American Horror Story 2.02: "Asylum: Tricks and Treats" (2012) directed by Bradley Buecker
Every episode is going to start with a brief glance at Bloody Face's activities in the abandoned asylum in the present day, it seems like. It'll be a like a mini-slasher movie when all done, maybe? In 1964, the story mostly centers on an Exorcist rip-off in which an old priest is brought to the asylum to help with a possessed teen-aged boy. Admittedly, this was a fun device to reveal more of Sister Jude's backstory, as the demon tries to rattle her by speaking of her past sins. As is the case with this show, her pre-nun life is way over-the-top, and we discover she used to be a super-promiscuous, drunk-driving, child-running-over wreck of a person. Also, nice to see Robin Weigert as the possessed boy's mother. I miss Jane.
Tales from the Darkside 1.17: "The Madness Room" (1985) directed by John Hayes
Once you see the knowing glance between the wife and the husband's business associate, followed by the husband taking nitroglycerin pills for his chest pain, the entire plot is easily predicted. A Tales from the Crypt-style story of getting just deserts.
Showing posts with label Bradley Buecker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradley Buecker. Show all posts
12 October 2013
08 October 2013
October 8th
Last Cannibal World (1977) directed by Ruggero Deodato
AKA Jungle Holocaust, this was originally intended as a sequel to Man from Deep River but bears little similarity that prior film. This is a true horror picture. I was thrilled throughout the entire film. It's a simple story of a man captured by "stone age" cannibals in the Malaysian jungle who has to escape and find his airplane before they either eat him or use him as crocodile bait.
I was blown away by the sequence where the cannibals capture Robert. Wow -- sometimes you need to be reminded about how badass '70s cinema could be. Robert awakens in cave, surrounded by screaming cannibals and tied to a large boulder. They begin poking and prodding him as he struggles against the ropes. Soon, they begin tearing his clothes off and poking and prodding him in even more sensitive areas. The imagery is intense: a nude made bound to a rock, surround by howling savages. It's hard to imagine a worse position to find yourself in.
I also can't say I've ever seen a horror movie in which the male lead spends more than half the film completely naked. Amazing work from Massimo Foschi, who gamely runs around a jungle completely nude just to make a movie. The bug bites that poor guy must have suffered...
If I have a complaint, it's that Robert only battled a cannibal in combat once. For all of the chasing around the jungle they did with him, he was only truly in trouble during that one time after his escape. And, even there, he had the massive advantage of the venom-tipped spear. A minor quibble, though, and barely worth bringing up.
Watched: DVD from Shriek Show
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I was blown away by the sequence where the cannibals capture Robert. Wow -- sometimes you need to be reminded about how badass '70s cinema could be. Robert awakens in cave, surrounded by screaming cannibals and tied to a large boulder. They begin poking and prodding him as he struggles against the ropes. Soon, they begin tearing his clothes off and poking and prodding him in even more sensitive areas. The imagery is intense: a nude made bound to a rock, surround by howling savages. It's hard to imagine a worse position to find yourself in.
I also can't say I've ever seen a horror movie in which the male lead spends more than half the film completely naked. Amazing work from Massimo Foschi, who gamely runs around a jungle completely nude just to make a movie. The bug bites that poor guy must have suffered...
If I have a complaint, it's that Robert only battled a cannibal in combat once. For all of the chasing around the jungle they did with him, he was only truly in trouble during that one time after his escape. And, even there, he had the massive advantage of the venom-tipped spear. A minor quibble, though, and barely worth bringing up.
Watched: DVD from Shriek Show
.
The Walking Dead 3.08: "Made to Suffer" (2012) directed by Bill Gierhart
This episode is intense in spots, but suffers from pacing problems most of the rest of the time. Which is probably the issue with the entire series, come to think of it. Rick's group's attack on Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie is exciting and fun to watch, but it's continually broken up by cutting to the Governor and his bizarre preoccupation with preventing Andrea from finding out who the attackers are. Why does he even care? Plus, the confrontation between the Governor and Michonne -- which had absolutely no build-up -- was incredibly disappointing. No fork or amputation, huh?
The mid-season cliffhanger of having the Dixon brothers surrounded by the Woodbury folks was rather tame. Even if I wasn't already spoiled, I can't say I would've been concerned that the show's most popular character was in trouble.
American Horror Story 2.01: "Asylum: Welcome to Briarcliff" (2012) directed by Bradley Buecker
Like the first episode of the first season, this opener throws a whole helluva lot at the viewer. Again, like that other episode, it was all pretty exciting. There's an abandoned asylum -- the best horror setting possible -- a mad scientist, a takes-absolutely-no-shit nun with secret desires for her priest, a lesbian investigative journalist, wacky characters populating the asylum, an arm ripped off, and... aliens? What the hell? I was not expecting the abduction angle. I was willing to brush it off as a cover memory in Kit's broken mind, but the scientist guy removes an implant from Kit's neck and watches it crawl away like a spider. I know they dropped the ball pretty badly by the end of season one, but I'm already forgetting that in favor of wondering how the hell all of this stuff will come together.
04 October 2013
October 4th
American Horror Story 1.09: "Spooky Little Girl" (2011) directed by John Scott
Hey, the Black Dahlia was killed in Murder House! Meh, I don't care. She seems to be there to illustrate how the fame-seekers who flock to Hollywood are so screwed up, they'd be happy if they are only famous for dying a grisly death. It has no affect on the story of the Harmons at all and, I bet, is probably only here due to interest in the case from the writer. More interesting, the psychic lady suggests that a baby born from a ghost and human will become the Antichrist. Neat, I guess. That gives the show a big, super-evil event to look forward to at the end. There were lots of Omen and Rosemary's Baby references so far, so that makes sense.
American Horror Story 1.10: "Smoldering Children" (2011) directed by Michael Lehmann
I can't say I was too surprised to find out that Violet was already a ghost. Her friend/enemy with the scratched face was abandoned from the show, as we never saw Violet outside of house after Violet's last hangout with her. I'll admit, the appearance of the bloated flies emerging from the cracks in the floorboards, then Tate killing the exterminator after he freaks out over seeing something under the house, then Tate showing Violent her fly-eaten, bloated corpse was an effective horror sequence.
American Horror Story 1.11: "Birth" (2011) directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Events lead to Vivian giving birth inside of the house, with Ben's baby stillborn and Tate's baby perfectly fine. I love the way the birth scene was shot. The frames were selectively blurred, canted angles were everywhere, and reality seemed fluid. As much as I may find the writing weak in the show, the technical side of things has always been very strong.
American Horror Story 1.12: "Afterbirth" (2011) directed by Bradley Buecker
Bizarre. Instead of exploring the problem that is the supposed Antichrist just born in the house, the show decides to end by pretending to be Beetlejuice. Sure, it's a fun sequence when the Harmons pull a Maitland and scare the crap out of the new homeowners. But, it feels like the showrunners had no idea how to end this thing.
The last we see of the Harmons -- now all dead and trapped in the house -- they are a super-happy ghost family celebrating Christmas. Really? Really? They are trapped in a hell with no apparent way of escape. Their children will never grow up. Their stillborn baby will be screaming in the night for centuries, lacking a living brain to grow and change. Violet will be a messed-up teenager for eternity. They're forced to exist with an increasingly large number of other people who die in the house, many of whom are very bad entities. Why is no one bringing this up? Violet touched on some of this in a previous episode very briefly -- worried that her laptop will go out of date and Youtube will no longer work -- but that was it. I would've never have guessed this family and the show would be given such a saccharine ending.
And, at the very end, we find out the 3-year-old Antichrist has killed his babysitter. Woo. I fear for the fate of the world. Sigh, how disappointing this thing turned out to be. At least next season is an entirely new story.
Hey, the Black Dahlia was killed in Murder House! Meh, I don't care. She seems to be there to illustrate how the fame-seekers who flock to Hollywood are so screwed up, they'd be happy if they are only famous for dying a grisly death. It has no affect on the story of the Harmons at all and, I bet, is probably only here due to interest in the case from the writer. More interesting, the psychic lady suggests that a baby born from a ghost and human will become the Antichrist. Neat, I guess. That gives the show a big, super-evil event to look forward to at the end. There were lots of Omen and Rosemary's Baby references so far, so that makes sense.
American Horror Story 1.10: "Smoldering Children" (2011) directed by Michael Lehmann
I can't say I was too surprised to find out that Violet was already a ghost. Her friend/enemy with the scratched face was abandoned from the show, as we never saw Violet outside of house after Violet's last hangout with her. I'll admit, the appearance of the bloated flies emerging from the cracks in the floorboards, then Tate killing the exterminator after he freaks out over seeing something under the house, then Tate showing Violent her fly-eaten, bloated corpse was an effective horror sequence.
American Horror Story 1.11: "Birth" (2011) directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Events lead to Vivian giving birth inside of the house, with Ben's baby stillborn and Tate's baby perfectly fine. I love the way the birth scene was shot. The frames were selectively blurred, canted angles were everywhere, and reality seemed fluid. As much as I may find the writing weak in the show, the technical side of things has always been very strong.
American Horror Story 1.12: "Afterbirth" (2011) directed by Bradley Buecker
Bizarre. Instead of exploring the problem that is the supposed Antichrist just born in the house, the show decides to end by pretending to be Beetlejuice. Sure, it's a fun sequence when the Harmons pull a Maitland and scare the crap out of the new homeowners. But, it feels like the showrunners had no idea how to end this thing.
The last we see of the Harmons -- now all dead and trapped in the house -- they are a super-happy ghost family celebrating Christmas. Really? Really? They are trapped in a hell with no apparent way of escape. Their children will never grow up. Their stillborn baby will be screaming in the night for centuries, lacking a living brain to grow and change. Violet will be a messed-up teenager for eternity. They're forced to exist with an increasingly large number of other people who die in the house, many of whom are very bad entities. Why is no one bringing this up? Violet touched on some of this in a previous episode very briefly -- worried that her laptop will go out of date and Youtube will no longer work -- but that was it. I would've never have guessed this family and the show would be given such a saccharine ending.
And, at the very end, we find out the 3-year-old Antichrist has killed his babysitter. Woo. I fear for the fate of the world. Sigh, how disappointing this thing turned out to be. At least next season is an entirely new story.
26 September 2013
September 26th
American Horror Story 1.03: "Murder House" (2011) directed by Bradley Buecker
Now ghosts are just waltzing into the house without a thought. Nora, one of the original owners, stops by and is mistaken for an interested home buyer. Other than weird reactions to modern appliances -- has she never haunted anyone else in the house before? -- one wouldn't be able to tell she's no longer alive. Hayden also shows up and begins to go all psycho-girlfriend on poor Ben, telling him she didn't go through with the abortion and she is going to tell Vivien everything. I was quite surprised when Burned Guy killed her with a shovel. Nice performance from Dylan McDermott freaking out order the murder. Dig the reveal of the maid's skeleton and her sadness when cement is poured over the grave. It seems getting your remains off the house's property is the only way to be free of it.
American Horror Story 1.04: "Halloween, Part 1" (2011) directed by David Semel
And now the ghosts of the just-prior owners of the house stop by to decorate the place for Halloween. If the entire Earth had the same power as this one little house, we'd be wadding knee-deep in spirits all day. Walking to the store would be like trudging through deep snow, except more ectoplasmy. I was again quite surprised when poor Addie is creamed by a car. Her mother's insistence that she die on the house's lawn means she'll be eternally bothering the home owners, but it's also interesting to learn that the ghost process of the house has some sort of boundary and rules. Hopefully, they'll explain in the future why Constance knows so much about the rules of the place without, apparently, being a ghost herself.
American Horror Story 1.05: "Halloween, Part 2" (2011) directed by David Semel
The show's getting to that point where the characters' lack of understanding of their situation is getting annoying. Hayden coughing up body bits and leaving a huge pool of blood in the tub is shrugged off by Ben and Vivien. A ghost with way-too-real gore on his face coughs up blood and is ignored by Violet, someone who has actually seen ghosts in the basement. All of the ghosts all but announce that they're dead by the way they talk about themselves, but this goes unnoticed. If the intention is to get the audience frustrated with the density of the characters, they are well on their way.
Now ghosts are just waltzing into the house without a thought. Nora, one of the original owners, stops by and is mistaken for an interested home buyer. Other than weird reactions to modern appliances -- has she never haunted anyone else in the house before? -- one wouldn't be able to tell she's no longer alive. Hayden also shows up and begins to go all psycho-girlfriend on poor Ben, telling him she didn't go through with the abortion and she is going to tell Vivien everything. I was quite surprised when Burned Guy killed her with a shovel. Nice performance from Dylan McDermott freaking out order the murder. Dig the reveal of the maid's skeleton and her sadness when cement is poured over the grave. It seems getting your remains off the house's property is the only way to be free of it.
American Horror Story 1.04: "Halloween, Part 1" (2011) directed by David Semel
And now the ghosts of the just-prior owners of the house stop by to decorate the place for Halloween. If the entire Earth had the same power as this one little house, we'd be wadding knee-deep in spirits all day. Walking to the store would be like trudging through deep snow, except more ectoplasmy. I was again quite surprised when poor Addie is creamed by a car. Her mother's insistence that she die on the house's lawn means she'll be eternally bothering the home owners, but it's also interesting to learn that the ghost process of the house has some sort of boundary and rules. Hopefully, they'll explain in the future why Constance knows so much about the rules of the place without, apparently, being a ghost herself.
American Horror Story 1.05: "Halloween, Part 2" (2011) directed by David Semel
The show's getting to that point where the characters' lack of understanding of their situation is getting annoying. Hayden coughing up body bits and leaving a huge pool of blood in the tub is shrugged off by Ben and Vivien. A ghost with way-too-real gore on his face coughs up blood and is ignored by Violet, someone who has actually seen ghosts in the basement. All of the ghosts all but announce that they're dead by the way they talk about themselves, but this goes unnoticed. If the intention is to get the audience frustrated with the density of the characters, they are well on their way.
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