Post by Bub on Dec 9, 2004 16:39:26 GMT -5
Okay, recently I've been to this "Hollywood Video" that has a freakin mother load of horror films. I was able to rent "Alice, Sweet Alice", "The Last Broadcast", and "Videodrome" there. Below are my reviews.
Videodrome:
"Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh!"
"Videodrome" is truly engrossing and interesting as a film can get. Cronenberg knows no bounds to the scifi/ horror genre and he pushes the boundaries beyond anything we've ever experienced or seen onscreen, like Videodrome does to its viewers in the actual film.
James Woods plays Max Renn, a man who runs an underground TV station that showcases pornography and violent programs unlike any other station. When one of his guys picks up a TV show called Videodrome on a Pirate Satilite, featuring snuff film like beatings, he investigates into it. But soon, wierd hallucinations (or are they real?) start to occur, and everything in his world goes nuts.
"Videodrome"'s incredible storyline is made more believeable due to James Woods' fantastic performance as Max. I bought him throughout the whole film. Other performances are convincing, too.
The Special Makeup effects by Rick Baker are incredible. I wish FX like this were still in movies today. Everything is well done and fantastic, and the gore is absolutely amazing. This film has some classic "Eww" moments you won't want to miss.
The storyline makes this movie stand out beyond all other films you'll see. Everything here is strictly "Cronenberg Esque" and it's brilliant every second for it. The storyline is so complex you may have to watch it several times to truly "get it." Cronenberg's writing skills here are better than "Scanners" (though "Scanners" was still good).
Cronenberg's direction is fantastic, too. At the end of the film, you almost expect your TV to explode (you'll see what I mean). All the wierd moments were handled very well.
Overall, "Videodrome" was a completely original, insane, bizzare trip into Cronenberg's world. Strap yourself in, it's not for the faint of heart.
10/10
The Last Broadcast:
"The Last Broadcast" is an effort I can appreciate. Filmed on a really, really low budget, "The Last Broadcast" shows imagination and effort, and in any film, that is a respectable thing.
"The Last Broadcast" is filmed like a mockumentary for the most part, with fake interviews and crime scene photos, etc. This "documentary" regards an underground TV show called Fact or Fiction. The show gained popularity for a little while, but it slowly faded. For publicity, the creators Steven Avkast and Locus Wheeler get a "psyhic" and a cameraman and head to the Pine Barrens for a special on the Jersey Devil. Only the "psychic", Jim Suerd, lives. Suerd is arrested for the deathes of the other 3, but new evidence has been discovered........
For the most part, the documentary like format works for the film's advantage. I was interested by the history of events invented for the film and I was suprised how similar the film was to "The Blair Witch Project", a film released the same year with louder fanfare and publicity (allegedly, "The Last Broadcast" was produced before BWP). "The Last Broadcast", however, is just as good.
The scenes of "recovered footage" actually succeeded in creeping me out once, and I (at least) don't consider myself scared really easily alot. The film had a documentary look that it needed with really, really grainy, realistic footage. The actors are actually surprisingly good, too, and with some minor exceptions, managed to get my approval.
However, at the end of the film, when it leaves its documentary format, the film becomes ridiculous, and the conclusion is terrible and dumb. The final revelation is bad and I was dissapointed to more simple, more effective solution idea was not used. Also, David Beard's voice as the narrator almost put me to sleep.
"The Last Broadcast" is a truly noble effort in low budget filmmaking that I admire. It ain't easy to make a movie with a low budget.
8/10
Alice, Sweet Alice:
"Alice, Sweet Alice" is basically an Argento film made in the United States. While not majestic or beautiful like "Suspiria", "Alice, Sweet Alice" is a creepy film, fueled by heavy religious imagery, good direction, a convincing cast (mostly), and an interesting ensemble of characters.
Alice lives with her sister and her mother, who is divorced. While Alice's sister is the sweet, whiny, perfect-little angel type girl, Alice is facinated with the macabre and wears a creepy plastic mask, and is the "bad seed." Before Alice's sister recieves holy communion, she is strangled by a person wearing a plastic mask and is set on fire. The police start believing it's Alice.......
Alfred Sole's direction is very good and I thought the inclusion of religious imagery increases the scare factor, as some Catholic imagery is often scary without being in a horror film at all.
The acting is sometimes WAY over the top (think William Shatner on Speed), but most of the time it worked. The child actors actually do a decent job, too. The interesting movie plotline drew me in, too.
The characters are also very different from your usual slasher (cept mom and dad, of course). We have Alice, a possibly crazy little girl with strange hobies, Mr. Alfonso, a perverted, phedophiliac fat man who eats cat food and walks around in soiled pants, Auntie, a bitch of an aunt who hates Alice because she was concieved before her sister and her husband were married, and Mrs. Tredoni, a fiercly religious maid.
Yes, "Alice, Sweet Alice" doesn't baby us with comfort, instead giving us a strong dose of gritty to satisfy us horror fans out there. The New Jersey setting also works (I've seen Paterson, and it ain't good).
"Alice, Sweet Alice" is a good horror film all around.
8/10
Videodrome:
"Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh!"
"Videodrome" is truly engrossing and interesting as a film can get. Cronenberg knows no bounds to the scifi/ horror genre and he pushes the boundaries beyond anything we've ever experienced or seen onscreen, like Videodrome does to its viewers in the actual film.
James Woods plays Max Renn, a man who runs an underground TV station that showcases pornography and violent programs unlike any other station. When one of his guys picks up a TV show called Videodrome on a Pirate Satilite, featuring snuff film like beatings, he investigates into it. But soon, wierd hallucinations (or are they real?) start to occur, and everything in his world goes nuts.
"Videodrome"'s incredible storyline is made more believeable due to James Woods' fantastic performance as Max. I bought him throughout the whole film. Other performances are convincing, too.
The Special Makeup effects by Rick Baker are incredible. I wish FX like this were still in movies today. Everything is well done and fantastic, and the gore is absolutely amazing. This film has some classic "Eww" moments you won't want to miss.
The storyline makes this movie stand out beyond all other films you'll see. Everything here is strictly "Cronenberg Esque" and it's brilliant every second for it. The storyline is so complex you may have to watch it several times to truly "get it." Cronenberg's writing skills here are better than "Scanners" (though "Scanners" was still good).
Cronenberg's direction is fantastic, too. At the end of the film, you almost expect your TV to explode (you'll see what I mean). All the wierd moments were handled very well.
Overall, "Videodrome" was a completely original, insane, bizzare trip into Cronenberg's world. Strap yourself in, it's not for the faint of heart.
10/10
The Last Broadcast:
"The Last Broadcast" is an effort I can appreciate. Filmed on a really, really low budget, "The Last Broadcast" shows imagination and effort, and in any film, that is a respectable thing.
"The Last Broadcast" is filmed like a mockumentary for the most part, with fake interviews and crime scene photos, etc. This "documentary" regards an underground TV show called Fact or Fiction. The show gained popularity for a little while, but it slowly faded. For publicity, the creators Steven Avkast and Locus Wheeler get a "psyhic" and a cameraman and head to the Pine Barrens for a special on the Jersey Devil. Only the "psychic", Jim Suerd, lives. Suerd is arrested for the deathes of the other 3, but new evidence has been discovered........
For the most part, the documentary like format works for the film's advantage. I was interested by the history of events invented for the film and I was suprised how similar the film was to "The Blair Witch Project", a film released the same year with louder fanfare and publicity (allegedly, "The Last Broadcast" was produced before BWP). "The Last Broadcast", however, is just as good.
The scenes of "recovered footage" actually succeeded in creeping me out once, and I (at least) don't consider myself scared really easily alot. The film had a documentary look that it needed with really, really grainy, realistic footage. The actors are actually surprisingly good, too, and with some minor exceptions, managed to get my approval.
However, at the end of the film, when it leaves its documentary format, the film becomes ridiculous, and the conclusion is terrible and dumb. The final revelation is bad and I was dissapointed to more simple, more effective solution idea was not used. Also, David Beard's voice as the narrator almost put me to sleep.
"The Last Broadcast" is a truly noble effort in low budget filmmaking that I admire. It ain't easy to make a movie with a low budget.
8/10
Alice, Sweet Alice:
"Alice, Sweet Alice" is basically an Argento film made in the United States. While not majestic or beautiful like "Suspiria", "Alice, Sweet Alice" is a creepy film, fueled by heavy religious imagery, good direction, a convincing cast (mostly), and an interesting ensemble of characters.
Alice lives with her sister and her mother, who is divorced. While Alice's sister is the sweet, whiny, perfect-little angel type girl, Alice is facinated with the macabre and wears a creepy plastic mask, and is the "bad seed." Before Alice's sister recieves holy communion, she is strangled by a person wearing a plastic mask and is set on fire. The police start believing it's Alice.......
Alfred Sole's direction is very good and I thought the inclusion of religious imagery increases the scare factor, as some Catholic imagery is often scary without being in a horror film at all.
The acting is sometimes WAY over the top (think William Shatner on Speed), but most of the time it worked. The child actors actually do a decent job, too. The interesting movie plotline drew me in, too.
The characters are also very different from your usual slasher (cept mom and dad, of course). We have Alice, a possibly crazy little girl with strange hobies, Mr. Alfonso, a perverted, phedophiliac fat man who eats cat food and walks around in soiled pants, Auntie, a bitch of an aunt who hates Alice because she was concieved before her sister and her husband were married, and Mrs. Tredoni, a fiercly religious maid.
Yes, "Alice, Sweet Alice" doesn't baby us with comfort, instead giving us a strong dose of gritty to satisfy us horror fans out there. The New Jersey setting also works (I've seen Paterson, and it ain't good).
"Alice, Sweet Alice" is a good horror film all around.
8/10
