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We Are The Night (2010) Review

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

I’m hardly a feminist, but when it comes to vampires, the females rule. At least in Denis Gansel’s 2010 film, We Are The Night, where century-old women roam the land like kids on a playground. But it’s not always about drugs and sex. Sometimes it’s about love, and what you’ll do to obtain it.

A small clan of unique female vampires dominates the underground of one of the corners of Berlin, seeking any form of purpose in their eternal being. Meanwhile, thieving, fighting, dark sprite known as Lena (Karoline Herfurth) plays cat and mouse with the police when she robs the wrong guy. It’s obvious she likes to flirt with danger and knows exactly how to do it. But when she sneaks into the clan’s club, they take a particular interest in her. Louise (Nina Hoss), their make-shift dean mother, stalks Lena in the writhing crowd as she marks her as her own. Unfortunately Lena isn’t looking for a commitment and because Louise won’t take no for an answer, the fatal bite occurs.

When Lena finds her way back home, things are very different. The symptoms progress quickly and she’s forced to accept what she has now become. A vampire. (Oddly enough they never use that term in the movie.) Louise, Nora (Anna Fischer), and Charlotte (Jennifer Ulrich) take Lena under their wing and show her a world she never dreamed of, filled with speeding cars, crazy blood parties, and walking on walls. But she’s not easily severed from the persistent officer who has taken a personal interest in her. With his soft spot weighed upon, Tom (Max Riemelt) manages to become collateral damage in a struggle that’s been brewing for centuries.

An electrifying, erotic adventure that deserves to be placed in the ranks of Let the Right One In, Interview with the Vampire, and Vampires. Offering the best aspects of vampirism, We Are The Night picked a rough and tumble young girl to be the channel through which we experience the unique facets of transformation. I appreciated their eye for detail when it pertained to the sensitive intermingling of these rare, deadly creatures and the naïve world around them. But as we all know better doesn’t mean perfect. And we get to watch the cookie crumble when heightened bliss gives way to grave threats to their way of life. Some of the things the producers made these sexy vampires do were truly amazing to watch. In particular, the final stand-off proved to be gravity-challenged. Though I’m not an expert on German actresses, I was absolutely pleased with the performances in this film. I have high standards when it comes to theatrical depictions of my favorite species and was glad I watched this.

Savage Score sucks a 4 out of 5. Viewers will enjoy the thick sexual aura emanating from the main characters while they run around tearing out veins like twizzlers. Which leads me to the Gore Score of a 5 out of 10. Surpassing bleeding arteries are several burning bodies and ice cube shot glasses. If you’re a fan of this particular sub-genre, you’ll appreciate the modern day take that this German rendition offers.

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Tags: 2010, Night, Review
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Julia’s Eyes (2010) Review

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

How original for me to be watching ANOTHER IFC film? What can I say, I am hooked! Julia’s Eyes is directed by Guillem Morales, who as of yet, only has a few film shorts under his belt. This would be his first big picture, and fortunately for him, it’s noteworthy. Starring Belen Rueda as Julia, and produced by makers of The Orphanage, Julia’s Eyes is a story of suicide and murder, and most importantly, darkness.

We open on a woman in her home, in the dark, seemingly terrified of an unseen force that follows her into the basement where a noose and stool are waiting. Sara begins to hang herself, but she refuses to let the malevolent spirit watch. Then suddenly the stool is kicked over by someone else. Julia, Sara’s twin sister, sensing something is the matter and her and husband Isaac discover the body. But Julia doesn’t believe that Sara would do something like this, and a pursuit to uncover the truth ensues. Like any other murder mystery, the path is filled with different characters and hidden clues. But Julia’s struggling with another foe; her vision. Like her sister, Julia suffers from a degenerative disorder, and with the added stress of investigating a murder, she could trigger a blindness attack any minute.

I have to say I expected a lot from what I saw in the trailer. Unlike the last movie I watched that Guillermo Del Torro presented (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), Julia’s Eyes was much better. The character Julia was fantastic. Filmmakers are hard pressed to create a character as watchable as Julia, and then have an actress hold her true to form. You want someone you care for, fear for, and root for. As for her villain, when finally revealed who the mystery murderer was (won’t say!), it was not as shocking as I had hoped for. I would never say I can catch a twist in a movie just by the trailer. In fact I am very easily surprised when it comes to a plot twist. But this one I had pieced together early on. There was something about the film that left me feeling like it was just on the brink of excitement but didn’t make it over the hump. I loved the way the movie played off blindness, and what the world is like for blind individuals. It was a great choice of a setting for a thriller. You don’t have to create the darkness when the character lives in it.

My Savage score reigns in 3 out of 5 with just enough juice to feel thrilling. While the Gore score splashes in at 3 out of 10, but you didn’t need more than that. If you already enjoy mystery murders and want to try out a new Spanish director who I believe is on to something, than have a look through Julia’s Eyes and I think you’ll like what you see.

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Tags: 2010, Eyes, Julia’s, Review
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The Pack (2010)

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Reviewer Rating:

Rating #:

6/10

Director:

Franck Richard

Runtime:

84 minutes

Cast:

Émilie Dequenne,
Yolande Moreau,
Philippe Nahon,
Benjamin Biolay,
Marie Denarnaud,
Brice Fournier

Overall:

The Pack is a decent flick that attempts to modify a tired sub-genre and although it stumbles along the way due to some pacing issues, comes out above your normal effort. It's a mixed bag for me, but if you don't mind the really slow build-up for the first half and can appreciate the cinematography and style it offers, then you may find yourself digging this.

The Pack is a French movie that I’ve been anticipating for a while. Although it offers a very common theme, it delivers a minor twist by modifying the standard crazed backwoods-type family and throwing in these ghoulish meat-eating humanoid creatures. Unfortunately, it also suffers from some serious drawn out scenes and pacing issues, resulting is a bit of a mixed bag for me.

The film starts off in very recognizable territory with a young woman driving through a secluded road, where she picks up a hitchhiker along the way. The duo stops at a small bar in the outskirts for a little rest from the long drive, but the hitchhiker mysteriously disappears after he makes a trip to the bathroom. Bored and curious, the woman suspects something off with the bar owner and decides to scope the place out after hours. This proves to be an obvious mistake once she’s knocked unconscious and finds herself in a large dirty animal cage the following morning. Little does she know that she’s now in line to be the next meal for a small army of carnivorous underground creatures.
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Tags: 2010, Pack
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Hisss (2010)

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

Reviewer Rating:

Rating #:

3/10

Director:

Jennifer Lynch

Runtime:

98 minutes

Cast:

Irrfan Khan,
Mallika Sherawat,
Divya Dutta,
Jeff Doucette,
Raman Trikha

Overall:

If the filmmakers set out to make a shitty movie then they most certainly succeeded with Hisss. This is a flick that fails in all aspects, and proved to be one of the worst modern horror films I've seen in years. If you like SyFy quality material then you may find some entertainment from this, but if you're looking for any sort of decent creature feature then I'd suggest avoiding this crap entirely.

A joint production between US and India, this is said to be the first Bollywood creature feature by an American director. I haven’t seen many Bollywood films, but the ones I’ve attempted to watch I simply couldn’t finish. I’m not a fan of musicals, and since a majority of Bollywood movies contain a lot of random singing and dancing, I just can’t get into’em. Luckily, Hisss doesn’t really have any of that. There’s one scene where a large group of people are dancing outside, but it’s during some sort of festival, and I’m glad to say there wasn’t any singing (aside from one brief scene). However, I don’t think singing or dancing would’ve made the film any worse than it already is anyway.
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Tags: 2010, Hisss
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Stagnight (2010)

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

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Tags: 2010, Stagnight
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The Dead (2010)

Saturday, October 8th, 2011

Reviewer Rating:

Rating #:

6/10

Director:

Howard J. Ford

Runtime:

105 minutes

Cast:

Rob Freeman, Dan Morgan

Overall:

The Dead is a sigh of relief for the sub-genre, as it makes zombies creepy again by bringing back the old school slow-walking formula that was seemingly forgotten in recent efforts. Sadly, despite that and its great unique setting, the film falls victim to some pacing issues and the lack of strong enough characters or story. Negative aside, those who are into survival road movies or just want a slightly different take on modern zombie films may enjoy this.

After numerous recent genre efforts featuring nimble marathon-running zombies/infected people, The Dead is a very welcomed return to the old school slow-walking zombies. In fact, they don’t just walk slow, they literally take baby steps to get to their prey, and it surprisingly works quite well. Unfortunately, the movie still suffers from some iffy acting and a lack of strong enough lead characters and engaging story.

Described as the "first zombie road movie," the film revolves around a military engineer named Brian, who’s the lone survivor of a plane crash after he and a group of other people attempted to vacate Africa. Now, low on ammo, food, and water, he must make the arduous trek through Africa’s dangerous roads and deserts in hopes of finding some sort of safe haven or a way off the continent.
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Tags: 2010, DEAD
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Mega Piranha (2010)

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

There are always going to be creature features that really manage to live in the mind forever, but that is rarely due to the fact that they are frightening real, believable and gripping from start to finish. It is very rare to find such a gem of a film that features a monster so incredibly [...]
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Tags: 2010, Mega, Piranha
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Saint (2010)

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Reviewer Rating:

Rating #:

6/10

Director:

Dick Maas

Runtime:

85 minutes

Cast:

Huub Stapel,
Egbert Jan Weeber,
Caro Lenssen,
Madelief Blanken,
Cynthia Abma,
Joey van der Velden,
Christopher Parren

Overall:

Saint is a surprisingly fun and enjoyable slasher that doesn't shy away from the gore and mayhem, but due to some bad decisions (not using the Bishop enough) and delivering an even worse climax, the film falls short in what could've been a great modern foreign slasher.

Saint (aka Sint) is a nice change of pace from the usual to come out of the Netherlands, and it’s a welcomed revisit to the cheesy slasher sub-genre that we’ve all grown to love. Filled with fun practical effects and over-the-top gory deaths, Saint could’ve been a great flick had they done more with its main villain and didn’t deliver such a poor climax.

Based on the highly celebrated Saint Nicholas Day (except in America), the film tells the legend of a bloodthirsty Bishop, who was burned to death by villagers several hundred years ago, and is said to return to the living whenever there’s a full moon on December 5th to seek revenge. Accompanied by his army of "Black Petes", the evil Bishop wreaks havoc among the local populous, kidnapping children and slashing through anyone who gets in his way.
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Tags: 2010, Saint
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Blood Forest (2010)

Monday, September 19th, 2011

Now there are many different creature features out there in the horror movie world today and a few of these will riff on the ever popular ‘urban legend’ type of tale that borrows from folklore. Perhaps Bigfoot (or Yeti or even Sasquatch, if you prefer) is not so much an urban legend as a rural [...]
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Tags: 2010, Blood, Forest
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Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Reviewer Rating:

Rating #:

7/10

Director:

Troy Nixey

Runtime:

99 minutes

Cast:

Katie Holmes,
Guy Pearce,
Bailee Madison,
Jack Thompson

Overall:

Even though the narrative is culled from different horror clichés, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark somehow works. It’s not a movie for everyone, and might even strongly piss some people off, but it won me over with it’s well-crafted visual style, and truly bizarre alchemy of different sub-genres.

The original Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark came out in the era where TV movies were nothing to scoff at. Dark (obviously), atmospheric, and straight up creepy, it’s a classic in its own right. But when it comes to remakes, this obscure (to non-horror fans, anyway) title didn’t really jump out as something marketable to today’s audiences (and by the look of the box office returns, it apparently wasn’t). Yet, with its gothic setting, solid visual flare, and strong ending, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark did the best thing we can expect from a remake in today’s horror genre. It didn’t suck.
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Tags: 2010, AFRAID, DARK, DON'T
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RedHarvest.net

We Are The Night (2010) Review

Julia’s Eyes (2010) Review

The Pack (2010)

Hisss (2010)

Stagnight (2010)

The Dead (2010)

Mega Piranha (2010)

Saint (2010)

Blood Forest (2010)

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

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