Guest Review - Halloween (1978) by Sean Brage

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since my last post, but I couldn't pass up the offer by one of my friends to post a guest review. So, here is Sean Brage's review of the original Halloween. Make sure to keep an eye out for his comparison between this film and the Rob Zombie remake, the first in what will hopefully be a series of columns comparing remakes with their original source material.

Halloween: past and present.

In 1978, John Carpenter released his breakthrough hit horror film, Halloween, and critics and moviegoers alike agreed: the movie was scary as all get out. Filmed on a humble budget with a cast of unknowns, Carpenter set out to give audiences something new, something the horror genre hadn't really seen yet.

The era in which Halloween arrived was a strange one for horror. The genre was gaining new ground and popularity, with directors such as Dario Argento and Wes Craven embracing horror as a true art form, not just a way to fill seats and sell popcorn, as it had been with horror in the 50s and 60s. But horror films were largely spiritual and supernaturally themed, often with elaborate back-stories, occult sub-plots, and at times overwhelming themes of light, darkness, and social commentary. Enter John Carpenter, originally hired on to direct a new kind of horror movie, simply entitled The Babysitter Murders. It wasn't long before Carpenter had re-written the script, recreated from scratch the premise, and filmed a movie that would become a landmark for the genre.

Set in small-town Illinois, Halloween opens with an almost impossibly simple sequence of events. We witness in first-person a shaky, frantic sequence leading us through the kitchen, up the stairs, and into the bedroom where we witness a murder through the eyes of the killer. Reversing the role of audience and killer was just the first groundbreaking sequence in Carpenter's original Halloween. Carpenter's film is terrifying, keeping you glued to the couch and checking your closet every night for weeks; the strength of scares comes from Halloween's simplicity. A killer kills someone, and then 15 years later, he returns to continue killing people. We don't know why, and not knowing makes the evil of these events so much more chilling. Without an elaborate "origin" back-story, we're presented with "evil on two legs," a single-minded madman who could appear in any of our windows at any time. But it's not just the simple storyline that adds to Halloween's credibility. Carpenter's filming of Halloween was revolutionary, showing a focus on we the viewers, striving to put us into a situation that keeps us biting our nails and shaking from fright. Carpenter's use of long, tracking shots would become a staple of the genre, but is fresh and original in his '78 entry. Keeping the camera tight in extended single-angle sequences gets the audience craning their necks, trying to see around the next corner before the unthinkable happens. It's the same kind of filmmaking that would go on to making Stanley Kubrick's The Shining legendary, and in John Carpenter's Halloween, it is terrifying.

Another of the films strengths comes from its understatement, its willingness to take things slow. Rather than making the kills the focus or showering the screen with gore, the highlights of the film are the times when nothing is happening. Instead, it's seeing The Shape peering through a window at a non-the-wiser character, the panning shots showing him in the shadows one moment and gone the next. The anticipation of what could happen is what stops hearts and gets us sweating in this film. Carpenter also managed to save up a good portion of scares for the later 1/4 of the film, so that when something finally does happen, it happens big, leaving us no room to catch our breath.

Lending to the strength of the film is newcomer Jamie Lee Curtis in her first movie role as the first "last girl" in the first slasher film. Her role would go on to be a much-copied cliché of the genre, but adds to the groundbreaking nature of Halloween. While Ms. Curtis truly shines as the "virginal survivor," my favorite role in the film goes to the indispensable Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis, personal psychiatrist to the killer, a man hell-bent on finding and destroying the man he blames himself for letting go. Loomis is at once the film's most sane and most insane voice, a man beyond the edge, trying to explain to the world that this killer is "pure evil." Loomis's monologues on the nature of Michael Myers are chilling and delivered with the brilliance of a stalwart stage actor. Pleasance's character would go on to be one of the only redeeming qualities of the films subsequent and lesser sequels, and in the original he is what makes the story human, lending himself to our relief while giving us due reason to be afraid of Michael Myers.

If you think that good horror films weren't made before Hostel, or if you think that bereft of grisly and "creative" death scenes a film suffers, I encourage you to pick up a copy of John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween, turn the lights off, and let yourself be placed inside that house, trying to understand and escape the circumstances of the film. It will shake you, without disturbing you via explicit gore or eliciting cheap thrills via explicit nudity like horror films of today. Halloween is a landmark of the genre, and still serves up true scares after 31 years.

Recent Release - X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Talk about wasted potential! I think I can honestly say I haven't been more disappointed walking out of a movie theater in as long as I can remember.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine starts out amazing, and then about half way through the wheels just fall right the eff off this thing. The pre-credits sequence isn't the best acted in the world (whoever plays young Victor Creed, I am looking in your direction), but once the credits start, and we're treated to a montage of James "Logan/Wolverine" Howlett (Hugh Jackman) and Victor "Sabertooth (?)" Creed (the completely underrated and underused Liev Schreiber) fighting in several major wars, the film really takes off. Included is an amazing shot of Creed running on all fours up a hill to single- and bare-handedly take out a machine gun nest on Normandy Beach.

From here, we cut to them in Vietnam, and some crap happens that isn't really explained well, and they join a special group of mutants headed by William Stryker (a very hammy Danny Huston). The sequence of them doing their thing is probably the best of the film. Of special note is Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, who I'll talk more about later on.

Long story short, James is betrayed, changes his name to Logan, moves back to Canada, and then his girlfriend is killed by Creed and Logan swears vengeance. Stryker bonds adamantium to his bones and then discusses wiping his memory while Logan is still within earshot instead of just doing it, and Logan escapes and, once again, swears vengeance. This all happens a little too fast, and Logan regains his trust in Stryker a little too easily, but the film doesn't really become a total crap-fest until Gambit shows up. At this point, the film pretty much ceases to make sense and becomes a terrible CGI circus. Bad special effects that needed at least three or four more render passes and the ruining of two of the most fan-boy beloved comic book characters of all time really push it over the edge.

First of all, how do you explain how a man described as Cajun with the name Remy LeBeau who lives in New Orleans has absolutely no trace of even a Southern accent, let alone a Cajun one? Forget the comics, this just doesn't even make sense in the context of the film. And as long as we're on the subject of things that make no sense, why did Stryker need Logan for his team anyway? He and Creed have the same healing power, but Creed is bigger, stronger, and has no qualms with killing everything in sight. Logan isn't even given anything to do in the scene in which the mercenaries all use their powers. He's like excess baggage.

Ignoring the comics and sticking to just what's been established in the previous films, this film has more plot holes in it than action sequences. Just to name a few, how come in the original trilogy Wolverine has Canadian dog tags, but in this one, he has American dog tags, which look nothing alike? (See here for a comparison.) Also, how come none of the mutants (including Cyclops and Storm) seem to remember being abducted by Sabertooth? And how is it that Native American Kayla Silverfox has a blond haired, blue eyed British sister named Emma Frost?

Again, that's just a few problems with the movie. The main thing that made me upset was the treatment of Wade Wilson, who is known as Deadpool in the comics. First of all, Stryker really never explains why he genetically manipulates Wilson, only saying "he's going to hunt down other mutants." What the eff, Stryker? Hasn't Creed been doing that for your for six years without any problems? Why put all that crap into a single mutant who may betray you one day, or who may reject the powers and just go crazy?

The whole plot point makes no sense, but makes even less so if you ever read even a single issue of a comic book featuring Deadpool. Imagine Wolverine with a sense of humor and swords instead of claws, and you have Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds perfectly portrays this character at the beginning of the film, and was perfectly cast as the comic's version of the character. But instead, he is wasted here, becoming a stunt double with really poor makeup by the end of the film.

This movie started out as what could have been one of the best comic book movies of all time. Everything is perfect until Silverfox is killed. After that, it becomes one of the worst comic book movies of all time. Maybe director Gavin Hood would have turned in the perfect movie if not for 20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman's interference. I guess we'll never know.
Grade: 5
(All films are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being cinematic perfection and 1 being so bad I'd rather lick a light socket.)

Movie Review - Ladron Que Roba a Ladron

Today's review is my first of a film in a foreign language, 2007's Ladron Que Roba A Ladron. I had never heard of this movie until I saw a trailer for it before 3:10 to Yuma, which was also released by Lions Gate. The trailer looked interesting, and reminiscent of the Ocean's Trilogy, so I figured I'd give it a shot. And I'm glad I did.

The film is about two thieves who decide to rob a modern day snake-oil salesman who is ripping off immigrants via infomercials for products that don't actually work. The plan is to disguise themselves and a crew as day laborers because very few people bother to pay attention to the illegal immigrants who clean their toilets or park their cars. The subtitles translate the title as "To Rob a Thief," although a more accurate translation would be "A thief who robs a thief."

The plot is actually more like The Sting than the Ocean's films, although for the most part it is actually funnier than either of those franchises. The thieves find that all their old partners aren't willing to work with them anymore for various reasons, so they instead have to build a crew from actual day laborers instead of polished professionals, to hilarious results.

The film moves along at a good pace, and there are plenty of unexpected twists and turns in the plot that most won't see coming. The only negative thing about the film is a pro-illegal immigration stance it seems to take that sometimes over shines the well scripted plot. Overall, however, I found this movie to be a pleasant surprise. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of caper films.
Grade: 7
(All films are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being cinematic perfection, and 1 being a direct-to-DVD sequel of a Disney movie.)

Movie Review - The Hunted

Directed by Academy Award winner William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist), The Hunted is a fascinating and flawed film. It stars fellow Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones as L. T. Bonham, a famous tracker used by the army to train special forces operators to hunt and kill their targets in an almost invisible manner. He is called upon by the FBI to track one of his former students, ex-Green Beret Aaron Hallam (Benicio Del Torro, another Oscar winner) who has gone rogue, and has killed at least four hunters in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.

The tactics both men use are incredible, and are portrayed as realistically as possible, thanks to real life survival expert/tracker Tom Brown, Jr., who not only served as a technical advisor, but was also the basis for the Bonham character.

One of the major flaws of the film is that it never quite gets the balance between realistic and fantastical right. Jones is terrific as usual in his role as the aging Bonham, but one can't help but wonder how much better he would have been had he not been given a couple more months to get into shape. For a man who lives off the land, he seems a bit paunchy and slow. Del Toro, on the other hand, seems to put about as much effort and emotion into his role as you might put into taking out the trash. With the exception of a few moments of true madness behind his eyes, he seems to be woefully miscast as the bad ass soldier Hallam. Add to that the fact that he seems to be at least twenty pounds overweight, and by the end of the movie you'll be wishing they'd found someone else, not just the first Oscar winner that answered the phone.

But what's done wrong on the screen is matched by what is missing. Bonham, who at one point says he's never killed anyone, shows no hesitation when it comes time for fight Hallam to the death. Sure, he trains men to kill on instinct, but can one accomplish that having never done it himself? Also missing is any trace of a relationship between Bonham and Hallam, who seems to trust Bonham over everyone else. Yet at the end, we see that Bonham has kept several of the letters that Hallam has been secretly sending him. We seem to be missing a scene where Bonham shows Hallam any kind of softness or forgiveness for his crimes.

Also glossed over is what would have been the most interesting aspect of the film. Hallam escapes custody early in the film, leading the FBI and Bonham on a chase throughout Portland. What could have been an extremely cool scene (Bonham struggling to track Hallam, who had learned additional skills during his time in the military, through an urban area) is reduced to a five minute sequence filled with coincidental sightings and a ridiculous jump off a bridge.

The films flaws, however, are almost forgotten by the time the film reaches it's climax: an amazing, bloody, innovative knife fight between Hallam and Bonham, student and teacher. Never before have I seen a more brutal or well choreographed knife fight on a film. It brings to mind a line from the rarely seen David Mamet film Spartan (which I will review here someday) in which Special Forces operative Scott (Val Kilmer) responds to a soldier's affirmation that she teaches knife fighting by saying "Don't you teach 'em knife fighting. Teach 'em to kill. That way, they meet some sonofabitch who studied knife fighting, they send his soul to hell." Not a movement in this fight is wasted. There's no fancy blocking of a knife with a knife (which is ridiculous), nor is there any ludicrous monologuing. Just two men who know how to kill trying to end each other's lives by any means necessary.

Alas, it isn't quite enough to overshadow the film's shortcomings, and the feeling you are left with is one of wasted potential. You'd expect more from three Oscar winners.
Grade: 6
(All films are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being cinematic perfection and 1 being every Police Academy film with a number in the title.)

Recent Release/Sequel Saturday - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is at the very least an interesting study in both how and how not to make an action movie.

What's good? The special effects, of course, are amazing. There is much more action this time around, and a lot more jokes as well. The writers do a very good job this time around of balancing between robots and humans.

What's not so good? Well, first of all, the fight scenes between the robots are confusing. This is due to the fact that the robot mode of every single Decepticon looks the same. The Autobots are all different shapes and colors, but the Decepticons are all gray.

Also, while plenty of time is spent on robots, not nearly enough of it is on Autobots. There is an Autobot in a few scenes that gets no dialogue, even though he's a part of a major plot line at the end.

And too many of the jokes are juvenile. I don't need to see a robot with a gun where his penis should be, nor did Devastator need to have a scrotum. In addition, several times we see the robots being flatulent. I really could have done without that.

Overall, for as much as gets done right, stuff gets done wrong. Add to that an overly long run-time of two and a half hours, and you're left with simply a mediocre science fiction movie.
Grade: 7
(All films are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being cinematic perfection and 1 being something a 13 year old could have done better with an iPhone.)

DVD Review - King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Director Seth Gordon has crafted a fascinating and heart wrenching film in The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. On the surface, it's a film about two nerds trying to one-up each other to be the highest scorer in Donkey Kong. However, it manages to be about much more than that.

Billy Mitchell (who, in my opinion, is the definition of the word "tool") is a conniving, dishonest, and slimy jerk who also happens to be a major hypocrite. His main opponent in his battle to remain as important as he was in the '80s is Steve Wiebe, who began his quest to break the world record in Donkey Kong because he had been laid off and it was something to do.

In Wiebe, we have one of the most compelling heroes in modern cinema. There are several hints throughout the film that he has some form of high-functioning autism or obsessive compulsive disorder, and truly, in everything he does he feels he must be the best. Watching him slam out an amazing solo on his 5 year old son's tiny drum set, or shoot a perfect nothing-but-net three pointer from about 50 feet away drive this point home. This is a man who must excel at everything he does.

However, Steve's plans to be the best hit a roadblock in the form of Twin Galaxies, an international video game score keeping organization that seems to have an agenda. That agenda is to keep Billy Mitchell relevant by foiling Wiebe at every turn. His video taped score is deemed inadmissible, so Steve travels cross country at least twice to beat Mitchell's score in person, only to never actually face Mitchell the coward in person. Mitchell even submits a video tape of himself beating Wiebe's high score, even though throughout the movie he continuously says important scores must be beaten in person.

I had been interested in seeing this movie ever since I saw the previews for it when they first came out. What I didn't expect was to get so emotionally involved with these characters. If someone had explained the plot to me and I'd never seen footage, I would have thought it was just have been another cheesy faux-inspirational movie in the vein of The Wizard. However, I found this documentary far more compelling and inspiring than anything Hollywood has produced in years.
Grade: 10
(All films are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being cinematic perfection and 1 being a movie about an inter-city dance crew.)

DVD Review - Interview with the Assassin

Today's review is of the creepy fake documentary ("mockumentary" is too jokey a description for this movie)Interview with the Assassin, starring Raymond J. Barry and Dylan Haggerty. Barry, an accomplished character actor, plays ex-Marine Walter Ohliger. Ohlinger is dying of cancer and wants to confess his most major of crimes to Haggerty's Ron Kobeleski, a recently laid off TV cameraman. The confession is that Ohlinger was the second gunman on the grassy knoll, and that he, not Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the head shot that killed John F. Kennedy.

The film does an excellent job of keeping this film grounded in reality, although the premise is one that could have easily lead to an unbelievable action movie or thriller. It is shot very much like a documentary, never once tipping it's hand to the fact that everything on screen is being faked by extremely gifted actors.

While Ohlinger and Kobeleski spend the entire movie trying to prove the sniper's story, in the end it is left up to the viewer whether Walter is telling the truth, or just a crazy old man looking for attention. Unlike Push (below is my review for that movie), this is not done in a cheesy way. Everything in this film feels very true to life.

The film was the first written and directed by Neil Burger, who later went on to write and direct The Illusionist. Very rarely does a writer/director so thoroughly hit one out of the park on his first feature, but Burger has accomplished that here. The film was shot with only about $750,000, but that's more to it's advantage than it's detriment. The plot has many twists and turns that surprise as well as any other movie I've seen, and the small budget helps sell the whole premise so completely that I might have been suckered in had I seen this movie without knowing anything about it, and had I not recognized it's stars.
Grade: 9
(All films are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being cinematic perfection and 1 being about as bad as a Sci-Fi Channel Original Picture.)