Archive for October, 2006
Cabin Fever (2002)
Cabin FeverUSA 2002
Director: Eli Roth
I always appreciate it when a director attempts to do something new in any horror film. Innovative thought and ideas help to shape the horror genre into something cutting-edge and unconventional. Innovators such as Tobe Hooper, Sam Raimi, and Wes Craven formed, along with others, the new movement in conventional horror films. New ideas are great, but a good movie needs to have more than one interesting idea. Cabin Fever has half of an interesting idea surrounded by 90 minutes of excess fat and bad filmmaking.
The half an interesting idea is as follows: in place of a standard maniac killer such as Jason or Leatherface, a virulent flesh-eating disease is one-by-one infecting and killing a group of young, attractive campers. That, in theory, is the plot of Cabin Fever. In practise, the killer disease takes a backseat to a cast of unnecessarily-colourful secondary characters and their wacky adventures.
This film is stuck halfway between horror and comedy. Unlike previous successful horror-comedies (such as Evil Dead 2 or Scream), the humour in Cabin Fever is smug as opposed to smart and obvious as opposed to subtle. The movie even ends with a bad Shaggy Dog joke, which is both out of place and baffling.
The gore is sub-par, with underwhelming makeup from KNB EFX. Check out From Dusk Till Dawn for one of many much superior makeup outings from this group.
I believe that the main reason for the failure of this film as a good horror movie lies with director Roth. He throws in sloppy references to much more interesting films (a pseudo-homage to the ending of Night of the Living Dead, for instance, and the inclusion of “fake shemps,” a nod to the films of Sam Raimi); acknowledging other directors does not put you in the same league as them.
In summation, Cabin Fever is a bad movie and an especially bad horror movie. I can think of half a dozen other recent horror films I’d rather watch than this smarmy, often boring effort from a director who greatly overestimates his abilities and position in the horror genre.
Colin Le SueurTesis (1996)
TesisSpain 1996
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Language: Spanish
In his films, director Amenabar seems more interested in that which is not seen, rather than that which is seen. In the hands of another director, this film would’ve been garish, blood-filled and disturbing. Under Amenabar, Tesis is subtle, restrained and still very disturbing.
This interesting little horror/mystery asks some heavy questions about the industry of cinema and the public’s appetite for violence. Just how violent is too violent? Is there a line that cinema shouldn’t cross? Cleverly avoiding issues of hypocrisy, the film largely leaves the on-screen violence to a minimum, showing instead brief and disturbing flashes. Though the film knows the viewer is dying to see the violence, Amenabar won’t compromise. If only more filmmakers had his convictions.
The visual style of the film is quite interesting, with many clever POV techniques and genuinely creepy use of light and shadows. It’s no surprise Amenabar went on to direct The Others with Nicole Kidman; he definitely has an eye for sharp visuals.
Though the film never ventures too far into deep social analysis, Tesis does raise some interesting questions about the horror genre (though not in a smug, ‘we’re so clever’ way) and that alone makes it a welcome change from mainstream Hollywood horror films.
Colin Le SueurThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The Texas Chainsaw MassacreUSA 2003
Director: Marcus Nispel
I had pretty low expectations going into this remake. The original Texas Chain Saw Massacre from 1974 is still quite disturbing and powerful, thirty years after it was released. To remake such a classic, you’d have to do something extraordinary in order to surpass the original, break new ground, play with the genre and expectations. This film did none of that. It’s basically the same old formula, watered down for a new generation.
Removing most of the interesting elements from the original, this movie is basically undifferentiated from most of the other entries in the slasher genre. Put this next to Wrong Turn and there’s not much difference. To do a slasher movie nowadays means bringing something new to the genre (ie. Scream).
Nispel, a music video director, needs to learn how to make a good horror movie. The camera was too frenetic — okay, you’re trying to convey realism, as if you’re using a handheld camera. Fine, then use a handheld camera, don’t use editing to try and fake the effect. I can only imagine how interesting this film would’ve been had it not been a major Hollywood release. Lose the fancy producers, lose the pretty TV actors, and get a good writer/director onboard.
Oh, one last nitpick: this movie is supposed to be set in 1973. However, the actors both look and talk like it’s 2003. Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses did a better job with its 1970s setting.
Check out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on video, or better yet, rent the original. It’s much more interesting and groundbreaking than this watered down remake.
Colin Le SueurCoffy (1973)
CoffyUSA 1973
Director: Jack Hill
In the 1970s, in the days before political correctness sanitised everything for our protection, there was a very popular, very violent subgenre nicknamed blaxploitation, literally black exploitation. Started by films such as Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and Shaft (both from 1971), blaxploitation pictures featured heavy doses of stylised sex and violence, usually set in gritty urban centres, with strong black leading characters. Coffy represents one of the most popular blaxploitation films and helped to establish Pam Grier as the queen of the genre.
This film is violent, misogynistic, and racist (some would argue). In our current culture of political correctness, Coffy represents a guilty pleasure, a look back at a time when films weren’t worried about offending anyone (though I imagine Coffy would offend many people, even in the 1970s). Pam Grier as Coffy kicks a lot of ass and kills a lot of drug dealers in her pursuit of revenge on the pushers who hooked her sister on junk.
Granted, this film isn’t a masterpiece. The acting is bad (Pam Grier’s Jamaican accent is laughable) and there are gaping plot holes, but Coffy is a lot of fun. Grier’s charisma and presence carry the film; it’s no wonder she went on to have a long and successful career. Sid Haig, most recently seen in Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects, is very effective as a creepy thug, an archetype he returns to several times in the blaxploitation cycle.
Though exploitative and sensational, Coffy is an entertaining action film, worth seeing for Pam Grier’s performance alone.
Colin Le Sueur