Hungarian Countess Erzebet Bathory is either one of the most prolific serial killers of all time - or not. Many tales have been told about Erzebet supposedly bathing in the blood of virgins to keep her youthful looks, but this 2009 psychological drama seems to be a more accurate portrayal of Erzebet's life and psyche. She falls in love with much younger man after her husband's death, but when her enemies conspire to keep them apart, she becomes depressed and consumed with a desire to look younger. Julie Delpy portrays Erzebet in this wonderful movie and directed it as well. Although not as interesting in the bloody sense (there are no literal "blood bath" scenes, just Bathory dabbing blood on her face with a cloth) I enjoyed this movie from a historical perspective. The sets and costuming are spectacular to look at and Delpy's performance and directorial efforts show quite a talent that I didn't know she had.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)
Gosh darn, was this movie one of the biggest disappointments ever or what?! I was bored out of my mind the whole time I was watching this, looking for other stuff to do and not believing that this movie could be so ineffective and dull. And stupid! I didn't know anything about the plot really before I saw it and when the creatures were revealed, I just had about had it. Little mean tooth fairy creatures? Really? Sorry, I'm just not into it. The house was beautiful and it was the perfect setting for a spooky film, but apparently this wasn't the right film. The acting from Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and the little girl (who was great in this one episode of Law and Order: SVU) was fine and they did the best they could. The movie lacks serious scares and with that it also lacks a scary or believable villain.
One of the only good movies I watched this week, along with The Countess. My full review can be found here, but I'll say that I really enjoyed this one and thought it was an awesome 80s classic that needs more recognition and love.
This is one of those ones I'm still not completely sold on. The plot is interesting enough - mysterious stranger asks to stay the night at a family's house, the family stupidly agrees, the family has major problems and the stranger exploits those problems and messes with the family (in really weird ways, I might add). It's a dark, disturbing little flick and Patrick Breen is great as the stranger Nick, but the overall result was a little less than I expected. The teenage girl with serious issues is a confusing character who keeps pretending to want to go along with the stranger and then thwarting him. She has several opportunities to fight back if she wants to, but she doesn't until the end, which is frustrating because she could have done more to help. Nick's method and reasoning for collecting blood from his victims is never explained so I'm confused about the symbolism behind his acts. It's a movie some will enjoy and some will hate. Me, it left me a little underwhelmed.
Ugh, I didn't even finish watching this one. Well, I watched for the first 45 minutes or so and then fast-forwarded to the predictable ending. I thought this movie had a great premise for something really disturbing and disgusting and maybe it was in some of those scenes I fast-forwarded through, but either this movie was slow and boring or I wasn't in the mood to watch it. I'm passing it up for now and don't plan to try to watch it again any time in the future. And no offense to English people, but the accents were just funny in this movie and kind of took me away from the darkness of the situation. Dad is a gross bastard when you look at his acts (masturbating into a human organ???) but most of the time he kinda looks like this cute little plump English guy with glasses and not as menacing as he should be.
Heard lots of great things about The Countess but for whatever reason I never managed to see it. Thanx for reminding me :)
ReplyDeleteI though that DBAOTD was a pretty cool remake of a pretty cool 70s classic. Have you seen the original?
I didn't hate Mum & Dad as much as you did, still it disappointed me a lot. Too tedious, too boring.
Mum and dad is so-and-so. I'd seen it all, and this flick hardly stepped-up the game. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is fine for my taste, not too big, but on the otherhand, not too bad as well. Never seen the rest...yet.
ReplyDeleteThe Countess was awesome! She's the anti- heroine heroine. If only she were a man. Thanks for sharing your review
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