(Historical Post - June 2015)
As is tradition, I took my Mother to see that latest horror film to be released last week - Deliver Us From Evil.
Why I take her I don't know, because she actually shouts fuck and elbows me any time something makes her jump, which, is in fact always.
Because I'm such a loser, I always do my research first - although I've finally learned not to read the entire plot summary and ruin it after the Shutter Island incident and a huge list of others come to think of it!
Anyway, having done my research and read reviews, I was expecting it to be a bit shit actually, there were complaints in the press of it being, a well worn and tired out story line, with no way of being refreshing or inventive - I obviously ignored it, as to be honest, I only really trust my own opinion when it comes to films, and I'd say one other person 99% of the time (the 1% being our Age of Extinction disagreement).
I was interested to see exactly how much of the story revolved around the police investigations, because in most standard, run of the mill, demon possession movies, there is only ever cursory law enforcement involvement, as this was described as a crime-horror I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw; it was definitely a police drama with some proper creepy shit added in - and it worked very, very well.
The writer and director of this film is actually responsible for some of the scariest films I've ever seen, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister being the most notable, and these are two films that actually made me spend the night at my Mothers, with the lights on and Cinderella in the DVD player, what’s embarrassing is these films aren't actually that old, so I was well in my 20's when this happened.
Sorry, I'm just waffling.
Eric Bana, Eric Bana, Eric Bana, just gets better with age, he plays Ralph Sarchie who is this gorgeous, rugged, self assured, slightly smart arsed, sensitive, husband and father from New Jersey, who works as a South Bronx police officer and I have to say, I was waiting for his accent to make me want to curl up and die, but it didn't, it was this beautifully warm but authoritative, New Jersey twang, which was 100% flawless, as was his performance, I can’t actually pick a single fault in anything he did. We haven't seen him in horror before and he was totally at home in this cliche ridden, amazingly delicious, genre crossover.
A lovely little slice of baby faced comic relief came in the shape of Joel McHale, who, taking a break from his hosting duties on E!, played Sarchie's partner, Butler. His performance was slightly over the top sometimes and his presence is not altogether necessary at times, but he was funny and he's so pretty to watch with all the tattoos and chasing the bad guys etc etc
As ever, the British contingent in this movie outshines everyone.
Sean Harris, plays the possessed soldier central to the plot line and he does a formidable job of silently making you shit yourself, his face is scary anyway, you have to admit, but having only really seen him as a minor supporting actor in a number of quite forgettable roles, I can now tell you, I will never forget his face. He wordlessly has etched his image into my brain forever and not because of any jump out of your seat moment, but the moment the demon leaves his body and the camera lingers on his utterly distraught and confused, blood stained face, it just pulled on my gut and hurt my heart - I just wanted to give the poor man a cuddle and after the things he had done previously in this movie that is very hard to evoke from an audience. Amazing.
I obviously would like to embellish a bit more about their characters, but I don't want to spoil it as I feel everyone should see it.
Yes, basically, it is nothing we haven't seen before, yes we've seen this type of possession movie etc and we know what’s coming, but I think this film was clever, in its use of the soundtrack for one and its heavier use of police presence and even military involvement. Also the special effects were pretty stomach turning-ly amazing as well.
The songs on the soundtrack were almost all songs by The Doors, which in itself is a major treat for me, my dad bought me up well, on The Doors and The Who etc, so this was quite literally music to my ears. The song titles were also worked into the plot, in a really imaginative way that I haven't seen done before - not since Oliver Stone's The Doors in 1991 has there been such a huge concentration of their songs on one soundtrack.
It was the soundtrack that made this film even better for me - a treat for the eyes and the ears.
There were a couple of times where I wanted to laugh at the possessed woman at the beginning, but I can put that down to the fact that Scary Movie and Repossesssed etc have just de-sensitised me to that sort of thing.
The film is based on the memoirs of a real person but how much is fact and how much is just blatant artistic liberty taking we will never know, but I'm pretty sure we can all guess what is fact and what smells slightly bullshitty.
The life's blood of this film is the tension, the 'what the effs going to happen next, I can’t cope' feeling that all super natural horrors rely on, but that doesn't make it a bad movie, I say if you know and love this sort of movie this will not be a disappointment - if you are looking for something refreshing and original this is not for you.
As is tradition, I took my Mother to see that latest horror film to be released last week - Deliver Us From Evil.
Why I take her I don't know, because she actually shouts fuck and elbows me any time something makes her jump, which, is in fact always.
Because I'm such a loser, I always do my research first - although I've finally learned not to read the entire plot summary and ruin it after the Shutter Island incident and a huge list of others come to think of it!
Anyway, having done my research and read reviews, I was expecting it to be a bit shit actually, there were complaints in the press of it being, a well worn and tired out story line, with no way of being refreshing or inventive - I obviously ignored it, as to be honest, I only really trust my own opinion when it comes to films, and I'd say one other person 99% of the time (the 1% being our Age of Extinction disagreement).
I was interested to see exactly how much of the story revolved around the police investigations, because in most standard, run of the mill, demon possession movies, there is only ever cursory law enforcement involvement, as this was described as a crime-horror I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw; it was definitely a police drama with some proper creepy shit added in - and it worked very, very well.
The writer and director of this film is actually responsible for some of the scariest films I've ever seen, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister being the most notable, and these are two films that actually made me spend the night at my Mothers, with the lights on and Cinderella in the DVD player, what’s embarrassing is these films aren't actually that old, so I was well in my 20's when this happened.
Sorry, I'm just waffling.
Eric Bana, Eric Bana, Eric Bana, just gets better with age, he plays Ralph Sarchie who is this gorgeous, rugged, self assured, slightly smart arsed, sensitive, husband and father from New Jersey, who works as a South Bronx police officer and I have to say, I was waiting for his accent to make me want to curl up and die, but it didn't, it was this beautifully warm but authoritative, New Jersey twang, which was 100% flawless, as was his performance, I can’t actually pick a single fault in anything he did. We haven't seen him in horror before and he was totally at home in this cliche ridden, amazingly delicious, genre crossover.
A lovely little slice of baby faced comic relief came in the shape of Joel McHale, who, taking a break from his hosting duties on E!, played Sarchie's partner, Butler. His performance was slightly over the top sometimes and his presence is not altogether necessary at times, but he was funny and he's so pretty to watch with all the tattoos and chasing the bad guys etc etc
As ever, the British contingent in this movie outshines everyone.
Sean Harris, plays the possessed soldier central to the plot line and he does a formidable job of silently making you shit yourself, his face is scary anyway, you have to admit, but having only really seen him as a minor supporting actor in a number of quite forgettable roles, I can now tell you, I will never forget his face. He wordlessly has etched his image into my brain forever and not because of any jump out of your seat moment, but the moment the demon leaves his body and the camera lingers on his utterly distraught and confused, blood stained face, it just pulled on my gut and hurt my heart - I just wanted to give the poor man a cuddle and after the things he had done previously in this movie that is very hard to evoke from an audience. Amazing.
I obviously would like to embellish a bit more about their characters, but I don't want to spoil it as I feel everyone should see it.
Yes, basically, it is nothing we haven't seen before, yes we've seen this type of possession movie etc and we know what’s coming, but I think this film was clever, in its use of the soundtrack for one and its heavier use of police presence and even military involvement. Also the special effects were pretty stomach turning-ly amazing as well.
The songs on the soundtrack were almost all songs by The Doors, which in itself is a major treat for me, my dad bought me up well, on The Doors and The Who etc, so this was quite literally music to my ears. The song titles were also worked into the plot, in a really imaginative way that I haven't seen done before - not since Oliver Stone's The Doors in 1991 has there been such a huge concentration of their songs on one soundtrack.
It was the soundtrack that made this film even better for me - a treat for the eyes and the ears.
There were a couple of times where I wanted to laugh at the possessed woman at the beginning, but I can put that down to the fact that Scary Movie and Repossesssed etc have just de-sensitised me to that sort of thing.
The film is based on the memoirs of a real person but how much is fact and how much is just blatant artistic liberty taking we will never know, but I'm pretty sure we can all guess what is fact and what smells slightly bullshitty.
The life's blood of this film is the tension, the 'what the effs going to happen next, I can’t cope' feeling that all super natural horrors rely on, but that doesn't make it a bad movie, I say if you know and love this sort of movie this will not be a disappointment - if you are looking for something refreshing and original this is not for you.