunger strike, even after the film untangled itself at the very end, explaining Reznik's behaviour as the result of a hit-and-run that ate at him, quite literally.

The Machinist ended--finally--when Reznik confessed what he had buried beneath layers of denial and a puzzling eating disorder, all of which piled into one big ball of shit that sunk him into a comatose mess, parallel with Anderson's irksome effort.

The tipping point was that I had actually recently watched The Machinist before, but I had perceptibly erased it from my memory, just like Reznik does with his vehicular manslaughter. In fact, as every scene kicked in I had no idea what was going to happen, barely recognizing the storyline as it ploddingly flowed, despite a prior viewing that obviously left no impression on me. Add in a pesky score that did no favours for the film, and The Machinist lost itself early off, too concerned with shocking its audience.

2/5 stars