Movie Review: In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

Hi, John Carpenter. So I just watched In the Mouth of Madness (obviously) and I have a confession to make. I've said for a while now that I love you and your movies, and I really and truly do. But the truth is that I only just recently - like in the past few months - saw a good chunk of your movies. Halloween, of course, I know by heart but I decided to catch up on the rest of your oeuvre, and found out that my knowledge of your work was miniscule. And it's still going to be a little miniscule (got a few more movies left to see) but I feel more confident in saying this: YOU RULE, BUDDY!

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad plot: John Trent is an insurance investigator hired to find the hottest horror author, Sutter Cane, who has gone missing. With the aid of Cane's editor, Linda Styles, Trent is led to Hobb's End, New Hampshire - a fictional town from Cane's novels which has suddenly become all too real. What is fiction and what is reality becomes blurred as events from the newest Sutter Cane novel seem like they are really happening. 

Let's start out by saying that I am now officially in love with both John Carpenter and Sam Neill. I always kinda knew that Neill ruled (Jurassic Park, anyone? And Event Horizon is off the freaking chain) but he's not as prolific as some actors so I sometimes forget that he even exists. Then I see a movie like In the Mouth of Madness and realize again how hella cool he is. It's partly the voice - I'm a sucker for great voices - but seeing an actor like him deal with all the batshit crazy stuff that happens in this movie makes me love him all the more.

So Sutter Cane, in this movie, is apparently way cooler than Stephen King. A blasphemous remark to me, but that's beside the point. People go literally crazy when they read this guy and his newest book, In the Mouth of Madness, is about the apocalypse that starts in Hobb's End. Trent is at first convinced that Cane's disappearance is an elaborate hoax for publicity even when he actually goes to Hobb's End - a place that does not exist on the map - and more and more freaky stuff happens. Linda tries to tell him that it's all in his books and his fiction is reality, but that's obviously crazy, right? Not possible? The thing that bugged me about this the first time around was why Linda seemed totally convinced that what Cane wrote became true, instead of the more obvious answer that he based what he wrote on this place. But that of course turned out to be totally wrong and I felt like an idiot for a while. Anyway.

If you're confused by the plot, don't worry, because there is a ton of freak-ass imagery here to keep you distracted from not really knowing what's going on. We got a guy attacking Sam Neill with an axe, paintings that move and change, various squiggly and tentacle-y demons, and one very traumatizing scene where Linda crawls around the road with her head turned upside down. *shudder* Won't be forgetting that. There are excellent effects by the boys at KNB - great mechanical creatures and the makeup on the people who go mad after reading Sutter Cane's novels are pretty gross. Not to mention those scary looking kids and the poor three-legged dog. 

If you like a bit of humor with your horror (and I always do), there are a few subtle bits in this film. Sam Neill as a nut in the nuthouse are entertaining - there's something about the way he does his face and eyes that almost always has a touch of comedy in it. But my favorite part was one including the old lady at the hotel. Remember this? When she's talking to Trent and then he walks away the camera pans down to show that she's got her old, naked husband handcuffed to her ankle? On one side this is incredibly hilarious, and on the other a tad disturbing. Great little moment either way.

The ending is fantastic. The movie is bookended with scenes of Trent in an asylum, telling his story of his search for Sutter Cane to some doctor whose affiliation is never revealed. By the end, the madness of Cane has reached the asylum and Trent walks out of his padded room to a devastated and empty town. He goes to a theater showing the movie version of "In the Mouth of Madness" and sees that the movie is starring himself with scenes from his own experiences. Either he and everything he's been through is simply a work of fiction OR there really are demons that told Cane what to write and all of it, the apocalypse, is coming true. Whichever way you see it, this is an unhappy ending, but a delightful twist at the same time.

Sidenote: Who should I see pop up in this movie most unexpectedly? 

The return of Vigo the Carpathian! Cool! How could anyone forget that distinctive face? Has nothing to do with the movie really, but you might have laughed at me when I squealed and pointed at the TV, saying "Vigo! It's Vigo the Carpathian! 'Alright, give me angry. Yes! Good! Hey Vigs, do the girls like you? Huh? What about the guys?'" Much like all children of the 80s, I have watched Ghostbusters (in this case, Ghostbusters 2) WAY too much. But whatever, because those movies rule. 

There's really not a lot of exposition and the movie's 90-minute time clock counts down fast, but that is more of a good thing than a bad thing. The movie never gets boring and there's always something macabre or fantastical around the next bend that keeps your mind on its toes. 

So now that I've taken care of not having seen In the Mouth of Madness, The Fog, Assault on Precinct 13, or The Thing up until now, I've gotta start plowing through those other flicks. They Live is next, I believe.

Movie Review: Damien: Omen II (1978)

So, as madly in love with The Omen as I am, I figured it was silly of me having not given a fair chance to the sequels yet. I made the mistake of watching the remake and was hoping that the sequels wouldn't be as bad. And yet... not a fan. Not a fan of Damien: Omen II. Really not.

The Antichrist returns: Robert and Kathy Thorn are dead, and their son Damien is sent to live with an uncle, Robert's brother Richard and his wife Ann. He attends military school with his cousin Mark and soon starts to receive clues about his true identity. At the same time, several people try to warn Richard and Ann that the child they're raising is the Antichrist.

Bugenhagen makes a return at the beginning of the film, trying to convince a colleague of Damien's evilness. He takes him to an archeological dig that has revealed Yigeal's wall which clearly depicts a painting of the Antichrist looking exactly like Damien. However, the two men are soon taken care of by those evil forces that seem to protect Damien and in a great turn of events, they are first trapped in the dig by a cave-in and then are apparently suffocated by the sand that pours in on top of them. The end of Bugenhagen. Me is sad.

By the way, I love the name Bugenhagen. I might just change my last name to Bugenhagen. And then I will only want to be addressed as Bugenhagen.

Anyway. So as the movie's title is Damien, the entire movie seems to be only about Damien and him finding out who he is and killing everyone who knows who he really is. And that brings me to the question of "What the hell (pun intended) is the point of this movie?" My idea of a sequel is that it should move the original story forward and introduce some new element. But all we get from this movie is Damien's knowledge of his identity, which the audience ALREADY KNOWS. And I kept wondering where this story was going and it ended up going nowhere.

We've seen the first movie, we know Damien is evil and in fact, I always thought that Damien himself knew he was evil too. That smile he gives in the last frame always seemed to me like a smile of triumph. Like, "That's right, bitches, I'm the Devil. Recognize!" He's killed his future sibling, his mom, and his dad has been taken care of. He's only six years old and now he's more powerful than his father could ever have been.

And yet, only seven years later, the pre-teen Damien apparently has no recollection of these events and has no idea of the power he possesses. Why? Who knows. But as in the first film, there are plenty of Devil worshippers surrounding him and protecting him, including his commander at the military academy (Lance Henriksen) and one accomplice who isn't revealed until the end and is a pleasant surprise. It was a good revelation, but even that shock ending was just too... meager. I wanted more. I wanted a story that was more advanced and revealed more maybe about what Damien is supposed to DO here on Earth as the Antichrist. Just what his agenda is going to be. But like I said, by the end we still don't know much more than what we already knew from the original film. Little bit of a disappointment there.

Jonathan Scott-Taylor as the new Damien is an impressive young actor and pulls off his role with talent and ease. I'm also impressed that they found a child actor who actually looks a lot like the Damien from the first film and is therefore very believable as a grown-up version of that same person.

The movie is not without its gory out-of-place highlights, similar to the decapitation in the first movie. I watched the elevator cable slice that dude in half with such glee that I think I made my dad worried about my sanity. David Warner getting his head cut off by that glass pane in the original film was always a shock to me because Gregory Peck is the star of the movie, and Gregory Peck is not usually in movies where people get decapitated so beautifully. I honestly wasn't expecting this kind of carnage in the sequel, especially the elevator scene. But there is great suspense as the elevator first plunges several stories, then stops, then the cable coming flying down right toward it. Ohhhhhhhh, something awesome is going to happen! The cable cuts through the elevator itself and then - in slow motion - cleanly and bloodily cuts the guy in half at the stomach. Yes, there are intestines. Love it.

So Damien: Omen II is really about nothing new and doesn't come close to being nearly as awesome as its predecessor. It's not a bad movie, though. There are some interesting scenes and some unintentionally comic scenes. Do I even have to mention the ice skating part? The guy floating in the water underneath the ice? I should have been horrified, but instead I thought it was kind of funny. Maybe I'm the Antichrist, too. And the crow attack? Pretty cool, but also a little funny at the same time.

Sidenote: While doing some research on this movie, I read one link where some book had the original Omen listed as one of the "fifty worst movies of all time" (as of 1978). Whuhhh??? The rest of the movies listed were crap that I have never heard of or want to hear of, but to call The FREAKING Omen one of the worst films ever? I am appalled.

Movie Review: The Fury (1978)

Psychic teens are cool. So cool that Brian DePalma had to make another movie about them almost right after directing Carrie in 1976. Two years later he came out with The Fury, with Carrie co-star Amy Irving in one of the lead roles. And though Carrie herself had some pretty awesome power, the kids in this movie are capable of some dangerous stuff of their own.

Psyche out plot: Government agent Peter Sandza are on the run from former co-workers who betrayed him by kidnapping his young son, Robin, who is gifted with psychic powers. In Peter's pursuit to find Robin, he enlists the help of another psychic teen named Gillian, who seems to have a connection to Robin.

While Carrie was about telekinesis in relation to high school horrors, The Fury grows the concept up a bit because now the teens are thrust in the middle of the adult world, with adults who want to harness their powers for evil. In this way, The Fury also resembles another Stephen King book/movie - Firestarter - but in this one the kids don't know what kind of danger they are in. Neither do the adults for that matter.

There's almost two separate movies going on at the same time for most of the film. We start off on a beach in the "Mid East" where Peter - played by the always awesome Kirk Douglas - is enjoying the day with his son and his friend Ben Childress (John Cassavetes, who played the worst husband in the history of the world in Rosemary's Baby). Terrorists with machine guns storms the beach, spray some bullets, and Robin is left thinking that his father has been killed, while Childress whisks him away in a car. Peter is obviously not dead, knows Childress betrayed him, and gets royally pissed off.

The other story going on Gillian's, who has the same awesome power that Robin does. In fact, she's almost cooler because when she has visions while touching people, she makes them bleed out of old wounds, their eyes, and in one gross scene, their fingernails. Gillian wants to go to the Paragon Institute, a place that specializes in helping kids with special abilities. Hester is a woman who works there, and helps both Peter and Gillian to find Robin and keep Gillian from being used like he has.

Gillian is acted quite well by Amy Irving, obviously more well known as Sue Snell in Carrie. It's great to see her in a role with a little more meat to it because she is a pretty good actress. And she's actually well suited for a leading lady role. She must be both vulnerable and able to be manipulated by the people who run the Paragon Institute, but also she must be able to show the kind of power she possesses and how it could make those same people fearful of her.

Some reviews I've read have said that this movie was boring but I didn't get that at all. Kirk Douglas has some interestingly funny scenes early on (when he breaks into that apartment) and Robin and Gillian's displays of their power get more and more violent and revealing so you know that something really cool is going to happen eventually. Robin's shining moment is of course when he makes his girlfriend spin around in the air really fast with blood flying everywhere. However, where that blood came from, I shall never know. That's one thing I didn't catch on to.

Gillian's visions are well shot, although hokey by today's standards. The vision for the visions is there, if that makes sense. While in the Paragon Institute, Gillian sees Robin running up the stairs and either falling or being pushed out the window by the head honcho of that place. This is shown in the background with Amy Irving in the foreground, obviously in front of blue or green screen (see picture). Like I said, it's not as well done as could be done now, but for this movie it works and conveys the idea that it's supposed to. And this isn't the extent of the effects shots in this movie either, don't worry! The best moment ever comes at the very end.

That ending. THAT ENDING. Even if you hated the movie up until then, you can't watch that final scene and not go, "HOLY SHIT! That's awwwwwesome!" I don't know if Childress was as much of a sleazebag to deserve getting telekinetically blown up, but it looked freaking great. He explodes through his chest mostly, leaving his head intact to fly straight up in the air toward the camera. DePalma then makes the moment even more glorious by showing the explosion over and over again in slow motion from almost every angle possible. Thank you, Mr. DePalma, I truly enjoyed that. One of the best endings ever.

Although not as popular as its predecessor Carrie, The Fury is an underrated gem from a great director. There are great actors and some fantastic standout sequences that make it a must see for horror fans.

Movie Review: Battle Royale 2 (2003)

This movie was, like, the epitome of disappointment. Me and the first Battle Royale film are best buds. I seriously love that movie and the book, and while I was excited to see the sequel, Battle Royale 2: Requiem, I couldn't really imagine a rehash of the previous film's plot. But the two movies are actually quite different - and not in a good way.

Battlefield Plot: Shuya Nanahara, one of the survivors from the first film, has started a terrorist group against the adults in charge of the Battle Royale program. At the same time, another group of students has been chosen for the same program, but with a different objective. They are dropped off on the island where Nanahara's group, the Wild Seven, have their hideout and are told that they have three days to kill Nanahara or they will all be killed by the exploding collars around their necks.

The kids are perhaps not as innocent as the group in the first movie. They are described as being the most delinquent, put together in the same class for gosh knows what reason. And yet when they are forced into this war-like situation, the facades break down and they are just as terrified as anybody else would be. This is presented to the audience in a scene similar to that of BRI, when the students are locked in a huge cage and are told the rules of the game by their nutso, psychotic teacher. They freak out. But most reluctantly agree to play the game, mostly because they have no other choice - they could either die right there or maybe have the chance to survive later.

With this is in mind, I was expecting a more emotional film with the students being torn between whether to choose survival or to kill someone who is fighting the people who put them in this situation to begin with. There's also another layer of conflicted feelings with one of the BR students, Siori Kitano, because she is the daughter of the teacher from BRI, whom Nanahara killed. Kitano also drew that picture of Noriko, the other survivor and Nanahara's love interest, which made Siori jealous and which would make you think that she'd be all gung ho about killing Nanahara.

And yet, none of this potential emotional turmoil ever comes to fruition in this movie. Forty-two students participate in the game, same as last time. But instead of giving us the opportunity to explore how different people would react in this extreme situation, it seemed like the filmmakers just wanted to plow through most of them so they could leave us with the few they wanted to be the main characters. When the group first arrives on the island in motor powered rafts, they are ambushed by the Wild Seven who shoot them from towers and blow up a few boats. Then more of the group is mowed down as they storm the beach like at Normandy. Almost half of them are gone in those few minutes, before the game has even really begun.

Another element the filmmakers bring in to get through the unimportant characters more quickly is that their explosive collars are linked to each other. Each student has a "partner" of sorts, and if one of them dies, or strays too far from the other, then the partner dies too. A two-for-one deal, if you will. And while  there is some kind of message to be learned from the few surviving members of this film, it is not as interesting as the missed emotional opportunities and gets almost completely lost in the mayhem of the violence.

I swear I felt like I was watching a war film. And while I guess the kids have technically declared war on the adults, it is not executed all that well and gets extremely old. Fast-forwarding through the battle sequences is totally okay because trust me, you won't miss anything. It is unbelievable how these inexperienced kids could stand up in a battle against trained military or government agents and not get their asses handed to them in less than a minute. Just ridiculous.

People overact, almost everyone who dies has to make some kind of retarded final statement, and the charm, black humor, and emotion that made BRI so great is utterly and completely gone. There is no great showdown between Siori and Nanahara like we are pretty much promised. People die bloody and that's all well and good but I was really looking for more substance and less showy theatrics. Thumbs down. Watch BRI and forget about this one.